investment agent and partner in the land rush that followed the American annexation. San Francisco In 1848, he returned to New York to secure himself an appointment as purser for the Pacific Squadron. He moved to a new headquarters in San Francisco, where he provisioned and payrolled ships between Monterey and Honolulu. When the California gold rush hit and inflated commodity prices, the Navy expected Price to establish the hegemony of American credit and prevent the drain of gold bullion to London. Instead, he enriched himself as a real-estate tycoon and entered politics. He was elected to the first Common Council of San Francisco and became a booster of the city's Long Wharf project. In August 1849, he was "detached" from the Pacific Squadron for making unauthorized drafts on specie in the Customs House and neglecting to submit quarterly returns on expenses. Despite his removal, Price's political career flourished. In September 1849, he was a delegate to the first of the California Constitutional Conventions and finished third in the November elections for the new state's inaugural United States Representatives. He returned to Washington to render account, but on his return journey his steamer, the Orleans St. John, caught fire on the Alabama River. Price claimed his payroll vouchers were destroyed in the fire, muddling his case and leading to years of litigation over $88,000 in unaccounted Navy funds. In December 28, 1849, he purchased Rancho San Geronimo from fellow naval officer Joseph Warren Revere for $7,500. The two would split the profits of timber exports from the property. On August 6. 1851, Price bought the remainder of Revere's property for $8,000. Price's move to New Jersey later inspired Revere to purchase farm land and construct The Willows, a custom mansion in Morristown, New Jersey. U.S. House of Representatives (1851–53) Having left California, Price purchased a mansion in Hoboken and entered a Wall Street partnership to manage his California holdings and speculated in Californian real estate. In 1850, Price's father and Robert Field Stockton, who was familiar with Price from Stockton's time as military governor, engineered Price's nomination for U.S. Representative from the state's fifth congressional district, which was composed of Bergen, Essex, Hudson, and Passaic counties. Owing to a division in the Whig Party following the Compromise of 1850, Price was narrowly elected in the usually Whig district. Price was not an active member of the House and served one