t if the emigrants would kill the cattle, and place the
meat in the snow for preservation, there was no fear of starvation
until relief could reach them. He further stated that there were no
able-bodied men in that vicinity, all having gone down the country with
and after Fremont to fight the Mexicans. He advised me to proceed to
Yerba Buena, now San Francisco, and make my case known to the naval
officer in command."

"I left Captain Sutter's, by the way of San Jose, for San Francisco,
being unable to come by water. When I arrived at San Jose, I found
the San Francisco side of the bay was occupied by the Mexicans. Here
I remained, and was attached to a company of volunteers, commanded by
Captain Webber, until after the fight at Santa Clara."

"The road now being clear, I proceeded to San Francisco with a petition
from some of the prominent citizens of San Jose, asking the commander of
the navy to grant aid to enable me to return to the mountains."

It is proper, perhaps, to interrupt the narrative in the Rural Press
for the purpose of introducing the memorial referred to by Mr. Reed. The
copy of the original document was recently found among his papers by his
daughter, Patty Reed.

"To his Excellency, R. F. Stockton, Governor and Commander-in-Chief,
by sea and land, of the United States Territory of California: We, the
undersigned citizens and residents of the Territory of California, beg
leave respectfully to present to your Excellency the following memorial,
viz.: That, whereas, the last detachment of emigrants from the United
States to California have been unable, from unavoidable causes, to
reach the frontier settlements, and are now in the California mountains,
seventy-five or one hundred miles east from the Sacramento Valley,
surrounded by snow, most probably twenty feet deep, and being about
eighty souls in number, a large proportion of whom are women and
children, who must shortly be in a famishing condition from scarcity
of provisions, therefore, the undersigned most earnestly beseech your
Excellency to take into consideration the propriety of fitting out an
expedition to proceed on snowshoes immediately to the relief of the
sufferers. Your memorialists beg leave to subscribe themselves, very
respectfully, yours, etc."

"January, 1847."

The article in the Rural Press continues: "Arriving at San Francisco, I
presented my petition to Commodore Hull, also making a statement of the
condition of the people i