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 38

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 38

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).

Weber was an exceedingly generous man, making many large donations to all the churches and schools, etc., although, especially toward the latter part of his life, his idiosynerasies be- came rather conspicuons. Had he been as penurious as the average man he would have been worth hundreds of thousands of dollars inore than he was at the time of his death, which occurred May 4, 1881. In 1850 be mar- ried Miss Helen Murphy, a member of the celebrated Murphy party of 1844, and they had three children, namely: Hon. C. M. Weber, who resides in the Santa Clara Valley, and is manag- ing their vast estate there; Julia H. and T. J., residing at Stockton.

THE COUNTY

is probably the best part of the great San Joa- quin Valley, and is characteristic of that level section of the country, being but twenty to 100 feet above the sea level. The lower portions are of adobe soil, which prevails mostly in the western part of the county, while the rest is more sandy. It has always been a great grain- raising section, but, like most other parts of California, it has of late years been drifting

more into fruit-culture. All the fruits raised in California do well here, in streaks and spots, especially where irrigation can be had, for the county is greatly dependent upon this. Many artesian wells are in operation, and schemes are contemplated for the more thorough supply of water by canals from the mountains.

The digging of artesian wells has developed the fact that there is at least a thousand feet of " mountain wash " here, and that therefore the valley has, geologically speaking, been but recently elevated above the sea. But, to the surprise of the world, natural gas is found in the county, and already Stockton and other points are abundantly supplied with this most useful product.

San Joaquin County, where now live about 30,000 inhabitants, is the next south of Sacra- inento; is bounded on the east by Amador, Calaveras and Stanislaus, on the south by Stanis- lans, and on the west by Contra Costa, Alameda and Santa Clara. The lines of latitude 38° north and longitude 121° 20' west cross near the center of the county.

Politically, this is one of the original counties of February 18, 1850. In 1860 a slice was taken off its southeastern corner and attached to Stanis- laus County.

For the purpose of forming a State govern- ment, General Bennett Riley, by virtue of his office as military governor. issued a proclama- tion in 1849, calling for a convention to frame a constitution, and dividing the Territory into districts in order that there be a fair geographi- cal representation. The San Joaquin distriet comprised all the territory south of the Cosum- nes River lying between the Coast Range and the Sierra Nevada mountains. The delegates elected were J. McH. Hollingsworth, O. M. Wo- zencroft, Thomas L. Vermeule, B. S. Lippineott, B. F. Moore, J. M. Jones, C. L. Peck, S. Halley, M. Fallon, B. Ogden, G. A. Pendleton, J. Ford, B. L. Morgan, Colonel Jackson and Walter Chapman,-only the first six named serving.

March 2, 1850, the county organized by the election of the following officers: Benjamin

225

HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

Williams, Judge; S. A. Booker, District Attor- ney; R. P. Ashe, Sheriff; A. C. Bradford, Clerk; A. A. Mix, Recorder; B. F. Whittier, Assessor; H. W. Aldin, Treasurer; Walter Herron, Sur- veyor; E. L. B. Brooks, Administrator; and J. B. Clements, Coroner. Some amusing anecdotes are related with reference to the looseness with which the election was conducted. At one place a gaine of "seven-up" was played to decide a question in regard to counting of cer- tain votes!

The court of sessions was organized June 3, 1850, consisting of Judge Benjamin Williams, ex-officio, and the associate justices Harrison Amyx and O. C. Emory. This court proceeded to levy a tax on all merchants, brokers, owners of hotels, etc., for the purpose of creating a county fund. These business men were thus aroused into opposition by such an unnsnal poll tax, and excitement grew so strong that blood- shed seemed imminent; bnt, taking the second thought that they could easily indemnify them- selves by raising the prices of their goods they calmed down.

The first court-house was completed in the spring of 1854, at a cost of $83,920, built of brick manufactured in the vicinity, and served until it was torn away in 1888 to make room for the erection of the present magnificent structure, at a cost of about $229,000, in 1890. The new jail when completed will cost about $60,000.

The county hospital is a fine institution just outside the city limits east. The inain building, erected about 1879, cost nearly $11,000. Two wings have since been added, at a cost of $5,000 or $6,000 each. Present number of inmates, about 175, who are kept at an average cost to the county of 42} cents per day.

The first railroads in the county were the " Stockton & Copperopolis " and the Western Pacitic, both built in 1869, the same year that the great trans-continental line was completed to Sacramento. The Western Pacific, afterward the Central Pacific, was the line from Sacra mento through Stockton to San Jose. As usual

there was a deal of underhanded work, delay and waste of funds, and even the citizens of Stockton themselves overreached when they im- posed so great burdens upon the Central Pacific Company in 1869 that they lost the junction now at Lathrop. The "San Joaquin & Sierra Nevada " narrow-gauge road, running from the northwestern corner of the county to Burson in Calaveras County, was completed to the latter point in 1885. All these roads are now oper- ated by the great Southern Pacific Company.

ASSEMBLYMEN.

1849-B. F. Moore, D. P. Baldwin, E. B. Bateman, I. S. K. Ogier. J. Stewart, C. M. Creanor, R. W. Heath, W. M. Shepherd, J. C. Morehead, J. T. Stephens, J. W. Van Benscho- ten and John Cave.

1851-F. Yeiser and W. C. McDougall.

1852-R. P. Hammond, F. Yeiser and Il. A. Crabbe.

1853-M. P. Halley, F. Yeiser and Samuel Knight.

1854-T. J. Keyes, A. C. Bradford and J. Stemmons.

1855-T. J. Keyes, and D. F. Douglass.

1856-B. G. Weir and G. W. Hunter.

1857-Thomas Jenkins and T. J. M. Aull.

1858-A. G. Stakes and G. C. Holman.

1859-G. C. Holman and Thomas Laspeyre. 1860-Thomas Laspeyre and W. L. Campbell.

1861-Thomas Laspeyre and L. R. Bradley. 1862-John Thompson and S. Myers.

1863-T. J. Keyes and S. Myers.

1863-'64-E. H. Allen and J. E. Perley. 1865-C. H. Chamberlain and W. E. Greene. 1867-L. J. Morrow and Warner Oliver. 1869-J. S. Thurston and C. G. Hubner.

1871-R. C. Sargent and F. J. Woodward.

1873-Samuel Myers and A. C. Paulsell.

1875-R. C. Sargent, John Patterson and Martin Lammers.

1877-R. C. Sargent, R. B. Thompson and Samnel Myers.

1879-W. R. Leadbetter, E. McIntosh and H. J. Corcoran.

226

HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

1881-John Patterson, R. C. Sargent and C. C. Paulk.

1883-C. S. Stephens, J. W. Kerrick and Samuel L. Terry.

1885-H. J. Corcoran and F. J. Woodward. 1887-J. R. Henry and J. D. Young.

1888-R. S. Johnson and John McMullen.

STOCKTON.

While the city of Stockton is the offspring of the bold and enterprising Weber, its first feed for rapid growth during babyhood was traffic with the "Southern " mines, along the foot-hills east. During the first year or two after the discovery of gold it was a city of white eanvas tents, doing an immense amount of business as an entrepot. The times were fully as exciting as those at Sacramento during the same period,-a whirl of business, every fellow for himself, drinking, gambling and shooting. Before the close of 1849 it was esti- mated there were at least 1,000 people there, all inen, doing business or gambling. Scarcely any good manners, scarcely any law, and still less execution of law.

The place was and is still favored as being at the head of good navigation of the San Joaquin River, it being really at the head of a deep and wide " slough," or channel, three miles from the river proper. According to the universal law of social development, society immediately began to crystallize, refine and coagulate. A city government was formed under State law in 1850, and law and order gradually assumed the sway.

THE STATE ASYLUM FOR THE INSANE AT STOCKTON is the outgrowth of a small beginning mnade as early as 1853. We have not space here to give a sketch of all the improvements and enlargements from time to time; but suffice it to say that at present the institution consists of several elns- ters of fine buildings, costing in the aggregate several hundred thousands of dollars, and situ- ated upon a tract of 107 aeres, beautifully kept, in the northeastern part of the city. The

grounds indeed are a delicious retreat for those mentally afflicted, of whom over 1,500 are here. The well-known Dr. G. A. Shurtleff was for a long time the medical superintendent of this asylum, and was more than any other man the father of the same. Dr. Hiram N. Rucker has been in charge since November 1, 1888.

OTHER ITEMS.

Dr. Asa Clark also has long been keeping a private institution for the treatment of the in- sane in the southwestern part of town.

The Masonic Temple at Stockton, just com- pleted, is a beautiful model of architecture.

The Agricultural Pavilion, also new, is the most beautiful in the State, and the second in size. The Agricultural Society is an equal rival of that at Sacramento.

SHASTA COUNTY.

The records and papers of the Alcalde of Shasta Connty were destroyed by fire June 14, 1853, and thus many important points of his- tory are lost.

The word " shasta " is derived from the Rus- sian language. Many years ago, and among the first travelers who visited that portion of the coast, were a party of Russians, who passed through California, going from the north to the south. They gave a name to many of the more prominemt landmarks which they encountered on their journey. To the peak now called Shasta Butte, a mountain clothed with eternal snow, they gave the name of Teheste, signify- ing white, pure, chaste, clear. Subsequent travelers and geographers changed the name to " Tehasta." The early Americans adopted the name, and spelled and pronounced it " Chasta," but time has changed the spelling as at present. The name was also applied to the valley that lies at the northern base of the mountain, to the river that pours its cold snow-waters into the Klamath, and to the tribe of Indians in that vicinity. . When the counties of the State were first organized, Mount Shasta was in Shasta County. Afterward a new county was

227

HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

created (Siskiyou), which embraces this lofty mountain within its borders.

Shasta, despite such curtailment of its orig- inal proportions, remains a very large county, its area comprising 3,765 square miles. As at present organized, this county is bounded on the north by Siskiyou County, on the east by Lassen, on the sonth by Tehaina, and on the west by Trinity.

The whole of this county is more or less mountainous, the Sierra Nevada striking across its eastern border, and a branch of the Coast Range striking the western side, the crest of the latter forming the boundary line between this and Trinity County. Aside from these more prominent ranges, the face of the country here is diversified by many short straggling chains of mountains and irregular masses of hills. Standing in the Sierra Nevada, within the limits of this county, are several high peaks. The principal one of these, Lassen, has four distinct summits, the highest being 10,577 feet above the sea level. These summits are the fragments of what was once a great crater rim, formed when this was an active volcano.

Through this county flows the Sacramento River, and the McCloud and Pit rivers, tribu- taries from the northeast. Many smaller streams are also in the county. This region also abounds in mineral springs, many of them " thermals," and some of these boil fiercely, with a loud noise.

The western part of the county, and also the greater portion of the Sierra Nevada lying to the east, are covered with forests of pine, spruce and fir. The remainder of the county is but poorly timbered, much of the north- eastern part being nearly treeless. In the southern portion of Shasta there is fonnd along the Sacramento River a considerable extent of good farming land. Most of the tillable land elsewhere in the county is confined to the creek bottoms and small mountain valleys.

Besides gold and silver, Shasta contains the useful metals and minerals in great variety. Her deposits of gold, iron and copper, though

not much developed, are no doubt valuable. From the earliest day the county has been a prominent mining region, and we regret that we have not space to enumerate the many noto- rious mines of the past, as well as the success- ful ones of the present day. We depend upon the biographical sketches in a subsequent por- tion of this volume for most of the important details.

The northern regions of Shasta County were entered by miners in 1850 by way of Trinity and Klamath rivers, and rich diggings were found, notably in Scott's Valley, named after J. W. Scott, who located himself on Scott's Bar in July or August, 1850. Governor Joseph Lane, of Oregon, was probably the first regular prospector near Yreka, while Rufus Johnson's party, which penetrated from Trinity to Yreka Creek in August, 1850, following in his tracks, had been prospecting the eastern districts during Jnly. So large an immigra- tion set in that winter, from the south as well as from Oregon, that the section was in March, 1852, formed into a separate county by the name of Siskiyou. The seat of government was assigned to Yreka, whose exceedingly re- munerative flat deposits, opened in March, 1851, within a few weeks transformed the first tents into an important town, first known as Thompson's Dry Diggings, then with a slight change in location as Shasta Butte; and this, clashing with the Lower Shasta, Yreka was adopted, together with the county-seat, the name being a corruption of Wyeka, whiteness, the Indian term for the adjacent snow-crowned Shasta. Lockhart was prominent in formally laying ont the town in August, 1851. Some ascribed the first house to Boles and Dane. The town was incorporated in 1854, illegally, but legally in 1857. Although the place somewhat declined with the mines, it still held a leading place in the county.

The decline of the diggings is compensated for by the fertility of Shasta Valley. In the adjoining Scott Valley, Fort Jones acquired the supremacy. This place was founded in

228

HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

1851 as Wheelock's Trading Station, and later called Scottsburg, and incorporated in 1872. In the upper part of the county Etna rose around the flour and saw mills erected in 1853- '54 and absorbed Rough and Ready.

The sonthern part of Shasta was in 1856 segregated for the formation of Tehama County. Although occupied by several settlers before 1848, the district received for some time little addition to its occupants, owing to the strange lack of gold, although bordering on three sides by productive mining districts. It became evident, however, that traffic must pass this way for the mines east and north of it, and in 1849 three towns were founded, two on Deer Creek, which survived only on paper, Danville and Benton. Thus Tehama received a decided impulse as the proclaimed head of navigation. It became a lively stage town, and a fine farm- ing district sustained it until the railroad came. Its prosperity was for a time checked by the ascent of a steamboat (the Jack Hays) to Red Bluff, which began to rise in 1850.

In October, 1849, Shasta, then known as Reading's Springs, because of the fine springs at that point, was a busy village of tents and nearly as many people lived on the hill as in the town under the same, where most of the build- ings now are. Among those who spent the memorable winter of 1848-'49 there were R. J. Walsh and John S. Follansbee. Dick Chadman. a native of Tennessee, camped on the hill in January. Several Oregonians settled on the hill as soon as the trails were passable in the spring of 1849, and engaged in mining on Rock, Middle and Salt creeks. In October several log cabins were started up but none completed, and several hundred people arriving that fall were obliged to live in tents that winter and even sleep in the open air in blankets. The rainy season set in November 2, and from that time it rained quite steady, and sometimes very hard, through November, December and the greater part of January. As might be expected it produced great discomfort and a panic. Some sold their provisions at ruinous prices and hur-

ried off to Sacramento and San Francisco. Though freights had been forty and fifty cents . per pound between Sacramento and Shasta, they sold their flour as low as twenty cents per pound, and other things equally as low. R. J. Walsh was the only man having money who dared to invest. He bought largely, and when travel was ent off by the impassability of the Sycamore slongh, he made a corner on every article of merchandise in his store, and, within thirty days after he had purchased flour at twenty centy cents per pound, was selling it at $2.00, $2.25 and as high as $2.50 per pound. He was known to sell many a sack of flour, cash down in glittering gold dust for $225, or at the rate of $450 per barrel! In those flush days the price of a sack of flour was no more thought of than now. Dr. Benj. Shurtleff, his cousin Harrison J. Shurtleff, Dr. Hall, from Vermont, and Mr. Belcher, from Massachusetts, were liv- ing and messing together, and occasionally in- dulged in the luxury of a peach pie, which cost $1.50 each. The pioneer pie factory was run by Benj. F. Washington, Vincent E. Geiger and William S. Lacy. Geiger cnt the wood, Washington made the pies, and Lacy was the salesman.

Early in 1851 the first white child was born, a girl, to Mrs. and Mr. John Carthy, but she lived only a few weeks. The first white male child born in the county was at French Gulch, April 24, 1851, namely, C. F. Montgomery, afterward a resident of Arizona and business manager of the Daily and Weekly Nugget, pub- lished at Tombstone.

Pierson B. Reading, a native of New Jersey, came to California overland as a member of the Chiles-Walker party. Becoming clerk and chief of trappers for Sutter, he made wide explora- tions in 1844-'45; commanded the Fort during Sutter's absence in the Micheltorena campaign; obtained in 1844 a grant of the San Buenaven- tura rancho; in 1846 he was active from the first in promoting the settlers' revolt, and served in 1846-'47 in the California Battalion as pay- master, with rank of major. Afterward he

229

HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

settled on his Shasta County rancho, but in 1848-'49 engaged extensively in mining on the Trinity River, where Reading Bar bore his name. In 1849 he had a store at Sacramento, in com- pany with Hensley & Snyder, besides taking a part in political affairs. In 1851 he was can- didate for State Governor, barely missing elec- tion. Subsequently he devoted himself to agriculture in Northern California. He died in 1868, at the age of fifty-two years, leaving a widow and five children. Major Reading was a man of a well-balanced mind, honorable, ener- getic and courteous.

The late Chief Justice, Royal T. Sprague, came to Shasta in September, 1849. He with others came overland from Ohio, forded the Sacramento River at Moore's rancho and built a log house just north of the Potter place, where they spent the winter, and in the spring and summer of 1850 he moved on Clear Creek at Grizzly Gulch.

The late General Joseph Lane was also a Shasta County miner. He mined in the vicinity of Olney Creek and Oregon Gulch. He was an agreeable and intelligent inan, with strong, practical common sense. He returned to Oregon in the fall of 1850.

The Mexican land grant in Shasta Connty was that of San Buenaventura, 26,632 acres, patented to E. D. Reading in 1857.

WEBB AND THE DUNCAN BROTHERS.

In 1852 Colonel A. H. Webb was living in Harristown, in Shasta County, where he kept a store. He shrewdly preserved the good people from Indian depredations. During that period three brothers named Duncan, apparently of the Caucasian race but really one-quarter Indian blood and identified with the Cherokee nation, were cansing much trouble in the community. They were large and stont, and very rough in manners and morals. One day two of these brothers, mounted upon half-broken mustangs, rode into and out of every house in the village, apparently on a wager, but making an exception

of Mr. Webb's store, as the proprietor said he could not afford to have his goods damaged. They respected him. But the next day, having been taunted by a boon companion with the failure to fully complete the stipulations of the bet, the two men determined to do so, come what would. Mr. Webb gave no more thought to the matter and was upon the second day busy about the store, when with a clatter and crash the younger of the two Duncans forced his foaming and struggling mustang directly into the store. Mr. Webb turned toward the in- truder in astonishment and anger, and Duncan, noticing his indignation and immediately giv- ing rein to his natural insolence, exclaimed with an oath, " Perhaps you do not like my riding in here?" Irritated beyond endurance, Webb stepped rapidly behind the desk, snatched a loaded revolver and covered the desperado in an instant, while he answered with stern emphasis, "No, I don't like it; and you have just twenty seconds to ride out of here before you get this bullet in your brain. Go!" Duncan saw the merchant's deadly purpose, and, wheeling his horse, dashed out of the store in an instant.

The news that Mr. Webb had driven one of the Duncans ont of the store at the muzzle of a pistol soon spread about, and while it increased his popularity with a majority of the inhabi- tants it changed the feeling of careless friend- liness with which the desperado brothers had hitherto regarded him to one of bitter hatred, which every one predicted would speedily cul- minate in a tragedy. But more than a year elapsed without anything of that nature happen- ing, and Webb moved to Bald Hill, in the same county, where he continued in the same busi- ness. The Duncans were as frequently seen there as at Harristown. At a local election soon held at that place the three Duncans were, as nsual, making themselves the most conspicuous figures in the large assemblage, drinking and caronsing. The polls were across the street from Webb's store, and Webb, being one of the judges of the election, left the store in charge of his partner. He saw yonng Duncan in the

230

HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

store, but paid no special attention to it, as it had been so long since the trouble they had had.

Suddenly Webb felt his long hair seized from behind and saw a bowie knife coming in the other hand of the villain toward him, when a young man named Kit seized the would-be murderer's arm and arrested the blow at the very instant when the point of the weapon was against Webb's breast. Foiled in his immediate purpose, but still retaining his hold both upon the knife and his intended vietim, Dunean turned to the latter, saying tauntingly, while he savagely struggled to free his right arm for a second blow, " Why don't you beg for your life?" "No, I will not," was the answer: " the sooner you let me go the better it will be for yourself." " Let you go?" shrieked the desperado as he struggled in vain to free his arm, " let you go! I will kill you first."

The crowd separated the men. Webb re- mained in his room, his enemy being foreed out into the street, and, being unarmed, looked around for a weapon. Several rifles were lying about, but as he pieked up one after another, the owners told him that they were not loaded. It strnek him finally that the statements were not true, being made through the fear which most of the people had of Duncan and his gang, and examination of one of the rifles confirmed his suspicions. At this moment some one called out, " Duncan is in your store; he has at- taeked your partner." Webb sprang across the street and into the store, found the report true and raised the rifle; but Dunean let go, sprang into the back door, and as he put his hand into bis hip-poeket to get a revolver Webb fired upon him and shattered the hand while in the poeket, and the bullet also entered the body. Duncan did not fall, but fired the weapon with his left hand, missing his mark: Webb rushed baek to the polling place, got another gun, and as lie merged into the street again Dunean came out of the store and fell on his face. The erowd nrged Webb to finish killing him and rid the community of a desperado. A stalwart miner named Ridge, who was an educated Indian, also

urged Webb to finish killing Dunean. Webb would not be persuaded to attack a fallen foe, and the latter was carried away by his friends. Webb was then warned that he did the most injudieious thing for the safety botlı of himself and of the community. Sure enough, he was soon informed that threats of vengeance by the savages had been made. Seeing one of the Duncans passing one day, he said, " I have noth- ing to say to you personally, sir, but you will take this message to the young Duncan and his brother, tell them that if I hear of another word of threat being uttered against me, I will shoot young Dunean in his bed. Will you earry that message?" The man promised compliance and probably fulfilled his promise, for no other threats were heard from them afterward.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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 38

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