USA > California > San Diego County > San Diego county, California; a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 2
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53
The coast line, as already stated, resembles the arc of a great circle, bulging towards the ocean. If it ran straight from the northwestern to the southwestern corner, one-third and much the most valuable part of California, including almost all the San Joaquin and half the Sacramento valley, would be submerged in the ocean. There are two prominent capes; one, Cape Mendocino, about half way between the Golden Gate and the northern boundary, and the other, Point Concepcion, about half way between the Golden Gate and the southern boundary. Mendocino is the Hatteras or storm cape, south of which the coast enjoys a milder temperature and is not exposed to the severe winds experienced to the north of it. Concepcion marks the southern limit of the cold fogs and cool summers. Between Mendocino and Concepcion the most prominent headlands are Point Arena, Point Reyes and Point Pinos; north of Mendocino, Trinidada Head; and south of Concepcion, Point Pedro. There are four land-locked bays, Humboldt, Tomales, San Francisco and San Diego, all of them separated from the ocean by narrow peninsulas. San Francisco, which has always been recognized as one of the largest, safest and in almost every respect finest bays and harbors on the globe is of course first in excellence, San Diego is next, and Humboldt third. Tomales is shallow and comparatively of no importance to
8
HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
commerce. In addition to the above, there are many open bays and roadsteads, such as those of Crescent City, Trinidad, Bodega, Monterey, Santa Barbara and San Pedro, and numerous coves where vessels can lie and load or unload except during stormy weather.
The islands of California consist of a series lying south of the Santa Barbara Channel. The first is San Miguel to the south of Point Concepcion; the next east, Santa Rosa, and east of that, opposite Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, which is some twenty miles long by three wide and the largest of them. These are close together, about thirty miles from the mainland, all hilly and rocky, with sparse vegetation and without doubt the summits of a submerged mountain ridge. About thirty miles south of Point San Pedro is Santa Catalina, and the same dis- tance south of that, San Clemente. West of Santa Catalina about forty miles and the same distance south of Santa Cruz is San Nicholas, the furthest distant from the mainland. In the center of the group is the little Santa Barbara, and east of Santa Cruz and nearest the mainland is the still smaller Anacapa. The only other islands are a group of seven small precipitous points, the largest containing only a couple of acres, about thirty miles west of the Golden Gate, called the Farallones. While sheep and cattle can be pastured on some of the southern islands, the Farallones are mere rocks, without vegetation, though the Russians at one time cultivated a few turnips there, and have always been the resort of innumerable sea-birds and sea-lions.
There is an ocean current along the coast from northwestward to southeast- ward, and a continual swell and large surf, which on breakers and rocky points is thrown up into volumes of spray even in the calmest weather. The difference between the extremes of the tides at Crescent City is about nine feet, at San Francisco eight, and at San Diego seven, but in San Francisco bay the mean difference is less than six feet. One of the two daily high tides is higher than the other and one of the low tides lower than the other, so that the most ac- curate tide tables give a "high-water-large" and "high-water-small" as also a "low-water-large" and "low-water-small." In the lower part of the Colorado river, at whose mouth the tide rises twenty-eight feet, it sometimes advances with an immense bore or wave, dangerous to small vessels.
The climate of California varies according to latitude, longitude and altitude, the north differing from the south, the coast from the interior and the moun- tains from the plains. But it may be generally characterized as one of the most temperate, equable, healthful and agreeable in the world. The year is divided into two distinctly marked seasons, the rainy and the dry. The rainy season usually commences in October and lasts till April, during which time about the same amount of water falls as during the same period in the Atlantic states, but there is little or no rain during the remainder of the year or dry season. The northern boundary is on the same parallel as Chicago and Providence and the southern as Vicksburg and Charleston; but the isothermal line of Providence and Chicago runs through the Straits of Fuca, while that of Charleston and Vicksburg, though it strikes San Diego on the coast, comes down to it from the north. The isothermal of San Francisco, whose mean annual temperature is 54º Fahrenheit, runs north to near the great bend of the Columbia river and then curves rapidly southward to the latitude of Memphis and Raleigh, thus making the largest isothermal curve within so short a distance, if some torrid
9
HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
circles be excepted, on the globe. In no other country is there so long a north and south isothermal as in California.
But while the mean annual temperature may be the same between two points, one in California and one in the Atlantic states, there is a great difference in the variations of temperature between the summer and the winter. In the At- lantic states the summers are very hot and the winters very cold, while in almost all of California and particularly the Coast Range region from Cape Mendocino to Point Concepcion, the winters are comparatively warm and the summers com- paratively cool. This interesting and important fact is due in part to the con- figuration of the country but more especially to the prevailing winds, which, com- ing from southerly quarters in winter, elevate the temperature, and, blowing very steadily from the northwest in summer, diminish the heat of the sun. The southerly and southeasterly winds of winter come freighted with water as well as warmth; the northwesterly winds of summer come dry and bring clear skies along with their coolness but frequently line the coast from Point Concepcion northward with nightly fogs. The usual temperature at San Francisco ranges between 49° in January and 58° in September. The mornings are usually warmer than the afternoons and as a rule the nights are cool. On rare occasions the thermometer rises to 80° in summer days or sinks to 28° in winter nights. A person of vigorous constitution and active habits can live comfortably all the year round without a fire and wear the same kind of clothing for winter and summer. The range of heat and cold becomes greater as one recedes from the coast, but in almost all the valleys the orange and the fig grow and ripen by the side of the apple and the pear. Most of the days of both summer and winter are clear and pleasant. Vancouver pronounced the climate a perpetual spring, but a better description perhaps would be to call it a combination of the clear spring and the hazy Indian summer of the northern Atlantic states, without either their cold winters or their hot summers.
Snow falls in large quantities on the Sierra Nevada every winter and lies until summer, and so, too, on the summits of the Coast Range in the northern part of the state. On the peak of Monte Diablo and some of the highest peaks southward there are one or two slight falls nearly every winter, but the snow lies only for a day or two. At San Francisco and in the valleys generally, except at rare intervals many years apart, the ground is never whitened. In January, 1806, snow fell at the mission of San Juan Bautista, but it was the only time for seventy years up to 1842. In December, 1838, rain and sleet together killed four hundred and fifty sheep near San Diego. Thunder storms are rare even in the Sierra Nevada and northern coast mountains and in the valleys as infrequent as snow storms. According to Duflot de Mofras thunder was so rare in Cali- fornia that the Indians had no word to express the phenomenon.
Rain storms during the wet season, on the contrary, are frequent. They commence usually about the end of October and continue with irregular in- tervals until April. In the latter months of the dry season the hills and plains are dry and brown, but with the first rains the verdure starts and through the winter the landscape is fresh and green. In the spring and early summer the green surface changes into the bright colors of illimitable flowers, yellow, orange, pink, scarlet, crimson, purple and blue. The storms are sometimes severe and sometimes last for three or four days or a week, usually the rainfall is soft and
10
HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
regular and not infrequently it rains only at night with days comparatively clear and pleasant. In March, 1787, a storm overthrew the warehouses at San Fran- cisco. In February, 1796, another storm at the same place partly unroofed the presidio, fort and church, and in March of the next year there was another, in which the ship San Carlos was lost near the Golden Gate. In December, 1798. and in January, 1799, there was a storm at San Francisco, which lasted twenty- eight days and almost completely ruined the fort and houses. Other severe storms at the same place are mentioned as having occurred in February, 1802, February, 1804, and March, 1810. In January and February, 1819, the rains fell in such quantities that many of the rivers changed their beds. But though thus specially noted, it is not likely that these storms were any severer than those which have occurred every few years since the American occupation, and none of these could be called hurricanes or tornadoes or compared with the cyclones of the Atlantic states. On the Mohave and Colorado deserts rains seldom occur but there are occasional sand storms, when the dust and sand are car- ried up in dense and suffocating clouds, obscuring the heavens. Storms of the same kind but less severe sometimes rage as high north as Santa Barbara and in the upper part of the San Joaquin valley.
When the rains are general and severe and particularly in the spring when long warm rains concur with rapid melting of the mountain snows, there are great floods. The Sierra gorges run violent torrents, which rush into the more sluggish rivers of the valleys, and the latter, being unable to carry off the super- abundance with sufficient rapidity, overflow their banks and spread out over the level plains for many miles. On such occasions, the lower parts of the Sacra- mento and San Joaquin valleys, except where protected by dikes and levees, are almost completely submerged and present the appearance of an immense lake, with lines of cottonwood, sycamore and willow trees marking the courses of the channels, with farm houses standing in the water or on isolated knolls, with the tops of fences indicating the overflowed fields, and with groups of horses and cattle huddled on little islands. To the spectator on the top of Monte Diablo at such a time, the bay of San Francisco with its adjuncts appears small in comparison with the great muddy sea to the eastward, but he can perceive an immense volume of waters pouring steadily into Suisun bay, through the Straits of Carquinez, the Narrows and the Golden Gate, and discoloring the ocean as far as the eye can reach.
-t
CHAPTER II
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF LOWER CALIFORNIA
At the time of the expulsion of the Jesuits from the peninsula in 1768, there were sixteen of them, fifteen priests and one lay brother. Of these, eight were Germans, six Spaniards and two Mexicans. Exactly the same number, fifteen priests and one lay brother, had died and were buried in the country. There were at the same time fifteen missions; several of those which had been orig- inally founded having been either changed to other localities, consolidated with others or abandoned.
Among the Jesuits expelled from the peninsula was Father Jacob Baegert, a native of the upper Rhine in Germany. He had arrived in the country in 1751 and lived there seventeen years. In the course of his residence he had traveled much ; talked with his older brethren and familiarized himself with the missions, the geography, natural productions and resources of the land and the character, manners and customs of the Indians. After his expulsion and upon his return to his native country, he found the public mind violently agitated against his order ; and there seemed to be a general disposition to misrepresent their doings in the peninsula. The "Noticia de la California" of Venegas, which had ap- peared in Spanish at Madrid in 1757, in being translated into English and pub- lished at London two years afterwards, had, as he charged, been considerably altered and in part suppressed. This English version, so altered, had been trans- lated into French and published at Paris in 1767; and, soon after Baegert's ar- rival in Germany, a German translation of the English version was announced. Although Baegert had read the Spanish original only in part and could not read the English, he was well acquainted with the French version and had discovered in it many errors and misstatements, which, and especially in view of the an- ticipated speedy appearance of a German translation, he deemed it his duty to correct. He accordingly sat down and wrote a highly interesting work in his native German tongue, entitled "Nachrichten Von Der Amerikanischen Halb- insel Californien-Account of the American Peninsula of California"-to which he added two appendices of what he called "Falsche Nachrichten-False Ac- counts." This, with permission and license of his order, he published at Mann- heim in 1773.
Baegert, though he wrote in the spirit of a disappointed man and of a country from which he had been expelled, and though he sometimes indulged in slings and slurs and sometimes in exaggerated expressions, gave a very intelligible and, one cannot help believing, a very correct account of the Cali- fornia of his times. He spoke as an eyewitness, of things he himself had seen,
11
12
HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
and in a style of plain, unhesitating directness; frequently unpolished, often even blunt; in some instances professedly as a polemic and an advocate; but al- ways with that kind of eloquence which thorough self-possession and earnest conviction are calculated to inspire. His diction is far from that of a Goethe or a Lessing, but from the beginning to the end of his work there is not a page that can be called dull or tedious.
The California described by Baegert, as well as by Venegas, was only the peninsula or what is now known as Baja or Lower California. It extended from about the latitude of the head of the gulf, running in a general southeasterly direction, to Cape San Lucas, a distance of upward of seven hundred miles. Its breadth in the north, where it joined the continent, was about one hundred and thirty miles; from there it gradually diminished but with many variations until it reached its termination. For a short distance about its middle it was nearly as wide as in the extreme north; but its usual width was from forty to sixty miles. It consisted of a prolongation, so to speak, of the ranges of moun- tains now known as the Sierra Nevada and Coast Ranges. These unite into one chain in the latitude of the Santa Barbara Channel; run thence southeast- wardly and, after passing the latitude of San Diego, form the entire peninsula. The whole country may be aptly described as a mountain chain, the bald, rocky, barren ridges of which alone have risen above or are not yet sunken beneath the waters of the ocean and gulf. There are few or no plains and nothing deserving the name of a river, though several small rivulets are so called, from one end of the country to the other. One of these little brooks ran by the mission of San Jose del Cabo; another by that of Santiago, and a third by that of Todos Santos. There was a fourth at San Jose Comondu; a fifth at La Purisima. and a sixth and the largest of them all at Santa Rosalia de Mulege. Nothing, ac- cording to Baegert, was more common in California than rocks and thorn- bushes ; nothing so rare as moisture, wood and cool shade.
The climate varied much with the latitude, the elevation and the exposure to the winds. Though there was sometimes a little frost, and in the higher regions of the north a little snow had at long intervals been known to fall and a thin film of ice to form, the temperature was usually very hot and very dry. The greatest heat began in June and lasted till October and it was often, for a European, very oppressive. Baegert spoke much of his profuse perspira- tion and the difficulty he had in finding a cool resting place even at night. Going out of doors he compared, on account not only of the direct rays of the sun but also on account of the reflection of the hot earth, to, approaching the open doors of a flaming furnace; and he said the wayfarer found it inconvenient, if not unsafe, to sit down upon a stone by the roadside, without first rolling up his mantle or something of that kind and placing it under him. It required but eight hours, even in the shade, for fresh meat in large pieces to putrefy; and for this reason the only way of preserving it was to cut it in thin strips and dry it in the sun; in other words, to make what is known as "jerked meat." But, notwithstanding the great elevation of temperature, the natives themselves never complained of it; on the contrary they were fond, even at times when a European would be wet with perspiration, of lying around a blazing fire.
13
HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
SEASONS OF CALIFORNIA
The seasons could hardly be divided into spring, summer, autumn and winter, though there was of course a time for grass and flowers to come forth and for birds to sing; for fruit to ripen and for leaves to wither and die. The main division was into a rainy season and a dry season. Showers and occasional heavy rains might be looked for from about the end of June to the beginning of November, a storm sometimes occurred earlier or later; but often very little water fell in the course of an entire year; and in what was known as the dry season, from November till June, showers were rare. The storms were some- times accompanied with lightning and thunder; and the rainy season often ended, as has been already stated, with a hurricane or tempest called a cor- donazo. It, however, much more frequently threatened to rain than actually rained; and the showers were usually of short duration and limited extent. Owing to the bare, stony character of the country, the rain-water ran off rapidly and, collecting in torrents, rushed through the gorges with destructive force and great noise. These torrents in their irregular courses frequently scooped up large quantities of earth and left puddles, which contained more or less water for months after the season was over and furnished drink to the cattle and people. On account of the rarity of permanent streams and the scarcity of springs, many regions depended exclusively for water during the dry season on these pools, which, as they were stagnant and used promiscuously by man and beast, as well for bathing and wallowing as for drinking, often became very foul. At these pools, according to Baegert, the indigenous Californian stretched himself upon his belly and sucked up the water like an ox.
There were sometimes heavy fogs not only in the autumn and winter months but also in the summer. They rose from the ocean and were therefore heaviest on the western coast ; but usually they were dissipated early in the day. Some sup- posed they brought with them a noxious principle, which injured grain fields. The dews were about the same as in Europe. Occasionally the sweet deposit, known as honeydew, was seen upon the leaves. But generally throughout the year, day and night, the sky was clear and dry; and, though there was almost always a gentle breeze, it was almost invariably warm and even hot. Still it was pure and healthful and when one became accustomed to it, not unpleasant. Baegert said he would gladly have carried the climate with him when he had to leave. On account of the climate and the character of the ground, planting and cultivation were altogether impracticable except in the few spots where soil and water were found, or could be brought, together; and, as it was often the case that there was no soil where there was water and no water where there was soil, the fields and gardens were few and far between and several of the missions had none at all. Throughout the greater part of the country there was so very little soil that it barely covered the rocks. At the mission of San Aloysio, for instance, Baegert could find no ground fit for a burial place; and he was therefore obliged, for the purpose of rendering the labors of the sextons more easy and saving their picks and shovels, to prepare one by scraping up the earth from wherever he could find it in the neighborhood and filling in a suffi- cient space, formed by the four walls of his churchyard.
But where there was soil and natural moisture or where there was soil and irrigation, everything wore a very different appearance. There, one could plant
14
HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
and sow almost what he would and it yielded a hundred fold. Wheat, maize, rice, squashes, melons, cotton, citrons, plantains, pomegranates, the most luscious grapes, olives, figs, fruits-in fact almost all the productions of both temperate and torrid zones throve side by side and with astonishing exuberance. Many of these places yielded a second or even a third crop the same year. Such a spot was Vigge Biaundo, the scene of Ugarte's great labors; and other spots of the same character and of greater or less extent were found here and there along the course of the rivulets before described and in the neighborhood of springs and pools. But with these exceptions the land might be described as a desert waste, a land of miserable thickets and thorns, of naked rocks, stones and sand heaps, without water and without wood. It seemed to Father Baegert as if it had been thrown up by subterranean forces from the bottom of the sea after the other parts of the world were finished and apparently after the creative energy had been well nigh spent.
As a consequence of the dry climate and arid soil, there was hardly any- thing that could be called a wood and much less a forest in the country. There were a few trees on the promontory of Cape San Lucas, also in the Guadalupe mountains; and in the extreme north there were a few firs and oaks in the moun- tains. The native trees of the middle and southern portions of the peninsula were generally mesquite and in some places a species of willow and here and there some unfruitful palms. It was of the mesquite that Ugarte built his ship; but even these were so infrequent that almost all the timber, used by the mis- sionaries in building their churches, was brought from across the gulf. Baegert complained of the difficulty of finding wood enough to burn a limekiln. When the mountains and hills were not entirely bare, they were covered with thickets of chaparral, among which was found a kind of wild plum tree that exuded the resin or gum used in the churches in place of frankincense. There were also many species of cactus ; and among others several which yielded pitahayas, the most important wild fruit produced in the country. With the exception of the cacti, almost all the plants of the chaparral were leguminous and all or nearly all covered with strong, tough and sharp thorns. In addition to the pitahayas and other fruits of different species of cacti, there were several esculent roots, among the principal of which were gicamas. There were also various kinds of seeds used by the Indians, some resembling red beans, others resembling hemp, and others canary seed.
ANIMAL LIFE
Of the few quadrupeds there were deer, hares, rabbits, cougars, ounces, wild cats, coyotes, foxes, polecats. rats and mice. A few mountain sheep and wild goats were said to be found in the heights, particularly in the northern part of the peninsula ; sometimes a few beavers were seen and sometimes a wolf ; but no mention was made of bears. Bats, rattlesnakes and other serpents, tortoises, toads, lizards, scorpions, centipedes, tarantulas, wasps, ants, locusts, grasshoppers and other small insects were plentiful. There were not many birds; but among those met with were vultures, buzzards, hawks, falcons, owls, crows, doves, herons, quails, pigeons, geese, cranes, ducks and several varieties of smaller birds ; also pelicans, gulls and other sea birds. Of the pelicans Venegas gives a curious account, copied from Father Assumpcion, who accompanied Viscaino on his voyage up the northwest coast. According to him, these birds
15
HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
were so helpful to one another that they seemed to have the use of reason. If any of them became sick, feeble or maimed, so as to be unable to seek its food, the others brought fish and placed them before it. At an island in the Pacific, not far from Cerros, he found one tied with a cord and having a broken wing. Around it were multitudes of excellent sardines that had been brought for its sustenance by its companions. The Indians, aware of the kindly helpfulness of the birds, had taken advantage of them by maiming, tying up and exposing the poor decoy ; and they feasted themselves by robbing it of the abundance with which it was thus supplied.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.