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 43

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 43

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Jacob P. Leese, who figured largely in San Francisco and Northern California in an early day, was born in Ohio in 1809, and first vis- ited California in 1833. In 1841 he was grantee of a rancho near San Francisco, and of the Huichica at Sonoma; did business at So- noma awhile; was alcalde there in 1844-'45, and had serions quarrels with Victor Prudon. In 1846 he was a sort of sub-agent for Larkin; he accompanied the Bears to Sacramento as in- terpreter, and was thrown into prison with the

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HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

Vallejos and Prudon, by Fremont. He was represented a few years ago as still living, in Texas, a very poor man. He was uneducated but intelligent, bold in business speeulations and lost by such deals all his property, besides that of his wife.

Franklin Bedwell, a Tennesseean, was for many years a trapper in the Rocky Mountains and great basin from the Yellowstone to Santa Fé; eame to California in 1840-'41, continuing as a trapper for several years and occasionally visiting the settlements; was employed awhile in the Santa Clara redwoods; in 1843 settled on a Russian River ranehio bought of Cyrus Alexander probably; joined the Bear Flag Re- bellion in 1846; went south with Fremont to Los Angeles; returned to bis rancho; went to the mines in 1848-'49, and finally settled per- manently at his Russian River home; was still living a few years ago.

Cyrus Alexander, a tanner by trade, was born in Pennsylvania in 1805, and inoved with his parents to Illinois in 1810. In 1831 or earlier, after an unprofitable experience in lead mining at Galena, he started for the West as a trapper for the Sublette company, and came to Califor- nia by way of Santa Fé, about 1832 or '33. For seven or eight years he remained in the South, hunting, fishing, trading, soap-making and stock-raising; was naturalized as an Ameri- ean citizen in 1837; and about 1840 he came north and took charge on shares of Henry D. Fitch's Sotoyome rancho, now Healdsburg, ob- taining two leagues of the rancho in 1847. In December, 1844, he was married by Sutter to Rufina Lucero, a sister of William Gordon's wife, from New Mexico, but the marriage had to be confirmed afterward by a priest. Though unlucky as a miner during the flush times, Alexander became rich by the sale of rancho products and increase in the value of his land. Ilis naine in many ways is prominently and honorably connected with the history of Healds- burg. Unlike any other California ex-trapper, lie became pious and joined the Presbyterian church, and afterward the Methodist. He was a

liberal and charitable citizen. He died in 1872 after seven years of partial paralysis, leaving a widow and four of his twelve children.

James M. Hudspeth, a native of Alabama crossed the plains to Oregon in 1842, and came to California in the Hastings party; worked for Stephen Smith at Bodega for awhile, then as Immuberman at Sauzalito and hunting in the Sacramento Valley; in the spring of 1846 he went with Hastings and Clyman to aid in diverting immigration and prospective filibus- ters from Oregon to California; returning in the autumn, he served as a lieutenant in the California Battalion in 1846-'47. After the war he bought land in Sonoma, and worked with O'Farrell as surveyor at Benicia; was in the mines in 1849-'50; later a farmer in So- noma County; member of the Legislature in 1852-'55, and was still living a few years ago.

Robert Ridley (name variously written), who in 1845 obtained the Sonoma rancho, was a great drinker, held a number of offices in San Francisco, etc., and died in 1851.

George Pearee, a native of Kentucky, came to California in 1846 as a member of the United State Dragoons; became a trader at Stockton and Sonoma in 1849, also lobbyist in the first Leg- islature; miner and trader in the northern counties in 1850; deputy sheriff at Sonoma in 1853-'55; and from 1855 a lawyer at Petaluma; State Senator in 1863-67; and since 1886 lie has been district attorney at Santa Rosa.

IMMIGRATION.

Up to 1855 Sonoma County was in a condi- tion of confused transition from almost native wilds to permanent civilized occupancy. That year a tidal wave of immigration oceurred, sud- denly occupying every nook and corner avail- able for farming or grazing; and within a few years all the features of an almost finished civ- ilization were visible. The county took first rank among the grain-growing and dairying counties in the State. Towns and villages grew rapidly. Petaluma became the most prominent shipping point; Santa Rosa grew substantially;

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Healdsburg became a thriving village; Clover- dale began to show evidence of its future des- tiny; Sonoma, ever famous as a center around which clustered historic memories, became far- famed for her productive vineyards; Bloomfield became the center of a populous and prosperous farming district, and even old Bodega assumed a new phase of life. The main valleys through the center of the county-Petaluma, Santa Rosa and Russian River-were until a compar- atively recent date devoted to the growing of grain. Russian River Valley in a very early day proved its worth as a corn-producing region, but lately it lias become famous for the produc- tion of hops. Frnit-raising at present is taking the place of general agriculture to some extent.

RAILROADS AND HIGHWAYS.

The San Francisco & Northern Pacific Rail- road has been the means of developing the county of Sonoma. It has extended its southern terminus from Donahue to Point Tiburon. Donahue, eight miles below Petaluma and thirty-four miles from San Francisco, was named after Colonel Peter Donahue, the head of this railway enterprise. The railroad shops have been removed from this place to Tiburon. The road continues up through the principal towns of the county,-Petaluma, Santa Rosa, Healdsburg and Cloverdale,-to Ukiah, the connty-seat of Mendocino, the next county north. A branch runs out to Gerneville, in the redwoods district, sixteen miles from Fulton.

The Sonoma Valley Railroad is a branch of the preceding, extending from Pacheco station through old Sonoma to Glen Ellen, thus run- ning through the heart of the wine section. This is a great route for camping parties en- gaged in fishing, hunting and general recreation.

The Santa Rosa & Carquinez Railroad, com- pleted in 1887 as a branch of the Central Pacific, leaves the line at Napa Junction and runs through the whole length of the Sonoma Valley to Glen Ellen, and on through the Guilicos Val- ley to Santa Rosa.

In the days of staging, the principal highway led from Petaluma to Santa Rosa, Windsor, Healdsburg, Geyserville and Cloverdale. Large coaches drawn by six horses made the trip daily. The stage-driver was then a consequential man, courted and conciliated by those who had much traveling to do. A seat by his side was consid- ered one of honor.

The next highway of importance led from Petaluma up the coast, by way of Two Rock, Bloomfield, Valley Ford, Bodega Corners, Bo- dega Bay, Markham's Mills, Fort Ross and Gualala. Its place is now taken mostly by the Narrow-Gauge Coast Line Railroad. From near the mouth of Russian River northward this road is graded along the cliffs overhanging the ocean.

One of the oldest roads of the county, but not extensively traveled, is the one leading from Petaluma to Sonoma, thence to Glen Ellen, and so on through Guilicos Valley to Santa Rosa.

The road from Petaluma to Sevastopol and thence to Green Valley, although an old one in point of nse, has not until lately been well im- proved.

The rivers and water-courses of Sonoma County are peculiar. The Russian River is the largest stream. The Petaluma and Sonoma creeks are estuaries of San Pablo Bay, and, having a tidal rise of six feet, are used in navi- gation, thus keeping down railroad freights to San Francisco. The next streams in importance are San Antonio Creek, which forms the bound- ary line between Sonoma and Marin counties; the Santa Rosa and Mark West creeks, abound- ing in trout; Sulphur Creek, draining the Gey- ser group of mountains into the Russian River north of Cloverdale; Dry Creek, from the county north; Austin Creek, also in the north- ern part of the county.

MINERALOGY.

Sonoma County is pretty evenly divided be- tween valley and mountain. The valleys, for- merly under the sea, are now covered with adobe and allnvinm. The soil of the eastern

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part of Sonoma Valley rests npon a hard-pan of secondary formation. The sandy loan be- tween Petaluma and the coast is modern allu- vinm. The redwood forests near the coast belong to the second epochi of the tertiary period. The soil of the Russian River Valley, largely formed through glacial infinence, be- longs to the secondary period. The mountains are volcanic. Trap or basalt is the leading rock. The mountain range of basalt dividing the Peta- luma and Sonoma valleys was poured ont of the crater of St. Helena. The streets of San Fran- cisco are largely paved with this rock.

Lignite that makes a tolerably good fuel is found cropping ont at many localities in this county. At a point two and a half miles south- east of Santa Rosa, the Taylor Mountain Coal Mining Company has opened three seams of lignite, which vary from four to eight feet in thickness. These seams are underlaid by sand- stone, having as a hanging-wall lire clay and shales, with sandstone above them. John A. Hill has opened some excellent coal prospects on Mark West Creek. On Rule's Ranch, be- tween the mouth of Russian River and Russian Gulch, a small seam of good lignite crops out.

Petroleum, a sister product, also exists in the county.

The minerals that have been found in paying quantities in Sonoma County, are chromic iron, copper, quicksilver, red and yellow umber (terra de sienna), argentiferous galena and limestone. Other minerals are borax, kaolin, bloodstone, agate, gypsum, etc.

The only quicksilver mine now being worked is four miles north of Guerneville. The ore, mixed with a peculiar silicions rock and jasper, occurs in sheets often 100 feet long and ten to twenty feet wide.

The " Geysers " are bubbling springs of sul- phurous water and gas, so called by way of dis- tinction from less noted springs of the kind in the vicinity, and are situated on Pinton Creek, sixteen miles east of Cloverdale, whence they are reached by private conveyance. They are a great curiosity and are visited by many lovers

of nature. Through the entire forination, some acres in extent, jets of hot water and steam are constantly escaping. It is stated that there has not been any analysis made of the waters, but from the vicinity of the various blow holes, melanterite, sulphur, alum, epsom salts, and cinnabar are found as incrustations. The ground is white, and yellow, and gray, porous and rot- ten with long and high heat. The air is also hot and sulphurous to an unpleasant degree. All along the bottom of the ravine and up its sides the earth seems hollow and full of boiling wa- ter. In frequent little craeks and pin-holes it finds vent, and ont of these it bubbles and emits streams like so many tiny teakettles at high tide. In one place the earth yawns wide, and the " Witches' Cauldron," several feet in diam- eter, seethes and spouts a black, inky water so hot as to boil an egg, and capable of redneing the human body to pulp at short notice. Of these springs, large and small, there are some 300 in number. Some are hot, some are cold; some contain iron, some soda, some sulphur.

The " Petrified Forest," sixteen miles from Santa Rosa on the stage road to Calistoga, is an- other curious freak of nature. Several acres are thinly covered with petrified trunks of trees from seven feet in diameter down, lying at some angle above a horizontal, five to thirty-five degrees, on the hillside. When discovered they were almost covered with volcanic ashes and tufa, and the ground sparkled with atomns of siliea. This has been dug away, so that the trees can be on exhibition.

LATER HISTORY OF THE COUNTY.

In 1870 Sonoma County ranked next to the Connty of San Francisco in number of school children. As one among the youngest counties of the State, she had thus suddenly come to the very front in population and productiveness. Up to that year she had been productive of more wealth to the State in cereals, potatoes, butter and cheese than the three counties of Los An- geles, San Bernardino and San Diego combined. This wealth of products gave to her land a fixed

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value, and hence it was that lands came to be valned, even at that early day, at $50 to $75 an acre. Scarcely any irrigation was needed any- where in the county.

Nowadays, from Two Rock Valley to Bodega, once almost a continnous grain and potato field, the country is almost entirely devoted to dairy- ing and stock-raising. In the southern end of the county grain has largely given place to the growing of hay. The upper valleys of the central portion of the county are largely de voted to grape and fruit-raising. The most marked development in this direction is notice- able from Santa Rosa northward to Cloverdale. That region begins to assume the appearance of what the whole county ought to present, namely, small holdings, with cheerful home surround- ings.

The railroads, although at first damaging to a few, have been of great advantage to the county, not only in pecuniary wealth but also in bringing the people into easy civilizing con- tact with metropolitan influences and the world generally.

With the exception of the phylloxera devas- tation-which is now being overcome-the en- tire county of Sonoma has since 1870 made slow but sure progress. The introduction of fruit-canning has been a great aid. It is also claimed that the connty excels all the other sections of the State in the rearing of superior horses.

The county contains thirteen Methodist Epis- copal churches, eight Methodist Episcopal South, two German Methodist, nine Presbyterian with one mission, six Catholic, seven Christian, three Congregational, three Baptist, three Episcopal besides two in embryo, and six miscellaneous.

SANTA ROSA.

This, the "City of Roses," is well entitled to the appellation, for it certainly ranks next to San Jose and Santa Clara as a sylvan retreat. It was founded in 1853 and became the county- seat of Sonoma County in 1854. The first house built in the town was erected by John

Bailiff, for Julio Carrillo. A town had already been started at what is now the junction of the Sonoma, Bodega & Russian River roads, called Franklintown, but this was soon absorbed by Santa Rosa.

Among the first residents were Obe Rippeto, Jim Williamson, J. M. Case, John Ingram, Dr. Boyce, the late William Ross, Judge Temple, W. B. Atterbury, S. G. and J. P. Clark and Charles W. White; and among the very first merchants were B. Marks, now of Ukiah, and his partner, M. Rosenberg, still residing here.

The growth of Santa Rosa was slow but steady for about fifteen years, when it suddenly went forward with amazing rapidity, doubling its population in the decade between 1860 and 1870; and from that time onward its progress has been steady and substantial. In 1867 it was incorporated as a city. In 1869 it secured the location there of the Pacific Methodist Col- lege that had long been conducted at Vacaville, Solano County. In 1870 the Northern Pacific Railroad was completed to that place, a great boon; and the completion of the Santa Rosa & Carquinez Railroad to that place in 1887 has made it a fixed finality that Santa Rosa is to grow into the magnitude of one of the most populous inland cities in the State. A respect- able number of manufacturing industries have sprung up there, banks established, an agricult- ural park, and all the essentials and accom- plishments of a refining civilization.

PETALUMA.

The word " Petaluma" is Indian, probably signifying duck hills or little hills. The town is situated at the head of navigation on Peta- luma Creek, a tide stream that is an arm of San Pablo Bay. In 1836 General M. G. Vallejo built the first house in Petaluma Valley, a large adobe structure, now fast crumbling into ruins, standing in fair view three miles east. In 1851 or '52 the first move was made in the direction of platting the town and offering lots for sale. The increasing influx of immigration warranted the success of the enterprise, and therefore the

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town has ever since had a steady and healthy growth, reaching a population probably of about 5,000. It is, therefore, the principal shipping point from a rich dairy, agricultural and horticultural district; and it has the ad- vantage of navigation to the outside world, which keeps the railroad tariff down to a rea- sonable point. The town is beautifully situated, is healthy and a desirable place of residence. The thermometer rarely falls below thirty-two degrees or rises above ninety, while the coast mountains throw the ocean fogs high up into the sky. It is abundantly supplied with good, pure water from the Sonoma Mountains. The business streets are paved with basalt-rock blocks, and all the streets are liberally lighted with gas. A large tannery, woolen-mill, flour- ing-mill, etc., do as good work as any institution of the kind on the coast. The Masonic Temple is an imposing structure, costing about $40,000.

The newspapers are the Weekly Argus, con- dneted by MeNabb, Cassiday & Cottle; the Weekly Courier, conducted by Woodbury & Ravencroft; the Daily Morning Imprint, by J. W. Hoag; and a monthly, named The Or- chard and Farm, by Samuel E. Watson.

The usual number of local business and social organizations prosper well in Petaluma.

HEALDSBURG

is the seat of a lively college, zealously con- ducted by the Seventh-Day Adventists.

SUTTER COUNTY.

This county, ramed in honor of the distin- guished pioneer, General John A. Sutter, is bounded on the north by Butte and Ynba coun- ties, on the east by Yuba and Placer, on the sonth by Sacramento, and on the west by Yolo and Colnsa counties.

When the Americans and foreigners began to settle in the Sacramento Valley during the early gold-mining period and enter or squat upon lands here, Captain Sutter was made to show papers for his immense claim of eleven square leagues. Like many other old Mexican

documents of the kind, the description of bonnd- ary lines was vague, and Sutter's map included even a larger area than the grant entitled him to. It lay mostly in what is now Sacramento County, and partly in Sutter County. This matter is noticed more at length on page 192.

When in 1850 Captain Sutter delivered over his Sacramento property to an agent, lie retired to " Hock Farm," in Sntter County, west of Feather River and south of the Butte moun- tains. Here lived Theodore Chicard (or Sicard) and Mr. Dupont. In 1843 John Bidwell took charge of the farm. During the summer he built a house there of adobe. Near the close of the year J. C. Bridges came from Kentucky, and died during the following winter. On this farm Sntter had about 5,000 head of cattle and 1,200 head of horses, and he employed about twenty-five Indian vaqueros in herding animals and breaking the horses. General Bidwell re- mained about fourteen months, namely, to the early part of the summer of 1844, and during that time planted some trees and otherwise improved the place. William Bennitz then took charge and continued there for a year, to the summer of 1845. Major Hensley followed, remaining to the spring of 1846, when nearly all Sutter's force went into the Mexican war, the farm being left in charge of Kanaka Jim, whom Sutter had brought from the Sandwich Islands.

Sutter moved to this farm in the spring of 1850, leaving Peter H. Burnett at Sacramento as agent for the sale of his property there; and when he was elected governor, II. H. School- craft was appointed in his place. Sutter fixed up the house on Hock Farm and built the iron structure. It was erected for a store house and bought from parties who had come around the Horn. The floods of 1862 ruined this farin, and since then it has been a barren waste of sand and debris.

Theodore Sicard had been a French sailor and first came to California in 1835. At a later period he remained in the country and worked for Captain Sutter, superintending the Hock

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Farm in 1842-'43. He obtained from the Mexican government a grant of four Spanish leagues, extending from opposite the month of Dry Creek, ten miles up the south side of Bear River, about half a mile above Johnson's Crossing.

In 1844 a Mexican, Don Pablo Gu icrez, who had been in the employ of Captain Sutter, ob- tained a grant of five leagues on the north side of Bear River, now known as the Johnson grant. Gntierez built a mud honse at the place afterward called Johnson's crossing. He was killed in 1844 or '45, and his grant and cattle were sold at auction by Captain Sutter, as inagistrate of the region, being purchased for $150, by William Johnson and Sebastian Keyser, who settled there the same year. John- son was a sailor, and had made voyages to Cali- tornia quite early, and for several years previous to this purchase had traded between Sandwich Islands and Yerba Buena. Keyser had traveled with Sutter from Missouri to Oregon, and stopped there while Sutter went to the Sandwich Islands. After the purchase the grant was divided, John- son taking the east halt and Keyser the west. In 1846 they built an adobe house a short dis- tance below the crossing.

In 1845 George Patterson settled on the south side of Yuba River, opposite Cordua's, under a lease from Captain Sutter, and con- structed an adobe house. Jack Smith lived with him a while. This was known as Sutter's Garden, and the occupation of the tract was by his proxy, Patterson. Jack Smith, an old sailor who had been in Sntter's employ, obtained from that gentleman in 1844 a grant of land on the south side of Ynba River extending from the bite of Linda three miles up the stream and one mile back. He settled there in 1845 and built a cabin on the location of the subsequent town of Linda. In 1846 Smith sold the central mile of his tract to George Patterson. The pur- chaser had come to California in 1841, in one of the ships of the Hudson Bay Company. He escaped from the vessel in the night and took refuge on Goat Island, in San Francisco Bay.

An attempt was made that night by John Rose to rescue him in a boat, but it was unsuccess- ful. Patterson found his way from this vessel and entered the employ of Sutter.

In 1847 Michael Nye bought a portion of the Sutter grant adjoining Smith on the west. This tract was one mile in extent along the south bank of the stream and a mile and a half in depth.

In the latter part of 1847 William G. Murphy moved from Cordna's rancho to Nye's place, and they had many cattle and horses.

October 18, 1846, there arrived at Bear River a company of immigrants, including Claude Chana, who afterward becaine a prominent citizen here. In that company were 500 wagons and 1,000 men, starting from St. Joseph, Mis- souri, and scattering along the Pacific coast as they progressed westward.

In 1847 Baptiste Rouelle, the discoverer of gold in the mountains near the Mission of San Fernando, settled near Sutter's Garden on the sontlı bank of Yuba River.

During the spring of 1847 the survivors of the Donner party arrived, many remaining at the settlements of this city; also some members of the Murphy family stopped here.

Gold was first discovered north of the Amer- ican River, and on the Yuba River in the vicinity of Marysville, by Jonas Spect, in April, 1848. Mr. Nye and his company made dis- coveries of the metal on the same river about the same time. Mr. Spect was, at least nntil recently, a resident of Colusa.

In 1849 what is now Sutter and Yuba counties were simply a part of the great " Sacramento District." January 4, this year, Cordna, the original proprietor of the site of Marysville, sold his half-interest to Michael C. Nye and William Foster, while Charles Covilland retained the other half. Nye and Foster also put into the partnership their previons possessions. Nye managed the ranch and stock business, while Covilland had a store at Sicard Flat, and Foster one near Foster Bar. The name of the main ranch was then changed to Nye's Ranch.

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Cordua moved to the mines, opening a store at Cordua Bar. In the spring Rose Reynolds and George Kinlock purchased the whole tract owned by Nye and Sicard on Yuba River. Kinlock's father was a Scotchman who had come to California about 1825; his mother was a native of California, and George received his education in the Sandwich Islands.

September 27, 1849, Nye and Foster sold to Covilland, for $30,000, all their title and interest in the lands, improvements, etc., which had been conveyed to them by Cordua; but a few days afterward Covillaud sold half his property to J. M. Ramirez and J. Sampson, for $23,300. During the same month he sold half the re- mainder to Theodore Sicard.

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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 43

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