ure, and especially his correspondence with Captain Forrest. He explained that soon after the interchange of letters, but before Captain Forrest sailed, he had been obliged to leave Monterey on account of information that a party of adventurers from the United States had stolen three thousand horses belonging to the missions of San Luis Obispo and San Gabriel and various private ranches, and were threatening further depredations; and that when he returned to Monterey he found Captain Forrest had gone, leaving, however, a Mr. E. Estabrook as consular agent of the United States at Monterey. He further explained that he had corresponded with Estabrook and pointed out to him the informality of his appointment; and he also transmitted that correspondence. But the matter of most importance, and to which he desired to call especial attention, was the care and circumspection it was necessary to exercise in reference to the statements of such prisoners as had been discharged from arrest, for the reason that those persons would imagine that they could make great fortunes in the way of reclamations against the Mexican nation, and they would not hesitate to attempt it.

Graham and his special associates remained in Mexico until the summer of 1842, when they were discharged. As several of them were citizens of the United States, and the others of Great Britain, and as the representatives of those nations interfered and insisted that there was nothing shown to justify their arrest and detention, the Mexican government deemed it prudent and politic not only to release the prisoners, but to fit them out in fine style, pay all their expenses, and send them back to California in a government vessel. Accordingly, when they landed at Monterey, on their return, in July, 1842, they were neatly dressed, armed with rifles and swords, and looked in better condition than when they were sent away. or probably than they had ever looked in their lives before.

The disturbances which had led to the arrest of Graham and his associates, called the especial attention of the departmental gov

ernment to the subject of foreigners in the country. Lists were made out in the summer of 1840, for the purpose of giving all the information that could be procured. From these lists it appeared that there were sixteen foreigners permanently residing at San Francisco, not including Richardson, who was then at Saucelito; thirty-one at San José ; ten at Branciforte; somewhere about thirty at Monterey; thirty at Santa Barbara; twentythree at Los Angeles; and seven at San Diego.

These lists included only those who had been naturalized, or who were licensed to reside in the country. There were numerous others, chiefly Americans, who had come and remained without permission. These were scattered in various quarters, but chiefly north of the bay of San Francisco. Some were hunters and trappers, and a few made a sort of business, with vagabond Mexicans, of horse-stealing, which appears to have been a comparatively safe occupation for all except Indians. The latter were usually pursued, and as many shot down as could be. In June, 1839, the ghastly head of one of them, who had been decapitated, was stuck up as a warning in the plaza of Santa Clara. In April, 1840, Vallejo, in giving an account of a bloody expedition which he had just made against Indians in the neighborbood of Sonoma, intimated that they were horse-thieves, connected with the hunters and trappers of the Sacramento Valley, and thus justified himself for the slaughter he had made.

Among the foreigners who had thus found their way to and settled in California, in addition to those already mentioned, was Robert Livermore, an English lad, who came in the employ of Juan Ignacio Mancísidor, about the year 1819. Mancísidor was a Spaniard, engaged in trade in the country, who afterwards was obliged to leave on account of the anti-Spanish legislation which followed the Mexican revolution. Livermore, in the course of a few years, was baptized into the Catholic church, and received the baptismal name of Juan Bautista Roberto Livermore, by which he was afterwards generally known, in the same manner as Captain Cooper, after his

Catholic baptism, became known as Juan Bautista Rogers Cooper. Livermore was followed in 1821 by William Welsh. In 1822, besides William A. Richardson, came William Gulnac, an American, James Richard Berry, an Englishman, Edward M. McIntosh, a Scotchman, and George Allen or, as he was afterwards known, José Jorge Tomas Allen, an Irishman, all of whom became well known in the country. In 1823, besides Captain Cooper, came Samuel and William Bocle, Englishmen, and William Smith, an American. Smith was generally known as "Bill the Sawyer." After roving about for a few years, he married a California woman, settled down in the Santa Cruz mountains, and founded the nucleus of the aggregation of foreigners in that region already mentioned, and known as the Graham party. He was joined by James Peace, an English sailor, who deserted from one of the Hudson Bay Company's ships; and afterwards by Charles Brown, who deserted from an American whaler about 1832, and John Copinger, an Irishman, who came to the coast about the same time. Of Copinger it is related that a fond mother purchased for him a lieutenant's commission in the British navy, but that, being either unruly or unwilling to be imposed upon, he quarreled with his superior officer, was reduced in rank, and made to feel the severity of British naval discipline. He managed in time to escape, and finally found his way into the recesses of the Santa Cruz mountains, where he lived in unquestioned freedom, far from the reach of tyrannous restraint. All these men married "hijas del pais," and thus became connected with old California families. They were at first engaged principally in the lumber business; and it was not until Graham set up his still, and thus placed himself at the head of the old Santa Cruz population, that aguardiente gained the ascendency.

About 1824 came Daniel A. Hill, an American, David Spence and James McKinley, Scotchmen, and James Dawson, an Irish

he would dig a pit under the log to be sawed, thus making what was called a saw-pit. He and E. M. McIntosh afterwards became interested in the rancho called Estero Americano, near Bodega. It was arranged between them that McIntosh should go to Monterey and procure a formal grant of it from the government, which he accordingly did; but, instead of acting in their joint names, he took the papers out in his own alone, leaving Dawson out. Upon ascertaining this fact, Dawson was so much incensed that he gave McIntosh a terrible beating, "breaking every bone in his body" metaphorically speaking, and then, taking his saw, he divided the house, which had been built in partnership, into two parts, and moved his half off, determined thenceforth to have nothing more to do with partnerships than he could help.

In 1825, Robert Ellwell and James Thompson, Americans, and John Wilson, a Scotchman, arrived. Ellwell used to boast that he was a Whig, a Unitarian, and a Freemason, and that if these three qualifications would not take a man to heaven, nothing would.

The year of 1826 brought John Wilson and George W. Vincent, Americans; William D. Foxen, an Englishman; David Littlejohn, a Scotchman; and John J. Read, an Irishman. Read, who came out on a voyage with an uncle, took such a fancy to the country that he determined to make it his home, and declined any longer to follow a seafaring life. He went first into the Petaluma valley, but, being disturbed by the Indians, soon afterwards moved down to the neighborhood of Saucelito, some years subsequently married Hilarita, daughter of José Antônio Sanchez, obtained a land grant on the bay shore between Saucelito and San Rafael, settled down and founded a large family.

In 1827 came Henry D. Fitch, John Temple, William G. Dana, Thomas M. Robbins, George Rice and Guy F. Fling, Americans; and John C. Fuller, an Englishman. Fitch, who afterwards sailed to South America for the purpose of finding a priest that would marry him to Josefa Carrillo, came originally in the employ of Edward E. Vir

mont, a merchant of Mexico, who at that time, and for years afterwards, carried on a considerable trade with California. Temple and Rice settled in Los Angeles, Dana and Robbins at Santa Barbara, Fuller afterwards at San Francisco. It was in this same year, 1827, that Jedediah S. Smith, and his party of hunters and trappers, reached California from the Rocky Mountains. Of this party, or about the same time, came George C. Yount, William Pope, and Cyrus Alexander, natives respectively of North Carolina, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania. Yount and Pope afterwards obtained land grants in Napa Valley, and were the first American settlers north of the Bay. Alexander, though he got no grant, became a land-owner in another way. He entered into a contract with Henry D. Fitch, the grantee of the Sotoyome rancho where the town of Healdsburg now stands, by the terms of which, in consideration of managing the property for two years, he received one fourth, or two square leagues of it. His land lay to the east of Healdsburg, and was known as Alexander Valley.

Of the arrivals of 1828 were Abel Stearns and Michael Prior, Americans, and Edward Watson, an Englishmen; among those of 1829, were Alfred Robinson, American; James Alexander Forbes, English; and Timothy Murphy and John Rainsford, Irish. All, especially Stearns, Robinson, and Forbes, became well known in the country. Murphy,

or

"Don Timoteo" as he was generally called, settled down at San Rafael, kept a sort of open house, and was noted far and wide for his hospitality. According to accounts of old neighbors who knew him intimately, as well as of travelers from abroad who visited him, he was one of those "fine, old Irish gentlemen," now, alas, too much "all of the olden time." In 1830 came William Wolfskill and Isaac (sometimes called Julian) Williams, Americans; James W. Weeks, English; and Jean Louis Vignes, a Frenchman. Wolfskill and Vignes, who both settled at or near Los Angeles, became men of special importance to the country. Wolfskill turned his attention to fruit-raising,

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and may be almost called the founder of the business, which in the course of a comparatively few years grew into one of the industries of the land. Vignes started, so to speak, the French element of California. He turned his attention to the vineyard and wine interest, and did much to aid and establish its early development.

The arrivals of 1831 included John J. Warner, James Kennedy, William Mathews, and Zeba Branch, Americans. Of these, Warner became the most widely known. He settled near the San Gregorio Pass, and in early times his place was the first settlement reached by travelers coming over the desert from the Colorado river. In 1832 came Thomas O. Larkin, Nathan Spear, Lewis T. Burton, Isaacs J. Sparks, Philip O. Slade, Francis D. Dye, Americans; Juan Foster, Hugo Reid, and Mark West, English; and Nicholas Fink, a German. Larkin appears to have come out from Boston with the intention of manufacturing flour, but found other occupation. He became United States consul, and did much towards bringing the country under the American flag. Foster settled near San Diego, and Reid near Los Angeles, and became, to all intents and purposes, identified with the Californians. Spear, Burton, and Sparks became merchants; West settled at what is now known as Mark West, near Santa Rosa, and Fink became the victim of a horrid murder, elsewhere in these pages related. About the same time came Joseph Paulding, who had the honor, if honor it can be called, of making the first billiard tables in California. In the same year a company of Canadian trappers, under Michel Laframboise, found its way into the San Joaquin valley, and established its head-quarters near the present city of Stockton, from which circumstance that place derived its original name of "French Camp."

The immigration of 1833 included Isaac Graham, William Chard, James Wetmarsh, and Thomas G. Brown, Americans; Joseph Snook, English; James Black and Lawrence Carmichael, Scotch; Charles Wolters, German; Pierre T. Sicard, French; and Grego

rio Escalante, a Manilaman. Graham, who came from Hardin county, Kentucky, has been already noticed. Chard was one of his companions. Black settled north of the Bay, and became connected with McIntosh and Dawson, previously mentioned. It appears that when Vallejo was sent into the Sonoma country with the object of forming a barrier against the Russians at Bodega, he induced Black, McIntosh, and Dawson to settle at the Estero Americano, and act as a sort of buffer against the Muscovites. They were promised a grant of land for their services, which McIntosh afterwards obtained under the circumstances already mentioned; but Black, in the meanwhile, had moved down into what is now Marin county, obtained a grant, and settled there. He went largely into the stock business, and lived to see his cattle grazing on a thousand hills. Escalante, the Manilaman, afterwards started a drinking saloon at Yerba Buena, and thus originated a business in which he has had too many imitators.

In 1834 came Jacob P. Leese, Alfred B. Thompson, Ezekiel Merritt, George Nidever, and Joseph L. Majors, Americans. Of these, Leese and Thompson were merchants, Merritt a hunter, who played a conspicuous part in the subsequent bear-flag revolution, and Nidever also a hunter. The next year, 1835, brought the Americans Dr. John Marsh, Lemuel Carpenter, George F. Wyman, John M. Martin, and Thomas B. Park. Dr. Marsh, in the course of a few years after his arrival, obtained a grant of land, and settled at Pulpunes, afterwards generally known as "Marsh's Ranch" near the eastern base of Monte Diablo. In 1836 came Dr. Nicholas A. Den, who was afterwards followed by Dr. Richard A. Den. They were Irish; married California wives, and settled, one at Santa Barbara, and the other at Los Angeles. There were several arrivals in 1837; among them John Wolfskill and John Paty, Americans, William Anderson, an Englishman, and Peter Storm, a Dane; and in 1838 came Dr. Edward A. Bale, English, Pedro Sansevaine, French, James O'Brien, Irish, and William H. Davis, a native of the Sandwich Islands.

Dr. Bale, in the course of a few years, married, obtained a grant of the "Carne Humana" rancho, north of Yount's, in Napa valley, and settled there. Sansevaine went into the vineyard business near Los Ange les. Davis was a trader in the early days of Yerba Buena, and married into the Estudillo family.

Among the accessions of 1839 were William D. M. Howard and Daniel Sill, Americans; Henry Austin, John C. Davis, William J. Reynolds, John Rose, John Finch, Robert T. Ridley, William Swinbourne, and Henry Kirby, Englishmen ; John Sinclair, a Scotchman; John Roland, a German ; Juan Bautista Leandry, an Italian; Peter T. Sherrebeck, a Dane; and Jean J. Vioget, a Swiss. In 1840 came William Hinckley, William Johnson, William Wiggins, David Dutton, Augustus Andrews, and Frank Bedwell, Americans; William A. Leidesdorff and Peter Lassen, Danes; and Nicolaus Altgeier, a German. Hinckley and Leidesdorff became prominent among the old settlers of Yerba Buena. Wiggins, Dutton, and Lassen were of a party which crossed the plains to Ore. gon in 1839. They there, with John Stev ens and J. Wright, took a vessel, and in July, 1840, reached Bodega, where Vallejo attempted to prevent their landing. Notwithstanding his threats, however, they went ashore and wrote to the American consul, asking for passports and stating that they would wait for them fifteen days, and, if in that time they heard nothing further, they would consider themselves in an enemy's country, and take up arms for their defense. They were not thenceforth disturbed. Lassen afterwards settled at the foot of the Sierra in the northern part of the Sacramento valley. It is from him that Lassen's Peak and Lassen county derived their names. Altgeier, like Sinclair of the year previous, settled near Sutter's fort-Sinclair on the American river nearly opposite the fort, and Altgeier on the Feather river. The latter, being generally known only by his first name, the place of his settlement got to be known by the same, and gradually grew into the town of Nicolaus.

One of the most prominent of the foreigners in the department in those early days was John Augustus Sutter. He was of Swiss parentage, but born in the grand duchy of Baden in 1803. In 1834 he emigrated to New York; thence moved to Missouri, where he lived a few years; and then started for the Pacific coast, with the intention of settling in California. He made his way to Oregon; thence to the Sandwich Islands; and at length reached San Francisco, with a company of twelve men and two women, all but two or three of whom were Islanders, in June, 1839. His object was to take his people to the Sacramento Valley, and there found a colony; but as he had no license to settle in the country, the authorities of San Francisco refused to allow him to land, until he should have procured the permission of the governor. Sutter immediately, without disembarking, proceeded to Monterey, presented himself to Alvarado, explained his plans, and, after setting forth his purpose of making California his home, becoming a citizen, and founding a colony, asked for and easily obtained the necessary license to land and settle. On August 28th of the next year, he presented his formal application for naturalization papers; and they were issued the next day. He was not only admitted to citizenship, but he was appointed a representative of the government, and entrusted with the administration of justice on the so-called frontier of the Sacramento river. On September 1, 1840, Alvarado wrote him that the maintenance of order on the frontier, and especially its protection against the continuous incursions of savages and the robberies and other damages caused by adventurers from the United States, was a matter of great importance, and that he was authorized to exercise a very extensive jurisdiction on behalf of the government over the entire region. He might pursue and arrest thieves, robbers, and vagrants, and warn off hunters and trappers who were unlicensed; but he should not wage war, except upon notice to, and with express permission of, the government, bearing in mind, also, that the jurisdiction of the military commandant at Sonoma

extended as far as the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers.

Sutter, with his people, had already moved up to the confluence of the Sacramento and American rivers, and, on the site of the present city of Sacramento, established his colony of New Helvetia. He was not slow in making use of the authority vested in him. In February, 1841, he wrote that he was about to make an expedition with a respectable force, which he had collected, against horse-thieves; and that he was to have onehalf of the horses recovered in payment for his trouble and expense. He also stated what was, however, considerably beyond the scope of the authority granted him, that he had felt himself obliged, in one instance, to execute capital punishment upon an Indian chief, who, instead of furnishing a good example to his tribe, had committed various robberies, and induced it to assist him in them.

In May, 1841, Peter Lassen, the Dane, who had arrived the year before, and was then settled as a blacksmith at Santa Cruz, applied for naturalization; and in July followlowing Agustin Jansen, a native of Flanders, did the same. The latter, in his petition, stated that he had arrived in Mexico in 1825 with his father, who soon afterwards died; that he was then ten years old; that he had remained in Mexico and California ever since; that he desired grant of land, but had been informed that he could not obtain it without being naturalized; and, therefore, he asked for letters. Jansen's petition explained very clearly the main object that foreigners had in view in becoming naturalized : they not only secured immunity from various annoyances to which, as foreigners, they would have been liable to be subjected, but, generally speaking, the granting of letters of naturalization was followed by the granting of a tract of land.

In January, 1842, Alvarado wrote to the government at Mexico in relation to Sutter, his naturalization, his application for a grant of land for colonization purposes, the favorable impression he had made, the concession made to him of a tract of land, and the foun