USA > California > Santa Barbara County > History of Santa Barbara county, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 54
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111
There was a cloud burst in Eagle Canon, tearing up large oak trees. One man was said to have been killed.
The Bennett Bath Houses were carried away by the storm, or rather dislocated. They had been built about six years. The dwelling-house, 20x36 feet, was carried into the water and stranded near the shore. The loss to Mr. Bennett was about $1,300. Subsequently a still greater portion of the wharf was swept away by the waves. The Press noticed it as follows :-
[Press, January 23, 1878.]
" STEARNS' WHARF-WIIERE SHALL FREIGHT BE LANDED?
" Nearly 1.000 feet more of the wharf gone. Last night at about 12 o'clock the inner end of the outer portion of the wharf gave way before the persistent and vigorous efforts of the waves, and in an instant almost in a mass 300 yards of the structure separated itself and floated away. For some hours before the numerous breakers had been rolling in. completely submerging the inner or shore end of the remain- ing portion of the wharf, and dashing with great violence against the wharfinger's house. Accepting this as a warning, Mr. Johnson, with his family,
224
HISTORY OF SANTA BARBARA COUNTY.
sought a more secure abiding place until the close of the storm or the receding tide made it safe for him to return. There was but little rain at the time and comparatively little wind, but the breakers were enormous, seeming almost like a succession of tidal waves. There was, fortunately, very little freight on the portion carried away, there being sixty tons of freight under shelter at the sea end. Where the portion had drifted to was not known."
This storm demonstrated the frail nature of the wharves along the coast. The Supervisors had demanded a license of Stearns, of $50 per year, for doing a wharf business, which he refused to pay, expending some $1,500 in a legal resistance. The Press summed up the matter as follows :--
"A CRITICAL SITUATION.
" Here is a situation for Santa Barbara. The City Council refuses to repeal the ordinance compelling Mr. Stearns to pay a license on his wharf. Mr. Stearns refuses to have it repaired until the ordi- nance is repealed-and the city is suffering. A dis- patch has been sent to Goodall, Nelson & Co. not to ship any more freight for this port, as it cannot be landed at either wharf; freight has already been carried by, with numerous disgusted passengers, who could not see the beauty of landing in surf boats; and the citizens are divided in sentiment as to whether the Council or the wharf proprietor shall be taken out and lynched; but nothing is done to repair the damage. There is talk of organizing a company to build a new wharf immediately, but even if it is any- thing more than talk, it will take months to complete the arrangements and build the wharf, and in the meantime the damage to the city will be so great that years cannot repair it.
" It is not the amount of the license that Mr. Stearns objects to, but the principle of paying any license on a business that benefits the city more than it can ever benefit himself, while the Council, having passed the ordinance, will not repeal it at the dictation of any individual, and neither will make the slightest concession.
" If the wish and the great need of the people can have no effect on either side, they would better take the matter into their own hands, and if they cannot purchase the wharf from its present owner and repair it, erect another with as little delay as possible."
Continuing the subject, it remarked :-
" SETTLE IT.
" The petition to the City Council, requesting them to rescind the license on Stearns' Wharf, has already received the signatures of some of our most promi- nent business men, and we trust the list of the signers will be so long and formidable by the time it is pre- sented to the Council, that the only course left that worthy body will be the one it should have taken at the beginning-to repeal that objectionable ordinance and allow the wharf repairs to go on with all possible dispatch. Had they considered the interests of the city, instead of their own personal and official dig- nity, the petition would have been unnecessary. The argument that it would be as just to allow every bus- iness in town to proceed without a license, is absurd. Let our principal dry goods store suspend business because obliged to pay a license, and the proprietor would be the greatest loser; let the saloons say: 'Compel us to pay a license and we will close,' and
the city would rejoice; but when the wharf suspends business rather than pay an annual license of $50- the merest drop in the treasury bucket-it is a public calamity that the guardians of the public welfare should spare no effort to avert. We doubt if there is another man in the county who would have been public-spirited enough to risk his private capital in such an enterprise; and it would be as just to tax the city for the support of the wharf as to compel its proprietor to pay the extra tax of a business license to the city. However blame-worthy the arbitrary and unyielding course of Mr. Stearns may appear at such a time (and surely no other city was ever at the mercy of seven such obstinate men as himself and our city authorities), it cannot be denied that justice was on his side at the beginning, and the wisest thing the Council can do is to put the wharf in operation immediately, and let the question of who shall con- trol our city-front be settled afterward."
A meeting of the citizens was held at the County ' Bank in the afternoon, to consider the wants of the city regarding the landing. T. B. Dibblee was made chairman. Mr. Stearns explained the situation, and related with some feeling how he had risked his money in the doubtful experiment of making a wharf stand, and the efforts of the City Council to impose an exorbitant tax which had cost him $1,500 to defeat. Under these circumstances he had, after the occur- rence of the break a week since, asked the Council to reimburse him for that expenditure by voting an equivalent sum for rebuilding the wharf. He thought also that the Board of Supervisors should fix the rate of tolls on his wharf which would annually amount to the maximum allowed by law, viz .: 25 per cent. of the cost of the structure. In reply to a question, he thought he could reconstruct the wharf in the course of six weeks, at an expense from $9,000 to $12,000. In reply to another question as to whether he would entertain a proposition to sell his franchise to the city, he said, " No, not now;" and he would not ad- vise the city to purchase the franchise, on account of the political complications which would arise.
On motion of Mr. Blood, which was adopted, a pe- tition was drawn up by the Secretary and addressed to the Supervisors as follows :-
" To the Board of Supervisors-
"We, the undersigned citizens and tax-payers of the city of Santa Barbara, respectfully request your hon- orable body to fix the rate of tolls henceforth to be allowed by John P. Stearns, owner of the Santa Bar- bara wharf, at the maximum allowed by law, viz .: 25 per cent. annually of the cost of the structure, on condition that he rebuild the same without unneces- sary delay."
Messrs. Heath, Blood and Eddy were appointed a committee to circulate the petition.
Mr. Ivison offered the following preamble and res- olution :-
" WHEREAS, In consequence of the action of the city of Santa Barbara, through its Commor. Council, in the matter of attempting to levy a license on the wharf of Mr. John P. Stearns, he has been forced to . expend a large sum of money, estimated to amount to $1,500, in litigating the question; and-
LAPATERA RANCH. RESIDENCE OF W. N. ROBERTS, SANTA BARBARA CO. CAL.
LAW :
É
RESIDENCE & RANCH OF SAMUEL CONNER, SANTA MARIA, SANTA BARBARA CO. CAL:
225
THE EBB TIDE OF PROSPERITY.
" WHEREAS, Because of the decision of the Califor- nia Supreme Court therein, the action at law by the City was abandoned; therefore it is hereby
" Resolved, As the sense of this meeting, that the City ought to reimburse Mr. Stearns in the sum of $1,500, his expenses in the matter."
At a meeting of the City Council (present, Mayor Richards, Councilmen Rynerson, Stearns, Russell, Latailliade and Pierce), the question of licensing Stearns' Wharf came up. Mr. Stearns opposed it for the reason that the charter for the wharf did not con- template it; that by the wharf he had reduced the expense of landing passengers and freight one-half; that he had never got his money ont of it, and that at the time it was built it was such a speculation as no other man would have entered upon, and even now no man would take it off his hands at cost; that it is not subject to the same license as any other business, because that can be moved if it suit the mer- chant's purpose, but the wharf must remain where it is. He also said if he had to pay a license he should do nothing to keep the wharf in repair, and if he did not elose it at once it would soon drop to pieces.
The wharf was repaired, the estimates being: 300 piles, $4,500; 60,000 feet of lumber, $1,440; iron spikes, $700; piledriver, rollers, platform, etc., $760; collecting debris of old wharf, $900; hanling lumber, $150; railing, $300; labor, $1,200.
Dates .- First break, January 14, 1878; second, January 23, 1878; repairs completed July 13, 1878; actual working time, 27 days.
During the breakage in the wharf at Santa Bar- bara, three lines of lighters competed for the favors of the public. The names of the boats were: Spiritual Alliance, Baptist Dugout and Blatherskite. They all carried passengers safely to the shore; and no conclu- sion as to the respective merits of the boats eould be formed from their names.
During the time the wharf was out of repair, per- sons were charged 50 cents for lighterage to the wharf.
BREAKWATER.
The precarious situation of the trade at. Santa Barbara induced an effort to have a breakwater con- structed, which will be mentioned more particularly in the chapter on the islands, channel and harbor.
[ Press, January 4, 1879.]
" The last day of the year 1878 witnessed disas- trons storms and winds. All day the rain fell in tor- rents, the gutters ran rivers of turbid water, the wind blew violently, and occasionally violent thunder made the ground tremble. The southeast wind, which had prevailed all day, at night increased to a gale. A lumber schooner which had been discharging, and which had, on the approach of the storm, anchored at what was thought to be a safe distance from the wharf, parted one of her lines, dragged her anchor and swung stern foremost against the wharf, where she lay pounding until about 9 o'clock, when a tor- nado or eyelone struck the vessel and drove it into the wharf near the warehouse. The crew abandoned
the vessel as she went crashing among the piles and planks, and escaped. The vessel was the stronger of the two structures, and escaped with the loss of her upper works; and about midnight went through the wharf, but was held fast by the anchor, which was dragged into the piles, and held the pitching vessel. which tossed and strained on the rolling surf, but rode out the storm.
" A smaller vessel, a Chinese junk, broke loose from her moorings and also went into the whart, but broke to pieces and was washed ashore. The beach the next morning was strewn with the lumber lost off the vessel-masts, spars, and remains of the junk .. Some fishing-boats were also capsized. On the land the tornado was fully as destructive. It struck just west of the Burton mound, carrying with it, as eye- witnesses assert, a solid body of water out of the ocean, the breakers rolling half-way across the Italian gardens. Fences and light buildings were removed like feathers. The direction was towards and up De la Vina Street, and it left a well-defined path, indicated by uprooted trees and wrecked build- ings. Milo Sawyer's barn was lifted from the ground and rolled over and over, until it was reduced to fragments. A horse tied in the stable was found some distance away, safe but highly astonished, with a piece of the barn attached to the halter. An adobe residence · was blown down on Gutierrez Street. Marey had two barns destroyed. Abbott's grounds were swept of shrubbery. A portion of W. J. Staf- ford's house was carried away. Professor Neu- mayer's place was torn up, some of the timbers being carried as far as Ben Burton's place across the creek, one piece of which fell on the portion of the house where Burton's little children were sleeping, going through the roof, but happily missing the children. Several windows were blown out. The Frost place being somewhat protected by Burton's escaped with less injury, only some fruit trees being damaged. Some large shade trees on the same block, belonging to Hamel, were piled helter-skelter in a common ruin. The evergreens around the Baptist Church were prostrated. The steeple of the Metho- dist Church was wrenched off and broken to pieces. Curley's house was somewhat damaged, one end being blown out and the house moved several feet. The inmates escaped without injury. Mr. Brand's house was also roughly used. Between Curley's and Brand's houses was the house of W. F. M. Goss, and here the storm wreaked a fatal vengeance. The family was gathered in the front room when the storm struck the building, carrying away the roof and moving the house several feet from its founda- tion. The chimney was thrown down, falling inside the building upon the inmates. Willie, a boy nine- teen years old, was taken from under the debris with skull erushed. Josephine, another child, was rescued from the pile of bricks uninjured. A lamp in the hands of another of the family was broken, but happily did not take fire. Farther along it tore the roof off the St. Vincent School-building, but the walls being strong remained intact. Judge Ords' stable was carried across the street and thrown into the grounds of the Sisters of Charity. A pump was left by the storm in Judge Cooley's yard, owner unknown. Carriages and horses, stables and out- houses, were promiscuously distributed about the town, or located on other lots. Though the storm was general, its greatest damage was from the wharf through the town west of State Street. The roads to Carpenteria, Gaviota, and Newhall were impass able for several days. Though the storm was so
226
HISTORY OF SANTA BARBARA COUNTY.
fierce, the damage was neither widely spread nor serions, except at the wharf, with the exception of the loss of life in Mr. Goss' family. Though strong southeast winds are frequent, it is unusual for them to assume the character of a cyclone or tornado. Carlos Espinosa was drowned in the Santa Ynez River in the storm."
These were the great storms of the year, in fact, the severest that Santa Barbara has ever experi- enced.
INVESTIGATION OF COUNTY FINANCES.
. The lax manner of keeping the records of the county affairs has been mentioned before. It com- menced with the organization of the county, and though improved some by the Americans, who gen- erally got possession of the books and offices after 1860, there was much room for improvement. Charges of corruption were freely made during campaign times by both parties. and little attention was paid to it; but it left a residuum of suspicion, which finally induced the Board of Supervisors to order a thorough investigation of the books. They appointed A. L. Lincoln and E. S. Sheffield, cashiers of the principal banks, to make the investigation. They commenced with the books of the
COUNTY CLERK.
They reported on that office that they were full of errors, the ordinary test of a balance never having been applied. As far as the entries show, credits to the Treasurer had been made without verification.
" Entries appear on the day book which do not appear on the ledger, and vice versa.
" The accounts with the Road Overseers do not at all times show their true condition. In many of them no polls are charged since 1878, and no settlement entered since July of that year, although we are assured that they have been properly made.
" The delinquent poll lists have not been charged to the Collector every year, as required by law, and entries have been made without a proper, and some- times without any explanation.
" We have not discovered that these errors and defects have resulted in loss to the county. A few errors, small in amount, which might have so done, were rectified when pointed out; yet, if accounts are not clear and complete, and are not accurately kept, they cannot be relied upon to detect mistakes, or supply the proper information.
" The condition of the books as described rendered it necessary to rewrite them for the whole period covered by the investigation. It would be of con- siderable value to the county to have the books kept in a proper way, and as the accounts are few in number it would be comparatively easy for a person of ordinary clerical ability to conduct them, it once opened on a clear and simple plan.
" Sufficient care has not been taken to comply with the requirements of law in the issnance of warrants. Some have been drawn without vestige of authority appearing on the record, others upon the written, and still others upon the mere verbal order of one member of the Board. While each of these cases, upon investigation, proves to have been a proper
object of expenditure, the neglect of legal form opens the door to fraud.
" The County Clerk is also Clerk of the District, Probate, and County Courts, Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, and Auditor and Recorder of the county.
" From March, 1874, to March, 1878, the office was filled by Mr. H. P. Stone. Compensation for its duties was made partly by salary, but most largely by fees. During this time he received in-
From the county.
1874. 83,210 12
1875. $3,545 35 6,553 53
1876. $5,025 03 6,288 89
1877. 83,030 00 4,331 09
From individuals
6,012 35
Total .. $9,222 47 810,098 88 811,313 92
87,861 09
" Included in the portion paid him by the county, he claimed, and the Board allowed illegal fees to the amount: In the year 1874, of $354.73; in the year 1875, of $482.61; in the year 1876, of $509.59; in the year 1877. of $469.10. Or, altogether, $1,816.03.
" That this may be fully understood, it is best to enumerate the principal fees that were legally pay- able to him for service to the county.
" As Clerk of the Board he was entitled to a salary of $400 per annum.
" As Recorder, twenty cents per folio for recording, twenty cents for filing and twenty-five cents for indexing official bonds.
"As Auditor, a commission on the gross amount (aside from school money) paid into the County Treasury each year, at the rate of two per cent. on first $20,000; one and one-half per cent. on the second $20,000; one per cent. on the third $20.000; and one and one-half per cent. on the remainder; in addition a fee of fifty cents for each license sold by the Tax Collector, and an allowance not to exceed eight cents per folio for making the duplicate assess- ment roll.
" As Clerk of the Court, in criminal proceedings, where the charge was felony, $5.00, and where it was misdemeanor, $3.00, for all services except tak- ing testimony or copying papers from the records, for which he could receive twenty cents per folio additional.
"'He was prohibited from taking pay for adminis- tering the oath of office, for habeas corpus services, or for any naturalization services, except the index- ing of names.
" Included also in that portion are considerable amounts paid without regard to the value of the services rendered, the legality of which in many cases seems doubtful.
" The act of March 5, 1870 (15,254 Hittell), pro- vided that none of the officers therein mentioned should receive 'any other compensation whatever' for services that then were, or that might thereafter be, required of them in the discharge of their respect- ive offices.
"As this act, in its general provisions, remains unrepealed, it is clear that no subsequent statute could increase the compensation of officials, unless specified in distinct terms. Notwithstanding this, we find claims made and allowed for computing and extending taxes on the assessment roll-a part of his duty as Auditor, and already paid for by commis- sions; for correcting same from the minutes of the Board, and for making copies of the military list, both duties as Clerk of the Board, and paid for in salary; also, many claims for habeas corpus and naturalization services; for administering the oath of office, and for a multitude of services in criminal proceedings, hav- ing in addition received the gross sum which was paid in lieu of them.
227
THE EBB TIDE OF PROSPERITY.
" Aside from these were claims and allowances in excess of the maximum rate fixed by law, even where that rate was an extravagant compensation.
" As instances: In recording official bonds his usual charge was 82.50 each. As they average six folios, the legal rate would be $1.20 for recording, 20 cents for filing, and 25 cents for indexing.
" In November, 1876, he claimed compensation for making a copy of the Great Register for the printer. The bill reads, '588 names at 25 cents per name, $147.' At a large estimate it contained 159 folios, for which the maximum legal charge would be 20 cents per folio, or $31.80.
" The work was actually worth about $10.00, being equivalent to 17 pages of the Great Register.
" The absurdity of this charge is made evident by the printer's bill of $68.75 for printing fifty copies of it, and by his own bill of the previous year at exactly one-fifth the rate of this, or 5 cents per name.
" But the most surprising claim, for disregard of law and contempt for appearances, is shown in his bill of September, 1875. itemized thus: ' Making trip- licate copies of the Military list, 210 folios, at 50 cents per folio, $105.' This was one of the duties of the Clerk of the Board, paid for by salary; but admitting it a legal charge, the number of folios could not exceed 72; the highest legal rate per folio was 20 cents, which would reduce the bill to $14.40. As proof that this is fairly estimated, it is merely necessary to state that since the abolition of the fee system, in 1878, this same service cost just $13.00. For all items of this character discovered, reference is made to Schedule A.
" Under the statute requiring a deposit with the Clerk for security of fees, he still holds, as shown by the record, moneys in cases now closed, in which the balances unearned are due the parties making such deposit.
" It would be advisable to ascertain if the county is liable for these sums, and if so, take steps to recover them for payment to the person entitled thereto."
SHERIFF'S OFFICE.
They reported "the absence of a few books as required by law, and a generally loose and confused manner of keeping accounts. The receipts were, in 1874, 85.722.50; in 1875, 88,539.69; in 1876. $9,463.32; in 1877, 86,019.58; and in 1878. 87,803.79.
"A very large item of revenue to the Sheriff is the mileage paid by the county. The rate per mile was evidently fixed when the facilities for travel were very meager. The rate can only be altered by the Legislature; but as it has been the custom for a long time to charge full mileage for the travel of papers by mail into the hands of deputies for service, we submit that such mileage is illegal, and the Board (of Supervisors) has it in its power to disallow the same. Also in the matter of miles 'actually traveled' if the Board should establish distances throughout the county and insist upon the bills for mileage being so particular that mistakes could be detected, much might be saved to the county. As the county is obliged to reimburse the Sheriff for necessary expenses incurred in the transportation of prisoners, vouchers for said expenses should be insisted on where practicable.
They also recommended that the Sheriff should be required to itemize in charges presented to the Board.
They also found that he made charges for prepar- ing the " delinquent list," and for attending night sessions of the court, charging for full per diem, which was believed to be illegal.
" The Collector, after settlement with the Auditor, under Section 3,753, Political Code, is not prompt in paying the money over to the Treasurer, sometimes a month elapsing. The law for collecting licenses is not adequate to the purpose. The Collector assesses the license and collects it, hence there is no check upon the thorough manner in which it should be done. The Assessor should report a complete list of persons liable to pay license, payment to be made to the Col- lector. Some difficulty and confusion exists in con- sequence of a printed license for three months being used for a longer term; the alteration by the Col- lector being good so far as the purchaser is con- corned; but to secure a correct accounting, the pur- chaser should be required to get the sanction of the Auditor to such alteration, who must immediately debit the Collector in the license account.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.