USA > California > Merced County > A history of Merced County, California : with a biographical review of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 10
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"Section 3. The seat of Justice shall be at such place as may be determined by the qualified electors of the county at the election for county officers, as provided by this Act.
"Section 4. There shall be an election held for county officers, and to determine the county seat in said county of Merced, on the second Monday in May of the present year, eighteen hundred and fifty-five.
"Section 5. At the election mentioned in the preceding section there shall be chosen a Board of Supervisors consisting of three per- sons, one County Judge, one County Attorney, one County Clerk who shall be ex-officio County Recorder, one Sheriff, one County Surveyor, one Assessor, one Treasurer, one Coroner and one Public Adminis- tor, also a place to be the seat of justice.
"Section 6. A. Stevenson, Wm. Neal. W. J. Barfield, Charles V. Snelling, John McDermot, Samuel Lovejoy and C. F. Bludworth are hereby appointed and constituted a Board of Commissioners to designate the election precincts in said county of Merced for the said election, and to appoint the Inspectors and Judges of the several pre- cincts as designated; to receive the returns of election and to issue certificates of election to the persons entitled to the same.
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"Section 7. The laws of a general nature now in force regulat- ing elections in this State, shall apply to the election ordered by this Act, except that the above Board of Commissioners herein appointed shall designate the election precincts, appoint the Inspectors and Judges of election, receive the returns of election, issue the several certificates to the persons elected, and declare what place receives the highest number of votes for county seat.
"Section 8. Said Board of Commissioners shall hold their first session for the transaction of business at the house of James A. Neal & Co., in said county.
"Section 9. The said Board of Commissioners shall meet on the Monday two weeks previous to the election. At such meeting said Board shall appoint one of their number President, and one as Clerk. A record of their proceedings shall be kept; the attendance of a majority of the members of the Board shall be necessary for the transaction of business ; at the said meeting the Board shall designate the precincts of the county and appoint Inspectors and Judges of such precincts, and give notice at each of the said precincts.
"Section 10. Sealed returns from the officers of election may be delivered to any member of said Board. The said Board shall meet on the fifth day subsequent to the election at the house of James A. Neal & Co., and the returns shall then be opened and read, and under their direction, and in their presence a tabular statement shall be made out, showing the vote given at each precinct of the county, for each person and for each of the offices to be filled at the election, and also the entire vote given for each person, and in the county for county seat, and for what place or places cast. The statement made out by such Board, shall be signed by its President and Clerk. The place for which the highest number of legal votes shall be found to have been cast, shall be the county seat. The persons having the highest number of legal votes for the several offices to be filled shall be declared elected, and the President shall immediately make out and send or deliver to each person chosen, a certificate of election signed by him as President of the Commissioners, and attested by the Clerk.
"Section 11. The County Judge shall qualify before the Presi- dent of the Board, and enter upon the discharge of the duties of his office on the day succeeding the meeting of the Board as provided in the preceding section. The persons elected as county offiecrs as pro- vided in this Act shall qualify before the County Judge within ten days thereafter, and enter upon the discharge of their duties.
"Section 12. The President of the Board shall transmit without delay a copy of the tabular statement prepared as provided for in section tenth to the Secretary of State. The election returns of the county and a duplicate tabular statement shall be furnished to and
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retained by the County Judge of the county until the person elected as Clerk of said county has qualified and entered upon his duties, after which they shall be filed in his office.
"Section 13. The County Judge chosen under this Act shall hold office for four years from the next annual election for members of the Assembly, and until his successor is elected and qualified; the other officers elected under this Act shall hold their respective offices for the term fixed by law, commencing from the next annual election for members of the Assembly.
"Section 14. The County Judge shall receive for his services such sum annually as shall be determined by the Board of Supervisors, not to exceed one thousand five hundred dollars, to be paid in the manner provided by an Act to fix the compensation of County Judges and Associates of the Court of Sessions, approved May 17th, 1853.
"Section 15. The county of Merced for representative purposes shall be and remain a portion of Mariposa county as now fixed, until otherwise provided by law.
"Section 16. The county of Merced for judicial purposes shall be attached to and form a part of the Thirteenth Judicial District.
"Section 17. The Board of Supervisors of Merced county shall have power to levy a special tax, not to exceed fifty cents on each one hundred dollars of valuation of the taxable property of said county, to be assessed and collected as other taxes, and the fund arising from said special tax shall be applied solely to the erection of a jail and court house for said county.
"Section 18. The Board of Supervisors of Merced county shall appoint two Commissioners to meet a corresponding number of Com- missioners appointed in like manner by Mariposa, for the purpose of ascertaining and settling the amount of indebtedness the said county of Merced shall assume and become responsible for, of the debts of the said county of Mariposa, and when ascertained and certified to by said Commissioners or a majority of them to their respective counties, the Board of Supervisors of Merced county shall cause to be issued by the County Treasurer in favor of the county of Mariposa the sum so agreed upon payable out of any money that may come into the Treasury of Merced county.
"Section 19. All township officers chosen at the general election for Mariposa county whose districts by this Act may be included within the present limits of Merced county, shall continue to hold their respective offices for said county of Merced, during the term for which they were elected, and until their successors are elected and qualified.
"Section 20. The Clerk and Recorder of Mariposa county upon application by any person and payment of the fees, shall furnish certified copies of all deeds or other papers recorded in their offices,
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wherein the subject matter of such deed or other papers are situated in Merced county.
"Section 21. All actions pending or proceedings in the nature of actions, whether original or on appeal, civil or criminal, that were commenced by a party or parties now residing within the limits of Merced county, shall be disposed of by the tribunals and officers having jurisdiction of the same in Mariposa county upon the organ- ization of said Merced county.
"Section 22. It shall be the duty of the County Surveyor under the instructions and direction of the Board of Supervisors to survey and mark the lines and boundaries of Merced county in accordance with the provisions of this Act, and for said services he shall receive such compensation as may be allowed by law.
"Section 23. Twenty per cent of all moneys received in the County Treasury of Merced county shall be set apart as a sinking fund to liquidate the debt due from Merced county to Mariposa county, and shall be paid over by the Treasurer of Merced county to the Treasurer of Mariposa county, every three months, and the Treasurer of Merced county shall take his receipt therefor."
There are several chapters to the story of Merced County's boundaries, and we may as well depart from the strict chronological order long enough to trace them here.
It will be noticed that the place of beginning designated in the second section of that act approved on the eightieth anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord, and just quoted, was "a place on the San Joaquin River known as Converse's Ferry." If we should look for clues to this old ferry in the vicinity where the boundary line of Merced County now crosses the San Joaquin, we should be dissap- pointed. It was located in the vicinity of the present-day Friant and the old Fort Miller, about twenty miles north of where Fresno now stands, and where the San Joaquin debouches from the foothills into the plains.
From that point the boundary followed "along the main road leading to a place on the Merced River known as Phillips' Upper Ferry," about where the bridge now crosses at Merced Falls. It is interesting and instructive to note the location of these early roads. For two reasons they avoided the lower valley country and kept along the lower edge of the hills. One reason was that the bulk of the early population-in the mining days-was in the hills. The other reason was that it was not so far to a solid bottom in winter by that route, either on land or when fording streams, as further out in the big valley. In the absence of rock-filled and hard-surfaced roads and of bridges, it was the only practicable route. The boundary pro- ceeded "thence in a straight line to the southeast corner of Stanislaus and southwest of Tuolumne."
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The changes which have taken place in the county boundaries will be most conveniently noticed in their chronological order. Before arriving at the 18th of April, 1855, when Merced County was created, however, it becomes necessary to notice the boundary as it had theretofore existed between Mariposa County and Tuolumne and the portion of Tuolumne which in 1854 became Stanislaus, across the San Joaquin Valley.
The Act of April 23, 1851, and the preceding Acts of February, 1851, and of 1850: The Act of April 23, 1851, which by its terms repeals previous acts, describes the portion of the southern boundary of Tuolumne east of the San Joaquin River as proceeding from the "summit of the Sierra Nevada to the dividing ridge between the Tuolumne and the Merced rivers; thence following the top of said ridge down to the plains at a point seven miles below the mouth of the Merced River." In Dr. Owen C. Coy's "Guide to the County Archives of California," this line, both on the map of Tuolumne and those of Stanislaus and Merced Counties, is marked as a straight line-the portion of it across the plains, that is, the part which con- cerns Merced County; that is to say, a straight line between the corner common to Mariposa, Tuolumne, Stanislaus, and Merced on the east, and a point on the San Joaquin River seven miles below the mouth of the Merced on the west.
From this point on the San Joaquin, the boundary followed up the San Joaquin to the mouth of the Merced and ran "thence in a due southwest direction to the summit of the coast range."
After Merced County was created, the first change that took place in its boundaries, and the greatest of all changes in them, came from the cutting off of about three-fifths of Merced's original territory in 1856, to go into the newly created "Frezno" County. The act creating Frezno County, as it is there spelled, is in the Statutes of 1856 at page 183; and the portion of Section 2 describing the portion of its boundary which separated it from Merced was as follows : "Begin- ning at a point where the Stockton Road to Millertown crosses the Chowchilla, known as Newton's Crossing; thence down said stream, on the north side, with the high water mark to the sink of the same at the lower molt of cottonwood timber; thence south forty-five degrees west to the south boundary of Merced County." This so- called south boundary of Merced County referred to is obviously what we should be more likely to call the west boundary, for "Frezno's" boundary then proceeds down along the summit of the Coast Range.
Knowing as we do that the northerly bank of the Chowchilla is accepted as the boundary between Merced and its neighbor on the south, it is obvious to anyone who has seen the Chowchilla spread out over a mile or so in width that high-water mark does not refer
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to flood water. The "sink of the same at the lower molt of cotton- wood timber" is in the northeast quarter of Section 6, Township 10 South, Range 14 East, about two-thirds of the way from the main Valley Highway to the San Joaquin, and about five miles in a straight line from the river.
An act of the legislature approved March 8, 1866, provided for the surveying of the northern and eastern boundaries of Merced County and gave it a considerable addition of territory at the expense of Stanislaus-which Stanislaus got back again in 1868. The Act of 1866, Sections 2, 3, and 4, provided :
"Sec. 2. The Board of Supervisors of Merced County are by this Act authorized, whenever in their judgment the same may be neces- sary, to appoint some suitable person, who shall be a good practical surveyor, to survey and mark out the boundary lines of Merced County as in this Act hereinafter provided, and such appointment may be made at any regular or special meeting of said board.
"Sec. 3. The person so appointed shall commence at the south- west corner of Tuolumne County, and southeast corner of Stanislaus County, and northwest corner of Mariposa County, and run south seventy (70) degrees west to the summit of the coast range of hills ; and the line so run shall be the northern boundary of Merced County and the southern boundary of Stanislaus County.
"Sec. 4. It shall be the duty of the person appointed by section two of this Act to commence at the point designated in section three as the place of beginning of the northern boundary of said County of Merced, and run on a straight line to a point known as Phillips' Old Ferry, on the Merced river ; thence across said river in a straight line to the eastern line of the Stockton and Millerton Road; thence along the eastern line of said road, as traveled in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-four, to a point known as Newton's Crossing, on the Chowchilla River; and the line so run shall be the eastern bound- ary of Merced County."
Section 5 provided: "The person running said lines shall, at the end of each mile, and at the end of every angle in said line, erect lasting monuments of earth or stone; said monuments shall, if made of earth, be at least six feet in diameter at the base, and shall be at least two feet in height; and if made of stone, shall be at least four feet in diameter at the base and at least two feet in height."
The remainder of the act provided that the surveyor should file plats and field notes with the county surveyor and the county clerk, for his compensation and bond, and that he should enter upon the performance of his duties as soon as practicable after receiving his appointment, and repealed conflicting acts and parts of acts. The act by its terms took effect from and after its passage.
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On February 13, 1868, there was approved an Act of the Legis- lature of the State of California, entitled "An Act to Define the Boundary Line Between Merced and Stanislaus Counties," as fol- lows :
"The people of the State of California, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows :
"Section 1. The permanent boundary between the Counties of Stanislaus and Merced shall be as follows: Beginning at the monu- ment established by A. G. Stakes, County Surveyor of Stanislaus County, at the southwest corner of Tuolumne County and the south- east corner of Sanislaus County; thence in a straight line to a point on the San Joaquin River, seven miles below the mouth of the Merced River ; thence up the center of the San Joaquin River to the mouth of the Merced River; thence in a due southwest direction to the summit of the Coast Range of mountains.
"Sec. 2. Within ninety days after the passage of this Act the County Surveyors of the Counties of Stanislaus and Merced shall survey the boundary line established in the preceding section, and shall mark said line with good and substantial monuments at the end of each mile and at every angle of said line.
"Sec. 3. The expense of surveying said boundary line shall be paid in equal portions by the Counties of Stanislaus and Merced.
"Sec. 4. Section three of an Act entitled an Act to confer certain powers upon the Board of Supervisors of Merced County, approved March eighth, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, and all Acts and parts of Acts in conflict with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed.
"Sec. 5. This Act shall take effect from and after its passage." Section 3934 of the Political Code as enacted March 12, 1872, when the codes were adopted, defines the boundaries (and gives the county seat) of Merced County as follows :
"Merced. Beginning at northwest corner, being southwest corner of Stanislaus as shown on survey and map of A. J. Stakes, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight; thence northeasterly, on southern line of Stanislaus, as described in section three thousand nine hundred and thirty-three, to common corner of Tuolumne, Mariposa, Merced, and Stanislaus, as established in said section; thence southeasterly, by direct line, being western line of Mariposa, to Phillips' Ferry, on Merced River; thence southeasterly, on line of Mariposa, being line shown on "Map of Mariposa County," to Newton's crossing on Chowchilla Creek, forming southeast corner; thence down the northern side and on high-water mark, being on line of Fresno, to the lower clump of cottonwood timber at the sink of said creek; thence south forty-five degrees west, to the eastern line of Monterey, on summit of Coast Range, forming southwest corner; thence north-
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westerly, by said summit and line of Monterey and Santa Clara, to place of beginning.
"County seat-Snelling."
We note in this that the word "molt" has been changed to the better known "clump," and also that high-water mark on the north bank of the Chowchilla is specified.
The Code commissioners' note accompanying this section of the Political Code states that it is "based on Stats. 1855, page 125, Sec. 2; Stats. 1856, p. 183; Stats. 1865-66, p. 172, Sec. 2; Stats. 1867-68, p. 56, Sec. 1."
The preceding section (3933) referred to in 3934, describing the boundary of Stanislaus, after arriving at the southwest carner of Stanislaus and northwest corner of Merced according to Stake's survey of "July, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight," proceeds, "thence northeasterly, on line as established by said last-named survey, to the junction of the Merced and San Joaquin Rivers; thence down the San Joaquin seven miles; thence in a direct line a little north of east to a monument established by A. J. Stakes, being on the summit of the ridge between Merced and Stanislaus, and marking common corner of Tuolumne, Merced, Mariposa, and Stanislaus," etc., merely trac- ing in the opposite direction, it appears, the line established by the Act of February 13, 1868, already quoted.
The western boundary, in all the descriptions so far, has followed the summit of the Coast Range-meaning and accepted as, of course, the most easterly summit, the summit of the range specifically named the Diablo Range. San Benito County had been created on February 12, 1874; and on March 11, 1887, section two of the act creating it was amended, making changes in its boundaries so that they took in certain land from Fresno and Merced Counties. The portion of the San Benito boundary, as thus modified, which lay between it and Merced County is described as follows: "northwest in a straight line to the northeast corner of township fourteen south, range nine east; thence in a straight line northwesterly, running toward the northeast corner of township thirteen south, range seven east, to a point where said line intersects the present boundary line between the Counties of San Benito and Merced; thence along the present boundary line between the Counties of San Benito and Merced to the northeast corner of San Benito County and southeast corner of Santa Clara County." The portion from the last semicolon describes the un- changed portion of the boundary between the two counties; what precedes it, the changed portion. The effect was to move the south- west corner of Merced County several miles to the eastward of its former location.
On May 23, 1919, an act was passed by the legislature purporting to repeal Sections 3909 to 3958 of the Political Code and enact new
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sections of those numbers, adding eight new counties to Chapter I of Title I of Part IV of the Code and changing the boundaries of cer- tain existing counties. The counties were arranged alphabetically in the chapter, each having a section, and Merced County's section was 3932. No change was attempted in Merced County's boundar- ies from what they had been previously, and therefore the county is not affected by the decision of the Supreme Court in Mundell vs. Lyons, 182 Cal. 289, in holding the new act unconstitutional. This was done on the ground that it was in conflict with Article XI, Sec- tion 3, of the State constitution, reading : "The legislature, by general and uniform laws, may provide for the alteration of county boundary lines and for the formation of new counties." The matter was brought before the court by a petition for a writ of mandate by a man who under the old order had been a resident of Ventura County, but who under the new act, if it was valid, became a resident of Los Angeles County. He had applied to the registrar of voters of Los Angeles County to be registered, and had been refused, whereupon he brought the action to compel the registrar to register him. His right to registration in Los Angeles County of course depended upon whether he was a resident of that county, and that in turn upon whether the act in question was constitutional. Justice Olney, who wrote the opinion, concurred in by the other six justices, held that it was a special act, or a lot of special acts joined together, and that the legislature did not have the power to change a county boundary by special act.
Since the Act of 1919 had purported to repeal the old sections about all the counties as well as to enact the new, the legislature in 1923 passed an act, approved May 16, reestablishing the old boun- daries (Statutes of 1923, page 326).
As has been pointed out, however, neither the Act of 1918 nor consequently this Act of 1923 changed the boundaries of Merced County. The last change made in them was that made in 1887, when San Benito took a small portion of territory from the southwest corner.
A chapter in the history of the boundary between Merced and Stanislaus Counties which has not been mentioned, was written in the decision in the case of People vs. Henderson, decided in 1870. It arose over the question of whether the seven miles down the San Joaquin River from the mouth of the Merced should be measured in a straight line or following the meanders of the San Joaquin. The county surveyors of both counties had surveyed it, together with the resulting line from the point so determined to the northeast corner of Merced County, but while the Stanislaus County surveyor took the meanders of the San Joaquin, the Merced County surveyor took the straight line. P. Henderson had some land between the two lines
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east of the San Joaquin thus surveyed. He was assessed in both counties. He paid his taxes in Stanislaus County, and this action was brought to compel him to pay in Merced County. Merced County lost out and the court upheld the seven-mile line along the meanders of the San Joaquin.
We have now mentioned the various changes which have been made by law in the boundaries of Merced County. It remains to notice briefly the surveying of these boundaries and their actual loca- tion on the ground. Section 22 of the act creating the county pro- vided that it should be the duty of the county surveyor of the county, under the instructions and direction of the board of supervisors, to survey and mark the lines and boundaries of Merced County in accordance with the provisions of the act. There appears to be no record in existence of the survey. Taking the eastern boundary, we do find a report made by Mark Howell, county surveyor, July 31, 1872, of a survey of this boundary made in May of that year. It is clearly apparent from his field notes that there had been a previous survey, for he refers many times to mounds. It will be recalled that the Act of 1866 required that the supervisors appoint some suitable person to survey this boundary, as well as the one between Merced and Stanislaus, and to mark it at each mile and each angle with monuments of a size prescribed. Most probably these are the mounds Howell's survey refers to.
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