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 25
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The town is also connected by stage lines with San Mateo and Santa Cruz, from which points it is distant respectively thirty and thirty-five miles.
The attractions that have rendered Pescadero a favorite summer resort are numerous and varied. The village itself is a model of neatness, and there are several beautiful residences.
The climate is of that happy mean between the heat that parches and the cold that chills. Mineral springs abound; trout streams make it a paradise for fishermen; the dense forests of redwood afford magnificent picnic and camping grounds, of which Camps Spaulding, Butano, and Roaring Camp are examples. The pebble, moss and shell beach has for years been the resort of tourists and pleasure-seekers, and Pescadero pebbles can be found in many of the Eastern States and Europe.
John Gariton
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The first white settlers who came to Pescadero township to make it their permanent residence, and cultivate the soil, were Richard Vestal, Henry Ryan, John Rader, and Joshua Pool. They arrived in January, 1853. Prior to this time, Eli Moore had purchased a portion of the Pescadero Rancho, and had given a portion of it to his son Alexander. Ryan and Vestal leased part of the land that Eli Moore retained, while Rader rented part of Alexander Moore's portion, and Pool rented a piece of Gonzales. In May of the same year, George F. Wyman, who had moved into the county, also took up his residence at Pescadero. and remained here until 1868, when he transferred his domicile to Spanishtown, at which place he now resides.
In 1853, Alexander Moore came to Pescadero to live, arriving here March 15th. John Tuffly drove a yoke of cattle into the county for Moore, but did not permanently reside here until several years later. In the same year (1853), Lafayette Chandler came to Pescadero, and is still a resident of the place. With Alexander Moore came also a man named John Daly, an Irishman, whom he employed to drive swine from Santa Cruz to the ranch. Daly remained here until early in the year 1855. The bent of his genius is illustrated in the following circumstance, which also explains the cause of his afterwards seeking a more congenial neighborhood: In 1855, the sloop Sea Bird was at Pigeon Point with a party of men engaged in recovering what was to be got from the wreck of the Carrier Pigeon, previously lost at the Point. The Sea Bird sprung a leak and was beached on the south side of New Year's Point. Some of the coal she had on board washed ashore. Before this, the discovery of indications of the existence of coal in this vicinity had created considerable excitement. Daly found on the beach some lumps that had come from the Sea Bird's cargo, and a brilliant project struck him. To him money was valu- able mainly as a medium for obtaining whisky. To secure his grog was the grand ultimatum of every enterprise. Here was coal; coal was cash, and cash was always convertible at any bar. Collecting a few lumps, he proceeded to Santa Cruz, where he exhibited to Bill Butler, Eli Moore, Sam. Drannan, and Captain Brannan, representing to them that he had discovered a coal mine on Gazos creek, and that these were specimens of the coal. He proposed to sell his lucky strike to them, provided that they would advance him a small amount of money on the spot. This they agreed to, and the coin was duly paid over to. Daly, with the understanding that he was to conduct them to the place and point out the mine to them at once. Daly took them to the creek, and arriving at a point on the banks, told Drannan, Moore and Butler to remain there while he and Captain Brannan followed the bed of the creek a little further up, to find the place where the coal had cropped out. Brannan was a fleshy man, and Daly counted on his ability to get away from him as soon as they were out of sight of the rest of the party. He made the essay, endeavoring by some ruse to beguile the Captain entirely away from a suspicion of his
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design, and at the same time to place such a distance between them as would give him a start that would ensure escape. Captain Brannan had just enough confidence in Daly to forbid his trusting him one inch, so he kept close to the Irishman's heels, and at length being fully satisfied that his guide was trying to get away from him, brought him to a halt, and made him confess the whole trick. Brannan was armed-Daly was not. This gave the Captain an advan- tage in the argument, which his antagonist recognized the force of, and the latter obediently marched back to the place where the other men had been left to wait; a brief council was held-a sort of drum-head court-martial-and it was decided that Daly should be summarily punished for his rascality. The sentence was that he should be tied, face down, to four stakes driven into the ground, and that he should be whipped on the bare back. Captain Brannan was appointed executioner, and Daly having been secured in position, accord- ing to the sentence, the lash was laid on with an earnestness that left no room in his mind for a doubt that he had made a grievous mistake. Upon being released, Daly skulked away and left the country.
The first house erected at Pescadero by either white men or Spanish native was built by Gonzales, in 1852, on the north side of the creek above the old. crossing, and on the property of B. V. Weeks, where it still stands.
In 1854, John Beeding, Norval Stevenson, John Scudder and John Pence, came together to Pescadero. Beeding settled on the creek below B. Hayward's mill, where he continued to live until his death by suicide, which occurred. Norval Stevenson remained here until 1859. After the death of Eli Moore, he leased the latter's house at Santa Cruz, and lived there two years. He then returned to Illinois, and afterwards went to Kansas, where he died in 1881. Scudder remained at Pescadero only one year and then went east. Pence died the same year of his arrival, and his was the first death of a white man recorded at Pescadero. His grave is on a mound at the end of San Gregorio street, and a fence placed around it by the hands of strangers. B. V. Weeks has continued to reside at Pescadero every since he first came in 1854.
Isaac Beeson is the only settler of 1855 of whom any record has been obtained for this history. He rented from Gonzales the land which Pool had previously occupied. The first store where goods were sold to any extent in Pescadero, was established this year by a man named Downes, in a little shake building situated just below Swanton's hotel. In 1856 Samuel Besse, Brad. Weeks and John Rader were its proprietors, and in 1858 Rader, who had become the sole owner, moved the store to the north side of the creek. H. C. Bidwell bought Rader out, and afterwards took Nelson as a partner. In 1860 the firm style was again changed, becoming Besse & Garretson, and four years later Besse became the exclusive proprietor. Garretson again became interested with Besse; the latter, however, afterward sold his interest in the concern to P. G. Striker, and the firm was Garretson & Striker until January, 1873, when
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Garretson sold to James McCormack. In 1877, Garretson bought the entire store and is its present proprietor.
Braddock Weeks and Henry Wurr are recorded as settlers in 1856. This year a justice of the peace was elected, and it is said that during his whole official term, he was called upon but once to exercise his magisterial functions, and that was in the preliminary examination of a man charged with murder. The circumstances of the case were as follows: On the night of February 2, 1857, a man named Richard Jones, but better known as " Little Dick," in company with others, was gambling at the store of Rader, Besse & Weeks. Sometime during the night Jones left, but returned again about daylight and knocked at the door for admission. The parties inside refused to let him in, and in his rage he kicked a hole through the side of the store, which was an old shake building and the first of its kind built at Pescadero. Rader picked up a shot- gun, and going to the door killed " Little Dick " in his tracks. Another one of the party in the store at the time, named Long, was arrested for the shooting, and it was his preliminary examination on this charge that required the judi- cial offices of the august functionary before referred to. The justice held Long to answer. Rader, however, appeared before the grand jury and confessed that it was he who killed " Little Dick." Long, of course, was discharged, and Rader was tried and acquitted, his counsel being Judge R. F. Peckham, now a prominent resident of San Jose.
In 1857, the first school-house in Pescadero was erected just north of Alex- ander Moore's residence, and at the corner of his orchard. The size of the building was 14 by 16 feet. For a teacher, Mr. Moore employed Mrs. Shield Knight, who was a governess in the family of Captain Graham of Santa Cruz. Her salary of $400 per year was paid by Mr. Moore himself. She had but seven scholars, four of whom were from Mr. Moore's house, and the other three were Spanish children. In 1859, Sam Merit took charge of the school. A stove was needed, and Mr. Garretson agreed to contribute one on condition that Merit should carry it on his back from the store to the school-house (a distance of one mile), without once putting it down. The teacher accepted the banter, and shouldering his burden started with it for the school-house. Mr. Garretson kept along with him to see that the conditions were faithfully complied with. Merit fairly won the stove for the school, and it did good service in the little building, and also subsequently in the public school building that was erected on the opposite side of the creek.
In 1859, a long, lean young man might have been seen wending his way on foot into Pescadero. He was a physician, whose entire cash capital amounted to twenty-five cents. Early in 1860 he was employed to teach, as Merit's suc- cessor. He was also elected justice of the peace, and he divided his time between meting out justice to sinners, healing the sick, and instilling knowl- edge into the young mind. The young man was no other than I. R. Good- speed, M. D., now a prominent resident of San Mateo.
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In the spring of 1861 a man named Myers came to Pescadero and announced himself as a horse doctor. Pescadero horses were, however, distressingly healthy-either that, or else horse doctor Myers failed to draw confidence ; in some way, at all events, in order to keep the spiritual and material parts of his being harnessed together, he found it expedient to do odd jobs of any sort of work, whenever he could find them to be done. His true inwardness was eventually disclosed by an enterprise that made him for a while more sought after than he was before. It appears that while ostensibly engaged in the pursuit of an honest livelihood, he was quietly observing the ins and outs of Besse & Garretson's store, and one evening while the proprietors were at supper, having left the store to take care of itself for a brief moment, he pried open a window with a chisel, took fifteen hundred dollars from an old shoe, which was used as the safe of the establishment, and retired in good order and without having been discovered. With his ill-gotten booty Myers crossed Pes- cadero creek, into which he dropped his chisel, and buried the money some- where in the neighborhood. He was arrested on suspicion, the chisel was found, and Alexander Moore discovered on the prisoner's boots a peculiar mark which corresponded exactly with certain peculiarities in the tracks under- neath the store window and elsewhere. He was examined before the justice, who held him to answer to a charge of grand larceny, and committed him to the jail at Santa Cruz for safe keeping. He, however, broke jail, passed through Pescadero, where he secured the buried treasure, and then went to San Francisco. He kept himself so completely disguised that when T. W. Moore and Dr. I. R. Goodspeed were sent to the city to find him, they were completely baffled. Mr. Moore employed a Spaniard to assist in the still hunt, and the latter afterwards recognized his man in a low dance house. He was arrested and taken back to Santa Cruz, where he was tried, convicted, and sent to San Quentin for a term of years. The stolen money, which he had deposited in a bank in San Francisco, was recovered and restored to its rightful owners.
Samuel Bean had the honor of being the first to keep a hotel at Pescadero. The building was erected by Besse, Rader & Weeks, in the fall of 1856, for a store; Rader however occupied it as a dwelling house until 1859, when Bean took a lease of it for hotel purposes. In 1861, Loren Coburn became its pro- prietor, and he was succeeded by C. W. Swanton, who purchased the property and still keeps a hotel there.
In 1862, a Mexican named Soto and an Indian were living together in a shanty on the land of Brad. Weeks, below the present residence of L. Chand- ler. Another character, known as "English Tom," was a near neighbor, and they were all employed in digging potatoes for Mr. Weeks. One night Soto enticed Tom to his cabin, and there with the assistance of the Indian, killed him with an axe. The body was stripped of its clothing and thrown into Pescadero creek, the murderers doubtless supposing that as the water was
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backed up to a high stage by the tide, it would be carried out by the ebb to the ocean, and all chances of its appearing as a mute witness against them forever gone. But here again was an exemplification of the trueism, " murder will out." On the following day, Henry Turpin found the body nearly at the month of the creek. The sudden disappearance also, of the Mexican, turned suspicion toward him as the murderer. The sum of ninety dollars was raised, and Henry Dougherty and H. R. Smith, two veterans of the Mexican War, were sent out in search of the fugitive. They tracked him across the fields tow- ards Redwood City, and going to that place they found, upon inquiry, that he had not been there; they then turned back again towards the mountains, and met him at Davis's ranch, on the summit. On the third day after the murder, the culprit was brought back to Pescadero, tried by a committee of citizens, and swung up by the neck to a beam in Lafe Chandler's barn. The body was secretly buried, where or by whom was never known outside of those who were parties to the affair; all that has escaped the pale of secrecy with regard to this part of it is, that the person who acted as undertaker received ten dol- lars for his services. The Indian who was Soto's accomplice saw in this swift and terrible act of retribution a foreshadowing of his own fate, so in order to avoid any unpleasantness of the sort, he bought a bottle of whiskey at Striker's store and drank it to the dregs at one draught. He then crawled into Brad. Weeks' barn, below Swanton's hotel, and died. The body was discovered while it. was barely yet cold, and arrangements were made for putting it away out of sight without much ceremony. A rough box was knocked together, but on putting the dead Indian into it, was found to be too short by several inches. This difficulty was got over by simply cutting off the head of the corpse and packing it along with the body as could best be done, and the lid of the rude coffin having been pressed down and nailed, it was taken across the creek and buried.
About the year 1866, Alexander Rey was in charge of the chute at Pigeon Point, having been sent there by Goodall, Perkins & Co. A dispute arose between the firm and Loren Coburn, about the right of possession. A decision was rendered in favor of Coburn, notwithstanding which Goodall, Perkins & Co. still kept possession. Coburn's attorney advised him to make a peaceable entry, and the law would protect him in holding the property. Acting on this advice, Coburn went to San Francisco and got a posse of men, took them to the point, and while Rey, or "Scotty " as he was usually called, was at his supper, went upon the land and placed a man named Wolfe in charge. When " Scotty " returned, he found the men in possession, and ordered them off; they replied by commanding him not to come on the chute. Both parties were armed, and in the altercation which followed, shots were exchanged, resulting in the killing of "Scotty " by Wolfe. Coburn and his entire party were arrested, but at the trial it was proved that Rey fired the first
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shot, and they were acquitted. Even at this day statements concerning the affair are very conflicting, and the foregoing facts are given as the gist of the testimony adduced at the trial.
The fast freight line between San Francisco and Pescadero was established in 1867, by Thomas Johnston, of Spanishtown. Afterwards it passed into the hands of Wellington & Son, who were succeeded by Maynard & Fleming, who afterwards sold to Cooper. The present owners, James McCormack and James A. Hamilton, bought Cooper out, and they now own the line to San Mateo, connecting there with the railroad, and making the trip as often as the business requires.
The following are now doing business in Pescadero: General Merchandise- John Garretson, Albion P. Thompson, J. H. Hughes. Blacksmiths-John Goulson, Frederick Koster. Butcher shop -- Roe & Peterson. Shoemakers- I. Van Allen, James Wonford.
PIGEON POINT, distant about five miles southward from Pescadero, is the landing for the latter town. This place has a tragic and melancholy history, having been the scene of a watery grave for many a luckless voyager. The first startling disaster occurred on the 6th day of May, 1853, when the clipper ship Carrier Pigeon, of 1,100 tons, from Boston, was totally wrecked here and a large number of passengers drowned. From this event the place received the name it now bears. But this disaster was afterwards repeated in the vicinity of the point on three different occasions. About the year 1857, the Sir John Franklin, from Baltimore, was wrecked, with a loss of the captain and eleven men; and, two years later, the British iron bark Coya, with coals from New- castle, went to pieces between New Year and Pigeon Points, with a loss of twenty-seven men. The last disaster was the wrecking of the British ship Hellespont, with a loss of seven men.
The name of the point during the Spanish-Mexican regime, was Punta Ballena, or " Whale Point," which designation it received from the numbers of whale frequenting the waters of the Pacific in this vicinity. For a long time it has been the whale station of a company of Portuguese, who have constructed the necessary appliances for obtaining the oil, of which the company has, in a single year, produced as high as one thousand barrels.
This point is situated in the immense grant called Rancho Punta del Año Nueva, or New Year Point. The rancho takes its name from the point of land a few miles southward from Pigeon Point, and this was named by a company of Mission priests, who, journeying along the coast from Monterey to the Mission Dolores, arrived at this place on the first day of the year.
About 1833, the grant was made to one Simon Castro, and afterwards came into the hands of Maj. Graham, thence to the possession of Messrs. Clark and Coburn, in 1861. The latter named gentlemen still own an immense tract,
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extending from the Butano to the Gazos creek, and from the ocean to the mountains, the whole comprising about ten thousand acres, upon which there are between seventy-five and one hundred tenants, engaged in farming and dairying. The same gentlemen are the owners of the Pigeon Point Landing, over which there has been an amount of litigation that would inspire any ordinary man with a wholesome dread of the " law's delay."
PIGEON POINT LIGHT HOUSE AND FOG WHISTLE .- The light house was estab- lished in 1872, and is located on the extremity of the point, and about thirty- eight miles south of the Golden Gate, and twenty-five miles north of Monterey bay. The light is a first order Funk's Hydraulic Float. There are four circu- lar wicks in the lamp, whose diameters are as follows: Three and one-half inches, two and one-half inches, one and three-fourths of an inch, and seven- eighths of an inch. The lamp consists of two chambers for cit, one above the light and one below. The oil is pumped from the lower into the upper, whence it passes through a chamber in which there is a regulating float which governs the flow of oil to the lamp. The flow of oil is in excess of the amount con- sumed to the extent of one hundred and twenty drops each minute. The object of this is to prevent the charring of the wick; this overflow is conducted to the lower chamber and pumped again into the upper. In this way there is no wastage. The upper chamber is pumped full of oil every two hours. This is what is known as a "flash light," i. e., the lenses revolve around the light in such a manner that the focus of each lens appears as a flash. The entire revo- lution is made in four minutes, and the interval between flashes is ten seconds. A very complete reflecting arrangement is constructed about the light, so that every ray is brought to the focal plane, and passes thence across the surging billows, to warn the mariner of dangers, and guide him safely past the point. These reflectors consist of a series of large glass prisms, divided into segments varying in length as they approach the apex of the cone. Of these prisms their are eight horizontal series above the lenses, and the same number below them. Then there are eighteen series on the concave surface above the light, and eight series on the concave surface below, making a total of forty-two series of reflecting prisms, and the height of the reflecting apparatus, including the lenses, is eight feet and ten inches, and it is five feet and six inches in diameter. Viewed from the outside the outlines are very similar to a mammoth pineapple.
The reflector is revolved by a clock-work arrangement, and requires weights of about two hundred pounds to drive the machinery. There is a governor attached to the gearing for the purpose of regulating the motion and speed of the revolving reflector. This weight requires to be wound up every two hours and twenty minutes. The lenses are of the La Pute patent, and the gearing was made by Barbier & Fenestre, in Paris. This light is on a conical brick tower one hundred feet high, painted white, with black lantern and red dome.
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It is one hundred and fifty feet above the sea level. There is one hundred and thirty-nine steps from the landing to the front dome. A flashing white light visible eighteen and one-half miles, with intervals between flashes of ten seconds. It illuminates the entire circle, and is visible to mariners from south- east by southward and westward to northwest. The oil used is refined lard oil.
The fog whistle is located one hundred feet westward from the tower, and the fog signal house is painted a light buff color. There are two boilers and two whistles, one twelve and the other ten inches in diameter. The latter is seldom used. During thick or foggy weather one whistle is sounded, giving blasts of four seconds duration, with alternate intervals of seven and forty-five seconds. The arrangement is automatic, and governed by a small engine.
Everything is duplicated, so that if any piece of machinery should give way no loss of time would be sustained. Fuel saturated with petroleum is kept in the furnace all the time, so that steam may be gotten up at a moment's notice, night or day, and the whistle set going in a very short time.
The force of men employed at this station consists of one keeper and two assistants. The lamp in the tower is lighted at sundown and kept burning till sunrise. There is telegraphic communication from the light house and the fog whistle with the keeper's house. This dwelling is northwestward from the tower, and painted light buff, with red roof. It is large, roomy and comfort- able, and quite well furnished. This is not a ration station, and the employes have to furnish their own supplies.
A very penny wise, pound foolish, policy of economy has been adopted by the government, by which the salaries of these men have been cut down to a mere pittance, these now varying from eight hundred dollars for the keeper, to about five hundred dollars for the second assistant, per annum. When it is considered how these men have to live, far removed from society, subject to the dangers and fatigues incident to their vocation, and the great responsibility which rests upon their shoulders, it would seem that the government could well afford to be far more liberal in remunerating their services. The fate and destiny of valuable property and precious lives are in their hands. When the winds of ocean sweep with fiercest fury across the trackless main, lashing the water into seething billows almost mountain high, when the black pall of night has been cast over the face of the deep and ships are scudding along, close reefed and with storm sails set, not knowing where they are or how soon they may be cast upon the rocks or stranded upon the beach, when the storm king seems to hold full sway over all the world, suddenly a flash of light is seen. piercing the darkness, like a ray of hope from the bosom of God. Again and again is it seen, and the sailors rejoice, for they know they can pass in safety the dangerous point. But whence that ray of light that cheers the heart of the lonely mariner ? In the lonely watches of the dreary, stormy night, with
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