USA > California > Contra Costa County > History of Contra Costa County, California, including its geography, geology, topography, climatography and description; together with a record of the Mexican grants also, incidents of pioneer life; and biographical sketches of early and prominent settlers and representative men > Part 15
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on the Marsh Grant, show an abundance of fuel, enough to last for many generations.
The coal mining interest is one of the most important in Contra Costa county, and has already built up the towns of Somersville, Nortonville, Black Diamond (New York), and Pittsburg Landing. It has added greatly to the importance of Antioch, as well made the little towns of Judsonville and Stewartsville.
The Gazette thus describes a visit to these mines : "The tunnels of all these mines are high enough for an ordinary-sized man to stand erect, and about five feet in width. They generally run horizontally into the earth, and cars loaded can be pushed by hand to the mouth of the tunnel, where they are collected into a train and taken by rail to shipping points, which are now as follows : Antioch, New York Landing and Pittsburg Landing.
" The whole scene of mining operations, as it shows itself below the ground to a stranger entering these tunnels for the first time, is singular and interesting, not to say startling. The solid veins of black coal which are seen alternately above on one side and below on the other, sparkling under the guide's dim light, the distant lamps fastened to the caps of the miners at their work, and the ever-changing glimpses had of these moving glow-worms, while the pick-ax is steadily sending forth its clicking noise, and the heavy rail-car with coal comes rumbling towards, or goes retreating from one, or stands giving up its dull, coffin-like sound, as the broken frag- ments of coal fall slowly into it from the dark descending passages on the sides of the tunnel, all combine to give a weird and wonderful aspect to the entire view of the unaccustomed visitor. If he goes still farther into the innermost recesses of the mines, by climbing out of the tunnel up through one of the many chutes or side openings down which the coal is made to slide into the carrying cars, and enters into the 'breasts,' as they are called, of mother earth, whence is first drawn the black fire-food for consumption ; the view of the narrow entrance and of the narrow space between the floor and the ceiling of the wide series of rooms into which he enters, and the jagged rocks overhead, everywhere propped up by firm, short posts, just as fast as the coal is hammered out, and the further view of the many miners here, who, although unable to stand or sit upright, yet, in a reclining pos- ture, and by the light of their feeble head-lamps, still cease not to handle the never-tiring pick-ax; all these views will strike the beholder with a still further sense of wonder and amazement, not to say of awe and mys- tery. And if, while crawling along on hands and knees through these low but long and wide warehouses, where nature has for ages stored her treas- ure-beds of coal, he happens to think what a shaking of things a little earth- quake might cause down there, his feelings of awe and sense of mystery may easily be deepened into an unquiet restlessness not far removed from a semi-sentiment of fear."
Early History and Settlement of Contra Costa County. 133
While on the matter of mining it must be mentioned, although the sub- ject is a thing of the past, that in the year 1863 a great excitement was created by the discovery of copper in Contra Costa county, and one really worthy of the " good times " in mining districts. All at once, nobody could tell why, a grand copper excitement arose, which permeated the whole com- munity. It was reported by various parties that the mountains were full of the ores of copper, of untold, because of unknown, richness. Simultane- ously with this grand discovery every unemployed man turned prospector. Blankets and bacon, beans and hard bread, rose to a premium, and the hills were lighted up at night with hundreds of camp fires. Hammers and picks were in great demand, and there is ocular evidence even to this day that not a boulder nor projecting rock escaped the notice of the prospectors. It was a question of probabilities, which were bound soon to harden into cer- tainties. Indeed, it was only a short time before copper prospects were possessed of a defined value. Claims were opened, companies formed, and stock issued on the most liberal scale. Everything was couleur de rose. As usual upon similar occasions, there was a great strife about claims. Some were " jumped " on the ground of some informality, twice in twenty- four hours. Heavy prices were paid for " choice " ground, and it is quite safe to say that old Mount Diablo's sides and summit have never since borne such an enormous valuation. It seemed as though the whole community had been bitten by the mining tarantula.
The excitement lasted for several weeks, and grew hotter and hotter. Scores of men, laden with specimens, thronged the hotels and saloons, and nothing was talked of but " big strikes " and " astounding developments."
Clayton was the center of these mining operations, and town lots sold at high prices. The ruling prices, for " Pioneer " was $4, "Eureka " $3.50, etc. Hundreds of companies were formed, and each had hosts of advocates. Shafts were sunk, and some ore obtained, and, according to one assay, " there was $48.33 in gold and $243 in silver to the ton ! ! " The first shipment of ore to San Francisco was in September, 1863, of one ton from the Pioneer claim. Smelting works were erected at Antioch, and the following prices offered: For copper of 8% in quality, $15 per ton ; for 12% quality, $25 per ton.
Men of experience and practical skill partook of the illusion. All at once the bubble burst. The millionaires of the day left their rude camps in the mountains, and, with ragged breeches, and boots out at the toes, sub- sided at once into despondency and less exciting employment. The saloon and hotel keepers, saying nothing of the editors, proceeded to disencumber their premises of accumulated tons of specimens of all kinds of " shiny rocks " to be found within an area of thirty miles square-making a con- siderable contribution to the paving material of the streets.
In the month of March, 1860, L. H. Hastings discovered silver on the east
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side of Mount Diablo. As soon as the story got wind, symptoms of excite- ment were developed and a party of twenty or thirty individuals quickly started for the new diggings, where claims were located covering some twenty-seven thousand feet of ground. Besides, regulations were adopted for the government of the mines, and an assessment levied for the purpose of further prospecting in the hope that a lead would be found which might be profitably worked. It has yet to be found.
Several varieties of the pigments necessary for use in art, some of which have always been imported from Europe, were in the year 1862 ascertained to exist in the ledges of the deposits of native paint. The volcanic char- acter of the geological formation of the portion of California now under notice would naturally lead to the anticipation that the same earth found in Sicily and Italy, near Mount Etna and Mount Vesuvius, might probably be found in the country at the foot of Mount Diablo. These anticipations were verified in part by the discovery of such deposits by Doctor E. F. Hough of Martinez. He spent much time in testing and examining the various deposits he had found in the earth ; at considerable expense he per- severed in his investigations and was so far partially rewarded. The paint deposits discovered were situated about two miles from the town of Mar- tinez on the bank of the El Hambre creek, at the foot of a high hill, between the houses of Doctor J. Strentzel and M. R. Barber, and on the land of the latter gentleman. They were found lying in ledges extending into the earth under the hill, the out-croppings of which alone are visible on the surface of the ground near the aforesaid creek. They varied from ten to twenty feet in width, and of unknown length and depth. At least four of the principal colors were found, viz: red, yellow, green and blue. In March, 1863, the machinery for a grinding-mill was procured, but the industry was never fully prosecuted.
In the latter part of the year 1862, petroleum was discovered near Antioch, and several claims taken up. Coal oil was also found in 1868 on the ranch of Doctor Carothers, about two miles west of Pacheco. Oil wells were discovered about three miles from San Pablo, and not less than twenty- five thousand dollars were spent in experiments, fixtures, oil tanks, retorts, distilleries, etc., but from all these discoveries oil in paying quantities could not be obtained.
During the latter part of 1862, the hot salt springs near Byron were brought to the notice of the public, though the discovery had been made many years previously. A company was formed to make salt therefrom, but we do not learn that any real work was ever done.
As long ago as the year 1850 a very productive lime quarry was discov- ered about one mile from Pacheco and six from the mouth of Mount Diablo creek. They were the first found in the State, and were very profitable. They were long the property of F. L. Such & Co., but are now unoperated.
Early History and Settlement of Contra Costa County. 135
On January 1, 1859, a meeting of the citizens of Contra Costa county was convened at Lafayette, when the Contra Costa Agricultural Society was formed, and a committee appointed to draft a constitution, rules, etc., the gentlemen serving being: C. T. Cutler, Martinez ; J. W. Venable, Lafayette; W. J. Caldwell, Ygnacio Valley; John O'Brien, Antioch ; John Galvin, San Pablo; Jesse Bowles, San Ramon ; Samuel Shuey, Moraga Valley ; Mr. Pen- niman, Pacheco Valley ; Mr. Fassett, Pacheco. The President of the meet- ing was Nathaniel Jones, and Charles Bonnard, Secretary. The rules and constitution were adopted at a meeting held January 15th, at the Walnut Creek House, and the following officers of the society elected : President, L. I. Fish, Martinez; Vice-Presidents, Daniel Small, Lafayette; Corn. T. Cutler, Martinez ; E. H. Cox, Alamo ; George P. Loucks, Pacheco ; William J. Cald- well, Ygnacio ; John O'Brien, Antioch ; Samuel Shuey, Moraga ; J. D. Allen, Diablo ; Samuel Tennent, Pinole ; William O'Connell, San Pablo. Record- ing Secretary, H. H. Fassett of Pacheco; Corresponding Secretary, L. M. Brown of Lafayette ; Treasurer, John M. Jones of Alamo. The first county fair under the auspices of the society was inaugurated October 11, 1859, when an excellent exhibition took place, and handsome premiums were awarded in every department. On the 12th a lengthy and eloquent address was delivered by Hiram Mills, Esq., in the Court-house. The society flour- ished apace, and on September 19, 1861, built the pavilion at Pacheco, its dimensions being sixty by forty feet.
There died and was buried, January 26, 1859, County Treasurer R. E. Borden, aged fifty-one years. He was one of the pioneers of the county, and had filled his office acceptably to the citizens.
In the year 1860 the tunneling of the range of hills between Oakland and Moraga Valley, to afford communication between the two points with- out going over the mountainous road, was mooted by residents of Alameda and Contra Costa counties. To effect the purpose in view it was proposed to form a joint stock company, to be called the San Antonio and Alamo Turnpike Company. For ten years the subject would appear to have remained in abeyance, but in 1871 the enterprise once more commenced to attract attention-but let us explain to our readers the outline of the scheme : Starting from the city of Oakland, Alameda County, Broadway is followed out to the foot-hills, thence turning to the right and near the residence of the late J. Ross Browne, over slightly rising ground, the tunnel road proper should commence, running through the summit. Five hundred feet of excavation would bring the enterprise out at the other side, in Con- tra Costa county, and thence the road would continue down San Pablo creek, emerging from the cañon not far from the village of Lafayette. We believe this matter is still being urged. The main purpose of the road is to bring the trade of a large and productive portion of Contra Costa to Oak- land. Were the road in operation, it is contended that that city would be
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the nearest point at which the farmers of the county could reach tide-water, instead of going to Martinez, or climbing the mountains between the Bay and the center of Contra Costa. The route was first discovered and the enter- prise projected by Captain Card, who, by dint of much talking, persuaded some of his wealthy neighbors to look into the project, which seemed impractic- able. A franchise for a toll-road was granted to Messrs. Card, J. B. Mason and Socrates Huff, but afterwards these parties surrendered their right to Messrs. Potter, Weston, McLean, Durant and others. Though the scheme is still being pressed we fear the line of the San Francisco and Nevada Railroad, which is to tap the district desired by Oakland, will interfere considerably with the views of the Tunnel Company.
The year 1861 saw two more of Contra Costa's most prominent citizens pass the Dark River. The Gazette of February 20th states that the funeral of the deceased Captain Hiram Fogg was one of the most imposing ever witnessed in the county. It continues its remarks on that gentleman as follows : " Respected and esteemed by all who knew him in life, and missed and mourned in death, Captain Fogg has passed to ' the undiscovered country, from whose bourne no traveler returns.' May he rest there in peace ! Few men have won a higher place in the estimation of their fellows, few have left behind them a clearer record, and doubtless in that great and solemn day, when the grave shall give up its dead and the Book of Life be opened, his name will be found inscribed in living characters on the blazing scroll of immortality." He was born in Massachusetts in the year 1816; served with credit during the Mexican war as Lieutenant and Captain, in the Massachusetts regiment; removed to California in 1849, and in the following year settled in Martinez, where he passed the remain- der of his life. He was twice elected to the office of County Treasurer, which, together with the office of Postmaster, he held at the time of his death. On March 1, 1861, died A. R. Meloney. This gentleman represented Con- tra Costa county in both branches of the State Legislature, and in 1858 was elected to the high position of State Controller.
Most of the residents of the county will long remember the floods of 1862. On Sunday, January 4th, it commenced raining and culminated on the 11th in a flood exceeding in depth the traditionary one of 1852. The destructive inundation of the above date was the most severe and wide-spread of any ever witnessed in the State since its occupation by Americans, and brought untold distress into many sections hitherto wholly exempt from such calamitous visitation. In describing the havoc done the Gazette says : "Not only the valleys and farming regions, but the hills and mountains and the min- ing districts have suffered immensely. The flumes and aqueducts and struct- ures of different kinds, indispensable to success in mining, have been swept away in the sudden rush of waters. Often, too, the dwelling places of the miners, no less than the bridges of the mountain streams and the roads
Ganx of ra pietfully Mrs. May
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that cross the mountains, are sadly injured, even when not totally destroyed. But the valley lands have been the scene of the greatest devastation. The damage everywhere in the county has been great and distressing, while in the vicinity of the coal mines snow fell to a depth of six inches, and enor- mous land slides took place in their neighborhood." Ten years later-in 1871-the San Ramon, Pacheco, Alamo, and other valleys were much dam- aged by another devastating flood ; happily the third decade brought none.
We have now a long list of deaths of public men to recount; a sad duty, but one which we should not flinch from in a work that purports to be a County History.
On Wednesday, June 25, 1863, James B. Abbott, an old resident and Surveyor of the county in the years 1860 and 1861, was on his way from the Redwoods in a wagon, with a companion, en route to Pacheco. Before arriving at that village, Mr. Abbott was seen to fall backwards suddenly, and, upon the team being stopped aud his condition examined, he was found to be lifeless. Mr. Abbott is described as a man of quiet deportment, unpre- tending in his manner, and much esteemed by those who were on terms of intimacy with him. He was a native of Orange county, Vermont. On Jan- uary 16, 1864, there died the Rev. Wm. L. Shepard, father of County Judge Mark Shepard, who came to California in 1850, but it was not till ten years later that he arrived in Contra Costa county. His health had been feeble, and he died, aged sixty-five years. On Saturday, September 17, 1864, there died John G. Tilton, a gentleman much respected in the county. Of his demise, and its immediate cause, the Gazette remarks : "It seems that a large party of ladies and gentlemen, among whom were the deceased and his family, were on a pleasure excursion in Pine Cañon, on the 15th instant. In traversing a rugged and broken portion of their route they encountered a deep ravine, over which they wished to pass their wagon. For this pur- pose a rope was attached to the vehicle, and the united strength of several persons was applied to ease it down the bank. As the wagon struck the bottom, the jar discharged a loaded rifle which it contained, and the ball, after passing through the seat and some articles of clothing, struck Mr. Tilton, who stood on the bank some fifteen feet distant, and with others was holding on to the rope. The handle of his watch and a portion of the case were torn off, and the ball thence passed into his bowels." As the na- ture of the wound did not admit of his removal, he was made as comfort- able as possible by his companions, and surgical aid summoned immediately, but after a full examination it was decided that from the direction the ball had taken its extraction was impossible, and there was little or no hope of his recovery. The spot where the accident occurred was far from his home, and two miles from any practicable road; any attempt at removal was therefore deemed certain to hasten the approach of death ; consequently, a tent was erected over his prostrate form, and there, in that wild spot, in the
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presence of his devoted family and faithful friends, he met his fate, in the full possession of his faculties, conversing freely with all until the Grim Reaper claimed him.
The event of greatest moment that occurred in the year 1865 was, un- questionably, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in Ford's Theater, Wash- ington, District of Columbia, by John Wilkes Booth, on the evening of the 14th April. Sixteen years later, July 2, 1881, another and more atrocious deed of the blackened heart of the assassin called one more President of the Union to cross the Dark River. In Abraham Lincoln and James A. Gar- field civilization lost two of its chiefest ornaments. Perhaps no such dual calamity had ever occurred before to any nation ; is it a wonder then that the whole land was twice flooded with tears, and each mourned as if for a father! In Contra Costa the intelligence of these deeds were received with every public demonstration of grief, while appropriate resolutions were passed, and ceremonies observed.
The following beautiful lines on the death of President Lincoln from the gifted pen of Sister Annie Fitzgerald, of the Convent of Notre Dame, San José, would appear to be equally fitted to that other dastardly deed, and may appropriately find a place here :
Has he fallen, our Country's Ruler ? Has he fallen, our Country's Chief ?
'Mid the gloom of a Nation's mourning, And the wail of a Nation's grief.
Shame, shame on the soul and manhood Of even his veriest foe, That grudges his deadliest scorning To the dastard that dealt the blow.
Has he fallen, our Country's Ruler ? O hearts that have bled and must bleed. Has he fallen in the hour of his triumph, And the hour of our sorest need ?
Aye, the wrath of a widowed Nation Be poured on the guilty head ;- But shame not the name of the millions With the hlot of a crime so dread.
Has he fallen, whose hand hath guided Our ship through the raging waves, Till the roar of the battle's tempest Died low o'er its mound of graves ;
·
With the blot of so dark a murder, With the curse of the hearts that bleed.
Nay, even the cheek of treason Must blush at so foul a deed.
Till the clouds from our skies seemed sweeping, And the seething billows to cease, And the light of a happier future Dawned bright on the shores of peace ?
Droop lower, O sacred banner ! Droop lower thy folds to-day ;---- For the crimson blood of our Chieftain Hath hidden thy stars away.
Has he fallen, our Country's Chieftain ?---- Aye, Patriot souls, to-day, The heart in his generous bosom Lies cold as the pulseless clay.
Droop lower, O mourning banner ! Droop low o'er our Country's breast ;-- O'er the North in its widowed glory, And the orphaned East and West.
Oh ! the ban of a Nation's hatred, And the blight of a Nation's woe, Aud the curse of a Nation's vengeance On the hand that has laid him low.
Droop low o'er the wrongs and sorrows, And the hopes that are passing away ;--- Toll drearily, bells, your sad dirges, Toll drearily, bells, to-day.
On the hand with its fiend-like malice, On the heart that the crime hath nursed, On the life of the base assassin, Let the lowering tempest hurst.
Pour out the deep voice of your tidings, O sonorous cannon's deep mouth ! Weep, weep o'er our loss and thy future, Thy bitterest tears, O South,
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For never a kindlier foeman, And never a truer chief, Hath passed from a Nation's anguish 'Mid the wails of a Nation's grief.
Weep, North, in thy widowed glory, For the heart that hath loved thee best,
And wail o'er your martyred father, O, orphaned East and West.
Wail, wail for the clouds that gather So dark o'er our stormy way ;-- He has fallen, our Country's Ruler, He has fallen, our Country's Stay.
The last demise we have to notice at this time is that of ex-Sheriff J. C. Hunsaker, who was lost in the ill-fated steamer Brother Jonathan off the coast of Oregon, July 10, 1865.
We find that on September 22, 1865, a fine and efficient body of cavalry, known as the Contra Costa Guards, commanded by Capt. Tewksbury, para- ded at the County Fair to the perfect satisfaction of those present.
Francisco Caravantes, who, some fifteen months before, had escaped from the county jail at Martinez, where he was awaiting sentence under two charges of grand larceny, was captured by under-Sheriff Swain and Deputy McGrath, on September 30, 1866, fifty miles beyond Firebaugh's Ferry on the San Joaquin. He was again lodged in jail on the 10th of October. This man Caravantes was a cunning, shrewd, courageous fellow, and was the " brains" of the honorable company of "free agents " that in- fested the hills of the Contra Costa for so long a time. So did he manage to cover up his tracks after breaking jail, that not the least clue to his place of refuge was discovered for several months.
About three weeks before his capture a hint was passed that Caravantes might be found somewhere near the head-waters of the San Joaquin river, about three hundred miles from Martinez. An overland expedition for pursuit was thereupon fitted out under the direction of under-Sheriff George A. Swain, accompanied by John McGrath. This party proceeded for several days, traversing the lonely region of country lying to the west- ward of the San Joaquin, until they arrived at the old Frebold's Ferry in Fresno county. At this place they ascertained that they had gone beyond their game some seventy or eighty miles ; they therefore crossed to the east side of the river and came down into Merced county, where they ascer- tained that Caravantes and five or six of his companions were encamped at a short distance, and near the Mariposa creek. The party then proceeded on foot, cautiously, until they came, unseen and unsuspected, within a few rods of the "agencies " encampment, when Swain and McGrath both lev- eled their repeaters at short range upon the "agency," Swain calling out to Caravantes by name to surrender; whereupon came the reply : "Don't shoot, George, you can have us!" Caravantes was thereupon taken, shackled and brought to Martinez. He was tried before Judge Shepard, October 24, 1866, and sentenced to five years in all, in the State Prison.
The ever-to-be-remembered earthquake of October 21, 1868, was felt severely in all portions of the county except Antioch. The heavy tower
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