USA > California > Napa County > History of Napa and Lake Counties, California : comprising their geography, geology, topography, climatography, springs and timber, together with a full and particular record of the Mexican Grants, also separate histories of all the townships and biographical sketches > Part 14
USA > California > Lake County > History of Napa and Lake Counties, California : comprising their geography, geology, topography, climatography, springs and timber, together with a full and particular record of the Mexican Grants, also separate histories of all the townships and biographical sketches > Part 14
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That portion of the territory recently added to Napa County and taken from the County of Lake, lying east of Putah Creek, shall constitute and be known as Knox Township, and that portion of said territory lying west of Putah Creek shall be added to Hot Springs Township.
An entirely new set of boundaries were established, which appear in the records of the Board of Supervisors, as follows :
NAPA TOWNSHIP .- Beginning at a point on the Sonoma County line due west of the source of a small creek on which was situated Fisk's saw-mill ; thence due east to the source of said creek ; thence down said creek to its mouth ; thence down Dry Creek to its mouth in Trubody's Slough; thence south-easterly, passing one hundred yards north of the residence of G. W. Crowey to the top of the ridge west of Soda Canon ; thence northerly along said ridge to the top of a sharp point on the south side of Rector Cañon ; thence north-easterly in a direct line, to a point on Tebipa or Capelle Creek, one-half mile below the house of George Clark; thence east to the top of the mountain north of Capelle Valley ; thence south-easterly along the top of the ridge to the south end of said ridge near the head of Rag Cañon ; thence
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due east to the line between Napa and Solano Counties; thence southerly and westerly along said line, to the line of Sonoma County ; thence north- erly along said line to the place of beginning.
YOUNT TOWNSHIP .- Beginning at a point on the Sonoma County line described as the beginning point of Napa Township : thence northerly along said line to a point due west from the head of Dry Creek ; thence in a straight line to the middle of the bridge on the road across the slough, known as the Bale Slough, near the residence of Thomas Chopson ; thence in a direct line to the middle of Conn Creek, in front of William Dinning's house ; thence up said creek to Chiles Creek, and up Chiles Creek to Moore's Creek, to the line of La Jota Rancho; thence along said line northerly to the line of Chiles Rancho; thence along the western and northern line of said rancho to corner number one of said rancho; thence northerly along the ridge west of Berryessa Valley, to the old line between Lake and Napa Counties ; thence easterly along said line to the east boundary of Napa County ; thence south- erly along said line to the north-east corner of Napa Township; thence along the northern line of said township, to the place of beginning.
HOT SPRINGS TOWNSHIP .- Beginning at a point on the western boundary line of Napa County, due west from the head of Dry Creek ; thence along the line of Yount Township, north-easterly and northerly to the old line between Napa and Lake Counties ; thence westerly along said line to the middle of Putah Creek ; thence up said creek to the present line between Napa and Lake Counties ; thence along said line southerly and westerly to the north-west corner of Napa County ; thence south-easterly along the line between Napa and Sonoma Counties to the place of beginning.
KNOX TOWNSHIP .- Beginning at a point in the center of Putah Creek, where the old boundary line between Napa and Lake Counties crossed said creek ; thence up Putah Creek to the mouth of Jericho Creek ; thence up Jericho Creek to the mouth of Hunting Creek, to a large pile of rocks on the south-eastern side of the county road, at the lower and south-eastern end of Hunting Valley ; thence in a straight line in the direction of the in- tersection of Bear and Cache Creeks to the county line of Yolo County ; thence south-easterly on the line of Yolo County to the north-eastern corner of Yount Township ; thence westerly on the former line of Napa and Lake Counties to the place of beginning.
Matters remained thus until March 3, 1875, when the Board of Super- visors established the following as the boundaries of
KNOX TOWNSHIP .- Beginning on the line between Napa and Lake Counties, at a point about two miles in an easterly direction from the
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Mountain Mill House, and on the divide between Pope and Localliomi Valleys ; thence southerly on said divide to the main divide between Pope and Napa Valleys; thence along said divide south to Yount Township line ; thence along said line south-easterly to the intersection of Knox Township line; thence along said line to Yolo County line; thence along said line northerly to Lake County line; thence westerly along the dividing line of Napa and Lake Counties to the point of beginning.
The first meeting of the Board of Supervisors of Napa County was held December 6, 1852. The following-named gentlemen comprised the Board at that time : John M. Hamilton, Florentine E. Kellogg and Jesse W. Whit- ton. Mr. Hamilton was chosen Chairman of the Board. Presley Thompson presented the first claim to the Board, being a bill for the construction of a bridge across Napa Creek, and the amount was $1190.
August 9, 1855, the Board of Supervisors divided the county into three supervisorial districts, as follows : Number One shall include Napa voting precinct; Number Two shall include Yount and Berryessa voting precincts ; Number Three shall include Upper and Lower Lake, Hot Springs and Pope voting precincts.
The Supervisors districts were changed October 7, 1856, as follows : Number One shall include Napa, Carneros and Soscol voting precincts ; Number Two shall include Yount and Berryessa voting precincts ; and Number Three shall include Hot Springs, St. Helena, Pope, Upper and Lower Lake voting precincts. In 1858, Big Valley precinct was added to the third supervisorial district.
April 4, 1864, an Act of the Legislature was approved, which provided that the Supervisors should be elected by the electors of the whole county, but that each Supervisor should be a resident of the district which he was elected to represent.
One of the most peculiar things that ever happened in the history of Napa County transpired in connection with the Board of Supervisors, in 1874. At that time the Board consisted of three members, but in accord- ance with an Act of the Legislature, which was approved February 25th of that year, providing for the election of five Supervisors for Napa County, and dividing the same in four Supervisors' districts, the Board divided it as follows :
The township of Napa shall constitute District Number One and shall be entitled to two Supervisors.
Yount Township shall constitute District Number Two and be entitled to one Supervisor.
Hot Springs and Knox Townships shall constitute two Supervisors' districts, and shall be bounded and described as follows: The present boundaries of said townships shall be the boundaries of the Supervisors'
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districts, except the line dividing said townships north and south, and the line dividing said Supervisors' districts north and south shall be the summit of the ridge dividing the waters that flow into Chiles Valley, Pope Valley and the creek known as the north-west tributary of Putah Creek, to the northern boundary of Napa County.
That portion of the above that includes and embraces the upper end of Napa Valley shall constitute District Number Three, and be entitled to one Supervisor.
That portion included in the above and embracing Pope Valley and Knoxville shall be and constitute District Number Four, and be entitled to one Supervisor.
We now come to the interesting part of this programme. There is nothing strange or curious in what has gone before. In accordance with the above Act, a special election was held April 11, 1874, for the purpose of choosing Supervisors to serve as the Board under the new regime. This call specified that two Supervisors should be elected from District Number One, one from District Number Two, one from District Number Three, and one from District Number Four, making a total of five members on the Board. It was also provided in the Act of the Legislature under which this election was called, that at the general election in 1875 and every two years thereafter, on the day of the general election, there should be elected one Supervisor from the First District and one Supervisor from each of the two other districts, to be determined by lot. Also, that at the general election in 1876, and every two years thereafter, the alternates should be elected.
The result of this election was as follows : First district, E. G. Young and B. James ; second district, A. F. Goodwin ; third district, A. Safely ; and fourth district, T. H. Ink. The Board in office at the time of this election, and who had promulgated the order for it, consisted of the following gentle- men : Robert Brownlee, F. W. Ellis and Joseph Mecklinburg. After the election was decided, this Board granted to the newly-elected Supervisors cer- tificates of election, but, to the great surprise of the new Board, they refused to give up their office, holding that the law under which they were elected was post facti. The matter looked serious for awhile, as both Boards were duly elected and qualified according to the laws of the State to serve at the same time and in the same capacity. The matter was formally submitted to the Legislature, and a special Act was passed March 10, 1874, authorizing both Boards to act jointly and as one Board. Napa County was then blest (or otherwise) with the largest Board of Supervisors in the State of Cali- fornia, except the City of San Francisco, and perhaps Sacramento. The meetings of that "double-header" Board of Supervisors were marvels of astuteness, so contemporaries state. They agreed to disagree from the start
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and held firinly to their "joint resolution." The Clerk of the Board, Mr. C. B. Seeley, contributed largely to the literature of the day by writing a series of pen pictures of the members. They were written in his well- known caustic manner, and cut deep into the sensibilities of some of the members. If it were not for that fact we should reproduce them in this connection, for they are worthy of it.
An Act of the Legislature, approved May 18, 1853, provided that the District Court of the Seventh Judicial District should hold terms of Court in Napa County on the first Mondays of February, May and November.
The terms for holding the different Courts in and for Napa County were established by the Legislature in 1855, the Act being approved Feb- ruary 14th of that year. Its provisions were as follows :
The District Court (Seventh Judicial District) shall be held on the third Tuesday of February, May and August, and on the second Tuesday of November.
The terms of the County Court shall be the second Monday in August, December and April.
The terms of the Court of Sessions shall be the first Mondays in August, December and April.
The terms of the Probate Court shall be on the third Monday of August, December and April.
An Act of the Legislature, approved April 20, 1858, provided that the terms of Court should be as follows :
Court of Sessions, first Monday in April, August and December of each year.
County Court, second Monday of March and July, and the first Monday in November.
An Act of the Legislature, approved April 15, 1859, provided that the terms of Court should be as follows :
Court of Sessions, first Monday in April, September and December of each year.
County Court, second Monday in March and July, and the first Monday in November.
An Act of the Legislature, approved April 27, 1863, provided that the terms of the Court of Sessions should be held on the third Monday of May, and the first Monday of September and December. This was only for the year 1863, as the Court of Sessions was discontinued January 1, 1864, and the County Court was given the judicial functions of that Court, while its political functions were relegated to the Board of Supervisors.
An Act of the Legislature, approved April 1, 1864, provided that the terms of the County Court should be held on the first Monday of Decem-
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ber and March, the third Monday of June, and the first Monday of Sep- tember.
In the olden days, before there were any newspapers in Napa County, it became necessary for the Legislature to declare what paper should be the official organ of the county. May 3, 1853, an Act was approved designat- ing the Sonoma Bulletin as the paper in which all legal advertisements should be inserted.
May 17, 1853, the Legislature fixed the salary of the County Judge of Napa County at $2000 per year, and the salary of Associate Justices at $8.00 per day of service each. February 7, 1857, the salary of the Judge was reduced to $1000 per year.
April 17, 1863, the office of Recorder was made separate from the County Clerk, who had been hitherto ex-officio Recorder.
February 29, 1864, the Treasurer was made ex-officio Tax Collector, in lieu of the Sheriff, who had held the position before that. March 28, 1868, the business of collecting the taxes reverted to the Sheriff.
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Political History of Napa County.
POLITICAL HISTORY OF NAPA COUNTY.
Prior to the acquisition of California by the Government of the United States, the large District of Sonoma, which included all the territory between the Sacramento River and the ocean on the one hand, and Oregon and the Bay of San Francisco on the other, was under the rule of the Mexican Gov- ernment, and divided into Prefectures, amenable to a Grand Council at Sonoma, the holders of office being designated by the Spanish name of Alcalde. It will be seen that the present territory of Napa County was comprised in these boundaries. Between the years 1846 and 1849 the country remained under the control of the military. Let us see what was the state of the political horizon during that time. According to Tuthill- as to civil law, the country was utterly at sea. It had a Governor in the person of the commandant of the military district it belonged to, but no government. While the war lasted, California, as a conquered province, expected to be governed by military officers, who, by virtue of their com- mand of the department, bore sway over all the territory that their department embraced. But after peace had come and the succession of military Governors was not abated, a people who had been in the habit of governing themselves, under the same flag and the same constitution, chafed that a simple change of longitude should deprive them of their inalienable rights.
The first civil officer in Sonoma was John Nash, who was commissioned by General Kearney as Alcalde of the district. This man, so legendary report states, had a most wonderfully exalted idea of the dignity of his office, and assumed ministerial as well as judicial powers. He had a very curious way of signing himself " Chief Justice of California." At length he was removed by the military Governor, but he refused to acknowledge the authority of that arm of our Government over the judicial branch, especially the exalted position held by him, hence he sought to retain the office. Lieutenant-now General William T. Sherman-was sent in quest of him, and finally succeeded in capturing him and bringing him before Governor Mason at Monterey, who reprimanded and released him. This first civil officer of the District of Sonoma-" Chief Justice Nash " as he called himself, and "'Squire Nash " as he was generally called-was a good- natured man, illiterate, but honest. When the rumors of gold reached
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Sonoma, Squire Nash was employed by a number of persons to go to the gold mines and spy out the land, and if there were the "millions in it," which rumor said there was, to return and report to them. This was in 1848, and he returned with gold dust to the value of eight hundred and thirty- seven dollars. He then went to Mormon Island with a party of Sonoma miners, and died there that winter. He was succeeded in office by Lilburn W. Boggs, ex-Governor of Missouri, a man eminentiy capable of performing the functions of the position, as the records of his office still extant in the County Clerk's office in Santa Rosa will fully establish.
General Persifer F. Smith, who assumed command on arriving by the "California," the first steamship that reached San Francisco (February 28, 1849), and General Riley, who succeeded him (April 13, 1849), would have been acceptable Governors enough, if the people could have discovered any- where in the Constitution that the President had power to govern a territory by a simple order to the commandant of a military department. The power was obvious in time of war, but in peace it was unprecedented. Left entirely to themselves, the people could have organized a " squatter sover- eignty," as Oregon had done, and the way into the sisterhood of States was clear.
They felt that they had cause for complaint, but in truth they were too busy to nurse their grievance and make much of it. To some extent they formed local governments, and had unimportant collisions with the military. But, busy as they were, and expecting to return home soon, they humored their contempt for politics, and left public matters to be shaped at Washing- ton. Nor was this so unwise a course under the circumstances; for the thing that had hindered Congress from giving them a legitimate and constitutional government was the ever-present snag in the current of American political history, the author of most of our woes, the great mother of mischief on the western continent-slavery.
When it was found that Congress had adjourned without doing anything for California, Brigadier-General Riley, by the advice, he said, of the Presi- dent and Secretaries of State and of War, issued a proclamation, which was at once a call for a Convention, and an official exposition of the Adminis- tration's theory of the anomalous relations of California and the Union. He strove to rectify the impression that California was governed by the military arm of the service; that had ceased with the termination of hos- tilities. What remained was the civil government, recognized by the existing laws of California. These were vested in a Governor, who received his ap- pointment from the Supreme Government, or in default of such appointment, the office was vested in the commanding military officer of the department, a Secretary, a Departmental or Territorial Legislature, a Superior Court with four Judges, a Prefect and sub-Prefect and a Judge of the First
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Instance for each district, Alcaldes, local Justices of the Peace, ayunta- mientos, or Town Councils. He moreover recommended the election, at the same time, of delegates to a Convention to adopt either a State or Terri- torial Constitution, which, if acquiesced in by the people, would be submitted to Congress for approval.
In June, 1849, a proclamation was issued announcing an election to be held on the 1st of August, to appoint delegates to a general Convention to form a State Constitution, and for filling the offices of Judge of the Superior Court, Prefects, sub-Prefects, and First Alcalde or Judge of the First Instance ; such appointments to be made by General Riley after being voted for. The delegates elected to the Convention from the District of Sonoma were General Vallejo, Joel Walker, R. Semple. L. W. Boggs was elected, but did not attend.
The manifesto calling the Constitutional Convention divided the electoral divisions of the State into ten districts ; each male inhabitant of the county of twenty-one years of age, could vote in the district of his resi- dence, and the delegates so elected were called upon to meet at Monterey, on September 1, 1849. The number of delegates was fixed at thirty-seven, five of whom were appointed to San Francisco.
As was resolved, the Convention met at Monterey on the date above named, Robert Semple of Benicia, one of the delegates from the District of Sonoma, being chosen President. The session lasted 'six weeks; and, not- withstanding an awkward scarcity of books of reference and other necessary aids, much labor was performed, while the delegates exhibited a marked degree of ability. In framing the original Constitution of California slavery was forever prohibited within the jurisdiction of the State; the boundary question between Mexico and the United States was set at rest ; provision for the morals and education of the people was made; a seal of State was adopted with the motto Eureka, and many other matters dis- cussed.
In August, General Riley issued commissions to Stephen Cooper, appoint- ing him Judge of the First District, and C. P. Wilkins, Prefect of the Dis- trict of Sonoma, while one of General Riley's last appointments before the adoption of the Constitution was that of Richard A. Maupin, well remem- bered among the district's old residents, to be Judge of the Superior Tribunal, in place of Lewis Dent, resigned. Another well-known pioneer who was at the Convention from Sacramento County, was Major Jacob R. Snyder, a res- ident of Sonoma till his death.
We find that the " Superior Tribunal of California " existed at Monterey in 1849; for, in September of that year a " Tariff of fees for Judicial Offi- cers " was published, with the following order of the Court: "That the several officers mentioned in this order shall be entitled to receive for their
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services, in addition to their regular salaries, if any, the following fees, and none others, until the further order of this Court." Here is added a list of the fees to be appropriated by Judges of the First Instance, Alcaldes, and Justices of the Peace, Clerks of the several courts, Sheriff or Comisario, District Attorney, and Notaries Public.
We have already said that Stephen Cooper was appointed Judge of First Instance for the District of Sonoma. He commenced his labors in that office in October, 1849, as appears in the early record of the proceedings of that Court extant in the office of the County Clerk of Solano County. The record of one of the cases tried before Judge Cooper is reproduced as an instance of the quick justice that obtained in 1849 :
The People of California Territory vs. George Palmer. And now comes the said people by right of their attorney, and the said defendant by Semple and O'Melveny, and the prisoner having been arraigned on the indictment in this cause, plead not guilty. Thereupon a jury was chosen, selected and sworn, when, after hearing the evidence and arguments of counsel, returned into Court the following verdict, to wit :
" The jury, in the case of Palmer, defendant, and the Territory of Cali- fornia, plaintiff, have found a verdict of guilty on both counts of the in- dictment, and sentenced him to receive the following punishment, to wit :
" On Saturday, the 24th day of November, to be conducted by the Sheriff to some public place, and there receive on his bare back seventy-five lashes, with such a weapon as the Sheriff may deem fit, on each count respectively, and to be banished from the District of Sonoma within twelve hours after whipping, under the penalty of receiving the same number of lashes for each and every day he remains in the district after the first whipping.
" (Signed) ALEXANDER RIDDELL, Foreman.
" It is therefore ordered by the Court, in accordance with the above ver- dict, that the foregoing sentence be carried into effect."
The Constitution was duly framed, submitted to the people, and at the election held on the thirtieth of November, ratified by them, and adopted by a vote of twelve thousand and sixty-four for it, and eleven against it ; there being, besides, over twelve hundred ballots that were treated as blanks, be- cause of an informality in the printing.
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We here reproduce two of the tickets which were voted at the time, and were distributed in and around Sacramento and the upper portion of the State :
PEOPLE'S TICKET.
FOR THE CONSTITUTION. - FOR GOVERNOR, John A. Sutter.
FOR LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR, John McDougal.
FOR REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS, William E. Shannon, Pet. Halsted.
FOR STATE SENATORS, John Bidwell, Upper Sacramento, Murray Morrison, Sacramento City, Harding Bigelow, Sacramento City, Gilbert A. Grant, Vernon.
FOR ASSEMBLY,
H. C. Cardwell, Sacramento City, P. B. Cornwall, Sacramento City, John S. Fowler, Sacramento City, J. Sherwood, Elisha W. Mckinstry, Madison Waltham, Coloma,
W. B. Dickenson, Yuba, James Queen, South Fork, W. L. Jenkin, Weaverville.
PEOPLE'S TICKET.
FOR THE CONSTITUTION.
FOR GOVERNOR,
Peter H. Burnett.
FOR LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR, John McDougal.
FOR REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS, Edward Gilbert, George W. Wright. FOR STATE SENATORS,
John Bidwell, Upper Sacramento, Murray Morrison, Sacramento City, Harding Bigelow, Sacramento City, Gilbert A. Grant, Vernon.
FOR ASSEMBLY,
H. C. Cardwell, Sacramento City, P. B. Cornwall, Sacramento City, John S. Fowler, Sacramento City, H. S. Lord, Upper Sacramento, Madison Waltham, Coloma, W. B. Dickenson, Yuba. James Queen, South Fork, Arba K. Berry, Weaverville.
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