At that time there were as many as three quite large steamers constantly running between Sacramento and San Francisco. One company was running the “Senator” and “New World,” both of which I believe formerly were run between Boston and Bangor, and had been taken around Cape Horn to San Francisco. The other was the Hartford, a slower and older boat. The fare I don’t remember, but it was not so much on the Hartford as on either of the other two boats. We took passage on the Hartford.
This was near the time that the excitement in regard to the Vigilance Committee was at its height. Several persons had been tried and executed in San Francisco, and considerable excitement existed there. The civil law had taken the place of lynch law, and had been in operation several months.
Murders, robberies and other crimes were of almost every-day occurrence. The courts had failed in most cases to make convictions, and the criminals, especially in such cases where they possessed a considerable amount of wealth, went free and unpunished. Life or property had become very unsafe almost anywhere. The Vigilance Committee soon caused a far different and a much better state of affairs. Many were the cases in which the evidence against the prisoner would seem conclusive, but the verdict would be “not guilty.” The prisoner would be immediately seized, taken to the rooms of the committee and there tried and convicted and executed, and all within the space of a short time after he had been cleared by the court.
Several such cases took place while we remained in San Francisco, which was several days.
We went out to the old Mission Dolores, and to what has been later called Seal Rocks. We continued our journey down the valley and made some investigation in regard to lands for farming purposes. We learned that all those lands were claimed under old Spanish or Mexican grants, which at that time had not been settled or adjusted by the United States government, consequenty we abandoned the scheme of farming and returned to Marysville.
We soon after parted and I have no remembrance of ever meeting Mr. Carlton after that time. He never returned to his home in New Hampshire, but died in California a few years later.
CHAPTER X.
WITH COMPASS AND CHAIN IN OREGON
I had occasionally met Mr. Elder, and about this time he informed me that a surveyor general had been appointed for the territory of Oregon; that he was a man from Illinois, with whom he was well acquainted, and that he would probably be at San Francisco on his way to Oregon in a few weeks.
It was his intention to meet the official in San Francisco, expecting to make arrangements to go to Oregon and do some work on the government surveys. He also said to me that if he should do so, he would like to have me go with him. I did not decide at that time to go.
About that time I met Mr. Pinney in Marysville. I believe he had been cutting wood at Yuba City for some time previous. During the late summer or autumn previous he was employed with others at some place on or near Nelson’s Creek, where they had struck a good claim and had taken out quite an amount of gold. I never learned the exact amount, but supposed it to be from $4,000 to $5,000 for his share. Some time while chopping he had boarded at Yuba City with a Rev. Mr. George H. Hanson.