THE WAR CONDITION OF CALIFORNIA AT ITS CLOSE. 371 



which were so necessary for our mercantile progress as well as po- 

 litical and maritime convenience. 



As soon as the country was quieted by the arrangement which 

 Colonel Fremont made with the Californian leaders at Couenga, the 

 people who had been engaged in the brief local war returned to 

 their peaceful avocations. Our forces were stationed in small de- 

 tachments, from Sutter's fort to San Diego, while our national ves- 

 sels were anchored in the different harbors throughout the whole 

 coast. In the maritime towns the supreme authorities collected 

 a revenue from imports under the Contribution tariff. Order was 

 promptly restored every where ; but the only recognized control 

 was that of the military government, which had devolved upon 

 Colonel Mason at the departure of General Kearney. 



Meanwhile the emigration from the United States, which amount- 

 ed to about five hundred individuals during the summer and fall of 

 1845, had been considerably augmented by recruits and adventurers 

 during the continuance of the war. These men, as soon as hos- 

 tilities ceased, naturally turned their attention to the two most im- 

 portant subjects that engage an American's attention wherever for- 

 tune may cast his lot. Their future prospects of wealth, and the 

 character of their government, demanded immediate care; yet 

 while they relied upon Congress for the security of their political 

 rights, they found, in spite of California's renown for agricultural 

 riches, that they could only establish themselves successfully on the 

 Pacific, or return with fortunes from its shores, by a steady and 

 thrifty devotion to labor. 



Such was the condition of -California in the spring of 1848, when 

 the accidental discovery of gold which might be rapidly and easily 

 gathered in apparently inexhaustible quantities, changed not only 

 the condition of the inhabitants, but affected the whole commerce 

 of the world. u The towns were forthwith deserted by their male 

 population, and a complete cessation of the whole industrial pur- 

 suits of the country was the consequence. Commerce, agriculture, 

 mechanical pursuits, professions, — all were abandoned for the pur- 

 pose of gathering the glittering treasures which lay buried in the 

 ravines, gorges and rivers of the Sierra Nevada. The productive 

 industry of the country was annihilated in a day. In some in- 

 stances the moral perceptions were blunted, and men left their 

 families unprovided, and soldiers deserted their posts." 1 



But the greediness of the adventurers soon taught them that 



1 Gwin, Fremont, Wright and Gilbert : Memorial to Congress accompanying the 

 Constitution of California, 12 March, 1850. 



