Page:History of California (Bancroft) volume 6.djvu/36



18     CALIFORNIA  JUST  PRIOR  TO  THE  GOLD  DISCOVERY.

Creek, extends  the  grant  of  Vaca  and  Pefla,  and  at its  mouth  are  Feltis  Miller  J  D.  Hoppe,  and  Daniel K. Berry.

Hence, down  the  Sacramento  for  four  leagues stretches the  Ulpinos  grant  of  John  Bidwell,  which he sought  to  improve  by  sending,  in  1846,  a  party of immigrants  to  transform  the  lonely  house  then standing there  into  a  town. After a  few  months' suffering from  hunger  and  hardships,  the  party  aban- doned a site  for  which  the  Indian  name  of  Halo  Che- muck, 'nothing  to  eat,'  was  for  a  time  appropriately retained. Charles D.  Hoppe  bought  a  fourth  of  the tract in  1847.*^  Equally  unsuccessful  was  the  con- temporaneous effort of  L.  W.  Hastings,  a  Mormon agent, to  found  the  town  of  Montezuma,  fifteen  miles below, at  the  junction  of  the  Sacramento  and  San Joaquin in  Suisun  Bay. His co-religionists  objected to the  site  as  devoid  of  timber;  yet  he  remained  hope- ful, and ordered  a  windmill  and  ferry-boat  to  increase the attraction^  of  his  solitary  house. *^

These efforts  at  city  building  indicate  how  widely appreciated was  the  importance  of  a  town  which should tap,  not  merely  each  section  of  the  great  val- ley, as at  Sutter's  Fort  and  Stockton,  but  the  joint outlet of  the  Sacramento  and  San  Joaquin. It was foreseen that  hence  would  flow  the  main  wealth  of the  country,  although  the  metallic  nature  of  the  first current was  little  anticipated. The idea  seems  to have  struck  simultaneously  Bidwell,  Hastings,  and Semple. The last  named,  with  a  judgment  worthy  of the  towering  editor  of  the  Californiany  selected  the  bil- lowy slopes of  the  headland  guarding  the  opening  of this  western  Bosphorus,  the  strait  of  Carquines,  the inner golden  gate  of  San  Francisco  Bay. Indeed, the

" The  preaent  town  of  Rio  Vista  lies  just  below  the  site.  Another  version has  it  that  the  three  families  settled  there  were  carried  away  by  the  gold- fever,  and  that  ^halachummuck'  was  called  ont  by  Indians  when  they  here killed  a  party  of  starving  hunters.

«(7a/. Star,  Oct.  23,  1847;  BvffunCa  Four  Montht,,  9^  Here  roae,  later, e  h&nolet  of  Collinsville.