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 3

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 3

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Corners. At the latter place there were several Russian graves, in the midst of which there stood a Greek cross, long after the Americans came into occupancy. The earliest American settlers in that neighborhood aver that the Russians had a grist-mill some two or three miles easterly from Bodega Corners. Certain it is that the authorities at San Francisco had noti- fication that the Russians contemplated occupa- tion for farming purposes as far inland as the present site of Santa Rosa. These rumors, whether true or not, doubtless accelerated the movement of Spanish colonization in that direc- tion.

Governor Wrangell, now having control in Alaska, seems to have taken an intelligent view of the whole situation, and realized that unless the company, of which he was head representa- tive, could obtain undisputed possession of all the territory north of the Bay of San Francisco and eastward to the Sacramento, it was nseless to attempt a continuance at Ross. To achieve this end the Alaska company was willing to buy the establishments already at San Rafael and Sonoma. The fact that the California authori- ties submitted these propositions to the Mexican government, now free from the yoke of Spanish rule, would indicate that by them such a propo- sition was not considered in the light of a heinous offense. Alvarado was then at the head of the California government, and no doubt he looked with great distrust, if not alarm, upon the number of Americans who were be- ginning to find their way into California. But General Vallejo, who was now almost antocrat on the north side of the Bay of San Francisco, was not, probably, so averse to Americans, as he had already three brothers-in-law of Yankee blood. Through these kinsmen, who were all gentlemen of good intelligence and education, Vallejo had become well informed in reference to the push and energy of the American people, and hence it is quite certain that he did not favor any permanent occupancy here by any European power. In truth, while the California government had confided itself to wordy pen

HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

remonstrances with the occupants of Ross, in 1840 Vallejo seems to have made quite a show of calling Rotchef, the then superintendent at Ross, to accountability for having allowed the American ship Lausanne to land and discharge passengers at Bodega as though it were a free port. Some of these passengers, who went to Sonoma, were incarcerated by the irate Vallejo, and he even sent a file of soldiers to Bodega to give warning that such infractions would lead to serions consequences if persisted in. This was the nearest to an open rupture of amicable relations that ever occurred between Spaniard and Muscovite on this coast that we find any record of: and this could not have been of a very sanguinary nature, for it seems that Vallejo and Rotchef were on social good terms afterward.

The proposed acquisition of territory by Governor Wrangell met with no encouragement from the Mexican Government. In reference to this matter Bancroft says: "The intention of the Russians to abandon Ross and their wish to sell their property there, had, as we have seen, been announced to Alvarado, and by him to the Mexican government, before the end of 1840. In Jannary, 1841, Vallejo, in reporting to the minister of war his controversy with Rotchef and Krupicurof, mentioned the proposed aban- donment, taking more credit to himself than the facts could justify, as a result of that contro- versy. The Russians had consulted him as to their power to sell the buildings as well as live- stock to a private person, and he had been told that " the nation had the first right,' and would have to be consulted. The fear that impelled him at that time to answer thus cantiously was that some foreigners from the Columbia or else- where might outbid any citizen of California, and thus raise a question of sovereignty, which might prove troublesome in the future to Mexi- can interests. Vallejo also urged the govern- ment to furnish a garrison, and anthorize the planting of a colony at the abandoned post. In February, however, Kostromitinof, representing the company, proposed to sell the property to Vallejo himself for 830.000, payable half in

money or bills of the Hudson Bay Company, and half in produce delivered at Yerba Buena. The General expressed a willingness to make the purchase, but could not promise a definite de- cision on the subject before July or August. Pending the decision, the Russian agent seems to have entered, perhaps secretly, into negotia- tions with John A. Sutter, who at that time was not disposed to buy anything but mov- able property. Meanwhile a reply came from Mexico, though by no means a satisfactory one; since the government-evidently with some kind of an idea that the Russian officials had been frightened away, leaving a flourishing set- tlement to be taken possession of by the Cali- fornians-simply sent useless instructions about the details of occupation and form of govern- ment to be established. In July Kostromitinof returned from Sitka, and negotiations were re- commended. Alvarado was urged to come to Sonoma, but declined, though he advised Val- lejo that in the absence of instructions from Mexico the Russians had no right to dispose of the real estate. An elaborate inventory of the property offered for sale at $30,000 was made ont, but Vallejo's best offer seems to have been $9,000 for the live stock alone."

In a foot note Bancroft gives the inventory of property offered for sale which is as follows: " Square fort of logs, 1,088 feet in circumfer- ence, twelve feet high, with two towers; com- mandant's house of logs (old), 36x48 feet, double boarded roof, six rooms with corridor and kitchen; ditto (new) of logs, 24x48 feet, six rooms and corridor; house for revenue officers, 22×60 feet, ten rooms; barracks, 24x66 feet, eight rooms; three warehouses; new kitchen; jail; chapel, 24x36 feet, with a belfry, and well fifteen feet deep. Outside of the a

fort: blacksmith shop, tannery, bath-house, cooper's shop, bakery, carpenter's shop, two windmills for grinding, one mill moved by animals, three threshing floors, a well, a stable, sheep-cote, hog-pen, dairy house, two cow stables, corral, ten sheds, eight baths, ten kitchens, and twenty-four houses, nearly every

HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

one having an orchard. At Kostromitinof rancho, house, farm buildings, corral, and boat for crossing the river Slavianka. At Khlebuikof rancho, adobe house, farm buildings, bath, mill, corral. At Tschernich, or Don Jorge's rancho, house, store, fences, etc. At Bodega, warehouse 30x60 feet, three small honses, bath, ovens, corrals. As this list of improvements was made out by Russian hands it may be accepted as a true statement of the conditions at and in the neighborhood of Ross in the last year of Russian occupation there. The only omission of consequence seems to have been the orchard some distance back of the fort, on the hillside, and a vineyard of 2,000 vines at what is desig- nated ' Don Jorge's rancho.' In reference to this rancho, Belcher in his notes of travel in 1837, mentioned a rancho between Ross and Bodega claimed by a ci-devant Englishman (D. Gorgy), yielding 3,000 bushels of grain in good years."

Governor Alvarado as well as Vallejo evidently thought that they had Kostromitinof in a corner so far as his ability to sell the Ross property was concerned, and their only real fear was that he would make a bonfire of the buildings rather than leave them for Mexican occupation. But in this they were mistaken, for a purchaser was found in Captain John A. Sutter. In refer- ence to the sale thus consummated Bancroft says: "Sutter, like Vallejo, had at first wished to pur- chase the live-stock only; but he would perhaps have bought anything at any price if it could be obtained on credit; at any rate, after a brief hesitation a bargain was made in September. The formal contract was signed by Kostromi- tinof and Sutter in the office of the sub-prefect at San Francisco, with Vioget and Leese as witnesses, December 13. By its terms Sutter was put in possession of all the property at Ross and Bodega, except the land, as specified in the inventory, and he was to pay for it in four yearly installments, beginning September 1, 1842. The first and second payments were to be $5,000 each, and the others of $10,000; the first three were to be in produce, chiefly

wheat, delivered at San Francisco free of duties and tonnage; and the fourth was to be in inoney. The establishment at New Helvetia and the property at Bodega and the two ranchos of Khlebnikof and Tschernich, which property was to be left intact in possession of the company's agents, were pledged as guarantees for the pay- ment. It would seem that Alvarado, while insisting that the land did not belong to the company and could not be sold, had yielded his point about the buildings, perhaps in the belief that no purchaser could be found; for the Rus- sians say that the contract was approved by the California government, and it is certain that there was no official disapproval of its terms."

It will be borne in mind that Kostromitinof, who executed this contract with Captain Sut- ter, was the head officer of the Alaska govern- ment while, at the time, Rotchef was manager at Ross. When it came to a delivery of the property Sutter seems to have induced Mana- ger Rotchef to give him a writing ante-dating the contract above referred to one day, in which Rotchef certified that the lands held by the company for twenty-nine years was included in the sale to M. Le Capitaine Sutter of the other effects of the company for the sum of $30,000. It was upon the shadowy title to land thus ac- quired by certificate of a subordinate officer who had no power to confirm any such sale, that Russian title to land along the coast became a stalking spectacle among American settlers in after years.

Previous to this sale of the Ross and Bodega property to Sutter, a portion of the former oc- cupants there had been transferred to Alaska stations. Manager Rotchef, together with the remaining employés of the company, took their departure from Ross in the late days of 1841 or carly in January of 1842, on board the Constantine, bound for Alaska. While all of them, doubtless, had cherished associations and memories of the land to which they returned, we imagine that it was not withont sore and sad hearts many of them watched the receding outlines of Fort Ross and the evergreen forests

HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

that forms its enchanting back-ground. Thus, in a day, where for nearly a third of a century had been heard the ringing of hammer and anvil, the noisy labor of ship-carpenters and calkers and the din of coopers, a sudden silence fell, seemingly like that which hovered over that quiet spot just south of the fort where a Greek cross marked the last resting place of those who had ended their life-work there. Even the stock that had been reared there were gathered together and driven to the Sacramento valley ranch of Captain Sntter. And as if the hand of fate had turned entirely against Ross, Sutter, by means of a schooner he had acquired in the purchase from the Russians, even carried away from Ross several buildings with which to adorn the inner court of his fort at New Helvetia. This will account for the absence at Ross of many buildings enumerated in the cat- alogne at the time of sale by the Russians.

In reference to the departure of the Rus- sians from Fort Ross, Bancroft says : "One Russian, and perhaps several, remained on the ranches to look out for the company's interests. Sutter sent Robert Ridley to assume charge for him at first ; but John Bidwell took his place early in 1842, and was in turn succeeded by William Bennitz late in 1843. Meanwhile most of the movable property, including the cannon, implements, and most of the cattle, was removed to New Helvetia. The few hundred cattle left behind soon became so wild that if meat was needed it was easier to catch a deer or bear. The Californians made no effort to oceupy the abandoned fortress ; since having virtually consented to the sale of everything but the land, the government had no property to be protected there."

As already stated William Bennitz took pos- session of the Ross property as Sutter's agent in 1843. He subsequently leased the property, in about 1845, and still later purchased the buildings and fort and became possessor of the Muniz or Fort Ross grant, extending along the coast from the Russian River northward to a point just above the present Timber Cove.

Mr. Bennitz, with his family, lived at Fort Ross until 1867, when he sold the property and re- moved to Oakland. In 1874 he went to the Argentine Republic, and died there in 1876.

In 1861 the palisade walls of the enclosure at Fort Ross were still in good preservation, as also the buildings within, together with the Greek chapel and hectagonal bloek-houses described above by Duhant Cilly. Said Mr. Bennitz, in 1861:

At the time I purchased the Fort Ross property there were around and in the neighborhood of the Fort a large number of Indians. Voluntarily they have become almost a part of the estate and as obedient to my orders as if mind, soul and body. I then raised a large amount of grain, and had thousands of head of cattle, which gave me ample opportunity to utilize the labor of these untutored aborigines. As my influence over them mainly depended on the kindness and consideration with which they were treated, I let no opportunity pass to give them evidence of my regard for their pleasure and welfare. They, like all Indians I know of, were passion- ately fond of personal decoration, and for ornamentation prized nothing more highly than the plumage of birds. One day my Indians were noticing some vultures, or Cali- fornia condors, on the pine trees some distance up the mountain side back of the Fort, and I overheard them ex- pressing a wish that they had some of the feathers.

Saying nothing I quietly took my gun and sallied forth, determined if possible to gratify their desire. By tacking backward and forward along the mountain side I gradu- ally worked my way up to the trees where the vultures were. The heavy foliage of the pines prevented my getting a ready view of the game I was seeking. With my gun cocked and the muzzle pointing up I was moving quietly side-wise with eyes peering into the canopy of boughs, when I was startled by the breaking of a stick close to my right.

One look was enough to set every hair of my head on end! Not much over the length of my gun from me stood, erect on its hind leet, a grizzly bear of monster size-at the time he seemed to me ten feet high! By impulse I wheeled, brought my gun to a level, and with- out any attempt at taking aim fired. The bear pitched forward upon me and we fell together, my gun flying out of my hands, and some distance away. I was fright- ened beyond he power of language to express. The bear and I had fallen together, but I had given myself a roll- ing lurch down the mountain which, for the moment, took me out of the reach of his dreaded jaws. This advantage was not to be lost; and I kept going over and over without any regard to elegance of posture, until I had got at least two hundred yards from where I fell; and when I stopped rolling it was a problem with me which I was most, dead or alive.

I ventured upon my feet and looked cautiously around, but could see no grizzly. To borrow a miner's expres- sion, ' I began prospecting around.' I had an earnest desire to get hold of my gun, but still retained a dislike to the neighborhood in which we had parted company. With the utmost caution I worked my way up to a posi- tion overlooking the spot where I and the grizzly together fell. To my surprise, and gratification as well, there lay the bear stretched at full length, and dead. My random shot had proved what seldom occurs to grizzly bears, a dead shot. That was the biggest scare of my life.

As already stated, William Bennitz sold the

HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

Ross property in 1867, Charles Fairfax and a man named Dixon being the purchasers. They managed the property for a few years, when Fairfax died. In winding up the estate and business of the firm it became necessary to sell the property. J. W. Call became the purchaser of the upper and much the larger proportion of the ranch, on which stands the old Fort Ross buildings ; and of the southerly end Aaron Schroyer bought a large tract. These gentle- men are practical in their ideas of business and the property is now so handled as to yield a profit. At present, through the very center of the grounds once enclosed by a heavy stockade, now a county road runs. The Bennitz resi- dence is converted into a public hotel, and a building once used as quarters for Russian offi- cers is now a saloon. In an outside building is a store and postoffice. The towers in what was the diagonal corners of the fortress are now roofless, and, in consequence of the worin-eaten condition of the logs are canting over, and it is only a question of time when they will topple to the ground. The Greek chapel yet stands erect with roof and belfry in fair preservation, but is no longer used for holy purposes. Even the Russian cemetery to the south of the fort, that was quite plainly visible twenty-seven years ago, is now nearly obliterated. Accom- panied by Mr. Call we visited the old Russian orchard half a mile back from the fort. The fence made of heavy split boards by the Rus- sians is still in fair preservation. We entered and plucked Spanish bellflower apples from trees planted by the Russians back of 1820. The twenty or thirty apple, plum and prune trees yet standing are moss-covered and their bark honey-combed by the busy bills of birds. We went back still further and took a walk through the redwood forest of new growth that has sprung up from stumps of trees first cut by the Russians when they settled at Ross. Not over half a dozen of the old redwood forest trees are standing in the grove, and, but for the fact that the stumps are there yet from which the pres- ent forest sprang, we should not have recognized

it as a forest growth of the present century. The trees have made marvelons growth. Hav- ing a pocket rule with us we measured a tree that was four and a half feet in diameter; and we were assured by Mr. Call that there were trees in the grove full five feet in diameter. This grove is, doubtless, of from sixty to seventy- five years' growth. We are thus exact and ex- plicit in reference to this forest of new growth because we know there is a wide-spread fear that in consequence of the rapidity with which our redwood forests are being converted into Inmber, that species of timber will ultimately become extinct. Right there, overshadowing old Fort- Ross, is the refutation of such fallacy.

SPANISH COLONIZATION.

Echeandia had become Governor of California by. appointment of the Mexican Government. He was ordered as early as 1827 to establish a fort on the northern frontier, either at San Rafael or San Francisco Solano. The presence of the Russians at Ross doubtless inspired this order, and then such a post would not only be a notice to those Muscovites that they must not venture further south, but would be a source of security and protection to the newly founded missions as well. The Governor had no funds to put in successful execution the order. The next year he seems to have ordered a recon- noissance for a suitable place for a military station, but nothing further was done at that time.

The years had sped; California was rent with internal discord; the old missions had been looted until they were fast going to ruin, and on the 14th of January, 1833, Figueroa arrived at Monterey, the newly appointed Governor. To evolve order out of chaos seemed to be his high resolve. Figueroa had received special instructions from the Mexican Government to push occupation and settlement of the northern frontier with energy. In obedience to thesc instructions Alferez Vallejo was ordered to make an exploration, select a site, and offer land to settlers. To aid in this work the old missions

HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

were expected to bear the principal expense. Either through inability or flagging zeal in be- half of a government that was always impecnni- ons, the padres did not respond to this new levy upon their resources. Vallejo, in obedience to orders, made a tour to Bodega and Ross. That fall Vallejo made an attempt to establish settle- ments at Petaluma and Santa Rosa. Bancroft says: "Ten heads of families, fifty persons in all, agreed to settle at the former place (Peta- luma), hitherto unoccupied; but the padre at San Francisco Solano, hearing of the project, sent a few men to build a hnt and place a band of horses at that point in order to establish a claim to the land as mission property. Two or three of the settlers remained and put in crops at Petuluma, Vallejo himself having ten bushels of wheat sown on his own account. The padre's representatives also remained, and the respective claims were left to be settled in the future. Much the same thing seems to have been done at Santa Rosa, where a few settlers went, and to which point the padre sent two neophytes with some hogs as the nucleus of a mission claim. All this before Jannary 8, 1834. In his speech of May 1st to the deputacion, Figueroa mentioned the plan for northern settlement, but said noth - ing to indicate that any actual progress had been inade. The 14th of May, however, he sentenced a criminal to serve out his term of punishment at the new establishment about to be founded at Santa Rosa. In June the rancho of Petaluma was granted by the Governor to Vallejo, and the grant approved by the deputacion, this being virtually an end of the mission claim. Respect- ing subsequent developments of 1834-'35 in the Santa Rosa Valley, the records are not satisfac- tory; but Figueroa, hearing of the approach of a.colony from Mexico, resolved to make some preparations for its reception, and naturally thought of the northern establishment, which he resolved to visit in person. All that we · know positively of the trip is that he started late in August, extended his tour to Ross, ex- amined the country, selected a site, and having left a small force on the frontier, returned to

Monterey the 12th of September. To these facts there may be added, as probably accurate, the statements of several Californians, to the effect that the site selected was where Vallejo's settlement and Solano neophytes had already erected some rude buildings, that the new place was named Santa Ana y Farias, in honor of the President and Vice-President of Mexico, and that the settlement was abandoned the next year, because the colonists refused to venture into a country of hostile Indians."

The scheme of founding a frontier post at or near Santa Rosa seems to have proved a failure; at least the next move with that end in view was in the direction of Sonoma, where the mission San Francisco Solano had already run its course under ecclesiastical rule, and was then in process of secularization under the manage ment of M. G. Vallejo as commissionado. This failure of the attempted establishment of a set- tlement at Santa Rosa by Governor Figueroa, in the face of the fact that eleven years previous Altimira, taking his life in his hand, had estab- lished a mission at Sonoma, inclines us to take off onr hat in reverence to that padre, although his zeal may, at times, have befogged his better judgment. History should be both impartial and just, and the records unmistakably show that the Catholic missionaries had occupied the field embracing the main portion of Sonoma Connty at least ten years before the military and civil authorities exercised dominion here. Figueroa still adhered to his policy of establish- ing a frontier settlement and garrison north of San Francisco Bay.

The following, the letter of instruction to Gen. M. G. Vallejo from Governor José Fig- neroa in relation to the locating and governing of " a village in the valley of Sonoma," was transmitted only a few months before that gov- ernor's death :

POLITICAL GOVERNMENT OF UPPER CALIFORNIA.

COMMANDANCY-GENERAL OF UPPER CALIFORNIA : MONTEREY, June 24, 1835.

In conformity with the orders and instructions issued by the Supreme Government of the Confederation re- specting the location of a village in the valley of Sono-

HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

ma, this commandancy urges upon you that, according to the topographical plan of the place, it be divided into quarters or squares, seeing that the streets and plazas be regulated so as to make a beginning. The inhabitants are to be governed entirely by said plan. This govern- ment and commandancy approves entirely of the lines designated by you for outlets-recognizing, as the prop- erty of the village and public lands and privileges, the boundaries of Petaluma, Agua Caliente, Ranchero de Huertica, Lena de Sur, Salvador, Vallejo, and LaVernica, on the north of the city of Sonoma, as the limits of prop- erty, rights and privileges-requesting that it shall be commenced immediately around the hill, where the forti- fication is to be erected, to protect the inhabitants from incursions of the savages and all others. In order that the building lots granted by you, as the person charged with colonization, may be fairly portioned, you will divide each square (manzana) into four parts, as well for the location of each as to interest persons in the planting of kitchen gardens, so that every one sball have a hun- dred yards, more or less, which the government deems sufficient; and further, lots of land may be granted, of from one hundred and fifty to two hundred yards, in open- ings for outlets, for other descriptions of tillage, subject to the laws and regulations on the subject, in such man- ner that at all times the municipality shall possess the legal title.

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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 3

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