USA > California > Marin County > History of Marin County, California also an historical sketch of the state of California > Part 40
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We have spoken of the equability of the climate of San Rafael, and the softness and purity of its air, peculiarities resulting from its local situation and surroundings. It is said that the mercury rarely rises above eighty- five degrees, or descends below forty-five, (for the ultra severity of the last winter must not be taken into account). There is, it is believed, no other place along the coast of which these meteorological facts can be predicated, and it is these peculiarities, no doubt, that contribute to make the valley remarkable for its healthfulness. But while the equability and salubrity of such a climate must exercise a healing influence upon persons of impaired health, who seek this locality with a view to the restoration of enfeebled physical energies, the beauty of the valley and its surroundings may also lay claim to a share of the healing process; for it is well known that scenes which charm the eye, and which constantly gratify the innate sense of the beautiful, do much to give tone to the feelings, and reach and influence the
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HISTORY OF MARIN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
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physical organism through the pleasurable action of the imagination. It is a combination of such causes acting upon the mind as well as upon the physical framework that makes the lovely valley of San Rafael exercise so happy an agency in restoring diseased humanity.
EVENING IN SAN RAFAEL.
Within the circling arms of graceful hills The nestling ville sinks like a child to rest ; In the still air, nights' low weird music thrills, And clouds like wool round Tamalpais' crest In knotted clusters gather, waft and cling.
The west, erewhile with roses all aglow-
Showered lightly on the sun's low sinking head,
Is paling from it's rosiness to snow ; The brooding hills their purple shadows spread ; And to their cosy nests the wild birds wing.
And twilight, like a filmy veil soft thrown, By thoughtful mother o'er a sleeping child, In gossamer shadows gently wafting down, Wraps the white ville so quietsome and mild, And for a space sweet peace doth hold her ownl.
Then stirs the slumbrous air, like muffled blows, The home-bound ferry's patient rhymeful beat, As through the drowsy bay she bravely plows, Flying the city's din with movement fleet, To where the mountain flowers breathe fragrance sweet.
All bustle quiets as the moon climbs high,
Threading the glittering maze of shy, sweet stars ; The golden fadeless flowers of the sky -- And stripes the placid earth with silver bars, And on the ville a silver veil doth throw.
The air is heavy with the breath of flowers, And spicy scent of pinewoods from the hill. No sound disturbs the midnight's sacred hours Save a lone night bird's mournful trill, a trill Trembling through the stillness, sweet and low.
MARIA E. SUTHERLAND.
POINT SAN PEDRO .- Point San Pedro is reached from San Rafael by a hard, smooth road, which affords an exceedingly agreeable drive of a half hour's duration, presenting several charming views of the bay, and many interesting landscapes. The road skirts along San Francisco bay for some distance, then turning northward, leads to the shore of San Pablo bay. Thence a high bluff turns it back into the fields, and you soon come in sight of Mr. Bullis' residence. Just up in front of the latter you hitch your team to a fence, and a walk of two or three hundred yards brings you upon the scene of the fishing grounds of Point San Pedro. This industry is entirely
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in the hands of Chinamen, who conduct a very extensive business, employ- ing upwards of two hundred and twenty-five men. The land occupied by the fishermen is owned by McNear & Bro., and leased to Mr. Richard Bullis for one thousand dollars a year, and by him leased to the Chinamen for nearly three thousand dollars. From ten to fifteen acres are occupied, the shore line serving for houses, boat building, shipping, etc., and the side hill for drying the fish, and preparing them for market. Shrimps constitute the principal catch, and of these from twenty to thirty tons per week are taken. The shrimps are dried on the hillsides, threshed, a la Chinois, to get off the hull, winnowed through a hand mill, and sent to market. The fish sell for eight to fourteen cents per pound in the San Francisco market, at wholesale, and the hulls are shipped to China, and sold for manure, where they bring twenty dollars per ton, affording a profit over all expenses of five dollars. It is said to be an excellent fertilizer. Other kinds of fish are taken in great quantities, as flounders, perch, etc., and some of which are used only for dressing soil. The stakes to which the fishers attach their nets extend out into the bay a mile or more. There are thirty-two houses on the beach, and more all the time building. Two boats are now on the ways, one forty feet long, and the other thirty. Nine hundred cords of wood have been used this season, which they buy in Redwood City, and ship themselves to their fishing grounds. Captain Bullis makes a weekly trip to the city with a cargo, the law requiring a white captain on a forty- foot craft.
Ross LANDING .- This is the point from which is shipped the greater por- tion of cord-wood cut in this vicinity. During the busy season a number of vessels ranging from ten to fifty tons carrying capacity may be seen daily unloading at the Embarcadero, or taking in freight for San Francisco. The town contains some thirty or forty houses, the several industries peculiar to interior villages being found. It is situated about three miles from San Rafael, the road to which is one of the most charming drives in the district.
POINT SAN QUENTIN .- General M. G. Vallejo, whose intimate acquaintance with the earliest California history is so well known, says that the origin of this name is as follows : " The great Indian Chief Marin, after whom the county is named, being, in 1824, very closely pursued by Lieutenant Ignacio Martinez and Sub-Lieutenant José Sanchez, who had under their command, beside their troops, the celebrated Marcelo, Chief of the tribes of Cholgones and Bolgones (tribes living at Mount Diablo), sought refuge in the little islands lying near the entrance of the creek known under the name of Estero de San Rafael de Aguanni. These islands were forthwith surrounded by rafts managed by friendly Indians; but the Mexican officers, not having a suffi- cient force to justify their setting foot on the land, and being apprehensive that Marin's friends and allies might cut off their retreat, raised the seige
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HISTORY OF MARIN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
and repaired to the 'Punta de Quintin,' where they met with an equally strong resistance from Captain Quintin, Marin's Sub-Chief, and a brave daring warrior.
" Lieutenant Martinez, although his force was inferior in number to that of the enemy, joined battle with the forces of Quintin, and being favored by fortune captured that Chief. The prisoner was taken to San Francisco and detained two years, at the end of which he was set at liberty, there being no longer any doubt that the whites could rely on his promises.
" Quintin was a good sailor, and during his detention was employed by the missionary Fathers of the Mission Dolores as skipper of one of the lighters trading in the bay. Fifteen years later, at the recommendation of Solano and Marcelo, who had given me their guarantee of his good behavior, I placed him in charge of my best lighter, which was engaged in making trips between Sonoma creek (Estero de Sonoma) and the port of Yerba Buena, now known as San Francisco.
" The spot in which the struggle occurred, with such a happy termination for the whites, between Lieutenant Martinez' troops and Quintin's Indians, was, after the capture of the red chief, known as 'Punta de Quintin ' (Quintin's Point); but it was reserved for the North Americans to change the name of that place, and to call it 'Punta de San Quentin.' I believe that the change may be attributed to the fact that a large number of them arrived in California under the belief that the inhabitants of this country were very zealous Catholics, and desiring to gain their good-will added San (Saint) before the towns or villages that they visited. I remember having heard on different occasions 'Santa Sonoma,' 'San Branciforte,' and 'San Monterey,' and, pursuant to this custom, they added San to Quentin.
" M. G. VALLEJO.
" Sonoma, October 30, 1874."
Point San Quentin is now notorious throughout the length and breadth of California as being the location of the State Prison. In the country the prisoner is sent to " San Quentin;" in San Francisco civic crime has softened it into " across the bay." When it was first adopted as the locality whereon to plant the penitentiary we have not been able to gather, neither have we been successful in tracing much of its past history-fortunately so, perhaps.
THE STATE PRISON .- The prison is situated on the neck of land known as above stated; borders on the Bay of San Francisco, and is distant from that city about twelve miles. The land belonging to the State consists of about one hundred and thirty acres, but with the exception of the part occupied by the buildings and yards, five or six acres cultivated as a garden and the brickyard, it is of little value save for pasturage, and in past years furnishing clay for making bricks, but which is now exhausted for that pur-
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pose, brick-making in former years giving employment to a large number of prisoners.
The prison grounds proper, enclosed by a wall, contain about six acres The wall is about twenty feet in height, the lower half being built of stone and the upper of brick, which portion being in a state of disintegration. This wall extends about five hundred and fifty feet from east to west, and about four hundred and ninety feet from north to south. The buildings are as follows: one fifty by twenty-five feet (outside the walls), occupied by the clerk and commissary of the prison as offices in the upper story, the base- ment being used as a butcher's shop and storeroom; a three-story building, fifty-four by forty feet, occupied by some of the officers of the prison, and the prison physician and family. On the south side, and adjoining this building, is the main entrance to the prison, through an archway in the wall, closed on the inside and outside with an iron gate. Adjoining this is the kitchen, dining-room for officers and guards, in a one-story brick build- ing, sixty by twenty feet, made of brick of very poor quality, and which, together with the building first above mentioned, will serve but a few years, and will have to be rebuilt of more substantial material.
The buildings in the yard consist: First, one two stories high, forty by twenty feet, built of brick of a poor quality, the lower story being occupied as offices by the warden and turnkey, the upper story being used as a female . prison and a store room for clothing. Adjoining the building on the rear is a yard in which the female prisoners are occasionally allowed to walk; second, the wash-house, two stories high, the upper story being used as a. hospital, the lower for hospital, kitchen and lock-up-a room mostly used for convalescent patients. In the basement is the dungeon of the prison, which contains fourteen cells, seven on each side of the passage way, each cell eleven and a half by six feet, and nine feet high; near the entrance to the dungeon stands the whipping post. Third, a workshop, two stories. high, one hundred and fifty-nine by eighty feet. Fourth, three buildings containing cells situated parallel to each other, two of which are one hundred and seventy-four by twenty-three feet, and contain four hundred and twenty cells, each eight feet long, four feet wide, and six and a half feet high, each cell being furnished with a bunk, two pair of blankets, a straw tick and such other articles as the prisoner can procure. The third building is one hun- dred and eighty by twenty-eight feet, two stories, the lower one being divided into seven rooms, each occupying the full width of the building. The upper story contains forty-eight cells, each ten feet long, six feet wide and eight feet high. This is the only stone building on the premises, all the other buildings inside the walls being of brick.
For further particulars about the working of the prison, we would refer the reader to the following exhaustive reports of the Resident Warden, the
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HISTORY OF MARIN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
Moral Instructor and Surgeon and Physician for the year ending June 30, 1879 :-
Report of the Resident Director .- Since my last biennial report many much needed improvements have been made, which will be mentioned hereafter under the appropriate heading and in detail. It is one of the favorable signs of the times that recently a great interest seems to have been awakened upon the subject of prison management in general. Public men and newspapers have shown an unusual interest in the matter of prison management and discipline, until, I believe, every known system has found warm and earnest advocates. Hence, a few words from me on the subject may be pardonable, not by way of defence of my own management, for in this regard I have nothing to boast of. 'I do point with some satisfaction, however, to the fact that we have made a great reduction in the running expenses of the prison in the last two years. And for the quarter since July 1st of the present year, although not properly belonging to this report, we have made this the cheapest congregate prison (except three) in the United States, the daily cost per capita being only thirty-two cents and eight mills, as will be seen by reference to the proper table. With the system here in general I of course have had no power to deal, that depending in a great measure upon the style of the buildings and the number of prisoners. Still, we have made very many reforms in the last two years, and, but for a defection in the cell buildings and want of room, would have to-day exactly the present New York system. To enable us to adopt that system entirely we must have cell room sufficient to prevent the doubling up of prisoners. Each prisoner must have his separate cell, and the law must authorize his confine- ment therein for a time at least, with or without work, when he first enters, or at any other time for that matter, in the discretion of the management. The adoption of the new Constitution, which goes into effect on the 1st day of January, 1880, places the management under a permanent board of officers. This accords with the views I expressed in my last report, and will enable the prisons of this State to be brought up abreast with the best institutions of the kind in the United States. In fact, with a permanent Board of Directors and a permanent Warden, and a cell for each prisoner, there is no reason why this may not become a model institution. As soon as the Fol- som Prison is opened, which may be at any time after the 1st of January next, a trifling outlay of money will prepare the necessary room to place each prisoner in a cell by himself. When we have accomplished so much, and inaugurated the new system, which we may do by transferring five hundred prisoners to the new Penitentiary at Folsom, ours may then rank among the highest and best institutions for the suppression of crime and the reformation of criminals. To show that our system will then be in harmony with the best prisons of the world, I deem it not out of place here to give a
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brief description of the prevailing systems in different countries; not that you, gentlemen, to whom this report is addressed, need or require anything of the kind, for you have made this subject a study, but for the benefit of such members of the next Legislature as desire to take part in shaping the new system, and who, from their occupations in life, have been prevented from acquiring any knowledge upon the subject. Prison systems of the world, taken from the latest accessible reports and papers, are as follows :-
Austria has several prisons, but as they are not all built alike, she neces- sarily has different systems; however, until quite recently, the associate system alone prevailed. But all the new prisons, built since 1867, have been arranged so as to be both cellular and associate, like ours. It is provided by law, that every two days passed in cellular confinement shall count as three days on the sentence, and that no prisoner shall serve more than three years in cellular confinement. Retired prison officers are pensioned by the govern- ment.
Belgium has eighteen prisons, mostly cellular, that system having the sanction of her ablest men. However, in the Belgium prisons, each prisoner is treated somewhat in accordance with his general character and deport- ment. Retired prison officers are pensioned by the government.
Denmark has a mixed system of imprisonments, her jails being used largely for criminals guilty of the lighter offenses. All criminals sentenced to labor in the State Prison are not treated by the same rules under the same system. Those sentenced from two years to life are under what is here known as the Auburn system. There. are four penitentiaries in Denmark, three on the congregate system and one on the cellular.
France has a great variety of penal institutions, but three of them corre- sponding to anything in this country. The central prisons, like our peni- tentaries; the departmental, like our jails; institutions for correctional edu- cation, like our houses of correction and reform schools. The cellular system is not in use, but the congregate. Pensions are paid to retired prison officers.
The German Empire has a mixed system of prisons. Baden, a depart- ment of the Empire, has a system partially congregate and partially cellular, but no prisoners can be separately confined for a longer time than three years. Upon retirement prison officers are pensioned.
Bavaria has four cellular prisons, one for the punishment of criminals, the others for the safe-keeping of prisoners awaiting trial. All the other pris- ons of the Kingdom are on the congregate system. Retired officers are pen- sioned by the government. In Prussia there are forty-seven prisons properly speaking, but one of which is organized on the cellular plan. The cellular system is new in Prussia, but it is claimed that no appreciable difference exists, so far as the reformation of criminals is concerned ; but that other benefits may and do result from the cellular system which could never be attained by the congregate. The government pays pensions to retired prison
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HISTORY OF MARIN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
officers. In Saxony, where the best results have been secured, the system is a mixed one. There each prisoner is treated to just what his case is sup- posed to require. He is treated under the cellular system, the congregate, made a trusty, or given a ticket of leave to spend a time with his friends and family, as the authorities think just to him and safe to the State. Sax- ony has eleven prisons where this system prevails, and with the best results. In Wurtemberg the congregate system prevails, with common dormitories, except the prison at Heilbron, where a trial is about to be made of the cel- lular system. Generally throughout the German Empire the congregate system prevails. Italy, like Germany, has that diversity in prison system which naturally results from the combining of many sections under one rule. The Tuscan Provinces have the cellular system. I believe the Nea- politan, Sicilian, and others, have the Auburn system. The best reports are that the government is making efforts towards a unification of systems, but upon what plan I do not know. At the last report, the prisons of Italy were classed by Mr. Wines thus : Two on the system of isolation and partly association ; five on the Auburn plan; two partly on the Auburn plan and partly on the community plan ; and forty-five on the community sys- tem. Retired officers are paid pensions.
Mexico has but few penitentiaries-all on the cellular system. All other prisons are on the plan of association.
The Netherlands have a system of cellular and association, but no prisoner shall be confined in a cell longer than two years. Retired officers are pensioned by the government.
Norway has a mixed system, partly associate and partly separate. Retired officers are pensioned by the government.
Russia has a mixed system, but cellular imprisonment for long terms is forbidden by law. The system in Russia is supposed to be bad, and the management generally worse. Retired officers are pensioned by the govern- ment.
Switzerland has mainly the Crofton or Irish system. The congregate system also prevails, but efforts are being made to adopt the cellular of nights. The report of Mr. Wines states: There is a general agreement that the system of association is favorable to industrial labor, and not unfa- vorable to discipline, but that when extended to the dormitories as well as the workshops it is obstructive to the moral education of the prisoners. Pensions are paid to retired officers by the government.
Sweden has a mixed system of prisons, cellular and congregate, but it is making efforts to adopt the Crofton plan. Sweden pays pensions to her retired prison officers.
In the American States, it is said our first steps were taken in the matter of prison reform in Philadelphia, in 1784, when the old Walnut Street Prison was built, and that the first organized effort was made in 1787 by
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Omar Jewell
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Dr. Franklin and others. The oldest penitentiary is at Charlestown, Massa- chusetts, began in 1800 and completed for the reception of prisoners in 1805. Fifty years and more ago a heated controversy was carried on by some of our most distinguished statesmen of that time, as to the best system for penitentiaries. Two systems had strong and able advocates; one was called - the Pennsylvania system, the other the New York system. The New York system adopted at Sing Sing and at Auburn was the congregate, with sepa- rate cells for prisoners at nights. The Pennsylvania system, adopted at Philadelphia and Pittsburg, was the cellular and isolation. Several other States adopted the Pennsylvania system, but all have now abandoned it, and in fact it has long since been abandoned at Pittsburg, so that the system now prevails in but one American prison, and but few in the world. The system has been condemned by every able and enlightened statesman who has studied the subject, for the last twenty years, and has been finally abandoned in this country and in most all the nations of Europe.
The Crofton or Irish system commends itself generally to students and prison managers throughout the civilized nations. This is but a liberal trusty system. The next in rank, and in the main like it, is the New York · system, now being adopted in all the new American prisons, where it can be done without too much cost. In my opinion, the New York system is free from many objections which may be urged against the Crofton. For instance, the free association of prisoners, which must take place at some stage of the imprisonment under that system, is certain to prove destructive of all the good and repressive effects of isolation. The most learned and laborious association for the prevention and cure of crime in the world-the Howard Association of England-has lately assailed that system, and not only denounced Spike Island but Mountjoy-Dublin Penitentiary-as well, for the reason, mainly, that a free association of prisoners is certain to breed plots and plans for mischief after discharge; and also, because such associa- tion begets a feeling of home attachment for the prison, to which the pris- oner returns in many cases without regret. This sort of association here is doubtless the cause of hundreds of returns to the prison, and of course of the commission of hundreds of crimes. In a recent communication of a commit- tee of the Howards to the Home Secretary I find these remarks: "The due separation of prisoners from each other only is an essential feature of a wise and efficient treatment, but mere solitude is unnatural and pernicious. It is neither wise nor merciful. Prisoners, when separated from evil companion- ship, should be necessarily brought under the influence of good intercourse, both from within and without." In this short paragraph lays the founda- tion of the best economy, the most humane treatment of convicts, and the best repressive and reformatory methods possible at any penitentiary. These principles may be carried out here, after the new prison is opened, and the
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HISTORY OF MARIN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
number here reduced to one thousand, by an outlay not to exceed ten thou- sand dollars in enlarging the cell room.
Were I asked to suggest the very best plan for the prevention of crime, I would advise the closing of drinking-houses, and the absolute solitude of prisoners. But the freedom-loving citizen of this country will not be restricted in his right to buy, sell, and use alcoholic liquors, nor will the- humanity of the age permit such brutalizing of the convict. Were I asked then to suggest a plan alike just to the public and to the conviet, I would say keep the convict in a cell to himself, make him work, use every means to teach him the benefits of honesty and morality by placing him in contact with honest and moral people from within and from without. We should con- sider no man wholly and entirely bad, even though he be a convict, and that every man has within him a germ of goodness which is capable of illimitable expansion. In this age of advancement, when men of every other calling have reached to almost human perfection, it is strange that the moral and religious cultivation has made so little out of this seed of goodness, this "germ of the godly principal in man! Whatever may be the cause of the fearful increase of crime now noticeable everywhere, it is anyhow a public duty we all owe to the State to save and cultivate all the good we find in and among prisoners, and to this end we should use such methods as justice and humanity may dictate. We should not strain after original systems or violent remedies for the management of criminals or the repression of crime, but we should keep up with the spirit of the age, and thereby show our selves as capable and as kind in these matters as any other people. I make these remarks because the agitation in the State over the question of prison reform, although good as indicating a proper interest in the subject, is liable to bring to the surface many radical reformers, who would, in their zeal for the protection of the public, entirely forget the claims of the unfortunate and the criminal. It is a curious fact that right in the home of prison reform, and in the center of our civilization where the question of prison reform has been most agitated, the number of convicted criminals in propor- tion to the population greatly exceeds that of any other part of our country. I allude to New York and Massachusetts. This proves one of two things, either that the teachings of our best moral codes are conducive of crime, or that too much agitation of the prison question is not good. For more than one hundred years this great question has been a constant theme of discourse 'by divines and by statesman, and what has been accomplished ? The relig- ious sentiment has been steadily on the increase, civilization has been taking 'higher grounds, the moral sentiment of the world seems to have constantly improved, yet crime has in no sense been diminished. Since the days of John Howard, who gave the years of his life between 1770 and 1790 for the relief of suffering criminals, and the improvement of prison life in England, there has been a constant increase of crime in all the Christian
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