An excerpt from Eldorado: or, Adventures in the Path of Empire by Bayard Taylor, originally published in 1850.
New York Tribune correspondent Bayard Taylor (1825-1878) traveled to California in August of 1849 by sea, crossing through Panama. In Eldorado, Taylor recounts his journey to California and detailed observations of the people and places he encountered. In this excerpt, Taylor describes the transformation of the city of San Francisco as a result of the Gold Rush and his impressions of the traits and factors that made California’s Gold Rush society unique compared to the eastern United States.