390 EXPLORATIONS. PT IV. souri. Having obtained from Mexico a grant of land PDIV. thirty leagues square, he located his residence within CH. I. it, and built a fort at the confluence of the American 1836. river with the Sacramento, near the place since called revolu- Sacramento City. Capt. Wilkes reported well of the tion, soil and productiveness of the country. He related a hunters recent military contest, in which the scale was turned scale. by the valor of twenty-five American hunters. In the American turn the June 10. tour of found no 1842. 10. In 1842, Lieut. Fremont being ordered on an exFre- ploring tour, left, June 10, with a party of about 20, mont's the mouth of the Kansas,-travelled along its fertile explora valley-struck off upon the sterile banks of the Platte (He -followed its South Fork to St. Vrain's Fort ;mountain thence northerly to Fort Laramie, on the North Fork the line of of the same stream. Following up, from this point, travel.) the North Fork, and then its affluent, the Sweet son was Water river, he was conducted, by a gentle ascent, to guide.) that wonderful gateway in the Rocky Mountains, the South Pass. road on (Kit Car his Leaves Kan sas. Sept. 6. Salt 19th. At Fort Hall. 1843. 11. The next year, Fremont, now captain, crossed March 17. the Rocky Mountains further south, examined, and mouth of laid open, by his report, the region of the Salt Lake; having reached that remarkable expanse of brine, by At the following its beautiful affluent, the Bear river. After Lake. having explored Oregon, he turned south, and began his long homeward route, by traversing, in winter, the terrible and dangerous snows of the Sierra Nevada. Nov. 4. From this seemingly interminable way, the lost and Dalles. famished wanderers emerged upon the waters of the 2 At Ham- Sacramento; and they followed to Sutter's Fort its ath Lake. affluent, the American Fork, ignorant of the golden treasures beneath their feet,- -soon to set in motion a At Pyra rapidly increasing population from every corner of At the Dec, 10. 1844. Jan. 10. mid Lake. the world. 12. After their wants had been kindly supplied by Capt. Sutter, the party travelled south, and beheld in the country? What is said of his location?-10. What is the date of Fremont's first exploring tour? Describe his route. (Learn it by your map.)—11. Describe his second tour from the Rocky Mountains to Sutter's Fort, observing the dates.-12. From Sutter's Fort homewards. CALIFORNIA IN REQUEST. 391 CH. II. and enjoyed the vernal beauties of the flowery valley PTIV of the San Joaquin. Then, turning the southern ex- PDIV. tremity of the Sierra Nevada, they passed the arid wastes of the great Desert Basin. They had dis- 1844. covered and named, on their way, new rivers and discovers mountain passes; and they had laid open regions which had heretofore, except to the hunter and the savage, been but the hidden recesses of nature. They had explored California, and made known an overland route (Fremont also many new ob jects of ance in science, import natural for which he receives honors from Eng land and Germany.) CHAPTER II. Train of Events by which California became a part of the American Republic.--The Macnamara Project.-Discovery of Gold. position on com ing to the Presidency. to 1844 1846. project 10 prevent the American 1. We have already seen that Mr. Polk came into 1844 the presidency with a war upon his hands. He doubt- Mr.Polk's less intended so to conduct it, that it should redound to the honor and advantage of his country; being early determined to obtain California and New Mexico. But a project was on foot to place California beyond the reach of the American government, and under the protection of the British. This was, in part, to be effected through the agency of Macnamara, an Irish priest, who, before the beginning of the war, visited the city of Mexico, and obtained grants of some of the best ports and most fertile lands of California. Capt. Fremont was sent overland, early in the spring of 1845. to California, ostensibly for scientific exploration, with 63 men, composed of the famous and noble hunter and guide, Kit Carson, and others like him, ready, with sinews of steel, to do or to dare ;-furnished with artillery, and armed with Colt's six CHAPTER IJ-1. What was Mr. Polk's position when he came into the presidency? What his intentions? What danger was there, that he might, he defeated in his intention to obtain California? Waid he send thither? By what route? When? cupa tion of California. 392 THE HAND OF PROVIDENCE. P'TIV shooting revolvers. If Mr. Polk's object was to P'DIV. counterwork the British plot, his measures and agents CH. II. were well chosen, and his plans completely suc (For Testiculars, see the au abridged railroad eral was made cessful.* 2. But while we attribute much to the worldly wis thor's un- dom of the president, and to the ability of his agents; American we yet trace a higher wisdom, and a mightier power, history.) in the agency which brought about the sudden up(The first springing of a great commercial state on the Pacific, for gen possessing the elements of a pure Christianity, and a velling free government; and in union with that nation which between the needy and oppressed of other lands have, for the ter and last half century, made their common asylum;-and pool, 1830. all this occurring as soon in time, as the invention of First tele- locomotion by steam, and the magnetic telegraph, 1841. It could enable the central national will, as by a system ented by of political muscles and nerves, instantaneously to MORSE, send its mandates forth to every part of the body politic, and rapidly to receive in return whatever it may require. Manches Liver graph, was in S. B. F. in 1836.) T'he 3. When, in 1848, the Mexican treaty added to the American Republic vast tracts, of which the Cali1848. fornian portion had a frame-work of society adverse to (Feb. 2. our own, many patriots looked with apprehension for treaty the result; knowing, that, ordinarily, the full river Mexico keeps the course first taken by the rivulet. Would Gud enough of our citizens go thither to turn this courselupe Hi. to fuse this portion into the common mass? Providence presented a material to draw them thither, so quickly, and in such ample numbers, that they at once with signed at dalgo.) * Whether or not, in performing this service, he undertook and executed more than the constitution of the republic allows to the sole executive power, and thus left dangerous precedents, it belongs to the jurist to decide. By whom accompanied? If Mr. Polk intended to defeat the plans of the British, what was his success?-2. Should we, in the great events which concern California, attribute every thing to human agents? In what wonderful combination of events de we trace a higher wisdom and a mightier power?-3. What cause of apprehension had the American patriot? What que ries would naturally arise in lis mind? How were these ar constituted the principal stream of Californian society, PTIV. into which all minor currents, not excepting the orig- P'D IV. inal, were merged; and GOLD, the curse of other CHI. II. lands, was a blessing to this. (The Mint, on assaying the Cali fornia gold, found it remark pure.) (From Dec., 1849, to 1850, 99 from the U. States, Jan., vessels N. York; New En 4. In February, 1848, a private discovery of gold was made on the grounds of Capt. Sutter, by a Mr. Marshall, then in his employ, twenty-five miles up the American Fork of the Sacramento. It was soon ably found in other localities. Rumors of Californian gold reached the Atlantic States, which were converted to certainty by the president's message of December, 1849, accompanied by a letter from Gov. Mason, who had been in person to visit the gold "diggings." As he passed along, he found houses deserted, and fields of wheat going to ruin; their owners having left them to dig for gold. Such had been the quantities found, that every convenience of life bore an enormous price. Capt. Sutter paid his blacksmith $10 per day; and he received $500 per month for the rent of a two-story house within his fort. Gov. Mason followed up the American river to the saw-mill, in whose race-way the golden scales were first discovered. He visited other "placers," and saw multitudes engaged in the beds of streams, and in dry ravines, where water-courses had once existed. In a little gutter, two men had found the value of $17,000. The ordinary yield, for a day's work, was two ounces. 5. Such were the facts reported from unquestion able sources; and California at once became the one luminous point, to which all eyes were directed. There was a rush for the land of gold,—not only from the United States, but from Europe, Asia, South America, and the isles of the sea. wered by a great Providential event?-4. When was gold discovered? Where? By whom? When first made known to the Atlantic States? What did Gov. Mason observe and relate -5. What was the consequence of the spread of these und similar facts? 52 from 99 from gland.) Oct., 1819, to 1850, one rived at From Oct., year, ar San Fran CISCO, 48,615 im. migrants by sea, and 33,000 by land 894 TAYLOR'S INAUGURATION. P'T IV. P'D IV. CH. III. Minne March 4. tion of and Fill more. CHAPTER III. Taylor's Inauguration.-Close of the 30th Congress.-California, Texas. 1. MINNESOTA, adjacent to the head waters of the Mississippi, was erected into a territory on the 3d of March, 1849. 1849. 2. At the election in 1848, Gen. ZACHARY TAYLOR, March 3. the hero of the Rio Grande, was chosen president; sota Ter- and Millard Fillmore, of New York, vice-president. ritory. Their inauguration occurred on the 4th of March, Inaugura- 1849, when, by the constitution, the 30th Congress Taylor was dissolved.-The increase of labor devolving on the several departments of the government, in consequence of the growth of the nation, caused congress to authorize a separate bureau, called " The Department of the Interior." Thomas Ewing, of Ohio, was appointed by the president its first secretary, and John M. Clayton, of Delaware, was made secretary of state. New de partment. 1848 1850. sus esti 3. With such exactness were the different parties to balanced, in regard to the slavery question, that in the (1850. congress of 1848-9, all that could be obtained for The cen- California was a law, by which her revenue was to mate of be collected and placed in the coffers of the republic. Iation of Happily, the exemplary political conduct of California, is under these trying circumstances, relieved the anxious forebodings of American patriots, that she might take the popu California 200,000.) CHAPTER III.-1. What do we here learn of Minnesota ! -2. What offices were filled by election ? What persona elected? When? When inaugurated? What Congress was, the day preceding, dissolved? What new department was created? Who was the first incumbent? Who President Taylor's Secretary of State -3. What was the estimated population of California in 1850? (See side note.) What was the only action of the Congress of 1848-9 respecting California What did American patriots fear? What did |