USA > California > California gold book : first nugget, its discovery and discoverers, and some of the results proceeding therefrom > Part 11
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When the gold excitement broke out, nearly all the male residents of Yolo left for the mines. The next year they began to come back. Jonas Spect brought a schooner load of merchandise from Sacramento, and the town of Fremont was started. After a few months
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it was again deserted and but two tents occupied by white people and a few Indians in adobes, remained to mark the site. When the winter drove the miners down into the valley, Fremont had a population of 1,300.
Recent years have seen important works of reclama- tion and improvement, with a general fostering of naturally abundant resources, until to-day Yolo is unsur- passed as a happy and prosperous farming community. A productive soil, a sufficient water supply, a climate favorable to vegetable life, fine transportation facilities and superior educational advantages are the resources which, combined, have placed Yolo in the list of the leading counties of California. In an annual rainfall of sixteen inches there is a guarantee against crop fail- ures, and drouths are unknown.
In Capay valley, the Tancred and other colonies, which were disposed of to eastern farmers, are a picture of thrift and enterprise. Residences have been erected by the colonists, and the farms are in a splendid state of cultivation. The colonies established by the Capay Valley Land Company are also advancing rapidly.
ACRAMENTO COUNTY is one of the most historical in the whole State. It was the seat of business of the interior in pioneer days, and the center from which the miners started and to which they nearly always returned. Sacramento city is inseparably linked with the bustle and furor of the gold excitement, and the discovery that set the world afire was directly attributable to the settlement of that city. Sacramento's
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history is the story of Captain Sutter, whose enter- prising spirit it was that directed its settlement in the midst of trials and dangers that were too much for his first supporters.
Sutter came to the United States from the Duchy of Baden, where he was born in 1814, landing at New York. He came West almost at once and settled in Missouri. In 1838 he went with a party of hunters and trappers to Oregon. He wanted to reach Cal- ifornia, but this was then a hard matter. First he went to the Hawaiian islands, and from there to Sitka. He sailed the vessel which took him to Sitka down to San Francisco bay, arriving in 1839. The Mexican officials notified him to get out of the country, and told him that Monterey was the port of entry. At Monterey Governor Alvarado signified an eager readi- ness to let Sutter settle on the Sacramento river, as the Indians were very hostile. Sutter returned to San Francisco and chartered a schooner to go up the river. No one could tell him where to find the Sacra- mento, and he was eight days hunting for its entrance to the bay. He and his party proceeded up into the Feather river, but the dangers of its channel compelled him to return to the Sacramento. At this juncture three of his white men left, and returned to Yerba Buena (San Francisco ). Others remained with him, as did a lot of Kanakas whom he had brought from Sitka.
Sutter immediately commenced the erection of a fort to protect himself and party from the Indians. He afterwards embarked in agricultural ventures with great success. In 1840 several white men who had come across the mountains joined Sutter, and his
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settlement soon received numerous other acquisitions. That year the Indians were unusually warlike, and a battle ensued in which the natives were routed.
In June, 1841, Sutter was declared a citizen of Mexico, and the land at his place, called "New Hel- vetia," was granted to him. It comprised eleven square leagues of territory. Every new arrival, foreign or otherwise, who came near joined Sutter's party, and New Helvetia grew in prosperity every day. When the war broke out with Mexico, Sutter, although a Mexican officer, extended every kindness and courtesy to the Americans and their forces. He readily hoisted the American flag before the war was closed, and after- ward, when his fort was garrisoned by Lieutenant Missoon, of the United States navy, Sutter was put in command.
Prosperity increased after the war and Sutter started new enterprises. In the latter part of 1848 he had over a thousand acres in wheat; he had erected a saw- mill at Coloma (the famous Marshall city) and had nearly finished a large and expensive gristmill at the fort. Then one of his men, Marshall, found the yellow metal at the saw-mill, and this marked the commence. ment of Sutter's downfall. His employes deserted him immediately, the grain crop went to ruin, and he lost twenty- five thousand dollars on the first mill, which could not be finished. A large tannery was also abandoned with quantities of leather in the vats.
The rush of immigration commenced at once, and Sacramento became one of the liveliest and most cosmopolitan cities that the United States ever saw within so short a period. The wondeful times when men grew wealthy in a few days were fairly started.
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Sutter now began to lose everything. He had no men left to protect his interests, so that his horses, cattle, hogs, lands, everything, were appropriated. Sacra- mento city commenced about Sutter's Fort as soon as the excitement was well spread. The first survey was made in December of 1848. Sutter and others de- termined to start a town before the discovery and did so. It was called Sutterville. This village flourished until Sacramento was started as a rival. Consequent upon the indiscriminate flocking of all sorts and conditions of people to the new town and the meager shelter that the tents and rude huts afforded, there was a tremendous amount of sickness in the place soon after things got started. Attendance, protection and medicine cost heavily. Men died by the score. Coffins were an ex- pensive luxury and many were buried in blankets. In the fall the rains and floods came, adding to the misery. The excitement was unabated, however, and hundreds of new comers arrived each day, and buildings went up like magic. As soon as people began to settle upon land the "squatter troubles" commenced. Many in- nocently occupied lands long before granted by Mexico to holders of large tracts, and spent much money and time thereon. Others thought they could beat the Mexican title, and many did so. Some bought their lands, but litigation and trouble started everywhere. No one respected any title which conflicted with his own. A party of citizens at last decided to remove a lot of shanties and cabins that obstructed the river levee and they tore the flimsy abodes down right over the owners' heads. A riot ensued at one time and several people were killed. This and others were called "squatter riots," as the organized squatters were
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conducting the offensive measures. A suit was brought and the judgment, even on appeal, was against the squatters. Other riots broke out immediately, and murders were. committed every day. Several of the city officers, including the sheriff, Mckinney, were killed. The citizens organized and military aid was sent from San Francisco. The squatters were finally overcome.
Amid all of the excitement and tribulations Sacra- mento county was organized by the Sacramento legisla- ture at San Jose, and Sacramento city was made the county seat. The capital of the State underwent many changes of locality in the next four years. San Jose was too small to accommodate the officers and attaches of the first session, hence the next meeting was called at Monterey. Vallejo and Benicia then started a war over the seat of State government, and both were at different times the capital of California. Sacra- mento offered the use of its court-house and vaults, and ultimately secured the legislature. This was in 1854. The supreme court judges decided that San Jose was still the legal capital and caused the records to be re- moved to that city. Some new judges decided that Sacramento was the capital, and then preparations were commenced for a Capitol building. Various plans fell through, and it was 1860 before the building was commenced. The structure was to be finished in ten months, but it was 1869 before everything was completed.
During the past year the progress of Sacramento has shown a marked improvement over that of the previous year. While no booms or spasmodic advance- ments, with consequent depressions, have occurred, yet
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a steady and continuous progress has been made. This is particularly noticeable in the freight shipments. One of the most important steps taken by the city during the past year was the permanent improvement of the levees. Several months ago individual members of the board of trade organized themselves into a levee improvement committee and through their stren- uous efforts the board of city trustees decided to call a special election, at which bonds to the amount of $100,000 were voted to raise and improve the levees. Since then the levees have been strengthened and raised and a feeling of absolute security from floods now prevails.
According to the figures furnished by the Southern Pacific Company, the total shipments of fruit from Sacramento during the year aggregated the enormous amount of 161,368,000 pounds, which is almost twice as much as shipped from any point except San Fran- cisco. The total shipments of deciduous green fruit exceeded the tonnage of the previous year by nearly 50,000,000 pounds. According to a well-informed authority Sacramento stands first in the amount of tonnage of green fruits, second in the shipments of potatoes, vegetables, raisins and beans, and third in shipments of canned and dried fruits. It is a notice- able fact that the shipments from Sacramento during the past year amount to more than 21,000,000 pounds in excess of the shipments from the entire State in 1888, and 11,000,000 pounds more than the entire shipments from California in 1889.
During the year a vast amount of building has been done in the residence portion of the city. Among the new buildings may be mentioned the post-office, which
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is rapidly nearing completion. This building is situated at the corner of Seventh and K streets, and will cost $150,000. It is a model of architectural beauty, and when completed will be one of the most imposing structures in Sacramento. It is the intention of the designers to make it one of the most complete post- offices in the State. In the business portion of the city a number of extensive improvements have been made.
At the State capital very many fine improve- ments have been made. Electricity has been intro- duced into the building, while the Senate and Assembly chambers have been refitted and remodeled. The Governor's office and the State library have also received the attention of artisans.
At the present time a project is on foot to annex Washington township to Sacramento. A number of business men of the city have taken the matter in hand and are working industriously in the interest of annexation. As was expected, the proposition has been met with considerable opposition by a majority of the residents of Washington. They seem to think that they can take care of the little town across the river without the guidance of the people of Sac- ramento. Several joint meetings have been held, but the scheme is as far from being consummated now as it was several months ago.
Since the first of the year two electric railway lines have been built in Sacramento. One is known as the P street line, the other as the K street line. The Fol- som Water Power Company has secured a fran- chise to build and operate an electric road, and when this is completed all parts of the city can be easily
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reached. The Southern Pacific Company is contem- plating the erection of a new freight depot. The present site is considered inadequate, and it would not be surprising to see the preliminary work of a new depot commenced in the immediate future. Other notable improvements are spoken of, but it is doubtful if they will be commenced before next year.
MADOR COUNTY was organized from a portion of Calaveras county in 1854. It contained the liveliest camps in the State during the early mining days, notably Ione valley and Mokelumne hill, at least one man being killed during Saturday or Sunday for seventeen consecutive weeks. At Jackson was a live oak which became famous as "hanging tree," so many criminals having expiated their offenses upon it. In 1862 it became injured by fire, and had to be cut down; but it was perpetuated by being engraved on the county seal.
Staging was started in 1853 between Sacramento and the Amador mines. The fare was $20 each way. Horses cost from $300 to $600 each; stages from $1,000 to $3,000 ; drivers received $150 per month, and hay cost $100 a ton. Up to 1860 the placers were panning out millions in gold, the quartz mines began to show great richness, and agriculture was taking a permanent stand. Churches and schools sprang up in every settle- ment. Then came the rush to the great Comstock, and to Frazer river in British Columbia, and Amador was depopulated almost as rapidly as it had filled up, when the excitement of gold-finding in her own borders in 1849 began. Before many months they began to return.
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Hydraulic mining started in Amador as early as 1853-4. Tin pipes were used, with a pressure of about thirty feet. This method of mining soon advanced to the wonderful completeness that afterwards made it so marvellously effective, and sent mountains scurry- ing down the streams, creating an antagonism on the part of valley ranchmen which finally caused the sup- pression of hydraulic mining. Quartz mining has been continued in Amador and some large deposits of rich cop- per discovered and worked. The quartz mines are on the " mother lode," and the hope is perennial that it may be struck rich any day, resulting in another Comstock. The old mines are prosperous, and new ones are being opened. Increased acreage is being planted to fruit, and the prosperity of the county is on a sound basis.
ARIN COUNTY is as it was established by the original sub-division, one of the smallest, but with a greater coast line thau any other county in the State. It shares proprietorship with San Fran- cisco in the world-renowned Golden Gate. Beautiful San Rafael has been the seat of government since the organization of the county.
Marin has its name from a chief of the Lacatuit Indians. He and his braves conquered the Spaniards about the years 1815 and 1824, but Marin was finally captured. He escaped and took refuge upon a small island in San Francisco bay, and his name attached to the mainland to the north. Geographically, Marin is a peninsula, and a very rugged one at that. Its western coast, rocky, barren and steep, is very dangerous to navigation. Inland the majestic peak of Mount
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Tamalpais, nearly 5,000 feet in elevation, is a notable and picturesque landmark for the country for miles around. The name is said to have originated from the residence of the old Tamal Indians near its base long ago.
If ancient history makes no errors it is likely that Sir Francis Drake was the first white man to visit what is now Marin county. Also, if he did enter the little bay named for him, it is likely that the Golden Gate of to-day did not then exist, and that an old Indian legend that an earthquake rent the coast asunder there is true. Otherwise it seems scarcely possible to explain Drake's failure to discover it. It is undisputed that in 1595 Sebastian Cermenon was wrecked near Punta de los Reyes ( Point Reyes). In 1602 Sebas- tian Vizcaino found the wreckage, which he described as being in the port of San Francisco. This makes it seem as if the big bay did not exist at that time, and the little Drake's bay was called San Francisco port.
Descending to days that sound more modern the histories and records of Marin claim the first house built in the State, north of the bay of San Francisco. It was a lone structure erected about the year 1776 at an Indian settlement called Olompali, near the Sonoma line. Some traveling Spaniards found the Indians, and in return for hospitalities taught the savages to make huts. It was the father of Camillo Ynitia, chief of the tribe, who constructed the house. Indian remains are still to be found near old Olompali, and many relics have been unearthed there.
In 1817 the Mission San Rafael was founded by Father Ventura Fortuni. By 1842 the mission was
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almost destroyed. There had been hundreds of the Jouskionmes Indians at the mission up to 1834, when their numbers began to dwindle. A few years later a hostile tribe drove the holy friars away from the county.
John I. Read was the first white settler who remained in the county. He took up his residence in Sausalito in 1826, and afterward went to Sonoma county, returning to Sausalito in 1832. He plied a small boat, the first ferry on the bay, which he ran between his place and Yerba Buena or San Francisco. In 1834 he received a grant of the rancho "Corte Madera del Presidio" from the Mexicans, and erected the first saw-mill in the county, the framework of which is still standing at Mill Valley. Before 1840 several more settlers came to Marin. This last year brought a number of early pioneer adventurers to the county. Quite a number of Mexican grants were made to various men and families, who settled all over Marin before the war with Mexico broke out. Afterward the gold chase brought many people into the northern portion of the county, but that section was not much settled until 1852.
The cities and towns of Marin are as pretty and picturesque as any in this wonderful State of flowers and sunshine. San Rafael, with its old traditions of a mission established in 1817, with its orchards, vines and roses, surrounded by the warmest and greenest of hills, is still the most important city in the county. Sausalito, snug from the Pacific's wind and fogs, perched romantically upon the hillside, is a general favorite as a summer resort and a retreat for city- wearied people. The whole of Marin county, from
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the rocky, stormbeaten coast of Point Reyes, to the majestic summit of Mount Tamalpais, and beyond to the verdant hills and undulating valleys, presents a picture of beauty, happiness and comfort.
The larger proportion of Marin county is hilly, but the hills are covered with verdure, kept green by the heavy dews from the ocean nearly the entire year, and make splendid pasturing for the immense herds of fine dairy cattle which supply San Francisco with milk. Where planted to grapes, the finest are produced from which the best flavored clarets are made. In an hour's ride of San Francisco are virgin forests of redwood, and Sequoia canyon is said to contain 1,000 acres of these rare trees, from which few have been cut. It ought to be retained unmutilated for the benefit of the millions who will inhabit San Francisco and Marin counties in the future, when the redwood and the buf- falo have become traditions, and who will appreciate the grandeur of these symmetrical trees, whose sway- ing crowns are kissed by the passing clouds.
The towns of Point Reyes, Tomales and Novato are in the center of the dairying district, carrying on a brisk traffic in dairy produce, at which places there have been several large creameries established to meet the constantly growing demand for butter and cheese. Sausalito, Belvidere, Mill Valley and Larkspur, are much sought for as resorts for pleasure and home build- ing. Bolinas, an obscure little town, is beautifully situated on the shore of Bolinas bay. Outside of Marin county, probably very little is known of it, as it has not as yet any railroad communication with the outside world. Its locality abounds in natural re- sources, chiefly mineral, and it is to be regretted that
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they are undeveloped. The bluffs, extending for a long distance up the coast, are deeply streaked with rich veins of bitumen, resembling the Santa Cruz for- mation. At the base of these bluffs may be seen tiny springs of petroleum bubbling from the earth, while the atmosphere in that vicinity is redolent of the odor of coal oil, denoting a large flow of that valuable com- modity.
A few yards from the shore, on Duxbury reef, is a constant and extensive supply of natural gas, which forces itself from the living rocks, and when ignited, a number of jets of flame, some several feet in height, are plainly visible. Prominent State mineralogists have pronounced it in unlimited supply. Farther in- land, in the high ridge of hills overlooking Bolinas, are rich copper leads, as in some places specimens of the blue mineral may be found on the surface. Large coal beds also exist here, and were being worked by private parties a short time ago, but for want. of capital and lack of transportation facilities, were abandoned. With a railroad, Bolinas as a pleasure resort would rival the most popular watering places on the Pacific coast. Its surf bathing surpasses that of Santa Cruz, and it has also a pebbly beach which is much larger and where can be found finer pebbles than at Pescadero, while its climate is absolutely delightful. Marin county is slowly progressing, but with a railroad to Bolinas, which will open new resources, her prosperity will be increased immeasurably.
OLANO COUNTY has more miles of navigable waters washing its soil than any inland county in the State. It surrounds Suisun bay, and its south-
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east boundary is the Sacramento river. Solano was declared a county in 1850, but it was two years before the organization was perfected. Solano had its name from an old Indian chief, and he was named by the missionary, Francisco Solano, who christened him when he embraced the Christian religion. Chief Solano was given the Suisun grant, containing 17,700 acres. The members of the tribe of Solano, previously called Sem Yete, had their headquarters at Rockville.
There are no mountains in Solano, but many good sized hills, and these are very productive. Very little gold or other valuable mineral has been found in the county. Building stone, some marble and large quar- ries of basalt rock, are utilized. But as a fruit pro- ducer, Solano county has obtained high reputation. The first California fruits presented to the Queen of England were sent by the great and successful horti- culturist, A. T. Hatch, one of the World's Fair Com- missioners, and were acknowledged as follows:
OSBORNE, 13th August, 1892.
SIR :
I have received the commands of the Queen to con- vey to you the expression of Her Majesty's thanks for your attention in sending, as an offering to Her Ma- jesty, a case containing pears, peaches, nectarines, prunes and plums, from California, which she has been pleased to accept. I should mention that they arrived in good condition, and that they were served at the Royal table.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
J. C. COWELL, Master of the Household.
MR. A. T. HATCH,
Suisun, California.
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The pioneers of Solano county were the family of William Wolfskill. Wolfskill came to California in 1828, but settled upon a Mexican grant of four leagues of land upon the Rio de los Putos, in Solano, in 1842. There were only four white families in the county in 1846. The valleys then were covered with a splendid growth of wild oats, and herds of wild cattle and horses roamed with bands of elk and deer.
After the success of the American arms over Mex- ico there was much bitter litigation over land titles. Considerable blood was shed over disputes which oc- curred out of court. Six of the Mexican grants, some of the largest of which were overthrown, covered nearly all of the arable land in the county at that time.
In 1848 Benicia was visited by General W. T. Sher- man. He found a solitary adobe house there, occupied by a Mr. Hastings and family, with Doctor Semple, proprietor of a small ferry-boat. Benicia started out to be the metropolis of the State. It was incorporated in 1849, or 1850, as a city, at about which time the government located its barracks there. In 1852 the Pacific Mail Steamship Company erected works there. In 1859 Benicia was, for a time, the State capital, and for a long time it was the county seat. The town erected quite a pretentious State building at its own expense, but it soon lost the capital, which was re- moved to Sacramento. In 1858 the county seat was removed to Fairfax. The Pacific Mail Company also left and came to San Francisco. Benicia hardly sus- tained the shock of so many removals, but finally recovered.
There are prosperous little towns all over the county
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