goldfields

Artist’s conception of Maria de Concepcion Arguello. (Conchita)

In 1805-06 Nikolai Rezanov spent a miserable winter in the Russian outpost at Sitka. Life in the Russian colony was beyond wretched: the log cabins were cold and damp, the food stores were dwindling, the clothing was infested with vermin, the men suffered from scurvy, and there was no work to keep  them occupied—nothing to do but drink, brood, and fight.

In desperation, and in spite of winter storms, Rezanov put to sea and headed south to California. On March 28, 1806 the ship sailed into San Francisco Bay. They were welcomed by the Spanish, who had been expecting a Russian exploratory expedition to arrive. Rezanov was not that expedition, but he didn’t mention that. He told the comandante that he had been entrusted by his emperor with command over all his American territories (i.e., Alaska), and had come to California on orders to confer with the governor of the neighboring territory. This was not precisely true, but it was better than admitting that he and his men were starving.

The commander of the Presidio was Don Jose Dario Arguello. At dinner Rezanov met his gracious wife and eleven of the Arguello’s thirteen children. The eldest daughter was Maria de Concepcion, known to her family as Conchita. Fifteen years old, she was considered “the beauty of the two Californias.” She was tall and slender, with clear fair skin and sparkling brown eyes.

After a stinking, starving winter in Sitka, it’s not hard to see why Nikolai Rezanov fell for Conchita. She was not only beautiful; she was lively, charming, and kind. But what did Conchita see in the 42-year-old emaciated widower from Alaska?

Stay tuned for more of the story of Nikolai and Conchita.

A few paragraphs from an Address by Major John Bidwell to the California State Agricultural Society, 1860:

There is no reason why we cannot supply ourselves with the thousands of barrels, boxes, hogsheads, and casks, of dried apples, peaches, nuts, raisins, and other fruits which are constantly imported hither. It will not do to say that we cannot raise apples in California, for it is too well known that our mountains, the country along our extended sea coast, and numerous intermediate valleys, produce in abundance the finest apples in the world. . . .

Almonds grow to perfection here, and can be raised almost as easily as peaches and in quantities to supply all the markets on the Pacific Ocean. We can also grow the Persian Walnut, or Maderia Nut, and without doubt the Filbert also. . .

California is emphatically the land of the vine; and can there be any doubt that we can produce the finest wines? This is an important question, because we are actually importing in casks, barrels, baskets and cases, millions of gallons every year. And yet it is admitted that there is not a land beneath the sun better suited to grape culture than California. . . .

Of peaches and pears it would be vain to attempt description that would be credited abroad—to be appreciated they must be seen. No country can equal much less surpass them. The unbounded enterprise of our horticulturists, has done wonders in supplying the country with these as well as all other kinds of fruit, and to them the gratitude of the State is due for a large share of her prosperity and renown.

We are importing a hundred thousand dollars in figs and raisins almost every year, which can and should, and, by the aid of horticultural enterprise, will be with us as a home production.

Pres Longley, the Bard of Butte

The Annual Meeting of the Bidwell Mansion Association is coming up on Sunday January 26, and John Rudderow and I will be speaking on our book The Miner Poet: Poems of Pres Longley. There is a reception at 5:30 (cookies, coffee, and lemonade), and the meeting is at 6:00 p.m. After a short business meeting, we will be speaking and answering questions.

If you like poetry, if you are interested in local history, or if you want to know more about what it was like to be a Gold Rush miner, please come. Pres Longley, the poet of Helltown and the bard of Butte, was well-known in for his verse, which appeared in local newspapers. He knew John Bidwell pretty well and was sometimes a guest at the Mansion.

It was Joseph Kennedy, Annie Bidwell’s father, who asked Pres, “Does poetry pay?'” Pres thought about that a moment, and then replied:

Does poetry pay?
No, not in dollars and cents.
But it must be inferred
There is some recompense.

The recompense for Pres was friendship and conviviality, a tale well-told and the occasional pie. If you would like to know more about our own miner poet, join us at Bidwell Mansion Visitor’s Center on January 26.

It’s a little tricky to trace the movements of the Sutter Gun during the Mexican War in California. When John Sutter returned to his home on the American River after the Micheltorena incident, his Russian 4-pound bronze cannon was left behind in Southern California.  Maybe it was taken to pieces and buried at the end of that little war, or maybe just left in someone’s front yard. Accounts differ. But when war broke out again between the Americans and the Mexicans, it was in the possession of the Mexicans.

In December 1846 Commodore Robert F. Stockton and an army of marines and sailors marched on Los Angeles from San Diego, while Fremont’s army approached from San Pedro. Entering Los Angeles they found that the pueblo had been abandoned by General Castro and his army, who took the Sutter Gun and other artillery with them.

Castro retreated toward the Colorado River. Finding that the artillery slowed him down, he buried the cannon in the sand. With his force, as a prisoner, was Captain Charles Weber, who noted the burial site. When Weber was released by Castro later in the march, he walked back to Los Angeles and told Stockton where to find the cannon.

(By the way, Weber, a German, came to California in the same emigrant company as John Bidwell. He served in both the Mexican and the American armies, became a wealthy merchant and gold-seeker, and founded the city of Stockton.)

As the Mexican War proceeded, the Sutter Gun was hauled all over Southern California to fight in every major battle. It took part in the Battle of San Pasqual, fought by General Stephen Watts Kearny and his dragoons who had just arrived in California after their long and wearisome march from Kansas. Dispatched by Stockton to bring relief to Kearny, Captain Archibald Gillespie took along the Sutter Gun. After intense hand-to-hand combat, “the Sutter” was brought up and the Californios retired from the field. Twenty-one Americans were killed and seventeen wounded, making the Battle of San Pasqual the bloodiest battle of the war in California.

Next “the Sutter” took part in the battles of Los Angeles and La Mesa. In the latter battle it was concealed within a defensive square of soldiers. As the Californio cavalry advanced on the square, it opened up and the Sutter Gun fired volleys of nails, chain, and scrap iron. The cavalry retreated and the battle was won by the American forces. It was the last battle of the war in California.

For a thorough account of these events, read The History of the Sutter Gun, by Morgan Blanchard.

Stay tuned to learn the fate of the Sutter Gun