It was from his gubernatorial residence, the old two-story adobe at the corner of Aliso and Los Angeles Streets, that Frémont set forth with Jesus Pico and Jacob Dodson for his famous mustang ride to Monterey. The feat, with its object—to defend his position as Governor against Kearny—was such as to appeal to the imagination of the people of Los Angeles, both Mexican rancheros and American trappers and sailors. Over desert and mountain the three riders flew, leaving on the morning of March 22d and reaching Monterey, five hundred miles away, on the afternoon of the fourth day. The return was accomplished with equal speed, so that the trip of one thousand miles was made in a little over eight days. Frémont did great service in the Senate of the United States, where he pleaded for the land rights of Indian and Spanish residents, and in later years, when his influence aided in the exclusion of slavery from the new State of California. The town council was re-established in 1847, Don José Salazar and Don Enrique Abila being alcaldes; but in 1848 Governor Mason dissolved the council and installed Stephen G. Foster as alcalde. A semi-military rule was kept up under Colonel Stevenson until May, 1849, when a new ayuntamiento was established.

The cattle trade was at its best from 1850 to 1860, when in one year one hundred thousand hides at $15 apiece were shipped from San Pedro, but the business was injured by the drouth of 1863 and 1864. The town grew slowly, increasing in orchards and vineyards, its ranchos—many new ones having been granted by Pico in 1846—sheltered in the bend of the Los Angeles River, which, by ancient decree, is, from the mountains down, the property of the city. In 1851 Los Angeles grapes brought in San Francisco 20 cts. a pound; at the mines, $1. The city escaped the excitement of the gold fever, although the yellow metal was first discovered near Los Angeles in 1835. Among the noted Spanish families at the time of the conquest were the Lugos, the Sepulvedas, the Bandinis, the Estudillos, the Oliveros, the Picos, and the Coronels. Prominent among the pioneers of old Los Angeles were the Workmans, Temples, and Wolfskills, David W. Alexander, Colonel Couts, and Governor Downey, Judge J.R. Scott and Benjamin D. Wilson, Robert S. Baker and Hugo Reid. Hon. H.C. Foster, one of the early mayors of Los Angeles, became a resident of the city in 1847. Governor Pio Pico, who had fled at the approach of Stockton to save the "honor" of Mexico, returned and became a conspicuous private citizen. He lived to a great age, duly performing his duty as a registered voter.

[ OLD ADOBE. FRÉMONT'S HEADQUARTERS.]

It was Don Antonio Coronel, dead but a decade, who most picturesquely and honorably represented to the new Los Angeles the old régime. He was of "courtly presence, ripe experience, high integrity, and great personal fascination," and was to his latest days "a quenchless patriot, white-haired, clear-eyed, and supple," the life of any circle he might be persuaded to adorn. His father, Don Ignacio Coronel, came to the town with the Hijar Colony. He was a man of note and opened in 1839 a school—much needed, if the fact be true that there were then in the pueblo but fifty-four men who could read and write. Antonio was in 1843 Visitador del Sud under the Mexican, and in 1853 Mayor of Los Angeles under the American, Government. He was a warm friend of Helen Hunt Jackson, who thoroughly identified herself with the interests of the older peoples of Los Angeles and its environs.

[ FIRST STAGE IN THE ASCENT OF MT. LOWE, CONNECTING WITH ELECTRIC ROAD ON ECHO MOUNTAIN.]

Up to 1852 the houses in Los Angeles were of adobe,—the sun-baked brick of the country,—and these were comfortable indeed, cool in summer and warm in winter. It was in one of these ample residences—that of Colonel J.G. Nichols—that the Rev. J.W. Brier, of the M. E. Church, held the first regular Protestant service, and in another that the Rev. Dr. Wicks, a Presbyterian, opened the first English-speaking school. These events were in 1850, so that church and school were ready to receive the first American child (Gregg Nichols, who was born in April, 1851).

The corner of Third and Main Streets blossomed into brick in 1852, in the new, proud, one-story building, serving, in 1859, as the home of Captain Winfield S. Hancock, who was always exceedingly popular in Los Angeles. He revisited the city a few years before his death, and received an enthusiastic ovation.

In 1849 San Pedro had the first steamer, the old Gold Hunter, and by 1859 the Senator made three monthly trips. There was now a stage line to San Diego, and overland stages left for the East three times a week. Frequent freight trains passed between the city and Salt Lake, but it was not until the coming of the several railroads that Los Angeles attained its phenomenal growth and became the great city of the Southwest. Set richly between the sparkling waves of the Pacific and the jasper heights of the Sierra Madre Mountains, Los Angeles now rests in its fertile plains, a radiating jewel, its suburbs climbing the bases of its hills, its roads ascending cañons, its sparkling beaches curving sharply inward from the sea. Its clustered cottages are surrounded with trees and flowers, which bloom throughout the year in inconceivable profusion. Its streets are lined with graceful pepper and eucalyptus trees, its palatial homes are set amid tropic foliage, its hills are crowned with public institutions. The southern portion of the city is level, but on the north and south are hills. Within the city limits, at a level of three hundred feet above the sea, may be found great variety of location, while seven public parks, soon to be united by boulevards, add to the beauty of the natural scenery. No wonder that in twenty years the population has grown from 11,000 to 103,000—increased during the winter months by thousands of tourists, who are brought easily to the gates of this city of the sunset land. Its daring trolleys mount the great hills from rose garden to snowy height, its railroads, entering from east and north, bear the charmed traveller through sunny ranches of olive and walnut tree, through great vineyards and orange orchards; and to ships entering the harbor at San Pedro are revealed the beauties of flower-swept hills, which in their season flaunt their fields of yellow poppy toward the sea.

The saddest event in the history of modern Los Angeles was the land boom, which, after first enriching and then ruining many inhabitants, collapsed in 1889, leaving the town prostrate. The rise in values was so rapid that a corner lot costing in 1851 thirty dollars, and worth in 1860 $300 a front foot, increased by 1870 to $500 and by 1880 to $1,000 a front foot. In 1889 its sale was pushed to $2,500. Other lots worth in 1883 $20, brought in 1889 $800 a front foot. Lands outside the town, worth up to 1868 $1 an acre, brought, in 1887, $1,000.

[ A MODERN RESIDENCE.]