USA > California > Merced County > History of Merced County, California with biographical sketches of prominent citizens > Part 15
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In a History of Uppor and Lower California, published in 1835, by Alexander Forhes, no mention is made of either the San Joaquin river or valley. Mr. Forbos and his contempo- raries were as ignorant of the physical features of this part of the State as they were of Oregon, a country of which they had scarcely more than heard. He gives ns a vory good descrip- tion of that part of the State west of tho Mount Diablo range, hut of the San Joaquin country he knew absolutely nothing.
A map accompanies his history on which the Sierra Ne- vada monntains do not appear. He makes briof mention of the Sacramento river, and says that a short distance above
its mouth there is quite a large river emptying into it which he calls Josns Maria; but he does not say whether it comes from the east or west, north or sonth.
A large lake is represented on the map which had, and has no existonce whatever. We presume the early settlers had heard from the Indians something of Lake Bigler, and Mr. Forbes may have intended his lake for that celebrated sheet of water, but he places it more than one hundred miles from its true position.
FIRST EXPLORERS OF SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY.
Probably the first white men who ever penetrated the San Joaquin valley to any considerable distance above the month of the river, were the trappers employed by the Hudson Bay Company. Bancroft says that "between the years 1825 and 1830, the Rocky Mountain Fnr Company, of St. Lonis, extended their operations over California and Oregon, but at a loss of the lives of nearly one-half of their employes." Evidences of the presence of white men in this valley at an earlier date than those above mentioned have been found; and it is probable they were the agents of the Hudson Bay Company, or were French-Canadian fur traders.
" These coureurs des bois, or wood-rangers, as they were called," says Bancroft, " were admirahly adapted, by their disposition and superior address, to conciliate the Indians and form settlements among them."
YOUNG'S TRAPPING PARTY.
But of these expeditions we have very meagre accounts. Lientenant-Colonel DeWitt C. Peters, in his Life of "Kit" Carson, says: " When they were fully recruited, the party started for the San Joaquin, and commenced trapping down the river. What `gave the men great surprise, they dis- covered unmistakable signs of another trapping party. In a short time it appearod that they were close to a party be- longing to the Hudson Bay Company, commanded by Peter Ogden. Yonng's men, however, continued setting their traps on the San Joaquin and its tributaries. The two parties were near each other for some time, and as deer, elk and antelopo oxisted by thousands around them, which it was no trouble to kill in any unmbers desirable, they fared well." The party ahove mentioned was commanded by Mr. Ewing Young, of Taos, Now Mexico, and included the renowned " trapper and huntor, " Kit Carson. The events here related occurred in 1829.
FIRST AMERICANS IN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY.
The first Americans who arrived in California overland, according to an article in the Pioneer, wore nuder the com- inund of Jedediah Smith of New York. Ho accompanied
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FIRST EXPLORERS OF THIE SAN JOAQUIN.
the first trapping and trading expedition sent from St. Louis to the headwaters of the Missouri by Gen. Ashley. The ability aud enorgy displayed by him, as a leader of parties in trapping beaver, were considered of so much im- portance hy General Ashley that he soon proposed to admit him as a partner in the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. The proposal was accepted and the affairs of the concern were subsequently conducted hy the firm of Ashley & Smith until 1828, when Mr. William L. Sublette and Mr. Jackson, who had been engaged in the same business in the moun- tains, associated themselves with Mr. Smith, and bought out General Ashley, They continued the business under the name of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company uutil the summer of 1830, when they retired from the mountains, disposing of their property and interest in the enterprise to Messrs. Fitzpatrick, Bridger, Solomon, Sublette, aud Trapp. Mr. W. L. Snblette subsequently re-engaged in the business.
FIRST WHITE PERSON IN SAN JOAQUIN.
"In the spring of 1826 Mr. Smith, at the head of a party of ahout twenty-five meu, left the winter quarters of the company to make a spring aud fall hunt. Traveling west- erly he struck the source of the Green river, which he followed down to its junction with Grand river, where the two form the Colorado. He there left the river and, travel- ing westerly, approached the Sierra Nevada of California. When traveling in that diroction in search of a favorable point to continue his exploration towards the ocean, he crossed the mountains and descended into the great valley of California near its southeastern extremity; thus being not only the first American, but the first person who, from the east or north, had entered the magnificent valleys of the San Joaquin and Sacramento, or who had ever seen or ex- plored any of the rivers falling into the Bay of San Francisco.
"The following winter and spring he prosecuted with sneeess the catching of beaver, on the streams flowing into the lakes of the Tulares, on the San Joaquin and tributaries, as also on some of the lower hranches of the Sacramento, At the commencement of summer, the spring hunt having closed, he essayed to return, by following up the American river; but the height of the mountains, and other obstaeles which he eneountored, induced him to leave the party in the valley during the summer. He accordingly returned; and, having arranged their summer quarters on that river, near the present town of Brighton, prepared to make the journey, accompanied by a fow well-tried and hardy hunters, to the summer rendezvous of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, on the eastern slope of the Rocky mountains. Selecting favorite and trusty horses and mules, Mr. Smith, with three companions left eamp to undertake one of the most arduous and dangerous journeys ever attempted. Ascending the
Sierra Nevada, he crossed it at a point of elevation so great, that on the night of the 27th of June, most of his mules died from intense cold. He descended the eastern slope of the mountains, and entered upon tho thirsty and sterile plaius that were spread out before him in all their primi- tive nakedness; but his horses were unable to accomplish the jonrney.
Next to the Bedouin of the great African desert, if not equally with him, the trapper of the wilds of the American continent worships the noble horse, which not only prondly carries his owner up to the huge bison, when hunger presses the huntor, and swiftly flees from the overpowering hordo of savages who seek his life; hut while the solitary, benighted, aud fatigued hunter snatches a few shreds of repose, stands a trusty sentinel, with ears erect and penetrating eye, to eatch the first movement of every ohjeet within its view, or with distended nostril, to inhale the odor of the red man with which the passing breezo is impregnated, and arouse his affectionate master. What, then, were the feelings of these men, as they saw their favorite steeds, which had long been their companions, and had been selected for their noble bearing, reeling and faltering on those inhospitable plains. Still worse when they were compelled to sever the hrittle thread of life, and dissolve all those attachments and vivid hopes of future companionship and usefulness by the use of the rifle, which at other times, with unerring aim, would have seut death to the man who should attempt to de- prive them of their heloved animals.
They hastily eut from the lifeless bodies a few pieces of flesh, as the only means of sustaining their own existence; and in this manner they supported life until they passed the desert and arrived on foot at the rendezvous.
SECOND PARTY VISIT THE SAN JOAQUIN.
A party was immediately organized, and, with such snp- plies as were required for the company, left for California, Mr. Smith hastening his departure, Traveling sonth, to avoid, iu some degree, the snow and cold of winter, he descouded and crossed Grand river, of the Colorado, and, continuing south- westerly, he approached the Colorado river from the east, near the camp of the Mohave Indians. In the attempt to transport his party, by means of rafts, over this river, in which he was aided by the Mohaves, who professed great friendship and hospitality, ho was suddenly surprised by the troacherous Indians, who, upon a pre-concerted signal, simultaneously attacked the men who were on each bank of the river, and upon a raft then erossing, massacred the party, with the exception of two men and Mr. Smith, who eseaped, and after great suffering arrived at the mission of San Gabriel, in California. They were immediately ar- rested by the military officor at that place, because they had no passports. This functionary forwarded an account of
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HISTORY OF MERCED COUNTY.
the arrival and detention of the foreigners to the command- ant of San Diego, who transmitted the same to General Echandia, then Governor and Commander-in-chief of Cali- fornia.
After a harassing delay Mr. Smith was permitted to pro- ceed to Monterey, and appear before the governor. Through the influence aud pecuniary assistance of Captain John Cooper, an Americau, then resident of Monterey, he was liberated, aud having procured such supplies as could be obtained in that place, partially on account of beaver-fur to be sent from the summer quarters on the Sacramento river, and partiy on credit, he hired a few men and proceeded to the camp of the party which he had previously left in the Sacramento valley, After forwarding the fur to Monterey, hie traveled up the Sacramento, making a most successful hunt up this river and its tributaries within tho valley. As- cending the western sources of the Sacramento, he passed Shasta mountain, when he turned westerly and arrived on the coast, which lie followed south to the Umpqua river. While Mr. Smith and two men were in a canoe, with two or three Indians, engaged in examining the river to find a crossing, his camp was unexpectedly surprised by the Indians, who had, up to this time, shown the most friendly disposition, and the entire party, with the exception of one man, were murdered. Mr. Smith and the men with him in the canoe, after wandering many days in the mountains, where they were obliged to secrete themselves by day and travel by night, to avoid the Indians, who were scouring the country in pursuit, succeeded in escaping from their vicinity, and arrived at Fort Vancouver, a post of the Hudson Bay Company, on the Columbia river, The man who escaped from the camp at the massacre of the party was badly wounded, and without arms to defend himself or procure food, succeeded in sustaining life and making his way through many vicissitudes for a period of thirty-eight days, when he reached Fort Vancouver. On his arrival there Mr. Smith contracted with the superintendent to sell him the large quantity of fur which had fallen into the hands of the Indians on the Umpqua, provided he would assist in re- covering it, and to furnish a guide to lead a trapping party into the Sacramento valley. . A company was fitted out under the command of Lieutenant McLeod, which proceeded to the scene of disaster, and after. recovering the fur, with which Mr. Smith returned to the fort, continued south, under the guidance of one of Smith's meu, to the Sacra- mento valley, where a most valuable hunt was made A large number of horses from California was also obtained, with which the party attempted to returu in the fall of 1828. In crossing the mountains they wero overtaken by a violent snow storm, in which they lost all their horses. From tho hasty and unsuitable manner in which they attempted to secrete their valuable stock of far from tho observation and dis- covery of the Indians or other body of trappers, it was
found in a ruined state by a party sent to convey it to the fort in the following spring, and McLeod was discharged from the service of the company for his imprudence in at- tompting to cross the mountains so late in the fall.
THIRD PARTY VISIT THE SAN JOAQUIN.
Another band was fitted out from Fort Vancouver, by the Hudson Bay Company under Captain Ogden, of New York, who for some time had been in the employ of that corpora- tion, with which Mr. Smith left the fort on his final de- parture from the Pacific shore, for the rendezvous of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. This company traveled up Lewis river, in the direction of the South Pass, when Mr. Smith pursued his journey with a few men. Captain Ogden turned south, and traveling along the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada, entered the valley of the Tulares, on the trail which Smith had made in 1826. He arrived in the valley after McLeod had left on his ill-fated journey over the mountains, where he spent the winter of 1828-9, and the following summer returned to the Columbia river with a valuable hunt.
ONE PIONEER REMAINED,
One of the survivors of the massacre of Smith's party on the Rio Colorado remained in California. He was a black- smith by trade, and obtained employment at the missions of San Gabriel and San Luis Rey. His name was Galbraith, and while in the mountains previous to his advent to Cali- fornia, was recognized as the most fearless of that brave class of men with whom he was associated. His stature was commanding, and the Indians were awed by his athletic and powerful frame, while the display of his Herculean strength excited the surprise of all. Many were the incidents that occurred in California during his residence, of which he was the principal actor. On one occasion, while employed at the mission of San Luis Rey, he became riotons while under the influence of aguadiente, and was warned that unless he con- dneted himself with greater propriety it would be uecessary to confine him in the guard-honse. This served to exasper- ate instead of to quiet his uuruly passions. A corporal with two men were ordered to arrest Galbraith. On their arrival at the shop, they fonud the follower of Vulcan absorbed in anathemas, which he was pouring forth in rapid snecession against the Reverened Father, soldiers, and neophytes. Having delivered himself he inquired what they wanted. On the corporal's replying that he had been sent to conduct him to the guard-house, Galbraith seized a sledge, and swaying it above his head rushed upon the soldiors, who, intimidated at the gigantic size of thio blacksmith, whose broad and deep chest was swelling with infuriated passion, horror-stricken fled in dismay. With nplifted hammer he pursued them across the court of the mission, and to the gnard-house in
RES. & DAIRY OF W.A.BURNSIDE, BADGER FLAT,MERCED CO.CAL.
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CAPTAIN FREMONT'S NARRATIVE.
front of tho mission, where tho afrighted corporal and sol- diers arrived among their comrades, closely followed by the terrific mountaineer, who, alike fearless of Spanish soldiers as he had ever been of Indians, drove the trembling forces, a sergeant and twelve men, to their quarters, where they were imprisoned. He then hastily loaded with grape-shot a fine piece of artillory which stood in front of the quarters, and directing its month towards the mission, and gathering up the arms which the soldiers in the confusion had aband- oned, ho prepared to act as exigencies might require. Tho priest, seeing the course events were taking, sent a mes- senger to open communications with the victor, who, from the andden burst of passion and violent exercise, had dis- pelled the effects of the brandy, and with its removal his choler had subsided.
BEAVER WERE PLENTY,
The for traders doubtless trapped the beaver on the San Joaquin river and its trihntaries many years ago, that val- nable fnr-bearing animal boing abundant at the time, We have it from old sottlers that these hunters were trapping in California when the country was first explored hy the Mis- sionary Fathers.
The trappers were extremely reticont with reference to the conntries in which they followed their vocation. They gave no information that would lead to the settlement of their trapping grounds. They were jealous of those who were seeking information with respect to new countries suitable for agriculture and stock-raising, and, generally, entertained a supreme contempt for them. It is, then, not a mattor of surprise that the first settlers could get from the trappers neither a written nor a verhal description of the San Joa- quin river, its tributaries, or the valley through which they flow. Had the Missionary Fathers known the extent and resources of the valley, the vast area of grazing lands afford- ing the finest quality of pasturage, the extonsive tracts of agricultural lands which have since become so valuablo, they or their companions would have secured the greater portion of it as grants from the Mexican government, as they did the greater portion of the coast valleys.
FIRST SETTLERS KEPT NEAR THE COAST.
The settlers on the coast and in the San Jose valley seldom or never ventured east of the summit of the Monte Diablo range of mountains. In very dry seasons when grass hecame scarce, and whon thonsands of cattle and horses were likely to perish for lack of food, the ranch ros wonld drive some of their cattle and horses to the top of tho Monte Diablo range and turn thom looso; but they nevor followed them np or gave any further attention to them: hence the large number of wild stock found roaming over tho plains
at the time the immigration of Americans to this State began.
The reason the stock were never sought after seems to have been the fear of Indians, a popular helief having ob- tained among the settlers of the San Jose, Sonoma and other coast valleys that there existed a powerful and warlike tribe of Indians in tho San Joaquin valley.
FEW INDIANS IN THIS VALLEY.
This fear was, in a great measure, groundless, for it is almost absolutely certain that there have not been, for many oentries, any considerable number of Indians near the San Joaquin river in this connty. Tho few hostile tribes of this section lived almost exclusively in the Sierra Nevada monn- tains, seldom venturing on the plains. There are hut few shell monnds or remains of their temescals, or hot honses on the San Joaquin river, the few romains met with being evi- dently of ancient dato. On the Merced river the remains are somewhat more numerons, indicating the presence, at some time, of a greator number of Indians. When the first white men settled on the Merced river, there were no Indians on the river, and Colonel Fremont saw nono in this connty when he passed up the San Joaquin river in 1844, as we shall see farther on.
Thore is a tradition among the Indians now living in the monntains east of here, that many summers and winters ago there did exist a very large and powerful tribe of Indians on the San Joaquin river, and that there came a flood and de- stroyed almost the entire tribe. (The writer was told in 1857, by a very old Indian, that he had seen tho Merced river half way up the bluffs.) They maintain that since that great calamity befell them the red men have persistently refused to livo on that river, seeming to have a superstitions dread of it.
The early settlers of the coast valleys were not only in error as to the numbers of tho Indians, but they greatly overrated their valor. They were armed with hows and arrows, spears, and sometimes clubs -- a poor defense against the bullets of the white man. Thoy, "comparatively speaking, wore no clothes; they bnilt no honses; they did not cultivate the soil; they had no boats, nor did they linnt to any considerable extent; they had no morals, nor any religion worth calling snch. The Missionary Fathers found a virgin field whereon neither God nor devil was worshipped."
MORAGA VISITS THE VALLEY.
This portion of the San Joaquin valley, until about the year 1835, was almost a terra incognita, having heen visited by the trappers only, as already stated. At about that time an expedition into this part of the valloy was undertaken by Lientenant Moraga, of the Mexican army, then stationed at the Presidio of San Francisco, who, in commaud of a
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HISTORY OF MERCED COUNTY.
company of soldiers, pursued some Indians, who had beeu committing depredations upon tho settlers in the coast valleys, into the valley of the San Joaquin.
THE MERCED HIVER NAMED.
This expedition was undertaken iu June. Lienteuant Moraga and his companions crossed the San Joaquin near the month of the Tuolumne river, and traveled thence in a sontheasterly direction te the Merced river, a distance of abont forty miles, the whole of which had te be accom- plished withont water. The weather being very hot, it is no wender they called the river, in whose limpid waters they slaked their burning thirst and laved their throbbing tem- ples, El Rio de la Merced, the river of Mercy.
MARIPOSA RECEIVES ITS NAME,
After resting a few days, the Mexicans under Moraga con- tinned their journey in a sontheasterly direction until they arrived at a small stream, along the banks of which they found myriads of beautifully variegated butterflies, which, in the Spanish tongue, are called las mariposas; hence Moraga named the creek El Arroyo de Las Mariposas, which namo it has borne ever since.
The Mexicans are noted for giving beautiful and appro- priate names to their towns, ranchos, rivers, mountains and ether natural objects, aud they seem to be actnated by a grateful feeling or a religious sentiment, sometimes having in view the beanties of nature, as in the case of Las Mari- posas; at others, being moved by a profound feeling of gratitude to God for what they acknowledged as a "gift," or " mercy," as in tho caso of La Merced.
FIRST LAND GRANTS IN THIS VALLEY.
On the 27th day of August, 1841, Francisco Soberanes petitioned the then Governor of California. Juan B. Alva- rado, for a grant of eleveu square leagnes of laud, to be known as the Sanjon de Santa Rita Rancho, and in the fol- lowing September the petition was granted. On the rude plot which accompanied the petition, the northern honudary ef said rancho is designated as " El Arroyo de los Banos del Padre Arroya," the creek of the baths of the Father Arroyo. But when or by whom this croek was named, we have heen nnable to ascertain. Other grants, El Rancho de San Lonis Gonzaga and El Rancho Orestimba, were muade at about the same time, but none of these grants were per- manently occupiod until several years afterwards. It is probable that after Moraga's roturn, he made such a report of the country as induced Soberanes and others to visit the great valley, select ranchos and name the streams aud mountains.
GENERAL FREMONT ENTERS THE VALLEY,
In the year 1843, May 29tl, Colonel John C. Fremont
started from the little town of Kansas, Mo., ou his cele- bratod exploring expedition across the continent to the Pacific ocean. On the 4th tlay of November he reached Fort Vanconver on the Columbia river, and on the 6th day of March, 1844, he arrived at Sutter's Fort in a destitute condition, having endured severe hardships in crossing the Sierra Nevada mouutaius.
We make the following extract from Fremont's journal from the time he left the Sierras and entered the valley until his departure at the southern end, as it gives a very valuable account of the situation at that time, March 6, 1844:
"We continned on our road throngh the same surpass- ingly beautiful conutry, entirely unequaled for the pastur- age of stock by anything we had ever seen. Our horses had now become so strong that they were able to carry us, aud we traveled rapidly-over four miles an hour; four of ns riding every alternate hour. Every few hundred yards we came upon a little band of deer; but we were too eager to reach the settlement, which we momentarily expected to discover, to halt for any other than a passing shot. In a few hours wo reached a large fork, the northern branch of the river, and equal in size to that which we had descended. Together they formed a beautiful stream, 60 to 100 yards wide, which at first, ignorant of the nature of the country through which that river ran, we took to be the Sacramento.
"We continued down the right bauk of the river, traveling for a while over a wooded upland, where we had the delight to discover tracks of cattle. To the southwest was visible a black column of smoke, which we had fre- quently noticed in desceuding, arising from the fires we had seen from the top of the Sierra. From the upland we descended into broad groves on the river, consisting of the evergreen, and a new species of a white-oak, with a large tufted top, and three to six feet in diameter. Among these was uo brushwood; and the grassy surface gave to it the ap- pearance of parks iu an old-settled country. Following the tracks of the horses and cattle, in search of people, we dis- covered a small village of Indians, Some of these had on shirts of civilized manufacture, but wero otherwise naked, and we could understand nothing from them; they appeared entirely astonished at seoiug us.
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