Merced County CA Archives History - Books .....John C. Fremont 1925
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Book Title: History Of Merced County California

CHAPTER IV

JOHN C. FREMONT

   That interesting and romantic figure of the history of the West, John C.
Fremont, touches the history of Merced County in two ways —he passed through the
territory now embraced in the county's boundaries in 1844 when he was on his way
back to the East again on his famous "pathfinding" exploring expedition of that
and the previous year, and he was for a number of years the owner of what is now
familiarly called the Mariposa Grant, which was one of the class called
"floating grants," which was finally permanently located in the present Mariposa
County, but which earlier had been located on the rich plains land in the
vicinity of the present town of Le Grand in Merced County.

   After a first expedition in 1842 whose chief work was, from a geographical
standpoint, the careful surveying of the route through the South Pass of the
Rockies and the detailed knowledge acquired of those mountains, and from a
historical standpoint, the stimulus it gave to travel to Oregon and California—a
four months' expedition —Fremont, under the authority of Colonel Abert of the
Topographical Engineers, organized a second expedition to explore the West. The
object was to connect his explorations of the previous year's expedition with
those made by Lieutenant Wilkes along the Pacific Coast in 1841.

   He left the junction of the Kansas and the Missouri Rivers May 29, 1843, with
thirty-nine men. The expedition was well armed and equipped, and took along with
it a twelve-pound mountain howitzer, from the United States arsenal at St.
Louis—which, by the way, it developed the War Department disapproved of, and
which was retained to them only by the independence and ready wit of Fremont's
wife, Senator Benton's daughter, Jessie Benton Fremont.

   After various wanderings with which we are scarcely concerned —Kit Carson and
Alexander Godey joined them at St. Vrain's Fort on the South Platte—they went to
Fort Hall, where the trails to Oregon and to California parted company. Some of
their scouts fell in with part of the Chiles company under Joseph Walker near
here, bound for California by way of Mono Lake and Walker Pass. They went on
into Oregon, to Walla Walla, The Dalles, and Fort Vancouver, at which latter
place the courteous Hudson's Bay Company commander, Dr. McLoughlin, made them
warmly welcome.

   Instead of returning the way they had come, Fremont planned to work further
south, into the Great Basin, then very little known. He wanted to investigate
Klamath Lake, from which the Sacramento was supposed to flow, to search for
Mary's Lake, supposed to lie between the Great Salt Lake and the Sierras, and to
explore the mythical Buenaventura River, appearing on many authoritative maps of
the time as flowing from the Rocky Mountains to San Francisco Bay. Cleland gives
at the front of his "American Period" a facsimile of part of a map of the
British Royal Geographer of 1824 showing the Beunaventura and a good deal more
of the entirely imaginary geography of those times.

   The return journey was begun November 25, 1843, with twenty-five men in the
party—some had been sent home from Fort Hall. They had more than a hundred
riding and pack animals, and several head of cattle, driven along for food. They
followed the route Fremont had laid out until after the middle of January. Then
they came into unknown country, and travel grew increasingly difficult. There
was no Mary's Lake, no Beunaventura River, to be found. Food grew scarce; their
animals were exhausted or badly lamed. The men themselves lost spirit.

   Fremont, in the face of these difficulties, determined to abandon the route
previously laid out, and to cross the Sierras to the Sacramento. The passage of
the mountains was accomplished with great difficulty. They had to abandon the
howitzer, which had been dragged along so far. They made rough snowshoes, and
sleds to carry their baggage, and the men went ahead and beat down a trail
through the deep snow so that their enfeebled animals could get through. They
suffered from snow-blindness, from shortness of food. Two men lost their reason,
one permanently. A third was separated from the company for several days. They
reached the western slope of the Sierras on February 20, 1844, and Sutter's Fort
on March 6.

   Fremont's journal tells the story. The following extensive quotation carries
them south through the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys:

   "We continued on our road through the same surpassingly beautiful country,
entirely unequalled for the pasturage of stock by anything we had ever seen. Our
horses had now become so strong that they were able to carry us, and we traveled
rapidly—over four miles an hour; four of us riding every alternate hour. Every
few hundred yards we came upon a little band of deer; but we were too eager to
reach the settlement, which we momentarily expected to discover, to halt for any
other than a passing shot. In a few hours we reached a large fork, the northern
branch of the river, and equal in size to that which we had descended. Together
they formed a beautiful stream, 60 to 100 yards wide, which at first, ignorant
of the nature of the country through which that river ran, we took to be the
Sacramento.

   "We continued down the right bank of the river, traveling for a while over a
wooded upland, where we had the delight to discover tracks of cattle. To the
southward was visable a black column of smoke, which we had frequently noticed
in descending, arising from the fires we had seen from the top of the Sierra.
From the upland we descended into broad groves on the river, consisting of the
evergreen, and a new species of a white-oak, with a large tufted top, and three
to six in feet diameter. Among these was no brushwood; and the grassy surface
gave to it the appearance of parks in an old-settled country. Following the
tracks of the horses and cattle, in search of people, we discovered a small
village of Indians. Some of these had on shirts of civilized manufacture, but
were otherwise naked, and we could understand nothing from them; they appeared
entirely astonished at seeing us.

   "We made an acorn meal at noon, and hurried on; the valley being gay with
flowers, and some of the banks being absolutely golden with the Californian
poppy (eschscholtzia crocea). Here the grass was smooth and green, and the
groves very open; the large oaks throwing a broad shade among sunny spots.

   "Shortly afterwards we gave a shout at the appearance, on a little bluff, of
a neatly built abode house, with glass windows. We rode up, but, to our
disappointment, found only Indians. There was no appearance of cultivation, and
we could see no cattle; and we supposed the place had been abandoned. We now
pressed on more eagerly than ever; the river swept round a large bend to the
right; the hills lowered down entirely; and, gradually entering a broad valley,
we came unexpectedly into a large Indian village, where the people looked clean,
and wore cotton shirts and various other articles of dress. They immediately
crowded around us, and we had the inexpressible delight to find one who spoke a
little indifferent Spanish, but who at first confounded us by saying there were
no whites in the country; but just then a well-dressed Indian came up, and made
his salutations in very well-spoken Spanish. In answer to our inquiries he
informed us that we were upon the Rio de los Americanos (the River of the
Americans) and that it joined the Sacramento River about ten miles below. Never
did a name sound more sweetly! We felt ourselves among our countrymen; for the
name American, in these distant parts, is applied to citizens of the United
States. To our eager inquiries he answered 'I am a vaquero (cowherd) in the
service of Capt. Sutter, and the people of this rancheria work for him.' Our
evident satisfaction made him communicative; and he went on to say that Capt.
Sutter was a very rich man, and always glad to see his country people. We asked
for his house. He answered that it was just over the hill before us; and
offered, if we would wait a moment, to take his horse and conduct us to it. We
readily accepted this offer.

   "In a short distance we came in sight of the fort; and passing on the way the
house of a settler on the opposite side (a Mr. Sinclair), we forded the river;
and in a few miles were met, a short distance from the fort, by Capt. Sutter
himself. He gave us a most frank and cordial reception—conducted us immediately
to his residence—and under his hospitable roof we had a night of rest,
enjoyment, and refreshment, which none but ourselves could appreciate.

   "The next day, March 8th, we encamped at the junction of the two rivers, the
Sacramento and Americanos; and thus found the whole party in the beautiful
valley of the Sacramento. It was a convenient place for the camp; and, among
other things, was within reach of the wood necessary to make the packsaddles,
which we should need on our long journey home, from which we were further
distant now than we were four months before, when from the Dalles of the
Columbia we so cheerfully took up the homeward line of march.

   "Captain Sutter emigrated to this country from the western part of Missouri
in 1838-39, and formed the first settlement in the valley, on a large grant of
land which he obtained from the Mexican government. He had, at first, some
trouble with the Indians: but, by the occasional exercise of well-timed
authority, he has succeeded in converting them into a peaceable and industrious
people. The ditches around his extensive wheat-fields; the making of the
sun-dried bricks of which his fort is constructed; the plowing, harrowing, and
other agricultural operations, are entirely the work of these Indians, for which
they receive a very moderate compensation—principally in shirts, blankets, and
other articles of clothing. In the same manner, on application to the chief of a
village, he readily obtains as many boys and girls as he has any use for. There
were at this time a number of girls at the fort, in training for a future woolen
factory; but they were now all busily engaged in constantly watering the
gardens, which the unfavorable dryness of the season rendered necessary. The
occasional dryness of some seasons, I understood to be the only complaint of the
settlers in this fertile valley, as it sometimes renders the crop uncertain. Mr.
Sutter was about making arrangements to irrigate his lands by means of the Rio
de los Americanos. He had this year sown, and altogether by Indian labor, three
hundred fanegas of wheat." (Note: A fanega is about two and a half English
bushels.)

   "The fort is a quadrangular adobe structure, mounting twelve pieces of
artillery (two of them brass), and capable of admitting a garrison of a thousand
men; this, at present, consists of forty Indians in uniform—one of whom was
always found on duty at the gate. As might naturally be expected, the pieces are
not in very good order. The whites in the employ of Capt. Sutter, American,
French, and German, amount, perhaps, to thirty men. The inner wall is formed
into buildings, comprising the common quarters, the blacksmith and other
workshops; the dwelling-house, with a large distillery-house, and other
buildings, occupying more of the center of the area.

   "It is built upon a pond-like stream, at times a running creek communicating
with the Rio de los Americanos, which enters the Sacramento about two miles
below. The latter is here a noble river, about three hundred yards broad, deep
and tranquil, with several fathoms of water in the channel, and its banks
continuously timbered. There were two vessels belonging to Capt. Sutter at
anchor near the landing—one a large two-masted lighter, and the other a
schooner, which was shortly to proceed on a voyage to Fort Vancouver for a cargo
of goods.

   "Since his arrival, several other persons, principally Americans, have
established themselves in the valley. Mr. Sinclair, from whom I experienced much
kindness during my stay, is settled a few miles distant, on the Rio de los
Americanos. Mr. Coudrois, a gentleman from Germany, has established himself on
the Feather River, and is associated with Capt. Sutter in agricultural pursuits.

   "An impetus was given to the active little population by our arrival, as we
were in want of everything. Mules, horses and cattle were to be collected; the
horse-mill was at work day and night, to make sufficient flour; the blacksmith's
shop was put in requisition for horse-shoes and bridle-bits; and pack-saddles,
ropes and bridles, and all other little equipments of the camp, were again to be
provided.

   "The delay thus occasioned was one of repose and enjoyment, which our
situation required, and, anxious as we were to resume our homeward journey, was
regretted by no one. In the meantime, I had the pleasure to meet with Mr.
Chiles, who was residing on a farm on the other side of the river Sacramento,
while engaged in the selection of a place for a settlement, for which he had
received the necessary grant of land from the Mexican government.

   "On the 22nd we made a preparatory move, and encamped near the settlement of
Mr. Sinclair, on the left bank of the Rio de los Americanos. I had discharged
five of the party; Neal, the blacksmith, (an excellent workman, and an unmarried
man, who had done his duty faithfully, and had been of very great service to
me,) desired to remain, as strong inducements were offered here to mechanics.

   "Although at considerable inconvenience to myself, his good conduct induced
me to comply with his request; and I had obtained for him from Capt. Sutter a
present compensation of two dollars and a half per diem, with a promise that it
should be increased to five, if he proved as good a workman as had been
represented. He was more particularly an agricultural blacksmith. The other men
were discharged with their own consent.

   "March 24.—We resumed our journey with an ample stock of provisions and a
large cavalcade of animals, consisting of 130 horses and mules, and about 30
head of cattle, five of which were milch-cows. Mr. Sutter furnished us also with
an Indian boy who had been trained as a vaquero, and who would be servicable in
managing our cavalcade, great part of which were nearly as wild as buffalo, and
who was, besides, very anxious to go along with us. Our direct course home was
east, but the Sierra would force us south, about 500 miles of traveling, to a
pass at the head of the San Joaquin River. This pass, reported to be good, was
discovered by Mr. Joseph Walker, of whom I have already spoken, and whose name
it might therefore appropriately bear. To reach it, our course lay along the
valley of the San Joaquin—the river on our right, and the lofty wall of the
impassable Sierra on our left.

   "Taking leave of Mr. Sutter, who, with several gentlemen, accompanied us a
few miles on our way, we traveled about 18 miles, and encamped on the Rio de los
Cosumnes, a stream receiving its name from the Indians who live in its valley.
Our road was through a level country, admirably suited to cultivation, and
covered with groves of oak trees, principally the evergreen oak, and a large oak
already mentioned, in form like those of the white oak. The weather, which here,
at this season, can easily be changed from the summer heat of the valley to the
frosty mornings and bright days nearer the mountains, continued delightful for
travelers, but unfavorable to the agriculturalists, whose crops of wheat began
to wear a yellow tinge from want of rain." (Associates of Sutter, dependents of
his, members of some of the parties which had arrived during the preceding three
years, or who were these wheat-raisers?—ed.)

   "25th.—We traveled for 28 miles over the same delightful country as
yesterday, and halted in a beautiful bottom at the ford of the Rio de los
Mukelemnes, receiving its name from another Indian tribe living on the river.
The bottoms on the stream are broad, rich, and extremely fertile, and the
uplands are shaded with oak groves. A showy lupinus, of extraordinary beauty,
growing four to five feet in height, and covered with spikes in bloom, adorned
the banks of the river, and filled the air with a light and grateful perfume.

   "On the 26th we halted at the Arroyo de los Calaveras (Skull Creek), a
tributary to the San Joaquin—the previous two streams entering the bay between
the San Joaquin and Sacramento Rivers. This place is beautiful, with open groves
of oak, and a grassy sward beneath, with many plants, in bloom, some varieties
of which seem to love the shade of trees, and grow there in close small fields.
Near the river, and replacing the grass, are great quantities of ammole (soap
plant), the leaves of which are used in California for making, among other
things, mats for saddle-cloths. A vine with a small white flower (melothria?),
called here la yerba buena, and which, from its abundance, gives name to an
island and town in the bay, was to-day very frequent on our road—sometimes
running on the ground or climbing the trees.

   "27th.—To-day we traveled steadily and rapidly up the valley, for, with our
wild animals, any other gait was impossible, and making about five miles an
hour. During the earlier part of the day, our ride had been over a very level
prairie, or rather a succession of long stretches of prairie, separated by lines
and groves of oak timber, growing along dry gullies, which are filled with water
in seasons of rain; and, perhaps, also, by the melting snows. Over much of this
extent the vegetation was sparse, the surface showing plainly the action of
water, which, in the season of flood, the Joaquin spreads over the valley.

   "About one o'clock we came again among innumerable flowers; and a few miles
further, fields of the beautiful blue-flowering lupine, which seems to love the
neighborhood of water, indicated that we were approaching a stream. We here
found this beautiful shrub in thickets, some of them being 12 feet in height.
Occasionally three or four plants were clustered together, forming a grand
bouquet, about 90 feet in circumference, and 10 feet high; the whole summit
covered with spikes of flowers, the perfume of which is very sweet and grateful.
A lover of natural beauty can imagine with what pleasure we rode among these
flowering groves, which filled the air with light and delicate fragrance. We
continued our road for about half a mile, interspersed through an open grove of
live oaks, which, in form, were the most symmetrical and beautiful we had yet
seen in this country. The end of their branches rested on the ground, forming
somewhat more than half a sphere of very full and regular figure, with leaves
apparently smaller than usual.

   "The California poppy, of a rich orange color, was numerous today. Elk and
several bands of antelope made their appearance.

   "Our road was now one continued enjoyment; and it was pleasant riding among
this assemblage of green pastures with varied flowers and scattered groves, and
out of the warm, green spring to look at the rocky and snowy peaks where lately
we had suffered so much. Emerging from the timber, we came suddenly upon the
Stanislaus River, where we hoped to find a ford, but the stream was flowing by,
dark and deep, swollen by the mountain snows; its general breadth was about 50
yards.

   "We traveled about five miles up the river, and encamped without being able
to find a ford. Here we made a large corral, in order to be able to catch a
sufficient number of our wild animals to relieve those previously packed.

   "Under the shade of the oaks, along the river, I noticed erodium cicutarium
in bloom, eight or ten inches high. This is the plant which we had seen the
squaws gathering on the Rio de los Amercanos. By the inhabitants of the valley
it is highly esteeemd for fattening cattle, which appear to be very fond of it.
Here, where the soil begins to be sandy, it supplies to a considerable extent
the lack of grass.

   "Desirous, as far as possible, without delay, to include in our examination
the San Joaquin River, I returned this morning down the Stanislaus for 17 miles,
and again encamped without having found a fording-place. After following it for
eight miles further the next morning, and finding ourselves in the vicinity of
the San Joaquin, encamped in a handsome oak grove, and, several cattle being
killed, we ferried over our baggage in their skins. Here our Indian boy, who
probably had not much idea of where he was going, and began to be alarmed at the
many streams which we were rapidly putting between him and the village, deserted.

   "Thirteen head of cattle took a sudden fright, while we were driving them
across the river, and galloped off. I remained a day in the endeavor to recover
them; but finding they had taken the back trail to the fort, let them go without
further effort. Here we had several days of warm and pleasant rain, which
doubtless saved the crops below.

   "On the 1st of April, 1844, we made 10 miles across a prairie without timber,
when we were stopped again by another large river, which is called the Rio de la
Merced, (River of our Lady of Mercy.)" (Note: If Fremont meant to measure the
ten miles from the Stanislaus, the river which he thought was the Merced was
evidently the Tuolumne.) "Here the country had lost its character of extreme
fertility, the soil having become more sandy and light; but for several days
past, its beauty had been increased by the additional animation of animal life;
and now, it is crowded with bands of elk and wild horses; and along the rivers
are frequent fresh tracks of the grizzly bear, which are unusually numerous in
this country.

   "Our route had been along the timber of the San Joaquin, generally about
eight miles distant, over a high prairie.

   "In one of the bands of elk seen to-day, there were about 200; but the larger
bands, both of these and wild horses, are generally found on the other side of
the river, which, for that reason, I avoided crossing. I had been informed
below, that the droves of wild horses were almost invariably found on the
western bank of the river; and the danger of losing our animals among them,
together with the wish of adding to our reconnoissance the numerous streams
which run down from the Sierra, decided me to travel up the eastern bank.

   "2nd.—The day was occupied in building a boat, and ferrying our baggage
across the river; and we encamped on the bank. A large fishing eagle was slowly
sailing along, looking after salmon; and there were some pretty birds in the
timber, with partridges," (quail, presumably) "ducks and geese innumerable in
the neighborhood. We were struck with the tameness of the latter bird at
Helvetia, scattered about in flocks near the wheat-fields, and eating grass on
the prairie; a horseman would ride by within 30 yards, without disturbing them.

   "3rd.—To-day we touched several times the San Joaquin River —here a
fine-looking tranquil stream, with a slight current, and apparently deep. It
resembled the Missouri in color, with occasional points of white sand; and its
banks, where steep, were a kind of sandy clay; its average width appeared to be
about eighty yards. In the bottoms are frequent ponds, where our approach
disturbed multitudes of wild fowl, principally geese. Skirting along the timber,
we frequently started elk; and large bands were seen during the day, with
antelope and wild horses. The low country and the timber rendered it difficult
to keep the main line of the river; and this evening we encamped on a tributary
stream, about five miles from its mouth." (Note: This is evidently the Merced,
and the place where they crossed would be about at the Stevinson ranch.
Elsewhere the longitude of this encampment on a "large tributary of the San
Joaquin" is given as 120° 58' 03" West.)

   "On the prairie bordering the San Joaquin bottoms, there occurred during the
day but little grass, and in its place was a sparse and dwarf growth of plants;
the soil being sandy, with small bare places and hillocks, reminded me very much
of the Platte bottoms; but, on approaching the timber, we found a more luxuriant
vegetation, and at our camp was an abundance of grass and pea-vines.

   "The foliage of the oak is getting darker; and everything, except that the
weather is a little cool, shows that spring is rapidly advancing; and to-day we
had quite a summer rain.

   "4th.—Commenced to rain at daylight, but cleared off brightly at sunrise. We
ferried the river without any difficulty, and continued up the San Joaquin. Elk
were running in bands over the prairie and in the skirt of the timber. We
reached the river at the mouth of a large slough, which we were unable to ford,
and made a circuit of several miles around." (Probably the mouth of Bear Creek
at the John Dugain ranch.) "Here the country appears very flat; oak-trees have
entirely disappeared, and are replaced by a large willow, nearly equal to it in
size. The river is about a hundred yards in breadth, branching into sloughs, and
interspersed with islands. At this time it appears sufficiently deep for a small
steamer, but its navigation would be broken by shallows at low water. Bearing in
towards the river, we were again forced off by another slough; and passing
around, steered towards a clump of trees on the river, and finding there good
grass, encamped. The prairies along the left bank" (the Miller & Lux ranches
now) "are alive with immense droves of wild horses; and they had been seen
during the day at every opening which afforded us a view across the river.
Latitude, by observation, 37° 08' 00"; longitude 120° 45' 22"." (Note: This is
30"—about half a mile—south, and 22" west, of the southeast corner of the San
Luis Ranch quadrangle and the southwest corner of the Turner Ranch quadrangle of
the topographical map of the U. S. Geological Survey.)

   "5th.—During the earlier part of the day's ride, the country presented a
lacustrine appearance; the river was deep, and nearly on a level with the
surrounding country; its banks raised like a levee, and fringed with willows.
Over the bordering plain were interspersed spots of prairie among fields of tule
(bulrushes), which in this country are called tulares, and little ponds. On the
opposite side, a line of timber was visible which, according to information,
points out the course of the slough, which at times of high water connects with
the San Joaquin River—a large body of water in the upper part of the valley,
called the Tule Lakes." (Evidently Fresno Slough). "The river and all its
sloughs are very full, and it is probable that the lake is now discharging." (On
the contrary, probably at this season of heavy melting snows water was flowing
from the river into the lake.) "Here elk were frequently started, and one was
shot out of a band which ran around us. On our left, the Sierra maintains its
snowy height, and masses of snow appear to descend very low towards the plains;
probably the late rains in the valley were snow on the mountains. We traveled 37
miles, and encamped on the river. Longitude of the camp: 120° 28' 34", and
latitude, 36° 49' 12".

   "6th.—After having traveled fifteen miles along the river, we made an early
halt, under the shade of sycamore-trees." (Native sycamores on the San Joaquin?)
"Here we found the San Joaquin coming down from the Sierra with a westerly
course, and checking our way, as all its tributaries had previously done. We had
expected to raft the river; but found a good ford, and encamped on the opposite
bank, where droves of wild horses were raising clouds of dust on the prairie.
Columns of smoke were visible in the direction of the Tule Lakes to the
southward—probably kindled in the tulares by the Indians, as signals that there
were strangers in the valley."

   It is hard to realize that this strange world in which Fremont and his men
thus made reconnaissance of the unknown streams, and where they found herds of
elk and antelope, great droves of wild horses, and numerous tracks of grizzly
bear, is our own Merced County only eighty years ago—within the lifetime of a
considerable number of people still living. The course of history was to move
rapidly in the decade following Fremont's trip. Within less than four years
Marshall was to make in the gravels of that same Rio de los Americanos down
which Fremont and his men came to Sutter's fort, the discovery which brought the
gold rush. Within two or three years the United States was to become the owner
of California, within little over six it was to be a State, within seven
Mariposa County was to be created, and within eleven, Merced County. Much of
this Fremont could not dream, and some that he knew he could never tell. One of
the most interesting things in all our country's history would be to know just
what conversations there were between Fremont, the "Pathfinder" to California,
and his illustrious father-in-law, Senator Benton, about the part which the
former was to play in the swift drama of the next few years after this
expedition. We have seen Dr. John Marsh's letter of 1842, with its warning to
one high in the country's administration, that the plum was ripe and ready to
fall, and that both England and Russia were waiting for it.

   That Fremont, even in this early expedition—even in the very casualness and
apparent lack of premediated purpose in his coming into California at all—may
have been here to keep a weather eye on the situation is not unlikely. That this
was the chief purpose of his later expedition is practically certain. . But the
United States could not offend a friendly nation. Mexico was the owner of the
territory; our. government could not say to her that we stood ready to take it
when she could hold it no longer; and from the very nature of the case no
scratch of a pen put to paper any of Fremont's instructions on this subject, so
that the realm is left one of pure speculation.

   A few weeks before Fremont and his men crossed the "large tributary of the
San Joaquin" near the present Stevinson ranch, on February 29, 1844, Manuel
Micheltorena, Governor of the Californias, granted to ex-Governor Juan Bautista
Alvarado ten sitios de granado mayor, or Spanish square leagues, within the
limits of the River San Joaquin, the Snow Mountain, the Merced River, and the
River Chanchillas. The Snow Mountain is of course the Sierra Nevada, and the
Chanchillas is only another spelling for the Chowchilla. The grant was made in
consideration of patriotic services performed. From the fact that Governor
Micheltorena made a good many grants during the forties, after settlers from the
United States had begun to come into the territory, we may infer without
stretching the probabilities very far that the grants were also made on the
tacit condition of further patriotic service yet to be rendered; in short, that
the Governor had reached the conclusion that the Mexican government would have a
better chance of holding the land against the invaders if it was the private
property of Mexican citizens than if it was part of the public domain. There
were several other conditions attached to the grant to Alvarado: he was to build
a house within a year, and it was to be inhabited; he was to cause the ten
square leagues to be surveyed, which of course implied that he was definitely to
locate it within the large limits named; he was not to alienate nor mortgage it.

   On February 10, 1847, Alvarado sold and conveyed his interest to John C.
Fremont. Fremont's claim, based upon the grant to Alvarado and this conveyance
to him, was confirmed by the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of
Fremont against the United States, in 1854. From the report of that case it is
pretty obvious that Alvarado had never selected his particular ten leagues or
surveyed it or built the required house. The grant was not confirmed to Fremont
without dissent—two justices, Catron and Campbell, dissented. The majority of
the court, however, concurred in the opinion written by Mr. Chief Justice Taney,
later of D.red Scott fame, and Fremont was confirmed in the ownership of the
grant. "Las Mariposas, the Mariposa Estate," says Hittell, "or Fremont Grant, as
it was sometimes called . . . was represented by its owner and until the
decadence of the mines was believed to be one of the most valuable bodies of
land belonging to a single individual in the world."

   It is understandable enough that Fremont did not allow anything to creep into
the record in the case before the Supreme Court about it, but as a matter of
fact he had made apparently two starts to locate the grant down in the valley
lands of the San Joaquin Valley. The first attempt appears to have been to
locate it in the vicinity of Stevinson, near the junction of the Merced with the
San Joaquin. We have found nothing of record about this attempt, though there is
still Fremont's Ford across the San Joaquin between the mouth of the Merced and
the site where Dover was later to have its short existence. The other attempt to
locate the grant on the lands of the valley was made in the vicinity of Le Grand
and Plainsburg. Oldtimers out there will tell you that there used to be more or
less uneasiness felt because they feared this attempt made a cloud on their
titles, but of course this has long since passed away. The most definite record
left of this attempt is to be found on the township plat of Township 8 South,
Range 16 East, Mount Diablo Base and Meridian. The township lines of this
township were surveyed in 1852 and 1853, and the section lines in 1854. In the
southwest quarter of the northeast quarter of Section 10, in that township, on
the south bank of Mariposa Creek, or the Mariposa River as it is there
designated, appear the representation of a house, and the words "Fremont's
Ranch." The land, on the 1919 county map drawn by G. E. Winton, stands in the
name of G. B. Stanford, as to the northeast quarter of the section, and of W. C.
and C. L. Dallas as to the other three-quarters. This detail, in the interior
part of the township, and therefore probably not mapped until 1854, is probably
not to be understood as meaning that at that time Fremont owned or claimed to
own the ranch, but that there was a building there which with the locality
around it was generally known in the vicinity as "Fremont's Ranch" because
Fremont had earlier made some start at locating his grant there. Perhaps he had
built this house in fulfillment of the condition in Alvarado's grant that he
must build a house. It was simply the name of that particular place, apparently,
just as one might still hear oldtimers speak of Snelling's or Snelling's Ranch,
long after the latter place had passed from the ownership of the Snelling family.

   It is pretty obvious that Fremont must have made his final location in the
present limits of Mariposa County where the grant is now located, at a pretty
early date, and the convincing proof of that is the fact that he successfully
held it against the miners who claimed against him, which he could hardly have
done if their rights had ripened very far. Also there could have been but one
reason for "floating" the grant, as it is sometimes spoken of, from, the fine
lands of the valley to the foothills, and that reason was the discovery of gold.
Sometime between the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848, and the
very early history of the gold rush, in all probability, was when Fremont took
such steps as he did take to locate the grant in what is now Merced County. He
probably built the house on Mariposa Creek; just as probably, with all his
multifarious affairs, he never occupied it very much, but probably he did occupy
it, and probably that made him the first American inhabitant of what afterwards
became Merced County. He is the only one, so far as we can very well discover
now, whose reason for coming antedates the gold discovery, unless it may have
been some such as the hunter McPherson, who worked for William L. Means in his
hunting business at Robla in 1851, and who we are told had lived for some years
with the Indians—and who, evidently, had therefore dropped out of one of the
earlier trapping expeditions of Jedediah Smith or his successors.


Additional Comments:
HISTORY OF
MERCED COUNTY
CALIFORNIA
WITH A
Biographical Review
OF
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been
Identified with Its Growth and Development
from the Early Days to the Present

HISTORY BY
JOHN OUTCALT

ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME
HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
1925


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