USA > California > History of California, Volume IV > Part 24
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3+ (). M. Wozencraft writes to the S. F. Alta, Sept. 3, 1869: 'In yester- day's issue you mentioned that "the idea of building a railroad across our continent must have occurred to many different persons as early as 1833." Yes, it did: I can bear witness. In 1831, one Col. Low, a professor in St Joseph's College at Bardstown, Ky., conceived the idea, and he published his
223
WARNER'S LECTURE.
at the end of 1840, or early in 1841, John J. Warner, a resident of California since 1831, while on a visit in the east, made an elaborate argument in favor of establishing railroad communication with his western home, an argument delivered apparently in the form of a lecture at Rochester, New York, and published in different papers and magazines. 35 His idea was that of a railroad to the Columbia River rather than to San Francisco, and the question whether it was the first proposition of its kind or not is one that is of no especial importance here.36 The chief importance
views in pamphlet form preparatory to announcing his intention of running for congress against Ben Harding. The trustees of the college held a meeting, and without seeking any further evidence than the main idea presented in his pamphlet, declared him insane, and his seat as professor vacant.' In the N. Y. Tribune, Jan. 25, 1869, we read: 'The man who first projected the Pacific R. R. is nearly as numerous as his brother who first proposed Gen. Grant for president. He has been identified with Dr Carver, Asa Whitney, Col. Benton, etc. Mr John King of Dubuque, Iowa, now identifies him with Mr John Plumbe, a Welshman, who settled at Dubuque in 1836, corresponded extensively with eastern journals, made the first survey for a R. R. westward from Lake Michigan, and urged the construction of a R. R. to the Pacific from the year 1836 onward. He called a private meeting in its behalf in the winter of 1836-7, assembled a publie meeting therefor in IS38, and wrote largely for the journals in advocacy of the project in all those years; urging the project in a memorial to congress during the winter of 1839-40. We think Mr K. makes out a pretty strong case.' In divers newspapers I find it recorded that Lewis G. Clark, in 1838, thus wrote of the Pac. R. R. in the Knickerbocker Magazine: 'There will yet be built a railroad from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Let the prediction be marked, for the work will be accomplished. The great chain of communication will yet be made with links of iron "long drawn out " ... The reader is now living who will make the trip,' etc.
35 Warner returned from his visit on the Julia Ann in June. Dept. St. Pap., MS., xx. 19. According to Hayes' Emig. Notes, 309-10, the lecture was delivered at Rochester, and published in the N. Y. Journal of Commerce. I find it under the title of California and Oregon; Diffusion of the Anglo-Saxon Race, and New Route from China to Boston, in the Colonial Magazine, v. 229- 36, June 1841. Of the article the editor says: 'Some of his views will per- haps seem extravagant, but extravagance itself can scarcely equal the onward march of civilization and improvement on this continent within the last 50 years, and in indulging his anticipations of the future, he is liable to no graver charge than at the commencement of that period would have been laid at the door of any man who had predicted what has since become matter of history.'
36 \Varner writes: 'Let us suppose a railroad in operation from the Colum- bia to Boston. The distance, allowing for sinuosities, cannot exceed 3,600 miles. Allowing the rate of travel to be 15 miles per hour, it will require 10 days; and allowing 60 days (or 29 by steam) from Canton to Columbia River, we have 70 days from Boston to Canton; which is sooner than a ship could arrive from Panamá at Canton. Can there be a doubt that this will be the route of communication in less than 60 years? Admitting a ship-canal to be made across the Isthmus of Panamá, can it compete with the Columbia route, when a large proportion of the China products which arrive at Boston find a market of consumption west of Boston and this market is daily increasing?'
224
VISITS AND BOOKS.
of the essay is as a vivid and accurate presentment of the natural advantages of California, based on the author's personal observations during a residence of ten years, and on quotations from other writers. The article must have had much influence in attracting at- tention to the country, the acquisition of which by the United States was confidently predicted and warm- ly advocated by the author, as is indicated by quota- tions which I present in another chapter.37
The other narrative is that of a visit to California this year by Henry A. Peirce, master and owner of the Maryland. It has never been published, but the original manuscript is in my possession. The author was a prominent business man of Honolulu, where he was later U. S. consul. He arrived at Monterey November 24th, and. after a few days went up to Yerba Buena on the Catalina. Thence in December he made a trip to San Rafael and the region there- abouts, his purpose being to purchase the Novato Rancho, which was offered for sale at a low price. He gives many interesting details of a local nature about what is now Marin County, including the drunken pranks of Padre Quijas at Read's rancho. Returning to Monterey on the Don Quixote, Peirce sailed on his own vessel January 3d, and two days later touched at Santa Bárbara to visit the grave of his brother, who had died there several years before. For nine days from the 18th the Maryland lay at anchor in San Diego Bay, the captain being engaged in disposing of his cargo, and his passenger, M. Du- flot de Mofras, in studying the missions and other in- stitutions of the southern district. From Mazatlan on February 7th, the Maryland sailed for Honolulu; but Peirce went to San Blas on the Victoria, and thence crossed the continent to Vera Cruz. The
37 See chap. x. of this volume on foreign schemes for the acquisition of Cal. I may mention here a two-column article on Cal. in the Boston Mercan- tile Journal of this year, republished in the Honolulu Polynesian, i. 190. It is both historical and descriptive, containing nothing sufficiently striking or sufficiently erroneous to merit further notice.
225
PEIRCE'S JOURNAL.
traveller's observations on this part of his journey are more detailed than in California, and are interesting, though of course they have no place here. At Guana- juato he came in contact with the Santa Fé prisoners, whose narrative he embodies at some length in his own. From Vera Cruz he sailed March 4th for Ha- bana, on the French ship Atlantic; and had not reached the port on March 31st, when the journal closes abruptly.38 From other sources we know, how- ever, that he reached the United States, and person- ally communicated his impressions of California to Webster and other high authorities at Washington. I shall have occasion to notice further a letter on Californian affairs addressed by Peirce from on board his vessel to a gentleman residing in the Hawaiian Islands.
38 Peirce's Journal of a passage from Honolulu, Oahu, to the coast of Cali- fornia and Mexico in the brig ' Maryland.' MS., 4º, 41 p. This journal is preceded in the same volume by Peirce's journal, or log, of a voyage on the schooner Morse, starting from Boston April 21, 1839, via Cape Horn and Val- paraiso in 180 days to Honolulu, 73 p. The same volume contains also some- what extensive records and genealogical tables of Mr Peirce's family. The author, who had visited Cal. in 1828, and was a resident of S. F. in 1880-4, has contributed other material for my use.
HIST. CAL., VOL. IV. 15
CHAPTER IX.
SUTTER'S FORT-U. S. EXPLORING EXPEDITION-DUFLOT DE MOFRAS.
1841-1842.
PROGRESS AT NEW HELVETIA-THE FORT-INDIANS-INDUSTRIES-VIOGET'S MAP-SUTTER'S LAND GRANT-VISITORS-PURCHASE OF ROSS-VIEWS OF PEIRCE AND SIMPSON-SUTTER'S TROUBLES-DEBTS-TRADE AND TRAPPING-VALLEJO AND SUTTER-THREATS OF REVOLT-LETTER TO LEESE-U. S. EXPLORING EXPEDITION-THE FLEET-PUBLISHED RE- SULTS-OPERATIONS IN CALIFORNIA-RINGGOLD ON THE SACRAMENTO- EMMONS' OVERLAND TRIP FROM OREGON-MAP-WILKES' NARRATIVE -SERIOUS DEFECTS-QUOTATIONS-DUFLOT DE MOFRAS-HIS MOVE- MENTS-HIS EXPERIENCE AT MONTEREY, YERBA BUENA, AND SONOMA- HIS CHARACTER- HIS BOOK-MAP.
CAPTAIN SUTTER's acts, and the progress of his establishment on the Sacramento, cannot be treated as a purely local affair, but must be presented with the current annals of the department, so closely are they connected with the general subject of immigra- tion and the growth of foreign influence in Califor- nia. The adventurous German can hardly be re- garded as a political missionary, "determined to rear the standard of American freedom in this distant and secluded dependency of imbecile Mexico,"1 as some of his admirers are wont to picture him; for his aim was to make a fortune, and it mattered little to him whether he did it in the role of Yankee pioneer, Swiss immigrant, French officer, Mexican alcalde, or cosmopolitan adventurer; yet all the same he did by building up his frontier trading-post contribute very
1 Upham's Notes, 318-22, and similar expressions often repeated by news- paper writers.
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227
PROGRESS AT NEW HELVETIA.
materially to hasten the success of American occu- pation.
Progress at Nueva Helvecia in 1841-2 was for the most part in the same directions that have been indi- cated in the annals of the preceding year.2 Work was continued chiefly by Indian laborers on the fort, which had been begun in 1840, and was completed probably in 1844. Wilkes found the Indians at work on the walls in the autumn of 1841, but there is no record to show the state of the structure at any time before its completion. The fort may be described, with sufficient accuracy for my present purpose, as an adobe wall eighteen feet high and three feet thick, enclosing a rectangular space of about 500 by 150 feet. At the south-east and north-west corners pro- jecting bastions, or towers, rose above the walls of the rectangle, and contained in their upper stories cannon which commanded the gateways in the centre of each side except the western. Loop-holes were pierced in the walls at different points. Guns were mounted at the main entrance on the south and else- where, and the north side seems also to have been protected by a ravine. An inner wall, with the inter- mediate space roofed over, furnished a large number of apartments in the Californian style, and there were cther detached buildings, both of wood and adobe, in the interior.3 Some of the wooden buildings were brought from Ross. The armament, as early as 1842, consisted of two brass field-pieces and a dozen or more iron guns of different kinds, brought from Honolulu and purchased from different vessels. Sutter states that he bought only one gun, one of the brass pieces,
2 See chap. v. of this vol.
8 See views and descriptions of the completed buildings in Upham's Notes, 318-22; Ferry, Cal., 97; Hastings' Emigrant Guide, 102-3; Lancey's Cruise of the Dale; Bryant's What I Saw in Cal., 267-70; Buffum's Gold Regions, 54-5; Revere's Tour of Duty, 74; and many other publications. Mofras, Explor., i. 457-60, tells us that the wall was 5 feet thick, and strengthened with beams; that each face of the quadrilateral was 100 metres; and that there was an exterior gallery running round the wall-but the structure was far from complete at the time of this author's visit.
228
SUTTER'S FORT.
from the Russians; Bidwell and others think more were obtained.
I find no evidence of serious trouble with the Indians in these years;4 indeed, Sutter seems to have had re- markable success in maintaining friendly relations with the natives, and in inducing them to work, not only for himself, but for friends in other parts of the coun- try to whom he sent them.5 Little progress if any was made in agriculture before the end of 1842; as we have seen, Sutter had no wheat with which to make his first payment to the Russians. His live- stock, however, had gained in number both from the natural increase, and especially from the 1,700 cattle, 900 horses, and 900 sheep purchased at Ross.6 Trap- ping was not successful in 1841, on account of the de- fective traps and want of skill; but in 1842 the result was more encouraging, and beaver-skins began to be sent down the river in considerable quantities to pay the more urgent of the captain's debtors. The only other products of New Helvetian industries which were put to a similar use, or exchanged for such needed supplies as could not be obtained on credit, were deer-fat and wild-grape brandy.7 No lists of in-
4 In Dept. St. Pap., MS., xvii. S8-93, Sutter reports to Alvarado (1841) that the Cosumnes and Cosolumnes had been plotting against him, trying first to entice him, by stories of a white man living in the mountains, to go with them, and later to entice away his Indians. In Sutter Co. Hist., 13, is men- tioned Sutter's pursuit and capture of a chief near Marysville in 1841.
5 Aug. 16, 1841, Sutter regrets that he cannot send certain Indians. Those from S. Rafael and Yerba Buena have not come back; those in the south are fighting among themselves; and the Sagayacumnes come no more. There- fore he is short of workmen; but will have some to send next trip. Sutter- Suñol Corresp., MS., 9. July 24, 1842, has made peace with the Feather River people, who will pick grapes for him. Id., 16. Mofras found about 100 natives at work. Explor., i. 457-60.
6 Wilkes, Narr., v. 190, gives the number of Sutter's live-stock-before the purchase probably-as 2,500 cattle, 1,000 horses, and 1,000 sheep. Mo- fras, Explor., i. 457-60, has it 4,000 oxen, 1,200 cows, 1,500 horses, and 2,000 sheep.
7 Jan. 9, 1841, his trappers about to start out, and despite past ill success is confident he will have plenty of furs soon. Sutter-Suñol Corresp., MS., 3. Oct. 19th, will have some brandy to send soon. Id., 11. March 24, 1842, May Ist, ete., sends 140 beaver-skins at $2.50 pr pound, and 30 land-otter skins at $2.50 each. Beaver-hunting will be poor this season; besides, his head hunter steals the skins to sell to Marsh and others. The Columbia River trappers also steal and trade for his furs. Id., 12-13. Deer-fat sent and
229
MAP AND LAND-GRANT.
habitants or employés at this place are extant; but I suppose that by the end of 1842 there must have been from thirty to forty white men connected in one way or another with the establishment, since many of the overland immigrants were employed by Sutter for a time until they could find an opportunity for settle- ment. The names of most may be found in lists given elsewhere. Two or three were already settled on lands in this region.8 It would seem, however, that more foreigners came to the fort at times than the captain desired to retain in his service.9
Jean J. Vioget had spent some time at New Hel- vetia, probably in the early part of 1841, and was employed by Sutter to make a survey and map of the region, to be used in his application for the grant of land that had been promised. I consider this map, as the first ever made of the Sacramento region, worthy of reproduction. Armed with the diseño, Sutter went down to the capital in May or June for his grant.10 His petition to Alvarado was dated June 15th,11 and
promised. Id., 14, etc. July 24th, is going to make brandy on a large scale. Id., 15. Wilkes, Narr., v. 101, speaks of the trappers and of a distillery for making 'a kind of pisco.' Yates, Sketch, MS., 15, says the distillery was in charge of a German named Uber, and makes a pun on the connection of his name and the uva, or grape.
8 These were John Sinclair at Grimes' rancho on the American River, Nicholas Allgeier on Feather River, Theodore Cordua at Marysville, and Wm Gordon on Cache Creek. Sutter Co. Hist., 21-2. John Yates, who com- manded Sutter's schooner, and who writes what he calls a Sketch of a Journey in 1842 from Sacramento, Cal., through the Valley, MS., large fol., 35 p., represents himself as having visited in succession Sinclair, Allgeier, Hock Farm, Dutton and Neal on Butte Creek, and Lassen 25 miles beyond, there being a house and live-stock at each place; but Dutton, Neal, and Las- sen arc understood not to have settled here nntil a later period. I do not propose, however, to go into details about the earliest settlers at present.
9 May 10, 1842, he writes: 'Je commence a donner le congé a beaucoup des étrangers, parceque je prefère de n'avoir pas autant en mon service, parce- qu'il y a bien peu parmi eux qui sont bon.' Sutter-Sunol Corresp., MS., 13. 10 April 21, 1841, will see Suñol in person the next trip. Apr. 30th, if he comes to S. José, will Sufiol lend him a horse to go to Monterey? The next letter is dated Aug. 2d, at N. Helvetia, after his return. Sutter-Suñol Corresp., MS., 4-5.
11 In it he states ' that since he first arrived in this country, being desirous of cultivating a part of the many vacant lands which it possesses, he solicited and obtained. vour superior approbation to establish himself on the land which he now occupies, accompanied by some industrious families who chose to fol- low him. In consequence of assiduons labor, his establishment now promises flattering hopes to himself and advantages to the department in general; for,
230
SUTTER'S FORT.
LOS TRES PICOS
Lindero Latitud Norte 99%5' 45"
Rancheria
Tomscha
Rancho de los Bonegos
Rancho de
Rancheria
de Sicha
.Rancheria
de Hock
Rancheria Rancho Ind.
Rancho de Hock
Rio
Rancho Olasch
de
Rio
del
Sacramento
Plumas
Latitud 39ºs' 45"
Rancheris
TULE
Rancheria
Rio
de
Latitud 38 45' 42"
ESTABLA DE NUEVA-HELVETIA.
Rancheria
de Gentilea
TIERRAS ESTERILLEB
Lindero Latitud Norte 88°41'33"
MAP OF NEW HELVETIA, 1841.
Rancheria de Buba
Meckleborg
Rancheris Indies Gentilles
TULARES Y TIERRAS ESTERILLES
los
TULE
6
Americanos
231
THE SACRAMENTO GRANT.
on the 18th the grant was made in due form to Sut- ter, who " has sufficiently accredited his laboriousness, good conduct, and other qualifications required in such cases; and has already in advance manifested his great efforts, his constant firmness, and truly patriotic zeal in favor of our institutions, by reducing to civilization a large number of savage Indians, natives of those frontiers." The land granted was eleven square leagues within the tract designated on the map, bounded on the north by the Three Peaks and lati- itude 39° 41' 45"; on the east by the "margins of Feather River;" on the south by latitude 38° 49' 32"; and on the west by the Sacramento River-the eleven leagues not including lands, flooded by the river. The conditions, besides those of usual formality, were that "he shall maintain the native Indians of the different tribes of those points in the enjoyment and liberty ot their possessions, without molesting them, and he shall use no other means of reducing them to civilization but those of prudence and friendly intercourse, and not make war upon them in any way without previ- ously obtaining authority from government."12
This grant of New Helvetia was made in good faith, with due regard to the requisite legal forms, and with as much attention to accuracy of location as was cus- tomary at the time. Its validity was subsequently
stimulated by the example of his followers, industrious ideas are awakening in the other inhabitants of this country, and at the same time the place, from its situation, serves as a strong barrier to the incursions of the barbarous tribes to the settlements, and as a school of civilization, both to the barbarous na- tives and to those subjected to the missions, who, in the long period of time that they have been under subjection, have never been useful members to so- ciety in general, as the undersigned has now the satisfaction to know that they will become, owing to his indefatigable labors. For all these reasons, the undersigned, in order to aggrandize his enterprise and establish twelve good families, is under the necessity of requesting of the goodness of your Excellency that you be pleased to grant him eleven leagues in the establish- ment named Nueva Helvecia, situated towards the north, in exact accordance with the land designated ou the plat,' etc.
12 The petition and grant have often been printed in connection with va- rious legal proceedings; but for them and the map I refer the reader only to the case of Ferris vs Coover, in Cal. Reports, x. 589-640. Cases growing out of this grant before the land commission were nos. 6, 92, 248, 633, 637, and 683.
232
SUTTER'S FORT.
sustained by the U. S. government, although the orig- inal grant had been destroyed in one of the Sacra- mento fires. A variety of circumstances, however, in addition to the ordinary difficulties connected with 'floating' grants, conspired to cause no end of litigation in later years, into the particulars of which this is not the place to enter. Such circumstances were Vioget's error in fixing latitudes, Alvarado's apparent blunder in copying one of the latitudes from the map to the document, Sutter's peculiarities of temperament which led him to dispose of more land than even the pro- verbial elasticity of a Mexican grant could be made to cover, the foundation of a large town upon the tract, and the large number of owners and claimants to be satisfied.
On the 23d of August Lieutenant Ringgold of Wilkes' expedition arrived at Sutter's Fort, coming up the river in boats,18 and September 4th the same party called here again on their return. October 19th Lieutenant Emmons of the same expedition arrived with his overland party from Oregon, a part of the company spending two days at the fort. With this company from Oregon came a small party of immi- grants, some of whom, as Sutter states, had crossed the continent with him and came to enter his service.14 Wilkes acknowledges with thanks the kind attentions shown to members of his expedition by Sutter, who was found to be a man of frank and prepossessing manners, of much intelligence, conversant with sev- eral languages, "and withal not a little enthusiastic." The latitude of the fort was found to be 38° 33' 45"; and a brief description is given of the establishment and its surroundings. The prediction is also offered
13 Sutter's Diary, 3; Sept. Ist, Sutter writes that the party is exploring up the river, and he is very curious to learn what they have discovered. Sutter- Suñol, Corresp .. MS., 10.
14 Oct. 19, 1841, Sutter mentions the arrival, Suñol Corresp., MS., 11. In his Diary, 3, Sutter gives the date as Oct. 18th, and, ever ready to claim all possible credit, even for small services, states that he despatched one of the parties down the river in his vessel; though it appears from Wilkes' narrative that they went down in the Vincennes' boat.
233
ROTCHEF AND MOFRAS.
that "it will not be long before it becomes in some re- spects an American colony."15
It was at the beginning of September, while Ring- gold's party was in the valley, that a schooner arrived from Ross with Manager Rotchef on board to nego- tiate for the sale which has already received sufficient notice.16 The bargain was closed during the first half of September, though the contract was not formally signed until December; and at the end of October, Sutter sent a party, including Livermore, Merritt, and Walker, to drive his newly acquired live-stock across the country,17 sending Ridley about the same time to take charge of his interests on the coast. Bidwell succeeded Ridley early in 1842. The purchase in- cluded the Russian schooner, which was rechristened the Sacramento, and made frequent trips to and from Bodega, bringing back all of the property that was movable and could be utilized, including several of the wooden buildings, which were set up within the walls of the fort at New Helvetia, 18
It was on September Ist that there arrived at the fort M. Duflot de Mofras,19 whose visit to California in general I shall notice later in this chapter. Mofras gives a brief historical and descriptive sketch of Sut- ter's establishment, to which-partly on account of the captain's French antecedents, for Sutter still talked of his twelve years' service in the royal guard- he attaches much importance. Sutter's plans, as
15 Wilkes' Narr., v. 189-94, 204-7, 262-3.
16 See chap. vi. of this vol.
17 In his Diary, 3, Sutter tells us that 100 head of cattle were drowned in fording the Sacramento. He gives the date of sending the men as Sept. 28th, but this is doubtless an error of a month, since he writes Oct. 19th of the trouble he anticipates in moving the animals, Sutter-Suñol Corresp., MS., 11; and Joel P. Walker, Narrative, MS., 12, who came with Emmons on Oct. 19th, tells us that he accompanied the party to Ross. It was very likely even later than October.
18 John Bidwell, California, 1841-8, MS., 85, says that Sutter attempted unsuccessfully to remove the heavy threshing-floors by towing them as rafts behind his schooner, via S. F. Mofras, Explor., i. 468, gives a picture of a house like those thus removed.
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