USA > California > Marin County > History of Marin County, California also an historical sketch of the state of California > Part 39
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SAN RAFAEL TOWNSHIP.
Early in the year 1871, the question of the erection of a new school-house was mooted, and it would seem to have taken a quick and firm hold upon the public, for we find that about the middle of June of the same year the construction of a wooden building of sixty-four by thirty-six feet, and two stories high, was being proceeded with, under the direct supervision of J. T. Stocker. On the 18th of February of this year the Methodist church was dedicated by Doctor Thomas, of San Francisco, under favorable auspices. The lot cost about three thousand dollars, and the building, though small, is sufficient for the wants of the congregation. On March 11th, a public library was established by J. A. Richmond, lately in charge of the public school. The situation chosen being on Fifth street, opposite the residence of G. W. Stillwell. The local papers of this period remark that a glance around the town will reveal the fact that it is building up very rapidly. On almost every hand is heard the noise of the saw and hammer, the whirr of the plane, with the merry hum of the workmen, as they toil at their calling, in the erection of houses to supply the increasing demand for homes. The buildings being erected are, for the most part, of a substantial character, and as fast as completed are occupied. It is a very hard matter to find a vacant house at this season of the year (March), the demand being very great. The growth of our town is steady and permanent, and bids fair to continue so. On the 8th of April a meeting of the residents was held for the purpose of taking steps toward the formation of a Public Library, for the benefit of the mechanics and others of the town, U. M. Gordon in the chair, and Val. D. Doub secretary. The object of the society was then stated, and it was resolved that an association, to be known as the " San Rafael Mechanics' Institute," should be incorporated, in pursuance with the laws of the State. The following gentlemen were appointed to carry out the incorporation of the society: Isaac Shaver, W. A. Boyd, A. C. McAllister, F. H. Pratt, S. Bear, T. Day, John O'Toole, A. McLeod, George Bond, U. M. Gordon, Joseph Rice, H. H. Butterfield, John Sims, R. W. Osgood, James Mullin, V. D. Doub, H. A. Du Bois, Jr., A. J. McClelland, Ernest Schwiesan, William O. West and Rufus A. Roscoe. On the 9th of April we find the corner-stone of the Marin County Bank was laid, and on June 3d a Hook and Ladder Company was formed, with the following officers: C. W. J. Simpson, Fore- man; O. D. Gilbert, First Assistant; J. O. B. Williams, Second Assistant; J. A. Barney, Secretary, and A. C. McAllister, Treasurer.
The year 1872 was noted, among other things, for the removal of that venerable mud pile, yclept the Court House, by Mr. Shaver, the purchaser. This was the oldest building in San Rafael, except the Mission, and was erected in 1844 by the late Don Timoteo Murphy, for a ranch house, he then owning, as we have heretofore remarked, the adjoining ranchos of San Pedro, Santa Margarita and Las Gallinas. During the " Bear Flag " days, it had been -occupied by Fremont as his headquarters. In 1853, at the sale of the
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HISTORY OF MARIN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
Murphy estate, the building and adjoining lot three hundred feet square, was sold to Timothy Mahon for a thousand dollars. In 1857 or 1858 he in turn disposed of the building and ground on which it stood, with some few additional feet, to the county for five thousand dollars. The removal of this relic was consequent on the determination to erect a building more suited for county purposes. In our chapter on the Legislative History of Marin County, we have entered into the official facts which governed the determi- nation to build the new Court House; let us here record the ceremonies which took place at the laying of its corner-stone :-
In accordance with previous announcement, the corner-stone of the Court House was laid on Saturday, August 3, 1872, under the auspices of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Cali- fornia, W. M. Chas. Stevens, Acting Grand Master, assisted by the officers and members of Marin Lodge, No. 191, and by the Board of Supervisors of Marin county, Messrs. Chas. A. Parsons, Thomas J. Ables and William L. Barnard. The attendance on the occasion was very large, our county being well represented by citizens from the interior.
At two o'clock the procession commenced to form on B street, in front of the Masonic Hall, headed by the San Rafael Brass Band, and marched through the principal streets to the Court House. One of the features of the procession was the presence of Daniel Olds, Sr., Grand Bible Bearer, the oldest Mason on the Pacific coast, having been a member of the Order for a space of sixty-seven years, and now aged eighty-eight years. Arriving at the Court House, after music by the band, followed a prayer by the Grand Chaplain and the chant by the Masonic Choir.
Hon. John W. Dwinelle then delivered the following oration :-
Mr. President, M. W. Grand Lodge, Ladies and Gentlemen : Man, the moment that he emerges from the savage state, becomes a builder. His con- structions mark his progress ; their very ruins indicate the degree of his civilization.
Our remote ancestors lived in natural caverns. We find there human bones, which had been roasted in the fire, and split to extract their marrow. We are, then, descended from cannibals. They were inferior to their suc- cessors who scooped out habitations in the hill-sides, as these latter were inferior to the races which followed them, building their huts with branches of trees, or erecting their tents in the open plain.
" Man marks the earth with ruin."
But these very ruins record his history, and pass judgment upon him. We need no pyramid of seventy thousand human skulls to form our esti- mate of Genghis Kahn ; no thirty thousand captives crucified at Tyre to pass our judgment upon Alexander. We need only examine the architec- tural forms in which the people embodied their idea of daily life.
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SAN RAFAEL TOWNSHIP.
We look at the domestic architecture of the Aztecs-indigenous and pecu- liar-and we are ready to pronounce them a mild and docile people. But we turn to their temples, and find everywhere the horrid stone of sacrifice, where were torn out the palpitating hearts of human victims immolated to their gods, and denounce them as a savage and barbarous race.
We read the history of ancient Rome, and are filled with the inspiration of liberty. But when we go out into the Campagna, and find there the old dungeons into which slaves were driven at night, the iron rings to which they were chained, the pillars to which they were bound when scourged ; when we visit the Colosseum, and see on the one side the den where tigers . were confined, and on the other the prisons where were kept the Christian captives upon whom the tigers were let loose in the amphitheatre; when we visit the Catacombs where Christian martyrs in darkness and in secret cele- brated their holy rites, and where in darkness and in secret they were buried after they had sealed their faith with their blood; when we searched in vain for any vestige of an asylum for the insane, the orphan, the old, or the poor, we reconstruct Rome as she was-slave-holding, intolerant, proscriptive, barbarous, savage and murderous.
So in modern times, when we behold Versailles, her palaces, groves, esplanades and fountains, her exotics and luxurious conservatories, built with two hundred million dollars extorted from an oppressed peasantry, who lived in hovels, we do not wonder at the tremendous earthquake which overthrew the temples of the old idolatry of despotism, and for a time gave France over to convulsion and anarchy.
Let us look around upon this beautiful plain. Its native inhabitants were savages. Fifty-five years ago, two simple-minded men came here and erected the first building constructed in Marin county. They were conquerors ; yet their conquests were not founded on slaughter, nor cemented with blood. Their weapons were not swords nor guns, nor the murderous cannon; they were spades, pickaxes, hoes and ploughs. Their banner was not inscribed " submit or die," but blazed with the Holy Cross, the symbol of redemption. They were missionaries of the Catholic Church. Forty years ago they had here under their charge twelve hundred and fifty converted native Indians. Where are they now ? Their buildings have toppled into heaps. The very bones of the missionaries and of other converts have become absorbed into the soil. But yonder sacred spire marks the place where the Mission of San Rafael stood. It will always remain a historical monument of that fact ; and the spot consecrated fifty-five years ago to benevolence and religion will always be holy ground.
And now, responding to the next instinct of a high civilization, you come here to erect at the public expense, and consecrate a Temple of Justice. A hovel would be ample for your jail. Your Hall of Justice a palace.
Behold lofty Tamalpais as he rears his sublime purple front into the sky !
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HISTORY OF MARIN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
He looks down upon us, not with forty centuries, but perhaps with forty thousand centuries, as
"He rears his awful form
High from the vale, and midday leaves the storm."
What has he not seen ? He has seen California a submerged lake, her mountains only islands in a desert inland sea. He has seen them gradually rise until the dry land and rivers appeared. He has heard the muttering of distant volcanoes whose ejections filled up the old, vast, Dead River of Cali- fornia. He has listed to the dropping of the seed from which sprang the great trees of Calaveras and Mariposa. He has seen the indigenous races of California come to inherit the virgin soil. He has seen the ships of Drake, the ill-fated frigate "La Perouse," the corvettes of Cook, Vancouver, Beechy coasting in his shadow, and a veil of mist mantling the fabulous. Golden Gate from the Spanish caravel sent out to explore the Bay of San Francisco. He has seen a modern civilization, young, fresh and hopeful, sup- plant the effete civilization of the middle ages. He has seen a barren waste of uncultivated land succeeded by countless harvest fields, spreading their golden treasures to the sun. He has seen villages growing out of barbarous mining camps, and vast cities built upon barren wastes of desert sand. And now with a grand benignity he looks down upon us, as we look upon the sea, and dedicate this site to Law and Justice, and write upon its granite tablets the solemn approval of the people. So mote it be !
The oration was listened to with earnest attention, and all seemed to realize the importance of the occasion.
The contents of the corner-stone were as follows: Copy of the proceed- ings of the M. W. Grand Lodge of F. and A. M. of California ; constitu- tion and regulations of the Grand Lodge ; roll of officers and members of Marin Lodge No. 191, F. and A. M .; copy of invitation to the Grand Lodge; copy of invitation to Hon. J. W. Dwinelle ; copy of the Marin County Journal, Saucelito Herald, San Francisco Bulletin, Call and Alta; iron bracelets from the Sheriff's office ; copy of the Court House bond ; view of San Rafael taken in 1871; by-laws of Marin Lodge, No. 191, F. and A. M .; by-laws of Mechanics' Institute ; programme of the Sonoma and Marin county Agricultural Society, to be held September 9, 1872 ; specimen of ore from Comstock lode, valued at fifteen thousand dollars per ton ; impression in lead of county seal of Marin county; set of gold and silver coins ; lot of small coins; names of State and county officers: silver dollars, with initials of J. H. S. and W. L. B. engraved thereon; a piece of adobe from the old Court House erected in 1835.
After the ceremony, a collation was spread at the Marin Hotel, which was partaken of by citizens generally.
On August 31, 1872, the certificate of incorporation of the Marin County
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SAN RAFAEL TOWNSHIP.
Water Company was filed, the object being to supply San Rafael with pure fresh water. Capital stock, six hundred thousand dollars; principal place of business, San Francisco. Trustees-W. T. Coleman, Charles Wayne, Charles Brenhan, J. Mora Moss, and M. J. O'Connor. Up to the inaugura- tion of this company the citizens of San Rafael had been supplied with water from some natural springs just beyond the north-east corner of the town and known as the old McCue springs, James McCue having been the original proprietor, who sold them to W. T. Coleman, to whose enterprise and energy San Rafael is indebted for a supply of excellent mountain spring water. "The water is brought in pipes, and distributed through the town the same as it is done in San Francisco, the fall being sufficient to carry it to any desired upper story. But the supply-about forty thousand gallons per day-is entirely inadequate to the demand, and to meet the urgent need of our people in this respect the company have projected a new enterprise, which is to furnish an excess of our utmost consumption. Mr. H. Schussler, the chief engineer of the Marin County Water Company (as he is also of the Spring Valley Company) has politely furnished us the particulars of the grand scheme now being prosecuted for the benefit of our town. The water is to be taken from the Lagunitas creek, the main reservoir being situated at its head waters, high up in the foot-hills of Mount Tamalpais, and having a capacity of one hundred and fifty million gallons, which can be doubled by simply raising the dam a few feet. The distance from the main to the receiving reservoir in town will be six miles-the first half mile will be flumed, and the remaining distance the water will be brought in an eight inch pipe. Many people think it absurd to expect to supply so great an amount of water through a pipe so small, but they probably underestimate the virtue of the great fall the stream will have. The source of this supply is at a greater altitude than, perhaps, any other water company enjoys. The main reservoir is seven hundred and forty feet above high water mark, and the fall is one hundred feet to the mile. The Spring Valley Company has one reservoir seven hundred feet and another four hundred and thirty feet above the sea line, but the fall from the former is but twelve feet, and from the latter eight feet to the mile. They use pipe of thirty inches diameter. The Croton water, the supply of New York city, has but seven to thirteen inches fall per mile. The capacity of this eight-inch pipe, with its great descent will be one million one hundred thousand gallons every twenty-four hours, though the consumption of water here will not exceed one-tenth of that."
The State's Prison at Point San Quentin had long needed a supply of water, for hitherto all they used had to be "hauled" a distance of two miles. The Marin County Water Company at once entered into a contract to furnish that institution. The work was commenced without delay, and on December 23, 1872, two months after the commencement of the undertaking,
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HISTORY OF MARIN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
the fluid was introduced into the establishment. The following excerpt from an article in the Alta California gives a detailed account of the successful inauguration of the work :-
" About noon last Monday, the water of the Marin County Water Com- pany ran successfully through the mouth of the pipes at San Quentin. The work was begun last September by the Company, with W. T. Coleman, M. J. O'Connor, J. Mora Moss, Charles J. Brenhan and Charles Mayne as trustees. The vigorous and successful carrying out of the work has been mainly due to W. T. Coleman, Esq., the President and chief stockholder of the company. The cost of the works at the present time, labor, piping, rights of way, etc., approximate to the sum of one hundred thousand dollars. The source of supply from which the company obtains its water is in the Lagunitas valley, the creek of that name, together with a number of smaller tributaries, supplying the water. From the point of draining, tubing, made of the best boiler iron, well riveted, has been laid a distance of five and a half miles to San Rafael. Here a branching off is made, and a smaller pipe goes on for four miles to San Quentin. The first is eight, and the second five and one-half inches in diameter.
" When fully completed according to plan, there will be an earth-work dam across the valley of two hundred and seventy-two feet, with a base of two hundred feet and a height of fifty feet. From seventy to eighty acres of valley will be drained, and, with the capacity of the pipes, about one million gallons of water can be supplied daily to consumers. The fall is seven hundred and fifty feet above tide-water. It is likewise intended to use the water from Cataract gulch, which as yet has not been appropriated. The reservoir now used is ten feet wide, with a depth of from ten to eighteen feet, and lined with puddled clay. The course of the pipes is very irregular; there is a constant descent and uprising, little if any of the pipe lying on level ground. The main reason of this was to secure a short and direct route. . This necessitated great vigilance and caution when allowing the waters first to run through the tubing. On every elevation the pipe had been tapped and air-cocks adjusted to the openings, and a man was stationed in attend- ance on each one of them. Early Monday morning Mr. Coleman, Mr. Stevens, his agent, Mr. Hunt, his secretary, an Alta special, together with a force of men, started on horseback and in buggies for Lagunitas valley. It was horrible traveling, the roads being slippery and dangerous, the morning foggy, drizzling, cold and disagreeable. On arriving at the dam the party dismounted. The men immediately set to work-a flying scout was first sent along the line to see if the men were at their positions on the elevations. During his absence about fifty sacks of saw-dust and bran were emptied into the pipes. This was done that any small opening in the lengths might be rendered water-tight. This particular manner of providing for small leaks has always been found most successful. On the scout returning and
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SAN RAFAEL TOWNSHIP.
reporting " all right," the gate was opened and the water allowed slowly to enter. In a few minutes the noise of the rush of the air through the cock began to be heard. It sounded loud and piercing. One after another the various sections became filled with water and commenced to project through the air-openings. At some of them where the grade was heavy it rushed out to a height of from thirty to forty feet, and it was with great difficulty that the caps could be secured on the openings. By ten o'clock the water had reached San Rafael, and then diverging began its course toward San Quentin. An air-cock having, by mistake, been kept shut at a point half a mile beyond San Rafael, checked the flow for a short time, and seriously endangered the success of the inauguration by the immense strain to which it caused the piping to be subjected. The matter was, however, promptly attended to, and the water continued its flow uninterruptedly, arriving in San Quentin, back of the State Prison, at about half past twelve o'clock, and thus assuring the complete success of the enterprise.
" About sixty thousand gallons can be delivered for the use of the prison daily. From the time that it was built there has always been an urgent demand for a better and fuller supply of water in this institution. The Marin County Water Works has now supplied this pressing need.
"The prison will pay for its supply one thousand dollars a month. The company expect, likewise, to receive from five hundred to six hundred dollars per month from outside parties in San Rafael and San Quentin for supplying them with water. Their monthly receipts will thus aggregate from one thousand five hundred to one thousand six hundred dollars a month-giving one and five-tenths to one and six-tenths per cent. on the investment. By next Summer they expect their receipts to reach two thou- sand dollars per month, which, under the circumstances, is but a low estimate.
" With the completion of this work, San Rafael has made one more important step toward the fullness of her prosperity. The enterprise has been well and energetically carried forward, and now that she has an excellent supply of good water, that great desideratum in the growth and success of any city, her heartiest thanks are due to Wm. T. Coleman, who has borne so large a part of its expense, and who has given much time, thought and work to its successful accomplishment."
The Marin Water Company is now almost an English institution, with J. D. Walker, the senior partner of the British firm of Falkner, Bell & Co. of San Francisco, as Chairman.
On October 5, 1872, the Marin County Journal changed hands, the incoming proprietor being S. F. Barstow, the present able editor and owner of that periodical. During the second week in October of this year, the old adobe which stood on Court House block, and long owned and occupied by Mrs. Merriner and her sons, the Short brothers -- the last relic of its class to be found in the town-was pulled down to make way for fresh improve --
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HISTORY OF MARIN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
ments, while on March 20, 1873, the old Liberty pole which stood on the former Court House block was felled. Of this circumstance the Journal says :- " What changes have occurred since the stars and stripes first floated on the breeze from that old pole! A new civilization has come in, a new town grown up, another generation is now active here, and how many slee, in the oblivion of the grave who rejoiced in life's vigor then ! It was no partisan staff. It was set in 1860 by some twenty-five hearty fellows who went voluntarily out into the woods and cut it down, hauled it in and set it in June of that year, that it might bear the American colors in the air on the coming Fourth of July. How different the panorama it overlooked in '60 from that it saw in '73. When it first looked east, Fourth street could only boast, on the lower side, the corner building where McAllister and Austin now are, and Barnard's stable, and on the upper side Bear's store, Day's and the Marin Hotel, as they now are; while further east only the Saunders, Wilkins and Merrill's (Mrs. Merriner's) homesteads met the view ; north, the only houses were Skidmore's and the present residence of Mrs. McCrea ; south were Mckenzie's, McVanner's, a little skeleton of the Sheppard House, and a shanty where the Bay-view House now stands; while to the west the only structure or habitation visible was the San Rafael Hotel, which still stands. The splendid County Building, grand hotels, princely residences, manufactories, the railroad, schools and churches, bank, the Journal office-' all these and many more have grown up in sight of the old pole. Two ' cities of the dead,' one on either hand, have grown populous within its reign. Among the most familiar names of those who have passed away we recall those of W. T. Parker, S. B. Harris, James Byas, Hans Olsen, George Wilson, John Harris, Harry Williams, Frederick Rowe, Charles Johnson, Manuel Sanchez, Gernade King and William Murphy. Among those who thirteen years ago stood sponsors at the raising of the shaft, eight were present at its fall last week, namely, U. M. Gordon, J. O. B. Short, Dan. Taylor, William S. Hughes, A. C. McAllister, Judge Frink, Val. D. Doub and John Reynolds. As we write, and while the air is still vibrant from the crash of the old pole, the walls of a new building crowd against the spot where it stood, and in a few more days it will pass out of mind, and rarely be recalled to memory."
On March 16, 1872, the question of incorporation of San Rafael was first put to the public, which was in the course of time carried and put into operation. On December 5,-1874, the fire company met for organization, and the following were elected officers :- James Tunstead, foreman; F. Hanna, Assistant Foreman; J. A. Barney, Secretary; and Frank Welch, Steward. The subjoined names composed the membership :- John Green, E. F. Kiler, S. H. Kiler, G. W. Woolfolk, James Tunstead, L. H. Smith, Thomas C King, E. Eden, M. Coughran, A. C. McAllister, George W. Davis, AV. L. Barnard, J. S. Walsh, J. A. Barney, Daniel T. Taylor, Francis A.
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SAN RAFAEL TOWNSHIP.
Hanna, William Murphy, James Dronan, James M. McMahon, Dennis Haley, Richard Hennessy, Timothy Deasey and John Reynolds. The name adopted by the company was San Rafael Hose Company, No. 1. In 1875 we find that the town was first lit with gas. We conclude this historical summary with a record of death.
The news of the sudden and unexpected death of Jerome A. Barney, which occurred about eleven o'clock on Friday evening, the 31st of June, 1876, fell like a shock upon the community, and produced a sadness and gloom that have rarely been equalled in this county. Mr. Barney was born in ' Newmarket, Maryland, in 1834. He learned the printer's trade in Frederick, Maryland, when very young, and worked in Washington and Baltimore a short time. In 1853 he came to San Rafael, where his father had preceded him about three years. He was in business with his father a portion of the time up to 1862, when he conceived the publishing enter- prise which resulted in establishing the Marin County Journal, which paper he edited and published from its initial number until October, 1872, when he sold out the paper, having been intimately connected with the history and progress of the county, and made a multitude of friends. He was a man of noble impulses and a warm heart, generous to a fault, outspoken in manner, and persistent in whatever he undertook. His early death will leave a void in his wide circle of friends that can never be filled. He was taken sick on the 15th of June, and at the end of twelve days he was much better, and was thought to be recovering; but soon after there were symp- toms of dropsy of the heart, under which he rapidly sank away. Mr. Barney had recently been proposed and elected a member of Marin Lodge, No. 191, F. and A. M., and would have been fully received in that fraternity at the next meeting of the Lodge. His funeral took place from Masonic Hall, at ten o'clock on Sunday, and was one of the largest ever seen in the town ..
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