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 11
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The same rock is seen in the high hills between Pescadero and Butano creeks, and near the beach west of Pescadero; going north from the last- named place, it continues as far as three miles northeast of Spanishtown, where it caps a mass of granite which forms the body of the ridge. Another line of section across the peninsula was examined, viz .: from San Mateo to Half Moon Bay, at Spanishtown.
Near San Mateo, and a little north of the road to Crystal Springs, there is a good exposure of the metamorphic rock which forms the eastern edge of the mountain belt of the peninsula. The rock here is a red jaspery mass, quite resembling that of Monte Diablo, distinctly stratified and passing into brown argillaceous sandstone; it dips east, at an angle of 35°. As we proceed west along the Crystal Springs road, the ground rises, and finally assumes the form of a rolling plateau, of which the summit is about 1,200 feet high. In thus passing west, the rocks become more and more metamorphic, and serpentine makes its appearance. On the ridge fronting San Andreas Creek, to the north of Crystal Springs, there is a serpentine intermixed with white quartz, and red and green jaspers.
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HISTORY OF SAN MATEO COUNTY.
In the canon of the San Andreas, on the west side, there is a heavy mass of limestone, which may be traced high up in the side gorges coming down from the west. It dips to the northeast, at a varying angle, usually not less than 35", but in some places stands nearly vertical. The upper layers are thin- bedded, and some strata are light colored, others dark; below, the stratifica- tion is less distinct, the layers heavier, and the rock more crystalline. The thickness of this belt of limestone must be over 1,000 feet; but it was not seen in its full width. A little distance south of Crystal Springs, this rock was formerly quarried and burned for lime.
Between the limestone mass and the head of Pillarcitos Creek there is a series of heavy-bedded sandstones, brown in color, but so much broken and so irregular that their position could not be made out, although they appeared in some places to be conformable with the limestone belt, which dips to the east. This sandstone forms a ridge which rises to about 2,500 feet above the sea, and is the backbone of the peninsula in this region, occupying a belt of high rolling country for two or three miles in width. No fossils could be found in this rock. West of this is a range of granite hills, to which the Cumbre de las Auras belongs, and which runs northwest, and dies out just before reaching Point San Pedro. This granitic mass occupies an elliptical area, and consists of high rounded, almost bare ridges, rising in their highest peaks from 2,500 to 3,000 feet above the sea. The granite decomposes readily, and the sides of the hills are in places covered by heavy masses of disinte- grated rock. The region is dry and uncultivated.
Beyond this, to the west, is a low ridge of heavy-bedded friable sandstone, with a dip of 40°, away from the granite, or to the west; proceeding a little farther west, however, the same strata are seen again with an easterly dip of 50°, and this continues to be the direction of the dip all the way to the sandy plain on which Spanishtown is built. The strata, however, have a less and less decided inclination as we recede from the granite, and finally, before reaching the coast become nearly horizontal; they also pass gradually from sandstones to shales, very thinly bedded, and a good deal broken.
The fossils found in these strata show that they belong to the miocene tertiary. They are the continuation of the bituminous slate series which extends all along the coast from Santa Cruz to Spanishtown, forming a gradu- ally narrowing belt of rock, which is slightly disturbed near the granite, but at a little distance from it, retains its original position.
The belt of limestone noticed above, as occurring between San Andreas and San Mateo creeks, runs out to the sea-shore about one and a-quarter miles north of Point San Pedro, forming a low ridge of headland. Here it has to the south of it a red and green jaspery rock, distinctly stratified, and having the same northeasterly dip as the limestone.
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GEOLOGY, ETC.
The granite range of the Cumbre de las Auras disappears beneath the ocean, but rises again to the north of the Golden Gate, in the promontory of Punta de los Reyes. The great regular ranges of mountains which form the penin- sula appear to run out to the north of San Pedro, and no more granite is seen on its northern end after passing the mass of the Cumbre de las Auras. The extremity of the peninsula is occupied by short and broken ranges, or low hills, in which the regular trend to the northwest can be no longer detected, but where the influence of the east and west line of depression, by which the Golden Gate has been opened and access given to the interior, is manifested in the most chaotic jumble of strata which it is possible to find in the State.
96
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HISTORY OF SAN MATEO COUNTY.
THE GENERAL HISTORY AND SETTLEMENT OF SAN MATEO COUNTY.
ABORIGINES.
The native tribe which roamed the then valley of San Bernardino, now known as Santa Clara, were the Olhones, sometimes called the Costanes, who were worshipers of the sun, and believed in an evil spirit who took cognizance of their actions, whom they were wont to propitiate. They had some very crude ideas of a future state, while their traditions, if they had any, were of the most meager kind.
Superstition wrapped these savages like a cloud, from which they never emerged. The phenomena of nature on every hand, indeed, taught them that there was some unseen cause for all things-some power which they could neither comprehend nor resist. The voltano and the earthquake taught them . this, and many accounts of these in past ages are preserved in their legends; but farther than this, their minds could not penetrate.
Mr. Hall says: "Nearly all the Indians in this region, and those of Santa Cruz, were in the habit of visiting the hill in which the New Almaden Mine was first opened and worked, to obtain red paint to adorn their faces and bodies. The cinnabar is of a reddish hue, and when moistened and rubbed, easily produces a red pigment, highly esteemed by the savages in the arrange- ment of their toilet. While the color of their decoration was pleasing to their eyes, its effect on their system was by no means agreeable. It salivated them- a result as mysterious and unexplained to them as the setting of the sun. Although a little painful, they seemingly forgot their illness as they witnessed the lustre of their skin, and were as resolute in their pride of dress as the proud damsel groaning in tight corsets and tight shoes." .
Whatever may have been their appearance and character in the sixteenth century, it is certain that the Indians of this part of the coast of California, as they have ever been known to the American pioneer, are no fit subjects for encomiums.
The tribes inhabiting the shores of the Bay of San Francisco did not essen- tially differ from those found in middle and southern California. They were perhaps less warlike than their neighbors upon the north, and certainly less so
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ABORIGINES.
than the mountain tribes. They were small of stature, compactly built, and possessed of considerable strength and endurance. For the most part they were beardless, but had long, coarse hair. Their complexion was not of the traditional copper color, being much darker; in fact, not much lighter than the African. The formation of their heads and the contour of their features indicated a very low rank in the intellectual scale. It may well be supposed that climatic influences played an important part in the formation of their character. The curse pronounced on Adam extended to these natives with but limited application, and it is doubtful if they sweat much, except in their sanitariums, constructed to effect that object.
The salubrity of the climate rendered unnecessary. those protections that tribes inhabiting less propitious climates were forced to provide. The rudest possible architecture sufficed, and they deemed the clothing of their bodies unnecessary. Nature provided the means of subsistence. Of marine pro- ductions, oysters, mussels and fish were abundant and easily obtained. By his intimate acquaintance with the traits and habits of bird and beast, the Indian was enabled to capture a sufficient supply, although employing the rudest contrivances, while roots and herbs, nuts and insects filled up the measure of his wants. The tule huts and the caves of the rocks afforded sufficient shelter to a people that for the most part disdained any covering but the canopy of heaven. Generation after generation passed under conditions so inviting to inaction and repose, and, without the spur of necessity, had so wrought upon the character of these natives, that they were well-nigh incapable of improvement.
At the missions the Digger Indian could be forced to wear clothing; could be forced to cleanliness by the use of water, and be taught to go through the forms of religious observances; but first, last, and all the time he was a Digger, and next to worthless. His inclinations ever prompted him to renounce the badge of his advancement, and return to the manners and customs of his people. That the race has suffered physical deterioration by contact with civilized men has never been questioned. In the year 1837, it is reported that no less than sixty thousand died of small-pox in the territory embraced by Sonoma, Napa and Solano counties. How numerous they were in this county can never be definitely known; but that a large population was at some period gathered on the shores of the ocean and the bay is certain. A few pitiable remnants can still be found in the county, but in the presence of a superior race the Indian has slunk away and perished. It has been a much-debated question whether the mission system was a benefit to the Indians; but whether it was or not, it is certain that upon the breaking up of that system, the race rapidly decreased in numbers, and in less than half a century became almost wholly extinct in these valleys where formerly they were so numerous.
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HISTORY OF SAN MATEO COUNTY.
At the advent of the foreign settlers in this county, a mere handful only was found, and that chiefly at the Seventeen Mile House and Spanishtown. When lumbering began in the redwoods near Searsville, there were less than half a dozen inhabiting that part of the county. "Indian Jim," who has not yet made his journey to the "happy hunting-grounds," was there, and he still lives on or about the Dennis Martin ranch. "Antoine" was living at the Mountain Home ranch; and a boy, afterwards killed, was living at Capt. John Greer's. On the foothills near San Mateo, an Indian blacksmith, who was sufficiently adept in his trade to make Mexican spurs and bridle-bits, was living after American settlers began arriving.
As long as the old-fashioned Mexican manners and habits of living were continued, a few were always to be found at the ranches of all the landed proprietors, especially at the Sanchez, Vasquez, Merimentez and Martinez ranches.
Although not so numerous here as on the opposite side of the bay, yet the accumulation in many distinct localities of camp débris-called Indian mounds- testify to long occupation, and great numbers within the limits of San Mateo county. These mounds were simply camping-grounds, and acquired the uni- formly circular and elevated outlines by receiving the refuse of the camp and the bodies of the dead. Mound street, in Redwood City, traverses one of these and from that circumstance derives its name. Near the grounds of the Union Cemetery Association is another of considerable size. The sites were always selected with reference to their convenience to water and fuel. The only structure approaching the dignity of a building was the universal "sweat- house," or council chamber. Its location is indicated by a saucer-shaped depression in the ground. Above these depressions was constructed a covering of poles thatched with twigs of trees, and covered on the outside with mud, to prevent the escape of heat. When completed it had the appearance of an inverted bowl, with a small aperture at the ground for ingress, and an opening in the top to allow the escape of smoke. The circumference at the base was usually from ninety to one hundred and thirty feet. This structure was deemed essential by all the tribes upon the coast, at least, and constituted the hospital and council house.
When sanitary considerations demanded a sweating (for this was the cure- all), the Indians assembled here, built a fire in the center, closed the aperture by which they entered, and commenced the most laborious and fantastic kind of dance, accompanied by vocal music suited to barbaric tastes. When the dancing, howling, and artificial heat had reduced them to the desired degree of fluidity, the door was opened, and the Indians rushed out of the sweat- house and into the nearest water. This was the universal remedy, and must have been regarded as highly beneficial.
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ABORIGINES.
At these mounds, or rancherias, are to be found almost all the evidences of Indian life, such as stone cooking utensils, and the contrivances for capturing game and fish, their ornaments of shell and stone, their weapons of warfare, and the ashes of their dead. The most elaborate pieces of workmanship to be found are the mortars, which vary in size from a capacity of a quart to · several gallons.
The Indians of this part of the country apparently observed no particular form of burial, but disposed of the body in the easiest and most expeditious manner. Before burial, the body was put into as small compass as possible, and buried in a sitting posture in a shallow grave, which was covered with dirt and rubbish, as was most convenient. Cremation was undoubtedly practiced to some extent. The corpse was sometimes burned within the sweat-house, but generally in the open air. It was bound closely together and placed upon a funeral pile of wood, which was set on fire by some near relative of the .deceased. The mourners, with their faces bedaubed with pitch, set up a fearful howling and weeping, accompanied with the wildest gesticulations. During the progress of the cremation the weapons and ornaments of the departed were cast into the flames. The body being consumed, the ashes were carefully collected, and a portion of them being mixed with pitch and daubed upon the faces of the mourners, the funeral rites were completed.
These people were superstitious in the extreme, but, like the human race everywhere and in whatever depth of degradation, they had a vague idea of a future state of rewards and punishments, and believed in the existence of good and evil spirits. They paid their devotion to the former with offerings, while the latter was driven away with such devices as they imagined the devil stood in fear of.
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HISTORY OF SAN MATEO COUNTY.
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
SKETCHES OF PIONEERS.
The Mission Dolores, in San Francisco, was founded October 9th, 1776, and the next in order of date-the Mission Santa Clara-was founded in the year following, January 18th, 1777, under the political auspices of Carlos III, the then reigning monarch of Spain. Its site was four or five miles southwest of the southern extremity of the Bay of San Francisco. Around it, in later years, has grown up the pretty town of 'Santa Clara, in what is now known as Santa Clara county. The route between these two missions lay through the uninhabited peninsula, the intermediate region being mostly included within San Mateo county. The country was occupied by Indians, who had not yet been taught, either by force or the gentler methods of the missionaries, sub- mission to the Europeans. To guard in some measure against their hostile attacks, a small mission or station was established on the banks of San Mateo Creek, a little north of west of the village of San Mateo, and on the lands now owned by Wm. H. Howard. Here, in 1778, an adobe building was con- structed, the homely but substantial walls of which remained standing for many years, a monument of the zeal, and bold, adventurous spirit of the devoted little band of Franciscans. Some of our old settlers can remember when those walls, and even the red-tiled roof, were in a fair state of preserva- tion. A little, doubtful tumulus, alone, now marks the spot where they stood; all else is obliterated, save the ineradicable memory revived by a contempla- tion of this little mound of earth, that on this spot, over one hundred years ago, Catholic missionaries taught the aborigines the ways of civilization. It was Mr. Howard's desire to preserve the time-honored building, and to this end he kept it patched up, until the earthquake of 1868 wrecked its walls beyond repair, and some months afterward it was leveled with the earth.
The establishing of the missions in California was the forerunner of a large immigration from Spain and Mexico, and soon the peninsula had its quota of representatives from those two countries, and their herds began to multiply on the hills and bottom lands that now constitute San Mateo county. The names alone of those early settlers would form an interesting page in the history of the country. In the list would doubtless be recognized some, probably many,
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SKETCHES OF PIONEERS.
of the prominent native families of more modern times. But they have only been catalogued on tombstones that have long, long since perished and been forgotten.
Prior to considering the American occupation of California, it will be as well to introduce the reader to a few of the characteristics, manners, customs, and mode of living pursued by the native Californians.
These were a half-caste race, between the white Castilian and the native Indian, very few of the families retaining the pure blood of old Castile; they were consequently of all shades of color, and developed, the women especially, into a handsome and comely race. Their wants were few and easily supplied; they were contented and happy; the women were virtuous, and great devotees to their church and religion; while the men in their normal condition were kind and hospitable, but when excited they became rash, fearless, yet cruel, with no dread for knife nor pistol. Their generosity was great, everything they had being at the disposal of a friend, or even a stranger, while socially they loved pleasure, spending most of their time in music and dancing; indeed, such was their passion for the latter, that their horses have been trained to curvet in time to the tones of the guitar. When not sleeping, eating, or dancing, the men passed most of their time in the saddle, and naturally were very expert equestrians; horse-racing was with them a daily occurrence, not for the gain it might bring, but for the amusement to be derived therefrom, and to throw a dollar upon the ground, ride by at full galop and pick it up, was a feat that almost any of them could perform.
Horses and cattle gave them their chief occupation. They could use the riata or lasso with the utmost dexterity; whenever thrown at a bullock, liorse- man, or bear, it rarely missed its mark. The riata in the hands of a Californian was a more dangerous weapon than gun or pistol, while to catch a wild cow with it, throw her and tie her, without dismounting, was most common, and to go through the same performance with a bear was not considered extra- ordinary. Their only articles of export were hides and tallow, the value of the former being one dollar and a half in cash, and two in goods, and the latter three cents per pound in barter. Young heifers of two years old, for breeding purposes, were worth three dollars; a fat steer, delivered in the Pueblo of San José, brought fifty cents more, while it was considered neither trespass nor larceny to kill a beef, use the flesh, and hang the hide and tallow on a tree, secure from coyotes, where it could be found by the owner.
Lands outside of the towns were only valuable for grazing purposes. For this use every citizen of good character, having cattle, could, for the asking, and by paying a fee to the officials, and a tax upon the paper on which it was written, get a grant for a grazing tract of from one to eleven square leagues of land. These domains were called ranchos, the only improvements on them
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HISTORY OF SAN MATEO COUNTY.
being usually a house and corral. They were never inclosed; they were never surveyed, but extended from one well-defined landmark to another, and whether they contained two or three leagues, more or less, was regarded as a matter of no consequence, for the land itself was of no value to the government.
It was not necessary for a man to keep his cattle on his own land. They were ear-marked and branded when young, and these established their owner- ship. The stock roamed withersoever they wished, the ranchero sometimes finding his animals fifty or sixty miles away from his grounds. About the middle of March commenced the "Rodeo" season, which was fixed in advance by the ranchero, who would send notice to his neighbors, for leagues around, when all, with their vaqueros, would attend and participate. The rodeo was the gathering in one locality of all the cattle on the rancho. When this was accomplished, the next operation was for each ranchero present to part out from the general herd all animals bearing his brand and ear-mark, and take them off to his own rancho. In doing this they were allowed to take all calves that followed their mothers, what was left in the rodeo belong- ing to the owner of the ranch, who had them marked as his property. . On some of the ranchos the number of calves branded and marked each year appears to us at this date to have been enormous. Joaquin Bernal, who owned the Santa Teresa Rancho, eight miles south of San José, having been in the habit of branding not less than five thousand head yearly. In this work a great many horses were employed. Fifty head was a small number for a ranchero to own, while they frequently had from five to six hundred trained animals, principally geldings, for the mares were kept exclusively for breeding purposes. The latter were worth a dollar and a half per head; the price of saddle horses was from two dollars and fifty cents to twelve dollars each.
In the month of December, 1865, a writer under the caption of "Yadnus," thus writes to the San Jose Mercury:
Until the heavy floods and severe weather of the memorable winter of 1861 had more than decimated their herds, it was the practice (in accordance with law, I believe), for the wealthy rancheros-men who counted their cattle, when they counted them at all- by the thousands, to hold, twice a year, a rodeo (rodere) to which all who owned stock within a circuit of fifty miles repaired, with their friends, and often their families. At the appointed time, the cattle for many leagues around were gathered up by the horsemen, or vaqueros (buckaros), of the different stockmen, and driven into a large corral, where the marking, branding, and claiming of stock occupied sometimes a week. At the largest rodeo I ever witnessed, there were gathered together some thirty thousand head of cattle, and at least three hundred human beings, among whom were many of the gentler sex. These rodeos were usually pre- sided over by a "Judge of the Plains," an officer appointed by the Board of Supervisors, and whose duty it was to arbitrate between owners in all disputes
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SKETCHES OF PIONEERS.
that might arise as to cattle-property, overhaul and inspect all brands of stock being driven from or through the county, and to steal as many " hoobs " as he possibly could, without detection. In fact, the "perquisites" constituted pretty nearly the entire pay of this valuable officer, and if they all understood their business as well as the one it was my fortune to cabin with for a number of months, they made the office pay pretty well.
By the time the rodeo season was over, about the middle of May, the " Matanza," or killing season commenced. The number of cattle slaughtered each year was commensurate with the number of calves marked, and the amount of herbage for the year, for no more should be kept alive than the pasture on the rancho could support. After the butchering, the hides were taken off and dried; the tallow, fit for market, was put into bags made from hides; the fattest portions of the meat were made into soap; while some of the best was cut, pulled into thin shreds, dried in the sun, and the remainder thrown to the buzzards and the dogs, a number of which were kept-young dogs were never destroyed-to clean up after a matanza. Three or four hun- dred of these curs were to be found on a rancho, and it was no infrequent occurrence to see a ranchero come into town with a string of them at his horse's heels.
Let us consider one of the habitations of these people. Its construction was beautiful in its extreme simplicity. The walls were fashioned of large sun-dried bricks, made of that black loam known to settlers in the Golden State as adobe soil, mixed with straw, measuring about eighteen inches square and three in thickness; these being cemented with mud, plastered within with the same substance, and whitewashed when finished. The rafters and joists were of rough timber, with the bark simply peeled off, and placed in the requisite position, the thatch being of rushes or chaparral fastened down with thongs of bullock's hide. When completed, these dwellings stand the brunt and wear and tear of many decades, as can be evidenced by the number which are still occupied through the county. The furniture consisted of a few cook- ing utensils, a rude bench or two, sometimes a table, and the never-failing red camphor-wood trunk. This chest contained the extra clothes of the women --- the men wore theirs on their backs-and when a visit of more than a day's duration was made, the box was taken along. They were cleanly in their per- sons and clothing; the general dress being, for females, a common calico gown of plain colors, blue gowns with small figures being those most fancied. The fashionable ball-dress of the young ladies was a scarlet flannel petticoat cov- ered with a white lawn skirt, a combination of tone in color which is not sur- passed by the modern gala costume. Bonnets there were none, the head-dress consisting of a long, narrow shawl or scarf. So graceful was their dancing that it was the admiration of all strangers; but as much cannot be said for that of the men, for the more noise they made, the better it suited them.
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