USA > California > Contra Costa County > The history of Contra Costa County, California > Part 9
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One day my son was riding after Stock a few miles below Hock Farm, he found a man, (his name was Owens) butchering one of our finest milch Cows (of Durham stock of Chile, which cost $300). He told the man that he could not take the Meat, that he would go home and get people, and so he has done, and he got People and a Wagon and returned to the Spot, but Owens found it good to clear out. 2 Brothers of this man, was respectable Merchants in Lexington, Mo. and after- wards in Westport well acquainted with me, he came one day in my house and brought me their compliments, I received him well, and afterwards turned out to be a thief. How many of this kind came to California which loosed their little honor by crossing the Isthmus or the plains. I had nothing at all to do with speculation, but stuck by the plough, but by paying such high Wages, and particularly under Kyburg management, I have done this business with a heavy loss as the produce had no more the Value like before, and from the time on Kyburg left I curtailed my business considerable, and so far that I do all at present
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EXTRACTS FROM GENERAL JOHN A. SUTTER'S DIARY
with my family and a few Indian Servants. I did not speculate, only oc- cupied my land, in the hope that would be before long decided and in my favor by the U. S. Land Commission ; but now already have 2 years and 3 months elapsed, and I am waiting now very anxiously for the de- cision, which will revive or bring me to the untimely grave.
All the other circumstances you know all yourself, perhaps I have re- peated many things which I wrote in the first 3 sheets, because I had them not to see what I wrote, and as it is now several months, I must have forgotten. Well, it is only a kind of memorandum, and not a His- tory at all, only to remember you on the different periods when such and such things happened.
I need not mention again, that all the visitors has always been hospit- ably received and treated. That all the sick and wounded found always Medical assistance, Gratis, as I had nearly all the time a physician in my employ. The assistance to the Emigrants, that is all well known. I don't need to write anything about this.
I think now from all this you can form some facts, and that you can mention how thousands and thousands made their fortunes from this Gold Discovery produced through my industry and energy, (some wise Merchants and others in San Francisco called the building of this Saw- mill another of Sutter's folly) and this folly saved not only the Mercan- tile world from bankruptcy, but even our Genl. Govt., but for me it has turned out a folly, then without having discovered the Gold, I would have become the richest wealthiest man on the Pacific Shore.
(Signed) J. A. SUTTER.
James C. Ward, who visited General Sutter in 1848, says of him :
"A Swiss by birth, he held during the reign of Charles X. the rank of Captain in the French Army. He purchased the buildings at Fort Ross, just north of Bodega, of the Russians, and as he proposed to set- tle the wilderness to the north of the Bay of San Francisco with Euro- pean immigrants, the Mexican Government made him a grant of eleven leagues of land on the Sacramento River. After landing, he camped, surrounded by hostile savages, in the open plain where the fort was af- terward built, and the next morning, after dressing in full uniform, he went, accompanied by his Indian servant, both well armed, to the Indian
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HISTORY OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY
village near by. The savages were informed through an interpreter that he came to them as a friend, and if he would help them a little with their labor, he would make them presents.
"The Indians were set to work to make adobes, of which the fort was built. It is a parallelogram in form, with two bastions. In the middle of the square is a building two stories high, containing four rooms, and a counting-room upstairs. A blacksmith shop, mill for grinding corn, serape manufactory and dwelling are around it, built against the walls of the fort. At one time he had a well-drilled force of thirty Indians within its walls, with guards posted night and day for its defense. No one reached it without being fed and lodged.
"I passed the evening of my arrival, after supper, in his company. His manners are polished, and the impression he makes on every one is very favorable. In figure he is of medium height, rather stout, but well made. His head is round, features regular, with smiling and agreeable expres- sion ; complexion healthy and roseate. He wears his hair cut close, and his moustache trimmed short, à la militaire. He dressed very neatly in frock coat, pantaloons and cap of blue, and with his gold-headed malac- ca in hand, you would rather suppose him prepared for a saunter on the Boulevards than a consultation with Simplon, his Indian alcalde, about hands required for the day's work, or ox teams to be dispatched here and there."
CHAPTER VII
SETTLEMENT AND EARLY HISTORY
CONTRA COSTA COUNTY became a definite locality in 1850, created by the California legislature that opened its initial session at San Jose on December 15, 1849. At that time twenty-seven counties were estab- lished. In later years, by subdivision, they were increased to fifty-eight.
General M. G. Vallejo, who was probably better informed on early California history than any other man of his period, in a report to the legislature on the derivation of the names of the several counties, paid this tribute to Contra Costa County: "The name signifies 'Opposite Coast,' and the country is so called from its situation opposite San Francisco, in an easterly direction. It is undoubtedly one of the most fertile counties in the State, possessing rich agricultural lands, which embrace an interior coast of thirty leagues, extending along the bays of Santa Clara, San Francisco, San Pablo, the Straits of Carquinez, the Bay of Suisun, and the San Joaquin River; a circumstance which, united to its mild climate, will render it very important.
"The pueblo of Martinez is its chief town, and the 'New York of the Pacific,' as well as other towns on the shores of San Pablo and the San Joaquin, will soon effectually contribute to its importance." So spake General Vallejo half a century ago.
When the treaty of peace was signed with Mexico in 1848 there was but one American citizen living permanently in the region that we now know as Contra Costa County. This solitary representative of the United States was Doctor John Marsh. He lived at the base of Mount Diablo, and later came into considerable prominence. Elam Brown, the founder of Lafayette, was also among the early illustrious citizens of Contra Costa County. He was a member of the Constitutional Conven- tion which met at Monterey in September, 1849. The constitution was completed after six weeks of deliberation and was adopted by the peo- ple at an election on the 13th of the following November.
Another citizen mentioned in the chronicles of the times was Captain
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HISTORY OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY
Seth M. Swain, of Martinez. To him belonged the distinction of carry- ing the first mail up the Sacramento River, in the schooner "John Dunlap." All the mail was in one bag, and Captain Swain received six hundred dollars for the voyage, although the total amount of postage on the mail amounted to less than sixty dollars.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
Contra Costa County originally comprised 1500 square miles of terri- tory, but in 1853 it was reduced nearly one-half, the portion which Contra Costa County lost helping to form the newly created Alameda County. The ceded territory constituted the southern and western half of Contra Costa County. After this change she retained, as at present, 877 square miles.
The act to form Alameda County was passed by the legislature in session at Benicia. The county of Santa Clara was represented in the assembly by Henry C. Smith and W. S. Letcher. Contra Costa County was represented by H. W. Carpentier. Then, as now, San Jose was the county seat of Santa Clara County, and Martinez occupied a similar position in Contra Costa County. The desire for a new county arose out of the fact that the inhabitants of Santa Clara County residing near where Oakland is today were compelled to cross a range of moun- tains to reach their county seat, San Jose, thirty miles away. A petition, signed by citizens of both counties, asking that a new county be formed, was presented to the legislature by H. C. Smith. It was in re- sponse to this petition that the legislative act of 1853 was passed which made Contra Costa and Santa Clara counties the parents of Alameda.
Commenting on this topic in a "Centennial Paper," published in the Contra Costa Gazette in 1876, Doctor J. R. Howard wrote :
"By the creation of Alameda County we lost more than half of our shore-line on the San Francisco Bay, and a valuable territory of land, with not less than three prosperous and handsome trade centers now clustering and growing on the opposite coast.
"Still, Contra Costa County has a most enviable natural position on the map of the State, with advantages possessed by few other counties.
"It is now bounded by the San Joaquin River, Suisun Bay, Straits of Carquinez, and San Pablo Bay on the north; by San Francisco Bay and Alameda County on the west; by Alameda County on the south,
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SETTLEMENT AND EARLY HISTORY
and San Joaquin County on the east. The map shows our geographical position to be about midway of the coast-line of the State, immediately in front and contiguous to the great heart of the State, with a shore- line of seventy miles or more on our northern border, along the mag- nificently linked system of bays, strait, and main rivers of the interior."
A comparison of the original boundary with the present boundary, as taken from the records, will make apparent to the reader the amount of territory lost by Contra Costa County. At the risk of being tedious, both are here given in full.
The original boundary as established by the legislature in 1849, was as follows: "Beginning at the mouth of Alameda Creek and running thence in a southwesterly direction to the middle of the Bay of San Francisco; thence in a northerly or northwesterly direction, following as near as may be the middle of the bay to the Straits of San Pablo; thence up the middle of the Bay of San Pablo to the Straits of Car- quinez ; thence running up the middle of said straits to the Suisun Bay, and up the middle of said bay to the mouth of the San Joaquin River ; thence following up the middle of said river to the place known as Pes- cadero, or Lower Crossing; thence in a direct line to the northwest cor- ner of Santa Clara County, which is on the summit of the Coast Range, near the source of Alameda Creek; thence down the middle of said creek to its mouth, which was the place of beginning, including the islands of San Pablo, Coreacas, and Tesoro.1 The seat of justice shall be at the town of Martinez."
The present boundary, as established by the legislature on March 25, 1853, when Alameda County was formed from the southern part of Contra Costa County and a slice of Santa Clara County, is as follows : "Beginning in the Bay of San Francisco, at the northwest point of Red Rock, being the common corner of Marin, Contra Costa, and San Francisco [counties] ; thence up the Straits and Bay of San Pablo, on the eastern boundary of Marin, to the point of intersection with the line bearing south twenty-six and one-half degrees east, and about six and one-quarter miles distant from the southwest corner of Napa County, forming the common corner of Marin, Solano, Sonoma, and Contra Costa [counties] ; thence to the Straits of Carquinez ; thence up
1 Tesoro is a Spanish word meaning treasure.
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HISTORY OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY
said straits and Suisun Bay, to the mouth of the San Joaquin River ; thence up said river to the confluence of the west and main channels thereof, as laid down in Gibbe's map; thence up said west channel to a point about ten miles below Moore and Rhode's ranch, at a bend where the said west channel, running downward, takes a general course north, the point being on the westerly line of San Joaquin County, and forming the northeast corner of Alameda and southeast corner of Contra Costa [counties] ; thence on the northern line of Ala- meda, as laid down on Horace A. Higley's map, to the easterly line of San Francisco City and County ; thence due northwest along said east- erly line of San Francisco, four and one-half miles, more or less, to the place of beginning, the county seat, Martinez."
SENATORIAL DISTRICTS
In the first division of the State into counties Contra Costa County elected a State senator jointly with Santa Clara County; and this method of procedure remained in force until 1854, when it elected a joint senator with San Joaquin County. A change was again made in 1862, whereby one senator served Contra Costa and Marin counties, which situation still remains in effect.
JUDICIAL DISTRICTS
When California was divided into judicial districts, on March 29, 1850, John M. Watson became judge of the Third District, which com- prised the counties of Contra Costa, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, and Mon- terey. In 1853 Contra Costa was attached to the Seventh Judicial Dis- trict, which included Solano, Napa, Sonoma, and Marin counties. Change followed change, and in March, 1862, the county was placed in the Fourth Judicial District, being in the following year annexed to the Third District. It became a part of the Fifteenth District in 1864, and remained so until the adoption of the new constitution, establishing the various superior courts.
THE COURT OF SESSIONS
In the early days of Contra Costa County all the county business was transacted by the Court of Sessions. These courts were authorized by
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SETTLEMENT AND EARLY HISTORY
the legislative act of April 11, 1850. The court comprised the county judge, who presided at the sessions, assisted by two justices of the peace. The latter, who sat as associate justices, were chosen by their brother justices from the entire number elected in the county. All the intricate civil machinery of the county was administered by this court, and, according to reports of the period, it succeeded admirably. The numerous duties of the court included the examination and settling of all accounts charged against the county ; the auditing of the books of all officers who handled county funds; the directing and raising of funds through taxation on real and personal property; the management of public roads, turnpikes, canals, and bridges; and the division of the county into townships and the establishment of election precincts. The preceding list, which covers only a few of the most important duties of the court, would indicate that the positions held by these officials were no sinecures.
The first county judge of Contra Costa County after its creation was F. M. Warmcastle, who took office on April 17, 1850. The associate justices were Absolom Peak and Edward G. Guest. Thomas A. Brown, a son of Elam Brown, was county clerk. The first sheriff of Contra Costa County was Nathaniel Jones.
One of the first acts performed by the Court of Sessions, on April 17, 1850, was the partitioning of the county into three townships, com- prising Martinez, San Antonio, and New York (now Pittsburg). A further peep into the records of the period reveals the fact that on May 13, 1850, the court convened and ordered that all real and personal property of the county be assessed, and fixed the amount of tax thereon for county expenses at twenty-five cents on the hundred dollars. A like sum for the construction of public buildings was ordered collected. The county clerk was directed to secure a suitable building for temporary use as a courthouse. On June 3, 1850, the county clerk was directed to receive sealed bids for the erection of a county jail.
On August 19th of the same year the court fixed the license to be collected on certain occupations. To vend goods, wares, and merchan- dise, with a capital of five thousand dollars or less, a license of twenty dollars per annum was collected. The vender of spirituous, vinous, malt, and fermented liquors had first to pay a license of fifty dollars per annum.
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HISTORY OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY
On the same date a license was granted to Oliver C. Coffin (ominous name!) to establish a ferry between Martinez and Benicia, after he had filed a bond in the amount of two thousand dollars. The court per- mitted him to charge the following fares : For each foot man, $1 ; man and horse, $2.50 ; single horse, mule or ox, $2 ; wagon, $5; carriage, $4; each head of sheep or hogs, 50 cents.
In early times the roads of Contra Costa County were few and far between. Here and, there they wound about over the country, following the lines of least resistance, in many instances only enlarged trails. Naturally, one of the first acts performed by the Court of Sessions was the establishment of road districts and the creation of new highways. This step was taken on July 20, 1850, when seven road districts were established. Two districts were defined between Martinez and Pueblo de San José, the overseers appointed being N. B. Smith and Joseph Rothenhostler. The streets of Martinez comprised district three, and A. Van Herne Ellis was placed in charge of them, as supervisor. Dis- trict four was the road traveled from Martinez, by way of the home of Silvio Pacheco, to New York of the Pacific (now Pittsburg). Henry F. Joye was appointed overseer. The road from the Moraga Redwoods to its intersection with the Martinez and San Jose highway was designated as district five, its overseer being E. Miller. Elam Brown was appointed overseer of district six, the road that connected his rancho with that of Vicente Castro, and which intersected the road from the Moraga Red- woods to Martinez. District seven extended from the crossing of the San Joaquin River to the Pueblo de San José, and was placed in charge of Greene Patterson. At the same meeting of the court an order was established requiring all able-bodied men between the ages of eighteen and forty-five to perform their share of road work during five days of each year.
From this time forward rapid strides were made in the building and improvement of roads. On July 15, 1852, orders were issued for the laying out of the road between Oakland and San Pablo. By 1860 there were seventeen road districts within the county limits. Today no better roads are found elsewhere in the State of California than in Contra Costa, for which condition the citizens of the present age are vastly in- debted to the zeal of the pioneer road-builders. The modern phases of Contra Costa roads will be discussed in another chapter.
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SETTLEMENT AND EARLY HISTORY
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
The first Board of Supervisors for Contra Costa County was elected June 14, 1852, comprising the following five members : William Patten, Samuel H. Robinson, Victor Castro, Robert Farrelly, and T. J. Keefer. Upon the board devolved all the duties of administering county affairs, previously performed by the Court of Sessions.
A glance at the assessment report made by Supervisor Samuel H. Robinson, on July 23, 1852, throws considerable light on the large land- holdings of the period, these being whole or in part of the old Mexican land grants. The largest individual holdings were those of W. Castro, who was assessed $82,704 on 27,568 acres, at the rate of three dollars an acre. Silvio Pacheco paid taxes on an assessment of $141,696, cover- ing his rancho of 17,712 acres, at eight dollars an acre. The land hold- ings of Doctor John Marsh, which also comprised 17,712 acres, was assessed at one dollar an acre. The farm of José Jesus Vallejo, which covered 19,926 acres, was assessed at $99,630. These are but a few of the largest holdings. The assessment-roll shows scores of others rang- ing from one thousand to ten thousand acres.
The Board of Supervisors continued in existence until replaced by the Court of Sessions, on March 25, 1854. Following an act of the legis- lature, passed March 20, 1855, the Board of Supervisors again came into being, and since then has remained permanent in county affairs.
Passing on to the year 1856, it is found that on the 17th of November the Union Hotel, of Martinez, was destroyed by fire, and with it most of the records of the county treasurer, Robert E. Borden, who was also proprietor of the hotel. He made a report to the Board of Supervisors, showing that a thousand dollars was saved, but that nineteen hundred dollars was lost. Concurring in the belief that the loss was unavoidable, the board succeeded in having Borden relieved of the obligation of mak- ing good the loss.
An act of unusual magnanimity on the part of a county official was recorded on the 5th of February, 1861. On that date Judge Thomas A. Brown released the county from paying him six thousand dollars, this sum being a portion of his salary for four years as county judge. The salary provided by law was twenty-five hundred dollars a year, but Judge Brown declared in favor of a salary of one thousand dollars a
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HISTORY OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY
year, which sum he drew, and at the end of his term refunded to the county the accrued six thousand dollars.
No unusual events are recorded during the intervening years until June 20, 1868, when an election was held, submitting to a vote of the people the proposition for the county to make a donation to the Mar- tinez & Danville Railroad Company. This was to aid in the construction of a railroad from Martinez to Danville. The proposition was defeated by a vote of 391 in favor to 522 against.
Further records for the year 1868 show that the courthouse sus- tained grave damages from the great earthquake of October 21st, and that the District Court was compelled to meet in the carpenter shop of E. W. Hiller, the former office being considered insecure. On October 23d extensive repairs were begun on the courthouse. The record for 1868 ends with the authorization of R. B. Hard to build a calaboose at Antioch. For the benefit of the uninitiated, it is here explained that the word calaboose is derived from the Spanish phrase el calabozo (the jail). The granting of permission to build calabooses forms no small part of the records of those days.
That coyotes were still numerous in 1876 is evidenced by the action of the Board of Supervisors, on February 9th of that year, in offering a bounty on the scalps and ears of these canny pests.
The trend of the times is eloquently set forth in the brief record of the vote on Chinese immigration, at the election of September 7, 1879. For Chinese immigration 16 votes ; against Chinese immigration, 2039 votes ; majority against Chinese immigration, 2023 votes. Such was the laconic but decisive verdict.
Early in 1880 a number of franchises for the erection of wharves were granted to Port Costa, a hamlet then fast coming into prominence as a shipping point and also because it was there that the steamer "Solano" landed its western-bound trains from the Atlantic. The rec- ords of that year show also that the Northern Railroad Company had over twenty-three miles of railroad in the county, while the San Pablo & Tulare Railroad Company had more than thirty-four. The former was valued at $13,060 a mile, and the latter at $11,200. An official seal for the Board of Supervisors was ordered on July 7, 1880. The design chosen was a sheaf of grain, a horn of plenty, with grapes and melons,
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SETTLEMENT AND EARLY HISTORY
all surrounded by the words, "Board of Supervisors of Contra Costa County, California."
During 1880 the public debt of the county, amounting to $94,100, was funded, and bonds bearing interest at six per cent and payable semi- annually, were directed to be issued on August 4th. One month later another debt of $38,000 was ordered funded by the issuance of bonds bearing interest at the above rate.
Contra Costa County was rapidly emerging from pioneer conditions. Small but thriving towns were springing up all along her water-front; shipping was receiving a great impetus from her numerous products, including millions of bushels of grain, which were marketed all over the world; orchards and vegetable gardens were thriving in her fertile valleys; roads and schools were rapidly improved and railroad com- munication was steadily increasing.
Turning from the pioneer days, the commercial growth of the county and its cities will be taken up in the succeeding chapters.
CHAPTER VIII
CLIMATE-SOIL-HORTICULTURE-AGRICULTURE
THE climate of Contra Costa County is ideal; it is the golden mean be- tween the extremes of heat and cold. Sheltered on the western border by a wall of hills, this district knows no cold winds or heavy fogs. No matter how raw and cold the winds may blow through the Golden Gate, they do not reach past this barrier. Even during the winter months there is an abundance of sunshine between showers, and the climate may be said to be balmy the year around. The annual rainfall is twelve to eighteen inches, or enough to insure good crops without irrigation. However, of late years it has been possible to secure much larger re- turns by augmenting nature, and large irrigation projects have sprung up. These will be treated under another heading.
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