Sonoma County History

We now wind up the Russian occupation, in the lucid words of the veteran General: "Since my appointment to the command of the frontier, in 1835, I had been directed by my Government to advance our colony north-westward, and by virtue of the powers with which I was invested I made grants of land to Messrs. McIntosh, Black, and Dawson, who had other foreigners in their service. After the advance of the Russians continual disputes arose between our colonists and theirs, and as my settlers were ready for a quarrel and were not sparing of those 'energetic words' well known in the English idiom, our neighbors gradually retired towards Ross, and left the country in possession of their rivals, who, like good Anglo-Saxons, knew how to maintain their rights. Matters constantly became more complicated, until 1840, when Colonel Kupreanoff, Governor of Sitka, came to San Francisco, and many official communications passed between him and myself as Military Commander of California. The result was that the Russians prepared to abandon their California territory, and proposed to sell me their property. I was obliged to decline, because they insisted on selling also the land which was already the property of my Government. Finding that I would not yield on the point, they applied to Governor Alvarado, at Monterey, and received from him a similar reply. Then they applied to John A. Sutter, who, in 1840, made the purchase. (For particulars of this transaction we refer the reader to the history of Bodega Township). California was at last freed from guests who had always been regarded by us as intruders. Yet it is but just to say that in all mercantile transactions the Russians were notable for strict honesty, as, in social intercourse, for hospitality and affability of manners towards our people. They took immense numbers of beaver and seal skins during their stay, and left the country almost without fur-bearing animals."

The tract of land granted by General Vallejo to McIntosh, Black, and Dawson, who had come to the country with Captain John Cooper as sailors somewhere about 1830, was that now known as Estero Americano, and Canada de Jonive. Black afterwards disposed of his interest to the other two, and removed to Marin county, where he permanently located. In 1833, Dawson and McIntosh applied for citizenship to the Mexican Government, and in November of that year the latter went to Monterey for the purpose of getting the grant confirmed. He got the papers made out in his own name, leaving that of Dawson out entirely. At this ungenerous conduct, Dawson became much incensed. He first inflicted personal chastisement upon his quondam partner, and next sawed the house, which they had conjointly constructed, in two, and removed what he considered as his share entirely off the rancho and planted it beyond the boundary, and to day it is still used as a portion of the dwelling of F. G. Blume at Freestone. On the establishing of his residence, Dawson applied for and received that tract known as the Pogolome grant, and to him is the honor of having attempted the manufacture of lumber; for we learn that as early as the year 1834 he had enough on land, sawed in a pit with a long rip-saw, to build a house. The pits are still to be seen near the residence of the late Jasper O'Farrell.

We have already shown that the Russians had taken their departure. This had scarcely been satisfactorily effected than a new element, more formidable in its probable results, presented itself. In the first five years of the decade commencing with 1840, there began to settle in the vast California valleys that intrepid band of pioneers, who, having scaled the Sierra Nevadas with their wagons, trains and cattle, began the civilizing influences of progress on the Pacific Coast. Many of them had left their homes in the Atlantic and Southern States with the avowed intention of proceeding direct to Oregon. On arrival at Fort Hall, however, they heard the glowing accounts of the salubrity of the California climate and the fertility of its soil; they therefore turned their heads southward and steered for the wished-for haven. At length, after weary days of toil and anxiety, fatigued and foot-sore, the promised land was gained. And what was it like? The country in what valley soever we wot was an interminable grain field; mile upon mile, and acre after acre wild oats grew in marvellous profusion, in many places to a prodigious height - one great glorious green of wild waving corn - high over head of the wayfarer on foot, and shoulder-high with the equestrian; wild flowers of every prismatic shade charmed the eye, while they vied with each other in the gorgeousness of their colors, and blended into dazzling splendor. One breath of wind and the hide emerald expanse rippled itself into space, while with a heavier breeze came a swell whose rolling waves beat against the mountain sides, and, being hurled back, were lost in the far-away horizon; shadow pursued shadow in a long merry chase. The air was filled with the hum of bees, the chirrup of birds, and an overpowering fragrance from the various plants weighted the air. The hill sides, overrun as they were with a dense mass of tangled jungle, were hard to penetrate, while in some portions the deep dark gloom of the forest trees lent relief to the eye. The almost boundless range was intersected throughout with divergent trails, whereby the traveller moved from point to point, progress being as it were in darkness on account of the height of the oats on either side, and rendered dangerous in the valleys by the bands of untamed cattle, sprung from the stock introduced by the missions and early Spanish settlers. These found food and shelter on the plains during the night; at dawn they appeared to the higher grounds to chew the cud and bask in the sunshine. At every yard cayotes sprang from beneath the feet of the voyager. The hissing of snakes, the frightened rush of lizards, all tended to heighten the sense of danger, while the flight of quail and other birds, the nimble run of the rabbit, and the stampede of elk and antelope, which abounded in thousands, added to the charm, causing him, be he whatsoever he may, pedestrian or equestrian, to feel the utter insignificance of man, the "noblest work of God."

In the year 1840, there arrived in the Russian River valley, from San Diego, Cyrus Alexander, to take charge of the Sotoyome grant, the estate of Captain H. D. Fitch, the terms of his contract with Fitch being that he was to superintend the property and its stock, and at the end of four years receive two leagues of the ranch in payment. His first duty was to define the boundaries of the grant with the aid of the Mexican authorities. Surveying by the Mexicans at this early date was very different from the scientific knowledge which is found necessary now. In the first place, the lariat was substituted for the chain, while the pins used were long enough to be handled and placed in position from on horseback. These manner of effecting a survey was in this wise; The Surveyor would set his compass and take the bearings of a high hill or large tree at the extreme range of his vision; the word would then be given to his satellites, who would urge their horses to a fast trot, or sometimes to a hand-gallop, in the direction indicated, and without stopping they would draw the pins here, and set them there, thus continuing until the line had been run. Under these circumstances, it is not wonderful that such surveys lacked anything like mathematical precision, and have been the primary cause of the many bitter feuds that have since obtained, some of which are still unsettled.

Mention has hitherto been frequently made of the aboriginal Indians, without any attempt at a description of their appearance, manners, and customs. Place aux dames! The toilet of the women was more pretentious than that of the males, consisting only of a scanty apron of fancy skins or feathers, extending as far as the knees. Those of them who still remained in single blessedness wore a bracelet around the ankle or arm near the shoulder, an ornament usually made of bone or fancy wood. Polygamy was a recognized institution, chiefs generally possessing eleven wives, sub-chiefs nine, and ordinary warriors two, according to their wealth or property. Indian-like they would fight they often were. Their weapons were bows and arrows, clubs, and spears, with which they were very adroit; they also had a kind of helmet made of skins. In times of peace that they kept up the martial spirit by sham fights or tournaments. In these battles the women participated, not as actual belligerents, but as a sanitary brigade; they followed their wounded, carrying their papooses on their backs at the same time. These Indians believed in a future existence and an all-powerful Great Spirit; but they likewise had faith in a Cucusuy or Mischief-maker, who, it was thought, took delight in their annoyance, while to him, and his agency, they attributed all their sickness and other misfortunes. They dwelt in miserable camps or rancheries. A rancheria, or small Indian town consists of certain "wickeupa" or wigwams for living in, and one sweat-house. These last are usually constructed near a running stream. The Digger Indians, who occupied a considerable portion of this country, adopted the plan of digging into the earth some distance, and when attaining the desired depth would construct, around the excavation, a house of adobe clay, fashioned like a bee-hive, perfectly air-tight and tapering to a cone. As a means of entrance and exit, an aperture of sufficient size to permit of the occupant's crawling through, was made, and so arranged that it could be easily closed. Within these ovens a fire would be lit, the Indian would strip, roll himself in his blanket and sleep, asphyxia being prevented by a small hole in the apex of the cone, which drew off the smoke and noxious gases.

While on the subject of Indians it may not be out of place to relate the following legend, which bears upon one of the prominent landmarks in this section of California: When the Spaniards were crossing the mountain called Bolgones, where an Indian spirit was supposed to dwell, having a cave for his haunt, he was disturbed by the approach of some soldiers, then on their way to Sonoma, and, emerging from the gloom, arrayed in all his feathers and war paint, with very little else by way of costume, motioned them to depart, threatening by gesticulations to weave a spell around them, but the sturdy warriors were not to be thus easily awed. They beckoned him to approach; this invitation the wizard declined; then one of the men secured him with his lasso to see if he were "goblin damn'd or ordinary mortal. Even now he would not speak but continued his mumblings, when an extra tug caused him to shout and pray to be released. On relating this experience, the Indians pointed to Bolgones, calling it the mountain of the Cucusuy, which the Spaniards translated into Monte Diablo - hence the name of the mountain which is the meridian of scientific exploration in California.

In the early days, probably in 1840, certainly not later than 1841, a man by the name of Stephen Smith, master of a bark called the "George and Henry," came to this coast on a trading expedition. He hailed from Massachusetts, of which State he was a native, and brought with him a cargo of sugar, syrup, tobacco, cotton and other cloths, besides whatever else could be disposed of readily in the California Market at that time, receiving in return for these a cargo of hides, horns and tallow. While lying in the bay of San Francisco, he doubtless saw the Russians as they came there for the purpose of sailing to Sitka, and of course heard all about the country and the improvements which they had left behind. It is also more than likely that he took a cruise up that way for the purpose of spying out the land, and doubtless cast his anchor and furled his sails in the quiet and secure harbor of Bodega bay. He then evidently went ashore and visited the entire section of country immediately adjacent thereto. Here he saw the giant redwoods, and recognized the fact that in them was the lumber which generations yet unborn would use in the construction of homes. Nearly all the lumber then consumed on the this coast was imported from the Sandwich Islands, and the establishment of a sawmill here, within five miles of a splendid shipping point, which was within twenty-four hours sail of San Francisco bay, would certainly be laying the foundation for a princely fortune. He also conceived the idea of constructing a grist-mill in connection with his sawmill. He then hied himself away to the Atlantic seaboard with his head full of his great project. At least two years were consumed in this trip. While in Baltimore, having disposed of his cargo of hides, tallow, etc., he purchased a complete outfit for a steam grist and saw-mill, also a cargo of assorted merchandise. He then set sail for California. On his way out he stopped at Pieta, Peru, where he was united in marriage with Donna Manuella Torres, a lady of remarkable refinement and intellect, and at that time sixteen years of age. It is apropos to remark here that Captain Smith was sixty-one years of age at the time of his marriage with Donna Manuella. This was his second marriage, his first wife having died some years previous. In Baltimore, he engaged one Henry Hagler as ship's carpenter. While at Pieta he engaged the services of David D. Dutton, now of Vacaville, Solano County, for the purpose of constructing his mill. He also somewhere on the trip obtained the services of Phillip Crawley and a man named Bridges. On the 27th of March, 1843, Captain Smith weighed anchor in the harbor of Pieta, setting sail for California. He brought also with him from Pieta his wife's mother, Mrs. Minunga Torres, and her brother, Manuel Torres, now a resident of Martinez, Contra Costa County. They reached Monterrey about the middle of April following. Here the vessel was entered at the custom house. He then sailed for Santa Cruz, at which place lumber was purchased and taken on board for the construction of the mill building. He then came to San Francisco bay and anchored off Clark's Point. While here he engaged the services of James Hudspeth, now of Green valley, Analy township, Sonoma county, Alexander Copeland, now in the southern part of the State, Nathaniel Coombs, lately of Napa County, but now deceased, and John Daubinbiss, now of Santa Cruz county. These men went on board of the ship, and all set sail for Bodega Bay, where he arrived sometime in the month of September, 1843. Upon his arrival here a new difficulty arose. Bidwell, Sutter's agent, refused Smith the privilege of landing and of establishing his mill on any part of the land which had been previously occupied by the Russians , and over which, as Sutter's agent, he supposed he had dominion. But the hardy old tar was not to be thwarted in his enterprise after waiting two long years for its fulfillment. Therefore he took his men and began at once to get timber for his mill buildings. When Bidwell protested, the captain informed him that he proposed to proceed with his enterprise, and warned him not to interfere. Bidwell at once returned to New Helvetia, and reported to Sutter what had occurred. E. V. Sutter, son of Captain John A. Sutter, is our authority for the above statements; but in justice to Captain Smith we will say, that the Mexican Government did not at that time, nor has it at any time since, recognized the Russian claim, nor that of Sutter, to the tract in question; and knowing this, Captain Smith was not doing an unrighteous deed when he took semi-forcible possession of the land. That the Mexican government approved of his course is certainly substantiated by the fact that it granted him eight leagues of the same territory a few years later. Captain Smith, in all his dealings with men, was characterized as the soul of honor, hence was incapable of committing any high-handed crimes.

We will now take a glance at this pioneer steam grist and saw mill during its course of construction, that we may get a clear idea of its machinery and capacities. It was situated at the foot of a hill, on the brow of which grew the very initial trees of the great redwood belt, and was nearly one mile, in a northwesterly direction from the present site of the town of Bodega Corners. An excavation about five feet deep and thirty by fifty feet was made. In the bottom of this was a well dug, for the purpose of furnishing the water supply to the boilers, which were of the most simple pattern known. They were three in number, each being thirty-six feet in length, and two and one-half feet in diameter. They were single-flue boilers, having three openings, all in one end, one through which the steam passed to the engine, near the top, and the large "man hole" in the centre of the end which was fastened down with bolts, nuts and packing. These three boilers were arranged in a row, with a furnace of masonry around them, the fire being built under, not in them, and the heat passed around and not through them, as at the present time. We knew nothing of the style of the engine used, but it was doubtless one of the low-pressure stationary class, so common thirty years ago. The mill contained one run of burs, with a probable capacity of ten barrels of flour per day. These burs were very peculiar in their composition, being made of small pieces of granite, united with a very tenacious and enduring cement; were about four feet in diameter and one and one-half feet in thickness, and encircled by two strong bands of iron. The saw was what is known among mill-men as a "sash" saw, i.e., one which is operated in a perpendicular position, similar to what they now call a "Mully" saw. It did not do the work nearly as fast as a circular saw, but it was far ahead of the old methods, either in a pit or with water or wind power. All this machinery which we have just described was nicely housed in a building erected of the lumber purchased by the Captain at Santa Cruz. Of course there were several other appliances which we have not thought necessary to describe in detail, such as flour bolts, log carriages, etc., but as far as it went, and for its capacity, the mill was complete in every respect. As stated above it was located at the foot of a bald hill, on the brow of which huge redwoods grew. As soon as Captain Smith landed he set men to work at cutting logs at this point, and as fast as chopped they were rolled down to the mill. This style of conveying logs from the woods to the mill was adhered to as long as Capt. Smith had the establishment. Upon the completion of the mill, and when it was found that all of its machinery worked to a charm, invitations were issued to the people of the surrounding country. Men of every nationality were there to see the marvelous machine put into operation. It was probably the first steam engine that quite a large portion of those present had ever witnessed in operation. Let us contemplate that throng for a moment. Here we see the "ranchero", with his broad "sombrero" overshadowing him completely, his red bandana kerchief tied loosely about his neck, his bosom and arms bared to the sun, his broad-checked pantaloons showing out in bold relief, mounted on a fiery, half-tamed "caballo de silla." By his side, mounted also on just as wild a steed, is the "vaquero," with "sombrero" for his head, kerchief for his neck, "serrapa" thrown loosely about his shoulders, his horse caparisoned as befitting a man in his position, his long "lariata" hanging in graceful coils from his saddle-horn, with mammoth spurs dangling from his heels, the bells of which chimed harmoniously with the mellifluous hum of the conversation, and the rowels of which served to designate the standing of the wearer in the community. Then there was the old-time soldier, with a dress-parade air about his every look and action; and the grant-holders were there, and the Alcaldes, and all the dignitaries within reach of the invitation. It was a grand holiday occasion for all, a day of sight-seeing not soon to be forgotten. Everything being in readiness, the hopper was filled with wheat brought from a neigh-boring ranch. The steam is turned on slowly, and the ponderous fly-wheel commences to revolve. The entire mass of machinery begins to vibrate with the power imparted to it by the mighty agent curbed and bound in the iron boilers. All is motion, and the hum and whir of machinery is added to the babel of tongues, while amid exclamations of surprise and delight the grain is sent through the swirling blurs into the bolts, and at length is reproduced before their wondering gaze as "flor de harina" - fine, white flour. Then a monster redwood log is placed upon the carriage, and the saw put in motion; slowly but surely it whips its way through it, and the outside slab is thrown aside. The log is passed back, and again approaches the saw. This time a beautiful plank is produced. Again and again is the operation repeated until, in a marvelously short period of time, the whole log is reduced to boards of different widths and thicknesses. While this is being done and admired by all, the first bags of flour have been sent to the house near by and converted into most excellent and nutritious bread. A beeve has been slaughtered, abundance of venison is at hand, and a sumptuous repast has been prepared to which all are now invited to betake themselves. After the feast comes the toasts. The health and prosperity of the enterprizing Yankee host is drank in many an overflowing bumper. After dinner speeches were indulged in, and General M. G. Vallejo being there, and being the head and front of the native Californians present, was called upon to make some observations. In this speech he remarked that there were those present who would see more steam engines in the beautiful and fertile valleys of California than there would be soldiers. Surely was he endowed with prophetic power! He now has the satisfaction and pleasure of knowing how truly this remark has been verified. The repast and the sequent festivities over the company of sight-seers disperse, either to their homes or to some neighboring rancho, where a grand fandango is indulged in till the gray dawn steals upward over the far-away Sierras.

We have already in the commencement of our annals of Mendocino and Russian River townships, entered upon the subject of the primitive dwellings in vogue among the pioneers of 1840 and after; we would now call attention to a few of their earlier implements and conveniences as well as one of these antique dwellings of another style, and in describing those adopted and made by Cyrus Alexander we but tell the story of the rest, for the experiences of each were almost identical. Mention has been made of the adobe houses of the early Californians. Let us consider one of these primitive habitations: Its construction was beautiful in its extreme simplicity. The walls were fashioned of large sun-dried bricks, made of that black loam known to settlers in the Golden State as adobe soil, mixed with straw, with no particularity as to species, measuring about eighteen inches square and three in thickness; these were cemented with mud, plastered within with the same substance, and white-washed when finished. The rafters and joists were of rough timber, with the bark simply peeled off and placed in the requisite position, while the residence of the wealthier classes were roofed with tiles of a convex shape, placed so that one should overlap the other and thus make a watershed; or later, with shingles, the poor contenting themselves with a thatch of tule, fastened down with thongs of bullocks' hide. The former modes of covering were expensive, and none but the opulent could afford the luxury of tiles. When completed, however, these mud dwellings will stand the brunt, and wear and tear of many decades, as can be evidenced by the number which are still occupied in out-of-the-way corners of the county.

In order to facilitate transportation it was found necessary to construct some kind of a vehicle, which was done in this manner: The two wheels were sections of a log with a hole drilled or bored through the center, the axle being a pole sharpened at each extremity for spindles, with a hole and pin at either end so as to prevent the wheels from slipping off. Another pole fastened to the middle of the axle, served the purpose of a tongue. Upon this framework was set, or fastened, a species of wicker-work, framed of sticks bound together with strips of hide. The beasts of burden in use were oxen, of which there were a vast number. These were yoked with a stick across the forehead, notched and crooked, so as to fit the head closely, and the whole tied with rawhide. Such was the primitive cart of the time. The plow was a still more peculiar affair. It consisted of a long piece of timber which served the purpose of a beam, to the end of which a handle was fastened; a mortise was next chiseled so as to admit the plow, which was a short stick with a natural crook, having a small piece of iron fastened on one end of it. With this crude implement was the ground upturned, while the branch of a convenient tree served the purpose of a harrow. Fences there were none so that crops might be protected; ditches were therefore dug, and the crests of the sod covered with the branches of trees to warn away the numerous bands of cattle and horses, and prevent their intrusion upon the newly sown grain. When the crops were ripe they were cut with a sickle, or any other convenient weapon, and then it became necessary to thresh it. Now for the modus operandi. The floor of the corral into which it is customary to drive the horses and cattle in order to lasso them, from constant use had become hardened. Into this enclosure the grain would be piled, and upon it the manatha, or band of mares, would be turned loose to tramp out the grain. The wildest horses, or mayhap the colts which had only been driven but once, and then to be branded, would be turned adrift upon the pile of straw, when would ensue a scene of the wildest confusion, the excited animals being driven, amidst the yelling of the vaqueros and the cracking of whips, here, there and everywhere, around, across and lengthwise, until the whole was trampled, leaving naught but the grain and chaff. Owing to the length of the dry season, there was no urgent haste to effect this; therefore when the wind was high enough, the Indians, who soon fell into the ways of the white pioneers, more especially where they were paid in kind and kindness, would toss the trampled mass into the air with large wooden forks, cut from the adjacent oaks, and the wind carry away the lighter chaff leaving the heavier grain. With a favorable wind several bushels of wheat could thus be winnowed in the course of one day. Strange as it may appear, it is declared to be the fact, that grain thus winnowed was much cleaner than it is to-day. Mention has elsewhere been made of the necessity which compelled the tanning of hides from which clothes might be made. Let us now relate the following ingenious device whereby Mrs. Alexander was wont to make yarn; a novel spinning-wheel truly. A large bowl was procured with its inner surface polished to a great degree of smoothness; when ready for operation, it would rest in the lap of the manipulator, she occupying a low seat. In the bowl was twirled or spun a spindle whittled into such a shape as to perform its movements easily, its form being that of a peg-top. While this was kept in motion with one hand, the wool would be payed out with the other, thus spinning the yarn, enough of which could be prepared in one day to knit a pair of socks.

We have more than once referred to the vast bands of cattle that roamed about at will over the plains and among the mountains. Once a year these had to be driven in and rodeoed, i.e. branded, a work of considerable danger, and one requiring much nerve. The occasion of rodeoing, however, was the signal for a feast; a large beeve would be slaughtered, and all would make merry until it was consumed. The rule or law concerning branded cattle in those days was very strict. If anyone was known to have branded his neighbor's cattle with his own mark, common usage called upon him to return in kind fourfold. Not only did this apply to cattle alone, but to all other kinds of live stock.

The sketch of the pioneer mill of Sonoma County would be incomplete without following through the devious windings of the road it has traveled to the present time. Capt. Smith continued to operate it until the year 1850. During this time he sawed a vast amount of lumber, drawing it a distance of five or six miles to Bodega Bay for shipment, some of which he exported to the Sandwich Islands, while he exchanged lumber for the tract of land known as the "Blucher" rancho. In Nov. 1849 he laid aside the sash saw and placed in its stead a circular saw. In 1850 Capt. Smith leased the entire tract of timber land on the Bodega rancho to Messrs. Hanks & Mudge for the term of ninety-nine years, for the sum of fifty thousand dollars. They took the saw out of the old building, and with new engines to run it, put in a mill situated further up in the heart of the redwoods. After locating at different points most convenient to the timber, the mill was eventually taken to Mendocino county. In 1854 the Smith mill building was destroyed by fire, and it was never rebuilt, its projector and sustainer soon after being called to pass the dark river. One of the boilers does duty at the present time as a "heater" at Duncan's mill. The visitor of to-day at the old mill site finds the excavation and the well of water in it; two of the old boilers lie mouldering and rusting on the ground in the excavation, while willow trees have grown up beside them to the height of twenty-five feet. At the end of the boilers one of the burs lies slowly but surely crumbling back to mother earth; time and weather have eaten great holes in it, and the surface that once was able to withstand the steeled edge of the millwright's pick is now as soft as sandstone. One of the iron bands which surrounded it in its day of strength and glory has rusted until it has parted and dropped away from the stone, while the other is fast going to decay. Curiosity- seekers are ever and anon taking pieces of the granite and cement, and soon nothing will be left to tell of it. On the bank lies the smoke-stack, while here and there stands a post used in the foundation. A few logs which were brought to the mill thirty years ago, but which were never sawed, still lie where they were placed in that long ago time, mute reminders of what was, and what is, links uniting the strange historical past with the living present. To Sonoma County, therefore, is the honor due of the introduction of this great element of wealth and progress.

General Vallejo thus describes that memorable visit: "I distinctly remember having predicted on that occasion that before many years there would be more steam-engines than soldiers in California. The successors of Smith have not only proved the truth of my words, but have almost verified the remark of my compatriot, General Jose Castro, at Monterey, that 'the North Americans were so enterprising a people that if it were proposed, they were quite capable of changing the color of the stars.' Castro's discourse was made with no sympathy for the North American, since it is well known that he was no friend to either Government or citizens; yet I believe that if General Castro had lived until to-day, he would unite with me in praise of that intelligent nation which opens her doors to the industrious citizens of the whole world, under the standard of true liberty."

Up to this time there had been twenty-three grants of land confirmed to their original owners inside the boundaries of Sonoma County. Of these the largest was the Petaluma grant, situated mostly in what is now known as Vallejo and Sonoma townships. It included all that vast tract, comprising at least seventy-five thousand acres, which lay between Sonoma Creek on the east, San Pablo Bay on the south, and Petaluma Creek on the west, possessing the most fertile soil in the county, if not the entire State. Every acre of it is tillable, and might have been most easily enclosed. The tract is now assessed for not less than three million dollars. It was originally granted to General M. G. Vallejo. Of the foreigners who had acquired land up to the period now under treatment, among the most notable were Jacob P. Leese, Henry D. Fitch, Juan P. Cooper, John Wilson and Mark West. Leese, Fitch and Cooper were brothers-in-law of General Vallejo. The site whereon now stands the county seat - the flourishing town of Santa Rosa - was granted to Mrs. Carrillo, the mother of the well-known Julio Carrillo, who is still a resident of that city; while the country lying between Santa Rosa and Sebastapol, in Analy township, was the property of Joaquin Carrillo, a brother of Mrs. Vallejo. The Bodega ranch, which contained thirty-five thousand four hundred and eighty-seven acres, was granted to Captain Stephen Smith, who is described as "a remarkable man, and was a fine type of pioneer - honest, hospitable and generous to a fault." Captain Juan B. Cooper, another sailor, received the "El Molino," or Mill ranch, so named from a mill which he had erected on it in 1834, but which was washed away by a freshet in 1840-41; Manuel Torres got the Munez ranch; and the Rancho de Herman, in the northwest of the county, was granted to a number of Teutons, where they appropriately named the stream running through their property the Valhalla. Jasper O'Farrel exchanged a ranch in Marin county for the Canada de Jonive, situated in Analy township; and acquired, by purchase or otherwise, from McIntosh, the tract in Bodega township known as the Estero Americano. Mark West received six thousand six hundred and sixty-three acres, between the two streams now called Mark West Creek and Santa Rosa Creek.

In another portion of our work will be found a fuller record of these Spanish grants. The above named are sufficient to note in this place. Says Mr. Robert Thompson "The total number of acres included in all the grants in the county was four hundred thousand, one hundred and forty-three, just less than one-half its whole area as now bounded, which is estimated at eight hundred and fifty thousand acres. All the valleys we have elsewhere described were covered by grants without an exception. The public land all lay in low hills, on the border of the valleys, and in the mountains. Fortunately for the future welfare of the county, these grants were subdivided and sold in small tracts at a very early date. The titles to most of them were settled without much dispute or delay; and the subdivided lands were purchased by industrious and enterprising farmers, who have since lived upon and improved them. They have converted the long-horned worthless Spanish cattle into the short-horn, and the mustang horse into the thoroughbred, and the pastures of this worthless stock into homes of beauty and teeming abundance. With one exception all the grants have been sold in small tracts, and that is the Cotate ranch, on the plain between Petaluma and Santa Rosa. This tract belongs to an estate, and under the will can not be divided until the youngest child comes of age. This is the largest farm in the county, the railroad passing through it for six miles. The dairy is supplied with the milk of two hundred and fifty cows; there are five hundred head of cattle on the place, and ten thousand head of sheep; each cow averages daily one pound and a quarter of butter during the season, and the sheep shear an average of six pounds of wool each."

The early settlers in Sonoma County, but more especially those in the hilly districts, had always been more or less molested by wild animals, chief among them being the grizzly bear. Up in the hills about Healdsburg Cyrus Alexander had his share of these annoyances; let us record one of his experiences: He was then the proud possessor of a number of hogs, and hogs were but few in the county, one being worth about seventy-five dollars. It is well-known that the grizzly has a most unjudaic partiality for pork, and one especially had evinced this taste among Mr. Alexander's pigs. He was a huge monster, and many plans had been laid to effect his capture, but without success. One night the "old fellow" had dispatched a fat hog, but for some unknown reason he left an uneaten half of his supper under the shade of a live oak. A war, offensive and defensive, was now declared against Bruin; it was premised that he would return on the following night to finish his repast, or, to lay in another supply. Alexander and his men therefore drove all the porkers that could be found into a pen and gave them time to quiet down, which being attained, a gap was left in the gate-way to the pen so that stragglers could find ready ingress. The watchers next stationed themselves, gun in hand, in such positions, that they could keep within view both the half eaten pig and the pen. The night was dark and rainy - just such an one as Bruin would select for a foraging expedition. Nearly three hours after the sentinels had taken their posts, the hogs in the pen commenced to squeal and give signs of being disturbed, the watchers swiftly ran in that direction and sure enough there was Mr. Grizzly at work among the pigs; he had stationed himself at the entrance bars, and as each unsuspecting porker would approach so sure would he up paw and slap him over the back; two he had killed outright while several more had been much lacerated and mangled. The wily rascal had found out that by frightening the hogs they would attempt to escape, therefore he stationed himself at the only means of exit. Unluckily, as he was neared by the party, he took up to the mountains without giving the chance for a shot; however, future plans were arranged for this for his reception. Alexander determined to build a "log cabin bear trap." This construction was eight by ten feet in size and took several hard days' work to complete. A hole was next dug and laid with a log floor upon which the trap should rest, the corners being notched and pinned in such a manner that the bear could not force his paws through. A large and strong trap-door was next made, but before it was completed a tempting bait was set so as to lure Bruin to the spot - the ruse was successful - he came, took possession of the meat and returned to his lair. The door being now finished, the trap was put into working order and once more baited, this time with the entire pig, the door was hung upon a double trigger, after the manner of the "box skunk traps" of to-day, and was found to work admirably. Patience did the rest. In the morning, the door was down and the trap occupied by a monster weighing nine hundred pounds, who soon received his quietous with a rifle bullet.

In the early part of 1839 a company was made upon in St. Louis, Missouri, to cross the plains to California, consisting of D. G. Johnson, Charles Klein, David D. Dutton, mentioned earlier as having come to the country with Captain Smith, and William Wiggins. Fearing the treachery of the Indians this little band determined to await the departure of a party of traders in the employ of the American Fur Company, on their annual tour to the Rocky Mountains. At Westport they were joined by Messrs. Wright, Gegger, a Doctor Wiselzenius and his German companion, and Peter Lassen, as also two missionaries with their wives and hired man, en route for Oregon, as well as a lot of what were termed fur trappers, bound for the mountains, the entire company consisting of twenty-seven men and two women.

The party proceeded on their journey and in due time arrived at the Platte River, but here their groceries and breadstuff gave out; happily the country was well stocked with food, the bill of fare consisting henceforward of buffalo, venison, cat-fish, suckers, trout, salmon, duck, pheasant, sage-fowl, beaver, hare, horse, grizzly bear, badger and dog. The historian of this expedition thus describes this latter portion of the menu. "As much misunderstanding seems to prevail in regard to the last animal alluded to, a particular description of it may not be uninteresting. It is, perhaps, somewhat larger than the ground squirrel of California, is subterranean and gregarious in its habitats, living in 'villages'; and from a supposed resemblance in the feet, as well as in the spinal termination, to that of the canine family, it is in popular language known as the prairie dog. But in the imposing technology of the mountain graduate it is styled the canus prairie cuss, because its cussed holes so often cause the hunter to be unhorsed when engaged in the chase."

After enduring a weary journey, accompanied by the necessary annoyances from treacherous and pilfering Sioux, hail-storms, rain and thunderstorms, our voyagers arrived at Fort Hall, where they were disappointed at not being able to procure a guide to take them to California. This was almost a death-blow to the hopes of the intrepid travelers; but having learned of a settlement on the Willamette River, they concluded to proceed thither in the following spring, after passing the winter at this fort. Here Klein and Doctor Wiselzenius determined to retrace their steps; thus the party was now reduced to five in number - Johnson going ahead and leaving for the Sandwich Islands. In September, 1839, the company reached Oregon, and sojourned there during the winter of that year; but in May, 1840, a vessel arrived with Missionaries from England, designing to touch at California on her return, Mr. William Wiggans, now of Monterey, the narrator of this expedition, and his three companions from Missouri, among whom was David D. Dutton, at president a resident of Vacaville township, in Solano County, got on board; but Mr. W., not having a dollar, saw no hope to get away; as a last resort, he sent to one of the passengers, a comparative stranger, for the loan of sixty dollars, the passage-money, when, to his great joy and surprise, the money was furnished - a true example of the spontaneous generosity of those early days. There were three passengers from Oregon, and many others who were "too poor to leave." In June, they took passage in the "Lausenne," and were three weeks in reaching Baker's Bay, a distance of only ninety miles. On July 3d, they left the mouth of the Columbia, and, after being out thirteen days, arrived at Bodega, in Sonoma County, then a harbor in possession of the Russians. Here a dilemma arose of quite a threatening character. The Mexican Commandant sent a squad of soldiers to prevent the party from landing, as they wished to do, for the captain of the vessel had refused to take them farther on account of want of money. At this crisis, the Russian Governor arrived, and ordered the soldiers to leave, be shot down, or go to prison; they, therefore, beat a retreat. Here were our travelers at a standstill, with no means of proceeding on their journey, or of finding their way out of the inhospitable country; they, therefore, penned the following communication to the American Consul, then at Monterey: -

"Port Bodega, July 25, 1840

"To the American Consul of California -

"DEAR SIR: - We, the undersigned citizens of the United States, being desirous to land in the country, and having been refused a pass-port, and been opposed by the Government, we write to you, sir, for advice, and claim your protection. Being short of funds, we are not able to proceed further on the ship. We have concluded to land under the protection of the Russians; we will remain there fifteen days, or until we receive and answer from you, which we hope will be as soon as the circumstances of the case will permit. We have been refused a passport from General Vallejo. Our object is to get to the settlements, or to obtain a pass to return to our own country. Should we receive no relief, we will take up our arms and travel, consider ourselves in enemy country, and defend ourselves with our guns.

"We subscribe ourselves,

"Most respectively, "David Dutton,

"John Stevens,

"Peter Lassen,

"Wm. Wiggins,

"J. Wright."

We have mentioned the names of those intrepid pioneers who came to Sonoma and settled - a list of the earliest of these has been given in its proper place. In our histories of the townships such matters have received the most marked treatment, and leave but little to be dealt with in the general history. Prior to the discovery of gold but comparatively few arrived, and anterior to the "Bear Flag" times their number could be counted by tens. There were these trusty pioneers, Cyrus Alexander (1840); Frank Bidwell (1843); and Mose Carson (1845) in Mendocino township. In Analy, there were John Walker, and the hale, hearty and most genial host, James M. Hudspeth (1843). In Sonoma there was General Vallejo (1835), now one of America's most loyal citizens. William Benitz, and Ernest Rufus (1845), had been in Salt Point. Frederick Starke (1845) had settled in Vallejo township, while through-out the county there are many names we have been unable to trace.

With the year 1846, more emigrants mounted the Sierras, and descended into the California valleys, some to remain; but there were those who never arrived, as the following interesting relation of the sufferings of the ill-fated Donner party will exemplify: -

Tuthills's History of California tells us: "Of the overland emigration to California, in 1846, about eighty wagons took a new route, from Fort Bridger, around the south end of Great Salt Lake. The pioneers of the party arrived in good season over the mountains; but Mr. Reed's and Mr. Donner's companies opened a new route through the desert, lost a months time by their explorations, and reached the foot of the Truckee Pass, in the Sierra Nevada, in the 31st of October, instead of the 1st, as they had intended. The snow began to fall on the mountains two or three weeks earlier than usual that year, and was already piled up in the Pass that they could not proceed. They attempted it repeatedly, but were often forced to return. One party built their cabins near the Truckee Lake, killed their cattle, and went into winter quarters. The other (Donner's) party, still believed that they could thread the pass, and so failed to build their cabins before more snow came and buried their cattle alive. Of course these were soon utterly destitute of food, for they could not tell where the cattle were buried, and there was no hope of game on a desert so piled with snow that nothing without wings could move. The number of those who were thus storm-stayed, at the very threshold of the land whose winters are one long spring, was eighty, of whom thirty were females, and several children. The Mr. Donner who had charge of one company, was an Illinoisian, sixty years of age, a man of high respectability and abundant means. His wife was a woman of education and refinement, and much younger than he.

During November it snowed thirteen days; during December and January, eight days in each. Much of the time the tops of the cabins were below the snow level.

It was six weeks after the halt was made that a party of fifteen, including five women and two Indians who acted as guides, set out on snow-shoes to cross the mountains, and give notice to the people of the California settlements of the condition of their friends. At first the snow was so light and feathery that even in snow-shoes they sank nearly a foot at every step. On the second day they crossed the 'divide,' finding the snow at the summit twelve feet deep. Pushing forward with the courage of despair, they made from four to eight miles a day.

Within a week they got entirely out of provisions; and three of them, succumbing to cold, weariness, and starvation, had died. Then a heavy snow-storm came on, which compelled them to lie still, buried between their blankets under the snow, for thirty-six hours. By the evening of the tenth day three more had died, and the living had been four days without food. The horrid alternative was accepted - they took the flesh from the bones of their dead, remained in camp two days to dry it, and then pushed on.

On New Years, the sixteenth day since leaving Truckee Lake, they were toiling up a steep mountain. Their feet were frozen. Every step was marked with blood. On the Second of January, their food again gave out. On the third, they had nothing to eat but the strings of their snow-shoes. On the fourth, the Indians eloped, justly suspicious that they might be sacrificed for food. On the fifth, they shot a deer, and that day one of their number died. Soon after three others died, and every death now eked out the existence of the survivors. On the seventeenth, all gave out, and concluded their wandering useless, except one. He, guided by two stray friendly Indians, dragged himself on till he reached a settlement on Bear River. By midnight the settlers had found and were treating with all Christian kindness what remained of the little company that, after more than a month of the most terrible sufferings, had that morning halted to die.

The story that there were emigrants perishing on the other side of the snowy barrier ran swiftly down the Sacramento valley to New Helvetia, and Captain Sutter, at his own expense, fitted out an expedition of men and of mules laden with provisions, to cross the mountains and relieve them. It ran on to San Francisco, and the people, rallying in public meeting, raised fifteen hundred dollars, and with it fitted out another expedition. The naval commandant of the port fitted out still others.

The first of the relief parties reached Truckee Lake on the nineteenth of February. Ten of the people in the nearest camp were dead. For four weeks those who were still alive had fed only on bullocks' hides. At Donner's camp they had but one hide remaining. The visitors left a small supply of provisions with the twenty-nine whom they could not take with them, and started back with the remainder. Four of the children they carried on their backs.

Another of the relief parties reached Truckee Lake on the first of March. They immediately started back with seventeen of the sufferers; but, a heavy snow storm overtaking them, they left all, except three of the children, on the road. Another party went after those who were left on the way; found three of them dead, and the rest sustaining life by feeding on the flesh of the dead.

The last relief party reached Donner's camp late in April, when the snows had melted so much that the earth appeared in spots. The main cabin was empty, but some miles distant they found the last survivor of all lying on the cabin floor smoking his pipe. He was ferocious in aspect, savage and repulsive in manner. His camp-kettle was over the fire and in it his meal of human flesh preparing. The stripped bones of his fellow-sufferers lay around him. He refused to return with the party, and only consented when he saw there was no escape.

Mrs. Donner was the last to die. Her husband's body, carefully laid out and wrapped in a sheet, was found at his tent. Circumstances led to the suspicion that the survivor had killed Mrs. Donner for her flesh and her money, and when he was threatened with hanging, and the rope tightened around his neck, he produced over five hundred dollars in gold, which, probably, he had appropriated from her store."

In relation to this dreary story off suffering, this portion of our history will be concluded by the narration of the prophetic dream of George Yount, attended, as it was, with such marvelous results.

At this time, (the winter of 1846) while residing in Napa County, of which, as has been already remarked, he was the pioneer settler, he dreamt that a party of emigrants were snow-bound in the Sierra Nevadas, high up in the mountains, where they were suffering the most distressing privations from cold and want of food. The locality where his dream had placed these unhappy mortals, he had never visited, yet so clear was his vision that he described the sheet of water surrounded by lofty peaks, deep-covered with snow, while on every hand towering pine trees reared their heads far above the limitless waste. In his sleep he saw the hungry human beings ravenously tear the flesh from the bones of their fellow creatures, slain to satisfy their craving appetites, in the midst of a gloomy desolation. He dreamed his dream on three successive nights, after which he related to others, among whom were a few who had been on hunting expeditions in the Sierras. They wished for a precise description of the scene foreshadowed to him. They recognized the Truckee, now the Donner Lake. On the strength of this recognition Mr. Yount fitted out a search expedition, and, with these men as guides, went to the place indicated, and, prodigious to relate, was one of the successful relieving parties to reach the ill-fated Donner party.

Of those who were fortunate to press the wished-for peaceful glades with their weary feet were the Gordons, W. J. Morrow of Mendocino, (1848;) Louis Adler of Sonoma, (1848;) and some others whose names will be found elsewhere.

Who does not think of 1848 with feelings almost akin to inspiration?

The year 1848 is one wherein reached the nearest attainment of the discovery of the Philosopher's stone, which it has been the lot of the Christendom to witness: on January 19th gold was discovered, at Coloma, on the American River, and the most unbelieving and cold-blooded were, by the middle of spring, irretrievably bound in its fascinating meshes. The wonder is that the discovery was not made earlier. Emigrants, settlers, hunters, practical miners, scientific exploring parties, had camped on, settled in, hunted through, dug in and ransacked the region, yet never found it; the discovery was entirely accidental. Franklin Tuthill, in his History of California, tells the story in these words: "Captain Sutter had contracted with James W. Marshall, in September, 1847, for the construction of a sawmill, in Coloma. In the course of the winter a dam and race were made, but, when the water was let on, the tail-race was too narrow. To widen and deepen it, Marshall let in a strong current of water directly to the race, which bore a large body of mud and gravel to the foot.

On the 19th of January, 1848, Marshall observed some glittering particles in the race, which he was curious enough to examine. He called five carpenters on the mill to see them; but though they talked over the possibility of its being gold, the vision did not inflame them. Peter L. Weimar claims that he was with Marshall when the first piece of "yellow stuff" was picked up. It was a pebble, weighing six pennyweights and eleven grains. Marshall gave it to Mrs. Weimar, and asked her to boil it in saleratus water and see what came of it. As she was making soap at the time, she pitched it into the soap kettle. About twenty-four hours afterwards it was fished out and found all the brighter for its boiling.

Marshall, two or three weeks later, took the specimens below, and gave them to Sutter, to have them tested. Before Sutter had quite satisfied himself as to their nature, he went up to the mill, and, with Marshall, made a treaty with the Indians, buying of them their titles to the region round about, for a certain amount of goods. There was an effort made to keep the secret inside the little circle that knew it, but it soon leaked out. They had many misgivings and much discussion whether they were not making themselves ridiculous; yet by common consent all began to hunt, though with no great spirit, for the "yellow stuff" that might prove such a prize.

In February, one of the party went to Yerba Buena, taking some of the dust with him. Fortunately he stumbled upon Isaac Humphrey, an old Georgian gold-miner, who at the first look at the specimens, said they were gold, and that the diggings must be rich. Humphrey tried to induce some of his friends to go up with him to the mill, but they thought it a crazy expedition, and left him to go alone. He reached there on the 7th of March. A few were hunting for gold, but rather lazily, and the work on the mill went on as usual. Next day he began "prospecting" and soon satisfied himself that he had struck a rich placer. He made a rocker, and then commenced work in earnest.

A few days later, a Frenchman, Baptiste, formerly a miner in Mexico, left the lumber he was sawing for Sutter at Weber's, ten miles east of Coloma, and came to the mill. He agreed with Humphrey that the region was rich, and, like him, took to the pan and the rocker. These two men were the competent practical teachers of the crowd that flocked in to see how they did it. The lesson was easy, the process simple. An hour's observation fitted the least experienced for working to advantage.

Slowly and surely, however, did these discoveries creep into the minds of those at home and abroad; the whole civilized world was set agog with the startling news from the shores of the Pacific. Young and old were seized with the California fever; high and low, rich and poor, were infected by it; the prospect was altogether too gorgeous to contemplate. Why, they could actually pick up a fortune for the seeking it! Positive affluence was within the grasp of the weakest; the very coast was shining with the bright metal, which could be obtained by picking it out with a knife.

Says Tuthill: Before such considerations as these, the conservatism of the most stable bent. Men of small means, whose tastes inclined them to keep out of all hazardous schemes and uncertain enterprises, thought they saw duty beckoning them around the Horn, or across the plains. In many a family circle, where nothing but the strictest economy could make the two ends of the year meet, there were long and anxious consultations, which resulted in selling off a piece of the homestead or the woodland, or the choicest of the stock, to fit out one sturdy representative to make a fortune for the family. Hundreds of farms were mortgaged to buy tickets for the land of gold. Some insured their lives and pledged their policies for an outfit. The wild boy was packed off hopefully. The black sheep of the flock was dismissed with a blessing, and the forlorn hope that, with a change of skies, there might be a change of manners. The stay of the happy household said, "Good-bye, but only for a year or two," to his charge. Unhappy husbands availed themselves cheerfully of this cheep and reputable method of divorce, trusting Time to mend or mar matters in their absence. Here was a chance to begin life anew. Whoever had begun it badly, or made slow headway on the right course, might start again in a region where Fortune had not learned to coquette with and dupe her wooers.

The adventurers generally formed companies, expecting to go overland or by sea to the mines, and to dissolve partnership only after a first trial of luck together in the "diggings." In the Eastern and Middle States they would buy up an old whaling ship, just ready to be condemned to the wreckers, put in a cargo of such stuff as they must need themselves, and provisions, tools, or goods, that must be sure to bring returns enough to make the venture profitable. Of course, the whole fleet rushing together through the Golden Gate made most of these ventures profitless, even when the guess was happy as to the kind of supplies needed by the Californians. It can hardly be believed what sieves of ships started, and how many of them actually made the voyage. Little river-streamers, that had scarcely tasted salt water before, were fitted out to thread the Straits of Magellan, and these were welcomed to the bays and rivers of California, whose waters some of them ploughed and vexed busily for years afterwards.

Then steamers, as well as all manner of sailing vessels, began to be advertised to run to the Isthmus; and they generally went crowded to excess with passengers, some of whom were fortunate enough, after the toilsome ascent of the Chagres River, and the descent either on mules or on foot to Panama, not to be detained more than a month waiting for the craft that had rounded the Horn, and by which they were ticketed to proceed to San Francisco. But hundreds broke down under the horrors of the voyage in the steerage; contracted on the Isthmus the low typhoid fevers incident to tropical marshy regions, and died.

The overland emigrants, unless they came too late in the season to the Sierras, seldom suffered as much, as they had no great variation of climate on their route. They had this advantage, too, that the mines lay at the end of their long road; while the sea-faring, when they landed, had still a weary journey before them. Few tarried longer at San Francisco than was necessary to learn how utterly useless were the curious patent mining contrivances they had brought, and to replace them with the pick, shovel, pan, and cradle. If any one found himself destitute of funds to go farther, there was work enough to raise them by. Labor was honorable; and the daintiest dandy, if he were honest, could not resist the temptation to work where wages were so high, pay so prompt, and employers so flush.

There were not lacking in San Francisco, grumblers who had tried the mines and satisfied themselves that it cost a dollar's worth of sweat and time, and living exclusively on bacon, beans, and "slap-jacks," to pick a dollar's worth of gold out of rock, or river bed, or dry ground; but they confessed that the good luck which they never enjoyed abode with others. Then the display of dust, slugs, and bars of gold in the public gambling places; the sight of men arriving every day freighted with the belts full, which they parted with so freely as men only can when they have got it easily; the testimony of the miniature rocks; the solid nuggets brought down from above every few days, whose size and value rumor multiplied according to the number of her tongues. The talk, day and night, unceasingly and exclusively of "gold, easy to get and hard to hold," inflamed all new comers with the desire to hurry on and share the chances. They chafed at the necessary detentions. They nervously feared that all would be gone before they should arrive.

The prevalent impression was that the placers would give out in a year or two. Then it behoved him who expected to gain much to be among the earliest on the ground. When experiment was so fresh in the field, one theory was about as good as another. An hypothesis that lured men perpetually farther up the gorges of the foot-hills, and to explore the canons of the mountains, was this: - that the gold which had been found in the beds of rivers, or in gulches, through which streams once ran, must have been washed down from the places of original deposit farther up the mountains. The higher up the gold-hunter went, then, the nearer he approached the source of supply.

To reach the mines from San Francisco, the course lay up San Pablo and Suisun Bays, and the Sacramento - not then, as now, a yellow, muddy stream, but a river pellucid and deep - to the landing for Sutter's Fort; and they who made the voyage in sailing vessels, thought Mount Diablo significantly named, so long it kept them company and swung its shadow over their path. From Sutter's the most common route was across the broad, fertile valley to the foot-hills, and up the American or some one of its tributaries; or, ascending the Sacramento to the Feather and the Yuba, the company staked off a claim, pitched its tents or constructed a cabin, and set up its rocker, or began to oust the river from a portion of its bed. Good luck might hold the impatient adventurers for a whole season on one bar; bad luck scattered them farther up.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Roads sought the mining camps, which did not stop to study roads. Traders came in to supply the camps, and, not very fast, but still to some extent; mechanics and farmers to supply both traders and miners. So, as if by magic, within a year or two after the rush began, the map of the country was written thick with the names of settlements.

Some of these were the nuclei of towns that now flourish and promise to continue as long as the State is peopled. Others, in districts where the placers were soon exhausted, were deserted almost as hastily as they were begun, and now no traces remain of them except the short chimney-stack, the broken surface of the ground, heaps of cobble-stones, rotting, half-buried sluice boxes, empty whisky bottles, scattered playing cards and rusty cans.

The "Fall of '49 and Spring of '50" is the era of California history which the pioneer always speaks of with warmth. It was the free-and-easy age when every body was flush, and fortune, if not in the palm, was only just beyond the grasp of all. Men lived chiefly in tents, or in cabins scarcely more durable, and behaved themselves like a generation of bachelors. The family was beyond the mountains; the restraints of society had not yet arrived. Men threw off the masks they had lived behind and appeared out in their true character. A few did not discharge the consciences and convictions which they had brought with them. More rollicked in a perfect freedom from those bonds which good men cheerfully assume in settled society for the good of the greater number. Some afterwards resumed their temperate and steady habits, but hosts were wrecked before the period of their license expired.

Very rarely did men, on their arrival in the country, begin to work at their old trade or profession. To the mines first. If fortune favored, they soon quit for congenial employments. If she frowned, they might depart disgusted, if they were able; but oftener, from sheer inability to leave the business, they kept on, drifting from bar to bar, living fast, reckless, improvident, half-civilized lives; comparatively rich to-day, poor to-morrow; tormented with rheumatisms and agues, remembering dimly the joys of the old homestead; nearly weaned from the friends at home, who, because they were never heard from, soon became like dead men in their memory; seeing little of women and nothing of churches; self-reliant, yet satisfied that there was nowhere any "show" for them; full of enterprise in the direct line of their business and utterly lost in the threshold of any other; genial companions, morbidly craving after newspapers; good fellows, but short-lived."

Such was the maelstrom which dragged all into its vortex thirty years ago! Now, almost the entire generation of pioneer miners, who remained in that business, has passed away, and the survivors feel like men who are lost and old before their time, among the new comers, who may be just as old, but lack their long, strange chapter of adventures.

No history of a county in California would be complete without a record of the rush to this coast at the time of what is so aptly named the "gold fever;" hence use has been made of the graphic pen-picture quoted above.

Where there were so many homeless, houseless wanderers, the marvel is not so much that thousands should have succombed to sickness, as that there was no epidemic to sweep off the entire reckless population.

After the gold excitement, 'twas then that the State became settled. In the year 1849 there came and located near Occidental, in Bodega township, William Howard, whose name is given to the railroad station at that town; and to Mendocino there came William T. Allen and Hiram W. Smith. In the following year immigration was still on the increase. Charlie Hudspeth arrived in Bodega; George Miller to Mendocino; to Russian River, J. W. Calhoon, Henry J. Paul, and Henry L. Runyon, to Cloverdale, John Dixon; and to Santa Rosa, W. B. Roberts. In the year 1851 towns commenced to make a start. In Analy township there arrived W. D. Canfield, William Abels, William Jones, Edward Thurbur, G. Wolff; to Sonoma came Franklin Sears, Coleman Talbot, and many others; to Cloverdale, J. G. Heald; to Santa Rosa, John Adams and Joseph Wright; while to Petaluma, which had them sprung into existence, there came Robert Douglas, J. H. Lewis, James Singley, Lemarcus Wiatt, Tom Lockwood, George B. Williams. In the following years settlers still poured in; they found the cultivable portions of the soil up to their highest expectations, and so they built habitations, and to-day no more flourishing people are to be found in any part of California.

In the year 1852, as the settlers formed the centers of communities, it was found imperative to erect churches and provide schools for the instruction of the comparatively few children that had in their tender youth crossed the plains with their adventurous parents, or faced the dangers of the deep around, "the Horn," or arrived scatheless from the effects of a Panama fever. Let us note what was done.