Panama
trade dating from about 1813), for, as the Californian authorities
practically ignored the law, smuggling was unnecessary; this was,
indeed, much greater after 1822 under the high duties (in 1836-1840
generally about 100%) of the Mexican tariffs. In the early 'forties some
three-fourths of the imports, even at Monterey itself, are said to have
paid no duties, being landed by agreement with the officials. Wholesale
and retail trade flourished all along the coast in defiance of
prohibitory laws. American trade was by far most important. The Boston
traders--whose direct trade began in 1822, but the indirect ventures
long before that--were men of decided influence in California. The trade
supplied almost all the clothing, merchandise and manufactures used in
the province; hides and furs were given in exchange. If foreign trade
was not to be received, still less were foreign travellers, under the
Spanish laws. However, the Russians came in 1805, and in 1812 founded on
Bodega Bay a post they held till 1841, whence they traded and hunted
(even in San Francisco Bay) for furs. From the day of the earliest
foreign commerce sailors and traders of divers nationalities began to
settle in the province. In 1826 American hunters first crossed to the
coast; in 1830 the Hudson's Bay Company began operations in northern
California. By this time the foreign element was considerable in number,
and it doubled in the next six years, although the true overland
immigration from the United States began only about 1840. As a class
foreigners were respected, and they were influential beyond proportion
to their numbers. They controlled commerce, and were more energetic,
generally, than were the natives; many were naturalized, held generous
grants of land, and had married into Californian families, not excluding
the most select and influential. Most prominent of Americans in the
interior was John A. Sutter (1803-1880), who held a grant of eleven
square leagues around the present site of Sacramento, whereon he built a
fort. His position as a Mexican official, and the location of his
fortified post on the border, commanding the interior country and lying
on the route of the overland immigrants, made him of great importance in
the years preceding and immediately following American occupation;
although he was a man of slight abilities and wasted his great
opportunities. Other settlers in the coast towns were also of high
standing and importance. I