USA > California > Alameda County > The centennial year book of Alameda County, California : containing a summary of the discovery and settlement of California, a description of the Contra Costa under Spanish, Mexican, and American rule, biographical sketches of prominent pioneers and public men > Part 45
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Washington Corners, a mile or two west of the Mission, and two or three miles from Centreville, is a town of two or three hundred inhabitants, with a railroad station, is the seat of the Washington College, established about four years ago, and which is conducted by Mr. and Mrs. S. S. Harmon, who rank among the foremost educators on the coast. The college is open to pupils of both sexes, and is not a merely local institution, as it has, like the Mills Seminary, pupils from all parts. The capacity of the college is for about 100 board- ers. It is well patronized by the people of the surrounding country, who evince a lively interest in its welfare. Washington can boast one of the best local weekly newspapers in the State-the Inde- pendent-established in May, 1875, and published by Mr. W. W. Theobalds, at $3 per annum. There is one hotel at Washington, kept by Samuel Brown. There are two manufacturing or agricultural implement establishments, of long standing-H. Crowell's and A. O. Rix's. There are two or three good stores, a post-office and ex- press office, and Odd-Fellows' and Good Templars' Lodges. The only church in the place is a small Mormon chapel, there being a few families of Brigham's followers settled for a long time in that vicin- ity ; there are also a drug store and stationery store, an attorney, physician, butcher, a grain warehouse, a grain buyer, a boot and shoe maker, and a saloon or two. Washington is centrally located, and on account of its educational facilities, several private families have recently settled there. It enjoys the same advantages as to a rich surrounding country as any of its neighbors. There are many wealthy farmers in the immediate vicinity.
Warm Springs, or Harrisburg, is no more than a railroad station. About half a mile distant is Peacock's Hotel, post-office, store, etc., Mr. Peacock being the general agent for that section of the county. Chadburn's Warm Springs Landing is about a mile from Harrisburg, or more properly speaking, Peacock's.
Mission San José, or the Old Mission Town, is the oldest in the county, and the only one where adobe walls and tile roofs are yet conspicuous. There are several extensive stores at the Mission, two wagonmakers' and blacksmiths' shops, two hotels, several wineries,
489
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP.
a brewery, a grist-mill and several saloons. The Catholic is the only church in the town, the Protestants worshiping in the School-house. The pastor of the Catholic Church is Rev. Mr. Cassidy. The popu- lation is truly conglomerate, consisting of American, Irish, French, Germans, Jews, Portuguese and native Californians, all equally dividing the business of the place and sharing its profits. The patriarch of the Mission is José Jesus Vallejo, now 77 or 78 years of age. He is brother of General M. G. Vallejo, of Sonoma, and settled at the Mission in 1837, as administrator. One of the curiosities of the Mission, until a few years ago, was Old Bruno, an Indian of mixed blood, a faithful likeness of whom is here printed. The destruction of the Mission Church, by the earthquake of 1868, deprived the place of its chief attraction, but some of the Mission buildings-one-story adobe structures, with tile roofs, are yet visible. The residence of Signor Vallejo is a good specimen of the adobe
residence. Along the walls surrounding his grounds rose-bushes are thickly planted, and in spring and summer they are covered with a dense growth of bright roses, lendling a rare floral beauty to the place. The Mission Town is nine miles from the bay, on an elevated plateau, and nestling in a bend or indentation in the mountain range. E. L. Beard, who for many years has been a prominent Californian, a man of grand schemes and noble visions, alternately a success and a failure, fearing nothing and daring everything, has long made this his home, holding large tracts of the Mission lands, and a few years since, the purchaser of the 20,000 acres of salt marsh, which he again sold to the Robertson Scotch Company. His gardens, orchard and vineyard, with the Mission creek running through them, have been the envy of many visitors, coming nearer, as they do, to tropical beauty than any place in the county.
Niles is a railroad junction, at the mouth of the Alameda Canon and has an extensive flouring-mill, run by water-power drawn from, the Alameda creek. This mill is an old landmark, being the first in the county, except the old mission mill. It was built in 1853 by J. J. Vallejo, at great expense, and has a water flume two miles long. There is no hotel at Niles, but refreshments are to be had at the station. There is a store, post-office, and express-office at this place, kept by William Snyder. There are besides a blacksmith, glove- maker, gunsmith, and a grain warehouse. Close by is the sheep- arm of Severance & Pete. On the road from Niles to the Mission are some fine homesteads. A canal or water ditch, drawing its supply
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HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY.
from the Alameda creek, and about two miles long, furnishes facili- ties for irrigation to some of the adjoining lands. Niles has two large bridges at the creek-the railroad bridge and the county road bridge; the latter is the longest in the county, excepting the Oakland bridge.
No mining of any consequence has yet been done in Washington, but there is a good prospect of coal in the Alameda Canon, to work which a company has been organized, and also near Harrisburg. A large tract of land near Niles is owned by an absentee named Jonas A. Clark, who is said to reside in New York.
The climate of Washington is well adapted for the growth of the mulberry plant, and some attempt has been made to feed the silk- worm, with most assuring results. As a rule the farmers of Wash- ington are better supplied with farm-houses and barns than any of the other townships.
The residence of Mr. Dyer, at Alvarado ; [Mrs. Blacow, at Cen- treville ; Mr. Supervisor Overacker, between Centreville and Niles ; Mr. Rogan's, in Suñol Valley, and several others, are very creditable to the farming community. There are several small valleys in Wash- inton Township, the principal ones being the Suñol and Calaveras, which, however, are only partly in it. The opening of the Dumbar- ton narrow-gange railroad, believed to be completed as this work goes to press, forms a new era in Washington Township. It should be mentioned that the embryo towns of Newark and Decoto are in this township. At the latter place are a few houses and a railroad station, with a growth of trees planted out in 1870.
The vote cast by Washington in the presidential election was 626 strange to say, 150 less than it cast in the county-seat election in December, 1854. The vote of 1876 indicates a population of 3,796 souls. Washington has 146 proprietors, who pay taxes on over $5,000, the highest of which is assessed for $178,000, and several in sums over $100,000.
While this chapter was in preparation, the writer observed in the Independent newspaper, published in Washington Township, a call for a pioneers' meeting to take place at Centreville, at 2 o'clock p. M. on Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 30th, 1876), to consult on matters of mutual interest. All who were in the township prior to 1852, ladies as well as gentlemen, were invited to be present. The call was signed by Wm. Morris Liston, Chas. Kelsey, Wm. Barry, Nathaniel Babb, and John R. Riser. The movement here indicated is a commendable one.
MURRAY TOWNSHIP.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
General Description-Mexican Grants-Railroad Grants-Soil and Production-Appearance of the Country-How Watered-Re- markable Features-Extensive Valleys-Livermore Valley-Early Settlers-Robert Livermore-Jose Noreiga-First Hotels-Grain- Growing-Land First Considered Worthless-How the Railroad Quickened Progress-Growth of the Town of Livermore-Incor- porated in 1876-Coal Mines-Brusha Peak-Angora Goats -- Mixed Character of the Population -- The Town of Pleasanton- The Bernals and Other Early Settlers-The Santa Rancho- Great Bargain-A Large Rentor Becomes a Large Land-Owner -Squatters-First School and First Teacher at Pleasanton-The Town of Pleasanton Laid Out-The Sunol Valley and Grant- Early Settlers-Chas. Hadsell-Water Condemnation-Pleasant View-Dublin-The Amador Rancho-Jose Maria Amador, J. W. Dougherty, Michael Murray and Other Settlers-First Church in the Township -- Vote at the Late Election-Few Chinamen- Post-offices-Tax-payers, etc.
Murray is the only township in the county that has not a frontage on the bay. It forms the south-eastern portion of the county, and lies over and between the two chains of the Mount Diablo range. It is joined on the north by Contra Costa, on the east by San Joaquin and Stanislaus, on the south by Santa Clara, and on the west by Washington and Eden Townships. The north-eastern angle of it touches the San Joaquin River. In dimensions it is twenty miles north and south, and twenty east and west, while the Central Pacific Railroad winds through it from east to west about twenty-four miles. Its superficial area is 133,183 acres, one-third of the extent of the whole county.
Murray Township is named after Michael Murray, one of its pioneers, in the same manner as the principal valley is named after
492
HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY.
Robert Livermore, its first settler ; Amador Valley after José Maria Amador, and Suñol Valley after Antonio Suñol. This township is, in parts, very rugged, the south-west part especially, where it joins with Santa Clara, being a mass of mountain ridges, unfit for cultivation, but constituting good sheep-ranges. The richest part of it, where the Mission Fathers pastured their herds, was called the Valley of San José. There is one great valley stretching between the two chains of mountain, which extends from the Livermore foothills in the south, to the Straits of Carquinez, through Contra Costa County, in the north, and which is subdivided into smaller valleys by Mount Diablo and spurs of the great chains on either side. The principal valleys of the township are the Livermore, Amador, Sunol, Alamo, and Tasajera.
The Mexican grants, wholly or partly in this township, consisted of the San Ramon, four square leagues and 1,800 varas, granted to J. M. Amador in 1835 ; confirmed by the Commission Ang. 1, 1854; and by the District Court, Jan. 14, 1857 ; extent in acres, 16,516.96. The Santa Rita, granted April 10, 1839, to J. D. Pacheco ; rejected by the Commission, April 25, 1854; confirmed by the District Court, August 13, 1855 ; and decree affirmed by the U. S. Supreme Court ; 8,885.67 acres. El Valle de San Jose, granted to Antonio Maria Pico, April 10, 1839 ; confirmed to Antonio Suñol et al., by Commission, Jan. 31, 1854 ; by the District Court, Jan. 14, 1856 ; 51,572.26 acres. Las Positas, two square leagues, granted April 10, 1839, to Salvio Pacheco ; confirmed by Commission to José Noreiga and Robert Livermore, Feb. 14, 1854, and by the District Court, Feb. 18, 1859. Cañada de los Vaqueros (mostly in Contra Costa), granted Feb. 29, 1842, to Francisco Alviso, et al. ; confirmed to Rob- ert Livermore, by Commission, Sept. 4, 1855, and by the District Court, Dec. 28, 1857.
A great deal of the land in this township was given away to the railroad company, and bears the mark of Chas. Mclaughlin, one of the contractors, who received it in payment for work done. There has been a continual conflict, not yet entirely ended, between the purchasers of the lands belonging to the original Mexican grants and the railroad company. The latter, in its insatiable greed, has claimed lands within the Spanish grants and lands possessed by pre-emptors, and expensive litigation has been the result. The Government set- tlers and some of the settlers on Mexican grants have thus been greatly harrassed.
493
MURRAY TOWNSHIP.
The soil of Murray Township is of every variety-in places stiff adobe, coarse gravel, black mould, and sandy loam ; and consequently is capable of every variety of production and modes of cultivation. As farming is yet in its infancy, its full capacity is not thoroughly understood. Until 1867 it was not certain that the Livermore Valley would grow grain, on account of the gravelly character of the soil. In that year Richard Threlfall, of Centerville, cropped 4,000 acres from Francisco Aurrecoechea's big field, producing twenty- four bushels to the acre, and after that Livermore Valley was set down as the principal grain district of Alameda County. The richest land in the township, however, is that between Pleasanton and Dub- lin, in the San Jose and Santa Rita Ranches, and the crops that are here cut every year are almost incredible. As high as seventy-five bushels to the acre has been taken off. Anything belonging to the vege- table kingdom may be cultivated along the west side of the township, on the low lands, and among the foot-hills. The ouly moist land in the township is in this section. Wheat, barley, oats, hay, fruit and vegetables are now regularly grown, and the grape thrives well. Indeed, many of the farmers of Murray are provided with their grape patches, but that fruit has not yet been extensively cultivated. Many of the foothills are peculiarly adapted for its growth, and no doubt at no distant day it will receive due attention. There is no forest in the township, nor any growth of timber suitable for manu- facturing purposes, but nevertheless the country is abundantly wooded with live and white oak-trees, sycamores, laurels, willows, and several others, indigenous to the soil. Many spots have the look of parks and orchards, and the grandly towering mountains of the westerly range wear on their sides a beautiful embroidery of evergreens. The mountains of the easterly range, through which winds the Livermore Pass, grow no trees, and have a bald appear- ance. They rise in great domes, and in summer have an arid look ; yet they grow grain and feed sheep.
Murray Township is watered by many streams, and has a small lake in its northwest corner, named Tulare or the Lagoon, into which flow from the north the Alamo, Tasajera and Positas creeks. The Laguna creek, in turn, empties into the Alameda river, flowing west- ward through the great Alameda Canon and emptying into the bay near Alvarado. The northeast corner is barren of streams, but such as flow from small springs ; but in the southeast rise the Buenos Ayres or Corral Hollow creek, which empties into the San Joaquin.
494
HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY.
The most considerable streams are the Arroyo Mocho and Arroyo Valle, which also rise in the mountains in the southeast. The Mocho flows a short distance southwest of the town of Livermore, near which it forks into small rivulets and disappears. The Arroyo Valle (River of the Valley ) pronounced Boya, flows further west and enters the Laguna, which thus receives streams from opposite directions. The Laguna receives the waters of three ereeks flowing from the north, which in turn contribute to swell the volume of the Alameda, which receives them in the Sunol Valley. Here also are received into the same river the waters of the Calaveras, San Antonio and Honda, flowing from the mountains in the south.
Murray Township is remarkable for its great extent, its extensive grain-fields, its beautiful valleys and its rugged mountains. . In it are situated the Livermore Pass and the great railroad tunnel of the Cen- tral Pacific Railroad. Here, too, are situated the coal-mines of Cor- ral Hollow and the Arroyo Mocho. It comprises the First Super- visor District, and is divided into eleven school districts.
The most extensive valleys are the Livermore and Amador-the first occupying the south end, and the latter the north end of the trough formed by the two chains of mountains. They are about eight miles across, and about twelve miles from the southern foot- hills to the Contra Costa line, at Joel Harlan's house, near Limerick. The soil in these two valleys is very different. The Livermore is adobe and gravel ; the Amador, a moist, sandy loam. The gravelly ground around the Town of Livermore, and in which it is situated, would indicate its comparatively recent subjection to overflow, and marine shells and huge oysters have been found in various places upon its surface and in the surrounding hills. On the other hand, the writer has himself seen picked out of one of its creek banks the jaw-bones of a mastodon ; showing that the geology of the valley must form a very interesting study, in order to account for and fix the periods of the two orders of fossils.
The population of the Town of Livermore is now about 1,000 souls. It has sprung up since the building of the Central Pacific Railroad, which established a station in the centre of the valley, just midway between the cities of Oakland and Stockton, or 45 miles from each place, taking the end of Long Wharf for the distance from Oakland. Livermore Valley and Livermore Pass were well known to the forty-niners, who found their way from the coast to the mines through them, but it is only of late years that the valley
495
MURRAY TOWNSHIP.
was thought to be of any value for agricultural purposes. The first settlers were José Noreiga and Robert Livermore, but the exact date of their settlement the writer has not ascertained. As has been already shown, the grant of Las Positas was first made to Salvio Pacheco, of Concord, lately deceased, and by him transferred to Noreiga and Livermore, who were partners. The original grant was made in 1839, and it is to be presumed possession was not taken later that time.
In a paper read by Mr. C. Leys, at Livermore, on the Fourth of July, it is claimed, on the authority of statements made by the late Mr. Livermore's friends, that he received his grant and settled upon it in the year 1835. It may be, as in the case of other ranches, that the land was occupied four or five years before the patent. was issued. At any rate, Livermore and Noreiga erected the first adobe house, turned the first sod, planted the first vineyard, and herded the first cattle in that valued portion of our county. It in- creased slowly. All that was thought of by the few first settlers was herds in the valley and flocks in the mountains. The next settler was Nathaniel Greene Patterson, a native of Tennessee (yet well and hearty), who rented Livermore's old adobe house and started the first place of public entertainment in the valley, and between the Mission and Stockton, in March, 1850. The common charge for entertainment in all country inns, at this date, was a dollar a night for lodging, whether on bed or board ; a dollar a meal, and two bits, or 25 cents, for a drink ; and considering the prices of everything in those days, it was not unreasonable. The next settler was Tom Hart. He appeared in Livermore in 1852. The nearest neighbors then, besides those already mentioned, were the Bernals, at Pleasan-
ton. Zimmerman's mountain house was soon erected and made the nearest place in an easterly direction. Amador was at Dublin, which was then known as Amador ; but soon came Dougherty and Murray and the rest of the founders of that settlement. Hart kept hotel, his place being known as the "Half-way House," equidistant from Oakland, San José and Stockton. His house was situated about three-quarters of a mile west of Mr. Esden's present residence, on the stage-road. Mr. Hart continued there from 1852 to 1860. The house was built by R. W. Defrees, whose brother was late Congres- sional printer at Washington, and afterwards removed to the Town of Livermore, where Mr. Hart died in 1871. Mr. Hart was a peculiar man, given to grumbling, but good-hearted, and the blunt-
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HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY.
ness of his manner and the style of his hospitality may be guessed from the following actual conversation :
Traveler -- " You proprietor here ?"
Hart-"What if I am ?"
Traveler-" Want my horse put up."
Hart-" Well, put him up."
Hart, whatever might be his own shortcomings as a host, had an excellent helpmate, who made her guests as comfortable as circum- stances would allow.
The first house built within the present town limits of Livermore was by Alphonso Ladd-after whom is called the east side of the town, known as Laddsville, and which, of course, bears priority in point of time. Mr. Ladd came to California in 1850, from New Orleans. In 1851 he settled with his wife in Suñol ; Mrs. Ladd informed the writer that they came from San Francisco to Union City in a sailing vessel, and were drawn by a yoke of oxen to the Mission, and over the mountain to Suñol. The only person they saw on the road to the Mission was Timothy Rix, who resided between Centreville and the Corners ; he fed a large number of chickens and had pigeons in plenty. At the Mission they put up at Cherley's Hotel, which occupied the same locality as Columbet's Hotel does now. Suñol's was the only house then in the valley. Ladd resided near Suñol six years. In June, 1864, he took up 160 acres of gov- ernment land in the Livermore Extension, and removed to Ladds- ville ; and in 1855 built the hotel. There was a great drought that year, by which he lost 1,500 sheep. The location of the hotel was chosen because it was on the road to Stockton ; the house was a fine frame, and cost a good deal of money ; it was destroyed by fire the present year. The lumber to build it was hauled from Mowry's Landing, on the bay. The hotel was prosperous, and was nearly always full ; it was particularly prosperous during the building of the railroad. When Ladd came to the valley there were only the fami- lies already mentioned ; after Ladd, came Adam Fath ; then " Span- iards," named Alexandro Mesa, Oliveria Higuera, and others. A man from Haywards started the first blacksmith's shop -- where Cang- hill's is now ; then came a man named Gutcheon, with a small house, which he moved afterwards down from the hill and started a little store, which was subsequently burned down. Robert Graham started a store in the Spring of 1858, which was the first general store in the Livermore Valley.
497
MURRAY TOWNSHIP.
Rev. W. W. Brier, of Centreville, held the first Protestant wor- ship in the valley, about the year 1860. There was then a Catholic chapel at Dublin. The first school-house was built near old man Livermore's, about 1864, and the first teacher was a Miss Weeks, from Washington Corners. The house was subsequently removed to its present location, near Laddsville. The herding of sheep was the only occupation of the first settlers. Michael Murray, who resided at Amador, or Dublin ; James Johnson, N. G. Patterson, Alphonso Ladd and his brother, Robert Allen, Sandy Simpson, Capt. Jack O'Brien and Carroll, all herded sheep. Richard Threlfall was the first man to raise grain. He first put in 400 acres of wheat. The pebbly ground did not seem suitable for it, but it grew grass, and acting on the hint of E. L. Beard, that whatever grew grass would grow grain, he tried the experiment, and with success. He found that the gravelly surface retained the moisture better than clay. Hiram Bailey came to Livermore from Contra Costa in 1855, and worked at carpentering and herding cattle till 1860, when he took up and farmed about 1,500 acres of the Las Positas or Livermore ranch. Land was then worth $2.50 an acre. From 1860 to 1863 the crops were fair. The first dry year was 1864. In the latter year he only got one ton from the acre. Deducting the dry years, it did not average 1,200 ibs. to the acre. Before this, land in the Liver- more Valley was considered worthless, and no one would take it as a gift for agricultural purposes. An old settler has humorously said that he "had seen squirrels sitting up in their holes in Livermore Valley, with tears in their eyes, longing for something to eat." In 1862, the flood year, there was snow on the hills till April. Among the oldest settlers in Livermore Valley is A. J. Neal, of Pleasanton, who was foreman or mayor-domo of the Livermore ranch, wlien Bailey was trying the experiment of grain-growing. Alexander Esden is another old settler, and at present one of Livermore's most enterprising men.
The laying out of the line of the C. P. R. R., through Livermore Val- ley had the effect of quickening progress. In the first place, the white hands and engineers required boarding places, and had other wants which people were quick to supply. Manus' hotel, Bardellini's saloon, the erection of Allen & Graham's large store, Franzen's beer depot, a drug store that was subsequently destroyed by fire, Beazell's blacksmith shop and McLeod's farm house, all belong to the railroad- building era of 1868 and 1869.
32
498
HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY.
The railroad station having been located about half a mile west of the old town, Mr. Wm. M. Mendenhall, an old Californian, dating from 1846, purchased the ground and located the town of Livermore. The survey and map were made on October 1st, 1869. Previously there was not a house there. In midsummer of 1869 the railroad track was put down, and the first train passed through the valley in August, although the whole line was not yet opened. The excur- sionists to the State Fair at Sacramento were conveyed thither by rail in September. The first depot was a freight car, standing near the location of the present freight house.
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