USA > California > Siskiyou County > History of Siskiyou County, California > Part 19
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Delegate joint from Modoc and Siskiyou counties:
#Term increased to four years. § Resigned May 6, 1878. John B. Rohrer appointed.
*Shasta, Trinity, and Siskiyou counties.
* Siskiyou, Modoc, Shasta and Trinity counties.
+ Siskiyou and Modoc counties.
MANUEL PEREIRA.
MRS. MANUEL PEREIRA.
MANUEL WHITE.
INFANT CHILD OF MR. AND MRS. PEREIRA.
DAIRY RANCH OF JOSEPH GRAY, 2 MILES SOUTH OF FORT JONES, SISKIYOU CO., CAL.
77
HISTORY OF SISKIYOU COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
*Jehu Berry, 290 votes; Elijah Steele, 31 votes ; scattering, 8.
GENERAL ELECTION, SEPTEMBER 4, 1878.
Supervisor Third District, W. J. Evans, 81 votes, one candidate. Total, 83.
SPECIAL ELECTION, MAY 7, 1879.
For the New Constitution, 1,169 votes. Against the New Constitution, 226 votes. Majority, 942 votes.
GENERAL ELECTION, SEPTEMBER 3, 1879.
*Senator Twenty-eighth District, A. B. Carloek, 822 votes, two candidates. Total 1,695.
+Assemblyman, J. R. Cook, 927 votes, two eandi- dates. Total, 1,680.
Superior Judge, Elijah Steele, 940 votes, two can- didates. Total, 1,683.
District Attorney, H. B. Gillis, 969 votes, two can - didates. Total, 1,677.
County Clerk, Joseph Rice, 1,097 votes, two can- didates. Total, 1,688.
Sheriff, D. N. Lash, 861 votes, two candidates. Total, 1,698.
Treasurer, A. H. Burrows, 873 votes, two candi- dates. Total, 1,687.
Assessor, Elisha De Witt, 1,089 votes, two candi- dates. Total, 1,693.
Surveyor, L. H. Varnum, 973 votes, two candi- dates. Total, 1,696.
Public Administrator and Coroner, William Cooley, 934 votes, two candidates. Total, 1,667.
School Superintendent, H. A. Morse, 1,034 votes, two candidates. Total, 1,701.
Supervisor, First District, John W. MeBride, 401 votes, two candidates. Total, 794.
For Chinese Immigration, 7.
Against Chinese Immigration, 1,692.
GENERAL ELECTION NOVEMBER 4, 1880.
* Assemblyman, John Daggett, 890 votes, two candidates. Total, 1,688.
The officers of Siskiyou county, as at present organized, consist of :-
One judge of the Superior Court.
Three supervisors.
One county clerk, who is ex officio auditor, recor- der, clerk of the Superior Court, and clerk of the board of supervisors, board of equalization and board of canvassers.
One district attorney.
One sheriff, who is ex officio tax-collector.
One treasurer.
One publie administrator and coroner.
One superintendent of schools.
One assessor.
One State senator for Siskiyou, Modoc, Shasta and Trinity counties jointly.
One member of the assembly for Siskiyou and Modoe counties jointly.
It is not the design of this work to deal with the political history of the county so far as party poli-
* Elected.
* Siskiyou, Mod c, Shasta and Trinity counties.
+ Siskiyou aud Modoc counties.
- * Siskiyou and Modoc counties jointly.
ties are concerned, but the following table has been prepared to show the political complexion of the vote cast at all presidential and gubernatorial elections as well as on the chief questions that have at various times come before the people of the State. The name first written is that of the successful candidate or measure.
TABLE OF COUNTY VOTE SINCE 1852.
Year.
Election.
Candidates.
Party.
Vote.
Vote.
Total
1852 Presidential
Winfield Scott
Wh's
459
951
1853- Gubernatorial
William Waldo
Whig.
635 1454
1855- Gubernatorial
John Bigier.
Democrat
1368 3413
( JJames Bu chanan
Democrat
20:3
1856- Presidential
John C. Fremont
Republican
464
Millard Fillmore
American
1791 4323
John B. Weller.
Democrat
2425
1857- Gubernatorial
Edward Stanley
Republican
331
G. W. Bowie ..
American
1212 3869
1857- State Debt.
¿ Repudiate.
( M. S. Latham
Democrat
2159
1859 Gubernatorial
( Leland Stanford
Abraham Lincoln
Stephen A. Douglas
1860- Presidential
J. C. Breckenridge
John Bell
Const. Union. .
Republican
1168
1861 Gubernatorial
J. R. McConnell
( John Conness
Frederick F. Low
John G. Downey
Democrat
999 2052
Republican
925
18643
Presidential
George B. McCiellan
Democrat
95 1882
1867 - Gubernatorial .
{ George C. Gorham
Republican
744
{ Caleb T. Fay
Ind. Republican
Republican
835
1868 Presidential
Horatio Seymour
Democrat.
918 1753
18713 Gubernatorial
Heury H. Haight
Demo rat
1101 1973
18727 Presidential
Horace Greeley.
Charles O'Conor
Democrat
1372
1875.
Gubernatorial
T. G. Phelps
Republican
490
( John Bidwell.
Independent
Republican
718
1876 Presidential
Rutherford B. Hayes. Samuel J. Tilden
Democrat
$61 1579
( Constitutional
For ..
Against
For
1169
18795
( of Constitution. } Against
( George C. Perkins
Republican
666
1879- Gubernatorial
Hugh J Glenn
D m. & N. C. P.
917
{ William F. White
Workingmen ..
116 1699
( James A. Garfield
Republ can
799
1880 Presidential
Winfield S. Hancock
Democrat
S99
-
{ James B. Weaver
Greenback
18 1716
CHAPTER XI. FINANCIAL AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
FINANCIAL.
THE first orders issued by the county of Siskiyou were authorized by the Court of Sessions June 16, 1852. They were twelve in number and were issued to the commissioners appointed to organize the county, for their services and expenses while performing their duties. They amounted to each as follows :- Wilson T. Smith, $52; H. G. Ferris, $51; D. H. Lowry, $60; C. M. Tutt, $68; Theodore F. Rowe, $87. The total expense of organizing the county and holding the first election under the Aet of the Legislature was $1,178 15, for which warrants were issued by the Court of Sessions.
So expensive was everything used in the early days and so great were the fees allowed for official services, that not only the State but every county, also, ran badly into debt during the first few years of its existence. The amount of tangible taxable
872
( Ulysses S. Grant
Ropublican
709
663
( William Irwin
Democrat
886
1877- 2
Convention ..
10"
1418
Ratification
( Abraham Lincoln
( Henry H. Haight. .
Demoerat
760
516 3734
Leland Stanford,
Democrat
71
Union Democrat 1280 3165
Un'on
1053
1863- Gubernatorial
John Currey
A. L. Democrat 1303
Republican
43 3505
Republican
955
Ind. Democrat.
1503
Democrat
819
John B gler
Democrat.
Know-Nothing
2045
( J. Neely Johnson
Democrat
492
Franklin Pierce
Ulysses S. Grant
{ Newton Bwth
Republican
154 1530
131
22: 1395
Lib. and Dem
985
34 1763
( Pay
78
HISTORY OF SISKIYOU COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
property was small, and the rate of tax at first imposed entirely inadequate to raise a sum sufficient to meet the current expenses of the county govern- ment. The population was of an active and ener- getic character, whose chief capital was enterprise and hope, and whose property consisted mainly of mining claims of a fleeting and indefinite value. The county had not been long enough settled to admit of the creation of valuable property to serve as a financial basis for a government, and yet the county government was run on a scale commensu- rate with the prodigality of the times, and with but little regard to the scarcity of its resources or the brevity of its assessment list. Services were per- formed and materials furnished at a high price, but there was not money enough in the treasury to meet a tithe of the warrants issued therefor. They rapidly accumulated until a great debt was piled up, when an application to the Legislature for a measure to relieve the county of the immediate burden of its obligations resulted in an Act providing for a fund- ing of the debt. The Act of April 29, 1857, con- stituted the chairman of the board of supervisors, auditor and treasurer a board of funding com- missioners, with power to issue bonds equal in amount to the total indebtedness of the county existing the first of January, 1858, after which date the board of supervisors were forbidden to create any debt of more than one thousand dollars in excess of the amount of money in the treasury subject to its pay- ment. The bonds were to be issued in amounts of five hundred and one hundred dollars, due January 1, 1869, and to bear interest at the rate of ten per cent. per annum. A special annual interest tax of thirty-five cents on the one hundred dollars of tax- able property was authorized to be levied, and the creation of a sinking fund was provided for.
County warrants and juror's certificates issued by order of the Court of Sessions and board of super- visors from the organization of the county until Jan- uary 1, 1858, and which were covered by the pro- visions of the Funding Act, amounted to $235,013.71. Of this sum about one hundred thousand dollars were paid by means of funds flowing into the treas- ury from taxes and licenses, while the remainder stood as a debt against the county to be funded under the provisions of this Act.
The bonds issued by the funding commissioners are shown in the succeeding table.
Of these bonds the first redemption was made in 1861, $1,100 being surrendered at fifty-three and one-half cents. This was the lowest figure at which Siskiyou county bonds were ever taken up, and annually, until they were refunded in 1869, a por- tion of the bonds were canceled at rates varying from that to ninety-nine and three-fourths cents, the average on the whole amount being $.738 on the dollar. The time for the redemption of these bonds drawing near, and the county being unable to provide for the payment in full, the Legislature, by Act of March 26, 1868, authorized the chairman of the board of supervisors and the county auditor to become funding commissioners, to issue bonds in amount equal to the bonds of the county outstand- ing Jannary 1, 1869, to run for ten years from that date and to bear interest at the rate of ten per cent. per annum; providing also for an interest tax and a
sinking fund for redeeming the new county bonds.
SISKIYOU COUNTY BONDS OF 1858.
WHEN ISSUED.
TO WHOM ISSUED,
NO. ISSUED.
AMOUNT OF BONDS.
Jan.
25 Holland Parker
5
$ 1,300
25 James D. Turner
2
600
26 J. P. Goodale
1
100
28 D. D. Colton
12
6,000
66
28 Eli H. Stone
10
3,400
66
29 Andrew Meier
2
1,000
Feb.
17 E. Wadsworth
34
17,000
18 E. Wadsworth
21
8,900
18 E. Wadsworth
2
1,000
66
18 Jonas W. Brown
19
9,100
19 Samuel P. Fair
38
18,200
11 E. Wadsworth
2
1.000
11 E. Wadsworth
2
1,000
11 D. D. Colton
1
500
11 Hoyt & Wicks
4
400
60
11 E. M. Stevens.
1
100
11 Thomas Masterson
3
300
11 John Cleland
3
300
=
11 Jonas W. Brown
1
500
=
11 H. Goldsmith
1
500
11 William Harding
18
1,800
11|W. D. Batterton
4
400
12 Greathouse & Bro
34
3,400
12 L. Livingston.
34
3,400
13 D. D. Colton.
2
600
13 Jerome Churchill
11
3,500
April
22 H. Goldsmith & Co
8
3,200
66 22/T. T. Cabaniss
6
1,400
23 E. Wadsworth
2
200
23 E. Wadsworth
4
1,200
23 Hugh Morgan
3
1,500
23 Charles Bibend
1
100
6 23 E. K. Phipps
2
1,000
23 Greathouse & Bro
1
500
23 E. Wadsworth
5
2,500
23 L. Livingston
3
700
23 W. D. Batterton
6
2.200
26 Greathouse & Bro
10
3.800
26 E. Wadsworth
5
1,300
26 John Loag
1
100
26 H. Goldsmith & Co
1
100
26 D. D. Colton
3
300
June
30 T. T. Cabaniss
1
100
30 Jonas W. Brown
1
500
30 Samuel P. Fair
2
200
30 Holland Parker
2
200
30 W. D. Batterton
2
200
30 L. Livingston
4
400
30 E. K. Phipps
1
100
66 30 John Justice
1
100
30 W. H. Gatliff
3
1,500
30 Lauer & Bro
4
800
30 11. T. Templeton
1
100
66 30 John Eldridge.
3
700
30 Greathouse & Bro
2
200
30 11. Parker
1
100
30 Jerome Churchill
2
200
Total.
465
$133,300
66
22 A. M. Rosborough
19
5,100
22 E. Wadsworth
21
8,900
23 E. Il. Stone
6
1,400
66
58
6,600
18 E. Wadsworth
3
1,500
March 10 H. Goldsmith
11 E. Wadsworth
66
=
66
79
HISTORY OF SISKIYOU COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
The condition of the bonds at the time of refunding in 1869 was as follows :-
Total interest paid to date. $111,170 00
Total amount redeemed 69,500 00
Average rate of redemption 738
Total paid for redemption 51,291 00
Total outstanding bonds 63,800 00
This amount was negotiated by the commissioners with E. & H. Wadsworth as follows :-
105 bonds of $500 each $52,500
112 " $100
11,200
1 to Louis Heller 100
Total -- 218 bonds $63,800
The ensuing ten years saw but slight reduction in the amount of the funded indebtedness of the county, and the Legislature, by Act of March 28, 1878, provided for again refunding the debt, the chairman of the board of supervisors and the county auditor being constituted a board of funding commissioners for that purpose. The bonds were made payable in ten years from January 1, 1879, and to bear interest at seven per cent. An interest tax was provided for, and a sinking fund, to consist of the annual sur- plus in the general and interest funds. Whenever the sinking fund contained $1,000 the supervisors were authorized to advertise for the surrender of bonds upon a certain date, from which date interest upon such advertised bonds should cease.
At the date of refunding the following was the condition of the bonds of 1869 :-
Total interest paid. $55,920 00
Redeemed at $.995 8,200 00
Redeemed at par. 500 00
Amount paid for redemption . 8,659 00
Outstanding bonds 55,100 00
The new bonds were negotiated with E. & H. Wadsworth as follows :-
51 bonds of $100 each
5,100 00
100 bonds of $500 each 50,000 00
Total, 151 bonds. $55,100 00
The board, in accordance with the provisions of the Act, advertised for the surrender of bonds to the amount of $2,700, March 13, 1880, from which date interest ceased to run on them. Of these only $900 have been surrendered, leaving $1,800 still out, but bearing no interest. The condition of the bonds, February 1, 1881, was :-
Redeemed $900 00
Outstanding, bearing interest, $52,400 00
Outstanding, not bearing in-
terest . 1,800 00
Total outstanding $54,200 00
Total
$55,100 00
Total interest paid . 7,607 81
The following recapitulation of the above exhibits presents a startling array of figures for a county with the population and assessment valuation of Siskiyou. They should be carefully studied :-
Interest on bonds of 1858, $111,170 00
Interest on bonds of 1869, 55,920 00 Interest on bonds of 1879, 7,607 SI
Total interest paid . ...
.$174,697 81
Paid to redeem 1858 bonds, $51,291 00
Paid to redeem 1869 bonds, 8,659 00 Paid to redeem 1879 bonds, 900 00
Total paid for redemption 60,850 00
Outstanding, bearing inter- est. .$52,400 00
Outstanding, not bearing in-
terest
1,800 00
Total outstanding bonds
54,200 00
Total interest and bonds redeemed and outstanding $289,747 81
ASSESSMENT VALUATION FOR THE YEAR 1881, BY SCHOOL DISTRICTS.
Bogus $21,389
Butteville . 79,626
Berryvale 33,277
Black Bear 66,728
Cottonwood 105,901
Cottage Grove 14,115
Callahan's.
77,677
Cedar Park 99,369
Douglas 79,510
Etna 195,908
East Fork
24,984
Foot-hill
23,266
Franklin 106,282
Forks.
37,914
Greenhorn 40,823
Hawkinsville 61,531
Humbug
29,937
Hooper
39,182
Hamburg
10,489
Klamath . 38,808
Kidder .
35,142
Little Shasta
55,183
Meamber
45,591
Moffitt Creek 10,565
Oro Fino .. 62,169
Oak Grove.
23,674
Quartz Valley
35,596
Shasta Valley 76,969
Scott Valley. 213.908
Sawyer's Bar 65,390
Scott River
68,629
South Fork.
39,061
Sciad
11,037
Salmon 15,343
Table Rock. 291,656
Union .
83,292
Vineland
125,806
Washington
123,289
Willow Creek
88 189
Yreka
607,090
Total
$3,519,699
80
HISTORY OF SISKIYOU COUNTY, CALIFORNIA,
ASSESSMENT VALUATIONS AND RATE OF TAX.
YEAR. .
Real Estate.
Personal. . . .
Total. .
Tax on $100.
Hosp.
and
Poll
State.
County
Tax.
1852
. .
$
36,557 $ 442,431 $
478,988
IS53. . .
190,613
726,577
917,190
$ 0 53
1854 ..
297.943
828,820
1,126,763
0 65
1855 ..
588,755
1,629,726
2,218,48] $ 0 60
1856. .
1857.
711,915
2,089,455
2,801,370
2,486,838
0 60
1 65
5 00
1860. ..
90,318
1,973,074
2,882,392
0 60
1 65
4 00
1861. ..
864,367
1,539,832
2,404,199
0 60
1 65
4 00
1862.
368,266
760,924
1,227,297
0 62
1 78
4 00
1863.
514,760
983,432
1,498,192
0 87
1 80
2 00
1864. .
310,285
729,131
1,039,416
1 25
2 06
2 00
1865.
455,524
1,020,600
1,476,124
1 15
1 85
2 00
1866.
472,562
1,045,447
1,518,009
1 47
2 00
1867.
277,845
721,500
999,345
1 13
1 27
2 00
1868. . .
624,368
1,236,776
1.861,144
1 00
1 27
1869. ..
586,023
1,365,809
1,951,832
0 97
1 28
1870. . .
707,933
1,446,277
2,154,210
0 865
1 40
1 75
1 10
1 25
*1874.
1,603,630
1,728,649
3,332,279
0 649
1 151
*1875.
1,651,179
1,571,715
3,222,894
0 605
1 145
*1876. ..
1,546,650
1,073,241
2,619,891
0 735
1 065
2 00
*1877 ..
1,530,403
1,107,633
2,638,036
0 63
1 17
2 00
*1878 ...
1,503,092
1,148,275
2,651,367
0 55
1 25
2 00
*1879 ...
1,504,734
1,157,478|
2,662,212
0 625
1 175
8 00
*1880. ..
2,034,002
1,681,555 3,715,557
0 64
0 86
4 00
* Full cash value.
PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
Unlike many of the counties of California, Siski- you has never suffered the loss of any of its public buildings by fire, nor have any of its important records been destroyed or damaged. They are, however, kept without any protection by safe or vault, and in case of fire would be totally lost.
The commissioners who organized the county held their meetings and canvassed the votes in the Ver- andah, the most popular saloon in Yreka, and seemed to give as good satisfaction as in the most elaborate temple of justice ever erected. The first court room was rented by the county and occupied the upper part of a building on Miner street near Main, where Duenkel's saloon now is. The county offices were below in the same building. The sheriff had an office in a log building where Herzog's market stands, until the fire of 1854 burned it to the ground. A brick building was then erected on the same site, and the sheriff's office occupied the front of the upper story, while the Yreka Union was in the rear. A new building was also built on Fourth street, in the rear of King's present store, in which was the Eclampus Vitus hall. This was occupied for a court room and clerk's office. A small wooden jail was built on the south-west cor- ner of the plaza, opposite Mr. Winckler's residence, which cost the county three thousand dollars. It was here that the Greenhorn riot occurred, and after that event a high board fence was built about the jail. The door of this old structure still closes upon poor unfortunates who get into the clutches of the officers, and is the portal through which City Marshal Halliek ushers his guests into the quarters prepared for them in the city calaboose.
Early in 1856 the board of supervisors advertised for bids for a brick court house, and on the first of
April accepted the bid of A. Witherall for $15,479. This gentleman assigned his bid to R. L. Westbrook and H. T. Shepard, to whom the contract was accord- ingly let. On the fourteenth of the same month the board ordered, "That the said court house shall be placed in the center of the public square, in Yreka City, Siskiyou county, California, at equal distances from the outsides, the ends or fronts of said building to face Fourth and Oregon streets, being at right angles with said square." The building was com- pleted the next spring and formally accepted April 18, 1857, thirteen hundred dollars being allowed for extras, making a total cost of $16,779. The struc- ture still serves the county as a court house, and forms one of the illustrations of this volume. It is two stories high, the lower floor being occupied by the offices of the county clerk, sheriff, district attorney and superior judge, while up stairs are the office of the assessor and a commodious court room. The plaza surrounding it is well covered with grass and ornamented with large locust trees, a splendid flag pole standing at the north-east corner.
In May, 1875, the county purchased for $350 a lot 65x160 feet on the north-west corner of Fourth and Lane streets, where the Catholic parsonage had stood previous to the fire of 1871. The contract for building a stone jail on this lot, according to the plans of the California Bridge and Building Company was let the same month to F. Stockslager, at $6,440. The structure was completed a year later. In the fall of 1877 a stone wall was built around the jail by W. B. Cantrell, for $2,550. The old wooden jail was torn down.
The first hospital for the care of the sick was a private institution kept by Dr. J. S. Cummins and A. M. C. Smith. It was in a large building where Red Men's Hall now stands, owned by Alvy Boles and Dr. Dane, in 1852. It was not a paying in- vestment, and was soon abandoned. Soon after the county authorities began to provide for the indigent sick, making contracts with physicians and others to care for them. In May, 1857, the supervisors purchased a county hospital from Dr. John Ridgly for $5,500. It was a building he had used for the purpose, while taking care of the sick under con- tract with the county. This served the purpose for a number of years, but in 1869 it was deemed too small, and steps were taken to sec re another and larger one. These resulted in the purchase in April, 1870, of the present hospital premises from Dr. Daniel Ream, for $3,353, and the old property was sold. Contracts are now made by the supervisors with some responsible individual to maintain the indigent of the county at the hospital, and also with some physician to give the requisite medical attend- ance. Dr. Daniel Ream has been the medical attendant for years, while W. A. B. Mills has charge of the institution.
CHAPTER XII.
THE COURTS AND JUDICIARY.
LAW, in its simplest form, was introduced into Alta California by the Caucasian race in 1769, when the mission of San Diego was founded by the Fran-
1871.
787,435
1,434,020
2,221,455
0 865
*1872. .
1,415,503
2,535,762
3,951,265
0 50
* 1873.
1,649,733
2,078,955
3,728,688
0 50
1 50
5 00
1858 ..
1859.
874,388
1,612,450
0 60
0 90
$3 00
0 70
0 80
6 00
0 70
0 65
il & Gillis
HUDSON. B. GILLIS.
The subject of this sketch, the second son of Ridg- way B. and Margaret Gillis, was born at Ridgway, Elk county, Pennsylvania, on the eighth of Novem- ber, 1842. He is of Scotch descent, his mother being a native of Scotland, and his father, though born in New York, of Scotch antecedents. His parents moved with him to Iowa in 1849. His boyhood and early manhood were spent in the Hawkeye State and in Illinois and Nebraska. In June, 1869, he graduated at the Iowa Wesleyan University of Mount Pleasant, having maintained himself by his own personal exertions during his course of study at that institution. The last two years of his collegiate life were principally devoted to the study of law, he having chosen the legal profession as his future vocation. In the fall of 1869 he came to California with the intention of making his permanent home on the coast. He continued his law studies for some time in the office of George Cadwallader, an attorney at Sacramento, and then moved to Yreka. Here he entered the office of Judge E. Steele, and still labored earnestly to perfect his knowledge of law, teaching school a portion of the time for his support. Mr. Gillis was admitted to the Siskiyou bar in 1871, when he commenced a very successful and lucrative practice. Having a strong ambition to reach the higher rounds in the ladder of his profession, and being determined to master and hold every step, he steadily rose in public esteem and confidence, until
in the fall of 1875 the people elected him to the office of district attorney, which he now holds, hav- ing been twice re-elected. He was married in the fall of 1871 to Miss Anna M. Reynolds, daughter of Isaac and Maria E. Reynolds, a lady of great mental attainments and intellectual vigor. The union has been one of singular and continued felicity. Mr. Gillis was one of the Siskiyou county commissioners to wind up the affairs of Klamath county in 1876. He is an honored and efficient member of How- ard Lodge, No. 96, of Free and Accepted Masons, and held the chair of worthy master for three years. He has taken an active part in every political cam- paign since he first came to the State. Being an able speaker he has stumped the county on several occasions in the interests of Democracy, and is con- sidered one of the best workers in the party. The Scotch character largely predominates in Mr. Gillis' personal appearance and in the bent of his mind. He is tall, bony and slender, possessing singularly penetrating powers of mind and brings untiring zeal and activity into whatever he undertakes. As a lawyer he is logical, searching and persistent, and seldom fails to win his point. His long residence on the frontier has given him an admirable insight into the western character, to which hardy, vigorous class he may be said to belong himself. As a public offi- cer he is faithful to the best interests of the people, and as a private citizen he has a circle of friends and well-wishers which only sterling worth and man- hood can create.
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HISTORY OF SISKIYOU COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
ciscan Friars under the leadership of Father Juni- pero Serro. At this and other missions soon after established, the padres had full control, administer- ing justice in the manner best calculated to further the interests of their religion and cement and per- petuate the feeble government they had set up among the simple natives they soon gathered about them. The military sent into the wilderness to uphold and protect the missions was entirely sub- servient to the authority of the padres. As the Caucasians increased and pueblos (towns) were established, justice was administered therein by an alcalde (judge), the padres still reigning supreme at the missions. The pueblos increased in size and the authority of the alcalde and other civil officers gradually encroached upon that of the padres, until when the missions were secularized by the Mexican government, the padres lost all temporal authority, and the civil power obtained supreme control. This authority was exercised along the whole coast and as far inland as the military arm had strength and energy enough to sustain it.
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