Isaac Graham (April 15, 1800 – November 8, 1863) was a
fur trader
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mos ...
,
mountain man
A mountain man is an explorer who lives in the wilderness. Mountain men were most common in the North American Rocky Mountains from about 1810 through to the 1880s (with a peak population in the early 1840s). They were instrumental in opening up ...
, and land grant owner in 19th century
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
.
In 1830, he joined a hunting and trapping party at
Fort Smith, Arkansas
Fort Smith is the third-largest city in Arkansas and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 89,142. It is the principal city of the Fort Smith, Arkansas–Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Are ...
that included
George Nidever
George Nidever (also spelled Nidiver; December 20, 1802 – March 24, 1883) was an American mountain man, explorer, fur trapper, memoirist and sailor. In the 1830s he became one of the first wave of American settlers to move to Mexican California, ...
. Graham attended the
Rendezvous at Pierre's Hole and took part in the battle of
Pierre's Hole
Pierre's Hole is a shallow valley in the western United States in eastern Idaho, just west of the Teton Range in Wyoming. At an elevation over above sea level, it collects the headwaters of the Teton River, and was a strategic center of the fu ...
, in present-day
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...
.
From there, Graham's path to California is unclear. He may have joined
Joseph R. Walker
Joseph R. Walker (December 13, 1798 – October 27, 1876) was a mountain man and experienced Reconnaissance, scout. He established the segment of the California Trail, the primary route for the emigrants to the gold fields during the Californ ...
's party, or joined one of the groups led by
Ewing Young
Ewing Young (1799-February 9, 1841) was an American fur trapper and trader from Tennessee who traveled in what was then the northern Mexico frontier territories of Santa Fe de Nuevo México and Alta California before settling in the Oregon Country. ...
. His son later claimed that Graham came by way of Oregon, while his daughter said he took a southern route through
Chihuahua Chihuahua may refer to:
Places
*Chihuahua (state), a Mexican state
**Chihuahua (dog), a breed of dog named after the state
**Chihuahua cheese, a type of cheese originating in the state
**Chihuahua City, the capital city of the state
**Chihuahua Mun ...
, New Mexico.
The next positive evidence finds him at Natividad on the
Rancho La Natividad
Rancho La Natividad was a Mexican land grant in present-day Monterey County, California given in 1837 by Governor Juan B. Alvarado to Manuel Butrón and his son-in-law, Nicolás Alviso. Rancho La Natividad and Rancho Los Vergeles were adjoining ...
, northeast of present-day
Salinas, in Mexican
Alta California
Alta California ('Upper California'), also known as ('New California') among other names, was a province of New Spain, formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of , but ...
. With partners Henry Naile and William Ware, Graham established a distillery to supplement declining incomes from fur trading, owing to dwindling numbers of sea otters from the Central Coast.
The Graham Affair
In 1836 Graham led a group of American and European immigrants who supported
Juan Bautista Alvarado
Juan Bautista Valentín Alvarado y Vallejo (February 14, 1809 – July 13, 1882) was a Californio politician that served as Governor of Alta California from 1837-42. Prior to his term as governor, Alvarado briefly led a movement for independe ...
and
José Castro
José Antonio Castro (1808 – February 1860) was a Californio politician, statesman, and general who served as interim Governor of Alta California and later Governor of Baja California. During the Bear Flag Revolt and the American Conquest of ...
in the coup against
Mexican Governor of Northern
California Nicolás Gutiérrez
Lieutenant Colonel Nicolás Gutiérrez was twice acting governor of the northern part of ''Las Californias'' (what had previously been Alta California) in 1836, from January to May and July to November.
Gutiérrez served two short terms a ...
. In 1840 Alvarado had Graham arrested, among a group of about 100 foreigners, and sent to
Tepic
Tepic () is the capital and largest city of the western Mexican state of Nayarit, as well as the seat of the Tepic Municipality.
Located in the central part of the state, it stands at an altitude of above sea level, on the banks of the Río Mo ...
, Mexico for trial and imprisonment. This action led to a diplomatic crisis (involving Mexico, the United States and the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
) that became known as the "Graham Affair". With the help of a recent arrival in
Monterey,
Thomas J. Farnham
Thomas Jefferson Farnham (1804–1848) was an explorer and author of the American West in the first half of the 19th century. His travels included interaction with missionary Jason Lee, and he later led a wagon train on the Oregon Trail. While in O ...
, Graham and the others were eventually released, Graham having been imprisoned for about a year. Farnham later wrote a romanticized account of these events. Some credited the incident with assisting in the formation of an American political justification for Washington's eventual annexation of California.
Santa Cruz region
In 1841, upon his return from Mexico, Graham moved north to the
Santa Cruz area, where he established another distillery at
Rancho Zayante Rancho Zayante was a Mexican land grant in present-day Santa Cruz County, California. The grant, measuring one league by one-half league (2,658 acres), straddled Zayante Creek and the San Lorenzo River. It included most of the present-day communit ...
, near the present-day community of
Felton. With help from Danish-immigrant
Peter Lassen
Peter Lassen (October 31, 1800 – April 26, 1859), later known in Spanish as Don Pedro Lassen, was a Danish-born Californian ranchero and gold prospector. Born in Denmark, Lassen immigrated at age 30 to Massachusetts, before eventually final ...
, Graham built one of the first water-powered sawmills in California. Part of Graham Hill Road, now a major route between Felton and Santa Cruz, was built by Graham to transport his timber to the coast for shipment.
Although not a
Mexican citizen, Graham was able to purchase the Rancho Zayante land by proxy through his fellow frontiersman Joseph Majors, owner of the adjacent
Rancho San Agustin Rancho San Agustin was a Mexican land grant in present-day Santa Cruz County, California given in 1833 by Governor José Figueroa to José Antonio Bolcoff. The grant was bounded by the San Lorenzo River on the west and Rancho Carbonera on the sout ...
. Other former mountain men and Graham associates were also at Zayante, including
Job Francis Dye, who later dictated a memoir including some adventures he shared with Graham.
Early in 1846, a U.S. Army exploring mission led by
John C. Fremont
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second E ...
stopped at Graham's Zayante community. Mexican authorities feared that Fremont's hidden purpose was to stir up anti-government sentiments among the Americans there, and Fremont was soon forced to leave California for Oregon. He returned later in the year, after the
Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...
began, to recruit volunteers for the
California Battalion
The California Battalion (also called the first California Volunteer Militia and U.S. Mounted Rifles) was formed during the Mexican–American War (1846–1848) in present-day California, United States. It was led by U.S. Army Brevet Lieutenant Co ...
. Graham himself, at age 46, did not volunteer.
In 1851, Graham purchased
Rancho Punta del Año Nuevo, on the coast north of Santa Cruz.
Isaac Graham died in 1863, and is buried at
Evergreen Cemetery in Santa Cruz.
Evergreen Cemetery, Find-a-Grave
/ref> Part of Graham's former lands are now the community of Felton, California
Felton is a census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Cruz County, California, United States. The population was 4,489 as of 2020 census and according to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , all of it land.
History
Named ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Isaac
California pioneers
Foreign residents of Mexican California
Ranchers from California
Mountain men
1800 births
1863 deaths
American emigrants to Mexico
History of Santa Cruz County, California
History of the Monterey Bay Area
People from Santa Cruz County, California