BOOK VI.

THE TERRITORY OF NEW MEXICO

AND

THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA;

AS PARTS OF THE UNITED STATES OF NORTH AMERICA.

THE TERRITORY OF NEW MEXICO.

EXPLORATION OF THE FAR WEST--LONG, NICOLLET, FRÉMONT--SANTA FÉ TRADE--FIRST ADVENTURERS--CARAVANS--NEW MEXICO ERECTED BY CONGRESS INTO A TERRITORY--GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF NEW MEXICO--THE RIO GRANDE--ITS VALUE--SOIL--PRODUCTS--IRRIGATION--CATTLE--INDIANS--MINES--GOLD --SILVER--COPPER--IRON--GYPSUM--SALT--- CLIMATE--PUEBLO INDIANS--WILD INDIANS ENUMERATED--NUMBER OF PUEBLO INDIANS--CENSUS--PROXIMATE PRESENT POPULATION--CHARACTER OF PEOPLE AND GOVERNMENT--SANTA FÉ--ALBURQUERQUE--VALLEY OF TOAS--STATISTICS OF SANTA FÉ TRADE, ETC.--ITINERARY FROM FORT LEAVENWORTH TO SANTA FÉ AND EL PASO.

It was not until a few years ago that the people of the United States generally began to turn their attention to the development of those vast regions lying in the far west and along the shores of the Pacific Ocean. An occasional adventurer or foreign traveller returned from the Rocky Mountains after a pleasant but wild sojourn among the trappers and Indians, and told his romantic stories to eager listeners. At length, Major Long penetrated their recesses,--Nicollet sought the sources of the Mississippi,--and Frémont not only pushed his way beyond them, but traversed the majestic snow-buried summits of the Sierra Nevada and explored the genial lands lying at their feet in California.

Meanwhile a trade had grown up, midway from the Atlantic to the Pacific, between our western cities and the northern States of Mexico. But this, too, was an intercourse of mingled adventure, romance and commerce. Its objects and results were not generally known or recounted in the gazettes. Its hardy pursuers who were equally ready for a bargain or a battle, did not commonly amuse themselves either with correspondence or authorship, and accordingly, "The Santa Fé Trade" remained as much a matter of mystery to the mass of Americans as the marches of those great caravans which in the east annually traverse the desert towards the tomb of the Prophet.

* * * * *

The origin of this trade is not definitely known. A certain James Pursely, who wandered in the lonely regions west of the Mississippi about the year 1805, and learned something respecting the settlements in New Mexico from Indians near the sources of the Platte river, is supposed to have been the first _American_ who visited Santa Fé in this direction; though, in the previous year, a _French Creole_ named La Lande, had been despatched by Mr. Morrison, a merchant of Kaskaskia, with orders if possible to reach Santa Fé. It is known that this person arrived at his destination, but was so delighted with the country and so well entertained, that he never returned, and probably established himself in successful trade upon the capital of his confiding employer.

From this period, and after the Southern Expedition of Captain Pike, very little is heard of this distant region until a caravan was fitted out under the auspices of Messrs. Knight, Beard, Chambers, and about eight other persons, in the year 1812. They reached Santa Fé in an unlucky hour. The revolutionary movements which had been disturbing Mexico were just then checked by the successes of the royalists, and the traders were siezed as spies, their goods confiscated, and themselves confined in the prisons of Chihuahua for nine years, when McKnight and his comrades were finally released. As soon as these luckless adventurers reached the United States, their return, their narratives and the probable settlement of the Mexican revolution by the successes of Iturbidé, induced others to fit out expeditions at once. A merchant of Ohio, named Glenn, and Captain Becknell, of Missouri, set out forthwith; and in 1824, about eighty traders, accompanied by several intelligent and cultivated Missourians, departed not only with pack-mules, which had hitherto served for the transportation of goods, but with twenty-five wheeled vehicles of which one or two were stout road _wagons_, the whole conveying a freight of near thirty thousand dollars in merchandise. The caravan crossed the desert-plains after an eventful journey; and some years after--as the early adventurers had experienced no serious molestations from the Indians,--a wealthier class of traders, availed themselves of the opened commerce of the Prairies and finally established the annual caravans which within recent years have departed from the neighborhood of Independence, laden with most valuable freights for the markets of Santa Fé, Chihuahua, and even the distant Fair of San Juan de los Lagos.

In time, however, the caravans, the period of their passage, and their value, became known to the savages through whose lonely territory they passed, and so many cruel attacks were made, that the United States resolved to protect them and established military convoys for the most dangerous part of the route. But these were not always of sufficient size, nor did they cover the road adequately; for the escort which accompanied the caravan of 1829, and another composed of sixty dragoons under Captain Wharton in 1834, constituted the only government protection until the year 1843, when large escorts under Captain Cook attended two different caravans as far as the Arkansas river. Since that period, the war has slightly interfered with the trade; but the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848, having given New Mexico to the United States, and a territorial government having been formed for it during the first session of the thirty-first Congress, a new and progressive era is about to dawn upon the whole of the hitherto lonely waste between the western settlements of Texas and the shores of the Pacific.

By an act approved on the 9th of September, 1850, it is provided: "That all that portion of the territory of the United States bounded as follows: beginning at a point in the Colorado river, where the boundary line with the Republic of Mexico crosses the same; thence eastwardly with the said boundary line to the Rio Grande; thence following the main channel of said river to the parallel of the thirty-second degree of north latitude; thence east with said degree to its intersection with the one hundred and third degree of longitude west of Greenwich; thence north with said degree of longitude to the parallel of the thirty-eighth degree of north latitude; thence west with said parallel to the summit of the Sierra Madre; thence south with the crest of said mountains to the thirty-seventh parallel of north latitude; thence west with said parallel to its intersection with the boundary line of the State of California; thence with said boundary line to the place of beginning,--be and the same is hereby erected into a temporary government, by the name of the TERRITORY OF NEW MEXICO: _Provided_, That nothing in this act contained shall be construed to inhibit the Government of the United States from dividing said Territory into two or more Territories, in such manner and at such times as Congress shall deem convenient and proper, or from attaching any portion thereof to any other Territory or State: _And provided, further_, That, when admitted as a State, the said Territory, or any portion of the same, shall be received into the Union with or without slavery, as their constitution may prescribe at the time of their admission."

Under the old Spanish and Mexican governments, the boundaries of New Mexico were exceedingly indefinite; but this act forever fixes the territorial limits, and also settles the long vexed question of the boundary of Texas.

"New Mexico," says Dr. Wislizenius, in his excellent memoir on the northern part of the Republic; "is a very mountainous country, with a large valley in the middle, running from north to south, and formed by the Rio del Norte or Rio Grande. The valley is generally about twenty miles wide, and bordered on the east and west by mountain chains, continuations of the Rocky Mountains, which have received different names, such as La Sierra Blanca; Los Organos, and Oscura, on the eastern side of the stream; and the Sierra de las Grullas, De Acha, and De los Mimbres, towards the west. The height of these mountains south of Santa Fé, may be averaged between six and eight thousand feet, while near Santa Fé and the more northern regions, some snow covered peaks are seen rising probably ten or twelve thousand feet above the sea. The mountains are principally composed of igneous rocks, as granite, sienite, diorite, and basalt. On the higher mountains excellent pine timber grows; on the lower, cedars and sometimes oak, and in the valley of the Rio Grande, principally mezquite.

The main artery of New Mexico is the Rio del Norte or Rio Grande, the longest and largest river ever possessed by Mexico. Its head waters were explored in 1807 by Captain Pike, between 37° and 38° north latitude; but its highest sources are supposed to be about two degrees further north in the Rocky Mountains, near the head waters of the Arkansas and the Rio Grande or Colorado of the west. Following a general southern direction, it runs through New Mexico--where its principal affluent is the Rio Chamas from the west--and then winds its way in a south-eastern direction, through the States of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Tamaulipas, and Texas, to the Gulf of Mexico in 25° 56´ north latitude. Its tributaries in the latter States are the Pecos, from the north; the Conchos, Salado, Alamo, and San Juan, from the south. The whole course of the river, in a straight line, would be near twelve hundred miles; but from the meandering of its lower half, it runs at least about two thousand miles from the region of eternal snow to the almost tropical climate of the Gulf. The elevation of the stream above the sea at Alburquerque, in New Mexico, is about forty-eight hundred feet; at El Paso del Norte, about thirty-eight hundred; and at Reynosa,--between three and four hundred miles from its mouth--about one hundred and seventy feet. The fall of its water between Alburquerque and El Paso, appears to be from two to three feet in a mile, and below Reynosa, one foot in two miles. This fall of the river is seldom used as motive power, except for some flour mills, which are oftener worked by mules than water. The principal advantage at present derived from it is for agriculture, by a well conducted system of irrigation. As to its navigation, it is very doubtful if even canoes could be used _in New Mexico_, except, perhaps, during May and June, when the stream, from the melting of the snow in the mountains, is at its highest stage. It is entirely too shallow and interrupted by too many sand bars, to promise any thing for transportation; yet, on the southern portion, the recent exploration by Captain Sterling, in the United States steamer Major Brown, has proved that steamboats may ascend for a distance of seven hundred miles between the Gulf and Laredo. This steamer, however, did not draw over two feet of water, but the explorers are of opinion that by spending one hundred thousand dollars in a proper improvement of the Rio Grande above the town of Mier, boats drawing four feet could readily ply between the mouth of the river and Laredo.

The soil in the valley of the Rio Grande, in New Mexico, is generally sandy and appears to be poor; yet, by irrigation, it is made to produce abundant crops. Though agriculture has been hitherto carried on in a very primitive way, either with the hoe alone, or with a very rough plough made entirely of wood, nevertheless the inhabitants raise large quantities of the staple productions--such as Indian corn, wheat, beans, onions, red peppers, and some fruits. The most fertile part of the valley, begins below Santa Fé along the river, and is called the 'Rio abajo,' or Country down the Stream. In that region it is not uncommon to gather two annual harvests. The general dryness of the climate and aridity of the soil will always confine agriculture to the valleys of water courses, which rarely contain running water during the whole year. But on several occasions it was remarked, in the high table land from Santa Fé south, that at a certain depth layers of clay are found, that may form reservoirs for the sunken water courses from the eastern and western mountain chain, and consequently, by the improved method of boring, or by Artesian wells, they might easily be made to yield their water to the surface. If experiments to that effect should prove successful, the progress of agriculture in New Mexico would be more rapid, and, even many of the dreaded 'Jornadas' might be changed from waterless deserts into cultivated plains.

The present system of irrigation is effected by daming the streams, and throwing the water into larger and smaller ditches or _acequias_ surrounding and intersecting the whole cultivated land. The inhabitants of towns and villages locate their farms together, and allot to each the use of a part of the water at certain definite periods. These common fields are generally left without fences, for the grazing cattle are always guarded by _vaqueros_ or herdsmen. The finest cultivated fields are generally seen on the _haciendas_, or large estates belonging to the rich proprietors. These _haciendas_ are a remnant of the old Spanish system by which large tracts, with the appurtenances of Indian inhabitants or serfs were granted by the crown to its vassals. The great number of human beings attached to such estates, are, in fact, nothing more than slaves; they receive from their masters only food, lodging, and raiment, or, perhaps a mere nominal pay, and are kept constantly in debt and dependance on their landlords; so that if ancient custom and natural indolence did not compel them to remain permanently with their hereditary masters, the enforcement of Mexican laws against debtors would be sufficient to prolong their servitude from generation to generation.

Besides agriculture, the New Mexicans pay a great deal of attention to the raising of cattle. Their stock is all of a small size, raised from unimproved or exhausted breeds; but it increases rapidly, and as no stable feeding is needed in winter, it exacts but little care from its owners. There are large tracts of land in New Mexico, either too mountainous or too distant from water to be cultivated, which, nevertheless, afford excellent pasturage for innumerable herds during the whole year; but, unfortunately, here as well as in the State of Chihuahua, cattle raising has been crippled by the incursions of hostile Indians, who consider themselves 'secret partners' in the business, and annually carry off their share from the unprotected _vaqueros_.

A third much neglected branch of industry in New Mexico, is that of mining. Numerous deserted mining places in this region prove that it was pursued with much greater zeal in Spanish times than at present. This may be accounted for by the actual want of capital and knowledge of mining, but, especially, by the unsettled state of the country and the arbitrary conduct of its rulers. The mountainous parts of New Mexico are considered extremely rich in gold, copper, iron, and some silver. Gold seems to be found to a large extent in all the mountains near Santa Fé; south of it, at a distance of about one hundred miles as far as "Gran Quivara," and north for about one hundred and twenty miles up to the river Sangre de Christo. Throughout the whole of this region gold dust has been abundantly found by the poorer classes of Mexicans, who occupy themselves with washing it from the mountain streams. At present the Old and New _Placeres_, or places where gold is obtained near Santa Fé, have attracted most attention, and not only _gold washes_ but _gold mines_, also, are worked there. Yet they are probably the _only_ gold mines at present wrought in the territory. The _wash gold_ when examined was found to contain:

Native Gold, 92.5 Silver, 3.5 Iron and Silex, 4.0 ----- 100.0;--

while the total annual production of both _placeres_ seems to have varied considerably;--in some years it was estimated at from thirty to forty thousand dollars, in others from sixty to eighty thousand, and in latter years, it is reputed to have ascended to even two hundred and fifty thousand.

Several rich silver mines were, in Spanish times, worked at Avo, at Cerillos, and in the Nambe mountains, but none are in operation at present. Copper is found in _abundance_ throughout the country, but principally at Las Tijeras, Jemas, Abiquia, and Gudalupita de Mora, but until a recent period only one copper mine was wrought south of the _placeres_. Iron, though also existing in very large quantities, has been entirely overlooked. Coal is found in different localities--as in the Raton mountains; in the vicinity of the village of Jimez, south-west of Santa Fé; and in spots south of the _placeres_. Gypsum, common and selenite, are discovered abundantly, and it is said that most extensive layers exist in the mountains near Algodon, on the Rio Grande, and in the neighborhood of the celebrated _Salinas_. It is used as common lime for white-washing, while the crystalline or selenite is employed instead of window glass. About one hundred miles, south south-east of Santa Fé, on the high table land between the Rio Grande and Pecos, are some extensive _salinas_ or salt lakes, from which all the salt used in New Mexico is procured. Large caravans from Santa Fé visit this place every year during the dry season, and return heavily laden with the precious deposits. They either sell it for one and sometimes two dollars per bushel, or exchange a bushel of salt for a bushel of Indian corn.

The climate of New Mexico differs of course in the higher mountainous parts from the lower valley of the Rio Grande; but, generally, it is temperate, constant and healthy. The summer heat in the valley of the river sometimes rises to near 100° Farenheit; yet the nights are always cool, pleasant, and refreshing. The winters are longer and severer than in Chihuahua, for the higher mountains are always covered with snow, while ice and snow are common in Santa Fé, though the Rio Grande is never sufficiently frozen to admit the passage of horses and vehicles. The sky is generally clear and the atmosphere dry. Between July and October rain falls; but the wet season is not so constant or regular as in the Southern States of the Mexican Republic. Disease seems to be very little known except in the form of inflammations and typhoidal fevers during the winter.

Between the Indians and the whites,--except perhaps on the haciendas--there still continues the same old rancorous feeling which generated the general insurrection narrated in the historical part of this work. The PUEBLO Indians live always isolated in their villages, cultivate the soil, raise some stock, and are generally poor, frugal, and sober. These various tribes, of which a large number still exist, are reduced to probably about seven thousand souls. They speak different dialects and sometimes broken Spanish. For the government of their communities they select a _Cacique_ and a council, and in war are led by a Capitan. In religious rites they mingle Catholicism and Paganism. Their villages are very regularly built; though sometimes, there is but one large house of several stories, with a vast number of small rooms, in which all the inhabitants of the _pueblo_ are quartered! Instead of doors in front, traps are made on the roofs of their dwellings to which they ascend by a ladder that is withdrawn during the night so as to secure them, from surprise or attack. Their dress consists of moccasins, short breeches and a woollen jacket or blanket; their black hair is usually worn long, while bows and arrows together with a lance and sometimes a gun compose their weapons.[72]

* * * * *

The late Governor, Charles Bent, in a report to the United States Government from Santa Fé in 1846, presents the following statement of the tribes and numbers of the WILD INDIANS, who reside or roam in the regions which were then supposed to be comprised in New Mexico. Bent's perfect familiarity with a district in which he had so long dwelt or traded, renders his enumeration of these savages an important historical fact in the history of the newly acquired Territory.

Apaches or Jicarillas, 100 lodges comprising 500 souls. Apaches proper, 800 or 900 " " 5,500 " Utahs, Grande Unita rivers, 600 " " 3,000 " Utahs, Southern, 200 " " 1,400 " Navajos, 1,000 families " 7,000 " Moques, 350 " " 2,450 " Comanches, 2,500 lodges " 12,000 " Cayugas, 400 " " 2,000 " Cheyennes, 300 " " 1,500 " Arapahoes, 400 " " 1,600 " ------ TOTAL, 36,950 "

According to a report made in October, 1849, by Mr. James S. Calhoun, Indian Agent at Santa Fé, the following summary of the _Pueblos_, and _Pueblo Indians_ of New Mexico, is based on a census ordered by the legislature of New Mexico, convened in December, 1847; but it includes only individuals five years of age and upwards.

PUEBLOS AND PUEBLO INDIANS OF NEW MEXICO.

PUEBLO INDIANS Counties. PUEBLOS. over 5 years

County of Taos, Taos, Picoris 283 " Rio Arriva, San Juan, Santa Clara 500 " Santa Fé, { San Ildefonso, Namba, } { Pojoaque, Tezuque } 590 { Cochiti, Santo Domingo,} " Santa Anna, { San Félipé, Santa Anna, } 1,918 { Ziá, Jemez, } " Bernalillo, Sandia, Gleta, 833 " Valencia, Laguna, Acoma, Zunia, 1,800 Opposite El Paso, Socoro, Islettas, 600 ----- Total of PUEBLOS 21. Total of Pueblo Indians 6,524

These calculations will serve to aid in the estimates of present population, for no accurate census has been prepared officially for many years.

In 1793, according to an enumeration then made, the _whole_ population amounted to 30,953:--in 1833 it is estimated, in the statistics of Galvan's Calendar, at 52,300 individuals, who were divided by Mühlenpfordt and Dr. Wislizenius into 1/20 pure Spanish blood, 4/20 Creoles, 5/20 Mestizos, and 10/20 Pueblo Indians. These calculations, according to the above census of _Pueblo Indians_, would make the whole present population not more than thirteen or fourteen thousand, which is obviously incorrect unless the census of 1847 was most inaccurately made.

In a letter from the Hon. Hugh N. Smith, delegate from New Mexico, addressed to the National Intelligencer, Washington, and published on the 25th of June, 1850, he desires to correct the mistakes which have been made in regard to the number and character of the inhabitants of New Mexico. The number, he says, has been variously stated in the Congressional debates at from ten to seventy thousand; and generally _one half_, and sometimes _all_ of them, are said to be _Indians_. "This is a great error," continues the delegate, "we have a population of at least ninety thousand, of whom from ten to twelve thousand only are Pueblo Indians, and we do not estimate in our population any other kind of Indians except Pueblos. They are a quiet, inoffensive, honest, and industrious people; they own the best farming lands in the Territory, and are engaged entirely in agricultural pursuits, and, as tax-paying Indians, would be entitled to the privileges of citizens, and of the elective franchise in Texas.

"The census taken in New Mexico the year before the entrance of General Kearney into that Territory, showed the population to be one hundred thousand and two or three hundred over. This may not have been taken with great accuracy, but the best informed persons, and those who have lived there longest agree with me that we have not less than ninety thousand. Dr. Wislizenius, who is generally correct in his accounts of travel, and who is relied upon as good authority, in his statistics of that country, is certainly mistaken in saying that ten-twentieths, or one-half of the population, are Pueblo Indians. I have travelled through the settled parts of that country two or three times a year for the last three years, and I know that not a fifth, or even one-sixth are Indians.

"There are in New Mexico from twelve to fifteen hundred resident _American voters_, emigrants from the different States, principally from the State of Missouri; the rest of the population is Mexican and Spanish."

Upon these estimates and calculations it would perhaps be fair, in arriving at a proximate enumeration of inhabitants, to give the following ratios:--

WILD INDIANS, according to Governor Charles Bent, 36,950 PUEBLO INDIANS, according to enumeration, 6,524 WHITE CREOLES, according to Dr. Gregg, 1,000 MESTIZOS, " " " 59,000 AMERICANS, according to Hon. Hugh N. Smith, 1,500 ------- 104,974 _Deduct_ from this for _Wild Indians_, 36,950 ------ 68,024 _Deduct_ from this for _Pueblo Indians_, 6,524 ------ PROXIMATE TOTAL OF PURE WHITES AND MIXED RACES,[73] 61,500

The more civilized inhabitants of New Mexico resemble their parent stock in character and manners, save that they are somewhat tinctured with the habits of the Indian race, whose blood is mingled more or less in the veins of all classes. The men are homely, the women pretty, and while the former are generally condemned for their indolence, insincerity and treacherousness, the latter are praised by all travellers for their frank, affectionate and gentle demeanor. Very little was ever done for education in this remote Territory, which was almost cut-off from the civilizing influences of the rest of the world. Its governors,--either sent by the central authorities of the Mexican Republic, or chosen by the people themselves,--were often overthrown by bloody revolutions; but, while in power, they used their offices as a prolific means of enriching themselves. Their intercourse with strangers from the north, and their facilities in fraudulently collecting or compromising duties upon the trade of the caravans, were constantly taken advantage of by the rapacious chiefs; nor could the national authorities attempt to control them, for the distance of Santa Fé from the capital always made the loyalty of New Mexico loose and insecure.[74] The governors, judiciary, and clergy of the Territory, naturally fostered this feeling among the people, and in many instances it was beneficial to the north of the Republic, especially in opposing the establishment of the tobacco monopoly and in resisting the introduction of the copper currency which elsewhere caused so much distress and ruin.

* * * * *

The principal town in New Mexico is Santa Fé, or, as it is often written by Spaniards and Mexicans, Santa Fé de San Francisco. It is one of the oldest Spanish settlements in the north, and lies at an elevation of 7047 feet above the sea, in 35° 41´ 6´´, north latitude, and 106° 2´ 30´´, longitude west from Greenwich, according to the observations of Lieutenant Colonel Emory of the United States Topographical Engineers, and of Doctors Gregg and Wislizenius. The town is situated in a wide plain surrounded by mountains, about fifteen miles east of the Rio Grande del Norte. Immediately west of the town a snow-capped mountain rises up to a lofty height, and a beautiful stream of small mill power size, ripples down its sides and joins the river about twenty miles to the south-westward.

Santa Fé is an irregular, scattered town, built of _adobes_ or sun dried bricks, while most of its streets are common highways traversing settlements interspersed with extensive cornfields. The only attempt at any thing like architectural compactness and precision, says Dr. Gregg, consists in four tiers of buildings, whose fronts are shaded with a fringe of rude _portales_ or corridors. They stand around the public square, and comprise the _Palacio_ or Governor's house, the custom house, barracks, calabozo, casa consistorial, the military chapel, besides several private residences, as well as most of the shops of the American traders.

ALBURQUERQUE is a town as large as Santa Fé, stretched for several miles along the left bank of the Rio Grande, and if not a handsomer, is at least not a worse looking place than the capital.

The population of New Mexico, owing to the insecure tenure of life on a frontier which is constantly liable to the ravages of wild Indians, has always clustered together in towns and villages. These are scattered along the valley of the rivers, and are commonly known as the "rio arriva" and "rio abajo" or "up stream" and "down stream" settlements. Even individual _ranchos_ and _haciendas_ serve as the _nucleii_ of large neighborhoods, and finally become important villages. All the principal locations of this character lie in the valley between one hundred miles north and one hundred and forty south of the capital. The most important of these next to the capital, is EL VALLE DE TAOS, whose name is derived from the Taosa tribe, a remnant of which still forms a Pueblo in the north of the district. No part of New Mexico equals this spot in productiveness; and although the bottom lands of the valleys where irrigation may be easily obtained have often produced over a hundred fold, yet the uplands throughout all these elevated plains about the Rocky Mountains, must, in all probability, remain sterile in consequence of the extraordinary dryness of the atmosphere. Indeed, New Mexico possesses but few of those natural advantages which are necessary to a rapid progress of civilization. It is a region without a single communication by water with any other part of the world, and is imprisoned by chains of mountains extending for more than five hundred miles, except in the direction of Chihuahua from which, however, its settlements are separated by a dreary desert of nearly two hundred miles.[75]

"Some general statistics of the Santa Fé trade," says Dr. Gregg, "may prove not wholly without interest to the mercantile reader. With this view I have prepared the following table of the probable amount of merchandise invested in the Santa Fé trade, from 1822 to 1843 inclusive, and about the portion of the same transferred to the Southern markets (chiefly Chihuahua) during the same period; together with the approximate number of wagons, men and proprietors engaged each year:

+-------+--------+-------+------+-------+----------+-------------------------------------+ | Years.| Amount|Wagons.| Men. | Prop' | Train to | Remarks. | | | Mdse.| | | ietors| Chihuahua| | +-------+--------+-------+------+-------+----------+-------------------------------------+ | 1822 | 15,000| | 70 | 60| | Pack-animals only used. | | 1823 | 12,000| | 50 | 30| | do. do. | | 1824 | 35,000| 26 | 100 | 80| 3,000 | do. and wagons. | | 1825 | 65,000| 37 | 130 | 90| 5,000 | do. do. | | 1826 | 90,000| 60 | 100 | 70| 7,000 | Wagons only henceforth. | | 1827 | 85,000| 55 | 90 | 50| 8,000 | | | 1828 | 150,000| 100 | 200 | 80| 20,000 | Three men killed, being the first. | | 1829 | 60,000| 30 | 50 | 20| 5,000 | 1st U. S. Escort--one trader killed.| | 1830 | 120,000| 70 | 140 | 60| 20,000 | First oxen used by traders. | | 1831 | 250,000| 130 | 320 | 80| 80,000 | Two men killed. | | 1832 | 140,000| 70 | 150 | 40| 50,000 | {Party defeated on Canadian | | 1833 | 180,000| 105 | 185 | 60| 80,000 | {2 men killed, 3 perished. | | 1834 | 150,000| 80 | 160 | 50| 70,000 | 2d U. S. Escort | | 1835 | 140,000| 75 | 140 | 40| 70,000 | | | 1836 | 130,000| 70 | 135 | 35| 60,000 | | | 1837 | 150,000| 80 | 160 | 35| 80,000 | | | 1838 | 90,000| 50 | 100 | 20| 40,000 | | | 1839 | 250,000| 130 | 250 | 40| 100,000 | Arkansas Expedition. | | 1840 | 50,000| 30 | 60 | 5| 10,000 | Chihuahua Expedition. | | 1841 | 150,000| 60 | 100 | 12| 80,000 | Texan Santa Fé Expedition. | | 1842 | 160,000| 70 | 120 | 15| 90,000 | | | 1843 | 450,000| 230 | 350 | 30| 300,000 | 3d U. S. Escort--Ports closed."[76] | +-------+--------+-------+------+-------+----------+-------------------------------------+

The following valuable geographical information is derived from a statement published by Major James Henry Carleton, United States Army, in the National Intelligencer, and is founded on the measurements made by Captain Alexander H. Dyer, with a viameter, during the march of General Kearney against New Mexico.

FORT LEAVENWORTH TO EL PASO, VIA SANTA FE.

Points. Distance from Distance from place to place. Fort Leavenworth.

Fort Leavenworth to-- _Miles._ _Miles._ Upper Ferry, Kansas river, 35 35 Willow Spring, 17 52 110 Creek, 24 76 Beaver Creek, 12 88 Dragoon Creek, 8 96 Bluff Creek, 13 109 Council Grove, 12 121 Diamond Spring, 15 136 Lost Spring, 14 150 Cotton Wood, 15 165 Main Turkey Creek, 18 183 Little Arkansas, 26 209 Big Cow Creek, 21 230 Walnut Creek, 25 255 Pawnee Fork, 25 280 Cow Creek, 12 292 Fort Mann, 55 347 Crossing of Arkansas, 26 373 Sand Creek, 50 423 Lower Spring on Cimerone, 8 431 Middle Spring, 34 465 Crossing of Cimerone, 27 492 Cold Spring, 18 510 Cedar Spring, 14 524 McNee's Creek, 10 534 Cotton Wood, 10 544 Rabbit-ear Spring, 14 558 Whetstone, 24 582 Point-of-Rocks, 15 597 Red River, 21 618 Ocate, 5 623 Wagon Mound, 20 643 Rock Creek, 16 659 Mora River, 8 667 Las Vegas, 19 686 St Miguel, 23 709 Old Peco Church, 24 733

Points. Distance from Distance from place to place. Fort Leavenworth.

Old Pecos Church to-- _Miles._ _Miles._ Santa Fé, 24 757 Alburquerque, 65 822 Peralto (The Oteros), 45 887 La Joya, Socorro, 18 905 Ford of Del Norte, above the ruins of Valverde,[77] 25 930 Fra Christoval, entrance of Jornada de los Muertos, 16 946 Doña Anna (Mexican town), 95 1,041 Grove on river, 15 1,056 Brazito, 16 1,072 El Paso, 32 1,104

NOTE.--The boundary line between the United States and Mexico, leaves the Del Norte a few miles above the town of El Paso, running west towards the Gila.

THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA.

TITLE TO THE REGION--MISSIONARY SETTLEMENT, ITS PURPOSES--CHARACTER OF CALIFORNIA--SECULARIZATION OF MISSIONS--POPULATION IN MISSIONS--AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS--CATTLE--HIDES--TALLOW--HERDSMEN--TRADE--THE WAR--CONDITION OF CALIFORNIA AT ITS CLOSE--PROGRESS OF SETTLEMENT AND LAW--CONSTITUTION ADOPTED--ADMISSION AS A STATE--FORMER BOUNDARIES--THE GREAT BASIN--UTAH--GREAT SALT LAKE--PYRAMID LAKE--RIVERS--PRESENT STATE BOUNDARIES--AREA--GEOGRAPHY--SACRAMENTO--SAN JOAQUIN--SHASTL PEAK.

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo confirmed the title to Upper California which the United States had gained by war. Although the geographical position of that region, the security of its harbors, and the supposed value of its soil, had attracted the attention of our people at an early day, it was not imagined, at the period of the cession, that the new territory would so soon become the nucleus of the first Anglo-Saxon empire on the shores of the Pacific. Its rapid development was owing rather to circumstances of an extraordinary character, than to the commercial and progressive spirit of our citizens; but the national energy which is always alive to individual interests, was never more completely illustrated than by the alacrity with which all classes rushed to the new scenes of labor, and turned to gold the soils that Indians and Mexicans had trodden for centuries as worthless sand.

Lower California was discovered, visited, and partly settled by the Spanish adventurers soon after the Mexican conquest, and although the coasts of Upper California had been explored in 1542, it was not until the eighteenth century that the "spiritual conquest" of that distant region was undertaken by the Roman clergy, under whose directions the missions were founded upon a "pious fund," created by the zealous Catholics of Mexico. At that time it was supposed that the civilizing influences of religion would not only win thousands of savages to the worship of God, but that by blending agriculture and trade under the tutelage of the church, the Indians might be rendered valuable subjects of the Spanish crown. The government well knew that the Spaniards were neither sufficiently numerous nor adventurous in Mexico to throw large bodies of hardy men into so remote a province on the shores of the Pacific, and it was, therefore, imagined that the actual native population of the district might be tamed by religion to supply the place of Christian immigration.

All the explorers who visited Upper California reported favorably on the character of the country. It was known to possess inducements to a profitable trade. The golden east opened its gates in front of it; and the country was supposed to contain valuable metallic deposits which might be slowly and surely developed. But the labors of the clergy did not respond to the expectations of the government. The priests were contented with present comfort rather than anxious for future success. The mass of the Indians were brought into a state of comparative vassalage, as we have seen in the chapter on the church of Mexico, and all the most valuable or accessible lands were rapidly absorbed, to the exclusion of hardy, persevering, and thrifty white men.[78]

Although the clergy were the virtual proprietors of the agricultural and cattle raising districts, the viceroyal government contrived to retain a loose and limited control over this district, until the period of the revolution. In 1824, on the adoption of the federal constitution, as the Californias did not possess sufficient population to become States of the federation, they were erected into Territories, with a right to send a member to the general congress, who, though suffered to participate in debate, was not allowed to vote in its decisions. As Territories they were under the government of an agent styled the Commandant-General, whose powers were very extensive.

After the revolution the first progressive step was made by the secularization of the missions. In 1833, under the vigorous lead of Gomez Farias, the salaries of the monks were suspended, the Indians were released from servitude, the pious fund was confiscated, the division of property among natives and settlers decreed, and an extensive plan proposed to fill the country by immigration. These blows fell heavily upon the monastic farmers and herdsmen of those trading churches. The missions were speedily deserted, their edifices and establishments decayed, and, near the period of their close, the whole result of this abortive ecclesiastical civilization, was summed up in the paltry numbers exhibited in the following statement:

MISSIONS AND THEIR POPULATION IN UPPER CALIFORNIA IN 1831.

Names of the Jurisdictions, PEOPLE OF ALL CLASSES AND AGES. Missions, and Towns. Men. Women. Boys. Girls. Total.

JURISDICTION OF S. FRANCISCO PRESIDIO OF S. FRANCISCO 124 85 89 73 371 Town of San José de Guadalupe 166 145 103 110 524 Mission of S. Francisco Solano 285 242 88 90 705 id. of S. Rafael 406 410 105 106 1027 id. of S. Francisco 146 65 13 13 237 id. of Santa Clara 752 491 68 60 1371 id. of S. José 823 659 100 145 1727 id. of Santa Cruz 222 94 30 20 366

JURISDICTION OF MONTEREY PRESIDIO OF MONTEREY 311 190 110 97 708 Village of Branciforte 52 34 27 17 130 Mission of S. Juan Bautista 480 351 85 71 987 id. of S. Carlos 102 79 34 21 236 id. of Na. sa. de la Soledad 210 81 23 20 334 id. of S. Antonio 394 209 51 17 671 id. of S. Miguel 349 292 46 61 748 id. of S. Luis Obispo 211 103 8 7 329

JURISDICTION ON STA. BARBARA PRESIDIO OF STA. BARBARA 167 120 162 164 613 Mission of La Purissima 151 218 47 34 450 id. of Sta. Ines 142 136 82 96 456 id. of Sta. Barbara 374 267 51 70 762 id. of Buenaventura 383 283 66 59 791 id. of S. Fernando 249 226 177 181 833 Town of la Reyna de los Angelos 552 421 213 202 1388

JURISDICTION OF S. DIEGO PRESIDIO OF S. DIEGO 295} Mission of S. Gabriel 574} id. of S. Juan Capistrano 464} 1911 683 621 5686 id. of S. Luis Rey 1138} id. of S. Diego 750 520 162 146 1575 ------ ---- ---- ---- ------ [79]Totals 10,272 7632 2623 2498 23,025

Agriculture had always been most carelessly conducted. The implements used in the fields were nearly the same as those introduced by the earliest settlers. The mills were few and primitive; and although the same extent of ground yielded nearly three times as much wheat as in England, and returned corn at the rate of one hundred and fifty fold, yet nothing was cultivated that was not absolutely needed for the maintenance of the missions and their immediate neighborhoods. There was no commerce to carry off the excess of production, and no enterprise to create a surplus for the purposes of trade.

At this epoch the whole cereal production of Upper California did not exceed--

63,000 bushels of wheat. 28,000 " of corn. 4,200 " of frijoles or brown beans. 2,800 " of garabanzos or peas. 18,500 " barley.

The Californians, of that period, seem however, to have particularly delighted in the care of cattle. The idle, roving life of herdsmen, who might wander over the plains and mountains in search of their flocks, was peculiarly suited to a population emerging from the nomadic state; and accordingly we find that the region was well stocked, whilst the missions and their dependencies flourished. In 1831, Mr. Forbes tells us, that there were in this province,--

216,727 Horned Cattle, 32,100 Horses, 2,844 Mules, 177 Asses, 153,455 Sheep, 1,873 Goats, 839 Swine.

In addition to these there were vast numbers, roaming at large, which were not marked or _branded_, according to California laws, as belonging to any of the jurisdictions, missions, haciendas or towns. These were hunted and slain to prevent their interference with the pasturage of the more useful and appropriated cattle; yet from all this multitude but little profit was gained except for hides and tallow. Beef was not salted and prepared for foreign markets, the dairy was altogether neglected, and butter and cheese almost unknown. In the earlier days of the settlement, many thousand cattle were annually driven either to the city of Mexico or to the interior provinces from the large estates on the Pacific; but that traffic was gradually abandoned under the habitual sloth of the people, nor was it until many years after the trade of the ports was opened by the war of independence, that a comparatively brisk intercourse opened with the Sandwich Islands and our own people, who were willing to exchange their manufactures for the hides and tallow of the Californians.

* * * * *

Such was the condition of affairs in this primitive pastoral region when the war between Mexico and the United States broke out. For a long time the natives and settlers had been discontented with their national government that usurped the milder sway of the clergy; yet it is probable that most of the revolutionary movements were founded on personal ambition and avarice rather than patriotic impulses, nor is it likely that the territory would have secured its independence without the aid of a foreign power. British interests had undoubtedly counselled the acquisition of California; but the fate of war suddenly threw it into our hands, and probably at the very moment when English subjects and the Mexican government were combining to exclude us from the positions on the Pacific which were so necessary for our mercantile progress as well as political and maritime convenience.

As soon as the country was quieted by the arrangement which Colonel Frémont made with the Californian leaders at Couenga, the people who had been engaged in the brief local war returned to their peaceful avocations. Our forces were stationed in small detachments, from Sutter's fort to San Diego, while our national vessels were anchored in the different harbors throughout the whole coast. In the maritime towns the supreme authorities collected a revenue from imports under the Contribution tariff. Order was promptly restored every where; but the only recognized control was that of the military government, which had devolved upon Colonel Mason at the departure of General Kearney.

Meanwhile the emigration from the United States, which, amounted to about five hundred individuals during the summer and fall of 1845, had been considerably augmented by recruits and adventurers during the continuance of the war. These men, as soon as hostilities ceased, naturally turned their attention to the two most important subjects that engage an American's attention wherever fortune may cast his lot. Their future prospects of wealth, and the character of their government, demanded immediate care; yet while they relied upon Congress for the security of their political rights, they found, in spite of California's renown for agricultural riches, that they could only establish themselves successfully on the Pacific, or return with fortunes from its shores, by a steady and thrifty devotion to labor.

Such was the condition of California in the spring of 1848, when the accidental discovery of gold which might be rapidly and easily gathered in apparently inexhaustible quantities, changed not only the condition of the inhabitants, but affected the whole commerce of the world. "The towns were forthwith deserted by their male population, and a complete cessation of the whole industrial pursuits of the country was the consequence. Commerce, agriculture, mechanical pursuits, professions,--all were abandoned for the purpose of gathering the glittering treasures which lay buried in the ravines, gorges and rivers of the Sierra Nevada. The productive industry of the country was annihilated in a day. In some instances the moral perceptions were blunted, and men left their families unprovided, and soldiers deserted their posts."[80]

But the greediness of the adventurers soon taught them that they could not subsist on gold, and that after the first deposits were gathered in the most accessible regions, it was necessary for them to wander farther and farther from the coast settlements, until they were lost in the lonely and barren glens of the mountains. There, at the approach of winter, they found themselves without the means of comfort or support. In the meanwhile, however, the news of the discovered El Dorado crossed the continent, and although its marvels were regarded by many as fabulous, there were others who resolved at once either to abandon their homes for the wilderness or to despatch valuable cargoes whose enormous profits would absorb the miner's wealth.

Under these mingled temptations of trade and discovery, an immense immigration, chiefly of males, poured into California, not only from the United States but from Oregon, Mexico, Chili, Peru, China and the Sandwich Islands, all of whom soon saw the necessity of once more subdividing human labors into their ordinary channels as well as proportions; and thus, while commerce took the lead in the ports and warehouses, mechanical and professional pursuits equally assumed their relative importance, and partly restored the endangered balance of society.

* * * * *

Within a year after this wonderful discovery, the Californians felt that they were no longer outlying colonists of the American Union, requiring pecuniary support from the mother State and military protection against savages. Their lot was strangely reversed in the history of distant settlements, for wealth had been secured _in advance_ of inhabitants and trade. Gold, a large population, and reconstructed social relations, brought with them the necessity for firm, fixed constitutional government. The fermenting elements of a motly society were effervescing, and the substratum of order and civilization was rapidly chrystallizing. The dollar dulled the bowie knife. Immense fleets, arriving from all parts of the world, poured large revenues into the national coffers. Intelligent and industrious men thronged the towns that sprang up, as if by enchantment, at every advantageous point. All the great mercantile interests were rapidly developed. Property in land and moveables become suddenly valuable beyond the hopes or dreams of the early settlers. Discussions arose as to titles and rights. Spanish laws, uncertain in their character or sanction, and American laws of doubtful application, were hastily enforced by judges whom the wants of time summoned to the bench from uncongenial pursuits to administer justice in courts which were quite us incongruously constructed.

In such a state of society, men were naturally anxious to know their relations to the Federal Government whose Congress adjourned two sessions after the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo without legislating for the ceded territories. It might almost have been pardoned, had California, feeling her power, position and self-reliant resources, asserted her independence after so much neglect. Yet, in the midst of all these temptations, and in spite of our people's abhorrence of a military government, there never was a more beautiful demonstration of national loyalty and affinity than in the regular assemblage, in that remote quarter of the world, of citizens from all our States, and of all classes, characters, tempers, professions and avocations, to form a republican constitution which would ensure admission into our Union. Their military governor, it is true, had set the example of submission to the civil power, by directing the election of delegates; but _the people_ asserted their inherent right, independently of the military authority; and, although they acted in harmony with their estimable ruler, the constitution was emphatically the result of popular impulse and judgment alone. The convention, thus assembled, met at Monterey on the 1st of September, 1849, and closed its work on the 13th of October by submitting an excellent constitution to the people for their adoption. The document was forthwith disseminated in Spanish and English, and no attempt was made to mislead or control public opinion in relation to it. The people gave it their sanction by an overwhelming majority, and the legislature which was elected under it, assembled at San José, the capital of the State, on the 15th of December, 1849. Peter H. Burnett, who had been chosen first governor of the Pacific Empire State, was duly inaugurated, and on the 20th of the same month, the military governor, General Riley, resigned his power into the hands of the civil agents of the organized State. After a warm and embittered discussion in Congress at Washington, California, with all her sovereign rights, was finally admitted into the North American Union, on the 9th day of September, 1850.

The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, by the transfer of Upper California as it existed and was bounded in May 1848, conferred a magnificent domain upon the United States. This, however, has been subdivided by the action of Congress and the California Convention, and the new Territory or Utah formed out of a portion of it. The original grant comprises the region between the parallels of 32° 50´ and 40° of north latitude, and 106° and 124° west longitude, containing an area of four hundred and forty-eight thousand six hundred and ninety one square miles, or, two hundred and eighty seven million, one hundred and sixty two thousand two hundred and forty acres of land. "In other words, our _original_ territory of Upper California, embraced twelve hundred and two square miles more than the States of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa and Wisconsin, combined!"[81]

The California Convention, in shaping their new State, thought it advisable to diminish this unwieldy empire, a large portion of which was, in truth, divided by the evident decree of nature from the Pacific region. Between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, at an elevation of between four thousand and five thousand feet above the sea lies that singular geographical formation which was first explored by Colonel Frémont, and is known as the Great Basin. This is now comprehended in the Territory of Utah. It is about five-hundred miles in diameter, counting either from north to south or east to west; and, imprisoned on all sides by mountains, it has its own complete system of rivers and lakes, all of which _have no outlet to the_ Oceans on either side of the continent. Its steep interior hills and mountains are covered with forests, and rise abruptly from a base of ten or twenty miles to a height of seven or ten thousand feet above the level of the sea. Many large bodies of water are confined in its capacious bosom, and among them are the Utah and Great Salt Lakes. The shores of the latter, extending in length about seventy miles, have been seized and occupied by the Mormons as the seat and centre of their future State. Immense quantities of salt are gathered from its banks when the waters of this inland sea recede during the dry seasons of these lofty plains and table lands. The waters of the Utah, however, are perfectly fresh; and, near the western edge of the Basin, is found the picturesque Pyramid Lake which is also shut in by mountains, and is remarkable for its depth and transparent purity.

To the southward of this, bordering the base of the Sierra Nevada, within the Basin, is a long range of lakes; while many copious rivers disperse their water throughout its ungenial expanse. The chief of these streams is Humboldt River, which rises in the mountains west of the Great Salt Lake, and runs westwardly along the northern side of the Basin towards the Sierra Nevada of California. It courses onward for three hundred miles, without affluents, through a sterile plain, though the valley of its own creation is richly covered with grasses and bordered with willows and cotton wood. This remarkable stream will become of vast importance in the travel towards California, for, rising towards the Salt Lake, it pursues nearly the direct route towards the Pass of the Salmon Trout river through the gorges of the Sierra Nevada, where at an elevation of less than three thousand six hundred feet above the level of the Basin, the pathway descends into the Valley of the Sacramento, and penetrates the State of California only forty miles north of Sutler's original settlement.

The other known rivers of this strange and partially explored region, are the Carson, Bear, Utah, Nicollet and Salmon Trout, most of whose streams, furnished by the snowy peaks of the Sierra, are absorbed in marshes and lakes, or return by evaporation to the icy sources whence they sprang.

Such are the prominent features of this vast Basin or Table-land, in the interior of our continent, but as it is now separated by legislation from its former territorial adjunct, we shall pass at once to the consideration of the present boundary of California. This, according to the XIIth article of the State Constitution, sanctioned by the act of Congress, commences at the point of intersection of the 42nd degree of north latitude with the 120th degree of longitude west from Greenwich, and runs south, on the line of the 120th degree of longitude until it intersects the 39th degree of north latitude; thence a straight line pursues a south-easterly direction to the River Colorado, at a point where it intersects the 35th degree of north latitude; thence, the boundary runs down the middle of the channel of that river, to the boundary line between the United States and Mexico, as established by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; thence, west and along said boundary line to the Pacific Ocean and extending therein three miles; thence, north-westwardly, following the direction of the Pacific coast, to the 42nd degree of north latitude; thence, on the line of the 42nd degree to the place of begining,--including all the islands, harbors, and bays along and adjacent to the Pacific coast.

The superficial area of the State is reduced, according to these boundaries, from the former enormous size, to one hundred and fifty-five thousand five hundred and fifty square miles, or ninety-nine millions five hundred and fifty-two thousand square acres, exclusive of the islands adjacent to the coast.

The noble Empire State thus constructed lies west of the Sierra Nevada, and was wisely fashioned to avoid jurisdiction beyond the mountains. It is strongly contrasted in appearance with the sterility of the Great Basin. Crossing the SIERRA NEVADA at the PASS traversed by Frémont in February 1844, the traveller finds himself about four degrees south of the northern boundary of the State, and, as he looks westward down the slope of the mountains, the whole of California lies at his feet. The declivities of the Sierra, with a breadth of from forty to seventy miles, and a length from north to south of about five hundred, are heavily wooded with oak, pine, cypress and cedar, while innumerable small streams, rising in the melted snows of the lofty peaks, traverse their rugged sides. These rivulets descend through glens and gorges,--sometimes barren, sometimes luxuriant,--until they disgorge themselves into the Sacramento and San Joaquin. The first of these,--rising in the north at the base of the gigantic Shastl which lifts its snowy diadem fourteen thousand feet above the sea,--sweeps southward towards the thirty-eighth degree of latitude; while the second, oozing from the fens and marshes of lake Tulares, runs northward until it mingles with the Sacramento,--when both, swollen by their tributaries from

the Sierra Nevada, are finally discharged into the Pacific by the bay of San Francisco which bursts through a gap in a lower chain of mountains bordering the coast. This western Coast Range, averaging about two thousand feet in height, forms, with the Eastern Sierra Nevada, the intermediate sloping plain or valley which is completely drained by the Sacramento and San Joaquin.

THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA.

CONTINUED.

CONFIGURATION OF THE STATE--BAY OF SAN FRANCISCO AND CITY--RIVERS OF CALIFORNIA--CHARACTER OF SOIL, ETC.--RELATIVE STERILITY AND PRODUCTIVENESS--CLIMATE--DRY AND WET SEASONS--CAUSES OF CHANGE--CLIMATE IN SAN FRANCISCO, COAST RANGE VALLEYS AND INTERIOR VALLEY--AREA OF ARABLE AND GRAZING LAND--PRODUCTIONS--DISCOVERY OF GOLD--ITS POSITION--THE PLACERES--WASHING--DIGGING--THE MINES--CALCULATIONS AS TO THE YIELD OF THE MINES--GOLD YIELDED BY CALIFORNIA--ITS QUALITY--QUICKSILVER MINES--COMMERCE--POPULATION--GROWTH OF CITIES--OLD PRESIDIOS--TOWNS--LAND TITLES--MISSION LANDS--CONCLUSION.

The State of California, as at present formed by its constitution, lies chiefly between the Sierra Nevada and the sea. North and south, it embraces about ten degrees of latitude, from 32°, where it touches the peninsula of Lower California, to 42°, where it bounds on Oregon. East and west, from the Sierra Nevada to the sea, it will average, in the central parts, one hundred and fifty miles, and in the northern, two hundred. The whole State is thus, in truth, a single geographical formation or great valley, though commonly divided into the valleys of San Joaquin and Sacramento--the two great streams which flow from the north and south until they meet near the centre of the State and wend their way to the ocean through the bay of San Francisco.

This beautiful arm of the ocean, which is pronounced by all geographers to be one of the most wonderful harbors in the world, was discovered about 1768 by a party of Franciscan friars, who bestowed upon it the name of their patron Saint. Completely land-locked, it is capable of sheltering the most extended commerce. Approached from the sea, a bold outline of coast scenery is presented to the observer. On the south, the bordering mountains descend in narrow ranges, lashed by the surf of the Pacific. On the north, a bluff promontory rises full three thousand feet above the sea, while, betwixt these points, walled in by lofty cliffs on either side, a narrow strait, about a mile in width and five in length, with a depth in mid channel of forty and forty-five fathoms, forms the Chrysopolæ or Golden Gate. Beyond this, the wonderful bay of San Francisco opens like an inland sea to the right and left, extending in each direction about thirty-four miles, with a length of more than seventy and a coast of two hundred and seventy-five. The interior view of this lake-like estuary is broken in parts by islands, some of which are mere rocky masses, while others, green with vegetation, protrude from the water for three hundred or four hundred feet. The bay is divided by promontories and straits into three portions. At its northern extremity is Whaler's harbor, which communicates by a strait two miles long with San Pablo bay, a circular basin ten miles in diameter; at the northern extremity of this a strait of greater length, called Carquinez, connects with Suissun bay, which is nearly equal in size and shape to San Pablo, and into this bay the confluent waters of the Sacramento and San Joaquin are emptied. A _delta_ of twenty-five miles in length, divided into islands by deep channels, connects the Suissun bay with the valley of these rivers, into whose mouths the tide flows regularly.

On the bay of San Francisco is situated the marvellous city of the same name, which sprang up, almost "in a night," and was constructed of materials quite as frail as those of "the gourd." The town lies about four miles from the narrows or straits by which the bay is entered, on its west side, and on the northern point of the peninsula between the southern portion of the estuary and the Pacific. Its site is in a cove, faced and protected at the distance of two miles by the large island of Yerba Buena. The land rises gradually for more than half a mile from the water's edge, towards the west and south-west, until it terminates in a range of hills five hundred feet above the sea. North of the town is a large bluff, plunging precipitously into the bay, in front of which is the best anchorage.

The most important rivers of California are, of course, the San Joaquin and Sacramento. The San Joaquin, running from south to north, is represented to be navigable in some seasons for a greater part of its length, during eight months of the year. Its chief affluents, lying altogether on its eastern side, and pouring down from the Sierra Nevada, are the Lake Fork, Acumnes, Tuolumne, Stanislaus, Calaveras, Mukelumne, Mariposa and Cosumnes. The Rio Colorado of the West forms part of the eastern State boundary, from the 35th degree of north latitude to the Mexican line, but it flows through a region at present very little known or valued, yet future explorations may show it to be valuable. Its deep colored waters, similar to those of the Missouri and Red rivers east of the mountains, indicate that it probably has not passed through an entirely ungenerous soil. The valley of the Gila, whose waters are clear, is known to be barren.

The Sacramento runs from north to south through an inclined alluvial prairie, and is described as a deep, broad and beautiful stream. It flows through a fine region, and is navigable for vessels of considerable draught as high as the settlements in the neighborhood of Sutter's original location. The principal tributaries of this river, also, originate in the melting snows of the Eastern Sierra, and are known as the Antelope, Deer, Mill and Chico creeks, and the Butte, Dorado, Plumas or Feather, Yuba, Bear and American rivers. Cottonwood creek and some other smaller streams are disgorged into it from the slopes of the Western or Coast Range. The Trinity and a few at the north, run into the Pacific.

In order to comprehend the agricultural and mineral value of California, it is necessary to glance at the structure of the region. Upon the forty-first parallel of latitude, in a fork of the Sierra

Nevada, is a tract of high table land, about one hundred miles in length, surrounded on all sides by mountains, and called by Frémont the UPPER VALLEY of the Sacramento. Here the growth of timber is vigorous and immense, for the climate and productions are modified by altitude as well as latitude. The Sacramento river, rising in the mountains at its northern extremity, reaches the Lower Valley through a gorge or cañon on the line of Shastl Peak, falling two thousand feet in twenty miles.

The LOWER VALLEY is subdivided, as we have stated, into the valleys of the two great rivers, both of which are, at most, only a few hundred feet above the level of the sea, and gradually slope towards the bay. The _foot hills_ of the Sierra Nevada limiting the valleys, make a woodland country diversified with undulating grounds and pretty vales or glens watered by numerous small streams. These afford many advantageous spots for farms, occasionally forming large bottoms of rich, moist land. Below 39° of latitude, and _west_ of the _foot hills_, the forests are limited to scattering groves of _oak_ in the valleys and on the borders of streams; or, of _red wood_ on the ridges and in the gorges. With these exceptions, the whole region presents a surface without shrubbery or trees, though a few hills are shaded by dwarfed and stunted groves which may be used as fuel. California is covered, however, with various kinds of grasses and with wild oats, which grow luxuriantly in the valleys for many miles from the coast, but, ripening early in the season, they soon cease to protect the soil from the sun's scorching rays. As summer advances, the moisture in the atmosphere, and to a considerable depth in the earth, is completely exhausted, and the radiation of heat from the parched plains and naked hill sides becomes insufferable. North of the Bay of San Francisco, between the Sacramento and Joaquin valley and the coast, the country is cut up by mountain ridges and rolling hills, with many fertile, watered valleys. Immediately along the coast, lie open prairies, belted or broken by occasional forests, and interspersed with extensive fields of wild grain. Around the southern arm of the bay, a low, alluvial bottom land, sometimes overgrown by oaks, borders the western foot of the Coast Range, terminating, on a breadth of thirty miles, in the valley of San José. In this neighborhood, too, is the lovely valley of San Juan, which is probably the garden of the new State. These two valleys form a continuous plain of fifty-five miles in length, and from one to twenty miles in breadth, opening with smaller valleys among the hills. The balmy region, enclosed between the coast range and the lower hills upon the ocean, is blessed with a soil of singular fertility, a fine, dry atmosphere, and a soft, delicious climate. It is wooded with majestic trees, covered with rich grasses, brilliant with an endless variety of flowers, and produces profusely the fruits of the temperate and tropical zones.

South of Point Concepcion the climate and general appearance of the country are changed. From that point the coast bends almost directly east; the face of the country obtains a more southern exposure, and is sheltered by ranges of low mountains or hills from the bleak violence of north-west storms. The climate accordingly is more genial, and fosters a richer variety of productions than is found on the northern coasts.

The valleys parallel with the coast range, as well as those which extend eastwardly in all directions among the hills towards the great plain of the Sacramento, are of unsurpassed fertility. Their soil is a deep, black alluvian, and so porous that it remains perfectly unbroken by gullies, notwithstanding the great quantity of water which falls into it during the wet season. The productiveness of "California," says Frémont in his Memoir on that region, published in 1848, "is greatly modified by the structure of the country, and under this aspect may be considered in three divisions--the _southern_, below Point Concepcion and the Santa Barbara mountain, about latitude 35°; the _northern_, from Cape Mendocino, latitude 41°, to the Oregon boundary; and the _middle_, including the bay and basin of San Francisco and the coast between Point Concepcion and Cape Mendocino. Of these three divisions the rainy season is longest and heaviest in the north, and lightest in the south. Vegetation is governed accordingly--coming with the rains--decaying where they fail. Summer and winter, in our sense of the terms, are not applicable to this part of the country. It is not heat and cold, but wet and dry, which mark the seasons, and the winter months, instead of killing vegetation, revive it. The dry season makes a period of consecutive drought, the only winter in the vegetation of this country, which can hardly be said at any time to cease. In forests, where the soil is sheltered, in low lands of streams and hilly country, where the ground remains moist, grass continues constantly green and flowers bloom in all months of the year.

"In the southern half of the country the long summer drought has rendered irrigation necessary, and the experience of the missions, in their prosperous day, has shown that, in California, as elsewhere, the dryest plains are made productive, and the heaviest crops yielded by that mode of cultivation. With irrigation a succession of crops may be produced throughout the year."

* * * * *

The peculiarities of the climate of California are so well explained in a letter from the Honorable T. Butler King, that we extract his observations thereon as the most valuable portion of the report made by him to the United States Government in March, 1850.[82]

"The north-east winds, in their progress across the continent, towards the Pacific ocean, pass over the snow-capped ridges of the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, and are of course deprived of all the moisture which can be extracted from them by the low temperature of that region of eternal snow; consequently no moisture can be precipitated from them, in the form of dew or rain, in a higher temperature than that to which they have been subjected. They pass therefore over the hills and plains of California, where the temperature is very high in summer, in a very dry state; and so far from being charged with moisture, they absorb, like a sponge, all that the atmosphere and surface of the earth can yield, until both become, apparently, perfectly dry.

"This process commences when the line of the sun's greatest attraction comes north in summer, bringing with it vast atmospheric movements. Their approach produces the dry season in California, which, governed by these laws, continues until some time after the sun repasses the equator in September, when, about the middle of November, the climate being relieved from these north-east currents of air, the south-west winds set in from the ocean, charged with moisture--the rains commence, and continue to fall, not constantly, as some persons have represented, but with sufficient frequency to designate the period of their continuance, as the _wet season_, from about the middle of November until the middle of May, in the latitude of San Francisco.

* * * * *

"It follows, as a matter of course, that the _dry season_ commences first, and continues longest in the southern portions of the Territory, and that the climate of the northern part is influenced in a much less degree by the causes which I have mentioned than any other section of the country. Consequently, we find that as low down as latitude 39° rains are sufficiently frequent in summer to render irrigation quite unnecessary to the perfect maturity of any crop which is suited to the soil and climate.

"There is an extensive ocean current of cold water, which coming from the northern regions of the Pacific, or, perhaps, from the Arctic, flows along the coast of California. It arrives charged with, and in its progress, emits air, which appears in the form of fog when it comes in contact with a higher temperature of the American coast, as the Gulf-stream of the Atlantic exhales vapor when it meets, in any part of its progress, a lower temperature. This current has not been surveyed, and, therefore, its source, temperature, velocity, width, and course, have not been accurately ascertained.

"It is believed by Lieut. Maury, on what he considers sufficient evidence--and no higher authority can be cited--that this current comes from the coasts of China and Japan, flows northwardly to the peninsula of Kamptschatka, and, making a circuit to the eastward, strikes the American coast in about latitude 41° or 42°. It passes thence, southwardly, and finally loses itself in the tropics. * *

"As the summer advances in California, the moisture in the atmosphere and the earth, to a considerable depth, soon becomes exhausted; and the radiation of heat, from the extensive naked plains and hill-sides, is very great.

"The cold, dry currents of air from the north-east, after passing the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, descend to the Pacific and absorb the moisture of the atmosphere to a great distance from the land. The cold air from the mountains, and that which accompanies the great ocean current from the north-west, thus become united, and vast banks of fog are generated, which, when driven by the wind, has a penetrating or _cutting_ effect on the human skin, much more uncomfortable than would be felt in the humid atmosphere of the Atlantic at a much lower temperature.

"As the sun rises from day to day, week after week, and month after month, in unclouded brightness during the dry season, and pours down his unbroken rays on the dry, unprotected surface of the country, the heat becomes so much greater inland than it is on the ocean, that an under-current of cold air, bringing the fog with it, rushes over the coast-range of hills, and through their numerous passes, towards the interior.

"Every day as the heat, inland, attains a sufficient temperature, the cold, dry wind from the ocean commences to blow. This is usually from eleven to one o'clock; and as the day advances the wind increases and continues to blow till late at night. When the vacuum is filled, or the equilibrium of the atmosphere restored, the wind ceases: a perfect calm prevails until about the same hour the following day, when the process re-commences and progresses as before, and these phenomena are of daily occurrence, with few exceptions, throughout the dry season.

"The cold winds and fogs render the climate at San Francisco, and all along the coast of California, except the extreme southern portion of it, probably more uncomfortable, to those not accustomed to it, in summer than in winter.

"A few miles inland, where the heat of the sun modifies and softens the wind from the ocean, the climate is moderate and delightful. The heat in the middle of the day is not so great as to retard labor, or to render exercise in the open air uncomfortable. The nights are cool and pleasant. This description of climate prevails in all the valleys along the coast-range, and extends throughout the country, north and south, as far eastward as the valley of the Sacramento and San Joaquin. In this vast plain the sea breeze loses its influence, and the degree of heat in the middle of the day, during the summer months, is much greater than is known on the Atlantic coast in the same latitudes. It is dry, however, and probably not more oppressive. On the foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada, and especially in the deep ravines of the streams, the thermometer frequently ranges from 110° to 115° in the shade, during three or four hours of the day, from eleven until three o'clock. In the evening, as the sun declines, the radiation of heat ceases. The cool, dry atmosphere from the mountains spreads over the whole country, and renders the nights fresh and invigorating. * * * * * * * * * * *

"These variations in the climate of California account for the different conflicting opinions and statements respecting it. A stranger arriving at San Francisco in summer, is annoyed by the cold winds and fogs, and pronounces the climate intolerable. A few months will modify if not banish his dislike, and he will not fail to appreciate the beneficial effects of a cool, bracing atmosphere. Those who approach California overland, through the passes of the mountains, find the heat of summer, in the middle of the day, greater than they have been accustomed to, and therefore many complain of it.

"Those who take up their residence in the valleys which are situated between the great plain of the Sacramento and San Joaquin and the coast range of hills, find the climate, especially in the dry season, as healthful and pleasant as it is possible for any climate to be which possesses sufficient heat to mature the cereal grains and edible roots of the temperate zone."[83]

We have thus obtained from reliable sources, a fair account of the soil, situation and climate of California, with the exception of that portion of the new State lying to the southward and eastward of the Sierra Nevada and the Coast Range, and between those mountains and the Colorado. This district is believed by experienced Californians to be mostly desert; at least, so much of it as lies upon the usual emigrant trail from the Colorado to San Diego, and that which is further north, in the neighborhood of Frémont's explorations, is known to be of such a character. Elsewhere, however, in the large valley between the two great ranges of the coast and the Sierra Nevada, and in the small lateral valleys that pierce their rugged sides in every direction, are the _arable_ lands of California. In a previous part of this notice we have shown that the present boundaries of the State give to her 155,550 square miles of superficial area, or 99,552,000 square acres, exclusive of islands adjacent to the coast. If it be granted that one half of California is covered with mountains and that one fourth is a desert waste, we have still one fourth, or 24,888,000 square acres of arable land left for productive purposes. Messieurs Gwin, Frémont, Wright and Gilbert, in their Memorial already cited, do not hesitate to assert, that, after all due allowances, _three-fifths_ of the whole territory, embraced in the State of California, will never be susceptible of cultivation or useful to man. This would leave, as the remaining two-fifths, 62,220 square miles, or 39,820,000 square acres, constituting the total valuable _agricultural and grazing_ district, and distributed at intervals over the whole surface within the actual boundaries.[84]

* * * * *

Such are some of the substantial elements of self-reliance and independence possessed by the new State, exclusive of her precious metallic deposits. The genial soil is well adapted for the growth of those grains which are suitable for European or North American emigrants. Wheat, barley, rye and oats grow abundantly, as well as potatoes, turnips, onions, and all the roots known to our gardeners and farmers. Oats, of the species cultivated in the Atlantic States, are annually _self-sown_ on all the plains and hills along the coast, and as far inland as the sea-breeze has a marked influence on the climate. This fact indicates that similar grains may be raised in the same region without resorting to _irrigation_. Apples, pears and peaches may be brought to great perfection under skilful culture. The grape, too, received much attention in former days at the missions and among the villagers, who produced an excellent fruit, the wine of which was abundant and delicious. The fine natural grasses and oats of California, aided greatly in satisfying and perpetuating the nomadic _vaquero_ or herdsman, who was the type of the region before the cession to the United States; and it is calculated that the _grazing_ grounds in the State are extensive enough to produce many thousand more cattle than will be required annually, for the vast increase of population.

* * * * *

Notwithstanding the union of California with her sister States, and her favorable position for commercial purposes, it is scarcely probable that she would so soon have assumed almost a national rank, had not a mechanic, named James W. Marshall, who was employed during the latter part of February, 1848, in building a saw mill for Captain John A. Sutter on the south branch of the American Fork or Rio de los Americanos, discovered certain pieces of gold glistening at the bottom of the sluice. In a few days fragments to the amount of one hundred and fifty dollars were removed from the water; and as the news spread among the settlers all over the region, farms, workshops, professions and homes were deserted to explore the promised Dorado.

The results of this accidental discovery are already known all over the world. California has become a centre of attraction for population, wealth and trade. The grand auriferous region which has thus far been examined and partially drained of its deposits, is between four and five hundred miles long, and from forty to fifty broad, following the windings of the Sierra Nevada. New discoveries will doubtless enlarge this area, but the present recognized limits are the hills and lesser ranges rising from the eastern border of the Sacramento and San Joaquin plain, and extending fifty or sixty miles eastward, until they reach an elevation of nearly four thousand feet, where they mingle with the main ridge of the Sierra Nevada. The numerous springs, originating in the snows and rains of the mountain summits, pour down their rugged sides, cutting deep channels or _barrancas_ through the _talcose slate_, and even down to the _quartz_ of which the _foot hills_ are formed. The streams, in creating these gorge-like channels, have come in contact with the quartz containing gold, and, by constant attrition, have cut or ground the metal into fine flakes, scales and dust. The precious deposit is, accordingly, found among the sand and gravel of the river beds at those places where the swiftness of the current reduces it in the dry season to narrow limits, or when the streams may be damed and turned. In other places auriferous quartz has cropped out on the surface of the hills, mountains or gorges, and been worn and smoothed by the action of water. In these positions the gold still remains entire in pieces of all shapes and sizes, from a single grain to lumps weighing several pounds. _Placeres_, or gold locations of this latter character, are styled "the dry diggings," in contradistinction to the "washings" of the streams, and are spread over large valleys which appear to have been subjected to the violent action of water. In the dry diggings the operation of extracting metal is performed by the hand alone or with a pick-axe, hammer and knife; but the fine dust or scale-gold of the river bottoms is rescued from the earth by washing the whole mass in common tin pans, or vessels of every kind that can be substituted. The gyratory motion given to these primitive implements, removes the finest portions of soil; gravel is taken out by the hand, and the gold is left in the vessel united with a black ferruginous sand not unlike that used at the writing desk. This residuum is left on a board or cloth to dry, when the sand is blown off either by the mouth or a common bellows, leaving the gold whose gravity retains it on the board. Much of the very finest gold is, however, lost with the sand in this rude process. Vast numbers of rough machines resembling cradles, are also used in the business. The rocking of the cradle answers to the gyration of the pan, and as the mud, water and sand escape from one end of the machine through a series of small cross-bars, the coarser particles of gold are retained in the instrument. On the head of the cradle is a common sieve, upon which the auriferous earth is placed; water is then poured on it, and as soon as the machine is set in motion, the gold, sand and dust are carried into the body of the cradle, while the gravel is rejected.

But many experienced Californians do not look to the _placeres_ or common gold diggings and washings for the continuation of that prosperity to which they gave birth. For its permanence they rely on the _mines_, whose development has but just commenced. This species of mineral riches lies in that region where the _auriferous quartz_ has been discovered of nearly uniform richness, from the 40th to the 35th degree of latitude, upon the waters of the Feather river, and on the American, the Mokelumne, the Mariposa, and the desert upon the south-eastern borders of California, _east_ of the Sierra Nevada. In all these localities, within a range of three hundred and fifty miles, it is already known to exist, and the strongest analogy would carry it through the remaining distance. An assay of the _ore_ of the Mariposa _mines_, now worked with a Chilian mill, afforded an average yield from washing, of forty cents per pound avoirdupois; and afterwards, by the fine process, produced eighty cents to the pound additional; making one dollar and twenty cents per pound as the average. Other assays exhibit results from _ores_ in various sections of California, ranging from twenty-five cents to five dollars per pound, and that, too, in specimens where no gold is visible to the naked eye. Rocks examined even within two miles of San Francisco, have yielded gold to the amount of ten cents per pound. The result at the Mariposa mine has been at the rate of two thousand five hundred dollars for every ton!

These facts, stated upon grave authority, may be regarded as positive information applicable to the whole extent of the _gold producing quartz_. If we apply the results of the working of a British mining company,--The San Juan del Rey,--in Brazil, to these assays and conclusions, we may estimate the consequences upon the destiny of California and of the world. The work of this British company has increased annually for twenty years, and its last report dates on the 1st of March, 1850. In this it is stated that 69,000 tons of _ore_ were _crushed_ and the gold extracted therefrom;--applying this to the average yield of the _mines_ in California, the result would be _over one hundred and seventy millions of dollars_![85]

* * * * *

Various speculations have been made as to the gross numerical summary of all these discoveries and labors in a broiling sun, in icy streams and under all kinds of privations; yet no definite accuracy can be attained. During the earlier enterprises, California was a country without law or restraint, for, all men, bent upon the single selfish task of greedily gathering gold, resolved society completely into its original elements. Out of the municipalities and villages there were no associations except in small bodies for mutual labor and protection. Severe and certain punishment secured the latter; but it may be reasonably supposed that the collection of statistics was not a duty willingly undertaken by such absorbed individuals. Accordingly, we are not enabled to present more than proximate calculations of the wealth given and promised by California to the human race.

Mr. King supposes, in his report, that during the first season there were not more than 5,000 employed in collecting gold, and that their average gain was one thousand dollars each, or an aggregate of five millions. But, in the season of 1849, the number of explorers increased by the vast influx from every quarter of the world. In July, it was judged that 15,000 foreigners were in the _placeres_; and, by the labors of all classes united, the report calculates that the round sum of forty millions was realized during 1848 and 1849, of which _one-half was probably taken from the country by foreign adventurers_. Of the forty millions, twenty are estimated to have been gathered from the northern rivers principally, or from those emptying into the Sacramento. The southern rivers, or those voided into the San Joaquin, were, up to that period, comparatively unvisited, and continued so until towards the season's close. There is one river which, from reported discoveries, though not flowing into the great valley west of the Sierra Nevada, is as rich in gold as any other. This is the Trinity, which rises west of the Sacramento's sources, and discharges into the Pacific not far from the fortieth degree of latitude.

As commerce began to reassert her orderly sway in the ports of California, and as gold became again subservient to the true wants of man, more attention was paid to the collection of statistics relative to production and export. The mint of the United States has also enabled us to reach accurate partial results within a more recent period. By a table furnished to Mr. Hunt for publication in his Merchants' Magazine, of November, 1850, it appears that the gold dust shipped on the Pacific Mail Steamers, from 11th April, 1849, to June 1st, 1850, was $13,329,388; while the following were the receipts at our mints:

RECEIPTS OF CALIFORNIA GOLD AT THE N. ORLEANS AND PHILADELPHIA MINTS.

Year, &c. At N. Orleans. At Philadelphia. Total. In 1848 $44,177 $44,177 Jan. 1st to Aug. 31st 1849 175,918 1,740,620 1,916,538 Aug. 31st to Jan. 1st 1850 489,162 3,740,810 4,229,972 Jan. 1st to Feb. 28th " 938,050 2,974,393 3,912,443 To March 31st " 365,869 1,296,321 1,662,190 March 31st to May 1st " 298,130 1,813,002 2,111,132 May 1st to July 31st " 317,181 6,740,677 7,157,858 ----------- ----------- ----------- Total, $2,584,310 $18,350,000 $20,934,310

Of this vast total receipt at the two great mints of the country $17,000,000 were delivered in ten months, being at the rate of more than $20,000,000 yearly. Since January last, the receipts have been at the rate of $26,000,000, per annum, and for the last quarter, at the rate of $32,000,000 per annum, showing a constantly augmenting ratio. Mr. Edelman, accountant of the Philadelphia mint, has prepared an essay to answer the repeated enquiries respecting the general character of California gold and its value by the ounce troy. It appears from his calculations that seven-eighths of all the deposits made at his mint from the commencement of the business until April 1850, exhibit a variation in quality of only fifty-cents per ounce troy, the fineness averaging between 873-1/2 thousandths and 898-1/2 thousandths. The general fineness of nearly all the gold brought to the mint is 886 thousandths; the flat spangles of the rivers, which bear a small proportion to the mass, averaging 895 thousandths. The alloy detected in this gold is wholly silver tinged with a small quantity of iron, and the removal of the iron, dirt or sand in melting occasions usually a loss in weight of about 3-1/4 per cent. If the grains have been cleansed by the magnet the loss is reduced to about 2-1/2 per cent., but if they are wet or dampened the loss may raise to even higher than 4 per cent. California gold is regarded as consisting of 995 parts gold and silver in every 1000 parts by weight, which renders it necessary to separate these metals before converting them into coin, for, according to law, the standard national gold is so constituted, that, in 1000 parts by weight, 900 shall be pure gold, and 100 an alloy, compounded of copper and silver.

* * * * *

If the confident representations of travellers, miners, laborers and scientific men are to be heeded, the California _placeres_ and mines will continue to yield an increasing ratio of precious metal; but time alone can disclose the degree in which their products will be multiplied. Should they reach $100,000,000 annually--and they may surpass that amount--the yearly addition to the gold of Europe and America, will be 6-2/3 per cent. on $1,800,000,000, which is the estimated amount of that metal in those two quarters of the globe. This vast sum more than doubles the past contributions of American mines during the period of their greatest productiveness.[86]

Gold, however, is not the only important mineral element of California's wealth. Her _quicksilver_ mines are believed to be numerous, extensive and valuable. The _cinnabar ore_ which produces the quicksilver, lies near the surface, is easily procured and is represented to be remarkably productive. The mine of New Almaden is a few miles from the coast, midway between San Francisco and Monterey, and in one of the ridges of the Sierra Azul. The mouth of this mine is a few yards from the summit of the highest hill that has been found to contain quicksilver, and is about 1,200 feet above the neighboring plain and not much more above the ocean. Its ore-bed seems to be embraced in a greenish talcose rock. By a very rude apparatus the yield on the spot was found to be over fifty per cent. Mr. Charles M. Wetherill of Philadelphia, an accomplished chemist, found the percentage of mercury to be 60, in 123 grains which were submitted to him; and 45 in another parcel containing 61-1/2 grains. Cinnabar ore has been found in about twenty other places within a few miles of this valuable location.

It is asserted that there are extensive veins of silver, iron and copper in California; but there is no information sufficiently accurate to justify a statement of their existence or value.

* * * * *

The commerce of California has of course flourished in proportion to her population and wealth. The aggregate of duties paid on foreign merchandize at San Francisco from the 12th of November 1849 to the 31st of May 1850, was $755,974. At the date of the information there were in the harbor 623 sailing vessels, 12 steamers; and 140 sail vessels and 8 steamers at Sacramento City, Stockton and other places up the rivers. Of this total of 783 vessels, 120 were foreign and 663 American. The amount of tonnage at San Francisco, was 1,020,476, and 100,000 in towns and cities on the Sacramento and San Joaquin; but of this large sum 800,000 tons at least were unemployed.

The singular history of the unprecedented rise in the value of merchandize or the necessaries of life in California after the discovery of gold, is a chapter full of surprising and fantastical incidents, but our narrowing space denies us the tempting privilege of recounting it in this volume.

In all these calculations and estimates we must occasionally approach the dangerous domain of speculation, and in this category must we also place most of our information respecting the population and towns of California. Population is of course constantly augmenting under these great temptations for the rapid accumulation of fortune; yet with society in such a transition state, the true ratios or numbers of actual increase cannot be accurately obtained.

According to Baron Humboldt the population of Upper California consisted in 1802, of 7,945 males and 7,617 females, or, 15,562 individuals attached to the eighteen missions. All other classes whether whites, mestizos, or mixed castes, either in the Presidios or in the service of the Monks, were estimated at 1,300. This calculation would make the whole population, at that time, exclusive of wild Indians, 16,862. In 1831, the number of missions had increased to twenty-one, and their Indian neophytes were 18,683; all other classes in the garrisons and among the free settlers amounted to 4,342, making a total of 23,045; nor is it probable that this number was much augmented until after the cession and subsequent discoveries. At present it is quite impossible to calculate closely the wild Indians of miserable, debased tribes found in the mountains, whose numbers are variously stated by travellers and writers at 100,000, and 300,000. In the memorial of the California Representatives, already cited, the population on the 1st of January, 1849 is stated at 13,000 Californians, (which is probably too low a number,) 8,000 Americans, and 5,000 foreigners, or 26,000, in all. From that date to the 11th April, the arrivals from sea and by land were judged to be 8,000, while, according to the Harbor Masters' Record at San Francisco, 22,069 Americans and 7,000 foreigners arrived there from sea, between the 12th of April and the 31st of December 1849. Of these 28,269 were males, and only 800 _women_! In addition to the immigration by sea at this single port, it may be presumed that not less than 1,000 individuals landed elsewhere in California during the same period. By Santa Fé and the Gila nearly 8,000 entered the country. From Mexico 6,000 or 8,000 were supposed to have come, though only about 2,000 remained in the territory. Adding to these amounts 3,000 deserting sailors, and computing the overland immigration at 25,000, we have 107,000 inhabitants in California on the 1st of January 1850. It would probably not be unsafe to add fifty thousand for the immigration of the current year, so as to give the new State at least 150,000 citizens in January 1851.

* * * * *

As gold and people increased so miraculously, the tents and encampments of the adventurers gave place to houses and towns whose materials and construction were almost as frail. When the precious metal became abundant, _land_ of course quickly grew into speculative importance and value. Men who disliked the toil of draining gold from the rivers or digging it among rocks, resorted to the _easier mines_ of their own ingenuity, and, obtaining titles to advantageous locations near the great rivers, or, on important bays and straits, laid out magnificent plans for the gorgeous cities of the Pacific Empire. The list of some of these "Cities," given in a note at the bottom of the page, comprises the leading locations north of San Francisco and on the routes to the principal _placeres_.[87] Some of these towns, and probably many more, will prosper permanently because they are admirably situated to aid in the development of the interior of the great valley of the Sacramento and San Joaquin. If this valley is to be annually deluged and converted into a lake, as it was last year during the rainy season, the _agricultural_ prosperity of California must be seriously affected, and the rising cities will probably suffer with it, unless the _placeres_ and the _mines_ shall continue to pour their bountiful supplies into the hands of all who seek them.

The old Spanish and Mexican towns and villages, will in all likelihood continue to assert their importance. The chief of these are the ancient Presidences or Presidios of San Francisco, Monterey, Santa Barbara and San Diego. In all of these, Europeans and Americans are already establishing themselves as residents who desire to make California their permanent home. The old _pueblos_ of Los Angeles, situated about eight miles from the mission site of San Gabriel;--of San José about fifteen or twenty leagues from the bay of San Francisco, near Santa Clara;--and of Branciforte about a mile from the mission of Santa Cruz, and a mile and a half from the bay of Monterey,--are still in existence, and having been built on well selected sites, may flourish long after the fragile castles erected in the golden region have passed away like the scenery of a drama. The Monks, every where, possessed an instinctive sagacity for nestling in the best locations, and time will doubtless do justice to their discretion in California.

* * * * *

The increased value of land of course indicated to our government the necessity of promptly examining the titles of property in California; and accordingly, Mr. W. Carey Jones, a lawyer accomplished in the Civil and Spanish laws, was despatched thither by the authorities in Washington, to examine the grants from the Spanish and Mexican governments. His full, learned, and satisfactory report has been published by congress, and declares that these grants are mostly perfect titles, or have unquestionably the same _equity_ as those that are perfect.[88]

All the grants of land in California, except _pueblo_ or village lots and some grants north of the bay of San Francisco, subsequent to the independence of Mexico, and after the establishment of that government in California, were made by the different political governors. These personages possessed the exclusive faculty of making grants of eleven leagues or _sitios_ to _individuals_, which were valid when sanctioned by the Territorial Deputation; but colonization grants to _Empresarios_ or contractors, required the sanction of the Supreme National Authorities.

The supposition, usually entertained, that the mission lands were grants held as the actual fee-simple property of the church, or of the mission establishments as corporations, is entirely erroneous. All the missions in Upper California, established under the direction of the Spanish Viceroyal Government and partly at its expense, never had any other right than that of occupation and use, the whole property being either resumable or otherwise disposable, at the will of the crown or its representatives. The right of the Supreme Powers to remodel these establishments at pleasure, and convert them into towns and villages, subject to the known policy and law which governed settlements of that kind, was a fundamental principle controling them from the beginning.

After the secularization of the missions the principal part of the church lands were cut off by private grants. Some of them still retain a portion of their original territory, but others have been converted either into villages and subsequently granted in the usual form in lots to individuals and heads of families, or have become private property. A few are either absolutely at our government's disposal now, or, being rented at present for a term of years, will become so when the tenant's contracts expire.

* * * * *

The gold of California is a modern disclosure, though, probably, it is not altogether a modern discovery. There are documents in existence which show that it was known to the Mexican government; and, as far back as 1790, a certain Captain Shelvocke obtained in one of the ports, a black mould which appeared to be mingled with golden dust. Specimens of California gold were exhibited privately by the authorities in the city of Mexico not long before the late war; and a memoir prepared by the congressional representative, imparts the fact that it had been taken in considerable quantities from _placeres_ in the neighborhood of Los Angeles. It is very likely that the rulers of the Mexican Republic were not anxious to add to the allurements which were already enticing our people to her distant province, and silence was therefore preserved in relation to its mineral wealth.

California has, at least, illustrated one great moral truth which the avaricious world required to be taught. When men were starving though weighed down with gold,--when all the necessaries of life rose to twice, thrice, tenfold, and even fifty or a hundred times their value in the Atlantic States,--that distant province demonstrated the intrinsic worthlessness of the coveted ore, and the permanent value of every thing produced by genuine industry and labor. It is to be hoped, therefore, that the new State will not degenerate into a mere mining country, or be forever a prey to that feverish excitement in the pursuit of sudden wealth which is fed or frustrated by the contemptible accidents of luck.

The rapid development of the country is almost unparalleled in national history; and now that a substantial government and union with our confederacy are secured, it remains to be seen how the social problem of California will be solved, and whether it possesses any other elements than those of gold and men for the creation of a great maritime State on the shores of the Pacific. Wonderful order has been preserved in spite of the anomalous condition of the immigrants; yet refined woman must be content to cast her lot in that remote but romantic region, and, by her benign influence, soften, enlighten, and regulate a society which is formed almost exclusively of men. In the course of time steam will open rapid communications with the east, and travellers will not be compelled to pass either the desert or those more southern regions where the mouldering ruins of Casas Grandes denote the ancient seat of Indian civilization. The iron bands of railways, the metallic wires of the telegraph, and the gold of California will then bind the whole grand empire of the west in a union, which social sympathies, commercial interests, national policy, and a glorious history will make everlasting.

THE END.

APPENDIX.

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS IN CALIFORNIA

Mr. T. Butler King was furnished by Surgeon General Lawson, United States Army, with the following thermometrical observations:

At San Francisco, by Assistant Surgeon W. C. Parker, for six months, embracing the last quarter of 1847, and the first quarter of 1848. The monthly mean temperature was as follows: October, 57°; November, 49°; December, 50°; January, 49°; February, 50°; March, 51°.

At Monterey, in latitude 36° 38´ north, and longitude 121° west, on the coast, about one degree and a half south of San Francisco, by Assistant Surgeon W. S. King, for seven months, from May to November inclusive. The monthly mean temperature was: May, 56°; June, 59°; July, 62°; August, 59°; September, 58°; October, 60°; November, 56°.

At Los Angeles, latitude 34° 7´, longitude west 118° 7´, by Assistant Surgeon John S. Griffin, for ten months, from June, 1847, to March, 1848, inclusive. The monthly mean temperature was: June, 73°; July, 74°; August, 75°; September, 75°; October, 69°; November, 59°; December 60°; January, 58°; February, 55°; March, 58°. This place is about forty miles from the coast.

At San Diego, latitude 32° 45´, longitude west 117° 11´, by Assistant Surgeon J. D. Summers, for the following three months of 1849, viz: July, monthly mean temperature, 71°; August, 75°; September, 70°.

At Suttersville, on the Sacramento river, latitude 38° 32´ north, longitude west 121° 34´, by Assistant Surgeon R. Murray, for the following months of 1849. July, monthly mean temperature 73°; August, 70°; September, 65°; October, 65°.

These observations show a remarkably high temperature at San Francisco during the six months from October to March, inclusive; a variation of only eight degrees in the monthly mean, and a mean temperature for the six months of fifty-one degrees.

At Monterey we find the mean monthly temperature from May to November, inclusive, varying only six degrees, and the mean temperature of the seven months to have been 58°. If we take the three summer months the mean heat was 60°. The mean of the three winter months was a little over 49°; showing a mean difference, on that part of the coast, of only 11° between summer and winter.

The mean temperature of San Francisco, for the three winter months, was precisely the same as at Monterey--a little over 49°.

As these cities are only about one degree and a half distant from each other, and both situated near the ocean, the temperature at both, in summer, may very reasonably be supposed to be as nearly similar as the thermometer shows it to be in winter.

The mean temperature of July, August, and September, at San Diego, only 3° 53´ south of Monterey, was 72°. The mean temperature of the same months at Monterey was a little over 59°; showing a mean difference of 13°.

At Los Angeles, 40 miles distant from the coast, mean temperature for the three summer months was 74°; of the three autumn months, 67°; and three winter months, 57°. At Suttersville, 130 miles from the sea, and 4° north of Los Angeles, mean temperature of August, September and October, was 67°. Mean temperature of same months at Monterey, 59°; making a difference of 8° between the coast and the interior, on nearly the same parallel of latitude.

APPENDIX No. 2.

The following statement of the amount of California gold deposited at all the United States Mints, comprising those of Philadelphia, New Orleans, Charlotte, and Dahlonega, from the opening of the mines, or discovery of the metal, until the 30th of the month of September, 1851, is taken from the memoranda of Robt. Patterson, Esq., of Philadelphia, son of the late Director of the Mint.

+------------------+-------------+------------+----------+----------+-----------+ | |Philadelphia.|New Orleans.|Charlotte.|Dahlonega.| Total| +------------------+-------------+------------+----------+----------+-----------+ |For the year 1848 | 44,177| 1,124| | | 45,301| | " " " 1849 | 5,481,439| 669,921| | | 6,151,360| | " " " 1850 | 31,667,505| 4,575,567| | 30,025| 36,273,097| | 9 months of 1851 | 31,300,105| 6,310,462| 12,805| 70,925| 37,694,297| | +-------------+------------+----------+----------+-----------+ | Totals| $68,493,226| $11,557,074| $12,805| $100,950|$80,164,055| +------------------+-------------+------------+----------+----------+-----------+

The total production of California gold since its discovery is doubtless over one hundred millions of dollars in value, which, according to official data in my possession, is equal to nearly one half the total coinage of this country in gold, silver, and copper, since its separation from Great Britain. To the $80,164,055 received at the U. S. Mints, as shown above, must be added large amounts received here, and consumed by jewellers, dentists, &c.; considerable amounts shipped from San Francisco directly to other countries; the gold coinage and circulation in California itself, including the $50 pieces stamped by the U. S. Assayer; the shipments received here since the 1st of October, amounting, in New York alone, to about $5,000,000, and all the gold dust now in the hands of miners and merchants on the Pacific side. It will be a fair estimate, therefore, to set down the entire production, up to the close of 1851, at $120,000,000, at least.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Mühlenpfordt--Die Republik Mexico: Hanover, 1844, 2 vols.

[2] Ward, vol. 1, p. 7.

[3] Folsom's Mexico in 1842, p. 29.

[4] See maps and tables of areas of the several states of our Union accompanying the President's message of December, 1848.

[5] The high table land of Mexico which we have described, is said to owe its present form to the circumstance that an ancient system of valleys in a chain of granitic mountains, has been filled up to the height of many thousand feet with various volcanic products. Five active volcanos traverse Mexico from _west_ to _east_,--Tuxtla, Orizaba, Popocatepetl, Jorullo, and Colima. Jorulla which is in the centre of the great platform is no less than one hundred and twenty miles from the nearest ocean, which is an important circumstance, showing that proximity to the sea is not a necessary condition although certainly a very general characteristic of the position of active volcanos. If the line which connects these five volcanic vents in Mexico be prolonged westerly, it cuts the volcanic group in the Pacific called the group of Revilla-Gigedo.--Lyell's Geology, American edition, vol. I, p. 294.

[6] See Tschudi's Peru--American Edition, p. 80, and Mühlenpfordt--Die Republik Mejico, vol. 1;--Indians.

[7] It is just to Mexico to state that Cortina, in the article previously referred to, estimates the number of persons able to read and write, to be much larger; but his calculations are doubtless made with the partiality of a native, and are based on a limited observation of city life, the army and municipal prisons.

[8] The cholera ravaged Mexico this year, and consequently it would be unfair to use the deaths as a basis of calculation at that period.

[9] See Boletin No. 1, del Instituto Nacional de Geografia y Estadistica, Mejico, 1839.

[10] Ward's Mexico in 1827, vol. 1, p. 55.

[11] "_La propriété c'est le vol._" Prudhon.

[12] Humboldt, Essai Politique, Book iv., chap. ii.--Paris, 1811.

[13] See Humboldt's essay on the production of gold and silver in the Journal des Economistes for March, April and May, 1838.

[14] See Humboldt's Essay on Precious Metals, _ut antea_--in note--in the American translation, given in vol. iii., of the Banker's Magazine, p. 509.

[15] See Ranke: Fursten and Volker, vol. i., pp. 347, 355.

[16] Pet. Mart. Epist. lib. xxix., No. 556, 23d January, 1516.

[17] See M. Ternaux-Compans' Original Memoirs of the discovery of America--(Conquest of Mexico, p. 451)--Compans publishes in this, for the first time, an official list sent between 1522 and 1587 by the viceroys of New Spain to the mother country. The PESOS _of gold_, must be multiplied by a mean of eleven dollars and sixty-five cents in order to give their value in dollars. See Banker's Magazine, ut antea, p. 594, in note. See Prescott's History of the Conquest of Mexico, vol. i., 320. Raminez, in his notes on the Spanish translation of Prescott's History of the Conquest rates the _peso de oro_ at two dollars and ninety-three cents. This result is reached by a long financial calculation and course of reasoning. See La Conquista de Mejico, vol. ii., at p. 89 _of the notes_ at the end of the volume.

[18] This is Humboldt's estimate in the essay cited in this section. We think it rather too large, yet give it upon such high authority. See our general table of Mexican coinage.

[19] Ward's Mexico in 1827, vol. ii, p. 151.

[20] Ward, ut antea.

[21] See report of the Mexican Minister of Foreign Relations for 1846, at page 139, of _Documentos Justificativos_.

[22] These calculations are made in dollars, _reales_, or pieces of the value of 12-1/2 cents, and _medios_, or pieces of the value of 6-1/4 cents.

[23] The actual coinage of all the mints in the republic in 1844 amounted, in fact, to the sum of $13,732,861; but we assume $14,000,000 as a fair annual average for a period of several years.

[24] Zavala's Historia de las Revoluciones de Mejico. Tomo 1.

[25] The cultivation of cotton is a branch of agriculture of almost marvellous increase. Mr. Burke, a member of our congress, from South Carolina, in 1789, when speaking of southern agriculture, remarked that "cotton was likewise in _contemplation_." During the last quarter of the eighteenth century, when 7012 bags of the article were imported into Liverpool a perfect panic was produced by so unusual a supply, at present 150,000 bags may reach a single port without greatly affecting the price. In 1791 the whole United States produced only two millions of pounds, whilst in 1848, the Commissioner of Patents calculated the whole crop at 1,066,000,000 lbs.

[26] Whilst these pages are passing through the press information has been received from the Mexican gazettes that in 1846 there were sixty-two cotton factories for spinning and weaving, and five for manufacturing woollens;--that the first mentioned have been greatly improved by the introduction of the best kinds of machinery, and that two _new_ factories for woollens have been set in operation in the state of Mexico, which produce cloths and cassimeres that are eagerly purchased by the best classes. The cost of these fabrics is not mentioned, but it is probably fifty per cent. higher than if manufactured in the United States.

[27] Mejico in 1842 by del Rivero. Madrid, 1844.

[28] See Otero Cuestion Social y Politica de Mejico, pp. 38, 39, 43.

[29] Mexico as it Was and Is, p. 329.

[30] Rivero, Mejico in 1842, p. 130.

[31] Norman's Rambles in Yucatan, p. 32.

[32] ib. p. 91.

[33] Stephens' Travels in Yucatan, vol. 2, page 115.

[34] Forbes's California, p. 215.

[35] Zavala, Rev. de Mejico, vol. 1, pp. 14, 25.

[36] See Mayer's Mexico as it Was and as it Is, 1844; and the review of it by the Rev. Mr. Verot, in the United States Catholic Magazine for March, 1844: See also the reply entitled Romanism in Mexico, published in Baltimore in the same year.

[37] We trust that it will not be regarded as levity if we relate an anecdote which shows that the church _has_ contributed to the money if not to the wealth of the country, in years past, in a most unexampled manner. It will be recollected that in the historical part of this work there is an account of the mode in which a large revenue was derived by the government from the sale of Bulls issued by the church permitting the people a variety of indulgences and acts which, without the possession of such a document, were not allowed by the spiritual laws of Rome, or the temporal laws of Spain. Immense packages of these Bulls were found in the treasury after the revolution, and, when it became necessary for the government to issue a temporary _paper money_, the financiers of the nation thought it a wise stroke to make these Bulls at once a license of indulgence to the holder, and a security against counterfeiters. Accordingly they printed the government notes on the blank back of the Bulls, which had been sent from Spain to supply her revenue. One of these treasury notes, now before us, measures twelve inches in length by nine in breadth, and promises to pay two dollars. The Bull upon which it is printed is an indulgence, valued at "two coined silver reals," or, twenty-five cents, allowing the possessor to eat "wholesome meat, eggs and milk," during lent and on fast days.

[38] Mexico as it was and as it is, p. 269.

[39] See vol. 1, pages

[40] Lerdo, Consideraciones, &c., &c., p. 42.

[41] Lerdo, Consideraciones, p. 46, 47.

[42] Lerdo 43.--Cuevas's memoir of 1849, as Mexican Minister of Foreign and Domestic relations, p. 29 of American translation.

[43] It will scarcely be credited, but such is nevertheless the fact, that it was once seriously contemplated in Mexico to deny the right of sepulture to all strangers who were not Catholics, and that the point was only overruled by an ingenious liberalist, who contended that it was certainly healthier for the living Catholics that the dead _heretic_ should rot beneath the ground, than taint the atmosphere by decaying above it! The priests have constantly and violently opposed marriages between Mexicans and foreigners, unless they were Catholics.

[44] Bacalar, Campeché, Ichmul or Izamal, Isla de Carmen, Jequetchacan, Junoma, Lerma, Mama, Merida, Oxhuscab, Seyba, Playa, Sotula, Tizizimin, and Valladolid. These are the names of the Departments given by Mühlenpfordt: the first table is taken from Stephens.

[45] Our table of population on page 43 of this volume, adds about 10 per cent to this number to give the population estimated in 1850.

[46] See Senator Cass' speech, on the proposed occupation of Yucatan, in the Senate, May 10th, 1848, p. 7.

[47] See Stephens's Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan, vol. 2, chapter xxvi; and his Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, vol. 2, page 444.

[48] Transactions American Ethnological Society, vol. 1, page 104, and Stephens's Yucatan, vol. 1, page 434.

[49] This year was remarkable for its dryness and the loss of cattle on the coasts in consequence.

[50] In this year the observations include only ten months.

[51] It will be seen hereafter that expeditions subsequent to Humboldt's calculation give Popocatepetl a height of 17,884 feet.

[52] See Mosaico Mejicano.

[53] See Museo Mejicano, vol. 2, p. 465, for a plate of this temple.

[54] See Museo Mejicano, vol. 3d, p. 329, for lithographic sketches of the palace and temple, and their monuments. See also vol. 1st of the same work, p. 401; and vol. 3d id., p. 135, for descriptions of Zapotec remains; and vol. 1st id., p. 246, for an imperfect account of military remains, fortifications, &c. &c., near Guiengola, near Tehuantepec.

[55] This peak which is visible from Mexico, has been thus denominated in honor of Mr. William Glennie, who was the chief promoter of the expedition.

[56] See page 179, vol. I

[57] See chapter on the agriculture of Mexico for more extended notices of the character of the valley of Cuernavaca.

[58] Muhlenpfordt, vol. 2, p. 294.

[59] See also, "Mexico as it was and as it is"--p. 63, for a full account of the ceremonies of the Collegiate church, and of Archbishop Lorenzano's sermon, preached in 1760, confirming the miraculous history.

[60] The Indian not being able to point out the precise spot, a fountain gushed from the ground and indicated it.

[61] This armor and patent of nobility, were offered to the author of this work in 1842, before they were purchased by the government, for one hundred and forty dollars, and, at his recommendation, they were tendered, as a first choice, to the national authorities who bought them.

[62] The waters of the lake, it will be recollected, have fallen greatly since the conquest.

[63] The reader will find an interesting account in Spanish, of the residence of Nezahualcoyotl at Tescocingo, extracted from Ixtlilxochitl's history of the Chichimecas, in the third volume of Prescott's History of the Conquest of Mexico, page 430. The hill or mountain described in this section, is doubtless the same one referred to by the Indian historian; and it is to the Vandalism of Fray Zumarraga, the archbishop, that we are indebted for the destruction of one of the most graceful and elegant monuments of Indian civilization.

[64] See Scrope on Volcanoes, p. 267.

[65] Leonhard and Brown's Neues Jarbuch, 1835, p. 36. See Lyell's Geol., Am. Ed., 1 vol., p. 345.

[66] Mühlenpfordt.

[67] The writings of Clavigero, Solis, Bernal Dias, and others describe this mode of disposing of the bodies of those whose hearts had been torn out and offered to the idol.

[68] Ward assigns Catorcé an elevation of _over_ 7,760 feet. The statement given in the present work is on the more recent authority of Muhlenpfordt.

[69] Dr. Wislizenius's Memoir, &c., &c., 1848, p. 41.

[70] See Humboldt's Views of Nature, London edition, 1850, p. 208, and Dr. Wislizenius's Profiles of the country in his Memoir on New Mexico, &c., &c.

[71] See Dr. Wislizenius's Memoir, &c., &c. p. 141.

[72] We have used the full account given by Dr. Wislizenius, with but slight alterations of his language, because it is the most complete, consistent and satisfactory that we have encountered in our researches. We could neither improve its method or condense its matter. He is a close observer; an accurate thinker; an industrious traveller, and relates always from his personal observation.

[73] There are no negroes in New Mexico, and consequently neither _mulattos_ nor _zambos_. The fatal epidemic fever of a typhoid character that ravaged the whole province from 1837 to 1839, and the small pox in 1840, carried off nearly ten per cent. of the population.

[74] See Gregg's Commerce of the Prairies, vol. i., p. 113.

[75] See Gregg, vol. i., chapter vii.

[76] Gregg, vol. ii., p. 160.

[77] The roads by Gen. Kearney's and by Brevet Lieut. Col. Cooke's routes leave the Rio Grande for California some fifteen or twenty miles below the ford at Valverde; the former just opposite, and the latter below a point on the left bank of the river known as San Diego.

[78] See vol. ii., page 137.

[79] Forbes's California, p. 202.

[80] Gwin, Frémont, Wright and Gilbert: Memorial to Congress accompanying the Constitution of California, 12 March, 1850.

[81] See the admirable "Paper upon California" read by that accomplished scholar J. Morrison Harris, before the Maryland Historical Society in March 1849. It has been published and forms, in the estimation of competant judges, the best resumé and most philosophical disquisition upon California that has been hitherto issued from the press.

[82] See T. B. King's Report on California, Ex. Doc. No. 59, 31 Cong. 1st sess.

[83] See appendix at end of vol. for Meteorological Observations in California.

[84] See Debates on the California Convention: Appendix p. xx.

[85] See Senator Frémont's speech. Debates in Senate of U. States on Friday, 20th September, 1850.

[86] Article by the Hon. Professor Tucker, Hunt's Magazine, July, 1850, p. 25:--See Appendix No. 2.

[87] Fremont, a town laid out by Jonas Spect, on the west bank of the Sacramento river, opposite the mouth of Feather river; Vernon, east bank of the Feather river, at its confluence with the Sacramento; Boston, on the north bank of the Rio Americano, a few miles above its confluence with the Sacramento; Sacramento City, on the site of the celebrated Sutter's Fort; Sutter City, on the east bank of the Sacramento, a few miles below Sacramento City; Webster, on the east bank of Sacramento river, nine miles below Sacramento City; Suisun, on the west bank of the Rio Sacramento, 80 miles from San Francisco; Tuolumne City, at the head of navigation of the Tuolumne river; Stanislaus, on the north bank of the Stanislaus river; Stockton, situated on a slough, or sloughs, which contain the back waters formed by the junction of the Sacramento and San Joaquin; New York upon the Pacific, located at the mouth of the San Joaquin; Benecia, on the Straits of Carquinez, 35 miles from the ocean; Martinez, opposite Benecia; Napa, on the banks of the Napa creek, 40 miles north of San Francisco; Sonoma, in the valley of the same name, three miles from the Sonoma creek; St. Louis, on the Sonoma creek; San Rafael, on the north side of the Bay of San Francisco; Saucelito, on the Bay of San Francisco, at the entrance of the harbor.

[88] Report upon the land titles of California by W. Carey Jones--Washington 1850.