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XXVII

THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY IN CALIFORNIA

1841

TN wintry mist and flying cloud, Dr. McLoughlin and * Sir George Simpson, on board the Hudson's Bay barque "Cowlitz," dropped down the Columbia on the way to California, and with them went Eloise Rae to her husband. Following the swells toward the whitened strand, the ship entered the Golden Gate, still quiet in the age before commerce discovered that auriferous highway. The little square Presidio, with its Mexican flag, was fast asleep. Horses and cattle dotted the hills around the bay. There was a handful of houses at Yerba Buena cove, and, yes, there was Rae, glass in hand, watching for the ship to bring his bride. It was on the last day of 1841 that Dr. McLoughlin, Sir George, and Eloise landed on the sand-dunes where in a few short years should rise the magic city of San Francisco.

The New Year's holiday was quietly spent, then followed diplomatic visits to the Spanish grandees. It was a radiant morning when they set out across the bay to Sonoma, the home of General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, the Prince of Northern California.

"Their castanets do not click together," the Spaniards said of Sutter and Vallejo. But they were far enough apart. In California, as in Oregon, thes