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 7

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

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It was a monotonous existence the soldiers and their families led at the presidio. Most if not all resided inside the presidial square, which now had an adobe wall around it instead of palisades. Once a month the soldier couriers brought up from Loreta a budget of mail made up of official bandos and a few letters that con- tained all the items of news that came from their home land, Mexico. The mission was two leagues up the river and there most of the Indians were congregated. The padres had lit- tle use for the soldiers except when the natives rebelled, but in the closing years of the century the fierce Dieguños had become subjugated to mission rules. Once a year the mission ship landed the year's supplies at the embarcadero down the bay and this was about the only ripple of excitement that broke the weary monotony of their lives.

In the first years of the nineteenth century. the Yankee fur trading vessels discovered the port of San Diego and occasionally broke the monotony of the soldiers' lives. They came to trade for sea otter skins, the most valued peltry of the coast. There was a heavy export duty on these, and to avoid this the captains resorted to any expedient that promised success. The people were not averse to illicit trading if

*Bancroft, Vol. 1.

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

they could get a better price for their furs. In March, 1803, the Lelia Byrd, a Yankee fur-trading vessel, put into San Diego bay, ostensibly to secure supplies but really to trade for otter skins. The commander of the presidio had about a thousand skins, part of which he had secured by confiscation from Captain John Brown of the ship Alexander. Shaler, cap- tain of the Byrd, tried to buy the skins from the comandante but was unsuccessful. Then he attempted to trade with the soldiers who had a few. He was detected at this, and one boat- load of his men sent out at night to secure the skins was made prisoners. He sent an armed force ashore and rescued his men and, getting them aboard, hoisted sail and put to sea with the guards that had been put aboard to hold the ship. As he passed the fort at what is now Ballast Point the Spaniards fired a broadside at the vessel. The captain returned the fire and then placed the Spanish sergeant and his guard in an exposed situation where their friends would be pretty sure to hit them when they fired. The sergeant frantically besought his compatriots of the fort to cease firing, which they did. The guards were put ashore further along, greatly to their relief.

During the long years of the Mexican Revo- lution the old presidio fell into decay and the old guns in the fort at Point Guijarros grew rusty from disuse. This fort or battery had been built in 1797 to defend the entrance to the bay.

Only once during the long contest for Mex- ican independence did war's wrinkled front affright the soldiers of the fort, and that was in 1818, when Bouchard, the privateer, from the black hull of his piratical craft looked into the bay to see whether there was anything to plunder, but, seeing nothing, passed by without entering. Comandante Ruiz was prepared for him and awaited his attempt to enter with red hot cannon balls to burn his ships. Little did the soldiers of the old presidio know of the inter- necine struggle in Mexico that was transform- ing them from subjects of a monarchy to free citizens of a republic. They knew that there was trouble, but what it was about they were ignorant, nor did their officers and the padres who were loyalist attempt to enlighten them.

But there came a day when the flag of Spain, that for fifty years had floated from the presidio flagstaff, was lowered, never again to rise, and in its stead was unfurled the tri-color of the Mexican empire. A few months pass and that goes down before the banner of the Republic. His transfer of allegiance from monarchy to republicanism brings no change for the better in the soldier's condition. He is poorly paid,

poorly fed, and the old presidio with its cracked adobe walls that have sheltered him so long is fast crumbling to ruins.

Mexico, more liberal than Spain, lifted from commerce some of the restrictions that had oppressed it and trade began to seek California ports. First came the hide droghers with their department-store cargoes.

San Diego was well located to secure that trade. Robinson in "Life in California" tells us what the town looked like in 1829, when hides and tallow were the only exports- and when it was the capital of the two Californias : "After dinner we called upon the General Don José Maria de Echeandia, a tall gaunt personage, who received us with true Spanish dignity and polite- ness. His house was located in the center of a large square of buildings occupied by his officers, and so elevated as to overlook them all and command a view of the sea. On the right hand was a small Gothic chapel with its ceme- tery and immediately in front, close to the prin- cipal entrance, was a guardroom where the soldiers were amusing themselves; some seated on the ground playing cards, and smoking, while others were dancing to the music of the guitar ; the whole was surrounded by a high wall orig- inally intended as a defence against the Indians. At the gate stood a sentinel, with slouched hat and blanket thrown over one shoulder, his old Spanish musket resting on the other ; his panta- loons were buttoned and ornamented at the knee, below which his legs were protected by leggins of dressed deer skin, secured with spangled garters.

"On the lawn beneath the hill on which the presidio is built stood about thirty houses of rude appearance, mostly occupied by retired vet- erans, not so well constructed in respect either to beauty or stability as the houses at Monterey, with the exception of that belonging to our Administrator, Don Juan Bandini, whose man- sion, then in an unfinished state, bade fair, when completed, to surpass any other in the country."

A few months later, Robinson on his return to San Diego attended a house warming at Don Juan Bandini's. "Señor Don Juan Bandini had his house bendecida or blessed during our stay here, and Gale and myself were invited to attend. The ceremony took place at noon, when the chaplain proceeded through the different apart- ments, sprinkling holy water on the walls and uttering verses in Latin. This concluded, we sat down to an excellent dinner consisting of all the luxuries the place afforded provided in Don Juan's best style." After dinner came a dance and in the evening a fandango. Such was San Diego in 1829.

Seven years pass and then another employe

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

of the "hide droghers"-R. H. Dana-draws this picture of the old presidio and the town as lie saw them in 1836: "The first place we went to was the old ruinous presidio, which stands on a rising ground near the village which it over- looks. It is built in the form of an open square, like all the other presidios, and was in a most ruinous state, with the exception of one side, in which the commandant lived with his family. There were only two guns, one of which was spiked and the other had no carriage. Twelve half clothed and half starved looking fellows composed the garrison; and they, it was said, had not a musket apiece. The small settlement lay directly below the fort composed of about forty dark brown looking huts or houses and three or four larger ones whitewashed, which belonged to the "gente de razon."

One more picture and the last: The old presidio is in ruins. The ragged soldiers are gone. The cannon spiked and unspiked have disappeared. The hide droghers are only a memory. Another nation controls the destinies of California, but through the changing years San Diego remains unchanged. "Twenty-four years after" (1859) Dana revisited the town and thus describes it : "The little town of San Diego has undergone no change whatever that I can see. It certainly has not grown. It is still like Santa Barbara, a Mexican town. The four prin- cipal houses of the gente de razon-of the Ban- dinis, Estudillos, Argüellos, and Picos-are the chief houses now; but all the gentlemen-and their families, too, I believe-are gone. The big, vulgar shop keeper and trader Fitch is long since dead; Tom Wrightington, who kept the rival pulperia, fell from his horse when drunk and was found nearly eaten up by coyotes ; and I can scarce find a person whom I remember."

SANTA BARBARA.

Cabrillo, in 1542, found a large Indian popu- lation inhabiting the main land of the Santa Barbara Channel. Two hundred and twenty- seven years later, when Portolá made his ex- ploration, apparently there had been no decrease in the number of inhabitants. No portion of the coast offered a better field for missionary labor and Father Serra was anxious to enter it. In accordance with Governor Felipe de Neve's report of 1777, it had been decided to found three missions and a presidio on the channel. Various causes had delayed the founding and it was not until April 17, 1782, that Governor de Neve arrived at the point where he had decided to locate the presidio of Santa Barbara. Thc troops that were to man the fort reached San Gabriel in the fall of 1781. It was thought best for them to remain there until the rainy season

was over. March 26, 1782, the Governor and Father Serra, accompanied by the largest body of troops that had ever before been collected in California, set out to found the mission of San Buenaventura and the presidio. The Gover- nor, as has been stated in a former chapter, was recalled to San Gabriel. The mission was founded and the Governor having rejoined the cavalcade a few weeks later proceeded to find a location for the presidio.

"On reaching a point nine leagues from San Buenaventura, the Governor called a halt and in company with Father Serra at once proceeded to select a site for the presidio. The choice resulted in the adoption of the square now formed by city blocks 139, 140, 155 and 156, and bounded in common by the following streets : Figueroa, Cañon Perdido, Garden and Anacapa. A large community of Indians were residing there, but orders were given to leave them un- disturbed. The soldiers were at once directed to hew timbers and gather brush to erect tem- porary barracks, which when completed were also used as a chapel. A large wooden cross was made that it might be planted in the center of the square and possession of the country was taken in the name of the cross-the emblem of Christianity.

"April 21, 1782, the soldiers formed a square and with edifying solemnity raised the cross and secured it in the earth. Father Serra blessed and consecrated the district and preached a ser- mon. The royal standard of Spain was un- furled."*

An inclosure, sixty varas square, was made of palisades. The Indians were friendly and through their Chief Yanoalit, who controlled thirteen rancherias, details of them were secured. to assist the soldiers in the work of building. The natives were paid in food and clothing for their labor.

Irrigation works were constructed consisting of a large reservoir made of stone and cement, with a zanja for conducting water to the presidio. The soldiers, who had families, culti- vated small gardens, which aided in their sup- port. Lieutenant Ortega was in command of the presidio for two years after its founding. He was succeeded by Lieutenant Felipe de Goy- coechea. After the founding of the mission, in 1786, a bitter feud broke out between the padres and the comandante of the presidio. Goy- coechea claimed the right to employ the Indians in the building of the presidio, as he had done before the coming of the friars. This they denied. After an acrimonious controversy the dispute was finally compromised by dividing the

*Father Gabelleria's History of Santa Barbara.

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Indians into two bands-a mission band and a presidio band.

Gradually the palisades were replaced by an adobe wall twelve feet high. It had a stone foundation and was strongly built. The plaza or inclosed square was 330 feet on each side. On two sides of this inclosure were ranged the family houses of the soldiers, averaging in size 15x25 feet. On one side stood the officers' quarters and the church. On the remaining side were the main entrance four varas wide, the store rooms, soldiers' quarters and guard room; and adjoining these outside the walls were the cor- rals for cattle and horses. A force of from fifty to sixty soldiers was kept at the post. There were bastions at two of the corners for cannon.

The presidio was completed about 1790, with the exception of the chapel, which was not fin- ished until 1797. Many of the soldiers wlien they had served out their time desired to remain in the country. These were given permission to build houses outside the walls of the presidio and in course of time a village grew up around it.

At the close of the century the population of the gente de razon of the district numbered 370. The presidio when completed was the best in California. Vancouver, the English navigator, who visited it in November, 1793, says of it: "The buildings appeared to be regular and well constructed, the walls clean and white and the roofs of the houses were covered with a bright red tile. The presidio excels all the others in neatness, cleanliness and other smaller though essential comforts ; it is placed on an elevated part of the plain and is raised some feet from the ground by a basement story which adds much to its pleasantness."

During the Spanish regime the settlement at the presidio grew in the leisurely way that all Spanish towns grew in Californa. There was but little immigration from Mexico and about the only source of increase was from invalid sol- diers and the children of the soldiers growing up to manhood and womanhood.

Foreigners were not allowed to remain in the country. In 1795, an English merchant ship, the "Phoenix," touched at Santa Barbara for supplies and left a Boston boy who wanted to remain, "become a Christian" and grow up with the country. This Boston boy's name was Joseph O'Cain and he is described as "an. En- glishman, a native of Ireland, whose parents now reside in Boston." Whether O'Cain "became a Christian" the records do not state, but he did not become a citizen of California. A few months after his arrival they shipped him to San Blas.

The presidio furnished guards for the mis-

sions in its district, namely : San Gabriel, San Fernando, San Buenaventura, Santa Barbara, La Purisima and Santa Inez ; and also the pueblo guard of Los Angeles. Lieutenant José de la Guerra y Noriega took command of it in 1815. In 1818 he was promoted to be captain and for twenty-four years was the comandante of the district. During his administration, April, 1822, the oath of allegiance to the imperial regency, Augustin I., emperor of Mexico, was taken by the officers, soldiers and citizens and the rule of Spain was at an end. Next year they sworc allegiance to the Republic. Father Gabelleria in his history says : "On receiving intelligence that the cause of independence had triumphed, they immediately took up the cry recognizing the then Mexican government, and although they were Spanish soldiers shouted with one accord, 'Abajo España' (down with Spain)."

It was at this time that direct trade was opened up between Boston and California and the "hide droghers" that afterward became such a prominent feature in California commerce came to the coast. To William A. Gale, who in the early years of the century had been a fur trader on the coast, belongs the credit of inaugu- rating this trade. With him, in 1829, in the ship "Brookline," came Alfred Robinson, whose "Life in California" gives us the best descrip- tion of manners, usages and customs in Califor- nia during the early years of the last century. Robinson, who visited Santa Barbara in 1829, thus describes it :

"Seen from the ship the 'presidio' or town, its charming vicinity, and neat little mission in the background, all situated on an inclined plane, rising gradually from the sea to a range of ver- dant hills, three miles from the beach, have a striking and beautiful effect. Distance, however, in this case, 'lends enchantment to the view' which a nearer approach somewhat dispels; for we found the houses of the town, of which there were some two hundred, in not very good con- dition. They are built in the Spanish mode, with adobe walls, and roofs of tile, and are scat- tered about outside of the military department ; showing a total disregard of order on the part of the authorities. On the left of the town in an elevated position stands the Castillo or fort- ress. * * * The most stately house in the place at this time was that of the diputado to Mexico, Don José de la Guerra y Noriega."

Dana, in "Two Years Before the Mast," de- scribes the town as it was in 1836: "The town is composed of one-story houses, built of stin- baked clay, or adobe, some of them white- washed, with red tiles on the roofs. I should judge that there were about a hundred of them ; and in the midst of them stands the Presidio,

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD,

or fort, built of the same material, and apparently but little stronger. The town is finely situated with a hay in front and an amphitheater of hills behind. The only thing which diminishes its beauty is, that the hills have no large trees upon them, they having been all burnt by a great fire which swept them off about a dozen years ago, and they had not yet grown again. The fire was described to me by an inhabitant as having been a very terrible and magnificent sight. The air of the whole valley was so heated that the people were obliged to leave the town and take up their quarters for several days on the beach."

Farnham, who visited the town in 1840, gives this description of it in his "Early Days of Cali- fornia :" "The houses are chiefly built in the Spanish mode-adobe walls and roofs of tile. These tiles are made of clay fashioned into half cylinders, and burned like brick. In using them, the first layer is placed hollow side up; the sec- ond inversely, so as to lock over the first. Their ends overlap each other as common shingles do. This roofing serves very well in dry weather. But when the southeasters of the winter season come on, it affords a poor shelter. Very few of the houses have glass windows. Open spaces in the walls protected with bars of wood and plank shutters, serve instead. A. B. Thompson, a wealthy and hospitable American merchant, has erected a residence in the center of the town, which bears very striking testimony to his being a civilized man."

Fremont's battalion took possession of Santa Barbara, December 27, 1846. Next day the United States flag was raised on the flag staff in the plaza, from which had floated the banner

of Spain, the imperial standard of the empire and the cactus-perched eagle flag of the Republic of Mexico.

Lieut. Bryant, of Fremont's battalion, de- scribes the town as it appeared at the time of the American conquest: "The town of Santa Barbara is beautifully situated for the pictur- esque, about one mile from the shore of a road- stead, which affords anchorage for vessels of any size, and a landing for boats in calm weather. The population of the town, I should judge from the number of houses to be about 1,200 souls. Most of the houses are constructed of adobes; in the usual architectural style of Mexican build- ings. Some of them, however, are more Ameri- canized, and have some pretentions to tasteful architecture, and comfortable and convenient in- terior arrangement.

For intelligence, refinement and civilization the population, it is said, will compare advan- tageously with any in California. Some old and influential Spanish families are residents of this place ; but their casas, with the exception of that of Señor Don José Noriega, the largest house in the place, are now closed and deserted. It is a peculiarity of the Mexicans that they allow no shade or ornamental trees to grow near their houses. In none of the streets of the towns or missions through which I have passed has there been a solitary tree standing. I noticed very few horticultural attempts in Santa Barbara."

In 1834, the diputacion granted the pueblo a regular ayuntamiento, but what the municipal council did, no one knows. The records have been lost. The legislature of 1849-50 incorpor- ated the City of Santa Barbara, April 9, 1850.

CHAPTER VII. FOUNDING OF THE PUEBLO DE LOS ANGELES.

T HE history of the founding of our Ameri- can cities shows that the location of a city, as well as its plan, is as often the result of accident as of design. Neither chance nor acci- dent entered into the selection of the site, the plan or the name of Los Angeles. All these had been determined upon years before a colonist had been enlisted to make the settlement. The Spanish colonist, unlike the American back- woodsman, was not free to locate on the public domain wherever his caprice or his convenience dictated.

The Spanish poblador (founder or colonist) went where he was sent by his government. He built his pueblo after a plan designated by royal

reglamento. His planting and his sowing, the size of his fields and the shape of his house lot were fixed by royal decree. He was a dependent of the crown. The land he cultivated was not his own, except to use. If he failed to till it, it was taken from him and he was deported from the colony. Hecould not buy the land he lived on nor could he even exercise that privilege so dear to the Anglo-Californian-the right to mortgage it. Once located by royal order he could not change his location without permission nor could he visit his native land without a passport. He could not change his political opinions-that is if he had any to change. He could not change his religion and survive the operation. Envi-

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD,

roned and circumscribed by limitations and re- strictions on all sides, it is not strange that the Spanish colonists were non-progressive.

The pueblo plan of colonization so common in Spanish-American countries did not originate with the Spanish-American colonists. It was older even than Spain itself. In early Euro- pean colonization, the pueblo plan, the common square in the center of the town, the house lots grouped round it, the arable fields and the com- mon pasture lands beyond, appears in the Aryan village, in the ancient German mark and in the old Roman præsidium. The Puritans adopted this form in their first settlements in New Eng- land. Around the public square or common where stood the meeting house and the town house, they laid off their home lots and beyond these were their cultivated fields and their com- mon pasture lands. This form of colonization was a combination of communal interests and individual ownership. Primarily, no doubt, it was adopted for protection against the hostile aborigines of the country, and secondly for social advantage. It reversed the order of our own western colonization. The town came first, it was the initial point from which the settlement radiated; while with our western pioneers the town was an afterthought-a center point for the convenience of trade.

When it had been decided to send colonists to colonize California the settlements naturally took the pueblo form. The difficulty of obtaining regular supplies for the presidios from Mexico, added to the great expense of shipping such a long distance, was the principal cause that influ- enced the government to establish pueblos de gente de razon. The presidios received their shipments of grain for breadstuff from San Blas by sailing vessels. The arrival of these was un- certain. Once when the vessels were unusually long in coming, the padres and the soldiers at the presidios and missions were reduced to living on milk, bear meat and what provisions they could obtain from the Indians. When Felipe de Neve was made governor of Alta or Nueva California in 1776, he was instructed by the viceroy to make observations on the agricultural possibilities of the country and the feasibility of founding pueb- los where grain could be produced to supply the military establishments.

On his journey from San Diego to San Fran- cisco in 1777, he carefully examined the country ; and as a result of his observations recommended the founding of two pueblos : one on the Rio de Porciuncula in the south, and the other on the Rio de Guadalupe in the north. On the 29th day of November, 1777, the Pueblo of San José de Guadalupe was founded. The colonists were nine of the presidio soldiers from San Francisco

and Monterey, who had some knowledge of farming, and five of Anza's pobladores, who had come with his expedition the previous year to found the presidio of San Francisco. From the fact that the founders, in part, of the first pueblo in California were soldiers has originated the fic- tion that the founders of the second pueblo, Los Angeles, were soldiers also; although this fiction has been contradicted repeatedly, it reappears in nearly every newspaper write-up of the early his- tory of Los Angeles.

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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 7

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