USA > California > Marin County > History of Marin County, California also an historical sketch of the state of California > Part 15
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The main party, the body-guard of Lieutenant-Governor Chellis, pursued their way along the creek, followed by Mr. Quinn and several of the Horse guards, but no hostile demonstration was made, on account of the remon- strances of Lieutenant-Governor Chellis.
On arriving at the dwelling of M. Brevier, about three miles from the prison, they ransacked the house, but took nothing but Mr. Brevier's " best suit," twelve or thirteen dollars, and a meerschaum pipe from Mr. Cleave- land, an employé of the place. Here they kindly offered the Lieutenant- Governor an unbroken colt to ride, which consideration he respectfully declined, preferring to travel on foot. A few miles farther brought them to Ross' Embarcadero, where they met the resistance above stated.
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At this point, while they were concealed in the brush, Sheriff Doub sent to San Rafael for assistance, upon the arrival of which, a general disgorge- ment took place. Perhaps it would be invidious at this late date to state who were the most effective, but one fact was evident, that with one or two exceptions, the State's Prison guard deserved no particular praise. Some of them, we are informed, behaved shamefully; indeed, it is said, that so eager for flight was one of these, that he pulled off his shoes that he might the quicker get out of the way of the prisoners.
When the first break was made, a convict named Miller rushed the remainder of the prisoners, about one hundred and fifteen, within the walls, he having charge of them at the time, as overseer in the brickyard. This man, however, after doing all that he could to help the citizens in capturing the prisoners, managed to "make himself scarce " the next morning.
Forty-seven of the convicts were captured at Ross' Embarcadero, some of them badly wounded, the whole number of killed, and those who died from the effects of their wounds were seven, and about thirty wounded. Five were captured on the night of the "break" by the citizens of San Rafael, one so badly wounded as to be almost unable to move. His- comrade had concealed him in the brush, and at nightfall stole a horse and was taking him off when they were both captured. On the day following but one was taken. On the morning of the 24th, information was received in San Rafael, that six of the fugitives, all well armed, were concealed in a willow swamp on the Sais ranch.
On the morning of Wednesday, the 23d, detachments of the military and police force arrived from San Francisco at San Quentin, but went no farther, while towards the end of the week most of the convicts had been captured, and with the appointment of many officers who formed the former guard of the prison, in place of those who had proved their incompetency, a feeling of security was found in the neighborhood.
We find that in the month of April, 1863, the discovery of gold, copper and other valuable minerals had been made in the vicinity of San Rafael. The Journal of May 2, 1863, says: "Sheriff Doub brought in a lot of rock that will yield not less than twenty dollars to the pound," while it farther remarks that rock discovered on the Sais rancho, assays two hundred and thirty-five dollars per ton. Several companies were at once organized and mining laws adopted, while, in the first four weeks of the excitement, no less. than thirty-five claims were located. On the first of August, however, we find the Journal appealing to the locators in these words: "What have the San Rafael mines come to? We have heard of no results of the labor that has been expended upon them, further than that five or six tunnels were being pushed into Tamalpais, one of which had reached the ledge of the rock, and was satisfactory. If they are as rich as all the specimens we have seen indicated, and one-tenth so much so as the San Francisco assayers made
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them to be, they are certainly worthy the attention of miners and capi- talists." In 1864, gold was discovered on Angel Island which promised a yield of twenty-nine dollars per ton, but owing to the fact of the island being a Government Reserve, no one had the right to occupy any por- tion of it.
In the year 1865 the Pacific Powder Works were located on Daniels' or Paper Mill creek, where the company had purchased a tract of five hundred , acres of land, which cost, including the water privilege, the sum of five thousand seven hundred dollars. A full record of the undertaking will be found elsewhere in this work. It was said at this period that the great obstacle to the growth of Marin county, in wealth and population, was the difficulty of access to interior points, for want of roads. Happily, in 1865, the subject was just commenced to be agitated among the people, who, from the lack of pressing the want upon the county authorities, were suffering in purse as well as in personal convenience. Good roads are of vital impor- tance to the farmer, merchant, mechanic, hotel keeper and livery man, as well as to the general interest and prosperity of a community.
It was thought that the financial condition of the country, in 1865, was such that the Board of supervisors would be justified in expending a suffi- cient sum of money in constructing a thoroughfare commencing on the Paper Mill road, and running thence through the Nicasio valley to some suitable point on the southern boundary of Tomales township. This road would open, it was contended, a much needed communication between San Rafael and the upper portion of the county, besides enhancing the value of property, and opening an outlet to a market for the produce of a large area of valuable land in the Nicasio valley and on Tomales bay. The increased assessments on the value of the land through which it would pass, would very soon reimburse the county for the opening of such a road.
We have already mentioned the Pioneer paper mill. This establishment is situated about two miles below the powder mill spoken of above, and is the first establishment of the kind on the coast. It was commenced, finished and put into operation by S. P. Taylor. The works in the mill are all carried on by water-power. The main wheel is thirty feet in diameter, fifteen feet of buckets and very heavy iron cogs. Another wheel is twenty- four feet in diameter, and six feet buckets. The main wheel carries four engines and all the works of every kind. About fifteen men are constantly employed at the mill, where there are besides the mill-house, two dwelling houses, carpenters' and blacksmiths' shops, two stock houses, sheds, barn, corral, etc. In the Journal of June 8, 1867, we find the following descrip- tion of paper-making under the caption of "old sacks" which may prove interesting to the reader : "Old sacks are very common things, and after they have lain about the yard awhile, somewhat filthy ; but visit the paper mill, only fourteen miles from San Rafael, and you will think better of them.
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We did. As we stepped into the mill, the superintendent introduced us to huge piles of them, sadly marred by oft-repeated hard usage. Besides the sacks there were old ropes that one would suppose had been taut for the last- time, and ancient pants that had evidently been through a machine and taken many a hard trip, and old coats and wrappers that thought they had done their last wrapping. Then we saw vast heaps of blue rags that com- menced service in such garments as Chinamen wear. One would suppose a voyage across the Pacific, and years of service besides, would be all any cloth could do, but here is a rougher voyage than that, and at the end a new service of wrapping, for, instead of wrapping John, it is to wrap his rice and tea. But we must return to our text, 'the old sacks'-and, what of them ? They have been pulled over many a hard road, but here is a harder; for at the outset. they are pulled by some ugly teeth into a cutter that cuts them into small bits. This is a sharp business ; but next, the dust they have gathered on the highways must be taken out of them, and into the cylindrical sieve-like duster they are tossed, and whirled, and tossed until they have 'come down" with the last mite of their ill-gotten dust. They are now clean enough to start on a voyage, hence they are thrown into a vat or canal, the water of which seems to be kept in motion by a large cylinder set full of sharp knives. The luckless scraps are run rapidly through this and shaved a little closer, - but this is only a cutting incident which gets to be common before the voyage is completed, for there are half a dozen of these cutters, and each one of them cuts a little finer. Whatever of individuality there may have been at. the beginning has been lost-the voyage has made them one-and the mass is called 'pulp.' That it may pass along smoothly it goes into the 'screen' and every foreign substance is speedily taken out of it. It now floats on into a section of the machine through which a wide canvas belt revolves taking on its upper surface just enough pulp to make, when pressed, the thickness and width desired. The belt carries it over a cylinder called a press-roll; this takes some of the water out of it, and it goes over another; then over another heated with steam which dries and hardens it so that it can run alone. Leaving the belt it runs over heaters until thoroughly dry and hard, then it rolls itself on a roller, and when it is unrolled, it is clipped off at certain intervals and drops lightly into a box. Now what is it? It is broad, tough sheets of Manilla wrapping paper, strong enough to make Summer coats out of. The mill makes about a ton a day of this kind. White paper for public journals or for blank books make the same voyage, and comes through the same machine slightly adjusted. When this kind is made the capacity is about fifteen hundred pounds."
Mr. George Gift in his work on Marin county says in regard to its chief producing interests: "But the dairymen invade this rich country as the land becomes tired of constant cropping in potatoes and grain, and pasture their herds upon its hills."
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There are in the county several very large land owners who have their property fenced off into farms of convenient size; say from five hundred to a thousand acres each, which are improved with dwellings, dairy houses, barns, and stocked with a sufficient number of cattle. These farms are rented to tenants at the rate of from twenty-five to twenty-seven dollars per cow, per annum, which includes the use of from six to ten acres of land per cow, and houses and improvements, but does not include team, nor in all cases dairy fixtures.
Dairymen calculate upon making enough from their pork to pay all expenses except rent; hence in the cases where land is rented, landlord and tenant about divide the proceeds from butter; the tenant having the advan- tage, probably. As elsewhere the prices of butter vary with the season, but we think we are justified in saying that the dairymen of Marin get better prices than those of any other part of the world.
In respect to other products, we have no hesitancy in saying that in no country in the world can better crops of beets be produced than in the small, rich valleys of this county. We do not exaggerate when we say that the average crops are equal to the great "show" roots sent to fairs and exhibitions at the East and Europe.
Something special should be said in regard to the pasturage. There are none of the cultivated grasses common at the East; such as red and white clovers, timothy, herdsgrass and the like. In room of these there are the native grasses which are better adapted. They have no precise name other than the general term of "grass," or " bunch grass." The indigenous grasses spring up at the beginning of the rains in the Fall and continue to grow on to some extent through the entire Winter. If the weather is open, as sometimes occurs, there is ample pasturage for stock with but little use for cured food, but if the Winter is hard the grass is more backward and other feed has to be resorted to. Understand, however, that in all seasons there is sufficient grass to flavor and color the butter, and, if the land is not over- stocked, enough to support the animals. Grazing land is never plowed.
We close this topic with a quotation from the Sacramento Record-Union, which is, in the main, correct :-
There is probably no better dairy country in the world than Sonoma and Marin counties in this State. We have heretofore shown that by the census. reports the average product of butter and cheese to the cow in those counties is much greater than the average of the best dairy counties in New York, Ohio or any other State. We at present only wish to call attention to a fact, which of itself, is sufficient reason for the advantages those counties possess in this respect. The fact is that for the past month the pasturage in those counties has been so good that cattle not only have not needed hay to keep them in condition, but have yielded sufficient milk to make on an average a pound of butter a day to each cow. What will our dairymen of
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old Herkimer, New York, think of this? While the dairy cows in New York, Ohio, and all the States east of the Rocky Mountains are being housed to keep them warm, and fed with hay and corn meal to keep them in condition, those of Sonoma and Marin are grazing in clovers and native grasses up to their eyes, and are fat and sleek, and almost uncomfortable with their well-filled milk bags. Owing to the peculiarly mild and moist climate of these counties the pastures afford constant fresh and luxuriant grasses from January to September and October. In these latter months there is generally a little cessation of the growth of feed, on account of the change in the season, but all the balance of the year, unless overstocked, the pastures are like those of May and June in the Atlantic States. This early Winter feed gives our dairymen a great advantage, for then they not only have the advantage of a good home market in the California towns and cities for their nice, fresh yellow butter, but the Eastern cities are glad to buy it at fancy figures. Thus while the Eastern dairymen are expending time and money on their cows, the California dairymen are reaping their most profitable harvest from theirs.
As far back as the year 1866, the returns from forty-two counties in the State showed a production of one million, two hundred and fifty thousand pounds of butter; the largest yield in a single county wa's that of Marin which produced nine hundred and thirty-two thousand, four hundred and twenty-seven pounds; while of cheese she yielded five hundred and thirty- three thousand pounds, against five hundred thousand, and two hundred and thirty-one thousand from Santa Clara and Santa Cruz.
The effect of these immense advantages as a dairy county has been felt in the necessity which arose for simplifying the manufacture of butter; to attain these ends Captain Oliver Allen, now a resident of San Francisco but formerly of Petaluma, Sonoma county, set to work and with wonderful mechanical genius produced invention after invention, which has resulted in making his name a household word in every dairy on the coast. In the year 1874 this gentleman had one of the most complete dairies in this county, to be found anywhere. He is a hale old man, remarkably vigorous and well preserved, though he has passed his more than three score years and ten in ceaseless activity. He is a mechanic of marvellous inventive genius, and his right hand is cunning to give shape to the inventions of his mind. One of the earliest productions of his creative skill was the whalers' " bomb-lance" which he invented about fifty years ago, and which with but little improvement on his patent, has revolutionized the business of taking whales. He sought to rob the business of whaling of its terrors to the men, and in doing this proved merciful to the whale. The bomb-lance is fired from a gun and the moment it is imbedded in the monster, it explodes, pro- ducing instant death. It is now in general use, though it took a long time to introduce it. Jack changes slowly, looking askance on all innovations.
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The churn which is in universal use in this county owes its success to Captain Allen. It is a plain square box, with nothing inside, and many parties who tried it gave it up in disgust, when Captain Allen discovered that if the churn was turned slowly it worked admirably, but the centrifugal force defeated the object when revolving rapidly. Since then it has been generally adopted.
Allen's Butter Mould seems a very simple implement, yet to perfect it all manner of tools had to be invented, all of which he made himself, for he would seem to be equally at home in wood or metal workmanship. The Allen Butter Worker, another of the Captain's inventions, is in general use. This he improved by changing the universal joint on which the lever is sus- pended, from wood to brass, to give it more strength and firmness.
There is yet another invention of Captain Allen which we would wish here to note, and that is what is known as the "Fracture Bedstead," the history of which is as follows: When the Captain resided on his farm in Nicasio township his son Charles had the misfortune to break his leg. His father, anxious to preserve the fractured limb, and also to prevent its short- ening, was his constant attendant, and soon found himself trying to improve upon the surgical appliances then in use. By his first improvement, the neces- sity of daily moving the patient was obviated. This was a great advantage, as perfect quiet was necessary to the rapid knitting of the bone. . Next he found that the appliance for keeping the leg stretched impeded the circula- tion, and produced intolerable pain. This he obviated at once, by an
ingenious contrivance for changing the attachments of the weights without relaxing the tension. The treatment was not entirely successful, because it was impossible, with the known facilities, to measure the exact length that it should be, and when the cure was complete, the leg was found to be too short. This was a real sorrow to the warm hearted old gentleman; but it is just from such painful experiences. that nearly all humanitarian enterprises are evolved. In hours of leisure the Captain embodied the suggestions of that case in the "Fracture Bedstead," for which he has received a patent. It is provided with an apparatus by which a fractured member, leg or arm, can be exactly measured.
We have shown above how the manufacture of butter and cheese has been simplified and perfected; we all know how agricultural implements have been improved, but few of us remember the difficulties experienced by the first settlers. Let us for a moment glance at their modes and means of tilling the soil and building houses. Of the latter the construction was beautiful in its extreme simplicity. The walls were fashioned of large, sun-dried bricks, made of that black loam known to settlers in the Golden State as adobe soil, mixed with straw, with no particularity as to species, measuring about eighteen inches square and three in thickness; these were cemented with mud, plastered within with the same substance, and white-washed when
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finished. The rafters and joists were of rough timber, with the bark simply peeled off and placed in the requisite position, while the residence of the wealthier classes were roofed with tiles, placed so that one should overlap the other and thus make a water-shed; or, later, with shingles, the poor con- tenting themselves with a thatch of tule, fastened down with thongs of bul- lock's hide. The former modes of covering were expensive, and none but the opulent could afford the luxury of tiles. When completed, however, these mud dwellings will stand the brunt and wear and tear of many decades, as can be evidenced by the number which are still occupied in out- of-the-way corners of the county.
In order to facilitate transportation it was found necessary to construct some kind of vehicle, which was done in this manner: The two wheels were sections of a big log with a hole drilled or bored through the center, the axle being a pole sharpened at each extremity for spindles, with a hole and pin at either end so as to prevent the wheels from slipping off. Another pole fastened to the middle of the axle served the purpose of a tongue. Upon this framework was set, or fastened a species of wicker-work, framed of sticks bound together with strips of hide. The beasts of burden in use were oxen, of which there were a vast number. These were yoked with a stick across the forehead, notched and crooked, so as to fit the head closely, and the whole tied with rawhide. Such was the primitive cart of the time. The plow was a still more peculiar affair. It consisted of a long piece of timber which served the purpose of a beam, to the end of which a handle was fastened; a mortise was next chiseled so as to admit the plow, which was a short stick with a natural crook, having a small piece of iron fastened on one end of it. With this crude implement was the ground upturned, while the branch of a convenient tree served the purpose of a harrow. Fences there were none so that crops might be protected; ditches were there- fore dug, and the crests of the sod covered with the branches of trees, to warn away the numerous bands of cattle and horses, and prevent their intrusion upon the newly-sown grain. When the crops were ripe, they were cut with a sickle, or any other weapon, and then it became necessary to thresh it. Now for the modus operandi. The floor of the corral into which it was customary to drive the horses and cattle in order to lasso them, from constant use had become hardened. Into this enclosure the grain would be piled, and upon it the manatha, or band of mares, would be turned loose to tramp out the grain. The wildest horses, or mayhap the colts which had only been driven but once, and then to be branded, would be turned adrift upon the pile of straw, when would ensue a scene of the wildest confusion, the excited animals being driven, amidst the yelling of the vaqueros and the cracking of whips, here, there, and everywhere, around, across and length- wise, until the whole was trampled, leaving naught but the grain and chaff. The most difficult part of the operation, however was the separating the
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grain from the chaff. Owing to the length of the dry season, there was no urgent 'haste to effect this; therefore, when the wind was high enough, the Indians, who soon fell into the ways of the white pioneers, more especially where they were paid in kind and kindness, would toss the trampled mass into the air with large wooden forks, cut from the adjacent oaks, and the wind carry away the lighter chaff, leaving the heavier grain. With a favor- able wind several bushels of wheat could thus be winnowed in the course of one day. Strange as it may appear, it is declared to be the fact that grain thus winnowed was much cleaner than it is to-day.
The scenery of Marin county is one of its boasts. Those steep mountains and hills, impracticable for the plow, form landscapes far more beautiful than hundreds that people travel thousands of miles to rave over. Mountain views have ever been considered the acme of the grand in scenery. Although · those of Marin lack the romantic glamour attaching to others five or six times as high, yet they are as beautiful to the eye as any. . Tamalpais pre- sents as many fine pictures as any other mountain in the world. Standing in Ross' Valley, there is a landscape not excelled anywhere. Before you, in the immediate foreground, is a most beautiful vale, ending, a mile or more away, at the foot of a sharp steep ridge, five or six hundred feet high, and thickly set with giant redwoods. The ridge extends, as it were, across the view, and forms a magnificent foreground to Tamalpais, which looms up behind, a great triple-headed giant. Dr. W. W. Carpenter, of Petaluma, has made him say :-
" In the infantile days of earth, Nature's work in equalizing her forces rolled and rocked me like a ship in a storm, until the elements finally allowed me to settle down in my present imposing position-a monumental landmark of ages deeply buried beneath the sea of Time. The great, blue dome above was studded with just as grand a constellation of celestial orbs in that long ago as now; but all below was loneliness personified. The stars were clothed in the same garb of dazzling beauty then as now, and the contrast between them and the dreary, dismal scene on earth, enhanced the splendor of their effulgent rays. The centuries rolled on, the sun and stars smiled upon me alternately, the storms of Time swept my heavy head; but wrapped in the eternal cloak of omnipotent grandeur, I remained as firm as the everlasting battlements of Nature. The waves of Ocean lashed my base; the Storm King raged in all the majesty of his awful power; the moaning winds sighed a sad requiem to departing Time, and all was appalling gloom and dismay. Still the cycle of years traveled on, and change, inevitable change, was recorded in the book of Time. The elements gradually modi- fied, tranquilized and equalized, until the sun shone down from a sky of more than Italian loveliness upon a boundless landscape of floral beauty. The deer and antelope roamed the broad domain, undisturbed and fearless of danger. Countless thousands, yea, millions of stock held undisputed sway
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