USA > California > Merced County > History of Merced County, California with biographical sketches of prominent citizens > Part 5
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Russians Settle in Sonoma County .*
1811 .- In January, 1811, Alexander Koskoff, took possession of the country about Bodega, Sonoma county, on the fragile pleas that he had been refused a supply of water at Yerba Buena, and that he had obtained, by right of purchase from the Indians, all the land lying between Point Reyes and Point Arena, and for a distance of three leagues inland. Here he remained for awhile, and to Bodega gave the name of Roman- zoff, calling the stream now known as Russian river, Slavianka.
Although repeatedly ordered to depart by the King of Spain, who elaimed all the territory north of Fuca Straits, they con- tinned to remain for a lengthened period, possessors of the land.
FIRST PIONEER SQUATTERS.
And as General Vallejo remarks: " As the new-comers came without permission from the Spanish Government, they may be termed the pioncer . squatters' of California." So far indeed was it from the intention of the unwelcome Museovite to move, that we find them extending their trapping expeditions along the coast, to the north and south, 'and for a considerable dis- tance inland.
At Fort Ross they constructed a quadrilateral stockade. which was deemed strong enough to resist the possible attacks of Spaniards or Indians. It had within its walls quarters for the commandant, officers, and men, an arsenal, store-houses, a Greek church surmounted with a cross and provided with a chime of bells.
AN EARLY ORCHARD.
About one mile distant from the fort there was an inclosure containing about five aeres, which was inclosed by a fence about eight feet high, made of redwood slabs about two inches in thickness, these being driven into the ground, while the tops were nailed firmly to girders extending from post to post, sct about ten feet apart. Within tho inclosure there was an orchard, consisting of apple, prune, and cherry trees. Of these, fifty of the first and nine of the last-named, moss-grown and gray with age, still remain, while it is said that all the old stock of German prunes in California came from seed produced there.
FIRST INDUSTRY NORTH OF SAN FRANCISCO.
We may safcly assert, that to these Russians belongs the honor of erecting the first church in California, north of the Bay of San Francisco; but this is not all; to them belongs the credit of first planting fruit, raising grain, and working in leather, wood, and iron, within the limits of the same territory. With these industries in hand, there is not the remotest doubt that the Russians looked to a future permanent possession of northern California. At this time, too, they made consider- able annual shipments of grain to Sitka from Fort Ross and Bodega.
RUSSIANS LOCATE AND FORTIFY.
The location once chosen they set to work to prepare their new homes. A sight was chosen for the stockade near the shore of the ocean, and in such a position as to protect all their ships lying in the little eove, anl prevent any vessel inimical to them from landing. The plat of ground inclosed in this stock- ade was a parallelogram, two hundred and eighty feet wide and three hundred and twelve feet long, and containing about two acres. Its angles were placed very nearly upon the cardi- nal points of the compass. At the north and south angle there was constrneted an octagonal bastion. two stories high, and furnished with six pieces of artillery. These bastions were built exactly alike, and were about twenty-four feet in diame- ter.
The walls were formed of hewed logs, mortised together at the corners, and were about eight inches in thickness. The roof was conical shaped, having a small flag-staff at the apex. The stockade approached these towers in such a way that one- half of them was within the inelosure and the other half on the outside, the entrance to them being through small doors on the inside, while there were embrasures both on the inside and outside. They were thus arranged so as to protect those within from an outside enemy. All around the stockade there were embrasures suitable for the use of muskets or carronades, of which latter it is said, there were several in the fortress.
> We are indebted to Alley. Bowen & Co. for the most part of this history of Russian se- cipation.
INDUSTRY AND THRIFT OF THE RUSSIANS.
A RUSSIAN CHAPEL.
On the northern side of the eastern angle there was erected a chapel which it is said was nyel by the officers of the garrison alone. It was twenty-five by thirty-one feet in dimensions. and strongly built, the onter wall forming part of the stockals, and the round port-holes for the use of carronades, are peculiar looking openings in a house of worship. The entrance was on the inside of the fort, and consisted of a rude, heavy wooden door, hell njion wooden hinges. There was a vestibule abont ten by twenty-five feet in size, thus leaving the auditorimn twenty-one by twenty-five feet. From the vestibule a narrow stair-way led to a low loft, while the building was surmounted with two domes, one of which was round, and the other pon- tagonal in shape, in which it is said the Muscovites had hung a chime of bells. The roof was made of long planks, either sawed or rove from redwood, likewise the side of the chapel in the fort.
The frame-work of all the buildings was made of very large, heavy timbers, many of them being twelve inches square. The rafters were all great, ponderons, round pine logs, a consider- able number of them being six inches in diameter.
FIRST WIND-MILL IN THE STATE.
To the nortbward of, and near the village, situated on an eminence, was a wind-mill, which was the motor for driving a single run of buhrs, and also for a stamping machine usedl for grinding tan-bark. The wind-mill produced all the Hour used in that and the Bodega settlements, and probably a consider- able amount was also sent with the annual shipment to Sitka.
FIRST TANNERY ERECTED.
'To the south of the stockade, and in a deep gulch at tbe debouchure of a small stream into the ocean, there stood a very large building, probably eighty by a hundred feet in size, the rear half of which was used for the purpose of tanning leather. There were six vats in all, constructed of heavy, rough red- wood slabs, and each with a capacity of fifty barrels; there was also the usual appliances necessary to conduct a tannery, but these implements were large and rough in their make, still with these they were able to manufacture a good quality of leather in large quantities.
The front half of the building, or that fronting on the ocean, was used as a work-shop for the construction of ships. Ways were constructed on a sand beach at this point leading into deep water, and upon them were built a number of staunch vessels, and from here was launched the very first sea-going craft built in California. Still further to the south, and near the occan shore, stood a building eighty by a hundred feet, which bore all the marks of having been used as a store-house ;
it was, however, unfortunately blown down lo a storm on July 16, ISTS, and mom there will be nothing to mark it- site.
RUSSIAN FARMERS.
The Russians had farmed very extensively at this place. having at least two thousand nere under fener, beside a great deal that was not fenced. These fences were chietly of that kind known as rail and post.
Their agricultural proceses were as crude as any of their other work. Their plow was very similar to the owl Spanish implement, so counnon in this country at that time and still extant in Mexico, with the exception that the Muscovite instru- ment possessed a mold-board. They employed oxen and cows as draft animals, using the old Spanish yoke adjusted to their horns instead of to their necks. We have no account of any attempt at constructing either cart or wagon by them, but it is
GRIST- MILL OF EARLY SETTLERS.
probable that they had vehicles the same as those described heretofore, as being in use among the Californians at that time.
THRESILING AS DONE BY RUSSIANS.
Threshing was done on a floor composed of heavy puncheons, circular in shape, and elevated somewhat above the ground. Between the puncheons were interstices through which the grain fell under the floor as it was released from the head. The threshing was done in this wise: A layer of grain, in the straw, of a foot or two in thickness, was placed upon the floor. Oxen were then driven over it, hitched to a log with rows of wooden pegs inserted into it. As the log revolved, these pegs acted well the part of a flail, and the straw was expeditiously relieved of its burdeu of grain. It was, doubtless, no hard job to winnow the grain after it was threshed, as the wind blows a stiff blast at that point during all the summer months.
The Russians constructed a wharf at the northern side of the little cove, and graded a road down the steep ocean shore to it. Its line is still to be seen, as it passed much of the way through solid rock. This wharf was made fast to the rock on which it - I was constructed, with long iron bolts, of which only a few that
28
MANY SETTLERS BEGIN TO ARRIVE.
Were driven into the hard surface now remain; the wharf itself is gone, hence we are muable to give its dimensions, or further detail- concerning it.
FIRST LUMBER MADE NORTH OF SAN FRANCISCO.
These old Muscovites, doubtless, produced the first lumber with a saw ever made north of San Francisco bay, for they had both a pit and a whip-saw, the former of which can be ser to this day. Judging from the number of stumps still standing, and the extent of territory over which they extended their logging operations, they evidently consumed large quan- tities of lumber. The timber was only about one mile distant from the ship-yard and landing, while the stumps of trees cut by them are still standing, and beside them from one to six shoots have sprung up, many of which have now reached a size sufficient for lumber purposes. This growth has been remarkable, and goes to show that il proper care were taken, cach half century would see a new erop of redwoods, sufficiently large for all practical purposes, while ten decades would see gigantic trees.
For more than a quarter of a century they continued to hold undisturbed possession of the disputed territory, and prosecutedl their farming, stock-raising, hunting, trapping, and ship-build- ing enterprises, and, whatever may have been the causes which led to it, there finally came a time when the Russian authori- ties had decided to withdraw the California colouy.
RUSSIANS SELL OUT TO GENERAL SUTTER.
The propositiou was made first by them to the government authorities at Monterey, to dispose of their interests at Bodega and Fort Ross, including their title to the land; but, as the authorities had never recognized their right or title, and did not wish to do so at that late date, they refused to purchase. Applicatiou was next made to General M. G. Vallejo, but on the same grounds he refused to purchase.
They then applied to Captain John A. Sutter, a gentleman at that time residing near where Sacramento City now stands, and who had made a journey from Sitka, some years before, in one of their vessels. They persuaded Sutter into the helief that their title was good, and could be maintained; so, after making out a full invoice of the articles they had for disposal, including all the land lying between Point Reyes and Point Mendocino, and one league inland. as well as cattle, farming and mechanical implements; also, a sehooner of one hundred and eighty tous burthen, some arms, a four-pound brass field-piece, ete., a priec was decided upon, the sum being thirty thousand dollars, which, however, was not paid at one time, but in cash installments of a few thousand dollars, the last payment being made through Governor Burnett, iu 1849.
All the stipulatious of the sale having been arranged satis-
factorily to both parties, the transfer was duly made, and Sut- ter became, as he thoughit, the greatest landholder in California. Iu 1859, Sutter disposed of his Russian claim, which was a six- eighths interest in the lands mentioned above, to William Mul- drew, George R. Moore and Daniel W. Welty; but they only suceceded in getting six thousand dollars out of one settler, and the remainder refusing to pay, the claim was dropped.
EVACUATION OF FORT ROSS.
Orders were sent to the settlers at Fort Ross to repair at once to San Francisco bay, and ships were dispatched to bring them there, where whaling vessels, which were bound for the north-west whaling grounds, had been chartered to convey them to Sitka. The vessels arrived at an early hour in the day, and the orders shown to the commander, Rotscheff, who immedi- ately caused the bells in the chapel tower to be rung, and the cannon to be dischargedl, this being the usual method of convo- cating the people at an unusual hour, or for some special pur- pose, so everything was suspended just there-the husbandınan left his plow standing in the half-turned furrow, and unloosed his oxen, never again to yoke them, leaving them to wander at will over the fields; the mechanic dropped his planes and saws on the beneh, leaving the half-smoothed board still in the vise; the tanner left his tools where he was using them, and doffed his apron to don it no more in California.
As soon as the population had assembled, Rotscheff arose and read the orders. Very sad and unwelcome, indeed, was this intelligence; but the edict had emanated from a source which could not be gainsaid, and the only alternative was a speedy and complete compliance, however reluctant it might be-and thus four hundred people were made homeless by the fiat of a single word. Time was only given to gather up a few house- hold effects.
FOREIGNERS BEGIN TO COME.
The carly success of the missions advertised the attractive- ness of California to the world. It became known not only in Mexico, but through the early adventurers and traders, in the United States. They not only traded in hides and tallow, but they toll the story of the mission wealth-the herds and flocks and fruits, and they told of the furs to be procured.
The valleys of California were, during the early part of this century, occupied and traversed by bands of trappers in the employ of the American and foreign fur companies. The sto- ries of their wandering and experiences are mostly related in the form of sensational novels, whose authenticity and accuracy must be taken with a great degree of allowance.
Few records concerning these fur-hunters remain which are within the reach of the historian, and the information given has been gleaned, in part, from personal interviews with those whose kuowledge of the subject was gained by actual experience or by
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LOCUST GROVE, RES. OF N. B. STONEROAD,
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ES EAST OF PLAINSBURG, MERCED CO. CAL.
AD,
OPERATIONS OF THE PIONEER SETTLERS.
a personal acquaintance with those who belong i to the par. ties. In many cases their stories differ widely in regard ustarts and Imines.
1814 .- John Gilroy arrived at Monterey on the 5th of Feb- ruary, 1814. His baptismal name was John Cameron; but he assimned the name of John Gifroy in cons jnence of certain circumstances conveted with his birth.
He spent most of his life around Monterey, and resided at what is called " Old Gilroy," a short distance from Gilroy, in Santa Clara county, which places are named from him.
UPPER SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY EXPLORED.
1820 .- As early as this date, Tulare, San Joaquin and Sac- ramento valleys were occupied by trapjeers, who had wandered there while searching for the Columnlda river. Captain Sutter, in 1834, while in New Mexico, heard from these California trappers, of the Sacramento valley, which afterwards Ixcame so reputed as his home. The disputes arising in regard to the occupation of the northern part of the Pacific coast trapping region in Oregan, led the American hunters to occupy the ter- ritory in and about the Rocky mountains.
1820 .- John J. Read, when but a mere lad, was taken by his uncle, who was a sailor, on a voyage to Mexico, from thence to California, sailing from Acapulco, arriving in the State in the year 1826, just. after attaining his twenty-first year, and, after staying a short time in Los Angeles, proceeded northward until he reached Saucelito, and there took up his residence. He next, in 1827, removed to Sonoma county, and tilled a portion of the Cotute Rancho, at the same time making application for the grant; but here he was not permitted to remain, for the Indians drove him off, destroyed his crop, and buried his imple- ments.
FIRST FERRY-BOAT ON THE BAY.
Mr. Read came to Saucelito to reside in 1832, erceting for his accommodation near the old town a wooden shanty, From whence he plied a small boat regularly to the opposite shore of Yerba Buena, and established the first ferry on the Bay of San Fran- cisco. Mr. Read married, October 13, 1836, at the Church of the Mission Dolores, the Señorita Hlilarita, the youngest daugh- ter of Don Jose Antonio Sanchez, Commander of the Presidio at San Francisco.
A TOUCHING LITTLE EPISODE.
1822 .- About the year 1822, an Englishman landed at Santa Cruz, known by the name of William Thompson. He is em- ployed in the hide business. There is a touching little story connected with him. His native place was London. His father was a sail-maker. And there lived the family --- mother, brothers, sisters and all. William went to sea. They
partes with him with regret and sorrow and after a time they caval to hear from him. Years went by and they could get no tidings of him. The family grivel and the mother pined for her wo But time went out, and ne tiling- canne. By and by his leather Sammel proposal to go in search of him. Though I did not know where on the globe he might la, it still alive, vet he thought he could go to sea, and make voyages to dither. ent parts, and somewhere fall in with him, or hear of him. His plan was agreed to, and he started. Just how long he sailed. and where he went, I don't know; but after a while he was on a ship that came into the port of Santa Cruz. Here was anchored, at that time, another shine taking on board a cargo of lides.
Samuel then came ashore and inquired for the captain uf that ship. When he found him, he asked him if any his crew there was one William Thompson. The captain said he didn't know certainly whether he had a man by that mumne; " but there the men are," said he, pointing tothem at work on the beach, carrying hides, "you can go and see." Samuel went, and the very first inan he met was William ! We can imagine Sainnel's joy at the meeting, after so long a search ; and the joy, also, that the account of it caused in that home in London, when it reached there. But it appears, instead of Samuel getting William to go home, that they both remained on this coast. They shipped together and went down tu Sonth America, and then returned to Santa Cruz.
STRANGE MEETING ON THE MERCED.
1823 .- The Ashley expedition was fitted out in 1823, at St. Louis, for the fur trade. This party entered the San Joaquin valley, and hunted and trapped along the Merced, Stanishus and Toulumne rivers.
Belonging to this company was Joseph Griffith and Wil- liam Hawkins, who met first at St. Louis, and afterwards hunted in the San Joaquin valley.
Years rolled on and they were widely separated, and after many vicissitudes, of wild adventure, through scenes of peril, among hostile Indians and various hair-breadth escapes- strange to say, we find them after thirty-two years had passed away, settled down to quiet life, each with a family, on the Merced river, in 1852, which locality seems to have impressed them as the choicest of the State.
1823 .- Captain Juan B. R. Cooper came to Monterey in 1823, and obtained a license to hunt otters, as also did some others.
1824 .- Santiago McKinly, a native of Scotland, arrived in Los Angeles during the year 1824. He was at that time twenty-one years of age. He became a merchant, and his name appears on a list of foreigners resident in Los Angeles in 1836, now on file in the city archives. He afterwards went to Monterey, and was reported dead some years ago.
30
HUNTERS AND TRAPPERS OF THE SAN JOAQUIN.
IS24 -- From Scotlandl came David Spence, in 1824, with the view of establishing a packing house in Monterey for a Lima firm.
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY IN 1825.
1825 .- In the spring of this year, Jedediah Smith, with a party of forty trappers and Io lians, started from the head-quar- ters ou Green river, traveling westward, crossed the Sierra Novada mountains, and in July entered the Upper San Joaquin valley. The country from the Tulare to the American Fork of the Sacramento river was traversed in trapping for beaver. They found at the fork another party of American trappers encaurped, and located their own rendezvous near the present town of Folsom. In October, Sinith, leaving the remainder of the party at the camp, returned to the company's head-quarters ou Green river,
1826 .- In May, 1826, Smith again set out for the new trapping region taking a route further south than on the first trip, but when in the Mohave settlement on the Colorado, all the party, except Swith, Galbraith, and Turner, were killed by Indians. These three escaped to San Gabriel Mission, and December 26, 1826, were arrested as spies or filibusters. They were taken to the presidio at San Diego, where they were detained until the fol- lowing certificate from Americans then in San Francisco was presented :--
" We, the undersigned, having been requested by Captain Jedediah S. Smith to state our opinion regarding his entering the Province of California, do not hesitate to say that we have no doubt but that he was compelled to, for want of provisions and water, having entered so far into the barren country that lies between the latitudes of forty-two and forty-three west that he found it impossible to return by the route he eame, as his horses had most of them perished for want of food and water; he was therefore under the necessity of pushing forward to California-it being the nearest place where he could proeure supplies to enable him to return.
" In testimony whereof we have herennto set our hand and seal, this 20th day- of December, 1825.
WILLIAM G. DANA, Captain of schooner Waverly.
WILLIAM H. CUNNINGHAM, Captain of ship Courier. WILLIAM HENDERSON, Captain of brig Olive Branch. JUSIES SCOTT. THOMAS M. ROBINS, Mate of schooner Waverly.
THOMAS SHAW, Supercargo of ship Courier."
Smith was liberated, and during the summer of 1827 with his party left the San Joaquin valley, journeying toward the Columbia river.
PIONEER MERCHANT.
1827 .- John Temple, who may justly rank as the pioneer merchant of Los Angeles, was a native of Reading, Mass., and
for several years prior to his advent on this coast, resided at the Sandwich Islands. He enme to Los Angeles about the year 1827, and formed a partnership with George Rice, opened the first store of general merchandise ever established in the pueblo.
1828 .- Abel Stearns, a native of Salem, Mass., spent consid- erable time in Mexico, and settled in Los Angeles as a merchant in the year 1828. He married Doña Arcadia, daughter of Don Juan Bandini. He obtained large grants of land throughout the territory, and aeenmulated much wealth. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention, 1849, and of the State Legislature, 1831; also 1861. He died at San Francisco, August 23, 1871. His widow subsequently married Col. R. S. Baker-residence, Los Angeles.
PIONEER LUMBERMAN.
1829,-Charles Brown, a native of New York, who came with Captain Brewster on the whale ship Alvins, in the year 1829. Ten years later he found his way to the redwoods near Woodside, where he settled the Mountain Home Ranch, and became the pioneer lumberman of San Mateo county, having commenced the ereetion of the Mountain Home. Mill in 1847. He married one of the De Haro family, and now resides at the Mission Dolores.
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY VISITED 1829.
1830 .- Ewing Young, who had trapped with partics on the upper part of the Del Norte, the eastern part of the Grand and the Colorado rivers, pursuing the route formerly traversed by Smith, in the winter of 1829-30, entered the San Joaquin valley and hunted on Tulare lake, and the adjacent streams.
During the last part of 1832, or early in 1833, Young. having again entered the San Joaquin valley and trapped on the streams, finally arrived at the Sacramento river, about ten miles below the month of the American. He followed up the Sacramento to the Feather river, and from there erossed over to the coast. The coast-line was traveled till they reached the mouth of the Umpqua, where they crossed the mountains to the inland. Entering the upper portion of the Sacramento valley they proceeded southerly till they reached the American river. Then they followed up through the San Joaquin valley, and passed out through the Tejon Pass in the winter of 1833-4.
Besides these parties and leaders mentioned, during this period there were several trappers, or " lone traders " who explored and hunted through the valleys.
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