USA > California > Sonoma County > An illustrated history of Sonoma County, California. Containing a history of the county of Sonoma from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time > Part 34
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wood forests are mines of untold wealth, which for ages to come will give employment to labor and capital. The quicksilver mines in our mountain fastnesses are developing into im- portance, and their products are going forth to swell the commerce of the world. Lever and last have unlocked our vast quarries and the time is drawing near when a whole fleet of small vessels will be requisite to supply the demand of San Francisco for our indispensable paving blocks. This industry is in its infaney yet ; but that our durable square paving mater- ial is destined. in time, to wholly supplant the hitherto rough and noise-producing cobble pave- ments of San Francisco is just as certain as that the steam thresher has supplanted the thail on the farm. These are only a few of the many growing industries adjunct to our staple pro- ducts of farm and dairy. And in conjunction with all this where in the wide world is pre- sented in the same seope of territory so varied and diversified a medley of elimate and seenery ? The former embraces every degree from the
cool and invigorating seashore climate to a degree of warmth verging upon tropical heat. The latter presents a pleasing panorama, embrac- ing every shade of scenery from placid valleys mellowed by the golden tints of ripening harvests to mountain gorges and beetling cliff's where the murmering of evergreen forests have for untold ages been the harp-like accompaniment to the musie of rippling streams and thundering eata- racts. For all time to come the mountains of Sonoma County will be a favorite place of resort for those in quest of health and pleasure. In her mountain wilds are innumerable mineral springs, many of which have already attained wide celebrity on account of their health-restor- ing properties. Thus in a very brief way we have made mention of our country's resources and her possible future. We have seen her first third of a century's progress, and feel confident that she has but just entered upon the threshold of a brighter future yet in store for her. We leave her resting to the future. for .. the eternal years of God are hers."
yours Sincerely, MMShearer,
HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY.
223
SANTA ROSA.
CHAPTER XXVII.
TOWNSHIP HISTORY-GROWTH OF THE CITY-BUSINESS INTERESTS -ADDRESS OF HON. G. A. JOHNSON -CHURCHES-SCHOOLS-THE PRESS.
ANTA ROSA Township has a wealth of soil and elimate that, as yet, is not fully appreciated, and the " ('ity of Roses " has a future of greatness and prosperity ahead of it which this generation little wots of. In de- lineating the history of this township and eity we have, by permission, drawn largely upon the excellent history of it written by Hon. R. A. Thompson, who is a long resident of that place, and as County Clerk, was in a position to speak with great acenracy upon all subjects upon which he used his facile pen.
" Santa Rosa Township is in the heart of the County of Sonoma. It extends from the sum- mit of the high range separating Napa from Sonoma County across the great Central Valley of Santa Rosa to the Laguna, which is its western boundary. On the north it is bounded by Knight's Valley and Russian River Town- ship, on the south by Petaluma, Vallejo and So- noma Townships.
" It has a larger proportion of level than of hill land, and a number of beautiful subsidiary val- leys tributary to the main valley, all of which will hereafter be fully described.
" The honor of giving the beantiful name of Santa Rosa to this section is due to Father Juan Amoroso, the founder of the Mission of
San Rafael. This zealous priest, on the 30th day of August, 1829, was in this region on a proselyting expedition, in company with one Jose Cantua. He was driven off by the hos- tiles while in the act of conferring upon a young Indian woman the rite of baptism. The priest and his companion took hurriedly to their horses, and fled with all possible speed down the valley, escaping their pursuers. It being the day on which the church celebrated the feast of Santa Rosa de Lima, Father Amoroso named the stream from that circumstance. The valley then came to be called after the stream the Valley of Santa Rosa-fortunately one of the most beautiful names, as its original was one of the most beautiful characters in the calendar of American saints. It is related of Father Amoroso, who must have had some poetry as well as piety in his nature, that he named the horse which bore him so swiftly over the plain, "Centella," meaning lightning in the English vernacular. All honor to the gal- lant friar and his companion Jose, to whose courageous spirit we owe the legacy which this expedition left ns -- the name of Santa Rosa.
" The first settlement was made, and the first furrow was turned in Santa Rosa Township by a plucky young Irishman, whose name was
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HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY.
John T. Read. Ile was born in Dublin in 1805. He had an uncle who was a sea-faring man. Young Read left Ireland with him at the age of fifteen years, bound npon a voyage to Mexico. Ile sailed from Acapulco for California, and reached this State in 1526, just after he had at- tained his majority. Hle settled in Saucelito, and applied for a grant there, but failed to get it on the ground that the land was wanted for the use of the Government. He was not diseour- aged, nor was he timid. He came into what is now Sonoma County, and made the first settle- ment outside the mission at Sonoma. Moreover, he was the first English-speaking settler in the county, and was the first Irishman who settled anywhere in the State. Ile made application in 1827 for a grant of his settlement, which was in the vicinity of the residence of Robert Crane, but before he could perfect it the In- dians drove him off, burning his erop of wheat and all of his improvements. He was set back, but not disheartened. Soon after this disaster he engaged with Padre Quivas as mayor-domo of San Rafael. In 1832 he went to reside at Saneelito, and sailed a small craft between the peninsula and San Francisco- the first ferry es- tablished on the bay or in the State of California.
" Yonng Read made a second effort to get a grant at Saucelito, and failed. He then uni- ted himself in marriage with one of the hand- some hijasdel pais, and soon after was granted the raneho Cort de Madera del Presidio, in Marin County. He established himself on his ranch, but in 1543, seven years after his mar riage, he was taken with a fever. and died at the age of thirty-eight years.
" This brief notice is due Mr. Read, who was the very first settler of any nationality in San- ta Rosa Township. It is to be regretted that he did not live to enjoy the reward of his per- severance, and to have seen the future, of which he must sometimee have mused and dreamed in his lonely settlement under the shadow of Co- tate Peak.
and first permanent settler in the neighborhood of the present town of Santa Rosa, was Senora Maria Ygnacia Lopez de Carrillo.
" This lady came upon the invitation of General Vallejo, as a colonist from San Diego, about the time of the llijar colonization scheme. She reached Sonoma in 1537, resided there ony year, and came to Santa Rosa.
" Senora Carrillo was a woman of more than average courage and energy, as is proven be her settlement on the frontier, in the midst of hostile Indians. She had a large family-five boys and seven girls -- and she carved for them out of the wilderness, but a beautiful wilderness it was, a local habitation and a home. That she had good taste and judgment, as well as courage and industry, is evidenced hy her choice of Santa Rosa, when all the valleys of this county were open to ocenpation. The pio- neer mother in Santa Rosa died in 1849, and her estate was divided among her children. All of the site of the present city of Santa Rosa was included in the boundaries of the grant made to Senora Carrillo.
" It is said that at the time of the occupation of the valley by Senora Carrillo there were 3,000 Indians living in the neighborhood of the present city. The principal rancheria was on the Smith farm, just below the bridge, at the erossing of Santa Rosa Creek, on the road lead- ing to Sebastopol. Upon this site a mission was commenced, probably by Father Amoroso, whose zeal in the cause of Christianity kept him always on the debatable line between the natives and " la gente de razon," as the Cali- fornians were called, or called themselves.
" The Indians rose np and destroyed the in- cipient mission buildings about the same time that the mission of Sonoma was devastated. There was not one adobe left upon another. Julio Carrillo says that when he came, in 1838. the marks where the buildings stood were plain- ly discernable.
"The chief of the Cainemeros tribe, when the first settlement was made in Santa Rosa.
" The next settlement in Santa Rosa Town- ship was in the Guillucos Rancho: The next, i was called Junipero-his baptismal name -att
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HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY.
er the founder of the missions of Alta Cali- fornia. His tribe was numerous and powerful. There were many thousands Indians in the county at this time, but they were doomed to speedy destruction, and even then were under the shadow of an approaching pestilence.
" In the year 1838 a corporal by the name of Ygnacio Miramontes contracted the disease of small-pox at Ross. It spread to the Indians. They fled to their " temescales " or sweat-houses, and from thence to a cold bath. Death speedily came to the relief of the plague-stricken native.
"They burned their dead. Julio Carrillo says he has often seen the process. They would built up a mausoleum of dry wood and twigs, lay the body upon it, and cover it over with other inflammable material. They would then collect around the burning pyre, lacerate their flesh, and utter dismal moans as the body slow- ly consumed. When the burning was over, which took but a short time, they gathered up the ashes of the dead and strewed them over the ground, and thus returned to the dust, from whence it sprung, the ashes of the aborigines. who came into possession of the soil with the sequoias which shaded the rivers in which they trapped the iridescent tront, and the oaks which furnished the acorns upon which they fed.
" There was nothing of interest connected with this section from 1841 to 1846, when, on the 14th day of June of that year, the revolt in Sonoma began, which was to terminate only with the transfer of the sovereignty of the whole of Alta California to the United States, which, with a rapidity unequaled in the history of the world, had extended her frontier, in fifty years, from the Alleghany Mountains to the Pacific Ocean."
Among the earliest farmers in Santa Rosa Township may be enumerated S. T. Coulter, William, David and Martin Hudson, James Neal, James and Charles Hudspeth, John Adams, Robert Smith, John Ingrew, J. N. Ben- nett, the Elliotts, Ben Dewell, Achilles and Joe Richardson, Wesley Matthews and Peterson Brothers.
Santa Rosa Township is thus accurately de- scribed by R. A. Thompson in his " Township Ilistory:
"Santa Rosa Township contains an area equal to fifteen miles square, about 130.000 acres of land, one-half of which is rich alluvial soil, ocenpying the center of the great central valley of Sonoma County .. The bottom lands are of unsurpassed fertility, suited to the growth of wheat, corn, oats, rye, barley, hops, and especially for stone and seed fruit culture. The remaining lands in the township may be classed as hill, foothill and tributary valley land -- the latter meaning a number of valleys, of greater or less extent, tributary to the central valley. In each of the smaller valleys there is alluvial soil along the water courses and volcanic soil in the foothills. They are largely devoted to grape culture. In these valleys, and upon the sur- rounding hill lands, the best of the celebrated vineyards of Sonoma County are located. No- where is the planting of the vine so rapidly in- creasing as in this elass of lands.
" The elimate is better than in the main val- ley, which, being lower, catches more frost in winter, and is more exposed to the fog and sea breeze of summer. For staple crops and hardy fruit :, prunes, plums, pears, apples and berries, the rich alluvial of the bottom is especially adapted. To obtain the delieate flavor of the grape, upon which the wine depends, the vol- eanic soil and more genial climate of the up- lands is essential. The two locations combine conditions rarely met in the same locality, covering a wide range of agricultural products. from the gross feeding hardy staples to the most delicate of the fruit and nut trees, inelnd- ing the almond, apricot and the olive.
" The valleys tributary to Santa Rosa are the Guilicos, Bennett, Pleasant, or C'hanate, Rincon and Elliott.
" The first of these, the Guilicos, is on the southeasterly fork of Santa Rosa Creek. It is one of the most beautiful locations in the State. llood Mountain overlooks it. At the base of this peak is the celebrated Guilicos vineyard,
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HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY.
now the property of Mrs. William Hood. It includes 250 aeres, and has long been celebrated for the superiority of its wine and brandy. The soil is red in color, and very productive. In this section there are a number of vinegrowers, Samuel Hutchinson. Henry Bolle, James P. Clark, W. B. Atterbury and others. The area in grapes is rapidly extending.
" The stream flowing from the Guilicos northward, unites with the Alamos branch, coming into the valley from about due east. The united waters take the name of Santa Rosa Creek, and, soon after, this stream debouches on the Santa Rosa plain, across which it flows in a westerly direction to the Laguna. Before reaching the plain, however, Santa Rosa Creek euts across the face of two other valleys of considerable extent and importance, the Rincon and Bennett valleys.
" The . Alamos ' branch of Santa Rosa Creek rises in the high hills separating Napa from Sonoma County. Mark West Creek, which bounds Santa Rosa Township on the north, rises in the same erest, flows north and then turns across the plain, uniting with the Laguna, and ultimately finding its ontlet, through Rus- sian River, to the sea. Sonoma Creek, which partly bounds Santa Rosa Township on the south, rises on the opposite side of the same hills. It flows southwesterly. then almost due sonth, through Sonoma Valley into the Bay of San Francisco. In all these streams trout are eanght, affording good sport to lovers of the rod and reel.
" Rincon, in the Spanish language, means a corner, and Rincon Valley is literally a corner in the hills. It is a rich corner, a pocket, out of which a considerable sum of coin is taken year after year, in agricultural products.
" The Rincon lies north of Santa Rosa Creek, and is about two miles in width and three and a half or four miles in length. The climate is mild and the soil is well adapted to grape and fruit culture.
" It is becoming quite a favorite location for fruit and vine enlture. The celebrated Wells
vineyards are in the hills, at the head of the Rineon, one of the very best grape plantations in Sonoma County. This vineyard was recently purchased by Charles Duntz, and contains, old and new vines, 145 acres. The total acreage of old and new vines in the valley is 527 acres.
" The Rincon is separated from Santa Rosa Valley by a ridge known as Rincon Heights, which forms the background of the city of Santa Rosa. Guy E. Grosse, Esq., the owner of the land, built a grade road over the heights at his own private cost. This drive is a great ad- dition to the suburban attractions of the eity. From the summit of the heights, about two miles from the city, the view is one of extraor- dinary beauty. The roof's of the taller houses. church and college steeples, show up through the trees in which the city is embosomed. The great plain of Santa Rosa extends north and south of the city for a distance of twenty-five .miles. Scattered groves of oak grow over the plain, giving an artistic finish to the landscape. On the west the view is arrested by the Coast Range, at whose notched and rock-pinnacled base the restless sea leaps and falls back with un- ceasing moan.
" Turning eastward, Bennett, Guilicos and Rin- con valleys, interlaced amid mountains, meet the view. The Yulupa, or Bennett Peak, Hood Mountain and its twin volcanic sister, on the south side of Sonoma Creek, stand up in bold relief, and challenge admiration. If there is anything finer than the west view from Rincon Ileights it is the grouping of valley and mount- ain, which makes up the landscape on its southeasterly side.
" Bennett Valley is the largest of the valleys tributary to Santa Rosa. It has an average length of seven miles and is from two and a half to three miles in width. It opens out a wide frontage on Santa Rosa Creek, the stream which flows through the valley, emptying into Santa Rosa Creek within the corporate limits of the city. This stream is called Matanzas Creek. South of the town, the range which separates Bennett from Santa Rosa Valley appears, It is
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HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY.
a spur of the main Sonoma Range. This ridge is of open land of considerable value; first, be- cause the soil is good, and next, because it lies just within the warm belt and is exempt from frost.
" Bennett Valley is largely devoted to grape culture. In the center of the valley is the vine- yard of Mr. De Turk, one of the State Viticult- ural Commissioners, and the owner of the superbly equipped wine cellar in Santa Rosa, which has a capacity for the manufacture of 300,000 gallons of wine.
"Bennett Valley has about 15,000 acres of land, and has a population of 300; there is an- nually produced 500 tons of grapes, 5,000 boxes of apples, 4,000 boxes of other fruit, 1,450 tons of hay, 25,000 bushels of wheat, 600 bushels of oats, 15,000 bushels of barley, 400 horses, 1,000 head of cattle, 4,000 sheep, 2,000 hogs.
" Bennett Valley can justly claim the honor of having a school and a school-honse among the first, if not the very first, in the township. It was called Santa Rosa District, took prece- dence in the name, and forced the district in Santa Rosa, which was organized afterward, to adopt the not very happy name of court-house district. This school was first taught in an old building on the Glen Cook place. David Ogan was the teacher, and received a salary of $100 a month. In the fall of 1853 a good building was put up near the bridge. When it was built there were just thirteen contributors to it - there was no school find out of which to build school-houses in those days. Thirty children attended the school.
" Alpine Valley is distant about six miles from Santa Rosa. It is reached by a road from the Rincon, over a low divide, which separates the two valleys. It is not large, but has a con- siderable stock interest, and some vineyards.
" Elliott Valley, on Porter Creek, a branch of Mark West, lies cast of the Mark West Springs, and about nine miles from Santa Rosa. This is a small but fertile valley, inhabited by a number of enterprising farmers, among whom may be 15
mentioned M. W. Tarwater and W. J. Arnold This valley has no especial name, and might most appropriately be called Elliott Valley.
" W. B. Elliott, the discoverer of Geyser Springs, and a daring hunter and pioneer, re- sided at this place in 1846, when the bear flag war began. Ile related to me, just prior to his death, the particulars of his residence there and his discovery of the Geyser Springs.
"Considerable farming is done in this valley, and there is an increasing fruit and grape inter- est. The hills surrounding Elliott Valley arc covered with a soil having very marked eharac- teristics, and it would not be surprising if the grapes from this section should produce a wine of great excellence. Not far from here, npon like soil, the Schramm vineyard, which pro- duces the celebrated Schrammberger wine, is situated. It is possible that the Elliott Valley wine may prove of equal valne.
" There is a small valley near Santa Rosa in which the County Farm is located, known as Pleasant Valley. It is largely devoted to grape culture. This valley is principally noted for being the scene of the assassination of the Bear Flag party by the Californians. There is a large grape interest just north of Santa Rosa, in the foothills, bordering the Santa Rosa plain on the east, extending to Mark West Creek. Follow- ing are the principal grape-growers and the number of acres set out: T. L. Harris, Fount- aingrove farm, 380 acres, one of the largest vineyards in the county; II. P. Holmes, ninety acres; II. II. Harris, thirty; J. Stewart, fifty; R. Forsythe, twenty-five; W. J. Breitlanch, twenty-five: M. Maillard, forty. Total acreage in that district, 640 acres.
" The country we have described is the back- ground of Santa Rosa. The principal agricult- urai wealth of the township is in the level plain extending west of the town to Sebastopol. for about eight miles, and north and south for a greater distance. This land is principally deep alluvial soil, which in the season of 1852 produced in the main fifty bushels of wheat to the acre. That was an extra good wheat year;
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but it will average thirty bushels one season with another. This land, which has heretofore been largely devoted to the growth of wheat and other staple erops, is now being subdivided into small traets, and is now, or will be, set to fruit, to the growth of which it seems to be especially adapted. It will produce any crop requiring a strong soil. Grapes and some fruits make too much wood, but for pears, prunes, and other fruits, it cannot be surpassed."
Santa Rosa. designated as 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 has an energetie, wide-awake population who know that their lives have been cast in a pleasant place, and they are willing to have others come and enjoy it with them.
It was founded in 1853 and became the county-seat of Sonoma County in 1554. The first house built in the town of Santa Rosa was built by John Bailiff for Julio Carrillo. .1 town had already been started at what is now the junction of the Sonoma, Bodegar & Russian River roads, called Franklin Town, and some business houses started there; but this town was drawn into the vortex of Santa Rosa, and its projectors became active participants in found- ing a city that has made marvelous progress According to R. A. Thompson's Township His- tory among the very first residents of Santa Rosa were Obe Rippeto, Jim Williamson, J. M. Case, John Ingram. Dr. Boyee, the late Willian Ross, Judge Temple, W. B. Atterbury, S. G. and J. P. Clark, and Charles W. White.
Mr. Hahman sold out his business to B. Goldfish. He was joined by Morris and Henry Wise, under the firm name of Wise & Goldfish. Mr. William Wilson bought into the firm within the past few years, and it is now Goldfish, Wil- son & Co., the oldest established business in Santa Rosa.
Judge Jackson Temple and the late Colonel William Ross came to Santa Rosa with the county seat. The late William Williamson, of the Samoan Islands, taught the first school in
the old Masonie Hall. Donald MeDonald was postmaster at the " Old Adobe." lle was suc- eeeded by F. G. Hahman, who first served as Post- master in the city of Santa Rosa. Barney Hoen was the agent of Adams & Co.'s Express; . I. W. Ball built a small house, Il. Beaver, a black- smith shop, C. C. More, a house and wagon shop, W. S. Burch, a saddle-tree factory. The old Masonie Lodge Hall was the first public building in the town.
Among the very first merchants in Santa Rosa were B. Marks, now of Ukiah, and his part- ner, M. Rosenberg, still residing here.
Mr. Iloen sold out his business to G. N. Miller, who was an original character, but very popular. Ile was sneceeded in business by the late Dr. John Henley.
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 1570; and from that time onward its progress has been steady and substantial. In 1867 Santa Rosa was incorporated as a eity with the follow - ing officers: (. W. Langdon, J. F. Boyce, T. B. Hood, B. Marks, 1. P. Petit, Trustees; E. T. Turner, Treasurer; H. E. Parks, Marshal; J. 11. Richardson, Assessor.
In 1869 Santa Rosa secured the location there of the Pacific Methodist College that had long been eondueted at Vacaville, Solano County. This naturally attracted to the place many fami- lies on account of the educational advantages offered.
In 1870 the Northern Pacific Railroad was completed to Santa Rosa and it seemed to give to it an impetus that lasted for years, and what had been a modest village of the plains began to take on the form of a wide-awake bustling eity.
The completion of the Santa Rosa & C'arqui- nez 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 in- land cities in the State. It has made marvelous strides in the last decade, and will round up the century with a showing of progress such as
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