Page:The Tourist's California by Wood, Ruth Kedzie.djvu/175

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

BAY AND UPPER COAST COUNTIES 143 ers, he was taken under guard to Sutter's Fort and kept a prisoner for many weeks. Meanwhile his captors had proclaimed the " American Republic of California," and their flag had in turn been supplanted by the Stars and Stripes (1846). The " flag of the grizzly, the star and the bar " was created " to meet an emergency at a critical moment in California history." William Lincoln Todd, nephew to Mrs. Abraham Lincoln, drew in the centre of a torn sheet the bear. He then made a star in the upper left corner, which so closely suggested the Texan flag that it was de- cided to add a bar, for which was contributed, so the records detail, the red flannel petticoat of the Mexican wife of the American express rider be- tween Sutter's Fort and Sonoma. Thereafter the Californians called the Americans " The Bears." In 1911 the Bear Flag became the official State emblem. From Sonoma one may continue to Santa Rosa, or re- turn to San Francisco via the boats from Vallejo or Tiburon. Sausalito Tamalpais. The steamer which leaves the Mission Street wharf at the south end of the Ferry Building affords a close view of the shipping and wharves, the prison island of Alcatraz, the Expo-