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 4
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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CALIFORNIA.
of the mass, morning and night prayer, confession and communion at state i times-the true worship, in a word, of the Deity, succeeded the listless, aimless life. the rude pagan games and the illicit amours. The plains and valleys, which for centuries lay uncultivated and unproductive, now teemed under an abundance of every species of corn; the hills and plains were covered with stock: the fig tree. the olive and the vine yielded their rich abundance, while lying in the harbors, waiting to carry to foreign markets the rich products of ยท the country, might be seen numerous vessels from different parts of the world. Such was the happy and prosperous condition of the country under the mission- ary rule; and with this the reader is requested to contrast the condition of the people after the removal of the Religious, and the transfer of power to the secular authorities.
"In 1833. the decree for the liberation of the Indians was passed by the Mexican Congress, and put in force in the following year. The dispersion and demoralization of the people was the immediate result. Within eight years after the execution of the decree, the number of Christians diminished from thirty thousand six hundred and fifty to four thousand four hundred and fifty ! Some of the missions, which in 1834 had as many as one thousand five hundred souls, numbered only a few hundred in 1842. The two missions of San Rafael and San Francisco Solano decreased respectively within this period from one thousand two hundred and fifty and one thousand three hundred, to twenty and seventy: A like diminution was observed in the cattle and general products of the country. Of the eight hundred and eight thousand head of live stock belonging to the missions at the date above mentioned, only sixty- three thousand and twenty remained in 1842. The diminution in the cereals was equally striking; it fell from seventy to four thousand hectolitres. By descending to particular instances, this (the advantage of the Religious over the civil administration) will become even more manifest still. At one period during the supremacy of the Fathers, the principal mission of the country (San Diego), produced as much as six thousand fanegas of wheat, and an equal quantity of maize, but in 1842 the return for this mission was only eighteen hundred fanegas in all."
35
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CALIFORNIA.
But why prolong these instances which are adduced by the learned and Reverend Father? Better will it be to let the reader judge for himself. Figures are incontrovertible facts; let them speak :
COMPARATIVE TABLE EXPLAINING THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE ADMINISTRA-
TION OF THE MISSIONS BY THE FATHERS IN 1834 AND THAT OF THE CIVIL AUTHORITIES IN 1842.
1715787
NAMES OF THE MISSIONS.
TIME OF FOUNDATION.
DISTANCE FROM PRECEDING
NUMBER OF INDIANS.
NUMBER OF HORNED CATTLE.
NUMBER OF HORSES.
NO. OF SHEE>, GOATS AND SWINE.
HARVEST
BUSHELS.
Leagues.
1834.
1842.
1834.
1842.
1834.
1842.
1834.
1842.
1834.
San Diego ...
June 16, 1769.
17
2,500
500
12,000
20
1,800
100
17,000
200
13,000
San Louis Rey.
June 13, 1798.
14
3,500
650
80,000
2,800 10,000
400 100,000
4,000
14,000
San Juan Capistrano
Nov. 1, 1776 ..
13
1,700
100
10,000
500
1,900
150| 10,000
200
10,000
San Gabriel .. .
Sept. 8, 1771. .
18
2.700
500 105,000
700 20,000
500
40,000
3,500
20,000
San Fernando
Sept. 8, 1797 ..
9
1,500
400
14,000 1,500|
5,000
400
7,000
2,000
8,000
San Buenaventura
March 31, 1782
18
1,100
300
4,000
200
1,000
40
6,000
400
3,000
Santa Barbara
Dec. 4, 1786.
12
1,200
400
5,000
1,800
1,200
130
5,000
400
3,000
Santa Inez.
Sept. 17, 1804.
12
1,300
250
14,000 10,000
1,200
500
12,000
4,000
3,500
San Luis Obispo
Sept. 1, 1771. .
18
1,250
80
9,000
300
4,000
200
7,000
$00
4,000
San Miguel
July 25, 1797. .
13
1,200
30
4,000
40
2,500
50
10.000
400
2,500
San Antonio
July 14, 1771. .
13
1,400
150
12,000
800
2,000
500
14,000
2,000
3,000
Mission del Carmel
June 3, 1770 ..
15
500
40
3,000
700
1,200
9,000
3.500
Santa Cruz.
Aug. 28, 1791.
17
600
50
8,000
800
10,000
2,500
Santa Clara
Jan. 18, 1777. .
11
1,800
300
13,000
1,500
1,200
250
15,000
3,000
6,000
San Jose ..
June 18, 1797.
7
2,300
400
2,400
8,000
1,100
200
19,000 7,000
10,000
Dolores de San Francisco.
Oct. 9, 1776. ..
18
500
50
5,000
60
1,600
50
4,000
200)
2.500
San Rafael .. .
Dec. 18, 1817. .
8
1,250
20
3,000
500
4,500
1,500
San Francisco Solano
Aug. 25, 1823.
13
1,300
70
3,000
700
4,000
3,000
30,650
4,450 396,400 29,020 32,600 3,820 321,500 31,600 123,000
-
Being twenty-one missions in all distributed over a distance of two hundred and eighty-nine leagues.
We have thus far dwelt principally upon the establishment of the missions, and the manner of life pursued by the native Indians; let us now retrace our steps, and briefly take into consideration the attempt made by yet another nation to get a foothold on the coast of California, but which would appear not to have heretofore received the attention which the subject would demand.
The Russians, to whom then belonged all that territory now known as Alaska, had found their country of almost perpetual cold, without facilities for the cultivation of those fruits and cereals which are necessary to the inainte- nance of life; of game there was an inexhaustible supply; still, a variety was wanted. Thus, ships were dispatched along the coast in quest of a spot where a station might be established and those wants supplied, at the same time bear- ing in mind the necessity of choosing a location easy of access to the head- quarters of their fur-hunters in Russian America. In a voyage of this nature the port of Bodega in Sonoma county, which nad been discovered in the year 1775 by its sponsor, Lieutenant Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, was visited in January, 1811, by Alexander Koskoff, who took possession of the place on the fragile pleas that he had been refused a supply of water at Yerba
Dec. 8, 1787. . .
900
60
15,000
2,000
300
14,000
3,500
6,000
Nostra Senora de la So'edad Oct. 9, 1791 ...
11
700
20
6,000
1,200
7,0 00
2,500
San Juan Bautista
June 24, 1799.
14
1,450
SO
9,000
7,000
1,500
La Purissima Conception
36
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CALIFORNIA.
Buena. and that he had obtained, by right of purchase from the Indians, all the land lying between Point Reyes and Point Arena, and for a distance of three leagues inland. Here he remained for awhile, and to Bodega gave the name of Romanzoff, calling the stream now known as Russian river, Slavianka.
The King of Spain, it should be remembered, claimed all territory north to the Fuca straits. Therefore, on Governor Arguello receiving the intelligence of the Russian occupation of Bodega, he reported the circumstance to the Viceroy, Revilla Gigedo, who returned dispatches ordering the Muscovite intru- der to depart. The only answer received to this communication was a verbal message, saying that the orders of the viceroy of Spain had been received and transmitted to St. Petersburg for the action of the Czar. Here, however, the matter did not rest. There arrived in the harbor of San Francisco, in 1816, in the Russian brig " Rurick," a scientific expedition, under the command of Otto von Kotzebue. In accordance with instructions received from the Spanish authorities, Governor Sola proceeded to San Francisco, visited Kotze- bue, and, as directed by his government, offered his aid in furtherance of the endeavors to advance scientific research on the coast. At the same time he complained of Koskoff; informed him of the action taken on either side, and laid particular emphasis on the fact that the Russians had been occupiers of Spanish territory for five years. Upon this complaint Don Gervasio Arguello was dispatched to Bodega as the bearer of a message from Kotzebue to Kos- koff, requiring his presence in San Francisco. This messenger was the first to bring a definite report of the Russian settlement there, which then consisted of twenty-five Russians and eighty Kodiae Indians. On the twenty-eighth day of October, a conference was held on board the " Ruriek " in the harbor of San Francisco, between Arguello, Kotzebue and Koskoff; there being also present Jose Maria Estudillo, Luis Antonio Arguello and a naturalist named Cham- isso, who acted as interpreter. No new developement was made at this inter- view, for Koskoff claimed he was acting in strict conformity with instructions from the Governor of Sitka, therefore Kotzebue declined to to take any action in the matter, contenting himself with the simple promise that the entire affair should be submitted to St. Petersburg to await the instructions of the Emperor of Russia. Thus the matter then rested. Communications subsequently made produced a like unsatisfactory result, and the Russians were permitted to remain for a lengthened period possessors of the land they had so arbitrarily appropriated.
In Bodega, the Russians, however, went to work with a will, whether they had a right to the soil or not. They proceeded into the country about six miles and there established a settlement, houses being built, fields fenced, and agricultural pursuits vigorously engaged in. As soon as the first crop had matured and was ready for shipment, it became necessary for them to have a warehouse at the bay, where their vessels could be loaded, which was done, it
37
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CALIFORNIA.
being used for the storage of grain or furs as necessity called for. It was not long before they found there was a strong opposition to them and that it would be necessary to build a fort for their protection if they would keep possession of thei newly acquired domain. Open warfare was threatened, and the Rus- sians had reason to believe that the threats would be carried out. Besides the Spaniards, there was another enemy to ward against-the Indians-over whom the former, through the missions, had absolute control, and the Rus- sians apprehended that this power would be used against them. Several expeditions were organized by the Spanish to march against the Russians, and while they all came to naught. yet they served to cause them to seek for some place of refuge in case of attack. This they did not care to look for at any point nearer the Bay of San Francisco, for thus they would be brought in closer proximity to the enemy, hence they went in an opposite direction. Doubtless the Muscovite would have been glad to have adopted a laissez faire policy towards the Spanish. and would have been well satisfied to have let them alone if they would only have retaliated in like manner; fearing, however, to trust the Spaniards, they proceeded to search for such a location as would afford them natural protection from their enemies.
In passing up the coast to the northward, they came to Fort Ross, where they found everything they desired. Vast meadows stretched to the east- ward, affording pasture to flocks without number.
" This is the forest primeval; the murmuring pines and the hemlocks, Bearded with moss and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight, Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic, Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms, Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep voiced neighboring ocean Speaks and in accents disconsolate, answers the wail of the forest."
There was a beautiful little cove in which vessels might lie in safety from the fury of northern storms; near at hand was an ample stretch of beach, on which their rude yet staunch argosies could be constructed and easily launched upon the mighty deep; no more propitious place could have been found for the establishment of the Russian headquarters. The location once chosen they set to work to prepare their new homes. A site was chosen for the stockade near the shore of the ocean, and in such a position as to protect all their ships lying in the little cove, and prevent any vessel inimical to them from landing. The plat of ground inclosed in this stockade was a parallelo- gram, two hundred and eighty feet wide and three hundred and twelve feet long, and containing about two acres. Its angles were placed very nearly upon the cardinal points of the compass. At the north and south angle there was constructed an octagonal bastion, two stories high, and furnished with six pieces of artillery. These bastions were built exactly alike, and were about twenty-four feet in diameter. The walls were formed of hewed logs, mortised together at the corners, and were about eight inches in thickness.
38
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CALIFORNIA.
The roof was conical shaped, having a small flag-staff at the apex. The stockade approached these towers in such a way that one-half of them was within the inclosure and the other half on the outside, the entrance to them being through small doors on the inside, while there were embrasures both on the inside and outside. They were thus arranged so as to protect those within from an outside enemy, and to also have all within, under the range of the cannon, so that in case of an internal eruption the officers could readily quell the emute. The stockade was constructed as follows: A trench was excavated two feet deep, while every ten feet along the bottom of the trench a hole was dug one foot deep. In these holes posts about six by ten inches were inserted, and between the posts and on the bottom of the trenches there was a strong girder firmly mortised into the posts, and fastened with a strong wooden pin. Slabs of varying widths, but all being about six inches thick, were then placed in an upright position between the first posts and resting on the girder in the trench, being firmly fastened to them. At a distance up the posts of twelve feet from the lower girder, there was run another girder, which was also mor- tised into the posts and made fast with pins. These girders rested on the tops of the slabs mentioned as being placed between the posts. The slabs were slotted at the top, and a piece of timber passed into the slots, then huge wooden pins were passed down through the girders and the piece in the slots, and well into the body of the slab. The main posts extended about three feet higher, and near the top a lighter girder was run along, and between the last two mentioned there was a row of light slabs. two inches thick and four inches wide, pointed at the top like pickets. It may well be imagined that when the trench was filled up with tamped rock and dirt, that this stockade was almost invulnerable, when we remember the implements of war likely to be brought against it in those days of rude weapons. All around the stockade there were embrasures suitable for the use of muskets or carronades, of which latter, it is said, there were several in the fortress.
On the northern side of the eastern angle there was erected a chapel which it is said was used by the officers of the garrison, alone. It was twenty-five by thirty-one feet in dimensions, and strongly built, the outer wall forming a part of the stockade, and the round port-holes for the use of carronades, are peculiar looking openings in a house of worship. The entrance was on the inside of the fort, and consisted of a rude, heavy wooden door, held upon wooden hinges. There was a vestibule about ten by twenty-five feet in size, thus leaving the auditorium twenty-one by twenty-five feet. From the vestibule a narrow stairway led to a low loft, while the building was sur- mounted with two domes, one of which was round, and the other pentagonal in shape, in which it is said the muscovites had hung a chime of bells. The roof was made of long planks, either sawed or rove from redwood, likewise the side of the chapel in the fort. Some degree of carpenter's skill was displayed in the construction of the building, for a faint attempt at getting out mouldings
39
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CALIFORNIA.
for the inner door and window casings was made, a bead being worked around the outer edge of the casing, and mitered at the corners.
On the west side of the northern angle there was a two-story building, twenty-eight by eighty feet in dimensions, which was roughly constructed and doubtless used as the barracks for the men of the garrison. On the northern side of the western angle there was a one-story building, twenty-nine by fifty feet. constructed in a better style of workmanship and evidently used as officers' quarters. On the southern side of the western angle was a one-story building twenty-five by seventy-five feet, which was probably used for a working house, as various branches of industry were prosecuted within its walls, and on the eastern side of the southern angle there was a row of low shed build- ings used. it is presumed, for the stabling of stock and storing of feed. The frame work of all the buildings was made of very large. heavy timbers, many of them being twelve inches square. The rafters were all great, ponderous, round pine logs, a considerable number of them being six inches in diameter. The above includes the stockade and all its interior buildings.
We will now draw attention to the exterior buildings, for be it known that there was at one time a colony numbering two hundred and fifty souls at Fort Ross. In 1845, there were the remains of a village of about twenty-five small dwelling houses on the north side of the stockade. all of which were in keeping with those at Bodega. They were probably not over twelve by fourteen feet in dimensions, and constructed from rough slabs riven from redwood. These hardy muscovites were so rugged and inured to the cold of the higher latitudes that they cared not for the few cracks that might admit the fresh, balmy air of the California winter mornings. Also, to the northward of and near this village, situated on an eminence, was a windmill, which was the motor for driving a single run of burrs, and also for a stamping machine used for grind- ing tan-bark. The wind-mill produced all the flour used in that and the Bodega settlements, and probably a considerable amount was also sent with the annual shipment to Sitka. To the south of the stockade, and in a deep gulch at the debouchure of a small stream into the ocean, there stood a very large building, probably eighty by a hundred feet in size, the rear half of which was used for the purpose of tanning leather. There were six vats in all. constructed of heavy, rough redwood slabs, and each with a capacity of fifty barrels; there were also the usual appliances necessary to conduct a tannery, but these implements were large and rough in their make, still with these. they were able to manufacture a good quality of leather in large quantities. The front half of the building. or that fronting on the ocean, was used as a work- shop for the construction of ships. Ways were constructed on a sand beach at this point leading into deep water, and upon them were built a number of staunch vessels, and from here was launched the very first sea-going craft constructed in California. Still further to the south. and near the ocean shore, stood a building eighty by a hundred feet, which bore all the marks of
40
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CALIFORNIA.
having been used as a store-house; it was, however, unfortunately blown down by a storm on July 16, 1878, and soon there will be nothing to mark its site.
Tradition says that to the eastward of the fort and across the gulch, there once stood a very large building, which was used as a church for the common people of the settlement, near which the cemetery was located. A French tourist once paid Fort Ross a visit, and arriving after dark asked permission to remain over night with the parties, who at that time owned that portion of the grant on which the settlement was located. During the evening the conversation naturally drifted upon the old history of the place. The tourist displayed a familiarity with all the surroundings, which surprised the resi- dents, and caused them to ask if he had ever lived there with the Russians. He answered that he had not, but that he had a very warm friend in St. Petersburg, who had spent thirty years at Fort Ross as a Muscovite priest, and that he had made him a promise, upon his departure for California, about a year before, to pay a visit to the scenes of the holy labors of the priest, and it was in compliance with this promise that he was there at the time. Among the other things inquired about was the church close to the cemetery mentioned above. All traces of this building had long since disappeared, and the settlers were surprised to hear that it ever stood there. The tourist assured them that the priest had stated distinctly that such a building once occupied that site, and also that a number of other buildings stood near it, used by the peasants for homes. Ernest Rufus, of Sonoma, who went to Fort Ross in 1845, tells us that when the land went into disuse after the Russians had left, that wild oats grew very rank, often reaching a height of ten feet, and that the Indians were accus- tomed to set it on fire, and that during these conflagrations the fences and many of the smaller houses of the Russians were consumed, and that he well remembers that there were a number of small houses near the cemetery, and that the blackened ruins of a very large building also remained, which the half-breed Russo-Indians told him had been used for a church. The tourist mentioned above stated that his friend, the priest, was greatly attached to the place, as had been all who had lived in the settlement. They found the climate genial, the soil productive, and the resources of the country great, and, all in all, it was a most desirable place to live in.
The Russians had farmed very extensively at this place, having at least two thousand acres under fence, besides a great deal that was not fenced. These fences, which were chiefly of that kind known as rail and post, as stated before, nearly all perished in the wild fires. Their agricultural processes were as crude as any of their other work. Their plow was very similar to the old Spanish implement, so common in this country at that time and still extant in Mexico, with the exception that the Muscovite instrument possessed a mold-board. They employed oxen and cows as draft animals, using the old Spanish yoke adjusted to their horns instead of to their necks. We have no account of any attempt of constructing either cart or wagon, but,
41
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CALIFORNIA.
it is probable that they had vehicles the same as those described as being in use among the Californians at that time, while it is supposed they used to a great extent sleds for transporting their produce when cut to the threshing floor, which was constructed differently from those then common in the country. It was simply a floor composed of heavy puncheons, circular in shape, and elevated somewhat above the ground. Between the puncheons were inter- stices through which the grain fell under the floor as it was released from the head. The threshing was done in this wise: A layer of grain, in the straw, of a foot or two in thickness, was placed upon the floor. Oxen were then driven over it, hitched to a log with rows of wooden pegs inserted into it. As the log revolved, these pegs acted well the part of a flail, and the straw was expeditiously relieved of its burden of grain. It was, doubtless, no hard job to winnow the grain after it was threshed, as the wind blows a stiff blast at that point during all the Summer months.
The Russians constructed a wharf at the northern side of the little cove, and graded a road down the steep ocean shore to it. Its line is still to be seen, as it passed much of the way through solid rock. This wharf was made fast to the rocks on which it was constructed, with long iron bolts, of which only a few that were driven into the hard surface now remain; the wharf itself is gone, hence we are unable to give its dimensions, or further details concerning it.
These old Muscovites, doubtless, produced the first lumber with a saw ever made north of the San Francisco bay, for they had both a pit and whip- saw, the former of which can be seen to this day. Judging from the number of stumps still standing, and the extent of territory over which they extended their logging operations, they evidently consumed large quantities of lumber. The timber was only about one mile distant from the ship-yard and landing, while the stumps of trees cut by them are still standing, and beside then from one to six shoots have sprung up, many of which have now reached a size sufficient for lumber purposes. This growth has been remarkable, and goes to show that if proper care were taken, each half century would see a new crop of redwoods, sufficiently large for all practical purposes, while ten decades would see gigantic trees.
As stated above, the cemetery lay to the eastward of the fort, about one- fourth of a mile, and across a very deep gulch, and was near the church for the peasants. There were never more than fifty graves in it, though all traces are obliterated now of more than a dozen; most of them still remaining had some sort of a wooden structure built over them. One manner of construct- ing these mausoleums was to make a series of rectangular frames of square timbers, about six inches in diameter, each frame a certain degree smaller than the one below it, which were placed one above another, until an apex was reached, which was surmounted with a cross. Another method was to con- struct a rectangular frame of heavy planking about one foot high and cover
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