History of Placer county, California, Part 9

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

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Thomas Pyle abandoned his place in 1848. and moved to Coyote creek. near San Jose. where he was shot through the head and killed, about 1855. by a young Spaniard. A man by the name of Smith took up the place, claiming a grant, and sold to John F., the brother of Thomas Pyle, and John W. Laird. who had married one of his sisters. These parties sold to Staples, Nichols & Co., in February, and moved from there in April. 1850. Mr. Laird died near Grayson, in May, 1878; and J. F. Pyle is still living on his ranch, near Welden, on Kern river, California.

Turner Elder lived at Dry creek about one mile from where the C. P. R. R. now crosses that stream, which then bore the prettier Spanish name of " Arroyo Seca." Here he and his family resided one

year, and then moved on to the north bank of the Mokelumne river, at the place afterwards known as the "Benedict Ranch," and, while there, on the fifth day of November, 1847, his wife presented him with a pair of twins, a boy and girl, who were named John and Nancy. These were the second children born of white parents in the county. Soon after the birth of these children, on account of the unpro- tected position, Mr. Elder abandoned his place and joined his brother-in-law Daylor, of the Daylor ranch, in Sacramento county. He afterwards made money in placer mining, and returned to Ray county, Missouri, in 1849, where he now lives. The children are both hving; the girl in Ray county, as the wife of a Dr. Reese; and the boy, now married, at Emi- grant's Ditch, in Fresno county, Calitorma-his post- office address being "Kingsbury Switch."

Mr. Buckland, of Stanislaus City. moved from there to Stockton, in the fall of 1847. Assisted by William Fairchilds, he afterwards built the Buek- land HIonse, in San Francisco. Of the Stanislaus City settlers, the only ones known to be living now are Samuel Brannan. of San Francisco, John M. Horner, near San Jose, and - Nichols, of San Leandro.

When, in the Fall of 1847. Turner Elder left his log- house and claim at Dry creek, Mrs. Christina Pat- terson, his aunt, moved into it-her husband having died of mountain fever while crossing the mountains in 1846. She was soon after married to Ned Robin- son. This was the first marriage ceremony performed in the county. Mr. Robinson, in turn, abandoned the place when gold was discovered, in Jannary, 1848, and in 1878 they were stopping at French Camp, for the Winter, on their way to the northern country.

Captain Weber, in the meantime, had been living at San Jose from 1842 to 1847, following his business of merchandizing, and not giving personal attention to the settlement of his grant. During the year 1847 he sold his stock of goods, and in August of that year, with a number of men, two hundred horses and four thousand cattle. moved to the San Joaquin, and founded a settlement which became permanent; Stockton being the point and result of his efforts. In the Fall. the grant was surveyed and sectionized by Jasper O'Farrell, through his deputy, Walter Herron, a village site being at the same time laid out for settlers' homes, which received the name of "Tuleburg." Coming events had not yet " cast their shadows before." The village plat of Tule- burg, and the name, both passed out of existence at ibe same time. when, in 1848. after the gold diseov- ery, the place was re-surveyed and laid out for com- mercial purposes by Captain Weber, who gave it the naine of Stockton, after Com. Robert Stockton, of the United States navy.

In October, 1847. a company of overland immi- grants arrived at the place, on their way to the lower country. Mr Weber pursuaded them to stop for a time and look over the valley, to see if they would

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF GENERAL SUTTER.

not consider it to their advantage to remain. W. H. Fairchilds, County Supervisor in 1878, was of this party, as well as Nicholas Gann and his wife, Ruth, who, while they were camping on the point where Weber's house now stands, in October, gave birth to a son, to whom they gave the name of William. This was the first child born of white parents in the county. With the exception of Mr. Fairchilds, the parties all decided to move farther south. Mr. Nicholas Gann now lives not far from Gilroy, in Santa Clara county, California.

It was during that year that Capt. Charles Imus undertook to carry out a " wild horse scheme." He selected a point on the San Joaquin river, where San Joaquin City now stands, which he considered favorable, and then went to the mountains west of the valley and commenced cutting timber, to build a corral, into which he proposed driving wild horses, and there to capture them; when Pico, on whose grant he was cutting the timber, put a stop to his visions of corraling the "untamed steeds of the desert;" by singing to him the pathetic song of " Woodman, Spare that Trec," and the Captain, not caring to verify the old saw of " a nod is na sa good as a kick for a blind horse," folded up his tent like the Arab, and departed into the lower country. Captain Imus was the leader of the party that crossed the plains in 1846, of which the Pyles, Isbels, Elders, and Rhodes were members.

The history of San Joaquin valley, up to the close of 1847, has been given in the preceding pages as completely as it is possible to get it from the memory of the participants who still survive. The only occupants of this section of country, up to that time, had first been the Indians, then the American trappers, followed by the Hudson Bay Company, who were succeeded in turn by the Americans, who came from the States, with a view of making for themselves and families permanent homes.

But a change, absolute and radical, lay hid in the near future. On the line that separated the year 1847, and what had preceded it, from " the future that was not yet," stands a mile-post that " Time," set by the wayside, which marks the beginning of a year, in which was wrought a change as absolute, in the march of human events. and the destinies of this coast, as would ordinarily have occurred in the passing of a century.

CHAPTER X.

BIOGRAPHIC SKETCH OF GENERAL SUTTER.

His Nativity-Migration to the American West-Arrival in C'al. ifornia-Foundation of Sutter's Fort-Prosperity and Wealth of the Colony-Decline and Ultimate Ruin-Retire- ment to Hock Farm-Extract from Sutter's Diary.

THE following sketch of the life and adventures of General John A. Sutter is from Oscar T. Shuck's "Representative Men of the Pacific." The facts were derived directly from the famous old pioneer, and are, perhaps, the most complete and accurate that have ever been published. Mr. Shuck says :-

" General John A. Sutter was born March 1. 1803. in the Grand Duchy of Baden, where his early boy- hood was passed. His father, who was a clergyman of the Lutheran church, afterwards removed to Switzerland, and settled there with his family. He purchased for himself and heirs the rights and immu- nities of Swiss citizenship, and there the subject of our sketch received a good education, both civil and military.

" Early in life he married a Bernese lady, and was blessed with several children. At the age of thirty- one be determined to gratify a desire he had long cherished to immigrate to the United States. Not knowing whether or not he should settle perma- nently in the Great Republic, he concluded to leave his family behind him, and arrived at New York in July, 1834. After visiting several of the Western States he settled in Missouri, and there resided for several years. During his residence in Missouri be made a short visit to New Mexico, where he met with many trappers and hunters who had returned from Upper California, and their glowing descrip- tions confirmed his previous impressions. and ex- cited an ardent desire to behold and wander over the rich lands and beautiful valleys of that then almost unknown region. Upon returning to Mis- souri he determined to reach the Pacific coast by joining some one of the trapping expeditions of the American or English Fur Companies, But great obstacles were to be surmounted, and long years were to intervene before his feet would rest npon the virgin soil of California. On the Ist of April, 1838, he was enabled, for the first time. to connect himself with a trapping expedition. On that day he left Missouri with Captain Tripp, of the American Fur Company, and traveled with his party to their rendezvous in the Rocky Mountains. There he parted with the expedition, and with six horsemen crossed the mountains, and, after encountering the nsual dangers and hardships, arrived at Fort Van- couver, on the Columbia river.

"Having learned that there was no land communica. tion with California from the valleys of the Columbia or Willamette in Winter, and there being then a ves- sel of the Hudson Bay Company ready to sail for the Sandwich Islands, General Sutter took passage. hoping to find at the islands some means of convey- ance to California. Only one of the men who bad remained with him thus far consented to accompany him to the strange land. On reaching the islands he found no prospect of conveyance, and, after remaining five months, as the only means of accom- plisbing his purpose, be shipped as supercargo, with out pay, on an English vessel bound for Sitka.

" After discharging her cargo at Sitka, and, with the authority of the owners, he directed the vessel southward, and sailed down the coast, encountering

HISTORY OF PLACER COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.

heavy gales. He was driven into the Bay of San Francisco in distress, and, on the second day of July, 1839, anchored his little craft opposite Yerba Buena, now San Francisco.

" He was immediately waited upon by a Mexican official with an armed force, and ordered to leave without delay, the officer informing him that Mon- terey was the port of entry. He succeeded, however, in obtaining permission to remain forty-eight hours to get supplies.

"A few days later. upon arriving at Monterey. General Sutter waited upon Governor Alvarado, and communicated to him his desire to settle in Upper Cal- ifornia. on the Sacramento. Governor Alvarado expressed mneh satisfaction upon learning his visit- or's wish, particularly when he understood his desire to settle on the Sacramento; saying that the Indians in that quarter were very hostile, and would not permit any whites to settle there; that they robbed the inhabitants of San Jose and the lower settle- ments of horses and eattle. He readily gave Sutter a passport. with authority to settle on any territory he should deem suitable for his colony, and requested him to return to Monterey one year from that time, when his Mexican citizenship would be acknowl- edged, and he would receive a grant for the land he might solicit. Thereupon, he returned to Yerba Buena and chartered a schooner. with some small boats. and started upon an exploring expedition on the Sacramento river.

" Upon inquiry he could not find any one at Yerba Buena who had ever seen the Sacramento river, or who could describe to him where he should find its mouth. The people of that place only professed to know that some large river emptied into one of the connected bays lying northerly from their town. General Sutter consumed eight days in the effort to find the mouth of the Sacramento river.

" After ascending the river to a point about ten miles below where Sacramento City now stands, he encountered the first large party of Indians, who exhibited every sign of hostility save an actual attack. There were abont two hundred of them. armed and painted for war. Fortunately there were among them two who understood Spanish. and with whom the General engaged in conversation. He quieted them by the assurance that there were no Spaniard- in his party, and that he wished to settle in their country and trade with them. He showed them his agricultural implements and commodities of trade, which he had provided for the purpose, and proposed to make a treaty with them. Pleased with these assurances, the Indians became recon- ciled: the erowi dispersed. and the two who spoke the Spanish language accompanied Sutter and his party as far as the mouth of Feather river, to show him the country. All other parties of Indians seen fled at the sight of the vessel and boats.

" Parting with his two Indian interpreters and guides at the mouth of Feather river. he ascended the latter stream to a considerable distance, when a few of his white men became alarmed at the sur- rounding dangers and insisted upon returning. which he was eonstrained to do.

"On his descent he entered the mouth of the American river, and on the 15th day of August, 1839, landed at the point on the south bank of that stream, where he afterwards established his tannery. within the present limits of Sacramento. On the following morning, after landing all his effects, he informed the discontented whites that all who wished to return to Yerba Buena could do so;

that the Kanakas were willing to remain, and that he had resolved to do so, if alone. Three of the whites determined to leave, and he put them in pos- session of the schooner, with instructions to deliver the vessel to her owners. They set sail for Yerba Buena the same day.

"Three weeks thereafter General Sutter removed to the spot upon which he afterwards erected FORT SUTTER. In the early days of the settlement he encountered many troubles with the Indians, who organized secret expeditions, as he afterwards learned, to destroy him and his party, but he con- trived to defeat and frustrate all their machinations, and those of the Indians who were at first his great- est enemies, came to be his best and most steadfast friends. He now devoted himself energetically to agriculture, and became very wealthy and pros- perous.

" In the Fall of the year 1839, be purchased of Señor Martinez three hundred head of cattle, thirty horses, and thirty mares. During the Fall eight more white men joined his colony. When he com- menced the improvements that resulted in the erec- tion of Sutter's Fort and his establishment there, he had much trouble in procuring suitable lumber and timber. He floated some down the American river from the mountains, and was compelled to send to Bodega, on the sea-coast, a distance of several hun- dred miles.

"In August. 1840, Sutter was joined by the five men who had crossed the Rocky Mountains with him, and whom he had left in Oregon. His colony now numbered twenty-five men, seventeen whites and eight Kanakas. During the Fall of that year the Mokelumne Indians became troublesome, by stealing the live-stock of the settlers, and compelled General Sutter, by their aets and menaces, to make open war against them. He marched with his forces thirtyt miles, in the night time, to the camp of the Indians, where they were concentrating large forces for a movement against him, some two hundred warriors, and attacked them with such great effect that they retreated, and being hotly pursued, they sued for peace, which was readily granted, and ever after- wards mutually maintained.

"Shortly after this encounter, Sutter purchased one thousand more head of cattle, and seventy-five horses and mules. His colony continued to increase fast, by the addition of every foreigner who eame into the country; they sought his place as one of security. The trappers he furnished with supplies, and purchased their furs; the mechanics and laborers he either employed or procured them work.

" In June, 1841. he visited Monterey, the capital, where he was declared a Mexican citizen, and received from Governor Alvarado a grant for his land, under the name of New Helvetia, a survey of which he had caused to be made before that time. Thereupon he was honored with a commission as ' represendenté del Govierno en las fronter as del norte y encargado de la justicia.'

"Soon after his return to his settlement he was visited by Captain Ringgold, of the United States Exploring Expedition under Commodore Wilkes, and about the same time by Alexander Rotcheff, Gov- ernor of the Russian Possessions, Ross and Bodega, who offered to sell to General Sutter the Russian Possessions, settlements, and ranches at those places.

"The terms were such as induced him to make the purchase, for thirty thousand dollars. The live-stoch consisted of two thousand cattle, over one thousand horses, fifty mules, and two thousand sheep, the

FARM AND RESIDENCE OF PETER AHART. LINCOLN PLACER Cº CAL.

BIOGRAPHIC SKETCH OF GENERAL SUTTER.

greater part of which were driven to New Helvetia. This increase of resources, together with the natural increase of his stock, enabled him the more rapidly to advance his settlement and improvements.

" In the year 1844 he petitioned Governor Michel- torena for the grant or purchase of the sobrante, or surplus, over the first eleven leagues of the land within the bounds of the survey accompanying the Alvarado grant, which the Governor agreed to let him have; but, for causes growing out of existing politieal troubles, the grant was not finally executed until the 5th of February, 1845; during which time he had rendered valuable military services and ad- vanced to the Government large amounts of property and outlays, exceeding eight thousand dollars, to enable it to suppress the Castro rebellion; in consid- eration of all which he acquired by purchase and personal services the lands ealled the Sobrante, or surplus.

" At that time he also seeured from Governor Micheltorena the commission of 'Commandante mili- tar de las fronteras del norte y encargado de la justicia.' After this time the war between the United States and Mexico came on, and although General Sutter was an officer under the Mexican Government, and bound to it by his allegiance, yet, upon all occasions, such was his respect towards the citizens and institutions of the United States, that whenever any party of American citizens, eivil or military service, visited him,his unbounded hospitali- ties were uniformly and cordially extended to them; and when the country surrendered to the American forces, the General, who had been for some time con- vinced of the instability of the Mexican Government, upon request, did, on the 11th of July, 1846, hoist the American flag with a good heart, accompanied with a salute of artillery from the guns at the fort. Soon after this Lieutenant Missoon, of the United States Navy, came up and organized a garrison for Sntter's Fort, principally out of his former forces of whites and Indians, and gave to General Sutter the command, which he maintained until peace returned. He was then appointed by Commodore Stoekton Alcalde of the district, and by General Kearney Indian Agent, with a salary of seven hundred and fifty dollars a year; but a single trip in discharge of his duty as Indian Agent cost him one thousand six hundred dollars, and he resigned the office.

"General Sutter was now in the full tide of pros- perity. His settlement continued to grow and his property to accumulate, until the latter part of January, 1848. He had then completed his estab- lishment at the fort ; had performed all the eondi- tions of his grants of land ; had, at an expense of at least twenty-five thousand dollars, cut a raee of three miles in length, and nearly completed a flouring-mill near the present town of Brighton ; had expended towards the erection of a saw-mill, near the town of Coloma, about ten thousand dollars; had sown over a thousand acres of land in wheat which promised a yield of forty thousand bushels, and had made preparations for other crops; was then the owner of eight thou- sand head of cattle, over two thousand horses and mules, over two thousand sheep, and one thousand head of hogs, and was in the nndisturbed, undisputed and quiet possession of the extensive lands granted by the Mexi an Government. But a sad change was about to take place in the affairs of the old pioneer ; a grand event was about to transpire, which, while it would delight and electrify the world at large, was destined to check the growth of the settlement at Sutter's Fort. General Sutter's mills were soon to 6

cease operations; his laborers and mechanics were soon to desert him ; his possessions, his riches, his hopes were soon to be scattered and destroyed before the impetnous charge of the gold-hunters. The immedi- ate effect was that Sutter was deserted by all his mechanics and laborers, white, Kanaka and Indian. The mills thus deserted became a dead loss; he could not hire labor to further plant or mature his erops. or reap but a small part after the grain had ripened. Few hands were willing to work for even an ounce a day, as the industrious could make more than that in the mines. Consequent of the gold discovery there was an immense immigration, composed of all classes of men, many of whom seemed to have no idea of the rights of property. The treaty between the United States and Mexico guaranteed to the Mexican who should remain in the country a protection of his property, and Sutter regarded himself as doubly entitled to that protection, either as a Mexican or a citizen of the United States, and that he held a strong claim upon his country's justice. Ilis property was respected for a season; but when the great flood of immigration, which poured into the country in 1849-'50, found that money could be made by other means than mining, many of the new-comers forcibly entered upon his land, and commenced cutting his wood, under the plea that it was vacant and unappro- priated land of the United States. Up to the first of Jannary, 1852, the settlers had occupied all his lands capable of settlement or appropriation, and the other elass had stolen all his horses, mules, cattle, sheep and hogs, save a small portion used and sold by him self. One party of five men, during the high water> of 1849-'50, when his cattle were partly surrounded by water near the Sacramento river, killed and sold enough to amount to sixty thousand dollars.

"Having seen his power decline and his riches take wings, General Sutter removed to the west bank of Feather river, and took up his residence at HIock farm. Here, in the midst of his family, who had recently arrived from Europe, he led the quiet life of a farmer in the county that bears his name."

The following verbatim copy of notes in General Sutters own handwriting, we insert, notwithstanding there are some repetitions of facts given in the former part of this chapter :-

[The following rough notes of narrative, in the handwriting of the venerable General Sutter, the discoverer of gold in California, were found amongst the papers of an eminent citizen of this State, re- cently deceased, through the kindly courtesy of whose widow we are enabled to give them to the public. As a relation of ineidents in the life of a man held in respect by every Californian, these hasty and imper- fect memoranda will, it is believed, have a double in- terest and a lasting value. We have thoughtit best to preserve as nearly as was practicable, the quaint phraseology, erroneous orthography, and imperfect punctnation of the manuscript ; giving, in our judg- ment, an added charm to the narrative .- San Fran- cisco Argonaut.]

"Left the State of Missouri (where I has resided for a many years) on the 1th a April, 1838, and travelled with the party of Men under Capt Tripps, of the Amer. fur Compy, to their Rendezvous in the Rocky Mountains (Wind River Valley) from there I travelled with 6 brave Men to Oregon, as I consid- ered myself not strong enough to cross the Sierra Nevada and go direct to California (which was my intention from my first Start on having got some

HISTORY OF PLACER COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.

informations from a Gent'n in New Mexico, who has been in California.

"Under a good Many Dangers and other troubles I have passed the Different forts or trading posts of the Hudsons Bay Compy. and arrived at the Mission at the Dalls on Columbia River. From this place I crossed right strait through thick & thin, and arrived to the great astonishment of the inhabitants. I arrived in 7 days in the Valley of the Willamette, while others with good guides arrived only in 17 days previous my Crossing. At fort Vanconver I has been very hospitably received and invited to pass the Winter with the Gentlemen of the Company, but as a Vessel of the Compy was ready to sail for the Sandwich Islands, I took a passage in her, in hopes to get Soon a Passage from there to California, but 5 long Months I had to wait to find an Opportunity to leave but not direct to California, except far out of my Way to the Russian American Colonies on the North West Cost, to Sitka the Residence of the Gov'r. (Lat. 57) I remained one Month there and delivered the Cargo of the Brig Clementine, as I had Charge of the Vessel, and then sailed down the Coast in heavy Gales, and entered in Distress in the Port of San Francisco, on the 2d of July, 1839. An Officer and 15 Soldiers came on board and ordered me out, saying that Monterey is the Port of entry, & at last I could obtain 48 hours to get provisions (as we were starving) and some repairings done on the Brig.

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History of Placer county, California, Part 9

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