USA > California > San Mateo County > History of San Mateo County, California, including its geography, topography, geology, climatography, and description, together with an historical sketch of California; a record of the Mexican grants; the early history and settlement, compiled from the most authentic sources; some of the names of Spanish and American pioneers; legislative history; a record of its cities and towns; biographical sketches of representative men; etc., etc > Part 10
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" It was thus the poor scamps escaped. They pulled clear of the ship and thus escaped supping on grape and canister which we had prepared for them.
"'Fremont arrived and encamped opposite my vessel, the bark, 'Moscow,' the following night. They were early astir the next morning when I land «l to visit Captain Fremont, and were all variously employed in taking care of their horses, mending saddles, cleaning their arms, etc. I had not up to this time seen Fremont, but from reports of his character and exploits my imag- ination had painted him as a large sized, martial looking man or personage, towering above his companions, whiskered and ferocious looking.
" I took a survey of the party, but could not discovery any one who looked, as I thought the captain to look. Seeing a tall, lank, Kentucky-looking chap (Doctor R. Semple), dressed in a greasy deer-skin hunting shirt, with trowsers to match, and which terminated just below the knees, his head sur- mounted by a coon-skin cap, tail in front, who, I supposed, was an officer, as he was given orders to the men. I approached and asked him if the captain was in camp. He looked and pointed out a slender-made, well-proportioned man sitting in front of a tent. His dress was a blue woolen shirt of some- what novel style, open at the neck, trimmed with white, and with a star on each point of the collar (a man-of-war's man's shirt), over this a deer-skin hunting shirt, trimmed and fringed, which had evidently seen hard times or service, his head unencumbered by hat or cap, but had a light cotton hand- kerchief bound around it, and deer-skin moccasins completed the suit, which if not fashionable for Broadway, or for a presentation dress at court, struck
85
THE BEAR FLAG WAR.
me as being an excellent rig to scud under or fight in. A few minutes' con- versation convinced me that I stood in the presence of the King of the Rocky Mountains."
Captain Fremont and his men remained at Saucelito until July 2d, when they left for Sonoma, and there prepared for a more perfect organization, their plan being to keep the Californians to the southern part of the State until the immigrants then on their way had time to cross the Sierra Nevada into Cal- ifornia. On the 4th the National Holiday was celebrated with due pomp; while on the 5th, the California Battalion of Mounted Riflemen, two hundred and fifty strong, was organized. Brevet-Captain John C. Fremont, Second Lieutenant of Topographical Engineers, was chosen Commandant; First Lieutenant of Marines, Archibald H. Gillespie, Adjutant and Inspector, with the rank of Captain. Says Fremont :-
"In concert and in co-operation with the American settlers, and in the brief space of thirty days, all was accomplished north of the Bay of San Francisco, and independence declared on the 5th of July. This was done at Sonoma where the American settlers had assembled. I was called by iny position and by the general voice to the chief direction of affairs, and on the 6th of July, at the head of the mounted riflemen, set out to find Castro.
" We had to make the circuit of the head of the bay. crossing the Sacra- mento river (at Knight's Landing). On the 10th of July, when within ten miles of Sutter's Fort, we received (by the hands of William Scott) the joyful intelligence that Commodore John Drake Sloat was at Monterey and had taken it on the 7th of July, and that war existed between the United States and Mexico. Instantly we pull down the flag of Independence (Bear Flag) and ran up that of the United States amid general rejoicing and a national salute of twenty-one guns on the morning of the 11th, from Sutter's Fort, from a brass four-pounder called "Sutter."
We find that at two o'clock on the morning of July 9th, Lieutenant Joseph Warren Revere, of the " Portsmouth," left that ship in one of her boats, and reaching the garrison at Sonoma, did at noon of that day haul down the Bear Flag and raise in its place the stars and stripes; and at the same time forwarded one to Sutter's Fort by the hands of William Scott, and another to Captain Stephen Smith at Bodega. Thus ended what was called the Bear Flag War.
The following is the Mexican account of the Bear Flag war :-
"About a year before the commencement of the war a band of adventurers, proceeding from the United States, and scattering over the vast territory of California, awaited only the signal of their Government to take the first step
NOTE .- We find that it is still a moot question as to who actually brought the first news of the war to Fremont. The honor is claimed by Harry Bee and John Daubenbiss, who are stated to have gone by Livermore and there met the gallant colonel; but the above quoted observa- tions purport to be Colonel Fremont's own.
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HISTORICAL, SKETCH OF CALIFORNIA.
in the contest for usurpation. Various acts committed by these adventurers in violation of the laws of the country indicated their intentions. But unfor- tunately the authorities then existing, divided among themselves, neither desired nor knew how to arrest the tempest. In the month of July, 1846, Captain Fremont, an engineer of the U. S. A., entered the Mexican territory with a few mounted riflemen under the pretext of a scientific commission, and solicited and obtained from the Commandant-General, D. José Castro, per- mission to traverse the country. Three months afterwards, on the 19th of May (June 14th), that same force and their commander took possession by armed force, and surprised the important town of Sonoma, seizing all the artillery, ammunition, armaments, etc., which it contained.
"The adventurers scattered along the Sacramento river, amounting to about four hundred, one hundred and sixty men having joined their force. They proclaimed for themselves and on their own authority the independence of California, raising a rose-colored flag with a bear and a star. The result of this scandalous proceeding was the plundering of the property of some Mexi- cans and the assassination of others-three men shot as spies by Fremont, who, faithful to their duty to the country, wished to make resistance. The Commandant-General demanded explanations on the subject of the Comman- der of an American ship-of-war, the "Portsmouth," anchored in the Bay of San Francisco; and although it was positively known that munitions of war, arms and clothing were sent on shore to the adventurers, the Commander, J. B. Montgomery, replied that "neither the Government of the United States nor the subalterns had any part in the insurrection, and that the Mexican 'authorities ought, therefore, to punish its authors in conformity with the laws.'"
Aby MOHL
HISTORY
OF
SAN MATEO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOGRAPHY-CLIMATE-SCENERY-STREAMS-ROADS AND GEOLOGY.
SAN MATEO COUNTY is bounded on the north by San Francisco; east by the bay and Santa Clara; south by Santa Cruz, and west by the ocean. The county comprises a peninsula, having the Pacific Ocean upon the west and the Bay of San Francisco upon the east. Following the sinuosities of the shore lines upon the ocean and the bay, the county has a frontage upon navigable waters of about ninety miles. Upon the bay side are numerous navigable estuaries or sloughs traversing the salt marsh, which are of great commercial value for shipping purposes.
It is six miles in width on the northern boundary line, with a very irregular southern and eastern boundary line separating it from Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties of about sixty-five miles. Its greatest width is twenty-four miles, and the superficial area contained within its limits comprises 292,320 acres. The original area of the county was much less than the above, but in March, 1868, was passed " An Act to fix and define the boundary line between the counties of San Mateo and Santa Cruz," by the provisions of which San Mateo acquired about 90,000 acres formerly belonging to Santa Cruz, includ- ing Pescadero and Pigeon Point.
Much the larger portion of the county is mountainous and broken; the principal exceptions being on the bay front, where a highly fertile and beautiful valley of varying width extends along nearly the entire eastern side of the county, and on the ocean front in the vicinity of Half Moon Bay.
A range of mountains known as the Santa Moreno extends the entire length of the county, and attain their greatest elevation at a point back of Searsville, where the altitude is about 2, 500 feet. Running parallel with these mountains and inside of a range of foot-hills to the east, is the most extensive of the inte- rior valleys, viz. : the Cañada Raymundo.
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HISTORY OF SAN MATEO COUNTY.
Smaller valleys are numerous throughout the range, and owing to their productiveness are cultivated with profit. In the southern portion of the county the mountains were formerly covered with a dense forest of redwood timber, and on the western slope large tracts in their virgin state still remain. Following the range to the northward the elevation decreases, and the hills are covered with manzanita chapparal. Owing to climatic influences the hills, where cultivation is impossible, wear a perrennial green, thus rendering. the grazing of stock profitable where agriculture is impracticable.
CLIMATE. - The climate is quite as varied and diversified as the surface. . It has been truly said that in California one may find every variety of climate ; from frigid to torrid, from Sahara's dryness to perpetual humidity. This as- sertion is well illustrated in San Mateo county, except that the extremes are not so great as above expressed. In the northern portion it bears some resem- blance to San Francisco's fogs and cold winds. In the central and southern parts the winds diminish and the climate becomes mild and delightful. On the ocean side the fogs roll in from the Pacific, and keep vegetation green the greater part of the year. But the climate of the whole is characterized by an equability of temperature that renders it as healthful and enjoyable as that of any part of the State.
This equability of temperature is attributable to the ocean current flowing from the Gulf of Japan and setting against our coast, with an average tempera- ture of 53°. The variety of climate in this county is not caused so much by the difference of degrees as by prevailing winds and fogs.
The rainfall of the coast side of the county exceeds that of the bay side, but a greater range of temperature is observable on the eastern than on the western slope of the mountains.
At Pigeon Point, in 1877, rain commenced falling in October and continued until the following June.
The total rainfall for the season at that place was 3624 inches, an amount considerably above the yearly average.
At San Mateo the average rain-fall from November, 1877, to June, 1878, was 28,97 inches.
SCENERY .- The scenery of San Mateo county is the most beautiful and varied of any county in the State. Here can be found the fertile valley west of the bay, extending to the foot-hills, dotted with the live and drooping oaks, in contrast with the many fields of grain. Still further towards the summit are the redwood forests and the mountain oaks; and now the western slope of the mountains, covered with chaparral, are fast disappearing before the plow and reaper.
The ocean now comes into view. The marine views, in contrast with the redwood forests and lower hills, form some of the best scenery to be found.
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TOPOGRAPHY, GEOGRAPHY, CLIMATE, ETC.
Aside from the many beautiful and varied scenes of mountain, hill, plain, ocean and bay that abound in this county, there is one almost unknown secluded gem, of rare beauty and picturesque form, and also a geological curiosity. Situated three miles south and west of the Summit Springs House, on the side of a cañon known as the head of Deer Gulch, nearly 2,300 feet above sea level, there stand two enormous sand rocks, like lone sentinels of the forest. They are covered with nature's hieroglyphics, consisting of several large alcoves and arches winding through and down among boulder-like forma- tions, studded with columns of curious designs. Along the sides of the rocks is a perforated mass of different sizes and depths, from one inch to over a foot, no two alike, all varying in form; some resembling the shape of a diamond, the square, the ellipse, the egg, and numerous other irregular shapes. Among these perforations may be seen several column-shaped formations, free from perforations, and resembling somewhat the masonry of man. The oak, the pine, the redwood and madrone cling to the sides and top of these rocks.
Many have gazed in wonder upon the granite walls of the Yosemite Valley, but with all of its varied scenery and massive combination of rock, tree and waterfall, none will surpass this little gem in beauty at our own doors.
STREAMS .- Few counties of the State have a better water supply than San Mateo. Commencing at the southern extremity on the bay side is the San Francisquito Creek, which for a long distance is the dividing line between this and Santa Clara County, and one of the most important in the county. Northward from this are streams of considerable volume in the rainy season, but dry in summer, until the San Mateo Creek is reached, which flows through the town of San Mateo, and constitutes the second in size on the bay side of the county.
On the western slope of the mountains, and emptying into the ocean, are the Pillarcitos, Purissima, Lobitas, Tunitas, San Gregorio, Pomponio, Pesca- dero, Butano, and the Gazos. In the interior are numerous smaller streams which, in the northern half of the county, are owned by the Spring Valley Water Company, and afford the water supply of the metropolis. This com- pany control the water-shed of thirty-nine square miles, which supplies three reservoirs, namely : the Pillarcitos, the San Andreas, and the Crystal Springs. These three reservoirs together have a storage capacity of about fifteen billion gallons. The elevation of the first above tide is six hundred and ninety-six feet; the second four hundred and fifty-three feet; the third three hundred and five feet. These waters are conducted by means of two thirty-inch plate- iron pipes to receiving reservoirs in the city of San Francisco, and extensive as the works now are, the company are projecting vastly increased storage facilities in the mountains.
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HISTORY OF SAN MATEO COUNTY.
ROADS .- With a mountain range dividing the most thickly settled portions of the county for its entire length, it is evident that the question of roads early engrossed the attention of the inhabitants. Such was the case, and it is safe to say that no subject in the county has received more attention at the hands of the Board of Supervisors and of the Legislature than the public highways. In the local politics, too, the soundness of a candidate on any road measures that were being agitated has been regarded as of more import- ance than his fidelity to any of the great political parties.
Owing to the character of the business that first drew settlers to this county, good roads were indispensable. At the same time, owing to the broken sur- face of the country, roads were difficult to make, and with much trouble and expense kept in repair. With the heavy teaming between the redwoods and the valleys during the dry season, the roads were ground to dust, and in winter the mountain streams, swollen by heavy rains, played sad havoc with them.
What the Board of Supervisors of San Francisco county did in the matter of highways we are not able to state. It is certain, however, that much was not done, and this was one of the principal reasons for the people desiring a separate county organization.
When San Mateo was erected into a county, the principal thoroughfare through the valley between San Francisco and San José was not even located, and one of the first acts of the board of the new county was in reference to the location of this road.
From that time to the present, scarcely a regular meeting of the board has been held that some action has not been taken in the matter of roads, until, considering the topography of the country, no county can boast of better.
There are three toll roads in the county : one leading from San Francisco, by way of the bay shore, and striking the main county road at San Bruno ; one leading from San Mateo up the San Andreas Valley and crossing the mountains to Spanishtown; the third being the Summit Springs turnpike, leading from Woodside into the mountains.
There is but one line of railroad-the Southern Pacific-operated in the county. This was constructed in 1852-3, and the county extended its aid by subscribing for $100,000 of the capital stock. Prior to the session of the Legislature of 1880, and while the county boundaries included Dumbarton Point, San Mateo county embraced something over a mile of the South Pacific Coast, or Narrow Gauge Railroad, but Assemblyman Ames procured the passage of an act making the center of the channel the dividing line between this and Alameda county.
In 1850, although for a portion of the year the route was almost impassable, two lines of stages were run between San Francisco and San José, one by
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ROADS, GEOLOGY, ETC.
Ackerly & Morrison, and the other by John W. Whistman. The fare at that time, according to the orthodox financial expression of the day, was " two ounces," or thirty-two dollars.
GEOLOGY OF SAN MATEO COUNTY .- " As the coast ranges in the vicinity of the Bay of San Francisco have been more carefully studied by the survey than any other portion of the State, and especially more so than the continuations of the same ranges north and south, it will be proper to take up the description of this region first, since its geological structure can be made out in a more detailed manner than that of other districts where of necessity less labor has been expended.
Two difficulties beset us constantly in the study of the coast ranges; one is the similarity in lithological character of rocks of different geological ages; the other, the comparative paucity of fossils by which the different sets of strata might be identified and traced over the wide extent of territory they occupy, where lithological characters were insufficient for this purpose. It may also be noticed that the prevalence of metamorphic or chemical changes in the rocks has often obliterated all the evidences of stratification, while the thorough mechanical crushing which the beds have undergone over many extensive districts, has often rendered the deciphering of their stratigraphical position a task of extreme difficulty. In consequence of these conditions, while our general conclusions may be fairly accepted as making a reasonable approach to correctness, and as furnishing a sound basis for future explorations, we cannot avoid great deficiencies in the details, which only the patient labor of many years on the part of future students in this region will be able to supply."
Having gone over the geology of Monte Diablo Range as completely as our observations permit us to do, it will be convenient next to take up the region on the west side of the Bay of San Francisco and the Santa Clara Valley.
In doing this we shall start at the north end of the Bay of Monterey, and trace the formation along the coast from the southeast to the northwest, thus following a geographical order, and necessarily a somewhat artificial one, as it is impossible to avoid doing at the present stage of our work.
As on the east side of the bay, so on the peninsula bordering its western shore and separating it from the Pacific Ocean, the hills and mountainous portions of the surface predominate greatly over the plains. Mountains cover the whole region north of the Bay of Monterey, with the exception of a strip along the Bay of San Francisco, which widens out as we go south, commencing at Point San Bruno, and which joins with the Valley of Santa Clara or San José at the southern extremity of the bay.
Along the Pacific Coast the mountains come close down to the ocean, or, at least, are separated from it only by a narrow strip of table-land. Portions of
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HISTORY OF SAN MATEO COUNTY,
this mountain region, with the very narrow valleys which it includes, and especially the lands along the base of the hills on the bay side, are among the most delightful and desirable sights in California, both on account of soil and climate, and, it may be added, for picturesque beauty of situation. San Francisco, the metropolis of the Pacific Coast, comprising fully one-quarter of the population of the State, and a much larger proportion of its wealth, stretches her arm down the peninsula, and the numerous fine country-seats along the foot-hills, far beyond San Mateo, tell of the prosperity of the commercial capital.
What has been said of the geology of the Contra Costa hills will in a considerable degree apply to the ranges on the west side of the bay. There are on this side as well as that, a number of parallel ranges, which extend for a certain distance and then come together into great masses of mountains, in which no definite trend of the subordinate parts can be traced. For these ranges there are no particular designations in general use, and it is very difficult to give them satisfactory and appropriate names. Beginning at the north, however, we find the name " San Bruno Mountains" given to the short range which extends in a direction diagonal to the peninsula, from Sierra Point nearly across to the Pacific, being separated by a low divide from the group of hills on the San Miguel Ranch, to which the name of " San Miguel Hills" may be given. The ranges extending through San Mateo county and their continuations through Santa Cruz, may conveniently be designated by the names of the counties through which they pass, since there is no general well-known name for them.
In these hills and mountains of the peninsula we have in many respects the counterpart of those on the opposite side of the bay. They belong to the same tertiary and cretaceous systems, and exhibit the same general lithological characters, yet with many local peculiarities. Fossils are much less abundant in these ranges than in those on the Monte Diablo side, and the geology is rendered more complicated by the intrusive granite rocks, which appear in several places on the peninsula.
The entire system of elevations between the Bay of Monterey and the Golden Gate is sometimes included under one name, and called the Santa Cruz Range, which is, however, properly the term for the southern and middle portion of the hills in question, or those included in Santa Cruz County. Here, in fact, are the highest mountains and broadest belt of elevated country, the chain diminishing in height and breadth as it runs north until it sinks beneath the ocean at the Golden Gate. The entire range, from the Bay of Monterey to the end of the peninsula, is about sixty-five miles in length, and its greatest breadth is about twenty-five miles. The eastern ridges are highly metamorphic, and constitute the main portion or back-bone of the range, Mount Bache being the highest point; this has an elevation of 3,780 feet,
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GEOLOGY, ETC.
being less than 100 feet lower than Monte Diablo; this mountain mass, to which Mounts Choual (3,530 feet) and Umunhum (3,430 feet) belong, is the dominating one of the range, although there are points farther north which rise to over 3000 feet.
Taking up the description of these mountains which are collectively designated as the "Santa Cruz Range," we commence near the town of that name, and proceed in a northerly direction, grouping the subdivisions of the range in as natural a manner as possible.
At Pigeon Point, a bluish-gray, very compact sandstone was found, con- taining Natica Matra and Mytilus, and belonging to the great miocene tertiary of this portion of the peninsula. The coast for nearly the whole distance between Pescadero and Santa Cruz shows two well-marked terraces of varia- ble heights, and often interrupted by the coming down of the hills quite to the shore. The whole region traversed by the trail from Pescadero to Sears- ville, as far as the metamorphic on the eastern edge of the range, is bituminous shale of the miocene age, with occasional beds of interstratified sandstone, of which the dip is irregular, but not high.
From Lambert's, along the ridge north of Pescadero creek, the rock is of a shale or slate, of a light cream-color, passing into gray. It contains, toward the coast, occasional seams of sandstone, which disappear within four miles of Lambert's. The general strike of these strata is nearly northwest and southeast; they have a dip which indicates that the surface has been thrown into a series of low arches since the deposition of this bituminous shale. No other fossils were found than a few small splinters of opalized wood and an impression of a fislı-scale; but from bithological characters and general position, it can hardly be anything else than the miocene bituminous slate of the coast ranges.
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