History of Contra Costa County, California; with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 4

Author: Munro-Fraser, J. P
Publication date: 1926
Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif. : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1118

USA > California > Contra Costa County > History of Contra Costa County, California; with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 4

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"Monterey, Oct. 19, 1842 .- At 2 p. m. the United States man-of-war United States, Commodore Ap Catesby Jones, came to anchor close along- side and in-shore of all the ships in port. About 3 p. m. Captain Arm- strong came ashore, accompanied by an interpreter, and went direct to the governor's house, where he had a private conversation with him, which proved to be a demand for the surrender of the entire coast of California, Upper and Lower, to the United States government. When he was about to go on board he gave three or four copies of a proclamation to the inhabitants of the two Californias, assuring them of the protection of their lives, persons and property. In his notice to the governor (Alvarado) he gave him only until the following morning at 9 a. m. to decide. If he re- ceived no answer, then he would fire upon the town.

"I remained on shore that night and went down to the governor's with Mr. Larkin and Mr. Eagle. The governor had had some idea of running away and leaving Monterey to its fate, but was told by Mr. Spence that he should not go, and finally he resolved to await the result. At 12 at night some persons were sent on board the United States who had been appointed by the governor to meet the commodore and arrange the terms of the sur- render. Next morning at half-past 10 o'clock about one hundred sailors and fifty marines disembarked. The sailors marched up from the shore and took possession of the fort. The American colors were hoisted. The United States fired a salute of thirteen guns; it was returned by the fort, which fired twenty-six guns. The marines in the meantime had marched up to the government house. The officers and soldiers of the California government were discharged and their guns and other arms taken posses- sion of and carried to the fort. The stars and stripes now wave over us. Long may they wave here in California !"

"Oct. 21, 4 p. m .- Flags were again changed, the vessels were released, and all was quiet again. The commodore had received later news by some Mexican newspapers."

Commodore Jones had been stationed at Callao with a squadron of four vessels. An English fleet was also there, and a French fleet was cruising in the Pacific. Both these were supposed to have designs on California. Jones learned that the English admiral had received orders to sail next day. Surmising that his destination might be California, he slipped out of the harbor the night before and crowded all sail to reach California before

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the English admiral. The loss of Texas, and the constant influx of immi- grants and adventurers from the United States into California, had embit- tered the Mexican government more and more against foreigners. Manuel Micheltorena, who had served under Santa Anna in the Texas war, was appointed January 19, 1842, comandante-general inspector and gobernador propietario of the Californias.

Santa Anna was president of the Mexican republic. His experience with Americans in Texas during the Texan war of independence, in 1836-1837, had determined him to use every effort to prevent California from sharing the fate of Texas.

Micheltorena, the newly appointed governor, was instructed to take with him sufficient force to check the ingress of Americans. He recruited a force of 350 men, principally convicts enlisted from the prisons of Mex- ico. His army of thieves and ragamuffins landed at San Diego in August, 1842.

Micheltorena drilled his Falstaffian army at San Diego for several weeks and then began his march northward; Los Angeles made great preparations to receive the new governor. Seven years had passed since she had been decreed the capital of the territory, and in all these years she had been denied her rights by Monterey. A favorable impression on the new governor might induce him to make the ciudad his capital. After a stay of a month in the city Micheltorena and his army took up their line of march northward. He reached a point about twenty miles north of San Fernando, when, on the night of the 24th of October, a messenger aroused him from his slumbers with the news that the capital had been cap- tured by the Americans. He spent the remainder of the night in fulminat- ing proclamations against the invaders fiercer than the thunderbolts of Jove, copies of which were dispatched posthaste to Mexico. Then, with his own courage and doubtless that of his brave cholos aroused to the highest pitch, instead of rushing on the invaders, he and his army fled back to San Fernando, where, afraid to advance or retreat, he halted until news reached him that Commodore Jones had restored Monterey to the Cali- fornians. Then his valor reached the boiling point. He boldly marched to Los Angeles, established his headquarters in the city and awaited the coming of Commodore Jones and his officers from Monterey.

On the 19th of January, 1843, Commodore Jones and his staff came to Los Angeles to meet the governor. At the famous conference in the Palacio de Don Abel, Micheltorena presented his articles of convention. Next morning, January 21, Jones and his officers took their departure from the city amidst the beating of drums, the firing of cannon and the ringing of bells, saluted by the general and his wife from the door of their quarters. On the 31st of December Micheltorena had taken the oath of office in Sanchez's Hall, which stood on the east side of the plaza. Salutes were fired, the bells were rung and the city was illuminated for three eve- nings. For the second time a governor was inaugurated in Los Angeles.

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Micheltorena and his cholo army remained in Los Angeles about eight. months. The Angelenos had all the capital they cared for. They were perfectly willing to have the governor and his army take up their residence in Monterey. The cholos had devoured the country like an army of chapules (locusts ) and were willing to move on.

Micheltorena, while not a model governor, had many good qualities and was generally liked by the better class of foreign residents. He made an earnest effort to establish a system of public education in the territory. Schools were established in all the principal towns, and territorial aid from the public funds to the amount of $500 each was given them. But he was unreliable and not careful to keep his agreements. He might have suc- ceeded in giving California a stable government had it not been for the antipathy to his soldiers and the old feud between the "hijos del pais" and the Mexican dictators. These proved his undoing. The native sons under Alvarado and Castro rose in rebellion. In November, 1844, a revolution was inaugurated at Santa Clara. The governor marched with an army of 150 men against the rebel forces, numbering about 200. They met at a place called the Laguna de Alvires. A treaty was signed in which Michel- torena agreed to ship his cholos back to Mexico.

This treaty the governor deliberately broke. He then intrigued with Capt. John A. Sutter, of New Helvetia, and Isaac Graham to obtain assist- ance to crush the rebels. January 9, 1845, Micheltorena and Sutter formed a junction of their forces at Salinas-their united commands numbering about 500 men. They marched against the rebels to crush them. But the rebels did not wait to be crushed.

Another Mexican-born governor was deposed and deported, to join his fellows, Vitoria, Chico and Gutierrez. In accordance with the treaty of Cahuenga, and by virtue of his rank as senior member of the depart- mental assembly, Pio Pico was appointed constitutional governor of Cali- fornia, September 3, 1845, by President Herrera.

Castro gave Pico a great deal of uneasiness. He ignored the gov- ernor and managed the military affairs of the territory to suit himself. His headquarters were at Monterey, and doubtless he had the sympathy if not the encouragement of the people of the north in his course.

But the cause of the greatest uneasiness was the increasing immigration from the United States. A stream of emigrants from the western States, increasing each year, poured down the Sierra Nevadas and spread over the rich valleys of California. The Californians recognized that through the advent of these "foreign adventurers," as they called them, the "manifest destiny" of California was to be absorbed by the United States.

In the summer of 1845 a force of 600 veteran soldiers, under com- mand of Colonel Iniestra, reached Acapulco, where ships were lying to take them to California; but a revolution broke out in Mexico and the troops destined for the defense of California were used to overthrow President Herrera and to seat Paredes. California was left to work out her own destiny unaided or drift with the tide-and she drifted.

THE STONE HOUSE, BUILT BY DR. JOHN MARSH IN 1856

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MARSH'S LETTER TO CASS

The following letter, which Dr. Marsh wrote to Hon. Lewis Cass, Secretary of War, in 1842, is so illuminative of the period and the situa- tion, that we give it in full :

"Farm of Pulpines, near St. Francisco, Upper California, 1842. "Hon. Lewis Cass.

"Dear Sir: You will probably be somewhat surprised to receive a letter from an individual from whom you have not heard, or even thought of, for nearly twenty years; yet although the lapse of time has wrought many changes both in men and things, the personal identity of us both has probably been left. You will, I think, remember a youth whom you met at Green Bay in 1825, who, having left his Alma Mater, had spent a year or two in the 'far, far West,' and was then returning to his New England home, and whom you induced to turn his face again toward the setting sun ; that youth who, but for your influence, would probably now have been administering pills in some quiet Yankee village, is now a gray-haired man, breeding cattle and cultivating grape-vines on the shores of the Pacific. Your benevolence prompted you to take an interest in the fortunes of that youth, and it is therefore presumed you may not be unwilling to hear from him again.

"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 tidewater of Gulph, and entered this territory 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 Sacramento 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. I have at last found the far West, and intend to end my ramblings here.

"I perceive by the public papers that this region of country, including that immediately north of it, which until lately was the most completely a terra incognita of any portion of the globe, is at length attracting the atten- tion of the United States and Europe. The world, at length, seems to have become awake to the natural advantages of California and Oregon, and it seems probable that at the same moment I am writing, their political destinies are about being settled, at least for a long time to come. I men- tion the two countries together because I conceive the future destiny of this whole region to be one and inseparable. The natural conformation of the country strongly indicates it, and a sympathy and fellow feeling in the in- habitants is taking place, which must soon bring about the consummation.

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California, as well as Oregon, is rapidly peopling with emigrants from the United States. Even the inhabitants of Spanish origin, tired of anarchy and misrule, would be glad to come under the American Government.

"The Government of the United States, in encouraging and facilitating emigration to Oregon, is, in fact, helping to people California. It is like the British Government sending settlers to Canada. The emigrants are well aware of the vast superiority of California, both in soil and climate, and I may add, facility of access. Every year shorter and better routes are being discovered, and this year the great desideratum of a good and practical road for wheel carriages has been found. Fifty-three wagons, with that number of families, have arrived safely, and more than a month earlier than any previous company. The American Government encourages emigration to Oregon by giving gratuitously some five or six hundred acres of land to each family of actual settlers. California, too, gives lands, not by acres, but by leagues, and has some thousands of leagues more to give to anybody who will occupy them. Never in any instance has less than one league been given to any individual, and the wide world from which to select from all the unoccupied lands in the territory. While Col. Almonte, the Mexican Minister to Washington, is publishing his proclamations in the American newspapers forbidding people to emigrate to California, and telling them that no lands will be given them, the actual Government here is doing just the contrary. In fact they care about as much for the Govern- ment of Mexico as for that of Japan.

"It has been usual to estimate the population of Upper California at five thousand persons of Spanish descent, and twenty thousand Indians. This estimate may have been near the truth twenty years ago. At present the population may be stated in round numbers at seven thousand Spaniards, ten thousand civilized, or rather domesticated Indians. To this may be added about seven hundred Americans, one hundred English, Irish, and Scotch, and about one hundred French, Germans, and Italians.

"Within the territorial limits of Upper California, taking the parallel of 42° for the northern, and the Colorado River for the southeastern boundary, are an immense number of wild, naked, brute Indians. The number, of course, can only be conjectured. They probably exceed a mil- lion, and may perhaps amount to double that number.

"The far-famed missions of California no longer exist. They have nearly all been broken up, and the lands apportioned out into farms. They were certainly munificent ecclestiastical baronies; and although their ex- istence was quite incompatible with the general prosperity of the country, it seems almost a pity to see their downfall. The immense piles of build- ings and beautiful vineyards and orchards are all that remain, with the exception of two in the southern part of the territory, which still retain a small remnant of their former prosperity.

"The climate of California is remarkably different from that of the United States. The great distinguishing difference is its regularity and uniformity. From May to October the wind is invariably from the north-

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west, and during this time it never rains, and the sky is brilliantly clear and serene. The weather during this time is temperate, and rarely oppressively warm. The nights are always agreeably cool, and many of the inhabi- tants sleep in the open air the whole year round. From October to May the southeast wind frequently blows, and is always accompanied by rain. Snow never falls excepting in the mountains. Frost is rare except in De- cember or January. A proof of the mildness of the winter this moment presents itself in the shape of a humming-bird, which I just saw from the open window, and this is in latitude 38° on the first day of February. Wheat is sown from October until March, and maize from March until July. As respects human health and comfort, the climate is incomparably better than that of any part of the United States. It is much the most healthy country I have ever seen or have any knowledge of. There is no disease whatever that can be attributed to the influence of the climate.

"The face of the country differs as much from the United States as the climate. The whole territory is traversed by ranges of mountains, which run parallel to each other and to the coast. The highest points may be about six thousand feet above the sea, in most places much lower, and in many parts they dwindle to low hills. They are everywhere covered with grass and vegetation, and many of the valleys and northern declivities abound with the finest timber trees. Between these ranges of mountains are level valleys, or rather plains, of every width, from five miles to fifty. The magnificent valley through which flow the rivers of St. Joaquin and Sacramento is five hundred miles long, with an average width of forty or fifty. It is intersected laterally by many smaller rivers, abounding with salmon.

"The only inhabitants of this valley, which is capable of supporting a nation, are about a hundred and fifty Americans and a few Indians. No published maps that I have seen give any correct idea of the country, ex- cepting the outline of the coast.

"The Bay of San Francisco is considered by nautical men one of the finest harbors in the world. It consists of two principal arms, diverging from the entrance in nearly opposite directions, and each about fifty miles long, with an average width of eight or ten. It is perfectly sheltered from every wind, has great depth of water, is easily accessible at all times, and space enough for half the ships in the world. The entrance is less than a mile wide, and could be easily fortified so as to make it entirely impreg- nable. The vicinity abounds in the finest timber for ship-building, and in fact everything necessary to make it a great naval and commercial depot. If it were in the hands of a nation who knew how to make use of it, its influence would soon be felt on all the western coast of America, and probably through the whole Pacific.

"I think it cannot long remain in the hands of its present owners. If it does not come into possession of Americans, the English will have it. This port in their hands, what will Oregon be worth to the United States ? They loudly threaten to get possession of Cuba as an offset against Texas.

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Will they not be quite as likely to obtain California, as an offset against Oregon? A British ship of war was here last summer, whose captain was a brother of Lord Aberdeen, and one of her lieutenants a son of Sir R. Peel. The gentlemen declared openly that this port would soon belong to them. This I take to be only a slight ebullition of John Bullism; but that they want this port, and will have it if possible, there can be no doubt, a consummation most earnestly and ardently to be deprecated by every American. I hope it may direct your views to take an interest in this matter.

"The agricultural capabilities of California are but very imperfectly developed. The whole of it is remarkably adapted to the culture of the vine. Wine and brandy of excellent quality are made in considerable quantities. Olives, figs, and almonds grow well. Apples, pears, and peaches are abundant, and in the southern part oranges. Cotton is be- ginning to be cultivated and succeeds well. It is the finest country for wheat I have ever seen. Fifty for one is an average crop, with very im- perfect cultivation. One hundred fold is not uncommon, and even one hundred and fifty has been produced. Maize produces tolerably well, but not equal to some parts of the United States. Hemp, flax, and tobacco have been cultivated on a small scale, and succeed well. The raising of cattle is the principal pursuit of the inhabitants, and the most profitable.

"The foreign commerce of Upper California employs from ten to fif- teen sail of vessels, mostly large ships. Somewhat more than half of these are American, and belong exclusively to the port of Boston. The others are English, French, Russian, Mexican, Peruvian, and Hawaiian. The French from the islands in the Pacific and the Russians from Kam- tschatka, and their establishments on the northwest coast, resort here for provisions and live stock. The exports consist of hides and tallow, cows, lard, wheat, soap, timber, and furs. There are slaughtered annually about one hundred thousand head of cattle, worth $800,000. The whole value of the exports annually amounts to about $1,000,000. The largest item of imports is American cotton goods. The duties on imports are enormously high, amounting on most important articles to one hundred and fifty per cent on the original cost, and in many instances to four or five hundred. Thus, as in most Spanish countries, a high bounty is paid to encourage smuggling. Whale ships visit St. Francisco annually in con- siderable numbers for refreshments, and fail not to profit by the facilities for illicit commerce.

"California, although nominally belonging to Mexico, is about as in- dependent of it as Texas, and must ere long share the same fate. Since my residence here, no less than four Mexican governors have been driven from the country by force of arms. The last of these, Micheltorena, with about four hundred of his soldiers and one hundred employes, was driven away about a year ago.

"This occurred at the time that the rest of the nation was expelling his master, Santa Ana, although nothing of this was known here at the

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time. The new administration, therefore, with a good grace, highly ap- proved of our conduct. In fact, the successive administrations in Mexico have always shown a disposition to sanction and approve of whatever we may do here, from a conscious inability to retain even a nominal domin- ion over the country by any other means. Upper California has been governed for the last year entirely by its own citizens. Lower California is in general an uninhabited and uninhabitable desert. The scanty popula- tion it contains lives near the extremity of the Cape, and has no connection and little intercourse with this part of the country.

"Upper California has a productive gold mine, and silver ore has been found in many places. A mine of quicksilver has been very lately found in this vicinity, which promises to be very valuable.

"I know not, since you have been so long engaged in more weighty concerns, if you take the same interest as formerly in Indian affairs, but since I have supposed your personal identity to remain, I shall venture a few remarks on the aborgines of California. In stature the California Indian rather exceeds the average of the tribes east of the mountains. He is heavier limbed and stouter built. They are a hairy race, and some of them have beards that would do honor to a Turk. The color similar to that of the Algonquin race, or perhaps rather lighter. The visage, short and broad, with wide mouth, thick lips, broad nose, and extremely low forehead. In some individuals the hair grows quite down to the eyebrows, and they may be said to have no forehead at all. Some few have that pe- culiar conformation of the eye so remarkable in the Chinese and Tartar races, and entirely different from the common American Indian or the Polynesian; and with this unpromising set of features, some have an ani- mated and agreeable expression of countenance. The general expression of the wild Indian has nothing of the proud and lofty bearing, or the haughtiness and ferocity so often seen east of the mountains. It is more commonly indicative of timidity and stupidity.

"The men and children are absolutely and entirely naked, and the dress of the women is the least possible or conceivable remove from nudity. Their food varies with the season. In February and March they live on grass and herbage; clover and wild pea-vine are among the best kinds of their pasturage. I have often seen hunderds of them grazing to- gether in a meadow, like so many cattle.

"They are very poor hunters of the larger animals, but very skilful in making and managing nets for fish and fowl. They also collect in their season great quantities of the seeds of various grasses, which are partic- ularly abundant. Acorns are another principal article of food, which are larger, more abundant, and of better quality than I have seen elsewhere. The Californian is not more different from the tribes east of the moun- tains in his physical than in his moral and intellectual qualities. They are easily domesticated, not averse to labor, have a natural aptitude to learn mechanical trades, and, I believe, universally a fondness for music, and a facility in acquiring it.

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"The Mission of St. Joseph, when in its prosperity, had one hundred plough-men, and I have often seen them all at work in one field, each with his plow. It had also fifty weavers, twenty tanners, thirty shoe-makers, forty masons, twenty carpenters, ten blacksmiths, and various other me- chanics. They are not nearly so much addicted to intoxication as is com- mon to other Indians. I was for some years of the opinion that they were of an entirely different race from those east of the muntains, and they cer- tainly have but little similarity. The only thing that caused me to think differently is that they have the same Moccasin game that is so common on the Mississippi, and what is more remarkable, they accompany it by sing- ing precisely the same tune! The diversity of language among them is very great. It is seldom an Indian can understand another who lives fifty miles distant; within the limits of California are at least a hundred di- alects, apparently entirely dissimilar. Few or no white persons have taken any pains to learn them, as there are individuals in all the tribes which have communication with the settlements who speak Spanish.

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History of Contra Costa County, California; with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 4

Author: Munro-Fraser, J. P Publication date: 1926 Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif. : Historic Record Co. Number of Pages: 1118

Author: Munro-Fraser, J. P
Publication date: 1926
Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif. : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1118