History of Santa Barbara county, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 51

Author: Mason, Jesse D; Thompson & West. 4n
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Oakland, Cal., Thompson & West
Number of Pages: 758

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211

MEXICAN GRANTS.

with all the real and movable property pertaining thereto.

" In consequence whereof, by these presents, I declare the above-mentioned Señor the legitimate owner of the said Mission of San Buenaventura, under the conditions set forth; wherefore, he can take possession of the same from the present time. And in witness whereof. for all time, I give this document as a formal deed, which shall be recognized and regarded by all the military authorities of the Mexican nations in this and the other departments, and even by the General Government of the same, duly authorized by my signature and that of the Secretary of State, on this common paper, for the absolute want of sealed paper, on the eighth day of June, one thousand eight hundred and forty-six.

" In the city of Los Angeles of the Department of the Californias (on the fourteenth day of the month of May), witnesses being Don Vicente Guerrero and Casildo Aguilar, who are present.

[JOSE SEPULVEDA] ( erased ),

" Assist. " IONO. CORONEL,

Assist.

" Instrumental.

Instrumental.

" RECEIPT.

" Received of Don Jose de Arnaz the sum of $13,000, for the purchase which he made of the Mission of San Buenaventura, in coin, to my entire satisfaction, and for his security 1 give him this in the city of Los Angeles, on the eighth of June, 1846."

There were no names signed to the deed, or the receipt for money. The writing was in the hand of Cayetano Arenas, the private secretary of Governor Pico.

October 3, 1846, the Chamber of the Honorable Assembly of the Californias made the following order :-

" The sales of the missions made by the Señor Don Pio Pico, as Governor, are annulled in all of their parts, as also, all that has been done outside of his authority in relation to the matter.

[Signed]

" FRANCISCO FIGUEROA, " President, "AUGUSTIN OLBERA, " Deputy Secretary."

These things were not brought forward until 1850, or some four years after the American occupation.

It will be observed that the decree annulling the sales made by Pico made no mention of the ex- Mission, so that no inference ean be formed that that tract was sold.

On the 5th of December, 1845, the Government offered to lease at public lease, to the highest bidder, the Mission San Buenaventura, whereupon it was leased for the term of nine years to Don Narciso and Don José Arnaz, for the sum of $1,630 a year. (Vol. XI. Missions, p. 983.)

Notice of this was transmitted to the central gov- ernment at Monterey.

" To the Governor of the Department of the Californias, at the Port of Monterey :-

" The Mission of San Buenaventura is leased for nine years to the highest bidder, with 1,407 head of cattle, 19 yoke of oxen, 2,150 head of sheep, ete., etc., together with some movable property, as is shown

by the inventory; one orchard at the mission with 582 fruit trees in good condition, one vineyard at San Jose with 2,000 vines in bad condition, one vine- yard at San Martin with 3,800 vines in bad condition. It has four square leagues of land, a little more or less. RAMON VALDEZ.

" San Buenaventura May 18, 1846."

(Vol XI. Missions, p. 882-912.)

When Colonel Stevenson took possession of Lower California he found the ranch rented to José Arnaz and Narciso Botello, with the condition that one por- tion of the products should go to the support of the Indians, one to the fathers, and the other to the lessees. From information received by Stevenson, he was led to believe that the property had been misappropriated, or sold outright, without regard to increase, or the probability of returning the same amount at the termination of the lease as was re- eeived, and he desired an accounting or report of the property sold and on hand.

The following correspondence took place between Col. Stevenson and Narciso Botello :-

" HEAD-QUARTERS S. M. DIST., " City of Los Angeles, Nov. 16th, 1847.

" Sir: I have been advised that some time sinee, you relinquished your interest in the lease of the Mission of San Buenaventura, but I will nevertheless thank you for any information you may possess rela- tive to the property and effects of the Mission at the time you took possession or relinquished it. Your late partner, José Arnaz, exhibits a bill of sale for said Mission, executed to him by the late Governor Pico, which it is supposed was given without any valuable consideration. Can you furnish me with any informa- tion as to his ability to purchase such a property ? I am also informed that you were also a member for the last Territorial Assembly, which passed. July 4th and October 28th, 1845, certain acts, authorizing the leas- ing and sale of certain Missions, and which, in its last session, in October, 1846, decided the sales of certain Missions made by Governor Pico, were null and void, they having been made without proper authority.

" Respectfully,

"J. D. STEVENSON, "Col. Comd'g S. M. D.

"Sr. Don Narciso Botello."

" Sir: I have received your official note of the 16th inst., requesting of me information as to what knowl- edge I possess of the lease of San Buenaventura, its interests, etc. In reply I would say that, though I do not recollect the precise dates, the Department As- sembly, in 1845, decreed the sale of four Missions and the leasing of others. I recolleet that both measures took effect, D. José Arnaz and the subscriber becom- ing lessees of Santa Barbara, of which establishment we took possession in the same year, and therein we received the amount of 1,300 head of cattle, 20 yoke of oxen, 100 and odd tame horses (as I do not reeol- lect exactly, nor the number of breeding mares, but I think there were 400), 1 jack. 12 mules, wild and tame, 1.900 sheep, 30 fanegas of wheat, 19 or 20 tan- ned hides, 5 stills, three of which are in bad order, 8130 of soap, 20 of cards, 10 or 12 jennies, some oil, instruments of agriculture, blacksmithing, saddlery, looms, etc., not remembering the amount of each artiele of said property on hand; and I was in the possession thereof, in company with Señor

212

HISTORY OF SANTA BARBARA COUNTY.

Arnaz, up to the beginning of June, 1846, when I separated, selling him my interest. On my retiring as I stated, the security we had also retired, who was Don Antonio M. Lugo, said interest in consequence remaining in charge of Arnaz, without the security the law on the subject provides. The Assembly, of which body I was a member, meeting in October, 1846, ascertained that the Governor, Don P. Pico, had sold some of the leased Missions. one of them be- ing Santa Barbara. Considering this act as an ahuse emanating from arbitrary will, since such power had not been given to the Governor, it passed a decree, annulling, in all respects, said sales of Missions before leased. In virtue of which decree, the Governor which last presided in the person of Capt. Jose Maria Flores, passed an official order to Don Arnaz, then in Santa Barbara, to present himself in this city to give fitting security; and that on his compliance with this re- quirement. he should be acknowledged as lessee, but never as purchaser. This was not done, and then Government found itself compelled to appoint a Trustee, viz : the parochial cure of that parish, Pres- byter D José Maria Rosales, to secure said interest until said security was furnished. This was the state of Arnaz's affairs at the end of last year, and every- thing was paralyzed. Arnaz, in consequence, laugh- ing at these dispositions of Government, and contin- uing in Santa Barbara without right. As respects that part of your note as to the means Arnaz might have to purchase that establishment, I cannot answer, as I do not know what means he had, or might have got hold of.

" Thus sir, I think I have complied with your wishes by answering the different points in your note.

NARCISO BOTELLO.

" To Col. J. D. Stevenson. Angeles, November 23, 1847."

Colonel Stevenson finally forcibly took possession, putting the property in the custody of Isaac Calla- han, who took in William A. Streeter, now living in Santa Barbara, as a partner. This affair occurred in the latter part of 1847. After the expulsion of Arnaz from the ranch, a new claim was set up, that the ranch had been sold to Arnaz by Pio Pico, for the sum of $13,000. This was the first that was known of the sale by the public. In the strife that ensued re- garding the Ex-Mission, many affidavits were taken regarding the conditions of the renting, which, in one instance, appeared to be for $1,630 per year.

The following affidavit of W. A. Streeter will prob- ably throw as much light on the subject as anything that could be written:

"STATE OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SANTA BARBARA. 88.

" William A. Streeter, being duly sworn, says: That my name is William A. Streeter; am sixty-one years of age; have lived in the county of Santa Bar- bara since the year A. D. eighteen hundred and forty- four. In eighteen hundred and forty-five, the Mexi- can Congress authorized the leasing and selling of the Mission lands in California. The Mission of San Luis Rey and the Mission of La Purissima were sold. The Mission of Santa Barbara was leased to N. A. Den and D. Hill, and the Mission of San Buenaventura to José Arnaz and Narciso Botello. At the time José Arnaz received the lease of the Mission of' San Buen- aventura, the Americans were not in possession of

the southern part of the State of California. When Colonel Stevenson arrived in the southern part of the State of California, he found that the said José Arnaz was removing property from off the lands of the Mis- sion of San Buenaventura. After discovering this, said Stevenson took possession of the Mission lands, in the name of United States. The Mission lands of San Buenaventura, in eighteen hundred and forty- five, consisted of what is now known as the Ex-Mis- sion of San Buenaventura Rancho, or of very near the same extent of territory.

" In the latter part of the year of eighteen hundred and forty-seven, Colonel Stevenson leased the said property of Mission of San Buenaventura to Isaac Callahan; said Callahan and myself were in partner- ship, but the lease was made to Callahan alone.

"At the time Callahan took possession of the prop- erty under his lease, said Arnaz did not set up any title or right to the ground, except by lease from the Mexican Government, which was given by Pio Pico as Governor for the term of nine years.

"Callahan and myself' had peaceable possession of the Mission of San Buenaventura until the year tigh- teen hundred and fifty.

"Said José Arnaz sold the Mission of San Buena- ventura, in the year of eighteen hundred and fifty, to Dr. Poli, and for the first time claimed to be the owner of the said property.

"I now have in my possession letters and other documents relating to the matter set forth in this affidavit, which I am willing to produce if necessary. WM. A. STREETER."

"Subscribed and sworn to before me this twelfth day of December, A. D. 1872. A. T. COOPER, Notary Public."

[SEAL]

Many affidavits were presented from different parties to show that the cession of the grant to Arnaz was made after the American occupation. One will be sufficient to show the character of them :-*

" STATE OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SANTA BARBARA, SS.

" Josefa Arenas, being duly sworn, deposes and says, I am fifty-six years of age, have resided in this town, San Buenaventura, in the county of Santa Bar- bara, for sixteen years last past, and am a native of Los Angeles, California. I know, of my own knowledge, that Jose de Arnaz and Narciso Botello had the Ex- Mission of San Buenaventura leased for several years, and until Colonel Stevenson took possession of the whole Mission establishment, cattle, horses and lands, and everything belonging to the said establishment. Colonel Stevenson then leased the whole establish- ment to a man, the name I do not recollect. I had a step-son by the name of Cayetano Arenas (now deceased), who was acting as Secretary for Governor Pico, when the said Pico was Mexican Governor of California; said Arenas told me repeated times that the grant of the Ex-Mission of San Buenaventura was a fraud; that he (Cayetano Arenas), made the deed and dated it back, and then went to Los Ange- les and testified before some court to the genuineness of said deed, for which one Dr. Poli was to give him a deed for the Potrero on which he (Cayetano Are- nas) then lived, but which the Dr. Poli failed to do before he died, and then his successor ejected him out of the said Potrero. Said Cayetano Arenas also told me that the deed made to Arnaz. purporting to have been made by Pio Pico, was all in his (Arenas') band- writing, and dated back to make it appear legal.

213

SPANISH GRANTS.

At the time said title was made the Americans were already in possession of the country.

" [SEAL. ] JOSEFA P. DE ARENAS.

" Sworn and subscribed to before me, this 23d day of December, A. D. 1872, in and for Santa Barbara County, State of California.

" [SEAL.]

F. MOLLEDA, Notary Pablic."

"José Fernandez Gomez, being duly sworn, deposes and says: I resided in the town of San Buenaventura, Santa Barbara County, California, ever since the year 1858. I knew a man by the name of Cayetano Are- nas, deceased. I lived in the said Arenas' house for some time, and frequently stopped with him, and had a good deal of business with him. He, the said Cay- etano Arenas, told me repeated times that he had been Pio Pico's clerk or secretary, while the said Pico was the Governor of California. . Mr. Arenas, in speaking about Dr. M. R. Poli, formerly owner, or pretended owner, of the ' Mission Grant,' told me several times that although the people of the town had such very high opinion of him (the said Poli), he, the said Arenas, thought a good deal of him as a doetor, or a professional man, but individually he had some very important business with him and had failed to fulfill his promise. He, the said Arenas, told me that the doctor had offered him one hundred acres of land, designated inside of said Ex-Mission, title known as the ' Potrero,' that he had gave him the possession of the same and promised him to give him a title as soon as Arenas would give him a testi- mony before a certain court, which I do not now recollect. The testimony he was to give, was to the effect that the supposed grant was a genuine one given by Pio Pieo while Governor of this department of California. The original grant, as it appeared, was, as he told me, in Arenas' own hand write, but that it was all a fraud; that he (Arenas) bad manu- factured the title in the year 1848, and that he had dated it back in order to make it appear, as he thought, legal. That at Dr. Poli's request and offer he, Arenas, went and testified that the grant had been given by Pico while authorized as Governor of the Department of California Alta, but it was not so; that he was conversant with the Mex'ean laws, as he had an opportunity to know them on account that he had been (up to the time that the Americans took possession of the country), always employed as see- retary of some court or officer, and that the Mission establishments (as they called them) were advertised for sale at public auction, and that this one he knew had never been so advertised; that when he gave his testimony he was well satisfied that he was not telling the truth, but that he had done it in order to get the piece of land that Poli had offered him and the pos- session of, but that the doctor aforesaid, after he had used him to obtain his statement, or testimony, always refused to give him a deed for the piece of land above referred to, and that after the doctor's death his successor ejected him out of the premises. I stopped with him while he lived in the above-men- tioned Potrero, and had very frequent conversations with him regarding the title of the said Ex-Mission Grant, which he always termed a fraudulent one.

" JOSE F. GOMEZ.

"Sworn to before

" F. MOLLEDA, Notary Public."

ABSTRACT OF TITLE.

"Ex-Mission San Buenaventura. Sold to Jose Arnaz January 8, 1846. Sold to M. A. R. de Poli in 1850. Presented to Land Commissioners November 11,

1853. Confirmation filed May 15, 1855. Appeal by U. S. District Attorney and claim confirmed April 1, 1861. Transcript of records to U. S. S. C. Novem- ber 28, 1862. Dismissed from U. S. S. C. March 24, 1864. Mandate of Supreme Court directing survey filed August 8, 1864. Appeal entered in S. C. April 24 1868. Appeal dismissed finally March 2, 1869.

1873. A petition to Congress to set aside the whole matter on account of fraud protested to by claim- ants for following reasons :-

1. That the original to the Ex-Mission of San Buen- aventura and the original receipt for the payment of the purchase money are found in the archives of the Mexican Government.

2. That the Supreme Court of the United States has, by repeated decisions, declared that archive evi- dence was the best evidence as to the genuineness of the Mexican title.

3. That after over sixteen years of li igation in all the courts of the United States, and after the record has been twice before the Supreme Court of the United States, no taint of fraud has attached to the title.

4. That purchasers have a right to rely on the records of the courts, and are not expected to inquire as to the genuineness of grants, nor the motives which may have induced the acts of the public officers.

5. That the present claimants purchased the unsold portions of said claim in 1866, subsequently to the first dismissal of the case by the Attorney-General of the United States; that they, although innocent purchasers, were once more compelled to defend the title in the Supreme Court, and again obtained a decree in its favor.

6. That they as innocent purchasers, relying on the final decree of the Supreme Court of the United States, have sold to other innocent purchasers, since the date of said decree, some forty tracts, many of which have been subdivided and resold to other inno- cent purchasers, and that previous to said decree some thirty-five tracts were sold by former owners, which also have been subdivided and sold to innocent purchasers.

7. That the Senate of the United States has here- tofore established a precedent in a similar application, on which the Committee of Private Land Claims, of which the present Attorney-General of the United States was Chairman, reported adversely to the pas- sage of the bill.

8. That the Supreme Court of the United States, in the case of the Rio, Estanislen, refused to reopen the question of title before the survey went to patent upon the ground that the title having been confirmed, and the United States having bad ample time to pro- duce their proof against the same, the question of title was forever settled as against the United States and all parties claiming under it. We deny that there is any evidence in the title to the Ex-Mission San Buenaventura or that it would have been invalid under the laws of Mexico."

UNDUE INFLUENCE.

As in all the other grants of doubtful title, there were rumors of collusion between the elaimants and the officers of the courts who adjudicated the affair. The following persons were interested in the grant to the extent named :-

B. C. Whiting, ex-U. S. District-Attorney, 53 shares; J. M. Gatchel, 430 shares; T. G. Phelps, Col- lector, 195 shares; E. F. Beale, ex-U. S. Surveyor-

214

HISTORY OF SANTA BARBARA COUNTY.

General, 300 shares; L. Upson, ex-U. S. Surveyor- General, 208 shares; E. Conway, ex-Chief Clerk of Surveyor-General, 1,761 shares; S. J. Field, Circuit Judge, 521 shares; and Jerry S. Black, ex-U. S. Attorney-General, 130 shares.

While the matter of a survey was under considera- tion, which was all that stood between the people and a patent, a public meeting was held to protest against the issue of the patent until the whole matter could be reviewed.

In response to the petition of the settlers Senator Windom introduced a bill providing for a readjust- ment of the mission matters. Senator Sargent pre- sented a letter from Lauren Upson, Surveyor-Gen- eral, protesting against disturbing the settlement; that the statements made by the settlers were errone- ous. Upson took much interest in maintaining the grant.

[San Francisco Call, April 19, 1874.]

. A bill has been introduced by Senator Windom directing the Attorney-General to institute a suit to establish the title of the United States to the ex-Mission San Buenaventura lands. The bill also provides that no action shall be taken by the Interior Department regarding surveys, until the case is determined. The petition presented by Houghton alleges that the decision of the Supreme Court on this title was procured by the means of fraudulent stipulation between the counsel for the claimant and Attorney-General Speed, without any examination of the record.

" The case in Congress seems to hinge on the ques- tion as to whether there was complicity between the claimants and the attorney of the Government to secure the confirmation of the grant. That fact established, the case will probably come back to the courts, when the whole case will again be tried. Failing to reject the grant, the contest will be upon the survey and the cutting down of the bounds of the grant to four leagues."

The last phase in the matter was a suit commenced in behalf of the State of California, by Joe Hamilton, Attorney-General for the State, that the lands escheat to the State as having no lawful owner. This, how- ever, was soon abandoned.

The land is being sold and cultivated. Some doubts still remain in the minds of the people, but the fact that some hundred persons have bought portions of the land in good faith and improved it seems to act as a bar to any investigation that would be likely to disturb the peace and settlement of the land.

These two articles on the subject of grants are not given as a full history, but only to give an idea of the careless way in which land was alienated in years past. Young men have started in life studying the Spanish grants, and have grown old and gray without reducing the work to a system. Gross fraud has marked the grant operations from the inception. Peace will ultimately come by the Act of Limitation, which fixes the title in those who have had peaceable possession for a term of years.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE EBB TIDE OF PROSPERITY.

Dry Season-Size of the City-Squirrels-Coal Mine Excite- ment-Sargent- Chronicle Affair-Trouble with the Sheriff -Strange Decision-Sewers-New Year's Day of 1878- Roads-Road to the Cinnabar Mines-Spiritualism-Spirit- ualism in Santa Barbara-W. F. Peck-The Dark Seance -- Correspondence-Isaac Shepard-A Surfeit of Spiritnalism -Present Condition-Great Storms-Critical Situation- Breakwater- Investigation of County Finances-County Clerk - Sheriff's Office - Assessor-Records - Elections - Courts-Hospital-Roads-Sources of Revenue - County Indebtedness -- Statistic :.

IT would be pleasant to write of Santa Barbara as continuing to flourish. The four years preceding the Centennial had witnessed a marvelous growth of population, increase of wealth, and the erection of such fine buildings as the Arlington, the College, Cook's Building, the Occidental, the Stearns Block, the St. Vincent School, and others that might be named. The streets had been straightened and graded. Long rows of elegant dwellings adorned the streets, and many palatial mansions had been erected. Churches of various denominations lifted their steeples above the trees which shaded the city, and numerous school houses received throngs of joy- ous children, ander the care of competent teachers. Real estate had advanced until it seemed that a block in the blessed city was an ample fortune.

Much of this prosperity was due to the extraordi- nary efforts of J. A. Johnson, the editor of the Press, in advertising the merits of Santa Barbara. He pro- cured stereoscopic views of the orange orchards in the southern part of the State, and lectured in nearly all the cities of the East, where he was generally listened to with much interest. He had prepared numerous statistics pertaining to the agricultural and climatic conditions of the southern part of Cal- ifornia. A great emigration took place in conse- quence. As many as a hundred passengers would land in a single trip. It was said that the crowd of persons desirous of going to Southern California was so great that policemen were required at the wharf in San Francisco. The resources of the country were, perhaps, all that any reasonable man could expect, but oranges, lemons, and olives will not grow without careful cultivation anywhere. In Santa Bar- bara work, hard work, was required to get rich, and some exertion even to make a living. The fabled land, where the roast pigs, turkeys, and chickens are wandering around crying to be eaten has not yet been found. The much-talked-of railroads had all proved a failure. Passengers came and went by the steamers. No transcontinental lines of roads termi- nated at Santa Barbara, and none even were building towards Santa Barbara. The amount of land tribu- tary to Santa Barbara was small. There was but one result possible: the town must stand still to let the country come up; to await the coming of rail-

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History of Santa Barbara county, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 51

Author: Mason, Jesse D; Thompson & West. 4n Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Oakland, Cal., Thompson & West Number of Pages: 758

Author: Mason, Jesse D; Thompson & West. 4n
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Oakland, Cal., Thompson & West
Number of Pages: 758