USA > California > Tulare County > History of Tulare County, California with biographical sketches > Part 7
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APPEAL TO THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.
MONTEREY, November, 1842. To his Excellency, John Tyler, President of the United States; " On the morning of the seventh of April, one thousand eight hundred and forty, we, your petitioners, citizens of the United States of North America, and many more of our countrymen, together with several of H. B. M. subjects, engaged in busi- ness in Monterey and its vicinity, were, without any just cause or provocation, most illegally seized and taken from our lawful occupation, (many being married to natives of the country), and incarcerated in a loathsome prison in Monterey. The number was subsequently increased by the arrival of others for the space of some ten or twelve days. No warrant or civil process was either read or shown to them (at the time of their seizure) nor has the Government of California conceded to this present day in any official manner, why or wherefore that our persons were thus seized, our property taken from us, what crime we had committed, and why transported like so many criminals to a province in Mexico.
" The perpetrators of this mnost outrageous action against the rights and privileges allowed to American citizens (accord- ing to treaty) were principally officers and soldiers appertaining to this Government and acting by authority and command (as the undersigns have heard and firmly believe), of his Excel- lency, Don Juan Bautista Alvarado. Governor of the two Cal- iformas.
" Some of us were marched on foot to prison, some forced to go on their own animals, and, on their arrival at the prison door, said animals and equipments taken from them, including what was found in their pockets, and with menacing, thrust into prison. The roomn in which we were confined, being about twenty feet square, without being floored, became very damp and offensive, thereby endangering our health, at times. One had to stand while another slept, and during the first three days not a mouthful of food found or offered us by our oppressors, but living on the charity of tliem that piticd us.
"To our countryman, Mr. Thomas O. Larkin, we are bound in conscience to acknowledge that he assisted us not only in food, but in what other necessaries we at the time stood in need of and what was allowed to be introduced; some of us were taken out of prison from time to time and released by the intercession of friends or through sickness.
PRISONERS EXAMINED BY THE AUTHORITIES.
"Eight of the prisoners were separately called upon and examined by the authorities of Monterey, having as interpreter, a native of the country (who himself frequently needs in his occupation one to interpret for him), there being at the same time, men far more equivalent for the purpose than he was, but they were not permitted; the above-mentioned eiglit were, after examination, taken to another apartment and there man- acled to an iron bar during their imprisonment in this port. After fifteen days' confinement, we were sent on board of a vessel bearing the Mexican flag, every six men being shackled to an iron bar, and in that condition put into the hold of said vessel and taken to Santa Barbara, a sea-port of this province, and there again imprisoned in company with the mate of an American vessel, recently arrived from Boston, in the United States, (and part of the crew) said vessel being sold to a Mexican, resident in this territory, without, as before mentioned, any just or legal cause being assigned, why or wherefore.
" On arriving at Santa Barbara, we were landed and taken some distance; three of us in irons were put into an ox-cart, the remainder on foot; among the latter some were chained in pairs, in consequence reached the prison with much difficulty. Here we were put into a room without light or means of air entering only through a small hole in the roof. For the first twenty-four hours we were not allowed food or water, although we had been some time walking in a warm sun. One of the prisoners became so completely prostrated, that for some time he could not speak, nor swallow when water was brought to him, and would have expired but for the exertions of a Doctor Den, an Irish gentleman living in the town who, with much difficulty, obtained admittance to the sufferer. By his influence and some Americans in the place, food and water were at last sent us.
" In Santa Barbara our number was increased by the addi- tion of more of our countrymen; some of those brought from Monterey were discharged and received passports to return; the remainder were marched to the beach, again put in the hold of a vessel (in irons), and in this manner taken to the port of San Blas, landed, and from thence, in the midsummer of a tropical climate, marched on foot sixty miles to the city of Tepic, and there imprisoned. Some time after our arrival we were discharged by the Mexican Governor, and in the space of four hundred and fifty-five days from the commencement of our imprisonment, we again returned to Monterey. From the day we were taken up until our return we had no opportunity to take care of our property; we were not even allowed, when ordered on board in Monterey, to send for a single garment of clothing, nor permitted to carry any into the prison, but such as we had on; and not once during our said imprisonment in Monterey, although in a filthy and emaciated condition, per- mitted to shave or wash ourselves.
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SETTLERS RELEASED AND INDEMNIFIED.
" When in prison, in the hold of the vessel, and on our march, we were frequently threatened, pricked and struck with swords by the subaltern officers of the Mexican Govern- ment.
SUFFERINGS OF THE PRISONERS.
" Our sufferings in prison, on board ship, and when drove on foot in a warm sun, then ordered to sleep out at night in the dew, after being exhausted by the heat and dust, surpass our power of description, and none but those who were with us can realize or form a just conception of our distressed situation.
"For many weeks we were fed in a manner different from the common mnode, kept in a filthy and disgusting condition, which, combined with the unhealthy state of the country where we were taken to, has caused death to some, and rendered unhealthy for life, others of our companions. * * *
" Since our return to California from our confinement in Mexico, Captains Forest and Anliek have visited this port at different periods, in command of United States vessels. Each of those gentlemen took up the subject of our claims and ill- treatment, and, as we believe, received fair promise from the Governor of the province; but the stay of those officers at Monterey having been limited to a few days only, was entirely too short to effect any good. The Governor's promise, orally, made by a deputy to Captain Aulick, on the eve of his depart- ure, so far from being complied with or adhered to, was, as we have reason to believe, abrogated by his orders to Alcaldes, not to listen to the complaints of Americans, i. e., citizens of the United States. * * * * * *
" Wc, the undersigned, citizens of the United States, afore- said, were among the prisoners, some of us to the last day, and have never given provocation to the Mexican Government for such cruel treatment, nor do we know of any given by our companions, and respectfully submit to your notice, the forego- ing statement of faets, in hopes that through your means, this affair will be fully represented, so that the Government of the United States will take prompt measures to secure to us indemnity for the past, and security for the future, according to the rights and privileges guaranteed to us by treaty, existing between our Government and Mexico.
" ISAAC GRAHAM, WILLIAM BARTON,
" WILLIAM CHARD, ALVIN WILSON,
"JOSEPH L. MAJORS, " CHARLES BROWN, " WILLIAM HANCE,
CHARLES H. COOPER, AMBROSE Z. TOMILSON, HENRY NAILE.
" Monterey, Upper California, the 9th of November, 1842."
Two years later these persons were returned to California, the charges not having been proven; and Mexico was obliged to pay them a heavy idemnity to avoid serious complication with the American Government. All these died several years ago.
It appears that after Alvarado, Castro and company, had got their dreaded company of foreigners in confinement on board a vessel ready to sail to Mexico, seven citizens of note, of
California, signed and issued the following proclamation, which is a curiosity in itself and illustrative of the men and the times :-
A SPECIMEN PROCLAMATION.
" PROCLAMATION MADE BY THE UNDERSIGNED. Eternal Glory to the Illustrious Champion and Liberator of the Department of Alta California, Don Jose Castro, the Guardian of Order, and the Supporter of our Superior Government.
" Fellow-Citizens and Friends: To-day, the eighth of May, of the present year of 1840, has been and will be eternally glorious to all the inhabitants of this soil, in contemplating the glorious expedition of our fellow-countryman, Don Jose Castro, who goes to present hiniself before the Superior Government of the Mexican nation, carrying with him a number of suspi- cious Americans, who under the mask of deceit, and filled with ambition, were warping us in a web of misfortune; plunging us into the greatest confusion and danger; desiring to terminate the life of our Governor and all his subalterns; and, finally, to drive us from our asylums; from our country : from our pleas- ures, and from our hearths.
" The bark which carries this valorous hero on his grand commission goes filled with laurels and crowned with triumphs, ploughing the vaves and publishing in distinct voices to the passing billows the loud rivas and rejoicings which will resound. to the remotest bounds of the universe. Yes, fellow-citizens and friends, again we say, that this glorious Chief should have a place in the innermost recesses of our hearts, and in the name of all the inhabitants, make known the great rejoieings with which we are filled, giving, at the same time, to our Superior Government the present proclamation, which we make for said worthy Chief; and that our Governor may remain satisfied, that if he (Castro) has embarked for the interior of the Republic, there still remain under his (the Governor's) orders all his fel- low-countrymen, companions in arms, etc., etc."
DISAPPOINTMENT AND HUMILIATION.
But a great disappointment awaited this heralded hero on his arrival in Mexico. We find the description of it in another manuscript, as follows :-
" Commandant Castro and his three or four official friends rode into Tepic in triumph, as they thought, and inquired for the house of the Governor. On their arrival at his Excellency's they were refused admittance and ordered to go to prison, which one of them said could not be compared in comfort to the meanest jail or hole in all California. Here they had time to reflect on their scandalous conduct to so many human beings. Castro was then ordered to the City of Mexico and tried for his life, Mr. Packenham, the English Minister, having every hope of his being sent a prisoner for life to the prison of San Juan de Uloa in Vera Cruz. The culprit himself afterwards con- fessed that such would have been his fate had Mr. Ellis, the American Minister, exerted himself equally with Packenham.
43
FIRST SETTLERS IN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY.
"After an absence of two years and expending eight or ten thousand dollars, he returned to California a wiser and better man than when he left it, and never was afterwards known to raise a hand or voice against a foreigner. His officers and soldiers returned to California in the best manner they could, leaving their country as jailers and returning prisoners."
FIRST SETTLERS IN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY.
1835 .- Dr. John Marsh arrived at the foot of Mount Diablo and purchased the "Ranchos los Meganos" in 1837, of three square leagues of land, and settled upon it in the same year, and occupied it afterwards until his death, which occurred in 1856. The doctor lived in a small adobe house near where he afterwards constructed what is known as the " Marsh Stone House." So that the doctor was the first born native American citizen who ever resided permanently in that section. It would be difficult now to conceive of a more lonely and inhospitable place to live.
Until about 1847, Dr. Marsh had no American neighbors nearer than within about forty miles, and dwellings on adjoin- ing Spanish ranches were from twelve to fifteen miles distant.
All early emigrant parties made Dr. Marsh's ranch an object- ive point, as it was so easily sighted, being at the foot of Mount Diablo. All parties met with a cordial reception.
Sutter's Fort and Marsh's Ranch were the two prominent settlements in northern California at that date. Dr. Marsh was an educated man and an able writer, as will be seen from the following letter.
DR. JOHN MARSH TO HON. LEWIS CASS .*
FARM OF PULPUNES, NEAR ST. FRANCISCO, ? UPPER CALIFORNIA, 1844. " HON. LEWIS CASS-Dear Sir: You will probably be some- what surprised to receive a letter from an individual from whom you have not heard, or even thought of, for nearly twenty years; yet although the lapse of time has wrought many changes, both in men and things, the personal identity of us both has probably been left. You will, I think, remember a youth whom you met at Green Bay in 1825, who, having left his Alma Mater, had spent a year or twoin the "far, far, West," and was then returning to his New England home, and whom you induced to turn his face again toward the setting sun; that youth who, but for your influence, would probably now have been administering pills in some quiet Yankee village, is now a gray-haired man, breeding cattle and cultivating grape-vines on the shores of the Pacific. Your benevolence prompted you to take an interest in the fortunes of that youth, and it is there- fore presumed you may not be unwilling to hear from him again.
" I left the United States in 1835, and came to New Mexico, and thence traversing the States of Chihuahua and Sonora crossed the Rio Colorado at its junction with the Gila, near the tide-water of Gulph, and entered this territory at its southern part. Any more dircet route was at that time unknown and considered impracticable.
FIRST SAN JOAQUIN RANCH.
" I have now been more than ten years in this country, and have traveled over all the inhabited and most of the uninhab- ited parts of it. I have resided eight years where I now live, near the Bay of San Francisco, and at the point where the rivers Sacramento and San Joaquin unite together to meet the tide-water of the bay, about forty miles from the ocean. I possess at this place a farm about ten miles by twelve in extent one side of which borders on the river, which is navigable to this point for sea-going vessels. I have at last found the far West, and intend to end my ramblings here.
MIT. DIABLO.
TULES ON FIRE.
VIEW OF SAN JOAQUIN RIVER BY MOONLIGHT.
" The Government of the United States, in encouraging and facilitating immigration to Oregon is, in fact, helping to people California. It is like the British Government sending settlers to Canada. The emigrants are well aware of the vast superi- ority of California, both in soil and climate, and I may add, facility of access. Every year shorter and better routes are being discovered, and this year the great desideratum of a good and practical road for wheel carriages has been found. Fifty- three wagons, with that mumber of families, have arrived safely, and more than a month earlier than any previous company. The American Government encourages immigration to Oregon by giving gratuitously some five or six hundred acres of land to each family of actual settlers. California, too, gives lands, not by acres, but by leagues, and has some thousands of leagues more to give to anybody who will occupy them. Never in any instance has less than one league been given to any individual
*This interesting letter descriptive of California did much to call public attention to this then unknown region. The letter was written from the Marsh Grant, at the foot of Mount Diablo, in Contra Costa County, and pub- lished in Elliott's History of Contra Costa County.
44
AN EARLY DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY.
and the wide world from which to seleet from all the unoeeu- pied lands in the territory. While Colonel Almonte, the Mexican Minister to Washington, is publishing his proclamations in the American newspapers forbidding people to immigrate to Cali- fornia, and telling them that no lands will be given them, the actual Government here is doing just the contrary. In fact they care about as much for the Government of Mexico as for that of Japan. * * * *
EARLY IMPRESSIONS OF CLIMATE.
" The climate of California is remarkably different from that of the United States. The great distinguishing difference is its regularity and uniformity. From May to October the wind is invariably from the uorthwest, and during this time it never rains, and the sky is brilliantly clear and serene. The weather during this time is temperate, and rarely oppressively warm. The nights are always agreeably cool, and many of the inhab- itants sleep in the open air the whole year round. From October to May the southeast wind frequently blows, and is always accompanied by rain. Snow never falls excepting in the mountains. Frost is rare except in December or January. A proof of the mildness of the winter this moment presents itself in the shape of a humming-bird, which I just saw from the open window, and this is in latitude 38° on the first day of February. Wheat is sown from October until March, and maize from March until July. As respects human health and comfort, the climate is imcomparably better than that of any part of the United States. It is much the most healthy country I have ever seen or have any knowledge of. There is no dis- ease whatever that can be attributed to the influence of the climate.
" The face of the country differs as much from the United States as the climate. The whole territory is traversed by ranges of mountains, which run parallel to each other and to the coast. The highest points may be about 6,000 feet above the sea, in most places much lower, and in many parts they dwindle to low hills. They are everywhere covered with grass and vegetation, and many of the valleys and northern declivities abound with the finest timber trees. Between these ranges of mountains are level valleys, or rather plains of every width, from five miles to fifty. The magnificent valley through which flows the rivers San Joaquin and Sacramento is 500 miles long. with an average of width of forty or fifty. It is intersected laterally by many smaller rivers, abounding with salmon.
The only inhabitants of this valley, which is capable of supporting a nation, are about 150 Americans and a few Indians. No published maps that I have scen give any correct idea of the country, excepting the outline of the coast.
SAN FRANCISCO BAY DESCRIBED,
" The Bay of San Francisco is considered by nautical men ' as one of the finest harbors in the world. It consists of two principal arms, diverging from the entrance in nearly
opposite directions, and each about fifty miles long, with an average width of eight or ten. It is perfectly sheltered from every wind, has great depth of water, is easily accessible at all times, and space enough for half the ships in the world. The entrance is less than a mile wide, and could be easily fortified so as to make it entirely inpregnable. The vicinity abounds in the finest timber for ship-building, and in fact everything necessary to make it a great naval and commercial depot. If it were in the hands of a nation who knew how to make use of * it, its influence would soon be felt on all the western coast of America, and probably through the whole Pacific. * *
"The agricultural capabilities of California are but very imperfectly developed. The whole of it is remarkably adapted to the culture of the vine. Wine and brandy of excellent quality are made in considerable quantities. Olives, figs and almonds grow well. Apples, pears and peaches are abundant, and in the southern part, oranges. Cotton is beginning to be cultivated, and succceds well. It is the finest country for wheat I have ever seen. Fifty for one is an average crop, with very imperfect cultivation. One hundred fold is not uncommon, and even 150 has been produced. Maize produees tolerably well but not equal to some parts of the United States. Hemp, flax and tobaceo have been cultivated on a small scale, and succeed well. The raising of cattle is the principal pursuit of the inhabitants, and the most profitable.
PIONEERS ESTIMATE ON CALIFORNIA.
The foreign eommerce of Upper California employs from ten to fifteen sail of vessels, mostly large ships. Some what more than half of these are American, and belong exclusively to the port of Boston. The others are English, French, Russian, Mexican, Peruvian and Hawaiian. The French from their islands in the Pacific and the Russians from Kamtschatka, and their establishments on the northwest coast, resort here for provis- ions and live-stoek. The exports consist of hides and tallow, cows, lard, wheat, soap, timber and furs. There are slaughtered annually about 100,000 head of cattle, worth $800,000. The whole value of the exports annually amounts to about $1,000, - 000. The largest item of imports is American cotton goods. The duties on imports are enormously high, amounting on the most important artieles to 150 per cent. on the original cost, and in many instances to 400 or 500. Thus, as in most Span- ish countries, a high bounty is paid to encourage smuggling. Whale ships visit St. Franeiseo annually in considerable num- bers for refreshments, and fail to profit by the facilities for illicit eommeree.
CALIFORNIA WILL BE A STATE.
" California, although nominally belonging to Mexico, 1844, is about as independent of it as Texas, and must erelong share the same fate. Since my residence here, no less than four Mex- ican Governors have been driven from the country by force of
THE HOME FARM OF A. S. AYERS. I MILE WEST OF GRANGEVILLE. TULARE CO. CAL.
ELLIOTT. LITH.421 MONT.ST.
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45
HABITS AND LIFE OF THE ABORIGINES.
arms. The last of these, Micheltorena, with about 400 of his soldiers and 100 employés, were driven away about a year ago.
This occurred at the time that the rest of the nation was expel- ling his master, Santa Ana, although nothing of this was known here at the time. The new administration, therefore, with a good grace, highly approved of our conduct. In fact, the suc- cessive administrations in Mexico have already shown a dispo- sition to sanction and approve of whatever we may do here, from a conscious inability to retain even a nominal dominion over the country by any other means. Upper California has been governed for the last year entirely by its own citizens. Lower California is in general an uninhabited and uninhab- itable desert. The scanty population it contains lives near the extremity of the Cape, and has no connection and little inter- course with this part of the country. * *
INDIANS IN CALIFORNIA.
"I know not, since you have been so long engaged in more weighty concerns, if you take the same interest as formerly in Indian affairs, but since I have supposed your personal identity to remain, I shall venture a few remarks on the Aborigines of California. In stature the California Indian rather exceeds the average of the tribes east of the mountains. He is heavier limbed and stouter built. They are a hairy race, and some of them have beards that would do honor to a Turk. The color similar to that of the Algonquin race, or prehaps rather lighter. The visage, short and broad, with wide mouth, thick lips, short, broad nose, and extremely low forehead. In some individuals the hair grows quite down to the eyebrows, and they may be said to have no forehead at all. Some few have that peculiar conformation of the eye so remarkable in the Chinese and Tartar races, and entirely different from the con)- mon American Indian or the Polynesian; and with this unpromising set of features, some have an animated and agree- able expression of countenance. The general expression of the wild Indian has nothing of the proud and lofty bearing, or the haughtiness and ferocity so often seen east of the mountains. It is more commonly indicative of timidity and stupidity.
" The men and children are absolutely and entirely naked, and the dress of the women is the least possible or conceivable remove from nudity. Their food varies with the season. In February and March they live on grass and herbage; clover and wild pea-vine are among the best kinds of their pasturage. I have often seen hundreds of them gazing together in a meadow, like so many cattle. [Descendants of Nebuchadnez- zar .- ED.]
" They are very poor hunters of the larger animals, but very skillful in making and managing nets for fish and food. They also collect in their season great quantities of the seeds of various grasses, which are particularly abundant. Acorns are another principal article of food, which are larger, more abundant, and of better quality than I have seen elsewhere.
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