USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > Men of achievement in the great Southwest Illustrated. A story of pioneer struggles during early days in Los Angeles and Southern California. With biographies, heretofore unpublished facts, anecdotes and incidents in the lives of the builders > Part 1
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BANCROFT LIBRARY
THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Men of Achievement In the Great Southwest
PIO PICO, LAST MEXICAN GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA
Men of Achievement
IN THE
Great Southwest Illustrated
A STORY OF PIONEER STRUGGLES
DURING EARLY DAYS IN LOS ANGELES AND SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
With Biographies, Heretofore Unpublished Facts, Anecdotes and Incidents in the Lives of the Builders
1
PUBLISHED BY THE LOS ANGELES TIMES 11 1904
INTRODUCTION.
from here because of the absence of storms at sea, fogs along the coast, or dangerous bars to cross, than from any other point on the western coast of America, north or south.
Situated thus on the shortest line between ocean and ocean, midway along the American coast, as near the Orient as any other point, with half a dozen lines of railroad connecting with the East and with the northern coast of the Pacific, Los Angeles occupies a vantage ground for manufacturing and for domestic and foreign trade unmatched from Bering Strait to Cape Horn.
The development in the past has been most remarkable. To one who carefully considers the advantages of the city, the future must appear secure. What has been done is a prophecy and an earnest of what will continue to take place to the end of the new century, with all its wonderful promise of achievement, whose magnificence will eclipse all the greatest accomplishments of humanity in all the ages that have gone before.
G. W. BURTON.
GLIMPSES OF SPANISH HOMES .- EARLY DAYS IN CALIFORNIA.
SUNLAND TALES OF CABALLEROS AND PIONEERS.
BY G. W. BURTON.
CHAPTER I.
BEFORE THE DAWN.
Before the footprints of a white man had been impressed upon the soil, or a ray of civilizing light had been shed upon the dark night of savage life, the site where Los Angeles now stands was occupied by one of the numerous Indian villages which nestled in the choice corners of the region. The Spanish missionaries who first visited the spot found about 300 of the aborigines gathered in the huts-abodes of squalor-on the flat lying along Aliso street between Los Angeles street and the river. Their name for the place was Yang-na. They were of the most wretched type of human beings, seemingly of Aleut, Mongol or South Sea Island origin, rather than of the intelligent Aztec stock of Mexico, or of the warlike and manly Indian tribes of other parts of North America. The Spanish missionary scarcely tried to acquire any of the many languages, or dialects, spoken by these people, as not more than 200 to 500 of them spoke the same tongue. From the days of Herodotus or Baron
SAN GABRIEL MISSION, NEAR LOS ANGELES. Founded 1771.
Munchausen, visitors to foreign climes and chroniclers of strange peoples and scenes have indulged freely in the pleasures of the imagination. The mission fathers were no exception to this rule. What they wrote may be taken always with more or less allowance. Fortunately, it is not a matter of great moment whether future ages receive exact impressions regarding the primeval inhabitants of California.
Columbus landed on the island which he named San Salvador, in October, 1492; Fernando Cortez, at Vera Cruz in 1519. Five years later he mentions California as a great island of fabulous wealth, in a report to the King of Spain. Ten years later than this, Fortuno Ximines sailed from the west coast of Mexico to explore this island. The vessel never got farther north than Cape San Lucas. The next year Cortez sailed up the Gulf of California in person. Four years still later, Ulloa reached the mouth of the Colorado River. It was reserved for Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo to set foot on the soil of Alta California. He entered the bay which he called San Diego in the summer of 1542, almost exactly half a century after Columbus first saw the shores of the New World. A few months later he came up the coast and anchored in San Pedro Bay. Three and a half centuries were destined to pass away before the light of civilization should shed its rays over this land.
8
MEN OF ACHIEVEMENT IN THE GREAT SOUTHWEST.
In January, 1769, a small vessel, the San Carlos, sailed from La Paz, near Cape San Lucas, for Alta Califor- nia. The expedition was under José de Galvez and Gaspar de Portola. With them was the far-famed Junipero Serra, a devoted and eloquent priest of the Franciscan order. In March, 1769, this expedition landed at San Diego, and proceeded to found the first mission in California. About the middle of July of this year, Portola
(1)
(2)
17
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(3)
(1) MISSION SAN LUIS REY.
(2) MISSION SANTA BARBARA, WITH GARDEN.
(3) RUINS OF SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO.
left San Diego with a company of sixty-four persons, soldiers, mule-drivers, a few Indians and two priests. On the second day of August the Indian village of Yang-na was reached. This day is the feast of Our Lady of the Angels. Hence, the place was named Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles. In 1771 a company from the Mission
9
MEN OF ACHIEVEMENT IN THE GREAT SOUTHWEST.
San Diego founded the Mission San Gabriel-not the present one, but the old mission on the banks of the San Gabriel River, near La Honda.
In September, 1781, the Governor of Alta California, Felipe de Neve, came from the San Gabriel Mission to the Indian village, Yang-na, with a company to found a pueblo, or town, to be called by the name already bestowed on it by the Spaniards, El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora, la Reina de Los Angeles, (the town of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels.) The records show there were eleven men, eleven women and twenty-two chil- dren in the party. The site had already been laid out with the Plaza in the center and extending three miles in every direction. Lots were assigned the settlers around the Plaza, and agricultural lands in outside territory. Of the twenty-two adults in the new colony, nine were Indians, eight mulattoes, two negroes, two Spaniards and one half-breed, half Spanish, half Indian. When the nineteenth century dawned there were seventy families, aggregating 315 souls, in the pueblo.
During the next twenty years all Spanish-America broke out in revolt against the mother country, and the numerous republics reaching from Mexico to Chile and Argentina sprang into being. In 1822 the Spanish set- tlers in California were informed that a revolution had taken place in Mexico; that the Spanish rule was at an end, and that Iturbide was Emperor of Mexico.
.
TYPICAL SCENE ON A CALIFORNIA CATTLE RANCH.
In 1830 the population of the pueblo is set down at about 1200. The colonists raised cattle and sheep, grew crops of wheat which supplied most of the missions, and for a few years made money out of hemp. This last industry, however, was soon overdone and had to be abandoned. By this time a few Englishmen and Americans began to come into the colony. One of the first Americans, and one of the most enterprising, was Don Abel Stearns, who arrived from Boston. In 1831 there was a small rebellion to depose the Governor, set up by the government of Mexico. Among the signers of the revolutionary manifesto was this Don Abel Stearns, Pio Pico, Juan Bandini and José Antonio Carillo, the last three names being familiar in Los Angeles at the present day. Stearns married one of the Bandini family, and lived until some time after 1870, leaving vast tracts of land in Los Angeles county, some of them lying in what is now Orange county, and known until within a few years as the Stearns Ranchos. He was by far the richest man in Southern California, possessed of much enterprise and business sagacity. Among other things, he introduced a strain of horses superior to the "broncos" of Mexican origin. He built one of the first two-story business structures in the city, the Arcadia Block, on Los Angeles street, at the head of Aliso street. It was built of brick, and is still standing. This was erected about 1865. Doña Arcadia de Stearn's later married the late Col. R. S. Baker, who built the Baker Block, about 1875,
PIONEERS-SOME HERE, SOME GONE BEFORE.
---
4
*Chas. Ducommon *Wm. Lacy. *M. S. Baker. T. D. Mott.
J. M. Guinn. *O. W. Childs. *Isaac Lankershim.
*J. de Barth Shorb.
Erskine M. Ross. *P. Beaudry. T. A. Garey. *John E. Hollenbeck.
*Gen. Phineas Banning. G. W. Burton. H. D. Barrows. *John G. Downey.
*Deceased,
.
11
MEN OF ACHIEVEMENT IN THE GREAT SOUTHWEST.
and this is still an ornament to the city. Mrs. Baker still survives, a witness of all the great growth of the city which was so small at the time of her birth. She enjoys the affectionate esteem of a very long list of friends. In her earlier days she and her two sisters, Mrs. Charles Johnson and Mrs. Winston, were stately ladies, whose personal . beauty and dignity of bearing would have won them distinction in any imperial court of Europe.
Before Abel Stearns, had come Joseph Chapman, in 1818. He taught the people of Los Angeles a good deal in the way of mechanical arts. He built a grist mill and a schooner used by the mission fathers in otter hunting among the islands off the coast. Another early settler was Stephen C. Foster, an American. He was a graduate of Yale College, and organized the first permanent system of public education in the community. A little later came John Temple. His brother, F. P. F. Temple, followed in 1841. John built the southerly portion of Tem- ple Block in 1857, as it now stands. Later he built what used to be the old Courthouse, where the Bullard Building now stands. It was used at first as a market. William Wolfskill of Kentucky arrived in Los Angeles in 1831, married one of the Lugo family, and planted a vineyard where the Arcade Depot now stands. In 1841 he planted four acres to oranges, which by 1886 had grown to be an orchard of thirty acres. The same year arrived Jonathan Trumbull Warner from Connecticut. He was of a commanding figure, six feet four inches, perhaps. The Spanish-speaking people called him Don Juan Largo, because of his great height. Until near
COWBOYS PREPARING FOR THE "RODEO."
the close of the century, he took a prominent part in the development of Los Angeles. Among the later arrivals of Americans in the last decade of Mexican rule who left their impress on the history of the country were Henry Mellus, coming in 1835, and his brother, Francis, who followed a few years later. John Forster, an Englishman, came in 1836. His name is connected with the ex-Mission San Juan Capistrano Rancho, where his son, Marco, still resides. The other son, Juan, died a few years ago in Los Angeles.
The first party of "tourist" settlers came in' 1841. They were led by the late Hon: B. D. Wilson, known among the Spaniards as Don Benito Wilson; John Rowland, William Workman, and D. W. Alexander. Wilson settled in San Gabriel Valley, where he developed a fine ranch property, which is now enjoyed by his widow and two daughters. He was in every sense a good citizen, and served the public well in many capacities. Row- land and Workman settled at Puente, where their descendants still own property. One of these, William R. Rowland, of this city, developed the first oil wells in Southern California on the Puente Rancho, and now enjoys a very handsome income from this source.
In 1840 the population in and around Los Angeles was estimated at about 2300 people, of whom 550 were Indians. There were forty Americans, about ten English, and a few French and German people among the population.
1
12
MEN OF ACHIEVEMENT IN THE GREAT SOUTHWEST.
The independence of Texas, won in 1836, irritated Mexico against the United States for the reason that the result in the Lone Star State was caused by its colonization by Americans. Bad blood existed between the two nations, culminating in war ten years later. The story of the years between 1840 and 1846 belongs to the transi- tion period.
The life of these early California pioneers, whether Spanish, Mexican, American or other nationality, was prim- itive in the extreme. It was very much like that of the classical heroes of Homer and Virgil, or that of the Biblical patriarchs. Agriculture was sporadic and crude; a small amount of wheat, little vineyards and smaller orchards, some of oranges, some of deciduous fruits, was all that was attempted. It was a pastoral age, and the cattle on the plains and hills were raised and slaughtered for their hides and tallow. There was no market for anything else. The people as a rule were honest, law-abiding, sober, but not industrious. They were kindly in their rela- tions one to another, and hospitable to strangers, as well as to those "to the manor born." They lived mostly . in the open air and on horseback. It required but little labor to attend the flocks, and horses were cheaper than dirt. The annual sales of hides, tallow and wool brought in abundance for the few wants of the simple people. Life was free, easy, careless, poetical and enchanting. Highly-civilized people of today, with colossal fortunes, are as a rule far less healthy and far less happy. The "gringo" took life as easily as his native-born neighbor. He married into the families of the country, and the only difference was in his greater providence and greater shrewdness, by which he succeeded in obtaining possession of most of the best ranches before the second genera - tion came to manhood. Few of the Spanish or Mexican families are found now with any great portion of the wealth of this day of great things in Southern California.
ALCALDES, OR MAYORS, OF LOS ANGELES.
Spanish.
Mexican.
José 1. Sepulveda
1788
José Vanegas (an Indian)
1822-3
Manuel Gutierrez
1838
Luis Arena
1789
José Sinova
1824
Encarnacion Urguidco
José Perez
1790
Mariano Verdugo
1825
José Maria Avila
1839
Tiburcio Tapia
1791
Francisco Reyes
1826
Claudio Lopez
1792
José Vanegas
1827
Guillermo Cota
1840 Santiago Arguello
1793-5
Francisco Reyes
1828
J. A. Carrillo
1841-3
(No Ayuntamiento, or City Council)
1796
José Vanegas
1829
Guillermo Cota
1811
Manuel Requena 'Tiburcio Tapia
1798
Guillermo Soto
1831
Vicente Sanchez
1845
Vicente Sanchez
1799
Francisco Serrano
1832
Manuel Dominguez
José 1 .. Sepulveda
1 800
Jcaquin Higuero
1833
José A. Carrillo
1846
Juan Gallardo
1809
Guillermo Soto
1835
Francisco Javier Alvarado
1847
José Salazar Enrico Avila
1816-8
Antonio Maria Lugo
1836
Manuel Requena
1848
Vicente Guerrero
1819-20 Anastasio Avila
Tiburcio Tapia
1849
José del Carmen Lugo
1821
Anastasio Carrillo
1837
Gil Abarra
José 1 .. Sepulveda
First Mayors Under American Rule.
1850 Abel Stearns
Ignacio Del Valle
It will be noted that there are several breaks in the list. There were many political upheavals in these early days, and proceedings were often irregular.
PIONEERS-SOME HERE, SOME GONE BEFORE.
WM. DRYDEN
J.J. AYERS
J. J. WARNER
E.F.SPENCE.
NE JOSE SEPULVEDA
GEO. H. BONEBRAKE
1 JOSE MASCAREL
1797
Manuel Arellano
1830
Tiburcio Tapia
1802
Mariano Verdugo
1834
José Perez
José 1 .. Sepulveda
1810
Francisco Avila
Dominguez Romero
Manuel Dominguez
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MEN OF ACHIEVEMENT IN THE GREAT SOUTHWEST.
CHAPTER II.
THE TRANSITION PERIOD.
The revolt of Texas from Mexico in 1836, and the persistent proposal of that new republic to become a part of the United States, created much irritation between the two countries. Mexico made it plain that the admis- sion of Texas as a State of the Union must be met by war. This did not deter the United States, but created a conservative policy, the aim of which was to put the burden of aggression on Mexico. At the same time, the administration at Washington encouraged rather than repressed any movement short of actual hostilities which inight provoke the smaller republic to declare war. England and France were looking with covetous eyes on that vast region of country lying between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific TT" Ocean, then claimed by Mexico. The Monroe Doctrine dictated to the United States the policy of permitting no non- NUEVO Aguhuls da Coto DE NAVA American nation to become master of so commanding a position on her western bor- ders and in the Pacific Ocean. Command- ers of American fleets in the Pacific had MEXICO Tilany confidential instructions from Washington APACH MAR as to what action they should take in Schuman Roy Coromedo APACHES DE del Mindercation emergencies. XTLA
pro de Los Reyes
CALIFORNIE
VERMEIO de Cort. In 1842 Commodore Jones sailed sud- NUE Tanı Pie de Munte Rey Titan denly from Callao, Peru, and, arriving at 22 / pro de Carinae Cibula Condit Nueva Ameles Huhates Monterey, landed a body of marines and S""FZ Moqui Queres ran up "Old Glory" in place of the Mexican GRA "Perc" Conad das. Bartura SomMon Tonipires flag. In a few days he found that he had MIR MARATA B. de la Courfion APACHES Tehere I.l Nertt Piri Garneles P. d. S. Diegu S Miguel PERILLO Sub Manifes 5 made a mistake, and replaced the Mexican las Playas RE colors in their proper place, apologizing for Hanes I S. Martor Sunwes Zuni fi Amma his hostile act. In 1846 John C. Frémont, Foontes D then a captain in the army of the United DI Tarrahumanos I de Permones Tepoanes S Frunte for Paf C. States, attached to the Topographical En- 1 de Czaniu Sierra Antula Quedan . Tun gineer Corps, came into California. over- Charona CINALOA Asterion land, with about sixty followers. He pro- SUD ceeded to Monterey, and informed Gen. Junte Le S Castro, who had command of the Mexican Apolloment forces in the territory, that his purpose was Isene Sous le Tropicque du Cancer scientific exploration. Castro became sus- PACIFICQUE For Campolos picious of the designs of the Americans, and ordered them to leave the country. 240% He assembled a company of 200 men to enforce his commands. Frémont went by Puree Mes north, but on the heels of this event came OLD SPANISHIMAP REPRESENTING CALIFORNIA AS AN ISLAND. Lieut. Gillespie from Washington with dispatches for Frémont, which caused the latter to retrace his steps. He halted near Sacramento. In June, 1846, a little handful of Americans, about thirty in number, assembled at Sonoma, formed what they called the "California Republic," ran up the famous Bcar flag, and took Gen. Vallejo prisoner, but a month later threw themselves on Frémont for protection. In August news reached California that Mexico had de- clared war against the United States on May 13. In June this news had reached Commodore Sloat at Mazatlan. Hc at once hurried to Monterey. July 7 Sloat landed a party, proceeded to the town, hauled down the Mexican flag and ran up the "Stars and Stripes," this time to stay. Soon after, Commodore Stockton succeeded Sloat. Frémont had already gone to San Diego to cut off Castro's army from escaping into Lower California. August II, Stockton, who had sailed south, set out from San Pedro for Los Angeles, his men hauling their cannon by
14
MEN OF ACHIEVEMENT IN THE GREAT SOUTHWEST.
hand. Two days later Fremont arrived from San Diego. There was 110 resistance, and the Americans estab- lished headquarters on Main street, where the St. Charles Hotel now stands. Stockton organized a military company, which he put in command of Don Benito Wilson. A few skirmishes took place; Wilson surrendered to a party of Mexican partisans out on the Chino Ranch; Gillespie fled to San Pedro, spiked his guns and flung them into the bay. These Wilson later took from the water and sank them in the street where his store was, on the corner of Main and Commercial streets. Two of them are still there. Three Mexicans, José Maria Flores, José Antonio Carrillo and Andres Pico, brother of Gov. Pio Pico, organized a revolt. Stockton returned from the north with 800 men. December 5, 1846, Gen. Stephen W. Kearney came from the East to San Diego. He led about 1600 men. A little battle ensued with Andres Pico and his native Californians, in which the Ameri- cans were worsted. Dr. John S. Griffin was of this party. Later he became a citizen of Los Angeles, where he arose to much prominence, and died here only a few years ago, highly respected.
Kearney came out with a commission making him Governor of the Territory, superseding Stockton and Frémont. Stockton had sailed to San Diego, where he met Kearney, and they organized a joint expedition to recapture Los Angeles. A skirmish took place at the San Gabriel River between this force and some 500 native Californians. Next day another skirmish took place about two miles from Los Angeles, and January 10, 1847, Stockton and Kearney entered the city, victorious over the revolting native forces. Gillespie ran up the flag at the old headquarters on Main street, which he had abandoned a few months before. A plan for a fort on the hill where the High School now stands was made by Kearney's orders, from which the hill was long known as Fort Hill, and the street leading south was known as Fort street, until about 1890, when it was renamed Broadway.
A dispute arose between Stockton and Kearney as to which was in command. Stockton held his ground, and appointed Frémont, who had come back from the north, civil Governor of California. This was June 19, 1847. Kearney withdrew to San Diego, to await further orders from Washington. In less than two months Col. Richard B. Mason arrived from Washington, bearing dispatches which set at rest all question as to Kearney's supremacy. Fremont quarreled with Mason, and was ordered to Washington, where he was tried before a court- martial and found guilty of disobedience.
PALM DRIVE, JOHN SINGLETON'S GROUNDS, LOS ANGELES,
15
MEN OF ACHIEVEMENT IN THE GREAT SOUTHWEST.
CHAPTER III.
EARLY DAYS UNDER "OLD GLORY."
Frémont held sway from January to March, 1847, when Kearney came to be recognized as in command, and Col. St. George Cooke, who had led the "Mormon Battalion" from Missouri, was put in charge of affairs at Los Angeles. In May, Cooke was succeeded by Col. J. B. Stevenson, who had come into the Territory with Kearney. He led a regiment of New York volunteers. Many followers of Fremont, Cooke and Stevenson remained permanently in Los Angeles. Kearney appointed Stephen C. Foster Alcalde, or Mayor, of the city. Don Abel Stearns was City Assessor and Tax Collector. The native Californians so resented the action of Kear- ney that they resigned in a body from the Ayuntamiento, or City Council. The two Americans administered the affairs of the city as best they could. They ordered a general cleaning-up of the pueblo, formed a "chain-gang" out of the recalcitrant element, and put the water system in better shape. In May, 1849, an election was held for a new Council, John Temple being the only American elected. Next year Don Abel Stearns was the first reg- ularly-elected Mayor under American rule. B. D. Wilson and D. W. Alexander were elected members of the Council.
In 1849 the first Legislature under American rule divided California into counties, one being called Los Angeles, which embraced all the territory lying between the Tehachepi Mountains, San Diego county, the ocean and the Colorado River. In April, 1850, the first election of county officers under American sway took place. Augustin Olivera was elected Judge; B. D. Wilson, Clerk; Benjamin Hayes, Attorney ; J. R. Conway, Surveyor ; Manuel Garfias, Treasurer ; Antonio F. Coronel, Assessor; Ignacio Del Valle, Recorder; George T. Burrill, Sheriff; Charles B. Cullen, Coroner. Few in number as the Americans were in the community, they knew how to "do politics," as shown in the list above. The total value of real property in the county, as shown by the assessment rolls, was $748,606. The improvements were assessed at $301,947, and the personal property, mostly herds and flocks, at $1,183,898-broadly speaking, as much as the real estate and improvements together. Until after the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill, Los Angeles had been the largest city in the State. This was in the spring of 1848. This discovery brought an influx of 80,000 people into California in 1849. In three years $215,000,000 in gold was taken out, and armies of people flocked to California by way of the Isthmus, around Cape Horn and across the plains. Los Angeles fell to a place of minor importance as compared with San Francisco, Sacramento and other cities in the mining sections of the country.
The first constitutional convention in California met in Monterey, in August, 1849. The Los Angeles dele- gates were Abel Stearns, J. A. Carrillo, Stephen C. Foster and Manuel Dominguez. The form of constitution adopted provided for the exclusion of slavery in the new State. After a hard fight in Congress, California was admitted to the Union, with its anti-slavery provision, September 9, 1850.
Under the Spanish and Mexican governments, all the land in the pueblo belonged to the public domain except- ing as it was disposed of to private owners by the Ayuntamiento, or Council. The system of passing title and of keeping records was very crude. The first survey of the city lands had been made by Gen. Ord, then Lieut. E. O. C. Ord, in 1849. He laid out the streets and lots now forming the center of the city, as far south as Pico street, north to where River Station now is, east to the river and west to the hills, cutting Pico street at Figueroa.
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