USA > California > Santa Barbara County > History of Santa Barbara county, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 49
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MEXICAN GRANTS.
as mountains, if, in fact, the north boundary bad been the Najalayegua. The fact referred to in argu- ment that only one slope of this sonth boundary was shown on the diseño proves nothing. nor does it, in my opinion, raise any presumption that such slope was intended to be included in the grant. In absence of anything in this case specially to show such a design on the part of the maker of this diseño, no such presumption could arise, unless it were shown to be a general enstom in making such maps to thus represent hills or mountains intended to be petitioned for. As a matter of fact, however, these diseño were usually made by the petitioner for the grant, or some one of his neighbors, and hence such diseño is sui generis in its designations of natural objects. It may be added that it was formerly the practice of engrav- ers on steel to shade one side only of designations of mountains. [Sce map of China 1st, American Ed., printed in Philadelphia in 1832, of 'New Edinburgh Encyclopedia.'] The eastern boundary, as shown on the diseño, is the Arroyo de Carpenteria, and the record shows that the Carpenteria is a well-known stream, running wholly south of Santa Barbara or Santa Ynez range of mountains, and along the north- western boundary of the Rancho El Rincon, granted by the Mexican authorities June 22, 1835, and pat- ented by the United States, November 22, 1872. It is thus evident that going from Santa Ynez River we cannot reach the said Carpenteria Creek without crossing over a mountain range from 2,000 to 5,000 feet above the level of the sea, and which we have already determined to be the south boundary of the Najalayegua. The reason for this difference between the location of Carpenteria on the diseño and its actual location is found in the affidavit dated May 8, 1874, of Dominguez, in which he states that ' the Arroyo Carpenteria was marked on said diseño by guess as being in that direction, and without my personal knowledge of its exact position.' Either the Carpenteria Creek or the said mountain range must therefore be rejected as a boundary, and in rejecting one of these boundaries this office must retain that which best satisfies the intent of the grant and confirmation. This, in my opinion, is the Santa Barbara range of mountains, for omitting altogether the statement contained in Dominguez' affidavit, before referred to, that he 'claimed no land on the south side of the mountain bordering on the Pueblo lands of Santa Barbara,' I am satisfied that the Najalayegua never reached the southern slope of said mountains, and hence never reached the Carpen- teria. In addition to what has already been said relative to the extension of the Najalayegua south of the mountain range, attention is called to the fact that the Arroyo Carpenteria is one of the boundaries of the Rancho El Rincon, which rancho bas been granted and its boundaries measured under the Mex- ican Government, years before the Najalayegna was petitioned for by Dominguez, yet the Expediente of Najalayegua contains no reference to El Rincon. The eastern boundary of Najalayegua will be abont the same, whether such boundary be found by run- ning a line due north from Carpenteria Creek, or by finding the point on the east where the southern boundary intersects the range of mountains coming down from the north, and marked on Thompson's plat, ' San Rafael range of mountains.' It is evident, however, that the canon 'Nallagua,' of the diseño. could not extend further east than this San Rafael range, and I therefore adopt said range on the east as shown by the plat of Thompson's survey as the true eastern exterior boundary of this claim.
"It is therefore decided by this office that the exterior boundaries of the Rancho Los Prietos y Najalayegua are as follows: On the north, the southern foot of the first range of hills or mountains running east and west, north of the narrow valley through which runs the river Santa Yuez; on the south, the northern foot of the range known as the Santa Barbara or Santa Ynez Mountains; on the west, the point established as a western boundary by Thompson's and Norway's surveys, and on the east, the San Rafael range of mountains, as shown on the plat of United States Deputy Surveyor Thompson's survey of Najalayegua. Within these boundaries the claimants may select, in compact form, the eleven square leagues to which they are entitled, provided such selection be made within a reasonable time. If, however, the claimants neglect or refuse to make such selection, you will proceed to make a survey of this rancho at the expense of the United States, in accordance with the instructions of July 8, 1874, from this office, said survey to contain eleven square leagues, with the exterior boundaries above set forth.
"You will give notice of this decision to all parties in interest, allowing sixty days from the service thereof for appeal to the Hon. Secretary of the Interior, and at the expiration of said sixty days you will make the usual return to this office.
" Very respectfully, [Signed] "S. S. BURDETT. Commissioner."
SURVEY REJECTED.
The opponents of the Los Prietos y Najalayegua Rancho were jubilant over the decision of the Secre- tary of the Interior :-
" DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, " GENERAL LAND OFFICE, " April 23, 1870.
"SHERMAN DAY, U. S. SURVEYOR-GENERAL, SAN FRANCISCO, CAL .- Sir: I herewith return the plot and papers in the case of Rancho Los Prietos y Najala- yegua, the title to which was confirmed by special act of Congress, approved June 12, 1866, Stats., Vol. 14, p. 589, and survey directed to be made by the Surveyor-General of the State of California, in accord- ance with the original title papers on file in his office.
" Your predecessor forwarded an unapproved sur- vey containing 208.742-33, acres, or more than forty- seven square leagues, expressing the opinion that the original grant, being one under the colonization laws of Mexico, could not exceed the quantity of eleven square leagues; that a correct survey, under the title papers, would embrace about three square leagues.
"To bring the matter promptly before thi- office for definite action, you are instructed to make, at the expense of the parties interested, such a survey as in your opinion conforms to the requirements of the statute, and which you can approve, and after notice, as required for surveys, under the Act of July 1, 1864, you will make the usual return, with your opinion.
"In regard to the unapproved survey sent up by your predecessor, it is duly necessary to say that it is condemned by every principle established by judi- cial or departmental rulings, and in this connection I insert for your guidance an extract from a decision dlated 31st of December last. by the Secretary of the Interior, in the case of Beaubin and Miranda, as fol-
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HISTORY OF SANTA BARBARA COUNTY.
lows: 'It is therefore my opinion, and you may receive it as a rule for this and like cases, that where a Mexican colonization grant is confirmed, without measurement of boundaries or of distinct specifica- tion of the quantity confirmed, either in the statute or in the report upon which confirmation was made, no greater quantity than eleven square leagues to each claimant shall be surveyed and set off to them; that such quantity shall be surveyed in traets of eleven square leagues each. The general position or place of such traets to be selected by the grantee, and the traet to be then surveyed as compaetly as possible.
" The papers herewith are indieated in the aceom- panying schedule.
" Please acknowledge receipt. " Yours respectfully,
" Jos. S. WILSON, Commissioner."
PUBLIC MEETING.
MAY 21, 1870.
A public meeting was held in Santa Barbara to celebrate the rejection of the Najalayegua, called to order by E. B. Boust.
W. T. Williams was chosen Chairman, and briefly set forth the object of the meeting.
Addresses were made by S. R. I. Sturgeon and others. The following preamble and resolutions were adopted :-
WHEREAS, The reception of certain news of the rejection of the survey of the grant known as Los Prietos y Najalayegua, by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, is a matter which calls for the unqualified approbation of all good citizens and every honest man; therefore,
Resolved, That while we, as citizens of Santa Bar- bara County, renew our support to the Government and its officers for the strict impartiality and justice with which this great wrong has been so signally de- feated, we cannot refrain from expressing our decided disapprobation of the parties interested in seeuring the approval of the survey for forty-seven leagues of land, when they were entitled to, if any, but three leagues.
Resolved, That we highly recommend the honora- ble course pursued by the Santa Barbara Times news- paper in opposition to the confirmation of the survey; that in so doing we, the people, are eonvineed it acted strictly in accordance with what it believed to be in harmony with the justice and good of the pub- lic, without any mercenary motive whatever.
Resolved, That the Santa Barbara Press, in apolo- gizing for the course taken by the interested parties who have endeavored to defraud one of the best and most liberal Governments, is deserving of the een- sure and contempt of fair-dealing men, and that we hope the masses, those who earn their bread by the sweat of their brows, will no longer be deceived by fair promises which are made only to be broken.
ASA ADAMS, E. VAN VALKENBERG, JNO. SHIELDS.
Mr. Sturgeon addressed the people in Spanish.
The news was announced with bonfires and the firing of eannon, which last; according to W. T. Wil- liams, announced the death-knell of the swindles of the publie.
The Press retorted that it was well that the par- ties pledged themselves to the support of the. Gov- ernment; that, judging by the old files of the Dutch Flat Enquirer, Mr. Boust had eminent need of making such a resolution of reform, and much more to the same effect. The committee were ealled hot-headed ignoramuses and were described in a travesty on an old song as
" The butcher and the farmer, The whisky-mill charmer,"
who, for lack of brains, had undertaken to put down the Santa Barbara Press for " daring in the midst of tumult which they had helped to stir up, to say a word which would lead to a knowledge of the facts on the unpopular side of the question.
The Workingman's Journal of San Francisco took up the matter. One of the editors, Chas. A. Merrill, went on to Washington, as was said “ to aid in com- batting this piece of roguery."
All parties engaged in combatting it were de- nouneed in some shape or other as fugitives from justice, or as condemned criminals.
[ Press June 4, 18.0.]
" We have charged Mr. Boust as guilty of know- ingly and willfully misleading and deceiving the peo- ple of this place with regard to these maps (maps of Prietos)." [And much more of the same venom- ous sort.]
It was now asserted by some that the south lines in the map were intended to represent the mesa south of the town, in which case the town would be included in the grant.
The Press now charged that the maps had been changed; that the engraved map had the name of " Lindero Santa Barbara" placed nearer the bottom of the map than in the original, so as to convey the idea that the Prietos claim extended to the sea, and thus enlist nearly the whole community, as interested persons, into opposition to the grant, while in the original map on file the name " Lindero Santa Bar- bara" is on the nortwestern extremity of the San Rafael Mountains as they slope towards the south- west. On the new map it (Lindero Santa Barbara) is placed farther east, so as to make it appear that the words belong to the mountains opposite the town as they slope towards the southeast.
It was asserted that the term "Lindero Santa Barbara" referred to the old distriet of Santa Bar- bara, which was considered to extend from the dis- trict of Santa Ynez to the district of Los Angeles, embracing the valley of the Santa Clara.
The changes in the maps were charged to Curtis, with the design of stirring the eitizens of Santa Bar- bara into a tumult.
PUBLIC MEETINGS CONTINUED.
Many meetings were held to consider the situa- tion. It was believed that the land-grabbers, as they were called. would yet take the town. If the
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MEXICAN GRANTS.
Mexicans had learned to dread American law as being a Pandora's box of evils, the Americans had learned to dread Mexican grants as a Trojan horse, which admitted into the citadel of jurisprudence, had all manner of evils in its belly which were likely to emerge and devour the substance of the country. When a great joy or grief comes upon the people of Santa Barbara, a public meeting and a general out- pouring of rejoicing or lamentation seems to be in order.
An indignation meeting was held in front of the apothecaries' Hall, April 1st. S. R. I. Sturgeon was chosen Chairman, F. A. Thompson and E. B. Boust Secretaries. C. A. Merrill, Chairman of the Settlers' State Central Committee, addressed the meeting and gave the history of this particular grant, which, from two and one-half leagues had grown to forty-seven leagues. Mr. Sturgeon took the stand and read the following
AFFIDAVITS.
"STATE OF CALIFORNIA,
COUNTY OF SANTA BARBARA.
" José Dominguez being first duly sworn, deposes and says: That he is a native citizen of Santa Bar- bara County, State of California; that he is now over seventy (70) years of age; that he was for- merly owner of the . Rancho Los Prietos y Najal- ayegua,' by grant from the Mexican Government; that he was in possession of said rancho, or parts thereof, from the time when the grant was made in 1845 till about the year 1856; that he never had any dwelling house on said ranch, nor did he make any improvements thereon, except one small corral; that he never resided on said ranch with his family, and that said rancho lay at that time, and as this depo- nent verily believes still lies, in the valley between the mountains of San Rafael on the north and the mountains of Santa Barbara on the south, and that no part or parcel of said rancho lies on the sonth side of the Santa Barbara Mountains; and that he never heard during all that time that Najalayegua, or any portion of it, lay on the south side of the Santa Barbara Mountains. And deponent further says that during from 1845 till some years after he sold to Chevasco in the year 1856, he resided on a tract bought by him from José Ygnacio Lugo, called Ficay; but that said tract of land lay on the south side of the mountains of Santa Barbara, and was no part or portion of Najalayegua, and was not included in this sale to Chevasco, but was, and still is, the property of this deponent. And deponent further says that the grapevine near Santa Barbara known throughout the State of California as the ' big grape- vine,' and referred to in the letter of Levi Parsons directed to the Hon. Ira Harris, United States Sen- ator, and dated March 9, 1866. is not within four leagues of the rancho of Los Prietos y Najalayegua; and this deponent believes that the said Levi Parsous knew this fact when the letter above referred to was written; this deponent knows by having had the contents of said letter carefully interpreted to him by a person in whom the utmost confidence can be placed as a man of honor and integrity. And depo- nent further states that the alder stakes referred to in a former affidavit of this deponent, and in an affidavit of one José Moraga, was a landmark on the line of Ficay, and was so stated to be by this depo-
nent both to Chas. E. Huse and José Moraga, at the time they went to see said landmarks, and that said landmark was not stated to be a po nt on the line of the Najalayegua at that time, nor at any other time; and deponent further says that he has had certain affidavits translated to him which were give him by the request of C. E. Huse during the month of March, A. D. 1865, and that said affidavits do not contain the matter represented by the said Huse to be contained therein; that this depouent cannot read or write, and believes that said affidavits were pur- posely misinterpreted to him by the said Iluse, the word ' some,' on the fifteenth line of the first page erased, and the words 'one small' inserted before the signing and the word 'and' on the eighteenth line of the second page, the whole of the nineteenth line and first five words erased before the signing, by direction of deponent.
" JOSE X DOMINGUEZ.
his mark
"Sworn and subscribed before me, the same being read to José Dominguez before signing, this 23d day of March, A. D. 1870. U. YNDART, " Notary Public."
" STATE OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SANTA BARBARA. S
" Felipe Arrellanes, of the county of Santa Bar- bara, State of California, being first duly sworn, de- poses and says: That he is a native-born citizen of this county, and that he is forty-five years of age, and was formerly owner of the rancho Los Prietos y Najalayegna; that some time in the year 1864 he sold said rancho to one C. E. Huse; that he had pre- viously offered, as near as he can recollect, about the year 1858, to sell the same rancho to the said Huse, but at that time Huse refused to purchase it; that this deponent left all the papers referring to this rancho in the hands of said Iuse for safe keeping, and that they so remained in his possession for several months; that sometime during the summer of 1864 Huse asked deponent if he was still owner of the rancho above mentioned; deponent told him that he was; Huse then asked if deponent still wi-hed to sell; deponent answered that he did, and that if Huse wished to see the property he was buy- ing he had only to refer to the papers in his (Huse) possession, they having at that time been delivered to him (Huse) for examination by this deponent; that deponent did afterward, as above set forth, sell said rancho to said ITuse. And deponent further says that some short time after the sale to HIuse, he was in his (Huse) office, and Huse showed deponent a map he was making, or having made, this deponent does not recollect which, and which included lands to which deponent never made any claim. Deponent then told Huse that he (Huse) must be very power- ful if he could get the land covered by that map; Huse replied, ' that was all right.' Deponent further says that the reason given by Huse for not purchas- ing in 1858 was that the lands were not situated as he supposed they were; that he supposed they extended south of the Santa Barbara Mountains. And depo- nent further says that Huse paid as consideration for this rancho one hundred dollars gold coin. That said rancho contains, as near as this deponent can estimate from his knowledge of the boundaries, about two leagues, or two leagues and a half, of land. FELIPE ARRELLANES.
"Sworn and subscribed before me, the same being read to Felipe Arrellanes before signing.
"U. YNDART, Notary Public."
27
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HISTORY OF SANTA BARBARA COUNTY.
Other parties swore to a similar state of facts. The son of the original grantee swore that the rancho was familiar to him since his boyhood; that he had never heard it spoken of as extending to the south side of the Santa Barbara Mountains; that his father never claimed anything on the south side; that the said rancho was distant from Santa Barbara three to five leagues, in a northerly direction, and that said Huse had proposed to him if he would make an affidavit that said lands included lands on the south side of Santa Barbara Mountains he would make him a valuable present; that the " big grape- vine" was then the property of his grandmother, and was more than four leagues from the ranch of Los Prietos y Najalayegna.
The Rev. J. A. Johnson, editor of the Press, under- took to defend the grant, but was received with shouts of derision. Mr. Merrill replied in such a strain as to cause the District Attorney to propose an emollient resolution that, "If J. A. Johnson will hereafter advocate the cause of the people they will forgive him bis past derelictions," which was unani- mously carried.
Russel Heath then took the stand, and stated that he had never until recently heard that the ranch in question extended to the south of Santa Barbara Mountains, though he had resided here since 1849.
A committee was appointed to raise money to contest the confirmation of the claim.
POETRY.
The noise of the row over the Najalayegua reached the neighboring counties. The San Luis Obispo Tribune, corruscating with wit and sarcasm, burst into song-
What makes the Barbarenos rage, And haunts their dreams from youth to age, And fills their journals every page ? Najalayegua.
What animates their public men, That fills with venom every pen, That fastens on them like a wen ? Najalayegua.
What fires their patriots' flaming eye, What nerves their braves to do or die, And fills their writer's great dirt pi ? Najalayegua.
What to the Senate did not send Cornelius Cole's particular friend, But rather proved his fatal end ? Najalayegua.
What gives us reading most profound, And (in its wide discursive round) Most logical, severe, and souud ? Najalayegua.
What constitutes the mimic stage, When Santa Barbara's actors rage And strut, clothed in the printer's page ? Najalayegua.
Where little villains weave.their plots, And miscreants squat their neighbors' lots, And "hypocrites" contend with sots ? Najalayegua.
And eke the good man rich appears, Bowed down with wealth, repute, aud years, For whom the press disarms his fears. Najalayegua.
Whereon the desperate squatter comes, With voice like to a thousand drums, Ejaculating fe, fo, fums!
Najalayegua.
What makes us slumbering 'neath the shade, By the dead Bishop's mountain made, In safety cry, Why, who's afraid ?
Najalayegua.
Yet, Barbarenos, to he true, We must admit, with pity, too, What's fun for us is death to you.
Najalayegua.
For though we langh we can't deny, In view of so much groan and sigh, You've got some cause to wipe your eye. Najalayegua.
- But better that your town should sink, Ash-covered from a crater's brink, Than thus be fouled with printer's ink. Najalayegua.
The Workingman's Journal (Times) of San Fran- cisco, in referring to Los Prietos, says :---
" We had occasion to refer to villainy last fall, and to express the well-grounded opinion that the late Sen- ator Conness, who now finds it convenient to absent himself from the State which he has so shamefully mis- represented, was an interested partner in the contem- plated robbery of industrious settlers; moreover, that the then U. S. Surveyor-General was willfully and cor- ruptly in the interests of marauders; that the U. S. Grand Jury had been packed and suborned; that the District Judge was wickedly corrupt, and that the Clerk was a peculating scoundrel and a compounder with the land thieves; charges Field and Hoffman with being vile scoundrels who deserve to be taken to the woods and hanged."
[Times, May 28, 1870.]
" It is intimated that C. E. Hnse was in danger of being hung by a mob on account of his connection with Los Prietos, and that a guard of friends watched his house every night."
THE CLOUDS LIFTING.
[Press, May 20, 1870.]
This was the title to an article on the Najalayegua grant. It was of a character with previous and contemporary publications. Referring to the excite- ment among the people, the Press says :-
" We rejoice that the storm has been raised. Such storms blow down decaying and rotten reputations. They do more! They show the strength of the. spreading oak, whose sturdy arms could not be twisted off, and whose mighty roots only penetrate deeper and grow stronger in consequence of the storm, and God be thanked that we have men among us who possess these characters of oak, and resist almost with unruffled temper these fierce and angry assaults upon their reputation. Adroit demagogues, skillful pettifoggers, unblushing knaves, strolling adventurers, when combined and working together, can easily create a local excitement, and by sheer audacity and jackal howling may raise a storm about the ears of any man against whom they have a com- mon and interested motive for working. And here we ask our readers to pause and reflect a moment. Who are the men that have been prominent in this ferocious attack against Mr. Huse? S. R. I. Stur- geon, E. B. Boust, W. T. Williams, Albert Packard, W. H. Norway, Wilbur Curtis, H. C. Victor, Chas.
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E. Merrill, etc. Are our readers aware that cach one of these men has a private motive of his own for making this fight? Let this point be investigated. Who, now, are some of the men who did not join in the cry ? Dr. J. B. Shaw, Col. W. W. Hollister, E. Greenwell, John P. Stearns, Judge Maguire, Dr. S. B. Brinkerhoff, Judge Fernald, Thomas B. Dibblee, Henry Carnes, Col. B. T. Dinsmore, Jonathan Mayhew, and hosts of others who have known Mr. Huse for years. Comment is unnecessary.
" During the storm we have been quietly paying out line on these troubled waters. Being securely seated on the solid rocks of integrity, and protected by the overhanging cliffs of truth, we have enjoyed the prospect of hauling some fish atter a little. We felt several stout nibbles occasionally, but preferred to wait until the hook was swallowed for certain. We expect to haul our lines in at our leisure. We judge, by the tugging at one line that a good-sized sturgeon has begun to feel the point of the hook. But we will not anticipate. We hear that market quotations rate Sturgeon at two cents. We shall be glad to contract with market men at half that price."
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