THIS chapter deals with the period of great Mexican land
grants, those vast dominions of California under the Mexican regime which
stretched over thousands of acres of the most fertile lands and laid the
foundation for the fortunes of numerous families.
Prior to the cession of California to the United States
in 1848, it was possible for any citizen of good character to pay a nominal
fee to the Mexican Government and receive a grant of land covering from one
to eleven square leagues. Scores of these large grants were distributed
over Contra Costa County. Throughout the central and southern part of
California the Mexican Government gave away these grants with a lavish
hand. When California became American territory the United States sent a
representative, William Carey Jones, to California and Mexico to make a
special study of land grants. This was done with a view of establishing a
perfect title, wherever possible, so that no hardship might be experienced
by the then residents of California through the change in governments. In
most instances a bona fide title was granted by the United States without
inconvenience to the original holders. In later years, however, partition
suits were instituted by the heirs of these families, whose descendants were
numbered by scores. These famous suits were carried on through the courts
for years, until final decrees in partition were handed down, some of them
of very recent date.
The most famous of the partition suits were those
affecting the Welch ranch or Rancho las Juntas, the Rancho el Sobrante suit,
settled in recent years, and the Marsh Grant litigation, known as the suit
of T. I. Bergin against Charles B. Sanford, finally partitioned in May,
1912. Much valuable information on early land grants is contained in a
historical sketch written by Judge Thomas A. Brown and published in the
Contra Costa Gazette in 1876, a portion of which follows:
"During the year 1823 Francisco Castro made application
to the Mexican authorities for the San Pablo Rancho, and Ignacio Martinez
for the Pinole Rancho, to the extent of four leagues of land each. These
men, who were the pioneer white settlers in our county, planted vineyards
and pear orchards at their ranchos more than half a century ago. They made
little other improvements; each of them built an adobe house and a few
corrals. Their neighbors then were the families of Peralta, at San Antonio,
and Castro, at San Lorenzo, until about the year 1826, when Jose Maria
Amador settled upon the San Ramon Rancho, at Dublin, where he obtained a
grant of four leagues of land. During the year 1828 Valencia occupied the
Alcalanes Rancho, at Lafayette, Moraga the Lagumas Palos Colorados, or
Redwood Rancho, and Felipe Briones the Briones Rancho. Each of these
persons made application to the Government for a grant of land; Valencia
for three-fourths of a league, and the others for three leagues each.
Briones was soon afterward killed by the Indians, near where the town of
Clayton now is, while himself and some of his neighbors were attempting to
recover some stock which had been stolen by the Indians, and which they were
driving toward the San Joaquin plains. During the same year Silvio Pacheco
founded the Monte del Diablo Rancho, and settled where the village of
Concord is situated, where he has ever since resided, and about the same
time Juana Pacheco, a widow, made application for title to the San Miguel
Rancho. At that time she resided at San Jose; Ygnacio Sibrian, her nephew,
occupied the ranch for her, and built an adobe house near Walnut Creek.
these persons afterward obtained grants of land of four square leagues
each. During the year 1832 Mariano Castro and Bartolo Pacheco settled upon
and made application for the San Ramon Rancho. About the same time William
Welch, a Scotchman by birth, petitioned for the tract known as the Welch
Rancho, on which a portion of the town of Martinez is situated. Welch
resided but a short time on the rancho, and, in consequence of the hostility
of the Indians and the entire absence of security, he left the ranch in
charge of a few vaqueros and removed his family to San Jose. Welch made his
settlement at the place known as the Welch homestead, near Walnut Creek.
Soon after, and about the years 1832 and 1833, the Romero brothers settled
at the place known as Tice Valley, and made application for a grant to the
sobrante or vacant land lying between the ranchos of San Ramon, Welch
Rancho, Alcalanes, and Moraga. They occupied the place for many years, but
their application for a grant was finally rejected.
"About the year 1836 two brothers, Jose Miguel and
Antonio Mesa, settled upon the New York Rancho, near the place known as
Kirker's Pass, and made application to the Government for a grant of the
place to the extent of two leagues, which was granted to them under the name
of Los Medanos. During the same year Miranda Higuera and Alviso settled
upon and made application for a grant for the place called Canada de los
Vaqueros, and Jose Noriega made application for the rancho los Meganos,
known as the Marsh Rancho, consisting of three square leagues of land.
During the following year,1837, Noriega sold the rancho to Doctor John
Marsh, who settled upon it in the same year, and occupied it afterward until
his death, which occurred in 1856. So the doctor was the first native-born
American citizen who ever resided permanently in this county or within its
territorial limits as originally defined.
"The Indians, then roaming in bands over the Sacramento
and San Joaquin valleys, made a regular business of raiding upon the ranchos
in the district north of San Jose and east of the Bay of San Francisco. The
inhabitants of that district were forced to keep constant watch to prevent
them from driving away all of their stock, and in their efforts to recover
their animals from the Indians it frequently occurred that the latter would
give battle to their pursuers, and sometimes were victorious, and in such
cases they would get away with the stock.
"Until about 1847, and during the first ten years of his
residence on his ranch, Doctor Marsh's neighbors , comprising all the people
who then had lands and resided within the present limits of this county,
were the Mesas, on the New York Rancho, Miranda and Higuera, on the Canada
de los Vaqueros, Salvio Pacheco, on the Monte del Diablo, Ygnacio Sibrian,
on the San Miguel, all then considered to be adjoining ranchos, the
haciendas, or dwelling-places, on each of them being from twelve to fifteen
miles from his. His other neighbors, living from twenty to forty miles from
him, were Jose Maria Amador, at the San Ramon Rancho, Pacheco and Castro, on
the rancho San Ramon, Ygnacio Martinez, at Pinole, Moraga, at the Redwoods,
Valencia, at the Acalanes, the family of Francisco Castro, at San Pablo, and
the vaqueros of Welch, on the Welch Ranch, the widow and family of Felipe
Briones, on the Briones Rancho.
"The ranch-owners usually had employed a few vaqueros to
herd and care for their stock. These vaqueros were generally mission (or
Christianized) Indians. Such was the condition of the country here at the
close of the war.
"Very little attention was given to agricultural pursuits
further than that nearly every ranch-owner cultivated a few acres of beans
and corn and a small potato patch, with a few other vegetables, and a few
square rods planted in melons. This was about the extent of farming carried
on at the different ranches. Also all of the rancheros, when locating their
ranches, planted small vineyards and pear-trees. Many of these vineyards
and trees bear fruit to this day.
At the close of the war about forty-six leagues,
embracing about three hundred and twenty square miles of land, was owned or
held by persons named in this county. Previous to the settlement in this
county by Americans and other foreigners, as they were called by the
Californians, but little improvements had been made by any of the
Californians, nor did they require much. An adobe house and a few corrals
generally comprised all the improvements necessary on a rancho.
"Soon after the close of the war American citizens and
citizens of other countries began to settle in the county. During the year
1847 Elam Brown purchased the Acalanes Rancho and settled upon it near the
village of Lafayette. In 1848 Colonel William M. Smith purchased from one
of the Castros a portion of the place known as the sobrante of the San
Pablo, and during the year 1849 quite a number of citizens of the United
States and other countries came into the county. They located chiefly in
the redwoods between Moraga Valley and San Antonio, for the purpose of
manufacturing lumber for market.
"In referring to the names of two of the ranchos, and to
the location of the town of Martinez, we have mentioned Monte del Diablo as
the name of the rancho of Salvio Pacheco, the Rancho el Pinole as that of
Ygnacio Martinez, being located upon the Arroyo del Hambre. Doubtless
persons have often inquired how they originated, or why these names were
applied to these places. Upon one occasion it was asked of a native
Californian, who was quite an old man, and he stated that the names were (as
he had learned during his boyhood) given to these places during the
beginning of the last century, and he related the facts substantially as
follows: The Indians inhabitating the country north of San Jose Valley were
very troublesome, so much so that small parties could not travel in the
country north of San Jose with safety. The Mexican Government sent a
company of troops from Montery to chastise the Indians, and to correct the
leaders of the most troublesome of them. The troops came upon a camp of
Indians near the present location of Concord. The Indians retreated into a
thicket of willows and undergrowth upon a piece of swamp land near where
Fernando Pacheco lived. Night coming on, the troops did not pursue the
Indians into the thicket, but divided into squads and partially surrounded
the place, intending to make a finish of them in the morning. During the
night the troops saw what they believed to be moving lights in different
parts of the thicket; the lights appeared to be moving, and they were
confident that they had the Indians corralled. In the morning they closed
in and charged upon the thicket, but found no Indians, neither had any of
them stopped there during the night, as they found upon examination that
they had pressed through the place and gone far beyond, and that there was
not a human being in the thicket during the night. The troops were
bewildered and frightened, being unable to account for the lights which they
saw during the night, so they named the place the Devil's Thicket, or Monte
del Diablo. The lights were probably produced by phosphorescence, which the
troops did not understand and could not comprehend. They immediately left
that place, and did not pursue these Indians further, but immediately moved
to the Straits of Carquinez, intending to cross over and go to the Mission
of San Rafael. They were unable to cross by reason of high winds, and
camped at the place near where the town of Martinez now is. Their
provisions giving out, and being unable to secure any more, they were forced
to abandon the camp. They called the place the Valley of Hunger (Canada del
Hambre). They started in the direction of San Francisco, intending to cross
the straits, if possible. On their march they found a village of Indians
who had corn from which they manufactured meal (pinole). That camp
they named El Pinole. When Salvio Pacheco petitioned for his grant he gave
it the name which the Mexican troops had given the thicket which grew there,
and the names given the Canada del Hambre and Pinole by that company of
Mexican troops have attached to these places ever since. The mountain now
called Monte Diablo formerly was called Sierra de los Golgones. Its present
name originated with the Americans and other foreign people who came into
the county at a comparatively recent date."
The following graphic description of early-day manners
and customs was also written by Judge Thomas A. Brown, and was first
published in the centennial edition of the Contra Costa Gazette in
1876:
"Since its organization, in February, 1850, the
poulation of the county at large has slowly but steadily increased. There
was but little increase in the eastern portion of the county until after the
discovery of coal, about the year 1860, at Nortonville, since which time
that portion of the county has grown rapidly in population, and in increased
value of property.
"Many of our people will recollect the carts used in
early days by the Californians. They usually traveled from place to place
on horseback, but when the family desired to visit a neighbor or go to town
the family coach was called into use. That vehicle consisted of two immense
wooden wheels, cut or sawed off a log, with holes as near the center as
convenient for the axel tree, with a tongue lashed to the axle with rawhide
thongs. Upon this a frame as wide as the wheels would permit, and from
seven to twelve feet in length, was placed, upon which was securely fastened
one or two rawhides, with the flesh side down, and a rude frame over the
top, upon which to stretch an awning, with rawhide thongs wove around the
sides to keep the children from tumbling out. The female portion of the
family, with the small children, would seat themselves in the cart, to which
was attached a pair of the best traveling oxen on the ranch. An Indian
would drive, or rather lead, the oxen (for he usually walked ahead of
them). In this simple, rude contrivance the family would travel twenty or
thirty miles a day with as much comfort apparently as people now take in
riding in a single cart, and visit their friends, go to town for the purpose
of shopping, or to attend church."
The excellent article on wild game which here follows
was published in a historical work of 1878:
"There is now , at proper seasons, an abundance of
California quail, wild ducks, geese, and other game in this county. In
fact, the wild geese along the borders of the rivers are a great nuisance to
the farmers. Immense flocks of these light down on the green growing grain
and eat it off close to the ground. Farmers sometimes employ hands who do
nothing but ride on horseback about the grain-fields, and by use of the
shotgun succeed in keeping them off until the time for their departure to
another clime arrives. Large flocks of Pelicans, both white and gray, are
common in the lagoons and tule swamps, as also are cranes and many other
water-birds.
"Herds of elk roamed over the San Joaquin plains in
early times. Captain Kimball, of Antioch, says on the first morning of his
arrival there, in 1849, he saw eighty elk in one drove, feeding a mile south
of his house, and shot a fine heifer weighing four hundred pounds. At the
same time these plains were covered with wild cattle. These were
slaughtered for their hides and tallow, which, at that day, constituted the
only currency of the country. Much of the flesh meat in 1850-51 was dried
elk. Large herds of them used to feed on the green tule lands and islands
opposite Antioch. Their horns were such as to prevent them from running in
large bodies. They were frequently lassooed by the vaqueros of California.
"Deer were also thick in this county in early times, in
spots not much frequented by horsemen, and were often seen feeding on the
bunch-grass about Diablo. There are still a few to be found in the dense
timber of the hills.
"Antelope were also numerous. These were fleet, pretty
animals, as well as cunning in their habits. One, larger than the rest, by
early settlers has often been seen watching while the main body of the kids
were at water or on the bottom lands, feeding on green grass. The elk,
deer, and antelope are all good swimmers, and frequently visited the islands
of the San Joaquin for green food.
"The coyote, or fox, is well known to the Californian -
a kind of link between the cat and dog - and is sometimes called
prairie-dog, but is very different from the animal at that name found on the
Western plains. They often followed the immigrant train to pick up the
bones and crumbs that fell. They would steal eggs and chickens from the
roost, but were great cowards, and a small dog would drive them off.
"The California lion is not a roaring lion, like the
African. The head is small, and much like the head of the tiger, being
large between the eyes. The neck is without mane. It is said he seldom
attacks human beings.
"Grizzly bears were thick in early times, so much so
that Dr. Marsh used to say he could have one caught any time by the
vaqueros. The bears often took his calves and colts. They would destroy
elk, deer, and antelope. A young man was killed by one of them in the dense
forest of chamisal, three or four miles from Antioch. This chamisal is a
short growth of underbrush, so dense as to be impenetrable by man, and
covered about five thousand acres. Wildcats are occasionally seen in parts
of Contra Costa County.
"The larger wild animals have probably disappeared
forever from this county. It would be interesting to know just when and
where the last of these noble animals met their inevitable fate."
Smaller game, however, has by no means disappeared from
Contra Costa County. Today, nearly forty years after the above article was
written, the sportsman may still find good hunting. At certain times of the
year wild geese in abundance are found on the tule front in the eastern
section of the county, and ducks and other water-fowls are plentiful along
the water-front from Byron to Richmond.
In the valleys of the central section, and especially
around the foothills of Mount Diablo, quails are plentiful. The shotgun
adept will also fine good dove-hunting in the vicinity of Marsh Creek and in
Ygnacio Valley.
Deer are scarce now because of the army of hunters that
slaughter them as fast as they appear in the foothills of Mount Diablo from
the Livermore hills. That the deer increased rapidly when there was a
closed season for hunting them is shown by the fact that forty-four fine
bucks were brought in on the first day of the open season some years ago,
after a long interval of restriction. It is the general opinion that deer
would rapidly increase if the ban were again placed on the hunter for a few
years.
Excellent fishing rewards the modern Izaak Waltonsin the
mountain streams and bay waters. Anglers derive great sport from fishing
for striped bass, the gameness of which is celebrated. They are most
plentiful in the bay waters off Shelby and Rodeo, but are also to be found
along the strip of water from Crockett to Richmond.