cer, a Mr. E.O. Crosby, afterwards Minister to one of the South
American Republics, wrote back approving my election, and advising me
to act. His advice, under the circumstances, was a matter of some
moment. The new Constitution of the State had gone into effect,
though it was still uncertain whether it would be recognized by
Congress. Mr. Crosby, therefore, thought it best for me to procure,
in addition to my commission as Alcalde, an appointment as Justice of
the Peace; and through his kind offices, I obtained from Governor
Burnett the proper document bearing his official seal. After my
election, I went to Sacramento, and on the 22d of January, 1850, was
sworn into office as first Alcalde of Yubaville, by the Judge of the
Court of First Instance, as that was the name of the district in the
certificate of election; but I was always designated, after the name
of the town had been adopted, as First Alcalde of Marysville.[4]

Captain Sutter, whose deed I had drawn, was a remarkable character.
He was about five feet nine inches in height, and was thick-set. He
had a large head and an open, manly face, somewhat hardened and
bronzed by his life in the open air. His hair was thin and light, and
he wore a mustache. He had the appearance of an old officer of the
French army, with a dignified and military bearing. I subsequently
became well acquainted with him, and learned both to respect and to
pity him. I respected him for his intrepid courage, his gentle
manners, his large heart, and his unbounded benevolence. I pitied him
for his simplicity, which, while suspecting nothing wrong in others,
led him to trust all who had a kind word on their lips, and made him
the victim of every sharper in the country. He was a native of
Switzerland and was an officer in the Swiss Guards, in the service of
the King of France, in 1823, and for some years afterwards. In 1834,
he emigrated to America, and had varied and strange adventures among
the Indians at the West; in the Sandwich Islands, at Fort Vancouver,
in Alaska, and along the Pacific Coast. In July, 1839, the vessel
which he was aboard of, was stranded in the harbor of San Francisco.
He then penetrated into the interior of California and founded the
first white settlement in the valley of the Sacramento, on the river
of that name, at the mouth of the American River, which settlement he
named Helvetia. He built a fort there and gathered around it a large
number of native Indians and som