Butte-Contra Costa-Sacramento County CA Archives Biographies.....Bidwell, John 1819 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com November 30, 2005, 4:57 pm

Author: Lewis Publishing Co.

GENERAL JOHN BIDWELL.

  In the person of General John Bidwell is exemplified, perhaps more fully than
ever before, the adage that truth is stranger than fiction. It does not seem
possible to one who meets him for the first time and marks his upright form,
elastic step and military bearing, that he has been a witness of and actor in
the chief parts of all the scenes that go to make up the history of California,
from the quiet pastoral days of Mexican rule and the mission domination, through
the tremendously exciting times of the gold discovery and the invasion of the
Argonauts, down to the present with its wealth of orchard and grain field. Yet
such is a fact, and indeed amid all the people of the State, no one has been a
more effective worker for progress, or deserves so highly the thanks and
appreciation of the people than General Bidwell. His life has been a romance;
yet through it all there runs such a thread of reality that one recognizes from
the first the presence of a mastermind arid listens intently to the "strange,
true tale." We present here, as a leading figure in our sketches of pioneer
California biography, a short outline of the General's life, but from
information obtained from him is made up a great part of our picture of early
days and early doings; and we take this opportunity to record our obligation.

  General Bidwell was born August 5, 1819, in Chautauqua County, New York, of
the sturdy New England stock that has made itself felt throughout the history of
this continent, and has always been in the van of progress. His father, Abraham
Bidwell, was a native of Connecticut, and a farmer of no great means, but of
thoroughgoing and energetic, traits that have been still further developed in
his son. His mother, whose maiden name was Clarissa Griggs, was a native of
Massachusetts, a member of the old family of that name. His youthful life was
full of change, very few opportunities being presented for education or
advancement. The principal and last schooling he received was obtained at
Kingsville Academy, in Ashtabula County, Ohio, walking 300 miles to reach it,
and working a whole summer to get means to go through, at wages of $7 a month.
This lack, however, has been no real disadvantage to the General, for he has
learned so well from the school of experience and of wide and general reading,
that there are few men better informed or with better applied knowledge than he.

  In 1839, at the age of nineteen years, he left his home to seek his fortune in
the West, single-handed and without means other than a brave heart, backed by
right resolves. He went first to Iowa and to the rich new lands just thrown open
to settlement on the western frontiers of the State of Missouri. Here in this
lovely spot he intended to make his home, and took up some lands. This was in
Platte County, at a point about nine miles from Fort Leavenworth, but on the
Missouri side of the river. The General secured a claim to 160 acres, and then
went down to St. Louis for supplies. The trip was a long one, occupying about
four weeks. Meantime another jumped his land, and having built a cabin his claim
was upheld at law, when an attempt was made in the winter to prove it. While in
the state of indecision caused by this fact, he met a man who had been to the
then unknown lands of California. He described it as a paradise, and great
enthusiasm was aroused among the people, some 500 signing an agreement to arm
and set out for the western shore. Just at this time Farnham's celebrated letter
detracting from California was published, and as a result the people all except
himself backed out, and for a time General Bidwell found himself unable to reach
the place of rendezvous. He had a wagon but no horses. As luck would have it a
certain George Henshaw happened along on horseback, traveling westward in search
for health. He had a horse and a little money (twelve or fourteen dollars),
which he placed at the disposal of our adventurous young hero. He traded the
horse for a yoke, of oxen for his wagon, and a one-eyed mule for the invalid,
and finally reached the rendezvous, to find only a few gathered.

  Eventually a party of sixty-nine men, women and children, set out to attempt
the unknown wilderness. They fortunately obtained the guidance of a missionary
party then on its way to the West, and with them started on the long journey.
This was in the spring of 1841, when young Bidwell was in his twenty-second year
only. It must be remembered that this was the first train to venture upon the
dreary trip across the plains. The whole country was practically unknown, even
the maps being far astray. On them Salt Lake was represented to be 300 or 400
miles long and with two immense outlets to the Pacific. Indeed, a friend of
General Bidwell seriously advised him to take along tools to make canoes, in
which to descend one of those rivers to the ocean. The route taken was first up
the Platte River, thence a day's journey up the South Fork, then across to the
North Fork and up it to the Sweetwater and its head. Thence over to Green River
and across to one of its forks, and up to the divide separating the waters that
find their way to the Pacific Ocean, down the Colorado River from those flowing
into Salt Lake, by the Bear River, the principal stream from the north; thence
along the Bear River to Salt Lake. The missionary party left them at Soda
Fountain at the most northern bend of Bear River, and from that point they
explored the way for themselves.

  Meantime the party had divided, all but thirty-two of them striking off for
Oregon. The remainder, nothing daunted, pushed their way into the unknown. It
must be remembered that Fremont's survey was not made until two years later, and
at that time all the well-known rivers and other land-marks of the country were
unnamed. They were finally forced to abandon their wagons at a short distance
beyond Salt Lake, and after manufacturing as best they could pack saddles for
mules, horses and even some of their oxen, they pushed on, one of the most
adventurous journeys that history has ever known. It was the fall of the year
and the air was full of smoke, so that they could get no clear view ahead, and
consequently were unable to pick out the road with ease. They pushed on,
nevertheless, crossed the Sierras, being the first party that ever did so, to
the head waters of the Stanislaus River, and made their way down to the San
Joaquin Valley. At that time, General Bidwell thinks there were not over 100
foreigners (Americans, British, Germans and other nationalities) from San Diego
to Sonoma.

  It was in camp at Mount Diablo that General Bidwell first heard of General
Sutter, who at that time had begun a settlement (and afterward erected a fort)
near the Sacramento River, within the present capital city of the State, to
which the General made his way. Since that time General Bidwell's life has been
a series of notable, stirring events. He engaged and remained in the employ of
Sutter; enlisted in defense of California against insurrection of the native
chiefs Castro and Alvarado, in the revolt of 1844 and 1845, and acted as
aid-de-camp to General Sutter till the war ended by the expulsion of the Mexican
Governor Micheltorena. Near what was supposed to be the closing scenes •of the
Mexican war in California, in the latter part of 1846, young Bidwell, then but
twenty-seven years of age, was appointed by General Fremont as Magistrate of San
Luis Rey district. In 1849, at the age of thirty, he was chosen a member of the
first Constitutional Convention of California, but owing to his absence in the
mountains he did not receive notice in time and failed to attend. In the same
year he was elected to the Senate of the first California Legislature. In 1850
Governor Burnett appointed General Bidwell and Judge Schoolcraft to convey a
block of native gold-bearing quartz to Washington, as California's tribute to
the Washington monument. In 1860 he was a delegate to the National Democratic
Convention at Charleston. Three years later he was appointed by Governor
Stanford to command the Fifth Brigade, California militia, serving till the
close of the civil war. In 1864 he was a delegate to National Republican
Convention at Baltimore, which renominated Abraham Lincoln, and on the committee
to notify the President of his renomination. In 1864 also he was nominated and
elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress. Two-years later he might have had the
renomination, but he had decided not to be a candidate. In 1875 he was nominated
for Governor of California on the anti-monopoly or non-partisan State ticket. He
was a delegate to the anti-Chinese convention held in Sacramento in March, 1886.
Besides these he was the recipient of many other honors equally great.

  The following are General Bidwell's political .sentiments as expressed by
himself: " My politics are intensely Republican, in the sense of that term as
used to bring that party into existence in its mission to preserve the Union,
but I am more than a Republican; I am a Prohibitionist, a native American and
anti-Chinese, in the sense of wholesome restriction of all undesirable foreign
immigration, and anti-monopolist in the truest sense of the term."

  Personally, General Bidwell is tender, kind and benevolent to a fault, and a
strict Presbyterian. By his benefactions he has acquired the sobriquet of the
"Father of Chico." Among his most noteworthy donations are a $10,000 site for
the North California Forestry Station, a $15,000 site for the Northern State
Branch Normal School, and also valuable building sites for the different
churches, the Presbyterian of Chico, the Roman Catholic, the Methodist
Episcopal, the Methodist Episcopal South and the African Methodist Episcopal,
each of them receiving as much land as they asked for, often supplemented by
liberal money donations.

  The Chico Flouring Mill, erected and carried on by General Bidwell, and one of
the famous mills of the State, were the first water mills in the Sacramento
Valley, being preceded only by Peter Lassen's horse-mill. The General began also
at an early day to set out his magnificent orchards. These now cover 1,500 acres
of land, and are being yearly increased. They are among the oldest, the most
extensive and the most valuable in the State, some of the older trees being of
gigantic size. His estate, the Rancho del Arroyo Chico, is one of the finest
stretches of land on the continent. It is largely devoted to grain-raising, but
the portion near Chico is magnificently improved, the walks, drives and grounds
surrounding his handsome residence being a worthy home domain. It is a pleasing
combination of park, garden and orchard, the idea being to preserve as far as
possible the wilderness and the native growths. The wonderful old fig-tree
before the house should be especially noted. Banyan-like it has sent its
branches downward to the earth, where they have again struck root. A space of
nearly 3,000 square feet is shaded now, a curious and interesting freak of nature.

  We conclude this sketch with a little incident that shows most clearly the
high standard of morality and the conscientious determination for the right
which marks General Bidwell at once as one of California's bravest and most
worthy citizens. Some years ago he set out to make pure wine for communion use
and similar purposes, being advised to do so by clergymen and others. To that
end he employed a first-class wine-maker. After an absence of two years he
returned home to find that sure enough he had as pure wine as is made, having in
storage about 1,000 gallons of the best quality besides considerable material
for inferior grades. He was not long in discovering, however, that his
wine-maker had numerous friends whose number seemed constantly increasing. In
fact their business with him was so urgent that they had to come while he was
engaged in the wine cellar! He observed too that their business kept them a good
while, and with his own eyes he saw that men began to go away with unsteady
steps. It then dawned upon him that he was actually engaged in the business of
manufacturing drunkards. His first impulse was to knock the casks in the head
and spill the wine on the ground. From this he was dissuaded, however, on the
plea the wine would be useful in a hospital at San Francisco. As soon as he
learned that this was the case, he sent all the good wine as a present to that
institution, while the poorer stuff he had manufactured into vinegar. He then
dug up and burnt all the wine grapes and washed his hands of the whole business.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California.

Illustrated, Containing a History of this Important Section of the Pacific Coast
from the Earliest Period of its Occupancy to the Present Time, together with
Glimpses of its Prospective Future; Full-Page Steel Portraits of its most
Eminent Men, and Biographical Mention of many of its Pioneers and also of
Prominent Citizens of To-day.

"A people that takes no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will
never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote
descendents." – Macauley.

CHICAGO
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1891.

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