History of Alameda County, California : including its geology, topography, soil, and productions, Part 32

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

USA > California > Alameda County > History of Alameda County, California : including its geology, topography, soil, and productions > Part 32

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On June 13th a Union Party Convention assembled at San Leandro under the presidency of Asa Walker, with F. M. Campbell, Secretary, when the following dele- gates to the Union State Convention at Sacramento were appointed: Alameda Town- ship, Henry Robinson; Brooklyn Township, A. W. Swett; Eden Township, William Meek; Murray Township, (no delegate); Oakland Township, John McMann; Wash- ington Township, H. Overacker. The Democratic County Convention was held at the same place on the 27th of June, and among those who took a part in its affairs was ex-Governor Weller, who, in 1863, was a resident of Fruit Vale, while on August Ist the Union County Convention met for the purpose of nominating the county ticket, which at the election was triumphant in every instance. At this election the vote in Alameda County for Governor was, Low (Union), one thousand three hundred and ninety-two; and Downey (Democrat), eight hundred and five. In regard to the Judicial election held October 21st, Judge McKee defeated Judge Brown of Contra Costa, who had received the Union Nomination, by three hundred and thirty-three votes.

In September of this year a mandamus was issued by Judge Reynolds, of Contra Costa, with the purpose of compelling the Board of Supervisors of Alameda County to levy a tax to pay the Contra Costa judgment, but on application to the Supreme Court a stay of proceedings was granted. On the 14th of the same month panels of grand and trial jurors were apportioned in the following manner: Alameda Township, three; Brooklyn Township, nine; Eden Township, eleven; Murray Township, six; Oak- land Township, seventeen; Washington Township, fourteen.

During the year 1863 the Legislature passed an Act providing for the election of two additional Supervisors for the county, and that the townships of Brooklyn and Alameda have power to elect one Supervisor for each township; therefore, on October 5th, when the new Board met it was composed of A. Cummings, of Alameda Town- ship; Robert S. Farrelly, of Brooklyn Township; William Meek, of Eden Township; John Green, of Murray Township; F. K. Shattuck, of Oakland Township; and H. Overacker, of Washington Township; Mr. Shattuck being again chosen Chairman.

On November 2, 1863, plans and specifications for a bridge across the San Leandro Creek at the town of that name were adopted, and sealed proposals for build- ing the same were desired to be called for, the work being eventually let to Dole &

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POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE COUNTY.

Brother, at the contract figure of two thousand five hundred dollars. November 3d, the Alvarado Guards asked for an apportionment for rent of armory and were allowed fifty dollars per month from that date, while, December 7th, the last record of the year, District Attorney W. W. Crane resigned his position and was replaced by George M. Blake.

1864 .- The Grand Jury which met in January of this year having declared the county jail to be a public nuisance, the Board of Supervisors must have taken the matter to heart to some extent, for we find them, on February 2d, appealing to the Representatives in the Legislature to have a bill passed as soon as possible, authoriz- ing the levy of a special tax for the erection of a county jail and making urgently- required repairs to the Court House. In the meantime a watchman was placed in charge "until the parties at present confined therein for grand larceny be discharged;" while on the 23d of the same month a committee was appointed to make a thorough investigation into the condition of the premises, who it would appear reported that its state was far from satisfactory, and that additional accommodation was imperatively necessary. To this end a contract was entered into with Messrs Kittredge & Leavitt for the construction of an iron cell to cost sixteen hundred dollars, a work that was at once proceeded with, reported complete, and paid for, September 5, 1864. On May 23d a proposition to make the jail of the city of Oakland a branch of that of the county for the confinement of persons where the city was liable for the expenses of keeping, was received and referred to the District Attorney. At the previous meet- ing of the Board, a committee was appointed to report upon the advisability of build- ing a board fence around the Court House Square, a proceeding they considered unwise. However this does not appear to have been the opinion of the majority of the Supervisors, for they adopted a plan presented by E. H. Goff, and specifications there- fore were received, and proposals to build advertised for; and on the 15th August, another committee was appointed to superintend the construction of a high fence to inclose the jail, repair the well, etc., at a cost not to exceed five hundred dollars, a labor that was apparently performed, as, on the 19th October, a charge of four hun- dred and seventy-five dollars for such work appears on the minutes.

During the month of January J. B. Larue, at a meeting of the Board of Super- visors, presented a scheme for their approval having as its object the improvement of the navigation of the San Antonio Creek, provided he were allowed a franchise and permitted to levy a toll. Frequent attempts to effect this boon had been previously made but to no avail, while he deprecated the idea that the granting of such a privi- lege would have the appearance of the Supervisors' countenancing a monopoly, as there were already two ferry lines having communication between Oakland and Ala- meda and San Francisco, irrespective of that which used the creek. Mr. Larue made the proposal in the name of the Oakland and San Antonio Steam Navigation Com- pany, of which corporation he was the President. Further resolutions were introduced by him, February 2d, but the subject was left in abeyance for some time; the Super- visors, however, subsequently thought favorably of the plan, which was embodied in a bill that was, although passed by the Legislature, vetoed by the Governor.

On February 18,1864, the Oakland News was given the publishing of the proceed-

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HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.

ings of the Board of Supervisors at the same rate as charged by the Alameda County Gazette. March 3d, Socrates Huff, the newly-elected County Treasurer, presented his receipt, showing that he had received from J. W. Carrick, the late incumbent of that office, the sum of ten thousand two hundred and twenty-one dollars and sixty-six cents, being the amount of funds on hand in the County Treasury; and on the 7th, twenty thousand dollars were distributed among the Road Districts of Alameda, Brooklyn, Eden, Murray, Oakland, and Washington. On the 3d of the same month occurs the first bid for national aid to improve the navigation of the San Antonio Creek, at which time resolutions, setting forth the immense advantages that would accrue to the county were such a scheme perfected, were passed and ordered to be sent to the Senator and Assemblymen of Alameda in the Legislature.

Under the chairmanship of Dr. W. Newcomb, of Oakland, and S. S. Saul, Sec- retary, a Union County Convention was held at San Leandro on March 19th, at which time delegates were appointed to the State Convention to be held in Sacra- mento, who selected those to proceed to the National Union Convention to choose candidates for the offices of President and Vice-President of the United States, their unanimous sympathy, as the sequel showed, being with Abraham Lincoln. In contin- uation of this subject we may state that the Democratic County Convention met at the same place on the 7th of May for a similar purpose, with William S. Moss pre- siding, and Harry Linden, Secretary, when William S. Moss, P. E. Edmondson, W. H. Glascock, and Harry Linden, were appointed delegates to the State Convention. These political meetings culminated on the 29th October, when a very numerously attended and enthusiastic gathering of Union followers at San Leandro-the largest then that had been had in the county-met to do honor to their popular nominees. I. A. Amerman, President of the Lincoln and Johnson Club of San Leandro, officiated as Grand Marshal of the Day, with E. M. Smith, Lysander Stone, and E. C. Jacobs, as Aides-de-Camp. As the sun reached the meridian the strains of music from the south proclaimed the arrival of the contingent from that portion of the county, headed by a brass band. It included a delegation from Centreville, with Capt. J. M. Moore as Marshal; another from Alvarado, with whom was the military company in full uniform and accoutered, with Judge Williams as Marshal; while there came under the marshalship of Henry Smith, a strong body from San Lorenzo. This column presented a most imposing appearance when on the line of march, as it occupied the space of road between San Lorenzo and San Leandro, with its flag- bedecked wagons and gaily-caparisoned horses. The hour of noon had scarcely tolled ere the phalanx from the northern portion of the county came in sight with

" Fife and steed, and trump and drum, and roaring culverin,"

This last being a mounted cannon, bearing the label, " The Peacemaker." This con- tingent was marshaled by F. K. Shattuck, of Oakland, accompanied by Gen. Irwin McDowell, the members of his staff, and the Oakland Guard. The Brooklyn dele- gation, with some men from San Francisco, marshaled by Hon. Thomas Eager, numbered a thousand men. The Alameda division was headed by Judge Hastings, and when moving stretched from Alameda Lane to San Leandro, a distance of four miles and a half, these two making a procession eight miles in length. This vast concourse passed in review order before General McDowell, who stood in his carriage,

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POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE COUNTY.

with uncovered head, company by company, as they filed past, making the welkin ring with their loyal cheers. The Hon. Edward Tompkins was President of the Day, who made a most eloquent and soul-stirring speech, and was followed by Hons. Delos Lake, Nathan Porter, F. M. Pixley, J.G. McCallum, Attorney-General Mccullough, W. H. L. Barnes, and Judge Tyler, the Secretaries for the occasion being Messrs. Saul, Gagan, and Estabrook Smith. This demonstration was in every sense a most enthu- siastic one, as is now remembered with great gratification by those now alive who par- ticipated in it.

At this time great dissatisfaction was felt at a fee bill that had passed the Legis- lature through the instrumentality of Assemblyman Scott, therefore it became neces- sary to pass a new Act, making the fees of the Sheriff the same as those established by the enactment of 1855, and repealing the clause relative to the fees of Justices of the Peace and Constables; while, about the same period, Andrew B. Forbes and his associates made application to the Legislature for the grant of a wharf franchise, to maintain and construct such a pier at Green Point, for the public convenience and the accommodation of steamers plying between San Francisco and Alviso. The South Pacific Coast Railroad have now built to that point from San José, and in its vicinity has since sprung up the town of Newark.

On May 2, 1864, Dole & Brother were paid the sum of two thousand dollars on account of the building of the bridge at San Leandro, while the time for finishing the same was extended to the Ist of June. It was, however, completed and accepted by the county on May 23d, and the balance of two thousand four hundred and forty- five dollars due to them paid; while, it was ordered, August 8th, that a fine of fifteen dollars be imposed for rapid driving over it. On May 5th, the Auditing Committee on the accounts of the Auditor and Treasurer, from February 1, 1862, to February I, 1864, reported that they found these in a satisfactory state and correct; and on the 23d it was reported that a bridge over Alameda Creek, near the Bell Ranch, was impera- tively necessary. On the same date plans and specifications for repairing and replank- ing the Oakland Bridge were ordered and bids for doing the same called for. This contract was let to A. W. Hawkett & Co., for nineteen hundred and ninety-five dol- lars, to be paid in county warrants on completion, which was duly done August 8, 1864. The old lumber was thereafter sold, and the proceeds, seventy-seven dollars and fifty cents paid into the Treasury.

As is too well remembered, party feeling ran very high at this period, and many were the disloyal statements made by the unthinking portion of the community. The county, however, never had itself so startled as it was when the intelligence was received from San Francisco that its District Attorney had been apprehended by a United States Marshal for using seditious language, and incarcerated on Alcatraz Island. The crime, however, proved to be less serious than was at first imagined, for, soon after, Gen. J. S. Chipman was released on taking the oath of allegiance.

In June of this year the following excellent joke was perpetrated on Judge Church, the first County Clerk and Recorder of Alameda, and at present a very able and efficient Justice of the Peace of Oakland Township. It would appear that sev- eral gentlemen had determined to subscribe a monthly amount towards the Soldiers' Relief Fund, during the continuance of the war, and among those who subscribed ten

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HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.

dollars per month was our excellent friend. Upon the receipt of the contribution, the Committee of the Soldiers' Relief Fund published the acknowledgment in the Aita California-then, as now, a morning paper-of ten dollars from " A. M. Church, San Leandro," which appeared in the Bulletin of the same evening, transmogrified into the following: "African Methodist Church of San Leandro," thus taking a very strange, though innocent, liberty with Mr. Church's initials.

On November 8, 1864, the Presidential election showed a majority in this county for Lincoln of six hundred and fifty-eight votes, while his plurality throughout the State was sixteen thousand six hundred and thirty-four votes; and, for Congress, Higby received fourteen hundred and fifty-eight votes, as against seven hundred and ninety-seven for Coffroth.

The new Board of Supervisors met December 5, 1864, as follows: F. K. Shat- tuck, Oakland Township; L. Fassking, Alameda Township; R. S. Farrelly, Brooklyn Township; William Meek, Eden Township; H. Overacker, Washington Township; John Green, Murray Township. Mr. Shattuck was chosen Chairman. Standing Committees on Auditing and Finance, Roads and Bridges, Judiciary and Hospital, were appointed, and Dr. E. Gibbons, L. Fassking, and F. K. Shattuck, elected man- agers of the County Hospital. It should be mentioned that during the year 1864 was the first term that the Legislature sat under the biennial system inaugurated by the amended Constitution.

1865 .- Besides a general activity in railroad building, there was nothing of great political significance occurred in Alameda County, although the assassination of Pres- ident Lincoln occupied much attention. The first item of note is the allowance, on February II, 1865, of fifty dollars a month to the Hayward Guard for the purpose of providing an armory; while, August 21st, the like sum for the same object was granted to the Brooklyn Guard, another military organization. In this month the Supreme Court affirmed the judgment obtained by Contra Costa County against Alameda County, for the old Oakland (Twelfth Street) Bridge indebtedness, the amount being fifteen thousand dollars, and, on November 25th, under the Act approved April 26, 1862, the amount paid by Alameda to Contra Costa, if any, was directed to be apportioned, fifty per cent. to be applied to building a road from the Walnut Creek House, in Contra Costa County, to the Alameda County line, to super- intend which, on the 27th of December, F. K. Shattuck was appointed Commissioner to meet a like official from Contra Costa. On March 2, 1865, the collection of the road poll tax was systematized, and Road Commissioners were directed to procure a sufficient number of receipts for the purpose of issuing them to Township Assessors, who were to make monthly and yearly reports of the same and be held liable, on bond, for any deficieney. On the same date the petition of the San Francisco and Alameda Railroad Company and others, for permission to lay their track through Alameda Street to Ward Street, and through the latter to the casterly side of the county road, was granted, so far as crossing the county road at the termination of Ward Street was concerned; while, at the same session of the Board, the following apportionment of grand and trial jurors was made: Oakland Township, seventy- eight; Alameda Township, fourteen; Brooklyn Township, thirty-six; Eden Town-

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POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE COUNTY.

ship, thirty-seven; Washington Township, fifty-six; Murray Township, nineteen. In the month of March, in this year, we 'find that the committee to whom was delegated the duty, examined and passed that now distinguished lawyer, A. A. Moore, who was admitted to practice in the District Court. Mr. Moore was the first law student from Alameda County to make such an application.

The profound sensation caused on the receipt of the intelligence of President Lincoln's assassination may be more readily imagined than described. On April 17, 1865, the Board of Supervisors held a meeting, there being present Messrs. Fassking, Farrelly, Meek, Overacker, and Green. Mr. Farrelly being chosen Chairman pro tem., upon taking his seat he offered the following resolutions, which were unanimously adopted :-

" WHEREAS, The sad intelligence has recently come to us of the death of our beloved President, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, who has been inhumanly murdered in cold blood by a brutal assassin, the like of which cowardly assault does not find its parallel in the history of the world, therefore be it

" Resolved, That as we have always loved and respected HONEST OLD ABE, OUR GOOD PRESIDENT, while he lived, and in common unison with our fellow-citizens throughout the Union, we are sad and sorrowing to-day at the great loss our nation has sustained, trusting in the God of our fathers, who has always sustained our nation, and who ever keeps her destiny in his hands to still uphold our country during this terrible affliction. It is hereby further

" Resolved, That we do now, as a Board of Supervisors, adjourn without transacting any business until the first Monday of May, and that all matters coming before us at this time be continued until the said first Monday of May, and that the Sheriff of the county be directed to dfape the Court House with appropriate badges of mourning, the same to remain thirty days.

" And the Board then adjourned.

" Attest: G. E. SMITH, Deputy Clerk.

F. K. SHATTUCK, Chairman.

About this time the late Hon. J. B. Felton was a prominent candidate for the position of United States Senator, and many were the remarks made as to the means used to further his candidature, but with these we have nothing to do. His cause was warmly espoused by the Oakland News, and as strenuously opposed by the San Leandro Gazette. On the 5th of August the Union County Convention was held in San Leandro, and the Democratic Convention at the same place on the 24th, the platform adopted being: First-In favor of a hard money currency, with an exten- sion of the Specific Contract Act, to include verbal contract for workingmen's wages. Second-Opposition to negro or Chinese suffrage. Third-In favor of the recon- struction of the Southern States on the principles established by President Johnson. At the general election which followed, on September 6th, the Union candidates were successful in every instance; while, at the Judicial election held in the following month, S. W. Sanderson, the Republican nominee for Judge of the Supreme Court, received, in Alameda County, three hundred and ninety votes more than did Hartley, the Democratic candidate.

On October 23, 1865, the new Board of Supervisors, consisting of F. K. Shat- tuck, Oakland Township; A. Cummings, Alameda Township; R. S. Farrelly, Brook- lyn Township; J. B. Marlin, Eden Township; H. Overacker, Washington Township; John Green, Murray Township, met, while among their first duties was the granting of a contract to E. Dole to build, for thirteen hundred dollars, a bridge across Ala- meda Creek near the Bell Ranch, which was completed and duly accepted November 20, 1865.

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HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.

1866 .- In the month of January, 1866, a bill was vetoed by the Governor which had for its object the granting to the Alameda Railroad Company a subsidy of ten thousand dollars a mile, to be raised by a tax of twenty-five cents on each one hun- dred dollars' worth of property, but fortunately it brought numerous remonstrants and was very properly demolished. The chief questions during the session of the Legislature in this year was what was known as the " No Fence Law," and the rail- road subsidy. The first of these, introduced by Hon. Thomas Eager, was subse- quently withdrawn, and the second, although it passed, was strongly opposed by the citizens, who, in meeting assembled at Oakland, March 27th, called upon the Governor to veto it, which he did. In this year Senator Robinson introduced yet another bill in the Legislature. It was for the purpose of imposing and regulating a dog tax.

On March 26, 1866, the Jackson Guards, another military organization, was allowed by the Board, the sum of fifty dollars per month for rent of an armory; on April 4th further payments to military companies were ordered suspended to await legislative action on the militia law, which subsequently allowed warrants to them up till April 1, 1866, and no farther. A commission was appointed jointly by the Alameda and Contra Costa Boards of Supervisors to survey the Telegraph Road with a view to its permanent improvement, about this time; while on March 26th the salaries of the Auditor and Clerk of the Board were respectively fixed at nine hundred and two hundred and fifty dollars per annum. .

In the beginning of March, 1866, the San Antonio (Twelfth-street) bridge ques- tion again cropped in the rendering of a judgment against the claimant, in the case of Gilman vs. Contra Costa County, in the Supreme Court at Sacramento. Early in this chapter we have touched upon this subject (pp. 191 to 195, and 200 to 204) and shown to the reader how an original claim of seven thousand four hundred dollars may be increased to eighty-five thousand dollars and upwards.

On May 7, 1866, five Pound Districts were established, keepers appointed, and rates for the county established as follows :-

Cattle, horses, mules, etc. First day $1.00

Each subsequent day. .50

Swine, sheep and goats. First day. .50

Each subsequent day .25

On the same date a change in the Road Districts was effected, while the road poll tax, and road tax, collected for 1866-67 was directed to be set apart to the credit of its own especial district. On the 29th the following Road Commissioners were appointed: Henry P. Barlow, Alameda Township; M. C. LaGrange, Brooklyn Township; Hiram Madden, Eden Township; O. Morgan, Washington Township; J. Donlon, Murray Township; Samuel C. Percy, Oakland Township; whose bonds were fixed at one thousand dollars each. This scheme, it is presumed, did not work satis- factorily, for on September 10, 1866, the road tax was ordered to be distributed once more, the Auditor being directed to call in all outstanding road warrants drawn on the different Township Road Funds and issue, in lieu thereof, warrants on the General Road and Bridge Fund of the County for the amount of principal and interest of said warrants called in. The County Superintendent of Schools, Rev. C. E. Rich, pre- sented a report on the re-establishing and more clearly defining boundaries of the

Los. 7. Black

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POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE COUNTY.

several School Districts, which being fully considered at their meeting of June 5th, the Board then established: Oakland, Temescal, Peralta, Ocean Vicw, Bay, Brooklyn, Lockwood, Redwood, Alameda, Encinal, Union, San Lorenzo, Eden Vale, Eureka, Alvarado, Alviso, Lincoln, Centreville, Mowry's Landing, Washington, Mission San José, Warm Springs, Mission Peak, Murray, Pleasanton, Livermore, Suñol. On June 12th, the Contra Costa Water Company were granted the privilege to lay pipes in Brooklyn Township.

In accordance with the law requiring all persons claiming the right to vote should be enrolled in their respective townships, the following Enrolling Clerks were ap- pointed: Charles H. Haile, Alameda; -- , Brooklyn; Joel Russell, Eden; J. W. Dougherty, Murray; Perry Johnson, Oakland City; T. L. Walker, Oakland Township; J. Shinn, Washington.

On September 5, 1855, the following Supervisors were elected: F. K. Shattuck, Oakland Township; Robert S. Farrelly, Brooklyn Township; J. B. Marlin, Eden Township; John Green, Murray Township; William Threlfall, Washington Township; A. Cummings, Alameda Township. There was a tie between Messrs. Cummings and Millington for the office of Supervisor for Alameda Township, each candidate receiving forty votes, but the special election held on the 22d of the same month resulted in the choice of Mr. Cummings.

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History of Alameda County, California : including its geology, topography, soil, and productions, Part 32

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