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 11
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The Merced-Stanislaus boundary has been the subject of more surveys than any of Merced's other boundaries, what with the frequent changes made by law and all. There are on file in the county sur- veyor's office the field notes of a survey of that portion of this line between the mouth of the Merced River and the Coast Range made in1856 by Silas Wilcox, county surveyor of Stanislaus County.
There are two reports in 1868 on the Merced-Stanislaus line. The first was made May 10, and was of a survey made by John W. Bost, assistant county surveyor. Bost and his chief, William G. Collier, report on this. It is approved and accepted by the board of supervisors. Then on August 4 we find a report by Collier that he met with the county surveyor of Stanislaus County April 2, 1868, for the purpose of surveying the line between the two counties, and that they were unable to agree on that portion of the line east of the San Joaquin. Here we see cropping up the same difference which led to the case of People vs. Henderson, already referred to, where the point in dispute was whether the line running seven miles down the San Joaquin from the mouth of the Merced should follow the mean- ders of the former or go straight. Collier reports in this report on the survey of the portion of the boundary west of the San Joaquin, on which the two surveyors did agree.
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The county surveyor of Stanislaus at that time was seemingly that same A. G. Stakes whose survey is adopted by the legislature in the Act of 1868. The Merced-Stanislaus County line was re- survey in 1913 by A. E. Cowell and E. H. Annear, county surveyors of Merced and Stanislaus Counties respectively, under orders from their respective boards of supervisors, in order more definitely and plainly to locate and mark the line.
In 1873 A. T. Herrmann, county surveyor of Santa Clara County, and George H. Perrin, deputy county surveyor of Merced County, made and reported upon a survey of the line between these two counties along the summit of the Diablo Range. Their report was filed August 5, 1873. The report shows that they were engaged for ten days on the job, and took levels to determine the direction the water would run and thus to locate the watershed which is the boun- dary.
In 1887 C. D. Martin surveyed and reported upon the line between Merced and San Benito following the modifications of that line made by the act of the same year, which we have already referred to. His report was filed June 28, 1887. It is interesting to note that he had as chainmen Hilend Worden and F. Flourney, and as teamster Joseph Carmichael.
The county's southern boundary has not shifted back and forth because of changes in the acts concerning it, as has the northern, but it has given its share of trouble. William G. Collier surveyed it southwestward from a certain tree in "the lower molt of cotton- wood timber" mentioned in the act creating Fresno County, in 1866, and eastward from the same tree in 1869. Whether we may as- sume from this that Newton's Crossing had already become difficult of location cannot be determined from the reports. The fact that Collier had a certain tree in the "molt" to start from would seem to indicate that there must have been earlier surveys, as indeed there must, but there seems to be no record of their survival.
Collier's field notes, filed August 6, 1866, on the "S. W. Bound- ary" start his line off as follows: "Beginning at a cottonwood tree in front of and twenty-five feet from the old Kelley Ranch house, which I marked M. C. & F. C., Var. 16° E." From this he works the line out following a southwest course.
There is among the Merced County surveyor's records a tran- scription made on typwriter and bound in a cover bearing A. E. Cowell's name, of the old field notes of William G. Collier's survey from this same tree up the Chowchilla River and reported by him to the board of supervisors February 1, 1869. The notes appear to be incomplete; they begin somewhat to the west of the tree, in fact, and we reach it thus, taking the notes from the beginning as they
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now stand: "Thence we ran S. 48 3/4° E. 195.41 ch. to a cotton- wood tree about 2 feet in diameter standing in about the center of the lowest cottonwood grove on the Chowchilla River and direct- ly in front and about twenty feet distant from the mansion house of the Kelley ranch; thence S. 57º E. 23.50 chs. up to fork of the river ." There is also a report by Collier on this survey. It is interesting to observe in these field notes that Collier reports : "From Station 28 J. M. Montomery's house bears S. 52 3/4° E."
The last course given-the margin of the paper is a little torn away-reads : "N. 77 1/2° E. 7.55 chs. to Station No. 213, R. W. P. set in center of ro . . . Newton's Crossing of the Chowchilla River." The "R. W. P." is of course a red wood post. There was evidently a road there then.
But this corner at Newton's Crossing is giving trouble during the last year or two. The county surveyors of Madera and Merced County have been working on it, and it isn't worked out yet. They find by going back to the nearest monuments they can locate on this line to the west, and to the nearest they can locate on the Mariposa line to the north, and then following out the last courses of the two lines from these nearest monuments, that they arrive, not at one point, but at two. Coming eastward on the Madera boundary they reach a point somewhat to the north and east of the one they reach by coming south on the Mariposa line, and both points lie to the southward of the Chowchilla. The matter has been brought to the attention of the attorney general, but the difficulties presented are largely of fact rather than of law, and a solution remains to be found.
The portion of the southern boundary southwestward from the often mentioned cottonwood tree has been recently resurveyed. Since the portion of the Merced-Stanislaus boundary west of the San Joaquin has been described as starting at the northwest corner at the stake set by A. G. Stakes in 1868, every straight line in the county's boundary has been determined by a fixed point at each end except this one on the southwest. It is the only line of constant bearing in the whole of the county's boundary, striking out from the cottonwood tree as it does, not to hit another fixed point, but to hit a line, at its other end. It is the only rhumb line, as the surveyors designate it. Some three of four years ago the county surveyors of Fresno, Ma- dera, and Merced Counties, under direction of their several boards, got together at the old Chowchilla Ranch, took the testimony of Isaac Bird, for many years the superintendent of the ranch, and of G. A. Howell, then superintendent, as to the location of the corner cottonwood, fixed that point, and set deputy Edgar C. Smith of Fresno County and Deputy L. A. Bacheldor of Merced County
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at the job of resurveying the line southwestward from the point so fixed to the San Benito line, and also for a short distance southeast- ward to connect up with the north bank of the Chowchilla, which as far back as Collier's survey of 1869 could not be traced entirely to the cottonwood clump where the tree had been fixed upon. They pursued their labors with some interruptions, surveying the lines out carefully and marking them with substantial monuments. In July, 1924, the results of their labors, in the shape of a report and map for each of the three counties affected, were filed and approved by the respective boards of supervisors of the three counties.
One other report with reference to the southern boundary needs to be mentioned. It was filed May 8, 1873, by Mark Howell, agent to settle county boundary line between Merced and Fresno Counties. The report has a certificate of Henry Descom, clerk of the Fresno County board, attached, to the effect that the Fresno board have made an order accepting the proposition made by the Merced board to adopt the surveys made in 1866 and 1869 by William G. Collier and already referred to, as the surveys of the Merced-Fresno bound- ary, and that they are to pay Merced County $881.22 for copies of the maps and field notes. The report was thus certified by the Fresno clerk May 7, 1873, and accepted by the Merced County board May 8, 1873.
With reference to the actual organization of Merced County there is very little remaining of record. We see in the Act of April 18, 1855, Section 4, that the election to elect county officers and choose a county seat is to be held on the second Monday in May. This was the 14th. The board of commissioners appointed by the act were to meet on the Monday two weeks previous to the election, which would be April 30, at the house of James A. Neil & Co. in said county. The board, by Section 10, was to meet five days subse- quent to the election, which would be Saturday, May 19, to canvass the ballots and make a tabular statement of the vote cast and pre- pare and deliver certificates of election to those elected. So far as the records now in existence in the county are concerned, the only proof we have that they performed these things at the times speci- fied is found in the fact that on June 4, 1855, the new board of supervisors of the new county, consisting of G. H. Murray, William J. Barfield, and S. L. Kelly, with E. G. Rector, clerk, met and held their first official meeting. It was a special session.
There is nothing in the minutes of the meeting or of later ones, or in any existing county records, telling us directly what place was chosen as the first county seat, or even that a place was chosen at the election of May 14, 1855, for the purpose, though we are con- strained to believe that one was chosen. The place of the earliest
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meetings, until Snelling's Ranch was chosen not long afterwards, was on the ranch of Turner & Osborn, on Mariposa Creek, the place which afterwards became the E. T. Givens place, and the exact spot is situated to the right of the valley highway and the Central Pacific Railroad as one goes south; that is to say, it is down Mari- posa Creek from the highway and railroad., The distance from the highway and railroad, by the shortest straight line, is approximately a mile and a half.
D. K. Stoddard, of Merced, supplies us with the following state- ment in writing, signed by J. W. Givens and O.K.'ed by E. V. Givens, both sons of Eleazer T. Givens, which Mr. Stoddard and others obtained in 1917 on behalf of the local Native Sons lodge, which had named a committee to identify and mark the spot :
"The court house tree stood in Sec. 23, T. 8 S., R. 14 E., where first county court was held 1855.
"The tree was killed in winter of 1868-69 by an accumulation of sediment or mining debris caused by floods, and was cut down and made into stove fuel in 1869.
"Land on which tree stood in 1855 was owned by Turner & Os- born-Geo. Turner was afterwards Treasurer of Merced County.
"Aug. 2, 1917.
"O. K .- E. V. Givens."
(Signed) J. W. Givens.
Mr. Stoddard informs us that the location of the tree was on an old channel of Mariposa Creek, considerably to the south of the present channel. The creek's course has been changed, he sug- gests, by the building of the Santa Fe Railroad. It apparently fol- lowed the old course when the Central Pacific was built, for the rea- son that there is a bridge across it large enough for the entire creek and much larger than now needed for the little flow in the old course. This old course runs out entirely a very short distance be- low where the tree was located, and has been pretty well plowed in and filled up. The portion of the Givens ranch on which the tree stood is that marked on the county map of 1919 as belonging to Constance Givens, and the old creek channel appears from this map to cross Constance Givens' land in the southwest quarter of the north- west quarter of Section 23.
Mr. Stoddard informs us that John Ruddle, who until his death on February 1, 1925, was the oldest living pioneer of Merced County of 1855 or earlier, and who lived in Merced and was ninety- four years of age on October 17, 1924, was present as a young man of twenty-five when the first court was held.
The following are the minutes of the first meeting of the board of supervisors of the county, held at this first county seat on June 4, 1855 :
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"Minute Docket Bord of Supervisors For the County of Merced, "June 4, A. D. 1855.
"At a special meeting of the Bord of Supervisors June the 4th, A. D. 1855, all the members being present, G. H. Murry was ap- pointed Chairman of the Bord.
"It was then moved and carried that the Bord, in accordance with an Act of the legislature of the State of California passed April 20th, A. D. 1855, making it the duty of the Bord of Supervisors to town- ship the County and to appoint township officers.
"The Bord then proceeded to township the County, viz .: To comprise two townships, viz., commencing at the N. E. corner of the County, thence with the boundary line of said county and the Mariposa County to a point half way between the Mariposa Creek and Bear Creek, thence south at an equal distance from said creeks to the San Joaquin River, thence on a strate line to the summit of the Cost Range of Mountains, the boundary line of said county. All the teritory laying N. W. of said boundary line to form Township (Number One No. 1), the remaining teritory South East to form Township (Number Two No. 2).
"It was then moved and caried the Bord proceed to appoint Township officers to fill the unexpired of vacancies in said offices.
"The Board then proceeded to appoint Wm. Finch and William Wall Justices of the Peace for Township Number Two No. 2) and M. Stockard Justice of the Peace for Township Number One . . .
"It was then ordered by the Bord that notice be given the ap- pointed Justices of the Peace to come forward, give bond and qualify as the law directs.
"Said notices was then given as per order.
"The Board then proceeded in conformity with the aforesaid Act of the Legislature, A. Stevenson and George Turner Commis- sioners on the part of Merced County to meet a similar Bor on the part of Mariposa to apportion the debt due the County of Mariposa by the County of Merced.
"Notices was then sent to the said appointed commissioners.
"The Bord then proceeded to levy the amt. of taxes to be assessed and collected on every one hundred dollars of property assessed in this County, viz., Fifty cents for public buildings, Sixty cents for State, and Ten cents for school fund, and Three Dollars Poll Tax.
"Given under my hand June 4th, A. D. 1855.
"Test: E. G. Rector, exofico G. H. Murry, Charmn. of Brd.
Clerk of Bord of Supervisors, of Supervisrs, M. C." M. C.
The minutes of the early meetings in "Book A" appear to have been copied; there is in existence a smaller book, from which the
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above minutes were copied, and we judge that this book was the one used until the county seat had been moved to Snelling's Ranch and the new court house built there and occupied, in 1857. It is significant that the date of the first meeting, as given in "Book A," is June 4, 1857, an evident error for 1855, and the most likely year for a person to have made that mistake would of course have been 1857. The small book seemingly continued to be used as the book of original entry until later than 1857, for some meetings at least, the minutes then being copied into the larger "Book A."
The first county seat proved inconvenient in location, being diffi- cult of access. We find very early in the minutes that there is an election called to vote on the location of the county seat again, and at this election Snelling's Ranch won out and the county seat was moved there. Oldtimers sometimes still add the apostrophe and "s" and speak of the second county seat and the site of the first court house as Snelling's.
MURRAY'S MILL
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CHAPTER VIII THE ASSESSMENT ROLL FOR 1857
It seems difficult to imagine a more uninteresting sort of book than an assessment roll, and yet a number of interesting things about the early history of Merced County may be gleaned with a consider- able degree of certainty from the earliest extant assessment roll of the county. An examination of the early county records which remain shows many gaps; they are clearly apparent in the ranks of the yearly assessment rolls; it is perhaps a fair estimate to say that not more than one for every half dozen years of, say, at least the first three decades, survives. Presumably an earlier assessment list, or perhaps two of them, than this one of 1857, once existed, but ap- parently they exist no longer.
The 1857 list is a small book, written in long hand, apparently by the assessor as he carried it about with him from place to place in his work. The arrangement of the names in it, which may be described as geographical, according to the residence of the person assessed, bears out this conjecture that he did so carry the book about and make the entries on the ground. Certainly the arrangement is not alphabetical, and no other system of arrangement is so strongly suggested by it as the one mentioned.
Pages 1 to 90 are present, then come 107 and 108, and then 117 and 118. These ninety-four pages of long hand are what is left- these and an index, apparently complete, of a dozen pages more. The index permits the names which were on the missing pages to be supplied, and shows that the book originally contained 122 pages in all.
The total number of persons whose assessments rernain in the book is 190, and the total number in the index is apparently 277, with perhaps some allowance to be made for double indexing of the names of partners.
The location of the real estate goes so far to show what parts of the county were settled and what were not, that it is deemed worth while to give at least the name and the description of the land of every landowner assessed. Such additional portions will be included as appear to afford help towards reconstructing in the imagination of the present-day reader the times of 1857; and in the main the peculiarities of style in the original will be here preserved, especially as regards variant spellings and abbreviations.
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H. Aldrich is assessed for improvements in the town of Snelling, $500; stock on hand, $400; tools, $60; total, $960. Note the absence of the lot on which the improvements were located. We shall find that land was unbelievably cheap; $1.25 an acre on the East Side, 50 cents an acre on the West Side, seem to be the prevailing valua- tions, except in the case of one lawyer who has an acre "on" some- body's farm, assessed for $25.
William S. Snelling: Improvements in Snelling, $500; 1 town lot, $40.
C. F. Bludworth (first sheriff) : 160 acres of land on Bear Creek adjoining Cocanour's Ranch, $200. Seventeen hogs, 3 work horses, 17 stock horses, improvements on ranch, county scrip, per- sonal property and two lots, Nos. 7 and 8, Block 2, Range 2, bring the total to $2620.
Benjamin H. Moore: 4 work horses, $790; 127 acres land, Sec. 36, T. 5 S., R. 13 E., west qr., situated on the Merced River, $158.75 ; improvements on same, $100; personal property, $1113; total, $2161.75.
L. W. Talbott : 1 law library, $100; accounts, $100; 1 desk and table, $10; 1 dog, $4.
George Turner : 3 work horses, $300; personal property, $225.
Charles S. Peck : I work horse, $75 ; county scrip, $900; dog and trowel, $1. One wonders why the invidious distinction between this and Talbott's dog, even without the trowel.
Rector & Turner: 320 acres situated on Mariposa Creek bounded as follows: northeast by Givens, north by Johnson, south by the plains, west by Ward; of the value of $400; improvements, $100; 35 tons hay, $1050; other personal property, $200; total, $1750.
George P. Lake: Improvements in town of Snelling consisting of one wagon shop, $500; tools and stock on hand and accounts, $600; total, $1100.
William Sparks: Improvements in the town of Snelling con- sisting of two blacksmith shops, $1200; stock of iron on hand, $30; accounts standing out, $2000; blacksmith tools, $150; total, $3380.
Charles Penright: One horse, work, $50, raised to $60.
Lash & Clark: 320 acres land situated on the Merced River bottom and bounded as follows : north by the plains, south by Hawkes ranch, E. by Bird's claim, west by Post's ranch, of the value of $400; improvements on same consisting of one house, $50; total, $450.
William Lash: 17 tons hay, $340.
Note the land descriptions. Very little surveying had yet been done of subdivisions of sections.
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Henry Stokes: 320 acres land situated on Mariposa Creek and bounded as follows : on the east by the claim of W. B. Akin, south by McClelen, west by Givens, and north by the plains, $400; 8 work horses, $840; improvements on land, $200; 3 stock horses, $100; 6 head of beef cattle, $300; 2 tons hay, $40; 1 pistol six shooter, $25; total, $1545.
John Baker: 6 work horses, $360; 50 head of stock cattle, $750; total, $1110. Reduced on stock cattle, $150; total, $960. In the minutes of the board of supervisors we find where they reduced the valuation on stock cattle, first Spanish, from $15 to $12 a head.
Charles A. Starr: 160 acres of land described as follows : being the S. west Qr. Sec. 2, Township 5 S., Range 14 E., situated on the Merced River, value $200; farming utensils, $12; household and kitchen furniture, $5; poultry, $5; 1 ton hay, $30; 1 bull dog, $5 (without a trowel, too) ; improvements on land, $5000; money on hand, $5; total, $5262. Less $500; total, $4762. This was about a mile and a half above Snelling, on the left of the road. Query: What were these valuable improvements ?
James G. Johnson: 3 work horses, $180, raised from $100; 7 stock horses, $140; 1 watch, $25; 1 buggy, $20; 1 wagon, $30; total, $405.
John Ware: 2997 pounds barley, $90.
W. B. Grimshaw : 160 acres land, being South East Qr. of Sec. 3, Township 5, Range 14 East, situated on the Merced River, value of $200; improvements on same, $300; 2 oxen, $100; 1 mule, $75; 4 stock cattle, American, $80; farming utensils, $50; household furni- ture, $200; 1 wagon, $50; total $1055. 1200 bushels barley added by correction of assessor, $840; total, $1895.
Christ Mugler: 160 acres land, being South East Qr. of Sec. 2, Township 5 South, Range 14 East, situated on the Merced River, value $200; improvements on same, $1000; 3 work horses, $180; 2 stock cattle, American, $50; 1 stock horse, $50; 1 wagon, $50; 750 bushels barley, $525; farming utensils, $25; house and kitchen furniture, $50; total, $2130. Reduced on improvements, $500; total, $1630.
F. B. Myers: 1 work horse, $75; 1 chest carpenter's tools, $50; 600 bushels barley, $420, 4 tons hay, $80; total, $625.
Hempstead & Ivit: 320 acres land, fractions 3 & 4 of the Northeast Qr. of Northwest Qr. of Sec. 7 and South East Qr. South West Qr. of Sec. 6, Township 5 South, Range 15 East, etc. (other fractions Secs. 12 and 1, same township and range), situated on the Merced River, value $400; improvements on same, $1000; (etc., $4235 in all).
W. F. Wilson: 1 mustang, $30; money on hand, $50; notes, $42; accounts, $50; total, $172.
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L. P. Wilson: 160 acres, being the northeast of Sec. 7, Town- ship 6 S., Range 15 East, situated on the Merced River, $200 (and personal property, several items ) ; total, $1720.
John Hyner: 4 stock horses, $150. John W. Mack : 160 acres land, being north half of north west Qr. of Sec. 8, and the south half of south west Qr. Sec. 5, Township 5 South Range 15 East, $200; with personal property bringing total to $1725.
M. P. D. Stone : 2 work horses, $200; money on hand, $600; total, $800.
Charles Murray: 160 acres land, $200 (location blank) ; im- provements on same, $12,000 (probably a bridge or ferry) ; 9 work horse, $675; 51 stock cattle, American, $1020; 9 head sheep, $36; 20 goats, $80; household furniture, $300; goods on hand, $600; 6 hogs, $18; 1 ton hay, $35; total, $14,964. Murray is among the first half dozen (of those whose names we have) of the county's richest men at this time. (Page 13 of the original.)
William Nelson is assessed for 287 acres land, being north half and fractions 3 & 4 of the south west Qr. of Sec. 4, and fraction 1 in Sec. 9 and south west 40 of north east Qr., and fractions 1, 2 & 3 of Sec. 8, Township 5 South, Range 15 East, $358.75 ; improvements on same, $4500; 8 oxen and 500 bushels barley, $800; 45 stock cattle, Spanish, $900; 8 hogs, $20; 35 goats, $80; 4 stock horses, $120; 1 mule, $50; wagons and farm utensils, $500; household furniture, $250; total, $7578.
T. W. T. Young: 120 acres land, 40 acres of which lies on the south side of the Merced River, being the fraction of the northwest Qr. of Sec. 9, Township 5 South, Range 15 East, also 80 acres of which lies back of the fraction northwest Qr. of Sec. 9 (etc. ), valued at $150; improvements on same, $5000; 2 stock cattle, American, $60; 2 work horses, $120; 15 stock horses, $300; 25 tons hay, $500; 800 bushels barley, $560; 1 watch, $25; 1 wagon, $25; house and kitchen, $100; total, $6865.
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