The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 18, July 1914 - April, 1915 Page: 20
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The Southwestern Historical Quarterly
Affairs between 1836-1840.-It cannot be said, however, in spite
of such efforts as those put forth by Kelley, that the years between
1836 and 1840 were distinguished by any marked increase of im-
migration from the United States into California.s The early
traffic along the coast in furs had materially decreased; and even
inland, the business was becoming less remunerative. Yet the
great interior valleys still offered lucrative fields for the roving
bands of American, English, and French trappers who, when not
engaged in their ordinary trade, frequently made additional profit
by driving off the horses of the Californians, or by joining thieving
expeditions sent out by the Indians for the same purpose.9 The
hide and tallow trade likewise continued to flourish,10 and re-
mained so, completely a monopoly of the New England merchants,
so far at least as Americans were concerned,1' that, on the coast,
Boston and the United States became synonymous terms.12 An
occasional vessel from the government's South Pacific squadron
touched at California ports;1* a trade in cattle between Oregon
and the region around San Francisco served to bring these two
territories into closer relationships;14 the publication of various
plete memoir, addressed to Caleb Cushing, is on pp. 3-61; his description
of California -occupies pp. 48-53.
8Bancroft, XXI, 117. The number of foreign adults residing in Cali-
fornia at this time is placed at 380.
'John Bidwell, California in 1811-8. MS., Bancroft Collection, 99.
"The vessels engaged in this trade, usually of four or five hundred
tons burden, with cargoes of shoes, hats, furniture, farming implements,
chinaware, iron, hardware, crockery, etc., valued at forty or fifty thousand
dollars in California, spent usually three years each on the coast before
returning to New England. They sold largely on credit, evaded the
Mexican tariff laws by paying five lor six hundred dollars for the privilege
of selling goods from place to place, 'and received from the Californians
instead -of money, hides, tallow, dried beef, lumber, and soap. See Thomas
O. Larkin, Description of California, 99, in his Official Correspondence,
Bancroft Collection; same to Secretary of State, Jan. 1, 1845, Ibid., Pt.
II, No. 16.
"Yet see Niles' Register, LVIII, 356, for a St. Louis owned vessel en-
gaged in this trade.
12Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years before the Mast (Boston. 1869),
169.
"1The U. S. S. Peacock arrived at Monterey in October, 1836, having
been requested to visit the California coast because of the disturbances
arising from the revolt of that year. The American merchants of the
Sandwich Islands who had large interests at stake in California were the
principal petitioners. Bancroft, XXI, 140-2.
41bid., '85-87; Slacum's Report, 39.
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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/m1/26/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.