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 8
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The first census taken in the state, in 1851, was under the super- intendence of J. Neely Johnson, afterwards governor of the state.
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The census credited Sacramento with 11,000, the state census being 120,000, The Federal census of 1860 credited the city with 12,800; of 1870, with 16,283; of 1880, with 21,420; of 1890, with 26,388; of 1900, with 29,282; of 1910, with 44,696. Since that time a phenomenal in- crease has been made, through the rapid development of the Sacra- mento valley, and the annexation of Oak Park and other eastern sub- urbs, and predictions are made that by the next census the population will exceed 100,000.
The first vessel ever used to carry press and type into interior California was the Dice me Nana (says my mamma), which brought an old press and type to Sacramento in order to start the Placer Times, in 1849, which was the first paper published in Sacramento.
The first public reception and banquet ever given in Sacramento was in 1849, to Gen. P. F. Smith, military commander on the coast, Commodore Jones, in command of the navy, Hon. T. Butler King, who had been sent ont by the government to reconnoiter the Sacra- mento valley and report on it at Washington, and W. M. Siddons, a pioneer citizen of Sacramento, who accompanied them. They were members of an expedition that accompanied Mr. King on his trip. Lieutenant Stoneman, afterwards governor of this state, was with the expedition but was left in charge of the camp, about five miles from the city. They were met by General Sutter, Sam Brannan, B. F. Gil- lespie, J. H. Hyer, P. B. Cornwall, Col. J. B. Starr, W. R. Grimshaw, and a large number of other prominent men, and were given a ban- quet by the citizens. General Sutter also received them at the fort and entertained them handsomely.
The first grand ball was given on July 4, 1849, in honor of the day, at the City Hotel. The young men were sent out to scour the country and invite all the members of the gentler sex they could find to attend. From among the immigrant parties and others, they mus- tered eighteen females, more or less handsome. Tickets of admission were only thirty-two dollars and champagne flowed freely at a sump- tuons supper.
The first railroad built was the Sacramento Valley railroad, from this city to Folsom, in 1855-56.
The first man hung in Sacramento was a gambler, Frederick J. Roe, who shot a man named Myers, who tried to stop a fight between Roe and another man. A jury was selected by the people, who found Roe guilty and a mob broke open the jail, took him out and hung him.
The first steamboat explosion was that of the steamer Fawn, August 18, 1850.
The first agricultural association in the state met in this city in the American theatre, October 8, 1852, and a fair was held for a week or two at the same time.
The first appearance of cholera in Sacramento was on the 20th
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of October, 1850, when an innmigrant by steamer was found dying on the levee.
The first case of smallpox in this city was in a family named Zumwalt, during the flood of 1850, Daniel Zumwalt, now a resident of Anderson, Shasta County, being the first to suffer an attack of the disease.
The first steamboat that ever came up the river to Sacramento was the Little Sitka, in the latter part of November, 1847. She was packed on board a Russian bark from Sitka and was of forty tons burden. She was put together at Yerba Buena island, near San Fran- cisco, and was so "cranky" that the weight of a person on her guards would throw one of her wheels out of service.
The first military organization in Sacramento was the Sutter Rifle Corps, June 27, 1852.
IIensley & Reading erected the first frame house in Sacramento, to be used by them as a store. It stood at the corner of Front and I streets, and was built before McDongal removed to Sutterville.
The first brick house built in Sacramento, the Pioneer Hotel, was kept for years by Louis Binninger.
The first mail for Salt Lake left Sacramento on May 1, 1850.
The first fire department was organized in Sacramento February 5, 1850, and was known as Mutual Hook and Ladder Company No. 1.
The first street cars in Sacramento were run about 1860, and were used chiefly for hauling sand from the river. The rails were of wood, and the cars ran on II street from Front to Thirteenth. They sometimes carried passengers.
The first regular street cars in this city were started in August, 1870, the cars, only two in number, being built by the Kimball Manu- facturing Company of San Francisco. The first electric car, the motive power being a storage battery, was run in 1888, but the power applied in that manner proving too expensive, it was soon temp- porarily suspended and a trolley system, as at present, was later constructed.
The first Thanksgiving day ever observed in California was on November 30, 1850. On that day J. A. Benton, pastor of the Congre- gational Church (known as the First Church of Christ), preached the sermon on "California as she was, as she is, and as she is to be."
At that time agriculture could hardly be said to be even an ex- periment, but Mr. Benton uttered this remarkable prophesy: "A million of people cannot fail to thrive by cultivating this virgin soil. and in fifty years they will be here to make the demonstration; farm houses will dot thickly every valley; marshes will be redeemed from overflow and wastes will bloom in beauty and yield harvests of joy. The state will not fall behind the chiefest in arts and manufacturing and in commerce. With hundreds of miles of navigable bays and
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rivers, with seven hundred miles of sea coast, with earth's broadest ocean at her feet, gemmed with a thousand sea isles, and having the shore of a continent, California is to be the Queen of the Seas, and within the Golden Gates are to be the docks and depots of a steam and electro-magnetic marine, of which all the steam marine that now exists is but the minutest embryo. The iron horse that has drunk the waters of the Mississippi will fly over mountain and plain and river, breathe defiance to yonder beetling cliffs and towering peaks of snow, as he dashes forward through the tunneled depths beneath, and comes through our streets to slake his thirst at the Sacramento."
The first school in Sacramento county outside of the city was kept by a Mr. O'Brien, at the house of Martin Murphy, in San Joaquin township.
The first ball held in Sacramento county by the white settlers was at Mormon island, in 1849.
The first courthouse erected in Sacramento, at Seventh and I streets, was begun in June, 1850, and completed December 24, 1851. The sessions of the legislature of 1852 and 1854 were held in it. It was destroyed in the great fire of July 13, 1854, which consumed a large part of the business portion of the city. Immediately after the fire, a contract was entered into for the erection of the one on the same site which was recently demolished to make room for the new one at present being erected. The cost in toto was $240,000, al- though the original contract was for $100,000. The cornerstone was laid September 27, 1854, with Masonic ceremonies, and the building, which was of brick, was completed January 1, 1855, and was used by the state as a capitol from 1855 until the present capitol was built. It was eighty by one hundred and twenty feet, and sixty feet high, and the style of architecture was Ionic. The portico was supported by ten pillars, three feet six inches in diameter and thirty-three feet six inches in height. In April, 1870, it was raised to the high grade, four hundred jack screws being used for that purpose.
Gilbert T. Witham, who lives in Washington, Yolo county, and who conducted the Coleman house on J street in this city in the early days, ran the first hack in Sacramento. It was hought in San Fran- cisco for $3000 cash, and his stand was at the Orleans hotel, on Sec- ond street. In 1855. he entered the employ of Doughty & Co., and for that firm ran the first steam trading and produce boat on the river. He was the first conductor on the first train out of Sacra- mento to Chico, Tehama and Red Bluff. Charles Crocker was on the train, and bossed the job. Mr. Witham saw Governor Stanford turn the first shovelful of dirt on J street for the building of the Central Pacific railroad.
The first criminal trial in Sacramento occurred in Sutter's Fort and was a remarkable one. In Jannary, 1849, Charles E. Pickett,
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afterwards known as "Philosopher Pickett," was a merchant in Sut- ter's Fort, occupying a portion of the northeast bastion, a man named Alderman, from Oregon, occupying the rest of it. During a dispute about the premises Alderman advanced on Pickett with an ax up- lifted. The latter was armed with a shotgun, and warned Alderman not to come farther, Pickett having retreated to the wall. As Alder- man continned to advance, Pickett fired and killed him. The cir- cumstances being well known, and the killing clearly in self-defense, no attention would have been paid to it, had not Sam Brannan, who was also a merchant at the fort, stirred up an excitement. He ap- plied to Frank Bates, who held the office of first alcalde, and then to John S. Fowler, second alcalde, for a warrant for Pickett's arrest. and both refused and resigned. The sheriff also resigned. There- upon Brannan called a meeting of the residents of the fort for the ap- pointment of an alcalde. Everyone declined, until it came to Bran- nan, who accepted. The nomination of a prosecuting attorney next went the rounds till it came to Brannan, who accepted it also. A. M. Tanner was appointed sheriff and notified Pickett to consider him- self under arrest. The court convened, Captain Sutter, John Sinclair, Capt. W. H. Warner, James H. Toppens and Thomas Murray being among the members of the jury.
Pickett appeared, accompanied by his attorney, one Payne, also from Oregon. The sheriff was ordered to bring in drinks for the court, jury, defendant and counsel. Cigars were proposed, in addi- tion, but an objection was made and the point argued. The court decided that "Inasmuch as the ladies of California made a practice of smoking, it could not be out of place anywhere." Every time the defendant would ask a witness a question, his counsel would tell him to be silent, and these altercations became frequent, as the orders on the sheriff for refreshment hecame numerous. Midnight came, and Sutter and Sinclair were asleep, leaning against the wall. One of the witnesses was testifying that the character of Alderman was bad, he having killed two men in Oregon, and Captain Sutter awoke, lis- tened a few minutes and said: "Gentlemen, the man is dead, he has atoned for his faults. and I will not sit here and hear his character traduced." He then started to leave the court, but was persuaded to stay. When the evidence was closed, Brannan started to sum up for the prosecution. "Hold on, Brannan," said Pickett, "yon are the judge." "I know I am judge," retorted Brannan, "but I am prose- enting too." "All right, go ahead then," said Pickett. When he finished, Pickett's attorney was too far gone to talk, and Pickett summed up for himself. Toward morning the jury announced that they could not agree, and were discharged. Brannan told the sheriff that he remanded the prisoner to his custody. "What am I to do with him," asked the sheriff? "Put him in close confinement," said
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Brannan. "I have no place to put him in," said the sheriff. "Then put him in irons," was the reply. "There ain't any irons about the place," returned the officer. After deliberation it was agreed to admit Pickett to bail, which was readily furnished. At a subsequent trial, with a sober jury, Pickett was acquitted.
CHAPTER X THE REVOLUTION
In July, 1839, when Captain Sutter told Governor Alvarado that he desired to occupy and colonize the section where he afterward erected his fort, the governor warmly approved his plan and gave him authority to explore and occupy any territory he found suitable and told him to return in a year and have his citizenship acknowl- edged, when he should receive a grant of such lands as he might de- sire. This was done, and he received a grant of eleven leagues. At that time the settlement of Americans in the country was enconr- aged by the local government.
But by 1844 the situation had changed. The events in Texas had aroused the Mexican people and it was well understood in the United States that Polk's election to the presidency in 1844 meant the an- nexation of Mexican territory, and that hostilities might reasonably be expected soon. At about the same time feelings of animosity be- gan to spring up in California between the Americans and the Mex- ican population and the former began to apprehend that the latter would attempt to drive them from the country. True, no declara- tion of war had yet been made, but it was evident that both the United States and the Mexican government were preparing for a hos- tile meeting. Colonel Fremont had reached California, ostensibly on an exploring expedition, he having led several exploring expe- ditions in the western part of the continent. The existing govern- ment in the southern part of California had shown some opposition to his progress, and he had turned northward toward Oregon.
In April, 1846, Lieutenant Gillespie of the United States army arrived in California, and started from Monterey in pursuit of Fre- mont, and overtook him in Oregon, on May 9th. Gillespie's despatch to Fremont has never been made public, but it is generally supposed that it contained orders for Fremont to retrace his steps and hold himself ready to assist in the conquest of California on the first in- timation that war was to be declared. He returned and encamped at or near the place where Sacramento now stands. The population of California was estimated at that time to be about ten thousand. exclusive of Indians. Of this number probably less than two thon- sand were foreigners. General Castro was at that time military commandant of California, and he had several times issued procla-
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mations ordering all foreigners to leave the country. The American settlers therefore determined that the time had arrived when they must protect themselves, and that some decisive movement should be made by them. This movement was precipitated by an order from Castro to Lient. Francisco de Arce to proceed with fourteen men as a guard to the mission of San Rafael, where there were some horses belonging to the Mexican government, and remove them to the mis- sion at Santa Clara. As New Helvetia (now the city of Sacramento) was the first point at which the horses could swim the river, de Arce was under the necessity of coming to that point. An Indian ob- served de Arce's party in its movement, and reported that he had seen two or three hundred men mounted and armed, coming up the Sac- ramento river. The settlers believed that Castro was leading a large party to attack Fremont. The news spread among the Americans by means of couriers, and they gathered for the defense at Fre- mont's camp, near the confluence of the Feather river with the Sac- ramento. There they met William Knight, who told them that he had seen the party of Californians in charge of the horses, and that de Arce had told that Castro had sent for the horses for the purpose of mounting a battalion of two hundred men to march against the Americans settled in the Sacramento valley and to expel them from the country. The settlers held a consultation and re- solved that a party should pursue de Arce, and capture the horses and thus defeat Castro's plans. Twelve men volunteered for the duty, and chose Ezekiel Merritt, the oldest of the party, as their captain. At daylight, June 10, 1846, they surprised the Californians, and captured the horses without resistance. De Arce and his men were allowed to go, each one being allowed one horse.
This was the first overt act committed by the foreigners and made it necessary that all in the country should take one side or the other in the revolution thus precipitated. It was followed on the morning of June 14. by the taking of the town and Mission of Sonoma. The American party, increased to thirty-three, was led by Ezekiel Merritt and was known afterward as the famous Bear Flag party. It was composed mostly of hunters and men who could leave their homes on short notice. They were roughly dressed and presented a formidable appearance. They seized the town and mis- sion without bloodshed and captured Gen. M. G. Vallejo, Lieutenant- Colonel Prudon, Don Salvador Vallejo and other prominent per- sons and conveyed them to Sutter's Fort, where they were kept prisoners for about two months.
As nearly as can be ascertained, the names of the members of the Bear Flag party from Sacramento valley were: Ezekiel Merritt, Robert Semple, Henry L. Ford, Samuel Gibson, Granville P. Swift, William Diekey, Henry Booker, John Potter, William B. Ide, Will-
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iam Fallon, William M. Scott, Henry Beason, William Anderson, James A. Jones, W. Barti (or "Old Red") and Samuel Neal. The rest of the party was from Napa valley.
A garrison of eighteen men, under command of William Ide, was left at Sonoma and in a few days it was increased to abont forty. Ide issued a proclamation declaring that he and his com- panions had been invited to come into the country and had been promised protection by the government, but that they had been sub- jected to oppression by military despotism; that threats had been made, by proclamation, of exterminating them if they did not leave the country; that it meant they must either abandon their property and be driven through deserts inhabited by hostile Indians, or must defend themselves; and that they had been forced to inaugurate a revolution with a view of establishing and perpetuating a repub- lican government.
The party obtained its name by adopting what was known as the Bear flag, and it formed a partial organization under the name of the Republic of California. The flag borne by them was a piece of cotton cloth, with one red stripe on the bottom, and on the white part was the figure of a grizzly bear, with one star in front of him. It was painted or stained with lampblack and poke berries and on the top were the words, "Republic of California." According to the history of the event filed in the office of the Society of Califor- nia Pioneers, the flag was painted with paint secured from a wheel- right's shop, "and the execution did not excel in artistic merit."
William L. Todd, however, in a letter to the Los Angeles Express under the date of Jannary 11, 1878, makes this statement: "I have to say in regard to the making of the original Bear flag of Califor- nia at Sonoma in 1846, that when the Americans who had taken up arms against the Spanish regime had determined what kind of a flag should be adopted, the following persons performed the work : Granville P. Swift, Peter Storm, Henry L. Ford, and myself. We procured, in the house where we made our headquarters, a piece of new, unbleached cotton domestic, not quite a yard wide, with stripes of red flannel about four inches wide, furnished by Mrs. John Sears, on the lower side of the canvas. On the upper left-hand corner was a star, and in the center was the image made to represent a grizzly bear, so common in this country at that time. The bear and star were painted with paint made of linseed oil and Venetian red or Spanish brown. Underneath the bear were the words, 'California Republic.' The other person engaged with me got the materials to- gether, while I acted as artist. The forms of the bear and star and the letters were first lined out with pen and ink by myself, and the two forms were filled in with the red paint, but the letters with ink. The flag mentioned by Mr. Hittel, with the bear rampant, was
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made, as I always understood, at Santa Barbara, and was painted black. Allow me to say that at that time there was no wheelwright shop in California. The flag I painted I saw in the rooms of the California Pioneers in San Francisco in 1870, and the secretary will show it to any person who will call upon him at any time. If it is the one that I painted, it will be known by a mistake in tinting out the words 'California Republic.' The letters were first lined out with a pen and I left out the letter 'I' and lined out the letter "C" in its place. But afterward I lined ont the letter 'I' over the 'C' so that the last syllable of 'Republic' looks as if the last two let- ters were blended." The guidon used at Sonoma was in 1874 pre- sented to the California Pioneers by Brig .- Gen. Joseph Revere, who in 1846, as lieutenant, hauled down the Bear flag and substituted the Stars and Stripes.
There has been considerable dispute as to the causes which led to the revolution in California, the capture of Sonoma, Ide's procla- mation, the raising of the Bear flag and its design. Reliance is placed on the accounts which were published in the Californian in August and September, 1846. This was a few months after the oc- currence of those events and the articles were written by Robert Sem- ple, the editor, who distinctly stated in them that he wrote them as a matter of history and for the benefit of future historians.
Commodore John D. Sloat arrived at Monterey July 7, 1846, with a United States frigate. Monterey was at that time the Mexican capital of California. The commodore took possession of the town and hoisted the American flag over the custom house, and from that day dates the possession of California by the United States. Sloat's frigate had been lying at Mazatlan under orders to seize California on the first intimation that war had been declared against Mexico. The first American flag was hoisted in the Sacramento valley where Sacramento City now stands, Colonel Fremont being encamped there with about one hundred and seventy men. William Scott arrived in the camp on the evening of July 10, with the news of the hoisting of the flag at Monterey by Commodore Sloat. He also brought with him an American flag sent by Capt. John B. Montgomery, of the United States ship Portsmouth. The Californian, in speaking of the first receipt of the news at Sacramento, says: "It was received with universal shouts by the men, and our gallant leader, surrounded by a number of officers and soldiers, partook of a cup of good brandy, and sang some national airs. The Star Spangled Banner was re- ponded to with warmth."
With the raising of the American flag the Bear flag was sup- planted, and although there were several engagements between the United States troops and the Mexican forces in the southern part of the territory of California, the Mexicans capitulated early in 1847, and
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the hostilities ceased. While many events happened during the transition, those above recorded were all that directly affected this county and the territory surrounding it.
CHAPTER XI IN THE BEGINNING
The first survey of the plat of Sacramento was made in Decem- ber, 1848, by Capt. William H. Warner of the United States Army. Previous to 1844 Sutter's Fort was the principal trading post in Upper California. In that year Captain Sutter and some others at the fort determined to lay out and build a town on the river bank three miles below, which they called Sutter, now spoken of as Sutter- ville. A survey was made by Capt. William Tecumseh Sherman (afterwards famous during the Civil war as General Sherman), and building was begun. The first house was erected by Captain Sutter himself; the second by a Mr. Hadel and a third, a brick structure, said to be the first of its kind erected in California, by Mr. Zins. The city began to flourish unrivaled and continued to do so until the discovery of gold. Soon after that time, however, it came into a disastrous rivalry with Sacramento. Dr. Morse, the earliest historian of those times and a warm partisan of Sacramento, gives many in- teresting particulars of the struggle for supremacy between the two budding cities, which resulted in the ultimate downfall of the city on the high grounds back from the river and the success of the city on the lower level, that was doomed in a few years to be inundated by the rising waters, although one of the principal arguments used by the traders and speculators in their arguments for the support of this city was that the ground where it stands had never been over- flowed within the memory of the white man, and never would be.
Bayard Taylor says in his "Eldorado," of his first visit to Sac- ramento in October, 1849: "The limits of the town extended to nearly one square mile and the number of inhabitants, in tents and houses, fell little short of ten thousand. The previous April there were just fonr houses in place. Can the world match a growth like this? The value of real estate in Sacramento is only exceeded by that in San Francisco. Lots 20x75 feet, in the best locations, brought from $3,000 to $3,500. Rents were on a scale equally enormous. The City hotel, which was formerly a sawmill erected by Captain Sutter, paid $30,000 per annum. A new hotel, going up on the levee, was already rented for $35,000. Two drinking and gaming rooms on a business street paid each $1,000 monthly, invariably in advance. The value of all the houses in the city. frail and perishable as many of them were, could not have been less than $2,000,000. . . . The inhabi- tants had elected a town council, adopted a city charter and were
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