In the book "Over North in Sierra County" by James J Sinnott (page 21), a list of early Sierra County businesses is included. In 1862 one "A. J. Howe" operates as an Attorney at Law in St Louis.

I am currently creating a surname index for that book and posted it at:
http://cagenweb.com/sierra/Ref_books/OverNorthIndex.html

Rick Hanson
Sierra County CAGenWeb
http://cagenweb.com/sierra/