History of Alameda County, California : including its geology, topography, soil, and productions, Part 25

Author: Munro-Fraser, J. P
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Oakland, Calif. : M.W. Wood
Number of Pages: 1206

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HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.

of Seth R. Bailey, and at the house of A. E. Hutchinson. In Murray Township, at the house of Michael Murray.

Naturally, when the increase of population has been so great, the precincts enumerated above have proved insufficient for the wants of the voters, until at the election called for November 7, 1882, the number of precincts were forty, as follows: Alameda Township: Alameda, Nos. One, Two, and Three; Brooklyn Township: Brooklyn, No. One, two precincts; Brooklyn No. Two; Oakland Township: Berkeley, West Berkeley, Bay Precinct, Temescal, Ocean View, Piedmont; Oakland City : First Ward, three precincts; Second Ward, two precincts; Third Ward, two precincts ; Fourth Ward, two precincts; Fifth Ward; Sixth Ward, two precincts. Eden Township, San Leandro, San Lorenzo, Haywards, Mt. Eden, Castro Valley; Washington Township: Alvarado, Centreville, Mission San José, Niles, Newark; Murray Township: Suñol, Pleasanton, Dublin, Livermore No. One, Livermore No. Two, Altamont.

ROAD DISTRICTS .- Another criterion of the rapid development of a hitherto sparsely-peopled country is the want immediately felt for carefully laid out roads and easy means of transport. He who has experienced such a desire can fully appreciate the comfort of well-graded thoroughfares and smoothly macadamized streets. The scarcely-to-be-recognized trails give place, as if by magic, to the skill of the surveyor; the dangerous ford to the well-built bridge and the impenetrable undergrowth to the road-maker's ax. In a few short years miraculous changes are worked, and science brings places within comfortable travel and neighbors within ken. Contra Costa in the pre-American days was not a whit better off than the neighboring counties; when the first roads were laid out, however, we have been unable to trace, but the records of the Court of Sessions inform us that as early as July 20, 1850, the county was partitioned into districts and the following roads declared public highways :-

One and Two .- From Martinez to Pueblo de San José, divided into two districts, the first being from Martinez to the farm of Francisco Garcia; the second from thence to the line dividing the counties of Contra Costa and Santa Clara, the overseers appointed being respectively N. B. Smith and Joseph Rothenhostler. Three .- The streets in the town of Martinez were declared to be District Number Three and placed under the supervision of A. Van Herne Ellis. Four .- The road then usu- ally traveled from Martinez by the house of Salvio Pacheco to the town of New York of the Pacific was classed as District Number Four, with Henry F. Joye, Over- seer. Five .- The road from the Moraga Redwoods to that leading from Martinez to San José, terminating on said road nearly equidistant from Martinez to the house of Widow Welch, was established as District Number Five, and E. Miller appointed Overseer. Six .- The road usually traveled from the rancho of Vicente Castro by the rancho of Elam Brown, intersecting the road from the Moraga Redwoods to Martinez near the house of Jonah Bernell was defined as District Number Six, and Elam Brown appointed Overseer. Seven .- The road leading from the crossing of the San Joaquin to the Pueblo de San José by the rancho of Robert Livermore, and to where it inter- sects that leading from Martinez to the Pueblo de San José, as belonged to the county of Contra Costa, was declared to be District Number Seven, and placed in charge of Greene Patterson, Overseer.

José Narciso Señal

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LEGISLATIVE HISTORY OF THE COUNTY.

. After the creation of Alameda, the matter of public highways throughout the county attracted considerable attention. The "Carpentier-Gilman Bridge" had been already established, but this was a private enterprise where exorbitant tolls were levied, but so soon as the official machinery was in working order, petitions for roads began to flock in, the first to be declared a "public highway," being the thoroughfare then traveled, leading from the county line east of the Mission de San José, and to said mission; thence through Amador Valley, and known as the Stockton Road. But we have not the space at our disposal to follow the hundreds of petitions for road purposes as they appear in the records of the Court of Sessions and Board of Super- visors. To give even an outline of each would more than fill a volume of no ordinary proportions. As the fertile districts were settled, each new arrival felt the want of some avenue of outlet from his homestead; connection was needed with the main arteries of traffic; the inevitable petition to the authorities was transmitted to the proper quarter, and, where the necessity was proved, never was the prayer rejected. With the opening out of fresh highways, more districts were imperatively necessary; with the creation of these districts, it was as necessary to appoint Overseers, and now Ala- meda County is blessed with a large number of districts and a net-work of roads, better than which there are none in California.

On June 6, 1853, the Court of Sessions ordered that the county should be parti- tioned into the following seven Road Districts :--

Road District No. I, to embrace the highway leading from Union City to the Mission San José, extending two miles each side thereof, of which Charles Breyfogle was appointed Supervisor.

Road District No. 2, to embrace the highway leading from the Mission San José, running in the direction of the Pueblo de San José, to the county line of Santa Clara County, of which William H. Chamberlain was appointed Supervisor.

Road District No. 3, to embrace the highway leading from Mission San José in the direction of Stockton, through the Amador Valley, to the crossing of the Alameda Creek, of which A. Marshall was appointed Supervisor.

Road District No. 4, to embrace that part of the highway leading from the Mis- sion San José to Stockton, which lies between the Alameda Creek and the house of Robert Livermore, of which Robert Livermore was appointed Supervisor.

Road District No. 5, to commence at a point opposite the house of Robert Liv- ermore, and thence embrace all that part of the main traveled highway leading to Stockton, up to the east line of the county, for which a Supervisor was appointed.

Road District No. 6, to commence at the town of Oakland and run thence along the highway, extending two miles each side thereof, to the house of Vicente Peralta, of which Francis K. Shattuck was appointed Supervisor.

Road District No. 7, to commence at Oakland and run thence to the north line of the county, near the house of Vicente Peralta, and R. M. Randall was appointed Supervisor, his jurisdiction to extend two miles each way from the above line.

It was at the same time ordered that Road Districts Nos. 2, 3, and 5 should extend two miles each side of the highways designated as their boundaries.

At the present time the Road Districts are thirty-four in number, as follows: Alvarado, Sebastian Franz, Overseer; Alviso, James Hawley; Bay; Brooklyn, J. P.

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HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.

Condon; Castro Valley, John Cahill; Centreville, James A. Trefry; Cosmopolitan, J. C. Whipple; Dublin, William Tehan; Eden Vale, J. H. Davis; Inman, J. Galway; Laurel, James King; Lincoln, E. Munyan; Mission San José, D. C. Hibbard; Mow- ry's Landing, Edward Ryan; Mount Eden, E. Clawiter, Jr .; Murray, Philip Thorn; Niles, Thomas. Bonner; Newark, G. G. Healey; Ocean View, B. D. Boswell; Peralta, H. C. Babcock; Polamares, W. J. Ramage; Piedmont, J. O'Connor; Pleasanton, L. M. Lyster; Redwood, E. D. Brown; Rosedale, L. Hollenbeck; San Lorenzo, Leonard .Stone; Summit, C. Elliott; Sunol, J. Madden; Stony Brook, J. D. Farwell; Temescal, E. J. Sayer; Townsends, W. W. Wynn; Vallecitos, E. H. Frick, Jr .; Warm Springs' R. J. Horner; Washington, J. N. Smith.

SCHOOL DISTRICTS .- The first School Districts in Alameda County were divided in consonance with the townships which then obtained, but such a partition embraced too large a territory, therefore alterations became necessary, like in the townships themselves. Boundaries and limitation lines were perpetually being altered at the solicitation of innumerable petitioners. The authorities, ever with an eye to the people's welfare, in most cases granted the prayer, until, after an infinity of rectifi- cations, the present school districts of the county number forty-five, and are named: Alameda, Alvarado, Alviso, Bay, Castro Valley, Centreville, Cosmopolitan, Eden Vale, Eureka, Fruit Vale, Green, Harris, Inman, Laurel, Lincoln, Livermore, Lockwood, May, Melrose, Midway, Mission, Mountain House, Mowry's Landing, Murray, Niles, Oakland, Ocean View, Polamares, Peralta, Piedmont, Pleasanton, Redwood, Rosedale, San Lorenzo, Stony Brook, Summit, Suñol, Temescal, Townsend, Union, Vallecitos, Vista, Warm Springs, Washington, Wilson.

POLITICAL HISTORY.

We now come to the second branch of the Legislative History of Alameda, namely, that which may be termed the Political History of the County. This, it is to be feared, however, may be considered a misnomer, as in the rest of this chapter much will be found which in itself has no political significance, while a considerable amount may be recognized as purely political. All our information has been garnered from the well-kept records of the Court of Sessions and Board of Supervisors, who, though exercising political functions, still have authority over affairs not political; therefore the remarks made below may be said to relate more to the government of the county, than to its politics.

MEXICAN GOVERNMENT .- The following interesting account of the political aspect of California, found among the papers left by the late Doctor John Marsh, of Contra Costa County, has been kindly placed at our disposal by Hon. W. W. Camron of Oakland, and will be read with interest as being the remarks of a polished scholar and gentleman, who had at the time of the acquiring of the State by the United States, been more than ten years a resident of California.

After the decease of General Figueroa (who governed Alta California from 1833 to 1835) the right to govern was assumed by Gutierrez (1835), the senior officer of the military, and Estudillo, the oldest member of the Legislature, or Primer Vocal, to whom it appertained as a matter of right by the civil law; but as might is apt to

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POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE COUNTY.

decide matters of right all over the world, and more particularly in Spanish America, he retained the command until the Spring of 1836. At this time a new Governor arrived from Mexico in the person of General D. Mariano Chico, member of the Mex- ican Congress, and with many long and magnificent titles. His first act was to issue a proclamation in most grandiloquent terms, greatly praising the docility and patriotism of the people of the country, and telling them that they owed him a debt of gratitude for having left his dear wife and beloved children, and taken so long a jour- ney, from pure love of the people of California and his desire to serve them. He was the friend to Victoria (the Governor who ruled in the year 1829), pursued the same outrageous course of conduct, and shared the same fate. He arrived fully determined to take vengeance on those individuals who had been chiefly instrumental in expelling Victoria. Like him he chartered a vessel in which to send his opponents to Mexico, not omitting the American gentleman whom Victoria had attempted to send; and, to complete the parallel, he was himself compelled to leave the country in the same vessel he had designed for his adversaries. Gutierrez then assumed the command a second time. A few months after this event, Don Juan B. Alvarado, who, at that time, held a subordinate employment in the Custom House, had a quarrel with the com- mandant, Gutierrez, relative to the posting of a guard of soldiers on the beach, whether to assist or prevent the smuggling of a vessel in port was best known to the parties concerned. High words and mutual threats ensued. Alvarado went in the night to consult his friend, José Castro, and the next day, they both went to the Pueblo de San José, and thence to Sonoma to confer with the officer in command of that post. They mutually agreed to expel Gutierrez, and all the Mexican employès of every class. They assembled in haste a few people from the neighboring farms, and repaired to Monterey in a secret manner. In this promiscuous assemblage were about twenty or thirty foreigners; some five or six were American hunters. These were under the command of I. Graham, a hunter from Kentucky, and John Coppinger, an Irishman. They took possession of the old fort without opposition, and fired one shot at the pre- sidio in which the Mexicans were. Negotiations immediately took place, which ended in a capitulation of all the Mexicans, who were forthwith embarked for the coast of San Blas (a port in the State of Guadalaxara, Mexico). The California patriots, who had succeeded beyond their own expectations, hardly knew what to do with their cheaply bought victory. They, however, issued various contradictory proclamations, in one of which they declared themselves independent of Mexico until the re-establishment of the Federal Constitution. Alvarado was declared Governor (1836), and General M. G. Val- lejo, Military Chief. All this was done by the people of the northern part of the country, and particularly of Monterey, while all the southern districts were opposed to the new order of things. After a series of bloodless campaigns and paper battles, peace was restored by giving ample spoils from the missions to the principal aspi- rants. Mexico, in the meantime, fulminated furious proclamations and awful threats against such unnatural sons of the Republic.

After Alvarado had enjoyed his usurped authority about a year, he was acknowl- edged as legitimate Governor by Mexico (1838); and he himself, with the greatest facility, swore fealty to the Central Government. The administration of Alvarado, as the only one in which the Government had been for any length of time in the hands

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HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.

of a native, for its long duration and for the important events which took place under it, must be considered as the most important era in the Mexican domination over California. It has become a portion of the history of the country, and as such has become a legitimate subject for discussion. Taken as a whole, it must be regarded as an entire failure. It entirely failed to accomplish any part of the good it promised at the outset, and has only served to perpetuate the evils it proposed to remove. The friends of good order and a just administration of the laws, of whom, notwithstanding appearances, the number had always been considerable, had great hopes of seeing better times at the commencement of Alvarado's government. His constant declara- tion was: " Let me have a little time to tranquilize the country, and I will provide for the strict enforcement of the laws and the punishment of crimes and offenses." But, after being in office more than five years, he left things in a worse condition than he found them. Even if we give him credit for good intentions at the beginning, he never had the necessary knowledge, intelligence, or firmness of purpose to have done any good for the country. The whole period of his administration was a perpetual struggle to maintain himself in office. He was compelled to make every kind of concession to preserve even the ostensible support of pretended friends. The wealth of the missions, which at the beginning of his administration was very considerable, had, in this way, been completely exhausted. All these, together with the revenue derived from the Customs, amounting in the aggregate to a vast sum, were lavished on his relatives, partisans, and favorites, and, at last, when he had nothing more to give, he found himself deserted. (About 1849, Don Juan B. Alvarado, removed from Monterey to San Pablo, Contra Costa County, where he resided up to the time of his death, July 13, 1882.)

The most prominent event in the administration of Alvarado, and the one that will be longest remembered, is his attempt to expel, by force, all the foreigners, and particu- larly Americans, from the country. The true motives which led to this step, were, for a long time, involved in obscurity. The facts as far as could be known at the time are handed down by Doctor Marsh in these words: "It was secretly determined by Governor Alvarado and his friend and compadre, Don José Castro, that they would seize and transport to Mexico all the foreigners, and particularly Americans, that were in California, and, as a pretext, they pretended that they had discovered a secret conspiracy of the foreign residents to kill the Governor, Military Commandant, and some others, and to possess themselves of the country. This was so manifestly false, that no person could be made to believe it after the first few days. One solution of the affair is, that as Castro was at bitter enmity with Vallejo, the Military Com- mander, and desired to supplant him in his office, and knowing, at the same time, that public opinion in Mexico at the time was highly exasperated against Americans, on account of the recent defeat and disaster of the Mexican arms in Texas, and that he, by feigning the conspiracy of the Americans in California, and capturing and carrying them prisoners to Mexico, would thereby acquire to himself great merit with the Government, and by that means obtain the office to which he aspired. This opinion derived additional probabilities at the time from a knowledge of the character of Castro-artful, subtile, intriguing, utterly unprincipled, and grossly ignorant. The project, however, was concerted and executed with considerable skill.

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POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE COUNTY.

"At an appointed time, the foreigners, who lived widely dispersed in almost every part of the country, entirely unprepared and without the least apprehension of danger, were seized and marched to Monterey by night, strongly guarded. Isaac Graham, who has been heretofore mentioned, was captured by Castro himself, with his own chosen followers. The house was attacked at midnight, the door forced open, and a volley of fire-arms discharged at Graham and his partner, Nale, before they had left their beds. Nale received two severe wounds, and was left for dead. Graham was knocked down, severely beaten, bound and carried to Monterey, where he was heavily ironed and strictly guarded. For the next week, more or less men were daily brought in, loaded with irons, and thrust into a loathsome prison, which was so crowded that space was not left to lie down. At last the ship arrived which had been chartered to transport them, and they were marched on board like criminals, between two files of soldiers. Graham, alone, was not suffered to walk, but with his irons still upon him, was carried on board on the shoulders of Indians. The brutal treatment of these men on their voyage to San Blas, and on the route from that port to the City of Tepic, I shall not attempt to describe, as I have no desire to stir up feelings that may as well be left at rest, but it may well be believed that feelings were excited, aye, deep and burning feelings, that will not be soon forgotten by the witnesses as well as the victims of these horrible acts of cruelty and injustice. On the arrival at Tepic, they were taken from the hands of Castro and his myrmidons by the influence of the British Consul, and, although still prisoners, were treated with kindness. After a long detention, during which several of the number .died, by the strenuous interposition of the British Minister in Mexico, they were fully liberated, and those who chose to return to California were sent back at the expense of the Government. From some docu- ments, which have but very recently come to light, it is rendered probable, and in fact almost certain, that the foreigners were seized and sent away prisoners by the express order of the Government of Mexico, which they were afterwards base enough to deny."

So far we have gained an insight unto the feelings of some of the native Califor- nians regarding foreigners, and which shows a bitter enmity to their presence in the country. It will be our duty now to place before the reader the manner of govern- ment whereby these people were guided.

Prior to the year 1839, not much is known of the political divisions of Upper California; on February 26th of that year Governor Alvarado dubbed it a Depart- ment, and partitioned it into three districts. In the second of these was the original Contra Costa section. The government was vested in a Governor and Departmental Assembly, from which was constituted the Legislative Assembly that held its sessions in Monterey, the then capital. In order of precedence, the political officers next to the Governor were the Prefects, having jurisdiction over districts; Sub-Prefects, Ayuntamientos or Town Councils, Alcaldes, and Justices of the Peace.

We are informed, on reliable authority, the Mexican law contemplated the formation of a Superior Tribunal for each department, and that provision for the establishment of such a Court, with two lesser ones for California, had been made. The tribunal was to be composed of four Judges and one Attorney-General, the senior three of the former to 'sit upon the first, and the junior one on the second bench. This latter, known as the Court of Second Instance, heard appeals from the Court of

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HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.

First Instance and had original jurisdiction in certain cases. The senior court sat at the capital of the Department, while that of the First Instance held its sessions at the chief town in a district, where it exercised a general jurisdiction and attended to cases involving more than one hundred dollars, those for a less sum being tried by the Alcalde and Justice of the Peace.

There is no record of a Superior Tribunal ever having been established in Cali- fornia under the Mexican Government, and no Court of First Instance in San José, the chief town of the district now under consideration, until 1849, when they were commissioned by the authority of the United States. The first Alcalde to be thus installed, for the Contra Costa, was the honored pioneer, Hon. Elam Brown, N. B. Smith being the first Sub-Prefect of the district.

The law was administered then in a peculiarly lax manner; fortunately or unhap- pily, as the case may be, lawyers had not yet penetrated into the supposed wilds of the Pacific Slope. The Alcalde's word was the supremest effort of legal wisdom; his silver-headed cane a badge of office which the most captious must respect, and could not gainsay, while, there being no prisons, it was usual to sentence the Indian to be flogged, and others to be fined.

MILITARY GOVERNMENT .- Between the years 1846 and 1849 the country remained under the control of the United States military. In regard to law it was utterly at sea. A military commander controlled affairs, but there was no Govern- ment. As long as the war lasted it was only natural to expect that such would be the case, and the people were content; but after peace had been attained, and the succession of Military Governors remained unabated, a people who had been brought up to govern themselves under the same flag and the same Constitution chafed that a simple change of longitude should deprive them of their inalienable rights. With those views General Riley, who succeeded General Persifer F. Smith, April 13,- 1849, entirely sympathized. When it was found that Congress had adjourned without effect- ing anything for California, he issued a proclamation, June 3d, which was at once a call for a convention and an official exposition of the administration's theory of the anomalous relations of California and the Union. He strove to rectify the dominant impression that California was ruled by the military. That had ceased with the termination of hostilities, and what remained was the civil government, which was vested in a Governor appointed by the Supreme Government, or, in default of such appointment, the office was vested in the commanding military officer of the Depart- ment, a Secretary, a Departmental or Territorial Legislature, a Superior Court with four Judges, a Prefect and Sub-Prefect, and a Judge of the First Instance for each district, Alcaldes, Justices of the Peace, and Town Councils. General Riley, more- over, recommended the election, at the same time, of delegates to a convention to adopt either a State or Territorial Constitution, which, if acquiesced in by the people, would be submitted to Congress. The proclamation stated the number of delegates which each district should elect, and also announced that appointments to the judi- ciary offices would be made after being voted for. The delegates from the district of which we then formed a portion to the Convention were Joseph Aram, Kimball H. Dimmick, J. D. Hoppe, Antonio M. Pico, Elam Brown, Julian Hanks, and Pedro Sain- sevain.

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History of Alameda County, California : including its geology, topography, soil, and productions, Part 25

Author: Munro-Fraser, J. P Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Oakland, Calif. : M.W. Wood Number of Pages: 1206

Author: Munro-Fraser, J. P
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Oakland, Calif. : M.W. Wood
Number of Pages: 1206