USA > California > San Joaquin County > An illustrated history of San Joaquin County, California. Containing a history of San Joaquin County from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its future prospects; > Part 8
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In the latter part of March, 1850, he started for California across the plains, with a Will
County train, there being thirty-three persons in the party. Coming by way of St. Louis, Missouri, Independence, Long Jack, and Little Blue river,-where they camped until they obtained their supplies,-they reached Salt Lake just as the Mormons were getting out the first unmber of the Deseret News, and for this nnm- ber Mr. Robinson imposed the forms; and his name appeared among the arrivals. The pro- prietors gave him several copies to bring along to California. Wesley Richards, the historian of the church, was the editor. Laying in fresh supplies at Salt Lake City, and exchanging horses for oxen and flour, the party, after re- cuperating, completed their journey. July 10 Mr. Robinson was at work on the Morning Transcript at Sacramento, published then by Kelly, Fitch & Ewer. He visited Marysville, and in January returned and went to work on the Placer Times; and when in February follow- ing seven or eight men ("Sedition Half,") in- cluding Alexander C. Clark, Paul Morrill, F. K. Krauth, struck, and in March started the Daily Union, he went to work on the Transcript. Among the employés there were J. McDonough Ford, W. H. Wheeler of the Golden Era and an old gentleman named Cavan. After work- ing half a year on the Transcript, Mr. Robin- son entered the letter express business, in com- pany with a man named Clark, and followed that business several years. His name appears in the Chronicle published at Mokelumne Hill in 1851. From February to April, 1852, he was solicitor for the Democratic State Journal. In 1857 he quit the letter express business, went to Shaw's Flat and engaged in mine spec- ulation, shoving $20,000 into tunnels, etc., within twelve months. In 1858 he moved a honse from Shaw's Flat to Altaville in Cala- veras County, rebuilding the structure there. He moved thence to French Gulch and became recorder of mining claims during the copper ex- citement on San Domingo creek. In 1861 he purchased forty acres of land at French Gulch, bnilt a house there, sold it, and in 1866 bought another tract, called the Oak Orchard Ranch,
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-HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY.
two and a half miles from Vallecito. Remain- ing there until 1872, he came to Stockton and bought an interest in the Advertiser, and was canvasser and collector for various printing- offices: was also local editor of the Morning Courier. Then he packed wheat on the levee for a time, served as coroner for a year, com- mencing February 8, 1882, that being an un- expired terin; was business manager of the Independent in the spring of 1883; and then was laid up with sickness for four months. In the fall he was elected secretary of the Pioneer Association. About the same time he opened a real-estate and employment office, at his pres- ent well-known place of business. In 1885 he was appointed United States Stamp Agent and Deputy Collector of Internal Revenue. Since 1881 he has held the position of Resident Local Inspector of Horticulture and Viticulture, and also Secretary of the County Board of Horti- cultural Commissioners. Not until October, 1888, was his resignation received of the office of Deputy Revenue Collector, which he had been offering for some time. In 1887 he was also appointed Quarantine Guardian of the San Joa- quin Fruit District; and on the reorganization of the board in May, 1889, he was elected one of the commissioners and made secretary of the board, as by lot he drew for the longest term of years; and May 17, 1889, he was again com- inissioned Quarantine Guardian. He is also statistical correspondent of the Agricultural Department at Washington. Since August, 1883, he has been Secretary of the San Joaquin Society of California Pioneers. During the war he was Secretary of Monitor Council, No. 104, of the Union League; was thien the " black- est Republican " in Calaveras County.
Mr. Robinson has had nine children who grew up to maturity: of these, three sons and three daughters are now living.
Biographical sketches of many other living pioneers, and some of deceased, are given else- where in this volume, and may be found by the index.
The Pioneer Society has a library and mu- seumn in their hall on El Dorado street, near Levee. In the latter may be ennmerated the following, arranged respectively under the do- nors' names:
J. B. Donglass-Directory of San Joaquin, Tuolumne and Calaveras counties, etc., for 1856.
Mrs. S. Helen Douglass-Seventy or eighty volumes, D. F. Douglass, deceased.
William Kierski-Portrait of Alexander von Humboldt.
Dr. G. A. Shurtleff-Stockton Directory, etc., 1852; Sermon on Dedication of the Presbyterian Church, May 5, 1850 (the first in the State), by Rev. James Woods; San Francisco Whig of August 21, 1852.
General George S. Evans-Large American flag; bow and arrows; scalp.
B. Howard Brown-Blair's Rhetoric; Span- ish Directory; The Virginia Scriveners.
B. P. Kooser-Three copies of Santa Cruz Sentinel.
A. W. Brush-Indian mortar found twenty miles from Stocktou.
J. B. Hall-Picture of the city of Stockton in 1849.
O. P. F. Kallenbach -- Medallion of L. A. Holines, editor of the Mariposa Gazette.
Stockton Light Artillery Company-Twelve lithographs of battles in Mexico, Capture of Monterey, etc.
J. W. Rover -- Cumberland's flag.
Frank Bros .- Ornamental panel for hall door.
George F. Butler-Pacific News of San Francisco, December 4, 1849.
A. W. Gove-Associated Pioneers, New York city; also a picture of the first boat built in Stockton.
R. K. Reid-Portrait of Governor Purdy, first mayor of Stockton.
B. W. Bonrs-Picture of Sutter's Fort.
Rev. James Woods-" California Recollec- tions," his own publication.
F. D. Clark --- Group of " Pioneers of Terri- torial Days" residing in New York city; Ste- venson's Regiment.
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HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY.
S. C. Upham -- A copy of his " Scenes in El Dorado."
C. M. Weber-Portrait of George Washing- ton, in oil; portrait of General Jolin A. Sutter, steel; pay and muster roll of California Mounted Rifle Company.
Mrs. Lowry-Specimen of the first brick burned in California.
J. J. Evans-Two pennies coined during the reign of George III.
W. P. Plumer-Illustrated copy of " Wide West."
Frank Burton-Pictures of the explosions of the " American Eagle" and " Stockton" Octo- ber 18, 1853.
Mrs. B. F. Clowes-Tin boxes of friction inatches bought in 1849.
J. A. Grossberger-" Indignation Meeting," --- a framed poster.
Henry Adams-Receipt of $75 given by the painter, L. W. Todd, for painting the original Bear Flag in 1846.
J. P. Spooner-Pioneers' parade September 9,1877.
Andrew Wolf-Picture of the mission of Carmel at Monterey, 1770; illuminated tile front Carniel valley.
T. K. Hook-One dollar note of Continental currency ; chips of wood from the Donner Camp; piece of tile from the Carmel mission.
W. H. Robinson-" Thirty Years in Califor- nia," by Dr. S. H. Wiley, and other books.
H. G. Boisselier -- A Prussian five-pfennig coin.
Theodore Lee-A piece from the petrified forest near Calistoga, California.
E. S. Holden-Thirty-eight geological speci- mens; specimens of shells, and 350 other arti- cles.
J. H. O'Brien-A view of San Francisco bay and harbor in October, 1849, and many other articles.
Besides the above, the Society has supplied itself with hundreds of photographs, which are neatly framed singly or in groups. Among the pictures are those of the first white child born of " American" parents in the San Joaquin valley, Mrs. Lizzie Agnes Grattan, the daughter of Willard Russell; she was born at Stockton, September 9, 1848; Mrs. Margaret C. Lowry, daughter of C. D. Dickinson, the first woman married in Stockton, October 29, 1849; a pic- ture of Stockton in 1854, and of Zoth Keeno.
One account says that the first white child born in Stockton was in the family of Nicholas Gann, in one of the log cabins near Weber's residence, and that " the first marriage in this county on record in the papers was that of Chiarles Peck and Miss Lucy Jane Dickerson, solemnized by Rev. James Corwin, in March, 1850. She was a bride and a widow within the year, her husband having been killed by Indians. The nuptials were celebrated with wine and feasting."
HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY.
59
STOCKTON IN EARLY DAYS,
CHAPTER IV.
T first this place was known among the Mexicans as Rancho del Campo de los Franceses, and among the Americans as French camp, or Weber's settlement.
Captain Weber and his partner were at first undecided concerning the name which the set- tlement should have. The Captain seemed to prefer either Tuleburg or Castoria. Tuleburg was a narne by which it had already been known, and Castoria was his "fancy name," as lie ex- pressed it. The latter is derived from a clas- sical name of the beaver. Both tules and beavers were abundant in this vicinity at that time. Mr. Hammond preferred New Albany, as his birth-place was Albany, New York. Finally, on account of Commodore Robert F. Stockton's promising the aid of a Government steamer in building up this settlement, Captain Weber concluded to name the place after him, but afterward regretted it, as the Commodore never fulfilled his promise.
The place was first legally known as the "City of Stockton" in a petition to the Court of Ses- sions, July 23, 1850.
Stockton is laid out in blocks 300 feet square, and embraces an area of four square miles. The plat was first surveyed in 1848, under the direction of Captain Weber and Major R. P. Hammond. The north and south streets are eighty feet wide, and the others sixty, the north
and south streets being in the direction of about 20° west of north and east of south, and the other streets at right angles with these. Soon after the survey of the plat and the nam- ing of the place, Captain Thompson of the navy prophesied that as a town the place would " burst like the Commodore's (Stockton's) gun!" One account says that the name and the plat soon " vanished," and in 1848 another plat was made and the place called Stockton, while an- other account speaks of Weber directing a plat to be made in June, 1849. It says he stood in his store where the Copperopolis depot now stands and directed the line of streets east and west parallel with the Stockton channel and ex- tending north and south one-half mile; while another account states that the first plat was made on the south side of the Stockton channel. It is known that the plat on which Miner ave- nue is located showed that avenue to be platted as a channel, the idea being to continue the channel in that way for purposes of drainage; but the engraver mistook the designation of channel and drafted it as an avenue. In the next year, 1850, in proceeding to incorporate, the boundaries are mentioned as Flora street on the north, Aurora on the east, Twiggs on the south, and Bragg or Tule on the west. Twiggs street therein mentioned is known as South street, and Bragg is omitted in the western boundary.
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HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY.
The north line of the Weber grant was the North slough.
Before there were any structures erected on this plat of sufficient importance to be men- tioned, besides the Weber residence itself, the great gold discovery was made, which occasioned the sudden development of this place, and which must now be mentioned in detail.
DISCOVERY OF GOLD.
On or about the 19th of Jannary, 1848, gold was discovered by James W. Marshall, an American employed by Sutter in building a water-power saw-mill at Coloma, forty-five miles northeast from Sacramento. Gold had pre- vionsly been discovered in Los Angeles and other points. It had been a matter of report to James Buchanan when he was Secretary of State, and had been mentioned by the first dis- coverers. This Marshall knew, and being a man who was disposed to look on the luminous side of a dark lantern, believed that the shining particles he liad discovered were of the precious metal; he was alone in this belief, however, for some time, his associates ridiculing him for his infatuation. They had sufficient doubt of their own skepticism, however, to try the inin- eral in their rude way to see if there might not be some "fire where there was so much sinoke." They tested the metal by immersing it in vine- gar and by boiling it in lye, which, failing to cor- rode or turn it green, brightened the prospect to the extent of making a marked diminution in the hilarious qualities of the standing joke abont " Marshall's brass."
It all resulted in a visit to San Francisco by a man named Bennett, in the latter part of February, who took with him specimens to as- certain whether the new discovery were really gold. Bennett met in that city Isaac Humphrey, who, being an old gold miner from Georgia, pronounced the joke a fraud and the metal gold. He returned with Bennett, arriving at the mill on the 7th of March. On the following day he satisfied himself of the value of the discovery, immediately constructed a rocker, and inaug-
urated mining in California. On the 25th of that month, the Star of San Francisco announced that gold dust had become an article of traffic at New Helvetia.
When the people on this coast began to real- ize that the mineral lay hidden away in the foot-hills and along the mountain streams of California, a change, sudden and absolute, " came o'er the spirit of their dream," leaving bnt one impulse, the desire for sudden wealth, that moved the masses and controlled their acts. Those who had come here, intending to make this country their permanent homes, suddenly lost sight of that fact and became possessed of an irresistible desire to abandon them and dig wealth from nature's secret places, and then re- turn to their Eastern homes to enjoy the fruits of their brief labors. Wages suddenly rose to $16.00 per day, that had been $1.00 for the common laborers, and $2.50 for the mechanic.
As an example of the general breaking up of the old condition of things, we quote from Thompson & West's History the experience of Mr. Doak, who was building a saw-mill at Santa Cruz, when the news reached there of the gold discovery. He had ten men at work for him on Saturday night, and on Monday they had all concluded to go to the diggings. Business in his line being then broken np for want of help, in June, 1848, lie joined a company made up at that place for a trip to the inining districts. When he left Santa Cruz there were seven wagons in the ontfit.
On their arrival at the crossing of the San Joaquin (about where the railroad crosses it now) the party had increased until, in addition to the wagons, there were 300 men on horseback. The river was then very high from the spring freshets, and was overflowing its banks in all directions. A boat was constructed of willow poles, covered with elk hides, and in this they ferried across their provisions and men. The horses were made to swim, and the wagons were floated across on tule " balsas," which were large bundles of dry tules firmly bound together, forming a kind of raft. The party passed
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HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY.
throngh Stockton and made directly for Sntter's mill on the American river, now known as Coloma.
In the latter part of March a mian arrived in Tuleburg, bringing with him specimens of scale gold from Sutter's inill. He informed the peo- ple there of the recent discoveries on the Amer- can river, the specimens confirming his report; wherenpon Captain Weber, who had already taken gold dust in exchange for goods, catching a spark from the flame, fitted out a prospecting party consisting of settlers on his grant, and took with him some strangers that chanced that way, and a force of Siyakninna Indians, and commenced the exploration of the county east of the San Joaquin, beginning at the Stanislaus and working north. The fever was on them, haste and nuggets their watchword, inexperience their companion and failure the result, until they had reached the Mokelumne river, where the Captain decided to make a more deliberate search, the result of which was the discovery by him on that river of the first gold found in the section of country that was afterward known as the "southern mines," so called to distinguish them from those which, by geographical location, were most easily ap- proached from Sutter's fort. The Cosumnes river was afterward considered the dividing line between the " northern" and the " southern " mines. From this point north, on every stream and branch, until they reached the American river, gold was found by them, owing to their more careful search and added experience. Ar- riving at Sutter's mill it was decided to choose a working place and commence mining. A creek was selected for that purpose, and named after the leader of the expedition being known as Weber creek until the present day.
As soon as work commenced, Captain Weber, leaving some of his companions at the claims, returned to Tuleburg and made more extensive preparations for business. He organized a com- pany, known as the Stockton Mining Company, in which was included a number of his village settlers, as John H. Murphy, Dr. Isbel, Joseph
Bussel, George Frazier, Pyle and Baker, and soon returned to Weber creek with a full sup- ply of goods, implenients, cattle, etc., taking with them some twenty-five Indians, belonging to the tribe of his friend Jesus, who by request had sent them to the Captain as laborers. Cap- tain Weber had a firm belief in the existence of gold farther south than it had yet been dis- covered, and in paying quantities. His object in getting the Indians to work in the mines was to instruct them how to separate the metal from the dirt, so that they could become his pros- pectors along the southern rivers. After they were thoroughly instructed he sent them to their home on the Stanislaus, with instructions to ex- plore it and the Tuolumne, and report to him what they found.
The Indians carried out faithfully their in- strnetions, and in a very short time their mes- senger arrived in Tuleburg and delivered to the Captain's " major domo " at that place a quan- tity of magnificent specimens, with the informa- tion that gold could be found everywhere be- tween the Stanislaus and Calaveras rivers. This " glorious news," carried by an express rider to the Captain on American river, caused that gentleman to change all liis plans, and com- mience operations with a view to working what has since been known as the southern mines. He communicated the exciting intelligence to his friends, left an agent at the American fork. and returned with a number of persons to Tule- burg, where lie equipped a new and more com- plete expedition, and, accompanied by a large force of Indians as laborers, commenced the search for gold on those rivers.
The mining operations of this company were numerons and scattered over an extensive region of country, having in its employ a small army of Indians, the different members conducting the various enterprises. Many localities in the mountains took their names from individuals belonging to this company; such as Murphy's Camp, after Jolin M. Murphy, Sullivan's Dig- gings, Sansevina Bar, Jamestown, Wood's Creek and Angel's Camp; all were named after mem-
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HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY.
bers of Captain Weber's party. Dr. I. S. Isbel was also one, and it is said that his wife made a piece of red cotton cloth into skirts which the doctor sold to squaws for $10,000 in gold dust!
In July some of Jesus' Indians found a very fine specimen of pure gold, weighing eighty and a half ounces avoirdupois, the general form of the nugget being that of a kidney. Its rare beauty, purity and size, caused the firm of Cross & Hobson, of San Francisco, to pay for it $3,000, being induced to pay this extraordinary price in order to secure so rare a nngget to send to the Bank of England as a specimen from the newly discovered gold fields of California. Gold dust was selling at that time for $12 per ounce, and the specimen, had it sold only for its value as metal, would have yielded the " Stockton Min- ing Company " only $966.
The sonthern mines soon began to assume importance. It was estimated that in August there were 4,000 men working in the mines on the Stanislaus, averaging $10 a day each. As a necessary result the new industry required the establishment of a place which could be relied upon as a general base of supplies. That base would naturally be the point where a combined summer and winter water navigation ceased in the approach to the mountains. This point was where Weber had previously pitched his tent, at the head of the slough or channel whichi had already become known in the country as the place the Stockton Mining Company had made the source of its supplies. Captain Weber, with his usual clear-headed manner of deducing the effect from an existing canse, decided that there was more money in founding a city than in digging for gold; consequently he dissolved the Stockton Mining Company in September, 1848, and returned to his village, the various members continuing operations on their own responsi- bility.
In the early spring of 1849 the first vessel had arrived on the coast, loaded with gold seekers, who were followed in rapid succession by others. This was the first approach of the tidal wave of immigration, which swept all be-
fore it. In ten months' time, between April, 1849, and February, 1850, 14,240 officers and seamen left their vessels, in the harbor of San Francisco, to rot, while they sought the mines in pursuit of gold. Between the 12tli of April, 1849, and the 28th of February, 1850, there ar- rived in San Francisco 43,824 passengers, of which were
American men 31,725
women 951
Foreign men 10,394
women 754
43,824
At the same time that people were reaching these shores by water, a steady stream of immi- gration came pouring into the country from across the plains. This vast and sudden influx created an imperative demand for a complete organization of the laws, and the systematizing of a government that would be respected by the incoming population.
Gold and money being proportionally more plentiful than the necessaries of life, there was much suffering even while the hands and pockets were full of the glittering "treasure." The prices of necessaries were fabulously high, and for a time vegetables were not to be had at any price. As a consequence many persons sickened and died, and the names and former homes of many of these were never known. Persons didn't stop to inquire each other's names, nativ- ity, or place of former residence, because they were so transient.
There was no fixed or inarket valne for provis- ions or supplies, and hardly a limit to the price of employment. At one stride wages went from a $1 to $16 a day. Watermelons and musk- melons brought $1 apiece. Potatoes, tomatoes, cabbage and vegetables generally, about $2.50 a pound. The first pears sold for $3 each.
The price of lumber was $1 a foot, and the city, in 1849, paid Weber this price.
STOCKTON RESUMED.
Immediately after Weber's return to Tule- burg from his gold-mining expedition, opera-
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HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY.
tions were begun, with a view of making that point what it now is. Up to that time the only regular communication between that place and San Francisco had been by whale-boats, which brought supplies to the Stockton Mining Com- pany. (The village was not named " Stockton " until after the mining company of that name was dissolved.) One of his first business trans- actions was to purchase, on the 20th of Septem- ber, the little sloop Maria, a thirteen-ton craft, for which he paid $4,000. It was the pioneer in its line, and had two masts, was thirty-eight and a half feet in length, with a ten foot breadth of beam, the depth of hold being three and three- fonrths feet. If a sailing craft had ever entered the channel previons to that time, it was the bearer of mission raiders who sometimes pene- trated the country to capture Indians and take them to the mission for the good of their souls, or perhaps a sloop bearing supplies to the Hud- son Bay trappers. The Maria was the first regular mail packet to San Francisco. In the fall the brig Emil, from Hamburg, laden with stores, was purchased by the Captain,and brought to Stockton, where the vessel was dismantled.
He started a store, also the first in the place, which was run by some parties from the lower country, who lett in the fall of 1849. This store was built on the levee, a few feet west of the west line of Center street. The sale of lots at that time had brought Weber upwards of $500,- 000.
During the ensuing winter the channel was frozen over so solidly that the sloop Maria could not pass down on her trip until the ice had been broken all the way to the river.
The Doak & Bonsell ferry, the first in the county, was also one of the institutions that date their establishment in 1848.
In Jannary, 1849, it is said there was but one wooden house in Stockton, and that was Joe Bussell's, on the corner of Center and Levee streets. It was a hut twelve feet square with a tule roof. James Sirey's tule house was stand- ing on the corner of El Dorado and Levee streets. These tule houses were made of a rough frame
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