These they secured, and their contents were joyously disposed of.  When the wine passed around, I was called upon and made a speech.  I started out by predicting in glowing colors the prosperity of the new town, and spoke of its advantageous situation on the Feather and Yuba Rivers; how it was the most accessible point for vessels coming up from the cities of San Francisco and Sacramento, and must in time become the depot for all the trade with the northern mines.  I pronounced the auriferous region lying east of the Feather River and north of the Yuba the finest and richest in the country; and I felt certain that its commerce must concentrate at the junction of those rivers.  But, said I, to avail ourselves of all these advantages we must organize and establish a government, and the first thing to be done is to call an election and choose magistrates and a town council.  These remarks met with general favor, and it was resolved that a public meeting should be held in front of the Adobe house the next morning, and if it approved of the project, that an election should be held at once.

Accordingly, on the following morning, which was the 18th of January, 1850, a public meeting of citizens was there held, and it was resolved that a town government should be established and that there should be elected an Ayuntamiento or town council, a first and second Alcalde, (the latter to act in the absence or sickness of the former,) and a Marshal.  The Alcalde was a judicial officer under the Spanish and Mexican laws, having a jurisdiction something like that of a Justice of the Peace; but in the anomalous condition of affairs in California at that time, he, as a matter of necessity, assumed and exercised very great powers.  The election ordered took place in the afternoon of the same day.  I had modestly whispered to different persons at the meeting in the new house the night before, that my name was mentioned by my friends for the office of Alcalde; and my nomination followed.  But I was not to have the office without a struggle; an opposition candidate appeared, and an exciting election ensued.  The main objection urged against me was that I was a new comer.  I had been there only three days; my opponent had been there six.  I beat him, however, by nine votes.[3]

On the evening of the election, there was a general gathering of people at the Adobe house, the principal building of the place, to hear the official announcement of the result of the election.  When this was made, some one proposed that a name should be adopted for the new town.  One man suggested “Yubafield,” because of its situation on the Yuba River; and another, “Yubaville,” for the same reason.  A third, urged the name “Circumdoro,” (surrounded with gold, as he translated the word,) because there were mines in every direction round about.  But there was a fourth, a solid and substantial old man, evidently of kindly domestic affections, who had come out to California to better his fortunes.