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 4

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 786

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 4

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Such was Fort Ross as described sixty years ago, So far as location and general details are concerned, it is very accurate. The height of the mesa on which the fort stands is placed at too high a level above the sea, and the palisade wall of the fort is given about eight feet greater height than it really had. That the Russians were well prepared to defend themselves against attack is evidenced by a note in Bancroft's Ilistory which says: " Kuskof brought eight pieces of artillery in 1812, which number was soon increased to fifteen or twenty, and even to forty of various caliber by 1841 as it seems."

But few of Sonoma County's most intelligent citizens, we apprehend, are fully advised in reference to the magnitude and importance of the operations of this Russian colony that planted the standard of civilization here. The oldest men among us were but mere boys when the whole coast of this county from the Estero Americano to the Gualala River were teeming with life and enterprise. Aleuts in bidaskes were exploring every bay, cove and estuary in 2

quest of sea-otter, seal and acquatic fowls. Coming from the frigid north where everything was utilized that would appease hunger or pro- tect the body from the chilling winds of the bleak, hyperborean climes, they gathered and utilized much that by the less provident Spaniards south of the Bay of San Francisco, would have been estcemed of no value. But Fort Ross was something more than a mere fishing station. As already stated they gave to Bodega Bay the euphonious name, Roumi- antzof; to the country and streams northward they gave names of equally as hard enunciation to American tongues. The country between Bodega Bay and Russian River they called Kostromitinof; to Russian River they gave the name Slavianki; while to the country adjacent to Ross itself, they gave the name Khlebnikof. In reference to the character and number of inhabitants at Ross after it was founded, Mr. Bancroft says: "So far as I can judge from the complicated and contradictory statements of different writers, Russian and foreign, there were at Ross, after the foundation was fairly effected, from twenty-five to fifty men of Rus- sian blood, and from fifty to one-hundred and twenty Alents. No Russian women came to California, except perhaps the wives of one or two of the officers in the later years; but both Russians and Aleuts married or cohabited with native women, so that at the last the three races were inextricably mixed in the population of Ross. This population, including the native Californians who became permanent residents, may be estimated as having varied from 150 to 400. All to a certain extent in the service of the company, though many cultivated small pieces of ground and traded the products ou their own account. The Russians were officers, . chiefs of hunting parties, and mechanics; the Aleuts were hunters, fishermen, and laborers; the Californians were laborers and servants; all were to a certain extent farmers and traders and soldiers."

While there was a Greek chapel, as already stated, at the fort, there is nothing to show

HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY.

that there was ever a regular chaplain assigned to the station. Under authorization of the bishop one of the officers officiated at funerals, solemnized marriages and administered the ordi- nance of baptism.

As this coast had been a common poaching ground for vessels engaged in taking sea-otter for nearly a decade before the advent of the Russians here, large returns from that kind of hunting were not of long duration and the Russians naturally turned their attention to mixed industries. Baneroft, who from his vast resources of data on this subject is in a position to speak with great accuracy, says: " As the hunt for otter became less and less profitable, and as obstacles interfered with perfect success in way of trade, the agents of the company turned their attention more and more to home industries at Ross. Agriculture was naturally one of the most important of these industries, and results in this branch are shown more or less complete in a note." Referring to this note, we gather the following information in reference to the Russian's farming operations: Kuskof, abont 1521, retired from command at Ross, and was succeeded by a young man, Carl Schmidt. Kuskof died in Russia in 1823. In reference to farming it is stated that all the fer- tile land around the fort was cultivated, and there were fields two miles away. In 1828 the amount of land eultivated in various fields is stated to have been about 175 acres. Seeding was done in November and December, after the first rains, Both oxen and horses were used for farming purposes, and in rocky places Indians were employed to spade the soil. Vegetables were raised in abundance in the gardens, in- «Inding pumpkins and watermelons. Pickled . beets and cabbage were sent to Sitka. Potatoes were planted twice a year, but the yield was not large. Wild mustard seed was gathered for ex- portation. Fruit trees did well. The first peach-tree brought from San Francisco in 1814 bore in 1820. Other peach-trees were brought from Monterey, and also grape-vines from Lima in 1817, the latter bearing in 1323. In

1520, 100 trees, apple, pear, cherry and peach were set out, bearing in 1828. As related to wheat, great efforts were made and great re- sults anticipated in 1826, but there was not over a half erop, in consequence of rust. In 1833 wild-oats sprang up, and thereafter much of the land that had been tilled around Ross had to be pastured. Mice and gophers had become very destructive. Farming was then trans- ferred to the month of Russian River, with much success for a couple of years; but received a set-baek by two years of failure. This will give a general idea of the farming operations of the Russians.

In reference to stock we find the following: Of horned cattle there were about sixty in 1817. 150 in 1821, 520 in 1829, 720 in 1833. and 1,700 in 1841; horses increased from ten in 1817 to 250 in 1829, 415 in 1833, and 900 in 1841; there were 160 sheep in 1817, 800 in 1822, 614 in 1829, 603 in 1833, and 900 in 1841; and swine numbered 124 in 1821 and 106 in 1829. There were about fifty mules in in 1841. Many cattle were killed by the bears and Indians. Bulls used to come into the fort with lacerated flesh and bloody horns after en- counters with bears. In the last fifteen years 216,000 pomids of salt beef and 17,000 pounds of butter were sent to Sitka. Butter brought about thirty cents a pound at Sitka. Excellent leather was tanned and exported. The total prodnet in good years of cattle and sheep was valued at 8,000 rubles. Bancroft says: "There was hardly any article of wood, iron or leather which the mechanies of Ross in the early years could not make of a quality sufficiently good for the California market, and to the very last they received frequent applications from the Spaniards. But in the later years many minor articles were more cheaply obtained from Amer- jean and English traders. Several boats were built for Spanish officers or friars. Timber and tiles were not only sent south, but north, and even in some instances to the Sandwich Islands. Pine pitch was also sent to Sitka in consider- able quantities, in barrels which, like those for

HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY.

meat and other exports, were made by the Ross coopers."

But the Russians were even more than fisher- inen, farmers and artisans. Right here in Sonoma County within the first quarter of the present century not less than four schooners and ships were built and launched, the carry- ing capacity varying from 160 to 200 tons. The schooner Rouminutzof, of 160 tons burthen was commenced in 1816 and launched in 1818. Aside from the labor of construction its cost was 20,212 rubles. The brig Buldukof, of 200 tons burthen, a copper-bottomed vessel, was put on the ways in 1819 and completed and launched in 1820. Its cost of construction was about 80,- 000 rubles. These vessels were principally built of oak, while in the construction of the latter ones pine and redwood seem to have been principally used. The Volya, 160 tons, was begun in 1821 and was finished and launched in 1822, at a cost of about 36,189 robles. The Kiakhta, of 200 tons burthen, was put on the ways in 1823, and completed and launched in 1824, at a cost of 35,248 rubles. These vessels do not seem to have been of long service, and

this is not to be wondered at when we take into account the rawness and character of the wood used in their construction. But this in no wise militates against the cold faets of his- tory that when our oldest men were mere boys, ship-building was carried on right here in Sonoma County. We have been thus exact in giving dates and details because we believe every man, woman and child in the county ought to know these things. Sir William Blackstone says in his commentaries on the common law laid it down as a rule that every English gentleman ought to know and under- stand the groundwork of the laws of the country in which he lived. If this was true of English gentlemen as related to a knowledge of the laws of their country, how much more essential is it that every one laying claim to intelligence in our midst, should at least have a correct knowl- edge of the history of the county in which they live ! Having delineated the main features of Russian occupation of Sonoma County up to 1830, we now devote a chapter to Spanish pro- gress northward.

HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY.

THE SPANIARDS NORTH OF THE BAY,

CHAPTER HI.

AFTER FORTY YEARS OF WAITING THE SPANIARDS SECURE A LODGMENT NORTH OF SAN FRANCISCO BAY -A BRANCH MISSION TO DOLORES WAS ESTABLISHED AT SAN RAFAEL. IN 1518-IN 1521 AN EXPLORING EXPEDITION WENT NORTH UNDER CAPTAIN ARGUELLO - THEY STARTED FROM CARQUINEZ ; TRAVELED UP THE SACRAMENTO VALLEY, PROBABLY TO SHASTA, THEN CROSSED TOWARD THE COAST AND CAME DOWN RUSSIAN RIVER VALLEY -IT WAS THE MOST EXTENDED EXPLORATION OF THE SPANIARDS-IN 1822 IT WAS DETERMINED TO ESTABLISH A NEW MISSION NORTH OF THE BAY-IN 1823 PADRE ALTIMIRA, WITH A SUITABLE ESCORT, STARTED TO LOCATE A MISSION SITE; VISITED PETALUMA VALLEY, SONOMA VALLEY, AND FINALLY CHOSE SONOMA AFTER CONSIDERABLE TROUBLE AND DELAY THE MISSION AT SONOMA, UNDER TITLE OF " SAN FRANCISCO SOLANO," WAS DULY DEDICATED SUNDAY, THE 4TH DAY OF APRIL., 1824 - THE RUSSIANS AT ROSS SENT ARTICLES OF DECORATION FOR THE CHURCH AT SONOMA -- FRUIT TREE- AND VINEYARDS PLANTED-CATTLE, HORSES AND SHEEP MULTIPLY, AND SAN FRANCISCO SOLANO GATHERS TO ITS FOLD SEVERAL HUNDRED INDIANS.

FORTY years had come and gone since pre- sidio and mission was founded at Yerba Buena, and yet no fruitful attempt had been made to establish settlement on the north side of the bay. And the first movement in that direction seems to have been impelled by a seeming necessity. At the mission Dolores were many hundred neophytes who had been gathered in from the many Indian tribes sonth of the bay. Among these Indian converts there was an increasing and alarming mortality from pulmonary disease. The padres, as a sanitary measure, determined upon the founding of a branch mission in some more sheltered and genial clime on the north side of the bay. The present site of San Rafael was the location de- termined upon. The establishment was to be more in the nature of a rancho, with chapel, baptistry and cemetery. than a regularly or-

dained mission. Padre Luis Gil y Taboada was detailed to take charge of this branch establish- ment of the elinrch. In reference to this branch mission Bancroft says: " The site was probably selected on the advice of Moraga, who had several times passed it on his way to and from Bodega; though there may have been a special examination by the friars not recorded. Father Gil was accompanied by Derran, Abella, and Sarria, the latter of whom on December 14th, with the same ceremonies that nsnally attended the dedication of a regular mission, founded the assisteneia of San Rafael Arcangel, on the spot called by the natives Nanaguani. Though the establishment was at first only a branch of San Francisco, an assistencia and not a mission, with a chapel instead of a church, under a supernumerary friar of San Francisco; yet there was no real difference between its management

HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY.

and that of the other missions. The number of neophytes transferred at first is supposed to have been abont 230, but there is but very little evidence on the subject, and subsequent trans- fers, if any were made in either direction, are not recorded. By the end of 1820 the population had increased to 590. In 1818 an adobe build- ing eighty feet long, forty-two feet wide and eighteen feet high had been erected; divided by partitions into chapel, padre's house and all other apartments required, and furnished be- sides with a corridor of tules. Padre Gil y Taboada remained in charge of San Rafael until the summer of 1819, when he was succeeded by Juan Amoros,"

That even the southern end of what is now Sonoma County was yet a comparative terra incognito to the Spaniards, is evidenced by the fact that as late as May, 1818, on the occasion of a visit of President Payeras with Commandante Arguello to San Rafael, they made quite an exploration of the surrounding country and re- ported having seen from the top of a hill " the Canada de los Olompalis and the Llano de los Petalumas." Thus, as Moses viewed the promised land from the summit of Mount Pisga, did priest and commandante from the summit of a Marin County hill look down upon Peta- luma Valley in the year of grace, 1818. The commandante referred to in this connection was Captain Luis Arguello. Governor Arrillaga having died in 1813, Arguello filled the position of acting governor until Sola was appointed to that position. Arguello was a man of consider- able energy and dash, and it was but natural that Governor Sola should select him for a hazardous enterprise. Late in the summer of 1821 the Governor determined to send an ex- ploring expedition up north. As this was one of the most consequential explorations ever undertaken under Spanish rule, and as it has an intimate connection with Sonoma County, we give place to Hubert Howe Bancroft's nar- ration of the meanderings of the expedition. which is as follows:

" Thirty five soldados de cuera and twenty

infantes, part of the force coming from Mou- terey, were assembled at San Francisco. Horses and much of the supplies were sent from Santa Clara and San Jose up to the Strait of the Car- quinez. The officers selected were Captain Luis Arguello, Alferez Francisco de Ilaro, Alferez Jose Antonio Sanchez, and Cadet Joaquin Estudillo, with Padre Blas Ordaz as chaplain and chronicler, and John Gilroy, called the ' English interpreter Juan Antonio.' Some neophytes were also attached to the force, and all was ready for the start the ISth of October. The company sailed from San Francisco at 11 A. M. in the two lanchas of the presidio and mission, landing at Ruyuta, near what is now Point San Pedro, to pass the night. Next day they continued the voyage to the Carquinez, being joined by two other boats. Saturday and Sunday were spent in ferrying the horses across the strait, together with a band of Ululatos and Canneaymos Indians, en route to visit their gentile homes, and in religions exercises. Monday morning they started for the north ..

" The journey which followed was popularly known to the Spaniards at the time, and since as 'Arguello's expedition to the Columbia." The Columbia was the only northern region of which the Spaniards had any definite idea, or was rather to them a term nearly synonymous with the northern interior. It was from the Columbia that the strange people sought were supposed to have come; and it is not singular in the absence of any correct idea of distance, that the only expedition to the far north was greatly exaggerated in respect to the distance traveled. The narratives in my possession, written by old Californians, some of whom ae- companied Arguello, are unusually inaccurate in their versions of this affair, on which they . would throw but very little light in the absence of the original diary of Father Ordaz-a doeu- ment that is fortunately extant.

" Starting from the strait on the morning of October 22, AArguello and his company marched for nine days, averaging little less than eight hours a day, northward up the valley of the

HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY

Sacramento, which they called the Jesus Maria. The names of rancherias I give in a note. There is little else to be said of the marchi, the obsta- cles to be overeome having been few and slight. The natives were either friendly, timid. or slightly hostile, having to be seattered once or twice by the noise of a eannon. The neophyte Rafael from San Franciseo had but little ditti- culty in making himself understood. The most serious calamity was the loss of a innle that fell into the river with two thousand cartridges on its back. There were no indications of for- eigners.

" On the 30th, to use the words of the diary, 'the place where we are is situated at the foot of the Sierra Madre, whenee there have been seen by the English interpreter, Juan Antonio, two mountains ealled Los Cuates -- the Twins on the opposite side of which are the presidio and river of the Columbia. The raneherias be- fore named are situated on the banks of the Rio de Jesus Maria, from which to-morrow a differ- ent direction will be taken.' Accordingly the the 31st they ' marched west until they came to the foot of a mountain range, about fifteen leagnes from the Sierra Nevada, which runs from north to south, terminating in the region of Bodega.' Exactly at what point the travel- ers left the river and entered the mountain range, now bounding Trinity County on the east, I do not attempt to determine, though it was evidently not below Red Bluff. The distance made up the valley, allowing an aver- age rate of three miles an hour for sixty-eight hours, the length of the return march of ninety- six hours through the mountains, at a rate of two miles an hour, and the possible identity of Capa, reached in forty-four hours from Car- quinez, with the Capaz of modern maps opposite Chieo, would seem to point to the latitude of Shasta or Weaverville as the northern limit of this exploration.

" For nine days. the explorers marched sonth. ward over the mountains. No distances are given, and I shall not pretend to trace the exact route followed, though I give in a note the

names recorded in the diary. Like those in the valley, the savages were not, as a rule, hos- tile, though a few had to be killed in the ex- treme north; but their language eould no longer be understood, and it was often difficult to obtain guides from rancheria to rancheria. The natural difficulties of the mountain route were very great. Many horses died, and four pack- mules once fell down a precipice together. The 3d of November. at Benenne, some blue cloth was found, said to have been obtained from the eoast, probably from the Russians. On the 6th the ocean was first seen, and several soldiers recognized the 'coast of the Russian establish- ment at Bodega.' Next day from the Espinazo del Diablo was seen what was believed to be Cape Mendocino, twenty leagues away on the right. Finally, on the 10th, the party from the top of a mountain, higher than any before climbed, but in sight of many worse ones, abandoned by their guides at dusk, with only three days' rations, managed to struggle down and out through the dense undergrowth into a valley.

" And down this valley of Libantiliyami, which could hardly have been any other than that of the Russian River, though at what point in the present Sonoma County, or from what direction they entered it I am at a loss to say, the returning wanderers hastened; over a route that seems to have presented no obstacles-doubtless near the sites of the modern Healdsburg and Santa Rosa- and on November 12th, at noon, after twenty hours' march in three days, arrived at San Rafael. Next day, after a thanksgiving mass, the boats arrived and the work of ferrying the horses across to Point San Pablo was be- gun. The infantry soldiers, who were mounted during the expedition. also took this route home, both to Monterey and San Francisco. Thus ended the most extensive northern expedi- tion ever made by the Spaniards in California."

By reference to the notes referred to by Mr. Bancroft in the above. it is quite certain that Arguello and his companions reached Russian River at or near the present site of Cloverdale.

HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY.

Be that as it may, it is beyond eavil that they were the first Spaniards to traverse the central valleys of Sonoma County. While the expedi- tion was not fruitful of far-reaching results, yet it furnishes an important leaf to local history. Being the first of civilized race to traverse the territory of the county its whole length, entitles that little band of explorers to kindly remem- brance and honorable mention in her annals.

But the time was close at hand when Sonoma County which had lain fallow all these years, except that portion of seaboard under occupancy by the Russians, was to come under Spanish domination. The establishment of a new mis- sion was determined upon. The causes which impelled this movement northward will seem strange to the readers of the present generation. In the language of Baneroft, " In 1822 at a con- ference between Canon Fernandez, Prefect Pay- eras, and Governor Arguello, it had been decided to transfer the mission of San Francisco from the peninsula to the .northeastern contra rostu on the gentile frontier,' a decision based on the comparative sterility of the old site, the insalubrity of the peninsula elimate, the broad- ness of the field for conversion in the north, the success of the experimental founding of the San Rafael branch, and not improbably a desire on the part of two of the three dignitaries to throw the few fertile ranelios south of San Francisco into the hands of settlers. The matter next came up just before the death of Payeras, who seems to have had nothing more to say about it. March 23, 1823, Padre Jose Altimira, very likely at Arguello's instigation, presented to the deputacion a memorial in which he recom- mended the transfer, he being a party naturally interested as one of the ministers of San Fran- cisco. On April 9th, the deputacion voted in favor of the change. It was deereed that the assistencia of San Rafael should be joined again to San Francisco, and transferred with it, and the suggestion made that the country of the Petalumas or of the Canicaimos, should be the new site. The suppression of Santa Cruz was also recommended. The Governor sent these

resolutions to Mexico next day, and Altimira forwarded copies to the new prefect, Senan, on April 30th, but received no response.

" An exploration was next in order, for the country between the Suisunes and Petalumas was as yet only little known, some parts of it having never been visited by the Spaniards. With this object in view, Altimira and the disputado, Francisco Castro, with an escort of nineteen men under Alferez Jose Sanchez, em- barked at San Francisco on the 25th of June, and spent the night at San Rafael. Both San- chez and Altimira kept a diary of the trip in nearly the same words. %

** The explor- ers went by way of Olompali to the Petaluma, Sonoma, Napa, and Suisun valleys in sneces- sion, making a somewhat close examination of each. Sonoma was found to be best adapted for mission purposes by reason of its elimate, loca- tion, abundance of wood and stone, including limestone as was thought, and above all for its innumerable and most excellent springs and streams. The plain of the Petaluma, broad and fertile, lacked water; that of the Suisunes was liable, more or less, to the same objection, and was also deemed too far from the old San Fran - eiseo; but Sonoma, as a mission site, with eventually branch establishments, or at least cattle-ranchos at Petaluma and Napa, seemed to the three representatives of civil, military, and Francisian power to offer every advantage. Accordingly on July 4th, a cross was blessed and set up on the site of a former gentile rau- cherai, now formally named New San Francisco. A volley of musketry was fired, several songs were sung, and holy mass was said. July 4th might, therefore, with greater propriety than any other date be celebrated as the anniversary of the foundation, though the place was for a little time abandoned, and on the sixth all were back at Old San Francisco."

We cannot give the reader a more correct idea of this first exploration of the southern end of Sonoma County than is given in the language of Padre Altimira's diary, which is epitomized as follows in Alley, Bowen & Co.'s History of

HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY

Sonoma County: " The Padre and his party left San Rafael, where a mission had been already founded, on the 25th of June, 1523, and during the day passed the position now ocenpied by the city of Petaluma, then called by the Span- iards, . Punta de los Esteros,' and known to the Indians as . Choenale,' that night encamping on the . Arroyo Lema,' where the large adobe on the Petaluma Rancho was afterward constructed by General Vallejo.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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 4

Author: Lewis Publishing Company Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 786

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 786