The land of gold; or, Three years in California

by Walter Colton

CHAPTER XXXII.

BRIEF NOTICES OF PERSONS WHOSE PORTRAITS EMBELLISH THIS VOLUME, AND WHO ARE PROMINENTLY CONNECTED WITH CALIFORNIA AFFAIRS.

JOHN CHARLES FREMONT

Is a native of South Carolina—was born in 1813—received his education at Charleston College, and first evinced the vigor of his mathematical genius in the efficient aid rendered the accomplished Nicollet in his survey of the basin of the upper Mississippi. The importance of this service was acknowledged by the government in his appointment as a lieutenant in the corps of Topographical Engineers. In 1841 the war department confided to him the interests and objects of an expedition to the Rocky Mountains, in which he discovered and mapped the South Pass. The scientific results of this adventure awakened in the public mind an intense enthusiasm for a more extended exploration. In the following year he left the frontier settlements at the head of a small party, crossed the Rocky Mountains, discovered and surveyed the great valley of the Salt Lake, and extended his researches into Oregon and California. These explorations, which occupied the greater portion of two years, were not confined to topographical questions; they embraced all the departments of natural history, with extended meteorological observations. They fill a volume, in which the trophies of science are blended with the incidents of the wildest adventure.

In 1844, the explorer left the United States again for the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada, and had descended into California, when the declaration of war suspended his scientific pursuits, and summoned him to the field. He had been honored successively with the rank of captain, major, and colonel. A battalion of riflemen enrolled themselves under his command. Their campaign, in the winter of 1846, impressed its intrepid spirit and heroic action on the fate of the war. Constrained by the orders of a superior, Col. Fremont was again in the United States; where, having declined a return of his commission, which he had adorned with eminent service, he threw himself, with unrepressed spirit, on his own energies, and started again for California. This was his seventh adventure across the continent; and owing to the lateness of the season, was attended with hardships and privations, in which many of his brave mountaineers perished. But his force of purpose triumphed over the elements, and carried him through. The new territory, in the vast accessions of a rushing emigration, had suddenly risen to the dignity of a commonwealth. A United States senator was to be chosen: it was the highest office within the gift of the people, and they conferred it, without distinction of party, on Col. Fremont. The decree of a military tribunal, bound to those rigid rules of discipline which never bend to the force of circumstance, may dispose of the parchment honors of a commission, but the public services and private worth of the individual must remain; the substantial benefits conferred on mankind must remain; the path opened to the golden gates of the west must remain; the flag of the country still fly along its fortified line, and the great tide of emigration roll through its avenue for ages. If Humboldt be the Nestor of scientific travellers, and Audubon the interpreter of nature, Col. Fremont is the Pathfinder of empire.

WILLIAM M. GWIN

Was born in Sumner county, Tennessee, in 1805. His father, the Rev. James Gwin, was a distinguished divine in the Methodist Episcopal church, and one of its founders in the West. He was for fifty years the intimate and confidential friend of Gen. Jackson, and chaplain to his army during the late war with England. Dr. Gwin was graduated at Transylvania University, in Kentucky, and practised his profession, with eminent success for several years, in his native state and Mississippi. He relinquished his profession in 1833, and was appointed, by Gen. Jackson, Marshal of Mississippi,—an office which he filled until after the election of Gen. Harrison to the presidency, when he became a candidate for congress, and was elected by a large majority.

He was remarked, during the session, as a ready, forcible debater, and was renominated by his district with great unanimity, but declined running, owing to pecuniary embarrassments incurred while he held the office of marshal, and brought about by the paper money system, which involved Mississippi in bankruptcy, and especially the public officers, who, like Dr. Gwin, had been induced, under the decisions of the courts, to take this irresponsible paper in payment of executions. In 1846, Dr. Gwin removed to New Orleans, and was soon after appointed commissioner to superintend the erection of the custom-house in that city, destined to be one of the largest public edifices in the country. From this position he retired on the election of Gen. Taylor to the presidency, and emigrated to California, where he engaged actively in organizing a state government. He was elected a member of the convention from San Francisco, and bore a prominent, influential part in its debates and proceedings, which resulted in the present noble constitution. The importance of these services were duly recognized by the people of California, and they testified their regard and confidence in conferring on him the dignity of a United States senator. He will have it in his power to do much for the new state, and we feel assured she will find in him a resolute champion of her rights.

THOMAS OLIVER LARKIN.

Born in Charleston, Mass., 1803, and emigrated to California eighteen years since. The same spirit of adventure which took him to this country, characterized his subsequent career. He came here without capital, and with no sources of reliance save in his own enterprise and activity. There was then no gold out of which a fortune could be suddenly piled, and no established channels of business through which a man could become regularly and safely rich. But this unsettled state of affairs was suited to the enterprising spirit of Mr. Larkin. He often projected enterprises and achieved them, seemingly through the boldness of the design; but there was ever behind this a restless energy that pushed them to a successful result. Many and most of the public improvements were planned and executed by him; the only wharf and custom-house on the coast were erected through his activity.