Page:California Historical Society Quarterly vol 22.djvu/246

 the stops in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Valparaiso, Chile. His artistic pencil was inspired while en route by a scene aboard the Galindo, by marine life in the Gulf Stream, by the mountains of the Cape Verde Islands, and by the exotic scenery in and around Rio de Janeiro. His shrewd business sense is further shown by his purchase of flour in Chile, with his last remaining funds, for sale in San Francisco.

Arriving in San Francisco, on November 22,1 849, he did not, as most men did, go immediately to the gold fields. He seems to have been very little in- terested in mining, for he did not visit the diggings until shortly before leav- ing for home, and he went then more as a tourist than as a miner. Instead, with one James Graves, he set himself up in the livery and grocery business in San Francisco, at the corner of Kearny and Bush Streets (or Kearny and Pine). 5

After selling his business, early in July 1850, to occupy his energies while waiting to leave for home, he took a contract to grade Stockton Street. His business acumen is attested by the fact that, with a forest of idle ships in San Francisco harbor, he was able to sell the Galindo.

The livery stable proprietor and grading contractor was also an artist, and fortunately he found time to exercise his artistic talent. His work in- cludes a detailed pencil sketch of Mission Dolores, and a companion picture drawn from the top of a hill overlooking the Mission District with a vista including the entire area that is now down-town San Francisco. There are also five sketches of scenes down the Peninsula, showing the Sanchez home on Rancho Buri Buri, the adobe mission outpost on San Mateo Creek, Charles Brown's house at Woodside, and two other scenes on the road to San Jose. The scenes along the Sacramento River have already been mentioned. One picture in this series is titled "San Francisco from Yerba Buena [Island] ."

Most striking of all the sketches is a panoramic view of San Francisco drawn from the top of Nob Hill, near the site of the Mark Hopkins Hotel, which takes in all the city from Rincon Point to North Beach. Here, with a true engraver's passion for detail, Mr. Dougal set down the outlines of each individual building in the city and each one of the mass of ships in the harbor. The drawing was made sometime in 1850, apparently either before the fires of that year had done their devastating work or after the damage had been repaired.

Having profited in both money and experience, but still advising his friend in the East to stay at home, he set sail early in November 1 850, hoping to be home by Christmas. His return was by way of Panama, and the pic- turesque scenes at Acapulco, Mexico, and at Chagres on the Isthmus of Panama, inspired some of his best artistic talent.

The California trip for him was only an episode, but for us he left, per- haps unconsciously, an important contribution to the history of the West. The California sketches remained hidden in his portfolio until after his