Personal Reminiscences of Early Days in California with Other Sketches | Page 7

reached the adobe and entered the
principal room, we saw a map spread out upon the counter, containing
the plan of a town, which was called "Yubaville," and a man standing
behind it, crying out, "Gentlemen, put your names down; put your
names down, all you that want lots." He seemed to address himself to
me, and I asked the price of the lots. He answered, "Two hundred and
fifty dollars each for lots 80 by 160 feet." I replied, "But, suppose a
man puts his name down and afterwards don't want the lots?" He
rejoined, "Oh, you need not take them if you don't want them: put your
names down, gentlemen, you that want lots." I took him at his word and
wrote my name down for sixty-five lots, aggregating in all $16,250.
This produced a great sensation. To the best of my recollection I had
only about twenty dollars left of what Col. Stevenson had paid me; but
it was immediately noised about that a great capitalist had come up

from San Francisco to invest in lots in the rising town. The
consequence was that the proprietors of the place waited upon me and
showed me great attention.
Two of the proprietors were French gentlemen, named Covillaud and
Sicard. They were delighted when they found I could speak French and
insisted on showing me the town site. It was a beautiful spot, covered
with live-oak trees that reminded me of the oak parks in England, and
the neighborhood was lovely. I saw at once that the place, from its
position at the head of practical river navigation, was destined to
become an important depot for the neighboring mines, and that its
beauty and salubrity would render it a pleasant place for residence. In
return for the civilities shown me by Mr. Covillaud, and learning that
he read English, I handed him some New York papers I had with me,
and among them a copy of the New York "Evening Post" of November
13th, 1849, which happened to contain a notice of my departure for
California with an expression of good wishes for my success.[2] The
next day Mr. Covillaud came to me and in an excited manner said: "Ah,
Monsieur, are you the Monsieur Field, the lawyer from New York,
mentioned in this paper?" I took the paper and looked at the notice with
apparent surprise that it was marked, though I had myself drawn a
pencil line around it, and replied, meekly and modestly, that I believed
I was. "Well, then," he said, "we must have a deed drawn for our land."
Upon making inquiries I found that the proprietors had purchased the
tract upon which the town was laid out, and several leagues of land
adjoining, of General--then Captain--John A. Sutter, but had not yet
received a conveyance of the property. I answered that I would draw
the necessary deed; and they immediately dispatched a couple of
vaqueros for Captain Sutter, who lived at Hock Farm, six miles below,
on Feather River. When he arrived the deed was ready for signature. It
was for some leagues of land; a considerably larger tract than I had ever
before put into a conveyance. But when it was signed there was no
officer to take the acknowledgment of the grantor, nor an office in
which it could be recorded, nearer than Sacramento.
I suggested to those present on the occasion, that in a place of such fine
prospects, and where there was likely in a short time to be much
business and many transactions in real property, there ought to be an
officer to take acknowledgments and record deeds, and a magistrate for

the preservation of order and the settlement of disputes. It happened
that a new house, the frame of which was brought in the steamer, was
put up that day; and it was suggested by Mr. Covillaud that we should
meet there that evening and celebrate the execution of the deed, and
take into consideration the subject of organizing a town by the election
of magistrates. When evening came the house was filled. It is true it
had no floor, but the sides were boarded up and a roof was overhead,
and we improvised seats out of spare planks. The proprietors sent
around to the tents for something to give cheer to the meeting, and,
strange as it may seem, they found two baskets of champagne. These
they secured, and their contents were joyously disposed of. When the
wine passed around, I was called upon and made a speech. I started out
by predicting in glowing colors the prosperity of the new town, and
spoke of its advantageous situation on the Feather and Yuba Rivers;
how it was the most accessible point for vessels coming up from the
cities