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 2

Author: Carpenter, Aurelius O., 1836-; Millberry, Percy H., 1875- joint author
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company
Number of Pages: 1090

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 2
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 2

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES

the Indian tongue in naming the principal valley and the town therein, as the present cognomen of Ukiah.

Sanel grant was located on Russian river, in a valley five miles south of Ukiah valley, and was to be of four leagues of land, provided that much land could be contained within the boundaries given in the petition asking for the grant. It was rejected by the land commissioners October 18, 1853, and their decision reversed by the United States district court, June 14, 1856. These grants were sold out on advantageous terms to settlers, at from $2.50 per acre to $10 per acre, with a series of years for making payments.

Mendocino was named from the cape of that name on its northern coast boundary, which cape was discovered by Bartolomeo Ferrolo, chief pilot for Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo, who took command of the expedition on the death of Cabrillo. The latter died at the Santa Barbara islands, and Ferrolo sailed north, discovering and naming the cape February 28, 1543, for the then viceroy of New Spain, Antonio de Mendoza. In 1579, Sir Francis Drake, seeking the Northwest passage, struck the coast at about Cape Blanco, and sailed south past Cape Mendocino and anchored in Drake's bay on June 17, 1579. The Russian settlement, at Fort Ross, was in Sonoma county, and beyond the naming of Russian river, seemed to have no connection with or influence upon Mendocino county.

By treaty of peace and settlement with Mexico, dated at Guadalupe Hidalgo, February 2, 1848, the boundaries of the ceded territory were defined, ratified by the president, March 16, 1848, and promulgated July 4, 1848. In 1849, a constitutional convention was assembled in Monterey, and on the close of the session, October 12, a proclamation was published calling upon the citizens of the proposed state to form a government, and elect officers, ratify the constitution, and assume the responsibilities of self-government. This document was signed by B. Riley, brevet brigadier-general United States of America, as governor, and H. W. Hallock, brevet captain and secretary of state.

In accordance with the provisions of the constitution, at the first session of the legislature, in San Jose, on the 15th of December, 1849, "an act subdividing the state into counties and establishing courts," the boundaries of Mendocino county were given as follows: Beginning on the parallel of forty degrees of north latitude, at a point in the ocean three English miles from land, and running due east on said parallel to the summit of the Coast range; thence in a southerly direction, following the summit of the Coast range, and past Cache creek, to Putah creek; thence following up said creek to its sources in the mountains called Mayacmas; thence along the summit of said mountains to the head of Russian river : thence down the middle of said river to its mouth, and three English miles into the ocean; thence in a northerly direction parallel with the coast to the point of beginning. The county, for the time, was attached to Sonoma county for judicial purposes. This would include the old Fort Ross Russian settlement, and the greater part of what is now Lake county, yet leaving out all that stretch of country between Russian river and the Mayacmas mountains. The legislators evidently had little knowledge of the country they were trying to segregate, as a line from the head of Putah creek to the Mayacmas, thence along the summit to the head of Russian river, would be as intricate as a spider web. However, by act of March 11, 1859, the boundaries were changed to read as

MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES

follows : Beginning at a point three miles west of the mouth of the Gualala stream, and up the middle of the channel of said stream two miles; thence in a direct line to the most northern and highest peak or summit of the Redwood mountains immediately north of Cloverdale and Oat valley; thence due east to the western boundary of Napa county, on the summit of the Mayacmas ridge; thence northerly and easterly along the west and north boundary of Napa county to the western boundary of Colusa county; thence northerly along the western boundaries of Colusa and Tehama counties to a point on the fifth standard north of Mount Diablo meridian; thence along such standard parallel due west to a point in the Pacific ocean three miles west of the shore; thence southerly parallel with the coast to the point of beginning.

By the same act an election for county officers was ordered for the first Monday in May, 1859, at which were to be elected county judge, district attorney, county clerk, auditor, and recorder, treasurer, sheriff, assessor, coroner, surveyor, and three supervisors and by an amendment a superin- tendent of schools was included in the list of officers. Joseph Knox, F. Nally, Harry Baechtel, George Brown and Jacob Heiser were appointed com- missioners to designate such additional voting places as they deemed necessary, and to appoint inspectors and judges of election at the various precincts. They were also empowered and directed to receive the returns and issue certificates of election to the successful candidates and to declare which place was the legally selected county seat.

The county judge's term of office was fixed at four years, and his annual salary to be $1,500 per annum. The other county officers terms were fixed for two years. For judicial purposes, Mendocino county was to remain a part of the Seventh Judicial district, which court was the court of appeal from the decisions of the county court. The latter court held sessions alternately as county court and probate court, as the business seemed to demand ; also as a court of sessions on appeals from justice courts.

Before the passage of this act Sonoma and Mendocino had been assigned two members of the assembly. Thereafter one of these was to be elected from each county.

Beverly Mundy of Sonoma county, Jesse Whitton of Napa county and Upton Gordon of Marin county were appointed commissioners to select two sites to be voted upon for county seat, but they, failing to act in the matter, the selection of a county seat became an open fight by ballot, and Ukiah received the largest vote by reason of the largest population, and ease of access, com- paratively, from the outside world.

The fiscal affairs of the two counties were adjusted by the appointment of two commissioners, J. R. Short of Mendocino and John Hendley of Sonoma county, who squared the accounts between the two counties by giving Mendo- cino the right to collect the delinquent taxes standing against her citizens, on the payment to Sonoma of $1,157.60, which it is safe to say was more than Mendocino realized from the $4,647.09 due from delinquents. And, in fact, it having been made to appear that $1,200 of such supposedly delinquent taxes had been paid and receipted for, Mendocino did not pay Sonoma any part of the $1,157.60 adjudged her due.

In 1860, the county was divided into supervisorial districts as follows: First district: Ukiah, Sanel, Anderson and Navarro precincts. Second dis- trict : Calpella, Potter Valley, Little Lake, Long Valley, Round Valley and

MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES

Sherwood precincts. Third district: Noyo, Big River, Albion and Garcia precincts. In April, 1878, by act of the legislature, the county was redistricted into five supervisorial districts, as follows : First district: Anderson and Sanel townships. Second district: Calpella and Ukiah townships. Third district, Little Lake and Round Valley townships. Fourth district: Big River and Ten-Mile townships. Fifth district: Arena township. These boundaries or subdivisions still constitute the respective districts, though the townships have been divided later and increased in number to eleven, as follows: Sanel and Anderson comprise the first supervisorial district: Ukiah the second ; Little Lake, Long Valley, and Round Valley the third; Westport, Ten Mile and Big River the fourth; and Cuffey's Cove and Arena the fifth district.

There being, of course, no county buildings, the second story of a rough board building known as Musical Hall, on Main street, Ukiah, was rented at $25 per month for the use of the county officers. It was built of rough boards, set upright, so-called balloon frame, but the best and only place obtainable, and answered the purpose for the time. August 18, 1859, the supervisors advertised for sealed proposals for a new court house, and awarded the contract to E. Rathbun for $6,000. No plans or specifications are extant, or record of its size, except that it was to be of brick, thirty-five feet wide, to contain jail accommodations, and be built in the center of the plaza. The building was completed and accepted January 24, 1860, and immediately occupied.

On the 3d of September, 1864, $500 was appropriated to enlarge the jail quarters, there being more criminality in the new county than was at first provided for. And, to the end that the jail part might be more secure, Novem- ber 24, 1866, the supervisors appropriated $500 more for iron cells. It was months before these latter arrived from the city, on account of the roads becoming impassable for such heavy freight. Meantime the grand jury declared the jail "no jail at all, and entirely useless as a place for the detention of criminals."

Again in 1871 a move was made for more room for the county offices, jail, etc. Additions and separate buildings were talked of, but the matter culminated on December 5th, 1871, and the board of supervisors advertised for plans and specifications of a much larger court house, $200 being the maximum price for the same, and the building to cost not over $40,000. A draft of a bill, authorizing the issuance of bonds to the amount of $40,000, was presented to the legislature. The bill passed and was signed by the governor January 18, 1872.

Upon the plans submitted, the board awarded the contract to A. P. Pettit. And yet, on March 19, 1872, the hoard passed an order that "all bids should be and are rejected." Five days later they again changed their minds, and, with a slight revision of Pettit's plans, they were approved, and on April 24 the contract was awarded to A. P. Pettit, the building to be completed by January 1, 1873. Pettit proved to be an honest contractor, and the building withstood the earthquake of 1906 with scarcely a crack. As it has been asserted that one, at least, of the supervisors cashed one of the $500 bonds issued, it may have been that graft permeated the proceedings of that early day.

At times, special tax levies have been authorized by the legislature, the first of which was approved April 13, 1859, of thirty-five cents on the hundred dollars, for county purposes. The first rate of taxation fixed by the board was

MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES

$1.65 on the hundred dollars; and the rate has been as high as $2.25 on the hundred, but usually under $2.

By act of February 29, 1864, a special election was authorized to fill a vacancy in the office of sheriff, W. H. Tainter having been drowned in Elk creek January 15, 1864. The treasurer was made ex-officio tax collector, with emoluments of one-half of one per cent, on collections. April 1, 1864, Men- docino county was placed in the Third Congressional district. March 28, 1868, Mendocino was granted five more notaries public. March 30, 1868, legal distances from the county seat of Mendocino, Ukiah, were established as follows: to Sacramento city, two hundred and twenty-five miles ; to Stockton. two hundred and twenty-one miles; to San Quentin, one hundred and ten iniles.

On the 8th of January, 1872, a bill was approved separating the office of recorder from that of county clerk. The first recorder took office the first Monday in March, 1874. February 6, 1874, placing Mendocino in the Twen- ty-seventh senatorial district. March 16, 1874, repeal of act authorizing county to build telegraph line to Humboldt. March 18, 1874, providing for collection of taxes in Ukiah school district. March 18, 1874, authorizing issue of bonds, $10,000 for Boonville to Point Arena road, $3,000 for road to north county line via Summit or Ten-Mile valley. March 25, 1874, regulating salaries.

February 28, 1876, providing for payment of deficiency of school funds. March 20, 1876, authorizing bonds of $12,000 for purchase of Navarro, Albion, Big river and Noyo bridges; $4.000 to complete Boonville and Point Arena road; $10,000 to construct road from Ten-Mile valley to north line of the county. March 8, 1876, act incorporating Town of Ukiah City. April 3, 1876, continuing tax to provide for payment of bonded indebtedness of 1862. December 21, 1876, repeal of law giving bounty on scalps of wild animals. February 8, 1878, empowering sale of remaining bridge bonds. February 14, 1878, repealing act restricting grazing of sheep. March 8, 1878, fixing salary of recorder at $2,000, with certain fees additional. March 27, 1878, authorizing supervisors to issue bonds of $3,000 each for building bridge over Gualala river, and finishing Point Arena and Boonville road. March 30, 1878, creating special bridge fund, and authorizing tax of thirty cents for that year, and ten cents for succeeding years, and the building of bridge over South and Middle forks of Eel river. April 1, 1878, redistricting the county into supervisorial districts and ordering election. April 1, 1878, act amending statute regarding payment of bonds of 1862. March 6, 1883, Mendocino and Lake counties were united to constitute the Twelfth agricultural district. March 8, 1883, Mendocino and Lake united to constitute the Sixth senatorial district. March 13, 1883, Mendocino county was assigned to the First congressional district. March, 1885, appointment of commissioners to select and purchase site for Mendocino State Hospital for the Insane at Ukiah, and appropriating $250.000 for purchase of site and erection of buildings. February 20, 1889, appropria- tion of $175,000 for support and extension of Mendocino State Hospital at Ukiah, and act establishing the same. February 20, 1889, act fixing salary of superior judge at $4,000. March 6, 1889, Lake and Mendocino counties placed in Twelfth agricultural district. March 11, 1891, act making Mendo- cino the Ninth assembly district, and with Colusa the Eighth senatorial district. March 3, 1893, appropriation of $100,000 to finish the Mendocino State Hospital, with a female ward. March 9, 1893, appropriation to pay McGowan & Butler for retaining wall and drainage system at Mendocino

MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES

State Hospital. April 1, 1897, appropriation of $60,000 for furnishing hospital, and $160,000 for support of same. March 17, 1899, appropriation of $107,000 for support of hospital, and $78,000 for salaries of officers and attendants. March 25, 1901, appropriation of $21,000 for purchase of additional land, water pipe and cows for hospital. March 21, 1901, appropriation of $123,900 for support of hospital, and $82,200 for salaries. March 25, 1903, appropriation of $7,500 for water and protection, and $30,000 for assembly hall, hospital. March 28, 1903, appropriation of $129,357 for support of hospital, and $99,673 for salaries. February 24, 1905, act forbidding sale of liquor within one mile of hospital. March 18, 1905, appropriation of $4,500 for improvement of grounds, hospital. March 22, 1905, appropriation of $235,600 for support of hospital and salaries. March 8, 1907, appropriation of $6,000 to finish the water tower, hospital. March 22, 1907, appropriation of $138,300 for support of hospital, and $122,537 for salaries of officers, attendants and employes. March 8, 1907, survey and settlement of the county boundary between Mendo- cino and Glenn. March 8, 1907, appropriation of $5,000 to furnish female cottage, and $2,500 to furnish male cottage, hospital. April 26, 1909, appropri- ation of $205,000 for support of hospital, and $145,000 for salaries, and $7,207 for construction. March 13, 1909, partial boundary between Lake and Men- docino counties. March 25, 1909, appropriation of $12,500 for completion of cottages, hospital. April 12, 1909, appropriation of $10,000 to build main kitchen, etc., hospital. February 28, 1911, Mendocino county declared in twenty-fourth class. March 9, 1911, appropriations for hospital as follows: $3,000 for plumbing, $14,500 for male cottage, $12,500 for dam. March 14, 1911, appropriation of $4,000 for equipment of male cottage. April 14, 1911, an act to prevent the taking of fish by traps, nets, dams, etc., in certain waters. May 1, 1911, appropriation for support of hospital, $210,000, and for salaries of employes therein, $160,000. May 8, 1913, appropriation of $12,500 for dam and reservoir at hospital, and $10,000 for gas plant. June 6, 1913, appropriation of $239,600 for support, and $185,460 for salaries at hospital. An act classifying Mendocino county- in the twenty-fourth class, and fixing salaries as follows: Clerk, $3,000 and sundry fees; sheriff, $4,000 and certain mileage; recorder, $2,100; auditor, $2,000; tax collector, $2,200; assessor, $3,000; district attorney, $2,700 and traveling expenses; superintendent of schools, $2,400 and traveling expenses. The teachers of the country grammar schools are generally paid $70 per month. In the larger towns, and high schools, they are graded up to $130 per month.

The educational facilities of the county compare favorably with any in the state, leaving state institutions out of consideration. The county supports two county high schools, five union high schools, and one hundred and twenty- one elementary or grammar schools. One hundred and sixty-two teachers supply the graded schools, and there are twenty-eight high school teachers. The valuation of school property is $218,253. Amount paid teachers, 1913, $93,- 130. Total number of children enrolled, 3,855. Average daily attendance, 3,060.

Resources. It is estimated that there are still standing in the county twenty billion feet of redwood timber. Add to this about two billion feet of pine and fir, and the millions of cords of oak and madrona for wood; the thousands of acres of land suitable for grapes and fruit not yet under cultiva- tion ; the possibilities of water and power conservation offered by her deep valleys, close-locked canyons, and heavy unfailing rainfall-can one doubt

MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES

that she will yet take her place far in advance of her now twenty-sixth class among our list of counties? In the last twelve months her many mills have produced over one hundred and sixty million feet of lumber; and it is esti- mated that this production can be maintained for thirty or more years, and some say for fifty or more. Her transportation facilities, already so ample, consist of eighteen principal shipping ports, and as many more possible ones, a railroad the full length of the county, soon to connect with Humboldt bay, and probably with Oregon, three considerable coast railroads extending to the interior many miles, one of which will soon connect with the through road, and the Ft. Bragg road already connecting, the future of Mendocino county is fully assured. The principal timber trees, redwood and tanbark, are evergreens, sprouting from the stumps and roots, and with any care at all, such as is given in Europe to forests, her timber resources are inexhaust- ible. With the immense roots of the original tree for support, redwood suckers in twenty years attain a diameter of a foot to sixteen inches. While the cleared land is unsurpassed for fruit growing, we conceive that the reforesting by natural methods is of much more importance to the nation. Eucalyptus have been planted on the headwaters of the Albion in thousands, and are growing thriftily, and may in time supply that timber in abundance. The Union Lumber Company of Ft. Bragg has also planted these trees by thousands.

In Mendocino rain is ever abundant, since 1877 never having fallen less than 19.98 inches in the season, and from that to 60.48 inches. This is the reading at Ukiah by government standard, while at other places in the county as high as one hundred inches has been recorded. Thirty-five inches is the average. The average for March is 4.69; for April, 2.76; May, 1.29; the least for January. 1.04: for February, .23; for March, .25; for December, .68. Light winter rains nearly always precede abundant spring rains, which assure full crops. The winter of 1913-14, up to January 31, has measured up 41.38 inches. There has never been a failure of crops, every year yielding from moderate to abundant, and perhaps never better than the year when Napa farmers came into Potter valley, paid three cents for wheat for seed, and hauled it home by wagonload eighty miles over rough mountainous roads. Peaches and almonds sometimes fail from spring frosts, but there are favored spots, thermal belts, in nearly every locality where they give annual crops. Apples, pears and plums never fail, except in some of the higher valleys, and even these have the thermal lines to be observed in planting.

The assessed valuation of the county for 1914 is $15,921.448, "non- operative"; tax rate not yet set, but probably below $2. The registration of voters for the August primary was 10,000.

Of homicides, Mendocino county has had many, and two executions have taken place locally, and two at San Quentin. The majority of cases have been decided as justifiable by juries, and the others sentenced to longer or shorter terms of imprisonment, more commonly the latter.

The most notable of these was the so-called "Mendocino Outlaw" case. Four men conspired to rob the Mendocino bank, and the tax collector on his round of collection. One posed in Mendocino city as a dentist, the others made camp in the timber adjoining town, and killed a beef for their camp use. This proved their undoing. A posse went out to arrest them for this offense, and met a murderous fire, which killed two of their number. The town and county were at once in a ferment. Ex-Sheriff Standley and Sheriffs

MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES

Moore and J. H. Donohoe were at once in the field, and tracked the men through the mountainous wilds of Mendocino, Trinity and Tehama counties, across and back through the Sacramento Valley, and abandoned the chase. Again taking it up, they followed the trail of the fugitives all over Tehama and Butte counties, finally killing Billings on Butte creek near Nimshew, and capturing Gaunce the next morning in Nimshew, and Brown near Bidwell's Bar a few days later. The three were sent to San Quentin, and the arch conspirator, Dentist Wheeler, committed suicide in jail. Great credit is due to Sheriff Moore, Deputy Standley, and J. H. Donohoe. The latter was in in the field sixty-one days. Both Donohoe and J. M. Standley were after- wards sheriffs, the latter one of the best in the state, and his mantle has fallen upon the present sheriff, Ralph R. Byrnes, who has more arrests to his credit in the last four years than any sheriff in the state.

Some Early Deeds

The first deed recorded in the county was by Louis and Beatrice Pena to Richard Harrison, May 23, 1859, to five hundred acres adjoining what is now the town of Hopland, $2000. The second, R. Harrison to Beatrice Pena, in Sanel Valley, two hundred and thirty acres, $1400, May 27, 1859. June 1, 1859, F. B. Gardner to W. W. Starr, quarter interest in 1940 acres, $2000. Same date, premises and to J. B. Bowen. S. J. Smith, guardian, to Oscar Schlesinger, June 25, 1859, lot in Ukiah on Main street now the Lempke homestead. Agreement, Tichenor and Byxbee, to buy or sell Navarro Mill property, November 27, 1863, $40,000. April 1, 1860, Lloyd Beall and E. J. Whipple, land near Westport. October 16, 1865, D. F. Lansing and wife to Eugene O'Connell. Vicar Apostle, lot in Mendocino City, $150.

STATE AND COUNTY OFFICERS FROM 1859 TO 1914, INCLUSIVE

MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES

A. L. Brayton J. McGimsey F. Cowan

G. Linderoos A. L. Means W. Heeser

J. E. Pettus J. M. Neil S. Gates J. P. Simpson W. Irvin

J. A. Knox W. S. Jarboe E. L. Reed

1868-9

W. W. Pendegast W. H. Cureton

County Judge. R. McGarvey

Sheriff .W. Tainter

County Clerk G. C. Smith

District Attorney Wm. N. Johnson

County Recorder (County Clerk ex-officio until 1874)

1860

1861

1862

State Senator.

Jasper O'Farrell

John H. Hill

Ned McGarry T. M. Ames

Assemblyman J. S. Robertson

County Judge .. William Henry

Sheriff

J. B. Price

Clerk G. C. Smith

G. C. Smith

G. C. Smitlı

G. C. Smith

District Attorney .Wm. N. Johnson

Recorder-Co. Cl'k Ex-officio

County Treasurer ..

.Jno. W. Morris

County Assessor John Burton

Superintendent of Schools. .A. L. Brayton

A. L. Brayton

E. R. Budd

D. W. Smith

J. D. McGann

Coroner D. W. Smith

County Surveyor .. J. J. Cloud

Supervisor First District ...... O. H. P. Brown

Supervisor Second District .... Daniel Miller Supervisor Third District ...... J. F. Hills Justices of Peace: Anderson Township. ......

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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 2

Author: Carpenter, Aurelius O., 1836-; Millberry, Percy H., 1875- joint author Publication date: 1914 Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company Number of Pages: 1090

Author: Carpenter, Aurelius O., 1836-; Millberry, Percy H., 1875- joint author
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company
Number of Pages: 1090