Ingersoll's century annals of San Bernadino County, 1769-1904 : prefaced with a brief history of the state of California : supplemented with an encyclopedia of local biography and portraits of many of its representative people, Part 16

Author: Ingersoll, Luther A., 1851-
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Los Angeles : L. A. Ingersoll
Number of Pages: 940

USA > California > San Bernardino County > Ingersoll's century annals of San Bernadino County, 1769-1904 : prefaced with a brief history of the state of California : supplemented with an encyclopedia of local biography and portraits of many of its representative people > Part 16

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SAN BERNARDINO, 1852

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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY

LATER DAYS.

As the Missions decayed and the land was granted under Mexican laws to private individuals, there grew up a class who might well be called "cattle barons." The Lugos, Sepulvedas, Yorbas and Isaac Williams. Michael White and Louis Robidoux were the chief men of this class in San Bernardino county. After the discovery of gold, from 1850 to '60, there was a large demand for beef and mutton to supply the northern mining camps. Stock was sold by the thousands and at good prices. The stock owners of the south were as "flush" as the miners of the north and fifty dollar gold slugs were spent as freely as Mexican dollars had been a few years previously.

But the civil war and the decay of the mining "boom" ended the "golden days ;" the great stock ranges began to be divided and the small farm and the fruit orchard took the place of the herds. The stock business, now is but one of many resources, and the day of the "California cattle barons" is long past.

CHAPTER III.

THE MORMON PERIOD.

The history of this section from September, 1851, when Elders Lyman and Rich purchased the San Bernardino Rancho, until the winter of 1857-58 when the Faithful were recalled to Zion to aid in the impending war with the United States, may be regarded as the Mormon period.

HISTORY OF MORMONISM.

About 1820, Joseph Smith, the son of a New York farmer, began to see visions and receive supernatural instructions. These revelations continued until about 1827, when the "Book of Mormonism" was delivered to him upon golden plates, with a key for its translation. After considerable difficulty in making the translation and delay in securing means for publication, the Book was finally given out about 1830, and the first Mormon church was organized. In spite of much ridicule and some persecution, the organization flourished : but to avoid trouble the headquarters of the church was transferred to Ohio, then to Illinois and later, to Missouri and Iowa.

When the Mormons first made their settlements in Missouri they pros- pered greatly and for a time were left in peace. But soon the "gentiles" and the other churches rose against them; they were eventually driven from the state and many of them went to Illinois where they made the city of Nauvoo their headquarters. By 1840 it had become evident that the Mormons could not exist in proximity to other churches, or in any civilized community of Americans. After the assassination of Joseph Smith in Illinois, the Saints determined to move to the far west- probably to the Pacific coast-then 'un-

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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY

der Mexican government. Brigham Young, the newly elected head of the church, led this movement and in 1847, Young and some of his apostles arrived in the Great Basin, and here Young received a vision announcing that this was the spot on which to raise the city Zion. This migration of 12,000 people over more than a thousand miles of unexplored country to an unknown destination, is one of the most remarkable movements recorded in history.

Young was ambitious to occupy a large territory and to establish a port on the Pacific Coast where converts from Europe and foreign countries might land. One party of Mormons had already reached California by way of Cape Horn and were settled in San Francisco. The Mormon Battalion reached the coast in 1847.

THE MORMON BATTALION.

During the war with Mexico, the Mormons proposed to the govern- ment to raise a company of troops to aid the United States. In consequence of this offer an act of Congress authorizing the enlistment of a Mormon com- pany was passed and 500 Mormons were enrolled as "Iowa Volunteers." Among the officers of the company were Jefferson Hunt, Andrew Lytle and Jessee Hunter, all later prominent in San Bernardino affairs. The company was directed to proceed to California by way of Santa Fe and take possession of the territory for the United States. Under the command of Lieut .- Col. Philip St. George Cook, the battalion marched through Santa Fe and on to San Diego, experiencing great hardships and many losses by the way. When they reached the coast the conquest of California was practically completed. After a short stay at San Diego, members of the company were sent to perform garrison duty at San Luis Rey and at San Diego, and on March 23d, 1847, Col. Cook arrived in Los Angeles with his men. Shortly afterward they were set to work constructing Fort Moore --- on the hill above the Plaza. On July 15th, the battalion was mustered out: but one com- pany re-enlisted for six months and was sent to San Diego on garrison duty. During their stay in Los Angeles, Captain Hunt and oth- ers, were sent on various expeditions about the country and visited Chino and probably the Cajon Pass and made the acquaintance of Col. Isaac Williams and others of the pioneers.

The officers of the company and the people ANDREW LYTLE among whom they were sent speak highly of the character of the Mormons. At San Diego the citizens gave a banquet to the Mormon soldiers before they left the country.

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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY

The discharged Mormons started for Utah by the northern route and a number of them stopped in the gold fields when they found that gold had been discovered. Some of them took considerable quantities of gold with them when they at last started for Salt Lake City, to rejoin their families and brethren whom they had left at Fort Leavenworth.

The following men, who afterward became citizens of San Bernardino, were enlisted in the Mormon Battalion, according to the lists published by D. Tyler in his history of the Mormon Battalion. Not all of these men came through to California with the battalion. A number of them were in- valided and sent back before the body set forth on the march from Santa Fe to California :

Co. A .- Captain, Jefferson Hunt. Ist Corp. Gilbert Hunt. Privates, Robert Egbert, Lafayette Sliephierd.

Co. B .- 3rd. Lieut., Robert Clift. Privates, W. E. Beckstead, Abner Blackburn,

James Clift.

Co. D .- Privates, Lucas Hoagland, Montgomery Button.

Co. E .- 2nd. Lieut., Andrew Lytle. 3d. Sergt., Ebenezer Hanks. Privates, Luther Glazier, Albert Tanner.

Among the women who started with the party were Mrs. Celia Hunt and her children, Mrs. Matilda Hunt, Mrs. Montgomery Button and children and Mrs. Jesse Hunter. The latter was one of the few women who accompanied the Battalion through to California ; she died in San Diego.

Upon the arrival of the Battalion at San Diego, their commander, Captain Cook, issued the following :

Headquarters Mormon Battalion. Mission of San Diego, January 30, 1847.

Orders No. I.

The Lieutenant-Colonel commanding congratulates the Battalion on their safe arrival on the shore of the Pacific Ocean and the conclusion of their march of over two thousand miles.

History may be searched in vain for an equal march of infantry. Half of it has been through a wilderness where nothing but savages and wild beasts are found, or deserts where, for want of water, there is no living creature. There, with almost hopeless labor, we have dug deep wells which the future traveler will enjoy. Without a guide who had traversed them, we have ven-

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tured into trackless table-lands where water was not found for several marches. With crowbar and pick and axe in hand, we have worked our way over mountains, which seemed to defy aught save the wild goat, and hewed a passage through the living rock more narrow than our wagons. To bring these first wagons to the Pacific, we have preserved the strength of our mules by herding them over large tracts, which you have laboriously guarded without loss. The garrison of four presidios of Sonora, concen- trated within the walls of Tucson gave us pause. We drove them out with their artillery, but our intercourse with their citizens was unmarked by a single act of injustice. Thus, marching half naked and half fed, and living upon wild animals, we have discovered and made a road of great value to our country.

Arrived at the first settlement of California, after a single day's rest, you cheerfully turned off the route from this point of promised repose, to enter upon a campaign and meet, as we supposed, the approach of an enemy; and this too without even salt to season your sole subsistence of fresh meat.

Lieutenants A. J. Smith and George Stoneman, of the First Dragoons, have shared and given valuable aid in all these labors.

Thus, volunteers, you have exhibited some high and essential qualities of veterans. But much remains undone. Soon you will turn your atten- tion to the drill, to system and order, to forms also which are all necessary to the soldier.

By order,

Lieutenant Colonel P. St. George Cook. P. C. Merrill, Adjutant.

Of this Battalion, General Kearney said: "Napoleon crossed the mountains, but the Mormon Battalion crossed a continent."

The following extracts concerning the Battalion are taken from "Tyler's History of the Mormon Battalion":

"Up to the 19th of February, 1847, our fare continued to be about the same-fresh beef. Upon that date, however, Lieut. Oman returned from Robidean's, whither he had been sent five days previously, with a quantity of unbolted flour and some beans-a most agreeable change of diet."

This flour mill at Robidoux's on the Jurupa, seems to have been the first in Southern California. Of this same incident, the late Stephen C. Foster, of Los Angeles, who acted as interpreter for the Battalion, says:

"The commissary and myself were ordered to Los Angeles to try and get some flour. We found the town garrisoned by Fremont's Battalion, about 400 strong. They too had nothing but beef served out to them. Here we met Louis Robideau of the Jurupa ranch, who said he could spare us some two or three thousand pounds of wheat which we could grind at a little mill he had on the Santa Ana river. So, on our return, two wagons

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were sent to Jurupa and they brought 1700 pounds of unbolted flour and two sacks of beans-a small supply for 400 men. I then messed with one of the captains and we all agreed that it was the sweetest bread we ever tasted."

"Owing to the fact that the Californians were not allowed to bear arms, the following, and similar orders, were issued for their protection from marauding bands of Indians:

(Orders No. 7.)

Headquarters Southern Military District. Los Angeles, April 11, 1847.

(1.) Company C, Mormon Battalion, will march tomorrow and take post in the cañon pass of the mountains, about forty-five miles eastward of the town. Lieutenant Rosecrans, its commander, will select a spot for its camp as near to the narrowest and most defensible part as the convenience of water, feed and grass will admit of, and, if necessary, effectually to pre- vent the passage of hostile Indians, with or without horses, he will erect a sufficient cover of earth and logs. It will be his duty to guard the pass effectually and, if necessary, to send out armed parties, either on foot or mounted, to defend the ranchos in the vicinity, or to attack wandering parties of wild Indians.

(2.) The assistant commissary of subsistence will take measures to provision this post until further notice.

P. St. George Cook, Lieut. Col. Commanding.

"Agreeably with this order, Company C took up the line of march for Cajon Pass on the 12th."

"Lieutenant Samuel Thompson, of Company C, and party, who had proceeded to rout the Indians according to the Colonel's orders, surprised a small band in a cove in the mountains, killing six of them. F. T. May- field and George Chapin, two of his men, were slightly wounded. One Spaniard who accompanied them was also slightly wounded. The Span- iard ran, unobserved, and scalped and took off the ears of the dead Indians. Under the California rule, a premium was given for wild Indians' scalps. This barbarous custom, however, was then and there abolished and the Alcalde forbidden to pay any bounty on those referred to, or any others in the future."

"At this period (June 12, 1847) several of the men were in the country on a furlough, laboring for provisions for the return trip, mostly in the harvest field, this being the usual time for cutting grain in California. They were engaged by a Mr. Williams (of Chino rancho) who had about a thou- sand acres of wheat to cut. His staple crop was wheat, although he raised some barley, beans, peas and had large vineyards."

"On the 14th of March, 1848, the company's time of enlistment (this

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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY

was the company who re-enlisted for six months) having overrun nearly two months, it was disbanded at San Diego. These veterans drew their pay on the day following and on the 21st, a company of twenty-five men with H. G. Boyle as captain, set out for Salt Lake Valley.

"On the 31st they arrived at Williams' rancho, and there fitted out for the journey by the southern route. On the 12th of April the little company, having obtained a proper outfit, again took up the line of march. Orrin Porter Rockwell and James Shaw, who had traveled the route the previous winter, were chosen pilots by and for the company. They started with only one wagon and 135 mules. Of course they were packers. They ar- rived at Salt Lake on the 5th of June.

"Theirs was the first wagon that ever traveled the southern route. This is the only feasible route from Salt Lake, and all Utah for that matter, to travel by wagons in winter, to Southern California. Thus another great national road for wagons was pioneered by the enterprise of a portion of the indomitable Battalion of "Mormons" or "Latter Day Saints."

SAN BERNARDINO COLONY.

Bancroft states: "A company was organized in March, 1851, at the suggestion of Brigham, to go to California and form the nucleus of a set- tlement in the Cajon Pass, where they should cultivate the olive, grape, sugarcane, and cotton, and gather about them the saints and select loca- tions on the line of a proposed mail toute. The original intention was to have twenty in this company with Amasa M. Lyman and Charles C. Rich in charge. The number, however, reached over 500, and Brig- am's heart failed him as he saw them at the starting. "I was sick," he says in a manu- script history, "at the sight of so many of the saints running to California, chiefly after the gods of this world, and I was unable to ad- dress them." The object of the establishment of this colony was that the people gathering in Utah from the Sandwich Islands, and even from Europe, might have an outfitting post." (Bancroft from Mss, history of Young.) It was small wonder that the people who had heard the stories of the Battalion concerning Southern California, were so ready to join in this expedition.

The party marched in three divisions-one under the leadership of Rich, piloted by Captain Hunt, one under Lyman, led by Captain Seeley, and the third under Captain Lytle, who was the captain in charge. Seeley's

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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY

party reached the Pass June II, and camped in Sycamore Grove. The rest of the company arrived June 20th, and camped on the other side of the Cajon Cañon. They remained in these camps while the leaders examined the country, vis- iting Chino and other ranchos and finally deciding on the purchase of San Bernardino grant.

In September the colonists who had at first thought of locating their city on the foot- hills to the east of Cajon Canon, hence the name City Creek, decided on the present loca- tion of the city of San Bernardino because of the abundance of feed for their stock found there. Before the purchase of the grant was complete, some of the newcomers began to select lands and make improvements, but the danger from Indians which threatened that time, led to the erection of a stockade for safety and nearly all of thecolonists joined in its erection and built their houses within its walls.

ORGANIZATION OF THE COLONY.

The purchase of San Bernardino Rancho, which is described as bounded on the east by "Sierra de Yucaipe," on the west by "Arroyo de Cajon" and the "Serrito Solo," on the south by the "Lomeras" and on the north by "El Faldo de Sierras" (Brow of the mountains), was completed in the spring of 1852, the deed having been recorded February 27, the price named as $77,000 "in hand paid."

The colonists had already begun to put in crops. A considerable area between San Bernardino and the Santa Ana River was fenced and each man put in as much land as he desired, paying his proportion of the cost of the fence. The first crop in the spring of 1852 was most bountiful, some of the grain being so rank that it could not be cut at all. The wheat was sold at $4.00 per bushel and flour, which they had ground at Puente, sold for $32.00 per barrel in Los Angeles. The colonists had considerable stock, too. Tithes of one-tenth of all the produce were paid to the church authori- ties, and were doubtless used toward the purchase of the rancho. As soon as the land was surveyed, it was sold in tracts to suit the colonists-the prices seem to have run from $11.00 to $16.00 per acre-and some was perhaps higher.

In 1854, the Elders mortgaged the property for $35,000, with interest at 3 per cent a month, with San Francisco parties. The same year, ac- cording to Sheldon Stoddard, parties were sent out over the state among

Fourth

Street

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6 7 8 9 10

MEETING AND SCHOOL HOUSE

FABUN'S WAGON SHOP

169

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COLONYIT OFFICE

WATER BASIN

TITHING AND STORE HOUSE

CATE

159

156

WATER BASIN

55.

GATE

Third

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8983/86

दावा नालाश 35 3.

FORT

SAN BERNARDINO ERECTED . 1851

"C" Street

mal ditch from Lvilo Creek

51/50 49/18 27 26 45 4443 2

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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY

the miners, many of whom were Mormons, and considerable land was sold to them and $10,000 collected from them to aid in paying for the ranch.

New settlers came in, a party coming from Australia in 1853, and many coming from Salt Lake and the East. The lands sold readily and the colony was so prospered and the affairs so well managed that when the Saints were recalled to Salt Lake City, the property was practically free from debt.

THE FORT OF SAN BERNARDINO.

During the years of 1850-51-52, the Utes, Chemehuevis and other desert Indians made frequent raids through the San Bernardino mountain passes into the coast valleys, in which they drove off much stock and com- mitted other depredations. In the fall of 1851 there was a wide-spread fear of a general uprising among the Indians, and unusual preparations were made to meet it. A troop of United States Volunteers was stationed on the coast, and a few troops were located at Chino Rancho. A volunteer com- pany under Gen. J. H. Bean was organized and went out against the Indians. The Mormons may have lost some stock, at any rate they decided to build a fort somewhat after the plan of the stockade that had been built at Salt Lake on the arrival of the Mormons at that point.

The following description of this fort is furnished by Hon H. C. Rolfe :

"The Fort built by the San Bernardino colonists in the fall of 1851 was a palisade enclosure, or stockade on the east side and the two ends, made by splitting the trunks of cottonwood and large willow trees in halves, roughly facing them on the split side, straightening the edges so that they would fit closely as they stood upright side by side. These stakes were set some three feet into the ground and stood about twelve feet high-with the split sides facing in. This composed the outside stockade and was in the form of a parallelogram about three hundred feet in width by seven hundred feet in length. Small one-story houses of logs and of adobes were built inside in long rows parallel with the stockade, leaving some sixteen or eighteen feet clear space between each. The west side of the enclosure was made up of houses which had been built in various places before the necessity of fortification was realized and which were moved and placed with their outside walls adjoining so as to form a tight wall. Or, where this could not be done, separate barricading walls of logs laid up in block- house fashion were constructed so as to complete the stockade. There as no stockade outside of these houses. Many of the houses were merely con- tinuous rows of rooms, the end walls forming partitions, while others were separate houses.

The principal entrance to the Fort was on the east side. This was located a little south of the center and the gates were made to open out- ward. Another gateway opened on the west side and one on the north

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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY

end. The stockade at these gates turned in at right angles eight or ten feet, and was provided with loopholes for protection. The houses on the north and east also stood well back from the direct line of the gateways, which were about twelve feet wide. Loopholes were also placed a few feet apart all around the stockade. At each corner of the enclosure the stockade projected outward about eight feet, forming a sort of bastion with loop- holes for the purpose of cross firing along the sides and ends should an enemy elude the direct fire from the walls and stealthily creep up and at- tempt to set fire to the stockade. The bastion at the southeast corner was much larger than the others in order to enclose the row of houses on the east side which extended some twenty-five or thirty feet further south on a point of land that can still be seen just south of the present site of the Starke Hotel, and the southeast angle of the row of houses at this end. Another bastion also projected a short distance north of the gate on the east side, as this gate was in a hollow, or gully, that ran from the bench on which the Fort was built, down into the creek bottom, and the gate, being below the ground level, could not be protected from the corner bastions.

The south end of the Fort was not at right angles with the sides, but ran more northwesterly and southeasterly, on account of the rather deep gulch running in the same direction at that end of the structure. Part of this gulch can still be seen, although it is mostly filled up. The present gas factory stands on the southwest side of the gulch with some of the buildings extending over it. Its eastern wall stood along Warm Creek bench 760 feet, about northeast and southwest, and the enclosure was 320 feet in width. It crossed the present corners of C and Third streets. The south- west corner stood close upon the spot where now stands the city gas works. The northwest corner stood where the new Fourth street school house now stands. The main entrance was eastward and stood in the center of what is now Third street, immediately in front of the Bradford House, better known as Starke's Hotel.

Within the Fort, a stream of water was brought for domestic purposes through a ditch from Garner's Springs or Lytle Creek. Had this water supply been cut off, water could easily have been obtained by digging wells twelve or fifteen feet deep. In the northeast corner a canvas pavilion was put up and used for school purposes, William Stout being the teacher, and also for church services. A small house used as a business office stood south of the pavilion, and still further south and within the line of houses was a three-roomed house which was used for storage purposes. In the southeast corner and also in the northeast corner were a few scattered houses, there not being room to place all of the houses in line. One of these houses was rebuilt from the ruins of an old adobe ranch house that had been erected during the Mexican occupation.

A great many wagon beds with canvas covers, such as were used by

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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY

the overland emigrants, were taken from the running gear and placed in convenient proximity to the houses for use as sleeping apartments. These made very comfortable substitutes for more commodious household ac- commodations.

Somewhat more than a hundred families occupied the Fort, together with a number of men without families and also a number of families that included several grown men. There were at least one hundred and fifty, and probably more, able-bodied men capable of performing good service in repelling an attack. The military organization was very simple, it being merely a division into three companies with their respective captains, and without other officers. Jefferson Hunt, as senior captain, was in command of the whole. Vigilant guard was kept at night. Uncle Grief, a colored man, had a large tin horn, about six feet long, with which he used to make music for his own amusement. He acted as bugler and blew his horn to assemble the men, or for other purposes, according to different signals which had been adopted and were understood by all. Many times were all hands called out by the sound of Uncle Grief's horn. Everyone knew something about the use of firearms. With few exceptions all were tol- erably expert in this line, and a number of the first settlers were "crack shots." Most of the men were well supplied with arms of their own, but to supply any deficiency a lot of muskets and of ammunition was sent to them from the small garrison of regular soldiers then stationed at Chino." A carefully compiled list of the occupants of the "Old Fort" will be found in the chapter on Pioneers.

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Ingersoll's century annals of San Bernadino County, 1769-1904 : prefaced with a brief history of the state of California : supplemented with an encyclopedia of local biography and portraits of many of its representative people, Part 16

Author: Ingersoll, Luther A., 1851- Publication date: 1904 Publisher: Los Angeles : L. A. Ingersoll Number of Pages: 940

Author: Ingersoll, Luther A., 1851-
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Los Angeles : L. A. Ingersoll
Number of Pages: 940