Edited by Briton Cooper Busch
This book is subtitled “The Journal and Observations of William Dane Phelps, Master of the Ship ‘Alert’, where Mr. Phelps recounts his voyage to Mexican California during the era of the hide and tallow trade. The author compares California with Spain, referring to an ancient Arab proverb that Allah gave Spain land, climate and inhabitants, a veritable paradise with one exception: good government.
On one of the trips to Northern California, Mr. Phelps travels to New Helvetia, the domain at the foothill of the Sierra Nevada mountains belonging to John Sutter, who has successfully controlled the local Native Americans and has become a comfortable rancher and farmer. Sutter mentions that he is planning to build a millrace for a new saw mill that he is planning to build on the American River. That turned out well.
The journal gives us a great amount of information about the hide and tallow business as his ship visited the major ports of California, trading goods from the United States in return for the hides and tallow. The hides must be cured and stored for later transport, along with the tallow, to the United States. In order to make the voyage profitable, the ship must carry as many hides as physically possible without threatening the seaworthiness of the ship.
Mr. Phelps’s observations are tinged with his perspective as a Protestant, white, Anglo-Saxon. He believes that individuals with his background could make California into an agricultural paradise, teeming with wild game. It is only because of the lazy Californios that the land does not produce. Sharing the blame is the Catholic Church who, Phelps believes, is only interested in its own aggrandizement and the afterlife. This attitude frequently offends the native Americans and excuses the indolence of the Californios.
In his voyages, Phelps meets up with many ships of various nations that are trading in California. Many also trade with Hawaii. The voyages face difficulties with the weather along the California coast, which is treacherous and has few protective anchorages. Toward the end of his stay, there is an abortive attempt by Americans to take over California.
Mr. Phelps also notes that, on July 26, 1841, he heard of the death of President Harrison, who had died on April 4, 1841. This was the California that William Workman arrived at.
