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 55
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Timber .- In many portions of the township we have a variety of tim- ber, the hillsides and canons being covered with a most luxuriant growth. Beyond for domestic uses, however, they are of little practical value. Some- what to the east of Antioch we have a patch of considerable extent of chaparral and scrub-oak, which is the only one of this nature in the county.
Climate .- The climate of Township Number Five may be classed as being warm and dry, in the summer, the temperature ranging from 70° to 80°, and not unseldom attaining, when a north wind prevails, to 95° or 100°
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in the shade. It is, however, free from fogs ; and though a strong westerly wind blows, it is tempered by its journey of fifty miles from the ocean and produces a happy medium between chilling mists and torrid heat.
Early Settlement .- Would it were possible to banish grim death, pre- serve the ancient settler in his pristine vigor, and retain him with his memory unimpaired ; were such things possible, then 'twould be an easy task to pen the recollections of the courageous men who were the harbingers of joy and comfort to what is now a fertile district and a contented people.
The history of Township Number Five takes us back nearly half a cen- tury. In or about the year 1836, there settled upon the New York Rancho, not far from the place now called Kirker's Pass, José Miguel and Antonio Mesa, who made application to the Mexican Government for a grant of the place to the extent of two leagues. The boon was granted under the name of Los Medanos. During the same year, application was made for a grant of the Cañada de los Vaqueros Rancho by Mirando Higuera and Alviso, who settled upon it; and the Rancho Los Meganos, consisting of three square leagues of land, was granted to José Noriega. During the year following, 1837, Noriega sold the Rancho to Dr. John Marsh, who settled upon it in the same year, and occupied it until 1856.
Let us, however, turn to inquire who Dr. Marsh was ? The better to answer we will quote his own words, as found in a letter written from his ranch in 1846, to Hon. Lewis Cass. The Doctor says: "I left the United States in 1835 and came to New Mexico, and thence traversing the States of Chihuahua and Sonora, crossed the Rio Colorado at its junction with the Gila, near the tide water of the Gulf of Mexico, and entered this terri- tory at its southern part. Any more direct route was at that time un- known and considered impracticable. I have now been more than ten years in this country, and have traveled over all the inhabited and most of the uninhabited parts of it. I have resided eight years where I now live, near the Bay of San Francisco, and at the point where the rivers Sacra- mento and San Joaquin unite together to meet the tide-water of the Bay, about forty miles from the ocean. I possess at this place a farm, about ten miles by twelve in extent, one side of which borders on the river, which is navigable to this point for sea-going vessels." With almost prophetic in- stinct the Doctor concludes the paragraph with these words: "I have at last found the Far West, and intend to end my ramblings here." Twenty years later he was most foully murdered.
Here did Dr. Marsh dwell in a small adobe house, not far from where he afterwards constructed his famous "Stone House." Therefore it will be seen that he was the first native-born American who ever resided perma- nently within the township now under consideration, or, indeed, within the county, as comprised within its original territorial limits.
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Until about 1847, and during the first ten years of his residence on his ranch, his only neighbors were those Spanish families who owned the lands, viz: the Mesas on the New York Rancho, Mirando Higuera on the Cañada de los Vaqueros, Salvio Pacheco on the Monte del Diablo, and Ygnacio Sibrian on the San Miguel; all then considered to be adjoining Ranchos, the haciendas or dwelling places upon each being from twelve to fifteen miles away from his. Of those living further away, from twenty to forty miles distant, were José Maria Amador at the San Ramon Rancho, Pacheco and Castro on the Rancho also called San Ramon, Ygnacio Mar- tinez at Pinole, Moraga at the Redwoods, Valencia at the Acalanes, the family of Francisco Castro at San Pablo, the vaqueros of William Welch on the Welch Rancho, and the widow of Felipe Briones, with her family, on the Briones Rancho.
It is hard to conjecture a more solitary life than this for an educated, society-loving American.
He was not thus to remain long a solitary stranger in a land of beauti- ful solitude. We have seen that Hon. Elam Brown and others soon cast their lot in the county. Again, on the discovery of gold, more foreigners, as the Californians called them, arrived, and among these the second set- tlers, other than native-born, in the township.
This honor belongs to the Smith family, whose fortunes we have fol- lowed in our remarks on Township Number Four. It is our province now to tread in their footsteps during their first settlement in Number Five.
On the arrival of the two brothers, Joseph H. and W. W. Smith, in the vicinity of Dr. Marsh's residence, it was natural that he should without delay have sought their acquaintance; he, therefore, about July 14, 1849, proceeded to New York of the Pacific to meet them, and offered the hospi- talities of his house, which were gladly accepted. The generous pioneer furnished the horses on which the journey should be made, W. W. Smith acacompanying the ladies and children, and Joseph and Beener remaining behind. The journey is described as a tedious one ; however, cheered by the evergreen oaks on the Marsh creek, the lighter green cotton-wood, and the occasional glimpse among the thick foliage of a running stream, all took courage and finally reached the Doctor's hospitable roof. The return jour- ney was made by Marsh Landing, and here the Doctor offered the Smiths ten acres of land each, advising them to embark in stock-raising. Parting with the Doctor at this point, the two brothers walked on to the spot on which now stands the town of Antioch, where they each located a quarter section of land. Here were they wont to come for the purpose of cutting fire- wood to supply the New York House. On December 24, 1849, they erected their tents on the property and broke ground. In the course of these opera- tions a man named Lincoln was observed approaching, who, on coming up, expressed his regret that the Smiths should have located on land on which
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he had cast longing eyes. [Their presence, however, did not deter him from laying out a garden and building a cabin on the land ; while this land was a source of endless and vexatious trouble, to relate all of which we have not the space.] Before the date above named, all the lumber for build- ing a permanent residence had been deposited on the ground, and it was on their farm that they passed their first Christmas in California; but the building wherein they spent the hallowed day was only composed of a car- pet fashioned into a tent, placed upon a strip of land on the quarter-section sought to be obtained from the United States.
This place by common consent received the name of Smith's Landing, while the point to the east of the present town site was called Smith's Point, and was fenced in as a part of the two quarter sections mentioned above. The line of demarcation ran near where the quarter-section line came, half a mile east of section thirteen, on which the town of Antioch is built.
In September, 1850, hearing of the arrival of a ship-load of would-be settlers in San Francisco, Mr. Smith hastened thither and found a number of families who wished to obtain land. Captain George W. Kimball, his brother, S. P. Kimball, four or five Hathaways, a Mr. Marshall and son, Mr. Douglass, and a Mr. Dennison, accepted his invitation, and proceeded to settle at Smith's Landing. Here a street was laid out, running east by compass, and each family that wished to settle upon land was presented with a lot to build upon.
Some time prior to these events Mr. Smith, while on a journey from Santa Clara, encountered two brothers, Deacon John Pulsifer and Dr. Joseph Pulsifer, who were on the lookout for land whereon to settle. He told them of there being space enough for their wants on the banks of the San Joaquin, and invited them to accompany him, which they did. On their arrival they made an excursion of circumnavigation around the tules, and returning whence they started, commenced the erection of a cabin on the site on which afterwards stood the Sawyer Carter stables. These Pul- sifer brothers then laid out a garden on the flat above the point, and when the rains commenced began to plow and plant. For the dry season they arranged a windmill and a pump for raising water from the tules, making one of the finest gardens in 1851-52 within ten miles. By the united work of all, a fence and ditch were completed from the tules on the east to those on the west, in the Spring of 1851, to keep stray animals off its precincts.
July 4, 1851, a basket picnic was held at the residence of W. W. Smith, then standing on the high ground, near where the Antioch Ledger office now is; the all-absorbing topic of the day was: " What shall we name our town ?" Between thirty and forty men, women and children had gathered from far and near. A chairman was chosen, and several names proposed; among them " Menton," after a steamer that plied on the river, that she
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might be induced to stop at the town. Another proposed that it be " Para- dise," but Deacon Pulsifer arose, and remarked that "there were many claimants to the lands in California, and they might lose their lands, and then it would be " Paradise Lost." W. W. Smith proposed that, inasmuch as the first settlers were disciples of Christ, and one of them (Rev. Joseph H. Smith) had died and was buried on the land, that it be given a Bible name in his honor, and suggested "Antioch," and by united acclamation so was the little town christened.
Among the others to build at this early date were the Kimballs, whose names are indelibly associated with the fortunes of Antioch, and several more who constructed residences to the east of Captain Kimball's first house. A ship's galley was moved to a lot near the present handsome brick school- house, where the first school was taught by Martha Douglass; she in turn being succeeded by Adelia Kimball.
Among the residents who located this year we have the name of John C. O'Brien, still a resident of Antioch.
It should have been mentioned, however, that the families named above had hardly settled in their new homes, when the little town was visited by cholera in its worst type. The first to be seized with the dread disease, was the little five year old daughter of Mr. Smith, who happily recovered under the unceasing care of her anxious parent ; but it was not so with the Hathaways-they lost the father of the family, two sons, and the wife of an elder brother, all within a few days of each other. Fortunately the epi- demic disappeared as mysteriously as it had appeared, leaving one or more invalids in every household. On board a schooner, lying at anchor in the stream, between Antioch and Collinsville, several deaths occurred, after its ravages had ceased on shore.
In the year 1851, Antioch had direct communication with San Fran- cisco, by a schooner commanded by Captain Miller. This, too, was a par- ticularly dry season, all vegetable life in the San Joaquin district having been blighted, while to procure hay, the residents of Antioch had to go as far as Diablo valley to cut hay, and transport it thence to their homes, by way of Kirker's pass. The road then traveled is now closed to the public.
As early as the year 1852, a company was formed in Antioch for the manufacture of bricks, by J. C. McMaster, Barker, and others. The house leased to them was that of Mr. Smith, which stood on the site of the Ledger office, and close to the Palace Hotel. The brick kilns were where Mr. Hard's house now stands. Communication with San Francisco was this year maintained by Captain Charles Bartlett ; while among the new comers in 1852, we have the name of Robert R. Fuller.
In 1853, Messrs. H. Lock from San Francisco, and James Henderson and family located in the district. The first named gentleman built a house and planted trees to the west of the town. The latter, with his wife, Mrs. Jane
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Henderson, commenced the business of butter and cheese-making, which she continued for a number of years. They built a house where Mr. Stickler now lives, but subsequently moved to the "Iron House " where Mrs. Hen- derson died in 1862. J. C. McMaster and G. W. Kimball also embarked in the dairy business in Antioch in this year, while Swain and Wattles com- menced operations in the same line, on land leased from Dr. Marsh. On the death of Mr. Swain their interest in the lease was purchased by Mr. Fuller, who still continues in the business. In this year, too, Frank Somers and Dr. Samuel Adams came to this part of the county from the mines, and from the Eastern States there arrived Ezra Clark with two children, Charles, and George Clark with his wife. The two families originally set- tled on what is now the Wells Tract, situated south of the Antioch bury- ing grounds, while Charles had his location on the lands east of the tules and Pittsburg Landing. This gentleman finally joined his brother Ezra at Somersville where he was part owner and agent of the Pittsburg mine- at which place he ultimately died-while George Clark transferred his resi- dence to the vicinity of Mount Diablo, near where Captain Mitchell had located a claim on what is now known as Mitchell's canon. Dr. Adams took up his location at Oak Springs, after the death of Mr. Kirker. In this same year, 1853, G. W. Brown and - Westcott built a store in the "Sand Hills" about half a mile below Marsh Landing, their principal cus- tomers being the hay-cutters, rather than the farmers, who had not then commenced the cultivation of wheat. Indeed it was in this or the follow- ing year that that cereal was first produced, the locality being between Kir- ker's pass and Antioch, and the producers Mr. McMasters and Captain Kim- ball who were engaged in the dairy business. The next store in the district was that of Martin Hamburg. It was first situated about five miles above Marsh Landing, on the bank of a sheet of water that had acquired the name of Dutch slough, whence there had been cut a channel to the high land, and saving the expense of a road and wharf on the tule lands, thus making a central point for the residents of the Iron House and Eden Plains districts. The place is now known as Babbe's Landing. After doing a large and prosperous business here, Mr. Hamburg moved to Antioch, where he built a store and dwelling house of brick two stories in height, on the land surveyed for a town site. In 1853, W. W. Smith constructed a wharf between Anti- och and the Beever House on the slough west of the town, where steamers were wont to land the United States mail. Among the residents who loca- ted in the Township in 1853, we have the names of D. P. Mahan, the pre- sent efficient Sheriff of the county ; Frederick Babbe, in what is known as the Iron House district, and Charles V. Smith at Antioch. In 1853, the Fuller family acquired, by purchase, the land hitherto occupied by Swain and Darby, and regular religious services were commenced in the residence of W.W. Smith, and subsequently continued in that of Mrs. Fuller and others.
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In these early days there were a few of the Pulprones Indians still re- maining, who were, however, afterwards swept away by small-pox and other diseases, large quantities of their bones having been found later, bleaching in the sun on the San Joaquin plains. In the year 1875 one of their resi- dences to which was given the name of the " King's Palace," was discovered. This is a room excavated out of the sandrock, situated about four miles south of Byron Springs, and though once evidently the abode of human beings, is now the haunt and shelter of sheep and hogs.
During the next few years the country settled up slowly, although the little town of Antioch kept up its progressive start. As the families arrived in the village, each vied with the other to make it a pleasant abode, while a charming unanimity in all their actions was the result. Among the early settlers we find the names of William R. Forman, in 1857; Ferdinand and Christian Hoffman and John G. Chase, in 1858 ; William Newman, in 1859 ; and William Gilchrist and Andrew Portman, in 1860. Of course there were many more to settle during that period, but we have failed to gather their names ; indeed, it was not until after the year last mentioned that the valley commenced to be fully settled-who these were the biographical sketches · at the end of this work will illustrate.
We learn that in the year 1861 Dr. Patterson resided at the Point of Timber Landing; Henry Gallagher came to the land east of Bowman's present place ; and Ferdinand and Christian Hoffman located where they now are near Byron. There was a man named Dickey engaged in the stock business in the district, while one Jabe Wilson kept the " Red House," now occupied by Mr. Sanders. In 1862 the Point of Timber district was visited by a severe flood, when Dickey, becoming disgusted, left ; for the same reason Dr. Patterson moved to the land now in the occupancy of George Cople and J. Christiansen, but finally removed from the section entirely. This portion of the township commenced to settle up in this year, 1862, and during the Spring, Jabe Wilson sowed the first grain in the district, a twenty-acre field of barley, but before it matured he disposed of it to Fred Bowman, who, on account of rain, was compelled to cut the " lodged " grain for hay. The principal industry of these early times in the Point of Timber district was sheep farming, but as the lands came to be taken up and fenced, the sheep were " crowded out."
It seems to be generally accepted that coal was first discovered in this township by W. C. Israel, and that the discovery was made in 1859. We are disposed to think, however, that such must have been made a year earlier, for we have it from the columns of the Contra Costa Gazette of December 11, 1858, that Messrs. Rountree, Walker and Dickson discovered coal on November 24, 1858, about half way from the base of Mount Diablo and Antioch, and distant from the San Joaquin about five miles. "It is two miles from the vein discovered by Mr. Israel." In connection with his
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father and brother George, W. C. Israel opened the vein he had discovered at Horse Haven, six miles south of Antioch, for a short distance ; but not having capital to work it, they disposed of their interest to James T. Wat- kins, and -- Noyes, who, either from want of knowledge or capital, failed in opening the vein so as to make the working of it successful. They abandoned the mine in 1861, since when it has not been opened. The vein is very much broken, and hence, is unreliable. In 1860 W. B. Stewart, T. K. Shattuck and William Hillegas located the Central mine, and in 1861 commenced an opening, but it was not until 1864 that any quantity of coal was taken out. The Empire mine was started in the Fall of 1876 by J. C. Rouse and George H. Hawxhurst, which, with the Central, is now owned by Messrs. W. Belshaw, Egbert Judson and J. C. Rouse. In 1877 the Empire mine was connected with Antioch by a line of railroad six miles in length, which was extended by a branch to the Central mine during the past year. On the Marsh grant is another mine, the property of the Brentwood Coal Company, while there are several others in the Diablo coal fields, which we have already noticed.
Dr. Marsh's grant was not finally settled until 1862, but the United States Courts were slow in giving titles to lands in dispute ; it was not . until 1869, seven years later, that Mr. Smith received his documents. The New York grant was not patented until 1872.
We will now refer the reader to a short history of the town of Antioch, as an especial subject fraught with considerable interest :
ANTIOCH .- In the preceding remarks we have seen how the town of Antioch had its birth, grew into prominence as a center of commerce, and now we will attempt to follow its individual interests up to the present time. The reader will, we have no doubt, agree with us that recapitula- tion is unnecessary, therefore we will commence with the years dating after 1860.
On March 1, 1863, we find that the steamer Pert was put on as a ferry- boat between Antioch, New York and Collinsville, Solano county, by Cap- tains Turner and Cosine. After the death of the first-named gentleman, his sons continued the business in the Antioch for about ten years, when it was discontinued, all the ferrying being now done by the steamers that ply to Sacramento and Stockton. On June 7th, of this year, we notice the death of William Wyatt. He was a native of North Carolina, but prior to coming to California in 1852, had lived in Missouri. His generesity of disposition and readiness to help forward every genuine charity, were characteristics well known to his friends, while by the world at large he was highly esteemed. . The year 1864 may be remembered as the one in which the subject of railroad communication was first mooted. On Sep- tember 10th a public meeting was held at Antioch, Charles P. Marsh,
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Chairman, when a resolution, promising the hearty co-operation of the citi- zens in a railroad project connecting Oakland and Antioch, was passed. Such was the cheapness of coal at this period that a company was formed at Antioch, in 1864, for the purpose of smelting copper, the ore used being chiefly obtained from Copperopolis ; this scheme has died a natural death.
October 30, 1868, the dwelling-house of Dr. J. R. Howard, with all his belongings, books, papers, and family keepsakes, was destroyed by fire. On May 16, 1869, a new Congregational Church was dedicated at Antioch by the following gentlemen : Revs. Messrs. Warren, of San Francisco, J. J. Powell, Wood and Graves. The body of the church is thirty by fifty feet, besides the pulpit, rostrum and choir, with thirty-six pews to hold five per- sons each. The jutting front tower is surmounted by a belfry from which a graceful spire rises up some forty feet, and terminates at an elevation of eighty feet from the ground. The cost of the edifice was in the vicinity of two thousand three hundred dollars. In this year George A. Dodge, upon a block of the most elevated ground in the place, was engaged in construct- ing a reservoir, by excavation and embankment, with a view to supplying the town with water. His scheme contemplated the confining of the dam by a circular embankment, averaging fifty feet in breadth at the base, and a diameter of one hundred and thirty feet across the top of the basin. Up to this time the distribution of the fluid had been by means of cartage, and pumps by wind-power ; with the accession of never-failing steam and pipes a great benefit was conferred upon the community.
About one o'clock on the morning of Sunday, August 23, 1871, a fire broke out in Main street, Antioch, in or about the wash-house of the Grif- fin Hotel (American Exchange), a north wind blowing with great violence at the time. At that hour the inhabitants were, of course, generally asleep, and the fire obtained a good headway before it was discovered. The ex- treme dryness of the tinder-like houses in full flame, fanned by the furious north wind, raised a running mountain of fire that appalled the hearts of the suddenly awakened sleepers. In a few minutes after discovery, it lap- ped on to and enveloped Chase & Robbins livery-stable, filled with hay, on the corner of Main and Brown streets ; then on with a wild sweep it took in McCoy's two-story shop on the opposite corner, then his dwelling in the rear. Thence D. Cleaves' dwelling, and a vacant house where Knapp once lived, at the extreme south of the second block from where it started. Here it slowly lulled in the calm of exhaustion, though like a wounded serpent it hissed and raged with surging head and protruding tongue for more hopes to crush and more homes to waste, darting the venom of floating brands and detached flame in clouds upon everything for two hundred feet from its halt. Not more than forty minutes had elapsed before all this line of houses were smoke and ashes. In the meantime the fire had extended nortli to Griffin's two-story lodging-house more slowly, but in equal mockery of any
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hope to stay it with the means at command. From this it soon caught the main hotel building, which was two-stories high, about seventy feet square, and elevated in location, in and a little above the most dense portion of the town. When this got well fired up, it finished, and lighted up a picture both grand and awful. The scene is described thus : " Here, as we stood at the cross of the main streets at two o'clock in the morning, in a sudden brightness as of a noonday sun, a roaring mountain of flame fanned and whirled by the rushing north wind-all around a scramble of life, with fear- ful odds against the scramblers-a village of terrified inhabitants, running hither and thither, of all ages, sexes and sizes, and in every condition of dress and undress ; in and out of houses and across streets, carrying, scat- tering, pulling and pitching every conceivable article of furniture, buggies, wagons and stages, in heaps into the streets for safety, scarce a sound to be heard from a lip save the involuntary, 'Oh God !' as some heart shrank at the fall of their hopes and their homes. But the good servant and bad master, heedless of all misery in the picture, still swept on east to McCart- ney's dwelling next to the hotel, then McCartney's variety store, then Tap- perner's shoe store, then Hop Lee's wash-house, which was torn down. Here a truce was declared on that line, and the monster slept upon his laurels in the smoke and ashes of two blocks of the town, except two houses, one of which was nearly torn down."
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