John Alexander Brewster
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John Alexander Brewster (1826–1889) was the fourth California Surveyor General, serving from 1856 to 1858.[1]
He first traveled to California with explorer John C. Frémont. Although the exact date of his arrival in California is not known, it probably predated the arrival of any other Surveyor General; he was most likely a resident of California prior to the Gold Rush. Brewster was elected Surveyor of Sonoma County, and his 1854 map of Santa Rosa was the first map recorded in that county.
In the early 1850s, the Whig party collapsed and a new political party emerged. This party called itself the American Party and its candidates were elected overwhelmingly in the 1855 California state election. General John A. Brewster was elected as a member of the American Party.
Although popular in its day, the American party's platform opposing the election of Roman Catholics and "foreigners" was controversial. The American Party came to be known as the "Know Nothing Party", because when asked about its platform, the members said: "I know nothing".
Wagon roads
By the mid-1850s, the public cry for developed wagon roads became so insistent that two routes over the Sierra Nevada mountains were proposed. In August 1856, Brewster led a reconnaissance party to Downieville, Sierra County, in order to examine one of these alternative routes over the Sierras. On the eastern side of Sierra County, they
... passed parties of Indians, over 350 in number, belonging to two different tribes, who had been holding a "grand talk," to settle some disputes about their hunting grounds; and their council having broken up, they were now on their way to their autumnal haunts. A few had horses, on which the happy possessors pranced in great state, while the squaws and half grown children, dragged after them the lodge-poles, on which were fastened their household gear, and in some instances, a papoose, whose glittering eyes shone out in wonderment amid the confused mass of Indian baggage.
— Surveyor General's Annual Report, 1856
In October 1856, he led a second expedition through Calaveras County. In his Annual Report of 1856, Brewster recommended funding the survey and construction of 6 major routes into California, as well as the building of other roads, and a railroad for commerce and transportation.