USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume I > Part 9
USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume I > Part 9
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SAN BERNARDINO COLONY. At the suggestion of Brigham Young, in March, 1851, a company was organized to go to California and form the nucleus of a settlement in the Cajon Pass, select locations on the line of a proposed mail route and gather about them other members of their denomination. Amasa M. Lyman and Charles C. Rich were placed in charge of this expedition, which, it was originally proposed, should consist of about twenty persons. The enthusiasm of the Mormons knew no bounds, however, and when the party was ready to start it was found that more than five hundred had made preparations for the journey, much to the dismay and grief of Young, who, in a manuscript copy, says: "I was sick at the sight of so many of the saints running to Cali- fornia, chiefly after the gods of this world, and I was unable to address them."1 The ostensible object of the expedition was the cultivation of
1 Bancroft from Mss. history of Young.
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olives, grapes, sugar cane and cotton, and the establishment of an outfitting post for the people from the Sandwich Islands and Europe arriving on the Pacific Coast on their journey to Utah; but it is to be feared that many of the Faithful were influenced in their journey by the tales of gold brought back by the discharged members of the Mormon Battalion.
There were three divisions in the party of migrating Mormons : one, under Lyman, led by Captain Seeley, which reached the Pass June 11 and camped in Sycamore Grove; one under the leadership of Rich, piloted by Captain Hunt. and the third under Captain Lytle, who was the captain in charge, these latter two companies arriving at the Pass June 20th and camping on the other side of the Cajon Canon.2 They remained in these camps while the leaders prospected the surrounding country, visiting Chino and other ranchos and eventually deciding upon the purchase of San Bernardino grant.3 Prior to the completion of the grant's purchase some of the more ambitious of the party began to select sites and make improvements, but the danger of attacks by the Indians. which was imminent at that time, caused them to reconsider and to build their houses within the walls of a stout stockade. The colonists had at first thought of locating their city on the foothills to the east of Cajon Canon, hence the name City Creek, but in September decided on the pres- ent location of the City of San Bernardino owing to the abundance of feed found there for their stock.
THE COLONY IS ORGANIZED. On February 27, 1852, the deed record- ing the sale of San Bernardino Rancho, for the sum of $77,000 "in hand paid," was recorded in which the property is described as bounded on the east by "Sierra de Yucaipe," on the west by "Arroyo de Cajon" and the "Serrito Solo," on the south by the "Lomeras" and on the north by "El Faldo de Sierras."+ By this time the Mormons had begun to plant their crops, a large area between the Santa Ana River and San Ber- nardino was fenced, and each settler put in as much land as he cared to operate and paid for his proportion of the fencing. Prosperity was the immediate portion of the settlers, for their first crop, in the spring of 1852, was one in which some of the grain was so rank that it could not be cut at all. Their wheat sold at $4 per bushel and flour, ground at Puente, at $32 per barrel at Los Angeles, and their livestock brought good prices, so that the tithes of one-tenth of all their earnings, paid to the church authorities and doubtless used in payment for the rancho, reached a considerable sum. When the land survey was completed the prop- erty was sold to the colonists, who were allowed to take as much as they desired, the cost being from $11 to $16 per acre, according to location, and probably some was higher. The property was mortgaged by the Elders of the Church in 1854, for the sum of $35,000, with interest at 3 per cent a month, San Franciscans financing the transaction. In the same year, states Sheldon Stoddard, parties were sent out over the state among the miners, many of whom were Mormons, and considerable land was sold to them, possibly $10,000 being accumulated in this way in assisting to pay for the ranch. New settlers continued to arrive, includ- ing a party from Australia in 1853, lands sold readily, and the financial affairs of the colony were so capably managed that by the time of the
2 Lytle Creek derived its name from the fact that Capt. Andrew Lytle camped on this stream.
3 These pioneers came with the intention of purchasing the Chino Ranch from Col. Isaac Williams, who would not sell, but referred them to the Lugo Family, who wanted to sell.
4 Brow of the Mountains.
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exodus, when the colonists were recalled to Salt Lake City, the property was practically clear of indebtedness.
FORT SAN BERNARDINO. While there is no record to be found of any attack ever made upon Fort San Bernardino, this was the most elaborate fortification ever attempted in Southern California; and, in its very being, perhaps, doubtless served its purpose, inasmuch as the Indians,
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SAN BERNARDINO ERECTED . 1851
after its erection, made no attempt to raid the valley. During the years of 1850, 1851 and 1852, it had become the custom of certain of the desert Indians, notably the Pahutes and Chemehuevis, to make frequent raids through the San Bernardino Mountains into the coast valleys. During these raids, which increased with alarming frequency, the Indians drove off stock and in other ways disturbed the equanimity of the settlers, and matters came to a head in the fall of 1851, when there were constant rumors of a general uprising among the braves. However true these
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wall ditch from Lyile Creek
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rumors, unusual preparations were made by the authorities, who sta- tioned a troop of United States Volunteers on the coast, advised the few troops at Chino Rancho to be in readiness and authorized Gen. J. H. Bean to organize a volunteers company which went out against the Indians. These preparations did not fully satisfy the Mormons, who had their own views of preparedness, and their apprehensions led to the building of a stockade along the same plans as those used in the build- ing of the Salt Lake stockade soon after the Saints had reached that point. As was their custom, the colonists went about this work with thoroughness. The fort, as described by Hon. H. C. Rolfe, was a palisade enclosure or stockade on the east side and the two ends, made by splitting the trunks of cottonwoods and large willow trees in halves, roughly facing them on the split side, straightening the edges so that they would fit closely as they stood upright, side by side. These stakes were set some three feet into the ground and stood about twelve feet high, with the split sides facing in. This formed the outside stockade and was in the form of a parallelogram about 300 feet in width by 700 feet in length. Small one-story houses of logs and of adobes were built inside in long rows parallel with the stockade, leaving some sixteen or eighteen feet clear space between each. The west side of the enclosure was made up of houses which had been built in various places before the necessity of fortification was realized and which were moved and placed with their outside walls adjoining, so as to form a tight wall. Or, where this could not to be done, separate barricading walls of logs laid up in blockhouse fashion were constructed so as to complete the stockade. There was no stockade outside of these houses. The fort crossed the present corners of C and Third streets, and the southwest corner stood close upon the spot where now stands the city gas works. The northwest corner stood where the Fourth Street schoolhouse now stands, and the main entrance was eastward and stood in the center of what is now Third Street, imme- diately in front of the Bradford House, better known as Starke's Hotel. Water was secured from a ditch tapping Garner's Springs or Lytle Creek, obtained by digging wells twelve or fifteen feet deep. Somewhat more and had this water supply been cut off, water could have been easily than a hundred families occupied the fort and there were at least one hundred and fifty able-bodied men capable of performing good service in repelling an attack.
After living for a year or more in this fort and coming to the con- clusion that danger, if any had existed. had passed, the colonists began again to make improvements on their holdings and to accomplish things for the advancement of the community. The fort was dismantled piece- meal and its logs used for other purposes. It was about this time that Bishop Tenney located in the old Mission buildings and several other families settled in the same locality, these constructing the Tenney irri- gation ditch and also utilizing the water of Mill Creek zanja. In 1854 fifty-two one-acre tracts were laid off on the north side of Lytle Creek, and an irrigation ditch was constructed to water these, which were cultivated as gardens by the Saints who lived in town. The foundation of later water system was laid during these years, for other ditches were built, and a certain system perfected. In the matter of other improvements, the Mormons were no less progressive. One of their most constructive acts was the building of a road up West Twin Creek Canon, now known as Waterman Canon, a highway sixteen miles long, so that the mountain timber might be reached. That the work under the direction of Captain Hunt was well done was evidenced by the fact that it was used for many years for hauling logs and timber
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down the mountains. The completion of this road led to the establish- ment of three sawmills' and these supplied lumber not only for the houses of the Mormons, but for the settlers of Los Angeles and other communities. In 1852 a large grist mill was erected on the site of the present electric power house. This was described by Lieut. W. P. Blake as being "a large flour mill, 25 by 40 feet, with two sets of bulir stones and a raceway one mile in length *
* *; a store house of adobe, 30 by 70, was nearly full of sacks of grain waiting to be ground. A large quantity of good flour is made here and sent to Los Angeles, or to San Pedro for shipment."
Occupants of Fort San Bernardino, erected in 1851, located by num- ber on the plat as far as records are obtainable: Aldridge, D. L., No. 28; Andrews, Simeon, No. 24; Blackburn, Abner, No. 27; Blackburn, Tom; Brown, John. Sr., No. 63; Bybee, Alfred; Burk, Charles ; Button, M. E., No. 50; Castell, Jacob, No. 70; Crisman, Charles; Crosby, William (Bishop), Nos. 37, 38, 39, 40; Crandel, Charles ; Cox, A. J. (kept restau- rant), No. 40; Cox. William J .; Collins, Albert W .; Cook, John; Cum- mings, Albert, No. 67 ; Canter, Orlando; Davidson, J. J .; Daley, Edward, No. 66; DeLinn, Andrew P., No. 33; Daxon, David; Egbert, Robert ; Fabun Clark (wagon shop), R .; Flake, Mrs. (widow William), No. 36; Garner, Louis (residence), No. 53; Glazer, Louis (Stone), No. 54; Grundy, Isaac; Gunard. Benjamin F .. No. 51; Hakes. W. V .. No. 2; Harris, John, Sr., No. 30; Harris, Moses (had two sons, Silas and John) ; Hoogland Lucas (later Addison Pratt) No. 58; Hofflin, Samuel, No. 48; Hopkins, Richard R. (kept store), No. 36; Holladay, John; Hunt, Capt. Jefferson (two sons, Gilbert and Marshall), No. 61; Hunter, Capt. Jesse, No. 62; Hvde, William; Hyde, Joseph; Jones, David; Kartchner, Wm. D .; Lee, Rupert J., Nos. 25, 26; Lytle, Capt. Andrew ; Mathews, Joseph, No. 4; Mills, William; Mathews, William, No. 5; Miner (kept store). No. 74; McElvaine, Jerry; McGee, Henry ; Ray -; Rich, Carlos; Sherwood, H. G., No. 65; Spanks, Q. S .; Stoddard, No. 35; Rollins Henry (residence), No. 68; Rollins, Henry,
No. 69; Rowan, Mrs. (Lizzie Flake. colored) ; Seely, David, No. 22; Shepard, Lafayette, No. 1; Shepard, Samuel: Shepard,
Carlos; Sherwood, H. G., No. 65; Spanks, Q. S .; Stoddard, Sheldon, No. 64; Stuart, John, No. 32; Sullivan, Archie; Swarthout, Truman; Stout, William; Smith, "Bill"; Summee, Gilbert (blacksmith) ; Stewart, James; Taft, Daniel M .; Tanner, Albert, Nos. 72. 73; Tanner, Joseph, No. 72; Tanner, Freeman (brothers-in-law of Amasa Lyman), No. 73; Tanner, Sydney, No. 60; Tanner, Mrs. (mother), No. 71; Tenney, Nathan C. (Bishop) ; Thomas, Daniel M. (Judge) ; Thorp, Theodore; Tyler, W. W .; Turley, Theodore; Whitney. No. 42; meeting house and school, No. 2; office of Lyman Rich. P; tithing-house and store, No. 00; Lyman, Amasa (apostle), A, B, C.
The above are names of adults; most of them had families.
The following persons did not see fit to live inside the "Old Fort." They made a camp on East Seventh Street, now occupied by the old cemetery: Hiram Blackwell, Joshua Casteel, Francis Clark. George Hanks, John Hughes, Alonzo Jones, John Phelps, Bartlett Smithson and family, David Holladay, Norman Taylor, Elmer Taylor, "Old Man" Taylor, Mat. Welsh.
At this remote age, it has been found quite impossible to give all the names of the occupants of Fort San Bernardino, and their exact location in the fort. There may be some mistakes in names and location, but the list has been prepared with great care and after painstaking investigation, and is believed to be quite accurate.
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THE FOUNDING OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY. The territory now included in San Bernardino County was still a portion of Los Angeles County in 1851 when the colonists of Latter Day Saints purchased the San Bernardino ranch property. The county seat was at Los Angeles. sixty miles from San Bernardino and the boundaries extended eastward to the Colorado River. Thus, while the settlement of San Bernardino was thriving and growing, its people were handicapped by the distance necessary to travel to the county seat, where all official business had to be transacted, and it was to obviate this inconvenience that Capt. Jefferson Hunt, who in 1853 had been elected one of two members to represent Los Angeles County in the State Legislature, was instructed to present a petition to that body asking for a division of Los Angeles County, the
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JEFFERSON HUNT
newly created county to take its name from the Rancho de San Ber- nardino. In complying with this request. the legislature, in session at Benecia, April 26, 1853, passed "An Act for dividing the County of Los Angeles and making a new county therefrom to be called San Ber- nardino County." Section I of this act set the boundaries of this county as follows: "The County of Los Angeles is hereby divided as follows : Beginning at a point where a due south line, drawn from the highest peak of the Sierra de Santiago; thence, running along the summit of said Sierra to the Santa Ana River between the ranch of Sierra and the residence of Bernardo Yorba; thence across the Santa Ana River, along the summit of the range of hills that lie beyond the Coyotes and Chino (leaving the ranches of Ontiveras and Ybana to the west of this line) ; to the southeast corner of the ranch of San Jose; thence along the eastern boundaries of said ranch and of San Antonio, and the western and north-
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ern boundaries of Cucamonga ; thence up said ravine to its source in the Coast Range; thence due north to the northern boundary of Los Angeles County ; thence northeast to the state line; thence along the state line to the northern boundary line of San Diego County; thence westerly along the northern boundary of San Diego, to the place of beginning." Section 5 designated Isaac Williams, David Seely, John Brown and H. G. Sherwood as a board of commissioners to make all arrangements for the first election. April 26, 1853, may therefore be considered the birthday of San Bernardino County.
On April 2, 1857, a subsequent Act was passed, slightly changing the boundaries given above. This was as follows: "Beginning at a point on the boundary line of Los Angeles County, where a due south line drawn from the highest peak of the Sierra de Santiago intersects the northern boundary of San Diego County; thence running along the summit of said Sierra to the Santa Ana River, between the ranch of Sierra and the residence of Bernardo Yorba; thence across the Santa Ana River, along the summit of the range of hills that lie between the Coyotes and Chino (leaving the ranches of Ontiveras and Ybana to the west of the line), to the southwest corner of the ranch of San Jose; thence along the eastern boundaries of said ranch, and of San Antonio, and the western and northern boundaries of Cucamonga Ranch, to the ravine of Cucamonga; thence up said ravine to its source in the Coast Range; thence due north to the northern boundary of Los Angeles County ; thence northeast to the state line; thence along the state line to the northern boundary line of San Diego County; thence westerly. along the northern boundary line of San Diego County, to the place of beginning." Thus was brought into existence the largest county in the State of California and one of the largest ever created in the United States. Its 23,472 square miles gave it an area about one-half the size of the State of New York, and it averaged 200 miles from east to west and 150 miles north and south. While an inland county, with no sea coast, and its principal water course being the Colorado River on the east, its position between Nevada and Arizona and the Pacific Coast, with the fact that the two great overland routes to the coast converged in the San Bernardino Valley, gave it recognized commercial advantages.
THE FIRST COUNTY ELECTIONS. The first election in San Bernardino County was held in January, 1853, in accordance with the Enabling Act. At this election, at which 200 votes were cast, the following officials were placed in office: Hon. Jefferson Hunt, already a member of the General Assembly representing Los Angeles County, representative from San Bernardino County; D. M. Thomas, county judge; Robert Clift, sheriff; R. R. Hopkins, county clerk; V. J. Herring, county assessor ; William Stout, district attorney; and H. G. Sherwood, county surveyor ; John Brown and Andrew Lytle, justices of the peace who, with the county judge, constituted the court of sessions. With one or two excep- tions, these officials were re-elected at the first regular election, held in the following fall, and served, almost without change, until the withdrawal of the Mormons. It is a matter of record that they left the county entirely free from indebtedness; in fact, when they gave up their duties they left a small balance in the treasury, something out of the ordinary experi- ence of a new county. For several years the Mormon Council House served as the courthouse during the first several years of the existence of the county, which structure was doubtless the first public building erected in San Bernardino County. It was built by Messrs. Lyman and Rich, to be used as the general offices of the Mormon interests, both
SAN BERNARDINO, 1852
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religious and secular, and was a two-story adobe building, 16 by 24 feet, with one room above and one below, located at what was then the south- east corner of Third and Grafton streets. The building stood until 1867, when it was demolished to make way for a brick block. In the meantime, in 1862, the business of San Bernardino County had been transferred to the then modern residence of Charles Glaser, which was used until 1875, when a courthouse was built on the same site. The county officers for the year 1922 are as follows: County clerk, Harry L. Allison ; sheriff, W. A. Shay ; tax collector, C. D. Van Wie; treasurer, M. W. H. Williams ; recorder, Frank W. Nutter ; auditor, S. G. Berger ; assessor, A. E. Allen ; district attorney, T. W. Duckworth; coroner and public administrator, J. B. Hanna ; superintendent of schools, Grace C. Stanley ; surveyor, E. T. Ham. Superior court judges: J. W. Curtis, Rex B. Goodcell. Supervisors: C. S. Crain, C. E. Grier, G. S. Biggin, M. P. Cheney, A. G. Kendall.
THE TOWN OF SAN BERNARDINO. The townsite of the City of San Bernardino was laid out in 1853, and was a miniature Salt Lake City. being planned along Babylonian lines, being one mile square, laid out in blocks containing eight acres, with wide streets running at right angles, each one bordered by a zanja." From south to north the streets hore the names of First to Tenth, and from east to west they were: Kirtland, Camel, Grafton, Utah, Salt Lake, California, Independence, Nauvoo and Far West. In the center of the town, bounded by Fifth, Sixth, California and Salt Lake streets, was a public park, one block square. The same man who had made the original survey of Salt Lake City, H. G. Sherwood, made the survey of San Bernardino. A special act incorporating the City of San Bernardino was passed by the legis- lature, April 13, 1854, and the same body, by another special act, author- ized the city to appropriate the waters of the Twin Creeks for municipal and domestic purposes. The waters of the creeks were brought into the town in 1855, but it was soon found that the plan was not a feasible one, and several years later the project was abandoned.
The primary educational institution of the city was a tent pavilion which was located in the old Mormon Fort. while the first official report regarding schools was made in 1853, when V. J. Herring, the superintend- ent of common schools, showed that $300 had been spent for library and apparatus and $291.50 for building or renting and furnishing schoolhouse. The building used was probably rented. In November, 1855, a com- mittee consisting of the trustees of District No. 1 and the county super- intendent selected six lots for school purposes, a deed for which was made in the following year by Lyman, Rich and Hanks. Two adobe rooms, known as the Washington and Jefferson buildings, were erected on one of these lots and were occupied as school buildings until the erec- tion of the brick school structure on Fourth Street, in 1874.
Another early building of San Bernardino was the two-story adobe house erected by Amasa Lyman as a home for his family, which included five wives, each wife, with her children, having a separate apartment. The third of these wives, Priscilla Turley, was the mother of the first white child born after the colonists reached San Bernardino Valley. Lorenzo Snow Lyman. Another house built to accommodate plural wives was that of Charles C. Rich, who had three wives, the structure having been located at the corner of E and First streets.
THE FIRST INDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATION. The honor of first raising the American flag over the soil of San Bernardino County is
5 Irrigation ditch.
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claimed by Daniel Sexton, who states that while cutting timber in the San Gorgonio Pass for Colonel Williams, in 1842, in answer to a query by the Indians regarding the Americans' feast days, he made an Amer- ican flag and celebrated the Fourth of July, 1842. The first authentic celebration of Independence Day in the county occurred in 1853. when John Brown, Sr., went to Fort Tejon to secure a flag and was presented with a large bunting emblem by L. A. Bishop. On his return this was secured to a liberty pole brought from the mountains, speeches were made from a raised platform, and a twelve-pounder, brought from Los Angeles, was fired.
Prior to this time a number of "gentile" settlers had come into the valley, attracted by the fertility of the land and the apparent prosperity of the settlers. Not understanding the sincere religious convictions and zeal of the Mormons, these settlers, many of whom were of the rougher ele- ment, resented the dominance of the church over the city and its insti- tutions, and trouble began to brew. Independence Day, 1854, was cele- brated merely by the reading in the church of an address delivered the previous Fourth of July at Salt Lake City, which had appeared in the Desert News and which had been delivered at Salt Lake by an unnat- uralized Englishman. While eulogizing the founders of the republic. it stated that in later years the principles of the Government were not being lived up to, etc. This naturally intensified the ill feeling already existing. By 1856, the Independents, in opposition to the church party, decided upon a Fourth of July celebration, to be open to all, but the church party immediately announced a separate celebration. The rivalry was intense, the various moves of each organization being followed by more advanced preparations by the other faction. It seemed that trouble might occur on the big day, but as it was, a good-natured competitive spirit dominated the occasion and at the close of the day the members of each party returned to their homes well satisfied with their accom- plishments. By the following year, however, the feeling of opposition was stronger and there was little affiliation between the participants in the two affairs, the independents holding their celebration at Fort Benson.
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