USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > The beginnings of San Francisco : from the expedition of Anza, 1774, to the city charter of April 15, 1850 : with biographical and other notes, Vol. I > Part 11
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* Dana: Two Years Before the Mast. Reprint, 1895. He revisited Cali- fornia in 1859.
t She was then a widow, and about thirty-five years old.
# The Constitutional Convention, 1849.
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JOSÉ RAIMUNDO CARRILLO
the favorite resort of all the leading members, both American and Californian. She was thoroughly versed in Spanish literature, as well as the works of Scott and Cooper, through translations, and I have frequently been surprised at the justness and elegance of her remarks on various authors. She possessed, moreover, all those bold and daring qualities which are so fascinating in a woman when softened and made graceful by true feminine delicacy. She was a splendid horsewoman, and had even considerable skill in throwing the lariat."*
In the little company of soldados de cuera that followed Portolá to Monterey, were two brothers, Guillermo and Mariano Carrillo, and their nephew, José Raimundo Carrillo. Guillermo died, a sergeant, in 1782, and Mariano, an ensign, the same year. Neither left any children. José Raimundo was twenty-three years old when he joined the expedition. For twenty-six years he served as private and non- commissioned officer in the presidios of San Francisco, Monterey, Santa Barbara, and San Diego, and in 1795, received his commission as ensign. He served until his death in 1809, as ensign, lieutenant, and captain, becoming, in turn comandante of Monterey, Santa Barbara, and San Diego. His wife was a daughter of the patriarch de Lugo,t to whom he was married at San Carlos by Junípero Serra. He
* Bayard Taylor: El Dorado, p. 141-2.
t Another daughter married Ignacio Vallejo and was mother of General Vallejo.
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was the founder of what may perhaps, by reason of the number and prominence of its members, be con- sidered the leading family of California. His son Carlos Antonio became governor of California. Don Carlos had a number of handsome daughters one of whom married William G. Dana; one married Thomas W. Robbins; one Alpheus B. Thompson; one John Coffin Jones; one Lewis T. Burton, and one Thomas W. Doak, all Americans. Don Rai- mundo's sons were men of prominence who took an active part in the affairs of the province and married into the best families. They were distinguished for their courtly manners and dignified and magnificent presence. Each was over six feet tall and over two hundred pounds in weight. Joaquin Carrillo had five beautiful daughters one of whom married Henry D. Fitch and was the heroine of another California romance; one married General Vallejo, who named the town of Benicia for her, one married his brother, Salvador, one married Ramuldo Pacheco, and after his death Captain John Wilson and was the Ramona of R. H. Dana's enthusiasm, and one married Victor Castro. Of Ramona, Sir George Simpson writes: "Then returning to Captain Wilson's house (at Santa Barbara) we had the pleasure of being intro- duced to Mrs. Wilson whom we already knew by name as a sister of Señora Vallejo and whom we now found to be one of the prettiest and most agreeable women that we have ever met with either here or
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A PROSPEROUS RANCHERO
elsewhere."* Lieutenant Martinez, comandante of San Francisco, had nine lovely daughters, one of whom married Captain W. A. Richardson, for whom Richardson's bay was named, one married William S. Hinckley, alcalde of San Francisco, and one, Dr. Samuel Tennant.
These personal descriptions of contemporary writers will enable the reader to realize more fully than he could otherwise do the character of the people of California.
Alfred Robinsont gives a description of a passing visit at the Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana in 1830. "The proprietor, Don Tomás Yorba, a tall, lean, personage, dressed in all the extravagance of his coun- try's costume, received us at the door of his house. He came towards us, embraced Gale and his compadre,¿ Don Manuel, took me cordially by the hand, and invited us to enter. Arrangements were soon made for dinner, which, notwithstanding the haste with which it was served, did much credit to the provider, as did our appetites to its excellent qualities.
"Don Tomás and friend Gale then commencing a business conversation, I got up from the table and retreated to the corridor, where I could study, unob-
* Simpson: Narrative, p. 376.
t Robinson: Life in California, p. 42-3.
# The term compadre implies more than the relationship of friend or benefac- tor. It denotes a closer association, a somewhat sacred relationship, as that of godfather and godmother, not only in its relationship to the child, but to each other.
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served, the character and appearance of our host. Upon his head he wore a black silk handkerchief, the four corners of which hung down his neck behind. An embroidered shirt, a cravat of white jaconet tastefully tied, a blue damask vest, short clothes of crimson velvet, a bright green cloth jacket, with large silver buttons, and shoes of embroidered deer skin, comprised his dress. I was afterwards informed by Don Manuel, that on some occasions such as some particular feast day or festival his entire dis- play often exceeded in value a thousand dollars."
Davis* describes the California costume: Short breeches extending to the knee, ornamented with gold or silver lace at the bottom, with botas (leggins) below made of fine soft deer skin, well tanned and finished, richly colored and stamped with beautiful devices and tied at the knee with a silk cord wound two or three times around the leg with gold or silver tassels hanging below the knee; long vest with fila- gree buttons of gold or silver, although men of ordi- nary means had them of brass; a jacket, generally of dark blue cloth, also adorned with filagree buttons. Over that was the serape or poncho, made in Mexico and costing from twenty to one hundred dollars, according to the quality of the cloth and the richness of the ornamentation. The serape and poncho were made in the same way as to size and cut, the former of coarser texture than the latter and of a variety of colors and patterns, while the poncho was
* Davis: Sixty Years in California, p. 84.
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THE OUTFIT OF A CABALLERO
of dark blue or black cloth of finer quality, generally of broadcloth. The serape was always plain while the poncho was heavily trimmed with gold or silver fringe around the edges and a little below the collar around the shoulders. Hat from Mexico or Peru, generally stiff, the finer quality, soft, of vicuna-a kind of beaver skin-and cost forty dollars. Saddle, silver mounted; bridle, heavily mounted with silver; reins of select hair of horses' mane with links of silver at a distance of every foot; spurs inlaid with gold or silver. The whole outfit sometimes costing several thousand dollars. Simpson, in 1842, describes the men as wearing the pantaloons, split on the outside from the hip to the foot, with a row of buttons on either edge of the opening which is laced together nearly down to the knee; underneath a full pair of linen drawers and a boot of untanned deerskin, and a silk scarf around the waist. The women wore gowns of silk, crape, calico, etc., short sleeves and loose waist without corset; shoes of kid or satin, sashes, or belts of bright colors, and almost always a necklace and earings. They wore no bonnets, the hair hanging loose or in long braids. Married women did the hair up on a high comb. Over the head a mantilla was thrown, drawn close around the face when out of doors. In the house they wore a small scarf or neckerchief and on top of the head a band with a star or other ornament in front.
All travelers unite in the statement that the Cali- fornians were vastly superior to the Mexicans. Bay-
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ard Taylor says they had larger frames, stronger muscles, and a fresh ruddy complexion, entirely different from the sallow skins of the tierra caliente, or the swarthy features of those Bedouins of the West, the Sonorians. One reason for this difference was the fact that the Californians were of purer blood. Father Lasuen, president of the missions, testifies that from the beginning, in 1769, to the end of the century, but twenty-nine Spaniards had mar- ried native women. While there was more or less mixture among the soldiers who came with the first expeditions, the race improved in California. The sons of soldiers married soldiers' daughters. The cool moist air of the coast gave them fresh com- plexions; the habit of life in the open air with its accompanying exercise gave them vigorous frames and elastic muscles. As all things grow and improve in California; so it is with the people. The men become larger and stronger, the women more beauti- ful. The soldiers who established the presidios and missions were not, as a rule, large men, yet they developed in California a race that in proportions and symmetry was fair to look upon. They were also a happy and contented people. Incivility was unknown. They were always ready to reply to a question and answered in the politest manner. The poorest vaquero would salute the traveler politely, and a favor was always granted with an air of courtesy and grace that was very pleasing. Implicit obedience and profound respect were shown parents by children,
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A RANCHERO'S GUARANTY
even after they were grown up. A son, though him- self the head of a family, never presumed to sit, smoke, or remain covered in the presence of his father; nor did the daughter, whether married or unmarried, enter into great familiarity with the mother. With these exceptions, the Californians gave little regard to the restraints of etiquette, and, generally speaking, all classes mingled together on a footing of equality. Honest and kindly, the Cali- fornian's word was as good as his bond. Indeed bonds and notes of hand were entirely unknown among them. The trading ships would sell goods along the coast and returning in twelve or eighteen months would receive in hides and tallow payment for goods sold the previous year. Don Antonio Aguirre was a prominent merchant of Los Angeles, and owner of the brig Leonidas. His supercargo, a new man, sold a bill of goods and asked for payment or a note of hand. The purchaser, Agustin Machado, was well to do, but could neither read nor write. He looked at the supercargo in astonishment, but finally realizing he was distrusted, plucked one hair from his beard and handing it to the young man, said: "Here! deliver this to Señor Aguirre and tell him it is a hair from the beard of Agustin Machado. It will cover your responsibility. It is a sufficient guaranty." Aguirre was chagrined on hearing that the supercargo had demanded a document from Machado, a man whose word was as good as the best
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THE BEGINNINGS OF SAN FRANCISCO
bond even for the entire ship's cargo .* The old inhabitants maintain that California was a perfect paradise before the foreign immigration set in to corrupt patriarchal customs; then robbery and assas- sination were unheard of, blasphemy rare, and fraud- ulent creditors unknown. In 1839 José Antonio Galindo of San Francisco, who in his expediente of 1835 for the Rancho Laguna de la Merced is described by Justice de Haro as an "honest man," appears now to have lapsed into the position of a criminal, j and the same Justice de Haro reports to the governor that the population having become rancheros, there are few remaining in San Francisco to guard him, and as there is no jail the justice asks that Galindo be sent to San José for security. This document illustrates the primitive simplicity of the Golden Age in California in which the cause came always before the effect, and no necessity was found for jails until criminals existed to be restrained of their liberty.} "Happy was San Francisco," says Dwinelle, "to whom the 'fact' criminal had not yet suggested the word 'jail'; less happy, but more wise San José, whose experience had already advanced to the word and fact 'prison.'""
Among the light-hearted and easy-tempered Cali- fornians the virtue of hospitality knew no bounds. "They literally vie with each other in devoting their
* Bancroft: California Pastoral, p. 472.
t He had killed his relative, José Peralta, in a quarrel.
# Dwinelle: Colonial History of the City of San Francisco, p. 65.
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HOSPITALITY OF THE CALIFORNIANS
time, their homes, and their means, to the enter- tainment of strangers. "* On arriving at a rancho the traveler was received with joy and the best things were prepared for him. He was pressed to remain as long as he would and when he went on his way horses and servants were furnished to take him to his next stopping place. It was the same with the missions. The padres gladly received and entertained all travelers, setting before them the best of meats, fruits, and native wines, providing them with good beds and on their departure furnishing them with fresh horses and guides, caring for the tired animals of the travelers until the owners came or sent for them. No pay was expected and none was given.
Such was the hospitality and such were the men and women of the Golden Age of California.
* Simpson: Narrative, p. 387.
CHAPTER X. EDUCATION, TRADE, LAND GRANTS
I N the matter of education California was back- ward. The military rosters of 1782 show that only about one-third of the soldiers could read and write. The officers taught their children and occasionally a soldier of the escolta was taught by a priest to read and write. The padres confined their attentions to the spiritual welfare of the people and took little interest in their education. Borica endeavored during his administration-1794 to 1800 -to establish schools, and the first was started in 1794 at the pueblo of San José by the retired sergeant Manuel de Vargas. He was succeeded a year later by the retired ensign Ramon Lasso de la Vega, and Vargas was sent to San Diego to open a school there. In San Francisco the corporal Manuel Boronda taught the children, in Monterey the soldier José Rodrigues, and in Santa Barbara they were taught by José Manuel Toca, a ship's boy from one of the transports. The children were taught the doctrina cristiana and to read and write. They learned very little, books were rare, and in the simple life led by the people extensive book-learning was not considered necessary. In 1818 Corporal Miguel Archuleta had a school at Monterey which was attended by Vallejo, Alvarado, Castro, Estrada, Pico, and other well known Californians. Outside of the "three R's" but little was taught and the line of reading was con- fined mostly to the lives of the saints and martyrs. The bigger boys, however, managed to secure from
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THE BEGINNINGS OF SAN FRANCISCO
the foreign ships many prohibited books which they contrived to prevent falling into the hands of the watchful friars. In 1834 William E. P. Hartnell, an educated man, and Father Patrick Short estab- lished on the Hartnell rancho of Patrocino, a sem- inario which for two or three years was attended by the sons of a few prominent families, but the attempt was soon given up.
Governor Sola, during his term, 1815-1822, in- terested himself in the cause of education and con- tributed from his private funds for the support of the schools, but the most he could do was to main- tain a primary school at each of the four presidios and the two pueblos. Governor Echeandía recom- mended an appropriation for the employment of teachers, but nothing was done. There was no money to pay teachers and teachers themselves were scarce; the lack of education however, was partly due to apathy on the part of the people them- selves. They had but little intellectual ambition, though some of the more noteworthy families con- tained men of intellect and scholarly attainments. There was no necessity for the soldier to read and write unless he wished to be a corporal, then, if the desire was sufficiently strong, he learned.
California in the eighteenth century had no trade. The garrisons bought from the missions and rancheros such supplies as they required, paying for them by drafts on the royal treasury, and each year sent re- quisitions to Mexico for articles California could not
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BEGINNING OF THE FUR TRADE
supply. Twice a year the government transports brought the supplies and the people had to be con- tent with the goods so furnished. No foreign ships were permitted to trade but the settlers could buy from the transports such articles as they had, paying for them by their products. This cutting off of all outlet for the products of their farms and labor could only result in stagnation. With a fertile soil, a sea filled with fish, and a coast swarming with fur-seals and sea-otter, the California settler could only sell a few skins, a few hides, a little tallow, and a few fanegas of grain.
About the beginning of the nineteenth century American ships began to visit the Pacific coast of North America for skins of sea-otter and other fur- bearing animals. These vessels carried goods for trade and landed their wares whenever opportunity offered. With the assistance of Aleuts furnished by the Russian-American company, they took great numbers of fur-seals and sea-otter. The Farallon islands, off San Francisco, and the islands of the Santa Barbara channel furnished quantities of these animals. The bay of San Francisco was full of sea-otter and the Russians entered in their canoes and hunted them under the very guns of the Spanish fort. The Russians maintained a station on the Farallones, whence in 1810-II, the ship Albatross took 73,402 fur-seals according to the log of the cap- tain's clerk, W. A. Gale. Robinson tells of landing
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on the largest Farallon with him in 1833, when Gale attempted to show Robinson how he bagged the seals and taking a club started to descend the rocks to head off a couple of big fellows they discovered asleep; but Gale had lost his youthful vigor and activity and, his courage failing him, the seals escaped. Down to the year 1830 the Russians took a large number of otter on the California coast, variously estimated from five to ten thousand peryear, the best skins selling in China at sixty dollars each. It seems strange that the Spanish and Mexican authorities should permit their coasts to be stripped of this great wealth by foreigners who returned no revenue. Later otter hunting was licensed on con- dition that two-thirds of the crews should be Cali- fornians and that the foreigners paid duties on their share of skins. Free licenses were also granted to Californians. The sea-otter which in 1812 were so plentiful that, according to Vallejo they were killed by the boatmen with their oars in passing through the seaweed,* were now growing scarce.
Before the end of the second decade the prohi- bition of foreign trade had become a dead letter. California, left to herself, had to get on as best she could. The needs of the government were such that the governor was glad to purchase any supplies that could be paid for in produce and for revenue he levied import and export duties. In 1821 Monterey and San Diego were formally opened to foreign trade, and
* Vallejo: Hist. Cal. MS. 1, 105-6. Bancroft Coll.
21I
THE COMING OF THE HIDE DROGHERS
in 1822 the Lima firm of John Begg & Co. entered into a contract with the missions to take all the hides offered, and at least twenty-five thousand arrobas* of tallow per year. The contract was for three years from January 1, 1823, and the price was one dollar each for hides and two dollars per arroba for tallow. The Lima firm was represented by Hugh McCulloch and William Edward Paty Hartnell who formed the firm of McCulloch, Hartnell & Co. Hartnell re- mained as the resident partner of the firm and became a citizen of California. He was baptized into the Roman Catholic faith; married María Teresa, daughter of José de la Guerra y Noriega, and thus became allied with one of the most prominent families of California.
In 1822 came Henry Gyzelaar and William A. Gale for hides and tallow, in the American ship Sachem from Boston, the first ship to engage in the profitable trade so long continued between California and Boston. Gyzelaar was master and Gale super- cargo of the Sachem and both were part owners. Both had been in the fur trade in California before, and Gale had, as we have seen, taken large quanti- ties of seal-skins on the Farallon rocks at San Fran- cisco. Some difficulty was encountered by Gale in getting a cargo by reason of the contract the missions had entered into with the Lima house, but by offering one dollar and fifty cents per hide and one dollar and seventy-five cents per arroba for tallow, he
* Arroba-twenty-five pounds.
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disposed of his cargo of notions and secured a load of hides, tallow, and other produce. These prices were later advanced to two dollars for hides and five dol- lars per arroba for tallow, while two dollars and fifty cents per pound was paid for beaver skins, and thirty to forty dollars apiece for sea-otter. The opening of the ports to foreign trade was a great stimulus to California development and the seculari- zation of the missions opened the lands to settlement. Cattle raising became a great industry and each year more ships came to the coast for hides and tallow. The trade was largely in the hands of Americans, Boston houses predominating. The ships came loaded with cloths, silks, hardware, utensils, wines, liquors, and all the miscellaneous articles needed by the Californians, and after entering the cargo at Monterey and paying the duties, the ship would trade up and down the coast until all the goods were disposed of. A trade room was fitted up on the ship with shelves, counters, etc., like a country store, and the goods displayed to the best advantage. The arrival of a Boston ship always excited the greatest interest, lining the roads with people coming to inspect the goods and to make purchases, and with cattle and carts laden with hides and tallow for the ship. Smuggling was extensively carried on. Most of the merchants engaged in it and, it is said, some of the padres were wont to indulge in the practice of evading the customs dues. The method pursued by the customs officials made smuggling easy. Mon-
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SMUGGLING OPERATIONS
terey was made sole port of entry. If a vessel on any pretext entered any other port, a guard was placed on board and she was ordered to depart with the shortest possible delay for Monterey. On arrival at that port she was visited by the collector who was received on board with all due ceremony. The event was usually made one of social enter- tainment and the merchants and prominent residents of the town were invited to accompany the customs officials. In the cabin would be laid out refreshments, solid and liquid, in the greatest variety and abun- dance, and after feasting and the drinking of numerous healths and toasts, the collector would proceed to inspect the cargo and fix the amount of duty to be paid. A favorite method of smuggling was for a vessel to land the more valuable portion of her cargo on some lonely part of the coast or island and re-load after passing the Monterey custom house inspection. So openly was smuggling conducted during the latter part of the Mexican administration that the officials could hardly be ignorant of its extent. The duties were about one hundred per cent., and, it was argued, if the traders were obliged to pay the whole tax, instead of about one-quarter of it the goods would have to be sold at so high a price the people would be unable to buy them, thus the trade would be destroyed, the people suffer, and the government receive no benefit. Davis tells of the arrival at San Francisco of the American bark Don Quixote, of which he was supercargo, from
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THE BEGINNINGS OF SAN FRANCISCO
Honolulu with a full cargo valued at twenty thousand dollars. The sub-prefect ordered the ship to Mon- terey and placed a guard on board. The obliging guard was put in a state room, furnished with a bottle of madeira, one of aguardiente, a box of cigars, was promised twenty dollars in the morning and locked up for the night. All night the crew worked landing the cargo on the beach in front of Spear's store, whence it was taken inside. Davis says they landed half the cargo, but it would seem nearer the whole, for the subsequent appraisal at Monterey was but one thousand one hundred and eight dollars. After paying dues at Monterey and getting her per- mit, the Don Quixote returned to San Francisco, openly reloaded her cargo and proceeded south on her trading expedition, maintaining a fiction that Spear was shipping some of his goods south .* Another practice was to exhibit a fictitious invoice and pay, say ten thousand dollars on a cargo worth forty thousand dollars. The trader considered that there was nothing particularly wrong about this, as the invoice did not have to be sworn to. Davis says that the merchants and owners engaged in smuggling were just as much respected as any one else in the community. Sometimes whole cargoes would be transferred at sea to vessels having the custom's permit. It is said that the Sandwich islands traders were the particular offenders in these trans- actions. Occasionally a smuggler would be caught
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