History of Alameda County, California. Volume I, Part 9

Author: Merritt, Frank Clinton, 1889-
Publication date:
Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 708

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"The corporate powers and duties of said town shall be vested in a Board of Trustees, to consist of five members, who shall be elected by the qualified electors of said town on the second Monday of May in each year, and shall hold office for the term of one year or until their successors are qualified; provided, that they shall receive no compensation for their services.

HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY

"The Board of Trustees shall have power to make such by-laws and ordinances as they may deem proper and necessary ; to regulate, improve, sell, or otherwise dispose of the common property ; to prevent and extinguish fires ; to lay out, make, open, widen, regulate, and keep in repair all streets, roads, bridges, ferries, public places and grounds, wharves, docks, piers, slips, sewers, wells, and alleys, and to authorize the construction of the same. And, with a view to facilitate the construc- tion of wharves and other improvements, the land lying within the limits aforesaid, between high tide and Ship Channel, are hereby granted and released to said town, provided that said lands shall be retained by said town as common property, or disposed of for the purposes aforesaid; to regulate and collect wharfage and dockage ; to secure the health and cleanliness, ornament, peace, and good order of said town ; to organize and support common schools ; to license and suppress dram- shops, horse-racing, gambling-houses and houses of ill fame, and all indecent and immoral practices, shows, and amusements ; to regulate the location of slaughter- houses, stables, and places for the storage of gunpowder ; and to pass such other laws and ordinances as in their opinion the order, good government, and general welfare of the town may demand."

The first town election was held on the second Monday in May, as provided by the organic act. The trustees chosen were A. W. Burrell, A. J. Moon, Edson Adams, Amedee Marier, and H. W. Carpentier. It will be noted that three of the five were those who laid out the town. Carpentier, however, did not qualify, and the first meeting was held in the office of Adams on May 12, 1852. On the 17th F. K. Shat- tuck was named to perform the duties of town clerk.

CARPENTIER SECURES THE WATER-FRONT

At the meeting on that day Trustee A. W. Burrell introduced an ordinance "for the disposal of the water-front belonging to the Town of Oakland, and to provide for the construction of wharves." This or- dinance, among the first adopted by the board, may explain the rea- sons why Mr. Carpentier did not qualify as a member of the board. This piece of legislation created a vast amount of litigation in the years that followed, and it was several decades before the city was en- abled to get back some of the holdings which the first board held so lightly. The ordinance referred to, granting the valuable water-front to Mr. Carpentier, read as follows:

SECTION ONE .- The exclusive right and privilege of constructing wharves, piers, and docks at any points within the corporate limits of the town of Oakland, with the right of collecting wharfage and dockage at such rates as he may deem reasonable, is hereby granted and confirmed unto Horace W. Carpentier and his

HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY

of the land embraced within the new village, and although the Peralta grant was subsequently established as the paramount and legal title, other defects arose which for years gave trouble. Chief of these were the so-called "Pretermitted Heirs" title, the "Sisters' " title, the Irving title, and the Cost title. A concerted effort of the inhabitants resulted in the year 1869 in clearing up all defects. In that year all of the out- standing claims were purchased and deeded to the city clerk, Henry Hillebrand, as trustee. He, in turn, thereupon made deeds to the sev- eral owners of lots and tracts, thus clearing the property of all ad- verse clouds.

Moon, Adams and Carpentier soon gathered around them sufficient settlers to bring about the incorporation of a town. A. J. Moon and H. W. Carpentier were lawyers, and the latter in particular was very active in the incorporation and organization of the new town. Carpen- tier had already served in the legislature, and was then an enrolling clerk in the law-making body, and through his efforts the legislature, meeting in Benicia, passed an act incorporating Oakland as a town. This bill was signed on May 1, 1852, by Richard P. Hammond, speaker of the assembly ; Samuel Purdy, president of the senate; and also approved by Governor John Bigler. It will be remembered that this event was before the creation of Alameda County, and while this was still a part of Contra Costa County. The act incorporating the town, with the original boundary lines and municipal powers, follows:

"The inhabitants of the district of country hereinafter described, are hereby declared to be incorporated under the provisions of 'an act to provide for the incor- poration of towns,' passed March 27, 1850, with the style of the town of Oakland, and by that name they shall have perpetual succession; may sue and be sued, and . may purchase, receive, and hold property for their common benefit, and sell or otherwise dispose of the same. The boundaries of said town shall be as follows: On the northeast by a straight line at right angles with Main Street, running from the Bay of San Francisco; on the north to the southerly line of the San Antonio Creek or estuary, crossing Main Street at a point three hundred and sixty rods northeasterly from 'Oakland House,' on the corner of Main and First streets (as represented on Portor's maps of Contra Costa on file in the office of the Secretary of State; thence down the southerly line of said creek or slough to its mouth in the bay ; thence to Ship Channel; thence northerly and easterly by the line of Ship Channel to a point where the same bisects the said northeastern boundary line.

HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY

"The Board of Trustees shall have power to make such by-laws and ordinances as they may deem proper and necessary; to regulate, improve, sell, or otherwise dispose of the common property ; to prevent and extinguish fires ; to lay out, make, open, widen, regulate, and keep in repair all streets, roads, bridges, ferries, public places and grounds, wharves, docks, piers, slips, sewers, wells, and alleys, and to authorize the construction of the same. And, with a view to facilitate the construc- tion of wharves and other improvements, the land lying within the limits aforesaid, between high tide and Ship Channel, are hereby granted and released to said town, provided that said lands shall be retained by said town as common property, or disposed of for the purposes aforesaid; to regulate and collect wharfage and dockage ; to secure the health and cleanliness, ornament, peace, and good order of said town ; to organize and support common schools; to license and suppress dram- shops, horse-racing, gambling-houses and houses of ill fame, and all indecent and immoral practices, shows, and amusements; to regulate the location of slaughter- houses, stables, and places for the storage of gunpowder; and to pass such other laws and ordinances as in their opinion the order, good government, and general welfare of the town may demand."

CARPENTIER SECURES THE WATER-FRONT

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HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY

extended for the period of twelve months from the expiration of the time limited and expressed in said Ordinance and conveyance, and the time for building a wharf at the foot of D or E Street is hereby ex- tended in like manner for the term of eight months from its expiration."

THE FIRST SCHOOL

On July 12, 1853, Mr. Carpentier made a written report to the board in which he stated that "I have built a substantial, elegant and commodious schoolhouse for said town, which is now completed and ready for delivery. In the plan and construction of the building I have intended to go beyond rather than to fall short of the obligation of my contract. I would also state for the official information of the board that a free school is at present maintained at my expense in the build- ing above referred to, which, I am happy to inform you, is well attended and promises to be the beginning of an important system of free schools. I herewith transmit to you a conveyance of the schoolhouse together with a deed for the lots upon which it is erected; I trust that the building will meet your approval, and that the additional present of the lots will prove acceptable to your Honorable Body." The "substantial, elegant and commodious" structure referred to in Mr. Carpentier's communica- tion, stood at that time near the corner of Fourth and Clay streets.

In another communication to the board in August, Mr. Carpentier stated that he had expended about $20,000 for the wharves, and desired to discontinue wharfage charges if the town would undertake to keep all the wharves in good order and repair. This proposition was not approved. However, an ordinance was passed providing that on the completion of the wharf at the foot of Main Street (Broadway) and satisfactory arrangements made regarding the others and the school- house, the water-front of Oakland would be granted to Carpentier "in fee simple forever." It is needless to go into the litigation, disputes, resentments and charges which grew out of the gift of the valuable water-front up until the time it was finally settled for the benefit of our citizens years later, but the two following affidavits made in 1858 -long before the questions were finally settled-throw some light upon the events connected with the original transaction :

"EDWARD GIBBONS, being duly sworn, deposes and says that he is a resident of the city of Oakland, in the County of Alameda, State of California, and has resided

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OAKLAND'S FIRST SCHOOL BUILDING Drawn by Leo Spencer from a drawing made from memory by Charles G. Reed, Oakland, June 10, 1921

PLANDS

CARPETS ARKIFAT-FRA

RNITURE

E PARATE INS

SOUTHWEST CORNER TWELFTH AND BROADWAY, OAKLAND, 1870

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HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY

in Oakland since the year 1851; that he was residing in Oakland at the time of the passage of the Act to incorporate the town of Oakland, to wit: on the 4th day of May, 1852, and had been residing there for several months previous to that date; that so far as he knows or is informed, there was no petition or request of the people of that place (which was then, and had been previously, known by the name of Contra Costa, and never by the name of Oakland) to the Legislature for the incorporation of said town, nor was the subject of its incorporation previously discussed among the people, nor the intention to incorporate it known to them; that there has been no public meeting in regard to any intended incorpora- tion of said town, and that the population of the place did not exceed seventy or eighty persons; that when the news reached the people of the incorporation of the town of Oakland by said Act of the Legislature, it was received by them with great surprise; that it was afterwards ascertained, as deponent was informed and be- lieves, that the town had been so incorporated at the instigation and through the agency of Horace W. Carpentier.

"That a few days after the passage of said Act of Incorporation, to wit : on the 10th day of May, 1852, an election for Trustees and other Town officers was held, and the following persons were elected Trustees, viz .: Amédée Marier, A. W. Burrell, A. Moon, E. Adams, and the said Horace W. Carpentier; that a day or two before the said election, the said Carpentier showed to deponent a ticket con- taining the names of persons to be voted for at the election, on which were the names of the five Trustees above named and who were afterwards elected; that at the time the said Horace W. Carpentier, A. Moon, and E. Adams were partners, and as such dealing in town lots, and deponent advised the said Carpentier to strike off from the ticket the name of A. Moon or E. Adams, for the reason that it was not right that three partners should be on the Board of Trustees, but he refused to do so, and the three were elected; that the said Horace W. Carpentier never qualified or took his seat as a member of the Board of Trustees, and no election was ordered or held to fill the place to which he had been elected, but until the next annual election the four remaining Trustees composed the Board.

"And deponent says that afterwards, to wit: about the 18th day of May, 1852, he, deponent, heard of the passage, by said Board of Trustees, of an ordinance giving the water-front of the town to the said Carpentier, and immediately went to said Carpentier and inquired of him the nature of it; that said Carpentier in reply said that it was to secure the water-front to the town; that there was some talk of a called session of the Legislature, and if there should be a called session of the Legislature the Act of incorporating the town of Oakland would be repealed, and he did not want to see the town deprived of so munificent an endowment ; moreover, that it would enable settlers to make better terms with the Spanish claimants, in case the Spanish grant were confirmed; that he would rather deponent would take it, or any other responsible person, than hold it himself ; that it was a mere conveyance in trust for the safe-keeping of the property, and that he would give bonds, if necessary, to restore it to the town; and added, that there was no necessity for the people knowing anything about the transaction; that the said Carpentier requested deponent to call upon the said Marier, who was President of the Board, and say to him that he (Carpentier) would give bonds to restore

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the property to the town, and to repeat to the said Marier what he (Carpentier) had told this deponent, which request deponent complied with.

"Deponent further says that on the night of the same day, to wit, the 18th day of May, and after the conversation had as aforesaid, deponent was present at a meeting of the Board of Trustees, the said Carpentier was present, and stated publicly to the Board in the hearing of all present, that as some dissatisfaction had been expressed in relation to that ordinance, he would alter it to a term of years, or to a limited time, or words to that effect; that the words 'thirty-seven years,' or the words 'for the period of thirty-seven years' were then inserted by the said Carpentier (the ordinance having been reconsidered) as deponent sup- posed, and from the declarations of said Carpentier, so as to limit the estate or interest in the water-front of the town to be vested in said Carpentier, to the period of thirty-seven years, or such shorter period as the authorities of the town might at any time thereafter determine, and it was not until after the lapse of six or eight months that deponent discovered that the said words had been so inserted as only to apply to the right to collect wharfage and dockage, and not to the grant of the water-front; that the said ordinance appeared to be in the handwriting of said Carpentier, who, in the presence of the Board, himself inserted the said words. The amendment was adopted and the ordinance passed, and deponent says that the ordinance now on file amongst the papers in the office of the Clerk of the city is not the same paper which was then before the Board; that other amendments beside the one mentioned as aforesaid were made by the Board, as the journal of the Board will show; that any such amendments as the one suggested aforesaid by the said Carpentier, were either proposed to or adopted by the Board, nor does said journal contain any notice whatever of the same; that the ordinance now on file in the office of the Clerk of the city appears to be in the handwriting of the said Car- pentier ; that it contains no interlineations or erasures, and cannot therefore be the ordinance that was passed by the Board at the said meeting; that only three mem- bers of the Board were present at that meeting, viz .: A. Marier, A. Moon, and E. Adams; that the journal of the proceedings of that and other meetings of the Board appear to be in the handwriting of the said Horace W. Carpentier.

"And deponent says further that afterwards, to wit: in the summer and fall of the year 1852, that Carpentier stated to deponent in the course of conversation, that he, Carpentier, had promised to give to Gen. James M. Estill a portion of the water front, and that he had been obliged to do so in order to get the bill incorporating the town of Oakland through (the said Estill being at the time of the passage of said Act a member of the State Senate), and afterwards, in the winter of 1852 and 1853, the said Carpentier again stated to deponent that he, Carpentier, was under bonds to the said Estill to convey to him the one-fourth of said water-front, and that in the spring of 1853 the said Estill told deponent that he held the said Car- pentier so bound as aforesaid, adding that it was in consideration of using his (Estill's) influence with the Governor to induce him to approve the bill incorporat- ing the town of Oakland ; that at or about the same time some conversation occurred between the said Carpentier and Estill, in the presence of deponent, in relation to the value of said one-fourth of the water-front ; that this last statement of the said Carpentier, and the conversation between the latter and said Estill, occurred in con-

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sequence of an application made by deponent to said Carpentier, to purchase from him that part of the water-front opposite deponent's premises.

"And deponent further says that the Said Board of Trustees also passed an ordinance entitled 'An Ordinance to approve the Wharf at the foot of Main Street, and to extend the Time for constructing the other Wharves,' which ordinance appears to be in the handwriting of the said Carpentier, and that on the 5th day of March, 1853, according to the minutes of said Board, the said Adams introduced an ordinance entitled 'An Ordinance to create a Public Ferry between the Town of Oakland and the City of San Francisco, and to Provide for keeping up and running the same,' which ordinance according to said minutes was passed; and said minutes show, that the only members of the Board who were then present, were the said Adams, Burrell, and Moon; and no previous notice appears on the journal of said Board, of the introduction of said ordinance, nor does it appear that any petition was before the Board for the passage of the same, nor did the nature of said ordi- nance or its passage become generally known, as deponent believes, until several weeks thereafter.

"And deponent says further, that from the circumstances attending the passage of the Act incorporating the town of Oakland, the secrecy practiced, the agency through which it was effected, the manner in which the Board of Trustees was elected-two of its members being partners of said Carpentier-the failure of the said Carpentier to qualify or take his seat as a member, although elected by his own choice, the action of the Board in the passage of the ordinance giving to said Car- pentier the exclusive privilege of erecting wharves and collecting wharfage, and granting him the water front of the town; the circumstances attending the amend- ment of that ordinance, and the other facts herein stated, he, deponent, became con- vinced and verily believes that the incorporation of said town and all that was done by the Board of Trustees in the premises was the contrivance of the said Carpentier, fraudulently to get into his hands a valuable property and valuable rights, and con- vert to his own use what had been intended and should have been used for the public benefit, and deponent says that such has been the general conviction and belief of the people of Oakland, and that all subsequent actings and doings of the said Carpentier and his confederates have tended to strengthen that conviction and belief.

"And deponent says further, that when the facts above stated became generally known, and it was ascertained that under the ordinance first above referred to, and a contract made in pursuance thereof, the said Carpentier claimed for his own use the exclusive privilege of constructing wharves and collecting wharfage, and to hold an absolute grant of the water-front of the town, and that the said Board of Trustees, had conveyed to E. R. Carpentier (who was generally believed claimed a one-fourth undivided interest in said water-front) exclusive ferry privileges under the ordinance passed as aforesaid on the 5th day of March, 1853, it excited great public indignation, and with a view to check the fraudulent practices of said Carpentier and his partners and creatures in said Board of Trustees, and to assert the rights of the town, the people attempted at the second municipal election which took place (to the best of deponent's recollection) on the 9th day of May, 1853, to elect a Board of Trustees composed of men in whom they had confidence, but

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the appointment of Judges and Inspector of the election being in the hands of the former Board, and the Board having the power to determine upon the election and qualification of its own members, it was declared by the Board that the follow- ing persons were elected, viz. : Alpheus Staples, A. W. Burrell, A. Moon, E. Adams, and A. Marier, the last four of whom were members of the former Board; that at said election, when the tickets were consulted, it appeared that only some forty odd votes had been cast for the candidates who were declared to have been defeated, while about seventy or eighty had been cast for those declared elected, but in the course of thirty-six or forty-eight hours after the election, not less than seventy voters made their affidavits that they had voted for the former. And the deponent says that the returns of said election together with the tally-list are not on file in the office of the Clerk of the city, nor from the best information he can obtain, does not believe that the same were ever handed over to the authorities which succeeded to the town of Oakland.

"And deponent further says, that A. Marier, one of the Trustees declared elected, and whose name had been on both tickets, and who for some time had refused to attend the meetings of the Board, did not qualify or take his seat as one of the Trustees, and the four remaining members composed the Board during the year; that said Board so elected and so constituted, did, as appears by the minutes of the proceedings of said Board, on the 27th of August, 1853, pass an ordinance entitled 'An Ordinance concerning Wharves and the Water-Front ;' and that said Board also passed an ordinance on the 29th of October, 1853, entitled 'An Ordinance concerning Wharves'-That the passage of said ordinances as deponent believes, and has been informed, was not publicly known for several weeks or months thereafter.

"And deponent further says, that the journal of the said Board of Trustees shows that the said A. Marier did not attend any of the meetings of said Board held after the 3d of March, 1853, and that from that date to the 16th of May, 1853, the business of said Board was conducted by the said A. W. Burrell, A. Moon, and E. Adams, that the journal of the proceedings of the aforesaid second Board of Trustees shows that only four members qualified and took their seats, viz. : A. W. Burrell, A. Moon, E. Adams, and Alpheus Staples, and that nowhere does it appear that five members organized, constituted, or were present at any meeting or meetings of any Board of Trustees that ever existed in the town of Oakland.

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History of Alameda County, California. Volume I, Part 9

Author: Merritt, Frank Clinton, 1889- Publication date: Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 708

Author: Merritt, Frank Clinton, 1889-
Publication date:
Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 708