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 71
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 71
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At the present time there is quite a mnove among them to secure landed possessions of their own, and should they receive the encouragement they so justly merit at the hands of the white men, the time is not far distant when they will become producers instead of consumers, and the country will be benefited thereby. Some worthy gentlemen at the head of the lake have already lent a helping hand in this direction, and their exertions are being amply rewarded.
There never has been a reservation in this county, which may be con- sidered a most fortunate circumstance for the Indians, although they have had their share of trouble at the hands of the while settlers, full particulars of which will be found in another chapter. But while there was no reser- vation in this county there was one in Mendocino County, and it is quite probable that portions of the tribes of Lake got "reserved" from time to time.
Many strange stories come down to the present time about those old reservation days. It is said that the soldiers and employés of the reserva- tions would make incursions into the interior valleys and corral and drive the Indians into the reservation just as they would so many wild hogs or cattle. It was immaterial whether a tribe were hostile or not, all Indians were considered legitimate game for these paid man-hunters who had the mighty authority of our great free Republic at their backs to sustain any and all of their depredations into the peaceful homes of the native denizens of the realm. Is it any wonder that forbearance ceased to be a virtue some- times, and that the Indians occasionally "kicked against the pricks ?" Their camps were raided and despoiled, and their people kidnapped by the whites. There is to-day an Indian in the Cahto rancheria who was kidnapped when
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Indians of Lake County.
a boy by some white marauder, and as a slave taken to a foreign country. He was taken to Missouri and grew up in the chains of this forced and illegal bondage, and when he got to that age that he could shift for himself, true to his Indian instinct, he started out on the long and almost hopeless journey of returning to the home of his childhood. Days and months were consumed in the trip, but at last, after overcoming almost insurmountable obstacles, made doubly difficult because of his dusky skin, he arrived at his old home, to find only a remnant of his tribe left-the rest had been "re- served," which, being literally translated, means worn out in toiling and moiling on a tract of land kept by the Government from bona fide white settlers, that a few political friends of the administration might be fed and sustained and enriched by their labor. These Indians were vassals, very slaves to those in charge of the reservation, and yet they have never gotten enough work out of all the hundreds of Indians upon it to sustain the in- habitants. Whose fault is it ? Certainly work enough has been expended by the Indian slaves to have sustained them, but it has been misdirected.
We are aware that these strictures are, in a measure, severe ; but when the matter is thoroughly examined into, it will be found that the facts in the case will bear out all that has been said, and that the half has not, nor can it ever be told. From the day that Columbus landed upon American soil, in the evening of the fifteenth century, to this present time, the declin- ing days of the nineteenth century, it has always been the same old story -- aggression on the part of the whites-not to use any of the stronger terms applicable to the special cases of wrong usage, and resentment on the part of the Indians, which was no more than natural, and just what any human being would have done. There was no Joshua to lead our ancestors in their furious onslaught upon the owners of the soil, and to declare that their and their children's prosperity would never be full until the last vestige of the hated red man should disappear from the face of the country, and to de- clare it to be the will of the God of gods that this should be done, and in His name. Still, they have acted on that principle, and the only justification that can be given is, that the whites wanted the land for their own use. No re- gard whatever has been paid to the laws of meum et tuum; but what was theirs by inheritance and God-given right has been made ours by force of might. From the eastern shores of the Mongolian sea of humanity the first rippling waves of the on-coming flood-tide of immigration is beginning to lap gently on our strand ; but, far away down toward the middle of the next century we can hear the full roar of the breakers of that grand wave of humanity beating and dashing against all the shore-line of the Pacific, and the country is deluged and flooded with a race not so unlike the red man in many respects, yea, so nearly like him that they are evidently first-cousins. Then will our children and our children's children know and feel what we
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History of Napa and Lake Counties-LAKE.
have caused the aboriginal inhabitants of this fair land to feel. It has taken four centuries to usurp all this vast domain, and four centuries more may see only a trace of our vaunted Saxon race, while our boasted institutions of freedom will be things long in the past, and held in such hated remembrance that a mention of them will never be made.
But the Indian is vanishing from the face of the earth surely and not so very slowly. It was estimated in 1877, that there were less than ten thou- sand left in the entire State of California, distributed as follows: On the reservation at Hoopa Valley, five hundred and eighty ; Round Valley reser- vation, nine hundred and fifty-two; Tule River reservation, twelve hundred ; and not on any reservation, six thousand five hundred, making a total of nine thousand two hundred and thirty-two. And yet, it is in the memory of every old pioneer when there were at least that many living on the terri- tory covered now by any one county in the State. It is very strange, and yet it seems a matter of destiny, and just as much so as it was that the nations of the land of Canaan should disappear before the advance of the Israelites into their country. Many people are inclined to put on a senti- mental air and charge that the white man has been the cause of all this decimation among their ranks. Such, however, does not seem to be the case. The truth is, that they had served their purpose in the great economy of God and the fulness of time for their disappearance from the earth has come, and they are going to go. Of course, looking at it from this stand- point does not give the white man leave or license to help rid the country of them. Far from it; but on the other hand, the great law of Christian (by which word is meant Christ-like) charity comes in, and demands that they should receive just and honorable usage at the hands of those who come into contact with them.
How beautifully and truthfully is the result of the invasion of the white people portrayed in the following lines from Longfellow's " Hiawatha :"
I beheld, too, in that vision All the secrets of the future, Of the distant days that shall be ;
I beheld the westward marches Of the unknown, crowded nations ; All the land was full of people, Restless, struggling, toiling, striving, Speaking many tongues, yet feeling But one heart-beat in their bosoms. In the woodland rang their axes,
Smoked their towns in all the valleys, Over all the lakes and rivers
Rushed their great canoe of thunder. Then a darker, drearier vision
Passed before me, vague and cloud-like :
I beheld our nation scattered, All forgetful of my counsels ;
Weakened, warring with each other ;
Saw the remnants of our people
Sweeping westward, wild and woeful,
Like the cloud-rack of a tempest,
Like the withered leaves of autumn ! * * *
* Thus departed Hiawatha In the glory of the sunset,
In the purple mists of evening,
To the regions of the home wind,
To the Islands of the Blessed,
To the kingdom of Ponemah,
To the land of the hereafter !
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Mexican Grants.
MEXICAN GRANTS.
The territory now embraced in the boundaries of Lake County was so remote and so out of the usual line of travel, and above all, so full of wild Indians, that but little of it was ever located upon by the early Spanish- Mexican settlers of California. It was claimed that three grants had been made by the Mexican Government, but only two of them, however, were ever approved by the United States Courts, the third being rejected for causes set forth below. We will take them up in the order of the dates of their cession.
Lup-Yomi Grant .- We cannot do better in this connection than to give the opinion of Judge Ogden Hoffman, of the United States District Court, in the case of The United States vs. Teschmaker, et al .:
" On the 4th of January, 1853, the claimants petitioned the Board of Land Commissioners for a confirmation of their claim to the place known as "Lup-Yomi," containing fourteen square leagues, more or less. In support of their claim, a grant was produced, dated September, 5, 1844, purporting to be signed by Manuel Micheltoreno, and conveying to Salvador and Juan Antonio Vallejo, the land known as the Laguna de Lup-Yomi, to the ex- tent of sixteen square leagues, as shown by the respective map.
" On the map which accompanies this grant a large district of country, embracing the whole of the sheet of water now known as Clear Lake, to- gether with a considerable tract around it, was rudely delineated. No evidence whatever from the archives was offered, and the mem. at the end of the grant, to the effect that note of it had been taken in the proper book, was found, on consulting the book, to be false. The profession of possession and occupation was also unsatisfactory. The decision of the District Court was, therefore, reversed, and the cause remanded for further testimony. It is now submitted on the testimony that has since been taken in this Court. It is contended that the archive evidence, the absence of which was one of the chief reasons assigned by the Supreme Court for refusing to confirm the claim, has since been supplied.
"It appears that in 1855 one José Santos Berryessa deposited in the Surveyor-General's Office an expediente, purporting to contain a concession and the proceedings preliminary thereto of the place called Lup-Yomi. This document is stated by Vincente P. Gomez to have been in the office of the Secretary at Monterey from its date up to July, 1846, when it was
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History of Napa and Lake Counties --- LAKE ..
taken to the Custom House with other papers. It then passed into the possession of the witness, but how or by what right is not explained, and so remained until 1854 or 1855, when Mr. Domingo Marks, at the instance, as he said, of José Santos Berryessa, procured the loan of it. Before giving it to Marks, Dias, as he stated, tore off the signature of M. Micheltoreno to the decree of concession. The only reason he assigns for so doing is that he very much feared he would not see it again. The document thus mutilated was, no doubt, then deposited in the archives by Berryessa. The expediente thus presented to our notice contains :
" First. A petition signed, Salvador Vallejo, and dated May 23, 1844, so- liciting for himself, and for one Antonio Vallejo, Rosalia Olivera and Marcos Juarez, who joined with him in the petition, for the tract of land situated to the south of the lake, which lies at the distance of forty leagues, a little more or less, to the north of this place-Sonoma ; and he asks that as these interested are in company with him, there be granted eight square leagues to each, omitting for the present to furnish a map, it being impossible to have it correctly made, for want of the necessary knowledge of the land.
" Second. On the 31st of May, 1844, this petition was sent to the Sec- retary, who directed to obtain the necessary informes.
" Third. It was accordingly passed by Jimeno on the 20th of June, 1844, to the Justice of Sonoma for his report.
" Fourth. On the 24th of July, 1844, the Justice, Cayetano Juarez, re- ported in favor of the petition of the citizens, Salvador Vallejo, one Antonio Vallejo, Rosalia Olivera, and Marcos Jaurez.
" Fifth. On the 21st of August, Francisco Arce, Chief Clerk, Jimeno being ill, as the report states, transmitted these informes to the Governor, with the recommendation that the grant be made.
" Sixth. Then follows in the expediente a decree of concession dated Au- gust 30, 1844, purporting to grant as property to the petitioners the land they ask for according to the map. This decree is in the hand-writing of Vincente P. Gomez, and the signature of the Governor, if ever attached to it, has been torn off. Such are the contents of the expediente now for the first time offered in evidence.
" Two questions are thus presented :
" First. Is the expediente admissable in evidence ?
" Second. What is its effect as proof in this case ?
" The claim first presented to the Board, and afterwards submitted to the Supreme Court, was for fourteen leagues of land alleged to have been granted to Salvador and Juan Antonio Vallejo on the 5th of September, 1844. The land thus granted was stated by Salvador Vallejo himself to be a well- known tract, embraced with great natural boundaries, which he had pointed out to a surveyor, and which were found to contain twelve leagues. This
-
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Mexican Grants.
claim was the only one presented to the Supreme Court. That tribunal, finding the evidence unsatisfactory, remanded the case for further proofs.
" The expediente now produced shows, if it shows anything, a concession made, not on September 5th, but on August 30th. The grantees are not the Vallejo's alone, but two other persons beside, and the land granted is not sixteen square leagues, but thirty-two. So far from this evidence being further evidence in support of the claim and titulo presented to the Supreme Court, it seems almost incompatible with the genuineness of the title. If, on the 30th of August, the Governor made a concession of thirty-two leagues to the Vallejos, Rosalia Olivera, and Marcos Jaurez, it seems highly improb- able that a few days afterwards he would have granted one-half of the same land to the Vallejos alone. No explanation of this is offered by Vallejo, though in a deposition taken in support of the titulo of September 5th, speaks of a petition by himself and brother, and a grant to them of sixteen leagues, but omits all mention of his application for thirty-two leagues for himself, his brother, Olivera, and Juarez, of the proceedings thereon, and of the alleged concession found in the expediente. These facts serve to corrob- orate the testimony of Mr. Hopkins, who swears that in his opinion-and it is entitled to great consideration-the signature of Micheltoreno to the grant of September 5th is spurious.
" It appears to be thought by the counsel for the claimants that the expediente can be treated as the record of the proceedings preliminary to the grant of September 5th. I am unable to perceive how it can be so regarded. Vallejo distinctly asserts that he petitioned for himself and his brother, and obtained the grant of September 5th for sixteen leagues. No such petition is found in the archives. The petition in the expediente is on behalf of four persons, and for thirty-two leagues of land, and that petition, if the expe- diente be genuine, was granted. I can not see how these proceedings can be considered preliminary to a grant of sixteen leagues to the two Vallejos. The title, therefore, to which alone the expediente can give any support, would seem inconsistent with that heretofore presented. It differs from it in every particular. It bears a different date, is in favor of different per- sons, and is for a different tract of land. It may well be doubted whether, under the bare reading, the cause for further proofs as to the genuineness of the title submitted to the Supreme Court, evidence can not be received of a new, independent, and apparently inconsistent title.
" But it is not necessary to rest on this point, for it is clear that the ex- pediente now utterly fails to meet the requirement of the vigorous, but just and salutary rule of the Supreme Court, which exacts archive testimony as indispensible to a confirmation. The expediente, in no sense, can be claimed as archive testimony. It was not placed among the records until 1855. It comes, therefore, from private custody-as much so as if now produced by
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History of Napa and Lake Counties-LAKE.
Gomez himself. That it ever was in the Secretary of State's office we have no evidence except the unsupported testimony of Gomez, and no other wit- ness pretends to have seen it there; and Salvador Vallejo, when testifying in support of the titulo of September 5th, suppresses all mention of it or of the proceedings it purports to record.
" It is, however, necessary to observe that the character of Gomez is too notorious to permit the Court to place any reliance upon his uncorroborated testimony. But even if this expediente had been found in the archives, it would fail to afford the requisite evidence in support of the claim. That a petition for thirty-two leagues was presented and some orders of reference and informes made, truly may be admitted ; but that these proceedings ter- minated in a decree of concession, the expediente furnishes but slight evi- dence.
" The signature of Micheltoreno to the pretended decree of concession has been torn off. We can not, therefore, ascertain its genuineness by inspection. The only evidence that it was ever attached to the concession is the state- ment of Gomez. But the whole decree is in Gomez's handwriting. The expediente, in all probability, was claudestinely abstracted by him from the archives, if it was ever there, remained in his possession during eight years. If, as is quite probable, it contained originally the petition and reports, he could at any time have written the decree of concession and signed Michel- toreno's name. That he did not do so we have only his own word ; but the hypothesis may account for his tearing of the signature when he gave the document to Marks. The reason assigned by him, viz., that he was afraid he might never see it again, is absurd.
" We thus see not only that this expediente does not come from the archives, but the genuineness of the document, without which the expe- diente is valueless, as proof, rests on the testimony of Gomez alone. If, in addition to this, we consider the total silence of Vallejo and other wit- nesses, to every fact supposed to be disclosed by this expediente, and that the claim, and a confirmation was founded upon another grant which must not be abandoned, together with the fact that no note of either exists in the toma de Rason, Jimeno's index, or other document found among the archives, we are led to the conclusion that the proofs of the genuineness of the thirty-two-league grant are as different and unsatisfactory as those here- tofore offered in support of the sixteen-league titulo, and which the Supreme Court declared to be insufficient. Other objections to the confirma- tion of this claim might be urged. The evidence wholly fails to identify the thirty-two leagues now alleged to have been conceded or to show in what part of the immense tract embraced within the limits of the diseño it is situated. These objections are, however, of minor importance, for on the grounds already stated the claim must be rejected."
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· Mexican Grants.
Salvador Vallejo laid claim to this grant ever since the dates given above, and that he had undisputed possession for years is not to be denied. It is not known now how early he took cattle up there, possibly long before 1844, for Augustine, the chief of the Hoolanapo Indians, has given us a list of the names of the major-domos who had charge of the place, which will be found in the chapter on early settlement, and which would lead us to infer that he put his stock in there quite early. It is a well established fact that he tried to sell this grant to several Americans before 1850, and negotiations were at one time pending between him and Governor Boggs.
It is not known whether Stone and Kelsey ever purchased any right to the land or not, or indeed any right of any kind, as the place was very far removed from civilization then, and they were not likely to be molested. Teschmaker and others eventually came into possession of a supposed title to it, and they started it to grinding through the mill of bad claims. If everything were all right the grist run through the mill expeditiously, often no appeal being taken at all from the decision of the Board of Land Com- missioners by the United States Attorney. On the other hand where there was crookedness, or the appearance of the same, it took years to settle the claim, and some are yet cither in the Courts or before Congress.
In 1854 settlers began to arrive in Big Valley ; and by 1861, the year of the formation of the County of Lake, the valley had nearly as many set- tlers in it as at present, outside of the towns. Still the claim was unsettled, and the citizens did not know of whom they would have to purchase their places, nor how much they would have to pay. Year after year the prop- erty advanced in valuation, and they themselves were adding to the load they would have to carry if the claimants were successful. Finally, they grew tired of this fruitless suspense, and employed Hon. S. K. Welch to prosecute the case to as speedy a termination as possible. After many and vexatious delays, the matter came up for final hearing before Judge Ogden Hoffman, in September, 1866, who rendered the decision quoted above. This gave eminent satisfaction to the settlers, who met at Lakeport October 6, 1866, for the purpose of having a good jollification over the triumph of their cause. The land was surveyed, and entered up in the regular way, and each man secured his home; and the work of the former years had not gone for naught, nor been charged up against them as so much added value to their places, for which they must pay or leave.
Collayomi Grant .- This grant was located in what is now known as Loconoma Valley, and was ceded to Robert T. Ridley June 17, 1845, by M. Micheltoreno, Governor-General of California. This grant was approved by the Department Assembly September 26, 1845. This grant included three leagues, and the survey made by the United States showed that there
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History of Napa and Lake Counties-LAKE.
were eight thousand two hundred and forty-one and seventy-four-hun- dredths acres in it. February 12, 1852, Colonel A. A. Ritchie and P. S. Forbes, as claimants, filed their petition with the Board of Land Commis- sioners. Their claim was confirmed by the Board December 22, 1852. No appeal was taken by the United States ; hence, this confirmation stood and became valid grounds for a patent, which was duly issued. The owners of this grant were never in conflict with settlers to any extent. In 1871 the grant was divided into small tracts, and disposed of to actual settlers, the consequence being that the valley is filled with happy homes and industri- ous citizens.
Guenoc Grant .- This grant was ceded by the Mexican Government to George Roch, August 8, 1845, by Pio Pico, Governor of California, and it was approved by the Departmental Assembly September 26, 1845. Colonel A. A. Ritchie and Paul S. Forbes filed their claim to the grant with the Board of Land Commissioners January 27, 1852, to which they filed a sup- plementary petition October 9th of the same year. This Board confirmed their claim December 18, 1852, and no appeal was taken by the United States, and their action became final, and a patent was duly issued. The grant contained six leagues, and in the survey of the United States there were twenty-one thousand two hundred and twenty and three hundredths acres. There were at one time quite a number of settlers on this grant, and the valley was full of cabins, but they were all evicted, and the little houses have all disappeared. The grant was ultimately divided into small tracts, and sold to actual settlers, who have filled the beautiful valley with the sunshine of happy homes.
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General History and Settlement.
GENERAL HISTORY AND SETTLEMENT.
It is not now known definitely when the first white man set foot upon the territory now embraced within the limits of Lake County, nor is it known who that hardy and venturesome hero was. But be he who he may, Daniel Boone, whose name is in every school-boy's mouth in the land, and is almost worshipped as the summa summarum of pioneers, did not do a wilder, braver deed in all his career, nor did he spy out a wilder, more roman- tic, or lovelier place than did the heroic discoverer of Lake. Boone came into contact perhaps with fiercer tribes of Indians, but certainly with no more numerous ones. Would that we knew his name that we might emblazon it on the living pages of history, and hand it down to generations yet unborn, wreathed in a proper and fitting tribute to his memory ! Let the deed not be forgotten if the name has passed into oblivion. Let us not forget the song though the singer be passed away. Let the heroism of the man be ever bright in our memories, though the hero be forever lost. In the hearts of the people of Lake County let a shrine be erected to this brave old pioneer. And here on history's page let us erect, as it were, a monument dedicated to this unknown hero !
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