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 4

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 4

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This government and commandancy-general offers you thanks for your efforts in erecting this new city, which will secure the frontier of the republic, and is confident that you will make new efforts for the national entirety.

God and liberty.

JOSE FIGUEROA.

Don M. G. VALLEJO, Military Commandante and Di- rector of Colonization of the Northern Frontier.

Under these instructions Vallejo proceeded to lay out and found the pueblo, giving to it the Indian name of Sonoma. From this act virtu- ally dates the real Mexican occupancy of Sonoma "County nnder military and civil rule. There is but little of record during the balance of 1825, and for 1826 the most important mention is that Vallejo, in conjunction with Chief Solano, went on an expedition to punish the rebellions Yolos. And right here it is in place to record the fact that this Chief Solano seems to have been a ruler among the Indian tribes in every direction. General Vallejo's language to us was, "Solano was a king among the Indians. All the tribes of Solano, Napa and Sonoma were under tribute to him." Vallejo made a treaty with Solano and seems to have found in him a valuable lieutenant in all his future dealings with neighboring Indians. Now that a pueblo had been established at Sonoma with Vallejo as commandante of this northern district, it had become an important factor in the Territorial government of California. Vallejo was then in

the fall vigor of young life, fired with the ambi- tion of those who believed that to them belonged a liberal share of the management and rule in Territorial government, and his somewhat iso- lated position, which necessitated his exercise, at times, of almost autocratic power, placed him in a position to be courted by those even in higher authority. That he should use his power for self-aggrandizement, within certain limits, was but natural. His complicity in the revolutions and counter-revolutions that in rapid succession were making and deposing California governors, forms no part of the scope of this history, and we shall only follow his acts in their bearings upon the future of Northern California. With Vallejo there seems to have been two dominant ideas, and both had founda- tion in good, practical sense. The first was that the Indians had to be subjected to a strong hand, and when so subjected, they were to be the subjects of protection and justice. The second was that the greatest danger to continued Mexican supremacy in California was from the eastward. While there may have been a degree ot selfishness and jealousy to inspire it, he was none the less correct in his judgment that the Sutter establishment at New Helvetia was a center around which clustered dangers not properly appreciated by the California govern- ment at Monterey. While he failed to arouse the authorities to the magnitude of the danger, he at least discharged his duty as an officer of that government. The truth was that Sutter, after he transferred to Helvetia the armament of Ross, was becoming a " power behind the throne greater than the throne itself," and Vallejo could not be blind to the fact that it was liable to prove a "Trojan horse with belly full of armed destruction" to the future rule of Mexico in California. In the waning days of the rule of Micheltorena, Sutter had been clothed with power which almost rendered him potentate of the Sacramento Valley, and as his establishment was the first to be reached by immigration from the East, that year by year was increasing in volume, he did not fail to

HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

improve his opportunity to add to the strength of his surroundings.

Although somewhat out of chronological order it is in place to follow the mission of San Francisco Solano to its end. Bancroft says: " Father Fortuni served at San Francisco Solano until 1833, when his place was taken by the Za- cutecan José de Jesus Maria Gutierrez, who in turn changed places in March, 1834, with Pa- dre Lorenzo Quijas of San Francisco. Quijas remained in charge of ex-mission and pueblo as acting curate throughont the decade, but resided for the most part at San Rafael. Though the neophyte population, as indicated by the reports, decreased from 760 to 650 in 1834, and 550 in 1835, yet there was a gain in live-stock and but a slight falling off in crops; and the establish- ment must be regarded as having flourished down to the date of secularization, being one of the few missions in California which reached their highest population in the final decade, though this was natural enongh in a new and frontier mission. Mariano G. Vallejo was made commissionado in 1834, and in 1835-'36, with Antonio Ortega as major-domo, completed the seeularization. Movable property was distribu- ted to the Indians, who were made entirely free, many of them retiring to their old ranche- rias. A little later, however, in consequence of troubles with hostile gentiles, the ex-neophytes seem to have restored their live-stock to the care of General Vallejo, who used the property of the ex-inission for their benefit and protec- tion, and for the general development of the northern settlement. The General claimed that this was a legitimate use of the estate; and he would have established a new mission in the north if the padres would have aided him. Doubtless his policy was a wise one, even if his position as guardian of the Indians in charge of their private property put by them in his care was not recognized by the laws. Moreover, there was a gain rather than a loss in live-stock. Thus the mission community had no real exist- ence after 1836, though Pablo Aynla and Sal- vador Vallejo were nominally made administra-

tors. The visitador made no visits in 1839, and apparently none were made in 1840. I suppose there may have been 100 of the ex-neophytes living at Sonoma at the end of the decade, with perhaps 500 more in the region not relapsed into barbarism." And here ends the career of the mission San Francisco Solano. If its san- guine founder, Padre Altimira, could revisit it, and the old San Francisco mission that he thought was " on its last legs," he would learn how fallible is human judgment.

Sonoma was now a pueblo and General M. G. Vallejo, as commandante of the northern district, the most conspicuous personage in this latitude until the end of Mexican rule. As such it is in place to introduce him more fully to the reader. According to Baneroft:

He was the son of the " Sargento distinguido" Ignacio Vallejo and of Maria Antonia Lugo, being, on the paternal side at least, of pure Spanish blood, and being entitled by the old rules to prefix the "Don " to his name. In childhood be had been the associate of Alvarado and Castro at Monterey, and his educational advantages, of which he made good use, were substantially the same as theirs. Unlike his companions, he chose a military ca reer, entering the Monterey company in 1823 as a cadet, and being promoted to be alferez of the San Francisco company in 1827. He served as habilitado and as com- mandante of both companies, and took part in several campaigns against Indians, besides acting as fiscal or defensor in various military trials. In 1830 he was elected to the deputacion, and took a prominent part in the opposition of that body to Victoria. In 1832 he mar- ried Franci. ca Benicia, daughter of Joaquin Carrillo, and in 1834 was elected deputado suplente to Congress. He was a favorite of Figueroa, who gave him large tracts of land north of the bay, choosing him as commissionado to secularize San Francisco Solano, to found the town of Sonoma, ard to command the frontier del norte. In his new position Vallejo was doubtless the most independent man in California. His record was a good one, and both in ability and experience he was probably better fitted to take the position as commandante general than any other Californian.

This latter position was conferred upon Val- lejo by Alvarado, who by a turn of the revolu- tionary wheel had become governor. General Vallejo was unquestionably the right man in the right place when he was placed in control at Sonoma after the secularization of the mission San Francisco Solano. As a military man he

HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

would not brook any insubordination to his will or commands, but in dealing with the Indians he seems to have pursned a policy wise and just beyond anything ever before attempted in Cali- fornia. In the Indian Chief Solano he saw the ready means to acquire easy control of all other Indians occupying a wide sweep of country. In making Solano his friend and coadjutor in keep- ing distant tribes in respectful submission, he seems not to have compromised himself in any manner so as not to hold Solano himself subject to control and accountability. Having been speaking of the turbulence of southern Indians for the years from 1836 to 1840 Mr. Bancroft says:

Turning to the northern frontier we find a different state of things. Here there was no semblance of Apache raids, no sacking of ranches, no loss of civilized life, and little collision between gentile and Christian natives. The northern Indians were more numerous than in the San Diego region, and many of the tribes were brave, warlike, and often hostile; but there was a comparatively strong force at Sonoma to keep them in check, and Gen- eral Vallejo's Indian policy must be regarded as excel- lent and effective when compared with any other policy ever followed in California. True, his wealth, his un- trammeled power, and other circumstances contributed much to his success; and he could by no means have done as well if placed in command at San Diego; yet he must be accredited besides with having managed wisely. Closely allied with Solano, the Suisun chieftain, having always-except when asked to render some distasteful military service to his political associates in the south- at his command a goodly number of soldiers and citizens, made treaties with the gentile tribes, insisted ou their being liberally and justly treated when at peace, and punished them severely for any manifestation of hostility. Doubtless the Indians were wrouged often enough in in- dividual cases by Vallejo's subordinates ; some of whom, and notably his brother Salvador, were with difficulty controlled; but such reports have been greatly exagger- ated, and acts of glaring injustice were comparatively rare.

The Cainameros, or the Indians of Cainama, in the region toward Santa Rosa, had been for some years friendly, but for their services in returning stolen horses they got themselves into trouble with the Satiyomis, or Sotoyomes, generally known as the Guapos, or braves, who in the spring of 1836, in a sudden attack, killed t venty-two of their number and wounded fifty. Vallejo, on appeal of the chiefs, promised to avenge their wrongs, and started April 1st with fifty soldiers and one hundred Indians besides the Cainamero force. A battle was fought on the 4th of April, and the Guapos, who had

taken a strong position in the hills of the Geyser region, were routed and driven back to their ranches, where most of them were killed. The expedition was back at So- noma on the 7th without having lost a man, killed or wounded. On June 7th Vallejo concluded a treaty of peace and alliance with the chiefs of seven tribes-the Indians of Yoloytoy, Guilitoy, Ansatoy, Liguaytoy, Aclu- toy, Chumptoy and the Guapos, who had voluntarily come to Sonoma for that purpose. The treaty provided that there should be friendship between the tribes and the garrison, that the Cainameros and Guapos should live at peace and respect each other's territory ; that the In- dians should give up all fugitive Christians at the request of the commandante, and that they should not burn the fields. It does not appear that Vallejo in return prom- ised anything more definite than friendship. Twenty days later the compact was approved by Governor Chico. A year later, in June, 1837, Zampay, one of the chieftains of the Yoloytoy-town and rancheria of the Yoloy, per- haps meaning, "of the tules," and which gave the name to Yolo County-became troublesome, committing many outrages and trying to arouse ths Sotoyomes again. The head chief of the tribe, however, named Moti, offered to aid in his capture, which was effected by the combined forces of Solano and Salvador Vallejo. Zampay and some of his companions were held at first as captives at Sonoma, but after some years the chief, who had been a terror of the whole country, became a peaceful citizen and industrious farmer,

In January, 1838, Tobias, chief of the Guilicos, and one of his men were brought to Souoma and tried for the murder of two Indian fishermen. In March some of the gentile allied tribes attacked the Moquelumnes, recovered a few stolen horses and brought them to Sonoma, where a grand feast was held for a week to celebrate their good deeds. In August fifty Indian horse-thieves crossed the Sacramento and appeared at Suseol with a hand of tame horses, their aim being to stampede the horses at So- noma. Thirty-four were killed in a battle with Vallejo's men, and the rest surrendered, the chief being shot at Sonoma for his crimes. On October 6, Vallejo issued a printed circular, in which he announced that Solano had grossly abused his power and the trust placed in him, and broken sacred compacts made with the Indian tribes by consenting to the seizure aud sale of children. Vallejo indignantly denied the rumor that these outrages had been committed with his consent. declaring that Solano had been arrested, and that a force had been sent out to restore all the children to their parents.

Vallejo's statement in regard to this back- sliding of Chief Solano is that evil-disposed persons have plied him with liquor until he was so dazed as not to be master of his actions, and that after being sobered up in the guard-house he was both ashamed and penitent.

In this year, 1838, there came a terrible

HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

pestilence, the small-pox, which made sad havoc among the Indians. It is said that a Corporal named Ygnacio Miramontes contracted the dis- ease at Fort Ross, and returning to Sononia the disease was soon broadcast among the Indians. General Vallejo is our authority that the . In- dians died by the thousands. He thinks that not less than 75,000 died in the territory north of the bay and west of the Sacramento River. In some cases it almost blotted tribes ont of existence. The Indian panacea for all ills was resort to the sweat-honse, supplemented by a plunge in cold water. Such being their remedy, it may well be believed that the small-pox left desolation in its track. John Walker, of Se- bastopol, states that when he reached the Yount rancho, Napa County, in 1846, Mr. Yount pointed out to him an Indian girl, the sole survivor of her tribe after the small-pox had run its course. Yount stated that he visited the rancheria and that dead Indians were lying everywhere, and the only living being was the girl referred to: she, an infant, was cuddled in an Indian basket. At Mr. Walker's ranch is a very aged Indian, and through an interpreter he recently informed us that during the preva lence of the small-pox his people at Sebasto- pol for a long time died at the rate of trom ten to twenty a day. In 1888, while excavating earth with which to grade a road near Sebasto- pol a perfect charnel of linman bones was found, doubtless where the small-pox victims of 1838 were buried. As stated elsewhere, that pesti- lence paved the way for peaceable occupation of this territory by immigrants. There were not enough Indians left to offer any serious resist- ance to the free occupancy of their former hunting grounds by civilized man.

In 1839, as an evidence that colonization was advancing northward, it is recorded that twenty- five families had cast their lot in the northern frontier. Some of these families, doubtless, came with the Hijar-Padres colony that came from Mexico in 1834. Many of those colonists visited Sonoma-then San Francisco Solano- but owing to political complications Hijar was 2

looked upon with suspicion, and his scheme of founding a colony came to naught. It is said that a few of his people remained north of the bay, but most of them returned south to the older settlements. We find a record of a young Irishman named John T. Reed locating in Santa Rosa Township, near the present place of Robert Crane, in 1837, but who was driven out by the Indians. And also the location near Santa Rosa, in 1838, of Señora Maria Ygnacia Lopez de Carillo. Of the first attempt to found a settlement at, or near Santa Rosa, there is evidence that it proved futile, and yet we find little of anthentic record as to the reasons why the enterprise was abandoned, other than that settlers did not feel secure in so advanced a position among untutored savages. We find, also, an accredited rumor that the mission San Francisco Solano was destroyed by the Indians a few years after it was founded. This story must be founded on uncertain tradition, for we have found no authentic record of such an occurrence.

We have thus far, up to 1840, found little difficulty in tracing the lines of reliable history. But the nearer we get to the epoch which culminated in American occupancy the more we are befogged and in doubt of the dividing line between facts and fiction. What the intelligent reader will most want to know will be as to the actual settlement and occupancy of Northern California by Californians prior to the raising of the Bear Flag at Sonoma. If we take as our guide the various Spanish grants and the dates of their reputed occupancy there was but little of the arable land of the connty that was not already the habitation of civilized man; and yet we find but little tangible evidence of such advanced conditions of civilization. Vallejo had, with great enterprise and labor, reared an establishment on the Petaluma grant that even yet stands as a monument to his energy and enterprise. The Carrillos had made lasting improvements at Santa Rosa and Sebastopol. Mark West had established himself at the creek that bore his name, and had erected substantial adobe buildings. Henry D. Fitch had reared

HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

buildings of permanency on Russian River, near the present site of Healdsburg; Captain Stephen Smith had established a residence and mill at Bodega, and Jasper O'Farrell had made a good show of permanent occupancy at his place in the red woods. Fort Ross had now passed into the hands of William Bennitz, and was an establishment of comparative ancient date. Outside of the evidence of ocenpancy thus enumerated, except those of Sonoma Val- ley, there were only a few, and they so transi- tory and ephemeral in character as almost to have passed from the memory of our pioneer American inhabitants. For a time Sonoma had been regarded as an important frontier mili- tary station by the California government, and seems to have received some fostering care and assistance, but during later years the govern- ment seems to have acted on the principle that, as Vallejo had all the glory of defending the frontier, he could do it at his own expense. He seems to have, in time, tired of this expensive luxury. Bancroft says: "The presidial com- pany in 1841-'43, and probably down to its dis- bandment by Vallejo in 1844, had between forty and fifty men under the command of Lieut. José Antonio Pico; and there were besides nearly sixty men fit for militia duty, to say nothing of an incidental mention by the alcalde of 100 citizens in his jurisdiction. Captain Salvador Vallejo was commandante of the post and no civil authority was recognized down to the end of 1843, from which time municipal affairs were directed by two alcaldes, Jacob P. Leese and José de la Rosa, holding successively the first alcaldia." Thus it will be seen that there was virtually only two years of civil rule here previous to the Bear Flag revolution. While Vallejo still had an arinament embracing nine cannon of small caliber, and perhaps two hundred muskets, yet the whole military estab- lishment seems to have been in a condition of " innocuous desuetude." The only notable event of local importance in 1845, was a raid, seem ingly made by Sonoma rancheros, upon the Ross Indians to secure laborers. Several In-

dians were killed and 150 were captured. William Bennitz complained of outrages com- mitted on the Indians at his ranchc. That such matters were made the subject of court investigation shows that civil authority was be- ginning to assert itself. The leading offenders in this last instance of Indian mention under Mexican rule, were Antonio Castro and Rafael Garcia. We have now reached the beginning of the end of Mexican rule, the conclusion of which will be found in the next section. .

AMERICAN INVASION. *

In historic events like that of the taking of Sonoma and the hoisting of the bear flag. we naturally expect to find some continuity of antecedent causes leading up to the occurrence. But that great event stands out, in bold relief, a conspicnous exception to the rule. Like Topsy, who averred " I was not born'd-I jes growed up," the Bear Flag party seemed to be laboring under equal perplexity as to their ori- gin and ultimate destiny. The happy outcome of their venture can be compressed into the single sentence, " All is well that ends well." Search and sift history as we may there can be found no authentic connection between the little band of adventurers and any responsible United States authority. There has been a great deal said and written upon the subject that in- clines the casual reader of history to believe that the taking of Sonoma was but the first act in a well matured plan which was to ultimate in placing California under the stars and stripes of the United States; but we find nothing to · warrant such conclusion. The majority of the Bear Flag party were frontiersmen with more nerve than education, and to believe them capable of carrying ont to a successful conclusion the secret orders of the United States Govern- ment authorities, and never after disclosing the same, would be too great a tax upon even ex- treme credulity. It is true that General Fre- mont had been in California for some time, ostensibly at the head of a scientific expedition, but with a force at his back ample to render

HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

secure his travels while here, but till now it has never been revealed that he was clothed by the government that he represented with any pow- ers of a revolutionary character. While his at- titude had been defiant of California authority and his hoisting of the American flag on Gab- ilan Peak, almost in sight of the California capital, a bold affront to Castro, California's military chieftain, yet there is no evidence, as yet, that his acts were other than the efferves- cence of an individual disposed to magnify the importance of his mission. The effects of Fre- mont's acts were two-fold. The Californians believing him to be acting under instructions from his government, naturally believed that he was here for the purpose of fomenting a revo- lutionary spirit among foreigners resident here, and they were more disposed than ever to en- force the laws prohibitory of indiscriminate immigration. The American settlers finding themselves more and more the objects of sus- picion by the California authorities, naturally took it for granted that as Fremont had been the instrument of inciting the authorities to a more rigid enforcement against them of existing im- migration laws, he knew what he was about, and would stand by them if trouble came.

Aside from the fact that all knew that war was imminent between the United States and Mexico, California was rent and torn by in- ternal discord. The Territorial government had ever been, at best, a weak one, but during the past decade it had gone from bad to worse, until chaos seemed to brood over the Territory from Sonoma to San Diego. The government was divided; one part being administered from Los Angeles and the other from Monterey, and each wing in open revolt against the authority of the other. In the very teeth of a threat- ened danger from without, Governor Pio Pieo at Los Angeles and General Castro at Monterey were seemingly only intent on each other's over- throw. The action of Fremont, already referred to, in flaunting the stars and stripes upon Gab- ilan Peak seems to have brought General Castro to something like a correct appreciation of the

fact that there was great need of unification and effort among California authorities. This he tried to impress upon Pico in the south, but the suspicious governor saw fit to construe the efforts of Castro to get the military upon a de- fensive basis, into a menace to himself; and the people of the entire South seemed to be in en- tire accord with him on the subject. In truth, the people of the lower and upper portion of the Territory seem to have been as completely estranged and sonred against each other as if their origin had been from distinct races. Hence, was witnessed the pitiful endeavor of Pio Pico to gather together a force sufficient to proceed to Monterey for the purpose of subju- gating Castro, at the very time the latter was equally intent upon gathering a force to meet what he conceived to be a great danger on the northern frontier. To California, the early months of 1846 seems to have been a dark period to all fruitful of junto meetings and dark-room eabals, when all were suspicious of each other, and it seemed politic for no man to let his right hand know what his left hand was doing.

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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 4

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