USA > California > A memorial and biographical history of the coast counties of Central California > Part 2
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In Professor Whitney's Geological Report these are classified as "two chains: the Santa Lucia on the west, and on the east the Point Pinos or San Antonio range. The Santa Lucia rises direct from the ocean from Point Lopez and Point Gordo, south to the limit of the county, with ocean bluffs 300 or 400 feet in height, and peaks 7,000 feet above the sea. These mountains have not been fully explored, but the Burros mines in the south- west show that they contain minerals of value." Gold has also been found in placers on the San Antonio and elsewhere in the county. Other minerals, including silver, coal, petroleum, etc., are known to exist in the county; also fine building stone, lime- stone, and sand suitable for the manufacture of glass.
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MONTEREY COUNTY.
Twenty-eight miles below Point Sur (South Point), or sixty miles southeast of Monterey, there are inexhanstible supplies of limestone which have been developed to a considerable extent by a company whose works include four patent perpetual kilns, with a capacity of over one hundred barrels of lime per day. There is a large forest near by of redwood, pine, laurel and oak, from which fuel and material for the manufacture of barrels are obtainable in abundance. A road three- fourths of a mile in length has been con- structed to the sea, where the lime from these quarries can be shipped.
About fifty miles southeast of Salinas city, in a deep wooded cañon, in the Santa Lucia mountains, are the Tasajara Springs, which have good repute. The beneficial qualities of their waters, for kidney and other complaints, have long been known to the Indians and all old settlers; and many persons make yearly trips to these springs, despite the fact that they are almost inaccessible. There are in all twenty-nine mineral springs, varying in temperature from cold to boiling heat. There are other hot springs, as those of the Little Sur river, the temperature of which ranges from sixty to one hundred and twenty degrees, Fahrenheit.
Artesian water has been struck in varions parts of the Salinas valley, and in some cases gae, as well as water, was developed. A well was bored in 1890, near the courthouse in Salinas city, for the express purpose of ob- taining gas. A record of the strata pierced shows that the substances extracted were
similar in character to those which form the Gabilan mountains. The gravel brought to the surface consisted of small water-worn pebbles, from one-half to two or three inches in diameter, many of the coarser stones re- quiring to be broken in the well. Slight flows of gas were developed at 85, 120, 497 and 764 feet deep, but not in sufficient or paying quantities. The fact that gas was found in the gravel beneath the clay, tends strongly to substantiate the hypothesis, that it must exist in large, perhaps inexhaustible, quantities, beneath some impervious stratum of rock, which can be reached by the drill. It was the intention to sink this well much deeper, which if done would aid in deter- mining the character of the underlying strata of the valley, and the relation they bear to the surrounding mountains. Numerous other wells have been sunk in the Salinas valley, but none so deep as the one above noted. They have all shown thus far that the valley has the same character of formation.
Some flowing water has been obtained at a depth of 120 feet; in other wells water was struck, but it did not flow. In some of these in which gas was struck, adjoining ones a few yards distant would show no gas, though greater depth was reached.
In 1880 a well was bored in Castroville to a depth of 178 feet, which presented the re- markable phenomenon of yielding a large quantity of fresh water, which at high tide flowed over the top of the casing, but which at low tide ceased to flow altogether. This well was near the mouth of the Salinas river, and the surface of the ground was twenty
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feet above the river. Another well, six miles south of Salinas city , was sunk to the depth of 154 feet, the last four feet being in bi- tuminous shale, in the boring of which there were encountered water and traces of oil and gas.
COAL.
Coal is found in numerous localities, as at Stone Cañon, Peach Tree, El Chiquito Rancho, etc. The character of the first named may be inferred from the following, which is con- densed from the report of the State Miner- alogist; The cañon in which the coal meas- ures are exposed runs east and west, and may be regarded as a dividing line between the sandstones, which lie to the west, and an extensive district of metamorphosed slate and jasper, which lies to the south. They are first observed at the southern base of the mountain, which forms the northern wall of Stone Cañon, and rises to a height of about three hundred feet above the coal formation. This mountain is composed of sandstone at the summit, and is somewhat fossiliferous. About fifty feet lower down, it is a coarse, crystalline sandstone, the silicious cementa- tion and quartz granules being distinctly marked. Lower down, the sandstone is less crystalline in appearance, and occasionally contains tiny pebbles, which is one of the characteristics of the sandstone overlying the the head-wall to the coal below. Lower down and immediately over the head- wall, the tiny pebbles become more numerous, and the sand- stone contains fossils. The sandstone form- ing the head-wall is of a light gray variety,
and streaked with oxide of iron. This head- wall sandstone appears to be thirty or forty feet in thickness. The coal itself is about twelve feet thick, and seems to be a good quality of lignite. It rests upon a tenacious clay, much stained with carbonaceous mat- ter and oxide of iron. To the south of the foot-wall is a stratum of fine-grained sandstone, cropping out in peaks upon the north side of the cañon, and widely extend- ing upon the south side are metamorphic slates, passing into both white and red jasper. This mine was discovered about the year 1870. The works consist of four openings in the above-named canon, two of which are tunnels, and two are inclines. The tunnels, an upper and a lower, are the most easterly workings, and have been run in an easterly direction along the strike of the vein. The lower tunnel is about 1,300 feet long, and the upper about 300 feet.
The vein, which is twelve feet wide, pitches toward the north, at an angle of about eighty degrees. The foot-wall is a clay, stained with iron and carbonaceous matter, and the hanging- wall is a light-colored sandstone, streaked with oxide of iron. During a year about 1,000 tons of coal were taken out.
About a quarter of a mile west of the tun- nels are two iuclines, one being 120 feet, and the other 160 feet deep; these follow the vein down, which here pitches at an angle of about thirty-five degrees, a little to the east of mag- netic north. A short distance to the north- west of the tunnels the cañon makes a bend, crossing the coal measures between the tun-
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nels and the incline. Water and also sulphur- ous gas have interfered somewhat with the working of the mines. The coal is hauled by teams from the mines to San Miguel, a dis- tance of about twenty miles.
A large body of coal of good quality has been discovered a few miles east of Peach Tree, and sixteen miles from the line of the railroad.
CHAPTER II.
INDIGENOUS PLANTS AND ANIMALS.
UCH of the mountainous area of Monterey county is covered with timber of many varieties, of which the following is a partial list, as given by a local authority: The most important for commercial purposes is the redwood, which is found below Monterey; the yellow pine; nut pine; Monterey pine, found growing wild only around the bay of Monterey, but is extensively cultivated as an ornamental tree, being hardy, quick in growth, and dense and handsome in form and foliage; Coulter's pine, found in the Santa Lucia mountains; Santa Lucia fir; Western juniper or cedar; arbor-vitae; live-oak; chestnut-oak; white-oak; cañon live-oak; evergreen oak; and the Monterey cypress, which is indige- nous only on Cypress Point. This species is widely known throughout California, great numbers of them having been planted for ornament in most of the towns of the State; it is a hardy, quick grower, has a dense, graceful foliage, bears clipping well, and makes a fine appearance in all stages of its growth.
Besides the foregoing, there are the Gove cypress, the California laurel, the madroña, manzanita, mescal, sycamore, cottonwood, horse-chestnut or buckeye, willows of vari- ous kinds, azalea, etc.
Among indigenous plants, the following may be mentioned: Amole or soap-plant, the mistletoe, Spanish moss, yerba buena, yerba santa, yerba del manso, etc .; and among small fruits of native growth, are wild grapes of several varieties, blackberries, gooseberries, raspberries, whortleberries or blueberries, salmonberries and strawberries. Of the na- tive wild flowers which grow so profusely in springtime throughout nearly every portion of Monterey county, the varieties are too numerous to mention here in detail.
The most common, as they are the most valuable, of the indigenous grasses (forage plants) of California, are the burr-clover, alfileria and wild oats.
Of the wild animals found in the region now known as Monterey county, by the first European settlers, the following may be mentioned: The grizzly bear, the king of beasts of the American continent, which still may occasionally be found in the region around Santa Lucia Peak, and between the headwaters of the Arroyo Seco and the Naci- miento; the California lion, a species of cou- gar, which, though larger than the East- ern panther, is not as dangerous to man. from whose presence he invariably flees; but he frequently commits serious havoc with the young stock of the herdsman; the coyote and the wildcat, which are not easily
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MONTEREY COUNTY.
exterminated, and which are also very de- structive to the ganado menor, or small animals of the ranchero.
The rodents or gnawers, which were found, here (and which are still omnipresent) were represented by the ground-squirrel, the gopher, several species of the rabbit, and, in the redwood regions, the gray squirrel; deer and antelope were formerly also very abun- dant, and are still to be found, in the more remote mountainous sections of the county.
The following interesting account of the native birds of Monterey county is con- densed from a learned and apparently ac- curate writer in a local journal, The Mon- terey Democrat:
All the principal orders of birds are well represented here, as well as elsewhere in the State; but it is a remarkable fact that though birds are plentiful in numbers, yet in num- bers of species, the Eastern States being used for comparison, birds and flowers re- verse ratios. Whilst the total number of specics of all departments of the vegetable kingdom is nearly fifty per cent. greater for the State of California than for all the States east of the Mississippi put together, ont of nearly 1,000 species of birds in the United States only a little over 200 are found in California. The birds of prey are repre- sented in this county by several species of owl, the great or Virginia horned owl, the screech owls and the burrowing or day owls being the most common; by the turkey- buzzard, the California condor, which is the largest rapacious bird of North America; two species of eagle, one of them our national
emblem, the bald eagle; by the osprey or sea-eagle, and by various species of the hawk (Gabilan) tribe, including hen-hawks, sparrow- hawks, etc. The climbers are confined to the family of woodpeckers, of which there are several classes. The Strisores are represented by the humming-birds, which may be seen in summer and winter alike. A list of the various species of flycatchers or martins, swallows, sparrows, wrens, vireos, wood- warblers, etc., would be too long to quote here. The chaparral cock or "road-runner," or "paisano," as he is called in Spanish, is found on cactus or chaparral hills, his long tail, which serves as a sort of rudder, giving him a peculiar appearance as he runs with the fleetness of a race-horse. In the pine woods of the southern part of the county the chattering magpie may be heard. In winter the note of the robin, so familiar to the ear of the New Englander, is heard in our foot- hill cañons, whither he has been driven by cold from the far north; and the Oregon thrush may sometimes sing among the shade- trees of our towns. Bullock's oriole and the Louisiana Tanager, gay both in plumage and song, lend their dainty presence to rural scenes; and other melodious warblers of varied plumage sing to the select few who will wander to the wilderness to listen to them. Valley quail and his more stately cousin, the mountain quail, both beautiful birds, abound in great numbers in their re- spective localities. Plover, snipe, doves, wild pigeons and many varieties of smaller birds also abound in great numbers in the several localities which suit their habits.
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MONTEREY COUNTY.
Reptiles are rare, says the writer just qnoted. Rattlesnakes are found in sandy hills or rocky places, but not in great num- bers. Several other kinds of harmless snakes, as well as lizards of several varieties, and horned-toads, are somewhat common in the interior, but not so near the coast, where the climate, which is so admirably suited to the comfort and health of man, is a little too bracing for snakes and reptiles, which need plenty of sun. For them the Colorado desert is a more natural habitat.
Fishes are plentiful in the bay and interior waters of Monterey. Salmon come up the Salinas in spring; trout are found in the mountain streams; Spanish mackerel, herring, baracnta, bonita, rock cod, catfish, smelt, etc., are caught off the coast.
Insect life is exuberant; but those insects which are injurions to vegetation have not as yet become very numerous. Moths and but- terflies ("mariposas"), of many kinds and of brilliant hnes, are to be seen in great num- bers in certain seasons of the year.
CHAPTER III.
HISTORIC AND PREHISTORIC CALIFORNIA.
HERE is a certain glamour attaching to the history of Monterey and of Cali- fornia, as it runs back to a different civ- ilization from our own, and to institutions which were established, not by Anglo-Saxons or Anglo-Americans speaking onr own Eng- lish vernacular, but by Spaniards and the de- scendants of Spaniards speaking only the Spanish tongue, who made California as thor-
oughly and truly Spanish as it would have been if it had actually been a part of Spain itself. While we know nothing of the his- tory of California excepting the little we may learn from its valleys and rock-ribbed monnt- ains prior to its discovery by Cabrillo in 1542, we know but little more of what hap- pened here during the more than 200 years subsequent to that discovery. At long inter- vals, a few daring navigators sailed along this almost unknown coast, but did not penetrate into the interior. The placid waters of this portion of the Pacific ocean were seldom dis- turbed by vessels of any kind, and populous tribes of degraded Indians passed their low, dull existence, on a level, lower and less no- ble than that of the wild animals by whom they were surrounded, and who alone, from year to year and from age to age, had disputed their sway. Sin razon (withont reason), as these Indians were aptly characterized by the Spaniard, and almost without the capacity for reasoning, or for intellectnal development of any kind without aspiration, living in per- petnal want, except so far as Natnre supplied them with roots and reptiles and such wild animals as they could capture by the simplest devices; engaging in occasional tribal fights, their annals, even had they been recorded, would have possessed but slight interest to the civilized man. The "Digger Indian" of California was far below the Aztec of Cen- tral Mexico in the scale of being; and that we know nothing, or next to nothing, of his former history, is no great loss as we assume that he has done nothing worthy of being re- membered.
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MONTEREY COUNTY.
EARLY DISCOVERIES.
The permanent occupation of Alta or Up- per California by Europeans dates from the founding of San Diego Mission by the Fran- ciscan Order of Friars, in the year 1769. This epochal event occurred 277 years after the immortal dreamer, Christopher Columbus, had discovered land in the new world, which he at first supposed was the East Indies, but which further discoveries demonstrated to have been on the opposite side of the globe from the India of the ancients, and which we now denominate as a part of the West Indies.
Fifty years after Columbus' discovery, namely in 1542, that is to say just 350 years ago, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, a native of Portugal, in command of two Spanish explor- ing vessels, was the first navigator to explore the coast of California, from San Diego north- ward. He discovered the bay of Monterey, November 17 of that year, and sailed as far north as Cape Mendocino. Cabrillo, who was a daring and skillful explorer, died Jannary 3, 1543, at a small harbor on the island of San Mignel, off the coast of California.
In 1602, sixty years after Cabrillo's voy- age, Sebastian Vizcaino, sailing from Aca- pulco north, under orders of Philip III. of Spain in command of three ships, anchored, December 16, in Monterey bay, which he named in honor of the viceroy of Mexico, Gaspar de Zuñiga, Count of Monterey. The first view obtained of the coast of Monterey by Vizcaino and his men, was on the 14th of December, when the fog which hal e1-
veloped the coast lifted, and revealed the high mountain range, which they named Sier- ra de Santa Lucia. Soon after, they sighted the river which they called El Rio de Carmelo, in honor of the Carmelite priests who accom- panied the fleet. Then they rounded the point which they called Punta de Pinos, a name it retains to this day, and entered the bay where they came to anchor; and on the 17th they held religious services in a tent under an oak near the beach but still close by springs of good water, in a ravine, which may still be identified. Many of Vizcaino's men were down with the scurvy, of which some had died; and it was decided that one of the ves- sels should be sent back to Acapulco with the sick; but nearly all the crew died before they reached that port. On the 3d of January, 1603, Vizcaino, with the two remaining ves- sels, sailed north on a further voyage of dis- covery.
The following very interesting letter, writ- ten by Sebastian Vizcaino himself from Monterey during this visit, 290 years ago, is one of several documents recently discovered by Mr. Adolph Sutro of San Francisco, in the India archives of Seville, Spain, and trans- lated and published, in both Spanish and Eng- lish, last year (1891), in Los Angeles, by the Historical Society of Southern California, by whose permission it is here reproduced. This letter is addressed to one of the Spanish princes of the royal family. A later letter, included among the documents unearthed by Mr. Sutro, and first translated and pub- lished by the Southern California Historical Society, is also appended, as in it Vizcaino,
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MONTEREY COUNTY.
after his return to Mexico, gives to the king, to whom the letter is addressed, a more de- tailed, though slightly exaggerated, account of what he saw at Monterey and along the coast of California during his voyage of discovery to this terra incognita nearly three centuries ago:
VIZCAINO'S LETTERS.
"Your Highness will have had notice al- ready of how the Conde Monterey, Viceroy of New Spain, in conformity with the orders which he has from His Majesty, charged me with the exploration of the harbors and bays of the coast of the South Sea, from the port of Acapulco to Cape Mendocino, giving me for that purpose two ships, a lancha, and a barcoluengo, together with seamen and sol- diers, arms and ammunition, and provisions for eleven months; that, in accordance with the orders given to me for that end, I sailed from Acapulco on the 5th of May of this year; that I have prosecuted said exploration, although with great difficulty and labor, be- cause the navigation was unknown, and head winds were constant, while the aid of Provi- dence and the good desire I have ever felt for serving His Majesty, availed me little. I have discovered many harbors, bays and islands, as far as the port of Monterey, a har- bor which is in thirty-seven degrees of lati- tude, surveying all, and sounding and noting the sailing directions, according to the art of navigation, without neglecting any substantial thing concerning the same, and noting what the land and the numerous peoples dwelling thierein seemingly promise. I send a copy t)
the said Conde, in order that he may trans- mit the information to His Majesty and to Your Highness. As to what this harbor of Monterey is, in addition to being so well situated in point of latitude, for that which His Majesty intends to do for the protection and security of ships coming from the Phil- ippines: In it may be repaired the damages which they may have sustained, for there is a great extent of pine forest, from which to obtain masts and yards, even though the ves- sel be of a thousand tons burthen, live-oaks, and white-oaks for ship-building, and this close to the seaside, in great number; and the harbor is very secure against all winds. The land is thickly peopled by Indians, and is very fertile in its climate and the quality of the soil, resembling Castile; and any seed sown there will give fruit; and there are extensive lands fit for pasturage, and many kinds of animals and birds-as is set forth in the re- port referred to.
"I advise His Majesty concerning the great extent of this land, and its numerous popula- tion, and what promise it holds forth, and what the Indians have given me to under- stand concerning the people of the interior, and of how gentle and affable the people are, so that they will receive readily, as I think, the holy gospel, and will come into subjec- tion to the royal crown; and, since His Ma- jesty is lord and master of all, let him pro- vide as may seem best to him. As to what behooves me to do on my part, I will serve him till deatlı. With regard to my having delayed longer than the time which was thought necessary for this exploration: Be.
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cause of the many difficulties of which I have spoken, the greater part of the pro- visions and ammunition which were furnished, has been expended; while, owing to the great labors which my crews have gone through, a number of men have fallen ill, and some have died so that for making the exploration at this time, as well of the region of Cape Mendocino as of the entire littoral of the Cali- fornias, as is called for, by my orders, I have met with obstacles to the completion of all the work, without considerable succor in the way of provisions, people and ammunition,and speedy dispatch of these. Let the Admiral be advised by the said Conde of this, he ask- ing him for what is necessary, and letting him know to what place, and at what time he must dispatch these things to me (sending to him also the map, report and sailing direc- tions concerning all I have done in said ex- ploration to the present time), so that Your Highness may order that the same be sent to me. I trust in God that I may do a great service to His Majesty, and that I shall dis- cover great realms and riches. Of all that may be done I shall advise Your Highness as opportunities for doing this may present themselves, with truth and faithfully. May our Lord guard Your Highness, a ward so necessary to the Christian. I am the servant of Your Highness.
" Harbor of Monterey, Twenty-eighth De- cember, 1602.
" SEBASTIAN VIZCAINO. " (A rubriea.)"
LETTER NUMBER 2, BEING NO. 15 OF THE SUTRO COLLECTION.
Letter to His Majesty from Sebastian Viz- caino, dated at Mexico, on the 23d of May, 1603, announcing his return from the explor- ation and demarkation of the coasts of the Californias, as far as latitude 42° north: " In the past year of six hundred and two, (abbreviation of one thousand six hundred and two), by order of your Viceroy, the Conde de Monterey, I set out on the discov- ery of the coast of the South Sea, with two ships, a lancha, and a barcoluengo, with the requisite sailors and soldiers, armed and pro- visioned with everything necessary for a year. I sailed from the port of Acapulco, as I advised Your Majesty at the time, on the 5th day of May, of said year; and in conformity with the order and instructions I had, I explored very diligently the whole coast, not leaving har- bor, bay, island or bight without sounding and delineating it in accordance with the rules of good cosmography, and the art of de- markation; for, as your Viceroy wrote to Your Majesty, I was accompanied by a cosmog- rapher in whom confidence can be reposed, and cunning in the matter of geographical computations, in order that he might put down and note, in the most complete manner on map and chart, the result of the examina- tion Your Majesty should order, which the Viceroy now forwards, together with the de- lineation and reports concerning the whole. Among the ports of greater consideration which I discovered, was one in 37° of lati- tude, which I called Monterey. As I wrote
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