Authors: Fred Rosen
The powers of Europe, far removed from the West Coast of America by the Atlantic Ocean, which intervenes, and by a tedious and dangerous navigation around the southern cape of the continent of America, can never successfully compete with the United States in the rich and extensive commerce which is opened to us at so much less cost by the acquisition of California.
The vast importance and commercial advantages of California have heretofore remained undeveloped by the Government of the country of which it constituted a part. Now that this fine province is a part of our country, all the States of the Union, some more immediately and directly than others, are deeply interested in the speedy development of its wealth and resources. No section of our country is more interested or will be more benefited than the commercial, navigating, and manufacturing interests of the Eastern States. Our planting and farming interests in every part of the Union will Be greatly benefited by it. As our commerce and navigation are enlarged and extended, our exports of agricultural products and of manufactures will be increased, and in
the new markets thus opened they can not fail to command remunerating and profitable prices.
Invoking the blessings of the Almighty upon your deliberations at your present important session, my ardent hope is that in a spirit of harmony and concord you may be guided to wise results, and such as may redound to the happiness, the honor, and the glory of our beloved country.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bell, Horace.
Reminiscences of a ranger; or, Early times in Southern California
. California: Yarnell, Caystile, & Mathes, 1881.
Connell, S. Evan.
Son of the Morning Star
. San Francisco: North Point Press, 1984.
Delano, Alonzo.
Life on the Plains and among the diggings; being scenes and adventures of an overland journey to California: with particular incidents of the route, mistakes and sufferings of the emigrants, the Indian tribes, the present and future of the great West
. New York: Miller, Orton, 1857.
Hansen, Ron.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
. New York: Ballantine Books, 1983.
Hobson, Jay.
The Hobson Family Lineage
. North Carolina: Ohio: Lofthouse, 1994.
Koeppel, Elliot H.
The California Gold Country: Highway
49
Revisited
. California: Malakoff, 1999.
Lake, Stuart.
Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal
. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1931.
McNeil, Samuel.
McNeil's travels in 1849, to
,
through and from the gold regions, in California
. Columbus, Ohio: Scott & Bascom, 1850.
Simpson, Henry.
The Emigrant's Guide to the Gold Mines
. United Kingdom: Headframe, 1848.
Stiles, T.J.
Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War
. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2002.
INDEX
Acapulco route to California,
97
,
99
Act for the Government and Protection of the Indians (1850),
204
,
205
agriculture in Southern California,
29
â
30
Alcaldes,
85
“All the Gold in California” (Gatlin),
257
Alta California
(newspaper),
178
â
79
Alvarado, Juan,
9
American Dream,
249
American Fur Co.,
5
American History
(Muzzey),
17
American Indians.
See
Native Americans
American River (California)
Larkin's description of,
79
â
83
state park at sawmill site,
257
â
59
Sutter's sawmill,
31
â
37
,
38
,
65
,
68
â
69
,
257
â
58
Americans.
See also
racism and class distinctions
get rich quick attitude,
224
â
25
,
240
,
247
,
248
post-gold rush character,
224
pre-gold rush character,
73
,
106
â
7
pursuit of wealth en masse,
106
,
107
â
8
Andersen, “Bloody Bill,”
219
Anderson, Samuel,
160
Appotomax Courthouse, VA,
232
Arabian Nights
, California compared to,
101
Armour, John,
108
arson in San Francisco,
175
Baden, Germany,
3
Baton Rouge, LA,
122
Battle of Fallen Timbers (1794),
xxii
Battle of the Little Big Horn,
242
the Bear Flag Revolt,
20
Bell, Horace,
194
â
99
,
199
â
200
,
201
â
2
Bennet (Sutter's messenger to Mason),
62
,
63
,
65
Bigler, Henry W.,
38
â
39
,
40
,
58
â
60
Bigler, John W.,
201
Black Hills gold rush
Americans' excuse for breaking treaty,
235
â
36
Deadwood camp,
240
Treaty of 1868 with Sioux,
234
Bodie, Cheyenne,
211
Book of Mormon (Smith),
52
Bowie knife vs. butcher knife,
291
Breen, Patrick,
28
Britain,
102
â
4
,
108
â
9
,
170
â
71
,
175
â
76
,
294
Buchanan, James,
72
Burnett, Peter H.,
208
butcher knife vs. Bowie knife,
291
California. See
also
crime in California;
specific cities
the Bear Flag Revolt,
20
Mexican American War,
18
â
19
,
20
â
21
,
29
â
31
Polk's State of the Union speech about,
105
â
6
,
207
,
303
â
7
state courts, Chinese and,
190
tourist attractions,
256
“The California Emigrant's Song,
249
â
52
California Gold Rush.
See also entries beginning with
“gold”
crime rate,
148
â
49
,
169
â
71
,
173
â
76
effect of deaths during,
221
effect on Indians,
138
as hope for family's future,
107
,
111
,
118
â
19
Larkin's description of,
79
â
83
quantities and value of,
75
â
76
,
80
,
88
â
89
,
152
,
153
,
183
,
249
Californian
(newspaper),
65
California Star
(newspaper),
65
,
86
â
89
Californios,
29
â
30
,
95
,
171
,
192
â
94
cannibalism of Donner Party,
25
â
26
,
28
Cape Horn route to California,
97
,
98
Castro, José,
19
Catholicism in Mexico,
139
â
40
Centralia, KS,
219
cholera,
103
â
4
,
129
,
132
â
33
,
135
,
199
Clanton and McLaury gang,
246
â
47
Clapp, Louise Amelia Knapp Smith,
151
â
52
class distinctions.
See
racism and class distinctions
Clay County, MO,
xxi
â
xxii
,
12
â
13
,
207
â
8
Clements, Archie,
218
Clinkenbeard's Road House,
200
Coloma, CA
Marshall's cabin in,
226
â
27
,
258
mining camps in and around,
151
â
52
route to,
256
Sutter and Marshall's sawmill at,
31
â
37
,
38
,
65
,
68
â
69
,
257
â
58
combines (gold mining equipment),
227
,
228
commerce
gold mining equipment costs,
80
,
81
,
101
,
151
at Sutter's Fort,
109
Comstock Lode,
228
Couray, Melissa Burton,
56
cradles, mining with,
80
,
154
â
55
crime in California
1850â1851 increase in,
169
â
71
,
173
â
76
mob violence against criminals,
176
â
78
punishment for,
159
â
60
,
179
â
80
,
184
â
85
resolutions for controlling,
181
â
82
vigilante justice vs.,
179
â
83
,
185
â
86
Cump.
See
Sherman, William Tecumseh “Cump”
Custer, George Armstrong,
237
â
39
,
242
Cutting, Joseph H.,
207
Dame Shirley,
152
Deadwood, Black Hills,
240
Delano, Alonzo,
169
â
71
,
173
â
76
Delano, Columbus,
235
Denman (McNeil's traveling companion),
141
â
42
Douglas, Stephen A.,
54
Dubeld, Anna,
3
Earp, James,
246
El Dorado, California compared to,
101
The Emigrant's Guide to the Gold Mines
(Simpson),
96
â
99
Ewing, Boyd,
113
Ewing, Thomas,
113
Far West, MO,
53
Feather River,
74
,
79
â
81
,
95
,
151
Fighting Earps,
246
Fillmore, Millard,
173
Flores, José Marié,
31
flumes and trenches,
191
Foreign Miners License Tax (1850),
193
,
199
Formal Church of Mormon,
52
Fort Ross,
10
Fort Vancouver,
5
Frémont, John C.,
19
â
20
,
30
â
31
,
261
.
See also
Treaty of Cahuenga (1847)