USA > California > Glenn County > History of Colusa and Glenn counties, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the counties who have been identified with their growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 20
USA > California > Colusa County > History of Colusa and Glenn counties, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the counties who have been identified with their growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 20
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INTRODUCTION
TOPOGRAPHIC AND GENERAL INDUSTRIAL FEATURES
Glenn County lies in the heart of the great Sacramento Valley, midway between San Francisco Bay on the south and Mt. Shasta on the north. From the river westward there is a gradual slope for a distance of twenty miles to the first low range of foothills. For an equal distance the ascent then becomes more rapid, over each succeeding range of hills, to the summit of the Coast Range mountains which form the western boundary of the county, ter- minating at Mt. Hull on the north and Snow Mountain on the south. The southern boundary follows the township line between townships seventeen and eighteen; and the northern, the one intersecting the river a short distance above its confluence with Stony Creek. Stony Creek has its source in the Coast Range mountains in Colnsa County, and flows in a general northerly direction, increasing in volume as the drainage creeks, Briscoe, Elk and Grindstone, enter from the west. Near the north line of the county it breaks through the low range of foothills near the Miller Buttes, west of Orland, and flows in an easterly direction across the plains to its confluence with the Sacramento River. Geologists claim that what is now Stony Creek Valley was, during a recent era of world development, a lake having its outlet to the south into Clear Lake in Lake County, and then through Cache Creek to the Sacramento River. Stony Creek is the only stream of any importance in California that flows for any great distance in a direction opposite to the river which it finally joins. Willow, Walker and Hambright Creeks have their sources in the foothills separating Stony Creek Valley from the plains, and are only drainage creeks carrying a flow of water during the winter and spring months. Willow and Walker Creeks do not reach the river, but empty their flood waters into a slight depression a few miles west of the river, known as "the Trough."
Glenn County contains eight hundred fifty thousand acres of land, approximately four hundred thousand acres of which is level or valley land. Nearly all of this area is irrigable, either by
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gravity flow from the Orland Project canal and the Central Canal, or from pumping wells. Just west of the plains the low range of foothills is mainly farmed to grain, and contains many wide valleys of wonderful fertility. Continuing westward the hills become steeper and slightly wooded, and the valleys much nar- rower. This section of wooded hills contains abont one hundred fifty thousand acres, and forms the divide between the Stony Creek Valley and the plains. Grazing is the chief industry here. On the bottom lands of the Stony Creek Valley alfalfa is raised extensively, and dairying is very profitable. Poultry, cattle, sheep and hogs are raised in large numbers. From the creek bottom the bench land or high plateau continues westward to the foot of the Coast Range mountains. Nestled close to the base of these mountains is a narrow strip of land known as the Thermal Belt, where severe frosts are unknown and both almonds and fruit do. well. The Coast Range mountains which form the western boun- dary are covered with pine timber and form a great recreation ground for the people of the county, as well as affording valuable summer pasturage for stock. Lumbering is carried on on a small scale, but the greater part of the district is included in the Cali- fornia National Forest and is under the control of the Federal government. This mountainous portion of the county contains close to two hundred thousand acres. Since the time of the early settlements, conditions in the hills have never undergone any radical change. It is in the varying industries of the plains- from the advent of the hunter and trapper, creeping stealthily down the river, setting snares and pitfalls for the happy denizens of the forests on its banks; through the eras of the early stockmen, whose countless herds roamed the plains at will, and the great grain farmers, with their thousands of acres of wheat and barley; to the vanishing of these before the conjuror, Water, by whose wizard touch the plains were dotted with those garden spots, the alfalfa fields and orchards of the intensive farmer-that the economic history of the county is writ.
CHAPTER I
THE PATHFINDERS
In the early times in California, all the traffic between San Francisco and Oregon was by boat; and the only people who attempted a trip on land were the hunters and trappers who fol- lowed the hills and streams, where game was more abundant.
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The first trapper about whom there is any authentic information was Jedediah S. Smith, who was a pathfinder in reality, if not in title, for he was the first man to make the journey to California from the United States overland. From the post of a fur com- pany on Great Salt Lake, Smith was sent out in 1826 on an exploring trip for the mapping out of a future field of operations. He traveled southward to the Colorado, came into California by the Southern Pass, and crossed the Mojave Desert to San Gabriel. In May, with only two companions, he returned to Salt Lake, ac- complishing in this trip the first crossing of the Sierras. It is not with the details of this trip that a history of this county is con- cerned, as his activities were confined to the southern part of the state. Soon after his return to Salt Lake, however, he started on his second journey to California, arriving with eight companions in October, 1827. Falling under the suspicion of the Mexican authorities, who looked upon his comings and goings with great disfavor, on issue of orders Smith was brought before them at San Jose. Here he was released on a bond signed by his country- man, Captain Cooper of Monterey, who became responsible with his person and property for the good behavior of one Jedediah S. Smith. Smith, with his party now increased to nineteen, left San Francisco in the winter of 1827-1828 and proceeded northward by a coast route. While fording the Umpqua River, they were attacked by hostile Indians, who killed fifteen of the party and stole all their belongings. Smith, Turner and two others escaped to Fort Vancouver, one of the Hudson Bay Company's posts, whence McLoughlin, the agent, despatched a party southward to avenge the murder of Smith's companions and recover their stolen goods. This party was under the command of a man named - McLeod, and, guided by Turner, not only recovered Smith's stolen property from the Indians but also had a most successful hunting trip down the Sacramento Valley. Thus, although Smith himself never set foot in the Sacramento Valley, he was directly respon- sible for its exploration by the trappers of the Hudson Bay Com- pany, who, until this time, had always turned their attention northward. McLeod, on his return to Fort Vancouver, was caught in a hard snowstorm in the Pitt River country. He lost most of his animals and was forced to leave his furs, which were ruined by the melting snows. Tradition has it that the McCloud River derives its appellation from a corruption of the name McLeod.
The next man sent out by the Hudson Bay Company was Ogden. He entered the Sacramento Valley about the time McLeod left it. For eight months he trapped the length and breadth of the valley, obtaining a great stock of furs, and finally returned north- ward by McLeod's trail.
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In 1832 Ewing Young and J. J. Warner made a trip up the valley to the head waters of the Sacramento River, returning in 1833. Few details of this trip are obtainable except those con- cerning the great pestilence, which almost decimated the Indian population of the valley. During the next decade permanent set- tlements began to push their way northward along the paths broken by the hunter and trapper. Sntter's colony at New Helvetia was established; and in 1839 Sntter was appointed repre- sentative of the Mexican government on the Sacramento frontier, with the official Mexican title of Encargado de justicia y repre- sentante del gobierno en las fronteras del Río del Sacramento, and was given full authority to enforce justice among the settlers and suppress insurrection by hostile Indians. By wise and careful exercise of this power, he made friends of most of the Indians and commanded the respect of the unfriendly tribes. His lieu- tenants were frequently compelled to make long journeys north- ward in the enforcement of his commands. It was on one such trip, when trying to recover some stolen horses, that John Bid- well, the most famous pioneer of Butte County, first saw the land on which he located the grant afterwards known as the Rancho Chico. The following description, quoted from Bidwell's journal, gives a vivid account of the impression produced upon him by that portion of the Sacramento Valley, in its pristine loveliness : "The plains were dotted with scattering groves of spreading oaks; while the clover and wild grasses, three or four feet high, were most luxuriant. The fertility of the soil was beyond ques- tion. The water of Chico Creek was cold, clear and sparkling; the mountains, flower-covered and lovely. In my chase for stolen horses I had come across a country that was to me a revelation; and as I proceeded up the valley, through what was later Colusa County and beyond it, I was struck with wonder and delight at this almost interminable land of promise."
Far-reaching Influence of Thomas O. Larkin
Probably few readers of the local press, when they see in the daily paper items concerning the Larkin School, or Larkin Farm Center, or find mention in the title records of Larkin's Children's Grant, realize the application of the name or connect it with that of the first United States Consul in California. When thirty years of age, Thomas O. Larkin came out to California, in 1832, at the request of his half-brother, Captain Cooper, who was a merchant at Monterey. One of his fellow passengers on board the New- castle, the vessel on which he made the trip, was Mrs. John C. Holmes, the first American woman to come to California. She was
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coming out to join her husband; but on her arrival, after a long and tedious voyage by way of Honolulu, she found herself a widow in a strange land. Captain Holmes had died soon after she started on the voyage. The next year Mrs. Holmes was married to Thomas O. Larkin, the ceremony being performed by Consul Jones of Honolulu on board the ship Volunteer, at Santa Barbara. Six children were born of this union, the oldest son, Thomas O. Larkin, Jr., being the first child of American parentage born in California. Larkin engaged in a general merchandise business in Monterey, adding as side lines lumbering, flour milling, and various other branches as time and occasion seemed to war- rant, all of which prospered under his management. Lack of early opportunity had deprived him of educational advantages; but his native ability, combined with tact and unimpeachable integrity, gradually raised him to the position of one of the most influential men in California at that period. He was unfailingly kind in help- ing emigrants and his compatriots, but held himself aloof from siding with any faction or set of filibusters. In 1843 he was ap- pointed United States Consul at Monterey; and during 1845-46 he acted as confidential agent for the United States in endeavoring to forestall the efforts of those who wished to establish an English protectorate over California. In fulfilling this mission, Larkin was unselfishly devoted to the interests of his government, turning his private business over to a subordinate and giving his entire time to maintaining friendly relations with the native Cali- fornians, and to overcoming as much as possible the bitterness engendered by the premature activities of the Bear Flag leaders. All historians of the period agree that Larkin was far superior in statesmanship to most of the other actors in the drama of winning California for the United States; and the closest scrutiny of all his acts fails to reveal anything not in accord with the best ideals of American diplomacy. Bancroft says of Larkin that he was a man to whom nothing like just credit has been given for his ser- vices during 1845-1846.
Bidwell's Exploration
Larkin wished to obtain from the Mexican government a grant of ten or twelve square leagnes for his children, and engaged John Bidwell to find a level tract for him suitable for that pur- pose. In the summer of 1844 Bidwell set out on an exploring trip up the west side of the Sacramento Valley. He took with him only one man, an Indian, who was to act as interpreter. A little way north of Colusa, wishing to know something of the soil
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conditions, they turned west from the river to explore the plain. That summer was a very hot one, following a dry winter, and in their travels they observed many deserted Indian villages where the springs had dried up. Not having found any drinking water during the day, Bidwell decided to strike into the hills to the west, feeling certain of finding water there sooner than by return- ing to the river. The next morning they came in sight of Stony Creek, or Capay, as the Indians called it. Large numbers of Indians who were camped along the creek fled at their approach, a white man being an unaccountable phenomenon to them. Grad- ually, curiosity overcoming their fear, the Indians returned in such numbers that Bidwell and his companion became alarmed; but the savages manifested no hostile intentions, merely attempt- ing to talk to him in a dialect which neither he nor his guide un- derstood. Bidwell's guide tried to explain to the Indians why they were there; but only one very, very old Indian could make out what the guide was trying to tell them.
Knowing that such a large stream must make its way to the river, Bidwell decided to follow its course. To his great surprise the number of Indians increased by many hundreds as he pro- ceeded. Apparently the dry season had caused them to form temporary villages along the creek. By nightfall the number of Indians seemed so alarming that, believing discretion to be the better part of valor, Bidwell pitched his camp on top of the high hill just opposite the present town of Elk Creek, and made the Indians understand as best he could that they must not approach it after dark. Then, barricading the top with rocks, he and his guide divided the watches of the night between them. The next- day was July 4, 1844. During the day, Bidwell passed the largest permanent Indian village he had yet seen. From his description of its location this must have been on the Brownell ranch, west of Orland. Here the Indians held a big dance attired in their gayest regalia, consisting chiefly of beads and feathers. Finally, on the sixth of the month, after making a complete circuit of the present county of Glenn, Bidwell mapped out the Larkin's Chil- dren's Grant, extending from Fairview schoolhouse on the west to a point due east on the Sacramento River, and thence south to the south line of the Boggs ranch, in Colusa County. In 1846 the grant was settled on by John S. Williams, who was employed by Larkin for that purpose; and the place was stocked with cattle and horses. Williams is said to have built the first house in Colusa County.
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CHAPTER II
THE INDIANS
Their Number and Their Origin
Owing to their nomadic habits, it was impossible to obtain accurate information as to the number of Indians in Colusa County at the time of its first settlement by white men. General John Bidwell, who was probably more familiar with all the county than any other man at that time, estimated the number in 1844 as somewhere near ten thousand. This estimate was for the ter- ritory afterward embraced in the first proclamation of Colusa County, when the northern boundary extended to Red Bluff. Nature, so prodigal in her gifts of soil and climate to the valley, proved a too indulgent mother to her children, for she robbed them of all incentive to help themselves by supplying all their needs herself.
The Digger Indians of the interior valleys of California lack the picturesque qualities and noble bearing of the other red men of North America; and our interest centers around them and their manners and customs chiefly because they were the immediate predecessors of the pioneers in the possession of this beautiful valley. . They were a lethargic race of people, whose chief vice was laziness and-paradoxical as it may sound-most of whose virtues were the result of that vice. Some ethnologists claim that the Indians of North America are a branch of the yellow race, and are of Asiatic origin; that centuries ago there was a land connection across Behring Strait between Asia and North America, and that across this erstwhile isthmus, members of the yellow race made their way to a new continent, where, amid different sur- roundings, they gradually developed new racial characteristics. Some corroboration of this theory might be found in the physical appearance of the Diggers, whose broad faces and comparatively flat noses would seem to indicate an Asiatic origin.
Their Mode of Living
The Diggers were the least advanced of any of the North American Indians; their mode of living being extremely primitive. Some of their food was cooked, as their cakes or tortillas, which were made from acorn meal; but by far the greater portion was eaten directly from Nature's table. Fish, small game, insects, acorns, and wild oats and various other seeds, formed their prin- cipal diet. The seeds of a small blue flowering plant which grew wild on the plains was considered an especial delicacy by them.
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The squaws performed the harvesting and threshing in one opera- tion, by shaking the seed-laden heads over the edge of a basket.
When the salmon were running plentifully during the spring and fall, great numbers of the Indians camped along the river near Colusa. Some miles north of Colusa, at the location of a wide sand bar, after the spring floods were over, they constructed a fish weir across the river by driving in willow poles close to- gether, and in this way were able to catch large numbers of fish, which would not return to salt water until after they had spawned. In preparing the willow poles for the weir, they rounded and sharpened them by burning. To these, cross sticks were lashed with thongs of wild grape vine. The structure, when completed, was not less than eight feet wide, and served also as a bridge across the river. This is the only instance where the Indians . evinced any ingenuity, or put forth any effort to turn existing con- ditions to their advantage.
Their game was such as could be easily captured by the setting of snares and pitfalls, the indolent bucks preferring to lie stretched out at ease while their quarry walked into their traps, rather than to exert themselves in the more arduous and exciting pleasure of the chase.
Manners and Customs
The squaws generally wore short aprons made of tules or rushes tied around the waist; but the men and children went naked. In winter, the skin of a deer or antelope, thrown over the shoulders, afforded some degree of protection against the elements; and on very cold days this was supplemented by a liberal coating of mud over the body, which was washed off when the temperature changed. Shells and feathers, particularly the feathers of the woodpecker and the eagle, were very highly prized as ornaments by both sexes.
In winter the Indians lived in rude huts or shelters called wikiups. These were conical-shaped structures about ten feet in diameter, and were thatched with leaves, grass or rushes. A number of wikiups together on the bank of a stream formed what was called a rancheria.
There was no central or tribal government. Each rancheria had its own chief, its own dialect, and its own burying ground. Each rancheria had likewise one permanent building, called by the white men a "sweat-house." This was also conical in shape, the roof being formed of tree trunks; and except for an outlet in the center, for smoke, it was plastered over with mud and dirt to make it air-tight. A low opening in the side gave egress and ingress. In this house all their ceremonial dances were
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held. The bucks formed a circle, leaping and dancing around the fire in the center; while back of them the squaws stood shift- ing their weight from one foot to the other, in time with the weird, monotonons chant. Between them and the outer walls the onlookers were crowded in, the more the merrier. When one of the bucks became so overheated that he could endure the dance no longer, he rushed from the building and plunged into the waters of the creek or river, as the case might be; for the sweat-house was always built on the banks of some stream large enough to afford a convenient plunge.
Opinions differ as to the significance of this custom, which was common to all Indians of the Pacific Coast. Various theories have been advanced, to the effect that it was a religious cere- mony, a harvest festival, a species of recreation, or a sanitary measure. If it was intended for the latter, it failed most woefully of fulfilling its purpose, particularly during smallpox epidemics, of which there were at least three, in the years 1829, 1833 and 1856 respectively. Ewing Young, a trapper, who made a trip up and down this valley in 1833, said that he saw hundreds lying dead in the larger rancherias, dne, no doubt, to the rapid spread of the contagion in the overheated air of the sweat-house.
Little is definitely known concerning the religious beliefs of the Indians, as they had no written characters or symbols with which to record them. The Mission Fathers were too zealous in supplying the Southern Indians with a new creed to inquire much into what they were replacing; and the pioneers were too intent on their own affairs to bother their heads about what moral or religious belief governed the conduct of the Indians, so long as they were good Indians, from their point of view- that is, refrained from stealing their property, and from going on the warpath. A tradition of a flood in which only two crea- tures survived was common among all the Indians of California, the identity of these two varying according to locality. Some held it was a hawk and a mud turtle, others a coyote and an eagle, which, as the waters receded, created Indians to people the hills and the valleys. Whether they believed in a future state, or whether, in their view, rewards and punishments applied to this present existence, is not known. In support of the latter theory, may be cited their belief that grizzly bears were wicked men turned into beasts as a punishment for a tendency to eat human flesh.
Until the advent of the white man, the Indians were a fairly moral race of people. Chastity was greatly prized among them ; and although marriage was easily contracted and dissolved by the mutual consent of both parties, they were faithful to its
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bonds while it lasted. Having little ambition to accumulate belongings, they were honest with each other. That they were not avaricious or calculating is shown by their manner of dis- posal of the effects of the dead, which were all buried with the corpse. There are people now living in the county who can remember playing as children on Stony Creek, north of Orland, and there discovering beads and relies from what was once an old Indian burying ground.
The valley Indians were never hostile to the whites. They were too impassive even to attempt actively to resist the en- croachment of the settlers. Some of the hill and mountain In- dians, however, showed more spirit in this regard; and as a result there were two or three quite serious ontbreaks.
Removal to the Noma Lacka Reservation
In 1854 the Government made a reservation of land near Paskenta, called the Noma Lacka Reservation, for the Indians who were scattered over the hills and mountains, and who had been the source of considerable annoyance to the settlers. In June, 1855, the task of collecting and removing the Indians to the reservation began. Captain Williams and Joseph James went to a rancheria on Salt Creek, west of Elk Creek, to try to persuade the Indians there to move on to the reservation. The Indians surrounded and attacked them with arrows, killing Williams' mule and dangerously wounding James in the breast. The two men fought for their lives and finally succeeded in escap- ing, leaving several of their assailants dead on the field of battle. Even after the Indians had been placed on the reservation, they . continued to make raids on the settlers.
Later Depredations
In 1860, a band of Indians from the reservation came over into the Elk Creek country and killed stock belonging to William Watson on Grindstone Creek. This offense was allowed to pass without punishment, and the next spring they repeated their raids, increasing their field of depredations. They robbed the ranch of Anderson and Briscoe, and drove off the friendly Indians who were working for them.
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