History of San Luis Obispo County, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 10

Author: Angel, Myron; Thompson & West
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Oakland, Calif. : Thompson & West
Number of Pages: 538

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The memorial consists of twenty-three pages folio, and is addressed to Don Antonio Bucarilli, Viceroy of Mexico. It is dated by Father Junipero from the College of San Fernando, in Mexico City, the 21st of May, 1773, and it seems that it was written at the special request of the Viceroy, who was an earnest friend of the Californian missions and colonists, as is further set forth in numer- ous papers still preserved in the archives of the country.

It appears from this paper, relating the principal events between 1769 and the year 1773, when Father Junipero returned to Mexico to report progress to the Govern- ment and his college, and procure additional missionaries, soldiers, and pecuniary supplies; that there were in 1773 not over forty soldiers in the following first established foundations: Santa Maria de los Angeles and San Fer- nando Villacita on the frontier in California (as the pen- insula was still denominated); and San Diego, San Ga- briel, San Luis Obispo, among the Tichos tribes, San Antonio and Carmelo, termed then the Monterey estab- lishments, for it was not until after 1790 that the Span- iards began to designate this country separately as Alta California. In consequence of the great numbers of wild Indians, Junipero modestly asked for a force of 80

soldiers and two pieces of cannon to protect the infant colonies, in place of 100 men, which had been pro- posed; and it was not until the close of the century, when the missions numbered eighteen, and the military posts, or presidios, four, that more than 200 soldiers were sta- tioned in the country extending from San Francisco to San Diego.

The first missions were all built of stakes set upright into the ground, and inclosed by a square of similar pali- sades for defense against Indian surprises. The churches and priests' houses were plastered over inside and out- side with mud and whitewashed, and it was twenty years afterwards before these establishments began to be con- structed of unadulterated adobes. All the present build- ings remaining in 1865 were erected of new materials, of stone and adobe, between 1810 and 1830, and none of them occupy the original sites of the primary founda- tions-a fact which has escaped the notice of nearly every one of the chroniclers of California affairs.

The seven missions named were presented each 38 head of cattle, by order of the King, enumerated by Junipero as 21 bulls, 9 cows, and 8 calves, and these 286 cattle were the progenitors of 300,000 head of cattle owned by the missions at the secularization in 1833, after deducting the thousands used for food and for hides and tallow in the lapse of forty-three years after 1790. Mention is made of hogs, horses, mules, goats, and sheep, but in no book or account we have seen is the number stated at their first introduction. All the animals, ex- cept some cavalry horses from the presidio of Sonora, were introduced from the defunct missions of the Jesuits in Lower California, whence also were brought all the principal grains, fruits, and vegetables which afterward succeeded so admirably, and helped to preserve the stock animals for augmentation on the overflowing past- ures of the new settlements. These pastures of the con- fines of the coast then maintained deer, elk, antelope, and mountain sheep in droves of thousands, surpassing im- mensely any portion of Mexico yet explored. For years the principal clothing of the civilized Indians and sol- diers was buckskin, or gamusso, and priests and people reveled in fat venison.

The settlements of Carmelo, San Antonio, and San Luis Obispo were easily established. The Indians were found very docile, and submitted readily to the govern- ment of the priests. San Diego was among a branch of the fierce Yumas from the Colorado, and there a mis- sionary was killed and the buildings burnt. San Gabriel, 210 miles from San Luis Obispo and 120 from San Diego, was then the only city of refuge in all that im- mense stretch of country. It was commenced in 1771. Junipero asserts this region to be the finest country he had yet seen, and with soil, climate, wood, water, and pasture capable of maintaining all the seven missions established up to the date of his memorial; and subse- quent history has proved the truthfulness of his assertion.

The padres were on the most friendly terms with the Indians of San Gabriel, who were very numerous and anxious to learn the ways of the new strangers and be- come Christians. But Capt. Peter Fages, an over- bearing Catalonian, then in command of the cavalry force, thwarted the priests in every way he could within the limits of his authority. He is to this day called by the few old King's soldiers, who knew him before his death or departure after 1795, "the old bear." They say he was notorious in social life for his tyranny over his wife, Dona Eulalia, which caused her for many years to separate from him. This high-mettled old cavalier was not rec- onciled to his lady Empress until after he had become Governor of California, and then only after much diplo- macy and the kind offices of Father De La Suen, the President of the missions subsequent to Junipero's death

HISTORY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY.

in 1784. Junipero relates in his memorial that the sol- diers he left at San Gabriel were a bad, desperate, disso- lute set, who obstructed his priests in every way, under the excuse that Fages had so instructed them, and fre- quently ill-treated the Indian women. At one time they invaded a friendly rancheria near San Gabriel, and after killing the chief, cut off his head, brought it into the padre's presence and threw it down before the young son of the murdered chief, who was then being instructed by the priests at his parents' request. This high-handed proceeding greatly troubled the pious fathers, who were horror-struck at the impious example of their desperate countrymen.

It was a repetition of the old story of the conquista- dores, of Cortez, Alvarado, and Pizarro, who had as little mercy on Indians, good or bad, as the wildest and most desperate frontiermen of the Mississippi. If the priests had not stood between these sons of lust and gold and the natives, the aborigines of California and Mexico would have gone to the sepulcher of extinct humanities centuries before the epoch of gold. But they were spared as peons; instead of being killed off, they were preserved in a little better state than African slavery.

The venerable President brings his memorial to a close by a short account of the first settlement of San Diego, when the Indians took the ships of Captain Perez, who brought the first maritime expedition and mission- aries, for whales. The day of the arrival of these vessels was the 11th of April, 1769, when an eclipse of the sun occurred in conjunction with the shock of an earth- quake, the first occurrence of the kind mentioned in Cal- ifornia annals. "So it seemed," says the Old Venerable, " that the insensible things of earth and heaven had in this way manifested themselves in the new conquests as heralds and advents to the benighted gentiles, to incline their hearts to receive the truths of the gospel, proclaimed by the ministers of the living God."

---

The founder of California, though an humble mis- sionary friar, was a man of great experience in frontier life, and a keen and sagacious observer of nature and of men. He had an excellent education for his times-had served as a missionary several years in the Indian missions of the central Mexican mountains, had once been a col- lege professor in Majorca, and his calligraphy and literary composition were of a fine order and style. His zeal, industry, and disinterestedness were extraordinary, and he is one of the brightest examples in the Roman Cath- olic history of the United States.

CHAPTER V. SECULARIZATION AND DECAY.

Hidalgo's Insurrection-Mexican . Independence - Native Civil Service Reform-A Clerical Soldier-Independence in Cali- fornia-Theory of the Missions-Government Interference- Colonists against the Missions-Pacheco and Avila Killed- Rival Governors-Arrival of Gen. José Figueroa in 1833- Decree of Secularization-Distribution of Property and Lands -Political Government of the Villages-Restrictions-General Regulations-Provisional Regulation for the Secularization of the Missions-Pious Fund-The Hijar Colony-Santa Ana's Revolution-Land Grants-Secularization Completed-Death of Governor Figueroa- The Missions of Alta California- Wealth and Population-Varying Statements.

HILE the missions were moving on in the even tenor of their way, with a happy or a depressed peo- ple, as the priests in charge were devoted to their trusts, or hard and avaricious tyrants, changes and revo- lutions were occurring in the central Government of Mexico;

but the spreading wave of these disturbances did not reach the distant outposts of California until many years afterwards.

Father Hidalgo, a priest of Mexico, on the 15th of September, 1810, at the head of a small party, arose in insurrection against the Government of Spain, and that is the day since celebrated by the Mexican people as the day of their independence, although it was not until 1822 that their independence was acknowledged. In 1824 a Republican Constitution and form of Government was adopted similar to that of the United States in its general features. In this system California was regarded as a Territory. Of this insurrection a native Californian writes :-

For three hundred years the power of Spain had domi- nated Mexico ; and during that long period no man had arisen possessed of the necessary fortitude to combat and reform the misgovernment of the European tyrants; alone, without friends, resources, or arms, depending solely on the grandeur of his enterprise, and taking advantage of the unguarded security of the oppressors, the Priest Hidalgo struck the first blow for independence, on the 15th. of September, 1810, and in a few months found himself at the head of a numerous and well disci- plined army. It was, however, his fate to die in the cause. He was taken prisoner, and ascended the scaffold-to him a throne of glory-and cheerfully surrendered his life for the regeneration of his country. The war which he had inaugurated-cruel, fratricidal, horrible-con- tinued for eleven years. The sacred blood of Hidalgo was the fertilizer which brought forward a band of heroic martyrs-Morelos, Allende, Guerrero, Bravo, Abasolo, Mina, Galeanar, Matamoras and Rayon ; all of whom offered up in a grand holocaust their lives on the sacred altar of liberty. These sanctified and completed the work begun by Hidalgo.

MEXICAN INDEPENDENCE.

The war of independence was long, and several severe battles were fought, the Spanish commander, Don Augustin de Iturbide, winning the battles of Valadolid in 1813, and Puruaran in 1814. The revolt seemed crushed out, but in 1818 Iturbide espoused the cause of Mexico, and through many changes at last declared for a Mexican Empire, and was proclaimed Emperor by the soldiers, May 18, 1822, under the title of Augustin I. By his arrogance and disregard of constitutional restric- tions he was forced to abdicate, and was banished in March, 1823, Congress allowing him a pension of $20,000 per annum in consideration of his services in 1820. He retired to Italy, but returned in 1824 to make another effort for the crown, was recognized upon landing at Soto la Marina, and was ordered by the Governor of Tamaulipas to be shot, and was executed at Padilla, July 19, 1824.

Through the long War of Revolution, and the changes of Government, California remained undisturbed and the Spanish Governors, Don Jose Joaquin de Arrillaga, Don Jose Arguillo, and Don Pablo Vicente de Sola continued in the peaceful occupation of their offices.

NATIVE CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.

The news of the execution of Iturbide set an example to the Indians of San Diego, which they followed in a

SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC LERATT

EStuce

E. W. STEELE.

THE development of the resources of California after its acquisition by the United States opened a new field for the energies of the young men of the East. The State was not subject to the slow growth, the crowding of time upon events, the doing of things as our fathers did; but young men came with inborn intelligence and native energy who at once took a stride forward to invent new appliances for works new to them, and enlarge methods in conducting those in which they had but slight expe- rience. The mines were the first attraction; then, to those who had the sagacity to forecast the future, the fertile soil and genial climate drew the attention of the agriculturist. Mr. Steele was one of those who, as a young man, made California his home and entered the agricultural list, and who by his unwavering enterprise, unbounded energy, and great success has exemplified this prelude. His name has become intimately connected with the history of agriculture in this State, several coun- ties having been the field of his operations, and all advanced by his labors and well directed enterprise. The small farms of the East were the primary schools where he received his rudimentary lessons, fitting him for the enlarged sphere which opened in the great State of the Pacific Coast, and here he has expanded with the true spirit of the Californian.

Edgar Willis Steele was born in the pleasant village of Delhi, the county seat of Delaware County, New York, March 4, 1830, being the son of Nathaniel and Damaris Steele, his mother being the daughter of Silas Johnson, Esq., of the same county. The family consisted of two daughters and seven sons, the eldest, Emily E, becoming the wife of Mr. Moore, for many years Sheriff of Dela- ware County, and now living in Delhi; Osman N., who, as Under Sheriff, was killed by riotous "anti-renters" while in discharge of his duty; Mrs. Anna Cordel'a Howe, now of Boston, Massachusetts; the late Hon. John B., an eminent lawyer of New York, and for several terms Representative in Congress; Gen. Frederick Steele, a distinguished officer of the army in the war with Mexico, and during the Rebellion, now deceased ; Isaac C., of San Mateo County ; Judge George Steele, of San Luis Obispo; E. W., the subject of this sketch, and William, who died when young. The father and mother died in 1860 and 1861, in Sonoma County, California.

In the days preceding the construction of railroads the name of N. Steele & Co. became familiar to the people of southeastern New York, being emblazoned on nearly all the gaily painted stage coaches, that were then the pride of the country, traversing that section of the State. Nathaniel Steele was the proprietor of the great line of stages from Catskill on the Hudson River, through Delhi, to Ithaca, traversing the counties of Greene, Delaware, Otsego, Chenango, Broome and Tompkins, being one of the main thoroughfares of travel connecting the metropolis with the West. He had as a "silent" part- ner an astute and cunning lawyer, who is remembered as Old Sam. Sherwood, who, being unscrupulous as well as able, finally caused the ruin of Mr. Steele. Sherwood was the agent of the granters to much of the land about Delhi, and sold a large tract to Steele, who paid him for it, and built saw-mills, and transported large quantities of lumber by rafts on the Delaware River to the Philadel- phia market. Sherwood never accounted for the money paid, and Steele was compelled to pay a second time. He besides became involved by indorsing notes for others, debts accumulated against the stage company, and in the financial revulsion of 1835 he failed in busi- ness. Then in 1836 he removed with the younger chil- dren of the family to the forests of Ohio, settling on the "Western Reserve," and there proceeded to make a new home. The location was upon a half acre of clearing, and out of the abundant timber he went to work with such tools as the pioneer possessed, to make a dwelling. In such a manner were the farms of Ohio hewn out of the woods.

There E. W. remained until thirteen years of age, when he was invited by his uncle, Dr. Ebenezer Steele, a prominent physician of Delhi, to return to his native place, receive a thorough education, and learn the pro- fession of doctor of medicine. Three elder brothers and two sisters had remained East; John B. Steele was a practicing lawyer in Otsego County, Osman Steele was Under Sheriff of Delaware County, and Frederick Steele was a cadet at the Military Academy. E. W. returned to Delhi and passed the first winter in the office of his brother Osman. He had attended school in Ohio, where, by hard study, he had become proficient in arith- metic, grammar and other elementary branches constitut-

BIOGRAPHY OF E. W. STEELE.

ing a fair education for that period at this age. When four- teen years of age he entered the office of Dr. Steele, who, as was then the custom of many country physicians, also kept a drug store, and E. W. was clerk as well as student. He nominally attended the Delhi Academy, studying in the office, attending to his duties in the drug store, and going to the academy to recite his lessons. In this time he studied Latin under the instruction of Gen- eral Root, who was for several terms Member of Congress from the Delaware District. Dr. Steele had a partner in the drug store who was a tyrannical and passionate man, with whom the young student could not abide, and after remaining in the office one and a half years he left and resided with his sister, Mrs. Moore, and attended the academy one year. There he finished his studies of algebra, geometry, and surveying, standing at the head of his class, where were a number of proficient scholars striving for the position. Then in his seventeenth year he returned to Ohio, and through the winter of 1847-48 was engaged as school teacher at a salary of $12.00 a month. When the term of teaching was over, he, with his brother George, went to Oberlin, to the college at that place, his father and mother moving to the town to board and care for the young students. He remained at the Oberlin College one year, studying, among other branches, Latin and Greek, having General Cox, after- wards Governor of Ohio, for tutor. and among his class- mates was L. N. Sheldon, now Governor of New Mexico.

When the year was past the family returned to the farm, and E. W. again engaged as school teacher through the winter, receiving a salary of $16.00 a month, which was then thought quite munificent.

Closing his school, in the spring of 1850 he took the farms of his father and his brother Isaac to work on shares, and also took a contract for clearing land. At these he worked with all his power and energy, and in the season of his lease, ending in the fall, had cleared $150. He then resumed teaching through the winter, and when spring came entered upon a new enterprise. A system of teaching geography by outline maps had been introduced, and Steele expended the greater part of his capital in the purchase of maps, and went into the southern part of the State to establish and teach the new method. He went to several places and taught evening schools, meeting with poor success, until all his means were exhausted, having but one copper cent in his purse. Then at Centerville he at last got a paying class and was making five dollars each evening, when he was taken with typhoid fever, which nearly cost him his life. Fif- teen persons boarding at the same hotel were taken sick at the same time, and all died but two. He was at last taken to his parents' home but a wreck of his former self. Upon his recovery he again found a school on the shore of Lake Erie. This was attended by young men who were employed as sailors on the lake during sum- mer and attended school during winter. The rough manners of their sailor life they brought with them to the temple of learning. Being accustomed to authority sup- ported by physical force, they thought to override the slight young teacher, and one of the bullies of the school

engaged him in pitch battle, in which the teacher came out triumphant, when all acknowledged obedience, and the school became remarkably orderly and successful.

Mr. Steele's ambition was for a high, classical, and scientific education, and his early years were a struggle under adverse circumstances to obtain the desired ob- ject. With the little means accumulated he went to Cleveland, and spent one year at the university. To assist in bearing his expenses he rented a few acres of land in the vicinity, and a room in which he could board himself, and thus, by cultivating his ground, selling the products, and by his economy he was enabled to pass the term. He also attended a singing school, and be- came so proficient that before leaving Cleveland he was chosen as leader of the choir in the Presbyterian Church. At that time the father's little farm on the Reserve was heavily encumbered with debt, and E. W. returned to it to aid in its redemption. That being accomplished the desire arose to seek a brighter home in California. Gen. Fred. Steele, then a Captain, had accompanied his old commander, General Riley, the hero of Contreras, to California, at the close of the Mexican War, and had told his brothers, in glowing terms, of the beauties and promises of the golden land, and in 1855 George and his cousin, Rensaelur E. Steele, had migrated thither, leading the way for the family.

In the middle of April, 1856, E. W. Steele, with his father and mother, and Mrs. R. E. Steele and two chil- dren, left New York on the steamer George Law for the Isthmus and California. The passage of the Isthmus was most eventful. As the great train of cars, crowded with passengers, neared Panama it was learned that a riot was in progress, and the train must return to Aspin- wall. The locomotive could not be changed and the train was backed. In crossing a deep, marshy stream the bridge gave way and several cars plunged beneath the water, with others piled a wreck upon them .. Up- wards of 200 people were drowned or killed by the acci- dent, and many more injured. The details and extent of this terrible disaster were carefully suppressed by the railroad officials. The car in which were Mr. Steele and family remained on the track and none in it were injured.

The steamer Golden Age brought them to San Fran- cisco on the day of the funeral of James King of Wm., and the passengers, in landing, witnessed the execution of Casey and Cora by the Vigilance Committee. The city was then in the possession of the Vigilance Committee, and defying the State and national authorities. But there was no occasion for the new-comers remaining, as George and R. E. Steele, who had rented a farm near Petaluma, were there to meet them and conduct them to their home.

In June, 1856, E. W. commenced his California ca- reer, beginning by taking a contract to cut and bind a field of oats at $2.50 an acre. The work was done with cradles, E. W., in one day, binding eight acres, where the yield was fifty bushels an acre. When harvesting was done he bought five cows, paying for the same $75.00 per head, and commenced making butter. Thus opened the winter of 1857, and in addition to his dairy work he leased some land for farming, and, becoming acquainted

BIOGRAPHY OF E. W. STEELE.

with the people of the neighborhood, organized a singing school, which he taught one day each week, and realized from it $40.00 a month, which seemed like showering wealth upon him. During the winter he put in eighty acres of grain and potatoes. George Steele was teach- ing school in the meantime. In the spring Isaac C. Steele joined the family, and then they purchased of Tustin & Lewis twenty-five head of cows; and extended their dairying business. Tustin & Lewis had been en- gaged in dairying, and the brand of C. T., being the ini- tials of Columbus Tustin, has been the cattle brand of Steele Bros. ever since. Prosperity had attended their work in California, and the brothers and cousin joined together for work on a larger scale. Isaac and E. W., in company with Lewis, went exploring for land suitable for dairying purposes. They visited Point Reyes, on the ocean coast, and at once Lewis ejaculated, "It is low Heaven!" They decided to locate. There appeared an abundance of rich bunch grass and clover, with many springs of cold water, and the prevalent fogs gave encour- agement of maintaining fresh feed. Some people dis- couraged the enterprise, saying the cold fogs kept the grass in such a condition that it would support only the lank Spanish cattle, and that butter-making at Point Reyes was utterly out of the question. A man named Richards claimed the land, having derived title through Dr. Randall, the supposed owner of the grant. Richards willingly leased one and a half leagues of the land, grant- ing the privilege of purchase at $3.00 an acre when he obtained a patent, or at a rental of $25.00 a month for the whole. The Steeles then took 125 head of cows of Lewis, giving half the butter or cheese made and one-sixth of the calves when weaned. They then had 155 cows, took possession of their land on the 4th of July, 1857, being the first dairy at Point Reyes, or on the coast of Marin County. Richards lost the land, and therefore the Steeles had no rent to pay for their occu- pancy. Shafter, Park, and Hydenfeldt, attorneys, be- came the owners of the land. They would not sell, but granted a lease of eight years on the terms of giving every sixth calf. The Steeles had then increased their num- ber of cows to 355, and maintained three dairies. But- ter and cheese were made, the cream being taken for the first and the buttermilk returned to the cheese vats, add- ing enough value to pay for all the hired help employed. Butter was sold readily at $1.00 a pound, and cheese at twenty-seven cents, the demand for them being greater than they could supply. The wages of dairymen and manufacturers then were the same as at present. One- half the butter and cheese from 125 cows the first year went to Lewis, who received $6,000 for same. At the end of three years the Steeles had paid for all their im- provements and had 400 head of cows of their own. In 1859 they bought 125 cows at $26.00 each, and started two dairies independent of the Lewis stock. In 1861 their cows had increased to 600 head, besides some young stock, all their improvements were paid for, and they had $10,000 cash as the result of four years' dairying.

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History of San Luis Obispo County, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 10

Author: Angel, Myron; Thompson & West Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Oakland, Calif. : Thompson & West Number of Pages: 538

Author: Angel, Myron; Thompson & West
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Oakland, Calif. : Thompson & West
Number of Pages: 538