430 AMERICAN EXPLORATIONS. [1841. 



land, bounded on the west by the Sacramento river. Having 

 purchased the stock, arms, and ammunition of the Russian 

 establishment, he erected a dwelling and fortification on the 

 left bank of the Sacramento, about fifty miles from its mouth, 

 and near what was termed, in allusion to the new settlers, the 

 American Fork. This formed the nucleus of a thriving settle- 

 ment, to which Captain Sutter gave the name of New Hel- 

 vetia. It is situated at the head of navigation for vessels on 

 the Sacramento, in latitude 38° 33' 45" North, and longitude 

 121° 20' 05" West. During a residence of ten years in the 

 immediate vicinity of the recently discovered p/aceras, or gold 

 regions, Captain Sutter was neither the wiser nor the richer for 

 the brilliant treasures that, lay scattered around him.* 



In the year 1841, careful examinations of the Bay of San 

 Francisco, and of the Sacramento river and its tributaries, 

 were made by Lieutenant Wilkes, the commander of the 

 Exploring Expedition; and a party under Lieutenant Em- 

 mons, of the navy, proceeded up the valley of the Willa- 

 mette, crossed the intervening highlands, and descended the 

 Sacramento. In 1843-^4, similar examinations were made by 

 Captain, afterwards Lieutenant-Colonel, Fremont, of the To- 

 pographical Engineers, and in 1846, by Major Emory, of the 

 same corps. None of these officers made any discoveries of 

 minerals, although they were led to conjecture, as private in- 

 dividuals who had visited the country had done, from its vol- 

 canic formation and peculiar geological features, that thev 

 might be found to exist in considerable quantities. t 



* Farnham'a Adventures in California. — Wilkes' Narrative of the Exploring 

 Expedition. — Fremont's Narrative. 



f See Farnham'a Adventures, Wilkes' and Fremont's Narratives, and Emory's 

 Report. — In 1S40, Eugenio Macnamara, a Catholic priest and missionary, ob- 

 tained a grant of a large tract of land between 'lie San Joaquin and tbe Sierra 

 Nevada, the Co umnsfl and the Tulares in the vicinity of San Gabriel, from Pio 

 Pico, governor of the Californias, for the purpo e of establishing upon it a large 

 colony of Irish Catholics; but the grant was not ratified by the Central Govern- 

 ment, and the project was not carried into effect. There is no evidence that 

 Father Macnamara was aware of the existence of gold in the valley of the Sao 

 Joaquin. 



