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 9
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A squad of the Vigilance Committee was appointed to arrest a man named Maloney, who was at the time in the company of David S. Terry (then chief justice of the state) and several other members of the "Law and Order" party. They resisted the police and in the melee Terry stabbed the sergeant of the party, Sterling A. Hopkins, and then he and his associates made their escape to the armory of the San Francisco Blues, one of their strongholds.
When the report of the stabbing reached headquarters the great bell sounded the alarm and the vigilantes, in a very short space of time, sur- rounded the Armory, and had their cannon planted to batter it down. Terry, Maloney and the others of their party in the building, considering discretion the better part of valor, surrendered and were at once taken to Fort "Gunny- bags," so named on account of a breastwork made of gunnybags filled with sand, which the vigilantes had placed about the building used as headquar- ters. Cannon were placed at the corners of the redoubt. The arms of the "Law and Order" party at their various rendezvous were surrendered to the vigilantes and the companies disbanded.
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HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA
Terry was closely confined in a cell at the headquarters of the Con- mittee. Hopkins, after lingering some time between life and death, finally recovered. Terry was tried for assault upon Hopkins and upon several other parties and was found guilty ; but after he had been held a prisoner for some time, he was released. He was forced to resign his office as chief justice. Hc at once joined Johnson and Howard in Sacramento, where he felt safer than in San Francisco.
On July 29th, Hethrington and Brace were hanged from a gallows erected on Davis street, between Sacramento and Commercial. Both of these men had committed murder. The Committee transported from the state some thirty disreputable characters and a number of others deported theni- selves. A few, among them the notorious Ned McGowan, managed to keep concealed until the storm was over. A few of the exiles returned after the Committee was disbanded and began suit for damages, but failed to secure anything. The Committee had paid the fare of the exiles and it was only the high-toned rascals who had been given cabin passage, that began the suits. The Committee finished its labors and dissolved with a grand parade, August 18, 1856, after doing a most valuable work. For sev- eral years afterwards San Francisco was one of the best governed cities in the United States, instead of one of the worst. It is a noticeable fact that the Vigilance Committee was largely made up of men from the northern and western states, while the so-called "Law and Order" party was com- posed mostly of the pro-slavery, office-holding faction which then ruled the state.
The rush of gold-seekers to California in the early fifties had brought to the state a certain class of adventurers-many of whom were too lazy or too proud to work. They were ready to engage in almost any lawless under- taking that promised plunder and adventure. The defeat of the pro-slavery politicians in their attempt to fasten their "peculiar institution" upon any part of the territory acquired from Mexico made them very bitter. The more unscrupulous among them began to look about for new fields over which slavery might be spread. As slavery could only be made profitable in south- ern lands, Cuba, Mexico and Central America became the arena for enacting that form of piracy known as "filibustering." Although the armed invasion of countries with which the United States was at peace was in direct vio- lation of international laws, yet the federal office-holders in the Southern States and in California-all of whom belonged to the pro-slavery party- made no attempt to prevent these invasions, but instead secretly aided them, or at least sympathized with them to the extent of allowing them to recruit men and depart without molestation. One of the leading filibusters from California was a Tennesseean by the name of Walker. His first attempt was against Lower California. He captured La Paz and established what he called the "Republic of Lower California" and proclaimed it slave territory.
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HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA
He and his army plundered and robbed wherever there was anything to be obtained. The country was so poor and his army so mutinous that he was compelled to abandon his so-called republic. He shot several of his dupes for desertion. After this he had a varied career as a filibuster in Central America. He was captured in Honduras in 1860, court-martialed and shot.
The last filibustering expedition to enter Mexico was a body of 100 men commanded by Henry A. Crabb, a Stockton lawyer and politician of the southern school. He entered Sonora by way of the Yuma route and pene- trated as far as Cavorca. Here he was attacked by a large force of Mexi- cans. After holding out for five days in an adobe building he surrendered. All the Americans, with the exception of a fifteen-year-old boy, were shot the next morning.
STATE CAPITALS.
As has been previously stated, the Constitutional Convention of 1849 met in Colton hall in Monterey. During its sessions the question of locat- ing the capital came up. San Jose offered to donate a square of thirty-two acres valued at $60,000 for capitol grounds and give the free use of a build- ing for meetings of the legislature. The offer was accepted and the first legislature convened there December 15, 1849. The first capitol of the state was a two-story adobe building, 40 by 60 feet, which had been built for a hotel. This building was destroyed by fire April 29, 1853. The accommo- dations at San Jose were not satisfactory.
The Legislature next accepted a proposition from Gen. M. J. Vallejo to locate the capital at his new town of Vallejo. He offered to donate 156 acres of land for a site and within two years to give $370,000 in money to be expended in the erection of public buildings. When the members of the legislature met at the new capital January 2, 1852, they found a large un- furnished and partly unfinished wooden building for their reception. Ac- commodations were very poor and even food was wanting for the hungry lawmakers.
Sacramento then offered its new court house as a meeting place and on the 16th the legislature convened in that city. The great flood of 1852 inundated the town and the lawmakers were forced to reach the halls of legislation in boats-again there was dissatisfaction.
Benicia now came to the front with the offer of her new city hall, which was assuredly above high water mark. Gen. Vallejo had become financially embarrassed and could not carry out his contract so it was annulled. The offer of Benicia was accepted and on May 18, 1853, that town was declared the permanent capital.
In the legislature of 1854 the capital question again came to the fore. Offers were received from several aspiring cities, but Sacramento won with
.
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HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA
the offer of her new court house and a block of land between I and J. Ninth and Tenth streets. Then the question of locating the capital got into the courts. The Supreme Court decided in favor of Sacramento. Before the legislature met again the court house burned down. A more commodious one was at once erected and rented to the state at $12,000 a year. Then Oakland made an unsuccessful attempt to secure the capital. Finally a bili was passed authorizing the erection of a capitol building in Sacramento at a cost not to exceed $500,000. Work was begun on the foundation in October, 1860. The great flood of 1861-62 inundated the town and ruined the founda- tions of the capitol. San Francisco made a vigorous effort to secure the seat of government but was not successful. Work was resumed on the building, the plans were changed, the edifice enlarged, and finally after many delays it was ready for occupancy in December, 1869. From the original limit of half a million its cost, when completed, had reached a million and a half. The amount expended on the building and the grounds to date is $2,600,000.
State Senator E. C. Seymour, representing Orange and San Bernardino counties in the Thirtieth and Thirty-first sessions, introduced a bill to re- move the capital to San Jose. The bill passed, but the scheme was defeated in the courts.
CIVIL WAR.
The Civil War (1861-1865) did not seriously affect the prosperity of Cali- fornia. During its progress about 16,000 volunteers enlisted in the Union army. Much to their disappointment these men were retained on the Pa- cific coast to fight Indians and keep the disloyal element in check. One bat- talion of five companies paid its own passage to the east and joined the Second Massachusetts Cavalry, in which it did splendid service in Virginia and Maryland. Quite a number of Confederate sympathizers from Califor- nia joined the Southern armies during the war. Those who remained in the state were closely watched by the federal authorities and were not able to render much assistance to their friends of the South.
MINING.
Previous to 1860 the chief industry of the state was mining. During the decade between 1850 and 1860 a number of rushes were made to new dig- gings reputed to be rich in the precious metals. The most famous of these were the Kern river in 1855 and the Frazer river in 1857-both ended in disaster to those engaged in them. In 1859 the silver mines of Washoe were discovered and a great rush made to these. The Comstock lodes were very rich and many fortunes were made. Stock gambling became a mania in San Francisco and fortunes were made and lost-mostly lost.
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HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA
CATTLE RAISING.
The southern part of the state was devoted to cattle raising and in the early fifties this occupation was immensely profitable. The land was held in large ranchos and at the time of the discovery of gold was mostly owned by native Californians. The sudden influx of population consequent on the discovery of gold greatly increased the value of cattle and made the stock owners rich. With wealth came extravagant habits and when the decline began they borrowed money at usurions rates and the high interest ruined them. The terrible dry years of 1863-64, when thousands of cattle starved to death, put an end to cattle raising as the distinctive industry of the south. The decadence of cattle raising brought about the sub-division of the large ranchos and the development of grain growing and fruit culture. In the southern part of the state the culture of citrus fruits-the orange and lemon -lias become the leading industry. In favorable localities in the central and northern sections of the state the production of deciduous fruits-the apple, peach, prune, pear, etc .- takes precedence ; while the great valleys of the Sacramento and the San Joaquin are vast wheat fields.
RAILROAD BUILDING.
Several schemes for the building of railroads from the Atlantic to the Pacific, or rather from the Pacific to the Atlantic, for most of them originated on this side of the continent, were promulgated in California during the fifties, but they all "gang aglee." The first railroad built in California was the Sacramento Valley road. It was completed to Folsom in February, 1856, and was twenty-two miles in length. The next was the road from San Francisco to San Jose, fifty-one miles long, completed January 16, 1864. Or. June 28, 1861, at Sacramento the Central Railroad of California was organ- ized with Leland Stanford, president; C. P. Huntington, vice-president ; Mark Hopkins, treasurer ; James Baily, seeretary, and T. D. Judah, chief engineer. The capital stock of the company was fixed at $8,500,000. The whole amount of stock subscribed by its promoters would not have built five miles of road ; none of the men at that time connected with the road were rich and the whole affair seemed to be a huge joke. On July 1, 1862, the Pacific railroad bill was passed by Congress, authorizing the issuance of government bonds to the amount of $16,000 per mile to the foot of the mountains and of $48,000 per mile through the mountains. Forty miles had to be built and equipped before any bonds were issued. In addition to this there was a government land subsidy of 12,800 acres per mile. Ground was broken for the road at Sacramento February 22, 1863. The Union Pacific was built westward from Omaha. On May 10, 1869, the two roads met at Promontory near Salt Lake and were united.
The first road built in the southern part of the state was the Los An-
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HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA
geles and San Pedro, completed to Wilmington in October, 1869. This connected Los Angeles with a seaport and greatly facilitated commerce.
The Southern Pacific railroad was completed to Los Angeles Septem- ber 5, 1877. It had, in 1872, obtained a subsidy from Los Angeles county of about $600,000; $225,000 being the Los Angeles and San Pedro railroad. For this it was to build twenty-five miles of road north of Los Angeles and the same distance to the east. The northern end met the extension of the road south from Lathrop on the Central Pacific in the Soledad Canon on September 5, 1877, and the last tie was laid and the golden spike driven. The eastern end was completed in 1883 to El Paso, where it met the Texas Pacific and thus gave California a second trans-continental line.
The Atlantic and Pacific uniting with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, built jointly their main line from Albuquerque to the Colorado at the Needles. From there the A. & P. built to Barstow about eighty miles north- east of San Bernardino. From there the California Southern continued the line to San Diego. The road was completed to Colton in August, 1882, and opened from San Diego to San Bernardino September 13, 1883. In 1887 the road was built westward from San Bernardino until it met the San Gabriel Valley -- which was built eastward from Los Angeles-at Mud Springs, The different divisions of the road were united under one management with its western terminus at Los Angeles, thus giving California its third trans- continental line.
The growth of the state and particularly of the southern part of the state since the advent of the railroads has been phenomenal.
EDUCATION.
The first public school in California was opened at San Jose in Decem- ber, 1794, seventeen years after the founding of that pueblo. The pioneer teacher of California was Manuel de Vargas, a retired sergeant of infantry. Jose Manuel Toca, a ship boy, opened the first school in Santa Barbara in 1795. Maximo Pina, an invalid soldier, was the first schoolmaster of Los Angeles. He taught during the years 1817 and 1818. During the Spanish era the schoolmasters were mostly invalid soldiers-men of little learning- about all they could teach was reading and writing and the doctrina Chris- tiana. They were brutal tyrants and their school governments military despotisms. The people were indifferent to education and as the school- masters were paid by rate bills the terms were short and the vacations long.
Mexico did somewhat better for public education than Spain. The school terms were a little longer and the vacations proportionately shorter, but it was not uncommon then for a vacation to last two or three years.
During the war of American conquest the schools were all closed. After the cessation of hostilities in 1847 a school under army regulations was es-
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HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA
tablished in Los Angeles-or rather it was under the superintendency of Col. J. B. Stevenson, the military commander of the department of the South. Dr. William B. Osburn was appointed teacher. This was the first English common school established in California. After peace was declared and the municipal governments organized, schools were opened in the large towns. These were subscription schools, although in some cases the town council appropriated public funds for the education of a certain number of poor children who were entitled to attend some private school.
The first act to establish a common school system in California was ap- proved May 3, 1852. Great advance was made in perfecting and building up this system from 1863 to 1869 under the administration of State School Su- perintendent John Swett, who has been called the Horace Mann of Cali- fornia.
The first State Normal school for "the training of teachers" was es- tablished in San Francisco in 1863. It was afterwards removed to San Jose. There are now five Normal schools in the state. The public school system and the public schools of California rank among the best in the United States.
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HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA
GOVERNORS OF CALIFORNIA UNDER SPANISH, MEXICAN AND AMERICAN RULE
Name
From
To
Name
From
To
UNDER SPANISH RULE
UNDER MEXICAN RULE
Gaspar de Portala.
1767
1771
Pablo Vincente de Sola.
1822
1823
Felipe de Barri,
1771
1774
Luis Agaello
1823
1825
Felipe de Neve
1774
1782
Jose Maria de Echeandia
1825
1831
Pedro Fages
1782
1790
Manuel Victoria
1831
1832
Jose Antonio Romeu
1790
1792
Pio Pico
1832
1833
Jose J. Arrillaga.
1792
1794
Jose Figueroa
1833
1835
Diego de Borica
1794
1800
Jose Castro
1835
1836
Jose J. Arrillaga.
1800
1814
Mariano Chico.
1836
1836
Nicolas Gutierrez
1836
1836
Juan B. Alvarado
1836
1842
Manuel Micheltorena
1842
1845
Pio Pico
1845
1846
AMERICAN ERA. MILITARY GOVERNORS-1846-1849.
Commodore John D. Sloat, July 7, 1846.
Commodore Robert S. Stockton, August 17, 1846.
Colonel John C. Fremont, appointed by Stockton, January 17, 1847.
General Stephen W. Kearney, proclaimed at Monterey, March 1, 1847.
Col. Richard B. Mason, proclaimed at Monterey, May 31, 1847.
Gen. Bennett Riley, appointed by the President, April 13, 1849.
UNDER AMERICAN RULE
Name
From
To
Peter H. Burnett
December 20, 1849
. January
8, 1851
John McDougal
January
9, 1851
. January
8,1852
John Bigler
. January
8, 1852
. January
9,1856
J. Neely Johnson
January
9, 1856
January
8, 1858
John B. Weller
. January
8, 1858
. January
9, 1860
Milton S. Latham
. January
9, 1860
.January 11, 1860
John G. Downey
January 14, 1860
January
10, 1862
Leland Stanford.
January 10, 1862
December
10, 1863
Frederick F. Low.
December 10, 1863
December
5, 1867
Henry H. Haight.
December 5, 1867
December
8, 1871
Newton Booth ...
. December 8, 1871
February
27,1875
Romualdo Pacheco
February 27, 1875
December
9,1875
William Irwin
December 9, 1875
. January
8, 1880
George C. Perkins
January 8, 1880
January 10, 1883
George Stoneman.
January 10, 1883
January
8, 1887
Washington Bartlett.
January 8, 1887
September 12, 1887
R. W. Waterman
September 13, 1887
January
8, 1891
H. H. Markham.
January 8, 1891
January 11, 1895
James H. Budd.
January 11, 1895
January 4, 1899
Henry T. Gage
.January 4, 1899
January 4, 1903
G. D. Pardee
. January 4 1903
POPULATION OF CALIFORNIA 1850 TO 1900.
1850
92,597
1860 379,994
1870
1880
1800
1900
560,247
864,694
1,208,130
1,485,053
Nicolas Gutierrez
1836
1836
Jose Arguello
1814
1815
Pablo Vincente de Sola
1815
1822
ROSE L. ELLERBE.
SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY COURT HOUSE
L
HISTORY OF San Bernardino County
By ROSE L. ELLERBE
INTRODUCTORY.
San Bernardino has been well named the "Imperial County:" her position, her size, her resources, and her people all combine to make her an empire within herself, and yet she is proud to be known as one county of the Great Golden State.
The county is bounded on the north by Inyo county, on the west by Kern and Los Angeles counties, on the south by Riverside county and on the east by the state of Nevada and by Arizona. The area is 20,235 square miles, which is divided about as follows: Agricultural, 575 square miles ; dry lakes, 700 ; mountain ranges, 8,000, and sert, 10,9 square miles. Its popula- tion in 1900 was 27,929. It contains 12,902,400 square acres-an area almost equal to that of Belgium and Holland combined, which two kingdoms possess a population of about ten millions.
Its desert surface extends from the Sierra Madre mountains in the south- west corner of the county to its northern boundary and eastward to Nevada and the Colorado river. It is broken by innumerable short mountain ranges and isolated peaks, by dry lakes and by tiny oases where springs are found. Its one river, the Mojave, rises in the mountains and flows to the northeast until swallowed up by the sands. The arroyo, or river bed, is traceable for nearly a hundred miles and at points the water rises to the surface in consid- erable volume.
The Sierra Madre mountains in this county are rugged and precipitous, their crest line ranging from six to seven thousand feet above the level of the sea, and their peaks rising to nine, ten and nearly eleven thousand feet. Their southern crest and ravines are well wooded. There is but one complete pass through the entire range, the Cajon. The culminating peak, Mt. San Bernar- dino, rises 10,680 feet, and between it and Greyback, of the San Jacinto range, lies the San Gorgonio pass. Mt. Greyback, or San Gorgonio, is 11.485 feet, the highest point in Southern California.
Shut in by the Sierra Madre range on the north, the San Jacinto range on the south and the Coast range on the southeast, lies the San Bernardino valley, the largest and best watered in Southern California. In the upper
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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
end of this valley, included in San Bernardino county, is the San Bernardino basin, which is described thus: "Hemmed in on the north by the most abrupt portion of the very abrupt Sierra Madre, overshadowed on the east by the towering peaks of San Bernardino and Greyback, closed in on the south by a high range of hills, extending southwesterly from the foot of the San Bernar- dino mountains to the Coast range, this valley is open only to the west and in that direction is still overlooked by the somewhat abrupt rising edge of the Cucamonga plains."
This valley is a basin filled with a vast alluvial deposit of a compara- tively recent geological placing. Coming into it from the northwest, at the extreme northwest end, is the Cajon pass. Coming into it from the south- west corner, from the San Gorgonio pass, and by a northwesterly course, is the San Timoteo Cañon. Entering at its extreme eastern end, crossing it and emerging at the southwest corner, is the Santa Ana river. It is the best watered valley in Southern California and one of the most inviting in appearance. In area it is about one hundred square miles, of which about twenty square miles are within the known limits of an artesian water-pro- ducing basin, which occupies its lowest lands, just above the outlet on the course of the Santa Ana river.
The geological history of this great area of desert, mountains, plains and valleys is a wonderful story of the working out of nature's plans through ages of change. Within this county are indications of many ages and periods, of upliftings and of submergences, of volcanic and of glacial action.
The known history of man in this valley begins with the entrance of the Spanish priests and soldiers, in 1774. They found the territory now occupied by this county inhabited by Indians, who, while not so degraded either physically or morally as many of their neighboring tribes, were still far below the pueblo dwellers of Arizona and New Mexico in civilization. There are evidences scattered through the county of an occupation prior to the coming of these Indians, by a race far superior to them in advancement. The time may come when the history of the pre-historic dwellers of this section may be unfolded to us, but as yet we can but conjecture.
Since 1774, when Anza led his expedition across the Colorado desert and through the San Gorgonio pass into the San Bernardino valley, we have records, though often far too meager, of the changes and the developments through which this section has passed. An attempt has been made in these Annals of San Bernardino County, to tell briefly the story of the Indians of the county, of the Mission period, the Mexican occupation, the Mormon and New Mexican colonies, of the days of the Pioneers, and of these later days of Progress when history is made so rapidly that no pen, or thought, can keep pace with it.
In some features the history of San Bernardino county is unique-in its isolated missions which seem to have prospered although left almost entirely
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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
to the management of neophyte Indians-no Spanish soldiers and no priest having ever been permanently stationed at either Politana or Old San Ber- nardino, so far as our knowledge goes; in its lonely frontier ranchos which were in constant danger from the raids of the desert Indians; in its colonies of New Mexican and Mormon settlers; in its desert industries and thriving desert towns; and in the wide range of its resources. No other county in the state possesses such a variety of valuable mineral products ; the mountains of San Bernardino furnish an extensive timber area ; her mountain streams furnish power, not only for herself, but for her neigh- boring counties ; her great storage basin and her Santa Ana river furnish irri- gation waters for all of the great San Bernardino valley, extending through four counties ; her deserts and barren mountain ranges contain mines that have placed her in the front rank of mining counties; an infinitesimal por- tion of her surface has made hier the third county in the state in citrus products; her mountain passes have made her the gateway between the Pacific coast and the great body of the United States, for three trans- continental lines.
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