project of the kind find much favor among business men in the United States. About this period a scheme was set on foot, and a charter obtained from the Legislature of New York, to build a railroad from Albany, to the old Dutch town of Schenectady. The project, at the outset, had but few friends among the farmers; but Mr. Stanford. satisfied in his own mind that the lands of Elm Grove and of all the valley would be doubled in value by the advent of the road, became one of its warmest advocates. and argued its advantages with all the vigor of which he was capable. The work was finally commenced, and Mr. Stanford, leaving the duties of the farm to be attended to by his elder sons, took large contracts for grading the line. and pushed them forward with characteristic rapidity and success.

During this time Leland was attending school near his father's farm, and doubtless watched, in the intervals of his lessons, the progress of the, to him, novel work which was being prosecuted in the neighborhood. He little dreamed in those youthful days, that his manhood would be devoted to a kindred enterprise, the magnitude of which would attract the attention of the civilized world. Confined in his boyhood's experience to the limits of his own county, the shores of the great lakes, but a few hundred miles away, were to him the distant West. The country between the Mississippi and the Rocky mountains, was looked upon as a vast unknown region, inhabited only by Indians, while the unexplored ranges and plains beyond seemed as inaccessible and as inhospitable as the frozen solitudes of Siberia. The Erie canal, which was then floating the products of the lake shore to the waters of the Hudson, had, in its infancy, been looked upon with distrust by some of the most sagacious business men of that period; and yet, ere the boys of that day had matured into manhood, those distant and solitary plains had been explored, the ranges of mountains had been pierced and made to yield hundreds of millions of precious metals, and a new empire had been battled for, occupied and peopled, on the Pacific coast; while the wants of commerce had demanded and secured railroad communication be

tween the two oceans that make the Eastern and Western boundaries of the United States.

Until the age of twenty, Leland's time was divided between his studies and the occupations incident to a farm life. He then commenced the study of law, and in 1845, removed to the city of Albany, and entered the office of Wheaton, Doolittle & Hadley, prominent members of the legal profession in that city. Early in 1848, he determined to seek in the Western country a desirable location for the practice of law. He visited various localities in the vicinity of the lakes, and finally settled at Port Washington, in the State of Wisconsin. Here he remained for the period of four years, and while here, in 1850, was married to Miss Jane Lathrop, daughter of Dyer Lathrop, a merchant of Albany, whose family had been among the early settlers of that town. Soon after Leland's arrival at Port Washington the reported discoveries of fabulous mineral wealth in California were a constant theme of the newspapers in the West, and the eyes of half the young men in the land, of all trades and professions, were eagerly turned towards the alluring deposits of the Pacific slope. Five of his brothers had arrived upon the banks of the Sacramento, and were successfully engaged in mining and in trade. They, and hundreds of others of his friends, were anxious that Leland should join them; but he had selected a residence in the growing State of Wisconsin, and his temperament was not so sanguine as to cause him so soon to give up the comforts of a permanent home, which he was just beginning to enjoy.

It was not therefore until the Spring of 1852, that he came to the determination to push his fortunes in the new field to which so many of his friends had been attracted, and where so many of them had met with success. He arrived in California, July 12th, 1852, and at once proceeded to the interior, being determined to examine into, and to engage by himself in, practical mining. He tried a number of locations in various parts of the State, and at length settled at Michigan Bluff, on the American river in Placer County. With his mining interests at this point, and the mercantile house with which he was connected in

company with his brothers at Sacramento, he soon found himself possessed of a rapidly growing and lucrative business. He has never entirely relinquished his mining interests in California, although for some years they have received but a small share of his personal attention.

In the earlier years of his manhood, Mr. Stanford was. by instinct, by education, and by association, a Whig. While the great free soil movement was gathering strength in the land, he became strenuous in its advocacy and earnest in its support. He was among the few leading spirits who formed the Republican party in California, and by giving freely of his time and of his means, he made his influence felt in the campaign of 1856, when a gallant fight was made by that party, against fearful odds, in the Golden State. In Sacramento, the capital of the State, it was in those days considered an act of temerity to attend a free soil meeting, and speakers were hooted at, pelted, and driven from the stand, who dared to utter sentiments not in accordance with those held by the then dominant party. The State, from its organization, had been under the control of the Southern wing of the democracy, and it was up-hill work to establish a new political party, which if successful must result in the entire overthrow of the one in power. But the destinies of the great freedom-loving organization were in the hands of men who were undaunted by defeat. Without losing courage by the result of the National canvas of 1856, they determined to organize for the State election in 1857. At this time Mr. Stanford was the candidate of the Republican party for the office of State Treasurer, but the whole ticket was defeated. In 1859, he was nominated for Governor and again defeated. In 1861, the Republicans, confident of their strength, determined upon a vigorous canvass. Mr. Stanford was absent in Washington during the summer, but among the many names mentioned for the nomination, his was most prominent. Soon after his return, the Convention assembled at Sacramento, and upon the first ballot he received the nomination. The contest that followed was the most exciting one the State had yet seen. With two other candidates in the field, he ran nearly six thous

and votes ahead of his ticket, and was elected by a popular vote nearly equal to that of his two opponents combined. The result was as follows, in a vote of 119,730 : Stanford, Republican, received 56,036;

Conness, Douglas Democrat, received 30,944; McConnell, Administration Democrat, received 32,750. Having thus been called upon as a political candidate to traverse the State twice, without a hope of being elected, he was now rewarded, after a third most thorough and exhausting canvass, by a success undoubtedly beyond his expectations. In January, 1862, the Governor was inaugurated at Sacramento, and assumed the duties of his office at a critical period in State as well as national affairs. The country was in the midst of an internal war, the magnitude of which startled the people and paralyzed the various industries of the land. There had been few daring enough to predict its inception-none far-seeing enough to foretell how it would end. The mutterings of the impending conflict had been for a long time borne upon every breeze, and the shock of battle that followed the bursting storm was earnest and deadly.. The election in California, the previous fall, had been watched with peculiar interest by both the contending parties. The Secessionists of the South were sanguine that the democracy could not be driven from the stronghold they had occupied so long; while the loyal men of the North, hoping almost against hope itself, were earnest in their aspirations that California might declare herself on the side of justice and of right. Mr. Stanford had spent much time subsequent to Mr. Lincoln's inauguration at the national Capital, and had been cordially received as a leading and representative republican of the Pacific Coast. Among the few who visited the President without seeking office at his hands, he very soon won Mr. Lincoln's regard, and became his principal adviser in the difficult task of distributing the official patronage in California. His nomination to the office of Governor and his triumphant election, were hailed therefore with delight by all who were connected with the National Republican administration.

To the deplorable condition of the nation at the com

mencement of the year 1862, was added a local calamity which devastated the fairest portions of California. A flood unexampled in its destructiveness was, on the very day of the inauguration of the new Governor, sweeping through the streets of Sacramento and hurrying its dread volume of waters over a territory hundreds of miles in extent. Lives were lost, houses were submerged, farms were destroyed, roads and bridges were carried away, till it seemed as if the very genius of disaster had taken within its baneful grasp the destinies of the State. The beautiful homes and gardens of the Capital city were desolated in a day. The Governor and the Legislature were obliged to go to and from the place of the inaugural ceremonies in boats. The latter immediately resolved upon a removal to San Francisco, and the Governor was obliged to transfer his office to the same place.

It was under adverse circumstances such as these, that the first Republican administration of California entered upon its career, with Governor Stanford at its head. He had, however, been long known throughout the State as a successful merchant and miner, and it was believed that he would exhibit in the management of public affairs the same sound sense he had brought to bear upon his private business. Nor were the people who elected him deceived in their choice. He gave his entire attention to the new duties that devolved upon him; he maintained frequent and unreserved correspondence with the heads of all the Departments at Washington; thus holding California in close and sympathetic relations with the central government. In this way, with the aid of a constituency actuated by the highest and noblest patriotism, the Governor had the proud satisfaction of seeing California occupy a front rank among the sisterhood of loyal States. At the close of his administration, the Legislature bestowed upon him the unusual compliment of a concurrent resolution, passed by a unanimous vote of all parties, in which it was "Resolved by the Assembly, the Senate concurring That the thanks of the people of California are merited, and are hereby tendered to Leland Stanford, for the able, upright, and faithful manner in which he has discharged