A history of California and an extended history of its southern coast counties, also containing biographies of well-known citizens of the past and present, Volume I, Part 25

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company
Number of Pages: 1184

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Colonel Stevenson's request was made in ac- cordance with the wish of Governor Mason that a part of the civil offices be filled by Amer- icans. The new ayuntamiento resented the in- terference. How the matter terminated is best told in Stephen C. Foster's own words: "Colo- nel Stevenson was determined to have our in- auguration done in style. So on the day ap- pointed, January 1, 1848, he, together with myself and colleague, escorted by a guard of soldiers, proceeded from the colonel's quarters to the alcalde's office. There we found the re- tiring ayuntamiento and the new one awaiting our arrival. The oath of office was adminis- tered by the retiring first alcalde. We knelt to take the oath, when we found they had changed their minds, and the alcalde told us that if two of their number were to be kicked out they would all go. So they all marched out and left us in possession. Here was a dilemma, but Colonel Stevenson was equal to the emergency. He said he could give us a swear as well as the alcalde. So we stood up and he administered to us an oath to support the constitution of the United States and administer justice in ac-

cordance with Mexican law. I then knew as much about Mexican law as I did about Chinese, and my colleague knew as much as I did. Guer- rero gathered up the books that pertained to his office and took them to his house, where he established his office, and I took the archives and records across the street to a house I had rented, and there I was duly installed for the next seventeen months, the first American al- calde and carpet-bagger in Los Angeles."

Colonel Stevenson issued a call for the elec- tion of a new ayuntamiento, but the people stayed at home and no votes were cast. At the close of the year the voters had gotten over their pet and when a call was made a council was elected, but only Californians (hijos del pais) were returned. The ayuntamientos con- tinued to be the governing power in the pueblos until superseded by city and county govern- ments in 1850.

The most difficult problem that General Kear- ny in his short term had to confront and, un- solved, he handed down to his successor, Colo- nel Mason, was the authority and jurisdiction of the alcaldes. Under the Mexican régime these officers were supreme in the pueblo over which they ruled. For the Spanish transgressor fines of various degrees were the usual penalty; for the mission neophyte, the lash, well laid on, and labor in the chain gang. There was no written code that defined the amount of pun- ishment ; the alcalde meted out justice and some- times injustice, as suited his humor. Kearny appointed John H. Nash alcalde of Sonoma. Nash was a rather erratic individual, who had taken part in the Bear Flag revolution. When the offices of the prospective California Re- public were divided among the revolutionists, he was to be the chief justice. After the col- lapse of that short-lived republic, Nash was elected alcalde. His rule was so arbitrary and his decisions so biased by favoritism or preju- dice that the American settlers soon protested and General Kearny removed him or tried to. He appointed L. W. Boggs, a recently arrived immigrant, to the office. Nash refused to sur- render the books and papers of the office. Lieut. W. T. Sherman was detailed by Colonel Mason, after his succession to the office of governor, to

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proceed to Sonoma and arrest Nash. Sherman quietly arrested him at night and before the bellicose alcalde's friends (for he had quite a fol- lowing) were aware of what was going on, marched him off to San Francisco. He was put on board the Dale and sent to Monterey. Finding that it was useless for him to resist the authority of the United States, its army and navy as well, Nash expressed his willingness to submit to the inevitable, and surrendered his office. He was released and ceased from troub- ling. Another strenuous alcalde was William Blackburn, of Santa Cruz. He came to the country in 1845, and before his elevation to the honorable position of a judge of the first in- stance he had been engaged in making shingles in the redwoods. He had no knowledge of law and but little acquaintance with books of any kind. His decisions were always on the side of justice, although some of the penalties imposed were somewhat irregular.

In Alcalde Blackburn's docket for August 14, 1847, appears this entry: "Pedro Gomez was tried for the murder of his wife, Barbara Gomez, and found guilty. The sentence of the court is that the prisoner be conducted back to prison, there to remain until Monday, the 16th of Au- gust, and then be taken out and shot." August 17, sentence carried into effect on the 16th ac- cordingly. WILLIAM BLACKBURN, Alcalde.

It does not appear in the records that Black- burn was the executioner. He proceeded to dispose of the two orphaned children of the murderer. The older daughter he indentured to Jacinto Castro "to raise until she is twenty-one years of age, unless sooner married, said Ja- cinto Castro, obligating himself to give her a good education, three cows and calves at her marriage or when of age." The younger daugh- ter was disposed of on similar terms to A. Rod- riguez. Colonel Mason severely reprimanded Blackburn, but the alcalde replied that there was no use making a fuss over it; the man was guilty, he had a fair trial before a jury and de- served to die. Another case in his court illus- trates the versatility of the judge. A Spanish boy, out of revenge, sheared the mane and tail of a neighbor's horse. The offense was proved,

but the judge was sorely perplexed when he came to sentence the culprit. He could find no law in his law books to fit the case. After pon- dering over the question a while, he gave this decision: "I find no law in any of the statutes to fit this case, except in the law of Moses, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' Let the prisoner be taken out in front of this office and there sheared close." The sentence was imme- diately executed.

Another story is told of Blackburn, which may or may not be true. A mission Indian who had committed murder took the right of sanc- tuary in the church, and the padre refused to give him up. Blackburn wrote to the governor, stating the case. The Indian, considering him- self safe while with the padre, left the church in company with the priest. Blackburn seized him, tried him and hung him. He then reported to the governor: "I received your order to sus- pend the execution of the condemned man, but I had hung him. When I see you I will ex- plain the affair."

Some of the military commanders of the pre- sidios and pueblos gave Governor Mason as much trouble as the alcaldes. These, for the most part, were officers of the volunteers who had arrived after the conquest. They were un- used to "war's alarms," and, being new to the country and ignorant of the Spanish lan- guage, they regarded the natives with suspicion. They were on the lookout for plots and revolu- tions. Sometimes they found these incubating and undertook to crush them, only to discover that the affair was a hoax or a practical joke. The Canon Perdido (lost canon) of Santa Bar- bara episode is a good illustration of the trouble one "finicky" man can make when en- trusted with military power.

In the winter of 1847-48 the American bark Elisabeth was wrecked on the Santa Barbara coast. Among the flotsam of the wreck was a brass cannon of uncertain calibre; it might have been a six, a nine or a twelve pounder. What the capacity of its bore matters not, for the gun unloaded made more noise in Santa Barbara than it ever did when it belched forth shot and shell in battle. The gun, after its rescue from a watery grave, lay for some time on the beach,

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devoid of carriage and useless, apparently, for offense or defense.

One dark night a little squad of native Cali- fornians stole down to the beach, loaded the gun in an ox cart, hauled it to the estero and hid it in the sands. What was their object in taking the gun no one knows. Perhaps they did not know themselves. It might come handy in a revolution, or maybe they only intended to play a practical joke on the gringos. Whatever their object, the outcome of their prank must have astonished them. There was a company (F) of Stevenson's New York volunteers sta- tioned at Santa Barbara, under command of Captain Lippett. Lippett was a fussy, nervous individual who lost his head when anything un- usual occurred. In the theft of the cannon he thought he had discovered a California revolu- tion in the formative stages, and he determined to crush it in its infancy. He sent post haste a courier to Governor Mason at Monterey, in- forming him of the prospective uprising of the natives and the possible destruction of the troops at Santa Barbara by the terrible gun the enemy had stolen.

Colonel Mason, relying on Captain Lippett's report, determined to give the natives a lesson that would teach them to let guns and revolu- tions alone. He issued an order from headquar- ters at Monterey, in which he said that ample time having been allowed for the return of the gun, and the citizens having failed to produce it, he ordered that the town be laid under a con- tribution of $500, assessed in the following man- ner: A capitation tax of $2 on all males over twenty years of age; the balance to be paid by the heads of families and property-holders in the proportion of the value of their respective real and personal estate in the town of Santa Bar- bara and vicinity. Col. J. D. Stevenson was ap- pointed to direct the appraisement of the prop- erty and the collection of the assessment. lf any failed to pay his capitation, enough of his property was to be seized and sold to pay his enforced contribution.

The promulgation of the order at Santa Bar- bara raised a storm of indignation at the old pueblo. Colonel Stevenson came up from Los Angeles and had an interview with Don Pablo

de La Guerra, a leading citizen of Santa Bar- bara. Don Pablo was wrathfully indignant at the insult put upon his people, but after talking over the affair with Colonel Stevenson, he be- came somewhat mollified. He invited Colonel Stevenson to make Santa Barbara his headquar- ters and inquired about the brass band at the lower pueblo. Stevenson took the hint and or- dered up the band from Los Angeles. July 4th had been fixed upon as the day for the payment of the fines, doubtless with the idea of giving the Californians a little celebration that would remind them hereafter of Liberty's natal day. Colonel Stevenson contrived to have the band reach Santa Barbara on the night of the 3d. The band astonished Don Pablo and his family with a serenade. The Don was so delighted that he hugged the colonel in the most approved style. The band serenaded all the Dons of note in town and tooted until long after midnight. then started in next morning and kept it up till ten o'clock, the time set for each man to con- tribute his "dos pesos" to the common fund. By that time every hombre on the list was so filled with wine, music and patriotism that the greater portion of the fine was handed over without protest. The day ciosed with a grand ball. The beauty and the chivalry of Santa Bar- bara danced to the music of a gringo brass band and the brass cannon for the nonce was forgotten.

But the memory of the city's ransom rankled, and although an American band played Spanish airs, American injustice was still remembered. When the city's survey was made in 1850 the nomenclature of three streets, Cañon Perdido (Lost Cannon street), Quinientos (Five Hun- dred street) and Mason street kept the cannon episode green in the memory of the Barbareños. When the pueblo, by legislative act, became a ciudad, the municipal authorities selected this device for a seal: In the center a cannon em- blazoned, encircled with these words, Vale Quinientos Pesos-Worth $500, or, more liber- ally translated, Good-bye, $500, which, by the way, as the sequel of the story will show, is the better translation. This seal was used from the incorporation of the city in 1850 to 1860, when another design was chosen.

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After peace was declared, Colonel Mason sent the $500 to the prefect at Santa Barbara, with instructions to use it in building a city jail; and although there was pressing need for a jail, the jail was not built. The prefect's needs were pressing, too. Several years passed; then the city council demanded that the prefect turn the money into the city treasury. He replied that the money was entrusted to him for a specific purpose, and he would trust no city treasurer with it. The fact was that long before he had lost it in a game of monte.

Ten years passed, and the episode of the lost cannon was but a dimly remembered story of the olden time. The old gun reposed peacefully in its grave of sand and those who buried it had forgotten the place of its interment. One stormy night in December, 1858, the estero (creek) cut a new channel to the ocean. In the morning, as some Barbareños were survey- ing the changes caused by the flood, they saw the muzzle of a large gun protruding from the cut in the bank. They unearthed it, cleaned off the sand and discovered that it was El Cañon Perdido, the lost cannon. It was hauled up State street to Cañon Perdido, where it was mounted on an improvised carriage. But the sight of it was a reminder of an unpleasant in- cident. The finders sold it to a merchant for $80. He shipped it to San Francisco and sold it at a handsome profit for old brass,

Governor Pio Pico returned from Mexico to California, arriving at San Gabriel July 17, 1848 .. Although the treaty of peace between the United States and Mexico had been signed and proclaimed, the news had not reached Califor- nia. Pico, from San Fernando, addressed let- ters to Colonel Stevenson at Los Angeles and Governor Mason at Monterey, stating that as Mexican governor of California he had come back to the country with the object of carrying out the armistice which then existed between the United States and Mexico. He further stated that he had no desire to impede the es- tablishment of peace between the two countries; and that he wished to see the Mexicans and Americans treat each other in a spirit of frater- nity. Mason did not like Pico's assumption of the title of Mexican governor of California, al-

thoughi it is not probable that Pico intended to assert any claim to his former position. Gov- ernor Mason sent a special courier to Los An- geles with orders to Colonel Stevenson to arrest the ex-governor, who was then at his Santa Margarita rancho, and send him to Mon- terey, but the news of the ratification of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo reached Los An- geles before the arrest was made, and Pico was spared this humiliation.

The treaty of peace between the United States and Mexico was signed at Guadalupe Hidalgo, a hamlet a few miles from the City of Mexico, February 2, 1848; ratifications were exchanged at Queretaro, May 30 following, and a procla- mation that peace had been established between the two countries was published July 4, 1848. Under this treaty the United States assumed the payment of the claims of American citizens against Mexico, and paid, in addition, $15,000,- 000 to Mexico for Texas, New Mexico and Alta California. Out of what was the Mexican territory of Alta California there has been carved all of California, all of Nevada, Utah and Arizona and part of Colorado and Wyoming. The territory acquired by the treaty of Guada- lupe Hidalgo was nearly equal to the aggre- gated area of the thirteen original states at the time of the Revolutionary war.

The news of the treaty of peace reached Cali- fornia August 6, 1848. On the 7th Governor Mason issued a proclamation announcing the ratification of the treaty. He announced that all residents of California, who wished to be- come citizens of the United States, were ab- solved from their allegiance to Mexico. Those who desired to retain their Mexican citizenship could do so, provided they signified such inten- tion within one year from May 30, 1848. Those who wished to go to Mexico were at liberty to do so without passports. Six months before, Governor Mason had issued a proclamation pro- hibiting any citizen of Sonora from entering California except on official business, and then only under flag of truce. He also required all Sonorans in the country to report themselves cither at Los Angeles or Monterey.

The war was over; and the treaty of peace had made all who so elected, native or foreign

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born, American citizens. Strict military rule was relaxed and the people henceforth were to be self-governing. American and Californian were one people and were to enjoy the same rights and to be subject to the same penalties. The war ended, the troops were no longer needed. Orders were issued to muster out the volunteers. These all belonged to Stevenson's New York regiment. The last company of the Mormon battalion had been discharged in April.

The New York volunteers were scattered all along the coast from Sonoma to Cape St. Lucas, doing garrison duty. They were collected at different points and mustered out. Although those stationed in Alta California had done no fighting, they had performed arduous serv- ice in keeping peace in the conquered territory. Most of them remained in California after their discharge and rendered a good account of them- selves as citizens.

CHAPTER XXIII.

GOLD! GOLD! GOLD!

S EBASTIAN VISCAINO, from the bay of Monterey, writing to the King of Spain three hundred years ago, says of the In- dians of California: "They are well acquainted with gold and silver, and said that these were found in the interior." Viscaino was endeavor- ing to make a good impression on the mind of the king in regard to his discoveries, and the remark about the existence of gold and silver in California was thrown to excite the cupidity of his Catholic majesty. The traditions of the existence of gold in California before any was discovered are legion. Most of these have been evolved since gold was actually found. Col. J. J. Warner, a pioneer of 1831, in his Historical Sketch of Los Angeles County, briefly and very effectually disposes of these rumored discov- eries. He says: "While statements respecting the existence of gold in the earth of California and its procurement therefrom have been made and published as historical facts, carrying back the date of the knowledge of the auriferous character of this state as far as the time of the visit of Sir Francis Drake to this coast, there is no evidence to be found in the written or oral history of the missions, the acts and correspond- ence of the civil or military officers, or in the unwritten and traditional history of Upper Cali- fornia that the existence of gold, either with ores or in its virgin state, was ever suspected by any inhabitant of California previous to 1841, and, furthermore, there is conclusive testimony

that the first known grain of native gold dust was found upon or near the San Francisco ranch, about forty-five miles north-westerly from Los Angeles City, in the month of June, 1841. This discovery consisted of grain gold fields (known as placer mines), and the auriferous fields dis- covered in that year embraced the greater part of the country drained by the Santa Clara river from a point some fifteen or twenty miles from its mouth to its source, and easterly beyond Mount San Bernardino."

The story of the discovery as told by Warner and by Don Abel Stearns agrees in the main facts, but differs materially in the date. Stearns says gold was first discovered by Francisco Lopez,' a native of California, in the month of March, 1842, at a place called San Francisquito, about thirty-five miles northwest from this city (Los Angeles). The circumstances of the dis- covery by Lopez, as related by himself, are as follows: "Lopez, with a companion, was out in search of some stray horses, and about midday they stopped under some trees and tied their horses out to feed, they resting under the shade, when Lopez, with his sheath-knife, dug up some wild onions, and in the dirt discovered a piece of gold, and, searching further, found some more. He brought these to town, and showed them to his friends, who at once declared there must be a placer of gold. This news being cir- culated, numbers of the citizens went to the place, and commenced prospecting in the neigh-

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borhood, and found it to be a fact that there was a placer of gold."

Colonel Warner says: "The news of this dis- covery soon spread among the inhabitants from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles, and in a few weeks hundreds of people were engaged in washing and winnowing the sands and earth of these gold fields."

Warner visited the mines a few weeks after their discovery. He says: "From these mines was obtained the first parcel of California gold dust received at the United States mint in Phila- delphia, and which was sent with Alfred Robin- son, and went in a merchant ship around Cape Horn." This shipment of gold was 18.34 ounces before and 18.1 ounces after melting; fineness, .925; value, $344-75, or over $19 to the ounce. a very superior quality of gold dust. It was deposited in the mint July 8, 1843.

It may be regarded as a settled historical fact that the first authenticated discovery of gold in Alta California was made on the San Fran- cisco rancho in the San Feliciano Cañon, Los Angeles county. This canon is about ten miles northwest of Newhall station on the Southern Pacific railroad, and about forty miles northwest of Los Angeles.

The date of the discovery is in doubt. A peti- tion to the governor (Alvarado) asking permis- sion to work tlie placers, signed by Francisco Lopez, Manuel Cota and Domingo Bermudez is on file in the California archives. It recites: "That as Divine Providence was pleased to give us a placer of gold on the 9th of last March in the locality of San Francisco rancho, that be- longs to the late Don Antonio del Valle." This petition fixes the day of the month the discovery was made, but unfortunately omits all other dates. The evidence is about equally divided between the years 1841 and 1842.

It is impossible to obtain definite information in regard to the yield of the San Fernando placers, as these mines are generally called. William Heath Davis, in his "Sixty Years in California," states that from $80,000 to $100,000 was taken out for the first two years after their discovery. He says that Mellus at one time shipped $5,000 of dust on the ship Alert. Ban- croft says: "That by December, 1843, two thou-

sand ounces of gold had been taken from the San Fernando mines." Don Antonio Coronel informed the author that lie, with the assistance of three Indian laborers, in 1842, took out $600 worth of dust in two months. De Mofras, in his book, states that Carlos Baric, a Frenchman, in 1842, was obtaining an ounce a day of pure gold from his placer.

These mines were worked continuously from the time of their discovery until the American conquest, principally by Sonorians. The dis- covery of gold at Coloma, January 24, 1848, drew away the miners, and no work was donc on these mines between 1848 and 1854. After the latter dates work was resumed, and in 1855, Francisco Garcia, working a gang of Indians, is reported to have taken out $65,000 in one season. The mines are not exhausted, but the scarcity of water prevents working them profit- ably.

It is rather a singular coincidence that the exact dates of both the first and second authen- ticated discoveries of gold in California are still among the undecided questions of history. In the first, we know the day but not the year; in the second, we know the year but not the day of the month on which Marshall picked up the first nuggets in the mullrace at Coloma. For a number of years after the anniversary of Mar- shall's discovery began to be observed the 19th of January was celebrated. Of late years Jan- nary 24 has been fixed upon as the correct date, but the Associated Pioneers of the Territorial Days of California, an association made up of men who were in the territory at the time of Marshall's discovery or came here before it became a state, object to the change. For nearly thirty years they have held their annuai dinners on January 18, "the anniversary of the discovery of gold at Sutter's sawmill, Coloma, Cal." This society has its headquarters in New York City. In a circular recently issued, disapproving of the change of date from the 18th to the 24th, the trustees of that society say: "Upon the organi- zation of this society, February II, 1875, it was decided to hold its annual dinners on the anni- versary of the discovery of gold at Sutter's saw- mill. Coloma, Cal. Through the Hon. Newton Booth, of the United States Senate, this infor-

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A history of California and an extended history of its southern coast counties, also containing biographies of well-known citizens of the past and present, Volume I, Part 25

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918 Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company Number of Pages: 1184

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company
Number of Pages: 1184