[Footnote B:  Quoted from a recent article of mine in a local paper.  Such quotations will occur in this series without further credit.—­C.D.P.]

II

Early Mining and Filibustering

In 1855, When I arrived in Washington as an amateur delegate from the new Territory, the “Gadsden Purchase” did not attract much attention.  They had something else to do.  President Pierce, the most affable of Presidents, was very polite, and asked many questions about the new acquisition.  The Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis, promised to order an exploration of the Colorado River as soon as he could get an appropriation, and to send troops to the new Territory as soon as they could be spared.

During the winter General Heintzelman came to Washington, and as the town was crowded, and he could not find suitable accommodations, I had an extra bed put in my room at the National, and we messed together.  It was an advantage to have an officer of the Army who had been in command at Yuma to give information about the country, and the association thus formed lasted through life.

There was not much to be done in Washington, so I went over to New York, the seat of “The Texas Pacific Railroad Company.”  This company had been organized under a munificent land grant from the State of Texas.  The capital stock was a hundred million dollars.  The scheme was to build a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean on the proceeds of land grants and bonds, and make the hundred millions of dollars stock as profit, less one tenth of one per cent to be paid in for expenses and promotion money.  The President of this company was Robert J. Walker, Secretary of the Treasury under President Polk; Vice-President, Thomas Butler King, of Georgia, late Collector of the Port in San Francisco, my recent superior; Secretary, Samuel Jaudon, late Cashier of the United States Bank.  Mr. Walker, the President of the Company, received me at dinner at his mansion on Fifth Avenue, and my acquaintance with Thomas Butler King was renewed over sparkling vintages.

This company had parcelled the world out among its officers.  Robert J. Walker was to have the financial field of Europe.  Samuel Jaudon, the secretary, was to display his financial ability in New York and the Atlantic cities.  Edgar Conkling, of Cincinnati, was agent for the Mississippi Valley.  Thomas Butler King was allotted the State of Texas, and I, being the junior, was to have the country between the Rio Grande and the Colorado.

I told them all I knew about the Territory,—­and a great deal more,—­and enlarged upon the advantages that would accrue to the railroad company by an exploration of the new Territory and a development of its mineral resources.  They inquired how much it would cost to make the exploration.  I replied that I would start with a hundred thousand dollars if there was a million behind it.