Historical and biographical record of southern California; containing a history of southern California from its earliest settlement to the opening year of the twentieth century, Part 3

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago, Chapman pub. co.
Number of Pages: 1366

USA > California > Historical and biographical record of southern California; containing a history of southern California from its earliest settlement to the opening year of the twentieth century > Part 3

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Sproul, Atwood

896 Toland, Thomas O

505 Whitted, Dr. Charles.

1181

Sproul, Gilbert H.

Toms, Silas 822

875

Wiley, William H.

1034

Spurgeon, Granville

805 Townsend, Stephen

II31

Wilkinson, Clark G. 786

Spurgeon, William H.

661

Trask, Hon. D. K.

552

Wilkinson, John B. 1000

St. Anthony's College.

517 Traster, William H. I094 Willett, Hon. C. J. 1087

Staats, William R.

998 Trotter, J. P. 809

Williams, Albert C. 1264

Stambach, H. L., M. D 637 Truax, R. C .. 1124

Williams, Hon. B. T. 655

Stanley, C. N

1026 Turner, Elbert B. 109I

Williams, George M. 659

1269

Smith, Rufus D., Sr

Weber, William P. 1089

Smith, Sanford S.

979

Talbott, Hon. W. L. 1092

Smith, Solon

632

Tallant, E. C .. 504

II35

Streeter, Hon. H. M.

709 Walker, Frank 602

Skidmore, S. S ..

1024

Strohm, Capt. Thomas 1057

Skillen, Charles M

731

Stromee, Gustaf 607

Strong, Robert

II32

Warring, Benjamin F. 641

Shelton, Rice B ..

767

Stewart, Nathaniel

400

Von Der Lohe, D. H. P. 1203

Von Der Lohe, J. H. C .. 985

Vredenburgh, Levi

936

Shaw, James E.

480

Steward, Leland B.

I196

Virden, Benjamin S. 649

Vail, Hugh D. 226

Severance, T. C.

309

Stephenson, G. F

1023

University of Southern Cali- fornia

232

Sebelius, C ..

924

Stebbins, Charles L 924

Ussher, Paul E .. 932

Vernon, Charles J 536

1275 822

Storke, Hon. C. A. 500

Waite, George W. I204

Strahan, D. W.

1015

Waldie, Alexander 483

Simpson, Thomas F.

Suess, John 917

Waters, Hon. R. J .. I294 Waters, Capt. William G. 649

1093

Weber, Moritz

774 636

1002 988

608

Wheelan, Miss Naomi. 654

Spence, J. P. I282 587

II85

Todd, M. De L.

Sprague, B. O.

I244

Todd, Robert A ..

6.47

563

295 830 Towle, Charles H.

Wickenden, W. F

575

Sproul, William

Tietzen, Paul O.

Spencer, B. F.

Titus, Luther H.

Spencer, Thomas, M. D

Tenhaeff, William 722 883

Wetzel, Martin . 1177

I207

INDEX.

Page.

Williams, Mrs. Julia F.

510

Wing, William

1178

Woodbury, George B.

788

Williams, John H.

396

Wiswell, Royal

659

Woods, Alvin M ..

II79

Williams, J. McCoy

439

Witherspoon, Isaac A

733

Woodward, S. K.

926

Williams, O. D.

1249

Wolfskill. William

1273

Woodworth, J. H. 788

Willoughby, James R.

26g

Wood, Harry .

660

Woolley, L. J ..

926

Willson, John A.

II88

Wood, Henry P.

343

Workman, William H.

I021

Wilson, A. C. J.

387

Wood, John W

876

Works, Hon. J. D.

I206

Wilson, Allen J.

895

Wood, Joshua

787

Worthley, F. A.

882

Wilson, Jerome C.

II51

Wood, J. W., M. D.

1003

Wilson, P. J.

656

Wood, Thomas D ..

661

Wilson, R. H.

786

Wood, Rev. W. O.

I270

York, Hon. W. M 1271

HISTORICAL.

(HISTORIAN.)

J Pr. Guin

CHAPTER I.

SPANISH DISCOVERIES ON THE PACIFIC COAST OF NORTH AMERICA.

T HE unparalleled success of our army and navy in our recent war with Spain has bred in us a contempt for the Spanish soldier and sailor; and, in. our overmastering Anglo-Saxon conceit, we are inclined to con- · sider our race the conservator of enterprise, ad- venture and martial valor; while on the other hand we regard the Spanish Celt a prototype of indolence, and as lacking in energy and cour- age.

And yet there was a time when these race con- ditions were seemingly reversed. There was a time when Spain, to-day moribund, dying of political conservatism, ignorance and bigotry, . was the most energetic, the most enterprising and the most adventurous nation of Europe.

A hundred years before our Pilgrim Fathers landed on Plymouth Rock, Spain had flourish- ing colonies in America. Eighty-five years be- fore the first cabin was built in Jamestown, Cortés had conquered and made tributary to the Spanish crown the empire of Mexico-a country more populous and many times larger than Spain herself. Ninety years before the Dutch .had planted the germ of a settlement on Man- hattan Island-the site of the future metropolis of the new world-Pizarro, the swineherd of Truxillo, with a handful of adventurers, had con- quered Peru, the richest, most populous and most civilized empire of America.

In less than fifty years after the discovery of America by Columbus, Balboa had discovered the Pacific Ocean; Magellan, sailing through the straits that still bear his name and crossing the wide Pacific, had discovered the Islands of the Setting Sun (now the Philippines) and his ship had circumnavigated the globe; Alvar Nu1- ñez (better known as Cabeza de Vaca), with three companions, the only survivors of three hundred men Narvaez landed in Florida, after years of wandering among the Indians, had crossed the continent overland from the Atlantic to the Pacific: Coronado had penetrated the in- terior of the North American continent to the plains of Kansas ; Alarcon had reached the head of the Gulf of California and sailed up the Rio Colorado; and Cabrillo, the discoverer of Alta California, had explored the Pacific Coast of

Anterica to the 44th parallel of North Latitude.

While the English were cautiously feeling their way along the North Atlantic Coast of . America and taking possession of a few bays and harbors, the Spaniards had possessed themselves of- nearly all of the South American continent and more than one-third of the North American. When we consider the imperfect arms with which the Spaniards made their conquests, and the lumbering and unseaworthy craft in which they explored unknown and uncharted seas, we are surprised at their success and astonished at their enterprise and daring.

The ships of Cabrillo were but little better than floating tubs, square rigged, high decked, broad bottomed-they sailed almost equally well with broadside as with keel to the wave. Even the boasted galleons of Spain were but little bet- ter than caricatures of maritime architecture- huge, clumsy, round-stemmed vessels, with sides from the water's edge upward sloping inward, and built up at stem and stern like castles- they rocked and rolled their way across the ocean. Nor were storms and shipwreck on un- known seas the mariner's greatest dread nor his deadliest enemies. That fearful scourge of the high seas, the dreaded escorbuto, or scurvy, al- ways made its appearance on long voyages and sometimes exterminated the entire ship's crew. Sebastian Viscaino, in 1602, with three ships and two hundred men, sailed out of Acapulco to ex- plore the Coast of California. At the end of a voyage of eleven months the San Tomas re- turned with nine men alive. Of the crew of the Tres Reys (Three Kings) only five returned ; and his flag ship, the San Diego, lost more than half her men.

A hundred and sixty-seven years later Galvez fitted out an expedition for the colonization of California. He despatched the San Antonio and the San Carlos as a complement of the land ex- peditions under Portolá and Serra. The San Antonio, after a prosperous voyage of fifty- seven days from Cape San Lucas, anchored in San Diego harbor. The San Carlos, after a tedious voyage of one hundred and ten days from La Paz, drifted into San Diego Bay, her crew prostrated with scurvy, not enough able-

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

bodied men to man a boat to reach the shore. When the plague had run its course, of the crew of the San Carlos one sailor and a cook were all that were alive. The San José, despatched sev- eral months later from San José del Cabo with mission supplies and a double crew to supply the loss of men on the other vessels, was never heard of after the day of her sailing. Her fate was doubtless that of many a gallant ship before her time. Her crew, prostrated by the scurvy, none able to man the ship, not one able to wait upon another, dying, dying, day by day until all are dead-then the vessel, a floating charnel house, tossed by the winds and. buffeted by the waves, sinks at last into the ocean's depths and her ghastly tale of horrors forever remains tin- told.

It is to the energy and adventurous spirit of Hernan Cortés, the conqueror of Mexico, that we owe the discovery of California at so early a period in the age of discoveries. Scarcely had he completed the conquest of Mexico before he began preparations for new conquests. The vast unknown regions to the north and northwest of Mexico proper held within them possibilities of illimitable wealth and spoils. To the explora- tion and conquest of these he bent his energies.

In 1522, but three years after his landing in Mexico, he had established a shipyard at Zaca- tula, on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, and began building an exploring fleet. But from the very beginning of his enterprise "unmerciful disaster followed him fast and followed him faster." His warehouse at Zacatula, filled with ship-building material, carried at great expense overland from Vera Cruz, was burned. Shipwreck and mutiny at sea ; disasters and defeat of his forces on land; treachery of his subordinates and jealousy of royal officials thwarted his plans and wasted his substance. After expending nearly a million dollars in explorations and attempts at coloniza- tion, disappointed, impoverished, fretted and worried by the ingratitude of a monarch for whom he had sacrificed so much, he died in 1547, at a little village near Seville, in Spain.

It was through a mutiny on one of Cortés' ships that the peninsula of California was dis- covered. In 1533, Cortes had fitted out two new ships for exploration and discoveries. On one of these, commanded by Becerra de Mendoza, a mutiny broke out headed by Fortuño Ximenez, the chief pilot. Mendoza was killed and his friends forced to go ashore on the coast of Jalisco, where they were abandoned. Ximenez and his mutinous crew sailed directly away from the coast and after being at sea for a number of days discovered what they supposed to be an island. They landed at a place now known as La Paz, in Lower California. Here Ximenez

and twenty of his companions were reported to have been killed by the Indians. The remainder of the crew navigated the ship back to Jalisco, where they reported the discovery. In 1535 Cortés landed at the same port where Ximenez had been killed. Here he attempted to plant a colony, but the colony scheme was a failure and the colonists returned to Mexico.

The last voyage of exploration made under the auspices of Cortés was that of Francisco de Ulloa in 1539-40. He sailed up the Gulf of Cali- fornia to its head, skirting the coast of the main land, then turning he sailed down the castern shore of the peninsula, doubled Cape San Lucas and sailed up the Pacific Coast of Lower California to Cedros Island, where, on account of head winds, and his provisions being nearly . exhausted, he was forced to return. His voyage proved that what hitherto had been considered an island was a peninsula. The name California had been applied to the peninsula when it was supposed to be an island, some time between 1535 and 1539. The name was undoubtedly taken from an old Spanish romance, "The Sergas de Esplandian," written by Ordoñez de Montalvo, and published in Seville about 1510. This novel was quite popular in the times of Cortés and ran through several editions. This romance describes an island "on the right hand of the Indies, very near the Terrestrial Paradise, which was peopled with black women without any men among them, because they were accus- tomed to live after the fashion of Amazons." The supposition that the Indies lay at no great distance to the left of the supposed island 110 doubt suggested the fitness of the name, but who first applied it is uncertain.

So far the explorations of the North Pacific had not extended to what in later years was known as Alta California. It is truc Alarcon, the discoverer of the Colorado River in 1540, may possibly have set foot on Californian soil, and Melchoir Diaz later in the same year may have done so when he led an expedition to the mouth of the Colorado, or Buena Guia, as it was then called, but there were no interior boundary lines, and the whole country around the Colo- rado was called Pimeria. Alarcon had returned from his voyage up the Gulf of California with- out accomplishing any of the objects for which he had been sent by Viceroy Mendoza. Coro- nado was still absent in search of Quivera and the fabulous seven cities of Cibola. Mendoza was anxious to prosecute the search for Quivera still further. Pedro de Alvarado had arrived at Navidad from Guatemala with a fleet of 12 ships and a license from the crown for the discovery and conquest of islands in the South Scas. Men- doza, by sharp practice, had obtained a half in-

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

terest in the projected discoveries. It was pro- posed before beginning the voyage to the South Seas to employ Alvarado's fleet and men in exploring the Gulf of California and the country to the north of it, but before the expedition was ready to sail an insurrection broke out among the natives of Nueva Galacia and Jalisco. Al- varado was sent with a large part of his force to suppress it. In an attack upon a fortified strong- hold he was killed by the insurgents. In the meantime Coronado's return dispelled the myths of Quivera and the seven cities of Cibola ; dis- approved Padre Niza's stories of their fabulous wealth and dissipated Mendoza's hopes of find-

ing a second Mexico or Peru in the desolate regions of Pimeria. The death of Alvarado had left the fleet at Navidad without a commander, and Mendoza having obtained full possession of the fleet it became necessary for him to find something for it to do. Five of the ships were despatched under command of Ruy Lopez de Villalobos to the Islas de Poniente or the Islands of the Setting Sun (on this voyage Villalobos changed the name of these islands to the Philip- pines) to establish trade with the islanders, and two of the ships under Cabrillo were sent to ex- plore the northwest coast of the mainland of North America.

26238

CHAPTER 11.

THE DISCOVERY OF NUEVA OR ALTA CALIFORNIA.

J UAN RODRIGUEZ CABRILLO (gener- ally reputed to be a Portuguese by birth, bit of this there is no positive evidence) sailed from Navidad, June 27, 1542, with two ships, the San Salvador and Vitoria. On the 20th of August he reached Cabo del Engaño, the Cape of Deceit, the highest point reached by Ulloa. From there he sailed on unknown seas. On the 28th of September he discovered "a land locked and very good harbor," which he named San Miguel, now supposed to be San Diego. Leaving there October 3, he sailed along the coast eighteen leagues to the islands some seven leagues from the mainland. These he named after his ships, San Salvador and Vitoria, now Santa Catalina and San Clemente. On the 8th of October he crossed the channel between the islands and the mainland and sailed into a port which he named Bahia de Los Fumos, the Bay of Smokes. The bay and the headlands were shrouded in a dense cloud of smoke, hence the name.

The Bahia de Los Fumos, or Fuegos, is now known as the Bay of San Pedro. Sixty-seven years before Hendrick Hudson entered the Bay of New York, Cabrillo had dropped anchor in the Bay of San Pedro, the future port of Los Angeles. After sailing six leagues farther, on October 9, Cabrillo anchored in a large ensenada or bight, which is supposed to be what is now the Bay of Santa Monica. It is uncertain whether he landed at either place. The next day he sailed eight leagues to an Indian town, which he named the Pueblo de Las Canoas (the town of canoes), this was probably located near the present site of San Buenaventura. Continuing his voyage up the coast he passed through the Santa Bar- bara Channel, discovering the Islands of Santa

Cruz, Santa Rosa and San Miguel. He discov ered and entered Monterey Bay and reached the latitude of San Francisco Bay, when he was forced by severe storms to return to the island now known as San Miguel, in the Santa Barbara Channel. There he died, January 3, 1543, from the effects of a fall, and was buried on the island.

The discoverer of California sleeps in an un- known grave in the land he discovered. No monument commemorates his virtues or his deeds. His fellow voyagers named the island where he was buried Juan Rodriguez after their brave commander, but subsequent navigators robbed him of even this slight honor. Barto- lomé Ferrelo, his chief pilot, continued the ex- ploration of the coast and on March I, 1543, discovered Cape Blanco, in the southern part of what is now Oregon. His provisions being nearly exhausted he was compelled to turn back. He ran down the coast, his ships having become separated in a storm at San Clemente Island, they came together again at Cerros Island and both safely reached Navidad, April 18, 1543, after an absence of nearly a year. Cabrillo's voyage was the last one undertaken as a private enterprise by the Viceroys of New Spain. The law giving licenses to subjects to make explora- tions and discoveries was changed. Subsequent explorations were made under the auspices of the kings of Spain.

For nearly seventy years the Spaniards had field undisputed sway on the Pacific Coast of America. Their isolation had protected the cities and towns of the coast from the plunder- ing raids of the buccaneers and other sea rovers. Immunity from danger had permitted the build- ing up of a flourishing trade along the coast and wealth had flowed into the Spanish coffers. But

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

their dream of security was to be rudely broken.

Francis Drake, the bravest and most daring of the sea kings of the 16th century, had early won wealth and fame by his successful raids in the Spanish West Indies. When he proposed to fit out an expedition against the Spanish settle- ments on the Pacific, although England and Spain was at peace with each other, he found plenty of wealthy patrons to aid him, even Queen Elizabeth herself taking a share in his venture. He sailed from Plymouth, England, December 13, 1577, with five small vessels. When he reached the Pacific Ocean by way of the Straits of Magellan he had but one "the Golden Hind" a ship of one hundred tons. All the others had turned back or been left behind. Sailing up the Coast of South America he spread terror among the Spanish settlements, robbing towns and capturing ships, until, in the quaint language of a chronicler of the expedition, he "had loaded his vessel with a fabulous amount of fine wares from Asia, precious stones, church ornaments, gold plate and so mooch silver as did ballas the Goulden Hinde." With treasure amounting to "eight hundred, sixty sixe thousand pezos (dol- lars) of silver * a hundred thousand * pezos of gold * * and other things of great worth he thought it not good to returne by the (Magellan) streiglits *

* least the Span- * iards should there waite, and attend for him in great numbers and strength whose hands, he being left but one ship, he could not possibly escape."

By the first week in March, 1579, he had reached the entrance to the Bay of Panama. Surfeited with spoils and loaded with plunder it became necessary for him to find as speedy a passage homeward as possible. To return by the way he had come was to invite certain de- struction. So he resolved to seek for the fabled Straits of Anian, which were believed to con- nect the Atlantic and Pacific. Striking boldly out on the trackless ocean he sailed more than a thousand leagues northward. Encountering contrary winds and cold weather, he gave up his search for the straits and turning he ran down the coast to latitude 38°, where "hee found a har- borow for his ship." He anchored in it June 17, 1579. This harbor is now known as Drake's Bay and is situated about half a degree north of San Francisco under Point Reyes.

Fletcher, the chronicler of Drake's voyage, in liis narrative "The World Encompassed," says : "The 3d day following, viz. the 21st, our ship having received a leake at sea was brought to anchor neerer the shoare that her goods being landed she might be repaired; but for that we were to prevent any danger that might chance against our safety our Generall first of all landed

his men with all necessary provision to build tents and make a fort for the defense of ourselves and goods ; and that we might under the shelter of it with more safety (whatever should befall) end our businesse."

The ship was drawn upon the beach, careened on its side, caulked and refitted. While the crew were repairing the ship the natives visited them in great numbers. From some of their actions Drake inferred that the natives regarded himself and his men as gods; to disabuse their minds of such a false impression he had his chaplain, Francis Fletcher, perform divine service accord- ing to the English Episcopal ritual. After the service they sang psalmns. The Indians en- joyed the singing, but their opinion of Fletcher's sermon is not known. From certain ceremonial performances of the Indians, Drake imagined that they were offering him the sovereignty of their country; he accepted the gift and took formal possession of it in the name of Queen Elizabeth. He named it New Albion "for two causes; the one in respect of the white bankes and cliffes which ly towardes the sea; and the other because it might have some affinitie with our own countrey in name which sometimes was so called." *

After the necessary repairs to the ship were made, "our Generall, with his company, made a journey up into the land." "The inland we found to be farre different from the shoare, a goodly country and fruitful soyle, stored with many blessings fit for the use of man ; infinite was the company of very large and fat deere which there we saw by thousands as we supposed in a heard."* They saw also great numbers of small burrowing animals which they called conies, but which were probably ground squir- rels, although the narrator describes the animal's tail as "like the tayle of a rat eceeding long." Be- fore departing, Drake caused to be set up a mon- ument to show that he had taken possession of the country. His monument was a post sunk in the ground to which was nailed a brass plate en- graven with the name of the English Queen, the day and year of his arrival and that the king and people of the country had voluntarily be- come vassals of the English crown. A new six- pence was also nailed to the post to show her highness' picture and arms. On the 23rd of July, 1579, Drake sailed away, much to the regret of the Indians, who "took a sorrowful farewell of us but being loathe to leave us they presently runne to the top of the hils to keepe us in sight as long as they cou'd, making fires before and behind and on each side of them burning therein sacrifices at our departure."*

* World Encompassed.

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

He crossed the Pacific Ocean and by way of the Cape of Good Hope reached England, September 26, 1580, after an absence of nearly three years, having encompassed the world. He believed himself to be the first discoverer of the country he called New Albion. "The Span- iards," says Drake's chaplain, Fletcher, in his World Encompassed, "never had any dealings or so much as set a foote in this country, the utmost of their discoveries reaching only to many degrees southward of this place." The English had not yet begun planting colonies in the new world, so no further attention was paid to Drake's discovery of New Albion, and Cali- fornia remained a Spanish possession.

Sixty years have passed since Cabrillo's visit to California, and in all these years Spain has made no effort to colonize it. Only the In- dian canoe has cleft the waters of its southern bays and harbors. Far out to the westward be- yond the islands the yearly galleon from Ma- nila, freighted with the treasures of "Ormus and of Ind," sailed down the coast of California to Acapulco. These ships kept well out from the southern coast to escape those wolves of the high seas-the buccaneers; for, lurking near the coast of Las Californias, these ocean robbers watched for the white sails of the galleon, and woe to the proud ship if they sighted her. She was chased down by the robber pack and plun- dered of her treasures. Sixty years have passed but the Indians of the Coast still keep alive the tradition of bearded men floating in from the sea on the backs of monster white winged birds, and they still watch for the return of their strange visitors. Sixty years pass and again the Indian watchers by the sea discern mysterious white winged objects floating in upon the waters of the bays and harbors of California. These are the ships of Sebastian Viscaino's fleet.

Whether the faulty reckoning of Cabrillo left Viscaino in doubt of the points named by the first discoverer or whether it was that he might receive the credit of their discovery-Viscaino changed the names given by Cabrillo to the islands, bays and headlands along the coast : San Miguel of Cabrillo became San Diego, so named for Viscaino's flag ship; San Salvador and La Vitoria became Santa Catalina and San Clemente ; and Cabrillo's Bahia de Los Fumos appears on Viscaino's map as the Ensenada de San Andres-the bight or cove of St. An- drew ; but in a description of the voyage com- piled by the cosmographer, Cabrera Bueno, it is named San Pedro. It is not named for the apostle St. Peter, as is generally supposed, but for St. Peter, Bishop of Alexandria, whose day in the Catholic calendar is November 26, the day of the month that Viscaino anchored in the

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Historical and biographical record of southern California; containing a history of southern California from its earliest settlement to the opening year of the twentieth century, Part 3

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918 Publication date: 1902 Publisher: Chicago, Chapman pub. co. Number of Pages: 1366

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago, Chapman pub. co.
Number of Pages: 1366