USA > California > Mendocino County > History of Mendocino and Lake counties, California, with biographical sketches of the leading, men and women of the counties who have been identified with their growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 17
USA > California > Lake County > History of Mendocino and Lake counties, California, with biographical sketches of the leading, men and women of the counties who have been identified with their growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 17
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Two school districts were organized in Clear Lake township April 7, 1856. Other elections resulted in the following list of officers who served previous to the organization of Lake county in 1861: In 1856: H. B. Hough- ton and A. Brown, justices ; Woods Crawford and P. Rickabaugh, constables; 1857: J. Bower and Woods Crawford, justices; G. Keith and Thomas Boyd, constables ; 1858: J. F. Houx and W. W. Merridith, justices; J. C. W. Ingram and James Gray, constables; L. T. Musick, supervisor representing the town- ship; 1859: J. F. Houx and G. A. Lyon, justices ; J. T. Shin and C. Elliott, constables; 1861: H. Winchester and W. C. Ferrell, justices; L. T. Musick and J. Dotey, constables. January 3, 1861, William C. Ferrell and James German were appointed justices, and C. N. Copsey appointed constable. February 4, 1861, O. A. Munn was appointed justice.
CHAPTER XVI
Organization of the County
On May 20, 1861, an act defining the boundaries and providing for the organization of Lake county was approved by John G. Downey, governor of California at that time. Woods Crawford, William Manlove and Alex- ander McLean were appointed commissioners to establish precincts, appoint election officials and canvass the votes for the election to choose county officers and to locate the county seat, which election was set for the first Monday of June, 1861. The officers elected at this time were O. A. Munn, county judge ; W. H. Manlove, sheriff ; W. R. Mathews, county clerk ; G. W. Marshall, district attorney; N. Smith, treasurer; E. Musick, surveyor; J. W. Smith, coroner; Supervisors: First district, S. Hunting; second district, J. H. Jamison ; J. W. Maxwell, third district. The commissioners had desig- nated two places as suitable locations for the county seat. Lakeport, then known as Forbesville, and Lower Lake. The first-named place was the
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choice of the electors, and was re-named Lakeport, the name being sug- gested by Woods Crawford, at the time of organization.
Peregrination of the County Seat
While Lakeport is at the present time the county seat, its location there has not remained undisturbed. On the night of February 15, 1867, the court house at Lakeport was destroyed by fire, and with it were burned all the official records of the county, rendering difficult the compilation of political history previous to that date. This fire was undoubtedly the work of an incendiary, stirred to the deed by the intense rivalry among towns of the county for the court house location. Dissatisfaction with Lakeport as the county seat manifested itself soon after the organization of the county. County buildings had been erected at that place, and the offices located therein.
Partisans of the other towns secured the passage of an act by the State Legislature calling for an election on April 20, 1864, to again vote on the site. Lakeport, Kelsey Creek, later re-named Kelseyville, and Lower Lake, which was also called Grantville, were designated as the eligible locations. The vote again favored Lakeport, and the people of that town were exultant, but the outsiders still dissatisfied. In 1866 another legislative act was secured, calling for an election in September, 1867, Lakeport and Lower Lake being the contending points.
Between the passage of this act and the election, the court house was burned. This removed the strong argument in favor of Lakeport of existing buildings. In the interim before the election the supervisors rented a build- ing of John O'Shea to temporarily domicile the county offices. Kelseyville being out of this election, the votes of that section were keenly sought after by the rival parties. The published statement of the result of that election was Lakeport, 378; Lower Lake, 365; giving Lakeport a majority of thir- teen; but when the board of canvassers met they decided Lower Lake had won by seven votes. Lakeport citizens were loud in their recriminations and charges of fraud against Lower Lake partisans.
Shortly after the election, the county officers moved their quarters to Lower Lake, the order to remove being issued by the supervisors November 4, 1867. Lakeport people did not give up the fight, but began a suit to con- test the election. A mandamus to require the officers to return to Lakeport was issued March 28, 1868, but this was not obeyed by the officials. In October, 1869, the matter was tried before a jury in the court of Judge J. B. Southard at Napa City. The jury found in favor of Lakeport. The judge referred the case to the legislature, and again an act providing for an election, the fourth concerning the location, was passed, set for May, 1870.
The partisans recognized this as a determining contest, and rivalry for votes was again intense. A few years of experience with Lower Lake as the location had brought about a considerable change in Kelseyville sentiment. The election resulted in 479 votes for Lakeport, and 404 for Lower Lake, a majority of 75. The northern end of the county voted unanimously for Lakeport. Kelseyville voted four to one in that town's favor; even a few votes for Lakeport were recorded in the Lower Lake section.
Following the destruction of the county records in 1867, the supervisors re-established boundaries of townships and supervisorial districts. These comprised Lower Lake, Big Valley, Upper Lake and Knoxville townships.
GRAMMAR SCHOOL AT LOWER LAKE
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In 1874 a local option election, on the question of licensing the liquor traffic. was held, resulting in total vote in the county of 460 in favor of licensing and 211 against the traffic. A. E. Noel of Lower Lake was elected delegate from Lake county to the convention which formulated the new constitution of California in 1878.
Lower Lake Township
The first house in the town of Lower Lake was built by E. Mitchell in 1858. Herrick & Getz had a store there in 1860. The first hotel was opened by Dr. Bynum in 1865, the first saloon by C. N. Adams in 1861, the first blacksmith shop by L. B. Thompson in 1860. From the time of location of the county seat at that place in 1867, the growth in population was steady and rapid. Lower Lake had in her early years the novel distinc- tion of a young lady druggist, Miss Della Walls, one of a very few of her sex in that profession, and in full charge of a drug store at the age of sixteen years. In its early history Lower Lake had transportation connections with the outside world by two stage lines, one running from Calistoga through Lower Lake to East Lake, the headquarters of the Sulphur Banks mine, and the other from Woodland to Lower Lake.
This town had visions of great development about 1867. The county seat question had been decided in its favor. About that time the Clear Lake Water Company began operations. This company proposed to erect a woolen mill, flour and lumber mills, on Cache creek, which should turn out in manufactured form all the wool, grain and timber produced in the county. The projects on paper looked roseate, and the bright prospects were generally accepted by the people, but the decrees of destiny seemed cruel. The company did construct a dam across the creek, erect quite an extensive building and install machinery for flour, saw and planing mill. At the time all products, beyond the needs of the limited county market, had to be hauled by team one hundred miles to tidewater. What might have been the outcome of the company's promises will never be known, as the hand of fate in the shape of an indignant people ended the company's activities. In a night, their dam was destroyed and the mill burned to the ground. The loss of the county seat followed, and seemed a death-blow to the bright hopes of Lower Lake's people. They quickly recovered courage, and steady and substantial growth came in the following years.
Destruction of Cache Creek Dam
Probably the most stirring event in the county's history, its details being still vividly remembered by living pioneers and frequently revived by recent water company operations, was the destruction of the Clear Lake Water Company's dam across Cache creek. This intense expression of the people's cumulating resentment occurred in November, 1868. In the minds of early residents, not a few now living who participated in the memorable affair, the demolition of the company's property was a justifiable retribution for wrongs inflicted on the people, a taking of justice in their own hands when their reasonable appeals had been ignored, when the company per- sisted in maintaining the dam and no compensation for their injuries was allowed the people by the law and its officers. The deed of the citizenry is openly defended as a necessary relief from intolerable oppression-that while in violation of the written law, it had the sanction of the higher law
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of the people's welfare. The burning of the mill being asserted to be acci- dental, and the destruction of the dam justifiable, the only wrongdoing acknowledged by members of the party was the appropriation of a few sacks of grain by individuals to feed their horses. This slight turpitude is held to be the basis for the county authorities' final surrender of ground in the compromise, which fixed the judgment of $20,000 upon the county. This judgment still partially hangs over the county, and upon it and another early obligation for purchase of a toll road of double that amount, over $90,000 interest, and $34,500 principal, has been paid by the citizens.
The story of the early dam's destruction is picturesque and stirring. A dam, of slight height, had existed for some years at the Fowler mill on Cache creek, two miles below its outlet from Clear lake and near the town of Lower Lake. Orrin Simmons, acting as agent for the Clear Lake Water Company, purchased the mill and land in the fall of 1865. At the session of the Legislature that winter, lobbyists for the water company secured passage of an act authorizing the company to "build and keep in repair a lock," etc. L. M. Curtis, W. G. Hunt, E. R. Lowe, J. D. Longhenour, S. N. Mewing, J. A. Hutton, G. W. Woodward, H. C. Derby, Charles Traver, N. Wyckoff, R. Day, N. Coombs, J. D. Stephens, William Gordon and F. S. Freeman were the men to whom the authority was given. Provisions of the act granted the rights for thirty years, gave permission to remove obstruc- tions in the stream, and required that the lake level should not be lowered during the months of July and August more than one foot below where it usually stood in said months, nor be raised at any time above the usual natural height. The company was given control of all water in the creek, excepting the use to other riparian owners of water for stock and domestic uses.
The company commenced construction of the new dam in August, 1866, and it was finished in December, 1867. An unusually heavy rainfall occurred in both of these winters. The dam was of stone, with wooden cribs built into it for foundations of the mill. As to its height, there are conflicting reports, some witnesses stating the flood-gates were arranged to hold the lake level at thirteen feet above high water mark. Whatever its height or the cause, the lake level rose in the winter of 1867-68 to several feet above the highest water ever before known. It reached the level of Main street in Lakeport and flooded the lowlands about the lake, where the damage was greatest, orchards being destroyed, land being unusable for planting crops, and houses vacated. The lake level receded but two feet in the following summer, instead of the average fall of nine to ten feet. Sickness prevailed to an alarming extent, both of a malarial and membranous character, seven children dying in one family from diphtheria. The high water, standing stagnant on many ranches, was generally believed to be the cause of the epidemic.
The company had been sued, and the dam declared a nuisance several times by the grand jury, but no heed was paid. The legal quandary was that the people could sue only in their own court, and a jury could not be obtained that the company could not challenge and dismiss by reason of prejudice or interest. The company would not ask for a change of venue. A suit for $15,000 damages was brought in Mendocino county by a Mr. Grigsby, one of the affected land owners, in which he was supported by other Lake county citizens. This suit was taken to the State Supreme Court.
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On the third indictment by the grand jury of the dam as a nuisance, it was tried before Judge J. B. Southard at Lower Lake. Upon that occasion the judge said: "I see no redress for the injured parties around the margin of the lake, in civil law, but there is such a thing as a higher law."
The people grasped the import of the judge's words, which were spoken on Wednesday, November 11, 1868. Plans were secretly made for a move on the dam on the following Saturday, the 14th. Couriers were dispatched over all the northern end of the county. On the day set determined men began to assemble at Lakeport. By noon probably 250 were gathered. The expedition moved, on horseback and in wagons, toward Lower Lake, pro- vided with arms, blankets and provisions sufficient for a week's campaign. The rendezvous was at the Lost Spring ranch, since known as the J. H. Jamison place, about three miles west of Lower Lake. About three hundred and twenty-five men assembled there that night. The body elected Jacob Bower and J. B. Robinson to take charge of removal of the dam, and J. W. Mackall as military commander. From that time forward everything was done with order and discipline.
Vigilance Committee Seizes Officers and Tears Out Dam
On the morning of Sunday, the 15th, Commander Mackall and ten picked men started early for Lower Lake, arriving there at 8:00 o'clock that morning. This advance guard took into custody the county officers, then located at that town, who were W. II. Manlove, sheriff; F. Herrenden, deputy sheriff; J. B. Holloway, county judge, and Sarshel Bynum, county clerk, and also L. P. Nichols, superintendent of the water company. The main body of citizens arrived soon afterward, and great surprise and interest were aroused in the town's population. The officers keenly resented their arrest, the sheriff, especially, in the language of one witness, "bucking furiously." This official demanded the right to "read the riot act" to the "mob." as he termed them. He was given the privilege and the crowd listened with amusement and in perfect order. Then the sheriff was ordered to take his seat and not leave it, and he obeyed implicitly. Another humor- ous incident relieved the tense situation. The county clerk had been placed under guard of Jacob Welty, a gray-bearded mountaineer of over eighty years, and diminutive in stature. Mr. Bynum protested that he would not submit to the outrage and proceeded to move off. Old Mountaineer backed off until he could get the barrel of his old-fashioned muzzle-loading flint- lock on a horizontal, and leveled it on the clerk, shouting in stentorian tones : "Stand, Sarshel, I say; STAND." This exclamation became a by-word with which Mr. Bynum was plagued by enemies and mischievous friends to the end of his days.
At 8:30 o'clock Mackall and his vanguard preceded the main body to the mill, and there took charge of four men employed on the premises. When the crowd arrived, a double patrol was formed, the inner circle about the mill being three hundred yards in diameter, and the outer guard fifty yards beyond. There were twenty men in each circle. and guard was relieved, in military style, every two hours.
When all the preliminaries were arranged, Rev. B. Ogle, a Baptist minister, asked a blessing on the undertaking. Then this man of God, and upon the Sabbath day, took off his coat and worked with as willing arms as any one of the party. The men first removed to a safe distance all the
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grain and other contents of the mill, including the machinery, which work was not completed until nightfall. While the men were at supper, fire was noticed in the building, and every effort was made to extinguish it but without success. A small dwelling house and the adjoining bridge were saved. This incendiary deed was done without the knowledge or consent of the leaders of the expedition. and the destruction of the mill was greatly regretted.
On Monday morning the work of tearing out the dam by use of block and tackle was begun. Removing the heavy stones took all of that day and part of Tuesday morning. The water went out with a tremendous rush toward the completion of the work, turning big logs end over end. The force of the wave of impounded water was felt at Cacheville, in Yolo county about thirty miles down the creek. The demolition completed, the men dis- persed to their homes. No liquor had been allowed within the lines, and general orderliness had been observed.
Water Company Sues the County
On January 29, 1869, the Clear Lake Water Company commenced suit in the Twelfth District Court against Jacob Bower and 183 other citizens of Lake county, the list including the names of all the participants that could be ascertained. The company claimed $250,000 damages. Its counsel were McM. Shafter, Seawell and Hubbard. A change of venue was secured and the trial was held at Fairfield. The jury found that the dam was a nuisance and sustained the people in abating it. The company appealed to the Supreme Court from this decision. While this suit was in progress, the water company began another action against the Lake county supervisors for $50.000 actual damages and $100,000 accumulated damages. This suit was tried in Yolo county in May, 1871, the jury disagreeing, being eleven for the county and one for the company. A second trial was held in Yolo county in September of that year, and while this was in progress, a com- promise was agreed upon. Its terms were that each party was to pay its own costs, and the county was to allow judgment against it for $20,000, which the company was to accept in bonds. The unpaid remainder of these bonds, which were re-funded several times, is now held by the state of California.
Lower Lake had the finest school house in the county, a two-story brick building. erected in 1877. The Lower Lake brewery was started in 1870 by Keitz & Co., later sold to C. Hammer and in 1875 to C. F. Linck, and which operated under various proprietors until 1903. A planing mill was started by S. H. Thompson in 1877. A newspaper called the Observer was published at this town in 1866, but no record exists of the identity of its first editor or proprietor. D. M. Hanson founded the Clear Lake Sentinel in 1866, advocating Lower Lake for the county seat. After that object was accomplished, Mr. Hanson moved his paper to Yuba City.
The Lower Lake Bulletin was started August 28, 1869, by L. P. Nichols, later conducted by J. B. Baccus, Jr., in 1879 by John B. Fitch, and acquired hv A. E. Noel in October, 1885, by whom it was run until his death in March, 1893, when his widow assumed charge and has since edited and pub- lished the paper.
The Clear Lake Press was also established in Lower Lake by Mr. Baccus, in 1885. For a period it was edited by W. H. Adamson, and moved to Lakeport by John L. Allison in 1891.
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CHAPTER XVII
Lakeport and Other Towns
The first store at Lakeport was built in 1856 by Dr. E. D. Boynton (though a man named Johnson sold goods there in 1855) at a point, later known as Tuckertown, on the present southern boundary of the town. He disposed of the merchandising business to Cyrus Smith, and the latter sold to George Brewington and Burr Caldwell. These proprietors built a new store on the knoll in the south limits of Lakeport, now the Platt Addition, and moved their stock to it. George Nutter and then Aaron Levy acquired this business in 1858 and the latter only retired from continuous service in merchandising at Lakeport in December, 1913.
William Forbes had pre-empted a claim of one hundred and sixty acres on the present site of Lakeport in 1859. He erected a small wooden build- ing on a site which is now south of First and west of Forbes streets. When, on the organization of the county, in 1861, the commissioners were investi- gating possible sites for the county seat, Forbes offered a free grant of forty acres to the county for the location of its capital upon his property. They accepted his offer, insofar as they had authority, and when the county seat election resulted in Lakeport's selection, Forbes deeded the land. The title to a strip of this grant, overflowed land on the present town's lakefront, is still held to rest in the county judge, now represented by the superior judge.
The town sprang into existence upon settlement of the county seat location. James Parrish started the first blacksmith shop, on the east side of Main street, south of First. The Clear Lake Journal was founded in Sep- tember, 1865, published weekly by E. B. Wilson & Co., but had a brief exist- ence. In October, 1866, J. H. F. Farley established the weekly Clear Lake Courier. The business men of that period as shown by the advertising columns of its early issues, were J. S. Downes, M. D .; S. K. Welch, attorney ; Woods Crawford, attorney; S. Chapman, shoemaker; J. R. Millett, dentist ; J. Southard, barber; J. T. Mathes, saloon; H. Cohen, H. Charmak and A. Levy, general merchandise; Col. Lansing T. Musick, hotel. About nine business buildings, the courthouse, which occupied the present site, and a few dwellings constituted the extent of the village in 1866. Development was slow while the county seat was at Lower Lake, but on its restoration in 1870, Lakeport commenced a rapid and steady growth. It had 400 popula- tion in 1870.
Clear Lake College was instituted at Lakeport in September, 1876, by Prof. John A. Kelly. Seven youths were admitted to the academic department at that time. It won public favor to the extent that fifty-four students were matriculated during its first year. The college was incorporated under the title of Clear Lake Collegiate Association, on January 12, 1881, with the fol- lowing officers : John A. Kelly, president ; Samuel Clendenin, vice president ; S. K. Welch, secretary; Thomas Haycock, treasurer; H. W. Rice, auditor. At the first commencement exercises, June 9, 1881, the degree of B. A was conferred on William J. Mewhinney, of M. A. upon James L. Woods, and LL.D. upon S. K. Welch and S. C. Hastings. This college succumbed to adversity in a few years. A private school conducted by Miss Mary Stark commenced tuition in January, 1879, and continued for a short time.
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Prof. John Overholser established the Lakeport Academy in 1884. The school was first conducted in a building at the corner of Fourth and Forbes streets, Lakeport. It had four pupils on the opening day, but sixteen regis- tered before the year was out. Professor Overholser taught alone for two years. Subsequent assistants were Miss Rooney, Miss Eloise Boone, Miss Sara Haycock, the latter being now Mrs. J. G. Crump of Lakeport.
In 1890 the Academy was incorporated. the first board of directors being W. D. Rantz of Scotts Valley, A. M. Reynolds, Marshall Arnold, Lilburn H: Boggs. Milton Wambold, W. A. Maxwell and Frank D. Tunis of Lake- port. Two thousands dollars was subscribed in stock, with which a building was erected on land donated by Mrs Zilphia A. Carly in the north end of Lakeport.
The Clear Lake Union High School district was formed on May 4, 1901, by nineteen school districts in the northern and central parts of the county. The proposition carried by the small majority of five votes, the result being 192 votes for and 187 against. Lakeport voted strongly for it and Upper Lake almost solidly against it.
The late Charles W. Haycock was one of the strongest advocates of the high school. The first trustees, one elected from each district, were W. E. York, J. R. Garner, C. M. Hammond, chosen chairman; John M. Wiles, Walter Phillips, John Morrison, C. White, C. M. Crawford, W. N. Thompson, Ira Carpenter, Thomas Patten, Perry Emerson, Alonzo Lea, Palmer, Sim- mons, Mrs. Clark, J. Callahan, W. W. Woodward, Frank Greene. The trustees were unable to agree unanimously on a site, and at an election on July 31, 1901, Lakeport was selected. receiving 300 votes to Upper Lake's 244. C. M. Hammond, J. W. Morrison and W. E. York constituted the first executive committee.
The district rented the Academy building, and Professor Overholser became the science instructor. Prof. F. G. Sanderson was the first principal, and Miss Ora Boring was also a teacher. The high school started with forty students, October 1, 1901, and attendance rapidly increased. Subsequent principals have been Ovid Ritter, Dr. A. A. Mackenzie, Horace N. Caldwell and J. LeRoy Dixon. A proposition to bond the district for $30,000 to build a new school failed of the necessary two-thirds vote at an election on May 23, 1913, the proposed bond issue receiving 472 votes to 411 against.
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