Descripción
Both Blair and James had been free-soil Democrats who were instrumental in both forming the new Republican Party in 1856 and securing John C. Fremont to run for President on its ticket. Although, Fremont was not one of the major candidates to represent the Republicans in his hat was still in the ring, and this letter suggests that he, Blair, and James were preparing to defend against lingering political charges of fraud regarding his ownership of the most important California goldfield, the Mariposa Ranch. James's letter is datelined "San Francisco / Aprl 5th 1859 reads, "My Dear Sir / At the request of Col Fremont I send you the inclosed answer to the charge made at the Attorney Genl's Office of fraud in the Survey of his Mariposa Grant." Its envelope is franked with a 10-cent green type 1 Washington stamp (Scott #31) tied to the cover by a circular New York city steamship receiving postmark. It is annotated "Uncle Sam" in the upper left corner indicating the name of the steamship that carried it out of San Francisco harbor. The article is in two columns totaling about 29" in length, with an additional 5 ½" square map. It was cut into two pieces, perhaps to facilitate mailing. The article is titled "The other Side of the Mariposa Grant," and the map of Fremont's Rancho Mariposa is titled "Map Referred to in Col. Ransom's Letter." It was prepared by Fremont's Mariposa Attorney's "Shafter, Park & Heydenfeldt" and lays out ownership details in exceptional detail. An abbreviated excerpt from the article that leaves out the details due to space constraints reads: "To the Editor of the Bulletin. . . Col. Fremont and others . . . have hitherto refrained from publicly noticing these charges. . . But lest this silence should be misconstrued we have thought it desirable to submit to the public [proof that] the present location of the Mariposas was established in conformity to the directions of the Supreme Court. . . There has been . . . ever since the survey was made so much misrepresentation [although] "the Land Commission confirmed the claim [as] being the same land described in the grant and map filed in the office of the United States Surveyor General for California, No. 21, 1851. . . The result of the final survey . . . formed a compact figure, and the lines corresponded with those of the public surveys. . ." . In 1844, the Mexican Governor of Alte California granted ten square leagues of property (70 square miles at the time) along Mariposa Creek to one of his predecessors, Juan Bautista Alvorado. The terms of this "floating" grant allowed Alvorado to select his land anywhere within a much larger region within the boundaries set by the Sierra Nevada, Merced River, Cowchilla River, and San Joaquin River. Alvorado never finalized the location of this "floating claim" as Mexicans attempting to settle there were frequently attacked by the Miwok tribe. In 1847, Fremont, who was anxious to settle along the Pacific Ocean adjacent to San Francisco, bought what he believed was such a property for $3,000 from California land speculator, Thomas Larkin. To his chagrin, he later discovered he had purchased Alvorado's grant which was located far inland in the Yosemite region. He was unable to contest the sale, because at the time he was preoccupied fighting a charge of mutiny made by his military rival, Brigadier General Stephen Kearny in a ludicrous court-martial. By the time Fremont's legal issue was behind him, the California Gold Rush was well underway, and he began to build a homestead on his grant with the hope of establishing lumbering operation. However, gold was found on his land which led to the discovery of a five-mile vein producing hundreds of pounds of placer gold each month. Overnight, Fremont became a very rich man. As he had no desire to run a mining operation himself, Fremont hired a team of San Francisco bankers to establish the Mariposa Mining Company to lease property to mining companies willing to do the hard work. Unfort. N° de ref. del artículo 010089
Contactar al vendedor
Denunciar este artículo
