They toiled in their historic quest. The prosaic results of the
polyglot settlement of the new State are not of their direction.
The bizarre Western character is due to an admixture of ill-assorted
elements. Not to gold itself or the lust of gold. The personal
history of the gold hunters is almost valueless. No hallowed memory
clings to the miner's grave. No blessing such as hovers over the
soldier, dead under his country's banner.
The early miners fell by the way, while grubbing for gold. Their
ends were only selfish gain. Their gold was a minister of vilest
pleasures. A fool's title to temporary importance.
Among them were many of high powers and great capacity, worthy of
deeds of derring-do, yet it cannot be denied that the narrowest
impulses of human action drove the impetuous explorers over the
high Sierras. Gain alone buried them in the dim canons of the Yuba
and American. The sturdy citizens pouring in with their families,
seeking homes; those who laid the enduring foundations of the social
fabric, the laws and enterprises of necessity, pith, and moment,
are the real fathers of the great Golden State. In the rapidity of
settlement, all the manifold labors of civilization began together.
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