USA > California > San Mateo County > History of San Mateo County, California, including its geography, topography, geology, climatography, and description, together with an historical sketch of California; a record of the Mexican grants; the early history and settlement, compiled from the most authentic sources; some of the names of Spanish and American pioneers; legislative history; a record of its cities and towns; biographical sketches of representative men; etc., etc > Part 1
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Gc 979.401 Sa65h 1715787
1
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01717 2328
1
J. C. Steele
HISTORY
-OF-
SAN MATEO COUNTY,
CALIFORNIA,
INCLUDING ITS
GEOGRAPHY, TOPOGRAPHY, GEOLOGY, CLIMAT-
OGRAPHY, AND DESCRIPTION,
TOGETHER WITH
AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CALIFORNIA ; A RECORD OF THE MEXICAN GRANTS ; THE EARLY HISTORY AND SETTLEMENT, COMPILED FROM THE MOST AUTHENTIC SOURCES ; SOME OF THE NAMES OF SPANISH AND AMERICAN PIONEERS ; LEGISLATIVE HISTORY ; A RECORD OF ITS CITIES AND TOWNS; BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF REPRESENTATIVE MEN ; ETC., ETC.
-
ILLUSTRATED.C ...
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. B. F. ALLEY, PUBLISHER.
1883.
ENTERED ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS, IN THE YEAR 1883, BY B. F. ALLEY, IN THE OFFICE OF THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS, AT WASHINGTON, D. C.
C. W. GORDON, Steam Book and Job Printer, San Francisco, Cal.
1715787
PREFACE.
The history of San Mateo county was undertaken nearly twelve months since; the result of our labors will be found in the following pages. We claim no literary merit for the work. Our aim is to please the majority, by presenting a volume wherein will be found in convenient shape, the principal events that have transpired within the county limits.
To the old settler, to the pioneer citizen, the events recorded in these pages, many of them in which he has figured, and which have been gradually and surely fading from the mind, will he as a revival of by-gone associations. The ground that he rescued from the wilderness will be made holy, while the infant will be taught to look with reverence upon the book which holds the annals of his parent's wanderings, and the rise and progress of his native county.
Through unredeemed promises, much in respect to prominent matters has been per force omitted-this through no fault of ours; notwithstanding these, we venture to predict for the history of San Mateo county, a full recognition from those gentlemen who have done us the honor to place their names on our subscription list.
To compile such a volume has been a task requiring much patience, a certain amount of skill, and a very great deal of application, yet happily our labors have been gladdened by many a cheering word and much information, pleasantly obtained from many of the residents of the county. To all those gentlemen we tender our most sincere acknowledgments.
In conclusion, we offer our heartiest thanks to the members of the press in San Mateo county, while to Alex. Moore, of Pescadero; A. S. Easton, James Whitehead and D. S. Cook, of San Mateo; G. H. Rice, H. B. Thompson, of Redwood City; Dr. Tripp, of Woodside, and I. C. Steele, of New Year's Point, is due a thorough appreciation of their kindly offices.
.
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CONTENTS.
HISTORICAL.
PAGE.
PAGE.
HISTORY OF SAN MATEO COUNTY 87
Cañada de Guadalupe. 212
Climate 88
Punta del Año Nuevo 212
Scenery 88
Feliz Rancho 213
Streams 89
San Mateo 213
Roads 90
HISTORY OF TOWNSHIPS 214
Geology of San Mateo County_ 91
Pescadero 214
GENERAL HISTORY AND SETTLEMENT 96
Pigeon Point
220
SKETCHES OF PIONEERS 100
Pigeon Point Light House 221
The Organization of the County 155
Redwood City 223
Early Proceedings of Board of Supervisors. 167
Woodside. 228 1 I
County Seat contests 169
1 Ravenswood 229 I
MEXICAN GRANTS 173
Clark's Landing. 1
229
Cañada del Corte de Madera
211
Belmont
A 230
San Antonio 211
Buri Buri 211
San Mateo 231
Las Pulgas 1
211
St. Mathews Episcopal Church 234 Laurel Hall 236
Butano
211
Purissima 211 1 I 1 1
Millbrae
237
1 I San Pedro 211 I
Millbrae Oyster Beds
237
San Gregorio 212
San Bruno
238
Corral de Tierra 212
Colma 238
Cañada de Raymundo 212
Uncle Tom's Cabin 238
Arroyo de las Pilarcitos 212
Half Moon Bay 239
DAIRY FARMS, ETC.
DAIRY FARMS 244
James Reed's Dairy Farm 245
Milbrae Dairy 244
Steele Bro's. Dairy Farm 246
Willow Side Dairy Farm 244
Dairy Farm of I. G. Knowles_245
Jersey Farm of R. G. Sneath __ 246 Knowles' Trout & Carp Pond __ 248 Grady and Co's Tannery 249
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
BIOGRAPHICAL
251
Burch, E. C 274
Ashburner, Robert
272
Baldwin, G. W 282
Alt, William C
278
Bickford, J. R. S I
284
Ames, Hon. J. P
1 296
Beebe, Thomas H
1 286 I
Beeger, Henry 264
Brown, Jacob W 290
Botsch, Frederick
I 265
Brown, Michael 291
Brown, R. H
271
Barrows, H. F 306
I 1
1 1
1
Baden Dairy Farm 245
Menlo Park 231
Searsville 227
vi
CONTENTS.
Bicknell, Judge J. W 307
Keiffer, G. F
I 276
Christ, John 266
Knowles, I. G
285
Casey, P. B
271
Kelly, Lawrence 1
288
Chandler, L 272
Kerr, Alex. 298 I 1
Leary, D. G 287 1 1
Le Cornec, J 290 1 1 1 1 I
Church, Thomas 286
Cunningham, R 1
290
Cooney, Bryan 292 I
Clark, W. H 298 1 1
, Downing W. S 276 1 1
Durham, T. G
286
McCormack, James
1 279
Durham, W. W 1 1
287
McDermott, Hugh 1
1 283
Donald, John 290 1 1 1 1 1
Müller, Herr. Jacob 293
Miramontez, R 298
Miramontez, Antonio 301
Murray, L. T 302
Moore, John G 305 1 1
Morse, Hon. L. D 1
307
Eikerenkotter, A
288
Frisbie, Will
263
Fox, Geo. W
264
Fay, Alfred 273
Fisher, Geo. H 284
Fabbri, Madam Inez
293
Fox, Hon. C. N 312
Felton, Hon. C. N 313
Garretson, Hon. John I
25€
Green, Hon. A. F 1
267
Goodhue, S. G Į
275
Gardner, W. H 283 I I I
Steele, Isaac 257 1
Swanton, Charles W 278
1 1 Sears, John H 279 I t :
Snively, D. S 289 1 1 1 1
Shine, Thomas 301 1 1 I
Thompson, H. B 1
I
1
262
Teague, Andrew
1
266
Thompson, W. G 1
1
1
1 t 1 273
Taylor, W. M 282 1 1 I I
Taylor, Thomas 289 1
Taft, Andrew 305 1 t
Taylor, Edward
308
Thompson, A. P 309
I Weeks, B. V 255 I 1
Walker, H. W 261
Welch, Judge R. C
262
Weeks, Braddock. 277
Wurr, Henry 282
Walker, Eugene 284
Whitehead, James.
285
Wilson, James 285
Wyman, Geo. F 299
Winkler, John K. G 303
Winter, Geo 303
1
1
1 1 1
Goodspeed, I. R
301
I Husing, John D 255 1
Head, Judge E. F I 1 256 1 1 1
Hatch, J. H
1 261
Hanley, John
265
Hanson, Albert.
265
Hartsough, C. W 266
Hansen, Peter
267
Hawes, Horace (deceased)
267
Hawes, Horace 269
Hayward, B 275
Harsha, J. B
276
Honsinger, A
281
Hollinsead, J. B 28
Hadler, Jolın 289
Hallett, Capt. J. H 291
Jenevein, August.
288
Johnston, John_ 275
Johnson, Edwin L 277
Johnston, Thomas 297
Jackson, William 305
Kuck, Martin 264
1
1
299
Easton, A. S.
1
1
259
Edgar, John C
Pharis, S. P 258 1 I
Pinkham, H. H
1 1 282
Pratt, J. H
:
I
1
283
Prior, Charles
289
Rice, Geo. H
1
1
1 1 263
1 Robson, Edward 278
Reed, James 279 1
Rawls, Robert 281 1
Reed, Thomas
293
1 Sneath, R. G 253 I 1 1 1
Garnot, Hiliar 290 I I 1
Gargan, Murty
I 299
1
1
1
1
1 1 1
I
I 1
Perry, Thos. H
I
1
1
315
Lathrop, B. G J
Moore, Alexander 1
1
1
I
t
251
Maloney, P. J 265 I 1 1 1
1 McMahon, O. 277 1 1
Doyle, M. K 291 J 1 1
Deeney, Patrick 298
Downing, Jacob t
1
1
1
1 282
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
I 1
I
1 I
1
1
270
1
Casey, Peter 274
Coburn, Loren 280 1 1
Lloyd, William 292 I 1 1 I 1 I
1
1
1
1
EARLY SPANISH DISCOVERIES IN SAN MATEO.
SPANISH PERIOD .- The history of San Mateo county dates back to the time when California was first visited by the white race. Point Año Nuevo, its southwestern extremity, derives its name from having been sighted by Don Sebastian Vizcayno, on January 1, 1603. The discovery of the bay of San Francisco, which bathes the eastern shore of the county, was long a subject of dispute. Some have claimed the honor for Sir Francis Drake, who, in his famous marauding expedition of 1577-78-79, put into what was then and long after called the " Port of San Francisco," and remained some weeks, refitting his ships. He called the country " New Albion," and took formal possession of it in the name of his sovereign, Queen Elizabeth, and as her representative accepted the allegiance of some of the native chiefs. In perpetual memory of this act of possession, the old chronicle relates that a wooden pillar was erected, to which was affixed a silver plate, containing an engraved likeness of her majesty, with the date. It was probably a redwood post, with an English crown piece, or perhaps a shilling nailed fast to it, bear- ing her royal image and authenticated by the stamp of her mint. But that this Spanish port of San Francisco, entered by Drake in 1578, wherein the Philipine galleon, San Augustin, was wrecked in 1595, and which Vizcayno also visited in 1603, is not the same as that which now bears the name, has been fairly established from ancient records recently brought to light by the California Historical Society, and has been definitely accepted by an authority no less distinguished than Professor George Davidson, of the United States coast survey. A description of it is to be found in an old Pacific coast pilot, written by Admiral José Gonsales Cabrera Bueno, and published in Manila in 1734. It is there located immediately under the lea of Point Reyes, and cor- responds perfectly with that now termed Sir Francis Drake's bay. The pres- ent bay of San Francisco remained unknown, down to the year 1769, when Jose Galvez, the visitor general of New Spain, determined on the occupation of Upper California. For this purpose two expeditions were simultaneously des- patched from Lower California; the one by land, the other by sea. The over- land one, under the command of Don Gaspar de Portola, the first governor .
of California, reached San Diego on the first of July, in the year named, and after a short rest there resumed its northward march on the fourteenth of the
.
viii
HISTORY OF SAN MATEO COUNTY.
same month. Two schooners, the San Jose and the Principe had been directed to follow up the coast, and a rendezvous appointed at the Bay of Monterey, described by Vizcayno as a magnificent port, and which Galvez designed to occupy as the base of his new colony. After numerous vicissitudes, Portola's expedition descending the valley of the Salinas river, reached its mouth October 1st. Unable on a hasty reconnoisance to find the " magnificent port " described by Vizcayno, and misled by a fog bank into the belief of another headland imme- diately north of Point Año Nuevo, the adventurers continued their journey, and on the 30th of the month, reached point Corral de Tierra, and camped on the site of the present town of Half Moon Bay. The headland to the west of them Father Crespi, the chaplain of the expedition, called " Point Guardian Angel," but the more worldly minded soldiers, from the abundance of mussels found there, gave it the name of "Punta de Almejas," or " Mussel Point." When or how it got that of Point Corral de Tierra is unknown to us. In attempting to go further up the coast, the ascent of the first ridge revealed to the observers of the expedition, far to the N. N. W., Point Reyes, with the bay of San Francisco under its lea, and the Farallones to seaward, and confirmed the suspicion which had for the past month distracted the leaders of the party, that they had long since passed by the famous port of Monterey, without find- ing it. A halt was called and a countermarch decided on. But preliminary to returning from their unsuccessful search, Sergeant Ortega, with a party of soldiers, was despatched over the hills to the northeast, to explore and report on the character of the country to be found there. Three days were allowed for this examination, and in the meantime the men were allowed to hunt at discretion through the neighboring hills. On the evening of November 2d, some of the hunters returned, announcing the discovery of an immense arm of the sea, stretching from the ocean far inland. This was confirmed on the following day by the return of Ortega's party, who announced these glad tidings in advance by discharges of musketry, waving flags, etc. Animated by their unlooked-for intelligence, Portola broke up his camp on the fol- lowing day, and struck out over the hills to the northeastward. From the summit of these, the party looked down on our noble bay, which in their admiration they termed another Mediterranean Sea! They turned sonthward, following the Cañada Raymundo with the idea of getting around the head of the bay, and so reaching Point Reyes and the port of San Francisco, lost for one hundred and sixty-six years! On the 6th of November they encamped on the northerly bank of the San Francisquito creek, not far from where Governor Stanford's house now stands. Explorers were again sent out, but as these re- ported that the bay again became wider beyond the point we now call Ravens- wood, and extended to an unknown distance southward, alarm at the rashness of their undertaking began to prevail, and they arrested their march. In fact their powers were spent, and it was well they decided to attempt no more, for
ix
EARLY SPANISH DISCOVERIES.
to have pursued their journey further, in their exhausted condition, might have resulted in the loss of the whole party. The discoveries they had made, it was important to preserve. Their provisions were almost exhausted, several of their number had died, and more than half the remainder were down with the scurvy. The native inhabitants showed signs of hostility, and the winter of an unknown region was at hand. A council was again called, and it was voted unanimously to retrace their steps. Governor Portola would indeed still have pushed on, but yielded to the unanimous voice of his companions, and on the 11th of November, 1769, they sadly commenced their homeward march.
All their meat and vegetables had long been consumed, and their ammuni- tion was nearly exhausted. Their allowance of food was reduced to five small tortillas a day. These with shell-fish obtained from the sea-shore, acorns and pine nuts gathered on their march, or furnished by friendly Indians, and an occasional wild goose killed with a stick, furnished the staple of their poor food, as they toiled over their weary, homeward march. They reached Point Pinos again on the 27th of. November, and notwithstanding their distressed condition, remained there till the 9th of December, searching in vain, up and down the coast, for that "famous harbor of Monterey," which Vizcayno had described in such glowing terms. Point Pinos, indeed, they recognized from its description, and the latitude assigned to it; but nothing else could they find corresponding to the description of the bay they were in search of. In despair they at last concluded that the harbor must have been filled up by sand, or obliterated by some convulsion of nature. All hopes of meeting the schooners, from whose stores they might have obtained succor was abandoned, and on the 9th of December they sadly prepared to renew their toilsome and dreary march towards San Diego. Before starting, they erected on the south side of Point Pinos, at what is now called Cypress Point, a large wooden cross, on which was rudely carved the words, " dig at the foot of this, and you will find a writing," and at its foot accordingly they buried a brief account of their journey. Its text, as set forth in Father Crespi's diary, was as follows:
" The overland expedition which left San Diego on the 14th of July, 1769, " under the command of Don Gaspar de Portola, governor of California, " reached the channel of Santa Barbara on the 9th of August, and passed Point " Conception on the 27th of the same month. It reached the Sierra de Santa " Lucia on September 13th, entered that range of mountains on the 17th, and " emerged from them on the 1st of October; on the same day caught sight of " Point Pinos and the harbors on its north and south sides, without discover- " ing any indications of the bay of Monterey. Determined to push on further " in search of it, on the 30th of October we got sight of Point Reyes and the " Farallones at the bay of San Francisco, which are seven in number. The " expedition strove to reach Point Reyes, but was hindered by an immense arm
X
HISTORY OF SAN MATEO COUNTY.
" of the sea, which extending to a great distance inland, compelled them to " make an enormous circuit for that purpose. In consequence of this and " other difficulties, the greatest being the absolute want of food, the expedi- " tion was compelled to turn back, believing that they must have passed the " harbor of Monterey without discovering it. They started in return from the " bay of San Francisco on November 11th, passed Point Año Nuevo on the " 19th, and reached this point and harbor of Pinos on the 27th of the same " month. From that date until the present 9th of December, we have used " every effort to find the bay of Monterey, searching the coast, notwithstanding " its ruggedness, far and wide, but in vain. At last, undeceived and despair- "ing of finding it after so many efforts, sufferings and labors, and having " left, of all our stock of provisions but fourteen small sacks of flour, we leave " this place to-day for San Diego. I beg of the Almighty God to guide us, " and as to you, traveler, who may read this, that he may guide you also, to " the harbor of eternal salvation.
" Dated at the harbor of Pinos, the 9th of December, 1769.
" Note that Don Michael Constanzo, our engineer, observed the latitude of " various places on the coast, and the same are as follows:
" San Diego, at the camp of the overland expedition, 32°, 47'.
" Indian village, at the east end of the channel of Santa Barbara, 34°, 13'. " Point Conception, 34°, 30'.
" The southern foot of the Sierra de Santa Lucia, 359, 45'.
" Its northern extremity, at the harbor and point of Pinos, 36°, 36'.
" Point Año Nuevo, which has low reefs of rocks,* 36°, 04'.
" The land, near the harbor of San Francisco, the Farrallones bearing W. } " N, 37-, 35'.
" Point Reyes, which we discovered on the W. N. W. from the same place, " supposed to be 373, 44'.
" If the commanders of the schooners, either the San José or the Principe, " should reach this place within a few days of this date, on learning the con- "tents of this writing and the distressed condition of this expedition, we " beseech them to follow the coast down closely towards San Diego, so that if " we should be happy enough to catch sight of them, we may be able to apprise " them by signals, flags and fire-arms, of the place at which succor and pro- " visions may reach us.
" Glory be to God," says the pious old chronicler, " the cross was erected on " a little hillock close to the beach of the small harbor on the south side of " Point Pinos, and at its foot we buried the letter."
On the other side of the point they erected another cross, and carved on the arms, with a razor, the words " the overland expedition from San Diego returned from this place on the 9th of December, 1769, starving."
*Probably an error in transcribing; the other latitudes are very nearly correct.
xi
EARLY SPANISH DISCOVERIES.
Their prayer for succor was, however, in vain. It never reached those to whom it was addressed. The schooners after beating up to the latitude of Monterey, were compelled to turn back to the Santa Barbara channel, for want of water, and never reached the coveted port. They ultimately put back to San Diego, which they reached just in season to relieve that colony from starvation. The land expedition meanwhile prosecuted its weary march down the coast, encountering sickness, privation and occasionally death, until on the 24th of January, 1770, it reached San Diego, whence it had started six months and ten days before.
Other exploring expeditions followed in succeeding years, but it is unneces- sary to follow their steps; they belong rather to the history of Santa Clara and Alameda counties, than to that of San Mateo. The mission of San Francisco was founded in October, 1776, and from that time forth our county began to be inhabited by civilized men. The next notice of it to be found among the records of early travelers, occurs in Vancouver's account of his voyage in 1792. He brought his vessel into San Francisco, and came to an anchor in the little cove at the presidio, between Point San Jose and Fort Point, to take in wood and water and to refresh his crew. The cordial hospitality of Señor Sal, the ensign in command of the presidio, and the Franciscan friars at the mission, he acknowledges very heartily. "The happiness " says he "they seemed to " anticipate, did not appear to arise so much from any pleasure they might · " derive in our society, as from the comforts and assistance which it was in " their power to administer; this was manifest by all their actions." Hospi- tality seems to have been an early if not an indigenous virtue in California, and we may not without flattery congratulate ourselves that it still retains a vigorous growth here. The tribute which Vancouver pays to that of the early inhabitants, might with trifling changes be repeated by almost every subsequent visitor. After visiting the presidio, where a single brass three pounder mounted on a rotten stock, and another lashed to a log of wood, constituted the whole defensive armament of the port, and the mission, which was then in its infancy, and appears to have been surrounded by a village of basketwork huts of the uncivilized and still pagan natives, Captain Vancouver, with some of his officers, started for Santa Clara. Their journey was on horse- back, over a country familiar to most of our readers, and is full of interest. He describes the little knoll near which stands the entrance to the Howard estate, the murmuring stream hard by, and the little belt of timber at San Mateo, in a way perfectly recognizable at the present day. Advancing further he reaches what is now called Menlo Park, and says, " here we entered a " country I little expected to find in these regions, for about twenty miles it " could only be compared to a park, which had originally been closely planted " with true old English oak. The underwood that had probably attended its " early growth, had the appearance of having been cleared away, and had left
xii
HISTORY OF SAN MATEO COUNTY.
" the stately lords of the forest in complete possession of the soil, which was " covered with luxuriant herbage, and beautifully diversified with pleasing " eminences and valleys, which with the range of lofty, rugged mountains that " bounded the prospect, required only to be adorned with the neat habitations " of an industrious people, to produce a scene not inferior to the most studied " effects of taste in the disposal of grounds, especially when seen from the " port or its confines, the waters of which extended some distance by the side " of this country, and though they were not visible to us, I was induced to " believe they approached within a league of the road we pursued."
Of the twenty miles of natural park so admired by him, but about three or four remain. The titles beyond the San Francisquito creek being in dispute, squatters got early possession, and stripped the county side of the magnifi- cent timber that adorned it, to sell for cord wood and charcoal. But from Fair Oaks, well deserving the name, to the banks of the creek beyond Menlo Park, the country still retains the same striking features he so graphically describes. Tradition still points out the clump of wide spreading oaks, which the old sea-dog found "so well adapted for taking the refreshments which our " provident friend had supplied, and where, with some grog we had brought " from the ship, we all made an excellent meal." It stands in a field fronting on the Middlefield road, just west of J. C. Flood's park like domain, about eighteen hundred feet north of the road. A vineyard has been planted in front of it, and some of the smaller trees cleared away, but the " ancient lords of the forest " are still there; a stately group of encinos, intermingled with bays, madrones and red-berried laurels, and we trust they will long be spared by the woodman's axe, which has removed so many of their congeners in the neighborhood.
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CALIFORNIA.
J. FENNIMORE COOPER, in one of his most able works, says: "On the human imagination events produce the effects of time. Thus, he who has traveled far and seen much is apt to fancy that he has lived long; and the history that most abounds in important incidents soonest assumes the aspect of antiquity. In no other way can we account for the venerable air that is already gathering around American annals. When the mind reverts to the earliest days of colonial history, the period seems remote and obscure, the thousand changes that thicken along the links of recollections, throwing back the origin of the nation to a day so distant as seemingly to reach the mists of time; and yet four lives of ordinary duration would suffice to transmit, from mouth to mouth, in the form of tradition, all that civilized man has achieved within the limits of the republic." The gifted author here speaks of the many changes which the comparatively few short years have worked upon the banks of the noble Hudson. He remarks: "Other similar memorials of the infancy of the country are to be found scattered through what is now deemed the very centre of American civilization, affording the plainest proofs that all we possess of security from invasion and hostile violence, is the growth of but little more than the time that is frequently filled by a single human life." If such may be deemed remarkable on the shores of that stream, how much more closely do they apply to the giant strides effected by the indomitable will of man on the Pacific coast.
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