 Preface to A History of California, the American Period, by Robert Glass-Cleland. As the title indicates, this volume deals with the American period of California history. It thus aims to compliment the work of Dr. Charles E. Chapman, whose History of California the Spanish Period has already made its welcome appearance from the press. As the preface to this latter volume states, the general plan of the two books was agreed upon as far back as 1914. Since that date, Dr. Chapman and the writer have been in constant communication but otherwise working independently with a view to producing, between them, an authoritative popular history of California. With the exception of a slight overlapping of the writer's opening chapters with the closing pages of Dr. Chapman's narrative, an overlapping, however, which has involved almost no actual repetition of incident, each book covers a separate field. Yet the keynote of the two volumes is essentially the same, namely that California history is vastly more significant because of its national and international aspects than for any local interest it may possess. From this standpoint, the event of primary importance in the history of California is its transformation from a Mexican province into an American state. To this event, as Dr. Chapman shows, the Spanish Period looks forward. From this event dates the California of today and the greater California of tomorrow. In preparing this volume for the press, the writer has had in mind three objects, to make his book conform to the canons of sound scholarship, to escape a provincial and localized point of view, and to avoid being classed with those who write for nothing so irrelevant as a reader. Part of the material used in this volume was collected as far back as 1910, when the writer began the preparation of a monograph, later published in volume 18, Numbers 1-3 of the Southwestern Historical Quarterly, entitled The Early Sentiment for the Annexation of California. In the years since 1910, he has been working more or less steadily in the field of California history and closely related subjects, and has consulted many thousands of manuscripts and printed works in various libraries throughout the United States. This volume, however, is something more than the product of many years of research and investigation. The writer has lived in California since 1889. He has known the state when it was still in a semi-pioneer stage, and has seen it rise to its present height of cultural development and material prosperity. At one time or another, too, especially within the last few years, he has visited nearly every section of the state, from Imperial Valley to Humboldt Bay. Sometimes traveling by railroad, sometimes by automobile equipped with camping outfit, and best of all, sometimes with saddle horse and pack train, he has sought to familiarize himself with that vast empire of desert and mountain, thriving cities and fruitful valleys, which stretches a thousand miles along the Pacific, from Oregon to the Mexican boundary. For that empire, which the world calls California, the writer confesses an absorbing love, and for those who laid its foundation on abiding admiration. This book, in the last analysis, is chiefly the product of that love and of that admiration. The mechanical construction of the volume is essentially the same as that employed by Dr. Chapman. Quotations from accounts by eyewitnesses, the most interesting form of all historical literature, have been freely used, and much of the professional paraphernalia nowadays and common use among historians has been omitted. Good notes, except in the case of Chapter 29, have been employed with restraint and elaborate bibliographical reference avoided. A short bibliographical note, however, appears at the close of nearly every chapter. These notes are self-explanatory, and except to say that the standard historians such as Mancroft, Hytel, and Eldridge have been used throughout in the course of the narrative require no further comment here. For an excellent critical bibliography, covering the entire field of California history, one is referred to the Literature of California History, which appears as an appendix to Dr. Chapman's volume. Because of the limitations of space, it has not been possible to treat some of the important issues of California history as fully as one might wish in this volume. As an outstanding consequence, since a chief emphasis has deliberately been laid on the years preceding and immediately following the acquisition of statehood, it has been necessary to condense the account of the developments of the last half century into the brief compass of three chapters. It is hoped that a more detailed discussion of the significant features of this period may sometime find place in another volume. In conclusion, it is a pleasure to express the writer's gratitude to the many persons who have aided in the preparation of this work. To the attendance of the Los Angeles Public Library, whose courtesy and helpfulness have been unfailing, he wishes to acknowledge in a special obligation. To Professors Herbert E. Bolton and Professor Herbert I. Priestley, not only for the use of materials of the Bancroft Library, but also for much personal assistance, he is likewise deeply indebted. Ms. Laura Cooley of Los Angeles is especially deserving of thanks for the indexing of the volume. Percy B. Goodall and Daniel S. Hammack, friends of long-standing and companions on many a Sierra camping trip, aided in the selection of the photographs appearing in the volume. Judge Grant Jackson of Los Angeles, Mrs. Mabel Kilburn Doty of San Francisco, and Dr. George Watson Cole of the Henry E. Huntington Library, placed valuable manuscript material at the writer's disposal, indebtedness for which is elsewhere more specifically acknowledged. To Dr. Norman Bridge of Los Angeles, who read many of the chapters in the manuscript, and to Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Gates of Pasadena, the writer also expresses his appreciation. Dr. Charles Edward Chapman, author of The Companion Volume, has given advice and assistance in ways so numerous as to make impossible any adequate expression of the writer's thanks. Lastly, to his wife Muriel Stuart Cleveland, the author of this book owes the chief inspiration for whatever merit its pages may possess. Robert Glass Cleveland, Occidental College, Los Angeles, California, March 10, 1922. End of Preface. Chapter 1. A History of California, the American Period. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 1. Boston, California, and Canton. On February 2, 1848, the far-flung province of California, so long the outpost of Spanish advance on the Pacific, passed out of the possession of Mexico into the hands of the United States. This change of sovereignty was the inevitable result of forces set in operation a full half century before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo formally recognized an accomplished fact. The object of the chapters immediately succeeding is to explain the motives behind the long sustained movement for the annexation of California by the United States and to point out the numerous factors which tended to weaken Mexican control over the distant province. American interest in California was first aroused by those New England merchant adventurers of the latter 18th and early 19th centuries, who transformed commerce into sheer romance and left behind them a record of accomplishment and daring that has not yet faded from American tradition. In the beginning these New Englanders were drawn to California by the fur trade at the northwest coast and the opening of commercial relations with the Chinese Empire. The origin of this three-cornered New England northwest Chinese trade dates back to the year of American independence. In 1776, while a colony of Alta California was still in swaddling clothes, two vessels sailed from Plymouth Harbor, England, a starting point of so many famous voyages in the world's history, to explore the northwest coast of America and the islands of the Pacific. The command of this undertaking was entrusted to Captain James Cook, a navigator of the true Elizabethan type, in whose soul lived the same shrewd instincts of the sea and the same bold love of adventure that had lured Drake around the world and sent Hawkins into the forbidden waters of the Spanish Maine two hundred years before. Upon reaching the northwest coast, after a prolonged stay among the South Pacific islands, Cook found the natives of Newt Cassan and of other places where his vessel touched, eager to trade with the Englishmen. For this purpose, according to the chronicler of the expedition, the Indians brought, quote, skins of various animals such as wolves, foxes, bears, deer, raccoons, pole cats, gardens, and in particular of the sea otters, which are found at the islands east of Kems Jatka. The fur of these animals, the writer continued, is certainly softer and finer than that of any others we know of, and therefore the discovery of this part of the continent of North America, where so valuable an article of commerce may be met with, cannot be a matter of indifference," end quote. The sailors bought the skins from the Indians for a few trinkets of insignificant value and used them as bed coverings for protection against the cold of the higher latitudes. When the expedition reached China, however, the furs, even though badly worn and in most cases infested with vermin, commanded extraordinary prices. The sea otter skins which the sailors had secured were especially in demand, and the Chinese readily gave over a hundred dollars a piece for them. So profitable indeed was the trade that members of the expedition were with difficulty restrained from seizing the vessels and sailing back to the American coasts for a full cargo of furs instead of completing the voyage to England. The results of Cook's voyage were not made public until 1784, but sometime before the publication of his official journals the opportunities afforded by the northwest fur trade were revealed to a few Americans, among whom were Robert Morris, John Paul Jones, and Thomas Jefferson, by a very remarkable adventurer, John Ledgert, who had served as corporal on Cook's expedition. Several attempts were made to take advantage of the new field by Morris and Ledgert, but misfortune dogged the latter steps so that he never succeeded in reaching the northwest coast again. Before 1790, however, British and Russian traders, profiting from Cook's discovery, were visiting the coast in such numbers that the Spanish government became alarmed and made a futile effort to shut out the interlopers. The chief result of these activities was the Newt-Cassan controversy and the end of Spain's policy of exclusion north of California. In the meantime, the Revolutionary War had come to a close, leaving the American states face to face with serious problems of government and equally grave economic difficulties. The commercial situation touched especially the merchant and shipping interests of New England, forcing them to look abroad for markets and to develop new lines of commercial enterprise if they were to prevent a complete stagnation of trade. As a result of this condition, a certain William Shaw Supercargo of the Empress of China sailed from Boston early in 1784 for the Orient. Reaching Macau, the port of entry for Canton, Shaw disposed of his cargo to good advantage and thus opened an entirely new field for American commerce. For more than half a century, the trade thus begun not only enriched the merchants of the Atlantic seaboard, but also exerted a very profound influence upon the course of California history. Shortly after Shaw's successful venture, a company of Boston merchants, headed by Joseph Barrow, conceived the idea of enlarging the new England-Chinese commerce so as to include the northwest coast. In keeping with this plan, the company sent two vessels to the Pacific in 1787. These were the Columbia under John Kendrick and the Lady Washington under Robert Gray. The present narrative makes no pretense of dealing with the memorable expeditions of these two men, since their field of operations and discoveries touched the northwest rather than the California coast. And as much, however, as these voyages ushered in the New England trade with the northwest coast in China, they had a direct bearing upon California history. In this trade, Furs constituted the chief item of every cargo, and before long fur hunting ceased to be localized along the northern coast, but extended from South America to Alaska, flourishing especially off the long stretches of unfrequented seaboard and in the little used harbors of California. Footnote The first New England vessel to touch at a California port was the Otter, commanded by Captain Ebenezer Doar, which put into Monterey October 29, 1796. Doar was not a fur trader. End of footnote. Most of the furs obtained by American vessels were carried to Canton, which was then one of the chief fur markets of the world. One reason for this demand for furs among the Chinese was the lack of heating facilities in their homes, and the consequent reliance of the people upon heavy clothing to protect them against the cold, both indoors and out. By those able to afford the luxury, furs were consequently much sought after, and the fur garment became a sort of heirloom to be passed down from father to son for several generations. When the American trade with China began, the latter nation was living under its traditional policy of exclusion. Foreign vessels were allowed to touch only at a single port, Datum Macau, through which entrance was had to Canton. The trade was hedged about with all manner of additional restrictions which sprang from the pride and jealousy of the Chinese government, but from the very beginning American merchants were treated with somewhat greater favor than those of European countries. As time went on, the value of the Chinese commerce became more and more apparent to new England merchants. The yanking navigators of those early days not only had great daring and skill in the handling of ships, but also combined with their knowledge of the sea and native shrewdness and originality in business that made them successful competitors in every branch of international commerce in which they chose to engage. In the Chinese trade, the new Englanders had a free field in which to exercise all their native ability. Disregarding custom and tradition, they inverted all the ancient rules of doing business at Canton. Once in the Pacific, the navigator felt himself superior to any law that proved inconvenient to his business. Ships, papers, and names were changed to suit the needs of the moment. These duties were evaded, and forbidden trade carried on with calm disregard for local regulations. Competition with rivals of other nations and between new England merchants themselves led to secrecy in commercial dealings, constant search for new fields of enterprise, and remarkable reduction in sailing time from port to port. For the most part, the vessels engaged in the China trade were sound and well equipped. But when occasion required, a Yankee captain would take a leaky worm-eaten craft, man it with a crew made up of broken-down sailors or deserters from other vessels, sail it half way around the world in spite of storm and mutiny, and make his fortune on the cargo. In searching for commodities acceptable to the Chinese, the new England vessels soon left the regular channels of trade for out-of-the-way, and in many cases, previously undiscovered ports. They penetrated every nook and corner of the South Seas. The harbors of South America, California, and the Northwest were almost as well known to them as their own coasts of New England. They became familiar sites to the natives of the Meile archipelago in the Indians of Alaska. And when, after sailing through most of the Seven Seas, a New England vessel finally reached Canton, its cargo would be made up, aside from the original store of domestic products with which it left Boston, of a score of commodities from the world's outlying ports, copper from Chile, sandalwood from the Sandwich Islands, rice from Manila and Java, mother of pearl from the Persian Gulf, and pepper, tin, fish, maws, and bird's nests from the straits settlements. Most valuable of all were the furs from South America, California, and the Northwest coast. By a fortunate combination of circumstances, the Americans enjoyed a monopoly of this fur trade after the beginning of the century. The Russians, first to enter the field of the Northwest, were limited in their intercourse with China to a semi-clandestine overland trade of two small proportions to supply a market for any considerable number of furs. The English, who might have preempted the business after Cook's voyage, were likewise restricted, not by Chinese law, as was the case of the Russians, but by the conflicting privileges of two great monopolies, the East India and the South Sea companies. The former, which held the exclusive right in England to trade with China, was not free to send its vessels across the Pacific for furs, and would not permit its South Sea rival to infringe on the Chinese monopoly. The consequence was that neither company could profit by the Northwest trade. In various ways it is true a few English vessels succeeded in trespassing upon the East India Company's prerogative, but the bulk of the business necessarily fell into the hands of Americans. In this monopoly the latter were also aided by the effect of the Napoleonic wars upon European shipping. The New England traders soon entered into a mutually satisfactory arrangement with the Russian American Fur Company, which obtained a monopoly of the Russian activities on the Pacific in 1799. Under these agreements, the Russians engaged to furnish furs and companies of Indian hunters to the American vessels, while the New Englanders undertook to dispose of the skins in China and bring back such supplies as the Russian Company required for its settlements in Alaska. The furs carried to China were of many kinds, land otter, fox, rabbit, beaver, muskrat, sea lion and sea elephant. The skins of chief value, however, were those of the fur seal and the sea otter. The fur seals abounded along the South American coast and on the adjacent islands and from lower California northward to Alaska. These skins formed the bulk of most of the fur cargoes carried to China until the virtual extinction of the seal in southern waters by indiscriminate slaughter. In 1798, for example, Captain Fanning, in command of the Betsy, obtained a full cargo of seal skins from a single hunt on the island of Masafuero. And during the course of the next few years the same island yielded more than a million skins to other American hunters. In one year, it is said, thirty vessels were engaged in the industry off the South American coast. Fanning was likewise a favorite hunting ground for these early sealers, the Fallarone Islands alone producing over a hundred and fifty thousand skins between 1809 and 1812. The pelts brought an average price of a dollar and a half for two dollars in the Chinese market and each animal also furnished nearly a gallon and a half of excellent oil. The fur of chief importance in California history, however, was not that of the seal but of the sea otter. This animal, indeed, exerted almost as great an influence as the beaver upon the course of North American history. It was responsible for the Russian occupation of Alaska, the early voyages of Englishmen to the British Columbia coast, and the first contact of Americans with California and the Northwest. To describe the fur of the sea otter one must appropriate good old Sir Isaac Walton's tribute to the strawberry. Doubtless God might have made a more beautiful fur, but doubtless he never did. The skin of the full grown animal was nearly five feet long and from two feet to two and a half feet wide. The fur, normally about three quarters of an inch in length, had a jet black glossy surface of surpassing beauty. The finest skins also contained some white hairs intermingled with the black. The habitat of the sea otter extended from about twenty-eight degrees north latitude to the Aleutian Islands. It was found in largest numbers off the coasts of upper and lower California and on the islands of Cerros, Guadalupe, San Miguel and those of the Santa Barbara Channel. The otter of these Channel Islands in fact yielded the most valuable fur of the entire coast from Alaska to lower California. And the stretch of sea from Catalina to Santa Cruz was consequently a common hunting ground for American vessels. The long reaches of San Francisco Bay were also favorite haunts of the animal and above the California line it was found in largest numbers in the vicinity of Cape Blanco, Point Grenville and Grays Harbor. The vessels engaged in the traffic obtained furs in various ways. On the northwest coast most of the skins were secured by trade with the Indians. In California waters the New Englanders both hunted on their own account and also purchased skins from the mission authorities or government officials. By an arrangement already mentioned the Russian American Company sometimes furnished American vessels with Cadillac Indians to serve as hunters. These hunters were brought down to the California coast and left in small groups on the Fallarone Channel or lower California islands. From time to time the vessels then brought them supplies or came to take off the skins already procured. Since these Indian hunters lived almost entirely upon the flesh of the animal secured, the cost of procuring furs in this way was very low. The Indians hunted chiefly from the shore or in skin canoes called bidarkas. They sometimes used rifles and hunting but more commonly employed nets, clubs, and spears. The use of these primitive weapons, however, resulted in a serious wastage of furs since many of the otter, killed after a long chase, sank beneath the water and were never recovered. This difficulty was sometimes obviated by the use of a native wooden harpoon with a head some six or eight inches long to which was attached a long string. The Americans, when hunting by themselves or with Indian crews, employed a specially constructed boat known as the Otter Canoe. This was generally fifteen feet long, five feet wide, and eighteen inches deep. The ends were pointed and the sides somewhat flaring. Short, thick-bladed paddles were used because the ordinary paddle was not capable of driving the canoe through the thick beds of kelp where the otter were usually found. The crew of such a boat consisted of three men, two to paddle and one to shoot. Three canoes ordinarily hunted in company. One in the center and one on either flank to prevent the animal from escaping. Two or three rifles, little coffee, tea, and ship-bread, made up the equipment of each canoe. There is no way of determining the number of sea otter skins carried from the northwest coast in California to the Chinese market. William Sturges, one of the best known and most successful of the New England traders, estimated the number at approximately 18,000 for the year 1801. The profits from the trade were often enormous, though competition among the traders sometimes raised the price demanded by the Indians beyond all reason, or glutted the Chinese market. Vessels of from 100 to 250 tons burden usually spent between two and three years away from their home port in New England, making one or two trips from California or the northwest to China during that time. In trading with the Indians, blue cloth, beads, knives, blankets, gunpowder, ripe-colored feathers from the Sandwich Islands, or even abalone shells were exchanged for the furs. Sturges on one voyage collected 6,000 skins, purchasing 560 in half a day with goods worth a dollar and a half in Boston. The same skins sold for $40 apiece in the Canton market. On his first voyage, Richard Cleveland, like William Sturges, a well-known New England trader, succeeded in purchasing from the Norfolk Sound Indians more than 300 skins at a cost of two yards of cotton cloth apiece. The same skins were then selling for $23 each in the Canton market. Jonathan Winship, when Master of the Okane bought furs for two cents each from the Indians of Trinidad Bay, another fortunate navigator, received $8,000 in furs in return for a rusty iron chisel. On one occasion, an investment of $40,000 returned $150,000. Again, a profit of $284,000 was obtained from an outlay of $50,000. The average price for sea otter skins at Canton was in the neighborhood of $40, but the trade was subject to severe fluctuations. In 1785 prime skins were bringing $120 each. By 1802, however, they were selling for only $20. A few years later they had a market value of nearly $50. As the otter decreased in number, the Americans and Russians gradually abandoned the organized expeditions along the California coast. But for many years the business was continued on a small scale. Occasionally a hundred or more skins would be taken by one of these later expeditions, but the day of the sea otter as an important factor in California history was definitely over before 1820. While it flourished, however, the influence of this early coastal fur trade and the Chinese commerce with which it was a part can scarcely be overestimated. From it the American public acquired their first knowledge of the resources and possibilities of California. From it also came the first impetus in the movement for annexation. FUTNA The sea otter is almost unknown today on the California coast. One herd, however, has been seen within the past two years off Monterey. The California law imposes a heavy fine for killing the animals, and it may still be possible to save the species from extinction. The fur is sometimes obtainable in the London market at an exorbitant price. End of Chapter 1 Chapter 2 A History of California the American Period by Robert Class Cleland. Chapter 2 Restrictions and Evasions So long as California remained under Spanish control, foreign vessels were forbidden to trade along the coast. This restricted policy, however, was subject to constant evasion, both through the daring and ingenuity of the American navigators, and because necessity and self-interest coupled with the lack of any adequate means of enforcing the royal decrees led the Californians themselves to encourage all manner of illicit trade with the foreign interlopers. In this conflict of interests between crown and colonists, California enjoyed no unique distinction for the same conditions existed everywhere in the Spanish possessions. But in as much as the Californians were farthest removed from the seat of authority in Mexico, they were able to enjoy an exceptional freedom in their commercial intercourse with vessels of other nations. In the province itself, except for a few of the crudest arts, there was almost no industrial life. Because of this lack of domestic manufacturers, the comfort and welfare of the Californians could be served, law or no law, only by dealings with the foreign trader. The better classes among the Californians were naturally most dependent upon the commodities obtainable in this way, and the trade was therefore highly favored by the mission authorities, wealthy rancheros, and government officials, the last especially obtaining from it not only badly needed supplies, but also very considerable sums of ready money with which to increase their meager and precarious salaries. While the Californians were thus very materially benefited by the coming of the foreign ships, the latter profited equally through trade. The greater part of the business was carried on by barter, and for this purpose the Americans brought with them a wide variety of goods, chiefly from New England, Europe, and China. Thus the cargo of a fur vessel ordinarily consisted of shoes, hardware, crockery, decorated china, cotton cloth, silks of various hues, shawls, peppers, spices, handkerchiefs of every variety in color, gunpowder, and a hundred and one other articles to meet the needs or vanities of Spanish Padre, Gallant, or Señorita. In addition to the skins received in exchange for such articles, the foreign vessels also obtained large quantities of supplies, especially beef, hogs, beans, and grain, which they carried to the Russian settlements in Alaska, along with merchandise from New England and China. Fresh vegetables from the mission or ranch gardens were likewise in great demand to prevent scurvy among the crews, and not infrequently these were accompanied by presence of fresh eggs or other delicacies from Padre or Ranchero to the ship's commander. It is not recorded, however, that such marks of hospitality dulled the traditional skill of the Yankee captains in subsequent trading operations with the courteous Californians. One of the most serious problems of the navigator off the California coast was that of keeping his vessel in repair and free from barnacles and sea growth. These not only retarded the sailing power of the ship, but if allowed to collect too long also furnished a breeding place for parasites which eventually ate through the ship's timbers and made her unseaworthy. The usual practice was to careen the ship at certain intervals and burn or scrape off the accumulated growth. This could not be done, however, in any of the well-known ports of the California mainland, without exposing the ship in its helpless condition together with the crew to the danger of capture by some unusually zealous or over-covetous official. This, of necessity, led the American navigators, when in California waters, to seek out of the way harbors where the cleaning and refitting in their vessels could be carried on without fear of annoyance from meddling officers of the law. The Gulf of California furnished several bays suitable for such operations, but the most frequented of these ports of refuge were provided by certain islands which slay not far from the California mainland. One of the most favored of these was the well-sheltered harbor of Catalina, since known as Avalon, to which thousands of visitors now go annually to enjoy the restfulness and delight of its climate and semi-tropic waters. The first American ship of record to sail into this quiet bay was the Leela Bird, under command of William Shaler, a Northwest fur trader of characteristic New England stuff. Since the difficulties experienced by Shaler in repairing his vessel, and the ingenuity shown in overcoming his predicaments were typical of many another trader on the California coast in those early days, the story is worth repeating in some detail. The Leela Bird, even when she left Canton for the northwest coast, was so leaky and unseaworthy that she required pumping every ten or fifteen minutes to keep her afloat. A year of traffic from the Columbia River to Guatemala naturally did not improve her and on May 1st, 1805, Shaler sailed into the harbor of Avalon to repair the damaged and leaking craft. The harbor he named Port Rosalon in honor of a Polish exile who had associated himself in the enterprise with Shaler and his partner Richard Cleveland. In the sheltered bay some twenty miles from the mainland, Shaler beached the Leela Bird in perfect security and established a temporary camp on shore where he landed all the movable parts of the cargo. In these operations he was assisted by the Indian inhabitants of the island, about 150 in number. The method used in repairing the vessel can best be described in the Mariner's own words. Quote, After caulking the ship's upper works and paying or rather plastering them with a mixture of lime and tallow, as we had no pitch, tar, or any resinous substance on board, we careened her. We found her bottom in the most alarming state. The worms had nearly destroyed the sheathing and were found to be lodged in the bottom planks. I was now pretty well assured of what I had long before feared, that is, that she would not carry us back to Canton. We, however, repaired the first side in a tolerable manner and paid it with a thick coat of lime and tallow. Rided and hove out the other side, which we found far worse than the first. The keel and stern posts were nearly reduced to a honeycomb. It was necessary to heave her far out in order to apply effectually such remedies as were in our power, but, unfortunately, we hover rather too far and she upset and filled. This was a sad misfortune. It did not discourage us, however, and we went to work with a spirit and resolution to remedy it, and had the satisfaction of writing her the next day without apparently having suffered any material damage. The day following we pumped and bailed out the water, and the day after, hove the ship out a third time, but had the misfortune to find her leak so bad that we were obliged to write her immediately. I next determined to lay the ship ashore at high water and endeavour to repair her when the tide should leave her. The experiment was tried without effect as she buried herself so much in the sand as to put it out of our power to do anything effectual. But the greatest misfortune was that, as the tide came in again, we found the ship leak so bad that both pumps were necessary to keep her free. This demanded an immediate remedy, and as the leak was known to be aft, I ordered the mizzen mass to be cut away in order to come at it. The leak was soon discovered by this means, but so situated that we could apply no other remedy than the lime and tallow that had been previously prepared for her bottom. This, mixed with oakum, was driven down on the leak and we had the satisfaction to see it reduced by these means to one pump by the time she was afloat. We now burnt a large quantity of lime, which we put into stiff mortar and put on the first, laying a platform of boards over it, and covering the whole with several tons of stones to keep it firmly down. This new method of stopping leaks we found to answer very well, as in the course of a few days when the mass had consolidated, the ship made very little water." As has already been remarked, while the trade carried on by such vessels as the lila bird was contrary to Spanish law, few attempts were ever made by the government to stop the illegal traffic, beneficial to Californian and foreigner alike, or to confiscate the offending vessel. A few instances are recorded, however, where the unexpected took place and the innocent smuggler found himself in the toils of an almost forgotten law. On her first voyage to California, the lila bird, armed like most vessels of her class, got into unexpected difficulty with a commandant at San Diego. This incident occurred early in 1803. Shaler and Cleveland, after reaching the Pacific by way of Cape Horn, had carried on a semi-clandestine but highly profitable trade in a number of the Spanish ports of the West Coast. At San Blas, to mention a typical incident, they secured 1,600 sea otter skins, recently arrived there from California, at a price which ensured them a profit sufficiently large to cover the entire cost of the voyage. After this transaction, in which a Mexican official as well as the Americans broke the law and made a fortune, Shaler brought the lila bird into the harbor of San Diego. Here, or so he had heard at the Trace Maria's Islands, a parcel of sea otter skins which might be obtained advantageously awaited his arrival. Shortly after the vessel anchored in San Diego harbor, the commandant to the Presidio, Don Manuel Rodriguez, came aboard with all the pomp and dignity he could muster and left to guard on the lila bird to see that no contraband trade was carried on. From the sergeant of this guard, Shaler learned that a few days before another American ship, the Alexander, commanded by Captain Brown, had been at San Diego and had succeeded in purchasing several hundred otter skins from soldiers and residents of the town. News of the transaction, having come to Don Manuel's ears, he had boarded the ship and seized the skins together with some of the cargo. Added to those already in his possession, the confiscated furs increased the commandant's stock to nearly a thousand. These skins, wrote Cleveland, we made every effort to obtain from him, and though there is no doubt that he would have been as well pleased to sell as we should have been to purchase them, if the transaction had been practicable without being known to the people, yet as this was out of the question, and they were all spies on each other, he dared not indulge his desire of selling them to us. Had Brown negotiated with the commandant first, it is most probable he would have attained the whole quantity and at the same time have avoided the humiliating predicament of having his ship taken possession of by the rabble." Since there was no prospect of securing the furs held by Rodriguez, Shailer and Cleveland prepared to quit the harbor, but having learned that a few skins might be purchased from private parties, the Americans sent two boats ashore under cover of darkness to complete the transaction. One of those boats returned in safety, but the other, which contained the mate and two sailors, was seized by the commandant, who bound the man and left them under guard on the beach. The following morning, Cleveland and Shailer rescued the prisoners and regained possession of the confiscated boat. The proceedings were simple as Cleveland narrates them. As a preliminary step, the guard on board were disarmed and made to go below. Then I went with four men, each with a brace of loaded pistols to the rescue of those on shore. On landing we ran up to the guard and, presenting our pistols, ordered them instantly to release our men from their ligatures, for they had been tied hand and foot and had been lying on the ground all night. This order was readily complied with by the three soldiers who had been guarding them, and, to prevent mischief, we took away their arms, dipped them in the water and left them on the beach." Having gotten the men safely on board, the next problem was to escape from the harbor without being sent to the bottom by the Spanish fort at the entrance. Shailer had already examined this fortress and founded equipped with eight brass nine-pounders in fair condition and an abundance of ammunition. In leaving the harbor, a vessel had to pass within easy musket shot of this fort, and as the breeze had almost died away, the escape of the lila bird seemed highly unlikely. The Americans, however, resolved to take the risk and thus brought on the bloodless battle of San Diego, March 22, 1803. Of this engagement, Cleveland gives the following account. Quote, While making our preparations, we perceived that all was bustle in animation on shore. Both horse and foot were flocking to the fort. Our six three-pounder, which were all brought on the side of the ship bearing on the fort, and our fifteen men were all our force with which to resist a battery of six nine-pounders and at least a hundred men. As soon as our sails were loosed and we began to heave up the anchor, a gun without shot was discharged from the battery and the Spanish flag hoisted. Perceiving no effect from this, they fired a shot ahead. By this time our anchor was up, all sail was set, and we were gradually approaching the fort. In the hope of preventing their firing, we caused the guard and their uniforms to stand along in the most exposed and conspicuous station. But it had no effect, not even when so near the fort that they must have been heard imploring them to desist firing and seen to fall with their faces to the deck at every renewed discharge of the cannon. We had been subjected to a cannon-aid of three-quarters of an hour without returning a shot, and fortunately with injury only to our rigging and sails. When we arrived to breast the fort, several shots struck our hull, one between wind and water, which was temporarily stopped by a wad of oakum. We now opened our fire, and at the first broadside saw numbers, probably of those who came to see the fun, scampering away up the hill at the back of the fort. Our second broadside seemed to have caused the complete abandonment of their guns, as none were fired afterwards, nor could we see any person in the fort accepting a soldier who stood upon the ramparts waving his hat as if to desirous to desist firing. In the San Diego episode no great harm was done either to the battery on shore or to the fur traders, but a few years later real misfortune befell a certain George Washington Ears, whose vessel the Mercury, had up to that time enjoyed a long immunity in the contraband California trade. The unfortunate and ungrammatical navigator afterwards wrote this version of the affair to the viceroy. I left China in the year 1808, and with a small amount of cargo, about $5,000, my first business was hunting furs. This business I entered into with a Russian governor, and continued several years, in which time I was in the winter season as far south as California for supplies, and the purpose of taking seal skins. I received several letters from the head people and padres of California in treating me to bring them many articles that they was in distress for, and could not obtain them from the continent. On my return to the Russian settlement I obtained all the farming utensils, and that was in my power, with a promise to make whatever more the governor could. The hunting and sealing business I continued in until two years since when I obtained a large amount of furs of the Russian governor. These furs I obtained on credit to bring him a large amount from canton and goods and provisions. I bought an old vessel at canton, loaded her entirely with provisions and loaded my own with provisions and goods, and returned to the Russian settlement where I landed the two cargoes, accepting a small amount that I reserved for the benefit of obtaining supplies. I entered into a contract with a Russian governor to continue in the hunting business. While employed in this business I received letters from Cape San Lucas in treating me to bring them many articles that they was naked and was in great want. I obtained some of the same articles, again that I had sold the Russian governor, and took on board wheat, beans and other things that was wanting and proceeded as far as Cape San Lucas. I made sail about little, tarried a few days, and departed for the Russian settlement, having on board the same articles that is now in my inventory. My ship, on my passage to the northward, proved very leaky and obliged me to have her repaired at the Russian settlement. My detention was very lengthy and occasioned me to expend nearly all my provisions, or instead of coming to California I should have proceeded on to canton. After I had completed my ship, took on board, as I wrote your excellency before, many articles for the Russian governor, to be left at his settlement at New Albion, and I delivered all that the Russian commander could take, leaving some of the things still on board my ship, and departed for California. On the 2nd of June, when lying near Point Conception, with my people filling up water, my carpenter cutting out oak for top mast caps, and completing the repairs of my ship, I was taken possession of by an armed longboat from the Spanish merchant ship Flora of Lima, Captain Don Nicolas Norr. I used no means of defense, my sole purpose being for supplies, though I was treated in a hostile manner. My ship was taken to Santa Barbara the same night, and it would take volumes to note down the proceedings all conducted in low, cowardly mean performances. Suffice it to say that the parties expected great plunder, saying I had half a million on board. The very common down to the place, who seems the most diverted and has an active part, is the very government officer, whom has not long since received pay to admit me to take on board, wheat, beef, and other provisions, and did use his endeavors to get me at Monterey for the purpose of supplying the coast. End quote. Ears and his men were unceremoniously hustled ashore at Santa Barbara, and the cargo distributed, according to Ears' statements, between the officers of the Flora, the Spanish commandant at Santa Barbara, and the Mercury's own crew. For nearly two years Ears was kept more or less under restraint without getting any satisfaction for the loss of his vessel and goods, though he bombarded the officials of the Spanish government from port commander to viceroy within indignant protests. Of these protests the following are typical examples. Quote. San Diego, July 26th, 1814. To His Excellency, Commander-in-Chief of Guadalajara. Sir, I can inform Your Excellency with candor I have become quite uneasy of my long detention. It is now nearly fourteen months since I was deprived of my ship, my property, and my liberty, nor have I been able in any manner whatever to learn which way that property is going or received the smallest redress whatever. Having wrote Your Excellency more than once, how my affairs have been conducted, receiving yet no answer and being fearful of my letters miscarrying, I must intrude on Your Excellency's patience again. The clandestine manner in which my ship was taken and conducted, and my treatment after being landed by one of his most Catholic Majesty's commanders, deserves particular attention, especially as this very commander had not long since been the means of my visiting the coast. I am a subject of the United States of America, an honorable and independent nation, a nation that never admits its merchant's liberty of capturing and plundering merchant ships of another nation in a time of peace, in time of war the inhuman treatment that I have received would not go unpunished by any Christian nation whatever. All cases admits a hearing in trial, and am I, who is the independent American commander of an honest merchant ship to be deprived of this liberty, had my ship been taken and I not allowed a second shirt to my back, been put in confinement and sent to some capital for trial, it would not have been equal to my treatment. If property is liable to be taken, human flesh, I presume, is not." The damage sustained by heirs in the seizure of the Mercury represented the maximum loss suffered by American fur traders on the California coast. And in connection with this case, it is well to point out that the lawless Don Nicholas Noir, as ears habitually calls him, the real spelling was Noë, who acted contrary to the laws of all Christian countries in seizing Captain Ship cargo and in Indian concubine, whom ears esteemed equally the same as if she had been lawfully married to him, and even went so far as to confiscate six highly prized gold and silver watches which the Russian governor of Alaska had entrusted to ears for safe conveyance to Canton. He was not under the jurisdiction of the California government, but had sailed from Lima, Peru, under direct orders from the viceroy. The seizure of ears, accordingly, was not the work of provincial authorities, nor did it at all represent the general attitude. For the Californians looked with great favor upon the foreign traders, and local officials had no desire to destroy a commercial intercourse by means of which the people of the isolated province obtained all of their luxuries and many of the very necessities of life. This eagerness for foreign trade on the part of the Californians, in spite of Spanish and later Mexican opposition, is one of the striking characteristics of California history down to the time of the American occupation. The plan of the parent company to maintain control of the province by isolating it from the rest of the world was defeated, not only by the enterprise of the foreigner, but also by the refusal of the native to limit himself to the beef and grain of his own raising, or the cloth of his own weaving. This demand for more varied commodities met a welcome to foreign ships, and with foreign traders came inevitably the extension of foreign influence in the affairs of California. End of Chapter 2 Chapter 3 A History of California, the American Period by Robert Glass-Cleland This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 3 The Russian Experiment While the American fur traders were carrying on their operations in the Pacific, the danger of the Russian advance, which the Spanish crown had been fearful of for half a century, assumed new and formidable proportions. In 1811, at a time when Spain was torn by internal conflict, caught in the whirlwind of the French wars, and involved in the general revolt of her American possessions, a Russian colony was established within easy striking distance of her most valuable military and commercial asset in California, the Bay of San Francisco. The story of the advance of the Russians to the American mainland, and the influence this exerted upon the Spanish occupation of California, has already been told by the authoritative pen of the historian of the Spanish period. About the beginning of the 19th century, two factors materially strengthened the position of the Russians in Alaska, and made them serious contenders for the mastery of the entire Northwest. In 1799, the Organization of the Russian American Fur Company consolidated the resources of the various Russian settlement, and substituted unity and a common leadership for the disorganization and bloody rivalries of previous years. For twenty years the company was given the entire use and control of all the coast of America, between the fifty-fifth parallel of latitude and Bering Strait, together with the adjacent islands including the Kurail and Aleutian groups. In economic affairs and in the exercise of political power its monopoly was complete. The company furthermore enjoyed the favor of imperial patronage and numbered the emperor's family among its shareholders. The second factor to quicken Russian activities in America was the able character of the first governor of this recently organized company. This ruler, Alexander Baranov, was a man of merciless ambition, farsighted imperialism, and driving energy. His character and use of autocratic powers gave him the title of the Little Tsar. The representatives of Baranov first came into direct contact with California through the agency of the American fur traders mentioned in the previous chapter. One of these new Englanders, Captain Joseph O'Kane, under considerable persuasion, succeeded in inducing Baranov to furnish him a company of loot Indians with which to hunt sea otter off the southern coasts. The expedition sailed from Cadillac in October, 1803, and after hunting and trading along the upper California coasts continued its activities as far south of San Quentin and lower California. O'Kane returned to Cadillac in 1804 with over a thousand otter skins and a considerable quantity of supplies for the Baranov settlements. The Russian officer, who accompanied O'Kane, also brought back an alluring account of the resources and possibilities of California. And from this time on, Baranov's interest in the Mexican province steadily increased. The next year, 1805, the arrival of the Tsar's Chamberlain, Nikolai Razanov, to make an inspection of the Russian settlements in Alaska and investigate Baranov's conduct of the Russian American Fur Company, by which company Razanov had also been clothed with extraordinary powers, led to still more direct dealings of the Russians with the California settlements. Razanov found the Alaskan colony better governed by Baranov than it had been in previous years. But disease and starvation still took a frightful toll of the unfortunate inhabitants and made their lot wretchedly hard. A surgeon and naturalist named Langstorf, who accompanied Razanov on his visit, thus described the conditions of life at New Archangel. Quote, in the month of February, out of 150 of the youngest and most healthy men that had been selected from the different settlements and brought hither, eight were already dead and more than 60 were laid up in their barracks with their strength wholly exhausted and full of score-beauty sores. The chambers in which they lay had neither stove nor chimney and the windows were shut, closed, and nailed down. The rooms were only warmed by the pestilential breath of such numbers huddled together, and to crown all, not the remotest idea of cleanliness prevailed among them. Besides all this, the workmen often came home in the evening, wet through, perhaps covered with snow, and lay down upon the beds in their wet clothes or sheepskins, or hung them up in the room to dry without anyone appearing to think of the pernicious consequences that might ensue. End quote. This lack of sanitary and health precautions was of minor significance, however, compared to the suffering caused by the chronic scarcity of fresh provisions and the frequent insufficiency of food of any kind. When, for any one of a dozen reasons, supplies failed to arrive from Kemchatka, the Alaskan settlements faced actual starvation, and not until 1800 was some measure of relief found in the visits of the Yankee trading ships. One of these vessels, the Juno under Captain Wolfe, arrived at Sitka in 1805. From this vessel, the Russian officials first obtained a quantity of provisions, but the needs of the colony were so pressing that it was ultimately determined to purchase the entire cargo and the ship as well. The advantages of the transaction were thus described by a contemporary writer. Quote, by this purchase the company obtained an excellent swift sailing vessel with a rich lading of objects of great importance for trading with the natives on the Northwest Coast of America, consisting of a great quantity of linen and woolen cloth, of kitchen utensils, knives, axes, hatchets, and some firearms, et cetera, et cetera. But above all, a large supply of excellent provisions was obtained by which all apprehensions of the menaced famine were removed. In fact, it was principally for the sake of this supply that the purchase was made. Besides a small quantity of peas, beans, butter, tallow, et cetera, the following substantial stores were procured. 19 casks of salted pork, each weighing 200 pounds English. 42 casks of salted beef, each of the same weight. 1,955 gallons of molasses. 2,983 pounds of powdered sugar. 315 pounds of loaf sugar. 4,343 pounds of rice. 7,392 pounds of biscuit. 11 casks of fine wheat flour, each of 170 pounds weight. End quote. Despite this large amount of supplies, however, the Russian colonists were before long, again in hard straits. To remedy the situation, Rizanov resolved to send the Juno to California, there to bargain for grain and other provisions with the Spanish officials. But in this decision, there was something more involved than the desire to obtain necessary foodstuffs. The Chamberlain surgeon frankly wrote, quote, the most northerly of the Spanish possessions in this part of the globe, San Francisco, on the coast of New Albion, was the place fixed upon for this visit. The Sandwich Islands might perhaps have been preferred for the purpose in an economical point of view, but political reasons led to the choice of San Francisco. End quote. After a trying voyage accompanied by much sickness, the Junos sailed through the Golden Gate on April 5th and anchored beyond the range of the guns of the Presidio. After prolonged negotiations with a governor, Ariaga, Rizanov found that the prospects of exchanging the cargo of the Juno for the desired supplies were very slight. Then followed the courtship of Dona Concepción, daughter of the influential commandant Jose Arguello, and Rizanov's formal betrothal to the California bell. The details of this romance have been told by the historian of the Spanish period and need not be repeated here. It is sufficient to say that having been accepted by Concepción and acknowledged a member of the family by the Arguelles, Rizanov had no further difficulty in affecting the sale of his cargo and purchasing all the food stuffs he required. Sometime after the middle of May, the Juno left San Francisco and 30 days later, reached Sitka. This voyage, more than ever, impressed upon the Russian officials the advantages of California and the necessity of developing a regular trade between the Alaskan settlements and those of the Spanish province. Rizanov's aid saw but one way of realizing this desire. Quote, if Russia would engage in an advantageous commerce with these parts and procure from them provisions for the supply of her northern settlements, the only means of doing it is by planting a colony of her own, wrote Langstorf. In a country which is blessed with so mild a climate as California where there is such plenty of wood and water with so many other means for support of life and several excellent harbors, persons of enterprising spirits might, in a few years, establish a very flourishing colony. With the assistance of the able mechanics who are to be found at Sitka, wind and water mills might soon be constructed, looms established and manufactories for burning brandy. Large and small vessels and granaries for corn would then be built. Fast herds of cattle would be raised and sea otters and abundance taken. Thus, in time, Kamischatka and Eastern Asia would be amply supplied from hence with all kinds of vegetable and animal productions for the support of life. The Ruseo American Company have already sufficient sources of wealth in their present possessions from the extensive fur trade they yield, nor has any occasion been admitted to aim at increasing it by foreign dealings. Their settlements only want a better administration to rise with fresh vigor from their ruins. But to effect this, their strength must be concentrated and they must abandon the mistaken policy of extending them to such a degree as to weaken every part, end quote. To establish this Russian colony in California became Razanov's ambition. From an economic standpoint, it would not only serve as a basis for sea otter expeditions as far south as lower California, but would also furnish the recent settlements of Alaska and even of Kamischatka with food. As a political factor, in conjunction with another settlement to be established at the mouth of the Columbia, the California colony was even more important. In this connection, Razanov's own words are illuminating. Quote, if we can only obtain the means for the beginning of this plan, I think I may say that at the Columbia we could attract a population from various parts and in the course of 10 years, we should become strong enough to make use of any favorable turn in European politics to include the coast of California in the Russian possessions. The Spaniards are very weak in these countries and if in 1798, when war was declared by Spain, our company had had a force corresponding to its proportions, it would have been very easy to seize a piece of California from 34 degrees to Santa Barbara and to appropriate this territory forever since a geographical position of Mexico would have prevented her from sending any assistance overland. End quote. In pursuance of the plan to plant Russian settlements on the Columbia and in California, two vessels were sent down to the South from Sitka in 1808. The one bound for the Columbia was wrecked so that the Oregon Enterprise came to nothing. The other vessel, commanded by an official named Kuskov, reached Bodega Bay some 30 miles north of San Francisco, January 8th, 1809. Here Kuskov remained nearly eight months, trading with the natives, taking sea otter skins and above all, examining the possibilities of the region as a site for the prospective Russian colony. Upon Kuskov's return to Alaska in October, plans were definitely laid for actually establishing the long talked of settlement. In 1811, after an unsuccessful attempt to return to California the preceding year, Kuskov again anchored in Bodega Bay. The hunters who accompanied him on the expedition succeeded in taking over 1,200 otter skins, most of which were poached in the forbidden waters of San Francisco Harbor. Probably on the same expedition, the Russian commander secured title from the Indians to a considerable stretch of territory around the bay. Tradition fixes the purchase price at three blankets, two axes, three hoes, and a miscellaneous assortment of beads. Either in the latter part of 1811 or early the next year, Kuskov once more returned to Bodega, this time with the necessary colonists and equipment to build a permanent establishment. The site chosen was about 18 miles above Bodega on a bluff overlooking the ocean. Here a fort was erected, which after formal dedication on September 10th, 1812, was appropriately named Fort Ross. The original inhabitants of the new settlement consisted of nearly 100 Russians and some 80 Aluts. Life for a time went hard with them owing to the lack of food and the difficulty experienced in opening up the desired trade with the Californians. When this latter object was accomplished however, conditions became much more agreeable and before many years the Ross colonists were themselves raising sufficient grain, vegetables and cattle to relieve in some measure the chronic need of the Alaskan settlements. The following description written at a much later date gives an interesting picture of the colony after its period of hardship was passed. Quote, the Presidia Ross lies in 38 degrees, 40 minutes north latitude, immediately upon the ocean on a hill sloping gradually toward the sea. The rear is crowned by a range of hills 1,500 feet in height covered with pines, furs, cedar and laurel rendering the position of the fort highly picturesque. The fort is an enclosure 100 yards square picketed with timbers eight inches stacked by 18 feet high. It mounts four 12 pound caranades on each angle and four six pound brass howitzers fronting the principal gate. It has two octangular blockhouses with loopholes for musket tree and eight buildings within the enclosure, 48 outside besides a large boathouse at the landing place a blacksmith's shop, carpeters and Cooper's shop and the large stable for 200 cows the number usually milked, end quote. It does not lie within the scope of this particular volume to discuss at length the relations of the Russian colonists with their neighbors to the South. It is enough to say that aside from official protest against the presence of foreigners in Spanish territory almost no friction developed between the two peoples. The trade gradually built up by the Ross settlers with the Californians was mutually advantageous and in California itself, no matter what attitude the Spanish crown maintained, there was little inclination and certainly no adequate means to bring this commerce to an end. From the standpoint of foresighted American statesman however, the Russian colony in California was a menace of serious import. On November 11th, 1818, JB Prevost, a special commissioner appointed by the United States government to receive the resurrender of Astoria from the British wrote thus from Monterey, New California to the Department of State, quote. The speculations of Humboldt and his glowing description of the soil and climate of this province have probably given a new direction to the ambition of Russia and determined its emperor to the acquisition of empire in America. Until 1816, the settlements of this power did not reach to the southward of 55 degrees and were of no consideration, though dignified by them with the title Russian America. In the commencement of that year, two distinct establishments were made of a different and more imposing character. The first, Atui, one of the sandwich islands, the other in this vicinity within a few leagues of San Francisco, the most northerly possession of Spain, in 37 degrees 56 minutes. The sketch I subjoined was procured from a member of the government at this place from whom I also learned that its augmentation has since become so considerable as to excite serious alarm. Two Russian ships left to sport on their way wither a few days anterior to our arrival, one having on board mechanics of every description together with implements of husbandry. We passed sufficiently near the spot assigned to it to distinguish the coast with some precision and ascertain that it was an open road, a circumstance that renders the position liable to many objections if intended to be permanent. In other respects, the choice is judicious for an infant colony. It enjoys a climate still milder than that of Columbia is environed by a beautiful country and its proximity to an old settlement enables the Russians to partake the numerous herds of black cattle and horses that have been there multiplying for the last 50 years. The port of St. Francis is one of the most convenient, extensive and safe in the whole world, wholly without defense and in the neighborhood of a feeble, diffused and disaffected population. Under all these circumstances, may we not infer views as to the early possession of this harbor and ultimately to the sovereignty of all California? Surely the growth of a race on these shores scarcely emerged from the savage state guided by a chief who seeks not to emancipate but to enthrall is an event to be deprecated. An event, the mere apprehension of which ought to excite the jealousies of the United States so far at least as to induce the cautionary measure of preserving a station which may serve as a barrier to a northern aggrandizement. In the following year, a rumor arose that Spain had ceded to Russia a strip of territory on the Pacific coast 800 miles long in return for assistance furnished to the expeditions against the revolutionists of Lima and Buenos Aires. In the St. Louis Inquirer, an unknown writer, perhaps Senator Benton, issued a warning against the progress of the Russian Empire well calculated to arouse the apprehension of those to whom Russia, as a member of the Holy Alliance and a rival in the Northwest trade, was already an object of sufficient distrust. Looking to the East for everything, said the article, Americans have failed to notice the advance of the Russians on the Pacific coast until they have succeeded in pushing their settlements as far south as Bodea. Their policy is merely the extension of the policy of Peter the Great and Catherine. Alexander is occupied with a scheme worthy of his vast ambition, the acquisition of the Gulf and Peninsula of California and the Spanish claim to North America. We learn this not from diplomatic correspondence, but from American fur traders who learn it from the Russian traders now protected by the emperor in carrying off our furs. Such warnings as those sounded by Prevost in the St. Louis Inquirer were soon echoed in the halls of Congress. On January 25th, 1821, the Committee on the Occupation of the Columbia River rendered its report to the House of Representatives. In this report, Floyd, the chairman of the Committee, issued the following warnings against the Russian peril. Quote, Russia whose dominions on the Asiatic coast occupy nearly the same position on that side, which ours do on this, has long been well informed of the great and increasing value of that commerce. And while she has nowhere been visible, not even to the powers of Europe, only as she has of late taken part in a few memorable enterprises, she has been felt everywhere. No labor, care, or expanse is avoided to make tributary the four quarters of the globe. Forts, magazines, towns, cities and trades seem to rise on that coast as if by magic. With an army of a million of men, she sits not only in proud security as it regards Europe and menaces the Turk, the Persian, the Japanese and the Chinese, but even the King of Spain's dominions in North America are equally easy of access and equally exposed to her fearful weight of power. Her watchfulness is ever in advance in discerning the most practicable avenues of profitable commerce. In the midst of all her busy arrangements, she has not neglected the opportunities of possessing herself of two important stations of the American shore of the Pacific. The one at a place called New Archangel in about 59 degrees of North latitude, the other at Bodega Bay in latitude 38 degrees 34 minutes. At the former of these military positions for the protection of her commerce, it is presumed, she has incurred much expense and built a fort of great strength situated upon one of the best harbors on the coast, standing upon a point of land projecting into the little bay, giving something the appearance of a conical island in the center of it. This fort is well supplied at all times with provisions and military stores, mounting 120 cannon, carrying balls from 18 to 24 pounds weight. That at Bodega is well constructed and supplied with cannon and has a good harbor. At this point, they have ammunition and merchandise and abundance and find the Indian trade at this post as well as at New Archangel very considerable. Besides the fine condition of the fort and its defenses, they have many field pieces, some of brass of the finest construction, good order and well mounted. All these supplies have been conveyed to those places through immense oceans round Cape Horn, which would have appalled any but Russian policy and perseverance. The light articles destined for this trade are transported from St. Petersburg in sledges, which will perform in three months that which would require two summers of water conveyance to effect. Their communications are open to Kamchatka, to Fort St. Peter and St. Paul by Akhotsk in the Pacific, where they have the finest harbor in the world. The distance is estimated at 10,000 miles. The nation which can encounter such journeys as these, often through seas of ice and storms of snow, so terrible as to obscure an object beyond the distance of a few paces, to prosecute any branch of commerce, must be well and fully informed of its value. That the objects she has in view may not by any event be taken from her grasp, after encountering such vast difficulties, she has found it expedient to occupy one of the Sandwich Islands, which not only enables her effectively to maintain her positions, but to command the whole northern part of the Pacific Ocean. These islands, lying just within the tropics in the direct course from the lower coast of North America to Canton, are well supplied not only with all the fruits of that climate, but with every vegetable and animal known in this country. End quote. Fed by such warnings, the opposition to any further extension of Russian power along the Pacific coast gained increasing strength in the United States. When, therefore, the Tsar's famous UK's of 1822 sought to close the North Pacific to foreign vessels and establish the undisputed supremacy of Russia to the Northwest coast, it was looked upon as merely another step in his plan of occupying the Oregon territory in California. One of the three cardinal elements of the Monroe Doctrine, first given definite expression in Monroe's message of December 1823, was designed very clearly to prevent this Russian advance. The average American thinks of the doctrine only in relation to Hispanic America, but Monroe was not considering alone the welfare of the recently liberated Spanish colonies when he penned his famous message. He was also thinking of the shadow of the great Russian Empire flung over Alaska and threatening the whole Pacific coast. The challenge of Fort Ross with its cabin, its high palisades, its farms and herds of cattle, all tangible evidences of a permanent plan of colonization was met by Monroe with the explicit announcement that the American continents were no longer subjects for future colonization by any European power. The attitude of the United States brought a definite end to whatever program the Russian government had of acquiring California. Three other factors beside Monroe's opposition also led to the Tsar's loss of interest in the California project. The decline of the fur trade along the coast destroyed the primary source of the colony's revenue. Because Russia and Spain were allies in Europe, the chance for the former to take over California did not readily present itself. Of more important still, the shifting fortunes of Russia in European politics and her ancient ambition to rule over Constantinople destroyed all effective desire for expansion in North America. In 1824, accordingly, the Russian government agreed to limit all future settlements to the territory north of the parallel of 54 degrees 40 minutes. For nearly two decades more, however, the colony at Ross retained its Russian character and remained independent of Mexican control. In 1836, when a revolt of the Californians promised for a time to transform the province into an independent republic, a vague rumor was set afloat that the new government planned to seek the Tsar's protection. Such a policy, had there been any truth behind it, would have meant a dangerous revival of the Russian influence on the coast and a serious check to American expansion. There was, however, no shadow of justification for the report. In point of fact, the Russian colonists held themselves aloof from all the affairs of Californians except that of commerce. Chance foreigners who visited Ross found the inhabitants living a quiet, industrious routine life concerned with matters of trade and agriculture and not at all with politics. The following description, written by one such visitor shortly before the colony came to an end, gives a fair picture of the normal conditions at Fort Ross. Quote, this establishment of the Russians seems now to be kept up principally as a pontapuis and hereafter it may be urged in furtherance of the claims of the imperial autocrat in this country, having now been in possession of Ross and the Bodega for 24 years without molestation. Two ships annually come down for wheat from Sitka. Their cargoes are purchased in California, likewise tallow and jerked beef, for bills on the Russian-American fur company, St. Petersburg. These bills fall into the hands of the American traders from Boston and the Sandwich Islands who receive these bills from the Californians as money and payment of goods. Ross contains about 400 souls, 60 of whom are Russians and Finns, 80 Kodiaks, the remainder Indians of the neighborhood who work well with the plow and sickle. All the Russians and Finlanders are artisans, wages 35 to $40 per annum. They export butter and cheese to Sitka, but few skins, seal, are now taken, no sea otters. This year the farm has much increased. 240 finagas equal to 600 bushels of wheat are sown. It generally yields 12 bushels for one. Stock, 1,500 head of neat cattle, 800 horses and mules, 400 to 500 sheep, and 300 hogs." By 1840 the expanse of maintaining the California colony had become a drain upon the Russian-American fur company too serious to be continued longer. And as the political aspect of the enterprise had long since ceased to be of any moment, the company was anxious to dispose of its holdings and withdraw entirely from the field. The following year a purchaser, both for the colony's movable property and its shadowy land claims was found in the person of John A. Sutter. With the completion of the bargain, the settlers returned to Alaska. In this undramatic fashion, the threatened Russian control of California came to an end. It is a mistake, however, to minimize the significance of the Bodega enterprise or to overlook the potential menace that it presented at one time to the future development of the United States. If the dreams of Baranov and Razanov had been realized, how tremendously changed the world's history might have been. End of chapter three. Chapter four, A History of America, The American Period by Robert Glass Cleveland. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter four, The Whalers and Hyde Traders. With the decline of the fur trade, through whose influence the Russians and Americans had first been brought to California, the inhabitants of the province were compelled to rely upon other forms of foreign commerce to supply them with manufactured articles and to furnish some sort of market for their own agricultural products. Even before the fur traders ceased to appear along the coast, chance whaling ships occasionally put into a California harbor for water and fresh provisions, and gradually a mutually satisfactory trade was built out between these vessels and the Californians. Though never of very large proportions, this form of early California commerce merits a brief description. Edmund Burke, in one of his noblest passages, speaks of the hearty New England whalers who, even before the American Revolution, had outstripped the sailors of older nations and pressed beyond the limits of the known whaling grounds to vex strange seas with their industry. The war which Burke so earnestly deplored temporarily stopped the activities of these adventurous New Englanders, but soon after its close, the ships of Nantucket, New Bedford and Salem began to put to sea again in quest of their gigantic prey. Down the coast of South America, they crept, rounded the horn and finally came to the great offshore feeding ground of the Pacific. A few years of rich profits here and the search was extended to the North Pacific. In this way, the waters of Alaska, Bering Sea and the coasts of Japan became familiar to the New England vessels before the first quarter of the century was over. As the whaling grounds extended farther and farther from home ports, it commonly required three years or more to complete a successful cruise. This long absence from a base of supplies, together with the hard and dangerous nature of the work, made it necessary that ports should be found in the Pacific where repairs could be made and fresh water, wood and food procured and the men allowed some period of rest and recuperation on shore. The need for these things was especially great after the vessels had completed their cargoes and were ready for the long homeward voyage around the horn. Both because of their geographical location and the ease with which provisions could be obtained from the surrounding country, the ports of the Hawaiian islands and of California met all the requirements of the whaling ships and became their favorite places of resort. In obtaining supplies from the Californians, the whalers resorted to a system of barter similar to that employed by the fur traders. Each vessel had on board a small cargo of New England manufactured products which was exchanged for fresh meat, vegetables and other provisions necessary for the welfare of the scurvy stricken crew. In these transactions, evasions of duties on a petty scale was probably common enough but the whaling vessels were interested in the trade only as a means of procuring food and so had no great incentive for organized smuggling. Among California ports, Monterey and San Francisco were commonly selected by the whaling ships, battered and often in a sorry plight from months of cruising in the rough waters of the North Pacific for refitting and provisioning. Because San Francisco was more commodious and farther removed from meddlesome officials, it was more favored than Monterey. Later, as the industry grew to larger and larger proportions, it was not unusual for as many as 30 or 40 vessels to lie at anchor at one time in the sheltering coves and estuaries behind the Golden Gate. Measured by dollars and cents, however, the trade carried on by the whaling fleet with California was never of very great importance. Its real significance, like that of the fur trade, lay in the stimulus it gave to American interest in the harbors of the Pacific and the knowledge of California's resources that brought back to the United States. In addition to the coastal fur trade and the intercourse with homeward bound whaling vessels, the Californians had one other form of commercial contact with the outside world. This was the hide and tallow trade. For the origin of cattle raising in California, one must look to distant plains of Mexico and to the Spanish missionaries and explorers of the 18th century. With few exceptions, the early overland expeditions from Mexico to California, such as those undertaken by Rivera, Anza, Garces, and Fagas, brought with them a considerable number of cattle. The animals which escaped Slaughter and the perils of the journey served as breeding stock after the expedition reached its destination and thus became the starting point for the great herds of a later day. The natural conditions of California were so thoroughly congenial to cattle raising that the development of the industry was almost unbelievably rapid. Before the close of the century, the hills and valleys from San Diego northward to the farthest point of Spanish occupation were covered with the offspring of the few hundred animals driven overland from Mexico by the early colonizing expeditions. The Californian, like his ancestors in Mexico, was a cattle raiser by inheritance and temperament. In the business, as he knew it, there was little of responsibility or of disagreeable labor. Whatever work the roundup and slaughter required had in it a certain spice of danger and an element of sport that appealed to the Californian's native instinct for excitement and his love of the out-of-doors. Except in seasons of drought, the rains came, the grass grew, and the cattle, running wild on the range, multiplied and took care of themselves. Only in dry years was there any danger of serious loss. At such times, however, their herds might suffer severely. In 1829, for instance, it is said that 40,000 cattle died on the southern ranges and that the mission of Santa Barbara alone lost 12,000 animals during the same disastrous season. Because of the natural aptitude of the Californian for the business and the suitable natural conditions which prevailed, cattle-raising became almost the sole industry of the province and virtually its only source of wealth. From the sales of hide and tallow to the foreigner, after the close of the fur trade, the Californians obtained almost everything they made use of in the way of clothing and manufactured articles. Similarly, government officials, whether civil or military, derived almost all public funds for salaries and other necessary ends from the revenues received directly or indirectly from the trade. The influence of the business was clearly marked in other fields as well. Quote, the breeding of cattle being the chief occupation of the Californians, writes a careful student of those early days, determined their mode of life in the structure of their society in the size of their ranches. Nobody wanted to own less than the league square, 4,438 acres of land, and the government granted it away without charge in tracks varying from one to 11 leagues to anybody who would undertake to erect a house and put a hundred head of cattle on the place. End quote. The California cattle, or black cattle, as they were commonly called, were of the typical range or Mexican variety. Their legs were long and thin, their bodies small and their horns sharp and surprisingly widespread. Both in appearance and disposition, they were more like the wild deer which herded with them than the domestic animals of our Atlantic or Middle-Western states. No attempt at scientific breeding was thought of during a Mexican regime, nor would this have been profitable if put into effect. From years in to years in, the cattle ran wild, never knowing the inside of a stable or a fattening pin, but living entirely upon the grass and herbage of the limitless ranges before them. Their flesh was tough, but full of nourishment and flavor. Dried or fresh, it constituted the chief article of diet among the people of the province and was supposed by many to account for the remarkable longevity of the Californians. The cows matured early, sometimes calving at the age of 14 months and gave but little milk. As this was almost never used for domestic purposes by the Californians, foreigners who visited the province frequently commented unfavorably upon the absence of cream, butter and cheese from their host stables. But after all, the Californian was a true cattleman in this respect, since even today many of the larger ranges of the West use condensed milk in place of fresh and regard butter as a needless luxury. As there were no fences in the country, cattle belonging to one owner frequently joined the herds of another. Consequently, both law and custom required that every man's stock should be marked with an officially recorded brand, then is now a sign of ownership wherever cattle run at large. Twice a year in the spring and fall, great rodeos or roundups were held to apportion out the intermingled herds among the proper owners and to mark the unbranded calves. These were occasions of some formality and of great bustle and stir in the plastic routine of California life. An official known as the US Decompo or Judge of the Plain presided over the proceedings. The cattle were brought together in some central place and the sorting or cutting out process began to keep the thousands of frightened, bewildered and maddened creatures from stampeding, cowboys or vaqueros rode continually about the herds seeking to hold it together. Whenever an animal broke from the mass, a rider immediately roped him or seizing him by the tail with a particular twist requiring both strength and dexterity threw him heavily to the ground. Meanwhile, each owner and his vaqueros rode in and out among the cattle, separating such animals as he found marked with his own brand from the main herd. The question of ownership was seldom a difficult matter because of the brands and even the unbranded calves followed the cows to which they belonged. As an owner's cattle were cut out from the general herd, they were driven a little distance away to a place previously chosen and kept by themselves until the rodeo was ended. Here the rancher branded his calves and determined the number of animals he could profitably slaughter during the coming season. A roundup of this kind was one of the most picturesque events of early California life. The vast herd of cattle, sometimes half a mile from center to circumference, the thick clouds of dust that rose from thousands of moving feet, the sudden dash after some escaping steer, the surprising feats of horsemanship which were performed continually by the vaqueros, the bellowing of frightened and maddened bulls, the clash of horns, striking horns, the wild shouts and laughter of the cowboys, all in an air of excitement and interest that the printed page cannot reproduce. The slaughtering of the cattle was done apart from the roundup. Generally, the males of three years old and upward alone were killed and only a small portion of the meat from each animal was saved. The rest went to feed the half-tamed dogs of the ranchers, the vultures and the innumerable coyotes and other wild animals with which the country abounded. The only marketable portions of the cattle were the hides and tallow. The best of the latter was used by the native women for cooking and in the making of soap and candles. The rest was melted in large pots, generally obtained from the whaling ships and run into rawhide bags capable of holding nearly a half a ton of peace. It was then sold at so much in Aruba, a standard Mexican weight equal to about 25 pounds. Harrison G. Rogers, clerk of the modern Jedidiah Smiths expedition, was much impressed with the soapworks at the San Gabriel Mission as he saw them in 1827. He thus described them, quote, the soap factory consists of four large sisters or boilers that will hold from 2,000 to 2,500 gallons each. The cistern is built in the shape of a sugarloaf made of brick, stone and lime. There is a large iron pot or kettle fixed in the bottom of the fire strike to set them boiling. The mouth of the cisterns and the edge of the pots are lined around with sheet iron eight or 10 inches wide. The pots or kettles will hold from 200 to 250 gallons each and a great many small ones fixed in like manner, end quote. The hides were cured after a fashion by pigging them out in the sun. A number of holes were cut in each skin through which stakes were driven to keep the hide from curling. As no great care was taken in the process of skinning, particles of flesh generally adhered to the hides, which even the California sun could not then make odorless. After this curing process, most of the hides were stored until disposed of to a foreign vessel. A few, however, were kept for local use. Some leather was tanned by the missions and an occasional rancher, but for the most part the skins, after having been made into a hide, found a wide variety of uses without further treatment. This raw hide indeed was as indispensable to the Californian of the early days as bailing wire became to the rancher of later years. With the exception of the small amount of tallow and the comparatively few hides required to fill a domestic needs of the Californians, the products of the industry were all sold to the trading vessels along the coast. Before 1822, while a restrictive commercial laws of Spain remained in force, this trade was of insignificant proportions. A few bags of tallow were shipped to Samblas on government supply ships before 1813, and from 1813 to 1822, a number of vessels from South American ports, commonly called lima ships, took back some tallow, a few hides, and a small amount of California soap. The trade in any real sense did not begin, however, until the date of Mexico's independence from Spain. In that year, the Boston firm of Bryant and Sturgis established William H. Gale, a former sea otter hunter, as a permanent agent in California, and began the systematic collection of hides for the New England market. About the same time, John Beggin Company, an English house, sent out Hugh McCulloch and William Hartnell, both of whom afterwards became prominent in California affairs to undertake the same business. Before the next year was over, nine vessels flying various flags were disputing the field with these two pioneer firms, and the trade had taken on certain clearly marked characteristics and a well-defined routine that lasted for nearly a quarter of a century. From 1822 to 1834, most of the hides were supplied by the missions, several of which counted their cattle by the tens of thousands. All told, these mission herds numbered nearly half a million animals in 1834. But when secularization took place, the privately owned ranches of which there were 92 from San Diego to San Luis Obispo in 1842 became the chief sources of supply. Though some of the missions, even after secularization, continued to furnish a very considerable number of hides each year. The American vessels engaged in the hide and talotrade came almost wholly from New England and were commonly known as the Boston ships on the California coast. The voyage from New England to California by way of Cape Horn required from four to six months and was full of hardship and danger, a fact more clearly appreciated when one remembers that the vessels averaged less than 500 tons burden. Once on the California coast, a trading vessel put first into the port of Monterey, a pleasantly situated town of white plastered, red-tiled adobe houses shut in by green pine forests and blessed with one of the few safe harbors of the California coast. Here stood the only customs house the province could boast where every trading vessel was compelled to enter its cargo. The city also served during most of the Mexican period as the seat of civil and military life and as the social center of the province. The duties levied upon foreign goods were nominally high, a single vessel ordinarily paying from $5,000 to $25,000 on its cargo. As a matter of fact, however, such charges were not particularly burdensome to the foreign merchant, whatever may have been their effect upon the Californian. Once a vessel had entered its cargo at Monterey, it was free to trade along the whole California coast until its cargo was exhausted. This usually required from a year and a half to three years and in the meantime, the ship's goods might be replenished clandestinely from the cargoes of other vessels which had received no trading license. The evasion of tariff charges in the fashion just described was supplemented by bribery of customs house officials or through outright smuggling. And even where duties were actually paid, such costs were shifted for the most part from the New England merchant to the Californian in the form of higher prices. The revenue derived from this trade constituted almost the sole support of the civil and military branches of the government. At least twice, namely in 1841 and again in 1845, when there were upwards of 50 vessels on the coast, the revenue so derived amounted to more than $100,000. In 1845, it came to $140,000. Normally, however, the receipts averaged less than $75,000. The vessels of many nations were represented, but more than half the number were of American register. The good many flew the Mexican flag and others came from England, France, Germany and the Sandwich Islands. Under such competition, two or three years were required for a vessel to obtain 20,000 to 40,000 hides necessary to complete its cargo. These were gathered in various ports, the chief of which were San Diego, San Juan Capistrano, San Pedro, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Monterey. With the exception of Monterey, these so-called ports afforded but poor protection during the winter months against sudden Southeasters, and vessels taking on a cargo of hides were often forced to slip anchor and escape to the open sea to prevent being driven high and dry upon the beach. The supercargo, or ship owner's agent, arranged for the missions and ranches for the purchase and delivery of the hides to the nearest seaport. Traveling over land on horseback in advance of the ship, he passed from mission to mission and from ranch to ranch, a welcomed guest as well as a commercial agent. The hides were transported to the sea coast on pack mules and in clumsy native carts with solid wooden wheels drawn by two oxen. Beside each animal walked an Indian driver carrying a long pointed stick with which to punch the slow-moving beast as the spirit moved him. Once arrived at the sea, the driver's work was over. The hides were dumped unceremoniously on the ground and the Indians squatted beside the ox cart, or pack mule, until the sailors made ready his return load of goods. As for the hides, these were carried by the ship's crew on their heads through surf and over stones slippery with sea moss to the longboat which served as a means of communication between the vessel and the shore. The work was arduous and severe, but as there were no docks or warbs along the coast, no other method of loading could be devised. In the eyes of the sailors, San Pedro, with its steep landing, sticky clay soil, and long stretches of kelp-covered rocks over which the hides had to be carried, was probably the worst of the California ports. Yet more hides were taken on here than at any other landing. In exchange for his hides, the Californian obtained goods of foreign manufacture at a profit of the ship owner of some 300%. To accommodate the buyers, each ship trading along the coast was transformed into a sort of general store. Richard Henry Dana, in his Two Years Before the Mast, a book which combines one of the best sea stories ever written with a true picture of early California life, thus describes the methods followed. Quote, the trade room of the vessel was fitted up in the steerage and furnished out with the lighter goods and specimens of the rest of the cargo. For a week or 10 days, all was life on board. The people came to look and buy, men and women and children, and we were continually going in the boats, carrying goods and passengers, for they have no boats of their own. Everything must dress itself and come aboard and see the new vessel if it were only to buy a paper of pins. The agent or his clerk managed the sails while we were busy in the hold or in the boats. Our cargo was an assorted one. That is, it consisted of everything under the sun. We had spirits of all kinds, sold by the cask, teas, coffee, sugar, spices, raisins, molasses, hardware, crockery ware, tinware, cutlery, clothing of all kinds, boots and shoes from Lynn, calicoes and cotton from Lowell, crepes, silks, also shawls, scarfs, necklaces, jewelry and combs for the ladies, and in fact, everything that can be imagined from Chinese fireworks to English cartwheels, of which we had a dozen pair with our iron rims on, end quote. The purchases made by the Californians were paid for either in silver or in hides, which were commonly known as California banknotes along the coast, and generally averaged $1.50 or $2 in value. It was also the usual practice for ships regularly engaged in the trade to extend credit to many of their customers from one season to the next, receiving in return the promise of sufficient hides at the end of the year to cover the cost of the goods, together with exceedingly high interest charges. Rarely, if ever, did a Californian fail to repay these debts for his coat of honor did not permit a business dishonesty. Having completed a voyage along the coast, a hide ship landed the skins at San Diego. Here they were soaked in brine, scraped and dried, beaten with flails to rid them of dust, and finally stored in large warehouses to await shipment around the horn. The New Englander, as well as the Californian, derived very considerable advantage from the hide and tallow trade. It not only furnished much of the leather which gave Connecticut and Massachusetts a monopoly of the early boot and shoe industry in the United States, but also provided a channel through which the surplus products of New England factories might find a steady, if somewhat restricted, outlet in foreign trade. Yet, though the trade was important both to California and to New England from an economics standpoint, its enduring significance lay rather in another quarter. From it, as from the coastal fur trade in the whale fisheries, but even in a more direct way, the maritime interests of New England learned of the resources and commercial possibilities of California and became interested in her ultimate destiny. Through the hide and tallow trade, more than through any other agency, New England began her expansion to the Pacific Coast. End of chapter four.