USA > California > Santa Barbara County > History of Santa Barbara county, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 47
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SEC. 7. All ordinances and parts of ordinances in conflict with the provisions of this ordinance are hereby repealed.
HALEY SURVEY SETTLED.
The usual results of a local dispute were repeated in this case. The conflieting interests, the ignorance of the principles on which such cases must be finally set- tled, and the different views of equity entertained by interested parties, brought out a great deal of abusive language as well as humor. It was asserted that the measurements were made with a rope which was longer at noon than in the morning; that the compass used was taken out of a wrecked vessel that came to grief because the instrument had to have the assistance of a handspike to point to the north. Everything must have an end. The loud and per- sistent talk did not decide the question. When the case came before the Supreme Court, in the case of Penry vs. Richards, No. 5,688, the judges decided that the stakes set by Haley were the lawful landmarks; upon which W. C. Stratton, City Attorney, informed the Council that the stakes set by Haley must be con-
sidered the legal bounds of streets and blocks, so ended the contest regarding the " Haley Survey,"
OLD AND NEW.
The long evenly graded streets with planked side- walks, the rows of brick buildings filled with costly goods, the drays transporting the packages of for- eign merchandise, the churches, the institutions of learning, the arrival and departure of steamers, the numbers of first-class hotels, like the Morris House, the Occidental, and Arlington, thronged with guests, the numbers of gay equipages darting about the streets, the crowds of strangers coming and going, the three daily papers that endeavored to swell every minor event into something of importance, all showed the transition state of the city, and the ultimate loss of all that made up the Santa Barbara of twenty- five years ago. Although the new phases had been looked upon as desirable improvements, and were really so, yet there were some feelings of regret as the old landmarks began to blend into the dim past. The editor of the Index thus poured out his lamentations:
"OLD SANTA BARBARA.
" Walking along Santa Barbara Street a few days ago, in the morning, we passed a native Californian's home.' Two women were sitting, laughing and chat- ting on a porch beneath the tiled roof of a long low brown adobe; a man sat singing a soft Spanish air to the accompaniment of a guitar; several fruit trees and a cactus grew in the open ground before the door; five or six horses saddled and bridled, stood tied beneath the trees; two dogs were sleeping in the sun. To us Americans who are forever struggling onward in a ceaseless march of progress, it is a pleas- ure sometimes to stop and look for a moment on those who live in the simple enjoyment of the nat- ural blessings of existence. These adobes with the life they contain, come upon us in the midst of our Yankee enterprise more like the pictures of the rude . poesy of primitive life, such as we read of in the history of by-gone years, than as any part of our surroundings. They are the remains of old Santa Barbara, that are dissolving as the figures of a dream before Santa Barbara the new. If, as the old recedes, we could snatch from oblivion but one of these adobes, just to show the character of the old town, to be preserved as the picture of the primitive pastoral age of Santa Barbara, we would do so. But the inmates should be retained as well as the adobe. Without the Californian, the house would tell but half the story. It would be like the frame without the picture. No part of the dwelling or its surroundings should be touched. No plasterer should desecrate it with his trowel; no whitewasher should mar it with his brush, and we would keep the dogs about the door; and the horses with their riders should come and go; and the guitar should be heard as it is now, and of an evening the bonfire should be lit, and dancing should begin, and dancers should be seen through the lighted windows, and mirth should be there, and the house and its inhabit- ants should be like the spectre scene of long ago. Strange legends should grow up around it. Children should pass it with whispers. Poets and artists should come to feed on its inspiration, and in time some southern Hawthorne should weave its story with his own, and embalm it with immortal memory."
195
SPANISH GRANTS.
CHAPTER XXVII.
SPANISH GRANTS.
Chandler's Letter-Los Prietos y Najalayegua-Legat Proceed- in s- Dominguez' First Petition-Confirmation of Dunin- guez' l'itle-Valne of the Grant-Abstract of Title-Side Claim-In Congress-Parson's Letter-Dominguez' St.ite- ment-Confirmation - To vn Titles-Packard's Protest - Publie Feeling-The Survey - G. Howard Thompson's Letter-Decision of the Commissioners Regarding the Sur- vey-Survey Rejected -Public Meeting-Public Meetings Continned-Affidavits-Poetry-San Francisco "Times"- The Clouds Lifting-Counter Affidavits-" Press" Editorial -Signs of a Reaction in Congress-Conclusion-The Ex- Mission tirant-Editorial in the " Alta."
IT is hardly possible to give, in the short space permissible in a history of this kind, any correct idea of the nature of the Spanish Grants. A large volume would be required to give a correct and complete history of even the Najalayegna, the history of which involved Congress and many of our Judges in its operations. It has been thought best to give as full an account of this matter as space would permit, touching lightly on others which were scarcely infe- rior to it in interest. It may be observed of this grant that there was no doubt of its being genuine, the parties concerned all living until the great eon- test concerning it had been ended. Many of the grants are justly believed to have been manufact- ured after the occupation by the Americans, the former Government officers lending the use of their names for the purpose. In some instances the titles were made on paper bearing a date in the water- marks of the paper subsequent to the purported exe- cution of the papers. The archives containing the Mexican documents were kept in the Surveyor-Gen- erals' office at San Francisco, and the records being in Spanish, many clerks of the native race bad to be employed. The whole process of obtaining land had been extremely simple, involving very few prelimi- naries other than elerical work, so that with access to the archives grants could be manufactured with- out trouble. It is a serious charge to make against the Governors, but there seems little doubt of it. The Arroyo Seeo grant purported to have been made by Juin B. Alvarado. May 8. 1840, antedating some years the grants of Sutter at Sacramento and Gul- nae (Weber) at Stockton.
It was described as bounded on the west by the old Sacramento trail or road, south by the Mokel- umne, north by the Cosumnes, and east by the neighboring Sierras, containing eleven leagues. But for the latter clause the territory might have been large enough for a kingdom. Now the striking features of the matter are that the names given to the rivers were not known in 1840; that the Arroyo Seco, from which the grant was named, was not known by that or any other name until after the discovery of gold. In 1840 not a Mexican had ever seen the Arroyo Seco grant, much less set his foot
upon it, for it was inhabited by Indians, who were at constant war with the Mexicans, and had success- fully prevented the formation of any ranches east of the San Joaquin River, and even Gulnac himself. three years later, only got a loothold some thirty miles nearer the settled county by entering into a treaty with the Indians to assist them in defense against the Mexicans. In this instance some thirty or forty families were turned out of the houses and homes they themselves had built up out of a wilder- ness, the soldiers enlisted to defend the Union being used for this purpose. The claim was pushed by Andres Pico, brother of the Governor, and by De Zaldo, who was a clerk in the Surveyor-General's office.
It is by no means intended to imply that there were no genuine grants; on the contrary, the most of them were undoubtedly good and true, but the laxity in the methods of making a grant worked a double disadvantage, a wrong to the colonists who had a title to the land, and to the settler on public lands who beheld all of his improvements swept away by the fraudulent claims. Many of the original holders, who had ocenpied the land for a quarter of a century, were compelled to endure the expense of a long and tedious litigation, carried on by land- grabbers who fought the confirmation at every step. Riots and loss of lite were not unfrequent, while bribery, perjury, and all kinds of similar offenses were freely charged upon Judges, Legislators, and other officers.
Rumors from time to time regarding the frauds, practiced in most instances by speeulators who had bought the Spanish claims, in regard to the settle- ment of the grants, reached the General Government. On one occasion Secretary Chandler responded as follows in regard to the Rancho Lomas de San- tiago :-
CHANDLER'S LETTER.
"I have given the subjeet my careful considera- tion, and have been aided by a very full argument, submitted by the attorneys to the defendants for the bill of complaints. The case made by the bill shows that the Board of Land Commissioners and the decree of the District Court, confirming the grant, were procured by fraud and forgery, and that the grant itself was wholly void. It shows also that the present owners of the rancho bought with full knowl- edge of the frand, and are not entitled to considera- tion as bona fide purchasers. Where the confirma- tion of Mexican grants appears to have been obtained through forgery or fraud upon the Courts, to the wrong of the General Government, I shall be dis- posed to advise the institution of appropriate action on the part of the United States for the recovery of the lands so obtained. provided they remain in the hands of the perpetrators of the fraud, or have been conveyed to others who have a full knowledge of the wrong. I am not disposed in any case to reeom- mend that the possession of a bona fide grant pur- chase be disturbed. Assuming the facts to be as stated in the bill of complaint, I have the honor of advising that suit be brought in such form as shall
196
HISTORY OF SANTA BARBARA COUNTY.
seem best adapted to secure the just rights of the United States.
In this instance the claimants were a great rail- road company. Whether the frauds were perpe- trated by their agency or by parties who sold to them, is uncertain; but the facts that the grant had been made after the treaty of peace, and also an attempt to erase the date and substitute an earlier one, were apparent. Though there was no doubt that many improper means had been used to settle the land claims, there was an aversion to disturbing them. as likely to bring more evils than benefits in prolonging litigation.
The method of obtaining a grant of land, as well as the trouble in keeping it, will be well shown by the history of the
LOS PRIETOS Y NAJALAYEGUA.
The first occupant, or, as we should say, " squat- ter," was José Lugo, an invalid soldier, who had taken up the land and had resided on it for some years.
The following certificate will show the first aliena- tion :- " TRANSLATION.
" Raymundo Carrillo, Justice of the Peace and Judge of the Court of the First Instance of the Port of Santa Barbara and vicinity.
" I certify in due form that in my presence Mr. José Ignacio Lugo, an invalid soldier, effected the sale of the lands belonging to him to Mr. José Do- minguez, which lands are situated in the Najalaye- gua, for $20.00 in silver currency and two barrels of aguadiente (native brandy), which said money the
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The above map is closely copied from the original on file in the Surveyor Generals office at San Francisco, and is a fair sample of the Disenos usually accom- panying a grant. The reader will perceive that the terms are very uncertain.
said Dominguez delivered to the vendor in this Tri- bunal, which I certify to and affirm for the reason that the contracting parties have resorted to my Tribunal, and I give this certificate to the said Do- minguez, for his security and other necessary pur- poses, in Santa Barbara on the 14th day of January, 1843. RAYMUNDO CARRILLO."
From this it would appear that Lugo had inform- ally sold his right some years before.
There was a house on the land built by Lugo, in which he resided, and to which Dominguez removed when he bought the land. In some of the old maps of Santa Barbara this house and land is designated as belonging to Dominguez. About this the contest afterwards raged.
DOMINGUEZ' FIRST PETITION.
[MEXICAN SEAL.] Most Excellent Sir:
I, José Dominguez, a Mexican by birth, before
your Excellency, respectfully represent: That need- ing a tract of land of my own for cultivation, and on which to place the stock that I possess, I implore your Excellency to be pleased to grant me that which is shown upon the annexed map, the same being vacant and lying within the limits of the town (Poblacion) of Santa Barbara.
Wherefore, I pray your Excellency to be pleased to accede to my petition, by which I shall receive a great benefit.
[The necessary affidavit, as was then required by the Mexican Government, followed.]
This petition is indorsed as follows :-
MONTEREY, June 7, 1841.
Let this petition be referred to the Prefect of the Second District, to the end that he may cause the necessary reports to be made in relation thereto.
ALVARADO.
LEGAL PROCEEDINGS-1845.
Proceedings instituted by the Citizen José Domin-
197
MEXICAN GRANTS.
guez petitioning for the tract of land called "Prietos y Najalayegua." 469.
"To his Excellency the Governor:
"I, José Dominguez, a native and resident of the District of Santa Barbara. before your Excellency respectfully present myself and say: That having in the year 1841 petitioned for a place called 'Prietos y Najalayegua,' sitnated in the district in which I reside, the respective Expediente was formed, but by order of the Governor and predecessor of your Excel- leney, the proceedings were suspended until the gov- ernment should be established, and as the same is now radically established, I pray your Excellency to be pleased to issue to me the corresponding title for said place and order that the judicial possession be given me which may secure my right of property in the land. Although it is true that for the last three years I have been in possession of the land by having a house and stock thereon, by virtue of a provisional title given me by the Señor ex-Governor, Don Juan B. Alvarado.
Wherefore, I reiterate by petition, hoping from the goodness of your heart, to receive this favor, for which purpose I present herewith the Expediente referred to, which is concluded, together with the corresponding map, swearing, etc.
Admitting this on common paper for want of sealed paper. (I do not know how to sign.)
Arguello, September 23, 1845."
ANGELES, September 24, 1845.
In the foregoing petition the report of the civil authority of Santa Barbara, with all other matters necessary to be considered in conformity with the law of the 18th of August, 1824, and the regulation of the 21st of November, 1828. I declare José Dominguez owner of the land named Los Prietos y Najalayegua.
Let the corresponding title issue, and let the Expediente be reserved that this concession may be submitted to the Most Excellent Departmental Assembly for the approval thereof.
Pio Pico Governor ad interim of the Californias, thus ordered, decreed and signed which 1 attest. PIO PICO.
JOSE M. COVARRUBIAS, Sec'y. [Third Seal Two Reals]
Provisionally authorized by the Maritime Custom House of the Port of Monterey in the Department of the Californias for the years 1840 and 1841.
ANTO MA. OSIO."
J.meno.
[Juan B. Alvarado was the Mexican Governor of California, from 1838 to 1842. Owing to an unsettled condition of the government of northern Mexico, Dominguez' petition did not receive any further atten- tion until January, 1843. This fact is referred to in Dominguez' second petition, which appears below.]
[Here follows, in the regular order of business, the following action on the part of the Mexican officials, Arguello and Joaquin Carrillo.]
ANGELES, January 27, 1843.
In obedience to the foregoing Superior Decree, and in accordance with the laws and regulations on the subject, let the Justice of the Peace of the District of Santa Barbara report if the land petitioned for here- in pertains to any corporation, community, or indi- vidual; if it is included within the ten leagues bor- dering on the sea coast, or twenty leagues bordering
on a foreign territory; if the petitioner possesses suf- ficient means to stock said place, and the necessary requisites to entitle him to be heard on his petition; with all other matters that may serve to throw light uj on the subject; and when these proceedings shall have been taken, let the Expediente be returned to this Prefecture for the necessary ends. ARGUELLO.
JOSE R. ARGUELLO, Sec'y.
[Arguello was the Pretect of the Second District of California, holding his office in Los Angeles.]
To the Señor Prefect:
The petitioner herein possesses all the necessary legal requisites to entitle him to be heard on his petition; he has stock to place on said land, and is worthy, in consideration of his personal services, to receive what he asks; the land he petitions for does not pertain to any community or individual what- ever; it is situated within the ten leagues bordering on the sea shore, but is not within the twenty leagues bordering on a foreign territory, referred to in the law on the subject, and is alone occupied by wild animals.
All of which I have the honor of reporting to your Honor, in obedience to your Superior Decree of the twenty-seventh of January last.
JOAQUIN CARRILLO. Santa Barbara, March 3, 1843. "ANGELES. May 8, 1846. " In the session of to-day, this Expediente was referred to the Most Excellent Departmental Assem- bly, and ordered to be referred to Committee on Vacant Lands. PIO PICO.
"AUGUSTINE OLIVERA, Secretary."
" Sir: The Committee on Vacant Lands have carefully examined the present Expediente instituted by the citizen José Dominguez, of the land of Prietos y Najalayegua, which was granted to him by the Superior Departmental Government, in ac- cordance with the laws on the subject; wherefore, the committee submit for the consideration of your Excellency the following proposition :-
"That the concession made to the citizen José Dominguez, of the place of Prietos y Najalayegua, in the jurisdiction of Santa Barbara, be approved to the extent as shown by the map in the Expediente, according to the title issued on the 24th of Septem- ber last, in accordance with the law of the 18th of August, 1824, and Article 5th of the Regulations of the 21st of November, 1828. Committee Chamber, in the City of Los Angeles, May 26, 1846.
"S. ARGUELLO."
" CONFIRMATION OF DOMINGUEZ' TITLE.
"ANGELES, June 3, 1846.
"In the session of to-day, the Excellent Depart- mental Assembly approved the proposition of the foregoing report.
" Pio Pico, Governor ad Interim of the Department of Californians :-
" WHEREAS, the citizen José Dominguez has peti- tioned, for his personal benefit, and that of his family, for the land known by the name of Los Prietos y Najalayegua; the necessary proceedings having been taken, and the investigations made, as required by the laws and regulations on the subject; by virtue of the authority conferred upon me. by decree of this day, in the name of the Mexican nation, I have determined to grant him the said
26
198
HISTORY OF SANTA BARBARA COUNTY. .
land, declaring to him the ownership thercof by these presents, subject to the approval of the Most Excellent Departmental Assembly, and under the following conditions :-
" 1st. He may enclose it, without prejudice to the crossings, roads, and servitudes; he shall enjoy it freely and exclusively, devoting it to the use or cultivation that may be most convenient, but within one year he shall build a house upon the land, which shall be inhabited.
"2d. He shall solicit the respective judge to give him judicial possession by virtue of this title, by whom the boundaries shall be marked out by the necessary landmark.
"3d. The land of which donation is made is strictly (puramente) that which is shown upon the map in the Expediente. The judge who may give the pos- session will cause the same to be measured in accordance with the ordinances. and will inform the Government as to the number of square leagues contained in the tract.
" In consequence whereof, I order that this title, being held as firm and valid, be registered in the respective book, and be delivered to the interested party for his security and further ends.
"Given in the City of Los Angeles, on common paper (for want of the corresponding sealed paper) on the 24th of September, 1845."
These papers were registered in the proper books. VALUE OF THE GRANT.
The Los Prietos y Najalayegua was considered of so little consequence in the early years of Santa Barbara that it was not presented to the commis- sioners for confirmation, as the subsequent claimants asserted for the reason that the intere-ted parties were too poor to bear the expense. If the claim justly extended to the plains of Santa Barbara, it included places which, from the very settlement of Santa Barbara, had been valuable. If the grant was between the two ranges of mountains, and between the San Marcos Rancho and the Carpen- teria Creek, there was little value in the grant, and nothing to induce a presentation of it to the Board of United States Land Commissioners. During the time the grant title was forgotten or unthought of, the discovery was made that the Najalayegua Indians had at one time lived on the south side of the mountains near Montecito; that a tract there was sometimes called by their name. This fact, which might, with good management, be made to include some of the Santa Barbara lands in the Najalayegua, and the discovery of quicksilver, brought the corpse of the grant to its feet-a giant-which threatened to swallow all the country, including town, mount- ains, quicksilver, and petroleum mines.
ABSTRACT OF TITLE.
The exchange of title will show the road along which it grew into such dimensions :-
First-Possessory claim of José Lugo sold to José Dominguez January 14, 1843, for a consideration of two kegs of brandy and $20 in silver currency.
Second-Grant made to Dominguez, September, 1845, by Pio Pico, Governor ad interim.
Third-José Dominguez to Thomas Cevasco, April 17, 1856.
Fourth-Thomas Cevasco to Felipe Arrellanes, December 26, 1856; consideration, $1.00.
Fifth-Felipe Arrellanes to C. E. Hnse, December 1, 1864; consideration, $100.
Sixth-C. E. Huse to Thomas A. Scott, March 16, 1865; consideration, $1,000.
Seventh-Thomas A. Scott to Edward J. Pringle, August 13, 1867; consideration, $1.00.
SIDE CLAIM.
There seemed to be a side claim in the matter, from what source or circumstance is not related. The old Najalayegna joined the San Marcos, once in the possession of R. S. Den. Perhaps some possess- ory rights were acquired in that way, at any rate the title was made to converge with the other, in Mr. Huse.
Francisco Badilla and wife, Rafaella Garcia, to R. S. Den, March 26, 1857; consideration, $2,000. The boundaries were: "On the north by the mountains of San Rafael, on the south by the mountains of Santa Barbara, on the east by the Najalayegua, and on the west by the San Marcos, containing two leagues of land, more or less;" purchased from Do- minguez, by title, October 8, 1845.
R. S. Den to John Parrot, September 3, 1864, part security for mortgage debt of $6,000.
R. S. Den, by the Sheriff, to John S. Brown, Janu- ary 20, 1867; consideration, $11.00.
John S. Brown to Susan G. Huse.
IN CONGRESS.
The claim was now pressed in Congress for Jose Dominguez, the original grantee. Very affecting appeals were made in his behalf.
[Washington Globe.] " IN SENATE, Tuesday, March 16, 1866.
" Mr. Conness presented the memorial of José Domingnez, praying to be confirmed in the title granted to him September 24, 1845, by Governor Pio Pico, and approved by the Departmental Assembly of Alta California June 3, 1846, of the land known as Los Prietos y Najalayegua, in the county of Santa Barbara, California, which was referred to the Com- mittee on Private Land Claims.
"Mr. Thayer, from the Committee on Private Land Claims, reported back Senate Bill 189, to confirm a certain grant of land to José Dominguez, in Califor- nia, with a recommendation that it do pass.
"The bill was read. It confirms the title of the petition to a grant of land in Santa Barbara County, California, made in 1845.
"MR. THAYER: This is one of those claims which the United States, by the terms of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, are bonnd to confirm if the evidence is clear and properly substantiated. The Committee have examined it and believe it should be confirmed. I will ask the clerk to read the following letter, not so much for its bearing upon the case as for its reference to a very singular natural curiosity which exists upon this estate."
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