USA > California > Amador County > History of Amador County, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 7
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The people of the country generally considered that Fremont had been ungeneronsly used by the Government, and, a few years after, his popularity having been greatly enhanced through the influence of his magnificent wife, the daughter of Senator Thomas H. Benton, he was nominated for the Pres- idency by the Republican party.
CHAPTER IX .*
SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY FROM THE TIME CAPT. C. M. WEBER FIRST SAW IT IN NOVEMBER, 1841, UNTIL THE CLOSE OF 1847.
Captain C. M. Weber-Expedition to California, 1841-Names of the Party-Sutter's Fort-Hoza Ha-soos-San Jose- French Camp or Weber Grant-Revolutionary Designs of the Foreigners-Treaty between Weber and Ha-soos-How it was observed by Ha-soos-Fremont's Expedition, 1844- David Kelsey-Thomas Lindsay-Policy of the Foreigners- Weber and Micheltorena at San Jose-John A. Sutter aids Micheltorena-A Revolutionary Document -The " Bear Flag "-Attempt to Settle the Grant, 1846-Isbel Brothers and Other Early Settlers-Twins, Second Children born in County, 1847-End of Stanislaus City-First Marriage, 1847 -Village of "Tuleburg"-William Gan, First Child born in 1847-Wild Horse Scheme-Resume.
CAPT. C. M. WEBER was born at Hombourg, Depart- ment of Mont Tonnerre, under the Emperor Napo- leon I., on the 16th day of February, 1814. His parents were German. This province, about a year later, became a part of the Kingdom of Bavaria. His father was a minister, and held the position which in America would be called County School Superintendent. The Captain received an academic education-but not relishing an outlook that pre- sented the ministry in the future, his education was cut short at the threshold of the classic, and a mer- cantile horoscope was cast for the years " that were not yet."
Being of an adventurous disposition, the land where Washington had fought and De Kalb had fallen held to his youthful imagination an irresistible attraction; aud at the age of twenty-two he crossed the ocean, landed at New Orleans in the latter part of 1836, and for five years was a resident of Louisiana and Texas, when in the Spring of 1841, under medical advice, he visited St. Louis. In the meantime he had read in the newspapers the glowing descriptions of California given by Dr. John Marshe, a resident of the San Joaquin valley, and which were attracting ing considerable attention in the States. The Cap- tain-knowing that a trip across the plains, over the mountains of the west, and down into the California valleys would benefit his health, and, at the same time give him an opportunity to see this comparatively un- known country-decided to join an expedition then fitting out in that city for a trip to the Pacific slope, intending in the following Spring to continue his journey to Mexico, through that country, and ulti- mately, in that way, reach Louisiana, his final desti- nation, having no intention of stopping in California longer, at the farthest, than through the ensuing Winter. But "the best laid schemes o' mice and meil gang aft agley."
The party to which the Captain attached himself was a combination of emigrants for three different points: One party was destined for Oregon; another was a company of Jesnit priests going to the western wilds
"The portion of the history of San Joaquin is intimately con- nected with that of Amador, forming the connecting link between the Spanish and American settlement.
32
HISTORY OF AMADOR COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
on a mission to the Indians, hoping to Christianize the tribes of Oregon and Idaho; their immediate destination was the missions of Cœur d' Alene and Pen d' Oreille; Father P. J. DeSmet, S. J., was the leading spirit, and his efforts in that field have been written, a brief page in history, and the red man still scalps his focs. The third was the California wing of the little emigrant army, and numbered among its party men whose subsequent acts helped materially to shape the destinies of the State which has since become a golden star in the galaxy of the Republic.
There were thirty-six in that party. One only was a woman-the first American lady, probably, who ever entered California-certainly the first to reach it from over the plains. Her name was Mrs. Nancy A. Kelsey. She was the wife of Benjamin Kelsey, and they had a little daughter named Ann. This family commenced their march then, and, like the wandering Jew, have never since found a place to stop and rest. The beauties of California could not keep them,-they moved away to the forests of Oregon, and then returned again to the El Dorado ofthe coast; but no sooner had they settled there than the spirit of unrest came whispering "move on," and over the plains again they started; they were attacked by the Camanches in Texas, lost everything, and their little girl was scalped by the savages. Stopping for a time, they once more started for California and now are possibly moving to some new scene.
The men of the party were :---
CAPT. J. B. BARTELSON; Captain of the party; re- turned to Missouri; is now dead.
JOHN BIDWELL; lives at Chico.
JOSEPH B. CHILDS; still alive.
JOSIAH BELDEN; lives at San Jose and San Francisco. CHARLES M. WEBER; died in Stockton, May 4, 1881.
CHARLES HOPPER; lives in Napa county.
HENRY HUBER; lives in San Francisco.
MITCHELL NYE; had a ranch at Marysville; probably now alive.
GREEN MCMAHON; lives in Solano county.
NELSON MCMAHON; died in New York.
TALBOT H. GREENE; returned East.
AMBROSE WALTON; returned East.
JOHN McDONEL; returned East.
GEORGE HENSHAW; returned East.
ROBERT RYCKMAN; returned East.
WM. BETTY or BELTY; returned East by way of Santa Fé.
CHARLES FLUGGE; returned East.
GWIN PATTON; returned East; died in Missouri.
BENJIMAN KELSEY; was within a few years in Santa Barbara county, or at Clear Lake, Lake county. ANDREW KELSEY; killed by Indians at Clear Lake.
JAMES JOHN OF LITTLEJOHN; went to Oregon. HENRY BROLASKY; went to Callao.
JAMES DOWSON; drowned in Columbia river. MAJ. WALTON; drowned in Sacramento river.
GEORGE SHORTWELL; accidentally shot on the way out.
JOHN SWARTZ; died in California.
GROVE COOK; died in California.
D. W. CHANDLER; went to Sandwich Islands.
NICHOLAS DAWSON; dead.
THOMAS JONES; dead.
ROBERT H. THOMES; died in Tchama county, Cali- fornia, March 26, 1878.
ELIAS BARNET.
JAMES P. SPRINGER. JOHN ROWLAND.
They left Indpendence, Missouri, May 8, 1841 and all traveled together as far as Fort Hall, near Salt Lake, where Capt. J. B. Bartelson's party, as named above, separated from the rest and started for Cali- fornia, without a guide, by the way of Mary's (now Humboldt) river, they went to Carson river, and from the latter, to the main channel of Walker's river, up which they went to near its source, from which point they commenced their passage of the Sierra Nevada, descending its western slope between the Stanislaus and Tuolumne rivers, reaching the San Joaquin valley and passing down along the Stanislaus, crossed the San Joaquin river and arrived at the Dr. Marshe ranch, near the cast- ern base of Mount Diablo; on the 4th of November, 1841, having been six months, lacking four days, on the way. Herc the company rested for a number of days, and then disbanded, each going to the point in the country which his interests demanded. The Captain and a friend started for Sutter's Fort, having letters of introduction to Captain Sutter. They passed through the country now known as San Joaquin county, and beheld for the first time the land that the result of his own labors was to people within his life-time with thirty thousand souls.
The Winter of 1841-2 was spent by the Captain at Sutter's Fort, occupying his.time by acting as over- seer and assistant for Captain Sutter. While at the fort he found a quantity of seeds which had been laid away and apparently forgotten. They had been sent to Sutter by Wm. G. Ray, of the Hudson Bay Company, as a friendly expression of good will. The Captain, desiring to try an experiment, had the land around the fort prepared by Indians, and planted the seeds. Among them were three kinds of tobacco, a number of varieties of flowers, and some vegetables. The experiment proved a grand success, and in the Spring Sutter's Fort sccmed like an en- chanted fortress built in the midst of perennial gardens.
During the winter of 1841-2 José Jesus (pro- nounced Ho-za Ha-soos), the celebrated chief of the Si-yak-um-na tribe, visited the fort, at which time the Captain first met him. In after ycars there sprang up a warm friendship between these two men, that had much to do with the peaceable manner in which the country was afterwards settled by the whites. The Captain learned, in his intercourse with foreign- ers in the country, that there was germinating a prin- ciple or feeling which was in some localitics freely
RESIDENCE OF J.W.HUTCHINS: CLINTON. AMADOR COUNTY . CAL.
RESIDENCE & STORE,OF S.G.SPAGNOLI. CLINTON . AMADOR COUNTY , CAL.
LITH. BRITTON & REY, S F.
MOLINE MILL . RESIDENCE ANO FLOURING MILL OF JAMES . CUMMING IONE CITY . AMADOR COUNTY, CAL.
33
SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY FROM 1841 TO 1847.
talked of, to eventually Americanize California ; and, eoncluded with that prospect to look forward to, that he was fully warranted in casting his des- tinies with the other venturesome spirits who had decided to make Alta California their future home.
In the Spring he visited San Jose, and concluded to make that the point of his future business oper- ations, until the time should come, if ever, when it would become necessary to wrest from Mexico a portion of the country, over which to hoist a flag with the "lone star."
We do not wish to be misunderstood in this matter. Theintention of the leading pioneers of Cali- fornia, those who eame here previous to June, 1846, with the intention of making this their home, with- out regard to their nationality, was to work a polit- ical change in the country, "peaceably if they eould, forcibly if they must;" and this was to be done not because of any desire to injure the native Califor- nians, nor in a spirit of conquest, but because it was evident to those clear-headed Argonauts that to make the country a prosperous onc, (one that would war- rant occupation by a people of progressive civiliza- tion), necessitated a radical change in the manner of administering the affairs of State.
This change they proposed to effect in connection with the native inhabitants, if they could; and if this could not be done, to eventually, when they became strong enough, wrest a portion of the territory from Mexico, and form a government of their own.
Captain Weber formed a copartnership with Guillermo Gulnac, and soon established a credit which enabled the firm to do a very large business. They were the first parties in' that portion of the State to build a flouring mill and manufacture flour, combin- ing with the business the manufacture of sea-biscuit or crackers, this mill having been ereeted and flour made in 1842. They also entered quite largely into the manufacture of soap and American shoes, being the first manufacturers of the latter in California.
In 1843, July 14th, Guillermo Gulnae petitioned Manuel Micheltorena, the Governor of California, for a grant of eleven square leagues, or forty-eight thou- sand acres of land, to be located in the vicinity of French Camp, in the San Joaquin valley. Captain Weber was the real party, the power behind the throne; Mr. Gulnac's name being used because he was a Mexican citizen, as only such could obtain grants. About this time the commercial partnership was dissolved, the Captain becoming the successor to the business, and Mr. Gulnac, his eldest son, Jose, and Peter Lassen, with several vaqueros, took the cattle belonging to them and Captain Weber, and proceeded to take possession of the applied-for grant, at first making their head-quarters where Stockton now is; but owing to the fact that the Hudson Bay trappers had left for the summer, they became alarmed for their personal safety among the Indians and moved their camp up to the Cosumnes river, so as to be in reach of Sutter's Fort for protection. Mr. 5
Gulnae visited Captain Sutter, and was presented by that officer with a swivel gun such as the navy uscd in those days when attacking an enemy in small boats, mounting the swivel in the bow. This "young cannon"was to be used by Mr. Gulnae as a warning to the Indians to "flee from the wrath to come." It would make a " heap big noise" when fired, and was respected aeeordingly by the aborigines.
A statement will probably come in no place more opportune than here, of the reason which caused Captain Weber to desire the location of his proposed grant on the "up country side of the San Joaquin river." We have already given the political intentions of those pioneers which in 1843 had assumed so definite a form as to have caused the question to be discussed among them of where the division line was to be drawn between the Mexican prov- inces and the territory to be taken from them, in case it should result in that extreme measure ; and the conclusion had been tacitly arrived at that the San Joaquin river and the bays of San Francisco, San Pablo and Suisun were to form the line of division. It will therefore be seen that a strong reason for choosing a locality north of the San Joaquin was to secure land where he could gradually concentrate his property within the limits of the country to be acquired. Another reason, for selecting this special locality, was the facilities it would give him for dealing with the Hudson Bay trappers, who made their head-quarters every winter at French Camp, from whom, in exchange for fur, he obtained ammunition, blankets, elothing, etc., of a better quality and at lower figures than could be obtained elsewhere at that time.
The attempt to settle the expected grant had failed because of the fears of Gulnac, and the Captain ob- tained a passport from the Alcalde of San Jose, and proceeded to visit Sutter's Fort, with a view of see- ing the Indian ehief, Ha-soos, and making a treaty of peace with him, if possible. After arriving in the country, an Indian runner was sent to find the chief, and ask him to meet the Captain at a given time and place. A meeting was arranged, and at the appointed time the two men, representatives of their races in the country, met. Captain Weber ex- plained his plans to the Indian, stating that he was desirous of settling on land in the San Joaquin valley; that the Americans were desirous of being his allies and friends; that they were not coming to injure nor rob, but as friends to aid and benefit his tribe; that he wished to settle here to be beyond the reach of the Spaniards, in case of trouble between the Ameri- cans and native Californians, against whom this cele- brated chief was waging an endless war. The result was a friendly alliance that remain ed unbroken to the end. The chief advised the building of the American ·village at the point where it was located, the present site of Stockton, and agreed to provide all the help necessary in the tilling of the soil, and to furnish a war party when called upon to defend the settlers'
34
HISTORY OF AMADOR COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
property against cither Indians or Mexicans. The Captain was generous in his presents, and a friend- ship was started at the interview that lasted during the life of Ha-soos, and the Captain now remembers the Si-yak-um-na chief as one of his most reliable and valued friends of early days.
The inhabitants of to-day can little appreciate the importance at the time, and the immediate advantage accruing to the foreign population of the country resulting from that treaty. One may pass through the County of San Joaquin and ask the old settlers what they know of Ha-soos and his connection with this country in early days, and may find five persons in his travels that will remember the chief, and that he was friendly to the Americans; but they, with one exception, that of Capt. C. M. Weber, will give him no credit for being so, supposing that it was forced or indolent friendship. It has become popular with the historian, as well as the men of 1849 and later, to place the California Indians, in the scale of creation, but one step above the African gorilla. Whatever may have been the general rule, there certainly was an exception in favor of the aborigines occupying the territory between the Tuolumne and Mokelumne rivers. These Indians were divided up into ranche- rias or villages, each village having its ehief and name. Consequently there was a number of petty chiefs, but all acknowledge an indefinite but undis- puted supremacy and authority in the chief of the Si-yak-um-nas, Ho-za Ha-soos, who had made him- self a terror to the Spanish inhabitants of North California. His name was to the native population what Osceola's was to the Floridians, except that the former chief was less brutal than the latter. He did not scalp his victims, like the Seminole, nor seek the midnight massacre of isolated persons.
He believed that he and his people had been wronged by the Spanish, and he would never smoke the pipe of peace with them. He would swoop down upon the plains and carry off their stock, taking it to his stronghold in the foot-hills of the Sierras; and if the missions or settlers of those valleys saw fit to attempt a rescue, he fought them, and was univers- ally victorious. The San Joaquin river divided his ter- ritory from the Californians, and when east of that stream he was upon his native heath; and it was rare indeed that the pursuers followed him into his own country. They had learned better in their battle on the banks of the Stanislaus in 1829, when "Estanisloa," the former chief of the Si-yak-um-nas, defeated their combined San Jose and Yerba Buena forces.
It will be seen that Ho-za Ha-soos was so circum- stanced as to receive favorable advances from a peo- ple who gave as one of their reasons for desiring his friendship the probable hostility that might in the future exist between them and the Spanish people of the country. He believed that he was strengthening himself against his old foe. It will also be observed that the line beyond which the native Californians,
even in armed parties, found it dangerous to pass, was the San Joaquin river. Beyond this it was con- sidered and understood by them to be savage and inhospitable wilds. IIa-soos had made them respect that river as the practical north boundary line of their territory. Hence the propriety or policy of the foreign population in selecting this river as the south boundary of the country they proposed, under cer- tain circumstances, to make into an independent state, along the borders of which they would have a picket line of Indian allies.
In this connection we will mention two instances in which Ha-soos demonstrated his good will to the Americans, carrying out, on his part, the spirit of the alliance he had made with Captain Weber ; and we mention these with some hesitancy, not because of any doubt of the facts, but because it is hitherto unwritten history that may be questioned. The incidents referred to were related to us by Captain Weber, who says that when Captain Sutter passed through the country, in the Winter of 1844, to join and aid Manuel Micheltorena against the revolution- ary General, Jose Castro, Ha-soos joined him with a number of warriors. And later, when Gen. J. C. Fremont passed through the San Joaquin valley south, to help take this country from Mexico, that this chief was again on hand, and accompanied him to San Jose, to fight his old foes, in the interest of his friends, the Americans. Whether he actually performed any military act of hostility to the enemy on either occasion does not appear, but that he was ready so to do was demonstrated by his presence with his warriors.
On the 13th of January, 1844, the Governor of California complied with the petition of Mr. Gulnac, and issued to him the grant of land known as "El Rancho del Campo de los Franceses," which in Eng- lish means "The French Camp Ranch." After the issuing of the grant, the next event worthy of note in the county was the passage through it of Capt. J. C. Fremont, who, on the 25th of March of that year, camped over night at the place since known as the village of Liberty, on the south side of Dry creek. It was in his memorable first expedition to the Pacific coast. He had been at Sutter's Fort re- cruiting and had started south on his way through the San Joaquin valley en route for the States. The following taken from the published history of his expedition, will have peculiar interest to the residents of this county :--
"March 25th-We traveled for twenty-eight miles over the same delightful country as yesterday, and halted in a beautiful bottom at the ford of the Rio de los Mukelemnes, receiving its name from another Indian tribe living on the river. The bottoms on the stream are broad, rich, and extremely fertile ; and the uplands are shaded with oak groves. A showy lupinus of extraordinary beauty, growing four or five feet in height, and covered with spikes in bloom, adorned the banks of the river, and filled the air with a light and grateful perfume.
35
SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY FROM 1841 TO 1847.
"On the 26th we halted at the Arroyo de las Calaveras (Skull creek),a tributary to the San Joaquin-the pre- vions two streams entering the bay between the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers. This place is beau- tiful, with-open groves of oak, and a grassy sward be- neath, with many plants in bloom; some varieties of which seem to love the shade of the trees, and grow there in close, small fields. Near the river, and re- placing the grass, are great quantities of ammole (soap plant), the leaves of which are used in California for making, among other things, mats for saddle cloths. A vine with a small white flower (melothria) called here la yerba buena, and which from its abundance, gives name to an island and town in the bay, was to-day very frequent on our road-sometimes running on the ground or climbing the trees.
"March 27th-To-day we traveled steadily and rapidly up the valley ; for with our wild animals any other gait was impossible, and making about four miles an hour. During the earlier part of the day, our ride had been over a very level part of prairie, separated by lines and groves of oak timber, growing along dry gullies, which are filled with water in seasons of rain ; and, perhaps, also by the melting snows. Over much of this extent, the vege- tation was sparse ; the surface showing plainly the action of water, which, in the season of flood, the Joaquin spreads over the valley. At one o'clock we came again among innumerable flowers ; and a few miles further, fields of the beautiful blne flowering lupine, which seems to love the neighborhood of water, indicated that we were approaching a stream. We have found this beautiful shrub in thickets, some of them being twelve feet in height. Occasionally three or four plants were clustered together, forming a grand bouquet, about ninety feet in circumference, and ten feet high; the whole summit covered with spikes of flowers, the perfume of which is very sweet and grateful. A lover of natural beauty can imagine with what pleasure we rode among these flowering groves, which filled the air with a light and delicate fragrance. We continued our road for about half a mile, interspersed through an open grove of live- oaks, which, in form, were the most symmetrieal and beautiful we had yet seen in the country. The ends of their branches rested on the ground forming some- what more than a half sphere of very full and regu- lar figure, with leaves apparently smaller than usual. The Californian poppy, of a rich orange color, was numerous. To-day, elk and several bands of ante- lope made their appearance.
"Our road was now one continued enjoyment; and it was pleasant, riding among this assemblage of green pastures with varied flowers and scattered groves, and out of the warm, green Spring, to look at the roeky and snowy peaks, where lately we had suffered so much. Emerging from the timber we çame suddenly upon the Stanislaus river, where we hoped to find a ford, but the stream was flowing by, dark and deep, swollen by the mountain snows ; its general breadth was about fifty yards.
" We traveled about five miles up the river, and encamped without being able to find a ford. Here we made a large corral, in order to be able to catch a sufficient number of our wild animals to relieve those previously packed.
" Under the shade of the oaks, along the river, I noticed erodium cicutarium in bloom, eight or ten inches high. This is the plant which we had seen the squaws gathering on the Rio de los Americanos. By the inhabitants of the valley, it is highly esteemed for fattening cattle, which appear to be very fond of
it. Here, where the soil begins to be sandy, it supplies to a considerable extent the want of grass.
" Desirous, as far as possible, without delay, to include in our examination the Joaquin river, I returned this morning down the Stanislaus, for seventeen miles, and again encamped without having found a fording-place. After following it for eight miles further the next morning, and finding ourselves in the vicinity of the San Joaquin, encamped in a handsome oak grove, and, several cattle being killed, we ferried over our baggage in their skins. Here our Indian boy, who probably had not much idea of where he was going, and began to be alarmed at the many streams we were putting between him and the village, deserted.
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