History of the State of California

At present, San Francisco is a city of about thirty thousand inhabitants, and in spite of the repeated visitations of the calamity of destructive fire, it has suffered no stoppage in its rapid progress. On the contrary, these fires seem to give a new impulse to the energy and enterprise of its inhabitants, and, by impressing upon them the utility of building their houses and stores of the more substantial brick, to have been of permanent benefit. Like the water of a rapid river, which, meeting with a serious obstacle in its course, is checked for the moment and then, having gathered new strength, surmounts the barrier and springs forward with renewed energy, San Francisco has pursued her course. The late fire, decidedly the most disastrous the new city has experienced, produced for awhile a general stand in business. But the go-aheadative principle was too strong for a continuance of a stagnation; and all the sufferers set about doing their utmost to retrieve their fortunes. Success must wait upon such persevering energy.

Sacramento City is fast treading upon the heels of her commercial sister city. Improvements are constantly being made to the appearance of the city and the comfort of its inhabitants. A levee is in course of construction, which, it is thought, will effectually protect the city from being flooded during the season of the rise of the river. The overland emigration of which Sacramento is the goal, contributes to swell the population rapidly; and, during the rainy season the greater portion of the population of the northern mines flock into the city for refuge till the digging season commences.

Stockton, Benicia, San José, and Sutter are each increasing the number of their residents and their trade very fast. The first is the depot of the southern mines; the second, the military and naval station, chosen by the government officers; the third is the capital of the State; the last is a thriving town, near Sacramento, but in a better situation.

One of the most interesting features of California is the number of the missions in various parts of the State. They are and will continue to be interesting, because of their age, and the self-denying and energetic labors with which they are connected. They were the centres, established by a few Catholic priests, from which the rays of enlightenment and civilized enjoyment were spread to the native Indians of California. Each mission was a little principality, with many leagues of land attached, with some thousand head of cattle, and all the neighboring Indians subject to the control of the padre, and cultivating the land for their own and the padre's benefit. In 1800, these missions were sixteen in number, and three only have been added since that time. They are named and located as follows: – San Rafael and San Francisco Solano, north of San Francisco Bay; Dolores, near San Francisco; Santa Clara and San José, near Pueblo San José; San Juan, Santa Cruz and Carmel, near Monterey; Soledad, San Antonio, and San Miguel, in the valley of Salina River; San Luis Obispo, La Purisima, Santa Ynez, Santa Barbara, and San Buenaventura, near Santa Barbara; San Gabriel and San Fernando, near Los Angeles; and San Luis Rey, San Juan Capistrano and San Diego, on the coast, south of Los Angeles.

The wealth and power of these missions have fled, and they are all, more or less, in a state of decay. The Indians who were prospering under the care of the priests have either taken refuge in the mountains or linger about the old mission buildings, in a degraded and ignorant state. The immense quantity of land which was once attached to them has been taken from them from time to time, and now they but seem the ruins of former greatness. The beauty of the country surrounding those of the missions which are still existing, and the picturesque appearance of those which are in ruins make them well worthy a visit to the lover of the antiquated.

The usual attendant of the American enterprise, the printing press, has found its way to California, to contribute to the information and convenience of the people. Several papers are in extensive circulation in the cities and towns, and projects for others have been formed. The principal are the Alta Californian, the Pacific News, the Courier, and the Placer Times. The three first are published in San Francisco, and the last at Sacramento.

The want of facilities for transportation must be severely felt in the interior settlements of California. Steam vessels of the swiftest and most commodious character are the means of easy communication and transportation between San Francisco and the towns on Suisan Bay and the Sacramento, as far as Sacramento City. Communication by the same means will doubtless, soon be established between the different ports on the coast. But railroads and canals are requisites for increasing the social communication and drawing the people of all parts of the State more closely together. These, however, will not be long in demand, after the State has been admitted into the Union. The companies for such purposes will feel secure in their charter, and receive assistance from the government. There is nothing more efficacious in binding a people together and maintaining peace and harmony of action, than the mechanical facility of communication. The Atlantic States of the Union afford plentiful illustration and evidence of this assertion. Mark the differences of habit and sentiment in those States, where the means of intercourse between the inhabitants are comparatively few and far between. The interests of the different sections of a large State are of course, dissimilar, and produce the widest separation of feeling and opinion, which cannot be harmonized without the facilities of intercourse afforded by railroads and canals. In no State are there greater means of communication between the people of the different sections, than in Massachusetts; and in no State is there a more harmonious action in the Legislative department of the government. Let the railroads and canals be so constructed in California as soon as possible, and the effect will be the same.

We have elsewhere mentioned and characterized the different harbors of California. There has been one other surveyed and pronounced excellent, and the beginning of a town made upon its shores. This is called Humboldt, after the distinguished traveller. It is about one hundred and seventy-five miles north of San Francisco. The river formerly called Pigeon, but now Trinity, empties into it. The harbor is sheltered from the south-west winds, but is exposed to the north-west. The north-west winds prevail from November till March, and are severe; but the south-west winds during the remainder of the year, are violent, and the harbor that is sheltered from them is considered a good one.

The Indians who inhabit a large portion of California, have been, and will be, the subject of considerable trouble to the white residents. It is a matter of the first importance for their safety, and that of the Indians themselves, that agents should be sent among them, with power to negotiate and settle all claims made by them and disputes arising between them and the whites, else, a destructive war will be the consequence. They should be induced to relinquish their claims to the soil of California as far as the Sierra Nevada, and receive due compensation therefor. But for the want of properly constituted agents from the government, they have been either driven from their old haunts by the mountaineers and other settlers, or remain amongst the whites to be a constant source of trouble. The Shoshonees, or Snakes, are the most numerous tribe to be found within the limits of the State, but there are others which are more warlike and untameable. They have all suffered considerably from the aggressions of the white emigrants, and their attacks upon individuals and parties are but the promptings of revenge, which should be taken into consideration. Lately, a war of extermination against the whole number of certain tribes was commenced on account of the doings of one or two of them. Few of them are provided with better weapons than bows and arrows, and, of course, they can make but a poor resistance to the rifles of the white men. In illustration of the treatment of the Indians, we quote an account of the doings of a war party against them, described in the work of a California tourist: —

"A few days before our arrival in the mines, five men from Oregon, named Robinson, Thompson, English, Johnson, and Wood, were murdered by Indians while engaged in gold digging. Having but one rifle, they imprudently left it in their tent. This the Indians some thirty or forty in number, first secured, and then commenced their attack with bows and arrows. The Oregonians defended themselves some time, repeatedly driving the Indians with no other weapons than the stones they found on the bar where they were at work, but upon reaching the edge of the bar, they were each time obliged again to retreat. At length three of them, stuck full of arrows, were exhausted with loss of blood and overcome; while the other two attempted to escape by crossing the fork, one succeeding in reaching the other side, but both finally meeting the fate of the others. One of the warriors of the tribe who participated in these murders was afterwards taken prisoner, and furnishing the above narration, his life was spared on condition that he should guide the whites to their rancheria.

"Accordingly, on the 16th of April, a war party was made up of about twenty young mountaineers, mostly Oregon men, and including also the young Greenwoods. Well mounted, and equipped with the enormous gingling California spurs, they rode up to Old Greenwood's for a review from the old man preparatory to starting. Each man carried besides his inseparable rifle, a long Spanish knife usually mounted with silver, and stuck in the folds of his deerskin leggings; and many were also provided with a brace of pistols or bowie knife, worn in the red Mexican sash around the waist. Old Greenwood shouted 'Mind the scalps and squaws for me, and be sure you bring 'em all in, boys,' and away they went, at a thundering lope, eager for revenge."

The day afterwards, the party returned. They were preceded by a party of Peruvians and Chilians, with a number of their peones, or slaves.

"Following closely this motley group, came on foot a body of about sixty California Indians. Warriors and boys, squaws with papooses tied on boards and slung at the back, all were prisoners. Clustered together like sheep driven to the slaughter, they hastened through the gorge with uncertain steps, the perspiration rolling off their faces now pale with fright. Many of them were quite naked, and the men and boys especially, looked more like ourang-outangs than human beings.

"In flank and rear rode the war party, which had left the Culloma Valley two days previous. Every man's rifle lay across the pommel of his saddle, and dangling at both sides hung several reeking scalps. Among them was a dashing young mountaineer named John Ross, who had two scalps for his share, and sticking in his sash was the red-sheathed bowie knife, which the writer had sold him a few days previous for an ounce of gold dust. Used previously to sever the rinds of pork, or shovel in rice and frijoles, it had now been 'wool gathering' or collecting wigs for old Greenwood's fancy stores.

"'Well done, boys,' shouted Grover, 'you have given it to them this time; now, what's the news?' In reply to this inquiry, we learned that the captured Indian had led them the night before according to promise, to their rancheria, on Weber's Creek, where some of them showing fight and others attempting escape, they were fired upon and some twenty to thirty were killed. Their chief fought until shot the third time, rising each time to his knees and discharging his arrows, Ross finally killing, cutting off his head and scalping him. Their rancheria was then searched and burned; the Indians delivering up the papers of the Oregon men, obtained at the time of their murder, and confessing that they had afterwards burned their bodies to ashes on the mountains.

"The subsequent facts were related to the writer by his highly esteemed friend, Mr. Donald Grant, a native of bonnie Scotland, who was one of our party to the mines, and an eye witness to the scene; not having left on his return to San Francisco till the following day.

"Arriving in the Culloma valley with their prisoners, the mountaineers and miners had a grand revel and jollification to celebrate their achievement. During the day most of the prisoners were released, but a few squaws and seven warriors were retained. The latter were questioned and examined relative to their participation in the murder of the Oregonians. Nothing being elicited to prove their guilt, it was nevertheless determined that they should die; because being bad looking and strong warriors, it was believed they were participators in the murders. Accordingly the consumption of champaigne and brandy continued till sunset. At that hour the seven Indians were brought forth, and knowing well their fate, one of them put up his hand as a signal, and all leaped along the valley in rapid flight. Quick as thought the rifles began to crack in every direction, while old Greenwood raving around his cabin remonstrated at the deed, tossed his arms aloft with violent denunciation; and stooping down gathered the dust in his palms, and sprinkled it on his head, swearing he was innocent of their blood. Meantime, John Greenwood stood beside the old man in stoic silence, too brave to participate in the massacre, but too much of a crow to utter his disapproval. But frantic with excitement the others thought only of revenge, and the balls whistling in every direction laid five of the warriors dead in the valley and mortally wounding another, only one escaping unscathed. The dying rays of the sun deserting the bloody scene, yet lingered on the mountain top, and the smoke of the discharge rolled in thick volume, like a pall over the corpses of the slain, while that solitary warrior turned from his distant height, to gaze after his companions, a moment in vain. But his heart quivered with vengeance, and the thin white locks of the old man in the valley, still mingled with the gray twilight, like the sackcloth and ashes of despair.

"And this is what they call fighting the Indians! A few days before only, we saw a young mountaineer wild with rage, threaten the life of an American who had ventured to suggest, that the murders committed by these Indians were provoked by many previous murders by the whites, and that they should be avenged by the death of the guilty among the Indians, and not by an indiscriminate slaughter."

We cannot think highly of the civilization of the white men who take such unmerciful and indiscriminate revenge as this. Such are not the means to gain the Indians over to a peace. Revenge only breeds revenge; and those who commit such slaughter in retaliation for the murder of one or two men must look to the consequences.

The great body of the travel to California is at present by way of the Isthmus of Panama; but those who intend to settle permanently in the State, and who will increase the real population of it, take the overland route from Independence, Missouri. The shortest and best route for commercial purposes will soon be opened across Nicaragua. This will have many advantages over the old Isthmus route, but will not cause that one to be abandoned altogether. Chagres has become somewhat Americanized, and so have Gorgona, Cruces, and Panama. Travel has been somewhat facilitated by the addition of American boats on the Chagres River, and the provision of the mountain mules for the rough road to Panama, in sufficient number to lower the price of travel and decrease the delay.

The facilities of intercourse between California and the States east of the Rocky Mountains will tend to cement her to the Union by all the ties of trade and mutual interest. The people of that State, being at so great a distance from the rest of the States, would seem to be alien to them in interest, and, therefore, that an independent government would contribute most to their prosperity. But mechanical influences – the telegraph – the railroad and the steam vessel – annihilate distance, and will be the means of attaching the Californians to the confederacy. In her union with the other States, there is her strength. She will add much to their wealth and power, but her free institutions – entirely American, require the support of the confederacy which produced them – at least, until the State has reached her maturity.

What will be the future California is a question which admits of a ready answer. If she retains her present boundaries, with her extensive sea coast, and her progress bears any proportion to that since the conquest, in fifty years – it is a warranted conclusion – the State will surpass any of those upon the Atlantic coast. For, what State has such united commercial facilities and vast resources? Where are such internal wealth and such splendid harbors to be found united? It is probable, however, that the State may be divided, after the population has reached a sufficient number. It is the opinion of some of the members of the present Congress, that there is too much sea coast for one State to possess, and that has been made an objection to her admission into the Union, with her present boundaries. But it is of little weight at this time. After the State has existed a few years, the utility of such a division as is proposed will be manifest or disproved. In the mean time, let California be admitted into the Union as her people have created her, and then she will have every thing necessary for her to go on in the fulfilment of a glorious destiny.

The gold discoveries in New Mexico and Oregon will have but a slight influence on California affairs. Yet for that slight influence, they deserve to be mentioned. The recent discoveries in New Mexico, would seem to indicate that the El Dorado of the early Spanish voyagers has been found, and nearly in the place to which their attention was directed by the Indians. A late number of the Houston Telegraph, says:

"That preparations are in progress in all parts of the State, for a grand expedition to the gold region that has been discovered in New Mexico, not far from the ruins of the celebrated city of Grand Quivira. Gold mines have been found all along the great chain of mountains extending from the sources of the Arkansas and Platte Rivers, by Santa Fe, to the Puerto. Immense excavations are shown along the feet of these mountains, and the ruins of vast cities indicate that these mines were once worked by millions of people. The geographical formations of this region are so similar to those of the gold regions of California, that they appear to be identical, and contain similar deposits of the precious metals. These facts have been made known throughout Texas, and the Telegraph would not be surprised to find that the emigration to the gold region of Texas, in the ensuing autumn, should exceed the emigration to California."

The "consummation devoutly to be wished" has been attained. California has at length been admitted to take her place as a star of the confederated republic. The bill for that object passed the House of Representatives on the 7th of September, 1850, by a vote of yeas, one hundred and fifty, nays fifty-six. It had previously passed the Senate by a no less decisive majority. The announcement of the passage of the bill was received with the greatest enthusiasm by its friends, and considerable excitement upon the part of its opponents. The most constant exertions were made by members from the Southern States to defeat the bill by adjournment and by numerous amendments, but they were unavailing. California triumphed.