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.
Pages:
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33