USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > San Francisco, a history of the Pacific coast metropolis, Volume I > Part 13
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Why no Improvement was Effected
In the year 1779 one of the Franciscans who was displeased with the slow progress made in gathering the Indians into the fold made a plea for them which when taken in connection with the final result exhibits clearly the illusions under which the most earnest of the missionaries were concerning the capacity of their charges for improvement. This critic who signed himself "The Most Unworthy Minister of the Order of St. Francis" declared that the innumerable apostacies, already common at that time, were not due to "the natural inconsistency of the Indians or to their impatience of subordination to labor," but to the failure to im- part to them proper religious instruction when gathered in widely separated missions.
A Padre's Explanation
He enumerated other causes which to a later generation furnish a more rational explanation of the propensity of the aborigines to take to the mountains, such as the application of the lash for the punishment of trivial faults, the levying of con- tributions by curates, and the utter disregard of regulations designed for the benefit of the neophytes who were to be gathered in pueblos. These would seem to have proved sufficient to provoke recalcitrancy but he adds one more that is not usually considered in this connection, namely "the keeping of lands in common, whence it results that the most powerful appropriate them in order to form haciendas fifteen, twenty or thirty leagues in extent." At first this may suggest that the good padre was under the impression that these liberal appropriations of land tended to deprive the Indians of a means of subsistence, but another cause assigned by him under a different heading shows that he regarded individual enterprise as the chief ob- stacle to the elevation and redemption of the Indians for he tells us that "the maintenance of dispersed ranchos of Spaniards, mulattoes, and other castes by their isolation became a prey to the gentile Indians," hence the temptation to the neo- phyte to desert his work for the missionaries and the frustration of the efforts of the latter to lift him in the scale of civilization or to effect the salvation of his soul.
We may doubt the efficiency of the plan which the good padre evidently had in mind to bring about the results he desired. Had it been acted upon it must have resulted very much as the later efforts of Americans to save the Indian from con- tamination by herding him in reservations. No one now contends that any real good was ever accomplished by the system of keeping Indians apart. They never derived any real benefit from the white man until they were absorbed in the whole body of the people and educated to believe that like other men they had responsi- bilities, chief among which was the hard necessity imposed on the whole of man- kind of earning a subsistence within a comparatively limited space, a stern law fatal to the nomadic propensity and before which the nomadic instinct must dis- appear as does the winter's snow when the spring thaw comes.
Plans of Doubtful Merit
Indians Turned Adrift
CHAPTER XIII
THE SPANISH LAND GRANT SYSTEM IN CALIFORNIA
FIRST LAND GRANTS IN 1773-LIBERAL ALLOTMENTS DID NOT ATTRACT SETTLERS- LARGE RANCHES PRODUCTIVE OF INDOLENCE-THE NEGLECTED STOCK OF THE NA- TIVE CALIFORNIANS-PARALYZING EFFECTS OF THE BAD LAND LAWS-SUPPLIES RE- CEIVED FROM ALASKA-NO MANUFACTURING SKILL DEVELOPED-EARLY CONSERVA- TION SUGGESTIONS-LUMBER SCARCE-CALIFORNIANS NOT LOVERS OF THE SEA- MONTEREY OVERSHADOWS SAN FRANCISCO IN IMPORTANCE.
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HILE the isolation of the ranchero may have been respon- sible for the straying habits of the neophytes who were OF enticed by the gentiles to join them in their mode of life, which was rendered somewhat less precarious by their abil- ity to prey upon the herds and flocks of the gente de SEAL CO F SAN FR razon, that evil was light by comparison with the greater one inflicted on the country by a policy which made it impossible for California to become the home of a thrifty farming population.
The conferring of enormous grants of land on individuals was the main factor in keeping California in the condition of a pastoral community down to the time of the American occupation, and its blighting influence was felt long after the dis- covery of gold brought on the scene a people who by instinct and from force of example were disposed toward the diversification of industry. The reader will be enabled to judge of the drawbacks imposed upon the earlier population by study- ing the troubles encountered by a more energetic community when the story of the retardment caused by the indisposition of the holders of large grants of land to dispose of their holdings is told in future pages.
In this chapter the effort of the writer will be confined to showing the workings of the system under Spanish and Mexican rule, and to tracing the connection be- tween it and the stationary stage in the development of California during the early part of the nineteenth century, a condition which must have prevailed indefinitely had not men with other ideals and ambitions than those of the early occupants broken into the territory, and by the force of their example, and their success in operating on a small scale, shown the futility and profitlessness of methods that were characteristic of the feudal period and utterly out of harmony with the aspira- tions of the present age.
The land grant system of California dates back to August 17, 1773, when an- thority was given by the Viceroy Bucareli y Ursuas in instructions to Fernando Rivera y Moncada on the occasion of his appointment as commandante of the new establishment at San Diego and Monterey, and the first grant was made to a soldier
A Liberal Land Grant System
Origins of an Abuse
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who had married an Indian girl who had accepted Christianity and was duly bap- tized. No pains whatever were taken to describe the permanent landmarks, and in the course of time the grant which was in the San Carlos mission failed of con- firmation on account of the uncertainty regarding boundaries.
Earliest Land Grants
A few years later the commandante general of the jurisdiction, Jacobo Ugarte y Loyola, then residing at Chihuahua, directed that four square leagues be al- lotted to new pueblos in California, and in 1789 he ordered that an allotment be made to a retired corporal at San Luis Obispo mission. This soldier had also married a Christianized Indian belonging to the establishment named. Prior to these grants of a public character Governor Fages had in 1784 granted to Manuel Nieto a place called Santa Getrudis, and to Jose Maria Verdugo another known as San Rafael. Both of these were in Los Angeles county. The first named con- tained over 300,000 acres and the latter 34,000 acres. In 1795 Patricio and Miguel Pico received grants aggregating 100,000 acres in Santa Barbara, and an indefinite tract between San Pedro and Point Año Nuevo was granted Jose D'Arguello.
Mexico Follows Spanish Policy
These Spanish grants were all subsequently confirmed, and after the revolution the Mexicans entered upon a liberal policy of land bestowal. Laws were enacted in 1824 and 1828 by which the governor or political chief was authorized to make grants for the purpose of inducing colonization. Under this authority heads of families, leaders of colonies or private individuals could have lands conferred upon them, which grants had to be confirmed by the supreme government. There were numerous restrictions upon the granting power of the governors. They were not permitted to grant lands within 30 leagues of the boundary of a foreign power nor nearer the sea coast than 10 leagues. The grants were limited to one square league of irrigable land, 4 square leagues of ordinary land and 6 square leagues of grazing land. The grantee was not permitted to transfer his land in mortmain nor retain it if he resided out of the territory of the Mexican republic.
Lands did not Attract
These laws, liberal though they were, did not greatly promote the desired col- onization. There were some grants made under them but it was not until the secu- larization of the missions in 1833 that numerous demands were made for the valu- able tracts to which the missionaries laid claim and which were regarded as the most fertile lands in the country. The number of grants made which complied with the requirements of the laws and were afterward pronounced valid by the United States Land Commission, established after the occupation, was 514. In addition there were nearly three hundred claims rejected, some of which, on review by the United States supreme court were finally confirmed. It was estimated that the total acreage of the grants with which the commission dealt was 12,000,000, nearly one seventh of the area of the state.
Land Poor Settlers
This reckless disposition of the public lands did not accomplish the purpose which prompted it. It failed to people the vast territory with a population of workers or of colonists of any sort. It was not alone disappointing in that par- ticular, it also failed to realize the expectations of the grantees who experienced all the embarrassments attendant upon "land poorness." There were owners of thousands of acres of land who were so wretchedly poor that no well paid laborer of to-day would envy their condition. The brothers Andreas and Pio Pico who had vast tracts confirmed to them were always on the ragged edge of real want, although they were among the grandees of the land, and the last named of the two enjoyed the distinction of being the last Mexican governor of California.
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As may well be imagined the lack of care exercised by the authorities in grant- ing the lands of Upper California was productive of great trouble when the prop- erty became valuable. No regular surveys were made by the Spaniards or Mexi- cans. The grantees usually received juridical possession, and in most cases the nearest alcalde with suitable land marks designated the boundaries of the grant. The title, however, was supposed to be complete without the juridical possession. Naturally this loose method resulted in disputes as it lent itself to fraudulent claims based on forgeries and misstatements of various sorts. In a letter written to President Buchanan in 1860 by United States Attorney General Black he stated that the value of lands claimed in California under fradulent grants was not less than $150,000,000, and that the most of the rejected claims were based on absolute forgeries.
But it is not with the troubles after the occupation that we are here dealing, but rather the evil results which were experienced by the recipients of the extrava- gant bounty of the Spanish and Mexican governments. The padre who referred to the temptation presented by isolated ranches to marauding gentiles indicated one source of mischief, but it was small by comparison with the result produced by the invitation to a naturally indolent people to shirk exertion of all kinds. A virile people such as those who pioneered Kentucky, and the other states of the American Union, which at that time were on the outskirts of civilization, would have made short work of the Indians and secured the peace necessary to success- fully carry on farming operations, and perhaps they might have created an envi- ronment for themselves which would have enabled them to overcome the limitations of a pastoral life. But the Californians were not made of that stuff, and conse- quently they easily accepted conditions little better than those of the aborigines they dispossessed.
The only superiority of the gente de razon over the nomadic Indians was their practical attachment to the soil which enabled them to apply some of their inher- ited knowledge to the business of maintaining life. They devoted themselves chiefly to pastoral pursuits, or rather it should be said they permitted their herds and flocks to multiply and thus obtained a means of existence. To speak of them as raisers of stock would mislead, for the term stock raising implies attention to the improvement of the breed of the animals, and they gave no thought to anything of the kind.
It is asserted that the Spanish jealousy of competition was responsible for the inferior quality of the wool produced on the California ranches, but there is no evidence whatever that the natives ever made any effort to prevent deterioration of their stock. The sheep, as was the case with horses, horned cattle and hogs, were utterly neglected, and the inevitable consequence was the multiplication of their kind after a fashion, the most of which were worthless for any other purpose than to kill. The scant supplies of wool obtained scarcely sufficed to provide the not exacting demand for clothes; the "razor back" hogs were deficient in the fat which the Californian taste craved, the oxen were miserable creatures hardly able to per- form the work imposed on them by their lazy owners, and the other horned cattle were valueless except for their hides, and the tallow which was extracted from their bodies when they were in fit condition for killing. As for horses they roamed over the land in vast numbers, and from them enough good mounts could be selected
Land Titles
Incitement to Indolence
Social Distinctions
Uncared for Live Stock
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to satisfy the requirements of the rancheros, but the great majority were valueless for any purpose.
The men who permitted these conditions were incapable of advancement, but it is doubtful whether any better result could have been achieved under the system which created estates as large as small principalities. The benumbing influence of the big ranch was not confined to the Californian. There are plenty of instances of men who, in another environment would have been enterprising, but who could not resist the enervation induced by their surroundings, which, however, they were prone to blame on the climate. They easily adopted the indolent habits of the people contemptuously called "greasers" by the later comers, and to all intents and purposes were as worthless, and did as little to promote the progress of their adopted country as those they affected to despise.
Native Shortcomings
It would be idle to assume the possibility of any rapid change in the condition of a people thus situated, and it may be a work of supererogation to even describe their shortcomings which were not due to racial deficiencies. The difficulties to be surmounted by them were of the same sort that brought about the institution of feudalism in Europe, which has to its discredit not merely the arrestment of progress during the middle ages, but is chargeable with the destruction of policies through which a civilization was effected that brought great material prosperity in its train, no matter what may be said about its defects on the moral side.
California offered no opportunity for the exercise of the destructive effects of a bad land system, but it was an admirable field in which to exhibit its paralyzing influence. There was nothing to destroy for it was a virgin country into which it was introduced, but it kept the land and the people in precisely the same condi- tion to which Europe was reduced after the decline of the Roman empire, and in which it remained until the Renaissance, when commercialism burst the fetters of restraint and showed the world that the true road to improvement, and the better- ment of human conditions generally, was that which was paved by enterprise and industry, and not by good intentions.
Example was wasted in a country destitute of means of communication, and of the instinct for gain, which is at the bottom of commercialism, and is responsible for human progress, and the higher civilization on which it is based. The mis- sionaries planted vines and set out orchards, but the rancheros did not imitate them. William Wolfskill, one of the early settlers, turned his attention to fruit raising and showed what could be done in that line, but although he began his operations as early as 1830, when the gringo overran the country, the acres of the big ranches were as barren of fruit trees as they were when Padre Junipero Serra first saw the land and gloried over its possibilities. About the same time a French- man named Vignes set out some vines, and showed that the soil was excellently adapted to the growth of grapes, but for many years afterward those who could command the price were still eagerly purchasing the products of the brick vine- yards of Boston or consuming the fiery aguardiente.
Want lo Midst of Plenty
Notwithstanding the fact that the hills of California were overrun with cattle the Californians rarely made any butter or cheese and were too indolent even to milk their cows. They lived on a monotonous diet at which the inmates of our reformatory institutions and those of our almshouses would revolt. In the midst of the plenty implied by the existence of untold numbers of cattle we learn that there were periods during which the problem of existence in California was one of
Estates as Large as Principalities
Paralyzing Effects of Band Land System
Example Wasted
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subsistence, and that in 1814 "from San Diego to Monterey there was for the Spaniard the need of manufactured goods."
Eight years earlier the Russian Rezanoff learned of this condition and proposed to remedy it. He did not live to carry out his projects, but those who were on the ground in Alaska after his death took the hint, and in that remote and desolate region was produced a large part of the not very great quantity of manufactured articles consumed by the Californians. It was from the ship yard of Sitka that many of the cumbersome hoes and crude plows used in California were derived, as were also a number of household utensils of the commoner kind, pots, pans and the like. In the foundries of the Alaska ship yard were also cast a considerable number of the bells used by the mission establishments to call the faithful to prayer and the neophyte to work.
It cannot be said that no attempt was made in the mission days to manufacture for the padres did make essays in that direction. But their efforts if they were consciously directed towards building up an industry, which is doubtful, were un- availing because their methods tended to produce the same result as that which was witnessed during that period of the middle ages when intercourse between men was reduced to a minimum, and the only evidences of manufacturing activity were those of the household.
In a report of Governor Victoria made in 1831 we are told that there were no manufactures carried on except in the mission where wool was worked up by the neophytes into blankets and coarse cloths. On the ranches there was an inconsid- erable amount of blacksmithing, carpentering, tanning and shoemaking, but abso- lutely nothing was produced for export. In 1824 there appears to have been no more than a single source of lumber supply, which was provided by a man named David A. Hill, who together with an Irishman operated a rip saw in a pit. At San Luis Obispo there was a water mill for grinding grain, but the most of the meal was produced by a process which showed very little advancement over the metate and pestle of the Indians, and indeed the latter was oftener found doing duty than the arrastra, composed of two stones, the upper of which was made to revolve by mule power.
The missionaries imported or brought with them a few artisans from Mexico who were to teach the neophytes their crafts, but the latter except in rare cases never attained to any proficiency even measured by the standard of the time and place. Father Viader of the Santa Clara mission had built for him by his Indian mechanics a wonderful vehicle which was drawn by a mule. It is described as having a long narrow body, the entire framework of which was covered with brown cotton, and was furnished with a seat made of lambs wool. The good padre was usually accompanied on his outings by vaqueros, who assisted the mule to pull the carriage up steep places. It appears, however, that the contrivance was frowned upon as an object tending to luxury and there was no disposition to imi- tate it manifested by the rancheros, who depended upon their horses to get them about, and upon the oxcart for moving freight.
The allusion to brown cotton cloth calls attention to the fact that a small quan- tity of cotton yarn was imported at different times from Mexico, and that some of the Indians were taught to weave and spin, but the industry, which was confined to one or two missions, never made any progress and was abandoned despite the great need for clothing, which seemed to be a chronic affliction shared by soldiers,
Supplies from Alaska
Feeble Ef- forts at Manufac- turing
Artisans Brought from Mexico
Indians Weave and Spin
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neophytes, the padres and rancheros, and one that was not wholly removed even when enterprising Yankee traders sought to supply the deficiency.
We have seen that as late as 1824 a single rip saw provided all the lumber demanded by the Californians. Not much progress was made by the industry after that year until 1843, when Stephen Smith, who visited the East after sojourning some years in California, on his return brought a complete outfit for a steam grist and saw mill which he located at Bodega. Between the two dates nothing calculated to create alarm occurred, yet in 1839 a paper was issued by Romero, the Mexican minister of the interior, who sounded a warning note on the subject of the necessity of conservation. He said the republic had suffered in some years from droughts which caused the harvests to fail and the cattle to die. Reason, tradition and experience, he declared, pointed to the devastation of the forests and the denudation of the hills and mountains as the chief cause of these troubles. Consequently he proposed to restrict the cutting of trees with the view of preserving the health of the people and to protect agriculture and the industries dependent upon it, and he even suggested the planting of trees along public roads and such places as could not otherwise be made useful.
The warnings were hardly needed in California as no disposition was exhibited there to denude the land of its timber. Although the Bay of San Francisco invited navigation, and years before when the presidio was first located men peering into the future saw ship yards springing up along its shores in which the excellent timber of the surrounding forests could be utilized, it is recorded that the first vessel of any sort built in the province was a launch, the timbers of which were hewn at San Gabriel and put together in 1831. This, however, was not a product of native Californians for it was constructed by Englishmen and Yankees.
It is difficult at times to distinguish between cause and effect, but no extraor- dinary penetration is required to divine the reasons of the failure of California to make progress in any direction during the period under review. It is said of the ancient Romans that their roads played a more important part in building up their great empire than the soldiers who marched over them. Undoubtedly the multiplication of facilities for close intercourse is a powerful agency in the devel- opment of commerce and in promoting the growth of civilization, but the Califor- nians disregarded this valuable experience and actually adopted a policy which had for its object the discouragement of the use of the ocean as a means of com- munication.
Settlers Amid the Coast
The pains taken in the land grant laws of the Mexicans to prevent development along the sea coast by compelling grantees to take up tracts at a considerable distance from the shore; the display of temper exhibited by the governor who censured the commandante of the presidio of San Francisco for daring to engage in such an enterprise as the building of a rude craft to bring lumber from the opposite shore to repair the ruined quarters of the soldiers, and the vexatious and utterly unreasonable methods adopted to preserve the integrity of the territory, and which practically shut off all intercourse with the outside world except that of a clandestine character, all point to the utter incapacity of those who occupied the land before the Americans poured in upon them to realize the value of their possession or to develop its resources.
Their obtuseness and indifference to the benefits of communication by land and sea also explain the singular fact that although nearly two centuries were
The First Saw Mill
First Vessel Built in California
Use of the Sea Discouraged
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spent in finding a safe harbor in about the locality where San Francisco bay was finally discovered it was sixty years after the establishment of a ranch on its shores before a beginning was made towards the creation of a port. That event practically dates from the laying out of a single street along the cove which was first utilized by shipping. In August, 1834, Governor Figueroa put into effect the law of August, 1831, which decreed the secularization of the missions and provided for the establishment of pueblos, which were to be organized in conformity with its provisions. In October, 1835, Francisco de Haro, who was residing at the Mission Dolores, received orders to lay out Yerba Buena, which he did by marking on the ground a single street to which the high sounding name of Street of the Foundation was given.
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