Some Reminiscences of old Victoria Part 19

We left Los Angeles and Redlands March 24th for San Francisco, where we arrived March 25th. In San Francisco I met an old Victorian, Tom Burnes, brother of William Burnes, H. M. customs. I had not seen him for years, and we started to explore the Plaza on Kearney and Was.h.i.+ngton Streets. This was the most familiar part of San Francisco to me, as I have pa.s.sed through this part often as a boy. It is now known as Portman Square. I looked for the "Monumental" engine house from which I had run to fires in the early fifties. A blank s.p.a.ce was pointed out where it had been, but the fire had destroyed this ancient landmark. In the Plaza Mr. Burnes showed me a monument to Robert Louis Stevenson, the English writer of such interesting sea stories. On the top was a s.h.i.+p of the time of Elizabeth, with the high p.o.o.p deck, which must have represented something in one of his stories, and an inscription:

"To Remember Robert L. Stevenson.

"To be honest, to be kind, to earn a little, to spend a little less.

To make upon the whole a family happier for his presence. To renounce when that be necessary. Not to be embittered. To keep a few friends, but those without capitulation. Above all, on the same grim condition, to keep friends with himself. Here is a task for all that man has of fort.i.tude and delicacy."

This was erected by some admirers of the very interesting English writer who died, was it not in Samoa, so beloved by the natives.

Piloted by Mr. Burnes, we next viewed St. Mary's Cathedral. It had been fifty odd years since I had last been inside, and as a boy I had often been attracted by the music. The cathedral was completely gutted by the fire, which entered at the front doors and pa.s.sed up the tower and to the roof, in fact making a complete ruin of the building. So that the original landmark should be preserved intact, they built a complete church inside of concrete and bolted the two walls together so that the building is as good as ever. New stained gla.s.s windows, altars and a new $25,000 organ have been donated by wealthy members of the congregation, so that we looked upon a new church inside and the original outside.

We spent the afternoon at Golden Gate Park, which was the great sight of San Francisco, four miles long, laid out as an immense garden or succession of gardens, with conservatories and aviaries, tropical trees, winding roads and paths in all directions. The first thing to attract my attention before entering the museum was a statue of Padre Junipero Serra, the intrepid founder of so many missions along the coast of California. There were also monuments to Abraham Lincoln, General Grant, and that stirring preacher of the south, Starr King.

Time was valuable, so I had to give up a further inspection of the park to give all remaining time to the museum, which closed at four o'clock. All the time we were in the museum I noticed two policemen patrolling about and I thought it unusual, and on inquiry found that lately a most valuable picture had been taken by being cut out of the frame. After some trouble the thief had been captured and the picture recovered. The thief gave as a reason for stealing it that he thought it might inspire him to paint just such a picture, he being ambitious to be a painter. I hardly think this excuse will weigh with the authorities. In the room of pioneer relics I found many interesting things. First a large bell which recorded on the outside the founding of the volunteer fire department, organized 1850, George Hosseproso, chief engineer. Firemen of those days were men of account, in fact, many men of prominence were officers or members of the fire department. Second, four mission bells from an old mission church at Carmelo, Monterey County, built by Padre Junipero Serra, 1770; San Francisco's first printing press, used in publis.h.i.+ng the first newspaper in California, in 1846, at Monterey; a picture of Jno.

Truebody, a pioneer business man of San Francisco, whom I remember well; two gla.s.s cases of relics presented by John Bardwell, of the _vigilante_ days, containing firearms, batons, certificates of members.h.i.+p in the _vigilante_ committee, pieces of rope, being cut off the original ropes with which they hanged Cora, Casey, Hetherington and Brace, for the a.s.sa.s.sination of James King of William, and General Richardson. James King of William was the editor of the _Chronicle_, and in an election campaign James King, who was opposed to Casey in politics, mentioned the fact that Casey had been a jail-bird in his youth. This was taken up by Casey's friends and three of them agreed that the first one of the three who should meet James King should shoot him. Casey being the first to meet him performed the deed. For this he was hanged by the vigilance committee, who demanded him from the authorities. This committee was formed immediately after the a.s.sa.s.sination.

Cora was hanged for the murder of General Richardson because of a slight cast on Cora's wife by the former. Pistols seemed to have been carried by all as a necessity. Cora and Casey were taken out of the jail by the vigilance committee and hanged May 18th, 1856. There were also pieces of the rope used in hanging Hetherington and Brace for the murder of Baldwin, Randall, West and Marion, July 29th, 1856.

There were pictures also of Judge Terry, A. B. Paul, Wm. T. Coleman, Charles Doane, James King of William, and a picture of the scene of his a.s.sa.s.sination. I recognized this locality immediately I saw it. It was the offices of the Pacific Express Co., on the corner of Was.h.i.+ngton and Montgomery. There were also pictures of Fort Gunnybags, the headquarters of the vigilance committee, showing the alarm bell and the sentries on the roof; also Lola Montez, Countess of Bavaria, a most notable woman of those exciting times, and of William C. Ralston. There was a picture of the pavilion of the first Mechanics' Exhibition, held in San Francisco in 1857. I remember this exhibition well, as on a certain day all the school children were given free admission, and it was as a school boy I went.

There was an extensive collection of relics of the past in the Egyptian rooms, many being _facsimiles_ of the originals in the British Museum. Where this was the case it was so stated, but there were many genuine things, amongst which I noted a wooden statue dating back about 1,000 years before Christ, being the wife, and also sister of Osiris, and mother of Horus, chief deity of Egypt. Strictly on the stroke of four o'clock a policeman went through the building and called out that the buildings must be closed. I made a request to one of these policemen to see the curator, and he took me to his office; he was, unfortunately, not in, but I saw his a.s.sistant and offered her some relics of early San Francisco, which were accepted. I was watching the people filing out, prior to closing, when out came three bluejackets, whose caps showed they belonged to H. M. S. _Shearwater_. I introduced myself, and remarked, "What are you boys doing here? I should hardly have expected to have seen sailors so far from their s.h.i.+p." "Oh, sir, we are at anchor in the harbor yonder, and will be leaving Monday for Esquimalt." I saw her that evening at anchor, with the Union Jack flapping in the breeze, and suppose the Jacks were aboard all right.

We were advised that the mint was open to visitors between the hours of 9.30 and 11.30, and as I had not been there for about twenty years we joined a party one morning. On presenting ourselves we were ushered into a waiting-room with others. Later on a man in uniform came for us. We were counted and told to follow. We were first taken down to a room in the cellar where we were instructed as to what we should see, and given a lot of information about the mint. This was done where it was quiet, as where the work was done it is very noisy.

The first process was melting the silver in crucibles, which were emptied of their contents when in a liquid state into molds, which were in turn emptied out, were grasped by a man who pa.s.sed them on with thick leather-gloved hands to powerful rollers which rolled the ingots out to long strips like hoop-iron, after being pa.s.sed through many times. These strips, which were then as thick as a dollar, were pa.s.sed under a stamp, which punched out the coins about 120 a minute.

They were continually being examined by various men who now and then threw out imperfect ones. They were then pa.s.sed on to another room where there was a perfect din of machinery. They were now pa.s.sed under an immense stamp and the image was punched on under a pressure of one hundred and twenty-eight tons. They were then coins, and after several other examinations were cooled and pa.s.sed, one being handed around for our inspection. In addition to the dollar we saw the same routine gone through in making a copper cent piece.

I tried to get one, but he said every one was counted and must be produced. There were several who wanted souvenirs and wished to pay for them. We were counted again, signed our names and left.

CHAPTER XXVI.

AN HISTORIC STEAMER.

The following interesting account of the historic steamer _Beaver_, the first to round the Horn into the Pacific, will be read by native sons as well as pioneers with renewed interest, as it is many years since this account was published.

The _Beaver_ lay off the old Customs House for a long time, until taken by the Admiralty for hydrographic work. When done with for that purpose she was sold for mercantile purposes again.

For some years she was in charge of my old friend, Captain "Wully Mutch.e.l.l," as he was called by his friends, and he had many, for he was as jolly as a sandboy and always joking, in fact more like a man of fifty instead of eighty, as he really was.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The steamer Beaver.]

"More than thirty-nine years have pa.s.sed and a generation of men have come and gone since the Hudson's Bay Company's steamer _Beaver_, whose sale was chronicled yesterday, floated with the tide down the River Thames, through the British Channel, and went out into the open, trackless sea, rounded Cape Horn, clove the placid waters of the Pacific Ocean, and anch.o.r.ed at length, after a pa.s.sage that lasted one hundred and sixty-three days, at Astoria on the Columbia River, then the chief 'town' on the Pacific Coast. Built and equipped at a period when the problem of steam marine navigation was yet to be solved, is it any wonder that the little steamer which was destined to traverse two oceans--one of them scarcely known outside of books of travel--was an object of deep and engrossing interest from the day that her keel was first laid until the morning when she pa.s.sed out of sight amidst the encouraging cheers of thousands gathered on either sh.o.r.e, and the answering salvoes of her own guns, on a long voyage to an unknown sea?

"t.i.tled men and women watched the progress of construction. King William and 160,000 of his loyal subjects witnessed the launch. A d.u.c.h.ess broke the traditional bottle of champagne over the bow and bestowed the name she has ever since proudly worn. The engines and boilers, built by Bolton and Watt (Watt was a son of the great Watt) were placed in their proper positions on board, but it was not considered safe to work them on the pa.s.sage; so she was rigged as a brig and came out under sail. A bark accompanied her as convoy to a.s.sist in case of accident; but the _Beaver_ set all canvas, ran out of sight of her 'protector,' and reached the Columbia twenty-two days ahead. Captain Home was the name of the first commander of the _Beaver_; he brought her out, and we can well imagine the feeling of pride with which he bestrode the deck of his brave little s.h.i.+p, which carried six guns--nine-pounders. The _Beaver_, soon after reaching Astoria, got up steam, and after having 'astonished the natives' with her performances, sailed up to Nisqually, then the Hudson's Bay Company's chief station on the Pacific. Here Captain McNeil (now commander of the _Enterprise_), took command of the _Beaver_, and Captain Home, retiring to one of the Company's forts on Columbia River, perished in 1837 in Death's Rapids by the upsetting of a boat. From that period until the steamer pa.s.sed into the hands of the Imperial hydrographers, the history of the _Beaver_ was that of most of the Company's trading vessels. She ran north and south, east and west, collecting furs and carrying goods to and from the stations for many years. Amongst the best known of her officers during that period were Capt. Dodds, Capt. Brotchie, Capts. Scarborough, Sangster, Mouat and others, all of whom pa.s.sed away long since, but have left their names behind them. We believe we are correct in saying that not a single person who came out in the _Beaver_ in 1835 is now alive; and nearly all the Company's officers, with a few exceptions, who received her on her arrival at Columbia River, are gone, too.

[Portrait: Captain "Willie" Mitch.e.l.l.]

"Yesterday, through the courtesy of Capt. Rudlin (one of her new owners and future commander) we visited the old s.h.i.+p. On board we met the venerable Captain William Mitch.e.l.l, who has had charge of the vessel for some years. He was busily engaged in packing his clothes into chests preparatory to going ash.o.r.e. He remembers well the _Beaver_ in her early days. Every room, every plank possesses historic interest to him. He pointed out the Captain's room. 'Just the same,' said he, 'as when I first saw it in '36. There's the chest of drawers, there's the bunk, and there's the hook where the Captain's pipe hung, and many's the smoke I've had in these cabins nearly forty years ago. Nothing below has been changed,' continued Captain Mitch.e.l.l, 'except--except the faces that used to people these rooms in the days long ago, and'--pointing to his thin, gray locks--'I was a deal younger then!' He led the way into the engine-room, chatting pleasantly as he went and relating incidents connected with the _Beaver_ and her dead people of an interesting character which we may some day give to the world. There are two engines, of seventy-five horse-power, as bright and apparently as little worn as when they first came from the shop of Bolton and Watt.

From some cuddy hole the Captain drew forth the s.h.i.+p's bell, on which was inscribed '_Beaver_, 1835;' then he showed us into the little forecastle with the hammock-hooks still attached to the timbers, from which had swung two generations of sailors. Then the main deck was regained and we took leave of the gallant old gentleman and Captain Rudlin, who informed us that the _Beaver_ will be taken alongside of d.i.c.kson, Campbell & Co.'s wharf to-day to undergo the important changes necessary to the new trade in which she will henceforth be employed."

CHAPTER XXVII.

COLONEL WOLFENDEN--IN MEMORIAM.

When I look back over my soldiering days the figure that I first remember is Colonel Wolfenden, then a sergeant in the volunteers, and I a full private. It was not, I think, until I was twenty years old and a member for two years, that I remember him, when he was elected captain from sergeant. I might say that the volunteers were a different organization from the militia. You enlisted for a term, the same as in the latter organization, and officers were elected from the company. Uniforms were paid for by each member, the cost being $26 for everything complete. Dues had to be paid also, fifty cents a month, and ammunition for target practice had also to be paid for. It was a good deal like the volunteer firemen of that day, who had to pay dues and buy their uniform.

[Portrait: Colonel Wolfenden.]

If ever there was an enthusiastic volunteer it was Captain Wolfenden, and under the most trying circ.u.mstances. In those days (forty-four years ago) soldiering was not as popular as it was when it was merged into the Canadian militia, when uniform was free, ammunition was free and there were no fees to pay. It was therefore hard work to get a company together and keep them together under the circ.u.mstances.

Captain Wolfenden having the matter at heart did his best, and more than his best, if that were possible, to make a good showing, and he encouraged me to get members and raised me to corporal, and later to sergeant and finally on our merging into the Canadian militia he made me senior sergeant. I must honestly confess I did not think I deserved this at the time, for I was a nervous subject and got rattled at times, but for his sake, who showed a partiality for me, I did my best and was always at drill as he was, no matter what the weather was. It was as captain of volunteers that he joined the Canadian militia, and soon after was appointed colonel in charge, which high position he worked for and earned by faithful service. I think what made us such good friends was our early comrades.h.i.+p in the volunteers. We used to have march-outs to Esquimalt, to Cadboro Bay or to Beacon Hill and back, and to enliven the march would sing songs; those with a good chorus which were joined in by the rest.

These days of the past were often talked over by us in later years, while I, to please the Collector of Customs, Mr. Hamly, in 1884, resigned members.h.i.+p in the militia, after eighteen years as a volunteer soldier. Colonel Wolfenden continued on for many years.

In conclusion I might add that when I joined the volunteers Captain Laing, then manager of the Bank of British Columbia, was captain. I cannot remember whether Colonel Wolfenden was a member then or not, but it was not long after. Other officers of that time were Adjutant Vinter, Captain Fletcher (P. O. Inspector), Captain Dorman (deputy Inspector), Major Roscoe (hardware merchant), Captain T. L. Wood (Solicitor-General), Captain Drummond (company No. 2), and Chaplain Rev. Thomas Sommerville. Occasionally we went into camp for a month, and generally at Beacon Hill, or at Henley's, at Clover Point. These camps were made very interesting by entertainments being frequently given, and to which our friends were invited. Oh, those were days worth remembering! During the time of the Fenian Raid we were encamped in the trees just about where the bear pits were, and the night sentries were told to keep a strict lookout, and challenge all intruders. This was taken advantage of by some young fellows to play a lark on us. So one night when the camp was asleep, we were all awakened by the sentry's outcry. He happened to be the late Robert Homfray, a rather nervous man. I got up with the rest, and there was the sentry with what he declared was an infernal machine, which had been thrown into the camp by someone who had made off in the darkness. The infernal machine consisted of a bottle filled with what was supposed to be giant powder, and bits of iron or steel, with a fuse sticking out of the neck of the bottle. It was, after careful inspection without much handling, put away till the morning, and then, a more strict examination revealed the contents to be simply small bits of coal to represent giant powder, and genuine steel filings. This was a standing joke against us, and especially Private Homfray, for many a day afterwards. To conclude, finally, I am sure I have the most kindly recollections of my friend of so many years, as have many more to-day, who will bear full testimony to his sterling worth as a soldier, government official and gentleman.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE CLOSING OF VIEW STREET IN 1858.

It is known to few only that View Street at one time reached from Cook to Wharf Street.

[Portrait: Senator Macdonald.]

In the Victoria _Gazette_ of 1858 appear several items regarding this street. A public meeting was called for by certain citizens who considered themselves more aggrieved than the general public, in that they, being residents of the upper part of View Street, had on coming to business, to walk on to Fort or Yates Street to get to Government or Wharf. Without any notice the street was fenced across on Broad and also on Government. The _Gazette_ states that there was great dissatisfaction at the fencing of the vacant s.p.a.ce on "Broadway" and Government Streets, which the paper stated was used as a cabbage patch, and there was talk of pulling the fence down.

All the agitation seems to have amounted to nothing, for not only was the fence not pulled down, but J. J. Southgate, one of the earliest merchants of Victoria, erected a large wooden building on the street.

By referring to the engraving this building may be seen indicated by a cross. Later on Southgate erected the present brick building which Hibben & Co. have just vacated after an occupancy of forty odd years.

The _Gazette_ stated later on that the Governor had sold the lots to Mr. Southgate, and that settled the matter.

That it was not intended that View Street should end at Broad is evident, as Bastion Street was then known as View Street, being so called in Mallandaine's first directory (1859.)

Mr. Trounce, who owned the land through which Trounce Avenue pa.s.ses, after the closing of View Street, decided to make an alleyway through his property so as to more easily let his stores. This alley has been open ever since, but used to be closed for a day each year for many years after.

I might state that J. J. Southgate, who was a prominent Mason, called a meeting of "all Free Masons at his new store on Monday evening, July 12th, 1858, at 7 o'clock, to consider important matters connected with the organization of the order."

T. N. Hibben & Co., who have just vacated this site after so many years, have moved only once before since going into business on the corner of Yates and Langley Streets, in 1858, by the firm name of "Hibben & Carswell." The building is that brick one lately sold. Both founders of this well-known and long-established business, together with their bookkeeper who later became a partner (Mr. Kammerer) have pa.s.sed away, and the firm now consists of Mr. Hibben's widow and William H. Bone, who has been connected with the firm since 1871.

"Did the Thoroughfare Once Run Through to The Harbor? A Question of Records.

"The question of whether or not View Street, which is now blocked by stores and office buildings at Broad Street, was ever open to traffic as a thoroughfare clear through, which theory D. W. Higgins, in an interview published in the _Colonist_ last week denied, is causing considerable discussion among old-time residents. Yesterday Edgar Fawcett, who first broached the subject, gave the _Colonist_ the following further argument on the question:

"As my friend Mr. Higgins joins issue with me on my account of the closing of View Street in 1858, I am going to give him some further evidence. I would not for a moment match my memory or knowledge of events of the early history of Victoria with Mr. Higgins, who arrived months before I did, and from his position as a newspaper man had far better opportunities of getting knowledge of pa.s.sing events. But Mr.

Higgins did not arrive early enough, if the evidence in the Victoria _Gazette_ is worth anything. I had the opportunity of reviewing the first year's numbers, and jotted down all items I thought of interest. This I gave to the _Colonist_ readers some years ago, and the items regarding View Street were some of them. I think Mr.