General Mariano Guadelupe Vallejo, who took an active part in placing California in possession of the United States, was born at Monterey, July 7th, 1808, and is the oldest living white settler in the State. Having held several important offices under the Mexican Government, he was dissatisfied with its rulers, and became one of the most active leaders of the native Californian party which favored the annexation of the country to the United States. Being one of the best educated of his class, and speaking English fluently, he was able to render much service to the Government in the conquest and settlement of the territory.

The following is an illustration of General Vallejo's services, in favor of annexation to the United States. In 1846, when the subject of annexation to England was discussed before the Departmental Assembly at Santa Barbara, and Pio Pico, the Governor, after reviling the United States and praising the monarchies of Europe, proposed to unite with England, General Vallejo, in the course of his reply to the Governor, said:

"We are republicans; badly governed and badly situated as we are, still we are all, in sentiment, republicans. So far as we are governed at all, we at least profess to be self-governed. Who, then that professes true patriotism will consent to subject himself and children to the caprices of a foreign king and his official minions? My opinion is, I will mention it plainly and distinctly, annexation to the United States is our only security. Why should we shrink from incorporating ourselves with the happiest and freest nation in the world, destined soon to be the most wealthy and powerful? When we join our fortunes with hers, we shall not become subjects, but fellow-citizens, possessing all the rights of the people of the United States. Look not, therefore, with jealousy upon the hardy pioneers who scale our mountains, and cultivate our unoccupied plains; but rather welcome them as brothers who come to share with us a common destiny."

In a few months after this meeting, California was in possession of the United States.

About the time of the arrival of Mr. Cooper, quite a respectable trade had sprung up for hides, tallow, grain, wine, and other products of the missions. In 1822, an English firm at Lima, (Peru,) established a branch of their house at Monterey, which was the first mercantile house opened on the coast. The annual exports, for several years, had averaged 30,000 hides, 7000 quintels of tallow, 200 bales of furs, and about 1,000 bushels of wheat, besides a few cargoes shipped to Sitka, from the Russian settlements at Bodega.

In 1820, numerous hunters and trappers from the west, while wandering in search of the posts on the Columbia river, found their way across the Sierra Nevada, into California.

The valleys of the Tulare, San Joaquin, and Sacramento, in those

days abounded with beaver, otter, and other animals, whose pelts were highly prized by these trappers, who had become so numerous in 1821 and 1822, as to produce quite a revenue to the Mexican Government, which charged them a license for the privilege of hunting. It was from some of these California trappers whom General Sutter met in New Mexico, in 1834, that he first heard of the beauty of the valley of the Sacramento, on which he settled in August, 1839.

Many of the oldest settlers in the State at present, or who have died within the past year or two, came to California as trappers. The American River takes its name from a company of western trappers who lived on its banks for several years, between 1822 to 1830. French Camp, or Castoria, as it used to be called, near Stockton, San Joaquin County, was located by a company of trappers employed by the Hudson Bay Company, who encamped there from 1829 till 1838.

In 1827, John Temple, a native of Reading, (Mass.,) arrived at San Francisco, from the Sandwich Islands. The career of this gentleman so forcibly illustrates the material of which the early pioneers of California were composed, that we give an outline of his history. A merchant at Los Angeles until 1848, he then commenced the business of stock-raising, to meet the increasing demand for cattle, the extraordinary accession to the population created. In a few years he became the owner of many thousands of cattle and horses-such men never do things by halves. He next tried his hand as a builder, and the City Hall, Court House, and Temple Block, at Los Angeles, are monuments of his labors in this line. He next leased a Government mint in Mexico, and went into the coining business, in which he literally "made money." Like all the early settlers, Mr. Temple (in 1830) married a California lady. He died at San Francisco, in June, 1866.

In February, 1829, Alfred Robinson arrived at Monterey, on board the ship Brookline, from Boston, as agent for the house of Bryant & Sturgis. In 1836, this gentleman married the daughter of José de la Guerra, at Santa Barbara, and returned to Boston in 1837. In 1849, Mr. Robinson came back to California, and settled at San Francisco, as the first agent of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company.

Abel Stearnes came to Monterey, from Mexico, in July, 1829, for the purpose of locating a grant of land he had received from the Mexican Government. Failing in this colonization project, he went to Los Angeles, where he has since resided and amassed a fortune.

J. J. Sparks, who died at Santa Barbara in June, 1867, came to California as a trapper in 1830.

George C. Yount, the first settler in Napa Valley, after wandering as a trapper and hunter through the valleys of the Platte, Arkansas, Green, Colorado, Mojave and Sacramento, in 1830 reached the beautiful place where he settled and ended his days, surrounded by as much refinement and social cultivation as if all his days had been spent in what the world calls society. His neighbor, Nathan Coombs, the famous ranchero of that valley, did not arrive in California till 1843. J. J. Warner, Esq., the well known viniculturist, and Federal Assessor of Los Angeles, was a trapper on the Sacramento River in 1831. Trapping for beaver and otter was carried on, on the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, until 1845. Captain Merritt had a large party of trappers on the Sacramento in that year.

The name of one of these early trappers, Jedediah S. Smith, has been mixed up with a number of stories of a very contradictory character, but each vouched for as correct by gentlemen deserving belief. The late Edmund Randolph, in a famous oration delivered before the Pioneer Association of California, credits Smith with being the first white man who crossed the Sierra Nevada mountains.

We have been at considerable trouble to unravel these various stories, and have gathered the following particulars from those who knew Smith personally, and shared his perils, and from documents in the State archives.

The first of the trappers in the country west of the Rocky Mountains was W. H. Ashley, of St. Louis, who left the Missouri River in 1823, and is supposed to have reached the Sierra Nevada mountains in that year. In 1824 he discovered Salt Lake, and built a fort and station there, between which and the Missouri River, loaded wagons passed as early as 1828. In 1826, Ashley sold his interest to this Jedediah S. Smith, Jackson, and Sublette, who formed the American Fur Company.

In 1824, this Company was organized at St. Louis, (Mo.) It immediately sent out several parties, .to trap or hunt in the country west of the Rocky Mountains. In the spring of 1825, Smith, who was at the head of this Company, with a party of forty trappers and Indians, left their rendezvous on the Green River, near the South Pass, and pushed their way westward, crossing the Sierra Nevada into the Tulare Valley, which they reached in July, 1825. The party trapped for beaver, and other animals, from the Tulare to the American fork of the Sacramento, where there was already a camp of American trappers. Smith established his camp near the site of the present town of Folsom, about twenty-two miles north-east from the other party.

From this camp Smith sent out parties, in several directions, which were so successful that, in October, leaving all the others in California, in company with two of the party he returned to his rendezvous on Green River, with several bales of skins. His partners were so pleased at the success of the first expedition that in May, 1826, Smith was sent back with a considerable re-inforcement. On this trip, he led his party further south than on the former one, which brought them into the Mojave settlements on the Colorado, where all the party, except Smith and two companions named Galbraith and Turner, were killed by the Indians. These three made their way to the mission of San Gabriel, on the 26th of December, 1826, where they were arrested on suspicion of being spies or filibusteros, and sent to the Presidio at San Diego, where they were examined by General Echandia, the commandante of the territory. It was not until several Americans, who were then at San Francisco, certified that Smith and his companions were hunters and trappers, that they were permitted to purchase horses and provisions, to proceed to the camp at Folsom.

The following is a verbatim copy of this curious certificate :

"We, the undersigned, having been requested by Capt. Jedediah S. Smith to state our opinions regarding his entering the Province of California, do not hesitate to say that we have no doubt but that he was compelled to, for want of provisions and water, having entered so far into the barren country that lies between the latitudes of forty-two and forty-three west that he found it impossible to return by the route he came, as his horses had most of them perished for want of food and water; he was therefore under the necessity of pushing forward to California-it being the nearest place where he could procure supplies to enable him to return.

"We further state as our opinions, that the account given by him is circumstantially correct, and that his sole object was the hunting and trapping of beaver, and other furs.

"We have also examined the passports produced by him from the Superintendent of Indian affairs for the Government of the United States of America, and do not hesitate to say we believe them perfectly correct.

"We also state that, in our opinion, his motives for wishing to pass, by a different route to the Columbia River, on his return is solely because he feels convinced that he and his companions run great risk of perishing if they return by the route they came.

"In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seals, this 20th day of December, 1826.

"WILLIAM G. DANA, Captain of schooner Waverly.
"WILLIAM H. CUNNINGHAM, Captain of ship Courier.
"WILLIAM HENDERSON, Captain of brig Olive Branch
"JAMES SCOTT,

"THOMAS M. ROBBINS, Mate of schooner Waverly.
"THOMAS SHAW, Supercargo of ship Courier."

In the summer of 1827, Smith and all his party, (except Galbraith and Turner, who settled in California,) left the Sacramento valley, with the intention of reaching the settlements on the Columbia river. They reached the mouth of the Umpqua river, near Cape Arago,

when the party were surprised by Indians, and all killed, except Smith and two Irishmen named Richard Laughlin and Daniel Prior. These, after terrible sufferings, reached Fort Vancouver, where they were kindly received. Smith, soon after, returned to St. Louis, and his companions went to Los Angeles, California., where they resided for several years.

Another version of the story is, that Smith returned from Fort Vancouver to the place where the party were killed, accompanied by a strong force of men in the service of the Hudson Bay Company, who, meeting no Indians on the way, went with him as far as the Sacramento valley, where they established a camp near the junction of the American and Feather Rivers, which was, during the first season, under command of a Scotchman named McLeod. This was the first party of Hudson Bay trappers known to have been in California.

Thomas Sprague, an old resident of California, in a letter to the Hon. Edmund Randolph, dated "Genoa, (Washoe,) Sept. 18th, 1860," states that Smith was the chief trader in the employ of the American Fur Company, at its rendezvous on the Green River, in 1825; and in that year was sent, with a party of trappers, to hunt in the country west of Salt Lake. It was during that trip that he discovered the Humboldt River, which he called the Mary, in compliment to his Indian wife. This river is still known as the Mary, by the old hunters in Utah. It was always called by that name till Fremont changed it in 1846. Traveling west from the Humboldt, he crossed the Sierra Nevada, at a point near the head of the Truckee river, and went down the Sacramento Valley, and as far south as San José and San Diego, and obtained horses and supplies to return. Coming back, he crossed the Sierra Nevada mountains, by what is now known as Walker's Pass, and discovered Mono Lake, between which and Salt Lake he found placer gold, of which they took a considerable quantity to the rendezvous of the company on Green River, or Sidskadee, one of the head waters of the Colorado. This gold, and the large quantity of furs brought by the party, so pleased the agent of the company, that Smith was directed to return to the place where the gold was found, and thoroughly prospect the country. Sprague states that it was on this second trip that Smith wrote the letter to Father Duran, of the San Gabriel Mission, which Mr. Randolph read at the celebration of the Pioneers at San Francisco, in 1860, and which is still preserved. The following is a copy of this letter:

"REVEREND FATHER-I understand, through the medium of one of your Christian Indians, that you are anxious to know who we are-as some of the Indians have been at