The Beginnings of San Francisco - Notes 16-30



NOTE 16. RIO DE SANTA ANA

To those who have only seen the dry bed of the Santa Ana river in summer 
Anza's account of the passage will seem strange. Some one has said that 
the bed of a southern California river is on top; and the Santa Ana is a 
typical river of southern California. The visible water supply is not by 
any means all there is if one of these streams. A great part of the flow 
is under the surface, and though the bed of the river may be dry, 
abundance of water may be generally found by sinking. Where the rock 
approaches the surface, as in the entrance to a canon, the water rises, 
only to sink again as the rock recedes. The Santa Ana river, the crossing 
of which was so serious a matter to Anza's expedition, shows to most 
persons passing through San Bernardino valley but a dry bed of sand; yet 
this river forms one of the most important and valuable water supplies in 
the south. Rising in the San Bernardino mountains (Sierra Madre) it comes 
out of a broad canon at the east end of the valley where its surface flow 
in summer is all taken by the ditch companies supplying the Highlands and 
Redlands districts. The San Bernardino valley, bed of an ancient lake, 
receives at its edge several streams, tributary to the Santa Ana, which 
promptly disappear. The subterranean flow of the river, probably spread 
out through the basin of the valley, is gathered with the water of the 
tributaries and thrown to the surface again by the rim of the basin as the 
stream passes from the valley through the gap between Slover mountain and 
the Riverside mesa. Here the water is taken for the Riverside district. 
Ten miles below, the stream rises to the surface again as it enters the 
head of its canon through the coast range and during its passage through 
this canon the ditches supplying Orange county take their water. {Hall: 
Irrigation in California. 119 et seq.} Emerging from the canon the waters 
again seek their underground channel and flow onward to the sea, spreading 
through the land and in some places creating large cienegas. In one of 
these cienegas, on Las Bolsas rancho, an important industry was begun some 
years ago--the raising of celery. From this rancho there is shipped 
annually two thousand carloads of celery. 

Portola reached the neighborhood of the river July 26, 1769, Saint Anne's 
day, and crossed it on the 28th, giving it the saint's name, by which it 
is still known. Crespi named it Rio Jesus de los Temblores, because of an 
earthquake they experienced there. 



NOTE 17. SANTA BARBARA

On August 18, 1769, Portola came to a large lake of fresh water, on the 
bank of which was the largest rancheria they had yet seen. They were 
courteously received by the Indians who supplied them with an abundance of 
fish both fresh and roasted. Crespi says that the fish given them as a 
present amounted to four cargas (1100 lbs.) The lake appeared to be a 
permanent one, fed from springs, and the mesa near by was covered with 
great oaks. They named the lake Laguna de la Concepcion; the pueblo being 
called the Pueblo de la Laguna. 

On the 15th of April 1782, Felipe de Neve, governor of California, 
accompanied by Junipero Serra and a large company of soldiers, arrived at 
Laguna de la Concepcion where they were handsomely received by the chief, 
Yanonolit, ruler of thirteen large rancherias. The advantages of La Laguna 
and those of Mescaltitan, two and a half leagues to the west, were 
considered and it was decided to establish the presidio and mission at the 
Laguna. The presidio was formally founded April 21, 1782, when Father 
Junipero said mass and chanted an alabado. Ortega was given the command 
with Jose Dario Argüello as ensign and fifty-five non-commissioned 
officers and men. Thus was established the presidio of Santa Barbara, the 
strongest military post in California. Eight of the company, including 
Lieutenant Ortega and Sergeant Pablo de Cota, were veterans of Portola's 
expedition. 



NOTE 18. MESCALTITAN

This was the largest group of rancherias the Spaniards found in 
California. The Indians of the Santa Barbara channel were superior to all 
others seen in California and the large and populous towns of this group 
Portola called the Contiguous Rancherias of Mescaltitan. The marshes 
surrounding the estero have been mostly drained and contain some of the 
finest walnut groves in California. The four rancherias of this group were 
called Salspalil, Hello or the Islet, Alcas, and Oksbullow; while the 
group was known as the rancherias of the Mescaltitan. Around the estero 
and marshes are numerous mounds containing the remains of a large 
population. These rancherias were on the Goleta and Dos Pueblos ranchos. 
The map of Santa Barbara county has the island designated as Mescalititan, 
but the quadrangle of the geological survey (Goleta special) has it 
"Mescal" island. The matter has been represented to the director of the 
survey but he has not seen fit to notice it. Thus are our historic names 
destroyed through the ignorance and carelessness of the public servants. 



NOTE 19. JUNIPERO SERRA

At Petra on the island of Mallorca there was born November 24, 1713, 
Miguel Jose Serra, son of Antonio Serra and Margarita Ferrer, his wife. 
The boy early developed religious tendencies and his favorite reading was 
the lives of the saints. He took the Franciscan habit at Palma September 
14, 1730, and made his profession a year later, at which time he assumed 
the name of Junipero. He was an earnest and proficient student and taught 
philosophy in the chief convent of Palma for a year before his ordination. 
He was noted for doctrinal learning and for sensational preaching, and 
often bared his shoulders and scourged himself with an iron chain, 
extinguished lighted candles on his flesh, or pounded his breast with a 
large stone, as he exhorted his hearers to penitence. 

On March 30, 1749, he obtained his warrant to join the college of San 
Fernando and devote himself to missionary work in America. He sailed from 
Cadiz in August, reached Vera Cruz December 6th, and walked to Mexico 
where he arrived January 1, 1750. For seventeen years he preached and 
taught in various places and on July 14, 1767, was appointed president of 
the California missions. In company with the governor (Portola) he marched 
with the rear guard--always on foot--reaching San Diego July 1, 1769. He 
was unable to accompany the expedition on its march to Monterey but sailed 
April 16, 1770, reached Monterey May 31st and founded the mission of San 
Carlos June 3d. 

Fray Junipero's administration of the missions was very successful and 
while kind-hearted and charitable he was most strict in his enforcement of 
religious duties. He was not always in accord with the military commanders 
and the viceroy was at times put to it to maintain the peace in his new 
establishments of California. Serra's death at San Carlos August 28, 1784, 
cast a gloom over the province, for he was greatly beloved. He was buried 
the next day in the mission church and Palou acted as president until the 
appointment of Fray Fermin Francisco Lasuen in 1785. 



NOTE 20. THE CLIMATE OF SAN FRANCISCO

The scrub oak which Anza describes reaches a height of from ten to twenty-
five feet, though this does not indicate the length of the trunk which 
frequently extends some distance in an almost horizontal position. The 
winds of which he speaks blow regularly during the summer months from ten 
o'clock in the morning until ten or eleven o'clock at night. They begin 
about the first of May and are over by the first of October. They are 
practically confined to the upper end of the peninsula--the city of San 
Francisco. These winds, which blow from the west and have been erroneously 
called trade winds, are caused by a circulation established by the 
displacement upward of the warm air of the great valley of the Sacramento-
San Joaquin which appears to move seaward at a height of about 4,000 feet 
probably descending slowly to sea level some distance from the coast, and 
the cool air flowing in from the sea has its movement accelerated both by 
the topography and by the temperature gradient. From experiments which 
have been made by weather bureau officials the depth of the surface flow 
in midsummer is about 1,700 feet. It is these winds that give to San 
Francisco its peculiar climate and make the citizen hesitate to name the 
coldest month of the year. They have been much abused and afford to many 
inhabitants of the city a constant and fruitful cause of complaint. To 
persons of weak lungs and to those subject to bronchial affections they 
are sometimes trying. It is not the west wind, however, that exerts a 
baleful influence, but the north wind, and that, fortunately, is not 
frequent. The summer winds are healthful and invigorating. A chart of mean 
summer wind velocity, prepared by the weather bureau, shows the increase 
of velocity from 8.6 miles per hour at 9 A. M. to 21 miles at 5 P. M. and 
a decrease to 11 miles at 10 P. M. These are the averages for the three 
summer months. The highest recorded velocity for those months in a period 
of thirty-nine years is forty-eight miles an hour, southwest, on June 30, 
1873. With the wind direct from the ocean at a velocity of twenty-one 
miles, laden perhaps with fog, a mean temperature of 59 degrees 
Fahrenheit, with an occasional drop to 47 degrees, one can readily 
understand why summer visitors to San Francisco are advised to bring warm 
clothing with them. Warm weather comes but rarely, usually lasts three 
days, and is accompanied by north wind. A period of warm weather during 
the summer months is usually brought to a close at the evening of the 
third day with strong west winds, dense fog, and a temperature ranging 
from 49 degrees to 54 degrees. The highest temperature recorded in San 
Francisco is 101 degrees, September 8, 1904; the lowest, 29 degrees, 
January 15, 1888; the greatest daily range recorded 43 degrees, June 29, 
1891, and the mean daily range for June, July, and August, is 11 degrees 
8'. San Francisco's pleasantest weather is after the winds cease in the 
fall and before they begin in the spring. This is during the so-called 
rainy season. People who do not know California imagine that the rainy 
season is one of gloom when those of the unfortunate inhabitants who are 
obliged to venture out do so in peril of the floods. It is, on the 
contrary, the most delightful season of the year. The rainfall is not 
excessive; the average in San Francisco for sixty years being only 22.98 
inches per annum. The rains begin after the summer winds close and come 
with the soft southeast wind. The air is warm and springlike and as the 
Egyptians rejoice over the rising of the Nile, so the Californians are 
happy in the coming of the rain. It means for them not only prosperity but 
health and a relief from the nervous tension caused by a long dry summer. 
{See Climatology of California, by Alexander G. McAdie, Professor of 
Meteorology, Bulletin U.S. Dept. Agriculture.} 



NOTE 21. LOS DOLORES

There has been much discussion over the original location of the mission 
of San Francisco and to what stream or body of water was given the name of 
Los Dolores. Franklin Tuttle says: "The first site chosen for the mission 
was near the 'lagoon' back of Russian Hill, but the winds were so bitter 
that it was soon removed to the spot on the creek where the crumbling old 
church and some of the houses that surrounded it still stand" (Hist. of 
California, p. 86). Soule, Gihon, and Nesbit say: "On the 27th of June, 
1776, an expedition which had started from Monterey arrived on the borders 
of a small lake, the same which is now called 'Washerman's Lagoon,' near 
the sea shore from which it was separated by low sand-hills. This was 
situated towards the northern extremity of the peninsula of San Francisco 
and the surplus waters of which discharge themselves into the strait that 
connects the bay with the ocean and which was afterwards called the Golden 
Gate. {Washerman's Lagoon was never connected with the bay. The 
conformation of the land forbids it.} The neighborhood of this lake 
promised the best place for a mission, though it was subsequently planted 
about two miles to the south" (Annals of San Francisco. 46). General M. G. 
Vallejo says: "The lake of Dolores was located and could be seen to the 
right of the road coming from the presidio to the mission, between two 
hills" (Discurso Historico. Centenial Memoir, p. 107). The editor of the 
memoir (p. 25) identifies the spot as the San Souci valley, immediately 
behind the hill on which the Protestant Orphan Asylum now stands. John W. 
Dwinelle says: "I have been to the mission of Dolores and had an interview 
with a lady resident there, Dona Carmen Sibrian de Bernal. She was born in 
Monterey in 1804 was married in 1821 to Jose Cornelio Bernal, and came 
here to reside the same year. She is a woman of great vivacity and 
intelligence, and states that the tradition is that when the missionary 
Fathers came here to establish the mission, they encamped at a pond which 
existed where the Willows now are, and to which a great tide creek made up 
from the bay. I also visited the site of the 'Willows,' and found that 
although the soil had been filled in there several feet during my own 
recollection, the fresh water was still flowing out towards the bay" 
(Colonial History of San Francisco, p. xiii). "The Willows" was a resort 
of the early fifties occupying what is now the block between Valencia, 
Mission, 18th, and 19th streets. Judge Dwinelle was correct in his 
location of the Laguna de los Dolores. Bancroft says: "It will be 
remembered that Anza applied the name Dolores to an ojo de agua, a spring 
or stream which he thought capable of irrigating the mission lands, making 
no mention of any laguna" (Hist. California, i, 294). Bancroft is 
mistaken. Anza wrote on March 28th that at a little more than half a 
league to the southeast of Laguna Pequena there was a rather large laguna 
that appeared to be permanent, on the margin of which garden stuff could 
be raised; and on the 29th: "I again went to the Laguna de Manantial 
spoken of yesterday and also to the ojo de agua which I called Los 
Dolores." Palou says: "He (Anza) followed a course along the inside of the 
port, going around the land, coming out on the shore of the estero or arm 
of the sea (bay of San Francisco) on the southwest and arriving at the 
shore of the bay which the mariners (Ayala's men) called Los Llorones, 
{The Weepers. The name being given by Aguirre, second mate of the San 
Carlos, because of some Indians weeping on the shore.} crossed an arroyo 
where a great lake empties itself which (lake) he called Los Dolores, and 
the site seemed to him a good one for a mission" (Noticias de Nueva 
California iv, 142). Father Palou established the mission of San Francisco 
and administered it for eight years, and when he took the name Anza gave 
to the ojo de agua and applied it to the Laguna de Manantial, it stuck. 

I have spent a good deal of time over the location of the Arroyo de los 
Dolores and the Laguna de Manantial. The oldest inhabitant of the Mission 
has no tradition of there ever having been a lake there. It had been 
filled up by the natural wash from the mountains long before the oldest 
resident appeared, and had left no memory behind. Dwinelle however, 
writing in 1865, found those whose memory went back to the early part of 
the century and whose knowledge of the traditions, then fresh, of the 
foundation of the mission, was full and accurate. To-day the memory even 
of the "Willows" is dim and fading. On the United States Coast Survey map 
of 1857 there appears on the Mission road continuation, about in the 
neighborhood of Eighteenth street, a piece of land two hundred by three 
hundred and fifty feet, planted with trees and marked "Willows"--a 
roadside house with stables, sheds, etc. This was the place referred to by 
Dona Carmen and was about the center of the laguna. The only map I have 
seen which shows the Laguna de los Dolores is that of La Perouse. This map 
shows a large lake near the shore of Mission bay (Ensenada de los 
Llorones) and immediately west of it is shown the mission, which agrees 
with Palou's account of the founding of the mission. La Perouse was a 
commodore in the French navy commanding an expedition sent to explore the 
coasts of the Pacific. He was in Monterey in 1786. 

The Laguna de los Dolores covered the present city blocks bounded by 
Fifteenth, Twentieth, Valencia, and Howard streets, now closely built up 
with residences. It was on this filled land of the ancient laguna that the 
earthquake of April 18, 1906, did such damage, wrecking buildings and 
causing loss of life. The Arroyo de los Dolores had its rise in Los Pechos 
de la Choca (The breasts of the Indian girl)--now Twin Peaks, and flowed 
down about the line Eighteenth street into the laguna. Bayard Taylor who 
saw the Mission valley in 1849 says: "Three miles from San Francisco is 
the old mission of Dolores situated in a sheltered valley which is watered 
by a perpetual stream fed from the tall peaks towards the sea. * * * 
Several former miners in anticipation of a great influx of emigrants in 
the spring, pitched their tents on the best spots along Mission creek and 
began preparing the ground for gardens. The valley was surveyed and staked 
into lots almost to the summit of the mountains" (Eldorado pp. 64, 298-9). 

The mission was established on the spot designated by Colonel Anza and was 
never changed. The mission church, which was finished in 1784, is still in 
use as a parish church. 



NOTE 22. SAN JOSE DE GUADALUPE

The royal order for the establishment of San Francisco also included a 
pueblo in the vicinity under the jurisdiction of the presidio. The site 
selected was on the Rio de Guadalupe. Under orders of Governor Neve, 
Lieutenant Moraga took nine soldiers, skilled in agriculture, from the 
presidios of San Francisco and Monterey, five settlers (pobladores) and 
one servant, numbering with their families seventy-eight persons, and with 
them founded, on November 29, 1777, the pueblo of San Jose de Guadalupe, 
the first pueblo established in California. 

I have found no record of the names of these fifteen heads of families. 
Some of them evidently did not remain, for when, in 1783, the citizens 
were formally invested with the title to their lands, there were but nine 
who received the grants. Each settler received a solar (house lot) of 
thirty-three varas, and four suertes (planting lots) of two hundred varas 
each. Surrounding each solar was an alley of ten varas in width, and 
around each suerte one of four varas. Each also received a yoke of oxen, 
two horses, two cows, one mule, two sheep, and two goats, together with 
the necessary implements and seed, all of which was to be paid for in farm 
products delivered at the royal warehouse. Each settler was to receive ten 
dollars per month pay and soldiers' rations. In addition to all these 
rights, privileges, and emoluments, each settler had the use of the common 
lands, ejidos--the four leagues provided by law for pueblos de razon in 
the Indies--for the pasturing of his cattle; and for the common use of all 
were the rights of the woods and waters. 

The first earth-roofed structures of palisades were erected a little more 
than a mile north of the center of the modern city, but the site was 
flooded by the river freshets and the pueblo was moved to higher ground. 
Thus the beginning of beautiful San Jose, the Garden City. It had a guard 
of two soldiers from the presidio of San Francisco, and owing to its 
location and mild climate it early became the favorite place of residence 
for the retired soldiers (invalidos) of San Francisco and Monterey. 
Following is a list of the nine original grantees: 

1. Ignacio Archuleta born in San Miguel de Horcasitas, 1754. His wife was 
Ignacia Gertrudis Pacheco, daughter of the soldier Juan Salvio Pacheco. He 
was the first alcalde of San Jose. 

2. Jose Manuel Gonzales; came with Anza; see note 12. 

3. Jose Tiburcio Vasquez; came with Anza; see note 12. 

4. Manuel Domingo Amezquita; came with Anza, see note 12. 

5. Jose Antonio Romero; born in Guadalajara in 1750; married Maria Petra, 
daughter of Jose Antonio Acebes. 

6. Bernardo Rosales; born in Ville de Parras, Durango, in 1744; his wife 
was Monica, an Indian. 

7. Francisco Avila; born in Villa del Fuente, Sonora, 1744. In 1790 he was 
living in San Jose, a widower, with one son. He was reported by the 
governor as a hard citizen. 

8. Sebastian Alvitre, was a soldier of Portola's expedition. He was an 
incorrigible scamp and, like Avila spent most of his time in jail. About 
1786 he was sent to Los Angeles because San Jose could no longer stand 
him, and Los Angeles passed him on. 

9. Claudio Alvires; born in Tetauch, Sonora, 1742; wife, Ana Maria 
Gonzales. He was also in constant trouble with the authorities and they 
were finally obliged to ship him out of the country. The condition 
(calidad) of these original grantees, as shown by the padron of 1790, is 
as follows: Espanoles 3; Coyote, (Half-breed)1; Indio, 1; Mulato, 2; 
Mestizo, 1; unknown, 1. 



NOTE 23. DON FERNANDO JAVIER DE RIVERA Y MONCADA

The genesis of California contains no more notable figure than that of Don 
Fernando Javier de Rivera y Moncada. Quarrelsome, jealous, self-willed, 
and impatient of control or advice as he was, his abilities were 
recognized by the government which found constant employment for them, 
though his limitations were ascertained by one trial of independent 
command in California. He was captain in command of the presidio of Loreto 
in Baja California when Galvez organized the first expedition and was by 
him placed second in command to Portola. He was given command of the first 
land division of that expedition and was thus the first explorer to enter 
California by land. On the march to Monterey Rivera commanded the rear 
guard. When Fages was recalled in September 1773, Rivera was appointed to 
succeed him and assumed command of the California establishments May 24, 
1774. He had been captain of presidial troops for seventeen years; he had 
resented the preference shown Fages by Portola, both officers of the 
regular army, and in relieving Fages of his command at Monterey his manner 
was arrogant and his demands peremptory. The padres who found Fages 
difficult now found Rivera impossible. He was aggressive, overbearing, and 
hard to get along with. He would neither listen to advice nor permit any 
suggestions whatever regarding the affairs of the province, and he opposed 
the padres in everything. The viceroy, Bucareli, requested Rivera to keep 
on terms with the priests, as friction between the military and religious 
organizations retarded the conversion of the natives. Bucareli's 
suggestions were unheeded and on July 20, 1776, the viceroy ordered Felipe 
de Neve, governor of the Californias to take up his residence at Monterey. 
Rivera was ordered to Loreto and given the post of lieutenant-governor of 
Baja California. In 1781 Rivera was detailed to enlist recruits for the 
military service of California and settlers for the proposed pueblo on the 
Porciuncula (Los Angeles). This was his last service. He recruited his men 
in Sonora and in June 1781 arrived at the junction of the Gila and 
Colorado with forty-two soldados de cuera for the California presidios. 
These with their families he sent across the desert to San Gabriel under a 
guard of veteran soldiers, and with a personal escort of ten to twelve men 
remained in camp on the left bank of the Colorado opposite the mission of 
La Purisima Concepcion to await the return of the guard sent with the 
recruits. On July 17th the Yumas rose, and under the leadership of Palma 
destroyed the missions of La Purisima Concepcion and San Pedro y San Pablo 
de Bicuner, and then crossed the river and slew Rivera and all his men. 
Thus perished a brave and gallant officer, an indefatigable explorer, and 
one of the most famous of the founders of California. 



NOTE 24. THE COLORADO RIVER

In February 1540 Francisco Vasquez de Coronado started from Compostela at 
the head of an army of three hundred Spaniards and eight hundred Indians 
to conquer the Seven Cities of Cibola. To co-operate with the army and to 
carry the heavy baggage, a fleet of two vessels sailed from Acapulco May 
9th under command of Hernando de Alarcon whose instructions were to sail 
as close to the coast as possible and keep in communication with the army. 
For a time the course of the army and that of the ships was parallel, but 
from San Hieronimo de los Corazones (modern Ures) the route of the army 
was north, and from Cibola (Zuni) it was east-northeast while the trend of 
the coast was northwest. 

Alarcon sailed to the head of the gulf of California and discovered that 
California was not an island, as had been supposed, but a peninsula. He 
also came on August 26, 1540, at the head of the gulf, to a great river 
which at its mouth was two leagues wide. Alarcon gave the river the name 
Rio de Buena Guia--Good Guide river, and he ascended it, he says, eighty-
five leagues. 

After the departure of Coronado's army from Corazones Captain Melchior 
Diaz, who had been left by Coronado in command of the town, took twenty-
five of the most efficient men and went to find the coast and the ships of 
Alarcon. Taking guides, Diaz traveled north and west and in a journey of 
about one hundred and fifty leagues, came, perhaps in October 1540, to a 
province of exceedingly tall and strong men living on a great river, which 
by reason of a practice these men had of carrying in cold weather a 
firebrand (tison) to warm themselves, the Spaniards called Rio del Tison 
{see Anza's description of the Yumas, chapter iii}--River of the 
Firebrand. Diaz probably traveled by Horcasitas and Caborca, thence across 
the desert of the Papagueria by the route afterwards taken by Kino in 1701 
and by Anza in 1774, by way of the wells of San Eduardo Baipia; San Luis 
de Bacapa--Anza calls it Quitobac, the Papago name--to San Marcelo de 
Sonoitac; thence via the Camino del Diablo to the Colorado. Quitobac may 
be found on the map of Mexico and it is connected with the Gulf of 
California by a little railroad running to San Jorge's bay. The distance 
traveled by Diaz to the Colorado is about one hundred and thirty-eight 
leagues. 

Diaz learned from these Indians (Yumas) that there had been ships at a 
point three days' journey down the river and proceeding thither found 
written on a tree: "Alarcon reached this place; there are letters at the 
foot of this tree." Digging up the letters Diaz learned that Alarcon had 
waited long for news of the army and that he had gone back with the ships 
to New Spain, because he was unable to proceed farther since this sea was 
a bay, which was formed by the Isle of the Marquis (Cortes), {Cortes was 
given the title of Marques del Valle de Oaxaca.} which is called 
California; and it was explained that California was not an island but a 
point of the mainland forming the other side of that gulf. 

Passing up the river five or six days' journey Diaz, with the help of his 
Indian allies, crossed it on rafts and continued his exploration. Here he 
met with a grievous accident and his men retreated carrying their dying 
captain and fighting with hostile Indians. Diaz lived twenty days and 
after his death his men returned to Sonora. 

In 1605 Juan de Onate reached the mouth of the Colorado, coming overland 
from Santa Fe, and named Rio Grande de Buena Esperanza (Good Hope). In his 
journey he crossed that branch of the river now known as Colorado Chiquito 
(Little Colorado) and named it Rio Colorado a name which was later 
extended to the principal river. 



NOTE 25. LIEUTENANT WILKES

Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, United States Navy, commanding a fleet of six 
vessels engaged on a scientific exploring expedition, reached San 
Francisco October 19, 1841. From the Columbia river he had sent the sloop-
of-war Vincennes under command of Lieutenant Ringgold who, from August 
20th, had been exploring the bay and San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers. 
Another party under Lieutenant Emmons had been sent overland from Oregon 
and reached Sutter's fort October 19th. Wilkes' Narrative, that part of it 
relating to California, is a mass of misinformation concerning the 
climate, soil, and people. His criticism of the inhabitants appears to 
have been drawn from all the ill-natured accounts of disgruntled 
foreigners who had gone before, and he seems to accept for truth any 
statement discreditable to the people, however absurd. His statements are 
mostly hearsay, for his experience among the people was confined to a trip 
of two or three days to Santa Clara and San Jose and back to San 
Francisco. He says (vol. v, p. 153): "At Yerba Buena there was a similar 
absence of all authority. The only officer was the alcalde who dwells at 
the mission of Nostra Senora de los Dolores some three miles off. He was 
full of self-importance, making up for what he wanted in the eyes of 
others by a high estimate of his own dignity. I could find no one who 
could furnish me with his name, which must be my apology for not recording 
it in this place." This is ridiculous. The alcalde (juez de paz) was Don 
Francisco Guerrero, a man as well known as any in northern California; 
owner of Rancho Laguna de la Merced and a man of sufficiently high 
standing among Americans to be elected sub-prefect of the district, 1849-
1850. Again Wilkes says: "The state of society here is exceedingly loose; 
envy, hatred, and malice predominate in almost every breast, and the 
people are wretched under their present rulers; female virtue, I regret to 
say, is also at a low ebb; and the coarse and lascivious dances which meet 
the plaudits of the lookers-on show the degraded tone of manners that 
exists" (p. 198). "They have a reputation for hospitality, but will take 
money if offered through a servant, and will swindle a guest should he 
wish to hire or buy anything." His own experience during the only time he 
was brought in personal contact with them should make his cheek burn with 
shame for writing such stuff. This very censorious gentleman made, as I 
have said, a trip to Santa Clara and San Jose, and records the hospitable 
and courteous treatment he received throughout. Going in his ship's launch 
to the Embarcadero de Santa Clara (now Alviso) he there took horse for the 
mission, six miles distant. It being late at night he stopped with his 
companions about midway at the rancho house of one of the Peraltas. The 
family were in bed and asleep, but after considerable hammering the 
officers succeeded in arousing Peralta, who is described as a large 
Californian over six feet in height with the countenance of a ruffian. 
Making known their wants they were courteously invited to enter while 
Peralta awakened his wife and daughters who proceeded to get up a hot 
supper of beef, tortillas, tea, etc., most appetizing and welcome to the 
weary travelers, while the ranchero looked after their horses. While the 
mother was serving the supper the daughters changed the beds, and on 
finishing their supper the guests were shown to their room where 
comfortable beds with fresh sheets awaited them. The mother and daughters 
had given up their beds and bestowed themselves elsewhere; but so quietly 
was this done the guests were unaware of it until morning. A comfortable 
breakfast awaited their rising, after which they set out on their journey. 
There were eight of them; and there was nothing to pay. Arriving at the 
mission of Santa Clara they were hospitably received by the administrador 
and the priest, Father Mercado. Wilkes says that the administrador, tired 
of his own name, had taken the name of his wife, Aliza, one of the most 
famous in early times. Senora Aliza entertained the visitors with a most 
delicious repast, prepared with her own hands; after which they went to 
the pueblo of San Jose. Here they were received by the alcalde (sub-
prefect) whom Wilkes calls "Don Pedro"; says he was a Frenchman who had 
been twenty years in the country, and who, he says, had the appearance of 
a French pastry cook. This was Don Antonio Sunol who was a Spaniard--
however much he may have looked, in the eyes of Commander Wilkes, like a 
French pastry cook. They were entertained by Sunol and returned to Santa 
Clara for more of "Senora Aliza's" deliciously cooked food, and thence by 
horse to Yerba Buena. The administrator of Santa Clara who had "taken his 
wife's name," was Don Ignacio Alviso who came, a child of three years, 
with his father, Corporal Domingo Alviso, with the Anza expedition. His 
wife's name was Margarita Bernal. 

The foregoing will give some idea regarding the accuracy of this 
accomplished officer's observation of a people who received him and his 
officers everywhere with courteous hospitality, who permitted him to enter 
their harbors, ascend their rivers and spy out the weakness of their hold 
upon the country, and the care with which he prepared his report to his 
government. I have given but few of his comments on the inhabitants; they 
are too absurd. His miscalling of Spanish names is inexcusable in the work 
of an educated officer. The Carquines straits he calls Kaquines; the 
Cosumnes is Cosmenes; the Moquelumne is the Mogueles; Natividad is 
Nativetes; Jose de la Guerra y Noriega is Senor Noniga; San Joaquin is San 
Joachin, etc. He asserts that the land between San Francisco and San Jose 
is unfit for cultivation; a large part of the Sacramento valley is 
undoubtedly barren and unproductive, and must forever remain so; the 
country was involved in anarchy and confusion, without laws or security of 
person or property. With California is associated the idea of a fine 
climate. "This at least was the idea with which I entered its far-famed 
port; but I soon found from the reports of the officers that their 
experience altogether contradicted the received opinion." Only a small 
portion of the country offers any agricultural advantages. A Californian 
is content with coarse fare, provided he can get enough strong drink to 
minister to his thirst. "The palm for intemperance was, I think, generally 
given to the padres." 

The report of Wilkes was very much quoted by writers of the period, and of 
the accuracy of his observation and the justness of his comments the 
reader can judge. 



NOTE 26. BUCARELI

El Bailio Frey Don Antonio Maria Bucareli y Ursua lieutenant-general of 
the royal armies, was a nobleman of the highest rank, a soldier of 
distinction, and the forty-sixth viceroy of New Spain. His address of El 
Bailio Frey is that of a knight commander of Malta. Bucareli was not only 
a great but a good man and the term of his rule was the happiest that New 
Spain had experienced. Peace and prosperity reigned and the country took 
long strides in advance. He took the oath of office September 3, 1771, and 
his untimely death April 9, 1779, spread sorrow throughout the land, for 
he had won the title of Virey amado por la pax de su gobierno--Viceroy 
beloved for the peace of his government. 



NOTE 27. CONCEPCION ARGÜELLO

Nicolai Petrovich Rezanof, chamberlain of the tsar, appointed ambassador 
extraordinary to the court of Japan and imperial inspector of the Russian 
American Company, arrived in Sitka in September 1805 where he found the 
Russian colony in a pitiful state of starvation, sickness, and misery. In 
the hope of obtaining provisions from the Spanish settlements of 
California he loaded a small ship with a cargo of goods likely to be 
pleasing to the Californians and sailed for San Francisco where he arrived 
on the 4th of April 1806. The comandante, Don Jose Argüello, was absent at 
Monterey and had left his son, Don Luis, then an ensign, in command. 
Rezanof was hospitably received and entertained by the comandante and 
during the long negotiations with the provincial government which followed 
was received as a friend by the Argüello family. Among the lovely 
daughters of the comandante, Dona Concepcion had the name of being the 
beauty of California. She was just over sixteen and in a country where 
girls married at thirteen might be considered as being at the height of 
her loveliness. The advent of the distinguished and handsome courtier into 
her little uneventful world naturally impressed the girl. Rezanof, though 
no longer youthful, and a widower, was of fine presence and had a very 
attractive face. He fell desperately in love with the pretty Dona 
Concepcion and his passion being reciprocated he demanded of Don Jose the 
hand of his daughter. Finding his child's happiness at stake, Don Jose 
gave a reluctant consent, providing, of course, that Rezanof obtained the 
consent of his imperial master. The consent of the friars was more 
difficult, but with the combined effort of all it was finally obtained 
with the understanding that the betrothal should be kept secret until the 
decision of the pope should be known, Rezanof being of the Greek church. 
With the signing of the betrothal contract Rezanof found himself, as a 
member of the family, in much better condition for obtaining the supplies 
he needed, and in May sailed for Sitka with a full cargo of grain and 
other provisions for his starving colonists. 

In September Rezanof set out from Okhotsk in Siberia for an overland trip 
to St. Petersburg, to report to the tsar and obtain his consent to a 
marriage with the fair Californian. Weakened by the hardship of the past 
year he was unable to endure the long journey. He was seized with a 
violent fever and died at Krasnoyarsk, in central Siberia. 

In far California Dona Concepcion waited for her lover's return. The years 
passed and no word came. Constant to his memory she refused to listen to 
words of love from other suitors, but devoted her life to works of 
charity. After the death of her parents she lived with the De la Guerra 
family in Santa Barbara. Here Sir George Simpson met her in 1843 and from 
him she learned, it is said, the fate of her lover. Simpson says of her: 
"Notwithstanding the ravages of an interval of time which had tripled her 
years, we could still discover in her face and figure, in her manner and 
conversation, the remains of those charms which had won for the youthful 
beauty Von Rezanof's enthusiastic love." {Simpson: Narrative, 377.} When 
the Dominicans founded their convent of St. Catherine at Benicia, Dona 
Concepcion entered that establishment, and there she died in 1858 at the 
age of sixty-seven [She actually died on 23 December 1857, and is buried 
in St. Dominic's Cemetery, Benicia.-RF]. She enjoyed the respect and 
veneration of all who knew her and there were few families who could not 
remember some act of kindness at her hands. 



NOTE 28. VALLEJO

During the session of the first legislature of California, 1850, the 
tediousness of daily debate over appropriations, the dry-as-dust reports 
of highway commissions, and all the weary detail of law making, were 
relieved and illumined by a tale of romance which tinged with roseate hue 
the somber twilight of legislative halls. The innovation came in the 
unwonted form of a report of a committee on the derivation and definition 
of the names of the counties of California, by its chairman, Mariano 
Guadalupe Vallejo. 

Said the distinguished senator: (in part) "The following circumstance 
which happened during the first months of the foundation of San Luis 
Obispo is insignificant in itself, but the writer cannot help but dwell 
upon it for a moment with the most tender feelings of the heart. 

"As a matter of course at that period, few families had as yet immigrated 
to this country and the female sex was an oasis in the desert. The 
writer's father was one of the many who emigrated here in bachelorship, 
and while sojourning in San Luis Obispo he unexpectedly met with a lady 
who was in travail, and about to bring a new being into the world; and as 
there was no one, save her husband, to assist her, he acted as tenedor 
(holder). The lady was safely delivered of a girl, whereupon the tenedor, 
then a young man, solicited of the parents the hand of their child and a 
formal agreement ensued between the parties, conditional, that if at a 
mature age, the girl would willingly consent to the union the ceremony 
would be duly performed. * * * Time rolled by and year after year 
transpired until the muchacha (girl) had reached her fourteenth year, when 
the marriage took place and the offspring of that union has now the honor 
to present his readers with this short biographical sketch." {Senate 
Journal. First Session, 1850, p. 526.} 

Ignacio Vicente Ferrer Vallejo was born in La Hacienda de los Santos de 
las Canadas in the bishopric of Guadalajara, Mexico, July 29, 1748. He was 
the son of Geronimo Vallejo and Antonia Gomez, his wife. He enlisted under 
Rivera in 1773 and came to California with Lieutenant Ortega in 1774, 
serving under that officer at San Diego. In 1789 he was made a corporal 
and in 1805 a sergeant; that being as high as he rose, though in 1806 he 
was named sargento distinguido. He was married in Santa Barbara February 
18, 1791, to the young woman at whose birth he so fortunately assisted, 
Maria Antonia Isabel de Lugo, daughter of Francisco de Lugo and Juana 
Villanauel his wife. He died in Monterey in 1831. His children were: 

i.Maria Isidora, born, 1791; married Mariano Soberanes. 
ii. Maria Josefa, born 1793; married (i) Jose Francisco Alvarado and 
became the mother of Juan Bautista Alvarado, governor of California. After 
her husband's death she married Jose Raimundo Estrada. 
iii. Jose Ignacio, born, 1795. 
iv. Jose de Jesus, born, 1797; married Soledad Sanchez. 
v. Juana Maria, born, 1799. 
vi.Maria Magadelena, born, July 23, 1803. 
vii. Maria Prudencia, born, May 20, 1805; married Jose Amesti. 
viii. Mariano Guadalupe, born in Monterey July 7, 1808. 
ix. Maria Encarnacion, born March 25, 1809; married Captain J. B. R. 
Cooper. 
x. Maria Rosalia, born, 1811; married Jacob P. Leese. 
xi. Salvador, born, 1813; married Maria de la Luz Carrillo. 
xii. Maria de Jesus, born, 1815. 
xiii. Juan Bautista, born, 1817. 

Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, born in Monterey July 7, 1808; died in Sonoma 
January 18, 1890; married in San Diego March 6, 1832, Francisca Benicia 
Carrillo, one of the most beautiful of the handsome daughters of Don 
Joaquin Carrillo and Maria Ignacia Lopez his wife. 

Vallejo entered the military service as cadet of the Monterey company 
January 8, 1824. He was made alferez (ensign) July 30, 1827; lieutenant 
June 22, 1835; captain July 9, 1838; lieutenant-colonel of calvary May 2, 
1842. In 1838 he was made comandante-general of California; and previous 
to that had been made comandante militar del Frontera del Norte, with 
headquarters at Sonoma. A commission as colonel of cavalry was sent him 
September 9, 1846. {He also held a commission of colonel under the 
independency of 1836.} 

The life of young Vallejo at Monterey was not different from other boys of 
his class. With young Castro, Alvarado, Estrada, and the rest, he went to 
school to the soldier schoolmasters and as he grew older his desire for 
knowledge craved other works than the lives of the saints and the doctrina 
Christiana. Governor Sola took much interest in the boys and helped them 
to obtain a few books of a more secular nature, and as they grew older 
they made use of their opportunities in procuring from visiting ship-
masters such books as could be had which they carefully concealed from the 
vigilant eyes of the padres ever on guard to confiscate and destroy books 
of heretical tendency. 

In 1830 Vallejo was assigned to the San Francisco company of which he was 
made comandante in 1831. He made several campaigns against the Indians and 
in 1834 was sent as comisionado to secularize the mission of San Francisco 
Solano. He was a member of the territorial diputacion in 1827, and for 
several years thereafter, and in 1834 was granted the Petaluma rancho. In 
1835 Vallejo was instructed to lay out a pueblo at the Solano mission, was 
made director of colonization at the north, and was authorized to issue 
grants of land to settlers; the scheme being to prevent, by Spanish 
colonization, further extension of the Russian establishment of Ross. 
Vallejo laid out the pueblo and gave it the Indian name of the valley, 
Sonoma--Valley of the Moon. He labored very earnestly to establish his 
pueblo and succeeded in attracting a number of families to it. He 
transferred the San Francisco company to Sonoma and also organized a 
company of about fifty Indians whom he drilled in the manual of arms. 
After the neglect of the Mexican government to pay its soldiers had caused 
the presidial companies to disband, Vallejo supported his military 
establishment for several years at his own expense. In 1834 he took the 
preliminary steps for establishing a civil government at San Francisco and 
on January 1, 1835, turned over to the ayuntamiento the control of civil 
affairs of that pueblo. He was untiring in his efforts to settle and 
develop the northern frontier and through his wise management and 
influence with the Indian chiefs the peace of the frontier was rarely 
broken. In the rising of Alvarado and Castro against Gutierrez he took no 
active part, though his sympathies were with his nephew, Alvarado, and he 
accepted office under the government formed by him. He was now (1837) the 
foremost man in California as he was one of the richest. Over the hills of 
his princely estate of Petaluma roamed ten thousand cattle, four to six 
thousand horses, and many thousand sheep. He occupied a baronial castle on 
the plaza at Sonoma, where he entertained all who came with most royal 
hospitality and few travelers of note came to California without visiting 
him. At Petaluma he had a great ranch house called La Hacienda and on his 
home farm, Lachryma Montis (Tear of the Mountain), he built, about 1849, a 
modern frame house where he spent the later years of his life. 

Vallejo's attitude towards the Russians at Fort Ross and Bodega was firm 
and dignified. He maintained that the Russians were on California soil and 
he notified the Russian manager, Rotchef, that while the use of the port 
of Bodega by the Russians was tolerated, if he permitted foreigners to 
land and enter the country in defiance of law he must not be surprised if 
he found Mexican troops stationed there. 

Vallejo also objected to Sutter' s establishing an independent 
principality in the Sacramento valley and his assumption of authority to 
wage war upon the natives, to grant passports, and to exercise other 
prerogatives of sovereignty. This made Sutter very angry and he announced 
that if he were interfered with he would not only defend himself but would 
declare the independence of California from the Mexican rule. 

We have seen (in chapter xi) the ineffectual attempts of Vallejo to revive 
the military establishment of California. He had cause to be dissatisfied 
with the administration of Alvarado, who, giving himself up to luxurious 
ease and dissipation had largely left the management of affairs to the 
politicians that surrounded him. Juan Bautista Alvarado was a young man of 
excellent ability, fairly well educated for his time, of handsome person 
and courteous manners, and of great popularity and influence with all 
classes. He was born in Monterey February 14, 1809, and was son of Jose 
Francisco Alvarado and Maria Josefa Vallejo, and his grandfather, Juan 
Bautista Alvarado, was a soldier of Portola's expedition, 1769. Alvarado's 
marriage to Dona Martina Castro, daughter of Francisco Maria Castro, at 
the mission of Santa Clara August 24, 1839, was a notable event and was 
attended by all the great in social and political life. Alvarado, who was 
then governor, was ill at Monterey and was represented by his half-
brother, Jose Antonio Estrada, who as his proxy, stood at the altar with 
the bride. The governor was at this time thirty years of age, and of most 
distinguished appearance; but already the habit of excessive drinking was 
upon him and it soon became so confirmed that he was frequently unable, 
through "illness," to perform his official duties. 

Disappointed in his expectation of reform in the government and in the 
failure of what he considered necessary measures for the national defence, 
Vallejo wrote the supreme government in 1841 giving his opinion of 
Alvarado's rule, stating his belief that the country was going to ruin, 
and asking to be relieved of his command. He recommended that the offices 
of governor and comandante-general be united in one person. Later in 
December of that year he pointed out to the minister of war the illness of 
California and suggested the remedy that should be applied. California as 
a country was nowhere excelled in natural advantages of climate, soil, and 
harbors, and it had all the elements of a grand prosperity, needing only 
an energetic population and wise regulations. The land was capable of 
every product for the welfare of a happy and prosperous people yet they 
imported most of the articles they consumed. A man free from ties of 
relationship with the people should be placed at the head of affairs and 
invested with both civil and military authority; a force of at least two 
hundred men should be sent in charge of competent officers; the fort at 
San Francisco should be rebuilt and a custom house established there; a 
colony of Mexican artisans and farmers should be sent to the country to 
counterbalance the influx of foreigners; and many other recommendations 
were made. 

The result of Vallejo's dispatches was the appointment of Micheltorena to 
the offices of governor and comandante-general. Having been instrumental 
in bringing Micheltorena into California Vallejo stood his friend and fed 
his army, and also loaned him several thousand dollars in money. For this 
assistance Micheltorena, having no funds with which to pay Vallejo, 
granted him, in June 1844, the Rancho Nacional Soscol, in what is now 
Solano county. 

In the rising against Micheltorena Vallejo took no part, but he made an 
indignant protest against Sutter' s arming foreigners and Indians against 
his country. He advised Micheltorena that he was well esteemed by the 
Californians and would be still more highly thought of if he would send 
his cholos away. He would not take an active part against the governor, 
but to avoid sending him reinforcements and defend a band of convicts 
whose presence he deemed a curse to California, he disbanded his Sonoma 
forces November 28, 1844, and so notified the governor, saying he could no 
longer support them at his own expense as he had been doing. 

Always friendly to the immigrants Vallejo exceeded his authority in 
protecting them, and in this and in openly advocating the cause of the 
United States, his great influence was always used for the American cause, 
notwithstanding the treatment he received. One can hardly conceive a more 
ungrateful return for the kindness to immigrants and help to Americans 
than to be seized and confined in a dismal prison by these same immigrants 
and kept there long after the United States authorities had taken 
possession and the United States flag was flying over his prison house. On 
September 15, 1846, he wrote Larkin: "I left the Sacramento half dead and 
arrived here (Sonoma) almost without life, but am now much better. * * * 
The political change has cost a great deal to my person and mind and 
likewise to my property. I have lost more than one thousand live horned 
cattle, six hundred tame horses, and many other things of value which were 
taken from my house here and at Petaluma. My wheat crops are entirely 
lost, for the cattle ate them up in the field and I assure you that two 
hundred fanegas of sowing {represents a crop of about 25,000 bushels}, in 
good condition as mine was, is a considerable loss. All is lost and the 
only hope for making it up is to work again." {Larkin Doc. iv. 280.} 

That Vallejo's services to the American cause were appreciated by some of 
the officers is shown by a letter from Captain Montgomery of the 
Portsmouth dated September 25, 1846. The Captain sends hearty thanks "for 
the service you have rendered as well as for the prompt and sincere manner 
in which you were pleased to tender your assistance to the government of 
the United States in the recent emergency, and to your associates whose 
ready obedience to your call has done much towards allaying natural 
prejudices and unfriendly suspicions among the various classes comprising 
the society of California, and for hastening arrangements for the 
establishment of peace, order, and good government in the country." 
{Vallejo Doc. xii. 242.} 

I quote these letters because they represent the character of the man far 
better than any words of mine can, and how did the United States requite 
the services of this man? By passing laws which by their action deprived 
him of all his property and changed his condition from that of the richest 
man in California to one of comparative poverty. The land commission 
confirmed his grant of Rancho Nacional Soscol. The government carried it 
to the district court which confirmed the action of the land commission. 
The government appealed the case to the supreme court which rejected the 
claim on the ground that the Mexican government gave away its land in 
California but could not sell government land for food furnished its 
soldiers. A most astounding decision. In 1863 Congress by special act 
permitted the holders of Vallejo titles to buy their land at a dollar and 
a quarter an acre. His great rancho of Petaluma, ten leagues, to which he 
added five leagues more by purchase--sixty-six thousand acres--nothing 
remains but the little home farm and residence, Lachryma Montis. This is 
the possession and home of his two youngest daughters and the spring which 
gives it its name supplies the town of Sonoma with water, and the 
daughters with a small income. The claim to the Petaluma rancho was not 
confirmed until 1875, after General Vallejo, tired of fighting squatters 
and lawyers had given up his right to the land. {Vallejo: Historia de 
California, MS. iv. 386.} 

On December 22, 1846, Vallejo deeded to Robert Semple an undivided half of 
a tract of five square miles of the Soscol rancho, on the straits of 
Carquines, for a new city to be built which was to be the great seaport 
and commercial city of the bay of San Francisco. The town was to be named 
Francisca, in honor of Vallejo's wife, Dona Francisca Benicia Carrillo. 
Thomas O. Larkin became interested in the venture and took over the 
greater part of Vallejo's interest. The attempt to appropriate the name, 
as well as the commercial supremacy of San Francisco was frustrated by an 
order of Alcalde Washington A. Bartlett requiring the name San Francisco 
substituted for Yerba Buena on all public documents. Doctor Semple was 
very indignant at this action and spluttered over it in the Californian 
which he had removed from Monterey to San Francisco. To prevent confusion 
the name of Francisca was changed to Benicia, the second name of Senora 
Vallejo. The site for the city was a beautiful one, but trade did not 
leave San Francisco, though General Persifer F. Smith removed the army 
headquarters to the city on the strait. The attempt was made to have 
Benicia named capital of California and General Vallejo made most generous 
offers to the legislature of land and money if they would move the capital 
thither. 

Vallejo was a member of the constitutional convention and he applied 
himself to the work of creating a state with energy and diligence. In 
common with the other Californians in the convention he endeavored to 
protect the interests of the natives of the country. The seal of 
California caused much discussion. Major R. S. Garnett made a design which 
was accepted, but the members insisted upon the addition of various 
features. At last when all was agreed the bear emblem was brought forward. 
Some of the California members were very angry and protested against the 
bear being used. General Vallejo said that if the bear was put on the seal 
it should be represented as under the control of a vaquero with a lasso 
around its neck. 

Bayard Taylor says, writing of the convention: "One of the most 
intelligent and influential of the Californians is General Mariano 
Guadalupe Vallejo, whom I had the  pleasure of meeting several times 
during my stay in Monterey. As military commandant during the governorship 
of Alvarado, he exercised almost supreme sway over the country. He is a 
man of forty-five years of age, tall and of a commanding presence; his 
head is large, forehead high and ample, and eyes dark, with a grave, 
dignified expression. He is better acquainted with our institutions and 
laws than any other native Californian." {El Dorado. 157. On Land and Sea. 
214.} Thomes says: (1843) "The next morning, when all hands were called I 
was again dispatched to Senora Abarono's (Briones) rancho for milk, as 
General M. G. Vallejo was on board and it was necessary to give him a 
feast, he owning half a million acres of land, and fifty thousand head of 
cattle, so it was reported. * * * He was a very gentlemanly Mexican, and 
quite affable to us boys, often giving us a silver dollar for pulling him 
on board the ship and on shore." William Kelly says: "I waited on the 
general, (at his Sonoma house in 1850) who is an enormously rich man, and 
was received with the greatest courtesy and hospitality. He is a fine, 
handsome man, in the prime of life, of superior attainments and great 
natural talent: the only native Californian in the senate. His lady is 
also possessed of unusual personal attractions and of that easy dignity 
and cordiality of manner so peculiarly characteristic of Spanish ladies. 
His house is a fine one superbly furnished and wanting in nothing that 
comfort or luxury requires."  {A stroll through the Diggings of 
California. 54.} 

In common with most Californians General Vallejo was most careless and 
improvident when money was plenty, and while he realized large sums from 
the sale of lands and cattle, his later years were passed in comparative 
poverty. The town of Vallejo was named for him and a street in San 
Francisco bears his name. He had sixteen children, of whom ten lived to 
maturity. One daughter married John B. Frisbie, captain of company H, 
Stevenson's regiment, and another married his brother Levi. One married 
Arpad Harasthy and the two younger daughters married Don Ricardo de 
Emparon and James H. Cutter. 



NOTE 29. PIO PICO, THE LAST MEXICAN GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA

Pio Pico, son of Jose Maria Pico and Maria Estaquia Gutierrez, su legitima 
esposa, was born at the mission of San Gabriel May 5, 1801. His 
grandfather, Santiago de la Cruz Pico, his father and his mother, all came 
with the expedition of Juan Bautista de Anza in 1776. His father and 
mother were married in San Diego May 10, 1789, and had: 

i. Jose Antonio Bernardino; born, San Diego May 21, 1794. 
ii. Maria Concepcion Nicanor; born, San Diego January 14, 1797; married 
Domingo Carrillo. 
iii. Maria Tomasa; born, San Diego January 20, 1799; married Francisco 
Javier Alvarado, 3d. It was she whom Dana called upon in San Diego in 1859 
and was the only person of the old upper class of those friends of 1835-6 
whom he could find there. 
iv. Pio; born, San Gabriel May 5, 1801. 
v. Maria Casimira; married Jose Joaquin Geronimo de Ortega. Dona Trinidad 
de Ortega, their daughter, born in 1832, was of such rare beauty that Don 
Antonio de Coronel, a friend of her father, called her La Primavera (the 
spring time) and named Spring street (La Primavera) in Los Angeles in her 
honor. She married Miguel Carlos Francisco Maria de la Guerra. 
vi. Andres; born, San Diego November 30, 1810; died, Los Angeles, 1875. 
vii. Maria Isidora; married John Forster. 
viii. Maria Estefana; married Jose Antonio Carrillo. 
ix. Maria Jacinta; married Jose Antonio Carrillo (his second wife). 
x. Feliciana. It was one of these sisters of Pio Pico that was so kind to 
the forlorn boy, James Ohio Pattie, in the prison at San Diego in 1828. 

Pio Pico's boyhood was spent in San Diego where he grew up, went to school 
to Jose Antonio Carrillo, later his brother-in-law, and was acolyte for 
the padres. In 1821 he kept a little pulperia in San Jose. The first we 
hear of him in public life was in1826 when he was clerk of a court-martial 
in San Diego. In 1828 he was elected a member of the territorial 
diputacion and was thenceforth more or less prominently connected with the 
political affairs of the territory. He headed a revolt against Governor 
Victoria in 1831 and on the overthrow of that official was named by the 
diputacion jefe politico (governor) ad interim, January11, 1832. The 
ayuntamiento of Los Angeles refused to recognize Pico as governor and 
declared in favor of Echeandia, while Pico withdrew saying he declined to 
retain the office in opposition to the wish of the people. On the 
expulsion of Micheltorena the junta departmental declared Pico governor ad 
interim February 15, 1845. This was confirmed by the supreme government at 
Mexico and Pico took the oath as constitutional governor of California 
April 18, 1846. The period of Pico's political activity was one of 
revolution, of contest between the north and south and between the civil 
and military authorities. Through the influence of Jose Antonio Carrillo, 
diputado to the Mexican congress, that body decreed that "The Pueblo of 
Los Angeles in Alta California is erected into a city, and it will be in 
future the capital of that territory." This order was proclaimed May 23, 
1835. The Monterey ayuntamiento protested against the proposed change as 
outrageously detrimental if not fatal to the best interests of the 
territory, while the diputacion concurred and decided to remain in 
Monterey. The governor, Figueroa, ignored the order as did Castro, 
Gutierrez, Chico, Alvarado, and Micheltorena; Los Angeles protesting all 
the time and fighting for her right to be the capital of the territory. 
The only interruption in this agitation was when Micheltorena remained for 
six months at Los Angeles, and after his cholos had stolen everything 
eatable in the south, Los Angeles relinquished her claim to the honor of 
being the governor's residence and congratulated Monterey on its 
acquisition. It was not until the appointment of Pico in February 1845 
that Los Angeles came into her own. Pico made it his capital. 

The controversy between Jose Castro, comandante-general, and Governor Pico 
immediately preceding the American occupation was the question of civil or 
military supremacy. Castro was alarmed by the aggressive attitude of the 
American adventurers in the north while Pico made light of the trouble and 
believed, with some cause, that Castro was making this a pretense for 
accumulating an army for the purpose of overthrowing him. The revenues, 
too, were largely in Castro's hands, Monterey being the chief port of 
entry, and Castro allowed the civil government one-third of the receipts 
claiming two-thirds for the military department as, under instructions 
from the supreme government, it was his duty to defend the country and he 
had that right. Castro convened a junta of military officers at Monterey 
to take measures for defense and Pico deeming this a usurpation of his 
prerogative prepared to march against Castro with an army of eighty men, 
and had reached Santa Barbara when he received the startling news of the 
capture of Sonoma and the raising of the bear flag. 

Pico's course during the conquest was not heroic, but what could he do? On 
the landing of Sloat he issued a proclamation calling upon all Mexican 
citizens, native and naturalized, every man without exception, between the 
ages of fifteen and sixty, to present himself to the government, armed for 
the national defense. 

To this order there was little or no response. Many Californians of 
influence were in sympathy with the invaders; others felt that a struggle 
was useless and all were more or less influenced by the advice of Larkin 
and other American friends whose efforts were directed to effecting a 
peaceful change of flag. 

Castro joined Pico at Los Angeles with one hundred men; Pico had his 
original army of eighty, with a few additional men obtained at Santa 
Barbara. Meanwhile Stockton landed three hundred and fifty men at San 
Pedro and Castro sent commissioners to negotiate with him. Stockton 
demanded, as a preliminary to negotiations, that the Californians declare 
their independence of Mexico and raise the American flag. Castro 
considered this an insulting proposition to be made to the commander-in-
chief of the Mexican forces and he determined to leave California rather 
than suffer the humiliation of capture. In a letter to Pico, August 9th, 
he says that notwithstanding the governor's efforts to assist him in 
preparing for the defence of the department, he can only count on one 
hundred men, badly armed, worse supplied, and discontented, and he has 
reason to fear that not even these few men will fight when the necessity 
arises. He will, therefore, leave the country and report to the supreme 
government and he invited the governor to go with him. 

Pico submitted the letter to the junta August 10th, and announced the 
impossibility of a successful defence. He recommended that the assembly 
should dissolve in order that the enemy might find none of the 
departmental authorities acting. The assembly approved Pico's resolve and 
after appropriate expressions of patriotism by the members the last junta 
departmental of California adjourned sine die. 

Pico and Castro left the capital on the night of August 10th. Castro after 
disbanding his military force took the road to the Colorado river, 
accompanied by a few friends. He returned to California in 1848 under a 
passport from Colonel Mason and lived for some years at Monterey as a 
private citizen. Pico retired to the Santa Margarita rancho where he was 
concealed by his brother-in-law, John Forster, for about a month while 
Fremont's men searched for him. He escaped into Lower California and in 
November crossed the gulf to Guaymas. He returned to California in July 
1848, and announced that he came as Mexican governor of California to 
carry out the terms of the armistice agreed upon between the generals 
commanding the forces of Mexico and those of the United States, and 
requested the co-operation of his excellency, Governor Mason. Mason 
ordered Colonel Stevenson, commanding the southern department, to arrest 
Pico, hold him incommunicado, and send him by sea to Monterey, whence he 
intended to ship him to Oregon, fearing his absurd pretensions might 
incite some of his countrymen to seditious acts. Three days later Mason 
received the text of the treaty which provided for the release of all 
prisoners and he immediately instructed Colonel Stevenson to release him. 

The period of Pio Pico's administration was one of unrest, of internal 
strife, and the constant warring of factions for privilege and for 
personal advantage. The land was being invaded by armed bands of rough 
adventurers who freely expressed their contempt for the owners of the soil 
and scarcely concealed their intention to appropriate the territory. 
Without vigor or determination or a force to compel obedience to his 
commands, Pico was utterly unable to oppose the manifest destiny of the 
weak to be ruled by the strong, and apparently made no effort to stem the 
current which was sweeping his country into the hands of a foreign power. 

Don Pio has been severely criticised for his mission policy, somewhat 
unjustly perhaps, for there is no evidence that either he or his friends 
profited by the sale of the missions. In regard to land matters there is 
more reason to believe him blamable. Up to the 7th of July, when Sloat 
proclaimed the sovereignty of the United States, the grants made by him 
were apparently regular and in accord with the law. The belief that 
California was about to be absorbed by the United States caused an 
extraordinary demand for land, and if Pico gave it away with a free hand I 
cannot see that he should be censured for it. He was within his legal 
rights, and he was no friend of the United States. He favored English 
ascendancy and he undoubtedly signed the McNamara grant of three thousand 
square leagues with the idea of promoting English influence through the 
colonists to be brought into California by this concession; but in this 
his act was subject to the approval of the supreme government. There is 
little doubt, however, that some grants were signed by him after the 7th 
of July and antedated--grants through which certain prominent citizens of 
California hoped to obtain large tracts of valuable land. 

Don Pio Pico was married in Los Angeles February 24, 1834, to Maria 
Ignacia Alvarado, daughter of Francisco Javier Alvarado and Maria Ignacia 
Amador his wife. The wedding was a great event in Los Angeles and General 
Jose Figueroa (the governor) was groomsman. Maria Ignacia died February 2, 
1854, and Pico married, second, Concepcion Avila. In person, Don Pio was 
about five feet, seven inches in height, corpulent, very dark, with 
pronounced African features. He was an amiable, kind-hearted man, of 
limited education and without sufficient ability or intelligence to 
prevent himself from being used by abler men. His own vast holdings of 
land, acquired before he became governor, gradually passed from his 
possession. He died in Los Angeles September 11, 1894, in his ninety-
fourth year. 



NOTE 30. JOHN A. SUTTER

John Augustus Sutter was born of Swiss parents in Kandern, Baden, February 
15, 1803. He served his time in the Swiss army and was, for a time, an 
officer in the force of citizen soldiery of that republic. Having failed 
in business in Burgdorf, Bern, he sailed for America in 1834, leaving 
behind him his family who joined him some years later in California. 
Landing in New York in July 1834, Sutter went to St. Louis and later to 
Santa Fe. In New Mexico Sutter met men who had been in California and who 
told him of that country's climate, lands, and cattle. He formed a party 
of seven and started from St. Louis in April 1838 for California by way of 
Fort Hall, Walla Walla, Fort Boise, and Fort Vancouver, arriving at that 
point in October, six months from St. Louis. There being no vessel soon to 
sail for California, Sutter sailed for Honolulu. From Honolulu he sailed 
for the American coast April 20, 1839, as supercargo of the English brig 
Clementina, landing first at Sitka, thence down the coast to San Francisco 
bay which he entered July 1st. He brought with him three or four white men 
and eight or ten kanakas for his California rancho. He also brought 
letters of introduction to the Spanish officials from James Douglas of the 
Hudson's Bay company at Vancouver, from Russian officials at Sitka, and 
from prominent merchants at Honolulu. From the United States consul at 
Oahu he brought a letter to General Vallejo. In these letters he is 
referred to as formerly a captain in the French army and was supposed to 
have been a captain in the famous Swiss guard of Charles X. Proceeding to 
Monterey he was well received--his letters opening all doors, and his 
pleasing manners confirming the impressions created by his 
recommendations. Unfolding his colonization scheme to Governor Alvarado he 
was by him advised to announce his intention of becoming a Mexican 
citizen; to go into the interior and select any unoccupied tract of land 
that might suit him, and to return to Monterey in a year when he should be 
given his papers of naturalization and a grant of his land. This suited 
Sutter and he returned to San Francisco, visited Vallejo at Sonoma and the 
Russian agent at Ross. Vallejo advised him to settle in Sonoma or Napa, 
but Sutter had decided on the Sacramento valley before coming to 
California. He wished to be far enough away from the Californians to be 
independent--to set up, as it were, a little province of his own. 
Chartering a small flotilla from Nathan Spear, he embarked his colony and 
his goods and set out for the Sacramento, the fleet being under command of 
William H. Davis. For eight days they sailed up the Sacramento river and 
on the afternoon of the last day entered the mouth of the American river 
and landed on the south bank; unloaded the cargoes; pitched the tents and 
mounted the cannon--three brass pieces which Sutter had brought from 
Honolulu. Thus the beginning of Sacramento: the inhabitants being, Captain 
Sutter, three white companions--names unknown--ten kanakas including two 
women; an Indian boy from Oregon; and a bull dog from Oahu. The site 
selected for the settlement was about a quarter of a mile from the 
landing, on high ground where two or three grass and tule houses were 
built by the kanakas on wooden frames put up by white men. These were 
ready for occupation early in September and before the rains came Sutter 
had completed an adobe house roofed with tules. A number of recruits were 
obtained before the end of the year and Sutter had them all at work 
hunting, planting, and preparing for the next season's trapping 
operations, while the rancho was stocked with horses and.cattle. 

Sutter named his establishment Nueva Helvetia and in August went to 
Monterey to receive his naturalization papers; and as soon as the proper 
steps could be taken he was appointed commissioner of justice and 
representative of the government on the frontier of the Rio del 
Sacramento. 

In 1841 Sutter employed Jean J. Vioget to make a survey and map of the 
region to be used in his application for the grant of land that had been 
promised him, and on August 15th filed his petition and diseno with the 
governor who made the grant August 18th of eleven square leagues (48,825 
acres) on the Sacramento and Feather rivers. 

Sutter pursued a wise course with the Indians and was very successful in 
his dealings with them. He treated them with uniform kindness and justice 
but with constant vigilance and prompt punishment of offenses. He had 
unusual tact in making friends, and he not only kept the Indians of the 
Sacramento on friendly terms but succeeded in obtaining from them a large 
amount of useful service. 

In December 1841, Sutter bought the Russian post at Fort Ross consisting 
of houses, mills, tannery, live-stock, and implements, for thirty thousand 
dollars to be paid in four yearly installments. The Russian agent also 
gave Sutter a certificate of transfer of the land occupied by them but as 
they had no title they could convey none to Sutter. He removed the 
personal property to New Helvetia, including the guns, seventeen hundred 
cattle, nine hundred and forty horses, and nine hundred sheep. In 1843-4 
the fort, which he had begun in 1840, was completed. 

It is quite evident that Sutter had an idea that he could create an 
establishment that would be in a position to maintain at least a sort of 
independence of the Mexican government. He is described by visitors of 
that period as living in a principality sixty miles long by twelve broad 
in a state of practical independence, colonizing his lands and employing 
an army of workmen in raising crops and in hunting the beaver. Wilkes 
predicts that it will not be long before New Helvetia becomes in some 
respects an American colony, {Wilkes Nar. v. 262-3. Ringgold's report.} 
while De Mofras says that Monsieur Sutter can trade independently of the 
custom house or the Mexican authorities. {Mofras Explor. i. 457.} It is 
not surprising that, fostered by a benign government that gave him the 
land for nothing, he waxed fat and kicked; and when Vallejo and others 
objected to some of his doings he talked of bringing in men from the 
Willamette and the Missouri, of Shawnees and of Delawares, and of raising 
the standard of the republic of California. 

Sutter made strong objections to the operations of the trappers of the 
Hudson's Bay company in the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys and 
peremptorily ordered the brigades to discontinue their visits. Not 
recognizing Sutter's authority the trappers paid no attention to his 
orders, but in 1841 Chief Factor James Douglas came to Monterey and 
arranged for permission to employ thirty hunters in California agreeing to 
pay a duty on each skin taken. Sutter, prevented from interfering with the 
company's operations, endeavored to stir up strife among the trappers and 
enlist them under his banner of revolt, but Vallejo was assured by Sir 
George Simpson, governor of the company, that none of his men or his 
agents would enter into any political engagements with Sutter or any one 
else of an unfriendly nature towards him or the governor. 

From 1841 regularly organized parties of American immigrants came across 
the plains to California and also from Oregon. Lying on the direct route 
both from the Missouri and the Willamette, Sutter's fort was the general 
rendezvous where all Americans were kindly welcomed and found succor and 
temporary employment until they could arrange with the authorities for 
permission to remain and settle in California. Sutter encouraged the 
immigration which was profitable to him and assisted the immigrants in 
many ways. He was generous to a degree and no appeal to him was made in 
vain. He gave freely whether remuneration was expected or not. He assumed 
the right to grant passports to foreigners which gave offence to the 
authorities, being contrary to the laws and against the express orders 
from Mexico. The alcalde of San Juan Bautista complained that foreigners 
holding passes from Sutter were catching the wild horses and were buying 
those stolen from the ranchos. In 1844 a militia company was organized at 
New Helvetia and Sutter was made captain. He made several expeditions 
against the predatory Indians of the north and did good work in protecting 
the frontier. 

In taking up arms in the quarrel between Micheltorena and Alvarado Sutter 
did a blamable and foolish thing. The foreigners in California were too 
ready to interfere in the domestic affairs of the province, and there was 
too much talk about their "rights" and how they proposed to protect them. 
Alvarado had been Sutter's friend and benefactor and he turned his arms 
against him. Vallejo wrote Sutter entreating him to reflect before taking 
a step that must seriously disturb the friendly relations existing between 
the Californians and foreigners; but Sutter would not listen. Micheltorena 
was going to give him and his friends large grants of land in addition to 
what they already had, and also other lands which Sutter could parcel out 
among those of his followers who did not wish to become Mexican citizens. 
These considerations overbalanced any Vallejo could urge and Sutter 
marched to meet the enemy with one hundred mounted riflemen under Captain 
John Gantt, one hundred Indians under Ernest Rufus, and a brass field 
piece in charge of eight or ten artillerymen. Dr. John Townsend, later 
alcalde of San Francisco, and John Sinclair, later alcalde of Sacramento 
district, acted as aides-de-camp; Jasper O'Farrell was quartermaster, 
Samuel J. Hensley, commissary, and John Bidwell, secretary. Before 
entering the San Fernando valley Sutter had Micheltorena sign a grant of 
what was known as the Sutter general title, twenty-two leagues in the 
Sacramento valley. Before the fight began Pio Pico, who was in command of 
the parliamentary army and who would, as first vocal, succeed 
Micheltorena, assured Sutter and his men that Micheltorena's grant and 
promises were worthless because lands could only be granted to Mexican 
citizens. He told them, however, that they would not be disturbed in their 
present occupation of lands, and that as soon as they chose to become 
citizens he would give them legal titles. On this they abandoned 
Micheltorena and remained out of the fight; the story of which is told in 
chapter xii. The grant of twenty-two leagues was thrown out by the United 
States supreme court as illegal. The New Helvetia grant of eleven leagues 
by Alvarado in 1841 was confirmed after it had passed for the most part 
out of Sutter's possession. 

With the conquest of California Sutter was in position to become the 
richest and most influential man in the country. Popular, with a 
magnificent address and fine presence, he had the dignity and military 
bearing of an old officer, while his kindly nature and courtesy drew all 
to him and he had in a wonderful degree the art of making friends; but he 
failed to realize his opportunity and lacked the ability to manage and 
conserve his great resources. Full of energy and audacity he was without 
strength to hold what he had and while possessing many good and kindly 
qualities he was somewhat wanting in the attributes of honesty and 
fidelity. His posing as an officer of the Swiss guard at the French court, 
which he never was but which he permitted to be reported and believed, was 
a piece of characteristic foolishness; but notwithstanding such weakness 
almost all travelers were favorably impressed with and speak well of him. 
His hospitality was shamefully abused by the immigrants. At the time of 
the discovery of gold Sutter was building, in addition to his sawmill at 
Coloma, a grist mill on the American river where Brighton now is. It was 
never completed. His men deserted to the mines, after Sutter had spent 
thirty thousand dollars on the mill, and everything was stolen--even the 
stones. The immigrants stole the bells from the fort and the weights from 
the gates; they carried off two hundred barrels he had made for packing 
salmon; they stole even his cannon; they drove their stock into his yard 
and helped themselves to his grain and to anything else they wanted; they 
squatted on his land, denied the validity of his title, cut down his 
timber, and drove off his cattle. Sharpers robbed him of what the 
squatters did not take until at last he was stripped of everything. The 
California legislature in 1864 provided him a pension of two hundred and 
fifty dollars a month. This was continued until 1878 when the bill was 
defeated. He died in Washington D. C. in 1880, in comparative poverty. 

In person Sutter was about five feet, nine inches in height and was 
thickset. He had a large head and an open manly face, somewhat hardened 
and bronzed by his life in the open air. His hair was thin and light and 
he wore a short mustache. Thomes wrote in 1844: "One day a flat boat came 
alongside, manned by ten naked Indians, and in the stern was a white man. 
He brought us two hundred hides and a large lot of beaver and other skins. 
When he came on deck Mr. Prentice (chief mate) told me the visitor was the 
celebrated Captain Sutter; that he lived a long way off, up the Sacramento 
river somewhere, and had ten thousand wild Indians under his command, a 
strong fort, and employed all the white men who came in his way. The 
captain was a short stout man, with broad shoulders, large, full face, 
short stubby mustache, a quiet reserved manner, and a cold blue eye that 
seemed to look you through and through, and to read your thoughts. * * * 
He was reported to be a Swiss by birth and formerly an officer of the 
Great Napoleon's army." {On Land and Sea, 192.} Bartlett {Personal 
Narrative, 69.} says: "Captain Sutter has the manners of an intelligent 
and courteous gentlemen, accustomed to move in polished society. He speaks 
several languages with fluency. He is kind, hospitable, and generous to a 
fault; as many Americans know who have lived on his bounty. He is a native 
of Switzerland, fifty-five to sixty years of age, and of fine personal 
appearance. He was one of the officers of the Swiss guard in the 
Revolution of July (1830) during the reign of Charles X. After this he 
emigrated to the United States." Bayard Taylor {El Dorado, 158.} says: 
"Captain Sutter's appearance and manners quite agree with my preconceived 
ideas of him. He is still the hale, blue-eyed jovial German, short and 
stout of stature, with a broad high forehead, head bald to the crown, and 
altogether a ruddy, good-humored expression of countenance. He is a man of 
good intellect, excellent common sense, and amiable qualities of heart. A 
little more activity and enterprise might have made him the first man in 
California in point of wealth and influence." 

Sutter's public career practically ended with the constitutional 
convention of which he was a rather ornamental member, having little 
influence and doing but little work. His title of general comes from his 
being named in 1856 major general of the Fifth division, state militia.