USA > California > History of California, Volume VI > Part 57
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The western side of Sacramento Valley, below Tehama, early recom- mended its agricultural beauties to the ever-moving current of miners, lying as it did so close to their path. Tired of tramping, stragglers dropped behind in fast-growing numbers to swell the list of settlers who during the forties had paved the way, and its prospects were by 1850 deemed sufficiently prom- ising to form the section into the three counties of Colusa, Yolo, and Solano. According to the census of 1850, Yolo had a population of 1,086, due greatly to the proximity of Sac., which Solano, as farther from the mines, claimed 580; Colusa only 115. By 1852 the three had increased to 1,307, 2,835, and 620, respectively. Dr Semple, who was still struggling to create a metropo- lis at Benicia, saw in the Feather and Yuba river mines an opening for a great entrepôt at what he considered the head of navigation, the result being the founding in 1850 of Colusa, which after a successful struggle with the usurping Monroeville for the county seat, began three years later to advance to the leading position, sustained by a rich district and by way-traffic. The railroad has passed her by, however, and given a share of trade to several villages, as Arbuckle, Williams, Willows, and Orland. C. D. Semple at his brother's advice bought the site, though at first locating the town on the wrong spot, 7 miles farther up the river. It was the site for the Colusí rancha- rías. Heeps and Hale built the first house, a hotel. Dr Semple sent up a steamboat, constructed at Benicia, but it proved a failure. Cal. Courier, Sept. 13, 1850; Colusa Sun, Nov. 3, 17, 24, 1866; Jan. 3, Dec. 5, 1874. Green, the editor, and Hicks were among the first occupants. The town languished, and narrowly escaped the sheriff. Larkin's Doc., vii. 384. But Monroeville being defeated in its usurpation of the county seat, which was decided for Colusa by vote in 1853, the latter began to advance, though checked by a severe fire in 1856, and by a disputed title to the site. The place became in time the head of a large navigation, obtained a journal in 1862, was incor- porated, Cal. Statutes, 1869-70, 309, 1875-6, 669, and had in 1884 a popula- tion of 1,700. Alta Cal., May 18, 1852; S. F. Herald, Apr. 14, 1852; Sac. Union. May 20, Sept. 6, 1856; Hist. Colusa Co., 66 et seq. Monroe seized for HIST. CAL., VOL. VI. 32
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CALIFORNIA IN COUNTIES.
his rancho the county seat in 1850, and retained it despite judicial decis- ions until the vote of 1853. Colusa Annual. 1878, 66-7, 79-80; Cal. Census, 1852, p. 16; Northern Enterprise, Nov. 26, 1870; Cal. Agric. Soc., Transac., 1874, 374-5. Princeton and Jacinto are among the river shipping stations. College City is so named after Pierce's Christian college. The census of 1880 shows 1,073 farms covering 753,600 acres, valued at $16,440.000, yielding $5,027,000 in produce, and with $1,411,000 in live-stock; population 13,120. In 1852 there were 1,960 acres under cultivation, producing 36,000 bushels of grain. A beginning in farming must have been made before 1848, although stock-raising was then the aim. The Grand Island mill was built in 1852 as a combined saw and grist mill. Hist. Colusa Co., 178 etc. The county had valuable copper deposits. Colusa Sun, Jan. 5, 1867; Jan. 3, 1874; Colusa Co. Annual, 1878, 4-13, 63, etc .; Cal. Agric. Soc., Trans., 1874, 369-77; Cal. Jour. Sen., 1852, 748; Id., Ass., 1853, 698; S. F. Bulletin, Nov. 23, 1857; Nov. 10, 1858; Chron., Nov. 6-7, 21, 1875; Jan. 26, 1880; March 19, 1883; Sac. Union, Sept. 26; Nov. 24, 1856; Oct. 5, 1858, Dec. 7, 1872; Jan. 31, May 22, 1873.
Yolo profited by its proximity to the valley capital, partly from the ready market found for produce, partly from the additional inducement for settlers to form tributary villages, such as Washington, which rose opposite to Sac. as a suburb. The name appears to have been suggested by the adjacent Vernon. J. McDowell built the first hut in 1847. He being killed in 1849, his widow laid out the town in Feb. 1850. Chiles, who started a ferry here in 1848, and several others were then occupants. It figured as the county seat in 1851-7, and obtained a ship-yard in 1855. Early notices in Sac. Transcript, May 29, Sept. 16, 1850; Cal. Courier, July 26, 1850; Pac. News, Aug. 22, 1850; S. F. Picayune, Dec. 4, 1850; Bauer's Stat., MS., 13; view in Sac. Illust., 14; West Shore Gaz., 24-33, 122-3. It aspired at one time with a more elevated site to rival Sac., but sank into a petty suburb. Above, facing the mouth of Feather River, Fremont was founded in Aug 1849 to supplant Vernon as the head of navigation, but faded fast away. It was occupied by Jonas Specht's tent store in March 1849, and surveying began July 31st. Hardy's tule hut and Lovell's saloon tent were then the other habita- tions. It grew so rapidly that a council was chosen on Oct. Ist, Placer Times, Oct. 6, 1849, and a large number of miners came down to winter here. But a steamboat passed by this supposed head of navigation to Marysville, and a general exodus followed, which was slightly checked by making Fremont the county seat. This dignity being lost in 1851, the town speedily disap- peared like the claims of its namesake. It has 35 or 40 buildings, says Sac. Transcript, Apr. 26, May 29, 1850; 60 houses, Id., Sept. 30, 1850. 'A hard- looking place.' Cul. Courier, Sept. 13, 1850; Cassin's Stat., MS., 5; Larkin's Doc., vii. 305; Woods' Sixteen Mo., 84; West Shore Gaz., 19-26. Then Cache- ville rose in the interior to wrest the county seat from both, to be in its turn vanquished by Woodland. T. Cochran settled in Cacheville in 1849, and built a hotel at the creek crossing; raising slowly a hamnlet known for a while as Hutton's, which, from its central position, was in 1857-61 chosen the seat, and boasted in 1857 the first journal in the county.
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YOLO AND SOLANO.
H. Wyckoff opened a store at Woodland in 1853, known as Yolo City. In 1859 it became a P. O. under the name of Woodland, at the instance of F. S. Freeman, the successor of Wyckoff. Railroad projects gave it impor- tance after 1860; in 1862 it acquired the county seat, and reached by 1880 a population of 2,257. Reincorporation act in Cal. Statutes, 1873-4, 551. The fortunes of the county have, like its capital, been the sport of grant speculators, politicians, and railroads, the latter, owing to the vast swamp borders of the river becoming the highways for traffic, and holding sway at a number of stations over this fertile farming district. Dunnigan was settled in 1852, and laid out in 1876; Black Station, Davisville, Winters, and Madison mark the railway, the last laid out in 1877 as the terminus of a branch, absorbing the earlier Cottonwood and Buckeye. Langville, founded in 1857 as Munchville, is the centre for Capay Valley. Knight's Landing, first called Baltimore, dates from 1849 as a ferry station; laid out in 1853, aspiring in vain for the county seat. The first grain crop is ascribed to W. Gordon in 1845. With 1850 farming began to grow; the farms then being valued at $47,000, with $6,500 worth of implements, and 7,000 head of stock. The crop in 1852 embraced 134,000 bushels of grain. By 1880 there were 929 farms of 332,700 acres, valued at $10,937,000, yielding $2,761,000 produce, and with $1,014,000 in live-stock, among a population of 11,772. Yolo Mail, Jan. 2, 23, 1879, etc .; West Shore Gaz., 17, etc .; Hist. Yolo Co., passim; Sac. Union, Apr. 11, 1855; June 28, Oct. 13, 28, 1856; Oct. 13, 1857; Sept. 23, 1858; Nov. 6, 1872; June 14, 28, July 12, 1873; Feb. 28, Nov. 28, 1874; S. F. Call, Bulletin, Chron .; Cal. Jour. Ass., 1862, 257.
With greater independence and aspirations, Solano continued in a measure to strive for the metropolitan honors to which it seemed entitled by a position at the head of bay navigation, and at the outlet of the great valley. Benicia, as the first point to rise in opposition to S. F., might have gained the vantage but for the sudden transformations of 1849. The early prospects sufficed to start a crop of town projects farther up the bay and its tributaries, as shown in the opening chapter, embracing in this county Montezuma and Halo-Che- muck, while westward was founded Vallejo, which, though failing to retain the state capital, became quite a town. It made a vain effort for the county seat, which, after being secured by Benicia, was in 1858 transferred to the more central Fairfield, founded for the purpose by R. H. Waterman, who named it after his birthplace in Connecticut, and gave ample lands for public buildings. J. B. Lemon erected the first house. The plat was filed in May 1859. It stands in close proximity to Suisun, which may be regarded as its trading quarter and more important half, and the chief shipping point of the county. Suisun was incorporated in 1868, has several mills and warehouses, and in 1880 a population of 550. To C. V. Gillespie, Vig. Com., MS., 5, is ascribed ownership of land here about 1850; to Jos. Wing the first house on the spot; and to J. W. Owens and A. W. Hall the first store. Buffum's Six Mo., 31; Sac. Union, Nov. 3, 1856; S. F. Bulletin, Oct. 28, 1856. The name comes from the tribe once roaming here. Suisun Repub., Feb. 1, 1877; Solano Repub., Oct. 28, 1875. The favorable hydrographic features of the county afford prominence to a number of minor landings, as Bridgeport, which ab-
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CALIFORNIA IN COUNTIES.
sorbed the early Cordelia of 1853; Denverton, the original Nurse's Landing; Collinsville, laid out by C. J. Collins, and called a while Newport. A swin- dling project, according to S. F. Bulletin, May 11, 1857. Near the site of Brazoria, also called Sacramento Brazoria, and Halo-Chemuck, which Bidwell and Hopps sought in vain to found prior to the gold excitement, Californian, March 22, Apr. 5, 1848, Rio Vista was laid out by N. H. Davis in 1857, and moved in 1862 to higher ground. Main Prairie, on Cache Slough, reaches the very centre of the county, but has been overshadowed by the railroad, with such stations as Dixon, which absorbed Silveyville dating from 1852. Then there are Elmira and Vacaville, the latter laid out in 1851, and named after M. Baca, or Vaca, who settled here early in the forties.
In 1850 the farms of the county were valued at $130,000, with over 1,000 head of stock; by 1852 the acreage had increased to 5,950, covering 5,800 vines. In 1880 the farms numbered 1,016, valued at $9,717,000, with $2,766,000 worth of produce, and $900,000 in live-stock; population 18,470. Solano Repub., Oct. 28, 1875; Alta Cal., Nov. 27, 1856; Oct. 31, 1857; Oct. 28, 1861; Jan. 8, 1866; July 23, 1867; Sac. Union, Aug. 1-3, Nov. 26, 30, 1855; Nov. 25, 1857; Dec. 14, 1858; Aug. 23, Oct. 9, Dec. 18, 1869; Jan. 7, 1870; Dec. 10, 1872; Feb. 8, 15, Feb. 22, 1873, etc .; also S. F. Bulletin, Call, Chron., etc .; Suisun Confirm., 1-15; Cal. Statutes, 1852, 308; 1853, 20; 1861, 12; Cal. Jour. Sen., 1873-4, 607, 828, ap. no. 44, 73-4. Carquin means ser- pent, concerning which Woodbridge, Mess., Feb. 6, 1869, gives a tradition. Benicia Tribune, Dec. 13, 1873.
The northern interior of California was first explored by trappers during the earlier decades of this century, while the coast line had been mapped by navigators of different nations since the sixteenth century, as recorded by names like Mendocino, Trinidad, and St George. The conquest by the United States called attention to the resources indicated by them, and with extension of settlements above the bay of S. F. came the project for a commercial metropolis on the upper coast, probably at Trinidad, as the only harbor marked on the chart. A meeting was held at S. F. on March 27, 1848, to make arrangements for the exploration of that bay. Californian, March 29, 1848. See Hist. Cal., i. 242, and Hist. Northwest Coast, i .- ii., this series, for early explorations. The all-absorbing gold excitement intervened, but when Reading penetrated to the headwaters of Trinity River and found wealth, which in 1849 induced several other parties to cross the Coast Range, the agitation revived for an entrepôt through which passengers and supplies might be passed into this region by a nearer and easier sea route. Trinity River was so called by Reading, in the belief that it emptied into the Trini- dad bay marked by Spanish explorers, and which he supposed to be near by. Indeed, the river placed here by the same old navigators might be this. See this report and allusion to the trip in Placer Times, Aug .- Sept. 1849, and also the chapter on mines. Doubts have been expressed that Reading made this journey in 1848; at all events, this became the objective point for miners, traders, and town speculators. Two parties started in Nov. 1849 from the Trinity headwaters to find the mouth of the river, one by way of San Fran- cisco and the sea, which sailed from S. F. in the Cameo, on Dec. 9th, but came
.
501
TRINITY.
back without news, and another by land westward, under Josiah Gregg. About 40 miners who lacked supplies for the winter enlisted, but only 8 started, including D. A. Buck and L. K. Wood, the latter recording the trip in notes revised by W. Van Dyke in 1836, and published by him as editor of Humboldt Times of that year, and Feb. 7-14, 1863. Wood then resided in Humboldt, where he had served some terms as county clerk. Testimony in S. F. Bulletin, Feb. 28-March 1872; La Moth, Stat., MS., 2-11, and Van Dyke subsequently wrote detailed accounts for me, Stat., MS., 20. The report was reproduced in the Eureka West Coast Signal, March 20-7, 1872, in Overland, i. 144, and Humboldt Co. Hist., 83 et seq. See also Cronise's Cal., 197. Starting on Nov. 5, 1849, from Rich Bar, they crossed the south fork
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HUMBOLDT BAY REGION.
at its junction with the main Trinity, and by Indian advice struck westward over the ridge, reaching the coast after much trouble at Little River, whence on Dec. 7th they gained Trinidad Head, called by them Gregg's Point, as per inscription left there. Turning southward they named Mad River, in com- memoration of the leader's temper, and coming upon Humboldt Bay on Dec. 20, 1849, they called it Trinity. This was not the first discovery of the bay, however, for a Russian chart of 1848, based on information by the Russian- American Co., points it out as entered by a U. S. fur-trading vessel in 1806. The Indian name was Qual-a-waloo. Daudson's Directory Pac., 73. Buck,
Fork
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CALIFORNIA IN COUNTIES.
who subsequently founded Bucksport, was the first to observe it on the pres- ent occasion. They camped on the site of Arcata, and celebrated Christmas on elk meat, after which Elk River was named. Eel River was so called from the food here enjoyed, and Van Duzen Fork after one of the party. The party now dissented and separated, Gregg with three others, after vainly attempting to follow the coast, drifting into Sacramento Valley, Gregg perish- ing from exposure and starvation. The others, following Eel River and then turning south-east, reached Sonoma on Feb. 17, 1850, Woods being mutilated by bears.
The explorers by sea, after announcing the discovery at S. F., returned by land with a party of 30, and in the middle of April 1850 laid the foundation for the towns of Bucksport and Union, or Arcata. Buck was afterward drowned off the Columbia bar in the Gen. Warren. S. F. Bulletin, loc. cit. Report of wagon party in Humboldt Times, i. 14, Dec. 2, 1854. Id., Apr. 15, 1876, defers this location till 1851, but Woods is positive. Union, founded on Apr. 21st, was regarded by most as the only good site. Others hastened to gain the bay by sea, and during the spring a fleet set out, headed by the Cameo and Laura Virginia. The latter was the first to enter both Trinidad and Humboldt bays early in April. The Cameo failed to observe the latter, but gained Trinidad Head and landed the explorers, who, penetrating up the Klamath, met in due time miners descending the Trinity, and so cleared up the mystery of its course. Highly elated, they founded Klamath City on the south bank of this river, but its shifting sand bar proved insurmountable for vessels, and the city died. The Laura Virginia, under D. Ottinger of the U. S. revenue service, on furlough, after anchoring at Trinidad later in March entered Humboldt Bay on April 9th, and assuming it to be his discovery, he applied this name and founded the town of Humboldt. Lamotte's Stat., MS., 2-11, by a member of the expedition; Ottinger's report of April 25, 1850, to the secretary of the U. S. treasury, republished in North Independ., 1870; statement of E. Brown, Ottinger's partner, in S. F. Bulletin, Feb. 28, etc., 1872. St Blunt, U. S. N., sailed at the same time in the Arabia, but failed to find the entrance. His boat was swamped near Trinidad, and five men drowned, including lieuts Boche and Browning, U. S. N. J. M. Ryer- son arrived early in April at Eel River, and joined a whale-boat crew in founding a town three miles up, seeking afterwards to direct migration this way by proclaiming it the main route to the mines. Humboldt Times, Feb. 7, 1863. Shortly before, the Gen. Morgan, fitted out by Sam Brannan and his brother, had sent in boat crews which named the River Brannan, and then crossed the divide to Humboldt Bay, which was called Mendocino. There they proposed to found a town and connect it by a canal with the river, after failing to agree with Parker of the Jas R. Whiting, concerning a share in the town founded by him at Trinidad. Capt. Warner of the Isabel laid out Warnersville Apr. 10th, adjoining Parker's. The pilot-boat Eclipse, Capt. Tomson, arrived at Bucksport early in May 1850, with 24 persons; and a party headed by Ryan on May 8th located Eureka, the first camp being made on the spot known as Ryan's Garden. Testimony of the survivor Young in S. F. Bulletin, May 17, 1878. Ryan was chosen alcal.le. Humboldt Times, Dec. 25, 1809, etc. Yet Woods, Van Dyke's Stat., MS., 23, West Coast Signal,
503
HUMBOLDT.
March 27, 1872, Jan. 10, 1877, mentions that Ryan had been here with the Gen. Morgan, and that about this time the Laura Virginia crew was encamped on this point. In S. F. Call, May 26, 1878, Brett's tent is placed as the first hab- itation. Polynesian, vii. 2. Among other vessels were the California, which hastened back on March 28th to announce the discovery of Trinidad, as re- corded by Gregg, Paragon, Sierra Nevada, Hector, Patapsco, Galinda, and Mal- leroy, several of which were stranded off Humboldt and Trinidad; Cameo being declared lost owing to a somewhat prolonged absence. As the news came of the different foundations, the press fairly teemed with glowing notices and prospectures by the rival projectors. Instance, Alta Cal., Apr. 10, May 27, et seq., 1850; Pac. News, id., Apr. 26, May 13-16, Aug. 22; Cal. Courier, July 1, Aug. 5, 1850, etc. See also references in preceding note.
The earliest site on this upper coast was that of Trinidad, selected during the first days of April by Captain Parker of the James R. Whiting. It was for a moment overshadowed by Klamath City. Another river city on the Eel, and a project at the south end of Humboldt Bay, failed to assume tangible form, notwithstanding the glowing notices lavished upon them, in common with the rest. Trinidad acquired the lead, soon counting 30 buildings, partly from its proximity to the Trinity mines, which, moreover, procured for it the seat of Trinity county, which in 1850 was created to embrace all this newly explored region west of the Coast Range. It received further impulse from the Gold Bluff excitement during the winter of 1850-1, which drew a crowd of adventurers in search of ready-washed gold from the ocean bluffs. Pac. News, May 16, Feb. 26, 1850; Alta Cal., May 27, 1850; March 5, Apr. 29, June 14, 1851; Sac. Transcript, Feb. 28, 1851, reduces the population to 200, but other accounts place it much higher. Cal. Courier, Feb. 19, 1851. But with the rise especially of Crescent City, and the transfer in 1854 of the county seat fron Klamath to this rival and then to Orleans Bar, Trinidad declined. Population 80, says S. F. Bulletin, Jan. 7, 1856; Alta Cal., Oct. 25, 1855; West Coast Signal, Nov. 22, 1871.
Meanwhile diggers had pushed their way along the Trinity and northward to Salmon and Klamath rivers, rendering this section so important as to call in 1851 for the creation of Klamath county. The region round Humboldt Bay shared largely in the traffic with the Trinity mines and revealed such promising agricultural and timber resources that in 1853 Humboldt county was formed out of the western half of Trinity. Pac. News, Aug. 22, 1850, alludes to garden culture round Union. In 1854 fully 2,500 acres were declared in cultivation, while stock-raising, notably for wool and dairy pur- poses, fast assumed large proportions, especially after Indian depredations ceased. Eureka became the centre of the lumber trade, which began in 1850 by the export of spars. In Aug. 1850, according to the Humboldt Times, the Francis Helen brought machinery for the Pioneer or Papoose mill now erected at Eureka by J. M. Eddy and M. White. Yet another statement declares that the J. R. Whiting carried away the first cargo of piles in the summer of 1851. Ryan claims his mill of Feb. 1852 as the first; he might say the first successful mill, for the former of 1850 failed after two years' existence. For progress, see Hist. Humboldt Co., 141-3. Two flour-mills rose in 1854, on Van Duzen Fort and at Eureka. The seat of Humboldt county was assigned
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CALIFORNIA IN COUNTIES.
to Union, a town prosperously sustained by the farming and timber resources of Mad River. In 1854 it had 12 or 14 stores, and justly claimed the lead. In 1860 the name was changed to Arcata, which soon figured as an incorpo- rated town, with 700 inhabitants in 1880, sustained by a large trade with the Trinity mines, but it ranked second to Eureka. Alta Cal., Aug. 21, 1854; S. F. Bulletin, Jan. 7, July 26, 1856. The success of Union roused the jeal- ousy of Eureka and Bucksport, the latter claiming the most central position, the best site, and the harbor, which, indeed, procured for it the port of entry privilege-a no small advantage, considering the large lumber trade of the bay. For the 11 months ending May 1854 there arrived in the bay 143 ves- sels, with a tonnage. of 22,000, bringing 562 passengers. Coast Survey, 1854, ap. 35; U. S. Gov. Doc., Cong. 34, Sess. 1, H. Miss. Doc. Số, ii., Pilot bill; Cal. Jour. Sen., 1851, 1826. In 1853 came a steam tug. The Sea Gulf was the first steamer to enter, in Sept. 1850. Humboldt Times, Apr. 15, 1876, etc. The shallow bar does not permit very large vessels to cross. After a long struggle marked by lavish promises and stupendous voting, the legislature transferred the dignity in 1856 to Eureka, which thereupon incorporated, wrested the trade from Bucksport, and advanced to the leading position in the most prosperous county on the northern coast. The population of Eureka in 1880 was 2,639. Hookton and even Arcata became tributary, owing to their shallower harbors. During the year ending Nov. 1, 1877, 329 vessels entered, carrying away 58,700,000 feet of lumber, besides spars and farm produce. In the preceding year 1,100 vessels crossed the bar. There were then 7 saw-mills, a foundry, and two breweries. S. F. Call, May 26, 1878; S. F. Post, June 14, 1877; Cal. Courier, Aug. 5, 1850; Cal. Statutes, 1856, 37, 103-5; 1859, 192-7; 1873-4, 91-2; Sac. Union, Dec. 2, 1859; Hawley's Hum- boldt, 28-35. The population of the county, 2,694 in 1860, increased by 1870 to 6,140, and by 1880, with addition of a slice from Klamath, to 15,512, with property assessed at $5,481,000, whereof $4, 120,000 in 1,309 farms, live-stock, and farm produce, each being estimated at one million. Cal. Statutes, 1853, 330; 1862, 6-7; 1871-2, 1007-8; West Coast Signal, June 25, Oct. 1, 1873; Jan. 11, 1878; Cal. Spirit Times, Dec. 25, 1877; Hawley's Humboldt, 1-42; S. F. Herald, Jan. 31, 1852. Scattered notices in Sac. Union, Alta Cal., S. F. Bulletin, S. F. Call, Pacific, Aug. 6, 1874, etc .; Humboldt Times, Jan. 11, 1873; Apr. 15, 1876; Jan. 27, Dec. 29, 1877; May 11, 1878; Aug. 28, 1880, etc. This, the first newspaper, was started in 1854. The Eel River farming region gave rise to Rohnerville, Hydesville, and Ferndale; Petro- lia being the growing centre of Mattole, with petroleum wells, Garber- ville occupying the Eel south fork. Two military posts in the interior point to the retarding influence of untrustworthy Indians in early years.
The opening of mines along the lower Klamath and Smith river, and the unapproachability of Klamath City, led to the foundation in 1853 of Crescent City, a name considered in Pac. News, May 2, 1850, and due to the crescent form of the bay. The Paragon met with disaster here in 1850, and applied its name to the bight for a time. The increase of prospectors in this vicinity, and the failure of Klamath City, which had thriven for nearly a year, Pac. News, Nov. 1, 1850, Jan. 3, 1851, Sac. Transcript, Nov. 14, 1850, opened
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