USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > Historical and biographical record of Los Angeles and vicinity : containing a history of the city from its earliest settlement as a Spanish pueblo to the closing year of the nineteenth century ; also containing biographies of well known citizens of the past and present > Part 19
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offered him as compensation for the difference a certain number of days' labor of the chain-gang (the treasury was in its usual state of collapse), but Pedro could not be traded out of his plaza front, so the street took a twist around Pedro's lot-a twist that fifty years has not straightened out. The irregularities in granting portions of the unapportioned city lands still continued and the confusion of titles increased.
In May, 1849, the territorial governor, Gen. Bennett Riley, sent a request to the ayuntamiento for a city map and information in regard to the manner of granting city lots. The ayuntamiento replied that there was no map of the city in exist- ence and no surveyor here who could make one. The governor was asked to send a surveyor to make a plan or plat of the city. He was also informed that in making land grants within "the perimeter of two leagnes square the city acted in the belief that it is entitled to that much land as a pueblo."
Lieutenant E. O. C. Ord, of the United States army, was sent down by the governor to plat the city. On the 18th of July, 1849, he submitted this proposition to the ayuntamiento: "He would make a map of the city, marking boundary lines and points of the municipal lands for $1, 500 coin, ten lots selected from among the defined lots on the map and vacant lands to the extent of 1,000 varas to be selected in sections of 200 varas wherever he may choose it, or he would make a map for $3,000 in coin."
The ayuntamiento chose the last proposition -- the president prophetically remarking that the time might come in the future when the land alone would be worth $3,000. The money to pay for the survey was borrowed from Juan Temple, at the rate of one per cent. a month, and lots pledged as security for payment.
The ayuntamiento also decided that there should be embodied in the map a plan of all the lands actually under cultivation, from the princi- pal dam down to the last cultivated field below. "As to the lots that should be shown on the map, they should begin at the cemetery and end with the house of Botiller (near Ninth street). As to the commonalty lands of this city, the surveyor should determine the four points of the compass, and, taking the parish church for a center, meas- ure two leagues in each cardinal direction. These lines will bisect the four sides of a square within which the lands of the municipality will be con- tained, the area of the same being sixteen square leagues, and each side of the square measuring four leagues."* (The claims commission reduced the city's area in 1856 to just one-fourth these dimensions. )
Lieutenant Ord, assisted by William R. Hutton, completed his Plan de la Ciudad de Los Angeles, August 29, 1849. He divided into blocks all that portion of the city bounded north by First street and the base of the first line of hills, east by Main street, south by Twelfth street and west by Pearl street (now Figueroa), and into lots all of the above to Eiglith street; also into lots and blocks that portion of the city north of Short street and west of Upper Main (San Fernando) to the base of the hills. On the "plan" the lands between Main street and the river are designated as "plough grounds, gardens, corn and vine lands." The streets in the older portion of the city are marked on the map, but not named. The blocks, except the tier between First and Second streets, are eaclı 600 feet in length, and are divided into ten lots, each 120 feet by 165 feet deep. Ord took his compass course for the line of Main street, south 24° 45' west, from the corner opposite José Antonio Carrillo's house, which stood where the Pico house now stands. On his map Main, Spring and Fort (now Broadway) streets ran in parallel straight lines southerly to Twelfth street. How Main street came to be zigzag below Sixth street, Spring to disappear at Ninth street, and Fort to end in Governor Downey's orange orchard, t is one of the mysteries of the early '50S.
The names of the streets on Ord's plan are given in both Spanish and English. Beginning with Main street, they are as follows: Calle Principal, Main street; Calle Primavera, Spring street (named for the season spring); Calle Fortin, Fort street (so named because the street extended passed through the old fort on the liill); Calle Loma, Hill street; Calle Accytuna, Olive street; Calle de Caridad, the street of charity (now Grand avenue); Calle de Las Esperanzas, the street of hopes; Calle de Las Flores, the street of flowers; Calle de Los Chapules, the street of grasshoppers (now South Figueroa street).
Above the plaza church the north and south streets were the Calle de Eternidad (Eternity street, so named because it had neither begin- ning nor end, or, rather, because each end ter- minated in the hills); Calle del Toro (street of the bull, so named because the upper end of the street terminated at the Carrida de Toro-the bull ring where bull-fights were held); Calle de Las Avispas (street of the hornets or wasps, a very lively street at times); Calle de Los Adobes, Adobe street. The east and west streets were: Calle Corta, Short street; Calle Alta, High street; Calle de Las Virgines (street of virgins) ; Calle del Colegio (street of the college, the only street north of the church that retains its primi- tive name: )
*Çity archives.
+This orchard was subdivided in 1881 and the street extended.
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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
Spring street was known as Calle de Caridad -- the street of charity-at the time of the Amer- ican conquest. The town then was centered around the plaza, and Spring street was well out in the suburbs. Its inhabitants in early times were of the poorer classes, who were largely dependent on the charity of their wealthier neighbors around the plaza. It is part of an old road made more than a century ago. On Ord's "plan" this road is traced northwestward from the junction of Spring and Main. It follows the present line of North Spring street to First street, then crosses the blocks bounded by Spring, Broadway, First and Third streets diagonally to the corner of Third street and Broadway. It in- tersects Hill at Fourth street and Olive at Fifth street; skirting the hills, it passes out of the city near Ninth street to the Brea Springs, from which the colonists obtained the roofing material for their adobe houses. This road was used for many years after the American occupation, and was recognized as a street in conveyances. Ord evidently transferred Spring street's original name, "La Caridad," to one of his western streets which was a portion of the old road.
Main street, from the junction south, in 1846 was known as Calle de la Allegria-Junction street; Los Angeles street was the Calle Prin- cipal, or Main street. Whether the name had been transferred to the present Main street be- fore Ord's survey I have not been able to ascer- tain. In the early years of the century Los Angeles street was known as the Calle de la Zanja (Ditch street). Later on it was sometimes called Calle de Los Viñas (Vineyard street), and with its continuation the Calle de Los Huertos (Orchard street)-now San Pedro-formed the principal highway running southward to the Embarcedaro of San Pedro.
Of the historic streets of Los Angeles that have disappeared before the march of improvements none perhaps was so widely known in early days as the one called Calle de Los Negros in Castilian Spanish, but Nigger alley in vulgar United States. Whether its ill-omened name was given it from the dark hue of the dwellers on it or from the blackness of the deeds done in it the records do not tell. Before the American conquest it was a respectable street and some of the wealthy rancheros dwelt on it, but it was not then known as Nigger alley. It gained its unsavory reputa- tion and name in the flush days of gold mining, between 1849 and 1856. It was a short, narrow street or alley, extending from the upper end of Los Angeles street at Arcadia to the plaza. It was at that time the only street except Main en- tering the plaza from the south. In length it did not exceed 500 feet, but in wickedness it was
unlimited. On either side it was lined with saloons, gambling hells, dance houses and dis- reputable dives. It was a cosmopolitan street. Representatives of different races and many na- tious frequented it. Here the ignoble red man, crazed with aguardiente, fought his battles, the swarthy Sonorian plied his stealthy dagger and the click of the revolver mingled with the clink of gold at the gaming table when some chivalric American felt that his word of "honah" had been impugned.
The Calle de Los Negros in the early '50S, when the deaths from violence in Los Angeles averaged one a day, was the central point from which the wickedness of the city radiated.
With the decadence of gold mining the char- acter of the street changed, but its morals were not improved by the change. It ceased to be the rendezvous of the gambler and the desperado and became the center of the Chinese quarter of the city. Carlyle says the eighteenth century blew its brains ont in the French Revolution. Nigger alley might be said to have blown its brains out, if it had any, in the Chinese massacre of 1871. That dark tragedy of our city's history, in which eighteen Chinamen were hanged by a mob, occurred on this street. It was the last of the many tragedies of the Calle de Los Negros; the extension of Los Angeles street, in 1886, wiped it out of existence.
The Calle del Toro was another historic street with a mixed reputation. Adjoining this street, near where the French hospital now stands, was located the Plaza de Los Toros. Here on fete days the sport-loving inhabitants of Los Angeles and the neighborhood round about gathered to witness that national amusement of Mexico and old Spain-the corida de toros (bull fights). And here, too, when a grizzly bear could be ob- tained from the neighboring mountains, were witnessed those combats so greatly enjoyed by the native Californians-bull and bear baiting. There were no humanitarian societies in those days to prohibit this cruel pastime. Macanley says the Puritans hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because of the pleasure it gave the spectators,-all pleasure, from their ascetic standpoint, being considered sinful. The bear had no friends among the Cali- fornians to take his part from any motive. It was death to poor bruin, whether lie was victor or vanquished; but the bull sometimes made it uncomfortable for his tormenters. The Star of December 18, 1858, describes this occurrence at one of these bull fights on the Calle del Toro: "An infuriated bull broke through the inclosure and rushed at the affrighted spectators. A wild panic ensued. Don Felipe Lugo spurred his
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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
horses in front of the furious bull. The long horns of the maddened animal were plunged into the horse. The gallant steed and his daring rider went down in the dust. The horse was instantly killed, but the rider escaped unhurt. Before the bull could rally for another charge half a dozen bullets from the ready revolvers of the spectators put an end to his existence."
The Plaza de Los Toros has long since been obliterated; and Bull street became Castelar 111ore than a quarter of a century ago.
Previous to 1847 there was but one street open- ing out from the plaza to the northward, and that was the narrow street known to old residents as Batlı street, since widened and extended, and now called North Main street. The committee that had charge of the "Squaring of the Plaza" projected the opening of another street to the north. It was the street long known as Upper Main, now called San Fernando. This street was cut through the old cuartel or guard house,
built in 1785, which stood on the southeastern side of the Plaza Real, or Royal Square, laid out by Governor Felipe de Neve when he founded the pueblo. Upper Main street opened into the Calle Real, or Royal street, which was one of de Neve's original streets opening out from the old plaza to the northwest.
Ord's survey or plan left some of the houses in the old parts of the city in the middle of the streets and others were cut off from a frontage. The city council labored long to adjust property lines to the new order of things. Finally, in 1854, an ordinance was passed allowing property own- ers to claim frontages to the streets nearest their houses.
There were but few new streets opened and 110 new subdivisions made for twenty years after Ord's survey. The city grew slowly and for more than two decades after the American conquest both the business and residence portions of the city remained in the neighborhood of the plaza.
CHAPTER XXIII.
MINES AND MINING BOOMS.
HILE not classed among the mining coun- ties of California, yet Los Angeles has figured in all the different phases of min- ing in "the days of gold," the days of ' 49. The first authenticated discovery of gold in Cali- fornia was made in territory now included within its borders, and the first "gold rush" that ever took place on the coast was to the placers* of the Castiac. It is generally conceded that Francisco Lopez was the first discoverer of gold in Cali- fornia, and the place of discovery the San Feli- ciano Cañon on the San Francisco Rancho. This cañon is about forty miles northwesterly from Los Angeles City and eight miles westerly from Newhall.
The exact date of the discovery is uncertain. According to Col. J. J. Warner, who visited the placers shortly after their discovery, the first gold nuggets were found in June, 1841. Isaac L.
Given, who arrived in Los Angeles in the fall of 1841 with the Rowland- Workman party, in a letter written to me in 1895 relates that "shortly after our arrival, Dr. Lyman and myself were invited to dine with Don Abel, as all the natives called him, and while in his house he showed us a quart bottle of gold dust obtained from the placers described by Col. Warner." As Given went to San Francisco about the close of the year 1841 and never returned to Los Angeles he could not be mistaken in the year. This would seen to fix beyond cavil the date of discovery in 1841, but on the other hand we have a letter to the California Pioneers in which Don Abel Stearns states positively that the discovery was made in March, 1842.
We have also in the California Archives a communication dated June 17, 1842, from Ignacio del Valle, on whose ranch the discovery was made, in which he refers to a note received May 3 last from the governor making inquiries about a placer of gold discovered on his ranch. There is
* The word placers for placeres, the Spanish plural of placer, is commonly used in California. Although incorrect, established usage makes it permissible.
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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
also in the California Archives an Incomplete Expediente, of which the following is a copy: To His Excellency, The Governor:
We, the citizens, Francisco Lopez, Mannel Cota and Domingo Bermudez, residents of the Port of Santa Barbara, before your Excellency, with the greatest submission, present ourselves saying: That as Divine Providence was pleased to give us a placer of gold on the 9th of last March in the locality of San Francisco (rancho) that belongs to the late Don Antonio del Valle; distant about one league south of his house, we now apply to Your Excellency asking you to give whatever orders you may think convenient and just in the matter, presenting herewith a sample of the gold. Wlierefore, to Your Ex- cellency, we pray you to give us the necessary permit authorizing us to commence our work, to- getlier with those who may wish to engage with us in the said work. Excusing us for the use of common paper in default of any of the cor- responding stamp.
FRANCISCO LOPEZ, MANUEL COTA, DOMINGO BERMUDEZ. By FRANCISCO LOPEZ. At the request of Domingo Bermudez, who cannot write.
This expediente fixes the day of the month on which the discovery was made, but unfortunately Lopez and liis associate omit the year. The petition refers to the late Antonio del Valle. Del Valle died in 1841, "the same year that gold was discovered on his place," says Baneroft, but on page 296 of Vol. IV. of his History of California, Bancroft says the discovery was made in 1842. The evidence seems to be about equally divided between the dates 1841 and 1842. I in- cline to the belief that it was made in 1841. Don Abel Stearns, in the letter referred to above, gives this account of the discovery: "Lopez, with a companion, while iu search of some stray horses about midday stopped under some trees and tied their horses to feed. While resting in the shade Lopez with his sheath knife dug up some wild onions and in the dirt discovered a piece of gold. Searching further he found more. On his re- turn to town lie showed these pieces to his friends, who at once declared there must be a placer of gold there." Colonel Warner this de- scribe the "gold rush" that followed: "The news of this discovery soon spread among the inhabit- ants from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles and in a few weeks hundreds of people were engaged in washing and winnowing the sands of these gold fields * * * The auriferous fields discovered in that year embraced the greater part of the country drained by the Santa Clara River, from
a point some fifteen or twenty miles from its mouth to its sources and easterly beyond them to Mount San Bernardino."
The first parcel of California gold dust ever coined at the Philadelphia mint was taken from these placers. It belonged to Don Abel Stearns and was carried by the late Alfred Robinson in a sailing vessel around Cape Horn. It consisted of 18.34 ounces-value after coining $344.75 or over $19 per ounce-a very superior quality of gold dust. It was deposited in the mint at Philadelphia July 8, 1843.
As to the yield of the San Fernando Placers, as these mines are generally called, it is impossible to obtain definite information. William Heath Davis in his "Sixty Years in California" gives the amount at $80,000 to $100,000 for the first two years after their discovery. He states that Mel- lus at one time shipped $5,000 of dust to Boston on the ship Alert. Bancroft says that "by De- cember, 1843, two thousand ounces of gold had been taken from the San Fernando mines." Don Antonio Coronel informed the author that he, with the assistance of three Indian laborers, in 1842 took out $600 worth of dust in two months. De Mofras in his book states that Carlos Baric, a Frenchman, in 1842 was obtaining an ounce a day of pure gold from his placer.
There was a great scarcity of water in the mines and the methods of extracting the gold were crude and wasteful. One process in use was the piling of a quantity of the pay gravel in the center of a square of inanta or coarse muslin and then dashing water on the pile from a bucket until the earth was washed away, the gold re- maining on the cloth. Another process of sep- arating the gold from the gravel and sand was by panning-using a batea or a bowl shaped Indian basket for a gold pan. Gold cradles and long toms were unknown to the miners of the San Fernando placers.
These mines were worked continuously from the time of their discovery until the American Conquest, principally by Sonorians. The dis- covery of gold at Coloma, January 24, 1848, drew away the miners and no work was done on these mines between 1848 and 1854.
In the spring of 1855 came the Kern River excitement, one of the famous "gold rushes" of California.
In the summer of 1854 gold was discovered 011 the head waters of the Kern River, but no excite- ment followed the first reports. But during the fall and winter stories were set afloat of some wonderful strikes of rich diggings. These stories grew as they traveled on and were purposely magnified by merchants and dealers in miners' supplies, who were overstocked with unsalable
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
goods, and by transportation companies, with whom business was slack. Their purpose was accomplished and the rush was on. It was the first rush that had profited Los Angeles. It was hard times in the old pueblo; business was dull and money scarce. The Southern Californian of December 24, 1854, says: "The great scarcity of money is seen in the present exorbitant rates of interest which it commands; 8 and 10 and even 15 per cent. a month is freely paid and the supply, even at these rates, is too meager to meet the demand."
In January the rush began. Every steamship down the coast was loaded to the guards with adventurers for the mines via Los Angeles. The sleepy old metropolis of the cow counties found itself suddenly transformed into a bustling mining camp.
The Southern Californian of February 8, 1855, thus describes the situation: "The road from our valley is literally thronged with people on their way to the mines. Hundreds of people have been leaving not only the city, but every portion of the county. Every description of vehicle and animal have been brought in requisi- tion to take the exultant seekers after wealth to the goal of their hopes. Immense ten-mule wagons, strung out one after another; long trains of pack mules, and men mounted and on foot, with picks and shovels; boarding-house keepers, with their tents; merchants with their stocks of miners' necessaries, and gamblers with their 'papers' are constantly leaving for the Kern River mines. The wildest stories are afloat. We do not place implicit reliance, however, upon these stories. If the mines turn out ten dollars a day to the man everybody ought to be satisfied. The opening of these mines has been a God- send to all of us, as the business of the entire country was on the point of taking to a tree."
As the boom increased our editor grows more jubilant. In his issue of March 7th he throws out these headlines: "Stop the Press! Glorious News from Kern River! Bring Out the Big Gun! There are a thousand gulches rich witlı gold and room for ten thousand miners. Miners averaging $50 a day. One man, with his own hands, took out $160 in a day. Five men in ten days took out $4,500." These wild rumors kept business booming in all directions in the old pueblo. In the above named issue of the Californian we find this item: "Last Sunday night was a brisk night for killing. Four men were shot and killed and several wounded in shooting affrays."
By way of Stockton and the upper San Joaquin Valley another stream of adventurers was pouring into these mines, In four months between five
and six thousand men had found their way into the Kern River mines. There was gold there, but not enough to go round. The few struck it rich; the many struck nothing but hard luck and the rush ont began. The disappointed miners and adventurers beat their way back to civiliza- tion as best they could. Some of them turned their attention to prospecting in the mountains south of the Tehachapi Pass and many new dis- coveries were made.
In April, 1855, a party entering the mountains by way of the Cajon Pass penetrated to the head waters of the San Gabriel River and found good prospects in some of the cañons, but were forced to leave on account of the water failing. The Santa Anita placers, about fifteen miles from the city, were discovered in 1856 The discoverers attempted to conceal their find and these mines were known as the "Secret Diggings," but the secret was found out. These mines paid from $6 to $10 a day.
Work was actively resumed in the San Fernando diggings. Francisco Garcia, working a gang of Indians, in 1855 took out $65,000. It is said that one nugget worth $1,900 was found in these mines. In 1858 the Santa Anita Mining Company was organized, D. Marchessault, presi- dent; V. Beaudry, treasurer; capital, $50,000. A ditch four miles long was cut around the foot of the mountain and hydraulic works constructed. Upon the completion of these works, February 15, 1859, the company gave a dinner to invited guests from the city. The success of the enter- prise was toasted and wine and wit flowed as freely as the water in the hydraulic pipes. The mines returned a handsome compensation on the outlay.
During the year 1859 the canon of the San Gabriel was prospected for forty miles and some rich placer claims located. On some of the bars as high as $8 to the pan were obtained. The correspondent of the Los Angeles Star reports these strikes: "From a hill claim four men took out $80 in one day." "Two Mexicans, with a common wooden bowl or batea, panned ont $90 in two days." "Two hydraulic companies are taking out $1,000 a week." In July, 1859, 300 men were at work in the cañon and all reported doing well. A stage line ran from the city to the mines. Three stores at Eldoradoville, the chief mining camp of the cañon, supplied the miners with the necessaries of life, and several saloons, with gambling accompaniments, the luxuries.
The editor of the Star, in the issue of December 3, 1859, grows enthusiastic over the mining pros- pects of Los Angeles. He says: "Gold placers are now being worked from Fort Tejon to San
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