thousand Indians. They exported a large number of skins, and considerable quantities of grain and meat to the Russian settlements at Sitka.

In 1835, the British Government, which had already begun to make arrangements for the acquisition of California, made objections to these Russian settlements on Mexican soil; and, as the Mexican authorities appeared to be unable or unwilling to molest them, called upon the United States Government to require their removal, in compliance with the stipulations of a treaty made between Russia and the United States in April, 1824, by which Russia was bound to prevent its subjects forming settlements at any point south of latitude 50° 40′. It was in compliance with a request from the United States Government, that the Russians left California in 1841. They sold all their real and personal property to General Sutter, taking payment in wheat and meat, as required by the settlement at Sitka. Among the personal property thus acquired by Sutter, were 2000 cattle, 1000 horses, 50 mules, 2500 sheep, and a number of brass guns, one of which, now preserved in the museum of the Pioneer Association of San Francisco, rendered important service during the war for the conquest of California.

The first permanent settler in California, of whom we have any record, was John Gilroy, a Scotchman, who was landed from an English ship belonging to the Hudson Bay Company, which put into Monterey for supplies, in 1814. Gilroy, at that time a youth of eighteen, was so sick with the scurvy that he was left ashore, to save his life. It was six years after the ship that brought him had left, before another entered the harbor of Monterey, except a pirate from Buenos Ayres, which arrived in 1819, captured the fort, destroyed the guns, plundered the inhabitants, and burnt the town. Gilroy, who is still living at the thriving town which has sprung up within a few miles of his homestead, in the beautiful Santa Clara valley, about thirty miles from San José, says there were not half a dozen foreign settlers in the whole country at that time, except the Russians, at Bodega, and only eight ranchos belonging to Mexican settlers, between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Monterey contained but six houses, besides the presidio; San José contained about twenty. There was no foreign trade, except once a year a Spanish vessel took a cargo of tallow to Callao. Hides had not begun to be of any value, as the American traders did not commence to buy them until about 1820. There was not a flour mill in the country; the wheat intended for flour was ground in rude stone mortars, or metates. There was not a vehicle, from San

Francisco to San Diego, that had wheels with spokes. All the lumber required for any purpose was hewn with axes by the Indian carpenters-but, as nobody except the Governor or missionaries had wooden floors or doors to their houses, nor chairs, nor tables, it did not require much lumber to supply the demand. The missionaries owned the whole country, and controlled all its inhabitants. The Indians did all the work required, as blacksmiths, carpenters and weavers. Potatoes were unknown; a few cabbages and other vegetables were cultivated, on some of the missions, as luxuries. The natives at the missions lived entirely on boiled wheat, maize, and beef, seasoned with Chili peppers and salt. Poor Gilroy, like so many other pioneer settlers who owned miles of fertile land when California became a State in the American Union, is now penniless, living in the same old adobe house he built before an American citizen had set his foot in the territory. Improvidence, and want of experience in the ways of the money lender, have ruined nearly all of the old settlers.

In 1818, Antonio M. Suñol, whose name is for ever connected with a charming valley in the coast range, arrived at Monterey, and resided in California until March 18th, 1865, when he died, near San José, at the age of sixty-eight. This worthy old pioneer, and his friend General Sutter, are fine specimens of the generous, refined and chivalrous adventurers of a nearly extinct type, whose histories show what an active part such men play in the drama of life. Though born at Barcelona, in Spain, he was in the naval service of France, and was present when Napoleon the Great surrendered as a prisoner, before the hero's exile to St. Helena.

In 1821, F. W. Macondray, the founder of one of the most extensive and substantial mercantile firms on the Pacific Coast, arrived at Monterey, from Chili, on board the ship Panther, and was so impressed by the beauty and fertility of the country that, in 1850, he brought out his family, and settled at San Francisco, where his sons are at present, among its wealthiest merchants.

In May, 1822, W. E. P. Hartnell, an Englishman-the first inspector and translator of the Mexican archives, for the United States Government arrived at Monterey; in August of the same year, W. A. Richardson, an Englishman, who became the first Harbor Master, landed at San Francisco.

In May, 1823, J. B. R. Cooper, a half-brother of Thos. O. Larkin, arrived at Monterey, from Boston, (Mass.,) and soon after married a sister of M. G. Vallejo, a prominent native Californian of pure Castilian descent.

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.