History of California, Volume II, Part 7

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : The History Company, publishers
Number of Pages: 826

USA > California > History of California, Volume II > Part 7

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

15 Prov. St. Pap., MS., xix. 249.

16 Viader, Diario ó Noticia del Viage que acabo de hacer por mandato del Sr Gobernador y Padre Presidente, con el objeto de buscar parages ó Sitios para fundar Misiones, Agosto 1810, MS. August 15th, left Mission San José and went six leagues N. to a spring in San José Valley. 16th, G l. N. to source of Nogales Cr .; 6 l. N. to mouth of same stream in sloughs extending N. E. 17th, explorations of the plains about the mouths of the great rivers in the lands of the Tarquines (Carquines?), no facilities for a mission for lack of water. 18th, 7 l. E. over range of mountains to the Rio de San Joaquin, or as it is also called Rio de los Tulares, in the land of the Tulpunes; 21. E. 19th, 10 1. s. E. along edge of the tules to a lagoon in an oak grove, at or near the ranchería of Pescadero in the country of the Cholboues. 20th, 3 1. s. E. past Aupimis to opposite Tomchom; 2.51. to Cuyens. 21st, 3 1. past a dry creek, to Maijem; 2 1. to Bozenats. 22d, 3 1. s. E. to Tationes and Apaglamenes; 3 1. to some lagoons (all these rancherías were on the other side of the river, and the travellers simply arrived opposite them. Most of the names were those of the chiefs). 23d, 41. to a lagoon. 24th, turned west and in 10 1. reached San Luis Gonzaga. 25th, explorations. 26th, s. w. over the mountains, 9 1. to Ausaymas Cr. 27th, 5 1. s. w. to San Juan Bautista.

17 Viader, Diario de una Entrada al Rio de San Joaquin, Octobre 1810, MS. October 19th and 21st, from San José Mission N. E. and E. N. E. to ranchería of the Cholbones, or Pescadero, on the San Joaquin. 22d, Corporal Pico seut home with captives. Up river s. E. 21. to opposite to Tugites. 23d,

MINOR TRIPS.

Moraga had a company of twenty-three soldiers and fifty armed neophytes, by which force thirty Ind- ians were captured on the San Joaquin and sent back to the missions under a guard. Subsequently the party crossed the river between the Merced and Tuolumne to make a new examination of the country. The Merced region, although the best seen, did not seem so favorable for a mission as it had been reported in 1806. Moraga also visited Bodega in September, discovering and exploring to some extent a fertile val- ley in that region, to which, however, he gave no name.18

4 1. up river s. E., meeting some Cuyens, to Mayemes; 2 1. to ford, and crossed near Taualames, 24th, tried to reach the Rio Dolores 2 or 3 1. N. W. from camp; 6 1. S. S. E. up river past the Apelamenes, or Tationes, to Rio Merced. 25th, reforded the San Joaquin 1 1. above the Merced; 3.5 1. down the river to Orestimac Arroyo opposite the Apelamenes; 2 1. to opposite Taualames; 3 1. west to Arroyo of Corpus Christi. 26th, 6 1. w. across the hills to El Toro; 6 1. to springs and little plain of San Guillermo. 27th, 6 1. w. to ranchería of the Paleños; 5 1. to Mission Santa Clara. It is to be noted that Viader's original diary in my possession and that copied from the archives of Santa Bárbara do not exactly agree in some details.

18 Moraga, Diario de su Expedicion al Puerto de Bodega, 1810, MS. On the way north the 'Estero of San Juan Francisco' is mentioned, on which was a ranchería under Captain Yolo; and on the return the 'Punta del Plan de San Francisco Solano' is named. Grijalva, Explicacion del Registro que hicimos desde San Diego, MS., is a diary without date of an exploration for mission sites in the region of S. Diego, certainly before 1806 and perhaps long before 1800. Grijalva was not the writer, but the commander.

CHAPTER IV.

RUSSIAN RELATIONS -- VISIT OF REZANOF AND LANGSDORFF. 1806-1810.

PRELIMINARY RÉSUMÉ OF RUSSIAN AMERICAN ANNALS-SPANISH MOVE- MENTS AND POLICY-ENGLISH AND AMERICAN INTERVENTION-RUSSO- AMERICAN CONTRACTS-O'CAIN-REZANOF'S VISIT TO SAN FRANCISCO- AUTHORITIES ON THE VOYAGE-RUSSIAN MOTIVES-A STARVING COLONY -THE 'JUNO' AND HER CARGO-DIPLOMACY-AN HONEST GOVERNOR- TRADING FRIARS-DESERTERS-RUMORS OF WAR-CRITICAL STATE OF AFFAIRS-LOVE AND ROMANCE-DOÑA CONCEPCION ARGÜELLO-REZAN- OF'S DEPARTURE AND DEATH-LANGSDORFF'S OBSERVATIONS-SWIFT AND EYERS ON THE COAST-THE 'DERBY' AND THE ' MERCURY'-PLANS FOR COMMERCE AND A SETTLEMENT-KUSKOF AT BODEGA-VOYAGE OF THIE WINSHIPS-RUSSIAN SCHEMES.

ONE of the chief motives as avowed by the Span- iards for the occupation of San Diego and Monterey by the expedition of 1769 had been the fear of Rus- sian advance, or encroachment as they regarded it, from the north. The Russians were indeed destined to play a not unimportant part in the later history of California. On them she was to depend for years for her foreign trade; they were to furnish her in spite of herself with many things that she required. They were to plant themselves on her border, if not within her territory, and were to serve and annoy her at the same time. It was in 1806 that the Russians of the far north first came into actual contact with the Span- ish residents of California, and in this chapter I shall trace the resulting relations down to the end of the decade.

In a later volume of this series devoted to the history of Alaska I shall present a complete record of

( 58 )

ANNALS OF ALASKA.

Russian policy and achievement in north-western America, including of course a vast amount of mate- rial bearing indirectly on the motives and results of Russian intercourse with the southern provinces; there- fore the brief presentment of a few salient points of Alaskan annals will suffice for my present purpose. The first discovery of the American coast by the sub- jects of the Tsar was by Bering in 1741. The first permanent establishment on the coast islands was effected in 1745, and from that time voyages of ex- ploration were frequent and progress in settlement was constant, if not very rapid, down to and beyond 1769, when the Spanish advance northward began. News of the Russian discoveries was forwarded from St Petersburg via Madrid to Mexico, and the same motive which had hastened the Spanish occupation of Monterey now prompted the sending of an expedition to learn what the Russians were doing in the far north, that measures might be adopted to check any dangerous advance of that nation. Perez was sent up the coast in 1774 as we have seen, and other voyagers visited the northern latitudes a little later. They found the Russians established indeed on the coast, but so far north that their presence on the continent seems to have excited no special uneasiness, even in the minds of a nation which it has been the fashion to regard as extravagantly grasping and absurdly ambitious in her pretensions to the ownership of all north- western territory.

In fact since the old ideas of contiguity to India and the Spice Islands, with rich intervening realms, had been dissipated, the Spaniards had no desire for possessions in the extreme north. They were the dis- coverers and first explorers of the coast up to 56° at least, and they naturally, according to the spirit of the time, deemed themselves its owners, and were in- clined as a matter of course to protest against en- croachments of other nations; but these protests so far as Russia was concerned were very rare and faint.

RUSSIAN RELATIONS.

From 1770 to 1795 the ignis fatuus of interoceanic communication by water, of the strait of Anian, was still faintly glimmering before Spanish eyes. While it was yet deemed possible that the strait of Fuca or the Columbia might afford either communication with the Atlantic or access to New Mexico, it was clearly important to keep those channels for trade and mili- tary operations out of the control of any foreign power. It was also important to secure a broad unoccupied northern frontier beyond the highest Spanish estab- lishment, and this necessitated a careful search for any good harbor that might exist between San Fran- cisco and the Columbia. Before, however, these problems were solved foreign powers took possession of the intermediate territory which was the prospec- tive basis of dispute; Russia was thrown out of the controversy altogether, and the Spaniards had to deal so far as boundaries were concerned with the English and Americans only. With the complications which followed I am not concerned at this stage of the nar- rative, as in them the Russians had no part, except that at rare intervals when Spain and Russia hap- pened to be at loggerheads on account of their various alliances, precautionary orders against the north- western otter-hunters found their way from Madrid to Mexico and thence to California. I may remark here, however, that the interference of foreign powers on the coast was much more damaging to Russian than to Spanish interests, for if the two original occu- pants had been left to extend their dominion naturally north and south till they met, it is almost certain that Russia would have obtained the lion's share, gradu- ally occupying the coast line down to the Columbia, or to Trinidad and Humboldt bays; while it is very likely that Spain would never have permanently ad- vanced beyond San Francisco or Bodega.1

1 Revilla Gigedo, Informe de 12 de Abril, 1793, is perhaps the best state- ment extant respecting the Spanish policy of these times. The feeling of the Spaniards about the extension of Russian dominion in the far north, that

SUBJECTS OF THE TZAR IN AMERICA.

The first Russian operators on the Alaskan coasts were of mixed race and termed Russians, as the Californians were termed Spaniards, though perhaps somewhat less properly. They were Kamchatkan and Siberian promyshleniks, a kind of fur-hunting and trading privateers, under government control only in being required to pay tribute on the products of their enterprises. They were as cruel, brutal, and avaricious as they were adventurous and brave. Banded in small parties, they fitted out their little shitiki, or sewn vessels, formed of planks lashed to timbers and caulked with moss, and fearlessly navigated any stormy and unknown water. Decimated by starvation, shipwreck, scurvy, and violent death at the hands of each other and of savages, they were never discouraged, and for years they had matters pretty much their own way. The history of this period is a chronicle of crime, oppression, and bloodshed such as the pen recoils from recording. We read of women ravished by hundreds from their homes, casting themselves into the sea to escape their ferocious captors; of wholesale massacres; of slavery, tyranny, and outrage; of fearful retribu- tion by desperate natives; of drunken brawls, plots and counterplots, and hideous punishments. In short all the horrors and wrongs that had been enacted two hundred years before under the hot sun of Mexico were going on here under the bleak sky of what was soon to be Russian America.

The promyshlenik reign of terror lasted until about 1785 when the traders seeing the advantage of work- ing together began to unite in larger companies, and to obtain by imperial ukazes exclusive privileges of monopoly. The old rivalries and feuds were, however, by no means abated, but rather assumed more formi-

is north of Nootka, was learned by Baranof in 1791 by an interview with some members of Malaspina's expedition. Tikhménef, Istor. Obosranie, i. 37. Viceroy Azanza favored the keeping-up of a naval force to protect California especially against the Russians 'who have always showed a desire to estab- lish themselves in that country.' Virreyes, Instrucciones, 18S, 192. Precaution- ary orders in time of war. St. Pap., Sac., MS., ix. 54; Prov. Rec., MS., x. 5; ix. 7.

RUSSIAN RELATIONS.

dable proportions. Claims to exclusive rights by cer- tain companies in certain districts led to serious conflicts. Amid these conflicts the natives fared badly, especially the docile Aleuts. True, kind treatment was required by orders from St Petersburg; but as the Russian proverb has it, "Heaven is high and the Tsar is afar off." The fiercer tribes of the mainland suf- fered less, thanks to their own valor and strategy-or treachery as the chroniclers are fond of calling it. The Russian yoke had no charms for them, as many a hotly contested fight and many a bloody massacre of their oppressors testified.

The chaos of rival companies was at length reduced to unity and order by consolidation in 1797, resulting in the organization in 1799 of the gigantic monopoly that was destined to rule these shores for so many years, the Russian American Company. Lesser com- panies were fused into this or abolished; and as it was under imperial protection, and counted among its share- holders the imperial family, it is no marvel that it flourished and was all-powerful, something more than a commercial company or a colony, a practically inde-

pendent department of the Russian empire. The lot of the Aleuts, always a hard one, was somewhat im- proved under the company's rule. True they were practically slaves and animals, but as such they had a value and were entitled to a degree of protection. The natives of the mainland retained their indepen- dence and were now free from oppression, their trade and their services as hunters being in demand. Popu- lation in the colony increased slowly, being far behind the Spanish population in the Californian establish- ment. Furs were abundant and valuable, and the business of the company was immensely profitable from the beginning. The only drawback to prosperity was the barrenness of the country and the extreme difficulty of obtaining a food supply. Transportation overland through Siberia was slow and difficult. The voyage by water round Cape Horn could be made only

AMERICAN CONTRACTS.

at long intervals, and the fur-hunters, notwithstand- ing the company's wealth, were often threatened with famine. The American colony was under the imme- diate rule of Alexander Baránof as chief director of the company's affairs.

Spaniards and Russians in America had thus far seen but little of each other, but the time was at hand when they were to become more intimate. English and American traders in northern waters came often into contact with the Russians, who were always glad to buy any part of their cargo which could be eaten, and who doubtless listened eagerly to their reports of California wheat and corn. In 1802 peace was con- cluded between Russia and Spain, and was duly cele- brated in the American colonies of both nations. In 1803 the American captain, O'Cain, after selling Ba- ránof goods to the value of ten thousand roubles, per- suaded him to furnish a company of Aleuts with their bidarkas, to go to California and hunt otters on shares. Baránof was reluctant to encourage any foreign inter- ference in the fur-trade; but he had heard wonderful stories of the abundance of otters in the south, and while he knew that the Americans could accomplish but little without the Aleuts, he was also aware that the Aleuts could not be sent so far without the pro- tection of a large vessel; moreover it was important to acquire reliable information about California. The result was that O'Cain carried his point, and that Sho- etzof, a shrewd official, was sent along to make obser- vations. This enterprise, which was most profitable, and two others made under similar contracts, have been described in a former chapter, and yet others will be noticed in their chronological order.

We shall find these Yankee contractors having things very much their own way in California for a decade or more, by the aid of the skilful Aleuts, and of the goods they carried for barter by which the con- nivance of the friars was generally secured, and some-

RUSSIAN RELATIONS.

times that of the officials. The hunters became bolder and bolder, until we shall find them taking otter in San Francisco Bay under the very noses of the exas- perated Spanish authorities, who, without so much as a boat in their magnificent harbor, could do nothing but look on, though they occasionally caught an in- cautious Aleut. Though nearly ten thousand skins were obtained in this manner as the company's share, though the terms of the contracts were equally favor- able to American and Russian, and though Baránof made such contracts only with men in whose integ- rity he had especial confidence, yet the foreigners eventually put the company to much trouble and loss by occasional sharp practice, by exacting exorbitant prices for their furs which they threatened to carry to another market and thus create a competition, and by exciting the animosity of the Spanish author- ities. This contract system seems to have been aban- doned about 1815, and there is some reason to believe that it would have been more advantageous for the company had they always paid cash for such goods as they needed and kept the fur-trade exclusively in their own hands.

In September 1805 an event occurred which was to have considerable influence on future relations with California. This was the arrival at Sitka of the Rus- sian Chamberlain Nikolai Petrovich Rezánof, in the capacity of imperial inspector of the north-eastern establishments, being also plenipotentiary of the Rus- sian American Company. With still another mission as ambassador extraordinary to the court of Japan Rezánof had left Russia two years before with the expedition of Krusenstern and Lisiansky, who on the Nera and Nadeshda made the first Russian voyage round the world.2 Of this famous voyage there is

2 Krusenstern, Voyage round the World, in the years 1803, 1804, 1805, and 1800, by order of His Imperial Majesty Alexander the First, on board the ships Nadeshda and Nera, under the command of Captain A. J. Von Krusenstern of the Imperial Navy. Translated from the original German. London, 1813.

REZÁNOF'S MISSION.

nothing to be said here as neither of the vessels reached California. Rezánof had left the Nadeshda at Petropavlovsk in June, and accompanied by Dr Langsdorff, surgeon and naturalist, had crossed over to the Aleutian Islands and thence came down to New Archangel on the island of Sitka.

Rezanof's object was to investigate the condition and management of the colonies, make what improve- ments he could, and suggest in a full report such reforms as might be conducive to future prosperity. Though no fault was found with Baránof's administra- tion, yet the chamberlain found opportunity enough for his good offices, and seems to have worked with much zeal and no little success to ameliorate the con- dition of the emperor's subjects in America.3 But there was one evil at Sitka which it was found very

4to. 2 vols. Krusenstern was commander-in-chief from a naval point of view, though in some respects subordinate to Rezanof; sailed on the Nadeshda round Cape Horn to Kamchatka, and thence to Japan and back; and after leaving Rezanof, returned down the China coast and round Cape Good Hope, arriving at Cronstadt in August 1806.

Lisiansky, A Voyage round the World, in the years 1803, 1804, 1805, and 1806; performed by order of His Imperial Majesty Alexander the First, Emperor of Russia, in the ship Neva, by Urey Lisiansky, Captain in the Rus- sian Nary. London, 1814. 4to. The author commanded the Neva, which separated from her consort at the Sandwich Islands, visited the north-west coast of America above the latitude of California, and rejoined the Nadeshda on the China coast.

Langsdorff, Voyages and Travels in Various Parts of the World, during the years 1803, 1804, 1805, 1806, and 1807. By G. H. von Langsdorff, Aulic C'oun- sellor to His Majesty the Emperor of Russia, Consul-General at the Brazils, Knight of the Order of St Anne, and Member of various Academies and learned Societies. Illustrated by Engravings from original drawings. London, 1813. 4to. 2 vols. Dr Langsdorff was one of the naturalists on board the Nadeshda, appointed just before the sailing of the expedition at his own in- tercession and that of Rezanof. He left his vessel in Kamchatka, and after his visit to Alaska and California, of which I shall have more to say, returned to St Petersburg overland.

3 Greenhow, Hist. Or., 273-4, describes Rezánof as 'a singularly ridicu- lous and incompetent person' who 'after the failure of his embassy to Japan,' went to California and 'spent some time in trifling at San Francisco.' This criticism though coming from so intelligent and able a writer, I regard as almost unfounded and most unjust. Rezanof's faults, even as portrayed by his foes, were not in the direction of incompetence and trifling. The Russian authori- ties, with no interest in perverting the truth in this matter, agree that he was a man of unusual capacity, intelligence, and humanity, and that the colonies derived great benefit from his visit. This is not the place to discuss his acts in Japan or Alaska: and as to his trifling at San Francisco, the reader will presently see that he accomplished his purpose there under circumstances where success required the utmost prudence and sagacity.

HIST. CAL., VOL. II. 5

€6

RUSSIAN RELATIONS.

hard to combat. Starvation brooded over the colony owing to the wreck of one vessel and the failure of another to arrive. A pound of bread issued daily to cach of the two hundred men on the island would exhaust the supply in a few weeks; fish could not be caught, and the supply of dried fish, sea-lion, and seal-meat was very low; eagles, crows, devil-fish, any- thing and everything were eaten. Scurvy, the camp- follower of want in those regions, made fearful havoc among the sufferers; a cold rain poured down inces- santly; hunger, misery, despair, and death ruled the dismal scenc. No wonder Rezánof exclaims, "We live in Sitka only upon the hope of leaving it."

In the midst of all this distress, temporary relief came in the American ship Juno, Captain Wolfe, which with all its cargo was purchased by Rezánof for eight thousand dollars.4 This relief being but temporary and the situation of affairs becoming again critical in the spring, Rezánof was forced to devise new expedients and at length hit upon that of going to California for provisions. Trade with foreigners was forbidden there it is true, but starvation was a harder matter to face than Spanish law as adminis- tered on the Pacific. Possibly also a little profitable business in furs might be transacted, "if not with the viceroy's permission, at least in a private manner through the missionaries."5 The plan once conceived, action was not long deferred. The Juno was made ready ; a cargo of goods likely to tempt the Californian taste was selected; and on the 8th of March 1806, Rezánof, still accompanied by Dr Langsdorff, put to sea. Of the crew, weakened by the famine at Sitka

4 Rezánof, Zapiski, 203-4. This letter is dated New Archangel, Nov. 6, 1805. The Juno, built at Bristol, Mass., in 1799, was a stanch copper- bottomed and fast vessel of 206 tons. Five American sailors entered the company's service. Most of the rest went to the Hawaiian Islands in the sloop Ermak, which Rezanof threw into the bargain with the wish 'God grant that they may not have paid too dear for their rashness' in trusting their lives to such a craft. Langsdorff, Voyages, ii. SS, gives the American's name as Dwolf.

5 ' The missionaries were the chief agents in this contraband trade.' Tikh- ménef, Istor. Obosranie, i. 146.

VOYAGE TO CALIFORNIA.

and reduced rapidly by scurvy, half were soon unable to do duty. Three times at the imminent risk of shipwreck they desperately attempted but in vain to enter the Columbia River. They began to despair of ever reaching California; but the terrible scurvy, sparing none, made it necessary to go forward or dic. A change of the moon brought favorable winds, and on the 4th of April the mariners had reached the latitude of San Francisco and were peering with pallid faces through the dense fog-bank for a glimpse of the promised land. The Juno anchored outside the heads and next morning, April 5th,6 ran straight for the harbor with tide and wind, and all sails set. In view of the critical state of affairs on board, Rezanof resolved to run past the fort even at the risk of receiving a few cannon-balls. "What ship?" was the greeting sent to the strangers through the trumpet from the shore. "Russian," was shouted back. "Lot go your anchor," thundered the Spaniard. "Si señor; si señor," replied the Russian, and the anchor was dropped-as soon as the Juno was safely out of the guns' range.7

6 Langsdorff has the date April Sth, or the equivalent of March 28th, oll style. The Spanish archives do not give the exact date.

7 The best and most complete authority on this expedition and the atten- dant negotiations is Rezanof, Zapiski, 253-77, being the chamberlain's letter dated New Archangel June 17, 1806, after his return. Langsdorff's Voyages, ii. 97-8, 136-221, is the other original authority, very full and containing much more information about California than the other work, being in fact second to that work only in its account of the diplomatic relations and nego- tiations between Rezanof and the Californian authorities. Notwithstanding certain eccentricities of judgment, some amusing blunders arising from igno- rance of the Spanish language, and a singularly unprepossessing face as por- trayed on the frontispiece of his book, Langsdorff's narrative is instructive and interesting. I am, however, hardly ready to regard this as 'the most detailed account of the country and its population that had yet been given to the world,' with Stillman in Overland Monthly. ii. 258-60. Tikhmenef, Istor. Obos- ranie, 144-50, is a very good Russian narrative of the expedition, but the author follows Rezanof very closely. Potechin, Seleni Ross, and Baránof, Shis- neopissanie, contain brief résumés of the voyage. Scala, in Nouv. Annales de Toy., cxliv. 380-1, tells perhaps as many absurd lies about the subject as would be possible in a brief space, buffaloes and nuggets of gold figuring in the tale. Mofras, Exploration, ii. 1-3; Tuthill, Iist. Cal., 118-19; Elliot, in Overland Monthly, iv. 338-9; Cronise, Natural Wealth, 37; and other writers mention the subject briefly, taking their information exclusively from Langs- dorff. The Spanish archives contain comparatively little about this visit, but I shall have occasion sometimes to refer to documents bearing on the subject.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of California, Volume II, Part 7

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe Publication date: 1885 Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : The History Company, publishers Number of Pages: 826

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : The History Company, publishers
Number of Pages: 826