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 5

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

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" Here a day's halt would appear to have been called, in order to take a glance at the beautiful country and devise means of further progress. On the 27th they reached the famous · Laguna de Tolly." now, alas, nothing but a place, it having fallen into the hands of a Ger- man gentleman of marked utilitarian principles. who has drained and reclaimed it, and planted it with potatoes. Here the expedition took a northeasterly route, and entering the Sonoma Valley, which Father Altimira states was then so called by former Indian residents; the party eneamped on the arroyo of . l'ulpula,' where J. A. Poppe, a merchant of Sonoma, has a large fish-breeding establishment, stocked with carp brought from Rhinefelt, in Germany, in 1571. The holy father's narrative of the beauties of Sonoma Valley, as seen by the new-comers, are so graphically portrayed by himself that we cannot refrain from quoting his own words: · At about 3 p. M .. ' (June 28. 1823,) . leaving onr camp and our boat on the slough near by, we started to explore, directing our course north- westward across the plain of Sonoma. until we reached a stream (Sonoma Creek) of about tive hundred plumas of water, crystalline and most pleasing to the taste, flowing through a grove of beautiful and useful trees. The stream flows from some hills which enclose the plain, and terminate it on the north. We went on. pene- trating a broad grove of oaks; the trees were lofty and robust, affording an external source of utility, both for firewood and carriage material. This forest was abont three leagues long from east to west, and a league and a half wide from north to south. The plain is watered by another

arroyo still more copious and pleasant than the former, flowing from west to east, but traveling northward from the center of the plain. We explored this evening as far as the daylight permitted. The permanent springs. according to the statement of those who have seen them in the extreme dry season, are almost innumer- able. No one can doubt the benignity of the Sonoma climate after noting the plants, the lofty and shady trees - alders, poplars, ash, laurel, and others-and especially the abundance and luxuriance of the wild grapes. We ob- served, also, that the launch may come np the creek to where a settlement can be founded, truly a most convenient circumstance. We saw from these and other aets that Sonoma is a most desirable site for a mission.'

" Let ns here note who are now located on the places brought prominently forward by Padre Altimira. The hills which inclose the valley and ont of whose bosom the Sonoma Creek springs, is now occupied by the residence and vineyard of Mr. Edwards. The forest men- tioned covered the present site of the Leaven- worth vineyards. the llayes' estate, and the farms of Wrutten. Carriger, Ilarrison, Craig. Herman. Wohler, Hill. Stewart, Warfield, Krous & Williams, La Motte, Hood, Kohler, Morris, and others. The second stream men- tioned as flowing northward from the center of the plains, is the ' Olema,' or flour-mill stream, on which Colonel George F. Hooper resides, while the locality in which he states are innum- erable springs, is the tract of country where now are located the hacienda of Lachryma Montis. the residence of General M. G. Vallejo and the dwellings and vineyards of Haraszthy, Gillen. Tieliner, Dressel, Winchel, Gundlach, Rubus, Snyder, Nathanson, and the ground of the Buena Vista Vinicultural Society. The head of navigation noted is the place since ealled St. Louis, but usually known as the Em- barendcro."

Of this first exploration of the country round about Petaluma and Sonoma. every incident will be of interest to the reader. In Padre

HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY

Altimira's diary, note is made of the killing of a bear on the l'etalumna flat. Mention is also made that their first night's eamp (probably near where the old Vallejo adoba now stands.) was with eight or ten Petalumas (Indians) hiding there from their enemies, the Libantilo- quemi. Indians of Santa Rosa Valley. As already stated, the exploration extended as far east as Suisun Valley, and Altimira mentions that on the 30th of June they killed ten bears. On returning they gave the Sonoma Valley a more complete examination and crossed the mountains back into the upper end of Petaluma Valley and back to where they camped the first night. From there they seem to have taken a pretty direct route back to Sonoma, probably about the route of the old road leading from Petaluma to Sonoma. This was on the 3d of July, and the next day the mission location was formally established at Sonoma.

The prelate upon whose decision the Alti- mira enterprise depended for a full fruition had not yet been heard from. Altimira represented to him, and with a great deal of apparent truth, that "San Francisco was on its last legs, and that San Rafael could not subsist alone." But the desired sanetion from the prelate had not yet come. Governor Arguello seemed impa- tient of delay and ordered Altimira to proceed with the work of founding the new mission, an order that Padre Altimira seemed to be only too ready to obey, for he seemed to have been a fiery, impetuous mortal, with more zeal than prudenee. On the 12th of August he took possession of the effects of the San Rafael mis- sion by inventory, and by the 23d he was on his way to New San Francisco with an escort of twelve men, and an artilleryman to manage a cannon of two pound caliber. He was also accompanied by quite a force of neophytes as laborers. By the 25th all hands were on the ground and the work of planting a mission com- meneed. At the end of a week the work had so far progressed that it could be said of a surety that Sonoma Valley had passed under the do- minion of civilized man. But Altimira was

destined to have his Christian forbearance tested. The prelate refused to sanction the wiping out of the San Rafael mission. While he did not express a decided opinion on the propriety of the removal of the San Francisco mission, he expressed amazement at the hasty and unauthorized manner in which the deputa- cion had acted in the premises. On the 31st of August this decision reached the Padre at New San Francisco, and for the time put an end to his operations. That this interruption did not put Altimira in a very prayerful frame of mind is evidenced by the vinegar and gall apparent in his epistolatory record in connection with the subject. In a letter to Governor Arguello in reference to the prelate's decision, Altimira says: " I wish to know whether the deputacion has any authority in this province, and if these men ean overthrow your honor's wise provis- ions. I came here to convert gentiles and to establish missions, and if I cannot do it here, where as we all agree is the best spot in Cali- fornia for the purpose, I will leave the country." As a plain missionary proposition Padre Alti- mira was right; but as an ecclesiastical taet he was restive under a harness of his own ehoos- ing, and was wrong. Sarria was then president of the California missions. The sequel to the prelate's decision is thus recited by Bancroft: " A correspondence followed between Sarria and Arguello, in which the former with many ex- pressions of respect for the governor and the secular government not unmixed with personal flattery of Arguello, justified in a long argu- ment the position he had assumed. The Gov- ernor did not reply in detail to Sarria's arguments, sinee it did not in his view matter much what this or that preteet had or had not approved, but took the ground that the deputa- cion was empowered to aet for the public good in all such urgent matters as that under con- sideration, and that its deerees must be carried out. During fifty years the friars had made no progress in the conversion of northern gen- tiles or oceupation of northern territory: and now the secular authorities proposed to take

HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY

charge of the conquest in the temporal aspect at least. The new establishment would be ous- ta ned with its eseolta under a majordomo, and the prelate's refusal to authorize AAltimira to care for its spiritual needs would be reported to the authorities in Mexico.

" Yet, positive as was the Governor's tone in general, he declared that he would not insist on the suppression of San Rafael: and, though some of the correspondence has doubtless been lost, he seems to have consented readily enough to a compromise suggested by the prefect, and said by him to have been more or less fully ap- proved by Altimira. By the terms of this compromise new San Francisco was to remain as a mission in regular standing, and Padre Altimira was appointed its regular minister. subject to the decision of the college: but neither old San Francisco nor San Rafael was to be suppressed. and Altimira was to be still associate minister of the former. Neophytes might go voluntarily from old San Francisco to the new establishment, and also from San Jose and San Rafael, provided they came originally from the Sonoma region. and provided also that in the case of San Rafael they might return if they wished at any time within a year. New converts might come in from any direction to the mission they preferred, but no force was to be used."

Under these conditions and restrictions the fiery AAltimira entered upon the task of Chris- tianizing Sonoma County heathen. While he did not let pass an opportunity to enveighi against the perverse and narrow-gauge methods of the old missions, he seems to have entered with the zeal of a l'anl into his missionary work. Bancroft, who has all the data to enable him to speak with absolute certainty, says: " Passion Sunday, April 4, 1824, the mission church, a somewhat rude structure 24 by 105 teet, built of boards and whitewashed, but well furnished and decorated in the interior, many artieles having been presented by the Russians. was dedicated to San Francisco Solano, which from this date became the name of the mission.

Hitherto it had been properly new San Fran- cisco, though Altimira had always dated his letters San Francisco simply, and referred to the peninsula establishment as Old San Fran- cisco: but this usage became inconvenient, and rather than honor St. Francis of Asisi with two missions it was agreed to dedicate the new one to San Francisco Solano, . the great apostle of the Indies.' It was largely from this early con- fusion of names, and also from the inconven- ience of adding Asisi and Solano to designate the respective Saints Francis and Solano that arose the popular usuage of calling the two missions Dolores and San Solano, the latter name being replaced ten years later by the original one of Sonoma."

Elsewhere we have said that right here in Sonoma County the Catholic and the Greek Cross met, and it but lends luster to the pages of history to record that though coming by different roads they met in friendship: for, with deft hands, the communicants of the Greek eliurch at Ross shaped gifts for ornamentation and decoration of the Catholic mission of So- noma. Altimira remained in charge at Sonoma until 1826 when he was superseded by Buena- ventura Fortuni. Altimira had displayed con- siderable energy in his field of labor, for at Sonoma he had constructed a padre's house. granary and seven houses for the guard. besides the chapel, all of wood. Before the year 1824 closed there had been constructed a large adobe 30 by 120 feet, seven feet high, with tiled roof and corridor, and a couple of other structures of adobe had been constructed ready to roof, when the excessive rains of that season set in and ruined the walls. A loom was set up and weaving was in operation. Quite an orchard of fruit trees was planted and a vine- yard of 3,000 vines was set out. Bancroft says: " Between 1824 and 1830 cattle increased from 1,100 to 2,000; horses from 400 to 725; and sheep remained at 4,000, though as few as 1,500 in 1826. Crops amounted to 1,875 bushels per year on an average, the largest yield being 3.945 in 1826, and the smallest 510 in 1829,

HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY.

when wheat and barley failed completely. At the end of 1824 the mission had 693 neophytes, of whom 322 had come from San Francisco, 153 from San Jose, 92 from San Rafael, and 96 had been baptized on the spot. By 1830, 650 had been baptized and 375 buried; but the number of neophytes had increased only to 760, leaving a margin of over 100 for runaways, even on the supposition that all from San Rafael retired the first year to their old home. Notwithstanding the advantages of the site and Altimira's enthusiasm the mission at

Sonoma was not prosperous during its short existence."

Thus far we have followed the fortunes of the church in its missionary work on this side of the bay. While it was not as fruitful of results as the church probably expected, it at least paved the way for seeular occupation. As it had been in the south, so too in the north an at- tempt at colonization was sure to follow in the pathis made easy by the pluck and persever- anee of the padres. We again turn to Ross and trace Russian occupation to a conclusion.

HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY.

THE RUSSIANS AND ROSS TO A CONCLUSION.

CHAPTER IV.

THE RUSSIANS AT ROSS BEGIN TO REALIZE THAT THEY HAVE TOO NARROW A FIELD - WILL BUY MORE TERRITORY OR SELL THEIR ESTABLISHMENTS THEIR OVERTURES ARE NOT WELL RECEIVED BY MEXICAN AUTHORITIES -- IN 1834 VALLEJO WAS COMMANDANTE AT SONOMA, AND BEGAN TO LOOK SHARP AFTER THE RUSSIANS AT ROSS -THE RUSSIANS OFFER THEIR PROPERTY FOR SALE -INVENTORY OF THEIR PROPERTY -IN 1941 THE RUSSIANS SELL TO CAPTAIN JOHN A. SUT- TER AND TAKE THEIR DEPARTURE FOR ALASKA-SUTTER TOOK MOST OF THE STOCK AND SOME OF THE HOUSES TO HIS SACRAMENTO ESTABLISHMENT - BIDWELL AND BENNITZ AT ROSS AS SUTTER'S AGENTS-A TRIP TO ROSS TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS AGO-BENNITZ'S STORY ABOUT SHOOT- ING A GRIZZLY BEAR -- FORT ROSS AND ITS SURROUNDINGS IN 1888.

GAIN we turn to that busy bee-hive of industry, the Museovite settlement at Fort Ross. We have somewhat in advance of 1830 shown what had been accomplished by that colony. The time had now come when its future existence had to be determined. There was no motive for the Russians to hold an. occu- pancy limited by Bodega Bay on the south and the Gualala River on the north. At best, there was but a narrow beneh of scaboard avail- able for either farming or grazing purposes. True, there was a wealth of forest baek of this mesa, but they had already learned that this timber was not durable as material for ship- building. They had pretty well exhausted the supply of timber from which pine pitch conld be manufactured. Tan bark for the carrying on of their tanneries was their most promising continuing supply for the future. The agents of the Alaska Fur Company had already signi- tied to the California authorities a willingness

to vaeate Fort Ross upon payment for improve- ments. Through the intricate evolutions of red tape this was transmitted to the vieeory of Mexico, and as that functionary took it as an evidence that the Russian colony at Ross was on its last legs, refusal was made on the ground that the Russians, having made improvements on Spanish territory, with material acquired from Spanish soil, they ought not to expeet payment for the same. While this is not the language, it is the spirit of the view the viceroy took of the subject. As a legal proposition this was doubtless true, but as a matter of fact, at any time after 1825 the superintendent at Ross had at his command sufficient of the arma- ment and munitions of war to have marched from Ross to San Diego without let or hin- drance, so far as the viceroy of Mexico was concerned. These Dons and Ilidalgos seemed, however, to consider their rubrics to be more powerful than swords or cannon. As their

HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY.

overtures for sale had been thus summarily dis- posed of, the cold, impassive Museovites pursued the even tenor of their way, and as the lands around Fort Ross became exhausted by continu- ous farming they extended their farming opera- tions sonthward between the Russian River and Bodega Bay, and ultimately inland to the neigh- borhood of the present village of Bodega Corners. At the latter place there were several Russian graves, in the midst of which there stood a Greek cross, long after the Americans came into oeenpaney. The earliest American settlers in that neighborhood aver that the Russians had a grist-mill some two or three miles easterly from Bodega Corners. Certain it is that the anthor- ities at San Franeiseo had notification that the Russians contemplated oceupation for farming purposes as far inland as the present site of Santa Rosa. These rumors, whether true or not, doubtless accelerated the movement of Spanish colonization in that direction.

Governor Wrangell, now having control in Alaska, seems to have taken an intelligent view of the whole situation, and realized that unless the company, of which he was head representa- tive, could obtain undisputed possession of all the territory north of the Bay of San Francisco and eastward to the Sacramento, it was useless to attempt a continuance at Ross. To achieve this end the Alaska Company was willing to buy the establishments already at San Rafael and Sonoma. The fact that the California authori- ties submitted these propositions to the Mexican government, now free from the yoke of Spanish rule, would indicate that by them such a propo- sition was not considered in the light of a heinous offense. Alvarado was then at the head of the California government and no doubt he looked with great distrust, if not alarm, upon the number of Americans who were be- ginning to find their way into California. But General Vallejo, who was now almost autocrat on the north side of the Bay of San Francisco, was not, probably, so averse to Americans, as he had already three brothers-in-law of Yankee blood. Through these kinsmen, who were all

gentlemen of good intelligence and education, Vallejo had become well informed in reference to the push and energy of the American people, and hence it is quite certain that he did not favor any permanent occupaney here by any European power. In truth, while the California government had confined itself to wordy pen remonstranees with the ocenpants of Ross, in 1840 Vallejo seems to have made quite a show of calling Rotchef, the then superintendent at Ross, to accountability for having allowed the American ship Lausanne to land and discharge passengers at Bodega as though it were a free port. Some of these passengers, who went to Sonoma, werc incarcerated by the irate Vallejo, and he even sent a file of soldiers to Bodega to give warning that such infractions would lead to serious consegnenees if persisted in. This was the nearest to an open rupture of amieable relations that ever occurred between Spaniard and Muscovite on this coast that we find any record of, and this could not have been of a very san- guinary nature, for it seems that Vallejo and Rotchef were on social good terms afterward.

The proposed acquisition of territory by Governor Wrangell met with no encouragement from the Mexican Government. In reference to this matter Baneroft says: " The intention of the Russians to abandon Ross and their wish to sell their property there, had, as we have seen, been announced to Alvarado, and by him to the Mexican government, before the end of 1840. In January 1841, Vallejo, in reporting to the minister of war his controversy with Rotchef and Krupieurof, mentioned the proposed aban- donment, taking more eredit to himself than the facts could justify, as a result of that contro versy. The Russians had consulted him as to their power to sell the buildings as well as live- stoek to a private person, and he had been told that 'the nation had the first right,' and would have to be consulted. The fear that impelled him at that time to answer thus cautiously was that some foreigners from the Columbia or else- where might outbid any citizen of California, and thus raise a question of sovereignty, which

HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY.

might prove troublesome in the future to Mexi- can interests. Vallejo also urged the govern- ment to furnish a garrison, and authorize the planting of a colony at the abandoned post. In February, however, Kostromitinot, representing the company, proposed to sell the property to Vallejo himself for $30,000, payable half in money or bills of the Hudson Bay Company, and half in produce delivered at Yerba Buena. The General expressed a willingness to make the purchase, but could not promise a definite deci- sjon on the subject before July or August. Pending the decision, the Russian agent seems to have entered, perhaps secretly, into negotia- tions with John A. Sutter, who at that time was not disposed to buy anything but moveable property. Meanwhile a reply came from Mexico, though by no means a satisfactory one; since the government evidently with some kind of an idea that the Russian officials had been frightened away, leaving a flourishing settle- ment to be taken possession of by the Califor- nians-simply sent useless instructions about the details of occupation and form of government to be established. In July Kostromitinof re- turned from Sitka, and negotiations were recom- mended. Alvarado was nrged to come to Sonoma, but declined; though he advised Vallejo that in the absence of instructions from Mexico the Russians had no right to dispose of the real estate. An elaborate inventory of the property offered for sale at $30,000 was made ont, but Vallejo's best offer seems to have been $9,000 for the live stock alone."

In a foot note Bancroft gives the inventory of property offered for sale which is as follows: "Square fort of logs, 1088 feet in circumfer- ence, twelve feet high, with two towers; com- mandant's house of logs (old), 36x48 feet double boarded roof, six rooms with corrider and kitchen; ditto (new) of logs, 24x48 feet, six rooms and corridor; house for revenne officers, 22×60 feet, ten rooms; barracks, 24x66 feet, eight rooms; three warehouses; new kitchen; jail; chapel, 24x36 feet, with a belfry, and a well fifteen feet deep. Outside of the

fort: blacksmith shop, tannery, bath-house, cooper's shop, bakery, carpenter's shop, two windmills for grinding, one mill moved by animals, three threshing floors, a well, a stable, sheep-cote, hog-pen, dairy house, two cow stables, corral, ten sheds, eight baths, ten kitchens, and twenty-four houses, nearly every one having an orchard. At Kostromitinof rancho, house, farm buildings, corral, and boat for crossing the river Slavianka. At Khlebnikof rancho, adobe house, farm buildings, bath, mill, corral. At Tschernich, or Don Jorge's rancho, house, sto e, fences, ete. At Bodega, warehouse 30x60 feet, three small houses, bath, ovens, corrals. As this list of improvements was inade out by Russian hands it may be accepted as a true statement of the conditions at and in the neighborhood of Ross in the last year of Russian occupation there. The only omission of consequence seems to have been the orchard some distance back of the fort, on the hillside, and a vineyard of 2000 vines at what is desig- nated " Don Jorge's rancho." In reference to this rancho, Belcher in his notes of travel in 1837, mentioned a rancho between Ross and Bodega claimed by a ci-derant Englishman (1). Gorgy), yielding 3,000 bushels of grain in good years.

Governor Alvora as well as Vallejo evidently thought that they had Kostromitinof in a corner so far as his ability to sell the Ross property was concerned, and their only real concern was lest he would make a bonfire of the buildings rather than leave them for Mexican occupation. But in this they were mistaken, for a purchaser was found in Captain John A. Sutter. In refer- ence to the sale thus consummated Bancroft says: " Sutter, like Vallejo, had at first wished to pur- chase the live-stock only; but he would perhaps have bought anything at any price if it could be obtained on eredit; at any rate, after a brief hesitation a bargain was made in September. The formal contract was signed by Kostromi- tinof and Sutter in the office of the sub-prefect at San Francisco, with Vioget and Leese as witnesses, December 13. By its terms Sutter

HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY.

was put in possession of all the property at Ross and Bodega, except the land, as specified in the inventory, and he was to pay for it in four yearly installments, beginning September 1. 1842. The first and second payments were to be $5,000 each, and the others of $10,000; the first three were to be in produce, chiefly wheat, delivered at San Francisco free of duties and tonnage; and the fourth was to be in money. The establishment at New Helvetia and the property at Bodega and the two ranchos of Khlebnikof and Tschernich, which property was to be left intact in possession of the company's agents were pledged as guarantees for the pay- ment. It would seem that Alvarado, while insisting that the land did not belong to the company and could not be sold, had yielded his point about the buildings, perhaps in the belief that no purchaser could be found; for the Rus- sians say that the contract was approved by the California government, and it is certain that there was no official disapproval of its terms."

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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 5

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