USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume I > Part 7
USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume I > Part 7
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On this night some reinforcements arrived, but as they were tired and sleepy, and as the night was intensely cold, and ad istance of more than twelve miles to go, all of them returned home that same morning.
The party which had halted at the dry lake, leaving a guard over their teams and outfit, started up in to the hills in a northerly direction. And just at daylight our party, consisting of Jack Martin, W. H. St. John, M. F. Thomas, Jonathan Richardson, John McGur, Ed, Sam and Harrison Bemis, Noisy Tom, myself, and two young lads by name of George Miller, sixteen years old, and Dave Wixom, nineteen years, though young (both alive now, 1922, and the only survivors), these two lads proved to be both brave and efficient, always ready and willing to perform any duty or face any danger, started up from opposite directions over the rough rocks and boulders we went, and when about half way up, we heard several shots straight ahead, and believing it to be an attack, we hastened up to help them. When we approached near where we heard the firing, suddenly an Indian raised up from behind a rock, drew his bow and quick, almost as thought, sent an arrow with great force into the breast of brave .Jonathan Richardson, who staggered and almost fell into the arms of young George Miller, close by me. Placing the desperately wounded man behind a rock, we at once scaled a flat topped bluff where we met a shower of arrows, but luckily none of us were hurt. Part of our party had gone around the bluff, and coming in from opposite direction we had nearly hemmed them in. Just under that bluff was a little water seeping out, perhaps never seen before by any white man, and there was their camp; and coming upon them as we did, we were masters of the situation and captured five of them who surrendered at once, but most of the Indians escaped.
Taking our prisoners and our wounded man we made our way to Dry Lake where we found the other party waiting our arrival, and entirely ignorant of our engagement with the Indians. And here we learned that they had been up near the Indian camp, and seeing no Indians, some of them had very imprudently fired a few shots at random and returned to Dry Lake. Those shots were what we had heard and mistaken for an attack on the Indians. This firing gave the alarm to the Indians and enabled most of them to escape, to our great regret. Here we held a short consultation and all decided to return to Brown's Ranch, where I was detailed to convey our wounded man back home without delay for medical assistance. And so leaving our prisoners under gaurd, and the rest of the company, we at once set out and reached San Bernardino in safety, where medical assistance was obtained and the wounded man carefully attended to. AAnd thus ended my further connection with that expedition. Several more of the party left at about the same time, includ- ing M. F. Thomas, Birdwell, Jake Buckhannan and Sam Button. The party left, as I remember them, consisted of W. H. St. John, Jack Martin. three of the brave Bemis boys, Noisy Tom, Preacher Stout, his son, and his son-in-law, Griffith, teamster J. B. Smithson, George Miller, Dave Wixom.
I afterwards learned from good authority that this party pursued the Indians we had driven out and escaped from us and fled to the mountains several miles southeast of there, that a few of them showed themselves to the party, and entered into a parley with them; but the Indians were shy and suspicious and would not come down near them; and while thus engaged in parleying with them, the prisoners made a dash for their liberty. This rash act on the part of the prisoners cost them their lives then and there.
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While still pursuing the Indians, Preacher Stout, his son, and his son-in-law, Griffith, rashly left the party and much against their consent, and with more courage, perhaps, than prudence, rode off toward the mountains. They rode up into the rocky hills two or three miles, and while looking for tracks, all at once the Indians raised from ambush and fired upon them, wounding Griffith quite severely and slightly wound- ing one of the horses at the same time. This sudden movement of the Indians frightened the horses and instinctively they whirled about and carried their riders rapidly away, Griffith having dropped his gun when wounded and it fell into their hands.
The rest of the party hearing the firing rushed to their assistance and met them returning, having escaped, as it were, by miracle. So the party all got together again.
About this time another party headed by one John Searls and J. B. Burkhart (afterwards sheriff of our county) came in from opposite directions and coming up on this remnant of the band just at daylight, surprised them and killed every one of them (eight in all).
And thus ended that eventful expedition, the party returning to their respective homes after thirty-two days of hardships and exposure, encountering on their way home snowstorms, cold winds, sleet and hail, fatigue and hunger. They returned by way of Cajon Canon and at the toll-gate they were welcomed by that old Rocky Mountain hero, John Brown, Sr., who at once prepared a dinner for all who would par- take of his hospitality. And so the party all arrived home, having the proud satisfaction of having well performed their duty, as their reward for their servces.
From the close of that campaign we have had no further trouble of any kind with Indians up to the present day, and consequently San Bernardino has become a place of safety and our mountains a great and famous summer resort.
And now in conclusion I must beg pardon for my inability to do the subject justice, but if this narrative proves to be of any interest, either to individuals or the public in general, or if I have given any informa- tion to the public worthy of note, then will my highest hopes be con- summated and my efforts amply rewarded. IV. F. HOLCOMB.
CHAPTER II
THE REIGN OF THE MEXICANS
The Revolution of 1821 was the immediate cause of the downfall of Spanish domination in North America, and in the following year Cali- fornia became a territory under the newly-formed Mexican Republic, continuing under the jurisdiction thereof until passing into the control of the United States in 1847. During the period of the Spanish era, the best part of the land had been acquired by the missions, and this. in turn, had produced the greater part of the wealth of the country. The few settlers outside of the pueblos and missions to whom large land grants had been made were scattered over a wide territory. The devel- opment of even such important pueblos as San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles and Monterey, had been tardy, and their inhabitants, con- sisting largely of colonists who had come to the country because of the inducements held out by the government, and soldiers, who having com- pleted their service remained in the country and in many cases married native women, were not calculated to make constructive citizens. For the most part they did little save cultivate their suertes1 in a halfhearted way and produce a few head of livestock.
Such was the situation when Mexico began its iniquitous system of land grants which was later to cause so much trouble. During the era of Spanish possession, no regular grants had been made in San Ber- nardino County, although a grant known as "Santiago de Santa Ana." containing 60,000 acres in the Santa Ana Canon, made to Antonio Yorba in 1801, may have extended slightly within the bounds of the county, the main body, however, lying in what is now Orange County. About 1817 a grant was made to a son-in-law of Yorba, one Leandro Serrano, in the Temescal Valley, but after long litigation this was decided by the courts to be but a "permit for grazing purposes" and was not sustained. For some time after coming into domination, the Mexican Government abstained from making any land grants, probably because at first it was a difficult matter to find anyone desiring to accept such gifts unless there be some exceptional advantage attached thereto.
JURUPA GRANT. It was not until 1838, therefore, that the first Mexican land grant in San Bernardino County was made, this being seven leagues of land known as the Jurupa2 Grant, made to Juan Ban- dini, one of the most capable and prominent of the Spanish pioneers. He was a Peruvian by nativity and almost immediately after his arrival at San Diego in 1821, by reason of his superior intellect and natural gifts, received an appointment as a member of the territorial assembly. Of Bandini, a contemporary writer has said:3 "He was a man of fair education and abilities, of generous impulses, of jovial temperament ; famous for his gentlemanly manners, of good courage in the midst of discouragements and always well liked and respected; indeed, his record as a citizen is excellent. He also performed honestly and efficiently the duties of his various official positions. He was an eloquent speaker and fluent writer." Immediately upon securing his grant, Senor Bandini began stocking his rancho, upon which he built a ranch house, in which he and his family resided for a time.
1 Lots.
2 An Indian word meaning "friendship" or "peace." 3 Bancroft.
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The unexpected and too often successful sorties of the Indians of the desert, who were in the custom of dashing in through the passes, running off a band of stock and getting back to their desert fastnesses while the ranch owners could only hurl maledictions in their wake, had caused a somewhat peculiar custom. This was that the Lugos, to pro- tect their stock had induced a few New Mexican families to settle in the vicinity of Politana by giving them a half a league of land4 in exchange for which these settlers agreed to help discourage the raids of the Indians and to act as vaqueros.
These colonists were offered better location and more property about 1843, by Senor Bandini, if they would agree to move across the Santa Ana River and settle on the Jurupa Rancho. This was eventually agreed upon by the colonists' leader, one Lorenzo Trujillo, and accord- ingly five families moved to a location several miles south of Politana and established a new settlement which was known as Bandini's Donation or La Placita de Trujillo.5 Others soon came in, and, as they were on the flat where they could irrigate their lands, they soon had not only grain fields, but orchards and vineyards. The little band of colonists con- menced the erection of an adobe church, but during the heavy rains of 1852 it was washed down before it could be completed.
In about the same year the community was augmented by the arival of another band of colonists from New Mexico, who located on the river something more than a mile northeast of the former settlement. This became known as the Agua Mansa6 and its people made improvements, cultivated the land, cared for stock and aided in the vigilant protection maintained against the sallies of the desert natives. In time a prosperous settlement grew up, and the residents of the two colonies eventually decided to rebuild the church that had been swept away. Miguel Busta- mente, who had been one of the early residents of Agus Mansa, gave the following description of the erection of the church: "The colonists appointed a committee to select a site that would be safe from flood, and after going up and down the river they decided upon the hill of San Salvador. Then all of the colonists went to work-some with their hands and some with money-and made the new church. They made the adobes and the cement. Joaquin Molla, who had twelve or fourteen yoke of oxen, hauled the timber from Aliso's mill7. We paid from $35 to $40 per thousand for the lumber. It took a year to build the new church. Father Amable held the first mass in it." All that now exists of this little church, which for many years was the only Catholic Church in San Bernardino County, is the bell, made from metal collected in the vicinity and cast at Agua Mansa, which hangs in the Catholic Church at Colton. This little church and the residence of Cornelius Jansen withstood the great flood of 1862 which, with the exception of these two structures, washed away both the prosperous little settlements of colonists and buried the fields and vineyards in sand. Later a new village was built up around the church and was long one of the best-known settlements of the county.
A part of the Jurupa Rancho was sold by Senor Bandini in 1843 to a new arrival in California, Benjamin D. Wilson, a Tennessean by birth, who had spent a number of years hunting and trapping in New Mexico, and who had come with the Workman party to San Bernardino County in 1841. That Wilson was a man of courage and determination is evi- denced in an anecdote still related about him, in which it is told that in the fall of 1844, after having been seriously wounded by a grizzly
4 About 2,200 acres. " The Little Town of Trujillos. 6 Gentle Water.
7 Probably the mill of Vignes & Sexton, in Mill Creek Canon.
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bear that had slain one of his cattle, he made a quick recovery and did not rest until he had put an end to said bear after a pitched battle. Mr. Wilson was in charge of an expedition which in the fall of 1845, while in pursuit of a band of marauding Indians, found a lake in the mountains at which the grizzlies were so numerous that twenty-two men lassoed eleven bears, and on the return of the party, at the same camp, the feat was repeated, making twenty-two bears killed in the locality. Later Mr. Wilson disposed of his interests in the Jurupa Rancho and located near Los Angeles, where he died in 1878, after having served a term as state senator, acted as Indian agent, and taken an active part in all political affairs, as well as playing a prominent part in the development of the country.
The grant was purchased from Senor Bandini and Mr. Wilson by Isaac Williams and Colonel Johnson, who in 1847 sold a part of it to Louis Robidoux, a Frenchman of means who had come from New Mexico, but who was born at St. Louis, Missouri, a son of one of the pioneer merchants of that city. One of his brothers, Joseph, was the founder of the City of St. Joseph, Missouri. Louis Robidoux became wealthy and prominent, showed his progressiveness by building fences, putting in a large acreage of grain and in other ways, and built a grist mill, which had a turbine wheel and two sets of stones, the only grist mill in Southern California at that time, 1846-7. The grain was washed and dried in the sun and was shoveled into the hopper with a rawhide scoop. Mr. Robidoux, a man of genial and kindly disposition, served as Juez de Paz, and was one of the first board of supervisors of the county. His death occurred in 1867.
THE CUCAMONGA TROUBLE. The Cucamonga Indians, who, as before noted, lived among the Cucamonga hills and on the mesa below and had never come into direct contact with the mission influence, formed a rancheria of quiet and industrious people, who cultivated their fields and raised their stock and who had occupied this locality when the Spanish first came into California. The facts relating to their extinction as a tribe is but another commentary upon the methods invariably used by those who have sought power and property as the white race has swept irresistibly onward toward its chosen goal. Under a grant of 1839, issued · by Governor Alvarado, this land came into the possession of a rich and powerful citizen of Los Angeles, Tiburcio Tapia, of whom Robinson says: "We stopped at the house of Don Tiburcio Tapia, the Alcalde Constitutional® of the town, who was once a common soldier, but who, by honest and industrious labor, has amassed so much of this world's goods as to make him one of the wealthiest inhabitants of the place. His strict integrity gave him credit to any amount," so that he was the principal merchant and the only native one in el Pueblo de Los Angeles."
Upon his arrival, Don Tiburcio employed the guiless natives in the building of a house which was practically a fortress, located on one of the highest hills of the grant, and in setting out vineyards and orchards and caring for the cattle and other livestock. As the stock increased and the settlement developed, a number of Mexicans were brought in and the Indians were banished from their fields and made to take refuge in the hills and canons. Their crops failing them, the natives took the only means of securing food that they knew, this being the seizing of beef cattle, fattened upon their own ranges. The employment of a guard by Don Tiburcio failed to put an end to the depredations, and eventually he
& Constitutional Judge. ? The trading vessels Robinson represented.
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sent his ranchmen out in force. Meeting the Indians, a fierce engagement ensued, in which the Indians, beaten off, were hunted down and destroyed, and from that time forward had no existence as a separate rancheria.
Of the red hill and the estate of Cucamonga, there are numerous highly-colored and dramatic tales. One of these is as follows, according to Ingersoll: "Don Tiburcio amassed a large amount of property and especially of gold coin-something unusual in those days ; when rumors of American occupation began to disturb the country, he feared that this might not be safe in Los Angeles, so transferred it to his ranch home. But even here he became uneasy and one night, so the story goes, he packed it into an iron-bound chest. loaded it on his cart and taking a blindfolded Indian with him, went off into the hills. He returned without the chest, and shortly afterward died suddenly. When his daughter came, some years later, to live in the old house, she was constantly troubled by a mysterious light moving and stopping at one particular spot on the wall of the room once occupied by her father. At last her husband, determined to satisfy her of the idleness of her imagination, dug into the clay wall. To his own discomfiture he found a small skin purse, and in the purse a sheet of parchment containing some tracing and writing and a Spanish coin. This was supposed to be the key to the hidden treasure, but it was already so faded as to be not decipherable (though why the parchment should have faded in so short a time is not explained). The Indian held the word he had given to his old master as inviolable, only intimating that the box was buried at the foot of an oak tree. Credulous searching parties have, since the death of Senor Tapia, down to the present day, dug at the roots of oak trees, or places where they suppose oak trees sometime to have stood, all through that section, but so far as known, no treasure has ever been discovered."
Later there was drama and tragedy of a more definitely-known quality to attach to the Cucamonga estate, which, in 1857, came into the hands of John Rains, an enterprising and progressive young American, through his marriage with Maria Merced, the daughter of Isaac Williams of the Chino Rancho. Mr. Rains abandoned the old fortress on the hill and built a modern home which became the social center of the community. He greatly increased the vineyard and added to the improvements, and the winery, shops and stage station furnished employment for numerous men. Thus Cucamonga became the point of importance between San Bernardino and Los Angeles and its wines won merited distinction all over California. At this time John Rains occupied a prominent place in business and political circles, and in 1860 he was a delegate with John Bidwell to the democratic national convention, at Charleston. His tragic death occurred in 1862, when. while driving to Los Angeles, he was dragged from his wagon, shot and beaten to death, and his body hid in a cactus patch. For this crinie Manuel Ceredel was arrested, and when he was taken ill with small-pox and expected to die, confessed to his own participation in the deed and disclosed particulars of a con- spiracy and incriminated a number of others. Ceredel, however, recov- ered and was sentenced to ten years in the State prison. This did not satisfy the people, who took the prisoner away from the sheriff on the Steamboat Cricket, en route for San Quentin, and hanged him to the yard- arm. An aftermath of this tragedy occurred February 5, 1864, when Santiago Sanches was hanged for the murder of Manuel Gonzales. While admitting his guilt, he declared that his execution was due to the spite of Americans who believed that he had a hand in the murder of Rains. In June of the same year, while riding near Cucamonga Station, with a companion, Jose Ramon Carrillo was shot to death from ambush, and
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it was contended that this was still another echo of the Rains murder, in that Carrillo had been suspected of participation in that deed, although he had been twice exonerated by the authorities.
THE SANTA ANA DEL CHINO GRANT. In the year 1841 there was granted to Don Antonio Maria Lugo a fine tract of land known as the Rancho Santa Ana del Chino, famous for its splendid water supply and fertile soil, and two years later this tract was purchased by Lugo's son-in-law, Col. Isaac Williams, who likewise secured an additional grant, making a property of some 35,000 acres in all. Colonel Williams, a Pennsylvanian, was a man of progressive spirit. and by importing a large number of sheep from New Mexico, building a grist mill and setting out orchards, made this ranch one of the most valuable in the valley. The rancho served as a stopping-place on the overland route between Yuma and the gold fields of the North, and when the gold rush began all Americans who passed that way were heartily welcomed by the tall, handsome, genial and courtly "Colonel," who, while a shrewd business man, was the soul of generosity and kindness when fellow human beings were in need. The old frontiersmen found him a friend in need ; many were the miners whom he grubstaked, and on numerous occasions he sent out relief parties to meet immigrant trains reported in need of succor. In later years Chino became a station on the Butterfield stage route.
THE BATTLE OF CHINO. What has become known in the history of this region as the Battle of Chino, occurred in September, 1846, when the rancho house was attacked and besieged by a body of Californians under the leadership of Barelas, who was also the guiding spirit of the revolt that resulted in the evacuation of Los Angeles by Gillespie. The ever-increasing influx of Americans had been watched with growing uneasiness by the native-born Californians, who were of Mexican sympa- thies and who were fully aware that the shrewd newcomers were fully aware of the advantages which would accrue from the territory being adopted by the United States Government. Friction and unpleasant feeling were inevitable under the circumstances, but open hostilities did not commence until September, 1846, when Cervol Varela (or Barelas) attacked the Americans under Lieut. A. H. Gillespie, of the U. S. Marines, who had been left in charge as military commandant at Los Angeles by Commodore Stockton. Gillespie thereupon ordered D. B. Wilson, owner of the Jurupa Rancho, to come to his aid with the twenty men who were stationed at Jurupa for the purpose of protecting the inhabitants on the San Bernardino Frontier from Indian raids, but Wilson, nearly out of powder, stopped at the Chino Rancho, only to find Colonel Williams also in the same condition as to ammunition. Notwithstanding this state of affairs, when a wounded scout reported the approach of the attacking Californians, Williams and Wilson decided to stand a siege. The Cali- fornians, also short of arms and ammunition, were under the leadership of Varela, Diego Sepulveda and Ramon Carillo, and numbered fifty men, being later augmented by twenty men from the San Bernardino Rancho under the leadership of Jose del Carmen Lugo. An attack was made on the rancho, September 27, the Californians, on horseback, making a fierce onslaught, firing as they approached the house. Frightened at the firing of their owners and the response of the Americans, which came from numerous loop-holes, the horses of the attacking party, in attempt- ing to leap the ditch, threw several of their riders, and one man, Carlos Ballestros, was killed. Safe under the shelter of the walls, the Cali- fornians set fire to the asphaltum roof of the ranch house, and the
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Americans, thus trapped, decided upon a truce. Evenutally the Amer- icans surrendered, and although threats were made against their lives because of the death of Ballestros, they were taken to Los Angeles, where the more prominent members of the party were held by Flores until January, 1847. It is related, says Father Caballeria, that these men were promised their liberty on condition that they agreed not to bear arms or use their influence in behalf of the United States, but to their credit they refused to secure freedom on such terms. Among those captured at the battle of Chino were: D. B. Wilson, Isaac Williams, David W. Alexander, John Rowland, Louis Robidoux, Joseph Perdue, William Skene, Isaac Callaghan, Evan Callaghan, Michael White, Matt Harbin and George Walters. Some time following the annexation of California by the United States, Colonel Williams put in a claim for damages done to his estate, and was reimbursed to the extent of $80,000. After his release, he returned to the Chino Rancho, where he resided until his death, September 13, 1856. He was laid to rest in the old Catholic Cemetery on Buena Vista Street, Los Angeles, California.
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