USA > California > Napa County > Historical and descriptive sketch book of Napa, Sonoma, Lake, and Mendocino : comprising sketches of their topography, productions, history, scenery, and peculiar attractions > Part 4
USA > California > Lake County > Historical and descriptive sketch book of Napa, Sonoma, Lake, and Mendocino : comprising sketches of their topography, productions, history, scenery, and peculiar attractions > Part 4
USA > California > Sonoma County > Historical and descriptive sketch book of Napa, Sonoma, Lake, and Mendocino : comprising sketches of their topography, productions, history, scenery, and peculiar attractions > Part 4
USA > California > Mendocino County > Historical and descriptive sketch book of Napa, Sonoma, Lake, and Mendocino : comprising sketches of their topography, productions, history, scenery, and peculiar attractions > Part 4
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SCENE FROM THE WHITE SULPHURS, NAPA COUNTY.
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CHAPTER IV.
PROGRESS OF THE CITY AND COUNTY.
Twenty-five years have wrought a wonderful change in this county, in common with others. In 1847 there was not a house in the county, excepting a few adobe buildings, occupied by Mexicans. There was not a store, hotel, saloon, church, or school within its borders. There were neither roads, bridges nor fences, excepting a few small enclosures, one of which was on the Rancho of Cayetano Juarez, east of the river, opposite Napa City. With these excep- tions, the whole county was open. Wild cattle and horses roamed over the county at will. The universal mode of traveling was on horseback, and horses were so plentiful and cheap that a rider never hesitated, when his steed became tired, to turn him loose and lasso the first fresh one that came to hand. In 1849 a rude bridge was built across Napa Creek near the line of Brown street, which fell in the autumn of 1851, under the weight of a load of wheat belong-
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NAPA COUNTY AS IT WAS AND IS.
ing to J. W. Osborn, killing two horses. Another, in its place, was built on Main street, which was carried away by a freshet in the winter of 1852-3, and the drift and debris lodging against the trees, threw back the waters and flooded the town. Another bridge was built on First street the same year.
The agriculture of the Mexicans was on the most limited scale. They had no market for agricultural products, even if they had had - the desire to extend their operations. A little wheat and corn, a few beans, watermelons, onions, and Chile pepper, for home consump- tion-these were all they produced in this garden spot of the world. Even in 1850, when onions and eggs commanded 50 cents a piece, and watermelons from $2 50 to $5 00, the Mexicans were too in- dolent to supply the market, and when the Americans took posses- sion, they soon monopolized the business of furnishing vegetables and almost everything else that was needed by the emigrants. In gen- eral, the Mexicans made little use of vegetables, their chief reliance being upon beef. They were stock-raisers, not farmers. The Vallejo rancho, (Entré Napa) the largest in the county, had in cultiva- tion only a narrow strip along the river, three or four miles long, and some twenty rods wide. Even this was unfenced. The Indi- ans, of whom there were several hundreds on the rancho, built their "wickey-ups" or wigwams at intervals along the line of the tract cultivated, and the women and children kept watch of the cattle by day. At night mounted Indians rode up and down the line, driving away intruders. This was a "live fence" in the literal sense of the term. Occasionally, in damp ground, they supplemented this with closely planted lines of willow. The Mexicans, in general, con- sidered most of the valley land as of little value except for stock- raising purposes, and supposed it impossible to raise anything with- out irrigation. For this reason they always built their adobes near a stream of water, where they could raise the few articles of vegetable food to which they were accustomed. It was not until after the ad- vent of the Americans that they learned to appreciate the agri- cultural value of their lands.
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Hides and tallow were the only articles which they could exchange for the products of other parts of the world. A fat cow was con- sidered worth $8-$6 for the tallow and $2 for the hide. For these they received payment from the "droghers" along the coast, in
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PROGRESS OF THE CITY AND COUNTY.
clothing, articles of hardware and trinkets at an enormous price. When they stood in need of supplies from the outside world, they collected together and slaughtered hundreds of cattle, leaving the flesh to putrefy or be devoured by wild animals, buzzards, or In- dians. The slaughter grounds are said by early pioneers to have been the most disgusting places imaginable.
D. M. Howard (afterwards Howard & Mellus), of San Francisco, represented the ".Boston Hide Company," and two of their clerks, Teschemaker and J. P. Thompson used to come up the river with launches to deliver goods and receive hides and tallow in return. This mode of doing business continued as late as 1850. Such was commerce in California, and Napa was in the same condition as the rest of the State.
The first mention in a newspaper, of what is now Napa City, is in an article in the Californian, published by Brannan & Kemble, in 1848, in which it is stated that the ship Malek Adhel had passed up the Napa River and found plenty of water to a certain point, and that beyond that was the Embarcadero de Napa. There were no buildings near the town site, excepting two adobe dwellings, one oc- cupied by Nicholas Higuera and the other by Cayetano Juarez. The site of the original city was a field of beans in 1847, and contained only a few acres, bounded East by the river, west by the line of Brown street, and extending six hundred yards from the creek to the present steamboat landing.
In consequence of the enormous prices of lumber and labor, buildings were often imported from Norway and the Eastern States ready framed, and some of them are still standing. Three of these united in one formed Gregg & Seawell's store, and now constitute a portion of the German Hotel on the corner of Brown and First streets. The store lately occupied by A. Y. Easterby & Co., and the store opposite (burned several years since), a portion of the old Court House, the Napa Stable, the first building erected at Oak Knoll, a small store erected for Lawrence & Kimball, and the pres- ent residence of Geo. N. Cornwell, Esq., on First street, were among these imported buildings. As an example of prices in those days, we give this illustration. In 1849 Vallejo & Frisbie (Don Mariano de Vallejo and John C. Frisbie) had three stores, one in Napa, one at Benicia, and another at Sonoma, in which Geo. N.
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NAPA COUNTY AS IT WAS AND IS.
Cornwell, Esq., was also interested, and acted as superintendent. He states that the lumber for the Napa store cost delivered at Bode- ga Mills, $300 per thousand feet. The freight by wagons by way of Sonoma was $So, and it was thence shipped to Napa upon boats be- longing to the firm. Mr. Cornwell also paid to John Wooden in 1849, for two string-pieces for a bridge sixty feet long, $100 each ! The same year he fenced forty acres of barley on what is now called " Cornwell's Addition," with rails that cost one dollar each. He paid $400 for threshing the barley in Mexican style, $400 for a fan- ning mill, and $125 each for old fashioned cradles. However, he had the satisfaction of getting his money back, as he raised sixty or seventy bushels of barley to the acre, and sold it at from eight to fifteen cents per pound.
Early in May, 1848, the first building was erected in Napa City. It was a story and a half high, and in size 18x24 feet, and was built by Harrison Pierce for a saloon. The building is still standing and in good condition. It is near the river on the South side of Third street, and in the same enclosure with the "Shade House." The lumber for this building was sawn by Ralph Kilburn, Harrison Pierce, and Wm. H. Nash, at Bale & Kilburn's mill, two miles above St. Helena, and was hauled to Napa by Wm. H. Nash. Six build- ings were framed the previous Winter at these mills, and shipped to Benicia and San Francisco. Lumber was then worth only $40 per thousand. The town site had been recently surveyed, and nothing but lines of stakes showed the locations of streets and lots, and even these were not easily found, being well nigh concealed by a luxu- riant growth of wild oats. Most of the land now covered by the town was mowed in 1848 by John Trubody, who had a contract for supplying hay to the Government. The pioneer building was first put together, all excepting the rafters, and located, by mistake, in the middle of Main street. Nicholas Higuera and Harrison Pierce discovered the mistake, and the frame was pushed back to its present position and completed. On the Sth of May gold was discovered, and the building left unoccupied. On the 20th of May, the owner, Harrison Pierce, Win. H. Nash, Ralph Kilburn, John Kelley, Frank Kellogg, William McDonald, Hiram Acres and Benj. Duell, (to- gether with an old Indian, Guadalupe and his wife, who had been brought from Mexico by Wm. Gordon and Pope), left Napa for the
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PROGRESS OF THE CITY AND COUNTY.
newly discovered gold fields. Returning in the Fall the new building was opened by Pearce as the "Empire Saloon." The following Summer it afforded accommodations in the shape of lodgings, and "square meals" of beef, hard bread and coffee at $1,00 each. The first election in Napa County was held in this building in 1847. It was subsequently occupied by various per- sons, among others by the author, as a dwelling house. The old sign "Empire Saloon," was still visible in IS57.
Other buildings, small, temporary structures, half canvas, half redwood "shakes, " were erected in the Fall and Winter of ISS-9, and a ferry established by William Russell and a partner, at a point near the foot of Third street. There was a ford near this point. passable at low tide. At high water men swam their horses pre- vious to the establishment of the ferry. In IS51 a toll bridge was built just above the site of the Vernon Mills, by J. B. Horrell, who obtained a franchise for the same from the Court of Sessions.
The first store was opened in IS4S by J. P. Thompson in a build- ing erected at the foot of Main street, on the site of the Star Ware- house. Vallejo & Frisbie's, on the point at the junction of Napa Creek and River was the next. In the winter of ISAS-9, the town was almost entirely deserted by its male population, none remaining except Geo. N. Cornwell, J. P. Thompson, and a few old men. There was another store erected by Capt. Brackett and R. L. Kil- burn on Main street, below the American Hotel, (occupied by Montgomery & Cox in 1856 as a printing office), and within the next two years several others, among which was Hart & McGarry's, on Main street, near the site of Messrs. Goodman's Bank. It was originally used as a dwelling, and was built by Arch. Jesse. Jacob Higgins built a store on the Southwest corner of Brown and First streets, now forming a part of German Musical Hall. On the North- west corner was the store of Seawell & Gregg, a one story frame building owned and kept by J. Mount and another, subsequently by Angus Boggs, and afterwards by J. H. Howland. The shop now occupied by M. Haller on Second street, was occupied as a dwelling. There were two other stores on Main street, one on the Southwest corner of Main and Second streets, and another on the Northwest corner occupied by Penwell & Walker. The McCombs'
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NAPA COUNTY AS IT WAS AND IS.
building on the Northeast corner of Main and First streets, now occupied by Zubrick & Kiefer, was occupied as a butcher stall by R. M. Hill, and for years afterwards asa saloon. On the Southeast corner was Guthries' blacksmith shop. Excepting a few dwellings on Coombs street, there were few buildings down to 1854, except mere shan- ties, West of the Court House. The first of any considerable size was the dwelling of Maj. John H. Seawell, which has since been re- modeled and is now one of the buildings connected with Miss McDonald's Ladies' Seminary. South of this street was an open common with here and there a shanty, down as far as the residence of Col. W. S. Jacks at Jacks' Point. The first warehouse was erec- ted on the South side of First street, at the then steamboat landing, but was carried off by a flood the Winter following. Anoth- er warehouse, was put up in 1850 by John Trubody, near the foot of Main street, on what is known as Short street, and near- ly in rear of the lumber yard of J. A. Jackson & Co., directly upon the river bank, and was occupied successively as a warehouse, store, saloon, post office, church, magistrate's office and boarding house. It was still standing in 1871, a relic and remembrancer of early days. Another warehouse was erected by Angus L. Boggs in the Spring of 1851, a block North on the same street.
The first steamer which ran between Napa and San Francisco was the Dolphin, Capt. Turner G. Baxter. She commenced running in 1850. She was very small, not much larger than a whaleboat, and her engine similar to that of a locomotive. Her few passen- gers had to " trim ship " very carefully to keep her from upsetting. It is said that when coming up the river, the Captain (who is very tall) came in sight long before the smoke stack. Col. W. S. Jacks still preserves the bell of the Dolphin as a relic. The next steamer was the fack Hayes, Capt. Chadwick, who was afterwards lost on the Brother Jonathan.
In 1851, the bark Josephine, which had been in Morehead's Ex- pedition to the Gila, was purchased by Geo. N. Cornwell, and sailed up the river by Capt. Chadwick for $100. Having been dismantled and housed over, she was anchored to the bank of the river, near the point of confluence of the river and creek, East of the First street bridge, and used for several years as a wharf-boat and store-
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PROGRESS OF THE CITY AND COUNTY.
ship. She was ultimately sold to Wm. A. Fisher, who rented it for the same purposes, and finally removed it on the change of the land- ing place to the present steamboat landing.
The population in 1848 was made up of a motley collection of all the nations under the sun. The New England Yankee elbowed the "Sydney duck, " and the Chinaman and Negro stood cheek by jowl with the Digger Indian. Napa was a favorite resort for the miners in Winter, whether "flush" or "dead broke." The chief places of business were the saloons. A store or two made its ap- pearance, and gold scales were upon every counter. Very little United States coin was in circulation. Down to 1856 the medium of exchange was either gold dust, foreign coin or a substitute for coin issued by the Assay office of Kellogg & Humbert in San Fran- cisco. They issued gold pieces of the value of $5, $10, $20 and $50, which were of full weight and equal in fineness to the Govern- ment standard, and these were everywhere accepted as legal coin. Without them it would have been impossible to transact business. The French franc and English shilling passed freely at 25 cents, and the five franc piece for a dollar. No silver was used smaller than a " bit," or dime. The prices of everything, especially of labor, were enormous. Money was the only thing that was plenty. Gambling was the most fashionable pursuit, and men of all classes engaged in it. San Francisco saw itself repeated on a smaller scale in our nas- cent city. A more rollicking and reckless set of men was never scen. Fights were hourly occurrences, and practical jokes of all sorts were the order of the day. There were neither churches nor schools, and practically there was no law. Each man was "a law unto himself." Very few had settled habitations. Rents even for the meanest structures were enormous. The mass of the people had no family ties to hold them in check, and there were no places of public resort excepting the bar-rooms, saloons and gambling houses. It is not strange that very many of the early pioneers con- tracted ruinous habits, causing the premature death of many, and a life-long regret to those that survive. They lived in a fever of ex- citement, careless of the morrow, and determined to enjoy the pres- ent at all hazards, to the full.
With the organization of the county in 1851, came the necessity
52
NAPA COUNTY AS IT WAS AND IS.
of a Court House. The first one was erected on the corner of Coombs and Second streets-a small two-story structure innocent of plastering, with Court Room below and Clerk's office above. Per- sons sentenced for long terms were confined in the adobe jail of Sonoma county. Petty offenders were confined in the upper story of the Court House. This was occasionally occupied on Sundays as a place of worship, but oftener as a hall for itinerant lecturers. We have a vivid remembrance of having seen a Professor Some- body, who lectured upon " Biology " (whatever that may be), de- scribe a double sommersault through the back window into a hogs- head of water. This feat must have been miraculous, for the " boys " declared unanimously that they had no hand in it. The old Court House was removed on the erection in 1856 of the pres- ent structure, and is now used as a tailor's shop on Main street.
The corner stone of the present Court House was laid in the Summer of 1856, with Masonic ceremonies. The jail occupied about half the first story. It has since been entirely re-modelled- a new jail erected in rear of the building-a fire-proof vault con- structed for the offices of the Clerk and Recorder. rooms fitted up for the Supervisors, Judges, and other county officers, and the po- sition of the cupola changed. Indeed, it is probable that money enough has been expended in altering and adding to the original building to erect a new one. It is evident that with the rapid in- crease of population the Court House building and jail will be in- adequate, making the erection of new and larger buildings an abso- lute necessity.
The Court House Plaza was occupied by Lawley & Lefferts as a lumber yard in 1855. It had long been a vacant lot covered knee- deep in tar weed. After the erection of the county buildings, the Supervisors contracted with John H. Waterson, (afterwards for many years Deputy Sheriff), to build a fence around it for $572. In 1857, A. D. Pryal took the contract for grading the grounds and planting shrubbery. The expense was met partly by an appropriation of $200 by the Supervisors, and partly by private subscription.
Napa City was laid off as a town by Hon. Nathan Coombs in the Spring of 1848. The original limits of the town included only the land included between Brown street and the river, and ex-
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PROGRESS OF THE CITY AND COUNTY.
tending 600 yards from Napa Creek to the steamboat landing. Captain John Grigsby and Mr. Coombs built a building for Nicholas Higuera and took this tract of land in payment, Shortly after Capt. Grigsby sold out his interest to Mr. Coombs. They had taken a bond for a deed, but when the conveyance was finally made, Mr. Coombs purchased and had included in it, an additional tract, including the land now known as "the Commons."
Several other "additions " to the original town plat have since been made, by various owners of lands adjoining it. Among them are Thompson's, Briggs & Russell's, Hills', Hartson's, Cornwell's, and Lawley's Additions, all which are now considered for all legal purposes, as portions of Napa City.
The town was formerly divided into "Napa Alta" and "Napa Abajo"-upper and lower Napa, the latter constituting Thomp- son's Addition of over 100 acres, and these names are sometimes still used in descriptions of land. The Embarcadero, or landing, at the head of navigation, and the ford just above it, determined the location of the town. There being no bridges in those days, gave the ford much importance.
From 1849 to 1854, the population both of city and county had increased largely. Most of the valley lands were taken up by Amer- ican immigrants, fenced and put under cultivation, yet large tracts remained untouched. The Spanish Grants, which covered all the best lands in the county, for a long time, checked immigration, as no valid title could be secured. A large portion of the immigrants therefore became "squatters," to the great annoyance of the Grant holders, who had to pay the taxes upon their lands, while the squat- ters had the free use of them, and bade them defiance. But for this fact doubtless the population of the county would be double what it is to-day.
Still, the soil and climate are so very inviting that even at this early day they attracted people from abroad, and there was a con- stant increase of business and population. In 1854 Napa City could boast of a population of 300 or 400 people, and about forty build- ings, mostly of a temporary character. The American Hotel was erected in 1850 by Nathan Coombs, Lyman Chapman and Samuel Starr ; and the Napa Hotel, by James Harbin the year following.
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NAPA COUNTY AS IT WAS AND IS.
Several lodging houses and restaurants had previously been opened. as apendages to saloons. In addition to the American and Napa Hotels, there were in 1854 a blacksmith shop on First Street, near the corner of Main ; a butcher shop on the corner, kept by R. M. Hill; a restaurant just below it, kept by Sanderson ; a saloon just below it, kept by J. M. Dudley, and a store kept by J. C. Penwell and A. B. Walker, on the present site of the Bank of Napa. On the east side of Main Street were Charles Hoit's store, the Shade House, and a few temporary buildings, mostly occupied as saloons, or restaurants. Arch Jesse built a dwelling, afterwards used by Hunt & McGregory as a store, where Goodman & Co.'s banking house now stands.
In the fall of 1855, the first brick building was erected by John S. Robinson. It is a small dwelling house, now occupied by John Simmons, gardener. The same year the first church edifice (Pres- byterian) and the first school house were erected. The church ha .- since been remodeled and improved, so that it bears little resen- blance to the original edifice. In 1856 Wm. H. James, in connec- tion with Thomas Earl, erected a brick block on the corner of Main and First Streets. Adjoining it on the west, A. W. Norton soon af- terwards built a brick blacksmith shop. These now form a part of Edgington's block. The numerous other structures since erected need not here be noted.
On the 4th of July, 1856, appeared the first newspaper published in Napa City-the NAPA COUNTY REPORTER, by A. J. Cox. The writer of this chapter was the first subscriber, and has the subscrip- tion book still in his possession. Further reference to this subject will be found in another chapter.
As late as 1856, very little effort had been made to improve the streets or highways. Both were almost impassable in the rainy season. There were only two places in Main Street where a pedes- trian could cross, one opposite the American Hotel, and the other nearly opposite the Napa House. The crossings were made of bund- les of straw thrown into the mud till the bottom was found. Woe to the unlucky wight who got belated, or who had too much "tangle- foot" aboard. A single misstep would send him in mud up to the middle, to flounder out as best he might. The streets in wet weath-
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PROGRESS OF THE CITY AND COUNTY.
er resembled mud canals rather than thoroughfares for men or horses. In summer they dried up and became solid enough, but were full of undulations, and not very gentle or regular ones. They soon be- came, owing to much travel and the passage of heavy teams, cut up into deep ruts, and canopied with intolerable clouds of dust, through which people floundered over a strange mosaic of rubbish, cast-off clothing, empty bottles and sardine boxes. These were the days in which every man wore heavy boots over his pantaloons, and, in the winter time, was covered to the knees with mud, while in summer he choked in a cloud of dust; and every one laughed at these annoy- ances, knowing that they were common to all, and the necessary concomitants of a new settlement in a wild unoccupied country.
From 1856 the town increased steadily, though not rapidly, in business and population. The statistical tables at the end of this volume will afford much interesting data in regard to the progress of this beautiful young city.
The first bank was established by J. H. Goodman & Co., Septem- ber Ist, 1858. It proved of great public utility, and is still in suc- cessful operation.
A telegraph line was built to Vallejo the same year. It was built by a company of twelve citizens of Napa, of whom the writer was one, who subscribed $100 cach, the number of shares being twen- ty-five. The remaining shares were taken by Mr. Lambert, who put up the wires and superintended everything. It was not erected for profit but for public convenience, and never paid the stockhold- ers for their original investment. Indeed, it was impossible that it should, as the rates were well nigh prohibitory. A message of ten words cost fifty cents. Then it passed over another line to Benicia at the same cost, and finally over a third line to San Francisco for fifty cents additional, making $1.50 for sending a message of ten words fifty miles !
Another line from Napa City to Calistoga was built in 1867. Both lines have since been transferred to the Western Union Telegraph Company.
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NAPA COUNTY AS IT WAS AND IS.
THE NAPA VALLEY RAILROAD.
The Napa Valley Railroad Company was chartered by the Legis- lature of 1864-5, and a clause inserted leaving the question to the people whether or not to vote a subsidy of $5,000 per mile from Napa City to Calistoga, and $10,000 per mile from Napa City to Soscol, payable in bonds of the County bearing ten per cent. inter- est and payable in twenty years. The subsidy was voted by a large majority, and the road was built from Napa to Soscol immediately. In the Spring of 1867 it was extended to Calistoga, its present ter- minus. Under a special Act of the following Legislature the Board of Supervisors were authorized to issue County bonds for the fur- ther sum of $30,000 to reimburse the Directors for advances made to procure the necessary rolling stock. After some litigation the bonds were issued. The indebtedness of the County was thus heav- ily increased, to pay the interest on which her citizens were to pay thirty cents on the $100 in the shape of taxes. Under the former assessment taxes as high as sixty and one-half cents was paid. The County received in exchange for her own bonds those of the rail- road, and default having been made in the payment of the interest, outside holders of the bonds foreclosed, and the road passed into the hands of the California Pacific Railroad Company, and subse- quently into those of the Central Pacific. The County thus lost her interest in the road altogether.
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