The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 18, July 1914 - April, 1915 Page: 141
438 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Early Sentiment for Annexation of California
since we have spoken of Monterey as the terminus several persons
are on the eve of starting for that place to purchase lands.18
This railroad project mentioned by Beach was at that time a
subject of considerable speculation throughout the country, and
the idea of securing the rich trade of China and the Sandwich
Islands, without the long journey around the Horn, appealed to
all those interested in commercial ventures. Asa Whitney's plan
for a transcontinental line to Oregon received much attention and
was laid before Congress near the close of October, 1845.19 Many,
however, who believed in the ultimate success of the undertaking,
as in the case of the editor of the New York paper, advocated
Monterey or San Francisco as the terminus,20 thereby making the
acquisition of these communities by the United States still more
desirable.
Increased Immigration.-The western papers, in addition to
such descriptions as were contained in those of the eastern states,
were concerned with the actual organization and departure of emi-
grant companies."' Any report of the discovery of a shorter route
to the new land at once received public notice;22 while not in-
frequently such an advertisement as the following made its ap-
pearance in a local paper, to be copied by many another western
editor:
"Emigqration" (read the headline of this sample notice)
"iBeach to Larkin, Dec. 24, 1845. Larkin MSS., III, No. 307.
"Letter of Whitney printed in Washington Daily Union, Feb. 6, 1846.
'0Daily Union, Oct. 16, 1845, giving an outline of transcontinental routes.
as follows: 1. Canal across the Isthmus of Darien. 2. Railroad along
the Rio dcl Norte to San Francisco. 3. Line from St. Louis through the
Rocky Mts. to Oregon ("California is henceforth to be the promised land
to the emigrant seeking a home on the Pacific"). The New Orleans
Picayune of Nov. 22 had a statement from Albert M. Gilliam, "late U. S.
consul at California"-[Gilliam was appointed for San Francisco but
never assumed his duties]-that California would soon fall into Anglo-
Saxon hands and a railroad would be needed to terminate at San Francisco.
' Extracts upon this subject from the St. Louis New Era, the Burlington
Hawkeye, the St. Louis Reporter, the Missouri Era, were printed in the
single issue of the Daily Union for May 20, 1845.
"Extract from the Western Expositor stating that Frnmont's return
from California would probably result in the discovery of a route 300 or
400 miles shorter than the one already in use, and the saving of two
months' time on the trip. Daily Union, July 31, 1845; New Orleans
Picayune, April 22, 1846.141
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 18, July 1914 - April, 1915, periodical, 1915; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101064/m1/147/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.