Fresno-Tulare-Kern County CA Archives History - Books .....The Argonauts 1892
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Book Title: Memorial And Biographical History Of The Counties Of Fresno, Tulare, And Kern, California

THE ARGONAUTS.

  During the period of gold excitement, men came hither from every portion of
the known world; but come from wheresoever they might, they had to learn life
over again. The experience of other climes availed them little, for here they
found new conditions of soil, of climate, and of production, totally at variance
with all that they had ever before met with or heard of. Consequently it is not
to be wondered at, that the Argonauts were slow in developing and bringing into
prominence other than the mining resources of the State.

  And even now, after forty years have come and gone, it may be frankly admitted
that what has been accomplished in other fields of enterprise scarcely more than
suffices to reveal to the more far-seeing the limitless possibilities of the
future. The Argonautic era has passed. The forty years' sojourn in the
wilderness has practically ended. Californians have found, and are now rejoicing
in, the promised land, and have entered into their inheritance: and right busy
are they now, planting their vines and fig trees, and making for themselves such
homes as are possible in no other land.

  But it should not be thought that all the years spent in the wilderness of
California's early history were joyless or profitless. Once setting foot on the
soil of California, the Argonauts encountered no such hardships as did the
Pilgrim fathers, the Jamestown colonists, the pioneers of the interior "West,"
or those later but equally resolute and patriotic heroes who shouldered their
rifles and went into the territory of Kansas to prevent slavery from obtaining a
foothold there. True, the journey across the plains was wearisome, and not
without its dangers, and the voyage around Cape Horn or by way of the Isthmus
was not looked upon as a pleasure trip; but once upon the western slope of the
Sierras, the pioneers' hardships were ended. They found themselves in what
seemed a perpetual summer land. No rigors of climate were to be contended with,
no forests were to be cleared away before planting, no incorrigible prairie sod
was to be pounded into subordination; and no insidious miasmas stole upon him
from swamps or morasses to strike him down unawares. Even the primitive savage
dwelt with him in comparative harmony, and forebore to lift his scalp except
upon extraordinary occasions, while the pioneers of other States were forever at
war with the red men.

  Moreover, the pioneers of other States gave up all they held dearest and went
into the wilderness in search of liberty, of homes for those dependent upon
them, or waged war against savage elements, and more savage men, for the sake of
some principle for which, if need be, they were willing to lay down their lives.
The Argonauts were in search of gold, and for gold only. Their highest ambition
was to make their "pile," go back to the "States," and live like lords, the envy
perhaps of less enterprising neighbors.

  We are not disposed to speak disparagingly of the "Forty-niners." On the
contrary we will say that it may go down to coming generations that no more
hardy, resolute, or capable set of men than they figure in the history of any
country; there was no obstacle too great for them to surmount. They
revolutionized the mining industry of the world, created a new department of
jurisprudence, made rivers to flow backward, leveled down mountains, and
burrowed so far into the interior of the earth that the hiss and roar of the
infernal regions resounded through their tunnels. Granting that all this was
done for the love of gold, do not the human race the world over seek it just as
madly in divers ways? and what they sought they found, and the pity is that all
who found did not keep what they found, for many who, to use a mining phrase,
"struck it rich," ventured again, lost, and lived and died poor.

  But it was characteristic of the Forty-niner never to give up, never complain,
never abandon hope, always looking hopefully to the morrow, confident that a
fortune was in store for him; never complaining of ill luck, nor abandoning his
quest until death took him off the track. The world is, and especially are the
people of California, much better and richer for the Argonauts having lived.
Columbus, while seeking a western passage to the East Indies, blundered upon a
continent, for which the world will never cease to sing him praises, and yet
Columbus failed to find that which he sought. So that the California Argonauts,
though more fortunate than Columbus, inasmuch as they did find gold, trebling
the world's product of that precious commodity, also "builded better than they
knew." They not only made their country rich enough to destroy human slavery,
and to form a yet "more perfect union," but they gave to the greatest nation on
the globe what will yet become the greatest, most populous, richest and happiest
commonwealth in that nation. And should the mere fact that such was not their
aim detract from their fame more than from that of Columbus or other fortunate
blunderers into worldly fame?


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Memorial and Biographical History
OF THE COUNTIES OF
Fresno, Tulare, and Kern, California

Illustrated
Containing a History of this Important Section of the Pacific Coast from the
Earliest Period of its Occupancy to the Present Time, together with Glimpses of
its Prospective Future: with Profuse Illustrations of its Beautiful Scenery,
Full-page Portraits of Some of its most Eminent Men, and Biographical Mention of
Many of its Pioneers, and also of Prominent Citizens of to-day.

"A people that take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will
never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote
descendants." -Macaulay.

CHICAGO:
The Lewis Publishing Company.
Undated, but OCLC lists a publication date of 1892

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