Page:History of California, Volume 3 (Bancroft).djvu/177

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DEPARTURE OF THE TRAPPERS.
159

ediah Smith in all that concerned his return to Salt Lake. In the document it was set forth that Smith and his men, as honorable citizens of the United States, were to be treated as friends, and furnished at fair prices with the aid in arms, horses, and provisions necessary for the return march by way of Mission San José, Strait of Carquines, and Bodega; but there was to be no unnecessary delay en route, and in future they must not visit the coast south of latitude 42°, nor extend their inland operations farther than specifically allowed by the latest treaties. To this bond Echeandía attached his written permission for Smith and his company to return, with one hundred mules, one hundred and fifty horses, a gun for each man, and divers bales of provisions and other effects which are named.[1]

Echeandía issued orders for a guard of ten men to escort the trappers to a point a little beyond San Francisco Solano, starting from San José;[2] but a slight change must have been made in the plan, for on the 18th the whole company arrived at San Francisco on the Franklin from Monterey.[3] This is really the last that is known of Smith in California, where four and perhaps five men of his party remained, besides Turner who came back later. I have accredited these men to the year 1826, though some of them probably came in the second party of 1827. The party doubtless left San Francisco at the end of the year or early in 1828, and proceeded somewhat leisurely northward, probably by a coast route as intended,[4] and not without some new misconduct, or what was vaguely alluded to as such by the authori-


  1. I have, in Vallejo, Doc., MS., xxix. 171, the original of this interesting document kept by Cooper. Three copies were made, one sent to Mexico, one kept in the archives, and one given to Smith. It is written on paper provisionally 'habilitated' by the autographs of Herrera and Echeandía, bears a certificate of José Estrada, is signed John Bᵃ R. Cooper. Then follows the autograph of the hunter. 'I acknowledge this bond, Jedediah S. Smith,' and closes with Echeandía's pass.
  2. Nov. 15th, E. to com. of S. Francisco. Dept. Rec., MS. v. 107. Louis Pombert, a French Canadian, left Smith's party about this time and remained in the country. Dept. St. Pap., MS., xix. 25-8.
  3. Argüello to gov. Dept. St. Pap., MS., ii. 45.
  4. Bojorges, Recuerdos, MS., 14, says he left S. Francisco by water on an