The good fortune which the Colonel then enjoyed has not always attended him since.  The greater part of his property he lost some years afterwards, but he has always retained, and now in his seventy-eighth year[1] still retains, great energy and vigor of mind, and a manly independence of character, which have made him warm friends.  In all the changes of my life his name is pleasantly associated with the payment of the note, and the timely assistance which he thus gave me.  His career as commander of the well-known regiment of New York volunteers which arrived in California in March, 1847, and subsequently in the State, are matters of public history.

As soon as I found myself in funds I hired a room as an office at the corner of Montgomery and Clay streets for one month for $300, payable in advance.  It was a small room, about fifteen feet by twenty.  I then put out my shingle as attorney and counsellor-at-law, and waited for clients; but none came.  One day a fellow-passenger requested me to draw a deed, for which I charged him an ounce.  He thought that too much, so I compromised and took half an ounce.  For two weeks this was the only call I had upon my professional abilities.  But I was in no way discouraged.  To tell the truth I was hardly fit for business.  I was too much excited by the stirring life around me.  There was so much to hear and see that I spent half my time in the streets and saloons talking with people from the mines, in which I was greatly interested.  I felt sure that there would soon be occasion in that quarter for my services.

Whilst I was excited over the news which was daily brought from the mines in the interior of the State, and particularly from the northern part, an incident occurred which determined my future career in California.  I had brought from New York several letters of introduction to persons who had preceded me to the new country, and among them one to the mercantile firm of Simmons, Hutchinson & Co., of San Francisco, upon whom I called.  They received me cordially, and inquired particularly of my intentions as to residence and business.  They stated that there was a town at the head of river navigation, at the junction of Sacramento and Feather Rivers, which offered inducements to a young lawyer.  They called it Vernon, and said they owned some lots in it which they would sell to me.  I replied that I had no money.  That made no difference, they said; they would let me have them on credit; they desired to build up the town and would let the lots go cheap to encourage its settlement.  They added that they owned the steamer “McKim,” going the next day to Sacramento, and they offered me a ticket in her for that place, which they represented to be not far from Vernon.  Accordingly I took the ticket, and on January 12th, 1850, left for Sacramento, where I arrived the next morning.  It was the time of the great flood of that year, and the entire upper country seemed to be under water.  Upon