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 25
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According to the practice of the journalism of the times, Steele does not tell us many things which we should be glad to know; glittering generalities come in after he has told us who bought the first lot, and we do not learn who bought any others or how many were sold.
Two weeks later appears the following: "Merced .- Buildings at the new town of Merced are springing up as if by magic. Since the sale of lots, two weeks ago, some fifteen or twenty buildings have been started, some of which are rapidly approaching comple- tion, and yet we hear of a number of others to be commenced as soon as workmen and materials can be obtained. The basement of a large hotel-being erected for the railroad company-is going up rapidly, and in the course of three months the town will be able to boast of one of the largest and finest hotels in the southern part of the State. We are informed that it is to be a four-story build- ing-the basement of brick-and when finished to contain one hun- dred and seventy-five rooms. As Merced is to be the terminus of railroad travel for Yosemite tourists, a large well-furnished hotel will be necessary for their accommodation, and the railroad com- , pany is not inclined to permit them to lack for suitable accommoda- tions at so important a point as the line of travel." The story then goes on to say that the valley around the town at this season presents a pretty scene, an unbroken plain carpeted with green.
We may close this chapter with the following from the editorial page of the short-lived "Merced People," which Harry Granice
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edited for fourteen issues' during the spring of 1872 in the new town-a move, we may guess, which was an unsuccessful attempt by Steele and his family to hold the newspaper field of the county against outsiders. In his tenth issue, on May 25, 1872, Granice had the following :
"Our Town .- Some idea may be gained of the rapid growth of our town when we state that it now contains more business houses than any other place in this or any adjoining county, and its progress is constantly upward, and ere long it will be the largest and most flourishing place between Stockton and Los Angeles. Merced dates its existence back to the 8th of February last, and where now stands a prosperous and constantly growing town, previous to that time was the 'stamping ground' of numerous herds of wild cattle and mustang horses. That our town is bound to prosper must be plain to all for these reasons: It is situated in the center of a fine agricul- tural region, the land of which is unsurpassed for its extraordinary richness and grain raising qualities, and the location of the town is a remarkably healthy one. Chills and fever and other malarious diseases never make their appearance in this locality as they do in other portions of our county during the summer months. It has railroad connections with all the principal marts of the world, rend- ering travel and transportation expeditious, and if the proposed competitive railroad between San Francisco and St. Louis is built, we will be enabled to say cheap. But at present the freight rates and fares established by the Central Pacific Railroad, to and from this place, are exorbitant, and as a consequence our town and county will not settle up as rapidly `as they would if the tariff of charges on the C. P. R. R. were something like reasonable. But in spite of this our town continues to increase in size and importance, and the surrounding country, from which the town derives its chief support, keeps pace with it in improvement.
"To those who are looking out for a suitable business location we will say that Merced offers superior inducements to business men of whatever profession or trade, and we have no hesitancy in stating that there is room for all in our town."
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UNITED CIOANS LUNCH
AFNACY
AMBROSIA GRILL
CAFF
STREET SCENE, MERCED, 1923
CHAPTER XV
MERCED BECOMES THE COUNTY SEAT
Along in the fall of 1872, we begin to read in the two papers of a movement to transfer the county seat from Snelling to the new town of Merced. For some reason or other both papers, Steele's San Joaquin Valley Argus, published at Snelling, and Edward Mad- den's Merced County Tribune, published at Merced, seem to shy at the subject; there is by no means as much in their columns about the beginning of the movement, or anything that preceded the actual calling of the election, as we should expect. The Argus first men- tions it in the issue of September 28, 1872, as follows :
"The County Seat Question .- Our Merced friends seem exceed- ingly anxious for the removal of the county seat from Snelling to the new town, many of them believing that this new acquisition is abso- lutely essential to the future prosperity of their promising place. We believe that they are entirely too anxious and will in their zeal overdo the thing, and thereby injure the prospects not only of Merced but also of Snelling, as well as the taxpayers of the entire county. To get the seat of justice removed to a central point in the county has long been the desire of a large proportion of the residents of the county ; but all should desire to effect it at the least possible cost to the taxpayers; and to do this, care should be taken to have all things in readiness before an attempt is made and a vote of the people taken. We should look to the cost of suitable county buildings and the means of providing funds to pay for the same, before the people are called upon to cast their votes upon the question."
It is not strictly true that this is Steele's first reference to the possibility of Merced's becoming the county seat; he has a short reference to it in March, and he mentions it as a possibility once or twice in telling about the beginning of the new town still earlier. But it is his first reference to a movement for the purpose on the part of Merced after the movement had been launched, and it reads as if it were a reluctant reference to something that had been going on for some time. The note of fatherly conservatism which he strikes in this first utterance he maintains throughout his discussion until the election has actually carried and the count been completed beyond any doubt. It is only on December 21, nine days after the election, that he writes, "The county seat goes from Snelling, and with the removal the glory of the place departs."
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In his issue of November 2, he says: "The county seat question, as the time approaches for the Board of Supervisors to act upon the petition for the issuance of a proclamation of eleceion, produces some little stir among our people, many of whom think that it is rather too soon to think of settling a question involving so much expense to the county as this, and prefer to wait until the taxpayers are more able to bear the burdens of taxation, necessary to defray the expenses of erecting permanent public building, should the people vote for re- moval. We say, the people pay their money and should have their choice."
In the same issue is the following: "The Board of Supervisors. -This body will meet on Monday next for the transaction of the regular business of the term, and will in all probability remain in session two weeks, as there is a large amount of business to transact, much of which will require considerable time for deliberation."
On November 9 he has another editorial beginning: "It will be seen by notice in another column that the Board of Supervisors on the 7th inst., ordered an election to be holden on the 12th of Decem- ber for the relocation of the county seat of this county. " He goes on with another of his editorials, much in the same vein as the one already quoted. The notice itself is very brief and is as follows :
"Election Notice .- Notice is hereby given that a special election will be held in all the election precincts of Merced County on Thurs- day, December 12th, A. D. 1872, for the purpose of voting upon the removal and location of the county-seat of said Merced County.
"By order of the Board of Supervisors,
"James E. Hicks, Clerk. "Snelling, Nov. 7, 1872."
The order made by the board on November 7, calling the election and naming election officers, was as follows :
"Special Election Order .- The petition of citizens praying the Board to call an election for the purpose of voting upon the removal of the county seat of this county having been filed, the Board pro- ceeded to count the names of petitioners, and having found that said petition contained the names of registered electors equal in number to at least one-third of the votes cast at the last general election, made the following order calling an election: It is hereby ordered that a special election will be held in all the election precincts in Merced County on Thursday, December 12th, 1872, for the pur- pose of voting upon the removal and location of the county seat of said Merced County.
"The following is a list of the officers of election:
"Snelling Precinct-N. Breen, Inspector; J. B. Sensabaugh, G. W. Halstead, Judges.
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"Merced Falls Precinct-Wm. A. McCreary, Inspector; Henry Nelson, T. W. Standart, Judges.
"Hopeton Precinct-Mark Wyatt, Inspector ; H. F. Buckley, W. L. Silman, Judges.
"Madison Precinct-Henry Smart, Inspector; A. McSwain, P. M. Price, Judges.
"Turner's Precinct-W. C. Turner, Inspector ; R. J. Ashe, Samuel Long, Judges.
"Merced Precinct-Richard Simpson, Inspector; W. B. Aiken, John Levinsky, Judges.
"Hail's Precinct-J. C. Hail, Inspector; Jas. Cunningham, N. F. Salter, Judges.
"Plainsburg Precinct-P. Y. Welch, Inspector ; Reub. Reynolds, Byron Burrington, Judges.
"Sandy Mush Precinct-Jas. Mull, Sr., Inspector ; A. L. Relyea, A. D. Turner, Judges.
"Mears' Precinct-J. K. Mears, Inspector; C. E. Stevens, John Keys, Judges.
"Cressy Precinct-T. J. Simpson, Inspector ; T. C. Shaw, W. P. McConnell, Judges.
"Cottonwood Precinct-N. H. Spencer, Inspector ; Bates Dehart, A. S. Garvin, Judges.
"Kreyenhagen Precinct-Gus Kreyenhagen, Inspector; Saul J. Horner, Benj. F. Davis, Judges."
It is in his issue of November 9, the first after the board of super- visors had called the election, that Madden first mentioned the sub- ject. From that time on until the election, he boosted Merced. But we will return to Steele. On November 16 he has a long editorial on the subject, in which he argues against the move, at present, on the score of cost. He cites the horrible examples of old Tuolumne and Calaveras Counties, where, he tells us, the citizens are saddled with a heavy burden of debt on account of expensive county buildings. He urges that the people go slow-that they do not vote for the removal "in order that the railroad company and a few speculators at Merced may grow rich with greater rapidity."
In this same issue there is a communication, signed, after the rather usual practice of the time, with a fictitious name. This time it is "An Old Resident" who takes a column to oppose the removal from Snelling. He advances three arguments: First, that it will be more costly than the county can afford; second, that the county around Merced is subject to overflow, and that it will take $75,000 more (in addition to the $175,000 which he estimates for county buildings that the county can feel proud of ) to levy it so that the citizens can always get to the county seat; and third, that Merced, while it is
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somewhere near the center of the East Side, is not enough more convenient to the West Side to justify their share of the expense of removal. "An Old Resident" is evidently also an old politician trying the old political trick of divide and conquer.
Steele, in his editorial just mentioned, argues that the supervisors cannot, according to law, impose a tax for the necessary buildings. He counsels waiting until authority can be obtained from the legisla- ture at its next session. He also argues that suitable buildings should be ready to move the county records to in order that there may not be danger of their loss by fire.
The following week he has an editorial beginning: "This ques- tion now is the most important agitating the minds of the people of this county, and is really worthy of greater consideration than ordin- arily is the case with like propositions in other counties. When we take into consideration the vast influence exerted by the Railroad Company over county officials, the interest taken by the managers of that corporation in removal to the town of Merced, together with the vast expenditures contemplated for the purpose of building roads to that point, the people may well fear the result. . . . "
On the 30th of November he has an "Address to the Voters and Tax-Payers of Merced County" on the subject which occupies almost three columns, in which he sums up all the arguments he can think of against the removal, and he has also an editorial as follows :
"County Seat Removal .- Our citizens having laid aside their apathy, show a disposition to contest the claims of the town of Merced for the seat of justice, and are now making efforts to place the ques- tion squarely before the people in every section of the county, relying upon the justice of their cause, and the well-known intelligence of the people for a verdict in favor of retaining it where it is now located until proper preparations are made by law for removal and reloca- tion. And, being thoroughly impressed with the belief that all pru- dent taxpayers in all quarters of the county will vote against removal on the 12th day of next month, feel sanguine of victory and the re- tention of the county seat at Snelling for at least two years longer. Men of calculation and prudence who are not personally interested in either place will doubtless oppose removal at this time, in consequence of the probability of a great increase of taxation. The issue must be met by all such now, that the county may be saved from expenditures so enormous that her growth and prosperity will be crippled for a long term of years. With her area of unrivaled soil, Merced County ought to take the lead of her neighbors in the production of the cereals, cotton, fruits and all the products adapted to our climate, and will do so if taxation is not so increased as to discourage immigra- tion, and the investment of capital in the cultivation of our fertile lands. Let the people carefully examine into these things, and then
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HISTORY OF MERCED COUNTY
attend the polls and vote against removal, and the incurring of debts to the amount of one or two hundred thousand dollars, by hurrying removal a year or two in advance of the proper time."
In his issue of December 7, the last before the election, Steele delivers "The Last Shot," and also prints a communication against the removal, signed "Sorites." In this last editorial he attacks edi- torials which had appeared in the Tribune. Madden had told of an offer taking the form of a bond filed with the county clerk, on the part of a group of citizens, to provide temporary buildings in Merced rent-free if the county seat should be removed there, and also of the filing by the railroad company of a bond for a deed to a site, and had also warmly criticized "one Little" for circulating cards offering to deed a lot in "Livingstone" for a dollar to each person who would vote in favor of Snelling or against Merced.
"Sorites," in the Argus of December 9, charges that the railroad company is trying to enslave the people, and wants the county seat removed to their railroad line for that nefarious purpose. He says in part: "Vote to move the county seat to the town of Merced and we deliver ourselves bound hand and foot to this heartless, soulless, arbitrary, and tyrannical corporation. We say tyrannical, because every day's experience proves them to be so. But a few days back, when they were informed that Cressy's Station, or Livingstone, as it is now called, would be run for the county seat, they told Mr. Little, who owns the lands about the station, that if he permitte dthat place to be run, they would tear up the switch and move the station. Fellow citizens, does this not have the ring about it of telling you that you shall put the county seat where they dictate ?"
"Sorites" then makes another point : "Aside from these momentous considerations, let us examine the location itself of the town of Merced and its claims to the site. Go to the county map and you will see it is about ten miles to the eastern boundary of the county, whilst it is fifty to the western boundary . . . and this, when stripped of all the blowing and tooting you have heard about it, constitutes its claims to a central location. The town itself is situated on a bleak, cheerless plain, without a tree to relieve its monotony unless it be an occasional stunted willow on Bear Creek, and from this fact it fol- lows that its inhabitants have to come to the Merced River or go east some fifteen or twenty miles into the mountains to obtain wood, and for which they have to pay at the present time ten to fifteen dollars per cord, delivered in Merced City." And then he makes another point: "It is built upon the lowest ground in the neighbor- hood, being in a swag; and I ask those who repair there next Thurs- day for the purpose of voting, to note the fact that it is not susceptible of drainage. . . . " And so on.
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HISTORY OF MERCED COUNTY
From the style of this letter of "Sorites" and that of the other by "An Old Resident," and that of the unsigned "Address," all of which pretty closely resemble Steele's editorial style, it is a fair enough suspicion that he himself wrote them all. The editorial "we" crops up now and then in them. If he wrote the very passimistic estimate of Merced's location in the "Sorites" letter, if affords a very inter- esting contrast to the extremely complimentary things he said about the place a year or so earlier, and the town's desire to be the county seat had apparently had a lot of effect on its beauty.
In the same issue he says : "The lackeys of the Railroad Company are using golden arguments in favor of removal. . . . People may know the most prominent ones who have sold themselves. . . . Gold and Merced town lots are at the bottom of their disinterested- ness. .
This was Steele's last utterance before the election. Madden, as has been said, does not apparently comment upon the removal proposi- tion at all until after the board of supervisors had actually called the election. The election notice was published in both papers and has been given above. Madden's editorial of the 9th is brief. It reads :
"County Seat .- As will be seen from the Election Proclamation published elsewhere in this issue, the Board of Supervisors, in accord- ance with a petition signed by the requisite number of electors, have ordered a special election to be held on the 12th proximo, to deter- mine the question of locating the county seat of this county. The sub- ject is of great interest to the community and will no doubt be thoroughly canvassed. The late hour at which we received the order of the board forbids any extended remarks in this connection, this week."
He makes more extended remarks the next week, argues that if the county seat is to be removed it should go to Merced, that it would be a great convenience to those wishing to buy land to have the county records at Merced, says that the prosperity of both towns will suffer as long as the matter remains undecided, argues that outside of the cost of the new buildings the actual removal will not cost five hundred dollars, and that the cost of the buildings should not all be charged to the removal, as the present buildings are "somewhat faded and thoroughly inadequate," tells of the nine-acre site which has been donated, says that the burden can't be imposed until the legislature meets in the winter of 1873-1874, and argues that since the law pro- vides there cannot be another election on the question for three years, it should be carried this time. The cost, he argues, will not be a bur- den that cannot well be borne.
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HISTORY OF MERCED COUNTY
On November 23 the Tribune has a story that a group of men favoring Merced have filed with the county clerk a bond to provide free to the county good and sufficient buildings as temporary quarters if the county seat comes to Merced. The buildings are to be furnished for not to exceed eighteen months from the first day of January, 1873, The men who executed the bond were: "M. Smythe, J. P .; Patrick Carroll, Farmer ; M. Dugan, Farmer; John Mitchell, Farmer; Nor- vall Douglass, Farmer; Jas. Morton, Sheep-raiser ; Henry Hoffman, Farmer; C. C. Smith, Sheep-raiser ; Charles P. Elliott, Fruit Dealer ; E. Shainfelt, Merchant; J. Kocher, Tinsmith; A. M. Hunter, Black- smith; A. R. Cosaccia, Merchant; J. Levinsky, Merchant; Geo. W. Powell, Saloon Prop .; M. F. Moran, Hotel Keeper ; P. Rohrbacher & Bro., Brewers; C. E. Evans, Hotel Keeper; H. McErlane, Saloon Prop .; S. Silver, Merchant; William Twomy, Liquor Dealer; M. Goldman, Merchant; J. J. Cook, Druggist; Sam Wyatt, Restaurant Prop .; Stoddard & Hubbard, Commission Merchants; McDonald & Co., Blacksmiths ; Davis & Sons, Merchants; H. Baerwald, Tinsmith; J. R. McCready, Stable Prop .; M. M. McClenathan, Stable Prop .; M. O. Barber & Co., Stable Props .; G. W. Stoneroad, Rancher ; H. A. Bloss, Hotel Proprietor."
This bond Steele attacked in the Argus as not worth the paper it was written on, and an attempt to bribe voters. He found another attempt to bribe in the donation of a site, but this was after Madden had discovered the first attempt to bribe, which he discloses in the issue of December 7 thus :
"Livingstone-Cressy .- We do not remember a more shameless attempt to trick voters and coerce weak and timorous men than the scheme engineered by the parties whose names appear in the follow- ing card, which is being circulated throughout the county :
" 'Should the Board of Supervisors of Merced County declare the town of Livingstone county seat of Merced County, for the sum of one dollar my agent, J. B. Sensabaugh, is authorized to sell to the holder of this card a lot in the said town, twenty-five feet front by one hundred and twenty-five feet deep, choice to be determined by lot in common with all other lots sold at the same price, the pur- chaser to pay said agent for making deed, etc. (Signed) W. J. Little.'
"This, we take it, is nothing more nor less than an attempt to buy voters. We do not know that this was intended by the authors of the scheme, but this is in effect its operation. It is precisely as if one should say, 'I will give you a building lot for one dollar if you will vote against Merced.' The common sense of our people will condemn this plan; for be it remembered that these cards, so far as we have observed, are not given to those who favor the claims of Merced. . .. To expose the animus . . . in order to carry the elec-
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tion, Merced must receive a majority of all votes cast, and conse- quently a vote cast for any place but Merced counts against us. This is well understood by those who have promised the voters of Cressy, Madison and Turner's precincts that the vote of Snelling, Hopeton and Merced Falls would be cast nearly solid for Cressy-a promise that will utterly fail of being redeemed, made with a full knowledge of its worthlessness, and now repudated by every fair-minded voter of Snelling who did not lend himself to the dirty trick.
"It is as well-known in Snelling as it is here, that the contest is one simply whether the county seat shall remain where it is or be relocated, and the issue solely between Merced and Snelling, and any plan prom- ising any considerable number of votes from the latter town in favor of Livingstone is a subterfuge of the meanest kind, and so shallow and petty a trick that its authors should be ashamed of resorting to it.
"Do the business men of Plainsburg indorse it? And do they indorse similar promises made to the people of Plainsburg and Cot- tonwood? Can all these be the county seat? The answer is obvious. The choice of Snelling is Snelling and no place else, and we do not believe that those interested in trade at that point will pretend to say that they will unite in good faith with a plan to deprive them of their trade, for this will infallibly be the effect of the removal of the county seat to any point.
"Their only object manifestly is to retain their present advantage, and all appeals to the local prejudices of Plainsburg, Cottonwood, or Livingstone, with promise of votes, are a fraud, a delusion and a snare.
"Let it be understood that the issue is a square one between Merced and Snelling, and we will abide the result, confident in the good judgement of a majority of our fellow citizens."
How much foundation there may have been for this editorial we cannot of course tell now; presumably nobody could have told even then. Merced, as he says, or any other candidate, would have to have a majority of all the votes to replace Snelling. But Snelling could of course win by simply preventing any other town from getting a major- ity, even if she didn't get a vote herself. There was reason for such strategy; therefore, the good old rule would suffice her, the simple plan, that they should get who have the power and they should keep who can.
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