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 4

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 4
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 4

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MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES

town, Mr. Kendall having removed to Manchester. Access to the valley was yet very difficult on the road from Cloverdale, and by private subscription John Gschwend attempted to build a road from Boonville to Ukiah, the county seat, in 1867. When about half done, the subscriptions failed, and Gschwend obtained a franchise for its completion as a toll road in 1868. Within the last four or five years nearly the whole of the old road has been abandoned for better grade, though the general route has been followed. In 1869-70 a road was surveyed and soon after worked after a fashion from Anderson to Point Arena, but the grades were so steep it has never been used for aught but light teams, except at each end, where the down grade favors the hauling of timber either way. To John Gschwend also belongs the principal credit for the road built over Navarro ridge connecting Ander- son with the coast. This was "swamped" in 1861-2 and graded immediately after and for many years was the only road from the coast part of the county to the outside world. The Gschwends, Guntleys and Gossmans were Swiss, and formed the settlement at the lower end of the valley that was long known as "Guntleys" and later as Christine, for a daughter of John Gschwend's. Andrew Guntley erected a distillery and brewery which flourished until about 1866, when the government tax caused the abolition of the establishments. These Swiss all planted orchards which still flourish, and the orchard area might be extended tenfold with profit. There are several fruit driers in the main valley and much fruit is shipped to the coast section for home con- sumption, but little or none has been shipped to the more extensive markets of the bay district, except dried. In 1908 two hundred and fifty tons dried pears were shipped.

The western and northern part of the township is heavily timbered with redwood, fir, tan oak, madrona, laurel, as forest, with manzanita, blue blos- soin and chemissal brush covering quite a large section. The redwood and fir have been destroyed largely in the northern part of the township, while only desultory attempts have been made upon its area elsewhere. To John Gschwend belongs the honor of building the first saw mill, in 1856. At that time there were no roads leading into or out of the valley, and access to the township was had only by skirmishing over the hills from one opening to another with ox teams, rough locking down the steep hills, and doubling teams up the mountain. It was built on his own homestead on a branch of the main fork of the Navarro, run by water. Previous to that date the settlers' houses were mostly built of logs, shakes split from the pliant, straight-grained redwood, or lumber made by the toilsome whipsaw mill. Some years later it was supplied with steam power and more machinery for making dressed lumber. In 1864 a grist mill addition supplied the neighborhood with flour. In 1875 fire destroyed the mill, and as the timber was nearly all cut off con- tiguous to the site, it was not rebuilt.

In 1877 Thomas Hiatt built a saw mill some four miles up the valley from Gschwend's, with a capacity of 8000 feet per day, and soon cut out the timber convenient and moved the mill away. In 1876 the Clow brothers built a mill on the west side of the valley, about four miles from Boonville, which used up the timber on 250 acres, running twenty years. Its capacity was 12,000 feet per day. It was then sold and moved away.

In 1878 H. O. Irish erected the fourth mill a mile or two further down the valley, but it was destroyed by fire very soon after it began running. In 1896 August Wehrspon built a mill at Ornbann's Valley. a detached upland

MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES

valley near Yorkville, with a capacity of 20,000 feet per day. This mill was in a fine body of timber, purchasable at $1 per thousand. By the terms of the contract the mill was required to cut a specified amount of lumber each year. Timber raised in value, the mill owner failed one year to cut the required amount, and was ousted by suit at court. The mill was moved to the old Bonnet place west of Boonville, cut a little lumber. and still stands there, although the main body of the timber has passed into the hands of speculators. The mill cut about 16 million feet in all. In 1904 Bledsoe built a shingle mill at Peachland, a settlement on the ridge east of Anderson, of about 20,000 feet capacity. It was run about three years, and since then has remained idle. It is now owned by Bledsoe & Daugherty.

Access to the township is attained by a road from Cloverdale, thirty miles distant, or from Ukiah, twenty-four miles, or from the Albion by road, or rail- road, to Wendling, a mill town, a few years old. This mill was built on the promise of a railroad, but before even residences were finished for its superin- tendent and foremen, work was suspended, the railroad not materializing. Suit was instituted, or threatened against the Santa Fe company and com- promised, and the logging road from the Albion mill was pushed through to the mill, and two miles further up the valley. The product is railed down to the Albion and there transhipped to vessels. This road has been sur- veyed through to a junction with the Northwestern at Healdsburg, and will soon be pushed through, as there is a fine body of timber tributary to it. The Wendling property has passed into the hands of Hickey & Co., and the town name changed to Navarro.

Yorkville, in the southern part of the township, is a small hamlet of a few houses, located on Rancheria creek, the principal tributary, or rather the main head of Navarro river. It was named after its founder, R. H. York, who lived there many years. It has a post office and a hotel has long been maintained by the Hiatt family owning the ranch.

Boonville, about the center of the township, is the oldest village in it. It consists of two hotels, two stores, two blacksmith shops, post office, drug store, and eight or ten residences, a church and school house and barber shop. There used to be two saloons, but the school district voted dry some years ago and they are things of the past.

Philo, nine miles down the valley, is a small hamlet of two stores, black- smith shop, Methodist Episcopal church, school house, post office, and two or three residences, near enough to be included in the town. Here the four- horse stages from Cloverdale are split into two, one proceeding to Green- wood on the coast, the other five miles down the valley to Navarro. The latter is essentially a mill town, and was unbroken forest until the lumber company pitched on it as a base of operations. The mill has recently changed hands and its product will eventually find its outlet by rail to Healdsburg, and on to San Francisco and east. The mill was erected in 1905, with a capacity of sixty thousand feet of lumber and one hundred thousand shingles. It was run by the Stearns Lumber Co. with profit, notwithstanding the long haul and rehandling of its output. The town did contain two stores, one livery stable, three hotels with bars, two hotels without bars, one saloon, one blacksmith shop, one restaurant, one barber shop, one photo gallery, forty-five residences and post office, being the end of a mail route in that direction. The saloons have been discontinued on account of an election voting the district dry.

MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES

Many fine residences have been erected in Anderson in the last ten years and much progress made in fruit culture. The climate is undoubtedly the finest in the county, and only three failures on account of frost have been known since its first settlement. The earthquake of 1906 did not seem to affect this section as much as the one experienced in 1898, which opened considerable gaps in the earth at the northern end of the valley but without much damage. In the past few years roads have been built connecting the valley with Hopland and Fish Rock, both starting from Yorkville. Several mineral excitements have had their rise and fall, but none of the discoveries have so far proved of present value.

There have been several lodges instituted in the valley, but at present all have lapsed. It has had its quota of fires. The hotel has been burned and rebuilt ; Ruddick's store burned in April, 1913; Johnson's store at Philo burned September 18, 1913, and there have been several residences burned. In July, 1901, a threshing boiler exploded, killing two men.

There are several fruit dryers in the valley, J. D. Ball erecting the first in 1890, Studebaker about the same time and others have followed. There have been two or three small saw mills on Rancheria and Dry creek, but they have passed away. The road to Point Arena was improved from time to time until in 1890 it was made available for freighting to a limited extent. A mail route formerly extended through the valley from Cloverdale to Navarro, sixty miles, but has been cut off at Wendling, while a cross mail has been established from Philo to Greenwood, twenty-one miles. On the through route in 1904 there were used sixty-seven individual mail pouches. The timber has nearly all passed into the hands of mill owners or specula- tors. In 1909 Hickey & Standish bought 3500 acres west of Boonville, and sold 12.000 acres of their holdings to the Santa Fe. During 1913 much bark was hauled to Cloverdale by motor trucks; 8700 pounds at a load. two trips per day, making 120 miles travel. Much has also been shipped by way of Albion. For years previous it had been hauled by teams to Cloverdale and Ukiah.

Some notable deaths have occurred of the old settlers. Among them may be mentioned John Gossman. eighty-eight years. November 20, 1898, who came to the valley in 1856; S. W. Knowles, September 25, 1911, eighty- nine years of age, settled on Dry creek, 1858-9; R. H. Rowles, ex-supervisor. November 9, 1911, sixty-six years, settled in 1858; W. L. Wallace, August 27, 1883, settled in 1857, and Mrs. John Conrad, who came to the valley in 1858. died July 12, 1914, at the age of one hundred and one years.

The several school districts voted for a union high school, and a rough building was erected last year and is now in use.

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CHAPTER III Arena Township

Arena is essentially a coast township, having its western line on the ocean, and its eastern the summit of the coast range. On the south it joins Sonoma county, and on the north Cuffey's Cove township. In length it is about thirty miles, and its breadth from eight to fifteen miles. Along the ocean shore lies a strip of fertile open land, mostly under cultivation, varying from half a mile to three miles at most; back of that, heavy timber, with occasional openings of grazing land, mostly too steep for cultivation. It has one large river, the Gar- cia, and the Gualala river makes its southern boundary for about four miles. The north fork of the Gualala rises in Arena, but is inconsiderable except in winter. Alder creek is a large stream in winter, and always flows some water. It is fifteen miles in length and was heavily timbered, but its headwaters are denuded. Brush creek is a fine timber stream though only a few miles long. North of Alder creek are two abrupt deep gulches, not dignified by any other name than that of the settlers who first lived in their vicinity as Irish Gulch and Mal Paso (bad pass). The narrow bench along the immediate ocean bluff of the northern part of the township is the best land in the county. It is a rich black wash loam from the high, timbered bluff back of it, and the soil is often ten and fifteen feet deep, producing large crops of grain and vegetables; potatoes, beets and carrots being largely cultivated. It is essentially a dairy country, as the feed stays green until late summer, and is supplemented by green silage of corn, beets and carrots. Corn does not mature along the coast and is only sown for silage or green feed. Phe- nomenal yields are often secured without fertilization. On the Garcia bot- tom lands in 1910 Charles Bishop secured 3500 sacks of potatoes from twelve acres, 3000 of them being produced on eight acres. In the same year on the bench land at Bridgeport R. J. Dartt harvested as follows: Eighteen acres black oats, 1440 bushels; twenty acres white oats, 1600 bushels; sixteen acres wheat, 480 bushels; twenty acres barley, 1200 bushels; thirty-two acres hay, 96 tons; three acres potatoes, 400 sacks; and with seventy acres in pasture, the farm keeps 265 sheep (Southdowns), sixty head of cattle, fourteen horses, and seventy-five hogs. Scientific farming, with the use of thousands of tons of kelp, potash producing material, will keep this land up to this point of production for an indefinite time. Onions of two pounds, cabbage thirty- five pounds, lettuce twenty-five inches across, and beets of one hundred and seventeen pounds have been produced.

Going south from Point Arena one crosses numerous gulches, but no considerable stream. The southern boundary, Gualala river, is mostly in Sonoma county. In the watershed of this stream it has recently been esti- mated that there is yet remaining nearly one billion feet of lumber; on the Garcia river watershed there is nearly as much; on the Navarro three hun- dred million ; on Big river, fifteen hundred million, and north of that an untold quantity that has not been estimated by timber cruisers. With all this timber yet to cut and ship, Mendocino has a future from this industry alone. Much timber land has been cleared of all merchantable lumber and is now being cleared up and devoted to farming and fruit raising or being set in eucalyptus. The redwood lands make the best of orchard land, pro- ducing fruit crisper, more juicy and with higher flavor than the open lands of the interior. And yet it is the belief of many thinking minds that these lands are worth more to the nation for reforesting than for agriculture. The

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redwood and tan bark oak are evergreens which sprout up from the stumps as vigorously as willows. If the sprouts were carefully thinned to a judicious number, the waste kept burned up, in a decade or two sawing timber would be produced from the one, and another crop of bark and wood from the other.

Point Arena is the only considerable town in the township, and the main shipping port for agricultural products, supplemented by bark, ties, posts, etc. It is a town of 476 inhabitants by the last census, and was incor- porated July 11, 1908. The town boasts nine saloons, three general stores, three confectionery stores, harness shop, two blacksmith shops, two barbers. one livery stable, one hardware store, three hotels (all under one management, one closed, and one used only for lodging purposes), butcher shop, and a millinery establishment, fire company, water works and electric lighting, and three churches, grammar school and high school. Steamers run to the port regularly twice a week and semi oftener, Wednesday being steamer day, when the town will be full of teams bringing farm produce. butter, eggs, chickens, and travelers for the city. The port is not a secure one, and in boisterous weather is sometimes missed by even the regular steamer. There is a long wharf and also a chute for shipping ties, etc. This latter is of the cable variety and used only by the L. E. White Lumber Co. Asphalt exudes from the ocean bluff west of the town, and two attempts have been made to obtain oil, but the casing has been pulled out of the last and deepest, 1600 feet, and there is no prospect of another attempt for years to come. The crude asphalt has been hauled and dumped on the street and lasts for years.

Early Settlement

As before written, during the Spanish regime Rafael Garcia received a grant which covered all the open land in the township, and he stocked it with large bands of cattle, finally selling his right to Don Jose Leandro Lnco for the sum of $10,000; the latter dispatched M. T. Smith and Dr. J. C. Morse to the rancho as his agents. As heretofore written the grant was finally rejected by the United States, and thrown open for settlement. In 1855 J. A. Hamilton, Joseph Sheppard and William Oliver came from Yolo county with cattle and settled on the Garcia bottoms, near the old ranch house of Garcia's agents, who also count among the earliest real settlers. Hamilton brought with him his family. Shortly after S. B. Campbell and family, and David and Elijah Beebee with their families settled upon either side of the present town of Point Arena. In 1856 William Shoemake located a farm, bought a large tract from Luco, which under the provisions for settling the controversy the government permitted him to retain, he having held con- tinuous possession and improving the same. The same year Fadre settled near Bourne's Landing. In 1857 G. W. Wright, R. W. O'Neil and J. T. O'Neil arrived. The year 1858 brought in the families of Dr. J. G. Morse, O. W. Scott and others, while in the southern part of the township settled C. D. Robinson at Gualala, and John Northrope and Joshua Adams located at Ferguson's Cove. At about this time came J. Oliver, M. W. Barney, J. Schrock, C. De Wolff, J. L. Gillespie, Kuffel, Willard and John Smith, making in all about thirty families in the neighborhood at the time of the · organization of the county. In 1859 and 1860 came Sam McMullen, S. S. Hoyt, C. B. Pease, T. J. and Calvin Stewart, Samuel Hunter, A. W. Hall and E. Wilsey. Of all these above mentioned so far as can be learned none are living save the Stewarts. Mart T. Smith died in Inglenook, in Ten Mile township, in 1913. When the mill fever was at its height, Point Arena was

MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES

the busiest town between San Francisco and Eureka. In addition to posts, wood, ties, bark and farm produce, from three to seven mills were turning out lumber at the rate of 200,000 feet per diem. In the near future this era of prosperity will be duplicated, as there are vast forests back of the town whose products must come down to the port of Point Arena. Notwith- standing the number of saloons in the town, it is an exceedingly quiet place, seldom the scene of any boisterous manifestations of the effects of king alcohol; and its government is carried on with economy and conservative management. Its distinguishing feature, which strikes a stranger forcibly, is its steep main street, and the many levels of its sidewalks. Its educa- tional facilities are unrivalled in any other town of its size, with its large, commodious grammar school and high school, both new buildings costing $3500 and $4000 respectively.

The electric light plant was put in by Albert Brown of Mendocino, in 1905, and is a midnight closing plant, though heretofore it had been an all- night service as long as it justified. Water is supplied from springs in the adjacent hills, and could be improved without much expense. Travel by land up and down the coast is by stages, meeting the Northwestern Pacific railroad at Cazadero, fifty miles south. The mails arrive from San Fran- cisco in twelve hours. There is also a steamer service that reaches the city in about the same time. The stage line is owned and run by J. C. Halliday Co. and is efficient and sufficient. During the last decade all the streams and gulches in the township have been spanned by new bridges, generally up to grade of the road, hills circled or cut down, and general improvement every way, rendering travel more pleasant and less expensive.

The first building on the present town site was erected by L. Wilsey, and stocked with goods in 1859. Another store was put in that year by Lane & Linderoos, and a saloon by S. W. McMullen. In February, 1866, Mart T. Smith obtained a franchise for and built a wharf. In 1870 he sold it to Woodward & Chalfant. In 1875 it passed into the hands of C. R. Arthur, and the records show that a large amount of shipping was done at that early date. Soon after it passed into the hands of Wells, Russell & Co., by whom it is now operated. The L. E. White Lumber Co. put in a cable chute for their own use on the north side of the harbor, as also did C. W. Tindall.

Gualala, at the extreme southern end of the township and county, was only a mill town, and is now only a hamlet, with one hotel, one store, post office. shoe shop and blacksmith shop, and eight or ten dwellings. The burning of the mill put a damper on enterprise here.

Bourne's Landing, two and a half miles north, is the shipping point for this region and has a general store and a few houses. There were chutes operated at St. Ores, a mile north, and at Robinson's, but they are no longer in use.

Fish Rock was once the scene of much activity, shipping timber products, but its proprietor, C. Queen, of late years has devoted himself to orchard work. He has 800 Baldwin trees, the entire crop being put through a dryer. George Brandt, on the hill back of the port, has a fine large orchard from which he has been for years shipping a fine lot of apples. Chutes have been in operation at several other points along the coast above here up to Fer- guson's cove, which latter once did a large business shipping ties, etc., and the lumber and shingles for the mills at Schooner, Galloway and others spoken of later. But this chute closed down last November for want of profitable work and as a hamlet the place is deserted.

MENDOCINO AND LAKE COUNTIES

Manchester, six miles north of Point Arena, has a fine large new school house, two churches, one store, blacksmith shop, two creameries and hotel, one creamery making over 500 pounds of butter per day. It is essentially a farming community, surrounded as it is by many fine farms.

Bridgeport, six miles north, was once a thriving mercantile and shipping place with a chute, but it was a dangerous harbor and not used long for that purpose. The hamlet now has no business places, but half a mile south is located a fine school house, and a creamery which operates about ten months in the year. The effect of the earthquake of 1906 is distinctly visible in this vicinity, large areas having been shaken loose from the steep hills above the farming lands, sliding down and covering many acres with gravel, sand and rocks. The neighborhood of Bridgeport, next to the Garcia bottoms, is the finest land in the county. The farms of the Walsh family, R. J. Dartt, Ryans, Snickers. H. Bishop, C. J. Buchanan and others cannot be exceeded in fertility, depth of soil and ease of cultivation, anywhere in the world. These farms were nearly all damaged by the earthquake of 1906. The line of the fault was clearly visible from the mouth of Alder creek easterly through many farms and far back into the mountains. Curious manifesta- tions of its power were to be seen in the fissure, breaking the continuity of lines of fruit trees and fences from twelve to fourteen feet, and breaking rocks the size of a goose egg sharply in two. The iron bridge at the mouth of Alder creek was torn to pieces like a cardboard house. In Point Arena the brick buildings were generally destroyed. The Odd Fellows' two-story building was thrown bodily endwise into the street. The L. E. White store was also totally destroyed, while the wooden buildings sustained but little damage. In 1893 the west side of the business street was nearly all burned out, the only serious fire the town has ever had. Formerly there was a tannery, but it has long since ceased its operation; and also a brewery, operated by Mr. Schlachter, but it, too, has been discontinued on account of the death of the proprietor.

There are three churches, Methodist, Catholic and Presbyterian, with resident pastors.

The first mill in the township was built by Tift & Pound, at Hard- scratch, seven miles south of Point Arena. It was a wet weather water mill with a forty foot overshot wheel, with a capacity of about 2000 feet per day-sometimes. It was located on a narrow shallow gulch having a solid water-worn rock bottom which discharged its waters over a precipice forty feet high directly into the ocean. It had performed its mission and departed before 1864. In 1862 .Rutherford & Webber erected a mill near the mouth of the Gualala river of a capacity of 20,000 feet. In 1872 its capacity was increased to 35,000. Soon after they abandoned the methods then in vogue for bringing logs to the mill and put in a railroad to the woods and continued it to the shipping point of Bourne's Landing, two and a half miles north of the mill. The franchise for railroad and wharf was granted in 1862. In 1878 a heavy southeaster destroyed the wharf and chute, which were immediately rebuilt on improved plans and are still in use at this date. In 1868 Mr. Webber sold his interest to Heywood & Har- mon, and Mr. Rutherford soon afterward sold out. It was afterward moved up the river a half mile and after being run a couple of years was sold, there- after remaining idle for a short time, when it was destroyed by fire. The largest redwood in the county, twenty-two feet in diameter, stood about six

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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 4

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