A memorial and biographical history of northern California, illustrated. Containing a history of this important section of the Pacific coast from the earliest period of its occupancy...and biographical mention of many of its most eminent pioneers and also of prominent citizens of today, Part 20

Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 1000

USA > California > A memorial and biographical history of northern California, illustrated. Containing a history of this important section of the Pacific coast from the earliest period of its occupancy...and biographical mention of many of its most eminent pioneers and also of prominent citizens of today > Part 20

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

[Judge Bean filed a report which gave Ham- ilton the county-seat " by a large majority." At that time the town had two taverns, one store and one blacksmith shop. October 4, 1850, the Court of Sessions held its first term there, in an old shake-house belonging to " Mother Nichols," a widow who lived in one corner of it.]

In 1853 Hamilton declined as a town, and Bidwell Bar was populons. By good or bad management a bill was obtained from the Leg- islature removing the county-seat of Butte

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HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

again to Bidwell's Bar, and the final decree so removing it was made August 3, 1853, by the Court of Sessions.

In the winter of 1855-'56 an act was again passed in the Legislature providing for an election in Butte County to permanently fix the county seat. The election was held April 19, 1856, and Ophir, since called Oroville, was chosen. Since then, in 1875, an attempt has been made to remove the county- seat to Chico, but without success.

In the first organization of the counties, the territory was so little known that many queer boundary lines were decreed. From the Sacra- mento River to the eastern line of the State was a frequent and most absurd boundary, thus cutting up the valley into little patches and tacking each patch to the tail of a long strip of mountainons conntry, and, curiously enough, making the tail wag the dog by locating the connty-seat in the valley portion and generally at the extreme end. A little stream that scarcely floated a feather during the summer. as the IIoncut, between the Yuba and Butte, would separate the contiguous and easily accessible sections of valley land, while within the limits of the county to which each belonged were to be found high mountains whose deep snows almost severed the one part from the other for months at a time.

Butte County was among those that were awkwardly carved out by the Legislature in the first act organizing the counties. It was at first a parallelogram about the size of the States of Vermont and Delaware combined, and Colnsa County was attached to it for judicial purposes.

By what was claimed as a mistake the three Bnttes were placed within the limits of Butte County in 1852, and they were restored to Sut- ter County in 1854. In the latter year also Plumas County was carved ont of Butte, taking fully two-thirds of their territory; and Plumas then included the sonthern portion of Lassen. The northern portion of Lassen and all of Modoc and Siskiyou were originally a

portion of Shasta County. Butte is a French word, signifying hill or mound. The Marys- ville Buttes were named by a party of Hudson Bay trappers under Michael La Frambeau, who visited the country in 1829. The county was named after the peaks, which it was then sup- posed to contain, but which are really in Sntter Connty.

The first conrt-house was erected at a cost of $14,000, and in June, 1876, an addition was made at an expense of nearly $14,000 more.

The first county hospital was the Western Hotel at Lynchburg, bought for the purpose in 1857, and Dr. T. J. Jenkins was the first resi- dent physician. In 1877-'78 the old institu- tion was abandoned and a fine new two-story brick structure was erected at Oroville for the "County Infirmary," as the legal term became. The cost of this was $16,000.

Bean, the first county judge, opened the first conrt at Chico, the disputed county-seat, July 17, 1850, but only to adjourn to Bidwell's Bar. Bean had an overweaning consciousness of power and dignity. At a session of his court a question came np similar to one which had been decided by the superior court adversely to his decision, on appeal. An attorney re- minding him of the fact, he ran his fingers through his hair and exclaimed, " Well, I know it; but if the superior conrts of this State see proper want to make fools of themselves that is no reason that this court should. Mr. Clerk, enter up judgment."

In 1860 Butte County issned $200,000 in bonds in aid of the California Northern Rail- road.

Judge W. S. Sherwood died at Alleghany, Sierra County, June 26, 1870. He was a resi- dent of Butte County until 1854, when he removed to San Francisco, where he practiced law for a time, and in 1868 removed to Sierra Connty.

Judge Warren T. Sexton, an early-day county clerk and district attorney, was a native of New Jersey, educated at Ann Arbor, Michigan, in the State University. He died April 11, 1878.

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The Butte Record, the first newspaper in the county, was started at Bidwell's Bar, November 12, 1853, by C. W. Stiles & Co. In 1856 it was moved to Oroville, and in 1874 to Chico, and this year it started a daily edition.

In 1866 C. G. Lincoln started the North Californian in Oroville. He added a daily the next year, naming it the Butte Democrat; but after the ensuing election it was absorbed by the Record. In July, 1859, the Butte Democrat appeared in Oroville, with A. M. Wyman as editor and proprietor. In 1860 the material was purchased by Mr. Wentworth, who changed the name to Oroville Weekly Union. Mr. Langmore bought the material in 1863, moved it to Susanville and published the Sage Brush.

Edward Angustns Farwell, a Boston printer and sailor, came in 1842 from Honolulu. In 1843 he was naturalized, and the next year ob- tained the grant of Arroyo Chico rancho, Butte County. In 1845 he went East overland, seek- ing relief for his weak eyes, returning in 1848, and next for a time was in charge of Sutter's launch, running on the Sacramento. He died in San Francisco, in January, 1849.

The Mexican land grants for Butte County, which have been confirmed by the United States, have been: Esquon, 22,194 acres, to Samnel Neal in 1860; Farwell rancho, 22,194 acres, to James Williams and others in 1863; Fer- nandez, 17,806 acres, to D. Z. Fernandez and others in 1867; Llano Seco, 17,767 acres, to C. J. Brenham and others in 1860. In Butte and Sutter counties: Boga, 22,185 acres, to T. O. Larkin in 1865. In Butte and Tehama coun- ties: Bosquejo, 22,206 acres, to Peter Lassen in 1862.

The Rancho del Arroyo Chico, of 22,000 acres, is the finest in the county. The first house erected here was built in 1849 by John Bidwell, the present owner of the place. It was burned in 1852, at which time the old adobe was built which stood for many years. For a long time the land was used exclusively for stock-raising on a large scale. In time the

land became too valuable for pasture, and then several thousand acres were sown to wheat and barley. An average of forty bushels to the acre was not uncommon. Ordinary farm crops being diminished, Bidwell began farming it on the Eastern plan, with satisfactory results, having the most productive ranch in the State. In 1852 he set ont the first fruit-trees. The present elegant mansion was built in 1865-'68, at a cost of $60,000. There are more than fifty-five buildings on the ranch, including many barns and residences. The observatory and water-tower is 100 feet high. A large frnit-drying escablishment is on the estate. Most of the ground is now in orchard and vine- yard, and great attention is paid to the cultiva- tion of flowers.

August 14, 1859, Channcey Wright, work- ing at Dogtown for the hydraulic company, consisting of Phineas Willard, Ira Wetherbee and Wyatt M. Smith, piped out a chunk of gold weighing fifty-four pounds and worth $10,- 690. The same day $3,000 in smaller Inmps were taken out by the same company. Placer mining of gold has been the most useful per- haps of all in this part of California, much more important than quartz mining. In May, 1864, a miner found three Cherokee diamonds, named after Cherokee Flat, where they were fonud. Soon two more were found. Value of the five diamonds, $375. About sixty have been found since, many of them worth $50 to $75.

Manoah Pence, on New Year's eve, 1851, hospitably entertained six or seven Indians at his honse, but with suspicions. Next morning he found the Indians slipping away with all his cattle. Pursuing them, he succeeded in wounding the chief, but not so as to disable him. Some time afterward the chief was caught and hanged withont process of law, in order to save Pence's life, which had been threatened by that villainous savage.

In 1853 the Tiger Indians stole cattle from Clark's ranch. The chief, " Express Bill," was caught by a company of seven men, under

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Pence acting as Captain, and hung. The com- pany went on until they found a camp of about thirty warriors, and heroically attacked them. The Indians had nothing but bows and arrows, and could do but little damage. Fighting, be- hind trees, was continned during the forenoon, and in the afternoon reinforcements arrived, and the whole band of Indians captured. Twenty-five of the redskins were killed in this fight. During the fall of the same year the Indians killed ten Chinamen on the west branch of Feather River. Pence was again summoned and chosen as Captain of a company of thirty whites and thirty Chinese. The Indians were found and from forty to sixty sent to the "happy hunting-grounds." At various times since then many depredations and even murders have been committed by the red savages.

In 1863 an organization of white men was effected, under N. H. Wells, of Yankee Hill, who proceeded to remove the Indians from Butte County to a reservation; but in 1865 some of them returned and committed further depredations. The principal raids by the In- dians were headed by a brave namned Bigfoot.

PRESENT CONDITION OF THE COUNTY.

Since 1850 to this date (May, 1890) a gradual change lias been wrought in all parts of the county. Tehama, Lassen and Plumas counties have been organized, leaving Butte with an area of 1,764 square miles, about equally divided between valley and mountain lands. Mining was the all-absorbing interest in 1850, but now it is of third or fourthi importance. The great stock ranges have been transformed into grain fields and orchards. Along the foothills where the mines were in 1850-'60, are small farms, orchards and vineyards. Higher up in the mountains are large lumber mills. Mining yet continues in favored localities, of placer, quartz and river-channel mining, ranging ' in importance from the lone miner with his pick, shovel and rocker, to the immense company whose operations run up to millions. Fruit- growing has within the last ten years become a

leading industry and is rapidly on the increase. On the Rancho Chico there are abont 1,600 acres of orchard and vineyard of raisin grapes. Within a radius of five miles around Chico there are perhaps 4,000 acres of orchard. Around Oroville and along the Feather River, adjacent to Biggs and Gridley, extensive orch- ards are being planted.

Stock-raising has also made a great growth. From extensive cattle ranges and sheep pastures the tendency is to the rearing of more select varieties. The finest stocks of horses and cattle have been introduced. Alfalfa fields have been planted, and stock-raising been elevated from a mere matter of herding to the most thorough and scientific breeding.

MATERIAL RESOURCES.

Butte County has been most abundantly blessed by nature with material resources of every kind. The western half of the county is a vast agricultural plain of rich alluvial soil, skirted by the Sacramento River, into which flow the Feather River and numerous large creeks and smaller streamns. The eastern half is a gradual mountain slope, rising from the valley in gentle slopes and spreading out a vast region of valuable forests, small farms and mines. Water power is abundant, and facili- ties for irrigation are sufficient to accommodate ten times the area. While nearly all the in- dustries common to the Pacific coast are already established here, there is unlimited opportunity for their increase and further development. Estimating the present population at 25,000, there is every reason to expect that the near future will bring a doubling and quadrupling of that number, and yet have ample opportunity for growth and increase. When people settle down to use nature's resources for the iegiti- mate purpose of "making a living," there will be universal prosperity; but so long as all are striving to "get rich" there will be overreach- ing and oppression and want. Nearly all the large "rancho" grants spoken of on a previous page remain to this day unbroken, covering

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more than one-half of the richest agricultural region of the county. Several of them have been somewhat subdivided by being leased out to tenants; but generally this is done in 500- acre and 1,000-acre tracts. As population in- creases and the demand for small farms is made, there will be subdivision. It is now de- sired, but cannot come until population de- mands it. Land is plenty and resources of all kinds are plentiful; but it takes a share of capi- tal, with a degree of industry and intelligence, to use the resources. Government lands are no more to be had. Cheap lands are not to be found easily. Good lands are abundant.

[The State Mineralogist says that Butte is the only county in the State showing an almost equal importance in an agricultural and a min- ing point of view, as nearly every branch of agriculture is here represented; so is every kind of gold-mining successfully pursued,-quartz, hydraulic, drift, and river bed operations being all successfully prosecuted, the latter on a large scale.

The Big Bend Tunnel, constructed for drain- ing the bed of the Feather River, is not only the largest enterprise of the kind in California, but the largest probably ever undertaken for a similar purpose. The operations of the Spring Valley Hydraulic Company, at Cherokee, in this county, are also among the largest now carried on in the State. In this locality, too, was picked up a majority of the more valuable diamonds found in California. In Butte, the pliocene river system, the principal sites of the drift mines, meets with its greatest development. This county has in the past been a large pro- ducer of the royal metal, and, to use a scriptural expression, " the gold of that land is good," inuch of that obtained from the placer inines having ranged from 945 to 980 in fineness.

Several of the useful minerals also occur in this county; some of them under conditions that promise to render thein of much economic value. Coal, claimed to be of the Cannel variety, was discovered some years ago near Feather River. Having been but little opened,

neither the extent of this deposit nor its value as a fuel has been ascertained. Near the same river has been found a bed of marble of close texture and variegated hue, but it also remains unopened, with not much known in regard to its valne. Clays, suitable for making bricks, and perhaps those of a finer kind, are plentiful in Butte.]

PRICES OF LANDS.

These vary according to the quality of the land, distance from railroad and character of improvements from $10 to $250 per acre. In the immediate vicinity of Chico, where the land is sold in five-acre lots, almost the same as town lots, and all of it very rich, the latter figure is obtained. No good land, however, can be had for less than $25 an acre anywhere within twelve miles of the railroad. But when it is considered what these lands will produce, and how many advantages of climate and social con- ditions are attached, the lands in Butte County are cheap at the above prices.

PRODUCTIONS.

All the grains and all the fruits common to the Temperate zone grow in Butte County in most luxuriant abundance. On Rancho Chico there is scarcely a fruit, shrub or flower known amongst men which has not been propagated successfully. The citrus fruits also are pro- duced in great abundance, bearing heavy crops every year. This industry, however, is yet in its infancy. The apricot, that princess of early fruits, is one of our leading varieties, growing Inxuriantly and bearing abundantly. Cherries are grown in quantities and shipped to Port- land, Oregon, and eastward as far as New York. We have fresh fruits continuously from the first of May, or sometimes earlier, until the last of January, all of home production. It is a most remarkable fact that the apple, which belongs in the north and the orange which belongs in the tropics, here grow side by side.

Butte County deserves special credit for having originated the citrus fair, which has since been imitated in other parts of the State

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and even in Chicago. The first citrus fair ever held in modern times was December 20, 1887, in an orange grove near Oroville, which proved so great a success that intense enthusiasm was aroused. Butte County proved herself a formi- dable rival of Southern California in the produc- tion of fine oranges and lemons. One exhibit was a beautiful palace so completely and sym- metrically covered with oranges and lemons as to appear to be built of them.

FACILITIES.

Persons in the East must not think of Butte County, California, as a " new country." The California & Oregon Railroad runs diagonally through her borders. Her towns are already located and well established with all that makes towns and embryo cities. They have telegraph and telephone lines everywhere. All lines of business are fully represented. Should a wall be built around it, shutting it ont from the world, it would go on and prosper, scarcely realizing that anything had happened. Forty years ago this was a new country; twenty years ago it was a new country; but in the sense in which the term is commonly used, this is a " new country " no longer. Those who are there find themselves in the midst of lively competition. Yet there is abundant room for the develop- ment of new resources.

CITIES AND TOWNS.

Chico, the metropolis of the county, is a young city of abont 6,000 population, situated on the line of the California & Oregon Railroad, ninety-six miles north of Sacramento, in the midst of a very rich agricultural and fruit- growing region. The Sacramento River is six miles distant, and Chico Creek, a bright stream, flows through. Here we have business honses . of all kinds, two well-established banks, six hotels, gas works, water works, electric light works, a flouring mill, a foundry, extensive lumber yards, planing mills, a brewery, a can- nery, two daily and weekly newspapers, two large public school buildings running fourteen

departments, two private acadeinies, a State Normal School and seven churches, represent- ing as many different denominations. No interior city in the State is more flourishing, or has a brighter future.

The history of Chico begins as far back as 1843, when Edward A. Farwell and William Dickey obtained a grant here. The town site was laid out in 1860, by J. S. Henning, County Surveyor, for John Bidwell. Richard Breeves built the first house and E. B. Pond the first brick store. The first municipal election was held February 5, 1872.

The Bank of Chico .- This bank is one of the most important financial institutions of the Sacramento Valley, being ably managed and possessed of ample capital for all its purposes. It was established in 1872, being incorporated under the banking laws of California. Mr. John Conly, since deceased, was its first president, and Mr. Alexander H. Crew the secretary and cashier, the latter gentleman being in fact the head and active man. Upon the death of Mr. Conly, in 1883, Mr. W. D. Heath becaine president. After holding the office for less than a year he died, when Mr. Orrin Gowell was chosen president, and still holds that office.

Mr. H. W. Heath, brother of the late W . D. Heatlı, is the vice-president. The capital authorized in $500,000, of which $300,000 is paid up. They have a fine substantial bank building, erected at a cost of $25,000, an orna- ment to the town. We append an ontline of the busy and useful lite of the cashier, Mr. Alexander H. Crew, which will be found of interest.

Mr. Crew is a native of London, England, where he was born June 28, 1835. He received a good English education in the celebrated Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Bermond- sey, near London Bridge, of which his father, William Crew, was a trustee. In February, 1849, the family set out for Australia, but while on the voyage they heard of the discovery of gold in California, and came here instead, after being a tedious seven months on the water.

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In April, 1850, young Crew landed from ship, board at a point where now is the corner of Washington and Montgomery streets, San Fran- cisco. Mr. William Crew entered mercantile business there, which he continued until 1853, when he returned to London, dying in 1858. His son, Alexander, found employment first in the office of the Daily Balance newspaper, of which the celebrated Eugene Casserley was editor and proprietor. Later on he entered the office of the Evening Journal, the late Governor Washington Bartlett's paper, the beginning of the friendship recognized in later days. In 1853 he went to Marysville, and in Adams & Co.'s express and banking office was engaged in blowing gold dust for some time. In 1855 he went to La Porte and opened the banking house of Everetts, Wilson & Co., he being the company. A short time afterward he went into business for himself, in partnership with George Eve, the firm name being Eve & Crew. Later on Mr. Eve retired, whereupon the well-known John Conly and Mr. Crew established the bank ing house of John Conly & Co., Mr. Crew being the company. Later Mr. Orrin Gowell (now president of the Bank of Chico) came in and the Bank of La Porte, which is still in exist- ence, was incorporated. In 1872 was founded the Bank of Chico, since which time Mr. Crew has resided in this place, and has been intimate- ly identified with its best interests, his object being to advance in all proper ways the pros- perity of the town and county. In matters of education he has been an active worker, aiding more than a little the establishing of normal schools in Chico, of which he is a trustee and a member of the executive committee. He is also the president of the Chico Board of Trade, a body which has effected much in the way of building up and beautifying the town and of publishing to the world its great advantages as a home and business center.

He is a trustee of the Chico Presbyterian church, an active worker for the cause of Cliris- tianity and morality, an honored member of the Knights Templar, having passed through

all stages of the Masonic order, and also a member of the I. O. O. F. He is one of Chico's foremost and enterprising citizens, iden- tified in all matters that tend to the public wealth, and has won a high place in the esteem of his fellow-citizens. Mr. Crew has made his way almost unaided from the day he landed, a lad of sixteen years, in San Francisco, until now when he is at the head of one of the most important financial institutions in the northern part of the State. Mr. W. D. Heath, a bright and talented young man, came to assist in the bank in 1873; he was born in California in 1851. His keen business ability and geniality soon cansed his friends to prophesy for himn marked success among the business men of the day. Many important positions were intrusted to him; but, in the midst of unusual success for one so young, death claimed him for his own. His death was greatly deplored not only by the people of the town but also of many other parts of the State.

The accountant of the bank of Chico is Mr. Thomas N. Crew, a nephew of Mr. A. H. Crew. He is a native of London, born in 1856, and educated in the public schools of London. He was for some time engaged in the largest dry- goods house in Cheltenham, in the west of En- gland, but in 1875 he came to California. He is a gentleman whose ability as an accountant is proven by the best of tests, that namely of experience. He worthily assists his uncle in the bank.

OROVILLE,

the county-seat, and next to Chico the largest town in the county, is situated on the Feather River, three miles below the junction of all its branches, just where it ceases to be a rushing mountain torrent and calmns into a deep steady stream. Oroville well deserves the name which for many years has been applied to it, the " Gem of the Foot-hills."

Some time in October, 1849, the Long Broth- ers opened a store at the bar two miles above the present site of Oroville, and from the place took its name. Long Bar was for some tiine

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the most important mining camp in that region, as the diggings were unusually rich. In No- vember, J. M. Burt arrived with several loads of provisions and opened another store. This town was originally called Ophir City, until 1855, when the name had to be changed on ac- count of there being another Ophir in Placer County. In 1858 there were two or three dis- astrous fires, one specially which nearly con- sumed the entire place.

The town is now well built, its hotels and business houses being of brick. Its residences are commodious and handsome. It has a bank, and water and gas works. Three churches, the large public school building and the county buildings are prominent features. Not only a large retail trade, but an extensive wholesale business is done, and a more energetic and in- telligent company of merchants than those of Oroville are nowhere to be found.

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A memorial and biographical history of northern California, illustrated. Containing a history of this important section of the Pacific coast from the earliest period of its occupancy...and biographical mention of many of its most eminent pioneers and also of prominent citizens of today, Part 20

Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis publishing company Number of Pages: 1000

Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 1000