USA > California > San Luis Obispo County > History of San Luis Obispo County, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 26
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In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hand and seal, this 20th day of December, 1826.
WILLIAM G. DANA, [L. s.]
Captain of schooner Waverly.
WILLIAM H. CUNNINGHAM, [L. s.]
Captain of ship Courier.
WILLIAM HENDERSON, [L. S.] Captain of brig Olive Branch. JAS. SCOTT, [L. S.]
THOS. M. ROBBINS, [L. S.]
Mate of schooner Waverly.
THOMAS SHAW, [L. S.]
Supercargo of ship Courier.
Smith was liberated and granted a passport by the General commanding and made his way to the North, as the following letter, addressed to Father Duran, will show :-
REVEREND FATHER: I understand, through the medium of one of your Christian Indians, that you are anxious to know who we are, as some of the Indians have been at the mission and informed you that there were certain white people in the country. We are Americans, on our journey to the River Columbia; we were in at the Mission San Gabriel in January last. I went to San Diego and saw the. General, and got a passport from him to pass on to that place. I have made several efforts to cross the mountains, but the snows being so deep I could not succeed in getting over. I returned to this place (it being the only point to kill meat) to wait a few weeks until the snow melts, so that I can go on: the Indians here also being friendly, I consider it the most safe point for me to remain, until such time as I can cross the mountains with my horses, having lost a great many in attempting to cross ten or fifteen days since. I am a long ways from home, and am anxious to get there as soon as the nature of the case will admit. Our situation is quite unpleasant, being destitute of clothing and most of the necessaries of life, wild meat being our principal subsistence.
I am, reverend father, your strange but real friend and Christian brother, J. S. SMITH.
May 19, 1827.
At that time Smith must have been near the Mission San Jose, as it was there that Father Duran resided.
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EARLY IMMIGRANTS.
The history of Smith's party says all but three were killed on the Colorado River, but how he had recruited another is not related. He passed through California in the summer of 1827, and when on the Umpqua, in Oregon, had another battle with the Indians, only Smith, Laughlin, and Prior, escaping.
THE FATE OF SMITH.
Many stories are told of Smith and his travels, generally apocryphal. He is said to have again traversed Cali- fornia, meeting, in his second journey, with McLeod, after whom McLeod (McCloud) River is named, in northern California. One writer asserts that Smith dis- covered gold near Mono Lake, and that he was there killed by Indians. As this last statement is incorrect the other is doubtful. Smith left St. Louis in 1831, with a company for Santa Fé, New Mexico. In his company were Isaac J. Sparks, J. J. Warner, and Wil- liam Day, all well-known Californians, whose statement removes all doubt of the old trapper's fate. While en route to Santa Fé the party was almost famished for water on the desert through which flows the Cimarrou, and Smith was separated from his command in search of the needed element. He had found a running stream and was on the point of returning to his men, when he was surprised by a band of Comanche Indians and killed.
OTHER EXPLORERS.
Erving Young, who had trapped with parties on the upper part of the Del Norte, the eastern part of the Grand and the Colorado Rivers, pursuing the route formerly traversed by Smith in the winter of 1829-30, entered the San Joaquin Valley and hunted on Tulare Lake and the a 'jacent streams. During the last part of 1832, or early in 1833, Young, having again entered the San Joaquin Valley and trapped on the streams, finally arrived at the Sacramento River, about ten miles below the mouth of the American. He followed up the Sacramento to the Feather River, and from there crossed over to the coast. The coast line was traveled till they reached the mouth of the Umpqua, where they crossed the mountains to the interior. Enter- ing the upper portion of the Sacramento Valley, they proceeded southerly till they reached the American River. They then followed down the San Joaquin Val- ley and passed out through the Tejon Pass in the winter of 1833-34. Besides these parties and leaders mentioned during this period there were several trappers or "lone traders " who explored and hunted through the valleys.
The attention of the officers of the wealthy and pow- erful Hudson Bay Company was first specially called to the extent and importance of the fur trade in California by Jedediah Smith in 1827 or 1828.º The first expedi- tion sent out by them was that under command of McLeod. A short time after the departure of this com- pany a second one was sent out under the leadership of Mr. Ogden, which followed up the Columbia and Lewis Rivers, thence southerly over western Utah, Nevada, and into the San Joaquin Valley. On their return they trapped on the streams in the Sacramento Valley, and
went out at the northern limit in 1830. About the middle of 1832 another band of trappers, under Michael Laframboise, came into the Sacramento Valley from the north, and until the next spring spent the time trapping on the streams flowing through the great valley.
THE HUDSON BAY COMPANY
Continued sending out its employés into this region until about the year 1845. Their trappers in California belonged to the "Southern Trapping Party of the Hud- son Bay Company," and were divided into smaller parties composed of Canadians and Indians, with their wives. The trapping was carried on during the winter in order to secure a good class of furs.
The free trappers were paid ten shillings sterling for a prime beaver skin, while the Indians received a moderate compensation for their services. The outfits and por- tions of their food were purchased from the company. The Hudson Bay Company employed about ninety or one hundred men in this State. The greater part of the Indians were fugitives from the missions, and were honest and peaceably inclined from the fact that it was mainly to their interest to be so. From 1832 the chief rendezvous was at French Camp, about five miles south of Stock- ton.
J. ALEXANDER FORBES.
About 1841 the company bought of Jacob P. Leese the building he had erected for a store in San Francisco, and made that their business center for this territory. The agents were J. Alex. Forbes and William G. Ray, both of whom were intelligent, dignified, and courteous gentlemen. Mr. Ray, who was very sensitive, and given slightly to dissipation, when some complaint of a trivial character was made in reference to his acts, committed suicide in 1845. His death and the scarcity of beaver and otter caused the company to wind up their agency and business in the territory.
Mr. Forbes was, for a long series of years, the British Consul at San Francisco, and by his genial manners, superior culture, and finished education, made a good record, which places him among the noted men of the State.
This gentleman, for a number of years, was a resident of Oakland, where he died of heart disease in 1881, at the advanced age of seventy-six. He was the first Eng- lish writer upon California, publishing in 1839, in Lon- don, a volume written in 1835 of careful compilations and well considered reflections, which has been the basis of subsequent histories. Mr. Forbes, in his old age, pos- sessed a wonderful memory, a great fund of information, and many valuable docum ents, with all of which he kindly and materially assisted in preparing the early history of California for this work.
DR. JOHN MARSHE.
In 1835 Dr. John Marshe, a native of New England, and a gentleman of learning, left the United States for New Mexico, thence traversing the States of Chihuahua and Sonora, crossed the Colorado River and came to California. Two years later he obtained a grant of land
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HISTORY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY.
bordering on the San Joaquin River and Suisun Bay, and there remained until his death, by assassination, in 1856. He was the first of the American settlers in the great val- ley of California. He wrote some letters to friends in the East giving an enthusiastic description of the country as far as it was known, and these, with the stories of trap- pers, incited the first party of emigrants to make the journey across the plains and mountains for the purpose of settling in California.
FIRST OVERLAND IMMIGRANTS.
These first immigrants came to California in 1841. A large number left the town of Independence, Missouri, May 8, 1841, and continued westward in company as far as Fort Hall, on the headwaters' of the Snake or Lewis Fork of the Columbia. At that point they divided into three parties, one going to Oregon, then the only United States possession on the Pacific Coast and the objective point of American emigration, and of which point very favorable accounts had been written. Another was a company of Jesuit priests going on a mission to the In- dians of Coeur d' Alene and Pen d' Oreille, Father P. J. de Smet, S. J., being the leader of the band.
The third party was destined for California, an almost unknown land, and reached by an unknown route. They were bold and resolute men, young and in the vigor of life, to whom the hardships of the desert were but pleas- ant trials of manly strength and endurance; the Indian savage, lurking like a tiger for his prey was but a chal- lenge to his courage, and the successful accomplishment of the dangerous journey a triumph in full compensation for all. They were strong in their character and man- hood, and those who remained in the country always bore a powerful influence in all its affairs and its destiny, gen- erally acquiring great wealth. Their route from Fort Hall was to Mary's River (Humboldt), thence to the Carson and to Walker River, crossing the Sierra at the head of the Stanislaus; reaching the great valley of the San Joaquin between the Stanislaus and the Tuolumne, crossing the San Joaquin and making their way to the rancho of Dr. Marshe, at the northern base of Mount Diablo, where they arrived November 4, 1841. There the company disbanded, each going his own way, a few going to the newly-established Sutter's Fort on the Rio de los Ameri- canos, now the Sacramento.
This company came with saddle and pack-animals, and therefore were not delayed in searching for wagon roads, but made their passage without serious difficulty. Of the number one was a woman, and one little child, Mrs. Nancy A. Kelsey and daughter Ann, the first of the sex from the United States to California.
NAMES OF THE COMPANY.
The following is the roll of the party, many of the names of whom will be readily recognized as men of promi- nence in the list of pioneers of the State :---
Capt. J. B. Bartelson, John Bidwell, of Chico; Josiah Belden, of San José; Charles M. Weber, of Stockton; Joseph B. Childs; Charles Hopper, of Napa; Henry Huber, of San Francisco; Michael C. Nye, founder of Marysville; Green McMahon, Nelson McMahon, Talbot
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H. Green, Ambrose Walton, John McDonel, George Henshaw, Robert Ryckman, Wm. Belty, Charles Flugge, of Los Angeles; Gwin Patton, Benjamin Kelsey, Nancy A. Kelsey his wife, and daughter Ann, the latter killed by Indians in Texas; Andrew Kelsey killed by Indians at Clear Lake, Lake County; James Littlejohn, Henry Bro- lasky, James Dawson, Major Walton, drowned in the Sac- ramento River; George Shortwell, accidentally shot on the way out; John Schwartz, Grove C. Cook, a prominent citizen of San José in early times, died in Santa Cruz in 1852; D. W. Chandler, Nicholas Dawson, Thomas Jones, Robert H. Thomes, died in Tehama County, March 26, 1878; Elias Barnett, James Peter Springer, of San José; William Wiggins, Henry Potts, and James Rock.
IMMIGRANTS IN THE SOUTH IN 1841.
These, entering California by the northern or central route, that section became the home of most of those who remained in the country. In the same year a company came into the southern portion of the State from the East via New Mexico, under the leadership of John Rowland, who died at his La Puente Rancho, near Los Angeles, October 14, 1873, aged eighty-two years.
The following is a translation of a document in Span- ish, in the archives of Los Angeles, with names corrected by the late Albert G. Toomes, of Tehama.
List of the persons who accompanied the undersigned on his arrival in the Territory of Upper California :-
William Workman and family; William Gordon and family; James D. Meade, physician; Benjamin D. Wilson, William Knight, Jacob Frankfort, tailor; William Camp- bell, naturalist; Thomas Lindsay, mineralogist; Hiram Taylor, musician; Wade Hampton, gunsmith; Isaac Givens, engineer; John McClure, James Dakes, L. Lyman, physician; Daniel Sinton, carpenter; Albert G. Tibiaux, Frederick Batchelder, cooper; Francis Bedebry, carpen- ter; Francis Gwinn, blacksmith; Michael White, Juan Manuel Bara and family, Lorenzo Truxillo and family, Ygnacio Salazar, and servants; John Reed, Albert G. Toomes, carpenter; William Moon, carpenter.
Each one with his fire-arm, which is needed for defense on the journey.
Those with families have come with the intention of se tling in this department, and those who have trades in pursuit of employment, and some of the others to see and examine this department, with a view of settling now or of returning after they go back to their country.
JOHN ROWLAND.
COPY .- Office of the First Justice of the Peace, Los Angeles, February 28, 1842.
MAN'L DOMINGUEZ.
Benjamin D. Wilson is better known as Don Benito D. Wilson. Thomas Lindsay settled on the present site of Stockton in 1844, and was killed by Indians in 1845.
THE SPANISH TRAIL.
The route of travel between Santa Fé, the capital of New Mexico, and California was by the road known as " The old Spanish Trail," which led through southern Utah, and into California by the Cajon Pass, near San Bernardino. This route is still marked by the Spanish names many of the localities bear, as Las Vegas, Rio Virgen, Santa Clara, and others. Over this was an
PULLICH
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RANCH & RESIDENCE OF CHARLES FINK, ARROYO GRANDE, SAN LUIS OBISPO CO. CAL.
STOCK RANCH & RESIDENCE OF J. H. BLACKBURN, PASO ROBLES, SAN LUIS OBISPO CO. CAL.
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EARLY IMMIGRANTS.
annual grand caravan, the emigrants, traders, travelers, and visitors accompanying each other in large numbers for the purpose of protection against the Indians, who murdered such as they could, and levied tribute when they pretended to be at peace. This trail was located on the maps of ante-gold-mining times, and is mentioned by Fremont and other travelers. From Utah to San Bernardino it was the great road traveled by the Mormons between their settlements, and continues in use at the present time.
PIONEER OVERLANDERS.
Mr. Albert G. Toomes, late a resident of Elder Creek, Tehama County, made the following statement in 1868, his old partner being Mr. Robert H. Thomes, of Thomes Creek, in the same county :--
I sat down with my old partner, a few days ago, and got to talking of old times in California, and all that sort of thing. It occurred to us to make a list of our early companions in the hard journey we made from Inde- pendence a long twenty-five years ago, and our hairs are getting gray, and we only remember those blessed old bailes and meriandas of gay Monterey. I claim that we were the first regular emigrants who ever started from the States to California, and those who arrived in the country before us dropped in by mere chance, as old trappers, whalemen, and sailors from the Island and Boston ships. Our party was divided into two companies, who left Independence on the 6th of May, 1841, and got. into California on the Ioth of November of the same year. The first company was headed by Robert H. Thomes, who crossed over by the way of Salt Lake; and the second was headed by William Workman, who went by the way of Santa Fé and the middle route to Los Angeles; and both got into the country at nearly the same time. We were all armed with rifles and mounted on horseback, and had literally to smell our way every day of that long, hard journey of 176 days; but we arrived all safe and hearty, and nearly every one of the immigrants mentioned have either died in the State or still reside here. But I never want to cross those hard deserts and big mountains again, except on the railroad, and you bet I shall run over to old Pike on the 4th of July, 1870, car, or mayhap on those of 1869, as I hate salt-water sailing. I have men- tioned in subjoined lists those of many "foreigners," then so-called, who lived in California before my time, but several have escaped me, as I have never seen a proper list of names of the first immigrants. You know when Thomes and self first got the ranchos up here from Micheltorena and Jimeno, the place was out of the world, and league farms to be had for asking, but it is quite different now. The Indians, once so numerous, are all gone, and the rail cars will soon rush by our doors, and land is worth $20 per acre. The house we built in Monterey for Governor Jimeno, in 1845, was one of the best jobs we ever did in our lives, for the old gentleman not only paid us well, but got us our farms without any of the trouble others had. We suffered great hardships on our way out, and got into very tight pinches for food and water, but we made up for it when we got among the fat beef and venison of California. When I arrived on the coast, in different parts of the country were the follow- ing old Americans and foreign settlers:
In Los Angeles, John Temple, Abel Stearns, Wm. Carpenter, Richard Locklin, Mr. Vingnes, Wm. Wolfskill, John J. Warner, Mr. Williams, Seward and Sam, two American colored men, and really it was a good thing to see a darkey once more, as in old Missouri.
At Monterey, Thomas O. Larkin, David Spence, John
B. R. Cooper, James Watson, Wm. E. Hartnell, George Kinloch and wife, George Allen, James Stokes, W'm. Watts, E. Romio, from Germany, William Foxon, Mr. McVickers, William E. Garney, James Meadows, and James McKinlay.
At Santa Cruz, Isaac Graham, H. Nail, Job F. Dye, William Chard, Jacob Majors, Peter Lassen, John Sin- clair, Mr. Dickey, and several others I have now forgotten.
At Yerba Buena, or San Francisco, Mr. Ray and wife, of the Hudson Bay Company; Hinkcley & Spear, mer- chants; Teal & Titcomb, merchants; Sherrebeck & Vioget, of the hotel; W'm. H. Davis, and Daniel Sill Davis, black- smith; Andrews, carpenter; Robert Ridley, John Cop- pinger, Eliab Gaimes, and Mr. Johnson.
At Santa Barbara, Daniel E. Hill, Lewis T. Burton, Ziba F. Branch, Isaac J. Sparks, A. B. Thompson, Thomas M. Robins, Nicholas A. Den, and Alfred Rob- inson.
At San Diego, William Snooks.
At Sonoma and the bay, Jacob P. Leese, Victor Prudhomme, and George C. Yount, of Napa.
W. D. M. Howard and Joseph P. Thompson, of San Francisco, I believe, were after my arrival one or two years. Besides these were W. A. Richardson, of San- celito, John Gilroy and David Littlejohn, who had lived in the country many years, and our well-known old friend, John A. Sutter.
In the above list by Mr. Toomes, San Luis Obispo is for- gotten. At that date there were resident here, besides the names mentioned as belonging to other localities, Capt. Wm. G. Dana, John M. Price, John Wilson, Wm. Sten- ner, Michael Doughig, and perhaps others of foreign birth.
FREMONT IN 1844.
During the months of January and February, 1844, John C. Fremont, then Brevet-Captain of Topographical Engineers, on his return from his first exploring expedi- tion to Oregon, passed down the east side of the Sierra, and crossed the snow-covered summit to New Helvetia (Sacramento), suffering many privations and hardships. His experiences are so clearly related in his report to the Chief of Engineers that the portion relating to this stage of his journey is here given to show the character of the mountains, the nature of the inhabitants, and the scar- city of knowledge of the Sierra.
SEEKING THE SAN BUENAVENTURA RIVER.
Passing by the account of his journey southward from The Dalles, we take up his narrative on the evening of January 31, 1844, upon reaching the headwaters of the Carson River. He had discovered and named Pyramid Lake and Salmon Trout River-afterwards called Truckee-and had crossed the Carson River where Fort Churchill stands, and there, finding his ani- mals unfit to go eastward across the Rocky Mountains, decided to go to California. He therefore continued south in search of the Buenaventura River, which, on the maps of that day, led from the Rocky Mountains to the bay of San Francisco. He went up Walker River until he got entangled in the mountains.
WANDERING IN THE MOUNTAINS.
In the course of the afternoon, one of the men had his foot frost-bitten, and about dark we had the satisfaction of
13
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HISTORY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY.
reaching the bottom of a stream timbered with large trees, among which we found a sheltered camp, with an abundance of such grass as the season afforded, for our animals. We saw before us, in descending from the pass, a great, continuous range, along which stretched the val- ley of the river, the lower parts steep and dark with pines, while above it was hidden in clouds of snow.
This, we felt satisfied, was the central ridge of the Sierra Nevada, the great California mountain, which now only intervened between us and the waters of the bay. We had made a forced march of twenty-six miles, and three mules had given out on the road. Up to this point, with the exception of two stolen by Indians, we had lost none of the horses which had been brought from the Columbia River, and a number of these were still strong, and in tolerably good order.
We had now sixty-seven animals in the band. (The party consisted of twenty-five persons.)
CONSULTATION WITH THE INDIANS.
We gathered together a few of the more intelligent of the Indians, and held this evening an interesting council. I explained to them my inten- tions. I told them that we had come from a very far country, having been traveling now nearly a year, and that we were desirous simply to go across the mountain into the country of the other whites.
There were two who appeared particularly intelligent, one a somewhat old man. He told me that, before the snows fell, it was six sleeps to the place where the whites lived, but that now it was impossible to cross the mount- ain on account of the deep snow; and showing us, as the others had done, that it was over our heads, he urged us strongly to follow the course of the river, which he said would conduct us to a lake, in which there were many large fish. There, he said, were many people, there was no snow on the ground, and we might remain there until the spring. From their descriptions we were enabled to judge that we were encamped on the upper water of the Salmon Trout River .* It is hardly necessary to say that our communication was only by signs, as we understood nothing of their language; but they spoke, notwithstand- ing, rapidly and vehemently, explaining what they con- sidered the folly of our intentions, and urging us to go down to the lake, tah-ve, a word signifying much snow, we very soon learned to know, from its frequent repeti- tion. (Tah-te means much snow, tah-oe much water.)
I told him that the men and horses were strong, and that we would break a road through the snow; and spreading before him our bales of scarlet cloth and trinkets, showed him what we would give for a guide. It was necessary to obtain one, if possible, for I had determined here to attempt the passage of the mountain.
Pulling a bunch of grass from the ground, after a short discussion among themselves, the old man made us com- prehend that if we could break through the snow, at the end of three days we would come down upon grass, which he showed us would be about six inches high, and where the ground would be entirely free. So far, he said, he had been hunting for elk, but beyond that (and he closed his eyes) he had seen nothing; but there was one among them who had been to the whites; and, going out of the lodge, he returned with a young man of very intelligent appearance. Here, said he, is a young man who has seen the whites with his own eyes; and he first swore by the sky and then by the ground that what he said was true.
With a large present of goods we prevailed upon this young man to be our guide, and he acquired among us
the name Melo, a word signifying friend, which they used very frequently. He was thinly clad and nearly bare- footed, his moccasins being about worn out. We gave him skins to make a new pair, to enable him to perform his undertaking to us. The Indians remained in the camp during the night, and we kept the guide and two others to sleep in the lodge with us, Carson (Kit Carson) lying across the door, having made them acquainted with the use of our fire-arms.
The snow, which had intermitted in the evening, com- menced falling again in the course of the night, and it snowed steadily all day. In the morning I acquainted the men with my decision, and explained to them that necessity required us to make a great effort to clear the mountains. I reminded them of the beautiful valley of the Sacramento, with which they were familiar from the descriptions of Carson, who had been there some fifteen years ago, and who, in our late privations, had delighted us in speaking of its rich pastures and abounding game, and drew a vivid contrast between the summer climate, less than a hundred miles distant, and the falling snow around us.
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