whole no. 128 vol. xxxn, no. 1 - western cover society · 2020-01-29 · page 2 western...
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WHOLE NO. 128 VOL. xxxn, NO. 1 Western Cover SoCiety Unit No. 14 - American Philatelic Society
JANUARY, 1982
AWARDS- Vermeil· PRENFIJ., ·80; Large Silver· ROC:PEX '78 ·and CAPEX '78
Express Territorial
Ocean Mail Statehood
Overland Postal Rates
Poet Of"f"ices Postal History
CONT.EN'FS
B,lack Jacks West
by Paul J. Wolf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Lamping & Co's Express
by Robert D. livingston. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
From Padres to Paddle Wheels
by Jack Greenberg. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Address all communications to Editor, Everett Erie, 9877 Elmar Ave., Oakland CA 94603
Advertising rates, per issue: $35.00, full page; $17.50, half page; $10.00 quarter page.
WESTERN EXPRESS-JANUARY 1982 PAGE 1
SESCAL '81 MEETING
EDITOR'S ARENA The luncheon-meeting held during SESCAL was well attended, some sixteen gathering to relate recent cover collecting activities. The then up-coming Frajola sale of the Crittenden Correspondence with its thirty
Virginia City Pony Express covers was one of the hot topics. These covers will greatly supplement the twenty or so released a few years ago.
NEW MEMBERS Note how our members give special attention to the California Counties.
ARIPEX '82
New members' collecting interests are always included with the thought that kindred collectors will make contacts that should prove mutually advantageous.
Members attending ARI PEX '82 are asked to make an effort to get together, for a breakfast or luncheon during the course of this January show. We have a number of members in Arizona - perhaps not too far from
Tucson - who might supplement the California, Oregon and Washington members who will be attending ARIPEX '82.
SUNPEX '81 The Sunnyvale Stamp Society decided to feature the space ship "Columbia" in the cachet and postmark for its annual SUNPEX show held in the Sunnyvale (Calif.) Community Center, November 14-15. The "Columbia's"
trip was curtailed, and it landed earlier than intended. But its landing coincided with the last day of SUNPEX, making that day's cachet covers much more desirable to the specialist.
Regular Friday The Sir Francis Drake Hotel, in San Francisco has decided to renovate Luncheon the Coffee Shop where our local members have held the weekly luncheon
-meetings for the past twenty years or so. We are working on a replacement, and will make an announcement as soon as possible. Meantime, cross off the weekly luncheon at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel.
LEADFIELD, Harold Salley's History of California Post Offices says of this DPO, "Estab. CALIFORNIA 6/ 25/ 1926. Disc. 12/ 31 / 1926 (1 / 15/1927 per local history) MT: Beatty,
Nevada" ... Site located in a low grade ore district. Promoted in a 'get rich quick' operation ... Located 23 miles west of Beatty. Mrs. Virginia Thomas, 1st PM."
Some time ago, in a visit to Death Valley, I detoured from Beatty to go via Titus Canyon to the Valley. It was quite a desolate and narrow canyon (actually, later we were following the river bed -the road, wisely a one-way route). En route the monument in the attached illustration bore out Salley's information that it was a "boom town" - but the dates of opening and closing vary a bit, not entirely unusual when we consider the Department's record of application, approval and order for closing.
PAGE 2 WESTERN EXPRESS-JANUARY 1982
EDITOR'S ARENA (Continued)
ANNUAL DUES 1982
On December 1, all members were given advance notice that their dues for 1982 were calling for payment. Please do not delay your remittance. We plan to include an updated membership list with the next issue of
WESTERN EXPRESS. Be sure your name will be there by sending your check promptly to the Treasurer, 9877 Elmar Ave. Oakland, CA 94603.
MAY 1983 The American Philatelic Society will have its 1983 Spring Meeting in Port-land Oregon, May 20-22, 1983, with the Oregon Stamp Society hosting the affair. The latter Society has elaborate plans for this PAN PACIFIC EXPO
83 as they are calling it, plans which include the participation of national societies,_ with their regional meetings supplementing that of the APS. The question to our members 1s - do you want to take an active part in this worthwhile venture? Would you like a formal Western Cover Society regional meeting, or only the limited meetings as have been accomplished at SESCAL (and we hope will be a feature of ARIPEX '82)? Your reactions should be sent to President Pearce at an early date.
Browsing in the Sutro Library, S.F.
From a Microfilm of the DAILY EVENING BULLETIN of San Francisco. Issue of December 19, 1855: "Pacific Mail S.S. Co. for New York and
New Orleans, via Panama from Vallejo St. Wharf- S.S. SONORA- Thurs. Dec. 20, 9 a.m. GOLDEN GATE leaves Jan. 5th".
Also "Nicaragua S.S. for New York and New Orleans, via San Juan- thru ahead of the mailsS.S. CORTES- leaves Jackson St. wharf for San Juan del Sud Thurs. Dec. 20, 9 a.m. connects -less than 21 days to New York- 700 miles shorter." "Compagne Generale Trasatlantique at San Juan with S.S. NORTHERN LIGHT for New York and PROMETHUS for New Orleans monthly service via Panama. NOUVEAU MONDE, IMPERATRICE, EUGENE, FRANCE (all paddle). Abel Guy Gen'l Agent. S.F."
Issue of December 24, 1855: Prepayment of Postage to be made by stamps only- Act of March 3, 1855 requires postage on all letters, not free, sent by mail within the U.S. and not from or to a foreign country, be prepaid. Also, the Postmaster General requires Postmasters to place postage stamps on all pre-paid letters, upon which such stamp may not have been placed by the writer.
· Issue of December 31, 1855: The Clipper ship WILD ROVER arrived in San Francisco from Boston (120 days). The bark FANNY MAJOR arrived in S. F. from Sydney, via Tahiti. The ship GOLDEN WEST arrived from New York (174 days)."
Issue of December 31, 1855: (Advertisement) "Pacific Mail S. S. Co. GOLDEN GATE, A. H. LeRoy cdr. leaves Vallejo St. Wharf with U.S. mails, Sat. Jan. 5 1856 at 9 A.M. for Panama. Fro~. Panama, thence by rail road across the isthmus to Aspinwall for Str. John _R. Stephens, sa11rng January 20, 1856." And further "Freight, via Panama for Mazatlan, San B1as and Manzanillo to Acapulco to Puerta Arenas- the PANAMA on January 12, 1856."
And another advertisement: "California Stage Co .. , - U.S. Mail - daily inc. Sunday at 8:00 a.m. f'?r Redwoods, San Mateo, Santa Clara and San Jose. Leave Oakland daily for Union City Mission s.an Jose, Warm Springs and. San Jose, 10 a.m." And "Langton's Pioneer - daily frc.~ San ~~~~~~~co to Sacramento, Marysville, Grass Valley, Downieville and all parts of the northern
New Mexico Territorial Catalogue
STOP PRESS
This eighth edition of the catalogue includes postmark illustrations - some 2,000. There are about 2300 markings for the close to 750 offices listed. It Is ~ vol.u~e you can't afford to be without. See Dr. Dikes advertisement rn th1s 1ssue.
President Pea~ce an!lounced that the San Francisco Bay Area Friday luncheon-meetrngs Will be held at the Marines Memorial Club, 609 Sutter St. (12th floor), San Francisco beginning on January 8, 1982.
WESTERN EXPRESS-JANUARY 1982 PAGE 3
New Members
Change of Address
Resignations
Deceased
SECRETARY'S REPORT
# 766 Randy Stehle, 127 Clarendon Rd., Burlingame, CA 94010 (Collects Cal. & Nev. Towns, RPO's & RFD's)
#767 Edward Weinberg, 3403 Balboa St., San Francisco, CA 94121 (Collects Contra Costa County)
#768 Niles Searls, P.O. Box 768, Danville; CA 94526 (Collects Nevada County, Wells Fargo & 1869's)
# 769 Robert E. DeVere, 950 Chehalis Dr. S!Jnnyvale, CA 94087 (Collects San Joaquin Co.)
# 770 Ed Ernatt, 598 Cuesta Dr., San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 (Collects San Luis Obispo)
#771 Ted Gruber, 3104 Westfield St., Las Vegas, NV 89121 (Collects Nevada and Utah town cancels, & RPO's)
#772 Duane Ulrich, 6666 E. Broadway, Tucson, AZ 85710
Charles Deaton, 7273 Brompton Rd. Houston, TX 77025 Louis Miller, 2328 Chelsea Rd., Palos Verdes Estate, CA 90274 Robert Tyson, 2550- 5th Ave., San Diego, CA 92108
Col. James T. DeVoss and Stephen Miles
Joy J. Hutton and Robert Lewenthal
The Robert Hanson Maps Priced at $1.25 each, postpaid
No. 1 The Butterfield Overland Mail Route San Francisco- El Paso- 1858-61
No. 2 The Butterfield Overland Mail Route El Paso - St. Louis 1858-61
No. 3 The Holy Road Log of Pioneer Mormon Colony
Salt Lake 1846-7
(The Butterfied maps are 30" x 10", folded for 81/1 x 11"; the Holy Road map is 23" x 11'')
Send your check to:
Editor WESTERN EXPRESS
9877 Elmar A venue
Oakland, CA 94603
CLEARANCE SALE
PAGE 4 WESTERN EXPRESS-JANUARY 1982
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Arizona and N.ew Mexico Postmarks . prior to l912.
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WFSTERN EXPRESS-JANUARY 1982
BLACK JACKS WEST by Paul J. Wolf
PAGE 5
A most interesting cover, Petaluma, Cal., to the Canton Ticino, one of the Italian-speaking provinces of Switzerland, mailed Oct. 16, 1864. ·
The letter was double-weight, over Y2 ounce, not over 1 ounce, and called for twice the 21 c postage, 42 cents, for transit by mail via England. Running a total of the galaxy of stamps franking this little number shows only 32 cents postage paid. A 10 cent undt!rpayment. It passed through New York on Nov. 5th, where the handstamp shows a credi~ to the U.S. for transit by American Packet of 24c (twice the single 12c rate.) and was accepted as fully paid.
In addition to the Petaluma originating hand-stamp and red New York transit marking, there are three backstamps, all lightly applied and rather blurred. They are not especially legible, but readable if one knows what to look for. First, a Basel a ·olten railway mail transit marking of 19 November. Then a Locarno transit, the date not clear, probably either the 19th or 20th No., 6M, and happily with the year date '64 quite clear. Finally, a Bignasco delivery marking of 21 November. A total of 36 days en route.
This cover has been examined by Charles Starnes, one of the leading experts on the Foreign Mails of the pre-UPU period, and in his opinion, a 1 Oc stamp has eithe'r fallen off or has been removed.
This writer has examined this cover most carefully, both by normal illumination and by Black Light, and no trace of any such stamp can be found. In my opinion, a different solution presents itself.
Remember that the franking of 32c is made up by a total of 8 stamps, which make this a very impressive cover indeed. Now, the local post office in Petaluma was manned by clerks who had had little or no training in the Foreign Mail rates and practices, and very likely did not see enough of these to really remember what scant training they did have. They· merely cancelled the stamps, and forwarded the letter to the New York Exch.ange Office at the Port of Exit.
The Rating Clerks at the· Port of Exit did know their rates and routes, but on sailing days they were rushed. There was much for them to do, and little time in 'which to do it. So when this letter, with an impressive total of stamps came up, no real effort was made to add up the postage, it was handstamped and sent on its' way. Leaving us, happily with a little gem!
0?2 '1
PAGE 6 WESTERN EXPRESS-JANUARY 1982
ADVERTISEMENTS
AUCTIONS By ACME-
From the Es.tate of Harold Salley, author "HISTORY Of CAUFORNIA POST OFFICES, 1849-1976", now lotting Covers & Post Cards - many with his hand written pencil notes, pllJs Literature!
1981-82 AUCTION SCHEDULE-
ll-14-81 US (plus Calif)/GE'RMANY/Etc., Mint & Used COILS, BOOKLETS, Es.p. THIRD REICH, BERUN & WEST GERMANY Also World Air Mail Stamps, Covers, ZEPPS & Literature!
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WANTED
New Mexico Postmarks prior to 1912 Some duplicates for sale.
FOR SALE Territorial P.O.'s of Arizona ....... $2.00 Territorial P.O.'s of Florida .. . .... 1.00
New Mexico Territorial Postmark Catalogue (new 1981 Edition) .. $25.00
Dr. S. H. Dike 1420 Carlisle Blvd. N.E.
Albuquerque, N.M. 87110
UNITED STATES STAMP CO., INC. Specialists in Buying and Selling
WESTERN EXPRESS-JANUARY 1982
LAMPING & CO.'S EXPRESS: A SHORT-LIVED VENTURE
by Robert D. Livingston
PAGE 7
Most accounts indicate that Langton's Pioneer Express could not be continued after·the death of Samuel W. Langton on August 24, 1864 because his family lacked the capability. They also relate that P. A. Lamping & Co. took over the company in 1865 but eventually relinquished it to Wells, Fargo &Co. as it was a bigger challenge than had been anticipated. Newspaper reports of the period suggest a different version.
Evidently the original express firm continued longer than most realize for the sale to Lamping, a Downieville banker, did not occur until November 21, 1865. Mrs. Langton's sale of the property came as a surprise to her brother-in-law, A. T. Langton, who had been serving as superintendent and manager since September 1, 1864. As an expression of his displeasure, Sam's brother published the following commentary in the January 13, 1866 issue of the Sierra Advocate:
A CARD The public have been informed that on the 21st day of November, 1865, Mrs. S. W. Lang
ton made sale of the Langton's Pioneer Express Co. , with the good will of Routes to Mr. A. Lamping, Banker of this place. The under-signed having had full charge of the said Express Co. as Superintendent and manager since 1st Sept. 1864, therefore the public and those having claims against, and indebted to said Co. have been expecting to hear something from the writer; and in explanation thereof, he would state that he was not aware of the sale until it was completed, and the Bill of Sale, duly signed and witnessed, was exhibited to him by Mr. Lamping; he of course, ''under existing circumstances" considered it a very unceremonious affair, and that he had not been treated right in the premises, especially by the parties advising and making the sale, as well as by Mr. Lamping himself, who had given his word that he would not purchase before conferring with the Superintendent; but these little discourtesies the writer overlooks, and at the same time, bespeaks for the present successor to one of the oldest Ex press companies found in the State, a continuation of the patronage of the old firm.
As the undersigned understands the new arrangement, it is still his duty to collect all dues to the said Co., up to the date of sale, and he embraces the opportunity to call upon all who knowing themselves to be indebted to Langton's Pioneer Express Co. to come forward, promptly, and settle up. All having claims against said Co., will please hand them in during this month; and may depend on the late Superintendent's best attent ion to their liquidation. The matter soley depends on the honesty and integrity of those who are indebted to the former proprietor and to Langton's Pioneer Express Co., to enab le him to settle up in full all that is owing. And he hopes that all the Agents who have at this time failed to send in their returns and final settlements of all accounts up to date of sale, will do so promptly without further notice.
Downieville, Jan. 12, 1866. A. T. LANGTON
PAGE 8 WESTERN EXPRESS-JANUARY 1982
LAMPING & CO.'S EXPRESS (Continued)
"V\1 ELLS , F.A.:&G·o &:: CO.
~rw mnK nn rurron~r,\
EXPRE S S AND EXCHA~GE C0::\1PANY.
WESTERN EXPRESS-JANUARY 1982 PAGE 9
LAMPING & CO.'S EXPRESS (Continued)
Lamping pushed ahead with the project, expanding his banking house in Downieville to accommodate an express office (Sierra Advocate March 10, 1866). Next he opened banking houses and express offices at Howland Flat and at Port Wine (Sierra Advocate June 1, 1866). The paper also reported that "connected with the above arrangements will be a direct line of communication from Marysville via Downieville" . Two weeks later the newspaper advised that Lamping "has his offices in good working order at many points north of here. He dispatches an express each Monday, Wednesday and Friday for Eureka, Morristown, Port Wine, Poker Flat, Howland Flat, and perhaps other points, connecting them with the expresses for the extreme northern portions of. this county and southern Plumas". An advertisement one week later made it known that "they dispatch daily Express to all parts of Sierra, Yuba and Nevada counties. It connects at Marysville with Wells, Fargo & Co.'s Express, for all parts of the United States".
In making arrangements for such complete local coverage and an excellent connection outside the area, Lamping & Co. could not have anticipated that it would soon face a formidable competitor. The Sierra Advocate of August 11, 1866 announced that Wells, Fargo & Co. had opened an office at Downieville. (An earlier attempt had lasted iess than six months in 1855-1856). The publication stated that "the establishment of a second Express Office in our town speaks well for its business prosperity and is a sign that we are not yet a dead community". The competition, however, proved unprofitable for two companies and soon Wells, Fargo & Co. alone was engaged in the express business while Lamping & Co. continued as bankers.
Downieville was not to be favored with two express companies, however, for an arrangement had been made already to eliminate Langton's short-term successor. A letter in the author's collection appears to substantiate this claim. On October 15, 1866, A. B. Forbes, Cashier of the Express Department of Wells, Fargo & Co. in San Francisco, wrote to J. W. Orear, Agent in Downieville: " ... When Lamping sold out to us he said he had on hand a small stock of envelopes addressed (printed) to Bk of California. These we agreed to accept from him for six (6) months from 1 Aug. 1866 and only those addressed (printed) to Bk of Cal. ... ".
In spite of the Advocate's concern, Downieville continued to be a live community even with Wells, Fargo & Co alone handling the express business and P. A. Lamping & Co. operating solely as bankers.
OFFICE OF ·wELLS. FARGO & CO.
SA!\' FnANC!SCO, Apri1 Stlt. 1867.
TO OUR AGENTS :
:Mr. JOHN J. Y ALEN'l'JNE has Leen appointed Ca:s1tic r of' our Express Departme11t, vice A. B. Forbe8, Esq., rcsig11cd. All communications will hci·enfter Le aucl re~sed n.ccording1y .
WELLS, FARGO & CO.; By CnAs. E. ~IcLANE, Gen'l Sup't.
PAGE 10 WESTERN EXPRESS-JANUARY 1992
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WESTERN EXPRESS-JANUARY 1982 PAGE II
FROM PADRES TO PADDLE WHEELS (A brief history of the early mails to and from Cal ifornia from the earliest American penetration unti l the coming of the Steamship)
by Jack Greenberg
AN INTRODUCTION
On a hazy morning of April15, 1775, General Gage dispatched a unit of his command to Lexington town to effect the arrest of John Hancock and Samuel Adams for treason against the British Crown, thus initiating the first battle of the American Revolution, the repercussions of which, would bring sweeping changes to the world as it was known at that time.
As the sun, on that April morning, pursued its course to the west, it shone upon the shores of the Department of Alta California, so recently populated by the Franciscan Fathers and their Presidio protectors, a f limsy bastion erected against the threatening encroachment of European powers, jealous of Spanish wealth and eager for new Colonial conquests. On this morning, however, it cou ld be truthfully said that the Pacific Ocean was indeed a "Spanish Lake" , pacific in nature as well as name, but a storm was brewing which would have consequences as sweeping to the Pacific Basin as the American Revolution would have to that of the Atlantic. One week after the signing of the American Declaration of Independence in Phi ladelphia, his Royal decree, which in substance advised the then Viceroy of Mexico that Captain Cook had sailed from England with two vessels on a voyage of "Discovery" to the South Seas, and that he was "by no means to permit that navigator to enter any California Port". One year tater this intelligence came into the hands of Filipe de Neve, Governor of Alta California for two years at the time. This advice was far-sighted on the part of his Majesty, as it turned out, as James Cook discovered, and so noted in his Journal, that a Sea Otter skin purchased on the Pacific Coast for a few trinkets in barter, brought $100 in Canton, China. The news of th is f ind was carefully suppressed by British Government, and Cook's Journal was with-held from publication until 1784, a wise precaution on behalf of his Majesty's goverment. but as it turned out, too little too tate.
A crewman aboard one of Cook's vesse ls, John Ledyard by name, and a Yankee by birth, was not slow to appreciate the trems:1dous economic ram ifications of this discovery, and upon docking aga in in England at the conclusion of th is voyage, booked passage for America on the avai lable vessel. On his arrival, he immediately commenced his efforts to interest a group of American Financiers in the prospects revealed by th is significant piece of intelligence. Unfortunately, the war for Independence, so recently coming to a close, left an America drained of f inancial as we!l as Marit ime resources, and a venture of the sort proposed by Ledyard, considering the costs involved, seemed risky in the extreme and, it turned out, Ledyard's exhortations fell on deaf ears. American Independence tiad it drawbacks as well as its advantages. In the world of the 18th century, all European powers prohibited trade with their colon ies by un-licensed foreigners. America's self-removal f rom the sphere of the British Empire resulted in the prohibition of trade of her vessels with the British Colonial ports of the West Indies, South Africa, or for that matter anywhere else in the British Empire. This exclusion was not limited to the British alone, but the f lag of this rebel against the established system of the world was not welcome to trade in any ports other than those of France, and this welcome certainly did not extend to that natio~ ·s colonies. These were very discouraging days for the fledgli ng nation, when, from a most unlikely sou rce came an opportu nity which was to mold American maritime policy for the next hundred years, and result ultimately in American Supremacy in the Pacific down to our own time.
In 1786 Lord Charles Cornwallis was appointed Governor General of India. This gentleman had assumed the seat of his father on his father's death in 1762, in the House of Lords and immediately earned for himself the reputation of an " Extreme Liberal" by the stands he would take on c~rrent issues. On the American Question his sympathies were strongly with the colonists and 1n the famous .debate on the repeal of the Stamp Act he was distinguished as one of the five peers who. voted tn favor of uncondition·al repeal, accompanied by an explicit renouncement of the right of taxing America. Cornwallis was at that time an officer in the British Mi litary and at the outbreak o~ the War for Independence, had ach ieved the grade of Lieutenant-General, was ordered to Am.enca where he ~pp~sed th.e rebel cause for two years, obviously without success. Cornwallis deserves, as h1s fnendsh1p for America should have earned him a seat as one o.f our national heros, which would have no doubt been granted him had it not been for his Vlgorous.pro~ecution of hi~ d_uties during the Revolutionary War. His service to America did not cease w1th hrs membership rn the House of Lords, but assuming the Governor Generalship of
PAGE 12 WESTERN EXPRFSS-JANUARY 1982
FROM PADRES TO PADDLE WHEELS (Continued)
India, and being asked to consider whether American vessel~ should ~e ~dmitted to and ~flowed to trade in Indian Ports, he responded that he could fmd no objeCtion to prevent· thiS. Thus by a decision of a British officer who had bravely opposed the existing policy of his governm'ent as still another example of his friendship for America, gave to the fledgling nation's merchant marine an opportunity which turned the bows of New England vessels in the direction of Canton and the China Trade, and from this trade, the revenue earned paid the lion's share of the federal income which enabled the government to make the Louisana purchase which in turn paved the way for the settlement of the West, occupation of California and her ultimate inclusion in the union.
One might ask, with reason, "what the hell does all of this have to do with California?" We will get to that now.
Spice was scarce in the wake of the war and American manufactured goods did not receive the favorable reception in the Canton market that American merchants had hoped for. This dilemma left the owners and super-cargos of New England 's vessels casting around for commodities which would be acceptable to the Chinese in trade for teas and silks which were soon so much in demand at home.
In 1787 the American ship Columbia, Robert Gray Commanding, and her sister ship the Washington, under the command of John Kendrick , raised anchors, and sailed on the morning tide through the mouth of Boston Harbor , bound around Cape Horn for the North West Coast of the American Continent.Thus begun the first voyage of the Bostonmen to California, a precursor of the New England invasion of the Pacific which eventually resulted in the Americanization of that ocean. The Pacific was to be pacific in name only, no longer to be a "Spanish Lake".
In order to understand the situation then existant in the colonies of Spain, it is necessary to delve into the mercantile policy of that nation as it existed at the close of the 18th century.
The "New World " became the personal property of the Spanish Monarch through a Papal Bull promulgated by Pope Alexander VI and the ba lance was given to the King of Portugal. As can be well imagined, this was not appreciated by those who were neither Spanish nor Portuguese, let alone not even Catholic. Universal opinion could not be better expressed than that reaction of the King of France reported on his being informed of this covenant; "Show me the will that Adam wrote granting the earth to Spain and Portugal and which the Papacy had the right to parcel out" .
One may rest assured that had the Bostonmen been present on this occasion, a hearty amen would have emanated from their midsts!
This exclusivity granted by Pope Alexander had been affirmed and reaffirmed down through the centuries in the polices of Spain that only vessels licensed by the Spanish Crown could trade along the coasts of her colonies.
This policy cannot be better stated than to quote the words of Viceroy Montesclaros; "in the Pacific . .. your Majesty desires, as is right, to be absolute and sole ruler, and to shut the gate to all who do not enter under the name and title of vassals". Thus the Californianos were to be the unhappy victims of a conflict between the needs which could not be satisfied by Spain 's meager efforts. and a policy of trade restriction which could not exclude the Boston men who could satisfy those needs.
At first , the Boston men would enter California ports under color of distress, the need for water or other ships provisions, which were provided as required by humanity and International marit ime custom. It did not take the wily yankee long to find that the woefully inadequate presidios were not able to begin to enforce the policy of exclusion mandated by the crown, and that though the Pacific was a "Spanish Lake", it was one practically devoid of Spanish vessels. Even the efforts of the Viceroy to supply Spain's outposts in California with the means of sustenance, let alone the little luxuries which make life in exile almost bearable, were woefully meager. It was not to be long before systematic smuggling of goods was initiated to supplement the Sea Otter trade .. Contraband trading came to be the advantage of everybody on the scene. The Boston men enjoyed an extremely lucrative trade the colonists received goods otherwise unobtainable, and the colonial official, who averted his eyes, found co-operation with the traders a most opportune means of supplementing his meager wages from the Crown.
(TO BE CONTINUED)