The Forty-Niners | Page 6

demanded. These meetings helped to form the patriotic desire. Senator
Tappan once said that thirty thousand settlers with their thirty thousand
rifles in the valley of the Columbia would quickly settle all questions of
title to the country. This saying was adopted as the slogan for a
campaign in the West. It had the same inspiring effect as the later
famous "54-40 or fight." People were aroused as in the olden times they
had been aroused to the crusades. It became a form of mental contagion
to talk of, and finally to accomplish, the journey to the Northwest.
Though no accurate records were kept, it is estimated that in 1843 over
800 people crossed to Willamette Valley. By 1845 this immigration
had increased to fully 3000 within the year.
Because of these conditions the Oregon Trail had become a national
highway. Starting at Independence, which is a suburb of the present
Kansas City, it set out over the rolling prairie. At that time the wide
plains were bright with wild flowers and teeming with game. Elk,
antelope, wild turkeys, buffalo, deer, and a great variety of smaller

creatures supplied sport and food in plenty. Wood and water were in
every ravine; the abundant grass was sufficient to maintain the
swarming hordes of wild animals and to give rich pasture to horses and
oxen. The journey across these prairies, while long and hard, could
rarely have been tedious. Tremendous thunderstorms succeeded the
sultry heat of the West, an occasional cyclone added excitement; the
cattle were apt to stampede senselessly; and, while the Indian had not
yet developed the hostility that later made a journey across the plains so
dangerous, nevertheless the possibilities of theft were always near
enough at hand to keep the traveler alert and interested. Then there was
the sandy country of the Platte River with its buffalo--buffalo by the
hundreds of thousands, as far as the eye could reach--a marvelous sight:
and beyond that again the Rockies, by way of Fort Laramie and South
Pass.
Beyond Fort Hall the Oregon Trail and the trail for California divided.
And at this point there began the terrible part of the journey--the arid,
alkaline, thirsty desert, short of game, horrible in its monotony, deadly
with its thirst. It is no wonder that, weakened by their sufferings in this
inferno, so many of the immigrants looked upon the towering walls of
the Sierras with a sinking of the heart.
While at first most of the influx of settlers was by way of Oregon, later
the stories of the new country that made their way eastward induced
travelers to go direct to California itself. The immigration, both from
Oregon in the North and by the route over the Sierras, increased so
rapidly that in 1845 there were probably about 700 Americans in the
district. Those coming over the Sierras by the Carson Sink and Salt
Lake trails arrived first of all at the fort built by Captain Sutter at the
junction of the American and Sacramento rivers.
Captain Sutter was a man of Swiss parentage who had arrived in San
Francisco in 1839 without much capital and with only the assets of
considerable ability and great driving force. From the Governor he
obtained grant of a large tract of land "somewhere in the interior" for
the purposes of colonization. His colonists consisted of one German,
four other white men, and eight Kanakas. The then Governor, Alvarado,

thought this rather a small beginning, but advised him to take out
naturalization papers and to select a location. Sutter set out on his
somewhat vague quest with a four-oared boat and two small schooners,
loaded with provisions, implements, ammunition, and three small
cannon. Besides his original party he took an Indian boy and a dog, the
latter proving by no means the least useful member of the company. He
found at the junction of the American and Sacramento rivers the
location that appealed to him, and there he established himself. His
knack with the Indians soon enlisted their services. He seems to have
been able to keep his agreements with them and at the same time to
maintain rigid discipline and control.
Within an incredibly short time he had established a feudal barony at
his fort. He owned eleven square leagues of land, four thousand two
hundred cattle, two thousand horses, and about as many sheep. His
trade in beaver skins was most profitable. He maintained a force of
trappers who were always welcome at his fort, and whom he
generously kept without cost to themselves. He taught the Indians
blanket-weaving, hat-making, and other trades, and he even organized
them into military companies. The fort which he built was enclosed on
four sides and of imposing dimensions and convenience. It mounted
twelve pieces of artillery, supported a regular