02 CALIFORNIA. 



CHAPTER VII. 



Battles between Mexicans and North Americans — Declaration of 

 Independence of California — Colonel Fremont — Annexation of 

 California by United States — Discovery of Gold — Sacramento — 

 Gold Diggings — Modes of Extraction of the Mineral. 



IjlJipHE annexation of the rich country known as California 

 SK was expected a lonp; time before it took place. The 

 maritime voyage of Captain Wilkes and the bold expedition 

 of Colonel Fremont, contributed much to that result. 



The debates of the Federal Congress, in respect to the 

 frontier of Oregon, called the attention to that part of the 

 New World, of which General Cass in his speeches indicated 

 San Francisco as the most important place on the Pacific 

 Ocean. The conquest of that country was not the pretext but 

 the real object of the Mexican campaign. 



As to the colonists of Spanish nationality, in the midst of 

 which lived several North Americans, for years back they 

 were prepared for a change of domination, which nearly took 

 place in 1836. Inspired by the example of Texas, Isaac 

 Graham, a North American citizen, commanding thirty 

 of his countrymen and sixty Mexicans, took possession 

 of Monterey and proclaimed the Independence of California. 

 A civil war was the result, and Commandant Alvarado, rein- 

 forced with troops, sent from Mexico, routed the enterprising 

 Graham. Since that epoch, the native population expected 

 every day the renewal of another such attempt. A revolution 

 headed by General Miguel Orena, which brought about the 

 expulsion of the Mexican Governor, preceded the declaration 

 of war between the United States and Mexico. 



Amongst the principal movers of this local revolution, 

 M. M. José Castro and Pio-Pico manifested their intention to 

 put their country under the protectorate of France or of 

 England ; but General Guadalupe Vallejo, the most influential of 

 them, declared himself in favour of an immediate annexation 

 to the United States, but not being able to gain his point, 

 retired to his property near San Francisco. Francisco Castro 

 and Pio-Pico, the first as Commandant General, the second 



