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 26
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 26
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The first mention in a newspaper of what is now Napa City was made in an article published in the Californian, then under the management of Brannan & Kemble, in 1848, in which it is stated that the ship " Malek Adhel " had passed up the Napa River, and found plenty of water to a certain point, and that beyond that was the " Embarcadero de Napa."
Early in May, 1848, the first building was erected, which formed the nucleus around which the present city has grown. It was one and a half stories high, and in size 18 x 24 feet, and was built by Harrison Pierce for a saloon. The building is still standing, and in good condition, near the river on the south side of Third street, and in the same enclosure with the " Shade House." The lumber for this building was sawed by Ralph Kilburn, Har- rison Pierce and William H. Nash, at Bale & Kilburn's mill, two miles above St. Helena, and was hauled to Napa by William H. Nash. Six buildings were framed the previous winter at this mill and shipped to Benicia and San Francisco. The town-site was surveyed and laid out by the late Hou. Nathan Coombs in the spring of 1848, and the original limits of the town only included the land lying between Brown street and the river, and ex-
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tending six hundred yards from Napa Creek to the steamboat landing. Captain John Grigsby and Nathan Coombs did the carpenter work on the new adobe house of Nicolas Higuerra, situated west of the present town-site, and took this tract of land in payment for their work. Shortly afterwards Captain Grigsby disposed of his interest to Mr. Coombs. They had taken a bond for a deed from Higuerra, but when the final papers were made out Mr. Coombs purchased the additional tract known for several years as the " Commons."
Since then several other additions have been made to the town-plot, by various owners of land adjoining it, among whom are Thompson, Briggs & Russell, Hill, Hartson, Cornwell and Lawley. All these additions are now considered for all legal purposes as portions of Napa City. The town was formerly divided into sections known as " Napa Alta," or Upper Napa, and "Napa Abajo," or Lower Napa, the latter consisting of Thompson's addition of over one hundred acres, and these names are sometimes still used in descriptions of land. The embarcadero or landing was at the head of navi- gation, and the ford just above it determined the location of the town. There being no bridges in those days, the ford was a place of much im- portance, probably much more than was the embarcadero.
When Pierce came to erect his building he got bewildered amid the forest of newly planted surveyor's stakes, and placed the structure in the middle of Main street. This was certainly a significant beginning for the erection of a saloon. The effects of what the building was destined to contain seem to have impressed themselves upon the projector very forcibly, or may be he had a stock stored away under the wide spreading branches of a neighboring tree, and took occasion to visit it quite frequently to see that it was all there, barring the quantity he imbibed himself. But, be that as it may, the building was discovered to be in the middle of the street by Nicolas Higuerra and the proprietor, after the building had progressed nearly to completion, the rafters only remaining to be put on. It was, upon the discovery of its misplacement, moved to its present site, and there completed.
During that year, 1848, Mr. John Trubody mowed almost the entire town-site, which was covered with a rank growth of wild oats, and sold the hay to the Government. On the 8th of May gold was discovered, and by the time the pioneer building was completed the news had reached the residents of this valley, and on the twentieth of that month a party com- prising Harrison Pierce, William H. Nash, Ralph Kilburn, John Kelley, Frank Kellogg, William McDonald, Hiram Acres and Benjamin Dewell, together with an old Indian, Guadalupe, and his wife, who had been brought from Mexico by William Gordon and Julian Pope, left Napa for the newly-discovered gold fields, thus being about the first to arrive there.
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It will thus be seen that the newly-constructed edifice was deserted even before it had been initiated into the mysteries of a saloon. Pierce remained in the mines during the summer season, and that fall returned to Napa to find his building just as he had left it, and he put in a stock of liquors and opened the "Empire Saloon," a place well remembered by all old pioneers. The following summer it offered accommodations in the shape of lodgings, and "square meals " of beef, hard bread and coffee at one dollar each. The first election in Napa County was held in this building in 1849. It was subsequently occupied for various purposes, R. T. Montgomery using it at one time as a dwelling-house. The old sign " Empire Saloon," was still visible in 1857.
In 1849, a rude bridge was built across Napa Creek, near the line of Brown street, which fell in the autumn of 1851, under the weight of a load of wheat belonging to J. W. Osborn, killing two horses. Another in its place was built on Main street, which was carried away by a freshet in the winter of 1852-3, and the drift and debris lodging against the trees, threw back the waters and flooded the town. Another bridge was thrown across the creek at First street the same year. As stated above, there was a ford just above the head of navigation. There was a ford also near the foot of Second street, which was passable at low tide, and over which men swam their horses at high tide. In the fall and winter of 1848-9, a ferry was established by William Russel and a partner, at a point between Second and Third streets. In 1851, a toll bridge was built across the river just above the Vernon Mills, by J. B. Horrell, who obtained a franchise for the same from the Court of Sessions.
During the fall of 1848, and the following winter, other buildings, small temporary structures, half canvass, half redwood " shakes," were erected. The first store was opened in 1848, by J. P. Thompson, in a build- ing at the foot of Main street, on the site of the Star Warehouse. The next store was located on the tongue of land lying at the junction of the river and creek, and between the two streams, on the present site of "China- town." In 1849, Messrs. Vallejo & Frisbie (Gen. Mariano Guadalupe Val- lejo and Gen. John C. Frisbie) had three stores : one in Napa, one at Benicia and one at Sonoma, in which George N. Cornwell was also inter- ested, and had charge of the one at Napa, which was the store mentioned above as being situated on the point between Napa River and Napa Creek. In the winter of 1848-9, there was another rush to the mines, and nearly all the male population of the community proceeded to the " diggins " to seek a fortune. Messrs. Cornwell and Thompson remained in charge of their respective stores, and a few old men who did not care to brave the asperities of the weather, nor the hardships of a miner's life, tarried also.
Some idea of the fabulous prices which commodities commanded at that
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time may be had when we state that lumber at the Capt. Stephen Smith mill at Bodega was worth $300 per thousand. The freight by wagon to Sonoma was $80 per thousand, and it was brought thence by vessel at quite an additional cost. Mr. Cornwell paid John Wooden, in 1849, $100 each for two stringers for a bridge, each sixty feet in length. That same year he fenced forty acres of barley, which was then growing on what is now known as " Cornwell's Addition," with rails which cost him one dollar apiece. He paid $400 for thrashing the barley in Mexican style, $400 for a fanning mill, and $125 each for old-fashioned cradles. He did well, however, by the venture, as he raised from sixty to seventy bushels per acre, and sold it readily from $8 to $15 per cental.
The next store was erected by Capt. Brackett and R. L. Kilburn, which was located on Main street, below the American Hotel, and will be remen- bered as the office of the Reporter, in 1856, then published by Messrs. Montgomery & Cox. Within the next two years several other buildings were erected for business purposes, among which was Messrs. Hart & Mc- Garry's, on Main street, near the site of Messrs. Goodmans' Bank. This structure was erected by Archibald Jesse, and was originally used for a dwelling. Jacob Higgins built a store on the south-west corner of Brown and First streets, now forming a part of the German Music Hall. On the north-west corner was the store of Messrs. Seawell & Gregg; also, a one- story frame building owned and kept by J. Mount, and another subsequently by Angus Boggs, and afterwards by J. H. Howland. There was a dwelling- house on Main street, which was subsequently used for mercantile pur- poses.
There were two other stores on Main street, one on the south-west corner of Main and Second streets, and another on the north-west corner of the same streets, occupied by Messrs. Penwell & Walker. The McCombs Building, on the north-west corner of Main and First streets, was occupied as a meat market by R. M. Hill, and for several years subsequently as a saloon. On the south-east corner was a blacksmith shop, presided over by one Mr. Guthrie. Excepting a few dwellings on Coombs street, there were but few buildings west of the Court-house previous to 1854 except mere shanties. The first of any considerable size or pretensions was the dwelling of Major John H. Seawell, which has since been remodeled, and is now one of the buildings connected with the Napa Ladies' Seminary. South of this street all was an open common, with here and there a shanty, down as far as Colonel W. S. Jacks' place, on Jacks Point. The first warehouse was erected on the south side of First street, at the then steamboat landing, but it was carried away by the flood of the following winter. Another ware- house was put up in 1850 by John Trubody, near the foot of Main street, on what is known as Short street, and directly upon the river bank. This
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building was occupied successively as a warehouse, store, saloon, post-office, church, Magistrate's office and boarding-house, and was still standing in 1871, as a relic and remembrance of early days. Another warehouse was erected by Angus L. Boggs in the spring of 1851, a block north on the same street.
In consequence of the enormous prices of lumber and labor in those early days, buildings already framed were often shipped to California, and some of these are still standing in Napa City. Three of them united formed Gregg & Seawell's store, and now constitute the German Hotel, on the cor- ner of Brown and First streets. The stone building so long occupied by Messrs. A. Y. Easterby & Co., and the store opposite to it, which was de- stroyed by fire many years since, a portion of the old Court-house, the Napa Stable, the first building erected at Oak Knoll, a small store erected for Lawrence & Kimball, and the building so long occupied by Mr. George N. Cornwell as a residence on First street, were among these imported buildings.
In 1851, the bark " Josephine," which had been in Moorehead's expedi- tion to Gila, was purchased by George N. Cornwell, and Captain Chadwick sailed it up the Napa River to the " Embarcadero," for the modest (?) sum of one hundred dollars. The new proprietor proceeded to dismantle her, and house her over. She was then anchored to the bank of the river near the point of confluence of the river and the creek, east of First street bridge, and used for several years as a wharf-boat and store ship. She was ulti- mately sold to William A. Fisher, who rented her for the same purposes, and finally removed her, on the change of leaving the place, to the present steamboat landing.
The population of Napa in those early days would have afforded a grand field for the student of human nature, as it was made up of a motley col- lection of representatives of all the nations under the sun. The New England Yankee elbowed the "Sydney duck," and the Chinaman and Negro stood cheek by jowl with the Digger Indian. Napa was a favorite resort for miners in the winter, whether they were " flush " or " dead broke." The chief places of business were the saloons, and gold dust was the medium of traffic, and scales stood upon every counter. Very little United States coin was in circulation, and as late as 1856 the medium of exchange was either gold dust, foreign coin, or a substitute for coin issued by the assay office of Kellogg & Humbert in San Francisco. They issued gold pieces of the value of five dollars, ten dollars, twenty dollars and fifty dollars, which were of full weight and equal fineness to the Government standard; these were everywhere accepted as legal coin. All old settlers will well remember the fifty dollar " slug" as it was called, which was so common in those days.
The French franc and the English shilling passed freely for a quarter of a dollar and the five-franc piece for one dollar. No change was used smaller than a " bit," or ten-cent piece, and they were not reckoned to be of much
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consequence. The prices of everything, especially labor, was enormous, money being the only thing that was plentiful. Alas, how things have changed since then ! Gambling was the most fashionable pursuit, and men of all classes engaged in it. San Francisco saw itself repeated on a smaller scale in this embryotic city. A more rollicking and reckless set of men was never seen. Fights were of hourly occurrence and practical jokes of all sorts were the order of the day, and no better entertainment can be afforded than to listen to the recital of those every-day jokes by a crowd of old- timers. There were neither churches nor schools, and practically there was no law, each man being "a law unto himself," and very few had settled habits. The mass of these men had no family ties to hold them in check, and there were no places of public resort excepting the bar-rooms, saloons and gambling houses. "It is not strange," says one who passed through the ordeal, " that very many of the early pioneers contracted ruinous habits, causing the premature death of many and a life-long regret to those that survive. They lived in a fever of excitement, careless of the morrow and determined to enjoy the present at all hazards to the full."
With the organizing of the county in 1851 came the necessity of erecting a Court-house, which was built on the corner of Coombs and Second streets, and was a small two-story structure. The present Court-house plaza was occupied by Lawley & Lefferts as a lumber yard in 1855. It had long pre- vious to that been a vacant lot, covered knee-deep with tar-weed.
In November, 1849, Captain Turner G. Baxter and Dr. Bracket arrived in Napa City and the Captain immediately embarked in the saloon and grocery business, which he followed till the spring of 1850, when he erected the " Valley House," on the site now occupied by David L. Haas' book store, which he conducted for a short time. The " American Hotel " was erected in 1850 by Nathan Coombs, Lyman Chapman and Samuel Starr, and the " Napa Hotel " by James Harbin in 1851. Several lodging-houses and res- taurants had previously been opened as appendages to saloons. In addition to the hotels mentioned above, there were in 1854, a blacksmith shop on First street, near the corner of Main; a butcher shop on the corner kept by R. M. Hill, a restaurant just below it, kept by H. Sanderson ; a saloon just below it kept by J. M. Dudley, and a store kept by J. C. Penwell and A. B. Walker, on the present site of the bank of Napa. On the east side of Main street were Charles Hoits' store, the Shade House, and a few temporary buildings, mostly occupied as saloons or restaurants. Archibald Jesse built a dwelling, afterwards used by Messrs. Hunt & McGregory as a store. The building stood upon the present site of the Goodman & Co. Bank.
Mr. George N. Cornwell, who came to Napa in 1848, gives us the fol- lowing statement concerning what was here when he came, and the progress of the city for a year or two afterwards. "In 1847 Nicolas Higuerra erected
-
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History of Napa and Lake Counties-NAPA.
a new adobe house, and Nathan Coombs and Capt. John Grigsby took the contract of making and putting on the shingles, for which they received the tract of land which comprised the original town-site. In the fall of that year, the services of Mr. James M. Hudspeth, now of Green Valley, Sonoma County, were brought into requisition, and the town-plot was surveyed. The first building was a store erected by Southard & Sweezy, and it was located on the back of the river, just in the rear of the Uncle Sam wine cellar vinegar house. (This is evidently the same building spoken of above, as being built by Harrison Pierce. The apparent discrepancy lies, we think, in the fact that Pierce was the owner of the building, and the other named gentlemen did the carpenter work on it. So also in regard to what it was used for. Stores were apt to have a saloon attached to them in those days, and vice versa.) The second building was also a store built by J. P. Thomp- son, and was located at the foot of Main street, where the mill now stands. There was a building also where the "O. P. C" store now stands, on the corner of Main and Third streets. Archibald C. Jesse had a building on the corner of Second and Main streets, a little above where the Goodman Bank now stands, and it was then used for a dwelling. A man by the name of Brown had a little building, now occupied as a saloon, on the north-east corner of Second and Main streets. All of these buildings were here in the fall of 1848. The next building was the Vallejo & Frisbie store, at the junction of the creek and river. Ralph Kilburn, also constructed a dwelling in the fall of 1848. There was a little saloon on the corner of Main and Second streets, on the site of the bank of Napa, which was kept by two brothers named Johnson. Either in the fall of 1848 or the spring of 1849, the McComb's building was erected on the corner of First and Main streets, on the site of Alden & Co.'s store. The principal event of those pioneer days was the lynching of Hugh McCaully, a full account of which will be found in the chapter on homicides.
In 1850, N. McKimmey, afterwards Sheriff of Napa County, had a ferry- boat near the foot of Second street. Mr. Thomas Earl, who came in that year, estimates the number of inhabitants at fifty, and the buildings at one dozen. The Napa House was then conducted by Frank Juarez. Mr. Earl was the first saddler in the place, and Charles Allen the first tinner. What is known as the "Lawley Addition " was purchased by Matt. Harbin from Nicolas Higuerra, and in 1853 Mr. Earl bought it from him, and subse- quently sold it to Mr. Lawley. A. W. Norton had a blacksmith shop in the place at that time also.
In the spring of 1855, the first brick building of any character whatso- ever was erected by John S. Robinson, and was a small dwelling-house located in the western part of town, and then really outside the city limits. Shortly after this, Thomas Earl and William H. James united forces, and pur-
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chased brick in Sacramento, and erected the first brick building in Napa for business purposes. Mr. Earl purchased the brick in Sacramento and they were shipped to Napa on board the schooner " Susan Owens." The building was located on the south-west corner of Main and First streets, where it still stands. This statement is authentic, and should set at rest forever the mooted question of who built the first brick building in Napa. Shortly afterwards, A. W. Norton erected a brick blacksmith shop; and the Revere House, the second Court-house, and some other business houses were all built of brick in 1856.
From 1849 to 1854 the population of the town increased very rapidly, and in the latter year the place could boast of about four hundred people. As a matter of course, the business interests increased proportionately ; and in all about forty buildings graced the town-site with their presence. In 1855, the first school-house was erected, and the first church building, the Presbyterian, was completed that year. The bank of the river was then covered with a dense growth of willows and alders, and the Indians were about equal to the whites in point of numbers.
J. P. Thompson laid out that portion of Napa City known as " Napa Abajo " in 1853.
As late as 1856 very little effort had been made to improve the streets or highways, and both were almost impassable in the rainy season. There were only two places on Main street where a pedestrian could cross, one opposite the American Hotel, and the other nearly opposite the Napa House. The crossings were made of bundles of straw, thrown into the mud until the bottom was found. Woe was unto the unlucky wight who got belated, and had too much " tangle-foot " aboard, for a single misstep would send him into the mud up to his waist, to flounder out as best he could. The streets in wet weather resembled mud canals rather than thoroughfares for men and horses. In the summer season they dried up and became solid enough, but were full of undulations, which, to say the least, were not very gentle or regular ones. The streets in summer time became about as vil- lainous as they did in the winter season. Owing to the traveling of heavy teams over them they soon became cut into great ruts, and canopied with intolerable clouds of dust, through which people floundered over a strange mosaic of rubbish, cast-off clothing, empty bottles and sardine boxes. These were the days in which every man wore heavy boots, into the tops of which his pant were snugly stuffed. In the winter season these great boots were covered with mud up to the very tops of them, while in the antipode the wearer floundered as helplessly in clouds of dust. Everybody laughed at these annoyances, knowing that they were common to all, and the usual concomitants of a new settlement in a wild and unoccupied country.
On the 4th day of July, 1856, the first newspaper ever published in
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Napa City or Napa County made its appearance. It was a small sheet, under the proprietorship and editorial control of A. J. Cox, and the name Reporter was placed at the head of the firstling. Robert T. Montgomery was its first subscriber, and did much in after years to shape and control its destinies. For the historical matter given above concerning Napa City we are under obligations to the early settlers, and also to Mr. Menefee's "Sketch Book." The chapter on the early settlement of Napa City in that work was compiled by R. T. Montgomery, one of the pioneers of the place, and no more capable and reliable man for the duty could have been found; hence we feel that what we have copied from that work is decidedly reliable. We will now take up the history of the city by years, recording whatever there is of interest, as we have found the matter stated in the local press of the place. We will, therefore, begin with
1856 .- Unfortunately, the Reporter was published in those days " semi- occasionally," or in other words, it was a " tri-weekly " paper. It was issued one week, and they tried to issue it the next, but were as apt to fail as otherwise. The first bound number of this paper, which is now extant, is dated November 23, 1856, and is Volume 1, number 19, of the issue. It was then a 4-column folio, edited by A. J. Cox. The subscription price was five dollars, and advertisements were charged for at the rate of three dollars per square for single insertions.
To give an idea of the business interests of the place at that time, we include here the advertisements which we find in that copy of the paper : L. J. Walker & Co., drugs, etc. ; J. M. Dudley, commission merchant, and agent of Wells, Fargo & Co's Express ; - Eaton, M. D .; Earl & Parks, saddlers, harness, etc. ; Lawley & Lefferts, general merchandise ; Easterby & Co., general merchandise ; N. Lawrence and J. Butterfield, general mer- chants ; Gilmore & Taylor, Napa Hotel ; A. Wegl & Co., (Yellow House) general merchants ; Schultze & Co., Napa City Mills ; Haller & Dorr, furni- ture ; B. Grims & Co., successors to A. L. Boggs, warehouse and storage ; John Strickland, Master of the fast sailing sloop " Kiturah," plying between Napa City and San Francisco; American Hotel, by Thomas Alker and Philip Hunsinger ; J. W. Smith, attorney-at-law, and notary public for Napa County ; S. R. Uncles, M. D .; D. K. Rule, M. D .; L. Bruck, notary public ; Johnson Horrell, attorney-at-law ; Henry Edgerton, attorney-at-law and District Attorney for Napa County ; Robert R. Pierpont, attorney-at- law; W. W. Stillwagon, M. D .; W. E. Taylor, superintendent of schools ; A. C. Latson, brick for sale; Patrick O'Brien, tailor ; H. Sanderson, res- taurant; "the elegant and fast steamer 'Guadalupe,' Capt. P. F. Doling, having been newly refitted, will leave Pacific street wharf, in San Fran- cisco, for Napa and way places, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays."
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