USA > California > Sacramento County > History of Sacramento County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, 1913 > Part 6
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The report of the remarks at the banquet was published, and in it is contained a copy of the manuscript to which Colonel Thorpe referred, in which the "King's orphan" wrote: "The Californias are rich in minerals. Gold, silver, lead, oxide of iron, manganese and copper ore are all met with throughout the country, the precious metals being the most abundant."
Still another account of an early discovery of gold was pub- lished in September, 1865, in the New Age, in San Francisco, the official organ of the Odd Fellows. It purports to have been an article written by the Paris correspondent of the London Star. He wrote that while in Paris he visited a private museum, the owner of which exhibited to him a gold nugget and stated that twenty-eight years before a poor invalid had called on him, and taking out of his tattered coat a block of quartz, asked him if he would purchase it, assuring him that it was full of gold. He stated that the stranger said: "I have come to you to apply to the government to give me a vessel and a crew of a hundred men, and I will promise to return with a cargo of gold." The proprietor of the museum thought the man was mad, but gave him a napoleon as a matter of charity, retaining, however, a piece of the quartz. Afterwards the quartz was analyzed and was proved to contain pure gold. After a lapse of fifteen years a letter and a parcel were left at his door. The parcel was heavy and was wrapped in a handkerchief and the letter was worn and almost illegible. He deciphered it and it proved to be the poor invalid's dying statement, which the lodging-house keeper, where he died after his interview with the proprietor of the museum, had neglected to deliver. The package contained a block of quartz and the letter read as follows: "You alone listened to me; you alone stretched ont a helping hand to me. Alas, it was too late! I am dying. I bequeath my secret to you. The country from which I brought this gold is called California."
All these statements being true, the credit for the practical dis-
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covery of gold belongs to Marshall. While it is true that a gold mine in the lower part of the state was worked in 1841, and that gold from that mine had been sent to Philadelphia for coinage as early as July, 1843, the mine proved unprofitable and was abandoned. The precise date of Marshall's discovery will probably never be set- tled. He was working for General Sutter, in charge of a gang of men erecting a sawmill at the present site of Coloma, Eldorado county. The raceway was dug and the water turned in. As Marshall was examining the race, his attention was attracted by a piece of shining stuff and he picked it up and took it to the house, where it was boiled in lye, and thought to be gold. He took it with other particles down to Sutter, where it was submitted to crude tests and declared to be gold. Afterward specimens were sent to Monterey and exhibited to General Mason, the military governor, and W. T. Sherman, after- wards one of the most famous generals of the Civil war. It was proved to be gold and the news went forth to the world that caused immigration to pour into California from every clime.
James W. Marshall was born in Hope township, Hunterdon county, N. J., October 8, 1810. When he reached manhood he removed to Indiana and afterward to Illinois and Missouri. He arrived in California in 1844 and came to Sutter's Fort in 1845 and was em- ployed by Captain Sutter. He took an active part in the revolution of 1846. In consideration of his discovery of gold the legislature allowed him a pension for some years before his death. He settled on a small piece of land at Coloma, near where he discovered the gold. and partly supported himself by farming. On the 10th of August, 1885, he was found dead in his cabin and was buried near the spot where gold was first found by him. Marshall never married. After his death the state erected a fine monument to him, a statue in the early miner's garb, with his finger pointing to the place where the old millrace stood in which his discovery was made. The late John H. Miller, for many years a well known journalist of this city, was appointed the first guardian of the monument, which office he held for a number of years.
The discovery of gold gave a great impetus to the growth of Sacramento City when the influx of gold-seekers commenced, making it the point of departure for the mines as well as the depot for supplies. A part of the latter business it lost when the Folsom and Placerville Railroad was built, but its progress was only delayed, as it still continued to be the supply point for distribution to a vast territory, including a large portion of Nevada. Seldom now are the jingling bells of the mule team heard on its streets and the "prairie schooner" laden with freight has become a very rare sight on its streets. Folsom being on the American river and having proved to be surrounded by rich placers, grew quickly to an important town. polling at one time in the early days over two thousand votes. Of
NEW COURT HOUSE
NEW CITY HALL
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late years the gold dredge has taken the place of hydraulic mining, since the latter was prohibited, and large areas of the rich lands along the American river have been turned into unsightly piles of cobble stones, and the gold extracted from it. Even the great Natoma vineyard, at one time the largest in the world, has been invaded by the machines and is being rapidly destroyed and left desolate, and practically wiped off the assessor's map. The village of Dredge has grown up, the home of the company's employes, and the cobble piles are of late being crushed for road material.
There are other accounts of gold discovery. Joseph Aram of New York, and Sarah A. Aram of Vermont, his wife, were mem- bers of a party of immigrants to California which, in September, 1846, pitched their camp near the mouth of a little stream emptying into the south fork of the Yuba river where it was crossed by the old overland trail, near where the boundary line between Placer and Nevada counties has been established. It is related that Mrs. Aram desired to wash some articles of apparel and in scooping out an improvised washtub in the bed of the brook noticed several little yellow pieces in the fine gravel. They were examined by the members of the party and pronounced to be gold. On the same day, however, news of the declaration of war against Mexico by the United States reached the party, and they made all possible haste in pushing on to gain the shelter of Sutter's Fort instead of stopping to make any further investigation of their discovery. In the summer of 1848 after Marshall's discovery had been published, Mr. Aram returned to his old camping ground only to find the ground already occupied by miners. Mr. Aram was a member of the first constitutional convention, 1849, and a member of the assembly at the first session of the legislature. He died at San Jose, March 30, 1898. His son, Eugene Aram, born at Monterey, January 14, 1848, it is claimed was the first white child born in California of American parents, and was a state senator from Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties during the thirty-first and thirty-third legislative sessions. For some years he has been a practicing attorney in this city.
CHAPTER VII CITY AND COUNTY ELECTIONS
The first election under the city charter and in the county was held April 1, 1850, there being three tickets in the field. Canvassing had been going on for several weeks, both in the city and through the county, and an immense number of tickets and handbills had been circulated. The polls remained open until late in the evening; there were lively times around the ballot boxes and plenty of whiskey was drunk, but there was no rioting.
The whole number of votes polled for Mayor was two thousand
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four hundred and ninety-three, and Hardin Biglow, the people's candidate, had a majority over all the others of three hundred and twenty-three. Following is a list of the city and county officers elected, with the number of votes received by each :
Mayor, Hardin Biglow, 1521; city recorder, B. F. Washington, 885; city marshal, N. C. Cunningham, 1323; city attorney, J. Neely Johnson, 1697; city assessor, J. W. Woodland, 792; city treasurer, Barton Lee, 2310; Councilmen: C. A. Tweed, 1629; V. Spalding, 1621; Demas Strong, 1420; T. McDowell, 1462; J. McKinzie, 1182; C. H. Miller, 887; J. R. Hardenbergh, 862; Jesse Moore, 869; A. P. Petit, 804; county treasurer, William Glaskin, 1104; district attorney, William C. Wallace, 2011; connty attorney, J. H. MeKne, 2021; county judge, E. J. Willis, 1818; county clerk, Presley Dunlap, 1567 ; county recorder, L. A. Birdsall, 714; county sheriff, J. H. Mckinney, 619; county sur- veyor, J. G. Cleal, 1152; county assessor, D. W. Thorp, 1224; county coroner, P. F. Ewer; 569; clerk supreme court, E. H. Thorp, 1313.
On the morning of April 4th, a meeting of the council-elect was held at the courthouse and on motion of Jesse Moore, C. A. Tweed was called to the chair, as president pro tem. On motion of Volney Spalding, Charles H. Miller was requested to act as secretary pro tem. The council proceeded to the election of a president and Demas Strong was declared elected. A committee was also appointed to wait upon the mayor-elect, IIon. Hardin Biglow, and inform him that the council was duly organized and ready to receive any com- munication he might desire to make. He appeared before the council and delivered a short and pertinent address, and the council adjourned. It met the next morning pursnant to adjournment and a message from the mayor was read, accepted and referred to the select committee. The regular meetings of the board were ordered to be held on each Tuesday evening at the courthouse.
Mayor Biglow in his message urged the immediate raising of a levee to protect the city from future inundations, suggesting the building of a cheap railway track along the bank of the river, so that material for the levee could be hauled from a distance and the natural bank of the river be left undisturbed; that an election be called to vote the necessary amount as estimated by the city engineer for the levee; that the three small lakes be included in the limits of the city and the whole of the present corporation be included within the levee, and levee regulations be adopted, similar to those at New Orleans. Other recommendations were relative to the storing of powder, establishment of fire companies, a city hospital, a city prison and provision for the removal of garbage. Also that every aid pos- sible be given to public schools.
The election of Mayor Biglow is attributed by Dr. Morse in his interesting historical article published in Colville's Directory in 1853-4, to his foresight and energy in saving the city from a second
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flood in March, 1850. Fears had been expressed that the city might be again inundated, but there seemed to be an aversion to raising a levee for protection and the idea was unpopular. Says Mr. Morse : "In the month of March following, heavy rains occurred, which with the action of the sun upon the snowy summits, caused another flood. The rivers rose with great rapidity, the sloughs filled up to over- flowing, and the city must have been nearly as severely flooded as in January, but for the masterly and herculean efforts of one Hardin Biglow. This man had declared from the first the practicability of defending the city by a levee. Having thus committed himself to the proposition, he was determined to demonstrate his theory in this second flood. With the moiety of means and handful of men, he commenced damming up the intruding waters at every low point, and finally extended his temporary levee almost to its present limits. Night and day he was in his saddle, going from one point to another, and stimulating his men to an almost superhuman action. For a few days this man met tide and torrent, mud and darkness, and croaking discouragement that few men in the world would have endured, and to the utter astonishment of all, he saved the town from a severe inundation. J, Front, Second, I and a portion of K streets, he kept open for the uninterrupted transaction of business. As a natural consequence everybody praised him, and on the first Monday of April succeeding, at an election pursuant to the new legislative charter, adopted February 27, 1850, he was elected by a most cordial vote as the chief magistrate of this city.
In a few weeks after the abatement of the waters of the second inundation everything seemed almost transformed into business and money making. The council busied itself with the subject of a levee and surveys were made, the tents gave way to large and commodious buildings, built of good material and embellished with ornamental architecture. Business began to be reduced to a system, and developed some of the most substantial mercantile houses and manufacturing firms and some of the strongest banking houses in the country. Disease abated and everything pointed to prosperity.
The assessor's report on the value of property-real and per- sonal-gave an aggregate of $7,968,985 that summer, an important feature in the light of the pecuniary revulsion that followed. The real estate of the city was assessed at $5,586,000, probably $5,000,000 over its real value. Hence, following the financial reaction in the fall of 1850, some of the shrewdest men in the city found themselves embarrassed by immense losses on loans on real estate, which on foreclosure often brought not more than one-fourth to one-eighth of the loans. The three heaviest banks and many of the prominent merchants were swept suddenly into bankruptcy in the fall and a general prostration of business was the result. The city had survived the struggle with Sutterville, the distress and poverty of immigration
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in 1849, the floods of 1850 and now, in the midst of this financial storm, a new calamity befell her-the Squatter riot of Angust 15, 1850.
February 27, 1850, the first legislature passed an act to incor- porate Sacramento City, and defined its boundaries as follows :
"All that tract of land lying within the following boundaries: Beginning at the junction of the American Fork and the Sacramento river to Y street, as designated on the map or plan of Sacramento City on file in the recorder's office in said city; thence along said Y street east to the point where said Y street intersects Thirty-first street as designated on said map; thence along the said Thirty-first street till the same intersects the American Fork; thence along the American Fork to the place of beginning, the said boundaries extend- ing to the middle of Sacramento river and American Fork."
The act further provided that there should be a mayor, a recorder, and a council of nine members for the government of the city, and that one of the members of the council should be elected president. It provided further that on the thirtieth day after the passage of the act a city election should be held for the election of the first oficers, to wit: A mayor, recorder, nine councilmen, city marshal, city attorney, assessor and treasurer. After the first election the officers mentioned were to he elected on the first Monday in May in each year, and in case of a vacancy a special election should be ordered by the council to fill the same. The mayor was clothed with complete executive power. The recorder performed the duties now imposed on the police judge, and the marshal those belonging now to the chief of police and the collector. The common council was empowered to create the offices of city collector, harbor-master, and such other offices as might become necessary.
An amendatory act was passed by the same legislature, March 13, 1850, providing that, on the first Monday of April following, a city election should be held to fill the offices created by the charter, making it fall on the same day as the first county election. The officers chosen at that election were to hold office till the first Monday of May, 1851. This amendment affected the first election only. April 10, 1850, an act was passed providing for the appointment by the governor of a port warden for the port of Sacramento.
The second legislature passed a new charter for Sacramento City, and it became a law March 26,. 1851, by operation of time, and without the approval of the governor. Governor MeDougal said con- cerning it: "The within bill is regarded as oppressive and extraor- dinary in many of its features, but not regarding it as infringing on any partienlar principle of the constitution, and as it is the act of the representatives of Sacramento county, and presuming it to be the wish of the people of Sacramento City, I permit it to become a
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law, by the operation of time, without approving it, or returning it to the body in which it originated."
The act in question provided that the then existing government should continue in office until the election of the officers provided for by the new charter. The council was to divide the city into three wards, from each of which three councilmen were to be elected. Vacancies were to be filled by special election, unless one should occur within sixty days of a regular annual election, when it was to be filled by the council. The first election under the act was to take place on the first Monday of May following, for officers to hold office until the first Monday of April, 1852. All city elections after that were to be held on the first Monday of April in each year. The fixing of salaries was left to the council, but they were not permitted to fix the salary of any officer at over $3,000, except the mayor or recorder, the limit of whose salary was fixed at $5,000.
The legislature enacted a law April 26, 1853, providing for a special tax of one-fourth of one per cent., for the support of the free common schools, to be expended under the direction of a board of trustees, consisting of one from each ward, to be annually appointed hy the council.
March 31, 1855, a law was enacted striking the harbor-master from the list of the elective officers. It fixed the salaries as follows : Mayor, $2,000; recorder, $4,000; marshal, $3,000; deputy city marshal, $1,500; city attorney, $2,000; treasurer, $1,500; superintendent of the water works, $2,000; assessor, $1,500; recorder's clerk, $1,500; each policeman, $125 per month. In case of death, sickness or leave of absence of the recorder, the mayor was to attend to the duties of that office also. It was further provided that at the next subsequent election there should be chosen a superintendent of common schools and two school commissioners from each ward, who, with the super- intendent of schools, should constitute the school board.
April 2, 1856, the legislature enacted an act to regulate the fire department. It provided for the election of officers and the regulation of the department in general.
CONSOLIDATION
On April 24, 1858, a law was passed which consolidated the government of the city and county and gave to the board of super- visors the authority which had heretofore rested in the county council. On the first Monday of May following, five supervisors were to be elected, to hold office until October 5, 1858. There was also to be elected at the same time a president of the board, to continue in office until the general election of 1859, the term of office thereafter to be two years. After the first Monday of October, 1858, the board was to consist of a president and eight members, and the members
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were to be elected at the general election in that year, four to hold office for two years, and four for one year. After the first election the term was to be two years. At the general election in 1859, and every two years thereafter, there were to be elected the other officers, who were to perform their duties for both city and county. The president of the board was to be ex-officio mayor of the city, and superintendent of the streets and the water-works. The then county officers were required to perform such city duties as might be allotted to them by the board, and the board was given power to create and fill by appointment the minor city offices. Some changes were also made in the fire and school departments.
The consolidation act was repealed April 23, 1863, and a new charter adopted. It provided that the government of the city should be vested in a board of trustees, to consist of three. The first trustee was to be er-officio mayor; the second, street commissioner, and the third, superintendent of the water-works. There would also be an auditor, an assessor, a collector, a police judge, and such other officers as might be appointed by the board. The trustees' term of office was fixed at three years, and that of the other officers at two. It was further provided that on the tenth day after the passage of the act a city election should be held, at which the offices above desig- nated should be filled, and that annually thereafter, on the second Tuesday in March, city elections should be held. At the election in 1864, a third trustee should be elected; in 1865, a second trustee, assessor, auditor, collector, and judge, and in 1866, a first trustee, each to hold for the time indicated. Any vacancy in the board was to be filled by a special election, and a vacancy in any other office was to be filled by appointment by board. Provision was also made for the school and fire departments.
A slight change was made in the boundaries of the city, and a change in the time of electing officers other than members of the board during the life of this charter. In 1872 a bill was enacted creating a paid fire department, another to provide a new system of water- works, and a third for the reorganization of the police force.
As has been stated elsewhere, Hardin Biglow was elected the first mayor of Sacramento. He was badly wounded in the Squatter riot, and before he had recovered, was seized with cholera and died in San Francisco, November 27, 1850, at the age of forty-one. Born in Michigan, he was a man of great courage and fine executive ability. After his death the president of the council acted as mayor.
A special election was held December 14, 1850, for the purpose of choosing a mayor. Although there was no excitement in the morning, later it became intense, in spite of a heavy rainfall. Bands of music paraded and both parties struggled hard to elect their candidates. Horace Smith (Whig) was elected by a vote of 933.
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Other votes were: J. R. Hardenbergh (Democrat), 865; James Mc- Clatchy, 183; Wesley Merritt, 25; and Joseph Grant, 19. The last three were independents. May 5, 1851, J. R. Hardenbergh (Democrat) secured 1264 votes for mayor, against 1224 for Joseph H. Nevett (Whig). A great conflagration in San Francisco on the day of election destroyed $7,000,000 worth of property, and the reception of the news rather dampened the ardor of the voters.
April 5, 1852, C. I. Hutchinson (Whig) defeated Hardenbergh, his vote being 1450 to 1234. It was a particularly exciting election, mass meetings being held at different points in the city, and it was a campaign of mud-throwing.
Hardenbergh turned the tables, however, April 4, 1853, defeating W. H. MeGrew, his Whig opponent, by a vote of 2046 to 1382. Dr. Volney Spalding had been nominated by the Whig convention March 28, but he declined, and on the 30th McGrew received the nomination.
April 3, 1854, R. P. Johnson (Whig) was elected by a vote of 1798 to 1693 over his opponent, Col. John P. Hall (Dem.).
April 2, 1855, James L. English (American) defeated Hiram Arents (Anti-American) by a vote of 1523 to 504, R. P. Johnson (Whig) getting 78 votes. The latter had published a card of with- drawal a few days before the election.
April 7, 1856, B. B. Redding (Dem.) was elected mayor over L. B. Harris (American) by a vote of 1743 to 1654.
April 6, 1857, J. P. Dyer (Dem.) defeated Dr. R. B. Ellis (People's Independent) by a vote of 1955 to 788. George Rowland (Rep.) received 501 votes. Dyer held office until under the consoli- dation act he was succeeded by the president of the board of supervisors.
May 3, 1858, Dr. H. L. Nichols (People's Independent) was elected president of the board of supervisors, defeating J. L. Craig (Dem.) by 3584 to 1877.
September 7, 1859, William Shattuck (Lecompton Dem.) was elected president by a vote of 3233 to 2802, over B. B. Redding (Dem.), and 5 for George Rowland (Rep.).
September 4, 1861, Shattuck was re-elected on the Douglas Dem- ocratie and Settlers' ticket over C. H. Grimm (Republican) by a vote of 3633 to 3258, E. P. Figg (Breckenridge Dem.) getting 14 votes.
After the repeal of the Consolidation Act mayors were elected under the charter adopted at that time, as follows:
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