Page:History of California, Volume 3 (Bancroft).djvu/411

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THE BEAVER-HUNTERS.

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ber, Laframboise, the leader of the beaver-hunters, was warned by Comandante Vallejo at Sonoma to suspend his operations.^[1]

Over thirty hunters had been added to the population of California by the expeditions that have been mentioned, and most of them resorted to hunting and trapping as a means of living, for some years at least. This they did with and without license, with their own license or with that of another, separately or in bands of foreign comrades or in partnership with Californians and Mexicans, and paying taxes when they could not avoid it.^[2] Wolfskill on his arrival associated himself, as did Yount, with the earlier comers, Prentice, Pryor, and Laughlin. He built a schooner at San Pedro, and in her hunted otter up and down the coast in 1832. Being a Mexican citizen, with a passport from the governor of New Mexico, he was able to get a license, but he soon abandoned the business to become a settler. Ewing Young, with Warner and others, also engaged in otter-hunting for a time in 1832, building two canoes at San Pedro with the aid of a ship-carpenter; and with these

↑ Vallejo, Doc., MS., iii. 55, 81. The Columbia-river trappers and traders usually retired in summer northward, to return in Sept. Vallejo speaks of orders of the govt made known to Laframboise the year before against taking beaver; but in a spirit of hospitality he offered to permit a temporary encampment at Sonoma, otherwise the Frenchman must retire within 24 hours or be treated as a smuggler.
↑ In his report to the min. of rel. on June 7, 1831, Victoria complains that he is unable to prevent foreigners from reaping all the profits of the fur trade. For want of a vessel he could not prevent fraudulent hunting at the islands, and the interior was overrun by foreigners who cared nothing for law. Dept. Rec.. MS., ix. 135-6. A. B. Thompson's arrest and the seizure of his vessel at S. F. have been already noticed. Pryor, Prentice, Lewis, and White were accused of complicity with Thompson, and the confiscation of their boat and goods was ordered in Sept. 1833. Monterey, Arch., MS., i. 29-30; Dept. St. Pap., Ben. Pref. y Juzg., MS., iii. 24-5. In July 1833 Figueroa says that vessels have taken otter in notorious violation of law of nations, and such craft must be seized. S. Diego, Arch., MS., 2. 1834, a legal argument citing authorities on eminent domain in the matter of taking otter. Doc. Hist. Cal., MS., i. 184, 134. April 10, 1834, the Russian colonial gov. reported that sea-otter and beaver would soon be exterminated by Americans, with the aid of Indians, in violation of Mexican laws. Zavalishin, Delo o Koloniy Ross, 9. Alfred Robinson, Statement, MS., 18-20, gives some details about otter-hunting during this period. So does Wm K. Davis, Glimpses, MS., passim.

[1] Vallejo, Doc., MS., iii. 55, 81. The Columbia-river trappers and traders usually retired in summer northward, to return in Sept. Vallejo speaks of orders of the govt made known to Laframboise the year before against taking beaver; but in a spirit of hospitality he offered to permit a temporary encampment at Sonoma, otherwise the Frenchman must retire within 24 hours or be treated as a smuggler.

[2] In his report to the min. of rel. on June 7, 1831, Victoria complains that he is unable to prevent foreigners from reaping all the profits of the fur trade. For want of a vessel he could not prevent fraudulent hunting at the islands, and the interior was overrun by foreigners who cared nothing for law. Dept. Rec.. MS., ix. 135-6. A. B. Thompson's arrest and the seizure of his vessel at S. F. have been already noticed. Pryor, Prentice, Lewis, and White were accused of complicity with Thompson, and the confiscation of their boat and goods was ordered in Sept. 1833. Monterey, Arch., MS., i. 29-30; Dept. St. Pap., Ben. Pref. y Juzg., MS., iii. 24-5. In July 1833 Figueroa says that vessels have taken otter in notorious violation of law of nations, and such craft must be seized. S. Diego, Arch., MS., 2. 1834, a legal argument citing authorities on eminent domain in the matter of taking otter. Doc. Hist. Cal., MS., i. 184, 134. April 10, 1834, the Russian colonial gov. reported that sea-otter and beaver would soon be exterminated by Americans, with the aid of Indians, in violation of Mexican laws. Zavalishin, Delo o Koloniy Ross, 9. Alfred Robinson, Statement, MS., 18-20, gives some details about otter-hunting during this period. So does Wm K. Davis, Glimpses, MS., passim.

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