Money in California was scarce as very few had brought much with them and the costly living expenses soon exhausted much of it. Shipments of specie from several different countries were brought in but they never seemed to be enough and workers were happy to be paid in an amalgam of several different coins from several different countries. Loose gold dust was valued at $16.00 per troy ounce then and almost all merchants, bars, gambling dens, brothels etc. had scales available to allow the miners to pay for their purchases in gold. After passing through many hands in California gold eventually, almost inevitably, went East to pay for merchandise bought in the west and imported from the East. The primary gold shipment route was via well-guarded paddle steamers to Panama. Well guarded mule and canoe trips to the mouth of the Chagres River and from their by paddle steamer to New York, etc. Bandits called the Derienni, initially, often raided these shipments until many of the bandits were caught and hanged—this stopped most of the outbreak of violence. Gold shipments on Panama paddle steamers often totaled over $1,000,000 per voyage and an accumulative total of over $64,000,000 in gold by 1853.