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 42

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

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Sutter built his fort near the junction of the Sacramento and American rivers in 1839. It was then the most northerly settlement in Cali- fornia and became the trading post for the north- ern frontier. It was the outpost to which the tide of overland immigration flowed before and after the discovery of gold. Sutter's settle- ment was also known as New Helvetia. After the discovery of gold at Coloma it was, during 1848, the principal supply depot for the mines.

business. Sam Brannan, in June, 1848, estab- lished a store outside of the fort, in a long adobe building. His sales amounted to over $100,000 a month. His profits were enormous. Gold dust was a drug on the market and at one time passed for $8 an ounce, less than half its value. In September, 1848, Priest, Lee & Co. estab- lished a business house at the fort and did an immense business. The fort was not well lo- cated for a commercial center. It was too far away from the river by which all the freight from San Francisco was shipped. The land at the embarcadero was subject to overflow and was deemed unsuited for the site of a city. Sut- terville was laid out on rising ground three miles below. A survey of lots was extended from the fort to the embarcadero and along the river bank. This embryo town at the embarcadero took the name of Sacramento from the river. Then began a rivalry between Sutterville and Sacramento. The first house in Sacramento, corner of Front and I streets, was erected in January, 1849. The proprietors of Sutterville, McDougall & Co., made an attempt to attract trade and building to their town by giving away lots, but Sutter beat them at that game, and Sacramento surged ahead. Sam Brannan and Priest, Lee & Co. moved their stores into Sac- ramento. The fort was deserted and Sutterville ceased to contend for supremacy. In four months lots had advanced from $50 to $1,000 and business lots to $3,000. A regular steam- boat service on the river was inaugurated in August, 1849, and sailing vessels that had come around the Horn to avoid trans-shipment worked their way up the river and landed their goods at the embarcadero. The first number of the SACRAMENTO. Placer Times was issued April 28, 1849. The steamboat rates of passage between San Fran- cisco and Sacramento were: Cabin, $30; steer- age, $20; freight, $2.50 per one hundred pounds. By the winter of 1849 the population of the town had reached five thousand and a year later it had doubled. Lots in the business section were held at $30,000 to $50,000 each. The great flood of 1849-50, when four-fifths of the city was under water, somewhat dampened the enthusi- asm of the citizens, but did not check the growth Sutter had a store at the fort and did a thrivingof the city. Sacramento became the trading

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center of the mines. In 1855 its trade, princi- pally with the mines, amounted to $6,000,000. It was also the center of the stage lines, a dozen of which led out from it.

It became the state capital in 1853, and al- though disastrous floods drove the legislators from the capital several times, they returned when the waters subsided. The great flood of 1861-62 inundated the city and compelled an immense outlay for levees and for raising the grades of the streets. Sacramento was made the terminus of the Central Pacific Railroad sys- tem, and its immense workshops are located there. Its growth for the past thirty years las been slow but steady. Its population in 1890 was 26,386; in 1900, 29,282.

SAN JOSE.

The early history of San José has been given in the chapter on Pueblos. After the American conquest the place became an important busi- ness center. It was the first state capital and the removal of the capital for a time checked its progress. In 1864 it was connected with San Francisco by railroad. The completion of the railroad killed off its former port, Alviso, which had been laid out as a city in 1849. Nearly all the trade and travel before the railroad was built had gone by way of Alviso down the bay to San Francisco. San José and its suburb, Santa Clara, early became the educational centers of California. The first American college founded in the state was located at Santa Clara and the first normal school building erected in the state was built at San José. The population of San José in 1880 was 12,570; in 1900, 21,500.

STOCKTON.

In 1844 the Rancho Campo de los Franceses, Camp of the French, or French Camp, on which the city of Stockton is located, was granted to William Gulnac by Governor Micheltorena. It contained eleven leagues of 48,747 acres of land. Capt. Charles M. Weber, the founder of Stock- ton, was a partner of Gulnac, but not being a Mexican citizen, he could not obtain a land grant. After Gulnac obtained the grant he con- veyed a half interest in it to Weber. Weber shortly afterward purchased his partner's inter-

est and became sole owner of the grant. Some attempts were made to stock it with cattle, but Indian depredations prevented it. In 1847, after the country had come into the possession of the . Americans, Weber removed from San José, which had been his place of residence since his arrival in California in 1841, and located on his ranch at French Camp. He erected some huts for his vaqueros and fortified his corral against Indians. In 1848 the site of the city was sur- veyed and platted under the direction of Captain Weber and Maj. R. P. Hammond. The rancho was surveyed and sectionized and land offered on most advantageous terms to settlers. Cap- tain Weber was puzzled to find a fitting name for his infant metropolis. He hesitated between Tuleburgh and Castoria (Spanish for beaver). Tules were plentiful and so were beaver, but as the town grew both would disappear, so he finally selected Stockton, after Commodore Stockton, who promised to be a godfather to the town, but proved to be a very indifferent step-father ; he never did anything for it. The discovery of gold in the region known as the southern mines brought Stockton into promi- nence and made it the metropolis of the south- ern mining district. Captain Weber led the party that first discovered gold on the Mokelumine river. The freight and travel to the mines on the Mokelumne, Tuolumne and Stanislaus rivers passed through Stockton, and its growth was rapid. In October, 1849, the Alta California reports lots in it selling from $2,500 to $6,000 each, according to situation. At that time it had a population of about one thousand souls and a floating population, that is, men coming and going to the mines, of about as many more. The houses were mostly cotton-lined shacks. Lun- ber was $I a foot and carpenters' wages $16 per day. There were neither mechanics nor mate- rial to build better structures. Every man was his own architect and master builder. Cloth was scarce and high and tacks at one time were worth $5 a package; even a cloth house was no cheap affair, however flimsy and cheap it might appear. On the morning of December 23, 1849, the business portion of the town was swept out of existence by fire. Rebuilding was begun al- most before the embers of the departed city

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were cold and a better city arose from the ashes of the first. After the wild rush of mining days was over, Stockton drifted into a center of agri- cultural trade and it also became a manufactur- ing city. Its growth has been steady, devoid of booms or periods of inflation, followed by col- lapse. Its population in 1890 was 14,424; in 1900, 17,506.

FRESNO CITY.

Fresno City was founded by the Southern Pacific Railroad in May, 1872. The road at that time was in the course of construction. The outlook for a populous town was not brilliant. Stretching for miles away from the town site in different directions was an arid-looking plain. The land was fertile enough when well watered, hut the few settlers had no capital to construct irrigating canals.

In 1875 began the agricultural colony era. The land was divided into twenty-acre tracts. A number of persons combined together. aifd by their united capital and community labor con- structed irrigating canals and brought the land under cultivation. The principal product is the raisin grape. Fresno City became the county seat of Fresno county in 1874. It is now the largest and most important city of the Upper San Joaquin Valley. Its population in 1890 was 10,818; in 1900, 12.470.

VALLEJO.

Vallejo was founded for the state capital. It was one of several towns which had that tem- porary honor in the early '50s, when the state capitol was on wheels, or at least on the move. The original name of the place was Eureka. General Vallejo made a proposition to the leg- islature of 1850 to grant the state one hundred and fifty-six acres of land and to donate and pay to the state within two years after the ac- ceptance of his proposition $370,000, to be used in the erection of public buildings. The legisla- ture accepted his proposition. The location of the state capital was submitted to a vote of the people at the election on October 7, 1850, and Vallejo received more votes than the aggre- gated vote of all its competitors. Buildings were begun, but never completed. The legisla-

ture met there twice, but on account of insuffi- cient accommodations sought other places where they were better cared for. General Val- lejo's proposition at his own request was can- celled. In 1854 Mare Island, in front of Val- lejo, was purchased by the general government for a United States navy yard and naval depot. The government works gave employment to large numbers of men and involved the expendi- ture of millions of dollars. The town began to prosper and still continues to do so. Its popu- lation in 1890 was 6,343 ; in 1900, 7,965.

NEVADA CITY.

No mining town in California was so well and so favorably known in the early '50s as Nevada City. The first discovery of gold near it was made in September, 1849; and the first store and cabin erected. Rumors of rich strikes spread abroad and in the spring of 1850 the rush of gold-seekers came. In 1851 it was estimated that within a circuit of seven miles there was a population of 30,000. In 1856 the business sec- tion was destroyed by fire. It was then the third city in population in the state. It has had its periods of expansion and contraction, but still remains an important mining town. Its population in 1880 was 4,022; in 1890, 2,524; in 1900, 3.250.

GRASS VALLEY.

The first cabin in Grass Valley was erected in 1849. The discoveries of gold quartz raised great expectations. A quartz mill was erected in 1850, but this new form of mining not being understood, quartz mining was not a success ; but with improved machinery and better meth- ods, it became the most important form of min- ing. Grass Valley prospered and surpassed its rival, Nevada City. Its population in 1900 was 4,719.

EUREKA.

In the two hundred years that Spain and Mex- ico held possession of California its northwest coast remained practically a terra incognita, but it did not remain so long after the discovery of gold. Gold was discovered on the head waters of the Trinity river in 1849 and parties of pros- pectors during 1849 and 1850 explored the

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

country between the head waters of the Trinity and Klamath rivers and the coast. Rich mines were found and these discoveries led to the founding of a number of towns on the coast which aspired to be the entrepots for the sup- plies to the mines. The most successful of these proved to be Eureka, on Humboldt Bay. It was the best located for commerce and soon outstripped its rivals, Arcata and Bucksport. Humboldt county was formed in 1854, and Eu- reka, in 1856, became the county seat and was incorporated as a city. It is the largest ship- ping point for lumber on the coast. It is also the commercial center of a rich agricultural and dairying district. Its population in 1880 was 2,639 ; in 1890, 4,858; in 1900, 7,327.

MARYSVILLE.

The site on which Marysville stands was first known as New Mecklenburg and was a trading post of two houses. In October, 1848, M. C. Nye purchased the rancho and opened a store at New Mecklenburg. The place then became known as Nye's rancho. In 1849 a town was laid out and named Yubaville. The name was changed to Marysville in honor of the wife of the proprietor of the town Covilland. His wife was Mary Murphy, of the Donner party. Marys- ville, being at the head of navigation of the

north fork of the Sacramento, became the en- trepot for mining supplies to the miners in the rich Yuba mines. After the decline of mining it became an agricultural center for the upper portion of the Sacramento. Its population in 1880 was 4,300; in 1890, 3,991; in 1900, 3.397.

REDDING.

The Placer Times of May 8, 1850, contains this notice of Reading, now changed to Red- ding: "Reading was laid off early in 1850 by P. B. Reading at the headwaters of the Sacra- mento within forty-five miles of the Trinity diggings. Reading is located in the heart of a most extensive mining district, embracing as it does, Cottonwood, Clear, Salt, Dry, Middle and Olney creeks, it is in close proximity to the Pitt and Trinity rivers. The pet steamer, Jack Hayes, leaves tomorrow morning (May 9, 1850) for Reading. It has been hitherto considered impossible to navigate the Sacramento to this height." The town grew rapidly at first, like all mining towns, and like most of such towns it was swept out of existence by fire. It was devastated by fire in December, 1852, and again in June, 1853. Its original name, Reading, got mixed with Fort Redding and' it now appears on all railroad maps and guides as Redding. Its population in 1890 was 1,821; in 1900, 2,940.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.

INTRODUCTORY.

U NDER the rule of Spain and Mexico there was no form of municipal govern- ment in California corresponding to our county government. The ayuntamientos of the cities and towns exercised jurisdiction over the inhabitants of the adjacent ranchos, but there were no lines drawn to define the area of an ayuntamiento's domains. There was no tax on land in those days; the revenue to support the municipal government was de- rived from fines of offenders against the law,

from licenses of pulperias, cock pits, bull fights, dances and so forth. Men's vices and pleasures paid the cost of governing ; consequent- ly inhabitants were of more value for income than acres.

During the interregnum that lasted from the downfall of Mexican domination in California to the inauguration of a state government-a pe- riod of three years and a half-Mexican laws were continued in force. Alcades and regidores administered the ordinances in force before the conquest or made new ones to suit the changed conditions of the country.

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

The territorial government was semi-military and semi-civil; a form exceedingly unsatisfactory to the American immigrants who had flocked to the country after the discovery of gold. Al- though the conquerors had adopted the codes and forms of government they found in the coun- try partly to conciliate the conquered, yet the natives were dissatisfied. Military command- ers interferred in the administration of law by the alcades and regidores and there was friction between the native Californian and the newly ar- rived gringo.

For three years the people waited for Con- gress to establish some American form of gov- ernment for the territory, but none was given them. The admission of California into the Un- ion was a bone of contention between the pro- slavery and anti-slavery politicians in Congress. At that time the two factions were equally bal- anced in the senate. To admit it either as a free or a slave state destroyed the political equilib- rium, and to the politicians the necessity of maintaining a balance of power was of more importance than the welfare of California. Tired of waiting and driven to desperation by the inchoate condition of affairs in the territory the people organized and put in force a state government without asking authority from Con- gress. For almost one year California had a defacto state government before it was admitted into the Union.

The first legislature met at San Jose, Decem- ber 15, 1849. Among the first acts passed by it was one dividing the inchoate state into twen- ty-seven counties and another providing a form of county government. A large portion of Cal- ifornia at that time was a terra incognita. There were no good maps existing. Many of the legis- lators were recent arrivals in the state and they had vague ideas of the territory they were sub- dividing. As a result some of the county bound- aries were erratic and uncertain.

SAN DIEGO COUNTY.

The boundaries of San Diego county as de- fined in an "act subdividing the state into coun- ties and establishing the seats of justice therein," passed February 18, 1850, are as follows : "Commencing on the coast of the Pacific at the

mouth of the creek called San Mateo, and run- ning up said creek to its source; thence due north to the northeast boundary of the state; thence following said boundary in a southeaster- ly direction to the Colorado river; thence down the middle of the channel of said river to the mouth of the Gila river; thence following the boundary line as established by the treaty of the thirtieth of May, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, between the United States and Mexico, to the Pacific Ocean and three En- glish miles therein; thence in a northwesterly direction running parallel with the coast to a point due west of the mouth of the creek San Mateo, and thence due east to the mouth of said creek, which was the place of beginning. The seat of justice shall be San Diego."

A line drawn from the source of San Mateo creek "due north to the northeast boundary of the state" intersected the state boundary in the neighborhood of Death Valley, about three hun- dred miles north of the southern limits of San Diego county, and gave that county an area of nearly forty thousand square miles. The coun- ty took in all of the Colorado desert and a large portion of the Mojave. It was in imperial coun- ty in area, but short on inhabitants. Its pop- ulation, according to the census of 1850, was 798, of which 650 was accredited to the city of San Diego. The first county assessment, which was made in 1850, gave the value of the ranch lands at $255,281 and the aggregate value of all kinds of property was fixed at $517,258; of this amount $264,210 was accredited to Old Town; $80,050 to New Town, and $30,000 to Middle Town. These three towns or subdivi- sions constituted the city of San Diego. The back country seems to have been of little value. The legislature of 1849-50 passed an act March 2, 1850, "to provide for holding the first county election." This act required "each prefect in this state, immediately after the passage of this act, to designate a suitable number of election precincts in each county of his district, and give notice thereof by advertisement published in some newspaper printed in each county of said district, if there be one ; if not, then by notices posted in at least three public places in each of said counties."

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Don José Antonio Estudillo was then pre- fect of San Diego. As there was no newspaper published in the county, he posted notices call- ing an election to be held on April 1, 1850.

The following is a list of the county officials then chosen :

District Attorney William C. Ferrell

County Judge . John Hays

County Clerk. Richard Rust

County Attorney Thos. W. Sutherland

County Surveyor Henry Clayton

Sheriff. .Agostin Haraszthy

Recorder

.Henry C. Matseil

Assessor

. José Antonio Estudillo

Coroner .John Brown

Treasurer. Juan Bandini

Bandini refused to accept and Philip Cros- thwaite was appointed. Of the ten county of- ficials who served, but one was a native Cali- fornian, so early had the passing of the native begun.

The court of sessions, a legislatve body com- posed of the county judge and two justices of the peace, was the motive power that set the county machinery in motion. At the meeting of the court of sessions on the second Monday of June the county government was organized.

THE FIRST INDIAN WAR.

Scarcely had the county been organized when it was called upon to furnish volunteers to sup- press an Indian outbreak at Yuma. A correct account of the Yuma Indian war of 1850 has never been published. From depositions of one of the men who escaped when Dr. Lincoln and ten of his men were massacred at the ferry on the Colorado, and from the deposition of Jere- miah Hill, who arrived at the Colorado river two days after the massacre, I have compiled the following account of the origin of the trouble between the Yumas and the whites which brought on the war. These depositions were taken at Los Angeles in May, 1850, by Don Abel Stearns, alcalde, and judge of the First Instance. These depositions and several others relating to the Yuma depredations upon immigrants are now in possession of the Historical Society of Southern California, and are the only correct accounts of that massacre in existence.

Dr. A. L. Lincoln, an educated man, a native of Illinois and a relative of President Lincoln, came from Guaymas, Mexico, to California in 1849, by the Colorado river route. After visit- ing the mines be returned to the Colorado river, and in the latter part of 1849 established a ferry at the junction of the Colorado and Gila rivers. The Sonoran migration to the gold mines of California was then at its height and the ferry business was immensely profitable.

John J. Glanton, the leader of a party of twen- ty men, mainly Texans and Missourians, arrived at the ferry February 12, 1850. Glanton and at least a portion of his party, so it was claimed, "had been engaged in hunting Apaches for a scalp premium in Sonora and Chihuahua, but had been driven out by the Mexican govern- ment when it was discovered that they brought in the scalps of friendly Indians or even of Mexicans."* Dr. Lincoln, being short of hands, employed Glanton and eight of his men to as- sist him, and the six men then in his employ remaining made a party of fifteen. Lincoln would have been glad to have gotten rid of Glan- ton when he discovered his true character, but that worthy constituted himself chief manager of the ferry. His overbearing conduct and ill- treatment of the Indians as told of in the depo- sition of Jeremiah Hill no doubt brought about the massacre of the eleven ferrymen. Although the Yuma Indians were notorious thieves, the Americans and the Sonoranians had not been at- tacked by them, nor had they harmed them ex- cept by pilfering previous to Glanton's arrival.

On the 25th of April, two days after the mas- sacre at the ferry, a party of fourteen Amer- icans, of whom the deponent, Jeremiah Hill, was one, arrived at the river. I quote from his depo- sition taken by Alcade Don Abel Stearns at Los Angeles, May 23, 1850 :

"We had stayed all day and night of the 25th (April) at our camp, about ten miles beyond Glanton's ferry; on this day, in the afternoon about 4 o'clock, ten Yumas, unarmed, came up to our camp, by one of whom we sent for the chief. for the purpose. as we assured them, of having a talk with him and making him some presents.

*Bancroft's " History of Arizona and New Mexico,"

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

"The chief came the same night about 7 o'clock ; we gave him shirts, handkerchiefs, jew- elry, pinole, etc., after which we asked him in reference to the massacre of Glanton. The chief said that General Anderson the previous sum- mer had left the Indians a boat which he had built for the purpose of ferrying his company across the Colorado river, upon condition that the Yumas would cross all Americans at $1 for a horse, $1 for a man and $1 for the cargo (pack), and that upon a violation of this con- tract by any higher charge than this, said boat should be forfeited. This boat was used at the lower crossing, commonly called 'Algodones' ( cotton-woods). No American had come to cross at the Indian ferry since the departure of General Anderson, but that many Mexicans had, which made Glanton mad, and that he (the chief) knew of no other offense the Indians had given Glanton; that one day Glanton sent his men down and had the Indian boat destroyed, and took an American whom they (the Indians) had with them engaged in working their boat up to his camp with all of said American's money and that Glanton had shot said American and thrown him into the river.

"The chief said that he then went up to see Glanton and made an offer that Glanton should cross all the men and baggage, while the chief should cross the animals of the immigrants and thus they would get along quietly. Whereupon Glanton kicked him ont of the house and beat him over the head with a stick; the chief said he would have hit him back, but he was afraid, as the Americans could shoot too straight.

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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 42

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