USA > California > San Luis Obispo County > History of San Luis Obispo County and environs, California, with biographical sketches > Part 2
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Larson, Carl
742
Lauridsen, Louis
853
597
Miossi, Bernardo 973
Monighetti. Charles 970
Moore, George W. 913
387
Mora, Rafael A. 620
Morehous, Edward Sherman ... 719
Morehouse, Ambert C ... ..... 662
Morrison, Annie L. 463
Morrison, Hamilton Brown 428
Morton, Mrs. Annia Blair 719
Mosher. Carmi Ellison 567
Murphy, P. W. 76
Muscio, Abram
414
Muscio, Clement
990
V
Negranti, James Peter, Sr ... 724
Nelson, Andrew 378
Nelson, Frederick 851
Nelson, Knute Berger 763
Nelson, Ole
501
Nelson, Swan 900
Nerelli, Lorenzo 1011
Newsom, David F 235
Nichols, Stanley L. 5,25
Nicholson, Abraham Lincoln. 922
Nielsen, James Poulsen 585
Nielsen, Knud 592
Norris, John M 869
Nunez, Frank 758
Nunez, Manuel
1017
Nyberg. Charles L 840
0
Oakley, Carey C. and William C. 370
Oakley, William Calvin, Jr. 952
O'Donovan, Patrick 811
Oilar, John Lincoln 604
Olgiati, Charles 990
Ontiveros, Abdon T. 857
364
Ontiveros, Jose Dolores and Mrs. Augusta 381
Ontiveros, Juan Pacifico 364
Ontiveros, Kencho Salvador 903
Ooley, John Harris 646
Ortega. Victor
717
Osgood. Henry M. 79
P
Palla, Joseph Edward 836
Palmer, Charles W. 603
Palmer, John Joseph 806
Paolini, Luis 1019
Parnell, Ilarry 940
Paul, Alva
304
Paulding, Mrs. Clara E
127
Pearson, Charles H.
509
Pedraita, Louis G. 1018
Pedrotta. James . 700
Pentzer. W. C ..
862
Michelson, Gerge 1. mms Feltet 704
Miller, Orrin E. 635
Miller, William Alfred 773
Minetti, Thomas 1012
Lee, Joseph B. F
Leffingwell, William and Willam Ţ
Lehner. Mary Vignette
486
Leisy, Herbert E ..... 745
Lertora, James 345
Lewis, Charles Samuel
791
Lewis, Mrs. Frances E.
924
Lewis, Jesse E.
537
Lima, Frank A. and Manuel F
522
Lingo, George W.
699
Linn. Mr. and Mrs. Howard Mal- colm
651
Long. E. E.
623
Loose, August, Jr.
855
Lopez, Joseph V
1014
Lovgren, Alfred Theodore
714
Lowe, Dawson
390
Lowe, S. Jackson 542
Lucas, William T., M. D
249
Luchessa, James
978
Luis, Joseph S. 969
Lundbeck, Frank J 653
Lyman, Harry E .. 524
Lynch, Frank J., D. O. 585
M
Mc Alpin. John W 930
McCabe, Anthony F 598
McCann, Peter 784
McCulloch, John 838
McDonald, Michael 629
Mc Elligott, William 914
Mckay, Ralph E. 901
McKee, Tomas Edgar 909
Mc Kinzie, Simon IIenley 700
McMillan, Alexander 432
Mc Millan, Donald C. 481
Mc Neil. Archibald 404
Macdonald, William 9.37
Mader, Anton 656
Madonna, Paul 984
Madruga, Manuel F 1033
Madsen, Niels G. 756
Magoria. Peter F 962
Mahoney, James J ... 825
Mamo, Joseph 358
Malmberg. Rev. Anders O.
764
Mann, William Joseph
782
Maretti, Joseph C. 974
Margetts, Percy Jennings
690
Marre, Luigi
211
Martin, James G.
946
Martin, James Wightman
837
Martinez, Manuel M
996
Marzorini, John 991
Mathieson, Hans Peter
554
Matney. Jackson Rodkey 819
Mastagni, Bernardo 1 989
Meherin, Michael 1 298
Mehilschau, Andrew
595
Mehlschau, Hans 590
Melchior. Taylor S 344
Meng. Albert 826
Mever. Iskel 1. 886
500
Moore, Oliver Perry ...
Peppard. Matthew 580
Ontiveros, Abraham
INDEX-BIOGRAPHICAL
Perinoni, Frank
746
Routzahn, Lewis C. 466
Perozzi, Peter
967
Rubel, Eugene D ... 936
Perry, Robert Lucian .. 762
Rucker, James H 329
Pertusi, Filippo 1007
Rude, Amador Nevada 438
Petersen, John 5.29
Rude, Mrs. Emma Kearney 553
Petersen, Martin 875
Rude, William H.
856
Petersen, Thomas
774
Peterson, Andrew C.
601
Ruiz, Estanislao N. 1018
Rusconi, Fulgenzio C.
968
Peterson, Halver
800
Rutherford, Jesse T. 697
Ryan, John J.
822
Pezzoni, Ernest J 966
319
Pfister, Paul 752
Phelan, Jeffrey 618
Phelan, Jeffrey William
618
Phelan, Michael W.
609
Philbrick, George A
885
Phillips, C. H. 79
Pimentel, August C.
1023
Pimentel, Joseph C.
1002
Pippin, William T
884
Plympton, Robert M
633
Poletti, James
992
Satchell, Ernest A.
944
Saunders, Harry C.
942
Scaroni, John 1031
Scaroni, Leo P. 384
Schlegel, Joseph, Jr.
809
Price, John M.
52, 299
Price, William B. 498
Purkiss, Myrton M.
912
Schutte, Fred 711
Scolari, Pietro
1037
Seeber, Alonzo H
536
Senneth, John
844
Serrano, Carlos
530
Serrano, Michael
530
Shackelford, Richard M.
263
Shimmin, Marion
261
Shinners, Michael
663
Radloff, William Carl. 766
Rainey, Robert Alexander ... 670
Ranney, Willard C. 850
Records, Spencer C. 337
391
Signorelli, Lovia 1029
Reese, Jenkin
741
Reid, Robert P
870
Silacci, Paul
1016
Silacci, Peter
1021
Rembusch, Joseph A
841
Silva, Faustino J.
1009
Reynolds, Carmi W. 607
Silva, Joseph C., Jr ..
1000
Reynolds, Charles
808
Silva, Joseph F.
1027
Reynolds, Dwight
243
Silveira, Anton, Jr. 1004
997
Rhyne, Walter W
772
Simmler. J. J.
80
Rice, Marion Bell
858
Rice, William H.
388
Skinner, C. P.
866
Richina, Peter
967
Ricioli, Victor
976
Smith, Benjamin Reed
694
Righetti, Frank Egedio
1035
Robertson, Risdom W
932
Rolita, Manuel P.
963
Smith, Prof. Nelson Croxford.
907
Ronconi, Charles, Jr ..... 989
Smith, William E.
630
Root, George Francis .. 676
Smithers, Amos
566
Rosa, Jose G. 1013
Rossi, Vincent 752
1019
Souza, Catano Joseph
425
Rotta, Gerome 994
Souza, Frank C. 1001
Rougeot, Thomas H. 883
S
Salmina, Marius G. 981
Samuelson, Philip
923
Sanborn, Harry John .. 956
Sanchez, Miguel D 740
Santa Maria Free Public Library 918
Santa Maria Union High School. 907
Santa Maria Valley Railroad
938
Santos, Manuel J.
1010
Sargenti, George 999
Sarmento, Manuel
964
Pond, John H. 478
Powell, Col. William V 472
Prell, John G .. 264
Prewitt, John Calhoun 331
Schroeder, Henry F. 684
Schulze, William H 523
Quenzer, Fred
894
Quintana, Francis E ...
55
R
Sherman, Thaddeus
796
Signorelli, Alfred Isadore 1035
Signorelli, Celestino .1026
Signorelli, Frank 1036
Signorelli, Louis 1029
Records, Thomas B.
Silacci, Antone
975
Reinke, John Henry. 921
Reynolds, Ross
763
Silveira, Antonio P.
Sims, Isaac
931
Slack. J. W. 81
Smith. Clark Sherwood
692
Smith, Henry B.
541
Soares, Joseph C. 1005
Souza, Antonio J. 29.1
Rotanzi, Eligio
Ruiz, Elisco B. 1012
Peterson, Capt. Frederick J. 890
Peterson, Swan
305
Phister, Albert
Pinkert, Mrs. Magdalina. 708
Souza, Joe J. 996
INDEX-BIOGRAPHICAL
Souza, John Paul
319
Souza, Manuel J., Sr.
Upton, Roscoe E
863
V
Valley Savings Bank 937
Vanderpool, P. F. 736
Van Matre, Isaac S. 548
Vasquez, Rudolph 575
Steiner, Karl 547
532
Stevens, Thomas
Villa, Frank N.
768
Stevenson, Milton Stewart
73
Stewart, Mrs. Neal
865
Stier, Henry A
437
Still, Mrs. Lelia Penwell
W
Wahlgren, O. P 835
Waite, David 519
Walker, Judge Gordon G .... 356
Wallace, William 569
Waller, L. D 618
Warden, Horatio M., Jr 608
209
Storni, Nicola
860
Stull, Ed
Webster, Hon. Jonathan Vinton
488
Stull. Jacob B. 861
Stumpf, John 641
485
Swall, Mathias R 504
703
Sykes, Henry
T
Talbot, Giles N .. 625
Tanner, Henry
624
Tanner, James C. and Nora E 592
Taylor, Hiram 283
Taylor, John 797
Whitney, Mark H
919
Taylor, Peter 455
392
Wickenden, Fred
289
Wickenden, John R. 9.47
Wickstrom, Edward Joseph 839
Wilkinson, Cleveland J 957
Williams, Antonio 777
777
Thralls, James Constantine 833
Williams, Louis
906
Willson, Henry Sanford.
507
Tidrow, Joseph
371
Wimmer, William Dalton
887
Tobey, Stephen Henry
470
Witcosky, Frank
641
Wolf, Albert
771
Tognazzini, John
972
Wolf, Daniel
326
Tognazzini, Samuel Martin 964
Wolf, Laura White
325
Tolle, Henry Bascome 683
983
Wolf, Otto
838
Worden, Clyde
820
Worden, Guy T.
878
Tonini, Robert
995
Wright, Horace G.
306
Trigueiro, Manuel J.
1011
True, Charley
765
True, llanson W.
712
Truesdale, Isaac Newton
934
Truesdale, Willis 11.
520
Tucker, Douglas A.
827
Tuley, Jacob Thomas
648
Tuley, William llenry
Tunnell, George R. 427
Tunnell, Martin Luther 426
Twitchell, Jacob Silas
812
Zimmerman, A. August
799
Villi, Augusto 970
von Dollen, Martin E. F. 892
von Dollen, Max
755
Still, Abram A. 487
Stockdale, David Finley
238
Stokes, William C.
323
Stoltz, Randolph Joseph 863
Stombs, Mrs. S. R 959
886
Stone, Carol H
988
Stornetta, Antonio
1016
Storni, Achille
961
Warden, Mrs. Queenie
433
Weir, Frederick William
879
Weir, George 818
Weir, Henry 891
Welsh, Joseph and Joseph Clarke .. 458
Wessman, Frank A 805
Wharff, Arza A.
862
Whitaker, W. S. and Ira Ray
431
White, George .A
872
Whiteley, Thomas
443
Whitlock, Edwin S.
586
Wickenden, Albert P. 950
Terris, David, Sr.
Thaler, David 352
Thomas, Allen Lloyd .. 475
Thompson, Charlotte M. (Ashbangh)
410
Thornburg, John
346
Thralls, Arthur 792
Thurmond, Gideon Edward 564
677
Wilson, Charles
720
Tietzen, Paul O
1025
Wolf, Louis
842
Tomasini, Benjamin 985
Tomasini, Frank E.
Tonini, Michael
983
Work, John 821
Wright, John Francis 444
526
Wyss, Otto
Y
York, Walter
896
Zanetti, Maurice 1008
Zanetti, Severino 1006
Zanetti, Tilden E. 1010
U
Sonza, Maria Dorothy 425
Sparks, Isaac J. 55
Spaulding, Mrs. Mary B ....
126
'Spillman, John Calvin.
926
Spooner, Rev. A. B.
129
Spooner, Alden Bradford
287
Vear, Frank 761
Warden, Horatio Moore
214
Weeks, Lewis Drew
Sutton, Herbert Charles.
Williams, John Perari
Tognazzini, Abraham
962
Trigueiro, Manuel
893
Tuley, John B. 460
1009
834
HISTORICAL
HISTORY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY By Mrs. Annie L. Morrison
INTRODUCTION
In reply to a letter the writer sent to the now famous novelist and dramatist, Horace Annesley Vachell, the following reply was received :
Beechwood House, Bartley, Southampton, England, Oct. 29, 1916.
My dear Mrs. Morrison-
I send the little sketch you ask for with pleasure, and hope it is what you wanted. With all good wishes,
Yours sincerely, HORACE ANNESLEY VACHELL.
Mr. Vachell lived in San Luis Obispo County from 1882 until about 1894, on his Tally-Ho! ranch at Arroyo Grande, then on the ranch near San Luis Obispo, on the road to Pismo. Vachell Avenue is named for him. He married Lydie Phillips at Templeton in 1889. A son was born ; and when this child was a few years old, a daughter. Mrs. Vachell died when the daughter was about a month old, and is buried in the San Luis Obispo city cemetery. Mr. Vachell returned to England with his children.
His family is one of the oldest in England, his ancestors coming with William the Conqueror. He was born at Sydenham, Kent, October 30, 1861. In Tyson's Magna Britannica, the Vachell family is recorded as the oldest in Berkshire, and that in 1309, John Vachell was Knight of the Shire. Many noted men came from this family. They were soldiers and statesmen ranking high in England. Horace Annesley Vachell was educated at the famous Harrow School, then entered the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, gradu- ating in 1881, at the age of twenty. He wanted to enter a special regiment, but would be obliged to wait for several years; so he resigned his commis- sion and decided upon a tour of America. The rest is told in the sketch he sent. The letter was written on black-bordered paper ; for in June, 1916, his son, a member of the aviation corps of the British army, was killed- a sacrifice to the horrible war now raging in Europe. As this sketch is a sort of keynote to much that is to follow, we give it to our readers as an introduction.
MEMORIES GREEN By Horace Annesley Vachell
I remember vividly-as if it were yesterday-those delightful days in the carly "eighties" when my brothers and I lived at Tally-Ho! ranch. Some colossal vegetables, exhibited in San Francisco, lured me to San Luis 1
18
SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY AND ENVIRONS
Obispo County. That was in '82, and I came alone, not knowing a single soul in the ancient Mission town, but carrying a letter to my future father- in-law, C. H. Phillips, which I presented forthwith. He entertained me handsomely, and then passed me on to a compatriot, Major Moreton, who had bought land near Arroyo Grande. The Major was the most genial and hospitable of men, honorably known afterwards in Santa Cruz as "The Picnic King." I became his partner. At that time the vast Spanish ranchos were still in existence, and one could ride league after league without seeing that crude symbol of civilization-a barbed wire fence.
The Arroyo Grande valley was already settled up with bean-raisers and fruit-growers, all of them prosperous. The foothills were swarming with quail ; the marshes held duck and snipe innumerable; the creeks were full of trout; and clams were to be had for the digging. What a paradise for the sportsman ! And a good pony cost forty dollars! Add to this a superb climate and pleasant people. Throw into this delectable melting pot, youth, an inordinate appetite for enjoyment, and the probability of making a fortune easily. What more could be asked of the gods? Briefly, I had the time of my life, and rushed back to England to persuade others to join me. Many came. We started polo, and talked of a pack of hounds. We bought more land and planted out vineyards and orchards in blissful ignorance of horticulture and viticulture. I confess that we were reactionaries.
We liked best the old-timers, the patriarchs, the men of flocks and herds. We knew that the old order was passing, that the courteous Don had his back to the wall; but this knowledge lent a curious piquancy to our lives. We were witnesses of a great change. The "bad men," I remember, interested us enormously. A lynching of two neighbors thrilled us to the core. This was still the land of Bret Harte. I exchanged greetings with Frank James, and beheld Black Bart, who robbed stage-coaches, and pinned a copy of verse embalming his adventure to the nearest live-oak. The foothills harboured cattle and horse thieves, and half a dozen train-robbing desperadoes. We attended barbecues and rodeos, and practiced throwing the lariat. We fished and hunted all the time.
Our impressions of the people are not so easily recalled. Certainly, with rare exceptions, we remained very English. We wore breeches and boots, and rode in English saddles upon hogged-maned, bob-tailed ponies. We cherished the conviction that we should make fortunes and return to -pund them in England. The old-timers hinted at dry years, but we paid po attention to them. Land bought at five dollars an acre was sold at sixty ! We came to the conclusion that our rich friends did not know how to el of their money. I caught one millionaire digging post-holes, with the Leripoon per Slove ei hty in the shade. I asked him point-blank, why he Hold ' une mon," De replied, "why do you drive tandem?" I told him 0 01 liked mming tindom. He replied drily : "And I like digging post-
Ilive on sos ana ing characters-what we call in England, "cards." IT med To ocit Code filmy Price of Pismo, Billy Ryan, Captain Harloe Fille Thonor, T. D. Viirey , dn Tanker, the brothers Warden, Uncle Dave Super , offil a lot of salhers. Of the men I knew who had much to do why the birkstiti wu the alle such as Colonel Hollister, Frank McCoppin, Micol Propp. . foi Crieler and Senator Stanford, it is a keen regret
19
SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY AND ENVIRONS
that I did not profit by many opportunities of asking questions. In those days I considered interrogation to be "bad form." My father-in-law, C. H. Phillips, became my intimate friend and companion. He was a man of great parts and energy. Had Fortune dealt with him more generously, he would have risen to the heights. I owe much happiness to him and his. He had, essentially, the broad outlook, and a delightful vein of humour. In bad times his pluck, courage and optimism shone out supreme. No man had a deeper faith in California, nor a livelier interest in men and affairs.
To Benjamin Brooks, the editor of the Tribune, I owe much kindly criticism and advice on literary matters. He encouraged me to write at a time when I needed badly such encouragement. He taught me the art to blot. He counselled me, most sagely, to deal faithfully and sincerely with life as it is rather than life as a budding novelist would like it to be. Oddly enough, he urged me again and again to write plays, affirming that I had a sense of the theatre which he regarded as a disability in a novelist.
I hope to revisit California in the near future. I want to smell the tarweed again, and to see the brown hills scintillate into opalescent colours as the sun sinks into the Pacific. It is a dear, sweet land, different from any other I have known, a land of immeasurable spaces. It is at once intimate and panoramic, a curious combination that baffles description. It allures irre- sistibly. During the horrors of this war, I have thought of it again and again as a sanctuary of peace and plenty. Long may it flourish ! H. A. V.
No history of a county in California can be written until one has at least a speaking acquaintance with the history of the state, and that always reads like a romance. It began as that of a fabled island, peopled by a race of Amazons clothed in strange armor who engaged in continuous warfare on men and beasts alike.
The finger of Fate pointed westward in the dreams of Columbus, and his voyage of 1492 opened the way to a new world. Still the goal always lay to the west, and brave adventurous spirits followed the westward course until the blue Pacific, its islands, its seas, its trec-clad shores or battling cliffs were no longer myths but glorious realities.
Cabrillo, in 1542, was the first white man to set foot on our shores ; and he was here in our own county of San Luis Obispo visiting San Luis bay, which he called Todos Santos, or All Saints bay. Los Esteros is Morro bay, and he gave to the great conical rock towering from its placid waters the name it still bears, Morro Rock .* San Simeon bay was the Bay of Sardines, and he it was who named the Piedras Blancas on whose rocky heights now stands one of the finest lighthouses on the coast. Fifteen miles out to sea shine its beacon rays, warning ships away from the rocks. In times of storm, its booming fog-signals, coupled with the pounding surf, sound a requiem to the brave and dauntless Cabrillo. In May of 1908 the writer stood on the cliffs of San Simeon Bay and just at sunset saw the great fleet of United States war vessels sweep gallantly by on its trip around the world. The flags of "Our Own United States" waved from every great gray ironclad, strains of music floated to us on the evening air across the dimpling, sparkling waters; and from Cabrillo, in his crude vessel, to these
* Cabrillo seems' to have' spelled the word with a single "r," for on a copy of his chart the name, so appears.
20
SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY AND ENVIRONS
big battleships was a far cry indeed. Few of those who watched had ever heard that Cabrillo was there in the summer of 1542, and that is one reason why this history is being written. If every man, woman and child in the county could read it, how interesting would be the places we daily see about us.
Our county has all the beauty of seashore and mountain peaks, of deep cañons, fertile valleys and sweeping plains. Over its rolling hills the grain fields dapple in harvest time, orchards climb the gentle slopes, and cattle by thousands graze on the higher pastures or the great grazing plains of the southeast. Its mineral wealth is of great value, its beaches beyond compare and its climate that of paradise.
The Padres founded within its precincts two great missions, and its history begins with Cabrillo in 1542, goes to the founding of San Luis Obispo de Tolosa in 1772, three years before the Atlantic coast was wit- nessing the War for Independence, and steadily on to the present, which is only the beginning of what is to be. The "dark and bloody days" of the Nacimiento, the days of the stage-coach, of no coach at all, of travel by schooner and sailing vessel, over cow-trails on horseback, and at last by fast trains down the valley, over the range and beside the sea will be authentically and pleasingly told.
All the industries will be written of and all the many resources dis- cussed. The men and women, dead and living, who pioneered the way for us shall be remembered-and what a story they lived and worked out! Many of them sleep the long sleep in lonely hillside cemeteries or within sound of the lapping waves. None are left of the very early days, and only a few of the days when a vigilance committee had to hang murderers and thieves in order to make it possible for settlers to come and live in safety.
In order to understand the scenes and events described, one must know the topography of the county. All along the coast, canons and valleys, each with its own sparkling stream, open to the sea. San Carpojaro, Arroyo la Cruz, Arroyo Pinal, San Simeon, Santa Rosa, Villa creek, Cayucos creek, Old creek, Toro creek, Morro creek, Islay creek, Cañon del Diablo, Pecho creek, San Luis creek, and Arroyo Grande creek. These open canons or fertile valleys were the first sections settled. Along the coast were the great land grants which will be given a chapter by themselves. San Simeon bay, Cayucos, Morro bay, San Luis bay were, and three still are, good ports. Before wharves were built, there were "landings"-Cave landing with its robbers' caves, and Pecho landing, where goods and cattle were hoisted or lowered by derrick to the vessel below the rocks. Then comes the Santa Lucia ran c. with Cuesta Pass the main gateway to the broad Salinas valley, and the more northern pass up Old creek and over the Ascunsion or York grade. OF course there are other passes that the old-time desperadoes and cattle tiiejes knew how to use. Beyond the Salinas valley lies a region of plains, canons and my untains. The San Juan, Huer-Huero and Estrella are the principal streams. Along the southern boundary runs the Santa Maria river, a broad stretch of gel in summer and a roaring, unruly demon in winter, tossing bridges out of its way or cavorting out over the valley and inun- Joting Santa Maria for a lark.
The Huasna and .' lamo are streams that water the cattle of the southern fanges and flow into the Santa Maria. The Salinas river rises in the south-
21
SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY AND ENVIRONS
eastern portion of the county and flows northwesterly through this and Monterey counties into Monterey bay. A range of mountains forms our eastern boundary, and as a sample, Caliente mountain rises 5,095 feet into the clear dry air southeast of the Chimeneas ranch. Pine mountain, 3,600 feet, Coal peak, 3,500 feet, Cypress mountain and Black mountain are land- marks in the northwestern portion of the county. The Nacimiento river springs into life near Coal mountain and goes tumbling, splashing on its way, a home for trout and salmon, a drinking fountain for deer, and long ago for bears galore, until it joins the Salinas up in Monterey county. Such was and is the land that Cabrillo, Don Gaspar de Portola, Father Junipero Serra and his brothers traversed, and that Dana, Estrada, Price, Wilson, Branch, the Steeles, Cooks, Olmsteads, Murphys, Blackburns, Murrays, Hol- listers, C. H. Phillips and all the others pioneered and opened up to devel- opment. To tell the story of much that befell them and the results they wrought, is now the task the writer begins.
CHAPTER I The Spanish Quest for "El Dorado" How Our State Got Its Name
When Columbus sailed from Spain in 1492, under the patronage of Isabella, he was under promise to himself to seek an ocean passage to India, and to the Spanish rulers, to seek for gold. "Loot," it mattered not how gotten, just so it poured treasure into the coffers of the king. Columbus took back no gold; but the stories of the Indians, of treasure to the west- ward, were sufficient to lure the adventurers on. Pizarro ravaged the Incas in Peru, destroyed their cities, took them captive and carried home vast amounts of gold, silver and precious vessels used in the worship of their gods. In 1520, Cortez climbed to the crest of a mountain in Mexico and looked upon the peaceful blue western sea, naming it Pacific. Yet the peace of the ocean did not deter him from following in Pizarro's wake. The ruler of the land, Montezuma, and his people met the fate of the Incas, and their hoards of treasure were taken by their conquerors. It is little wonder that by this time all the new world was regarded as one vast vault of riches, and that fabulous tales were told and written. One of these writers was Ordonez de Montalvo. In 1510 he published a book, Ingas de Esplandian, telling of a magic island where Amazons ruled and griffins guarded the wealth of the land. The young grandee, Esplandian, falls in love with the Amazon queen, Califa. Many battles take place between his followers and the dragon- like griffins. Because of their ability to sail around in the air, and because Ingas remembered his Greck, he called them "ornis" and his bride "Kalli" (beautiful), from the same language. Professor George Davidson, the trans- lator, says that an "f" was inserted for euphony, and so we have the name of our glorious state, California, meaning "beautiful bird."
When Don Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, in 1542, made his voyage to our coast, he had in mind the romance of Esplandian, and when he saw the
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SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY AND ENVIRONS
islands off the southern coast, he named them "Las Californias." Soon the name was applied to the Mexican peninsula, and later "Alta California" was that part which is now our state. .
Spanish Formalities in Taking Possession of the State
It has already been related how Cabrillo explored the coast of San Luis Obispo and named bays and Morro rock. After leaving San Simeon bay, he sailed on and entered Monterey bay, which he named the Bay of Pines. The following day he took formal possession. A large cross was erected under a great oak in a pleasant ravine, mass was said and the country claimed for Spain. Father Andreas thus describes the place: "Near the shores are an infinite number of pines, straight and smooth, fit for masts of ships, like- wise oaks of a prodigious size for building ships. Here likewise are rose-trees, white-thorns, firs, willows and poplars, large clear lakes, fine pastures and arable lands." One likes to think that the great oak whose branches shade more than an acre of the grounds of Del Monte, was the oak under which mass was said by Cabrillo's priests. The description, however glowing, failed to convince Gaspar de Portola, one hundred sixty-seven years later, that he was in the bay he sought. Viscaino, in 1602, entered this bay and named it Monterey, in honor of the Viceroy of Mexico. Portola, recalling Father Andreas' description, went farther and discovered San Francisco bay ; but more of that story later.
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