Statewide County NV Archives History - Books .....Chapter III Change Of Flag In 1846 1881 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/nv/nvfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 9, 2007, 10:18 pm Book Title: History Of Nevada CHAPTER III. CHANGE OF FLAG IN 1846. The Great Basin Ceded by Mexico to the United States in 1848 —State of Deseret Organized—Utah Territory Organized— Discovery of Gold and Early Settlement of Western Utah—Transient Settlement—Letter of Robert Lyon. THE Bear Flag War in California was inaugurated at Sonoma on the fourteenth of June, in 1846, and while the Donner party was striving to reach that country, unbeknown to them a struggle was going on there between the Mexican authorities and the foreign or American population for possession of that country, which terminated in favor of the Americans. At the same time war was raging between the United States and Mexico, that finally resulted in the triumph of our armies, and a treaty which was signed February 2, 1848, ceded to our Government a large tract of country, dating the cession from the seventh of July, 1846, when Commodore Sloat raised the American flag at Monterey. The territory thus obtained included all of Mexico, lying between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains that was bounded on the north by the 42° of north latitude, which is the line between Oregon and California; and on the south by the Gila River, and what is the present south line of California. Consequently, what now is known as Nevada, Utah, and Arizona, was, until the conquest in 1846, a part of Mexico and of the Mexican Territory of Alta California. STATE OF DESERET ORGANIZED. On the eighteenth of March, 1849, the Mormons assembled in convention at Salt Lake and organized a Territorial Government over what they designated as the "State of Deseret." The boundaries named for this new Territory included what is now Utah, Nevada, Arizona, a portion of Colorado, a slice from Oregon, and that portion of Wyoming lying south of the Wind River Mountains. It also included of what is now California, San Diego and Los Angeles Counties, as far up the coast as Santa Monica. From there the line ran directly north to the ridge of the Sierra Nevada, and took in half of Kern County, a part of Tulare, all of Inyo and Mono, a part of Alpine, all of Lassen, a part of Shasta and Siskiyou Counties. UTAH TERRITORY ORGANIZED. On the ninth of September, 1850, the day on which California was admitted as a State, Congress, by Act, established the Territory of Utah with the following boundaries: "Bounded on the west by the State of California; on the north by the Territory of Oregon; on the east by the summit of the Rocky Mountains; and on the south by the thirty-seventh parallel of north latitude." EARLY SETTLEMENT IN WESTERN UTAH. In the early spring of 1850, a number of parties set out from Salt Lake District for California. They reached the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada in the Carson Valley before the melting of snow bad rendered those mountains traversable, and were forced to pass the consequent tedious hours and days of waiting as they best could. Some members of the train having mined before, a prospecting party was suggested, that started for this purpose to search for gold along the various streams flowing into the Carson River. They finally reached, by passing down that stream, the present site of Dayton, where a little creek was found flowing out from a canon, where they tried for gold and found it. The discovery was made, but failed to develop sufficient richness to warrant those finding it in changing their original design of going over the mountains, and thus the news of placers found in the Great Basin, was carried to California early in 1850. DISCOVERY OF GOLD. Hon. C. N. Noteware, of Carson City, late Secretary of State for Nevada, in mentioning this subject, says: "The writer passed the mouth of Gold Canon on the third day of July, 1850, and on the divide between there and Empire, met a party of miners from California on their way with a mining outfit to work in the canon, where they said gold had been discovered the year before by a party of emigrants." Capt. Robert Lyon, who passed the same place about fifteen days later, writes from San Buenaventura, California, that, "In July, 1850, there was some placer mining carried on in the canon at the mouth of which Dayton now stands; and during that year, the canons leading into the mountains from the Carson, Washoe, and Steamboat Valleys, were thoroughly explored and prospected for gold. I camped at the old Mormon-Station (Genoa) about the twentieth of July that year, (I know I arrived at Placerville the twenty-seventh of July), and at that time there was a party of Mormon miners from California prospecting in Gold Canon. They brought some gold-dust to the station while I was there, but said there was richer diggings near Hangtown, (Placerville), and unless they found better pay in a few days, they would return to California." The writer conversed upon this subject with many, and the evidence of all the better informed corroborated the fact of the discovery of gold in 1850; but additional fact was obtained from Walter Cosser, who first came to Nevada in 1852, and has remained here since. Said he: "In the fall of 1852 I was mining in Gold Canon, when two young men came to the gulch from California, on their way to visit their parents at Salt Lake. Their names were" _____he hesitated here, and it was several hours before the names were remembered as being that of Cole and Robinson. "They remained in the canon until the spring of 1853, and then continued their journey. While there, in the mines, Robinson told me that he was one of a party from Salt Lake in the spring of 1850, who came to Carson Valley on their way to California, arriving before the snow had melted from the road over the mountains, &c." Mr. Cosser proceeded to relate substantially the same account already given of the gold discovery, and his language is repeated here only because it rescues from oblivion a portion of the name of one of the gold discoverers in Nevada. TRANSIENT SETTLEMENT. The question of who were the first settlers in Nevada is a disputed one, and because of this fact the following letter is inserted:- SAN BUENAVENTURA, Cal., ) November 16, 1880. ) DEAR SIRS : Yours of the sixth in regard to first settlement of whites in Nevada, is at hand. The following facts I know to be true. I crossed the plains in 1850, in what was known as the Wilmington train, from Illinois, that was well fitted up for the trip with good horses and mules that outtraveled most of the trains. We did not lead the emigration of that year, but were in the foremost ranks of it. After passing Salt Lake we frequently met saddle and pack-trains from California on their way to meet friends on the plains. We were always anxious to see these Californians, to learn the news from California, inquire the best road to travel, and the best place to purchase such provisions as we were in need of. And all of these Californians spoke of the Mormon Station as the principal trading-post east of the Sierra. There were several places on the Humboldt and Carson Rivers where whisky and flour were sold from a canvas tent or cloth house, but these traders packed their house on a mule and left when the emigration for that season was over. The Mormon Station (the present Genoa) was founded in June, 1850, by Salt Lake Mormons. I arrived at that station about July 20, 1850, and stayed there to rest one day. I sold a good American horse to the man who kept the trading-post for thirty pounds of flour and fifteen dollars. Flour was $1.50 per pound, and he allowed me sixty dollars for my horse. There were two or three women and some children at the place, and I understood that they had settled there with the intention of remaining permanently. They claimed a section of land, including the grass plat where S. A. Kinsey's orchard and house now stand. We had to go a distance above to picket our horses. They had quite a band of fat cattle and cows which they brought from Salt Lake; some of the fattest beef I ever saw hung suspended from the limbs of a big pine tree. Beneath the tree was a butchers' block, cleaver, and steak knife. They retailed the meat to hungry emigrants at six bits per pound. I have never since eaten beef that tasted so sweet as did that. In regard to improvements there was one store where they kept for sale flour, beans, tea, coffee, sugar, dried peaches, sardines, tobacco, miners' clothing, overalls, shirts, etc., etc. There was also a grocery where they sold whisky, bread, cigars and tobacco. They had a good-sized log-house completed all but the roof. I was informed that it was intended for a family dwelling and eating-house. So you see the Mormon Station was well established and widely known in July, 1850, and the traders at that post were getting rich trading with the emigrants. * * * * Respectfully yours, ROBERT LYON. Additional Comments: Extracted from: History of Nevada with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers Oakland, Cal.: Thompson & West 1881 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/nv/statewide/history/1881/historyo/chapteri6gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/nvfiles/ File size: 9.7 Kb