USA > California > A memorial and biographical history of the coast counties of Central California > Part 14
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which the ingenuity of skillful architects has been taxed to produce charming effects. In- stead of the meetings now being held in the rongh hall which was originally supposed to be sufficient, there is now a handsome struc- ture that would be an ornament to any city. Several religious societies have erected at- tractive houses of worship, graded and graveled and clean streets make walking and driving through the avennes of tall trees a luxury.
The principal structural attraction of Pa- cific Grove is El Carmelo, second only in ex- tent to the Hotel del Monte. Severe in its exterior lines, there is a repose in the external aspect of the house which gives fair promise of the warmth of comfort within. The house is well managed, and the charges are not ex- cessive.
A livery stable in the town furnishes turn- onts, whereby visitors may enjoy the excel- lent drives that abound everywhere in this vicinity.
A large public school is a comparatively recent improvement, and a public library is an important attraction. An academic de- partment of the University of the Pacific is in successful operation.
Besides a line of horse cars connecting the Grove with Monterey and the Hotel del Monte, the Southern Pacific Company, on the 1st of August, 1889, opened an extension of its main line running from San Francisco to the Hotel del Monte and Monterey, so that one may now go directly to Pacific Grove by rail.
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One of the most interesting of the new attractions is the seaside laboratory, en- dowed by Timothy Hopkins, and conducted by the Stanford University.
It is intended to make this a place for original investigation of the habits, life, his- tory, structure and development of marine animals and plants, and to carry on work here similar to that which has made the aquarium at Naples known all over the world.
THE CARMEL WATER WORKS.
In order to secure an adequate supply of the purest water for the Hotel del Monte, Pacific Grove and as many private consumers as might wish to avail themselves of the privilege, the Pacific Improvement Company in 1883 began and completed the Carmel water-works. The water is brought from the Carmel river, which, passing through a very wild and uncultivated region, is pure and clear. The water is conveyed in pipes from the river to two reservoirs near Pacific Grove, one of these having a storage capacity of 18,000,000 gallons and other 140,000,000 gallons. Thence it is distributed through pipes, there being in all twenty-six miles of pipe. The capacity of the service is 1,200,- 000 gallons daily, and the supply is unfailing.
CHAPTER XXV.
CONCERNING ONE OF THE EARLIEST AMERICAN SETTLERS IN CALIFORNIA.
HE following interesting facts concern- ing one of the earliest American pio- neers of California, are contributed by Mr. S. C. Foster, of Los Angeles, who ob-
ained them direct from his father-in-law, Don Antonio M. Lugo, who was an actor in the events recounted; and also from a brother- in-law, who well remembered that the events occurred " en el año de los Insurgentes " (in the year of the Insurgents), or of the " Pirate Bouchard."
A man by the name of Juan Groem, or Graham, came with Malaspina's expedition to Monterey in 1791; whether he was an American or not is uncertain. He shipped at Cadiz.
The sketch of Mr. Foster was written and first published in 1876, the centennial anni- versary of our national independence, in a Los Angeles journal. As it gives the sequel of the famous attack of " Bouchard, the Pi- rate," on Monterey, it is reproduced here. Mr. Foster's narrative reads as follows:
One day, in the year 1818, a vessel was seen approaching the town of Monterey. As she came nearer she was seen to be armed, her decks swarming with men, and she was flying an unknown flag. Arriving within gunshot, she opened fire on the town, and her fire was answered from the battery, while the lancers stood ready to repel a landing, if it should be attempted, or cover the retreat of the families, in case the effort of repulse should be unsuccessful; for Spain was at peace with every maritime nation, and the traditions of the atrocities committed by the Buccaneers at the end of the seventeenth century, on the Spanish main, were familiar to the people. After some firing, the strange vessel appeared to be injured by the firing from the battery, and bore away and disap-
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peared. The alarm spread along the coast as fast as swift riders could carry it, and all the troops at every point were ordered to be on the alert. The strange craft next appeared off the Ortega ranch, situated on the sea- shore above Santa Bárbara, and landed some men, who, while plundering the ranch, were surprised by some soldiers from Santa Bár- bara, and before they conld regain their boats somne four or five were captured. She next appeared off San Juan Capistrano, landed and plundered the mission, and sailed away and never was heard of more. All that is known of her is that she was a Buenos-Ayrean privateer, and that her captain was a French- man named Bouchard.
As to those of her crew she left behind, the circumstances under which they were captured might have justified severe ineas- ures, but the commandante was a kind-hearted man, and he ordered that if any one would be responsible for their presentation when called for, they should be set at liberty until orders were received from Mexico as to what disposition should be made of them.
When the alarm was given, Corporal An- tonio Maria Lugo (who, after seventeen years of service in the company at Santa Bárbara, had received his discharge and settled with his family in Los Angeles in 1810), received orders to proceed to Santa Bárbara with all the force the little town could spare. (He was the youngest son of Private Francisco Lugo, who came to California in 1771, and who, besides those of his own surname, as appears from his will, dated at Santa Bárbara
in the year 1801, and still in the possession of some of his grandsons in Los Angeles county, was the ancestor, throngh his four daughters, of the numerous families of the Vallejos, Carrillos, De la Guerras, Cotas, Ruizes, besides numerous others of Spanish and English surnames.) Don Antonio, the son, lived to be an old man; and he was the same person whose striking form was so familiar to our older residents, who seventeen years ago (in 1859), at the ripe age of eighty- five years, died in Los Angeles, honored and respected by all.
Some two weeks after the occurrence of the events recounted above, Doña Dolores Lugo (wife of Don Antonio,) who with other wives was anxionsly waiting, as she stood after nightfall in the door of her house, which still stands on the street now known as negro alley, heard the welcome sound of cavalry and the jingle of their spurs as they defiled along the path north of Fort Hill. They pro- ceeded to the guard-honse which then stood on the north side of the Plaza across upper main street. The old church was not yet built. She heard the orders given, for the citizens still kept watch and ward; and presently she saw two horsemen, mounted on one horse advancing across the plaza, toward the house, and heard the stern but welcome greeting "Ava Maria Purísima," upon which the children hurried to the door, and kneeling with clasped hands uttered their childish wel- come and received their father's benediction. The two men dismounted. The one who rode the saddle was a man full six feet high, of a
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spare, but sinewy form, which indicated great strength and activity. He was then forty- three years of age. His black hair, sprinkled with gray, and bound with a black handker- chief, reached to his shoulders. The square- cut features of his closely shaven face indi- cated character and decision, and their natur- ally stern expression was relieved by an ap- pearance of grim humor-a purely Spanish face. He was in the uniform of a cavalry soldier of that time, the cuera blanca, a loosely fitting surtout, reaching to below the knees, made of buckskin doubled and quilted so as to be arrow proof; on his left arm he carried an adarga, an oval shield of bull's hide, and his right hand held a lance, while a high-crowned heavy vicuna hat surmounted his head. Suspended from his saddle were a carbine and a long straight sword. The other was a man about twenty-five years of age, perhaps a trifle taller than the first. His light hair and blue eyes indicated a different race, and he wore the garb of a sailor.
The expression of his countenance seemed to say, "I am in a bad scrape; but I guess I'll work out somehow."
The señora politely addressed the stranger, who replied in an unknown tongne. Her curiosity made her forget her feelings of hos- pitality, and she turned to her husband for an explanation.
"Whom have you here, old man?"
"He is a prisoner we took from that buc- caneer-may the devil sink her !-- scaring the whole coast, and taking honest men away
from their homes and business. I have gone his security."
"And what is his name and country?"
"None of us understand his lingo, and he don't understand ours. All I can find out is his name is José and he speaks a language they call English. We took a negro among them, but he was the only one of the rogues that showed fight, and so Corporal Ruiz lassoed him, and brought him head-over-heels, sword and all. I left him in Santa Barbara to repair damages. He is English too."
"Is he a Christian or a heretic ?"
"I neither know nor care. He is a man and a prisoner in my charge, and I have given the word of a Spaniard and a soldier, to my old commandante for his safe keeping and good treatment. I have brought him fifty leagues, on the crupper behind me, for he can't ride without something to hold to. He knows no more about a horse than I do about a ship, and be sure and give him the softest bed. He has the face of an honest mau, if we did catch him among a set of thieves, and he is a likely looking young fel- low. If he behaves himself we will look him up a wife among our pretty girls, and then, as to his religion the good Padre will settle all that. And now, good wife, 1 have told you all I know, for you women must know everything; but we have had nothing to eat since morning, so hurry up and give us the best you have."
Lugo's judgment turned out to be correct, and in a few days afterward the Yankee pri- vateersman might have been seen in the
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mountains in what is known among the Cal- ifornians as the " Church cañon," ax in hand, helping Lugo to get out timbers for the con- struction of the church; a work which the excitement caused by his arrival, had inter- rupted. The church was not finished until four years afterward, for they did not build as fast then as they do now. Chapman con- ducted himself well, always ready and willing to turn his hand to anything, and a year af- terward he had learned enough Spanish to make himself understood, and could ride a horse without the risk of tumbling off, and he guessed he liked the country and people well enough to settle down and look around for a wife. So he and Lugo started off to Santa Barbara on a matrimonial expedition. Why they went to Santa Barbara for that purpose I do not know, but this much I do know, that in former times the Angeleños always yielded the point that the Barbareños had the largest proportion of pretty women.
In those days the courtship was always done by the elders, and the only privilege of the fair one was the choice of saying " yes " or " no." Lugo exerted himself, vonched for the good character of the suitor, and soon succeeded in making a match. The wedding came off in due time, Lugo giving the bride away, and as soon as the feast was over the three started back to Los Angeles. One fashion of riding in those days, was the fol- lowing: A heavy silk sash, then worn by the men, was looped over the pommel of the saddle so as to form a stirrup, and the lady rode in the saddle, while her escort mounted
behind, the stirrups being shifted back to suit his new position; and in this style Chap- man once more set out on the long road from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles for the second time a prisoner. But now, in the saddle before him, instead of the grim old soldier, armed with targe and lance, rode the new-made bride, armed with bright eyes and raven tresses, for the Señorita Guadalupe Ortega, daughter of old Sergeant Ortega, the girl who, one short year before, had fled in . terror from the wild rovers of the sea, as, pistol and cutlass in hand, they rushed on her father's house, and who had first seen her husband a pinioned prisoner, had bravely dared to vow to love, honor and obey the fair gringo.
Years afterward, when the country was open to foreign intercourse, on the establish- ment of Mexican independence, in 1822, and the first American adventurers, trappers and mariners found their way to California, they found José Chapman at the mission of San Gabriel, fair-haired children playing around him, carpenter millwright and general facto- tum of good old Father Sanchez; and among the vaqueros of old Lugo they also found Tom Fisher swinging his riata among the wild cattle as he once swung his cutlass when he fought the Spanish lancers on the beach at the Ortega ranch.
Chapman died about the year 1849, and his descendants now live in the neighboring county of Ventura. I saw Fisher in Sep- tember, 1848, when I met him in the Monte. The news of gold had just reached here and
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he was on his way to the placers to make his fortune, and he has never been heard from sicne. To my readers of Castilian descent, I would say that I have not used the prefix of Don, for I preferred to designate them by the rank that stands opposite to their fore- fathers' names on the old muster rolls of their companies, now in the Spanish archives of California.
And in conclusion of my humble contri- bution to the Centennial history of Los An- geles, I have only to say, without fear of contradiction, that the first American pio- neers of Los Angeles, and as far as tradition goes, of all California, were José el Ingles, Joseph the Englishman, alias Joe Chapman, and El Negro Fisar, alias Tom Fisher. This concludes Mr. Foster's letter.
SAN BENITO COUNTY.
CHAPTER I.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS-LOCATON AND TOPOGRAPHY.
HE county of San Benito, its name be_ ing the Spanish diminutive of Saint Ben- jamin, was created as a political division of California in 1874. The principal portion of its territory formerly constituted a part of the historic county of Monterey. By an Act of the Legislature, passed subsequent to that date, certain additions to its area, aggregating 200,000 acres, were made from the counties of Merced and Fresno.
San Benito county, as it now exists, is bounded on the north by the counties of San- ta Cruz, Santa Clara, Merced and Fresno; on the east by Merced and Fresno, and on the South and west by Monterey. It lies between 36° and 37º north latitude, and mostly be- tween 121° and 122° west longitude, and is from twenty to forty mniles inland from the coast. Its longest extension is in the direc- tion of northwest and southeast; it is in- closed between the summits of the Monte Diablo (Devil's mountain) and the Gabilan (Hawk) ranges. It is about seventy miles in length and averages something over twenty miles in width, containing about 925,000
acres. The county is naturally drained by the San Benito river, which runs northwest- erly through the middle of the county, and empties into the Pájaro river. Tres Pinos (Three Pines) creek and several other smaller streams are tributary to the San Benito. Be- sides the main valley of the county, which is known as San Benito valley, and which inerges to the northwest into the Santa Clara valley, there are numerous valleys of smaller extent within the county, to wit: San Juan, Santa Ana, Quien Sabe, Los Muertos, Bear, Pano- che and Bitterwater (Aqua Amargosa), etc.
GEOLOGY.
The following account of the geological formation of San Benito county is by Prof. F. B. Abbe:
"The origin of the Mount Diablo and Gabilan ranges of mountains, which belong to the Mesozoic and Cenozoic periods just subsequent to the great carboniferous age, is due to the contraction of the crust of the earth in cooling. The ocean swarmed with shell-fish at this time, and with the upheaval vast quantities of their remains were exposed to view, and to-day, wherever we may wander, we constantly meet with some fossil form of this ancient life, from the minute foraminifera
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of marble and limestone to the immense oys- ter shell weighing fifty pounds. There are but two points where any presence of igne- ous action is manifest; one at Frémont's Peak, the culminating point of the Gabilan range' the other further south near the old Santa Bonita quicksilver mine. At the former point the range terminates abruptly in a series of jagged ridges, pitching into the plains below at sharp angles. These ridges are composed mainly of calcareous rocks, having been previously in a state of fusion, succeeded by aqueous action. On the fused walls and roof of a cave in the peak are sta- lactites and other curious aqueous formations.
Unlike the structure of the Sierras, these ranges had a more gradual growth, there being an entire absence of lava. Occasionally- a great convulsion would take place, disrupt- ing huge masses of the crust, but not de- stroying its structure. This is clearly shown at several places in the southern part of the county. For many miles the course of the San Benito river cnts through or skirts these mountains. The strata exposed thus have many twists and curves.
In following the course of these strata, the general direction for some distance is horizontal, when it is suddenly broken off, just beyond, strata having the same markings have a vertical direction, and still farther on the direction is again horizontal, showing that during one of those violent disturbances, huge masses of the crust were forced bodily upward, dropping back into the same place again endwise. These are termed " faults"
in mining parlance, and are commonly met with in mountains of this nature.
The formation of our valleys and cañons, geologically, is claimed by scientists to be due to the action of glaciers and floods. During the æon known as the glacial age, the northern half of the United States was buried under an ice cap, the rim extending as far south as the latitude of San Benito county. Following this age of ice was a period of great floods and tempests. The disintegrating mountain walls were carried into the valleys below, covering their floors successively with layers of clay, boulders, gravel, sand, and the various loams, thus bury- ing the original crust hundreds of feet. The boring of artesian wells has made this clear; fossil shells have been raised in the San Juan valley from the depth of 120 feet. From wells in San Felipe have been taken, at vari- ous depths, animal and even human remains, besides fragments of vegetation of both mod- ern and extinct species. The exposed face of any high bluff showing the variety and thick- ness of the stratum, is an open page in the history of this period.
In discussing the composition of the rocks of our mountains and valleys, which more properly belong to the science of mineralogy, it is our aim to merely classify and describe the different minerals found here. The de- velopment of the mineral resources, excepting a few cases, is yet in its infancy. More at- tention, however, is being given to this im- portant branch of our industries, so that ledges, and deposits of ores and minerals of
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many varieties and of great industrial value, are being constantly located.
The three metals, silicon, calcium and aluminum, form the base of the three most prominent classes of minerals found in the country, and which are known as the silicate, calcites and clays. The silicates are more abundant, but the calcites represent nearly every form known to mineralogy, ranging from the primitive chalk rock to the highly crystalline forms of spar and selenite. Other forms common here are marble, limestone, alabaster, gypsum, satin-spar, Iceland spar and dolomite.
The limestone is of the finest quality, and the deposits of great extent. The products from the marble, lime, and cienega kilns meet with favor with builders.
The gypsum and marble deposits are yet undeveloped, waiting better transportation facilities. The latter has been pronounced of fine quality. It has dark-colored streaks running through it, the whole when polished presents a beautiful appearance. Were it a little closer grained, it would fully equal the famous Italian product in durableness. The oldest of the three classes, the silicites, is not Bo fully represented as to variety, the lower grades only being common. The sandstone of the Bromas district possesses valuable features as a building stone, many of the old- est structures in San Juan being built of it.
Other forms of this class scattered in more or less quantities throughout the country, and valuable to the lapidarian for inlaid and ornamental work, are agate, chalcedony,
milky and rose-tinted quartz, jasper and flints, all of which are susceptible of a high polish.
Granite of this class, the oldest of all metamorphic rocks, is here found side by side with marble, an occurrence rarely met with, owing to the vast periods of time elaps- ing between the origin of the two rocks.
Soapstone, another silicate, is met with in several localities, the product from one of the deposits being shipped to San Francisco and used in the manufacture of a variety of articles.
The aluminites are not well represented in the county, although clay banks, shales and slates are met with everywhere. A fact not generally known is that under every man's home in the county lies a " gold vault " in the form of that most useful, as well as beautiful metal, aluminum, which awaits only the magic key of chemistry to deliver it to the fortunate possessor.
The other minerals and metals found here, each of which forms a base of a class, are sulphur, asbestos, coal, petroleum, iron, cop- per, antimony and cinnabar, from which comes mercury.
Coal is found in extensive deposits, but like all the coal on the Pacific slope, is of a soft, lignitic variety, owing to the recent period of its origin. It is well adapted for the manufacture of gas and household pur- poses, but where an intense heat is required, as in blast furnaces, etc., it is found wanting.
The two metals that have made San Benito county famous as a mining county, and of
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which fact it may well be proud, are anti- mony and mercury, commonly called "quick- silver." These metals are met with in bnt few localities throughout the world, but here they appear to exist in inexhaustible quanti- ties in the Mount Diablo range. The New Idria mine is ranked as the third largest quicksilver mine in the world.
From the Shriver antimony mines have been taken liuge masses of the metal in needle-like crystals, much sought after for cabinet uses. The metal is used most ex- tensively for the manufacture of type, pos- sessing the property of contracting when in a state of fusion, and expanding on resuming a solid forın.
Much has been said and written about the presence of gold and silver within the bor- ders of San Benito county. Many twice- . told tales of discovery of ledges of fabulous wealth have oft thrilled groups of listeners to such an extent that they caught the inin- ing fever and started in search of these hid- den riches; but fate had decreed otherwise, and the ledges remained to be rediscovered.
From almost every cañon of the encom- passing mountains " color " may be washed, but that either gold or silver, in paying quan- tities, is to be found in San Benito county, or even in the coast ranges, the science of geology denies. The precipitation of these metals occurred before these mountains rose from the bosom of the Pacific, with the exception of a few isolated peaks. Another law of geology is, that where there is an ab-
sence of lava, there will be like absence of these metals.
In conclusion it is safe to say that prob- ably in no spot of like extent. within our country is there a greater variety of minerals and a richer field of geological research than in San Benito county.
CHAPTER II.
MINERALOGY.
HE following brief notes are gleaned from the reports of the State mineral- ogist for the years 1888 and 1890, and are of interest in this connection. While this (San Benito) county is regarded as essentially agricultural, yet to an observer it appears to possess mineral resources of equal impor- tance to others in the State. The Mount Diablo range has proved of incalculable wealth in its coal, quicksilver, copper, chrome, petroleum, ochire and antimony; and in the Gabilan range, lime, gypsum and iron are present.
Nearly one-half of this country, including inost of its arable land, lies in the San Be- nito valley; and the mountains bordering on this valley are grass-covered to their suminits ..
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