USA > California > Mendocino County > History of Mendocino County, California : comprising its geography, geology, topography, climatography, springs and timber > Part 44
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In 1875 A. Saunders built a mill at Schooner Gulch, where it has since continued until June, 1880, when it was burned. It had a capacity of about twenty-five thousand feet per day, and run quite regularly, hence it must have cut a considerable amount of lumber. The mill is being rebuilt at the present writing (1880.)
SCHOONERS BUILT .- J. A. Hamilton built a small schooner of only fifteen tons as early as 1863, which he named the Helen. This little craft did not long survive the tempests of old ocean, for she was wrecked the next year at the port or near it. In 1864 Mr. Hamilton built the Lizzie Wylde, a schooner of sixty tons burthen. She was a fine, staunch craft, and was purchased for a cruise to the northward somewhere, and was never heard from again, so it is probable that she and all on board of her found a watery grave. In 1869 Captain N. Iverson rebuilt the Annie Iverson, which was lost shortly afterwards ; and in 1875 he rebuilt the Sina Johnson, which was also lost. In 1873 Captain Dodd built the Venus, a schooner of one hundred tons burthen; and in the same year, A. Chalfant & Co. built the Hilda of seventy-five tons burthen.
SHIPWRECKS .- The Mendocino coast is a very rough one, and there have been a host of vessels lost upon it, so many in fact, that it would be impossible to arrive at a true and full history of them all. Mr. Mart T. Smith has kindly furnished us with a list of those vessels which have gone ashore along the coast-line of Arena township, so far as he is able to recall them. They are as follows: Schooner Charles and Edward, in 1858, no lives lost; sloop James Alden, in 1858, no lives lost; the ship E. Buckley, went ashore at the light-house in 1862. It was on its way from Puget Sound to San Francisco, laden with lumber. She struck what is known as the "wash rock," a part of the reef which extends into the sea at that place, and over which the breakers and swells of the ocean wash. It was very foggy at the time, hence the accident.
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She drifted upon the reef and was a total loss; schooner Cochief, in 1863, at Fish Rock, no lives lost; schooner Rosalie, at Ferguson's Landing in 1863 or 1864, no lives lost; schooner Helen, in 1865, no lives lost; schooner Phobe Fay, went ashore in the bight, just north of the mouth of the Garcia river, . in 1866, she was bound from Albion to San Francisco with lumber; schooner Blunt, in 1868, no lives lost; schooner Ajax, in 1868, at Point Arena; schooner Don Leandro, in 1872; schooner B. F. Lee, ashore twice in 1871 and 1872, got off both times; schooner Emily Schroeder, in 1871; schooner Sina Johnson, in 1874; schooner Annie M. Iverson, in 1874; steamer East- port, from Eureka to San Francisco, went ashore on the north side of the light-house point in 1875, and became a total loss, no lives lost.
SEALS .- Seals or sea-lions as they are commonly called, have an extensive haunt or lair near the light-house, where they succeed in making the air hideously resonant with their ululations. Quit recently, a company has been formed for the purpose of capturing them for their furs and oil, and they find it quite a profitable business.
POINT ARENA LIGHT-HOUSE .- This light-house is located one hundred yards from the north-west extremity of the point, in latitude 38° 57' 10" and longitude 123º 44' 42". The light is a fixed or stationary white one, and can be seen for a distance to sea of nineteen nautical miles. The number of the station is 496. The light is on a conical brick tower which is white- washed, and from the base to the focal plane it is just one hundred feet, and one hundred and fifty-six from the level of the sea to the focal plane. The light is a first order, and was established in 1870. The arc illuminated is from north one-half east, by westward to south-east three-fourths south. The keeper's dwelling is a large two-story brick building, painted white, and placed sixty feet to the rear of the tower. The dome of the lantern is painted red, and the gallery, balustrade and band is painted black. The fog signal is a low frame building, three hundred and sixty-three feet west of the tower. The nearest prominent point of the coast to the northward is the one lying five miles north of Mendocino City, and bears north-west by north, two-thirds north, distant twenty-five miles. Between that point and the light-house there is a bend in the sea-coast, and the light will be visible off all the harbors and anchorages in that bight between that point and Point Arena, that are not more than twenty miles from the latter. Cape Mendocino light bears north-west three-quarters north, distant ninety-six nautical miles, and the Point Reyes light bears south-east one-third east, dis- tant sixty-seven nautical miles. The lamp is what is known as the " Funk's Hydraulic Float," in which there are four circular wicks in diameter as follows: 3.35 inches, 2.82 inches, 1.7 inches, and .87 of an inch. The lamp consists of two chambers for oil, one above the light and one below. The oil is pumped from the lower to the upper, whence it passes through a
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chamber in which there is a regulating float, which governs the flow of oil to the lamp. The flow of oil is in excess of the amount consumed to the extent of one hundred and twenty drops per minute, the object of which is to prevent the charring of the wick. This overflow is conducted to the lower chamber, and again pumped up, and in this way there is no wastage. The upper chamber is pumped full every two hours during the night, and there is a register on it which shows just how much oil there is in it all the time. A very complete reflecting arrangement is constructed about the lamp, so that every ray is brought to the focal plane, and passes thence across the surging billows to warn the mariner of dangers, and to guide him safely into the quiet harbor. The reflecting apparatus is six feet in diameter, and eight feet high, and the reflector is four and one-half feet long and two and one-half feet wide. There are five and one-half panels in the focal plane, and two and one-half in the reflector. There are eighty-eight segments in the lower sec- tion, one hundred and thirty-two in the middle section, and one hundred and ninety-eight in the upper section. The base of the tower is twenty-two feet in diameter, and the wall at the base is six feet in thickness. There are one hundred and twenty-six steps from the oil-room to the watch-room, up a "winding stairway," and nineteen steps from the oil-room to the ground. The supply of oil is eight hundred gallons a year, and only thie very best refined sperm oil is used.
Nearer the point and westward from the tower of the light-house is the fog-whistle. There is one whistle with a twelve-inch bell, and the duplicate has a bell ten inches in diameter. The blasts are of five seconds' duration, and are uttered- at intervals of twenty-five seconds, and the machinery is made so that the whole thing is automatic, and governed by a small engine. The whistle is constructed on the principle of ordinary locomotive or steam- boat whistles, only on a much larger scale. Everything is duplicated, so that if any portion of the machinery should give way no loss of time would be sustained. Fuel saturated with petroleum is kept in the furnace all the time, so that steam may be gotten up at a moment's notice, night or day, and the whistle set in motion in a very short time. The fogwhistle plays a very important part in the danger signal economy along this coast, for the heaviest banks of fog are liable to come surging in at any hour of the twenty-four, and the vessels are suddenly wrapped in the treacherous man- tle, and left without mark or reckoning, and it is only when they hear the reverberations of the fog-whistle or siren floating out across the trackless deep that they are warned that danger is near, and at the same time are enabled to so shape their course that they may escape danger and sail away to a port of safety, for the experienced mariner can read the tones of every whistle as easily as the telegraph operator can read the tickings of his instrument, and thus he is enabled to establish his location and to shape his course.
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The force of men employed at this station consists of one keeper, at present Mr. G. P. Brennan, and three assistants. The first watch begins at one-half hour before sundown, and the watches are relieved every four hours. The lamp is lighted at sundown and kept burning until sunrise. The keep- er's house is large, roomy and comfortable, and quite well furnished. This is not a "ration station," and the employes have to furnish their own sup- plies. A very "penny-wise pound-foolish " policy of economy has recently been adopted by the Government, by which the salaries of these men have been cut down to a mere pittance, these now varying from $800 for the keeper to $500 for the third assistant per annum. When it is considered how these men have to live, far removed from society and neighbors, sub- jected to the dangers and fatigues incident to their vocation, and the great responsibility which rests upon their shoulders, it would seem that the Gov- ernment could well afford to be far more liberal in remunerating their services. The fate and destiny of valuable property and precious lives are in their hands. When the winds of ocean sweep with fiercest fury across the trackless main, lashing the water into seething billows almost mountain high, when the black pall of night has been cast over the face of the deep, and ships are scudding along under close reef and storm sails, not knowing where they are or how soon they may be cast upon the rocks or stranded upon the beach, when the storm king seems to hold full sway over all the world, suddenly a flash of light is seen piercing the darkness, like a ray of hope from the bosom of God. Again and again is it seen, and the sailors rejoice for they know then that port is near and that danger is nearly passed. But whence that ray of light that so cheers the heart of the lonely mariner? In the lonely watches of the dreary, stormy night, with the fury of the wind about him, with the roar and rush of the breakers dashing against the rocks below him, sounding in his ears, with no human soul near him, sits the keeper, true to his trust, faithful to his charge, doing well and honestly his duty, keeping his lamp trimmed and burning, sending forth the ray to guide and make glad the storm-encircled sailor. Then let honor be given to whom honor is due, and to these brave, sacrificing men let us render a just tribute.
We cannot close this subject more fittingly than by quoting a few lines from one of Henry W. Longfellow's beautiful poems, as follows :-
The rocky ledge runs far into the sea, And on its outer point some miles away, The light-house lifts its massive masonry, A pillar of fire by night, of cloud by day.
Even at this distance I can see the tides Upheaving break, unheard along its base A speechless wrath, that rises and subsides In the white lip and tremor of the face.
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And as the evening darkens, lo! how bright, Through the deep purple of the twilight air, Beams forth the sudden radiance of its light, With a strange, unearthly splendor in the glare!
Not alone; from each projecting cape And perilous reef along the ocean's verge, Starts into life a dim, gigantic shape, Holding its lantern o'er the restless surge.
Like the giant Christopher it stands Upon the brink of the tempestuous wave, Wading far out among the rocks and sands, The night-o'ertaken mariner to save.
And the great ships sail outward and return, Bending and bowing o'er the billowy swells, And ever joyful, as they see it burn, They wave their silent welcomes and farewells.
They come forth from the darkness, and their sails Gleam for a moment only in the blaze, And eager faces, as the light unveils, Gaze at the tower, and banish while they gaze.
The mariner remembers when a child On his first voyage he saw it fade and sink; And when, returning from adventures wild, He saw it rise again o'er ocean's brink.
Steadfast, sereue, immovable, the same Year after year, through all the silent night, Burns on forevermore that quenchless flame, Shines on that inextinguishable light!
It sees the ocean to its bosom clasp The rocks and sea-sand, with the kiss of peace It sees the wild winds lift it in their grasp, And hold it up and shake it like a fleece.
The startled waves leap over it; the storm Smites it with all the scourges of the rain, And steadily against its solid form Press the great shoulders of the hurricane.
The sea-bird wheeling round it, with the din Oi wings and winds and solitary cries,
Blinded and maddened by the light within, Dashes himself against the glare, and dies.
A new Prometheus, chained upon the rock, Still grasping in his hand the fire of Jove; It does not hear the cry nor heed the shock, But hails the mariner with words of love.
"Sail on," it says, "Sail on ye stately ships, And with your floating bridge the ocean span; Be mine to guard this light from all eclipse. Be yours to bring man nearer unto man !"
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BIG RIVER.
GEOGRAPHY .- This township is bounded on the north by Ten-mile River township, on the east by Little Lake, Calpella and Anderson townships, on the south by Arena township, and on the west by the Pacific ocean. The boundary lines of the township are very sinuous, as is the case with all the townships in Mendocino county, thus making its contour very irregular. There are no navigable streams in Big River township, although an Act of the Legislature, approved May 2, 1861, declares Big, Noyo and Albion rivers to be navigable for a distance of three miles from their mouths, but this is for purposes of franchise only, and not that any vessel or craft larger than a canoe was ever expected to pass along them clefting their waters with its prow.
TOPOGRAPHY .- The topography of this township is wonderfully varied, and yet there is a close resemblance between it and all the other coast town- ships. Along the ocean there is quite a strip of mesa land, and back of that it is all mountains, intersected by rivers and streams putting back from the sea, which course along through deep cañons with steep and abrupt sides, varying from less than a hundred to more than a thousand feet in depth.
STREAMS .- As stated above, there are no navigable streams in the town- ship, but there are several of considerable importance for the purposes of log driving, etc. Beginning at the south there is Elk creek, Greenwood creek, Nevarra river, Salmon creek, Albion river, Little river, Big river, Caspar creek, Noyo river, Pudding creek, and on the northern bonndary line Ten- mile river. Of these only those that are designated as rivers have enough water in them to be of any practical use in log driving, but some of those have a good depth of water extending far back into the woods, and the body of the water has been increased materially by dams, so that in some of them logs may be driven for a long distance even in the summer sea- son, and of course for a far greater distance during the winter. On the banks of all these streams, and adjacent to them, are immense bodies of redwood timber, and at or near their mouths the great milling industry of Mendocino county is prosecuted. These streams have their sources far away up among the mountains many miles from the sea-coast, and one wonders at the fact that an opening is found through all these moun- tain ranges for a stream to pass down to the sea. The contortions of their courses are something wonderful to behold, and a study for the geol-
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ogist and topographer, and a sore puzzle for the casual observer, and to him who reads the emblems of the handiwork of the great creator, God, in all his works there is a fund of study and thought which will furnish food for meditation and admiration for many days. Surely chance could not have arranged the hills and dales, mountains and valleys of that sec- tion so that the far reaching arteries of the streams could tap the drain- age of the far away interior valleys and bear it through solid walls, as it were, of adamantine rock which has had its existence " since first the morning stars sang together" on creation's early morn, ere aught that we see now had existence save in the conceptive will and purposes of God. No; but rather a master intelligence has planned and arranged it all, and we see in it one of the most striking and wonderful displays of His power and wisdom, excelled only by the dividing of the waters from the dry land. What beautiful streams these are flowing from the very heart of the mountains, their fountain heads bursting, as it were, from the liv- ing rock. Then in tiny, prattling, bubbling brooklets it is gathered into the more stately stream, and as it passes sea-ward it receives recruits at every mile-post until it becomes a broad ribbon of silver, on whose bosom is reflected the bright rays of a California sun, which serves also to throw the dense shadows of the great forest upon its waters. Thus it passes onward, downward, from the brook laughing on the mountain side to the sombre river which kisses the hem of its mother ocean in all meekness.
SOIL .- The soil along the coast on the mesa is universally rich and productive in this township; but back in the mountains, not so much can be said for it, although it is very rich along the streams. It is well adapted to the growing of grain, vegetables, fruits, and vines, and in many places on the mesa it is so rich that grain grows too rankly. Here it is a rich, black sandy loam, to which, in many places, a goodly amount of calca- reous matter is added, much to the advantage of the soil, by decaying shell deposits, or mounds. As there are a number of these shell-mounds in this township, we append the following article, taken from the Overland Month- ly of October, 1874, entitled " Some Kjökkenmöddings, and Ancient Graves of California," by Paul Schumacher, which will give the reader a fair under- standing of these wonderfully curious collections of shells. It is evident that these belong to a race which long antedates the Digger Indian of to-day, and hence, no information concerning them can be gotten from the present races. It is, however, doubtful whether they were used solely for places of sepulture, although Mr. Schumacher's theories harmonize very well with the prevailing facts, as revealed upon investigation :-
" During my last visit to that part of the Californian coast between Point -San Luis and Point Sal, in the months of April, May and June of this year, I had occasion to observe extensive kjökkenmöddings, like those I found,
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about a year ago, so numerous along the shores of Oregon. These deposits of shells and bones are the kitchen refuse of the earlier inhabitants of the coast regions where they are now found, and, though differing from each other in their respective species of shells and bones of vertebrates-accord- ing to the localities and the age to which they belong-they have yet, to- gether with the stone implements found in them, a remarkable similarity in all parts of the North American Pacific coast that I have explored-a sim- ilarity that extends further to the kjökkenmöddings of distant Denmark, as investigated and described by European scientists.
"In Oregon, from Chetco to Rogue river,* I found that these deposits contained the following species of shells : Mytilus Californianus, Tapes staminea, Cardium Nuttallu, Purpura lactuca, etc .; eight-tenths of the whole being of the species first mentioned. In California, on the extensive downs between the Arroyo Grande and the Rio de la Santa Maria -- the mouth of which latter is a few miles north of Point Sal -- I found that the ·shells, on what appear to have been temporary camping places, consist nearly altogether of small specimens of the family Lucuia ; so much so that not only can hardly any other sort be found, but hardly even any bones. My reason for supposing these heaps to be the remains of merely temporary camps is the exceptional paucity of flint knives, spear-heads, and other im- plements found therein, as also the absence of any chips that might indicate the sometime presence of a workshop where domestic tools and weapons of war were manufactured-a something that immediately strikes the accus- tomed eye in viewing regularly well-established settlements. On further examining this class of heaps by a vertical section, we find layers of sand re- curring at short intervals, which seem to prove that they were visited at fixed seasons; those moddings exposed towards the north-west being vacated while the wind from that quarter was blowing sand over them, and mutatis mutandis, the same happening with regard to camps with a south-west as- pect while the south-west wind prevailed. It is fair, then, to suppose that these places were only the temporary residences of the savages to whom they appertained, and that they were tenanted during favorable times and seasons for the gathering of mollusks, which, having been extracted from their shells by the help of the flint knives found here, were dried in the sun for transportation to the distant, better sheltered, permanent villages-the com- paratively small quantities of shell remains now found at these regular settle- ments going also to support this theory. No graves have been found near those temporary camps of the earliest known Californian pioneers. I dis- covered, indeed, one skeleton of an Indian, together with thirteen arrow- heads, but it was plainly to be seen that the death of this person had hap- pened during some short sojourn of a tribe at this place, as the burial had
* Of the collections made by Mr. Schumacher at that place, the complete and illustrated description will be found in the Smithsonian Report for the year 1874.
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been effected in a hasty and imperfect manner, and the grave was without the usual lining which, as we shall see, is found in all the other tombs of this region.
" On the extremity of Point Sal, the northern projection of which is cov- ered by large sand-drifts, we find down to the very brink of the steep and rocky shore other extensive shell deposits, which, with few exceptions, consist of the Mytilus Californianus and of bones, flint-chips being also found, though very sparsely, in comparison with the mass of other remains. The sea having washed out the base of this declivity, and the top soil hav- ing, as a consequence, slid down, we can see on the edge of the cliff shell-lay- ers amounting in all to a thickness of four or five feet; that part closest to the sub-lying rock appearing dark and ash-like, while the deposit becomes better preserved as the surface is neared. At other places, for example on the extreme outer spur of this Point Sal, the shell-remains have so conglom- erated and run together with extreme antiquity as to overhang and beetle over the rocks for quite a distance.
" Leaving now these temporary camps, we shall visit the regular settle- ments of the ancient aborigines. Traces of these are found near the south- ern Point Sal, at a place where it turns eastward at an angle of something less than ninety degrees behind the first small hill of the steep ridge which trends easterly into the country, and which up to this spot, is, on its north- ern slope, covered with drift-sand and partially grown over with stunted herbage. Further traces of a like kind are to be seen on the high bluff be- tween North and South Point.Sal. Here the shells are piled up in shapeless, irregular heaps, as they are met in all localities on the coast where there were the fixed dwelling-places of people whose principal food consisted of fresh shell-fish; for, in the neighborhood of these permanent homes the shell- remains were always put away in fixed places, while in the temporary camps they were carelessly distributed over the whole surface of the ground. Very vividly did these bleached mounds recall to my mind the immense remains of such heaps that I had seen in Oregon on the right bank of the Checto, as also near Natenet, and near Crook's Point, or Chetleshin, close to Pistol river. I remembered also how I had watched the Indians in various places-near Crescent City on the Klamath and on the Big Lagoon-from- ing just such shell-heaps; two or three families always depositing their refuse on the same modding.
" To return to southern California. A deposit similar to those of Point Sal, although much smaller, stands on the left bank of the Santa Maria river, near its mouth. Both at the first described fixed camps, and at this place, there are to be found tons of flint-chips, scattered about in all direc- tions, as also knives, arrow-heads and spear-heads in large quantities. I was somewhat perplexed, however, by being unable to find any graves; such numerous moddings revealing the existence of important settlements
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