Trip to California in 1860

On April 4, 1859, the author left Paris to embark at Le Havre, and from there to California. He was eager to see with his own eyes how a country is born and formed; He was curious to visit these gold mines and these famous places whose wealth is still proverbial. So he has decided to make this trip without too much preliminary reflection.

I. SAN FRANCISCO
From Paris to San Francisco. - First aspect of the city. - Heterogeneous population. - My host and his garden. - General security. - Chinese district. - View of the port. - Important trade. - Remarkable progress. - Severity of the costume. - Evening at the consulate. - The politicians. - The lunch. - The market. - Main buildings. - The wooden houses. - The fire pumps. - Dreadful climate. - Counting of the inhabitants.
II. FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO STOCKTON AND COULTERVILLE.
Departure. - The steamer Brûgdon. - Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo and Suisun. - The San Joaquin. - Stockton. - The Tick. - The Knight's Ferry table d'hôte. - The American automedon. - The gold washing cradle. - Cahots and jolts. - The wagon. - Natural vegetation. - The Yedra. - The rattlesnakes. - Arrival in Coulterville. - Mythological memories.
III. MARIPOSA COUNTY.
Maxwell's-creek valley. - Placers and quartz mines. - Strong heat. - A French engineer. - The plateau and sawmills of Buck-Horn. - Marble-Spring Cave. - The Redskins. - The forest of giant trees. - The falls of Yosemity. - Native animals. - The Californian hunters. - Disorders of the early days. - Washing of gold by the long tom and Chilean method - Spanish huts. - Tombs of miners. - La Merced. - The mines of Colonel Fremont. - The Big-oak-Flat canal.
IV. THE CALIFORNIAN MINERS.
Nationality of the different miners. - The Chinese. - The Spaniards from the colonies. - English and Irish. - Germans. - The Italians. - The Canadians. - Population of a camp. - Special facts about the United States. - Types of miners: Vermenouze, Father Barbet, Aubert. - The fallow deer and free exploitation -Louis the launderer; Penaflor and Sapiens; Ah- Hûn. - The marker of fallow deer. - Joan of Arc and Marie Rantalon. - My hut, my mule. - The miner's hut. - The wake. - An episode of Lynch's law.
V. FROM COULTERVILLE TO SACRAMENTO, GRASS-VALLEY, NEVADA
AND MARYSVILLE.
Departure from Coulterville. - The Chinese on the Stanislaus River. - The river and the city of Sacramento. - Agricultural Exposition. - The Folsom Railroad. - The yiremière nugget. - Auburn. - The bad customers of a bar. - Grass-Valley and its mines. - Reforestation in California. - Nevada. - Marysville. - A pugilistic fight.
VI. RETURN TO SAN FRANCISCO. - THE CITIES OF THE COAST.
Feather River. - Captain Sutter. - San Francisco again. - The French theater. - The negroes. - Chinese dramas. - The circus. - Victoria and Albert. - The Music Hall. - Singing and dancing cafes. - General Scott's reception in San Francisco. - The southern coastal cities: Monterey, Santa Barbara, San Pedro and Los Angeles, San Diego. - The northern coastline. - Future of California.