Collection: Books and Periodicals > Nevada County Historical Society Bulletins

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Title: Volume 060-2 - April 2006 Collection Type: Books and Periodicals Collection Name: Nevada County Historical Society Bulletins # of Pages: 8 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

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Original Held At: Searls Historical Library Location: 161 Nevada City Hwy, Nevada City, CA 95959

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epidemic. The California was a thousand-ton steamer with twelve hundred men crammed into space designed for several hundred fewer. And when the dreaded “Panama Fever’ struck a passenger, it spread quickly. “Panama fever in its worst form broke out,” Field later wrote, “and it was not long before the main deck was liter~ ally covered with the sick. There was a physician attached to the ship, but unfortunately he was also prostrated. The condition of things was very sad and painful.” Unlike most men who exposed themselves to malaria, cholera, starvation and other maladies on the way from their homes in the East to the gold fields of the West, Field didn’t come here to dig in the creeks and hiilsides for the precious metal—he came to practice law. His older brother, David, was a very prominent New York City attorney and author of that state’s code of civil and criminal procedure, known to this day as the Field Code. Another brother, Cyrus, was the leading promoter of the transatlantic cable and founded the company that completed the first undersea link in 1858. A third brother, Henry, became a noted clergyman and writer, and for many years published The Evangelist—a New York periodical devoted to the interests of the Presbyterian church. Stephen Johnson Field, born in Haddam, Connecticut on yam November 4, 1816, and raised in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, was the son of a Congregationalist minister and ym grandson of a Revolutionary War captain. When he was thirteen, he traveled with his sister, Emilia, and her misp™ sionary husband to Smyrna, Turkey—a former Roman commercial hub on the Aegean Sea. Young Steve Field studied oriental languages and religion before returning to Massachusetts and subsequent graduation from Williams College in 1837, class valedictorian with aspirations of becoming a language teacher. Following college, however, Field began a study of law and joined his brother’s New York City firm in 1841. Then, in the summer of 1848, he decided to take a leave of absence and travel through Europe. “While at Galignani’s News Room in Paris, I read in the New York Herald the message of President Polk, which confirmed previous reports, that gold had been discovered in California,” Field recalled many years later. On December 5, 1848, James Polk had told Congress: Upper California, irrespective of the vast mineral wealth recently developed there, holds at this day, in point of value and importance, to the rest of the Union the same relation that Louisiana did when that fine territory was acquired from France forty-five years ago. It was known that mines of the precious metals existed to a considerable extent in California at the time of its acquisition. Recent discoveries render it probable that these mines are more extensive and valuable than was anticipated. The potential Polk painted was tempting to Field, but it NCHS Bulletin April 2006 was not until the autumn of 1849 that he returned to New York, resigned from his brother’s law firm and sailed to this new land of untold opportunities. Tens of thousands would arrive in California in 1850 and beyond, but Field belonged to a select group of pioneers—by landing in San Francisco on December 28, 1849, he became an authentic 49er. Field remained in San Francisco for a time, thinking he might have success there as an attorney, but quickly discovered that men were traveling through—not living in— the city by the Golden Gate, so he headed for the gold fields. He arrived in Yubaville (as John Sutter called the place) on January 15, 1850—just in time to be a candidate for that community’s first “alcalde”—an office that under Spanish/Mexican law held limited power, but according to Field, “In the anomalous conditions of affairs under American occupation, they exercised almost unlimited powers. They were, in fact, regarded as magistrates elected by the people for the sake of preserving public order and settling disputes of all kinds.” Three days after arriving, Stephen Field claimed his first public office, the major obstacle being that his opponent had lived in town for six days and Field for only three. Despite his “newcomer” status, Field prevailed with a ninevote margin of victory. That evening, flush with victory, Field suggested that Yubaville be renamed Marysville in honor of Mary Murphy Covillaud, a survivor of the 1846-47 Donner Party ordeal and then a resident of Nye’s Bar with her husband Charles. (The 1851 Butler Map of California shows the community as “Mary’s—Ville”—later changed to its current form.) An indication of the power held by early alcaldes can be found in a decision Field rendered on April 7, 1850, in the case of a man found guilty of stealing nearly $1500 in gold dust: Therefore it is ordered that said defendant, John Barrett, be taken from this place to Johnson’s Ranch [where the crime was committed] and then to receive on his bare back within twenty-four hours from this time fifty lashes well laid on; and within forty-eight hours from this time fifty additional lashes well laid on; and within three days from this time an additional fifty lashes well laid on; and within four days of this time an additional fifty lashes well laid on; and within five days of this time an additional fifty lashes well laid on. But it is ordered that the four last punishments be remitted provided said defendant make in the meantime restitution. After the first twenty lashes had been “well laid on,” Barrett admitted guilt and the stolen gold was returned to its rightful owner. It was a period of unsettled California law referred to in history books as “miners” justice’”—arbitrary rules enforced by unpredictable alcaldes, justices of the peace and local judges. However, Nevada City pioneer and future U.S. Senator Richard J. Oglesby of Illinois noted that severe sen-