[1] An experiment with camels was tried and proved a failure.
[2] John Porter McCown resigned his commission in 1861 to join the Confederate army, in which he served through the war as a major general.—F. H. H.
[3] Frenchtown was the western terminus of the New Castle and Frenchtown Railroad, one of the first railroads built in the United States and a part of the early route between the East and the West. With the passing of the road, the town entirely disappeared. It was located at the head of the Elk River branch of Chesapeake Bay, below the present site of Elkton.
[4] Mrs. Alexander Gordon.—M. R. A.
[5] William Warren Chapman was brevetted major for gallant conduct in the battle of Buena Vista, and died in 1859.
[6] Travels in the Interior of North America, by Maximilian, Prince of Wied-Neuwied (London, 1843). Reprinted in Thwaites's Early Western Travels, 1748-1846 (Cleveland, 1905).
[7] Major Benjamin William Brice served through the Civil War in the paymaster's department and became a major general at its close.
[8] The mesquit or mesquite is a tree, resembling the locust, of which there are several species in Mexico and the southwestern part of the United States.
[9] Camp Ringgold was an American military post below Rio Grande City. Davis's rancho, mentioned later, was half a mile above Camp Ringgold.
[10] Joseph Hatch La Motte, brevetted a major for gallant conduct at Monterey, resigned from the service in 1846 and died in 1888.
[11] China is located on the Rio San Juan about fifty miles from the Rio Grande.
[12] Maguey is the Spanish name for the century plant.
[13] Col. John C. Hays, the Texas ranger and Indian fighter, who won a national reputation at the siege of Monterey. He went to California in 1849, became first sheriff of San Francisco and afterward United States surveyor-general for California.
[14] The route from the Rio Grande to the Rio Florida is described in Wislizenus's "Tour to Northern Mexico," Washington, 1848 (Senate misc. doc. 26, 1st session, 30th Congress) and in Bartlett's Personal Narrative of Explorations and Incidents in Texas, New Mexico, California, Sonora and Chihuahua (New York, 1854). Wislizenus was physician in Doniphan's expedition, and Bartlett was United States Mexican Boundary Commissioner. The Mexican Atlas of Garcia y Cubas (Mexico City, 1859) furnishes maps that are nearly contemporary and a list of haciendas.
[15] Cabalgada is properly a troop of mounted men or cavalcade. The word is here applied to the animals upon which the men are mounted.
[16] Hidalgo del Parral, marked upon the maps both as Hidalgo and as Parral, but more commonly the latter.
[17] The Taraumara or more properly the Tarahumara Indians are described in H. H. Bancroft's Native Races, vol. i, chap. v.
[18] The Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon lunifrons) is described in Audubon's Birds of America, ed. 1840, vol. i, p. 177. Audubon proposed the name Hirundo republicana in 1824, but Say had named the species Hirundo lunifrons the year before. I am indebted to Dr. F. H. Snow for reference to the synonymy and the account of the discovery of this species in Coues's Birds of the Colorado Valley, part i, pp. 426-429.
[19] Frejoles or frijoles, Spanish for beans.
[20] Thomas Cole (1801-1848), an American landscape painter of English birth, was one of the earliest artists to depict the beauties of American scenery; he was noted for his scenes in the Catskills. His recent death doubtless emphasized his pictures in Audubon's mind.
[21] The Caracara or Brazilian Eagle is described in Audubon's Birds of America, ed. 1840, vol. i, p. 21. It was found in Florida by Audubon but so rarely occurs in the United States that it is not included in the "A. O. U. Check List of North American Birds." The name is derived from the hoarse cry that it utters.
[22] Caramba is the commonest of Spanish interjections.
[23] Many scientific reports appeared in the public documents of this period. Fremont's "Report of an Expedition to Oregon and California" was printed both in Senate and House documents and in a separate edition in 1845. The Senate documents of the 1st session of the 30th Congress, printed in 1848, contain Emory's "Reconnoissance from Fort Leavenworth to San Diego," Abert's "Examination of New Mexico," Wislizenus's "Memoir of a Tour to Northern Mexico," and Fremont's "Geographical Memoir upon Upper California." Audubon probably had in mind the cylindrical cactus figured by Abert.
[24] The Papago Indians belonged to the Piman family, but had separated from the Pimas at the time of their conversion by the Spanish missionaries.
[25] The Dipodomys Phillippsii is a species of mouse provided with a pouch and is popularly called the pocket or kangaroo mouse.
[26] Philip St. George Cooke (1809-1895) served under Kearny in the conquest of New Mexico, was given command of the "Mormon battalion," which had been recruited at Council Bluffs from among the Nauvoo refugees, and was sent from Santa Fé to reinforce Kearny in California. The journal of the expedition was printed at the time (Senate ex. doc. No. 2, special session, 31st Cong.) and later in an expanded form as "The Conquest of New Mexico and California" (New York, 1878). Cooke commanded the federal troops during the territorial troubles in Kansas, served with distinction in the Civil War and was brevetted Major General at its close.
[27] James Duncan Graham was a member of Long's first expedition. In 1840 he was appointed commissioner for the survey of the Maine boundary and did good service in the settlement of that controversy. He was for a time principal astronomer of the Mexican Boundary Commission, but was recalled, on account of disagreements with Commissioner Bartlett, and made a separate report (Senate ex. doc. No. 121, 1st session, 32d Cong.). He reached the rank of colonel during the Civil War and died in 1865. Mt. Graham, Arizona, bears his name.
[28] The Pima Indians were called Pimos in the books of fifty years ago. The Maricopas belonged to the Yuman family but had united with the Pimas for protection.
[29] Herman Thorn, soldier in the Mexican War, distinguished himself in the battles of Churubusco and Molino del Rey, and was made captain. He was drowned October 16, 1849, as stated later in the text.
[30] Cave Johnson Couts, a Tennessean and West Pointer, went to California in 1848 as first lieutenant of dragoons in Graham's battalion. He resigned his commission and married the pretty daughter of a prominent Spanish family in 1851, settled in California and acquired considerable property, and died in 1874.
[31] Audubon returned to the Gila at the point of its junction with the Colorado. The usual emigrant road either kept to the south of the Gila or crossed the river at the bend and recrossed it sometime before coming to the Colorado. Audubon must either have kept to the north of the river or omitted to mention the recrossing. The crossing of the Colorado was just below the mouth of the Gila. Lieut. Whipple was making observations at this point at this time. Fort Yuma was established here in 1852, opposite the present town of Yuma.
[32] Amiel W. Whipple, at this time lieutenant of topographical engineers, later made one of the principal Pacific Railroad surveys, and died a major general in 1863 from wounds received at Chancellorsville. The journal of his expedition from San Diego to the Colorado was printed as Senate ex. doc. No. 19, 2d session, 31st Cong. The entry for October 15th, 1849, reads as follows:
"Arrived Colonel Collyer, collector of the port of San Francisco, escorted by Captain Thorne with thirty dragoons. Under their protection is also a party of emigrants, commanded by Mr. Audubon, the younger, naturalist; Lieutenant Browning, of the navy; Mr. Langdon Haven, and a son of Commodore Sloat, were with this party, which was suffering for the want of provisions."
[33] The Indian village of San Felipe has disappeared from the modern map but the name is borne by a creek in this valley. The journey from the Colorado to San Diego is described in Bartlett's Personal Narrative, and the itinerary is given in Marcy's Prairie Traveler (New York, 1859). An edition of the latter book, disguised as Burton's Handbook of Overland Expeditions, was issued in London in 1863.
[34] Charles Franklin Carter's Missions of Nueva California (San Francisco, 1900), gives a good description of the present condition of the mission buildings of California. Under the inspiration of Charles F. Lummis, the "Landmarks Club" of Los Angeles has undertaken the work of repairing and preserving their ruins. See also Missions of California, by Laura Bride Powers, (New York, 1897) and In and Out of the Old Missions of California, by George Wharton James (Boston, 1905).
[35] Edward Murray, at this time a lieutenant, resigned from the service in 1855, was afterwards an officer in the Confederate army.
[36] Edward O. C. Ord (1818-1883), at this time a first lieutenant, later a major general in the Civil War. His long and distinguished service gives his name a place in every American cyclopaedia and biographical dictionary.
[37] San Luis Rey was reoccupied and a Franciscan college established there in 1893.
[38] San Fernando is, of all the missions of California, in the best condition. Its two principal buildings are in a good state of preservation and the church has been re-roofed by the "Landmarks Club."
[39] There is a map of the mining camps in H. H. Bancroft's History of California, vol. vi, pp. 368-369. Topographical details are given in the "Claim" sheets, issued by the United States Geological Survey. The inset in the map of Audubon's route, at the end of this volume, is intended to locate only the places visited by him.
[40] The text is here slightly confused. Perhaps Audubon wondered what would become of the "mushroom town" through which he had just passed.
[41] The number of persons in the company varied widely at different times. About eighty started from New York. The list, here reprinted from the New York "Evening Express," contains seventy-five names but does not claim to be complete. Apparently a number of men from Philadelphia, but not as many as stated above, joined the company, since it is repeatedly described as "at one time numbering ninety-eight." The implication in the Journal that there were but sixty-five at Cairo must be an error. About fifty started from Roma with Mr. Audubon but the number reached fifty-seven at Parras. One subsequently died, another remained at Mapimi, three left the company at Ures, eleven took the boat from San Diego and "about forty" continued the march to Los Angeles. This seems to have been the number of the reunited company in San Francisco, of whom thirty-eight, including Mr. Audubon, made the tour of the southern mines.