JOSEPH C. TUCKER. EY WILLIAM Y. WELLS. T is impossible to look back upon the history of California during the last twenty years, without recognizing the influence of the learned callings in the development of the State; and this has been particularly the case as regards members of the medical fraternity. Not only in an intense application to the details of the profession has this been seen, but men of classical education have been a potent element in the progress of communities-in their political, scientific and general advancement. This is owing, not more to the energy essential to the successful physician, than to the direction which the eventful circumstances of the early days gave to character, which, among less exciting surroundings, might not have produced the impatient, practical activity distinguishing men of scholarly attainments in this new field of adventure. Numbers of valuable institutions on the Pacific coast have originated in the sagacious counsels and well-directed efforts of physicians. A principal among these promoters has been the present surgeon of the U. S. Marine Hospital at San Francisco, Dr. J. C. Tucker, who, perhaps, more than most other men, has given an impulse to sanitary legislation in California, while, at the same time, his influence has been felt in a wide variety of useful public enterprises. Dr. Tucker was born in 1828, in New York city, where the family name ranks among the oldest in the State. His grandfather, father, and only brother, the Hon. Gideon J. Tucker, late Secretary of State, and present Probate (Surrogate) Judge of New York, have all been actively prominent men. He commenced the study of medicine under Doctors Robert M. Cairnes and Willard Parker, and graduated in 1848, taking the degree of M. D. in the old Crosby street Medical College in New York. He early excelled as a student in surgery, having a firm, bold hand, and inflexible nerve. About the time he obtained his majority, the famous suit (well remembered in legal annals) respecting the will of his grandfather, Hon. Gideon Tucker, and involving one of the largest properties in New York city, was decided against the grandchildren. The hope of bettering his fortunes, together with the fascinations of the gold discovery, impelling him towards the newly-acquired California, he embarked in January, 1849, as surgeon in the ship Tarolinta, for San Francisco, where he arrived on the first of July following. The company in which he was interested sensibly following the then general rule, dissolved, and the Doctor visited the gold regions, leading the life of a miner, and working in the placers of the American river until the ensuing winter, when we find him practising his profession in Sacramento city. The "Gold Lake" excitement in the following spring carried him into the mountains, with innumerable other ardent young adventurers, in quest of alleged marvellous deposits of gold; but detained at the foot-hills of the Sierras by impassable snow fields, the party encamped at Bidwell's Bar, where the Doctor profitably occupied himself in surveying and running the present town limits with chain and compass, and erecting upon the most desirable site the first house-the Empire Hotel. Returning to Sacramento, he organized a second expedition in search of the Gold Lake myth, which, after wearisome and perilous adventures among the pathless mountains, resulted in the dissolution of the company and the return of its members in great destitution. The existence of this fabulous mine of wealth, however chimerical it may now appear, was at that primitive time firmly believed in, and the search was prosecuted by hundreds from various points, lured by the charm of novelty, and the mystery that yet hung over the snowy solitudes, where, as the adventurers not unreasonably conceived, immense treasures might exist, which were the sources of the rich placers in the regions below. Returning, the Doctor found his way to Dobbin's Rancho, on the Yuba river, and located a large tract of land, with a log trading house, where the "Keystone Rancho House" now stands. Discovering through the Indians with whom he traded, the first dry gulch diggings known in that vicinity, he quietly employed them in obtaining a large amount of gold dust before their existence became known to other white men. Selling his fine estate, now worth a fortune, for $1,000, the Doctor, tired of his lonely mountain life, returned to Sacramento city, where he resumed the practice of his profession. Dur In 1851-2, he was elected to the Assembly. ing both of these terms he took a leading part in various exciting issues, embracing most of the important questions of that period. He was identified with what was called the anti-Broderick wing of the Democracy, and was known as the friend of Gwin, Weller, Denver, and other leaders of that branch of politics. He was also an early friend and companion of Col. Fremont. By his persuasive eloquence and unobtrusive managing talent among his fellow-members, he was a recognized power in directing the course of legislation. During the memorable session of capital removals, he framed, introduced, supported in strong argument, and finally passed the first bill providing for the State care of insane persons. The bill, as drawn by him, proposed to locate the Asylum on the high lands near San Francisco, within the influence of the sea breezes; but political considerations, and swapping upon the then pending Senatorial contest, carried it to its present unsuitable and malarious location at Stockton. Prominent upon the Legislative State Hospital Committee, the Doctor then, as ever since, devoted himself almost exclusively to politico-medical subjects. He was elected at the close of the session to the position of State Quarantine officer. Immediately following his appointment came the |