The issue of the Nauvoo Neighbor dated the following day, 19 March 1845, contained a summary of John C. Frémont’s expedition that had been prepared by the U.S. military’s chief topographical engineer and published in an annual report to President John Tyler. The paper also printed a report, based on an account in a New Orleans newspaper, that there was soon to be an attempt to grow cotton in the San Diego, California, area. The same article related the disappointment of American settlers with Oregon and stated that some had moved to the San Francisco area seeking better land. A separate article reported the rumor that Mexicans in Upper California had rebelled in an attempt to found an independent republic. Another news item reported that attempts to negotiate a peaceful resolution over the Oregon controversy with Great Britain had failed and that prospects of a treaty seemed grim, while a final article provided information on “the Islands of the Pacific.” (“Military and Geographical Surveys West of the Mississippi,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 19 Mar. 1845, [1]; Message from the President of the United States, 218–222; “Cotton in California—The Oregon Settlers,” “Another Young Republic,” News Item, and “The Islands of the Pacific,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 19 Mar. 1845, [2].)

Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

Message from the President of the United States, to the Two Houses of Congress, at the Commencement of the Second Session of the Twenty-Eighth Congress. December 3, 1844. Washington DC: Gales and Seaton, 1844.

California Bay is another name for the Gulf of California.