Building a State in Apache Land | Page 2

agent of Santa Ana;
but not a dollar of it ever reached the Mexican treasury, as Santa Ana
fled with the spoil. The remaining three millions were retained to pay
the "lobby" and confirm the treaty. The treaty was signed in Mexico on
the 23d day of December, 1853.
Pending the negotiation of the treaty between the high contracting
parties, in the City of Mexico, the discussion of the subject grew
interesting at the Government Boarding-House in San Francisco, and a
new California was hoped for on the southern boundary. Old Spanish
history was ransacked for information from the voyages of Cortez in
the Gulf of California to the latest dates, and maps of the country were
in great demand.
In the mean time an agent of the Iturbide family had arrived in San
Francisco with a "Mexican Grant." After the execution of the Emperor
Iturbide, the Congress of the Mexican Republic voted an indemnity to
the family of one million dollars; but on account of successive
revolutions this sum was never at the disposition of the Mexican
treasury, and in liquidation the Mexican government made the family a
grant of land in California, north of the Bay of San Francisco, but
before the land could be located, the Americans had "acquired" the
country, and it was lost. The heirs then made application to the
Mexican government for another grant of land in lieu of the California
concession, and were granted seven hundred leagues of land, to be
located in Sonora, Sinaloa and Lower California, in such parcels as
they might select.
Seven hundred leagues, or 3,000,800 acres, is a large tract of land in a
single body, and the attorney of the heirs considered it more convenient
to locate the land in small tracts of a league or two at a place. The

government of Mexico conceded whatever was required, and the grant
was made in all due form of Mexican law.
In the discussion at the Government Boarding House in San Francisco
it was urged: That the Gulf of California was the Mediterranean of the
Pacific, and its waters full of pearls. That the Peninsula of Lower
California was copper-bound, interspersed with gold and minerals,
illustrated with old Spanish Missions, and fanned by the gentlest
breezes from the South Pacific. That the State of Sonora was one of the
richest of Mexico in silver, copper, gold, coal and other materials, with
highly productive agricultural valleys in the temperate zone. That the
country north of Sonora, called in the Spanish history "Arizunea"
(rocky country) was full of minerals, with fertile valleys washed by
numerous rivers, and covered by forests primeval. That the climate was
all that could be desired, from the level of the Gulf of California, to an
altitude of 15,000 feet in the mountains of the north. That the Southern
Pacific Railroad would soon be built through the new country, and that
a new State would be made as a connecting link between Texas and
California, with the usual quota of governors, senators, and public
officials.
It was urged that the Iturbide Grant could be located so as to secure the
best sites for towns and cities in the new State, and the rest distributed
to settlers as an inducement for rapid colonization. The enthusiasm
increased with the glamour of Spanish history and the generous flow of
Sazerac.
It must be admitted that an alluring prospect was opened for a young
man idling away his life over a custom house desk at three hundred
dollars a month; and in the enthusiasm of youth I undertook to make an
exploration of the new territory and to locate the Iturbide Grant. Who
could have foreseen that the attempted location of the Iturbide Grant
would upset the Mexican Republic and set up an empire in Mexico
under French protection?
The first thing was to organize a "syndicate" in San Francisco, to
furnish funds for expenses and for the location of the Iturbide Grant.
This was easily accomplished through some enthusiastic French

bankers.
The ex-member of Congress was dispatched to the City of Mexico to
secure the approbation of the Mexican government, and I embarked at
San Francisco for Guaymas with a rather tough cargo of humanity.
They were not so bad as reckless; not ungovernable, but independent.
The records of the United States consulate in Guaymas, if they are
preserved, show our registration as American citizens, fourteenth day
of January, 1854. The Mexican officials were polite, but not cordial.
They said Santa Ana had no right to sell the territory, as he was an
usurper and possessed no authority from the Mexican people. As
international tribunals had not then been established to determine these
nice points of international ethics, we did not stop to argue the question,
but pushed on to the