USA > California > Marin County > History of Marin County, California also an historical sketch of the state of California > Part 5
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" This is the forest primeval ; but where are the hearts that beneath it Leaped like the roe, when he hears in the woodland the voice of the huntsman?
Waste are the pleasant farms, all the farmers forever departed ! Scattered like dust and leaves, when the mighty blasts of October Seize them and whirl them aloft, and sprinkle them far over the ocean,
Naught but tradition remains.
Still stands the forest primeval ; but under the shade of its branches Dwells another race, with other customs and language,
While from its rocky caverns the deep-voiced neighboring ocean Speaks, and in accents disconsolate, answers the wail of the forest."
It may be asked how did the population having an European origin come to be located in California? The reply is simple; the sources from which they sprung were the presidio and pueblo.
In its early day the whole military force in upper California did not number more than from two to three hundred men, divided between the four presidios of San Diego, Santa Barbara, Monterey and San Francisco, while there were but two towns or pueblos, Los Angeles and San Jose. Another was subse- quently started in the neighborhood of Santa Cruz, which was named Bran- ciforte, after a Spanish Viceroy. It may be conjectured that the garrisons were not maintained in a very effective condition; such a supposition would be correct, for every where betokened the disuse of arms and the long absence of an enemy. The cannon of the presidio at San Francisco were grey with mould, and women and children were to be seen snugly located within the military lines. The soldiers of the San Francisco district were divided into three cantonments-one at the Presidio, one at Santa Clara Mission, and one at the Mission of San Jose. We here append a list of the soldiers connected with the Presidio in the year 1790, which has been copied from the Spanish archives in San Francisco. Here will be found the names, positions, nativity, color, race, age, etc., of the soldiers, as well as those of their wives, when married:
Don Josef Arguello, Commandant, age 39.
Don Ramon Laro de la Neda, Alferez de Campo, age 34.
Pedro Amador, Sergeant, Spaniard, from Guadalaxara, age 51; wife, Ramona Noreiga, Spanish, aged 30; 7 children.
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Nicolas Galinda, mestizo, Durango, 42.
Majio Chavoya, City of Mexico, 34; wife, a Bernal.
Miguel Pacheco, 36; wife, a Sanches.
Luis Maria Peralta, Spaniard, Sonora, 32; wife, Maria Loretta Alvisa, 19. Justa Altamarino, mulatto, Sonora, 45.
Ygnacio Limaxes, Sonora, 49; wife, Maria Gertruda Rivas, Spaniard, 38. Ygnacio Soto, 41; wife, Barbara Espinoza.
Juan Bernal, mestizo, Sonora, 53;wife, Maxima I de Soto. Jph Maria Martinez, Sonora, 35; wife, Maria Garcia, mulatto, 18. Salvado Iguera, L. C., 38; wife, Alexa Marinda, Sonora, 38. Nicolas Berryessa, mestizo, 25; wife, Maria Gertrudis Peralta, 24.
Pedro Peralta, Sonora, 26; wife, Maria Carmen Grisalva, 19. Ygnacio Pacheco, Sonora, 30; wife, Maria Dolares Cantua, mestizo, age 16. Francisco Bernal, wife, Sinaloa, 27; Maria Petrona, Indian, 29. Bartolo Pacheco, Sonora, 25; wife, Maria Francisco Soto, 18. Apolinario Bernal, Sonora, 25.
Joaquin Bernal Sonora, 28; wife, Josefa Sanchez, 21. Josef Aceva, Durango, 26.
Manuel Boranda, Guadalaxara. 40; wife, Gertrudis Higuera, 13.
Francisco Valencia, Sonora, 22; wife, Maria Victoria Higuera, 15.
Josef Antonio Sanchez, Guadalaxara, 39; wife, Maria Dolora Moxales, 34. Josef Ortiz. Guadalaxara, 23.
Josef Aguila, Guadalaxara, 22; wife, Conellaria Remixa, 14. Alexandro Avisto, Durango, 23.
Juan Josef Higuera, Sonora, 20.
Francisco Flores, Guadalaxara, 20.
Josef Maria Castilla, Guadalaxara, 19.
Ygnacio Higuera, Sonora, 23;wife, Maria Micaelo Bojorques, 28.
Ramon Linare, Sonora, 19. Josef Miguel Saens, Sonora, 18.
Carto Serviente, San Diego, Indian, 60.
Augustin Xirviento, L. C., 20.
Nicolas Presidairo, Indian, 40.
Gabriel Peralta, invalid, Sonora.
ManuelVutron, invalid, Indian.
Ramon Bojorques, invalid, 98. Francisco Remero, invalid, 52.
A recapitulation shows that the inmates of the Presidio consisted altogether of one hundred and forty-four persons, including men, women and children, soldiers and civilians. There were thirty-eight soldiers and three laborers. Of these one was a European, other than Spanish, seventy-eight Spaniards, five Indians, two mulattos, and forty-four of other castes.
An inventory of the rich men of the Presidio, bearing date 1793, was dis-
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covered some years since, showing that Pedro Amador was the proprietor of thirteen head of stock and fifty-two sheep; Nicolas Galinda, ten head of stock; Luis Peralta, two head of stock; Manuel Boranda, three head of stock; Juan Bernal twenty-three head of stock and two hundred and forty-six sheep; Salvador Youere, three head of stock; Aleso Miranda, fifteen head of stock; Pedro Peralta, two head of stock; Francisco Bernal, sixteen head of stock; Barthol Pacheco, seven head of stock; Joaquin Bernal, eight head of stock; Francisco Valencia, two head of stock; Berancia Galindo, six head of stock; Hermenes Sal, (who appears to have been a .Secretary, or something besides a soldier), five head of stock and three mares. Computing these we find the total amount of stock owned by these men were one hundred and fifteen cattle, two hundred and ninety-eight sheep and seventeen mares.
These are the men who laid the foundation of these immense hordes of cattle which were wont to roam about the entire State, and who were the fathers of those whom we now term native Californians: As year succeeded year so did their stock increase. They received tracts of land "almost for the asking;" let us, however, see. what was their style of life. Mr. William Halley says of them: From 1833 to 1850 may be set down as the golden age of the native Californians. Not till then did the settlement of the rancheros become general. The missions were breaking up, the presidios deserted, the population dispersed, and land could be had almost for the asking. Never before, and never since, did a people settle down under the blessings of more diverse advantages. The country was lovely, the climate delightful; the valleys were filled with horses and cattle; wants were few, and no one dreaded dearth. There was meat for the pot and wine for the cup, and wild game in abundance. No one was in a hurry. "Bills payable" nor the state of the stocks troubled no one, and Arcadia seems to have temporarily made this her seat. The people did not, necessarily, even have to stir the soil for a livelihood, because the abundance of their stock furnished them with food and enough hides and tallow to pro- cure money for every purpose. They had also the advantage of cheap and docile labor in the Indians, already trained to work at the missions. And had they looked in the earth for gold, they could have found it in abundance.
They were exceedingly hospitable and sociable. Every guest was wel- comed. The sparsity of the population made them rely on each other, and they had many occasions to bring them together. Church days, bull-fights, rodeos, were all occasions of festivity. Horsemanship was practiced as it was never before out of Arabia; dancing found a ball-room in every house, and music was not unknown. For a caballero to pick up a silver coin from the ground, at full gallop, was not considered a feat, and any native youth could perform the mustang riding which was lately accomplished with such credit by young Peralta in New York. To fasten down a mad bull with the lariat, or even subdue him single-handed in a corral, were every-day performances. The branding and selecting of cattle in rodeos was always a gala occasion.
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CALIFORNIA.
Gambling was a passion, and love-making was ever betokened in the tender glances of the dark-eyed señoritas. Monte was the common amuse- ment of every household. Its public practice was against the law, but in the privacy of the family it went on unhindered.
What farming they did was of a very rude description; their plow was a primitive contrivance, their vehicles unwieldy. Such articles of husbandry as reapers, mowers and headers had not entered their dreams, and they were perfectly independent of their advantages. Grain was cut with a short, stumpy, smooth-edged sickle; it was threshed by the tramping of horses. One of their few evils was the depredations of the wild Indians, who would sometimes steal their stock, and then the cattle would have to perform the work of separation. The cleaning of grain was performed by throwing it in the air with wooden shovels and allowing the wind to carry off the chaff.
While the young men found means to gratify their tastes for highly wrought saddles and elegant bridles, the women had their fill of finery, furnished by the Yankee vessels that visited them regularly for trade every year. Few schools were established, but the rudiments of education were given at home.
There was a strict code of laws in force for maintaining order, and crime seldom went unpunished. Chastity was guarded, and trouble about females was not as frequent as might be supposed. Women, unfaithful to their vows, were confined in convents or compelled to periods of servitude. Men, guilty of adultery, were sent to the presidios and compelled to serve as soldiers. The law was administered by Alcaldes, Prefects and Governor. Murder was very rare, suicide unknown, and San Francisco was without a jail. Wine was plentiful, and so was brandy. There was a native liquor in use that was very intoxicating. It was a sort of cognac, which was very agreeable and very volatile, and went like a flash to the brain. It was expensive, and those selling it made a large profit. This liquor was known as aguardiente, and was the favorite tipple until supplanted by the whisky of the Americanos. It was mostly made in Los Angeles, where the better part of the grapes raised were used for it. When any considerable crime was ever committed, it was under its influence. Its evil effects, however, might possibly be attributed to a counterfeit, which is yet in use in the southern part of the State, and which is one of the vilest of concoctions. Those who are acquainted with its evil effects say that it is "too unutterably villainous for words, and the wretch who has swallowed three fingers of it may bid adieu to all hope of days passed without headaches and nights put in without unsufferable agony, for a week at least." The beverage most in use, however, was the mission wine, and a major domo has informed the writer that he made fifty barrels a year of it at Mission San José. Milk and cheese, beef, mutton, vegetables, bread, tortillos, beans and fruit constituted the daily diet. Potatoes were unknown, but pinole was plentiful. Wild strawberries were numerous about the coast, and honey was procured from wild bees.
Warren Dutton irren
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CALIFORNIA.
The Californians were not without their native manufactures, and they did not, as is generally supposed, rely altogether upon the slaughter of cattle and the sale of hides and tallow. The missionaries had taught them the cultivation of the grape and manufacture of wine. Hemp, flax, cotton and tobacco were grown in small quantities. Soap, leather, oil, brandy, wool, salt, soda, har- ness, saddles, wagons, blankets, etc., were manufactured. Wheat even then was an article of export and sold to Russian vessels.
There were occasional political troubles, but these did not much interfere with the profound quiet into which the people had settled. The change from a monarchy into a republic scarcely produced a ripple. The invasions of the Americans did not stir them very profoundly; and if their domains had not been invaded, their lands seized, their cattle stolen, their wood cut and carried off, and their taxes increased, no doubt they would have continued in their once self-satisfied state to the present day. But they received such a shock in their slumbers that they too, like their predecessors the Indians, are rapidly passing away.
Whether the rude and unjust treatment they have received at the hands of the new-comers, or that the band of Mexican cut-throats imported by Michel- torena in 1842 as soldiers, have bred a race of thieves and vagabonds, will not here be determined; but certainly the Mexican population of California has produced, since the American occupation, a large number of dangerous and very troublesome criminals. Happily, owing to the exertions of intrepid offi- cers they have been exterpated. Horse and cattle stealing was their great weakness.
Let us now briefly outline that remarkable march of events, the rapidity of which is a wonder of the world.
War between the United States and Mexico broke out in the year 1846, at which time it is estimated there were fifteen thousand people in Upper Cali- fornia, exclusive of Indians. Of these, nearly two thousand were from the United States. In the month of March of that year, there came over the plains and across the mountains to California, on his way to Oregon, Colonel John C. Fremont. He suddenly appeared at Monterey, and there requested permission of Governor Castro to proceed on his errand, via the San Joaquin valley, which was granted, but almost immediately after revoked, and he and his party of forty-two men ordered to leave the country, but not being of the same way of thinking as the Governor, he did not leave, but proceeded on his journey, choosing his route by way of the Mission San Jose, Stockton, and finally entered the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys, but on reaching the Great Klamath Lakes, he received dispatches notifying him of hostile demon- strations in his rear, whereupon he determined to retrace his steps. In the meantime the "Bear Flag" had been raised at Sonoma, the Mexican forces driven out of that part of the province north of the Sacramento river, the guns of the old fort near the Presidio of San Francisco spiked, and the inde-
4
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pendence of California declared. This was not all. War had been declared between the United States and Mexico, and Commodore Sloat had taken pos- session of Monterey, the capital of California, and there hoisted the American flag. With a greatly increased force Fremont was in pursuit of the hostile Mexican bands, levying supplies as he went along, and when asked by what right he thus deprived people of their stock and other property, his character- istic reply was, "by the right of my rifles." Before long the country was soon quered. Fremont's corps disbanded, and many of his men became permanent settlers in the county.
With the year 1846 more emigrants mounted the Sierras, and descended into the California valleys, some to remain; but there were those who never arrived, as the following interesting relation of the sufferings of the ill-fated Donner party will exemplify :
Tuthills' History of California tells us: "Of the overland emigration to California, in 1846, about eighty wagons took a new route, from fort Bridger, around the south end of Great Salt Lake. The pioneers of the party arrived in good season over the mountains; but Mr. Reed's and Mr. Donner's com- panies opened a new route through the desert, lost a month's time by their explorations, and reached the foot of the Truckee pass, in the Sierra Nevada, on the 31st of October, instead of the Ist, as they had intended. The snow began to fall on the mountains two or three weeks earlier than usual that year, and was already piled up in the Pass that they could not proceed. They attempted it repeatedly, but were as often forced to return. One party built their cabins near the Truckee Lake, killed their cattle, and went into winter quarters. The other (Donner's) party, still believed that they could thread the pass, and so failed to build their cabins before more snow came and buried their cattle alive. Of course these were soon utterly destitute of food, for they could not tell where the cattle were buried, and there was no hope of game on a desert so piled with snow that nothing without wings could move. The number of those who were thus storm-stayed, at the very threshold of the land whose winters are one long spring, was eighty, of whom thirty were females, and several children. The Mr. Donner who had charge of one com- pany, was an Illinoisian, sixty years of age, a man of high respectability and abundant means. His wife was a woman of education and refinement, and much younger than he.
During November it snowed thirteen days; during December and January, eight days in each. Much of the time the tops of the cabins were below the snow level.
It was six weeks after the halt was made that a party of fifteen, including five women and two Indians who acted as guides, set out on snow-shoes to cross the mountains, and give notice to the people of the California settlements of the condition of their friends. At first the snow was so light and feathery that even in snow-shoes they sank nearly a foot at every step. On the
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second day they crossed the 'divide,' finding the snow at the summit twelve feet deep. Pushing forward with the courage of despair, they made from four to eight miles a day.
Within a week they got entirely out of provisions; and three of them, succumbing to cold, weariness, and starvation, had died. Then a heavy snow-storm came on, which compelled them to lie still. buried between their blankets under the snow, for thirty-six hours. By the evening of the tenth day three more had died, and the living had been four days without food. The horrid alternative was accepted-they took the flesh from the bones of their dead, remained in camp two days to dry it, and then pushed on.
On New Years, the sixteenth day since leaving. Truckee Lake, they were toiling up a steep mountain. Their feet were frozen. Every step was marked with blood. On the second of January, their food again gave out. On the third, they had nothing to eat but the strings of their snow-shoes. On the fourth, the Indians eloped, justly suspicious that they might be sacrificed for food. On the fifth, they shot a deer, and that day one of their number died. Soon after three others died, and every death now eked out the existence of the survivors. On the seventeenth, all gave out, and concluded their wander- ings useless, except one. He, guided by two stray friendly Indians, dragged himself on till he reached a settlement on Bear river. By midnight the settlers had found and were treating with all Christian kindness what remained of the little company that. after more than a month of the most terrible sufferings, had that morning halted to die.
The story that there were emigrants perishing on the other side of the snowy barrier ran swiftly down the Sacramento valley to New Helvetia, and Captain Sutter, at his own expense, fitted out an expedition of men and of mules laden with provisions, to cross the mountains and relieve them. It ran on to San Francisco, and the people, rallying in public meeting, raised fifteen hundred dollars, and with it fitted out another expedition. The naval com- mandant of the port fitted out still others.
The first of the relief parties reached Truckee lake on the nineteenth of February. Ten of the people in the nearest camp were dead. For four weeks those who were still alive had fed only on bullocks' hides. At Donner's camp they had but one hide remaining. The visitors left a small supply of provisions with the twenty-nine whom they could not take with them, and started back with the remainder. Four of the children they carried on their backs.
Another of the relief parties reached Truckee lake on the first of March. They immediately started back with seventeen of the sufferers; but, a heavy snow storm overtaking them, they left all, except three of the children, on the road. Another party went after those who were left on the way; found three of them dead, and the rest sustaining life by feeding on the flesh of the dead.
The last relief party reached Donner's camp late in April, when the snows
.
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had melted so much that the earth appeared in spots. The main cabin was empty, but some miles distant they found the last survivor of all lying on the cabin floor smoking his pipe. He was ferocious in aspect, savage and repulsive in manner. His camp-kettle was over the fire and in it his meal of human Hesh preparing. The stripped bones of his fellow-sufferers lay around him. He refused to return with the party, and only consented when he saw there was no escape.
Mrs. Donner was the last to die. Her husband's body, carefully laid out and wrapped in a sheet, was found at his tent. Circumstances led to the suspicion that the survivor had killed Mrs. Donner for her flesh and her money, and when he was threatened with hanging, and the rope tightened around his neck, he produced over five hundred dollars in gold, which, prob- ably, he had appropriated from her store."
In relation to this dreary story of suffering, this portion of our history will be concluded by the narration of the prophetic dream of George Yount, attended, as it was, with such marvelous results.
At this time (the winter of 1846), while residing in Napa county, of which he was the pioneer settler, he dreamt that a party of emigrants were snow- bound in the Sierra Nevadas, high up in the mountains, where they were suffering the most distressing privations from cold and want of food. The locality where his dream had placed these unhappy mortals, he had never visited, yet so clear was his vision that he described the sheet of water sur- rounded by lofty peaks, deep-covered with snow, while on every hand tow- ering pine trees reared their heads far above the limitless waste. In his sleep he saw the hungry human beings ravenously tear the flesh from the bones of their fellow-creatures, slain to satisfy their craving appetites, in the midst of a gloomy desolation. He dreamed his dream on three successive nights, after which he related it to others, among whom were a few who had been on hunting expeditions in the Sierras. These wished for a precise description of the scene foreshadowed to him. They recognized the Truckee, now the Donner lake. On the strength of this recognition Mr. Yount fitted out a search expedition, and, with these men as guides, went to the place indicated, and, prodigious to relate, was one of the successful relieving parties to reach the ill-fated Donner party.
Who does not think of 1848 with feelings almost akin to inspiration ?
The year 1848 is one wherein reached the nearest attainment of the discov- ery of the Philosopher's stone, which it has been the lot of Christendom to witness: On January 19th gold was discovered at Coloma, on the American River, and the most unbelieving and coldblooded were, by the middle of spring, irretrievably bound in its fascinating meshes. The wonder is that the discovery was not made earlier. Emigrants, settlers, hunters, practical miners, scientific exploring parties had camped on, settled in, hunted through, dug in and ransacked the region, yet never found it; the discovery was
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entirely accidental. Franklin Tuthill, in his History of California, tells the story in these words: "Captain Sutter had contracted with James W. Mar- shall, in September, 1847, for the construction of a sawmill, in Coloma. In the course of the winter a dam and race were made, but, when the water was let on, the tail-race was too narrow. To widen and deepen it, Marshall let in a strong current of water directly to the race, which bore a large body of mud and gravel to the foot.
On the 19th of January, 1848, Marshall observed some glittering particles in the race, which he was curious enough to examine. He called five car- penters on the mill to see them; but though they talked over the possibility of its being gold, the vision did not inflame them. Peter L. Weimar claims that he was with Marshall when the first piece of "yellow stuff" was picked up. It was a pebble, weighing six pennyweights and eleven grains. Mar- shall gave it to Mrs. Wiemar, and asked her to boil it in saleratus water and see what came of it. As she was making soap at the time, she pitched it into the soap kettle. About twenty-four hours afterwards it was fished out and found all the brighter for its boiling.
Marshall, two or three weeks later, took the specimens below, and gave them to Sutter to have them tested. Before Sutter had quite satisfied him- self as to their nature, he went up to the mill, and, with Marshall, made a treaty with the Indians, buying of them then' titles to the region round about, for a certain amount of goods. There was an effort made to keep the secret inside the little circle that knew it, but it soon leaked out. They had many mis- givings and much discussion whether they were not making themselves ridicu- lous; yet by common consent all began to hunt, though with no great spirit, for the '"yellow stuff" that might prove such a prize.
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