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 29
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REMINISCENCE OF EARLY HISTORY.
As Doña Manuela recently returned to visit the place of her birth, we will introduce a personal notice from the San Luis Obispo Tribune of May 18, 1883.
Mr. M. C. Kettle and wife, who are stopping with the Danas in this county, bring to mind a very interesting scrap of the early history of this State. Mrs. Kettle is one of five daughters of Don Carlos Antonio Carrillo, formerly Governor of Alta California, and also a Depart- mental Delegate to the Mexican Congress. His five daughters married Americans, the respective husbands being John C. Jones, United States Consul to Hono- Inlu; Capt. Alpheus B. Thompson, commander of a Bos- ton merchantman; Thomas M. Robbins, also a merchant; Don Luis Burton, merchant, and Wm. G. Dana, of the Nipomo Rancho. The first two mentioned were married on the same day at Santa Barbara, Mrs. Kettle being then the bride of the first named in the list. On the day of the marriage the father and uncle of the brides endow- ered them with the island of Santa Rosa, a princely do- main, containing 60,000 acres of land, now the property of A. P. Moore. Mr. and Mrs. Jones removed to Boston and lived in the vicinity for many years, residing at Jamaica Plains and West Newton, in the enjoyment of a princely income. Mr. Jones dying some years since, Mrs. Jones married her present husband, M. C. Kettle, a banker of great wealth. Since then she has resided alternately in London, Paris, and Vienna, visiting most of the capitals of Europe. She has moved in the best society, and is an accomplished lady, speaking fluently several languages. After an absence of thirty-eight years she has returned to the scenes of her youth to find all her sisters, excepting Mrs. Dana, dead. The meeting be- tween the two sisters is said to have been very affecting.
It may interest our young lady readers to know that, in the long ago, Santa Barbara had the reputation of hav- ing the most lovely women in all California, and that the Señoritas Carrillo were pre-eminent for their beauty.
THE FAMILY.
Captain and Mrs. Dana were the parents of twenty-one children, of whom eight died in infancy, and one, Mrs. S. A. Pollard (Maria Josefa Dana), died in 1878. Liv- ing are Charles W., residing in the town of San Luis Obispo: William C. of Los Berros; John F., Henry C., Frank, Edward G., Fred A., Adelina E., David A., Eliseo C., and Samuel A., all on the Nipomo estate. With sev- eral marriages and children growing the family is suffi- ciently large to constitute not only a very delightful home circle, but a pleasant village, and in the valley near the old mansion, the village plot of Nipomo has been sur- veyed, and the town is growing. For the venerable and
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EARLY IMMIGRANTS.
venerated mother an elegant home of modern architect- ure has been constructed, which is a conspicuous object as the traveler passes in the rapidly flying train. The modern overtakes the lingering ones while yet they link the past, present, and future in a living chain.
AFFLICTION AND DEATH.
During many of the later years of his life Captain Dana was a great sufferer from rheumatism. The hardships and exposure to which his energy, travels, and business subjected him, told heavily in that insidious and painful affliction, for which no satisfactory cause can be given nor cure provided. After his trials at sea and his journeys in China and India, when prepared to enjoy his ease and dignity on his pleasant Nipomo, he was attacked with the disease, relieving him, and returning at intervals, but growing more painful from year to year. This so inca- pacitated him from active physical exertion that he could not take that part in the public affairs at the time of the change of flag that his energies and wishes prompted. Shortly thereafter he became entirely confined to his house, paralyzed and helpless, and so continued until his death, February 12, 1858. His remains lie buried in the Catholic cemetery of San Luis Obispo, where a handsome monument marks his grave.
WILLIAM CHARLES DANA
Is the eldest son of Capt. Wm. G. Dana and Maria Josefa Carrillo Dana, a sketch of whose biographies pre- cedes this. William C. was born at Santa Barbara, Cali- fornia, May 6, 1836, his father soon thereafter removing to the Nipomo Rancho, where he has passed the greater part of a pleasant life.
Mr. Dana was educated at Santa Ynez College and at the Benicia Institute, Benicia. Being reared upon the great rancho of his father, he grew up as a farmer and stock-raiser, which has constituted his chief business through life. But he has not always confined his energies to the rancho. In 1857, then but twenty-one years of age, he was elected to the office of County Clerk of San Luis Obispo County, that being a great compliment to one so young. Having some doubts of his qualifications, and not being as familiar with the English as the Spanish language, he appointed Mr. Peter A. Forrester his deputy, while he went to the Benicia Institute to complete his education. In 1869 he was elected County Treasurer, holding the position through the term of two years. In political life Mr. Dana has acted with the Democrats, exerting a strong influence in the party. His public offices, however, have not been solely of a political nature, as he has served five years as a School Trustee, always exerting himself in the social advancement of the people.
Mr. Dana was married, May 26, 1861, to Miss Modesto Castro, only daughter of General Castro, and like her husband a native of California. By this happy marriage there have been born eleven children of whom five are sons and six daughters. Their residence is on his farm of Los Berros, a portion of the Nipomo grant, containing 1,600 acres of valuable land, inherited from his father. A view of this very pleasant home is given in this book.
The rancho takes its name from the little stream, Los- Berros-meaning the water cresses- - which runs through the land. A few hundred yards in front of the house runs the Pacific Coast Railway, having a depot on the rancho, thus giving ready access to market, and an easy line of travel.
JOHN FRANCIS DANA
Was born in Santa Barbara June 22, 1837, his parents being William G. and Maria Josefa Carrillo Dana, whose biographies have been previously given. In 1839 the family moved upon the Nipomo Rancho, where John Francis Dana grew to manhood and has since resided- except when away at school, in his youth-occupying the position of farmer and ranchero on a large scale.
Upon the death of his father he was appointed Trustee of the estate, which trust he faithfully executed for twenty years, until the ranch was divided among the family. Mr. Dana was married December 25, 1860, in Santa Bar- bara, to Miss Frances Caroline Thompson, a native of Santa Barbara, and they have seven living and lovely children, of whom there are three daughters and four sons.
The business qualifications of John F. Dana have been shown in the successful management of the great estate through the periods of great excitement, droughts, depres- sions in business, and other changes which have wrecked so many of the great landed proprietors of California. While some of the great ranchos have been sold at rates of less than a dollar to one dollar and a half per acre, John Dana held to more than 30,000 acres of the best of the Nipomo, which would in 1883, readily command a half million dollars. Of this great property there was in 1883, about 14,000 acres planted in wheat. The Pacific Coast Railway runs through the property, the brothers donating for the purpose, a strip for the track ten miles in length and sixty feet in width, asking, and receiving in complimentary return, only the freedom of the mother to ride in the cars during her life. A depot was located on the rancho and the village plot of Nipomo laid out, with streets bearing the name of California pioneers contem- porary with the father, Captain Dana.
In the division of the estate so well preserved by John Dana, it would seem appropriate that he should have the choice of farms, but whether he did or not we do not know, but his place is one of the most pleasant possible, near the banks of a small stream and surrounded by a broad area of nearly level and exceedingly fertile land. A view of his residence is herewith published.
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HISTORY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY.
CHAPTER XIIL MILITARY GOVERNMENT.
Commodore Sloat-Commodore Stockton Governor-Colonel Fre- mont Appointed-Shubrick Commander-in-Chief- Arrival of General Kearny-Circular-Proclamation to the People of Cal- ifornia-Fremont's Great Ride-Endurance of California Horses-A Communal Government-Letter from General Kearny-Richard B. Mason Governor -- Treaty with Mexico -Discovery of Gold-First Report Taken East-Great Ex- citement in New York-Progress of the Excitement-A Vivid Picture-Effects of the Discovery-An Official Statement- Letter of Governor Mason-Mormon Diggings-The Governor Visits Coloma-At Weber's Creek-Instances of Good Luck -A Business View-Easy Fortunes-l'lacers of San Fernando -Quicksilver Minc of New Almaden-An Indian with Gold- Persifer F. Smith Governor-The First Steamships Arrive- Gen. Bennett Riley Governor-Constitutional Convention- lomographic Chart of the Convention-The Constitution- The Closing Act-Proclamation-Military Governors of Cal- ifornia.
ITH the raising of the flag at Monterey, July 7, 1846, California passed to the Government of the
United States. Com. John 1). Sloat, as Com- mander-in-Chief of the naval forces, became the Gov- ernor of the Territory, although he did not assume the title.
COMMODORE STOCKTON GOVERNOR.
On the 17th of the same month he assigned his authority to Com. Robert F. Stockton, who added the title of Governor to his rank as Commander-in Chie", etc., in a few orders and proclamations to the people.
COLONEL FREMONT APPOINTED.
On the 15th of January, 1847, after the second occu- pation of Los Angeles and the surrender of the Califor- nia forces, he appointed John C. Fremont Governor, and Col. W. H. Russell Secretary, and retired to his ships.
SHUBRICK COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.
January 22, 1847, Com. W. Bradford Shubrick arrived at Monterey in the razee Independence, and being superior in rank to Stockton, assumed the authority of Commander- in-Chief. He did not, however, assume the title of Gov- ernor, and has never been placed in history as such, but he held the balance of power.
ARRIVAL OF GENERAL KEARNY.
In the meantime Gen. Stephen W. Kearny had entered the country, with orders from the War Department at Washington, that, "should he conquer California, he should proceed to organize a civil Government therein." Stockton regarded the orders to organize a civil Govern- mentasconditional upon his conquering the country, which was accomplished without the material aid of Kearny, he having left his army in New Mexico, and, more- over, the orders were from the War Department, which he regarded as only the equal of the Navy Deparment, while Stockton, being first in the field, and in possession, felt himself entitled to the authority. An unpleasant con- flict of rank resulted. Kearny was the superior in rank, but, for the time being, was powerless in the presence of the combined forces of his rivals. He went to San
Diego, and from thence sailed to Monterey, where he ar- rived February 9th, afterwards going to San Francisco, and returning to Monterey on the 23d of the same month.
Soon thereafter, the members of Fremont's battalion returned to the north, full of indignation against their late commander, in part for their inability to get their pay for their services, and for their hardships on their march, and their being too late to participate in the capt- ure of Los Angeles, all of which they attributed to his inefficiency. Fremont was exceedingly popular among the native Californians, in consequence of his generous terms accorded them in the articles of capitulation at Cahuenga, and, calling Los Angeles the capital, was the undisputed Governor in that quarter.
Kearny appealed to Commodore Shubrick to recognize him as Governor, but this the navy officer at first declined to do, but shortly after orders arrived from Washington, addressed to Kearny as Governor, and the question was settled. On the ist of March the following joint circular was issued.
CIRCULAR.
TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN, BE IT KNOWN: That the President of the United States, desirous to give and secure to the people of California a share of the good government and happy civil organization enjoyed by the people of the United States, and to protect them at the same time from the attacks of foreign foes and from internal commotions, has invested the undersigned with separate and distinct powers, civil and military, a cor- dial co-operation in the exercise of which, it is hoped and believed, will have the happy result desired.
To the Commander-in-Chief of the naval forces the President has assigned the regulations of the import trade, the conditions on which vessels of all nations, our own as well as foreign, may be admitted into the ports of the Territory, and the establishment of all port regula- tions.
To the commanding military officer, the President has assigned the direction of the operations on land, and has invested him with administrative functions of govern- ment over the people and territory occupied by the forces of the United States.
Done at Monterey, capital of California, this first day of March, 1847. WV. BRADFORD SHUBRICK, Commander-in-Chief of the Naval Forces. S. W. KEARNY, Brigadier-General U. S. A. and Governor of California.
On the same day Kearny issued the following procla- mation as Governor of California :-
PROCLAMATION TO THE PEOPLE OF CALIFORNIA.
The President of the United States having instructed the undersigned to take charge of the civil Government of California, he enters upon his duties with an ardent desire to promote, as far as he is able, the interests of the country and the welfare of its inhabitants.
The undersigned has instructions from the President to respect and protect the religious institutions of Cali- fornia, and to see that the religious rights of the people are in the amplest manner preserved to them, the Con- stitution of the United States allowing every man to worship his Creator in 'such a manner as his own con- science may dictate to him.
The undersigned is also instructed to protect the per- sons and property of the quiet and peaceable inhabitants of the country against all or any of their enemies, whether
DAIRY RANCH OF G. BADASIE, OLD CREEK, SAN LUIS OBISPO CO. CAL.
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MILITARY GOVERNMENT.
from abroad or at home; and when he now assures the Californians that it will be his duty and pleasure to comply with those instructions, he calls upon them all to exert themselves in preserving order and tranquility, in promoting harmony and concord, and in maintaining the authority and efficiency of the law.
It is the wish and design of the United States to provide for California, with the least possible delay, a free Government, similar to those in other Territories, and the people will soon be called upon to exercise their rights as freemen, in electing their own representatives to make such laws as may be deemed best for their interest and welfare. But, until this can be done, the laws now in existence, and not in conflict with the Constitution of the United States, will be continued until changed by competent authority; and those persons who hold office will continue in the same for the present, provided they swear to support the Constitution and to faithfully per- form their duty.
The undersigned hereby absolves all the inhabitants of California from any further allegiance to the Republic of Mexico, and will consider them as citizens of the United States. Those who remain quiet and peaceable will be respected in their rights and protected in them. Should any take up arms against or oppose the Govern- ment of this Territory, or instigate others to do so, they will be considered as enemies and treated accordingly.
When Mexico forced war upon the United States, time did not permit the latter to invite the Californians, as friends, to join her standard, but compelled her to take possession of the country to prevent any European power from seizing upon it, and, in doing so, some excesses and unauthorized acts were no doubt committed by persons employed in the service of the United States, by which a few of the inhabitants have met with loss of property. Such losses will be duly investigated, and those entitled to remuneration will receive it.
California has for many years suffered greatly from domestic troubles. Civil wars have been the poison fountains which have sent forth trouble and pestilence over her beautiful land. Now those fountains are dried up, the star-spangled banner floats over California, and as long as the sun continues to shine upon her, so long will it float there, over the natives of the land as well as others who have found a home in her bosom; and under it agriculture must improve, and the arts and sciences flourish, as seed in a rich and fertile soil.
The Americans and Californians are now but one people. Let us cherish one wish, one hope, and let that be for the peace and quiet of our country. Let us, as a band of brothers, unite and emulate each other in our exertions to benefit and improve this beautiful land, and which soon must be our happy and prosperous home.
Done at Monterey, capital of California, this first day of March, A. D. 1847, and in the seventy-first year of independence of the United States.
S. W. KEARNY,
Brigadier-General U. S A. and Governor of California.
This circular and proclamation were conveyed by courier to all parts of California, and it at once became apparent to Fremont that the powers were against him, notwithstanding the acts of Stockton had been approved and he highly commended. Soon thereafter he made his celebrated ride to Monterey and back, which, as one of San Luis Obispo's prominent citizens accompanied him, we will relate.
FREMONT'S GREAT RIDE.
The following account of the celebrated ride of Colonel Fremont from Los Angeles to Monterey and back, in
company with Don Jose de Jesus Pico, of San Luis Obispo, is from Alcalde Colton's " Three Years in Cali- fornia:"-
The ride of Colonel Fremont in March, 1847, from the Ciudad de los Angeles to Monterey in Alta California, a distance of 420 miles, and back, exhibits in a strong light the iron nerve of the rider and the capacities of the California horse. The party on this occasion consisted of the Colonel, his friend Don Jesus Pico, and his servant Jacob Dodson. Each had three horses, nine in all, to take their turn under the saddle, and relieve each other every twenty miles; while the six loose horses gal- loped ahead, requiring constant vigilance and action to keep them on the path. The relays were brought under the saddle by the lasso, thrown by Don Jesus or Jacob, who, though born and raised in Washington, in his long expeditions with Colonel Fremont had become expert as a Mexican with the lasso, sure as a mountaineer with the rifle, equal to either on horse or foot, and always a lad of courage and fidelity.
The party left Los Angeles on the morning of the 22d of March, at daybreak, though the call which took the Colonel to Monterey had reached him only the evening before. Their path lay through the wild mountains of San Fernando, where the steep ridge and precipitous glen follow each other like the deep hollows and crested waves of ocean, under the driving force of the storm. It was a relief when a rough ravine opened its winding gallery on the line of their path. They reached at length the maritime defile of El Rincon, or Punto Gordo, where a mountain bluff shoulders its way to the sea, leaving for fifteen miles only a narrow line of broken coast, lashed at high tide, and in a gale, by the foaming surf. The sun was on the wave of the Pacific when they issued from the Rincon, and twilight still lingered when they reached the hospitable rancho of Don Thomas Robbins,* 120 miles from Los Angeles. The only limb in the company which seemed to complain of fatigue was the right arm of Jacob, incessantly exercised in lashing the loose horses to the track and lassoing the relays. None of the horses were shod-an iron contriv- ance unknown here, except to a few Americans. The gait through the day had been a hand-gallop, relieved at short intervals by a light trot. Here the party rested for the night, while the horses gathered their food from the young grass which spread its tender verdure on the field.
Another morning had thrown its splendors on the forest when the party waved their adieu to their hospita- ble host, and were under way. Their path lay over the spurs of the Santa Barbara Mountains, and close to that steep ridge where the California battalion, under Colonel Fremont, encountered on the 25th of December, 1846, a blinding storm, which still throws its sleet and hail through the dreams of those hardy men. Such was its overpowering force that more than a hundred of their horses dropped down under their saddles. Their bleach- ing bones, still glimmering in the gorges and hanging on the cliffs, are the ghastly memorials of its terrific violence. None but they who were of the number can tell what that battalion suffered. The object of that campaign accom- plished, and the conquest of California secured, the Colonel, with his friend and servant, was now on his brief return. Their path continued over the flukes and around the bluffs of the coast mountains, relieved at intervals by the less rugged slopes and more level lines of the cafiada. The hand-gallop and light trot of their spirited animals brought them, at set of sun, to the rancho of their friend, Captain Dana, where they supped, and then proceeding on to San Luis Obispo, reached the house of Don Jesus,
* Thomas M. Robbins, formerly Mate of the W'averley, and brother-in-law of Capt. Wm. G. Dana.
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HISTORY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY.
the Colonel's companion, at nine o'clock in the evening, 135 miles from where they broke camp in the morning!
The arrival of Colonel Fremont having got wind, the rancheros of San Luis were on an early stir, deter- mined to detain him. All crowded to his quarters with their gratulations, and the tender of a splendid enter- tainment, but his time was too pressing. Still escape was impossible till a sumptuous breakfast had been served, and popular enthusiasm had expressed its warm regard. This gratitude and esteem were the result of that humane construction of military law which had spared the forfeited lives of the leaders in the recent insurrectionary war. It was 11 o'clock in the morning before the Colonel and his attendants were in the saddle. Their tired horses had been left and eight tresh ones taken in their places, while their party had been in- creased by the addition of a California boy, in the capacity of a vaquero. Their path still lay through a wild broken country, where primeval forests frowne }, and the mountain torrent dashed the tide of its strength. At eight in the evening they reached the gloomy base of the steep range which guards the head-waters of the Salinas, or Buenaventura, seventy miles from San Luis. Here Don Jesus, who had been up the greater part of the night previous with his family and friends, proposed a few hours' rest. As the place was the favorite haunt of marauding Indians, the party for safety during their repose turned off the track, which ran nearer the coast than the usual route, and issuing through a cañada into a thick wood, rolled down in their serapes, with their saddles for their pillows, while their horses were put to grass at a short distance, with the Spanish boy in the saddle to keep watch. Sleep once commenced was too sweet to be easily given up; midnight had passed when the party were roused from their slumbers by an estampedo among their horses, and the loud calls of the watch-boy. The cause of the alarm proved not to be Indians, but gray bears, which infest this wild pass. When it was discovered that they had occasioned this midnight stampede, the first impulse was to attack them; but Don Jesus, who understood their habits and weak points, discouraged the idea, stating that "gente could scare bears," and with that gave a succession of loud halloos, at which the bears commenced their retreat. The horses by good fortune were recovered, a fire kin- dled, and by break of day the party had finished their breakfast and were again in the saddle. Their path, issuing from the gloomy forests of the Soledad, skirted the Coast Range, and crossed the plain of the Salinas to Monterey, where they arrived three hours to set of sun, and ninety miles from their last camping-tree.
Fremont was at once ordered to return to Los Angeles, send such of his battalion as remained with him to Monterey by sea, and himself to follow by land. Kearny, it appears, did not show Fremont the orders under which he was acting, and the latter, therefore, regarded him in the same light as before, a rival of Stockton and assum- ing authority, and ungracefully submitted. Colton's narrative further says :-
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