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 16
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" In concert and 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 my 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."
Their route caused them to make circuit of the head of the Bay of San Fran- cisco, crossing the Sacramento river at Knight's Landing, and thence proceed- ing down the valley of the San Joaquin, found themselves at the San Juan Mission, where Fremont was joined by Captain Fallon, whose company had been disbanded in Monterey, and sailed at once in the U. S. ship Cyane for San Diego, to cut off Castro's retreat, who had united with Pio Pico, giving them a combined force of six hundred.
The Indians of the San Joaquin valley had, during the year 1846, com- menced to be such a source of annoyance to the residents in the district, that in the month of April complaint had been made to the departmental assembly, but up to July nothing had been done. On the 9th of that month, wishing to intercept Captain Fremont, Captain Montgomery penned the following let- ter to that officer:
"U. S. SHIP PORTSMOUTH,
" Yerba Buena, July 9, 1846. 5
"SIR: Last evening I was officially notified of the existence of war between
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the United States and the central government of Mexico, and have this morn- ing taken formal possession of this place, and hoisted the flag in town. Com- modore Sloat, who took possession of Monterey on the 7th instant, has directed me to notify vou of this change in the political condition of things in California, and to request your presence at Monterey, with a view to future arrangements and co-operations, at as early a period as possible.
" I forwarded at two o'clock this morning a dispatch from Commodore Sloat. to the commandant at Sonoma, with an American flag for their use, should they stand in need of one. Mr. Watmough, who will hand you this, will give you all the news.
" Very respectfully, etc.,
"JNO. B. MONTGOMERY.
" To Captain J. C. Fremont, Top. Engineers, Santa Clara."
On the same day the following order was given to Purser James H. Watmough, by Captain Montgomery :
"SIR: You will proceed to Santa Clara, and to the pueblo, if necessary, in order to intercept Captain Fremont, now on his march from the Sacramento; and on meeting, please hand him the accompanying communication, after which you will return to this place, without delay, and report to me."
Whether he delivered his dispatch to Fremont then is uncertain; the pre- sumption is that he did, and that on reporting such to Captain Montgomery, also the state of affairs in regard to the Indians in the valley of the San Joaquin, he was instructed to occupy San José with the thirty-five marines who had accompanied him as an escort, for we find that the gallant Purser established his headquarters in the Juzgado, added some vohinteers to his forces, and. in the month of August, with thirty marines and about the same number of volunteers, crossed the mountains and met a party of a hundred Indians, which he drove back into their own valley. After doing much to allay the excitement which then existed, his command was withdrawn in the month of October.
Such was the military enthusiasm of the period, that it was not as difficult as it might be to-day to recruit an armed force. In October, Charles M. Weber and John M. Murphy were commissioned by Commander Hull, of the U. S. Sloop-of-war Warren, in command of the Northern District of California, as captain and lieutenant, respectively, in the land forces. They quickly raised a company of scouts, which had their headquarters in the adobe building to the rear of Frank Lightson's residence. And this recruiting spirit was not confined to the settler, for as soon as immigrants arrived at Sutter's Fort, they were visited at once by Captain Granville Swift, of Fremont's battalion, and asked to volunteer, which several of them did. Among these was Joseph Aram, familiarly known in San José. He was commissioned by Fremont as captain, and told to proceed with some of the immigrant families to the Santa
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Clara Mission, rather than to San Jose, for there were more houses there, but such was their state, and owing to the inclement winter, the unfortunate women and children suffered terribly, and no less than fourteen of them died. Captain Aram had managed to form a company of thirty-two men, whose headquarters he established at Santa Clara, for the purpose of protecting the families there; he thereupon essayed to place the mission in a tolerable state of defense, by constructing barricades, built principally of wagons, and the branches of trees, for he had learned that Colonel Sanchez and a body of mounted Californians were hovering in the vicinity. In the month of Novem- ber, San Jose was formed into a military post, and sixty men, with Messrs. Watmough and Griffin, under Lieutenant Pinkney, of the U. S Ship Saran- nah, sent to protect the inhabitants in the district. This force left Yerba Buena early on the morning of the 1st, and proceeding by the ship's boats up the bay, about sunset made fast to the shore, and that night camped on the present site of the town of Alviso. Dawn of the next day found Lieutenant Pinkney and his command on the route, and after a weary march, for muskets, bayonets, cartridges, provisions, and blankets had to be transported on the men's backs, arrived that afternoon at San José, when he immediately took possession of the Juzgado, converted it into a barrack, placed a sentry on the Guadalupe bridge, and ordered a guard to patrol the streets throughout the night. He dug a ditch around the Juzgado of two feet in depth and one in width, at about sixty feet therefrom, in which he drove pickets seven or eight feet long. On the outside thereof he dug a trench five feet wide and four feet deep, the dirt from which he threw against the pickets, thus forming a breast- work. At each corner he made a gate, and on each side mounted a guard, and otherwise made himself free from surprise and attack.
The military freebooter, Sanchez, was at this time creating a reign of terror in the district conterminons to San José, neither man, horse, nor stock of any kind being free from his predatory band. Concealing themselves in thicket or ravine, they were wont to fall upon the unsuspecting traveler, who, after being robbed, was too often most foully murdered. In the month of December, 1846, about the 8th day, a party under W. A. Bartlett, of the sloop-of-war Warren, and five men, among these being Martin Corcoran, afterwards and still a resi- dent of San José, started from Yerba Buena to purchase beef for the United States forces. When arrived in the vicinage of that locality where now stands the Seventeen Mile House, and when in the act of driving together some cattle, thirty of Sanchez' men rushed from an ambuscade, captured them and carried them off to their camp in the redwoods in the coast range of mountains; but after a space, removing to another portion of the same chain in San Mateo county, he increased his corps to a hundred men and one piece of artillery-a six-pounder-and commenced a series of marauding expeditions in the country between San José and San Francisco. Intelligence reaching the former place
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of these depredations of Colonel Sanchez, Captain Weber, without delay. sounded the "call" to boot and saddle, and about Christmas day was in full pursuit. Learning, however, of the recent addition to the enemy's strength, he avoided an encounter with a force so much his superior in numbers, and pushed on to San Francisco, where he reported to the commandant.
Still retaining his six prisoners under close guard, Sanchez advanced into the valley, by way of the head of the bay of San Francisco, and called a halt about ten miles from San José, which place he came to after a rest of forty- eight hours. Aware full well that Weber and his company were not in the town, and nothing remaining for its defense save a few marines, he thought it would fall before his mighty presence, even without firing a shot; he therefore dispatched a note to Lieutenant Pinkney, calling upon him to surrender and withdraw his men, in which event the Americans would be permitted to retire unmolested; should he refuse, an attack would be forthwith made, and all put to the sword. But Pinkney was not to be intimidated by such shallow bra- vado. As the sun sank into the west on that day, he formed his men in line and read to them the arrogant communication of the robber chief, which being ended, he said if there were any there who did not wish to fight, they had full liberty to rejoin the ship at San Francisco. Such, however, happily is not the spirit of the American people, or their forces, else the glorious Union would not be in the lead of nations as it is to-day. Pinkney's men raised their voices as one man, and elected to stay and let Sanchez do his worst, while their gal- lant commander vehemently asserted, "Then, by G-d, Sanchez shall never drive me out of here alive!" and then there burst forth from the throats of that handful of heroes one hoarse cheer that made the welkin ring. Like a true soldier, the Lieutenant gave not an order the carrying out of which he did not personally superintend. He divided his force into four squads, who were, on the alarm being sounded, each to press for a particular side of the breastwork, already arranged upon; if, however, the enemy should be found in a body trying to effect an entrance at any one side, then were the four divisions to rush en masse to that spot. That night Pinkney doubled the guard, and his men slept on their arms. It was his expectation to be attacked by a force immeasurably superior to him in numbers, but at dead of night, Sanchez rode around the pueblo, reflected deeply, and wisely determined that to be valorous was to be discreet; therefore, he withdrew his men, leaving our forces in full possession. Mr. Hall says of Lieutenant Pinkney, that he was a tall, well-proportioned man, over six feet high, with sandy whiskers and hair. He was straight as an arrow, and looked the soldier all over. His very appear- ance showed where he would be in a hot contest. There was not a man among his little band that did not have the utmost confidence in him.
Let us now return and see how fared it with the prisoners captured near the Seventeen Mile House. To try and effect their release, the British Consul,
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J. A. Forbes, visited Sanchez' band, where his brother-in-law was serving, and strove to obtain the liberation of the captives, but with no success. After a good deal of palaver, however, Sanchez consented to Lieutenant Bartlett being permitted to accompany Forbes to his residence in Santa Clara, but on no account was he to be handed over to the American authorities, while, as to the other five, he was willing that they should be surrendered to their nationals, but Captain Weber, who had, before the commencement of hostilities between the United States and Mexico, been in the service of the latter government, must be given up to him. Consul Forbes transmitted the result of his diplo- matic mission to the commanding officer at San Francisco, who replied that he unconditionally refused such terms, and Bartlett could be returned to Sanchez.
A day of reckoning was now fast drawing nigh, for a little arıny, with the destruction of Sanchez and his band in view, was being formed in San Francisco under command of Captain Ward Marston, of the Marine Corps attached to the United States Ship Savannah. The force was composed as follows: Assistant Surgeon J. Duvall, aid-de-Camp; detachment of marines, under Lieutenant Robert Tansil, thirty-four men; artillery, one field-piece, six-pounder, under charge of Master William F. D. Gough, assisted by mid- shipman John Kell, ten men; interpreter, John Pray; mounted company of San José volunteers, under command of Captain Charles M. Weber, Lieutenant John M. Murphy, and acting Lieutenant John Reed, thirty-three men; mounted company of Yerba Buena volunteers, under command of William M. Smith and Lieutenant John Rose; with a small detachment of twelve men, under Captain J. Martin-the whole being in the neighborhood of one hundred men of all arms.
The little army marched out of San Francisco on the 29th of December, their course being southward, and through the Santa Clara valley. On the morning of January 2d, 1847, they came in sight of the enemy, who upon learning of their approach, had dispatched their six prisoners, on foot, for no horses for them to ride could be provided, into the mountains in charge of an escort of twelve men, who having proceeded a couple of miles, halted.
Upon the force of Americans coming up with the enemy, at ten o'clock in the morning, orders were given to open fire at two hundred yards' range, which was done with telling effect, the first one or two volleys entirely breaking the line in which Sanchez chose to fight. Finding his alignment cut in twain, Sanchez wheeled his men so as to bring each of his sections on either flank of Captain Marston's corps, but still making a retrograde movement, while the latter advanced. Ever and anon would the desperate Colonel rally his already demoralized troops in front, and again wheel them on the flanks of his oppo- nents, thus alternately fighting on front and on flank, but still keeping up the order of his retreat, for two or three hours.
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Lieutenant Pinkney, from his fortified position in San Jose, hearing the firing, gave orders for the making of hundreds of cartridges, and placed every- thing in a state of defense, in case Sanchez should be victorious and come down on the pueblo, while he waited anxiously for news of the battle, for he believed the Americans were outnumbered, and had some doubt as to how the fortune of the day might turn; while, at the Santa Clara Mission, people crowded the roof-tops and there witnessed the engagement, to which place the retreat tended. Here Sanchez was met by Captain Aram, who sallied out to cheek his falling upon the settlements. Finding this new force to contend against, he drew off, unwilling to renew a fight of which he had already had too much, and found his way to to the Santa Cruz mountains, whence he dispatched a flag of truce and a communication, stating the terms on which he would surrender. The reply was, his surrender must be absolute, and notwithstanding that he said he would die first, an armistice was agreed upon and dispatches sent to the commandant at San Francisco, asking for instructions.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Pinkney's suspense was put to an end by the receipt of a message as to the out-turn of the action, while Marston marched his men to the Santa Clara Mission, where they were received with demonstrative joy by the American ladies and children there assembled. Captain Aram now received permission to proceed in quest of certain horses which had been stolen from the American settlers in the valley, some of which he knew to be in the cavalcade of the enemy, and while engaged in this duty, he was informed by Sanchez that another body of United States troops was on its way from Monterey. This information could scarcely be credited by the Captain, who,. ascending to a commanding point, perceived the intelligence to be correct. This accession to the fighting strength of the Americans made Sanchez tremble lest he should be attacked by them; he therefore begged Aram to advance and inform them of the situation of affairs, which he did, much to the chagrin of the new-comers, who were longing to have a brush with the enemy. This force was under the command of Captain Maddox, of the United States Navy, and consisted of fifty-nine mounted sailors and marines.
The courier, sent to San Francisco, returned on the 6th with instructions to Captain Marston that the surrender of Sanchez must be unconditional, a copy of which he transmitted to the Colonel, whereupon the terms of capitulation were agreed upon. Another reinforcement arrived under Lieutenant Grayson on the 7th, and on the 8th Sanchez and his whole force laid down their arms, and the six anxious prisoners were returned to the hands of their countrymen. The Mexican Colonel was taken to San Francisco and held as a prisoner, for a. time, on board the United States Ship Savannah, while his men were permitted to return to their respective homes, and thus the curtain is dropped upon the · closing act in the war-like drama, as enacted in the northern part of Upper California during the hostilities between the United States and Mexico.
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The last chapter brings the reader up to the close of the war with Mexico in 1847; then followed a period ¿ with a marvelous record-a period yet to be duplicated in the world's history. In 1848 gold was discovered in Califor- nia in fabulous quantities; the news went abroad, and then came a tidal wave of humanity, as heterogeneous as the diversity of nations could make it, a tidal wave of adventure, of cupidity, of business, of giant energies, of hopes never to be realized, of souls loyal to the best principles of moral and social government, of vice, of-everything in the economy of mortal man, surging and centering upon the borders of the embryo state. Everything that the country produced commanded extraordinary prices. The San Mateo country being a region where the industries unallied to mining interests were most advanced, it reaped a harvest of prosperity, at once splendid and substantial. Lumber was the great commodity, and to this fact mainly is attributable the impetus given to the occupancy and settlement of the county. A forest of red- wood timber, hardly yet profaned by the woodman's axe, covered both sides of the coast range, extending from the Santa Cruz mountains on the south, for miles northward. It was accessible for the markets, and had a convenient embarcadero. To the woodman and lumberman, who reduced its great trees to material for building, it brought the most remunerative returns. Some idea may be formed of the extent of this belt of timber before the process of denudition commenced, from some of the tracts on the western slope of the mountains, which still remain intact. But from the bay side, where the pio- neer first commenced operations, the redwood giants have almost wholly dis- appeared. Formerly, the groves of "big trees" in San Mateo county rivaled those of the coast range regions, some of which are still preserved in their original grandeur as resorts for pleasure, or remain undestroyed because their inaccessible situations protect them from the inroads of the lumberman.
A few years ago there was standing on the Dennis Martin ranch gulch, near Searsville, twelve miles from Redwood City, a tree which measured seventy-five feet in circumference. It had been burned out hollow at the butt, and had an opening one side. Six men had made bunks inside of this cavity, and used it as a lodging-house. There was another giant at Grizzly Gulch, on the Pescadero road, through the butt of which an arch-way, or passage-way, had been burned. A man on horseback could easily ride through the opening. Its foundation, however, was so weakened by the burning-out process, that it fell during a high wind.
On the home farm of S. P. Pharis, a tree was cut which turned out four hundred and twenty thousand shingles. Mr. Nutting tells a story of two men, in Bear Gulch, who were engaged in sawing a tree up into lengths for the mill. They used a cross-cut saw, and on one occasion, after getting so far down through the log that they were out of sight of each other, one became convinced that he was doing all the work. He climbed up on the log, and,
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looking over to the other side, found his assistant lying out on the ground fast asleep.
William Smith, or " Bill the Sawyer," was the first Anglo- Saxon lumberman in the redwoods. He was an expert in pit-sawing. This was a primitive method, but very common before steam usurped the domain of industry; a long, deep pit was dug in the ground, and over it was placed the log, resting on cross pieces, arranged so that the saw could pass them. The sawyer stood on top of the log, and ripped it up into boards with a long rip-saw. Some- times two men worked at the same saw-one on, and the other under, the log.
In 1835, when Rafael Soto moved from his Martinez rancho to his grant in Santa Clara county, he erected a dwelling near the site of the present residence of Dr. Newell. Soto's house, says Mr. Greer, was built of redwood boards made with a whip-saw, by Indians on the Martinez ranch. The work was superintended by James Peace and " Bill the Sawyer," and the lumber was conveyed thence on the primitive wagons, and along the still more primitive roads of the period.
It is a disputed question as to whom the honor of being the first to build a mill in this county belongs. Some claim it for Dennis Martin, and others award it to Charles Brown. Probably the honor should properly be divided between them, for in the same year-1847-Brown put up a mill on the Mountain Home Ranch, and Martin built one on San Francisquito Creek. The first products of these mills were disposed of at San José, and to the residents in Santa Clara valley. After the acquisition of the territory by the United States, and especially after the discovery of gold, every available site was soon occupied, and in 1853 there were fifteen mills in operation within five miles of Woodside, with a cutting capacity of about twenty-four million feet per annum. From 1847 to the present time, the manufacture of lumber and shingles has been one of the prime industries of this region of our country. Along the northern part of the Moreno range are vast redwood forests, into which for three decades, sturdy men have plunged to utilize the stately trees. Steadily with the growth of the country, this business has increased, until it stands to-day a marvel on the commercial catalogue. Millions of feet of lum- ber are annually cut, vet the source seems practically inexhaustible. The mountains are teeming with industry, and cities and marts are growing up along their borders, drawing their very existence from these remarkable reposi- tories of a commodity which is so absolutely essential in the economy of men. Mills have been established along the canons, and the ocean and the bay are dotted with fleets bearing their manufactured products to market. The great staple of the forests rolls like an endless tide along the thoroughfares leading to the cities and to the timberless regions of the State. Day and night the hum of this industry continues in an unceasing round, and the ring of
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steel cleaving the mighty bolts is mellow music to the ear of him whose home is among the redwoods.
Contrary to the expectation of the lumbermen who were early in the business on the eastern slope of the mountains, the timber land was eventually found to be covered by Mexican grants, and it is estimated that a half-million dollars' worth of timber had been cut on the Cañada Raymundo alone before the grant had been confirmed by the Commissioners. In 1853, there were fourteen mills located on this grant on government land.
The volume of this trade, which at first poured towards Santa Clara valley, soon became greater than the wants of that section of the country demanded, and increasing greatly also in importance as a factor in the prosperity of the State, it naturally turned toward the great commercial centre of the coast- San Francisco, from whence it was distributed to Sacramento and the mines. There was an abundance of timber in the Sierras, but much of it was yet practically inaccessible, and besides, the coast range was the home of the red- wood.
In 1850, Dr. Tripp sent the first lumber from these woods to the San Fran- cisco market, having constructed a raft for that purpose.
As the supply on the eastern slope diminished, the mills were, one by one, removed further up toward the summit of the range, and from thence to the western slope, where most of them now in operation are to be found.
A large proportion of the lumbermen were squatters, who, upon the con- firmation of the grants, either purchased the timber lands, or peacefully retired, and, taking into consideration all the circumstances, comparatively but little litigation resulted. In those days the woodsmen were almost a law unto them- selves, owing to their remoteness from the seat of the county government, which was then at San Francisco, and tax-collectors and other officers of the law were infrequent visitors among them.
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