ents of life--in fact, diametrically
opposed in character to the easy-going inhabitants of California.
Contempt on the one side and distrust on the other were inevitable. The
trappers and traders, together with the deserters from whalers and other
ships, banded together in small communities of the rough type familiar
to any observer of our frontier communities. They looked down upon and
despised the "greasers," who in turn did everything in their power to
harass them by political and other means.

At first isolated parties, such as those of Jedediah Smith, the Patties,
and some others, had been imprisoned or banished eastward over the
Rockies. The pressure of increasing numbers, combined with the rather
idle carelessness into which all California-Spanish regulations seemed
at length to fall, later nullified this drastic policy. Notorious among
these men was one Isaac Graham, an American trapper, who had become
weary of wandering and had settled near Natividad. There he established
a small distillery, and in consequence drew about him all the rough and
idle characters of the country. Some were trappers, some sailors; a few
were Mexicans and renegade Indians. Over all of these Graham obtained an
absolute control. They were most of them of a belligerent nature and
expert shots, accustomed to taking care of themselves in the wilds. This
little band, though it consisted of only thirty-nine members, was
therefore considered formidable.

A rumor that these people were plotting an uprising for the purpose of
overturning the government aroused Governor Alvarado to action. It is
probable that the rumors in question were merely the reports of
boastful drunken vaporings and would better have been ignored. However,
at this time Alvarado, recently arisen to power through the usual
revolutionary tactics, felt himself not entirely secure in his new
position. He needed some distraction, and he therefore seized upon the
rumor of Graham's uprising as a means of solidifying his influence--an
expedient not unknown to modern rulers. He therefore ordered the prefect
Castro to arrest the party. This was done by surprise. Graham and his
companions were taken from their beds, placed upon a ship at Monterey,
and exiled to San Blas, to be eventually delivered to the Mexican
authorities. There they were held in prison for some months, but being
at last released through the efforts of an American lawyer, most of them
returned to California rather b