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Page: of 436
OCTOBER—DECEMBER 1849
laughed again. “‘Can you guess what I’ve been doing since I arrived?”
Niles shook his head.
“For two months I’ve supported my family by cutting firewood, sewing calico bed comforters, carrying mail, assisting an auctioneer, and by
loading and unloading boats! But I’m not discouraged yet, and next week
you'll see why.”
“Then you think you’ll be elected?”
“Think? Young man, I know I will!”
HX
ON ELECTION DAY, November 13, 1849, the rain came down in torrents. Two-thirds of the voters stayed in their tents and boarding houses
and never ventured forth, according to an estimate the Placer Times
issued relating to the Sacramento area. Not many felt like braving the
storm merely to select from a list of strangers those who would run a
state which might never exist.
Those who did go out to cast a damp ballot overwhelmingly endorsed
the constitution. Forty-seven percent selected Peter Burnett to be the
first California governor. Burnett, a former Missouri acquaintance of
Michael Nye and the Long brothers, had mined with them for a short
time after coming down from Oregon. In 1844 he had helped organize
Oregon’s early provisional government and had served on its first
supreme court. Soon after reaching California in 1848 he was informed
that President Polk had named him Justice of the Supreme Court of the
newly created territory of Oregon. Burnett refused the post, saying his
family couldn’t live on what it paid.
He went to Sutter’s Fort in the winter of 1848—49. Sutter’s son, also
newly arrived, retained Burnett as his legal advisor and real estate agent
for the brand new city of Sacramento. He was to receive one fourth of all
money paid for building lots. When General Riley, California’s military
governor, named him one of four judges on the Superior Tribunal in the
summer of 1849, Burnett sold his half interest in certain Sacramento City
lots for $50,000, held onto some others, and moved to Monterey.
Having little to occupy his time in his new position, he spent much of
his time observing the deliberations of the convention, also meeting at
Monterey. As soon as its work was completed, Peter Burnett announced
he was running for governor. He toured the cities, towns, and mining
camps, where his carefully cultivated backwoods style sat well with ordinary miners. He poked fun at fancy manners, though in the city he could
be as elegant and graceful as occasion demanded. Rival candidates who
spoke with eastern accents were at a disadvantage. The only other west239
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