other territory of the republic, is still inhabited mai by a Spanish-speaking people; its position on national frontier; its peculiarities of physical con uration and climate; and finally, the marvellous stri towards prosperity in the last decade, of a coun formerly regarded as an unpromising section of Great American Desert. That the annals of these countries, so extensive b chronologically and territorially, are compressed one volume of this History of the Pacific States, w seven volumes are devoted to the record of a si province, California, is a fact that may seem to req a word of explanation, though it is in accordance a plan deliberately formed and announced at the set. All Spanish-American provinces are in cer respects so similar in their annals one to another it was and is believed sufficient and best in a com hensive work like this to present the minutiae of and personal happenings of but one. California chosen for this purpose, not only because of its mo prominence, but because its records are remark perfect, and because its position on the coast, facil ing intercourse with Mexico and foreign nations mission system, its trading and smuggling experie its Russian complications, its political vicissitudes. its immigrant and other foreign elements gave t history, as compared with that of interior provinc notable variety, tending greatly to mitigate the i table monotony of all provincial annals, even b the knowledge of its golden treasure came to st the world. The history of New Mexico written o same scale as that of the Pacific province would only fill many volumes, but from the lack of tinuous archive evidence, and from the fact tha story goes back beyond the aid of memory, it would be at the best fragmentary and irregular; and by reason of the country's isolation and non-intercourse with the outer world, as well as on account of the peculiar nature of its petty events, it would also be most tedious reading. Not only is this true of the first and most important period of the country's history-that of Spanish rule to 1821-but of the second period, embracing the Mexican rule of 1822-46, the growth of the Santa Fé trade, the change of flag, the Indian wars, and the early territorial days down to 1875 or later. The Mexican archive record is more meagre even than the Spanish, the early enthusiasm of conquest and exploration had died out, nothing more monotonous in detail than the endless succession of Indian wars can be imagined, and of the more important events and developments several are more conveniently and satisfactorily treated in the annals of other adjoining regions. And as to the third and last period, that of railroads, Indian reservations, mining development, industrial progress, and American immigration, a valid reason for condensation is found in the fact that this grand unfolding of resources has but just begun, that all is in a transitory, changeable condition, so that the result of the most minute treatment would probably become antiquated and of comparatively little value within a few years. Thus there are good reasons for the plan and scale I have adopted. The omission of personal and local details, moreover, adds greatly to the interest of this volume; and so far as the general course of events and developments is concerned, no volume of the series has been founded on more careful or exhaustive research. My sources of information for this volume are shown |