USA > California > Sonoma County > History of Sonoma County : including its geology, topography, mountains, valleys, and streams > Part 5
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HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
grace of God, our cattle will be brought to-morrow. We are all highly pleased with the site, and all agree that it offers more advantages than any other place between here and San Diego." On completion of the mission, San Francisco Solano was chosen its patron saint. We will hereafter show how the original name of Sonoma was revived, on the establishment of this point as a "comandancia."
Three years after the events above recorded, in the year 1826, the new mission was destroyed by the Indians, Padre Altimira barely escaping with his life. He soon after left this portion of the country for Santa Barbara, in company with Father Antonio Ripoll, on board of an American vessel commanded by Captain Joseph Steele. Under Padre Fortuni, the successor of Altimira, the mission once more was built, the protection afforded by the Presidio at the Golden Gate keeping the hostile natives in check, he remaining in charge until building in a more permanent shape commenced in 1830. The last-named Father was relieved by Padre Gutierrez, who remained at San Francisco Solano until the promulgation by the Mexican Government, in 1834, of the decree of secularization, consequent on which was the over- throw of the authority of the Fathers, the liberation and dispersion of the Indians, and the partition of the mission lands and cattle, with a result disastrous in the extreme to the aboriginals, whatever it may have been to the Mexican population.
It is stated, and with every semblance of historical correctness, that of some of the missions, which in the year 1834 numbered fifteen hundred souls, in 1842 counted only a few hundreds. In these short eight years the numbers of the mission at San Raphael decreased from thirteen hundred to seventy. There are those, the favorers of the secularization scheme, who contend that the diminution in numbers was the result of a decimating scourge of small-pox, said to have been contracted from a subordinate Mexican officer who had caught the disease at Ross, in the year 1837. Be this as it may, the officer recovered, and sixty thousand Indians are said to have perished in what is now known as the counties of Sonoma, Solano and Napa. So rapidly did they die, that it was found necessary to entomb the victims in huge pits, while others of them abandoned the land, which to them had become accursed by the presence of the foreign intruders. Thus have the aboriginal Californians passed away, and now live only in the memory of the few pioneers who were their contemporaries.
In June, 1834, it had been decided that certain colonists known as the " Cosmopolitan Company " should be despatched from Mexico, under the direction of Jose Maria Hijas, and one Padres, to settle in California. Gover- nor Figueroa therefore personally conducted exploring expeditions which extended to the Russian establishment at Ross, in search of a suitable site whereon to found a settlement. A proper location, answering all desired wants, was selected on Mark West creek, then called " Potiquiyomi," on land
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HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
now owned by Mrs. Henry Mizer, near to a well-known redwood tree, which is still standing. The site was quickly divided off into lots, a plaza laid out, and the place given the name of Santa Ana y Farias, in honor of the then President and Vice-President of Mexico; the Governor himself, on completion of these duties, returning to Monterey.
The month of March, 1835, witnessed the arrival at San Francisco Solano of the colonists, who as a temporary measure were quartered in the mission buildings, until more definite arrangements should be completed. On leaving Mexico, strong inducements had been held out to these emigrants. They had been told of the glories of the country, the richness of its soil and the certain accumulation of wealth, in but a few years at best. On arrival on the scene of action, they found their prospects less flattering than they had been led to expect, therefore a rancorous feeling commenced to manifest itself. Hijas and Padres, the chiefs of the colony, supported by Berduzco, Lara and Torres, bore 'an itehing palm ' for power, and soon evinced signs of discon- tent and rebellion, which were with difficulty suppressed by General M. G. Vallejo, who had been left with some soldiers in command of the new settle- ment. The mutinons designs of Hijas and Padres, being made known to Governor Figueroa, they were suspended from the office of Directors, and their persons ordered, under date March 16th, to be seized, and the arms and other property of the colony to be taken possession of by the military. On the following day the malcontents were apprehended and sent to San Fran- cisco under escort. "The weapons," General Vallejo says, " served later to arm a company of Suisun Indians, who did duty as a body-guard of my faithful ally, Prince Solano, head of the powerful tribe of Suisunes. This guard of honor was put under the command of Sergeant Sabas Fernandez."
Vallejo, finding himself isolated in the Santa Rosa valley, and hard pressed by hostile Indian tribes, with direct communication between himself and the headquarters at San Francisco cut off, reported this condition to the author- ities, and was thereupon directed to establish himself in some position nearer the bay. It was then that the town of Santa Ana y Farias was abandoned, and the site of the mission of San Francisco Solano chosen ; here he estab- lished the military command of the northern frontier of California, laid out the Pueblo as it now exists, and resuscitated the almost forgotten but still harmonious name of Sonoma, which that city, the prolific valley, and mag- nificent county still bears.
Between the years 1835 and 1840, we have it on the indisputable authority of General Vallejo, there came and established themselves in the new settle- ment and the surrounding Sonoma valley, the following persons with their families: Mariano G. Vallejo, Salvador Vallejo, Julio Carrillo, Rafael Garcia, Cayetano Juraez, Fernando Felix, Ignacio Pacheco, Nazario Berreyesa, Francisco Berreyesa, Manuel Vaca, Felipe Pena, Lazaro Pena, Juan Miranda, Gregorio Briones, Joaquin Carrillo, Ramon Carrillo, Domingo Suenz, Pablo
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HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
Pacheco, Bartolo Bohorques, Francisco Duarte, Juan Padilla, Marcos Juarez, and Rosalino Olivera. To these were added a few years later, the following foreigners, who settled in different parts of the county and whose locale we will hereafter attempt to lay before the reader: Victor Prudon, French ; George Yount, American ; John Wilson, James Scott, Mark West, Scotch ; J. B. R. Cooper, English ; Edward Manuel McIntosh, Irish; James Black, James Dawson, Edward Bale, English; Tim. Murphy, Irish; Henry D. Fitch and Jacob P. Leese, American. All these, with the single exception of Mc- Intosh, were married to daughters of the soil-" Hijas del Pais."
Frequent expeditions were conducted against the Indians during this period, more especially toward the northeast, on the Sacramento river, in the north in the Clear Lake region, and in the northwest on Russian river. In spite of these troubles, the extension of agricultural industries and the raising of cattle, sheep, and horses, was being gradually accomplished ; the people had to live, however, in a perpetual state of preparation, keeping themselves constantly under arms and subject to the call of the commandant, for they were surrounded by thousands of hostile natives, who took advant- age of every opportunity to attack a people whom they deemed their natural enemies, and the ruthless destroyers of their homes. At that time the entire country abounded with game, such as deer, bears, mountain sheep, hares, rabbits, geese, quail, etc., and the streams were well stocked with many kinds of fish. Besides these, the fertile valleys and hillsides grew an abundance of edible seeds and wild fruits, which were garnered by the Indians and, by them, held in great store. Such means of existence being so easily obtained, is perhaps a reason for the wonderful disinclination of Indians to perform any kind of labor. Indeed, what need was there that they should toil, when beneficent Nature had, with a generosity which knew no stint, placed at their feet an unlimited supply of health-giving food !
We would now ask the reader to return with us for a short time to record the further doings of the Muscovite settlers. For upwards of thirty years they remained in undisputed possession of Ross and Bodega, under the suc- cessive gubernatorial regimes of Koskoff, Klebnikoff, Kostromitinoff, and Rotscheff, the latter of whom, with a party of Russians, visited Mount Mayacmas, on the summit of which they affixed a copper-plate with an inscrip- tion. In the year 1853 this plate was discovered by Dr. T. A. Hylton, and a copy of it preserved by Mrs. H. L. Weston, of Petaluma, by whose courtesy we are enabled to reproduce it. The metal slab is octagonal in shape, and bears the following words in Russian :
" RUSSIANS, 1841 JUNE. E. L. VOZNISENSKI iii, E. L. CHERNICH."
This legend we referred to Mr. Charles Mitchell Grant, of Oakland, a gentleman long resident in Siberia, and eminently capable in matters connected with the Russian language and people, and from him received the following notes: "iii, means that Voznisenski is the third
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HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
of the same name in his family, the other two being still living, or, at any rate, alive when he was born. Evidently two Russian sailors; the first is a Polish name, the second a name common in Little Russia." To this mountain Rotscheff gave the name of St. Helena, calling it so after his wife, the Princess de Gagarin, who was then at Fort Ross. General Vallejo relates the following romantic episode in connection with the fair Princess: "The beauty of this lady excited so ardent a passion in the breast of Prince Solano, Chief of all the Indians about Sonoma, that he formed a plan to capture, by force or stratagem, the object of his love; and he might very likely have succeeded had I not heard of his intention in time to prevent its execution." On his return from Mount St. Helena, Rotscheff dispatched herds of cattle and sheep from Ross and occupied a cer- tain tract of land to which they gave the name of " Muny " or " Muniz"; this is what is known as Russian Gulch, and now occupied by the Rule and Myers' ranchos.
We now wind up the Russian occupation, in the lucid words of the veteran General: "Since my appointment to the command of the frontier, in 1835, I had been directed by my Government to advance our colony northwestward, and by virtue of the powers with which I was invested I made grants of land to Messrs. McIntosh, Black, and Dawson, who had other foreigners in their service. After the advance of the Russians continual disputes arose between our colonists and theirs, and as my settlers were ready for a quarrel and were not sparing of those 'energetic words' well known in the English idiom, our neighbors gradually retired towards Ross, and left the country in possession of their rivals, who, like good Anglo-Saxons, knew how to main- tain their rights. Matters constantly became more complicated, until 1840, when Colonel Kupreanoff, Governor of Sitka, came to San Francisco, and inany official communications passed between him and myself as Military Commander of California. The result was that the Russians prepared to abandon their California territory, and proposed to sell mne their property. I was obliged to decline, because they insisted on selling also the land which was already the property of my Government. Finding that I would not yield on the point, they applied to Governor Alvarado, at Monterey, and received from him a similar reply. Then they applied to John A. Sutter, who, in 1840, made the purchase. (For particulars of this transaction we refer the reader to the history of Bodega Township). California was at last freed from guests who had always been regarded by us as intruders. Yet it is but just to say that in all mercantile transactions the Russians were notable for strict honesty, as, in social intercourse, for hospitality and affa- bility of manners towards our people. They took immense numbers of beaver and seal skins during their stay, and left the country almost without fur-bearing animals."
The tract of land granted by General Vallejo to McIntosh, Black and
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HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
Dawson, who had come to the country with Captain John Cooper as sailors somewhere about 1830, was that now known as the Estero Americano, and Cañada de Jonive. Black afterwards disposed of his interest to the other two, and removed to Marin county, where he permanently located. In 1833, Dawson and McIntosh applied for citizenship to the Mexican Govern- ment, and in November of that year the latter went to Monterey for the purpose of getting the grant confirmed. He got the papers made out in his own name, leaving that of Dawson out entirely. At this ungenerous con- duct, Dawson became much incensed. He first inflicted personal chastisement upon his quondam partner, and next sawed the house, which they had conjointly constructed, in two, and removed what he considered as his share entirely off the rancho and planted it beyond the boundary, and to day it is still used as a portion of the dwelling of F. G. Blume at Freestone. On the establishing of his residence, Dawson applied for and received that tract known as the Pogolome grant, and to him is the honor of having first attempted the manufacture of lumber; for we learn that as early as the year 1834 he had enough on hand, sawed in a pit with a long rip-saw, to build a house. The pits are still to be seen near the residence of the late Jasper O'Farrell.
We have already shown that the Russians had taken their departure. This had scarcely been satisfactorily effected than a new element, more for- midable in its probable results, presented itself. In the first five years of the decade commencing with 1840, there began to settle in the vast Californian valleys that intrepid band of pioneers, who, having scaled the Sierra Nevadas with their wagons, trains and cattle, began the civilizing influences of progress on the Pacific Coast. Many of them had left their homes in the Atlantic and Southern States with the avowed intention of proceeding direct to Ore-
gon. On arrival at Fort Hall, however, they heard glowing accounts of the salubrity of the Californian climate and the fertility of its soil; they therefore turned their heads southward and steered for the wished-for haven. At length, after weary days of toil and anxiety, fatigued and foot-sore, the promised land was gained. And what was it like? The country in what valley soever we wot was an interminable grain field; mile upon mile, and acre after acre wild oats grew in marvellous profusion, in many places to a prodigious height-one great glorious green of wild waving corn-high over head of the wayfarer on foot, and shoulder-high with the equestrian; wild flowers of every prismatic shade charmed the eye, while they vied with each other in the gorgeousness of their colors, and blended into dazzling splendor. One breath of wind and the wide emerald expanse rippled itself into space, while with a heavier breeze came a swell whose rolling waves beat against the mountain sides, and, being hurled back, were lost in the far-away hori- zon; shadow pursued shadow in a long merry chase. The air was filled with the hum of bees, the chirrup of birds, and an overpowering fragrance from
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HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
the various plants weighted the air. The hill sides, overrun as they were with a dense mass of tangled jungle, were hard to penetrate, while in some portions the deep dark gloom of the forest trees lent relief to the eye. The almost boundless range was intersected throughout with divergent trails, whereby the traveller moved from point to point, progress being as it were in darkness on account of the height of tho oats on either side, and rendered dangerous in the valleys by the bands of untamed cattle, sprung from the stock introduced by the missions and early Spanish settlers. These found food and shelter on the plains during the night; at dawn they repaired to the higher grounds to chew the cud and bask in the sunshine. At every yard cayotes sprang from beneath the feet of the voyager. The hissing of snakes, the frightened rush of lizards, all tended to heighten the sense of danger, while the flight of quail and other birds, the nimble run of the rabbit, and the stampede of elk and antelope, which abounded in thousands, added to the charm, causing him, be he whosvever he may, pedestrian or equestrian, to feel the utter insignificance of man, the " noblest work of God."
In the year 1840, there arrived in the Russian River valley, from San Diego, Cyrus Alexander, to take charge of the Sotoyome grant, the estate of Captain H. D. Fitch, the terms of his contract with Fitch being that he was to superintend the property and its stock, and at the end of four years receive two leagues of the ranch in payment. His first duty was to define the boundaries of the grant with the aid of the Mexican authorities. Sur- veying by the Mexicans at this early date was very different from the scientific knowledge which is found necessary now. In the first place, the lariat was substituted for the chain, while the pins used were long enough to be handled and placed in position from on horseback. The manner of effecting a survey was in this wise: The Surveyor would set his compass and take the bearings of a high hill or large tree at the extreme range of his vision; the word would then be given to his satellites, who would urge their horses to a fast trot, or sometimes to a hand-gallop, in the direction indicated, and without stopping they would draw the pins here, and set them there, thus continuing until the line had been run. Under these circumstances, it is not wonderful that such surveys lacked anything like mathematical precision, and have been the primary cause of the many bitter feuds that have since obtained, some of which are still unsettled.
Mention has hitherto been frequently made of the aboriginal Indians, without any attempt at a description of their appearance, manners, and cus- toms. Place aux dames! The toilet of the women was more pretentious than that of the males, consisting only of a scanty apron of fancy skins or feathers, extending as far as the knees. Those of them who still remained in single blessedness wore a bracelet around the ankle or arm near the shoulder, an ornament usually made of bone or fancy wood. Polygamy was a recog- nized institution, chiefs generally possessing eleven wives, sub-chiefs nine,
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HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
and ordinary warriors two, or more, according to their wealth or property. Indian-like they would fight among themselves long before the Spaniards came, and bloody fights they often were. Their weapons were bows and arrows, clubs, and spears, with which they were very adroit; they also had a kind of helmet made of skins. In times of peace they kept up the martial spirit by sham fights or tournaments. In these battles the women partici- pated, not as actual belligerents, but as a sanitary brigade; they followed their warriors, supplied them with provisions, and attended to them when wounded, carrying their pappooses on their backs at the same time. These Indians believed in a future existence and an all-powerful Great Spirit; but they likewise had faith in a Cucusuy or Mischief-maker, who, it was thought, took delight in their annoyance, while to him, and his agency, they attributed all their sickness and other misfortunes. They dwelt in miserable camps or rancheries. A rancheria, or small Indian town consists of certain "wick- eup " or wigwams for living in, and one sweat-house. These last are usually constructed near a running stream. The Digger Indians, who occupied a considerable portion of this country, adopted the plan of digging into the earth some distance, and when attaining the desired depth would construct, around the excavation, a house of adobe clay, fashioned like a bee-hive, perfectly air-tight and tapering to a cone. As a means of entrance and exit, an aperture of sufficient size to permit of the occupant's crawling through, was made, and so arranged that it could be easily closed. Within these ovens a fire would be lit, the Indian would strip, roll himself in his blanket and sleep, asphyxia being prevented by a small hole in the apex of the cone, which drew off the smoke and noxious gases.
While on the subject of Indians it may not be out of place here to relate the following legend, which bears upon one of the prominent landmarks in this section of California: When the Spaniards were crossing the moun- tain called Bolgones, where an Indian spirit was supposed to dwell, having a cave for his haunt, he was disturbed by the approach of some soldiers, then on their way to Sonoma, and, emerging from the gloom, arrayed in all his feathers and war paint, with very little else by way of costume, motioned them to depart, threatening by gesticulations to weave a spell around them, but the sturdy warriors were not to be thus easily awcd. They beckoned him to approach; this invitation the wizard declined ; then one of the men secured him with his lasso to see if he were " goblin damn'd " or ordinary mortal. Even now he would not speak but continued his mumblings, when an extra tug caused him to shout and pray to be released. On relating this experience, the Indians pointed to Bolgones, calling it the mountain of the Cucusuy, which the Spaniards translated into Monte Diablo-hence the name of the mountain which is the meridian of scientific exploration in California.
In the early days, probably in 1840, certainly not later than 1841, a man
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HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
by the name of Stephen Smith, master of a bark called the "George and Henry," came to this coast on a trading expedition. He hailed from Massa- chusetts, of which State he was a native, and brought with him a cargo of sugar, syrup, tobacco, cotton and other cloths, besides whatever else could be disposed of readily in the California market at that time, receiving in return for these a cargo of hides, horns and tallow. While lying in the bay of San Francisco, he doubtless saw the Russians as they came there for the pur- pose of sailing to Sitka, and of course heard all about the country and the improvements which they had left behind. It is also more than likely that he took a cruise up that way for the purpose of spying out the land, and doubtless cast his anchor and furled his sails in the quiet and secure harbor of Bodega bay. He then evidently went ashore and visited the entire section of country immediately adjacent thereto. Here he saw the giant red- woods, and recognized the fact that in them was the lumber which generations yet unborn would use in the construction of homes. Nearly all the lumber then consumed on this coast was imported from the Sandwich Islands, and the establishment of a sawmill here, within five miles of a splendid shipping point, which was within twenty-four hours sail of San Francisco bay, would certainly be laying the foundation for a princely fortune. He also conceived the idea of constructing a grist-mill in connection with his sawmill. He then hied himself away to the Atlantic seaboard with his head full of his great project. At least two years were consumed in this trip. While in Baltimore, having disposed of his cargo of hides, tallow, etc., he purchased a complete outfit for a steam grist and sawmill, also a cargo of assorted merchandise. He then set sail for California. On his way out he stopped at Picta, Peru, where he was united in marriage with Donna Manuella Torres, a lady of remarkable refinement and intellect, and at that time sixteen years of age. It is apropos to remark here that Captain Smith was sixty-one years of age at the time of his marriage with Donna Manuella. This was his second marriage, his first wife having died some years previous. In Baltimore, he engaged one Henry Hagler as ship's carpenter. While at Pieta he engaged the services of William A. Streeter as engineer in his new mill. At Valpa- raiso he secured the services of David D). Dutton, now of Vacaville, Solano county, for the purpose of constructing his mill. He also somewhere on the trip obtained the services of Philip Crawley and a man named Bridges. On the 27th of March, 1843, Captain Smith weighed anchor in the harbor of Pieta, setting sail for California. He brought also with him from Pieta his wife's mother, Mrs. Minunga Torres, and her brother, Manuel Torres., now a resident of Martinez, Contra Costa county. They reached Monterey about the middle of April following. Here the vessel was entered at the custom house. He then sailed for Santa Cruz, at which place lumber was purchased and taken on board for the construction of the mill building. He then came to San Francisco bay and anchored off Clark's Point. While here he engaged
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