GOLD FEVER Part Two

The first half of 1851 proved to be traumatic for merchants and miners alike as told in Gold Fever Part I. San Francisco had been torched twice in six weeks, once in May and again in June. Wood-framed, redwood houses, shops, stores, saloons, theatres, many wharves and most warehouses and gambling palaces burned quickly and thoroughly given the density of buildings cramped together on small lots. Most brick buildings were gutted as well when their wooden porticos, balconies and roofs fueled the firestorm. Lack of water and poorly-equipped and inadequately-placed fire fighting companies could not contain the infernos. San Francisco’s downtown commercial center was effectively destroyed. Even City Hall, police stations, and jails were not spared.

San Francisco was at a crossroads. Merchants with gold reserves could and did rebuild immediately. Many others, without means, folded and were forced to sell their lots for tickets home. With considerable gold still arriving daily from the mines, surviving merchants made windfall profits. But the fires and lack of prosecution of arsonists, looters and robbers by corrupt and inept civil authorities left the survivors angry and determined to root out the perpetrators who had sought to destroy commerce for short term gain. While most fingers pointed to the complicity of the notorious “Sydney Ducks,” former and escaped felons from Australia’s penal colonies, there was little concrete proof to support allegations.

Fear that chaos would rule and rebuilding would spark even more attacks on uninsurable premises persuaded most citizens and merchants to support the Committee of Vigilance and take the lawless city into their own hands. Thus, the scene was set for a protracted conflict between feeble and often compromised civil authorities and members of the Committee of Vigilance to impose order and bring to justice the arsonists and looters who had effectively sacked the city.

With legions of new immigrants — gold seekers, women seeking rich husbands, gold-diggers, political refugees and opportunists arriving monthly, the city was poorly equipped to house them, feed them and provide non-skilled work. After the fires, the city was once again a tent city in the areas decimated by the June fire. Fortunately, most businesses destroyed in the May fire and rebuilt, were spared.

Our story begins with Pierre and Manon now married and expecting a child in these uncertain times. Fortunately, their brig, “The Eliza,” docked on the Long Wharf was spared the wrath of both fires. Manon’s wharf-side canteen, serving hearty soups, pâté sandwiches on fresh baguettes with a glass of wine from their wine bar, is doing a roaring business thanks to the elimination of so many competitors and the increased number of travelers taking the paddle-boat ferries from their wharf to Sacramento, Stockton and the mines.

Still, they face serious challenges in these uncertain and dangerous times. Can Manon realize her dream to be the first woman to own and operate a quality French restaurant given male domination of all the fine eating establishments in the city? Will anti-foreign immigrant sentiment affect and limit Pierre’s ability to mount successful business enterprises? Will the dearth of easy to mine placer gold along the river banks and continued influx of unskilled immigrants, political undesirables, hoodlums and prostitutes limit Pierre and Manon’s ability to achieve their goals? And so their story resumes in these turbulent times.