USA > California > Merced County > History of Merced County, California with biographical sketches of prominent citizens > Part 14
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In some cases, considerable quantities of land have been dis- posed of by the Federal Government, but in such a manner that they are not subject to taxation. Thus, the Southern Pa- cific Railroad Company has built 150 miles of its road in San Diego county, and is entitled to twenty square miles of land as subsidy for each mile of the road, making a total of 3,000 square miles; but this land has not yet been conveyed by patent, and nobody is authorized to say precisely which section will pass under the grant. The total areas, as given in the following table, are taken from calculations made by J. H. Wille, Esq.
6,721
1858
65,076
22,953
1859
69,682
8,300
1860
1861
293,074
58,294
11,789
1862
364,423
59,620
2,863
1863
1864
376,046
83,568
4,24
1865
346,654
47,822
6,662
1866
515,807
45,717
2,921
1867
543,193
50,678
50,638
12,917
1868
632,086
604,392
151,470
1857
6,654
1838
419,749
1860.
707,156
1861
560,304
1862.
492,724
90,932
738,206
1872.
.3,815,911
1873
39,065,754
38,714
317,419
34,188
4,675
21,619
326,973
55,268
AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS OF THE STATE.
PRINTING OFFICE.
¡OFFICE OF SAN JOUQUIN VALLEY ARGUS, ROBERT J. STEELE, PROP. MERCED, CAL.
RES. OF THOMAS UPTON, 5 MILES NORTHEAST OF MERCED.
RES.OF S.C. BATES, MERCED, CAL.
RES. OF A. ROSENTHAL, 18TH ST. MERCED, CAL.
69
SIZE AND WEALTH OF EACH OF THE COUNTIES.
DIAGRAM SHOWING COMPARATIVE SIZE OF COUNTIES. Prepared for Elliott & Moore's County History.
Arranged in square miles, each square represents 50 square miles land. Each black 2 square represents 50 square miles cultivated, fractions omitted. Each dotted . square represents 50 square miles sold bat not cultivated. Each open
square represents 50 square miles unsold land, not assessed.
1,470,829
Santa Barbara.
3,5-10
90
1,200
3,816
95
1,100
Mendocino.
NAME.
433
35
SOLD. 350
$ 5,616,553
Santa Cruz.
450
90
450
6,157,210
San Mateo.
10
Mono.
4,186
·
Marin.
3,006,203
Sutter.
.
.
90
300
4,268,250
600
700
45
200
2,724,449
Amador.
40
320
1,213,184
4,942
Lassen.
750
,
105
G50
37,452,230
Alameda.
٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠
.
190
790
S,671,022
Solano.
٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠|٠١٠
40
350
7.873,926
Napa.
1.
4
140
Sierra.
35
320
1,829,SG5
11.1.1
Los Angeles.
6,000
170
2,200
16,160,983
١١٠١٠١٠١٠
1,000
55
San Benito.
170
Sacramento.
.
SO
500
6,821,306
Nevada,
40
250
1,239,152
Modoc.
1111
Yolo.
23,628,815
Santa Clara.
.
.
475 1,350
San Joaquin.
٠١٠١٠١٠١|٠١٠
590
1,920
Stanislaus.
...
٢ ٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١
2,857,383
Ventura.
1.1. ٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١
600
Placer.
Fregno.
8,750
110
2,800
.
. .
1 ........ .
310
1,200
Sonoma.
٠١٠١٠١٠١٠
I,209,950
Mariposa.
1
695,850
Del Norte.
15,156
28
600
3.161,177
10,663,097 San Diego.
Butte.
.
12
100
Trinity.
2,331,350
1,872
El Dorado.
990 1,649,611 11.1.1.1.
1,950
Tuolumune.
2,601,321
San Bernardino.
........... .
Merced.
1,975
480
.
.
5,355,028
Humboldt.
.
.
.
..
1,800
12,546,212
2,376
Culusa.
1,926.154
2,736
Plumas.
Tehama.
.
..
. ...
300 2,651,367
Siskiyon.
1
1 .........
-
-
NAME.
AREA. 3,160
CULTIVATED.
801.0.
$1.137,510
San Luis Obispo.
..
٠ ٠ ٠٠١٠ ٠١٠١٠١٠١٠ ٠/٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠
7,185,185
Monterey.
3,300
300
1,150
The areas in the table are not exact. The cultivated and assessed land and valuations are from Assessor's reports. About one twenty-fourth of the State is cultivated, and about one fourth belongs to individuals.
VALUATION,
Real and Personal.
AREA.
CULTIVATED,
490
7,8G8,917
575
325
57G
57G
1,800
1,963,320
Shasta.
4.500
55
1 1
ISO
700
7,720,292
Contra Costa.
800
4.601,250
5,500
150
1,900
Tulare.
٠١٠١٠١ ٠١٠١٠١٠٠٠١٠ ٠ ٠١٠١٠١٠ ٠١٠١٠٦٠٠٠١٠٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠ ٠١٠ ٠١٠٠٠ ٤
972.401
5,852
10
110
830
936
Calaveras.
.
975
30
230
1,213,084
Lake.
3,774,603
980
18,578,385
1,026
1,0.0
215
880
0,916,597
1.150
350
850
1,336
18,678,594
2,000
4.485,997
Kern.
٠١٠١ ٠٠٠٠٠٠٠١٠١٠١٠١٠٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠١ ٤٠١٠٠٠
·
1,380
٠١٠١٠
5,832,925
1,350
150
15,178,12]
1,400
| ٠١٠|٠١٠١٠١٠|٠|٠٠٠٠
8
303
1.1.10
١١٠١٠١٠١٠١٠] ·
1,440
2
80
750
370
1,458
SOS,610
1,800
20
330
1,500 5.712,657
23,472
85
700
2,000
435
10 200
750 4.192,548
$578,839,214
Total
.164,031
6,941
41,350
2,800
300
By way of comparison, on same scale, to show the vast size of California, we represent the State of Rhode Island. 1,306 square miles.
3,010
-18
1
-
-
1
6,055,062
8,000
40
1,350
6,031,98S
1,350
78 700
7,380
.. .
800
751,005 Inyo.
1,691,779
SO
5 508,650
1,5 ))
15 1,100
480
70
GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES AND PRODUCTIONS.
SIZE OF CALIFORNIA.
Its extreme length, north-west and south-east, is about seven hundred and seventy miles, and greatest breadth three hundred and thirty miles, embracing every variety of climate in the known world. It has an area of one hundred and sixty-four thousand nine hundred and eighty-one square miles, or one bundred million nine hundred and forty-seven thousand eight hundred aud forty acres, of which eighty-uine million aeres are suited to some kind of profitable hushandry.
California is four times greater in area than Cuha. It will make four States as large as New York, which has a population of nearly five million. It will make five States the size of Kentucky, which has a population of one million three hundred and twenty-one thousand. It will make twenty-four States the size of Massachusetts, having a population of one million five hundred thousand. It has an area one hundred and forty- four times as great as Rhode Island. It is four-fifths the size of Austria, and nearly as large as France, each having a pop- ulation of thirty-six million. It is nearly twice the size of Italy, with twenty-seven million inhabitants, and it is one and one-half times greater than Great Britain and Ireland, having a population of thirty-two million.
California needs population-she is susceptible of sustaining millions where she now has thousands.
With industry, economy, sobriety, and honesty of purpose, no man in this State, with rare exceptions, will fail of success in the ordinary pursuits of life.
BAYS, HARBORS AND ISLANDS.
California has a sea-coast extending the whole length of the State, amounting, following the indentations, to somewhat over seven hundred miles. The principal hays aud harbors, begin- ning on the south, are San Diego, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Francisco, Tomales, Bodega, and Hum- boldt.
San Francisco bay, the most capacious and best protected harbor on the western coast of North America, is nearly fifty miles long (including its extension, San Pablo bay,) and about nine miles wide. The entrance to the bay is through a strait a bout five miles long and a mile wide, and is named Chryso- pylæ, or Golden Gate.
A FEW LAKES.
There are few lakes worthy of mention in California. The largest is Tulare, in the southern part of the State, which is very shoal. It is about thirty-three miles long by twenty-two wide, though in the wet season it covers a mnuch larger area. Owen's Korn, and Buena Vista are much smaller lakes, in the same vieinity.
Donner Lake and Lake Tahoe are small bodies of water much visited by tourists, lying near the eastern border of the State.
Lake Mono, fourteen miles long from east to west and nine miles wide, lies in Mono county, east of the Sierra Nevada. The water, being saturated with various mineral substances, the chief of which are salt, lime, borax, and carbonate of soda, is intensely bitter and saline, and of such high specific gravity that the human body floats in it very lightly. No living thing except the larva of a small fly and a small crustacean, inhabits tbis lake, which is sometimes called the Dead Sea of California.
The other lakes are: Clear, in Lake county, in the western part of the State, about ten miles long; and Klamath and Goose lakes, lying partly in Oregon.
WHEAT THE STAPLE PRODUCTION.
Prior to 1864, no very marked results were reached in farm- ing in California, the export of agricultural products with the exception of wool, not having been such as to attract atten- tion abroad. And owing to the drought that prevailed in 1863 aud 1864, California had but little grain or other farm produce to spare, flour having been to some extent imported. The large extent, uudoubted fertility, and known capabilities of the lands of the San Joaquin, Sacramento and Salinas valleys give assurance that Agriculture will become the predominant inter- est of its people.
The principal staples which the soil and climate of these val- leys favor are tbe cereal grains. Wild oats are indigenous to the country, and on lands allowed to run wild, will run out other small grains, but are cultivated only as a forage plant, which, cut while green, makes an excellent hay. Barley also tbrives well, and in a green state, is often cut for hay. But the great staple, from being "the staff of life," and the ease of cultivation over other products in this elimate, is wheat. In a moderately rainy season it is capable of perfecting its growthi before the heats of summer have evaporated the moisture from the roots, and a crop is nearly sure of being made. No disease, rust, or insect harms the grain, although sinut was in early days very prevalent, but by proper treatment bas nearly disap- peared. There has always been a good demand for the surplus crop of this cereal, in the mines and for export, and its cultiva- tion has beeu profitable.
Cotton cultivation has been experimented upon in Fresno county, and in tho Tulare Basin, where the yield has averaged five hundred pounds to the acre of a fine textile fibre.
Next to the cultivation of cereals, the vine engrosses the minds of California agriculturists more than any other produc- tion, the product of her vineyards finding favor in all parts of the world.
Many of our subscribers are directly interested in producing wheat, and the following table giving the fluctuations of the market will be found of great value for reference,
71
TABLE SHOWING VARIATIONS IN PRICE OF WHEAT.
COMPARATIVE STATEMENT
SHOWING THE
Fluctuation of Prices in the San Francisco Wheat Market, PER CENTAL.
According to the monthly average quotations for Good Shipping Wheat. From June, 1864, to June, 1879. Each column showing the price of each year's crop. (Compiled for the Illustrated History by A, MONTPELLIER, Cashier Granger's Bank.)
1873-1874-1875-1876-1877-1878-
MONTHS.
65
66
67
68
69
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
1864-1865-1866-1867
1868-
1869- 70
$ cty.
$ cts.
$ cts.
$ cts.
$ cts.
$ ets
$ cts
2 45
1 75
3 05
4 75
1 65
1 90
2 05
1 80
(Highest Lowest
2 60
1 90
1 4721 6711 90
1 55
1
65
2 25
1 60
1 70
1 65
1
65
JUNE.
Average.
1 5232 3721 70
1 65 1 9231 70
2 15
1 60
( Highest. Lowest.
3 15 1 70
1 473 1 70 1 80
JULY . . . . . .
3 3341 80
Average.
5
Highest. Lowest.
2 25
1 70
1 773 1 464 1 911 1 932 1 721 1 833 2 361 1 561 2 111 1 58:2 23 1 483 2 222 1 70
1 55
2 3711 77}
'Highest Lowest.
13 85 3 50
12 00
1 55
2 40
2 00
1 85
2 221 1 9231 70
3 674|1 92}|1 45
Average.
1 75
14 371 2 121 1 873 2 523 2 021 1 75
4 1112 064 1 713 2 45 1 961 1 673 2 012 2 732 1 671 2 311 1 562 2 021 1 6322 313 1 711
2 371 1 75
4 373 2 15
1 95
2 524 1 95
1 65
2 20
2 82211 773/2 30
1 874 1 6212 1112 761 1 711 2 261 1 532 1 934 1 871 2 30 1 70
2 521 1 75
4 25
2 25
1 95
2 75
2 10
11 70
1 323 2 75
2 60
1 80
2 271 1 55
1 932 2 1322 3621 70
DECEMBER. .
( Highest Lowest. Average.
3 50
2 15
1 88 2 6112 03 1 661 2 2112 671 1 882
3 87}
12 20
1 72}
4 75
2 40
1 85
2 95
2 121 1 75
5 45
2 221 2 25
1 90
2 12}|1 65 2 00 1 55
1 90
2 10
2 10
1 65
4 25
2 10
1 7232 70
JANUARY .. .
4 50
12 25
1 7832 8212 05
2 88 1 862 1 70
12 362 2 15
1 8612 0141 60
1 90
2 03:2 03:1 67號
FEBRUARY. .
Highest. Lowest. Average
4 87} 2 30
1 75
1 874 3 05
5 00
1 65
5 00
1 95
1 70
2 55
1 711 1 6742 45
MARCH . . ..
5 00
Average.
1 65
1 973 1 874 1 95
1 75
1 923 2 50
2 05
1 573
1 95
12 15
5 00
4 88 1 821 2 073 2 432 1 623 1 681 2 7711 92- 1 832 1 90
1 973 1 90
1 95
1 7731 774 3 00 1 70 1 6742 45
2 00
1 674
4 75
1 75
2 05
12 20 1 60
1 7733 10
1 65 2 524 1 9011 85
1 80
1 714 2 814 1 921 1 87 1 871 1 734 1 724 2 722 1 911 1 623
1 8211 573
4 623 1 623 1 874 2 0741 55
MAY.
( Highest. Lowest .. Average.
. 5 00
2 40
1 823 2 95 1 9731 75
2 421 2 30
1 9232 10
1 65
1 95 1 Số
1 973 1 95
1 62}
5 30
2 00
4 75
2 20
1 674 2 823 1 75
1 70
1 873 2 00
1 70
1 973 2 15
2 00 1 90
1 60
1 673 1 621 2 371 9211 771 1 90
2 01] 1 823 1 95
2 074 1 782 2 80
2 723 1 674 1 75 3 00 2 15 1 574 1 623 2 55
1 871 1 80
1 85
1 671 1 821 2 15
1 724 1 871 2 321 1 974 1 614
4 7731 70
2 00
APRIL . . . . .
Highest Lowest. Average.
1 75 1 7232 523 2 10
2 20
1 5731 8742 05
1 633 1 9232 10
1 95
Highest. Lowest,
3 50 2 00 1 7232 4711 80
1 60
2 023 2 70
1 65
2 2231 50
1 573 2 00
2 00
1 87} 1 75
2 2221 65
NOVEMBER ..
Highest. Lowest.
3 9322 0731 832 2 50
( Average.
1 973 2 321 1 571 1 972 2 25
2 223 1 523 1 90
2 0232 30 1 65
1 8232 473 1 9711 6232 10
1 974 1 70
1 7212 3322 331 1 973 2 0611 60
1 932 2 1722 221 1 682
{ Highest. Lowest. Average
2 124 1 723
2 10
1 80 1 9241 55
1 65
2 1052 80
1 723 2 35
1 60 2 05
1 70
2 40
1 5732 25 1 67}
3 85 2 00 1 55 2 373|1 90
OCTOBER .. .
Highest Lowest. { Average.
3 55
1 85
1 50
2 00 2 05 |1 09
1 90
1
7732 30
1 50
AUGUST. . . .
2 90
( Average.
12 15 2 00
1 50
2 25 1 673
1 623 1 823 2 40 1 55 2 20
.
1 85
1 35
2 05
SEPTEMBER
3 5231 90
1 55
1 824 2 0231 82} 1 973 2 35
1 721 1 45 2 15 1 623
1 67}1 80
1 9321 4822 2641 661
1 8822 283 1 5821 714 1 65
2 421 1 623 2 30
1 65
2 323 1 523 2 30 1 75
2 15 1 65
1 921 1 523 2 15 1 45
1 423 1 8211 8231 65
2 8213 321 1 561 1 781 1 971 1 6711 811 2 3711 77} 1 7821 75
1 6821 5822 2811 682
1 9712 50
1 95
1 87 1 85
$ cta.
$ cts.
$ cts.
$ cts.
$ cta.
$ cts.
$ cts.
$ cts.
1 7231 65
1 5232 12}|1 623
12 223|1 523 1 70
1 514 1 753 1 911 1 75
1 771 1 922 2 671 1 623 2 324 1 55
1 50
1 87 2 533 1 584 2 263 1 521 2 07 1 52. 2 314|1 721
1 60
1 9212 673 1 623 2 273|1 524 2 00
2 423|2 05
1 973 2 25
2 35
1 90
4 682 1 6311 9612 132 1 57
1870-1871-1872
72
STREAMS, NATURAL WONDERS AND FORESTS.
NAVIGABLE STREAMS.
The Sacramento is about three hundred and seventy miles long, and is navigable for large steamboats at all seasons to Sacramento, ninety miles from its mouth, or one hundred and twenty miles from San Francisco, and for smaller craft to Red Bluff, one hundred an fifty or two hundred miles above Sac- ramento.
The San Joaquin, about three hundred and fifty miles long, is navigable for ordinary steamers to Stockton, and for small craft during the rainy season to the mouth of the Tulare slongh, about one hundred and fifty miles. The Calaveras, Stanislaus, Tuolumne, and Merced empty into the San Joaquin. Tule and swamp lands line the banks of the river. The soil is rich and needs only to be protected against high waters, to equal any in the State for production. The tules are a sort of tall rush, and in carly times, fires swept over them as on a prairie. The effect is faintly indicated in our engraving.
NATURAL WONDERS.
Among the many remarkable natural curiosities of California is the valley of the Yo Semite, fully described in a separate article.
The Geysers are also remarkable natural phenomena. There is a collection of hot sulphur springs, more than three hundred in number, covering about two hundred acres, in a deep gorge, in the north-east part of Sonoma county. They are about seventeen hundred feet above the sca, and are surrounded by mountains from three thousand to four thousand feet high. Hot and cold, quiet and boiling springs are found within a few fect of each other.
There are five natural bridges in California. The largest is on a small creek emptying into the Hay fork of Trinity river. It is eighty feet loug, with its top one hundred and seventy feet above the water. In Siskiyou county there are two, about thirty feet apart, ninety feet long; and there are two more on Coyote creek, in Tuolumne county, the larger two hundred and eighty-five feet long.
The most noted caves are the Alabaster cave in Placer county, containing two chambers, the larger two hundred feet long by one hundred wide; and the Bower cave in Mariposa county, having a chamber about one hundred feet square, reached by an entrance seventy feet long.
The most recently discovered of the great natural wonders of the State is the petrified forest, about seventy-five miles north of San Francisco, the existence of which was first made public in 1870.
Portions of nearly one hundred distinct trees of great size, prostrate and scattered over a tract three or four miles in extent, were found, some on the surface and others projecting from the mountain side.
TIMBER FORESTS.
California is noted for its large forests of excellent timber, and for trees of mammoth size. The sides of the Sierra Nevada, to the height of two thousand five hundred feet, are covered with oaks, manzanita and nut pine; and above this, to a height of cigbt thousand feet, with dense forests of pine, fir, cypress, hemlock, and other coniferous trees.
Dense forests of redwood exist on the coast north of latitude thirty-seven degrees. This timber is used for fence posts, rail- road ties, and furuishes lumber for all building purposes. It answers the same for house material in California as Wisconsin and Michigan pine does in the Mississippi valley. There is a large amount of timber of the various species named in the mountains and valleys in the northern part of the State, from the Sierra Nevada range to the occan.
White and live oak abound in large quantities on the west slope of the Coast Range, and in the intervening valleys south of latitude 37°, in the counties of Monterey, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Barbara. This wood is chiefly used for fuel, and is of little value for building or fencing purposes.
A great part of the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys, the Colorado basin, the east slope of the Coast mountains, and the Coast Range south of Point Conception, are treeless.
THE REDWOOD TREES.
The redwood, bcaring a strong resemblance to the mammoth frequently grows to a height of three hundred feet, and a diam- cter of fifteen feet.
The sugar pine is a large tree, and one of the most graceful of the evergreens. It grows about two hundred feet high and twelve feet in diameter. This wood grows in the Sierra Nevada, is free-splitting, and valuable for timber. The yellow pine and white cedar are all large trees, growing more than two hundred feet high and six or cight feet in diameter.
The story is told of two meu who were engaged in the eut- ting of one of these immense trees into logs, with a cross-cut saw. After they had sawed themselves out of sight of cach other, one of them became impressed with the belief that the saw was not running as easily as it ought, when he crawled on the top of the tree to remonstrate with his partner, whom he discovered to be fast asleep.
The visitor to California has not seen it all until he has spent a week in the deep recesses of a redwood forest. It is then, standing beside the towering monarch of the forest, that a man will realize his utter insignificance, and how inestimably ephem- eral he is compared with many other of God's handiworks. He looks upon a tree that. stood when Christ was yet in his youth, the circles of whose growth but mark the cycles of time almost since the first man was, and on whose tablets might have been written the records of the mighty men of old.
RES. OF M.D. ATWATER, 5 MILES NORTH EAST OF MERCED, MERCED CO. CAL .
1
1
HISTORY
MERCED COUNTY, CALIFORNIA,
FROM THE EARLY DAYS DOWN TO THE PRESENT TIME.
IN attempting to write the early history of the territory now embraced within the limits of Merced county, we have been obliged to rely chiefly upon the memory of the few pioneers who yet remain with us, and, to some extent, npou tradition. During our researches we have found writteu evidence of the occurrences of a few important events in tho early history of the San Joaquin valley, with which history and that of Mariposa county, the early history of Merced county is inseparably connected, for Mariposa county may be considered the mother of Merced.
DISCOVERY AND NAMING OF SAN JOAQUIN RIVER.
As the San Joaquin river runs through the middle of the county, and is by far the largest and most important stream within its borders, it will he interesting to learn something of its discovery,
The following account of that important event is takeu from the address of Mr. Edmund Randolph, delivered be- fore the Society of California Pioneers in 1860:
" The Missions of San Francisco and Santa Clara were not founded for several years after the occupation of Mon- terey, The wants of the new missions of his jurisdiction indneed the Reverend Father. President Junipero, to make a journey to Mexico to sce the Viceroy in person; and, although he succeeded to his satisfaction iu other things, it was only after much entreaty that he obtained a promise that these two missions should be established after communica- tion should be opened by land. This was done by Captain Juan Bautisto Anza, in 1773, whilst Father Junipero was absent ou his visit to Mexico. Iu the meantime, iu antici- pation of his arrival, the San Carlos was sent up to examine the port of Sau Francisco, and ascertain whether it could be really entered by a channel or mouth which had been seen from the land.
THE "SAN CARLOS" ENTERS THE BAY,
This great problem was satisfactorily solved by the San Carlos-a ship of perhaps some two hundred tous burtheu, at the very utmost-in the month of June, 1775. When she entered, they reported that they had found a land-locked sea with two arms, oue making into the interior' about fifteen leagues to the southeast, auother three, four, or, may be, five leagnes to the north, where there was a large bay ahont ten leagnes across and of a rouud figure, into which emptied the great river of our Father, San Francis (this is the Sacramento,) which was fed by five other rivers, all of them copious streams, flowing through a plain so wide that it was hounded ouly by the horizon, and meeting to form the said great river; and all this immensity of water discharging itself into the Pacific ocean, which is there called the Gulf of the Farallones, This very striking description was accurate enough for the purposes of that day; and as soun as Anza aud his people had arrived, and Anza iu persou had gone up and selected the sites, a party was sont ont hy land and another by sea to establish the Presidio aud Mission of Sau Francisco. The date of the foundation of the Presidio is the 17th of September, and of the Mission, the 9th of October, 1776. The historian mentions in connection with these proceedings, some things which may claim a moment's attention,
STRANOE ANIMALS OBSERVED,
In the valley of Sau Jose, the party coming up by land saw some animals they took for cattle, though they could uot imagine where they came from, and supposing they were wild and would scatter the tame ones they were driving, the soldiers made after thew and succeeded in killing three, which were so large that a mule could with difficulty carry one, they being of the size of an ox and with horns like
74
HISTORY OF MERCED COUNTY.
those of a deer, but so long that their tips were eight feet apart. This was their first view of the elk. The soldiers made the observation that they could not run against the wind by reason of these monstrons antlers.
And after the Presidio and before the Mission was estah- lished, an exploration of the interior was organized, as nsnal, by sea and land. Point San Pablo was given as the rendezvons; but the Captain of the Presidio, wlio undertook in person to lead the land party, failed to appear there, having, with the design to shorten the distance, entered a canada near the head of the bay, which took him over to San Joaquin river. So he discovered that stream."
Whether or not the " Captain of the Prosidio " above roferred to, was Captain Anza, we are not sure, but we are of the opinion that he was, and that to him belongs the honor of discovering and naming the San Joaquin river. At any rate it is certain that the San Joaquin was discovered and named between the 17th of September and the 9th of October, 1776, or a little more than two months after the Declaration of Independence of the United States.
MERCED RIVER AND MARIPOSA CREEK.
So far as the discovery and naming of these two streams are concerned, we shall have to depend somewhat upon tra- dition. Like the names of almost all other rivers and countries, the origin of these names is somewhat uncertain, Although we cannot point to any written evidence of their discovery, we have information upon this subject which we consider reliable, and, to our minds, quite satisfactory. The anthentic history of the part of California now included in the connties of Merced and Mariposa, reaches no farther back than 1849. Previous to that eventful year all concern- ing the territory mentioned is obscure and nncertain. The early Spanish explorers and Missionary Fathers of Upper California, clnng tenacionsly to tho west side of the Monnt Diablo range of mountains and the shores of the Pacific ocean. The crest of this range was, for a long time after the discovery of San Joaquin river had ceased to he remembered, their ultima thule. They had no idea of the form or extent of the San Joaquin valley.
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