History of Placer county, California, Part 22

Author: Angel, Myron; Thompson & West, pub
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Oakland, Cal., Thompson & West
Number of Pages: 558

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THE MILITARY GOVERNORS OF CALIFORNIA.

The organization of a government for California had been a theme of animated discussion during the session of Congress of 1848-9, but no Territorial bill was passed, and it was left under military authority, the commanding officer being ex officio Governor, the first being Com. John D. Sloat, who hoisted the flag at Monterey, July 7, 1846. Commodore Stockton, who had succeeded Commodore Sloat in July, issued his proclamation as Governor at Los An- geles, Angust 17, 1846. When the conquest was con-

sidered as complete, in January, 1847, he appointed John C. Fremont Military Governor of the country. After the arrival of General Stephen Kearny, a dispute arose between him and Stockton as to the right to command, but on the 1st of March, 1847, General Kearny assumed command and with it the Governorship. Ile, leaving soon after, ap- pointed Col. Richard B. Mason to the position on the 31st of May, and he held the office until the arrival of Gen. Persifer F. Smith, February 28, 1849. Smith was succeeded on the 13th of April following by Gen. Bennett Riley.

CALLING A CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION.

June 3, 1849, General Riley, as Governor of Cali- fornia, issued a proclamation "recommending the formation of a State or Territorial government." The first day of August was set for the election of delegates to the proposed Convention, and for filling any vacancies existing in the offices. One Judge for the Superior Court was to be voted for in the Dis- tricts of Sonoma, Sacramento and San Joaquin, and the persons chosen, if qualified, were to be appointed by the Governor, the office, by law, being filled by gubernatorial appointment. The District of Sacra- mento included that part of the State east of the Sacramento River and north of the Cosumnes. To this district four delegates were attached, but Gov- ernor Riley, in his proclamation, had given permis- sion for any district to elect supernumeraries, if it thought itself entitled to more representatives, and left the question of admitting these gentlemen to the decision of the Convention. The delegates chosen from this district were John A. Sutter, Jacob R. Snyder, Winfield Scott Sherwood, and W. E. Shan- non, and as supernumeraries, John. S. Fowler, L. W. Hastings, John McDougal, E. O. Crosby, M. M. Mc- Carver, John Bidwell, W. Blackburn, James Queen, R. M. Jones, W. Lacy and C. E. Picket.

MEETING OF THE CONVENTION.

The Convention was ealled to meet at Monterey, September 1, 1849, which being on Saturday, and the requisite number not present, an adjournment was made until the following Monday-September 3d. Of the fifteen delegates elected, only eight were present and partook of the duties and honors of forming the Constitution.

DELEGATES FROM SACRAMENTO DISTRICT.

The following bomographie chart shows the rep- resentation of the Sacramento District in the Consti- tutional Convention, assembled at Monterey in 1849:

NAME.

AGK.

WHERE BORN.

LAST STATE

TOWN FROM

HOW LONG IN CAL.

PROFES SION.

1 JACOB R. SNYDER.

34 Philadelphia Penn.

Sac.

4 years Surv'r.

2 WINFIELD S. SHERWOOD. 32|Sandy Hill .. N. Y. . Mor. ]

4 mos.

Lawyer.

3 L. W. HASTINGS

30 Knox Co .. Ohio. , Sutter

6 years Lawyer.

4 JOHN A. SUTTER

47 Switzerland

Missouri Sutter

10 years Farmer.

5 JOHN MCDOUGAL.

32 Ohio ..

Indiana 'Sutter

7 mos.

Merchi.

6 E. O. CROSBY.

34 Tomp's Co. . N. Y .

Vernon

7 mos

Lawyer.

7 M. M. MCCARVER. .

42 Kentucky

Oregon. Sarto ...

3 years |Farmer.

8 W. E. SHANNON.

27 Ireland.

Coloma

3 years Lawyer.

HISTORY OF PLACER COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.

The Convention was composed of forty-seven members. Robert Semple was President, William G. Marcy, Secretary, Caleb Lyons, of Lyonsdale, Assis- tant Secretary and designer of the seal, and J. Ross Browne wasshort-hand reporter. After an industrious and harmonious session of six weeks, the Convention completed its labors, and adjourned on the 13th of October. The Constitution was mostly made up by selections from the Constitutions of other States, that of the recently organized State of Iowa furnish- ing the model. Notwithstanding a majority of the Convention were from the South, or slave-holding States, they unanimously voted to prohibit the intro- duction of slavery in California. There were, how- ever, heavy restrictions upon the liberty and progress of the colored race. This was, then, a " white man's government." The principal question creating dis- cussion was the subject of taxation. The two great interests were mining and stock-raising; giving rise to the appellations of " Mining Counties " and " Cow Counties." The stock-raisers carried their points by inserting the clause that " all property shall be taxed according to its value." This proved a most important and comprehensive clause, preventing the exemption of any property not protected from taxa- tion by the Constitution and Laws of the United States. San Jose was made the capital.

The Constitution was regarded as one of the best of the United States at that time, but the judicial sys- tem was cumbersome and expensive, and it allowed great latitude to the Legislature, which,it was after- wards found, generally went to the extremes of their Constitutional permits, and a more binding instru- ment was demanded. The Constitution was sub- mitted to a vote of the people on the 13th of Novem- ber, 1849, and adopted by an almost unanimous vote, being 12,064 for and $11 against it.

FIRST STATE ELECTION.

At the same election the officers provided by the Constitution were voted for. The candidates for Governor were Peter H. Burnett and John A. Sutter, the first receiving 6,716 votes and the latter 2,201. John MeDougal was elected Lieutenant-Governor; William Van Voorhies, Secretary of State; Richard Roman, Treasurer; J. S. Houston, Controller; Ed. J. C. Kewen, Attorney-General; Charles J. Whiting, Surveyor-General; S. C. Hastings, Chief Justice; J. A. Lyon and Nathaniel Bennett, Associate Justices. Edward Gilbert and George W. Wright were elected to Congress. Sacramento District elected John Bid- well, Elisha O. Crosby, Thomas J. Green and Henry E. Robinson, Senators, and John Bigler, P. B. Corn- wall, E. W. Mckinstry, Madison Walthall, John F. Williams, H. C. Cardwell, John T. Ilughes, George B. Tingley, Thomas J. White, W. G. Deal and Thos. J. Henley to the Assembly, the latter eleeted in March, 1850, in place of Cornwall, who had resigned January 28th. The Constitution provided that in case of its adoption the officers chosen should enter upon their duties on the fifteenth of December,

without waiting for the action of Congress. On the 20th Governor Riley issued an order relinquishing the administration of civil affairs; and thus Califor- nia took upon herself the character of a State with- out having passed through the preparatory condition of a Territory. The Legislature consisted of sixteen Senators and thirty-seven Assemblymen. This Leg- islature elected Wm. M. Gwin and John C. Fremont United States Senators.

ORGANIZATION OF COUNTIES.

The Legislature passed an Act, approved February 18, 1850, segregating the State into twenty-seven counties, the names of which were as follows: San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, Branciforte (Santa Cruz), Santa Clara, San Francisco, Marin, Contra Costa, Sonoma, Solano, Yolo, Napa, Mendocino, Sacramento, El Dorado, Sutter, Yuba, Butte, Colusa (attached to Butte for judicial purposes), Shasta, Trinity, Calaveras, San Joaquin, Tuolumne and Mariposa.

SUTTER COUNTY.

Sutter County included within its limits that por- tion of territory, subsequently organized into Placer County, as was south west of a line running from a point on Bear River, six miles from its mouth, in a direct course to the junction of the north and middle forks of the American River. All the region east of that line belonged to Yuba County. That portion containing the principal population, including Auburn, was in Sutter County, and a place called Oro, on Bear River, two miles from the junction of Bear and Feather Rivers, was the county seat. This was a town on paper. At that time there were many grand "eities" of the same class on all the streams of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys, with their broad streets, plazas, Court House and Capitol squares, school and university blocks, and all the plans of a great metropolis. This city was the property of Gen. Thomas Jefferson Green, who was one of the Senators representing the district, who by his ability and tact induced the Legislature to declare Oro the county seat. Auburn was then a busy town, and with Nicolaus, Vernon and Yuba City, was a candidate for the county seat.

STORY OF A NAVIGABLE STREAM.

A pleasant story, illustrative of Senator Green's modus operandi, in connection with the history of that contest, was related by Judge P. W. Keyser in his centennial address at Nicolaus July 4, 1876 :-

Bear Creek-or river, as it was sometimes called- was, in those days, a small but pretty stream, quietly and lazily wandering through the foot-hills and down to the plains where it meandered between well- defined and well-wooded banks, its calm flow dis- turbed and impeded by trees and underbrush growing thickly in the midst of its elear waters, to Feather River, with which it formed a junction at a mile or two above Nicolaus. Of course it was unnav- igable, except to light row boats, and not to them in low water, while the large river steamers, of which the largest and finest at that time was named the

ORGANIZATION OF STATE GOVERNMENT.

Senator, could, even at the highest water, scareely approach the mouth. Green, however, in describ- ing, during the discussion of the county seat ques. tion, the advantages of his town of Oro, spoke of the splendid river on which it was situated, the waters of which (he asserted), when at the lowest stage of a long and dry summer, could be easily navigated. A brother Senator, who knew Green's weakness for hyperbole, interrupted by asking him if he meant to say that the river steamers could nav- igate Bear River at its lowest stage of water. "I mean to say," replied Green, " that the Senator can navigate it at any time of the year." After adjourn. ment some one aecnsed him of having, to put it mildly, stretched the truth in saying that a steamer like the Senator could navigate Bear River. "I never said," answered Green, " that the steamer Sen- ator could. I said the Senator could, but I meant the Senator who had asked the impertinent ques- tion."

ELECTION OF COUNTY OFFICERS.

The Legislature named the first Monday in April, 1850, for the election of county officers. The records of this election are very meager. but from various minute-books, dockets, assessment rolls, etc., it is made known that the following-named persons held the various offices: County Judge, Gordon N. Mott, County Attorney, W. Fisher; County Clerk, T. B. Reardan; Sheriff, John Pole; Recorder, George Pier- son; Treasurer, Willard Post; Assessor, William H. Monroe.

P. W. Thomas and Tallman H. Rolfe were Jus- tices of the Peace and Associate Judges of the Court of Sessions.

THE FIRST SESSION OF COURT.

The first meeting of the Court of Sessions was held June 10, 1850, at Oro, the county seat, with County Judge Gordon N. Mott presiding; P. W. Thomas and T. H. Rolfe, Associate Justices, and T. B. Reardan, Clerk. The first entry of proceedings on that day was as follows :-

Upon it appearing to the Court that there were not proper and necessary accommodations and build- ings at Oro, the county seat, for the offices of the several county officers who are by law required to keep their offices open, it is ordered that. for the future, and until such buildings can be procured at the county seat, the courts and county offices shall be held and kept open at Nicolaus, being the next nearest point where such buildings can be procured; and the Clerk of said court is ordered to give notice of the above order.

There being no more business before the court to-day. it is adjourned to meet at Nicolaus to-morrow at 10 o'clock A. M.

At a special meeting of the court, held at Nicolaus the next day, it was ordered "that a poll-tax of three dollars be levied upon each male inhabitant over twenty-one and under fifty years of age; and that a tax of twenty-five cents upon each $100 worth of real or personal property in the county-this tax to be levied and raised for county expenditures."

THE COURT HOUSE AT ORO.

Whether the order of adjournment was formally made and recorded in the Court House at Oro, or

after the meeting in more comfortable quarters at Nicolaus, is a doubtful question. The following description of that famous county seat and the adjournment of the court are from the address of Judge Keyser, from which quotations have been previously made:

Oro, however, enjoyed the honor-if it enjoyed it at all-but a short time. There was not a house nor a building in the town for any purpose, much less for holding court, the transaction of county business, and the preservation of public records. Some pre- parations must be made by the owners of the town to enable the first term, at least, of court to be held at the county seat, and to this end they erected, or rather placed upon the ground. a zine building about 20x20 feet in size, with a floor of rough boards, a roof of zinc, and holes cut for the Court, the litigants, the witnesses, the jurors and the air to enter, but without glass or shutters for the windows, or doors for the entrances. Not a tree or bush or shrub grew near enough to give its shade to the building. A June sun poured its rays upon that zinc building, until, outside and inside, it became almost as hot as the furnace of Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego. Law and equity, lawyers and litigants, jurors and witnesses, with a spontaneity of action that would astonish nothing but a salamander, rushed out of and fled that building, never again to return.

ELECTION FOR COUNTY SEAL.

The mass of the population of the county was in the vicinity of Auburn, upon the north fork of the American River, and among the various dry diggings adjacent. These demanded the removal of the county seat, and an order was obtained for the elec- tion, submitting the question to a vote of the people. Four ambitious places entered the lists for the prize Auburn, Nicolaus, Ophir, and Miners' Hotel. A comprehensive and comprehensible history of that election it would be difficult, at this day, to write.

In the preceding year elections had been held for delegates to the Constitutional Convention, for the adoption of the Constitution, and for State and county officers. The elections were conducted in the simplest and most primitive forms. Party divisions were almost unknown, there was a general fraterni- zation of the people, digging gold and trading in merchandise and town lots were more profitable than office-holding, and no efforts were made to influence or excite voters. Polling places were held where convenient, and it is reported that boxes were fast- ened to trees convenient to the roadside and passing trails, where citizens could deposit their vote or examine those which had preceded theirs. Even with this freedom from restraint, the total vote was far less than the voting population, and the elections were satisfactory to all classes.

But a different feeling prevailed in the election to decide the location of the county seat. It was in 1850, the population had increased, and the glamor of gold mining had worn off. All were ripe for fun or excitement. The question was not a serious one of national honor or great political principle, but a rivalry between towns, and it was contested on the

HISTORY OF PLACER COUNTY. CALIFORNIA.

policy of " devil take the hindmost." Each place voted to the utmost stretch of its population and conscience, probably equalling the Mormon system of the present day. The result was the selection of Auburn as the county seat of Sutter County, " by a large majority," or as Mr. Steele, the historian of 1861, puts it :-

The favorable location of Auburn, its preponder- ance of population, and the inexhaustible powers of voting possessed by its citizens and partisans decided the contest in its favor by a majority considerably exceeding the entire population of the county.

Such a vote it would be useless to contend against, and Auburn became the county seat. A Court House of slight frame and canvas covering and a substan- tial jail of logs were constructed. These were rude structures, but answered the temporary purpose.

STORY BY JUDGE KEYSER.

Among the incidents attending the removal of the county seat is the following related by Judge Philip Keyser, in his Centennial address at Nicolaus in 1876, which appears as characteristic of the times :-

I wish I could remember the scenes and incidents that accompanied the removal of the county officers, county records, together with the resident lawyers, who felt it to be their interest to migrate with the first two, and to dwell within the sound of the musi- cal voice of the Sheriff, as he cried " Hear, yea ! Hear, yca !" from the Court House door. One cir- cumstance I do remember, and that is, that the county officials, the members of the Bar, and others who followed the removal of the county seat, were received with open arms and a hearty welcome by the citizens of Auburn. A great dinner was given to the new-comers by the leading business men of the town. Fifty or sixty, comprising merchants, mechanics, miners, lawyers, and doctors sat down to a generously supplied table, around which, after the inner man had been satisfied, wine and wit, mirth and laughter, circulated as freely and unembarrassed

* * I can recall as if in their native homes. * the name of one. now several years dead, who was at that time a resident of Auburn, and a " character " in that vicinity. It was Jim Crawford. He was a great mimic and full of rough humor. I remember that on the occasion of which I have been speaking .Jim was called on for a song. He said he would comply if time was given him to send for his fiddle. This was done, and when that universally popular instrument was brought, Jim rose from his seat at the table, and standing on one foot, and placing the other upon his chair, began to play in inimitable style the " Arkansas Traveler." For more than half an hour, alternately playing the tune, and telling, in their order, the stories connected with it, he kept the table in a roar. I shall scarce forget his features, especially his eyes, when he told the story of the cross-eyed man. That those orbs could resume their natural position in his head seemed miraculous.

PERMANENT HOMES APPEAR.

The first historical sketch of this region was pub- lished in 1861, in a "Directory of Placer County," written by one who had passed the winter of 1849 on the American River at Stony Bar, and continued a resident of the county during the intervening years. He says :--

From the spring of 1850, may we date the begin- ning of permanent improvements and permanent settlements in Placer, for from that time men com- menced to have settled habitations, and some even then commenced preparations for building permanent homes for themselves and families. During the sum- mer and fall of that year, the county became blessed with the presence of a number of families, some of whom came to the country overland from the States; others from foreign countries; and others again from El Dorado and other counties, where they had become too thickly settled to thrive well, or, at least, where there were not as good induce- ments offered tor permanent settlements as this county afforded.

THE GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION.

The Constitution that had been adopted in 1849 provided for a cumbrous and expensive system of government, particularly in the Judicial Depart- ment. The courts were divided into Supreme, Dis- trict, County, Probate, Court of Sessions, Justices Courts, Recorder or Police Courts, and such munici- pal courts as the Legislature might determine. Three Justices comprised the Supreme Courts, the one having the shortest term to be Chief Justice. The State was divided into districts for each of which a District Judge was elected for terms of six years. The jurisdiction of this court was very large, including civil, chancery and criminal causes, and original cognizance in all cases in equity, and in civil cases where the amount exceeded $200, causes involving the title to real property, or the validity of any tax, and issues of fact joined in the Probate Court. Originally it had power to inquire into all criminal offenses by means of a Grand Jury, and try indictments found by that body. In 1851 the Leg- islature took from the court its criminal jurisdiction and conferred it upon the Court of Sessions, leaving it the power to hear appeals from that court in criminal matters, and the power to try all indict- ments for murder, manslaughter, arson, and other cases that could not be tried in the Court of Sessions.

A County Judge was elected in each county for a term of four years. He presided over the County Court, Probate Court, and the Court of Sessions, with two Justices of the Peace as Associate Judges. The Associate Judges were chosen annually by the Justices of the Peace of the county from the body of Justices. The County Court heard appeals from the court of a Justice of the Peace. The Court of Ses- sions had jurisdiction of criminal cases, and was given power, as the financial agent of the county, which power was subsequently declared extra-jndi- cial by the Supreme Court; and Boards of Super- visors were created for that purpose. The County Judge presided over the Probate Court and had charge of all probate matters.

By an Amendment to the Constitution in 1863, the Supreme Court was made to consist of five Justices, and the Court of Sessions was abolished, and by the Constitution adopted in 1879, the judicial system was entirely remodeled. the Supreme Court being

ORGANIZATION OF PLACER COUNTY.

enlarged to a Chief Justice and six Associate Jus- tices, and the term made twelve years. District and County Courts were abolished, and Superior Courts established, there being one for each county, and one or more Judges for each, as business demanded.

Under the Constitution of 1849, much was left to the discretion of the Legislature in providing officers for counties, and many changes were made from time to time as the representatives of each county demanded, adjoining counties having different sys- tems of county governments, as will be shown in the chapter devoted to the political history of Placer.

CHAPTER XIX.

ORGANIZATION OF PLACER COUNTY.

Increase of Population-The Foot-hill Towns-Placer County Boundaries-Placer and Sutter Dividing Line-Geography of the County-Election of Officers-Contesting the Elec- tion-Election of Legislative Officers- Attempt to Divide the County-Opposition Aroused-Dutch Flat Opposition -- The Washington County Advocates-Meeting at Yankee Jim's-Convention at Wisconsin Hill-The Boundary Line- A Bear River Growl-Revival of the Washington County Scheme-Granite County-Donner County.

THE population of the mining region rapidly increased during the summer and fall of 1850, extend- ing farther into the mountains, and occupying the ravines and deep cañons of the Sierra. The county of Yuba embraced all the upper country from El Dorado to Butte, and the county seat, Marysville, was distant and off the usual routes of travel from this section, while Auburn, the county seat of Sutter must be passed through in reaching it. The towns of Todd's Valley, Forest Hill, Yankee Jim's, Bath, Elizabethtown, Bird's Valley, Wisconsin Hill, Illi- noistown, and others in the cañons and on the bars of the American and Bear Rivers, were prosperous and populous in 1850 and 1851, and were all in Yuba County. From the isolation of these localities, and distance from the county seat, the citizens had little to do with county matters, seldom seeing any other officer than the Assessor and Tax Collector.

THE FOOT-HILL TOWNS.

The Sutter County portion, the county seat in 1850 being at Auburn, had political recognition in the appointment of election precinets at Auburn, Spanish Corral, Miners' Hotel, Mormon Bar, Horse- shoe Bar, Half-way House and Beal's Bar. Elisha O. Crosby was elected Senator from Sutter and Yuba, and Joseph W. MeCorkle was Assemblyman. The necessity for the reorganization of the counties as made by the Legislature of 1849 and '50 was appar- ent, and on April 25, 1851, an Act was passed dividing the State into counties, and repealing the Act of the previous year. By this Act the counties of Placer, Nevada and Klamath were created.

PLACER COUNTY BOUNDARIES.

The boundaries of Placer were described as fol- lows :-

" Beginning on the Sacramento River at the north- west corner of Sacramento County, and running thence up the middle of said river, to a point ten miles below the junction of Sacramento and Feather Rivers; thence in a northerly direction in a straight line, to a point in the middle of Bear Creek opposite Camp Far West, thence up the middle of said creek to its sourec; thence due cast to the State line; thence southerly on the State line to the northeast- erly corner of El Dorado County; thence westerly on the northerly line of El Dorado County, to the junction of the north and south forks of the Ameri- can River; thence westerly on the northerly line of Sacramento County to the place of beginning." The county seat was fixed by the same Act at Auburn,

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History of Placer county, California, Part 22

Author: Angel, Myron; Thompson & West, pub Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Oakland, Cal., Thompson & West Number of Pages: 558

Author: Angel, Myron; Thompson & West, pub
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Oakland, Cal., Thompson & West
Number of Pages: 558