Marin County CA Archives History - Books .....The General History And Settlement Of Marin County, Part I 1880
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Book Title: History  Of Marin County, California

THE GENERAL HISTORY AND SETTLEMENT OF MARIN COUNTY.

  THE first mention that we have of what is now known as Marin county being
visited, that is provided the presumption is correct that he visited the sheet
of water now known by his name, and not that of San Francisco, is that of Sir
Francis Drake. We will now briefly sketch for the information of the reader how
it was that that famous navigator came to these parts. Captain Francis Drake
sailed from Plymouth, England, on the thirteenth day of December, A. D. 1577,
for the South Sea Islands, having under his command five vessels, in size
between fifteen and one hundred tons; in the largest, the "Pelican," afterwards
named the "Golden Hind;" he sailed himself, while the men in the whole fleet
mustered only one hundred and sixty-six in number. On December 25, 1577, he
sighted the coast of Barbary, and on the 29th the Cape Verde Islands, thence
sailing across the almost un-traveled bosom of the broad Atlantic, he made the
coast of Brazil on the 5th of April, and entering the Rio de la Plata, parted
company with two of his vessels, which, however, he afterwards met, and taking
from them their provisions and men, turned them adrift. On the 29th of May he
entered the port of St. Julian, where he lay for two months taking in stores; on
the 20th of August he entered the Straits of Magellan; on the 25th September he
passed out of them, having with him only his own ship, and thus handed his name
to posterity as the first Englishman to voyage through that bleak and
tempestuous arm of the sea. On the 25th November he arrived at Macao, now a
Portuguese settlement on the southern coast of China, which he had appointed as
a place of rendezvous in the event of his ships being separated; but Captain
Winter, his vice-admiral, had repassed the straits and returned to England.
Drake thence continued his voyage along the coast of Chili and Peru, taking all
opportunities of seizing Spanish ships, and attacking them on shore, till his
men were satiated with plunder. Here he contemplated a return to England, but
fearing the storm lashed shores of Magellan, and the possible presence of a
Spanish fleet, he determined to search for a northern connection between the two
vast oceans, similar to that which he knew to exist in the southern extremity of
the continent. He, therefore, sailed along the coast upwards in quest of such a
route. When he started the season was yet young, still the historian of the
voyage says that on June 3, 1579, in latitude forty-two, now the southern line
of the State of Oregon, the crew complained bitterly of the cold, while the
rigging of the ship was rigidly frozen, and again, in latitude forty-four "their
hands were benumbed, and the meat was frozen when it was taken from the fire."
With these adversities to contend against, it is no wonder then that he resolved
to enter the first advantageous anchorage he should find; on June 5th they
sailed in shore, and brought-to in a harbor, which proving unadvantageous
through dense fogs and dangerous rocks, he once more put to sea, steering
southward for some indentation in the coast line, where he should be safe; this
they found on June 17, 1579, within thirty-eight degrees of the equator.

  The question which has occupied historians for many years, and which has been
asserted by them with didactic force, is that the inlet then visited by Drake is
the Bay of San Francisco. This statement of the earlier historiographer was
first refuted by the Baron Von Humboldt, who maintained that the harbor then
visited by Drake was called by the Spaniards "Puerto de Bodega," yet how it
could have borne this name then, is hard to realize, seeing that it was not
until nearly two centuries thereafter (in 1775) that the port was visited by
Lieutenant Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, who named the place after himself.

  But why go searching up and down the coast trying to locate the place either
in latitude thirty-seven degrees, fifty-nine minutes, or in thirty-eight
degrees, ten minutes, when there is a bay which answers all the requirements of
the description given of it, located "within thirty-eight degrees towards the
line?" In the bay which lies in the curve in the coast under the lee of Point
Reyes, and which is marked on the modern maps as Drake's bay, is to be found
that place. The latitude given by the United States Government for the
lighthouse located on the extreme southwestern pitch of Point Reyes is 37°, 59',
36"," which corresponds with the figures taken from the logbook of the "Golden
Hind" to within sixteen seconds, which is quite close enough for a calculation
made by "those early navigators with their comparatively rude instruments." But
is it not reasonable to suppose that a man who had followed the sea the major
portion of his life-time, and was at present sailing where no man had ever been
before, and who, at that time, had his head full of a project to circumnavigate
the world, would be able to take an observation and come within a small fraction
of seconds of his exact latitude? It would seem to be presuming very much upon
his ignorance to think otherwise.

  Having established the fact that there is a bay in the very identical latitude
named in Drake's chart, as the place where he landed, let us look still further
into the matter and see what facts can be adduced to farther substantiate the
assertion that this bay fills all the requirements of the one described by Rev.
Mr. Fletcher. First of all comes an old Indian legend which came down through
the Nicasios to the effect that Drake did land at this place. Although they have
been an interior tribe ever since the occupation by the Spaniards and doubtless
were at that time, it still stands to reason that they would know all about the
matter. If the ship remained in the bay for thirty-six days it is reasonable to
suppose that a knowledge of its presence reached every tribe of Indians within
an area of one hundred miles, and that the major portion of them paid a visit to
the bay to see the "envoys of the Great Spirit," as they regarded the white
seamen. One of these Indians named Theognis, who is reputed to have been one
hundred and thirty-five years old when he made the statement, says that Drake
presented the Indians with a dog, some young pigs, and seeds of several species
of grain. Some biscuit were also given to them, which they planted, believing in
their simple ignorance that they would spring to life and bear similar bread.
The Indians also state that some of Drake's men deserted him here, and, making
their way into the country, became amalgamated with the aboriginals to such an
extent that all traces of them were lost, except possibly a few names which are
to be found among the Indians, "Winnemucca," for instance, is a purely Celtic
word, and the name "Nicasio," "Novato," and others are counterparts, with slight
variations, of names of places in the island of Cyprus. There is also another
tradition, which, if true, would put the matter of Drake's entrance into San
Francisco bay forever at rest, which is to the effect that at the time of his
visit to this coast, the Golden Gate was closed with a wall of adamantine rock,
and was only opened some years later by a mighty earthquake. It is stated that
the waters of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers passed to the ocean through
the Pajaro valley previous to this eruption. There is a bare possibility of this
being true, and if so the oft asked question, how could Drake sail so near to
the great Golden Gate entrance and not discover it is readily answered. Of
course all these traditions must be taken for what they are worth, but it does
seem that they go to strengthen the idea that Drake landed at Point Reyes.

  But there are facts which go to prove the case other than mere Indian legends.
Titus Fey Cronise in his admirable work entitled "The Natural Wealth of
California," says: " It is clearly settled that the place where he (Drake)
landed is near Point de los Reyes. The locality will probably be ever known
hereafter as Drake's Bay. The most conclusive argument that could be advanced to
prove that he did not discover the bay of San Francisco is found in the name he
gave the country—New Albion. There is nothing about the entrance to this bay to
call up images of the 'white cliffs of old England,' so dear to the hearts of
the mariners of that country. Its beetling rocks, which must have been
additionally dark and dreary at the season of the year when the great navigator
saw them—neither green with the verdure of spring, nor russet by the summer's
heat, while near Point de los Reyes there is sufficient whiteness about the
cliffs which skirt the shore to attract attention, and as it is 'out of the
fullness of the heart the mouth speaketh,' the 'bold Briton,' longing for home,
may have pictured to his 'mind's eye' some resemblance to 'Old Albion.' Besides,
Drake lay thirty-six days at anchor, which it would have been impossible for so
experienced a sailor to have done, had it been in our glorious bay, without
being impressed with its great importance as a harbor, on a coast so destitute
of such advantages as this; but he makes no allusion to any feature traceable in
our bay. He never had the honor of seeing it." In this connection it may be
further stated that the headland forming the Point is composed of granite, which
may have presented, at that time, a white or greyish color, and this appearance
is still perceptible at certain angles of the sun's rays. It is urged that the
bay at Point Reyes would afford no shelter from a southeast storm, and hence
could not be the "good harbor" spoken of by Drake's chronicler; but it must be
remembered that he was there in the month of June, and that at that time of the
year all the winds are from the northwest, and no more secure anchorage from
winds from that direction can be found along the coast than is to be had under
the lee of Punta de los Reyes.

  Summed up then the matter stands as follows:—Favoring the idea that Drake's
and San Francisco bay are one is a general sweeping statement, based upon no
proofs, and only attempted to be sustained by those who dislike to acknowledge
that the best harbor along the whole coast line was the last one to be
discovered, or who wish to give to England's navigators the honor of the
discovery. On the other hand, pointing to what is now known as Drake's bay as
the place, stands, firstly, the indisputable evidence of the log-book and chart
made by Drake himself, which locates the place to within sixteen seconds, or
within one-fourth of a mile; secondly, the traditions among the people with whom
he met while here, and thirdly, all that can be said in favor of the bay of San
Francisco can be as justly and truthfully said of Drake's bay. Therefore, it
seems reasonable to conclude from the evidence adduced that to the present
Drake's bay belongs the honor of being the one in which that famous traveler
spent his time while ashore in California.

  On the 22d of July, after having repaired his ship and doubtless taken on
board a goodly supply of fresh meat and water, Drake set sail for England, going
by way of the Cape of Good Hope, and arriving in Plymouth, November 3, 1580,
being gone about two years and ten months. He was the first Englishman who
circumnavigated the globe, and was the first man who ever made the entire voyage
in the same vessel. He was graciously received by the Queen (Elizabeth) and
knighted. She also gave orders for the preservation of his ship, the "Golden
Hind," that it might remain a monument to his own and his country's glory. At
the end of a century it had to be broken up, owing to decay. Of the sound timber
a chair was made, which was presented by Charles II. to the Oxford University.
Sir Francis Drake died on board ship, at Nombre de Dios, in the West Indies,
January 28, 1595.

  But there is quite an amount of historical interest attached to this bay aside
from the fact that it was the locale of Drake's sojourn. In 1595, Sebastian
Cermenon, while on a voyage from Manilla to Acapulco: was wrecked near Punta de
los Reyes. This was doubtless the first shipwreck which ever occurred on the
California coast. Nothing is known of the fate of the crew, but evidently they,
or a portion of them at least, reached Acapulco or some other Spanish seaport
and reported the wreck. In 1602, General Sebastian Viscaino, under orders from
Philip III. of Spain, made an exploration of the coast of Upper California, in
the course of which he discovered the harbor of San Diego on the 10th of
November. After remaining a few days he proceeded to the north, and on December
16th discovered the bay of Monterey, which he named in honor of Gaspar de
Zunniga, Count de Monte Rey, the then Viceroy of Mexico. It was at first called
the Port of Pines. We now come to a very peculiar entry in his diary or
log-book, which is as follows: "In twelve days after leaving Monterey, a
favorable wind carried the ship past the port of San Francisco, but she
afterwards put back into the port of Francisco." At a first glance this would
seem to point to the present bay of that name, and would seem to rob Governor
Portala and his band of adventurers of the honor of either discovering or naming
the bay, and instead of its being named after the Jesuitic patron saint in 1769,
it was known by that name more than a century and a half previous. But let us
peruse this diary still further. Taking up the thread where it was dropped
above, it states:—"She anchored, January 7, 1603, behind a point of land called
Punta de los Reyes, where there was a wreck" This then establishes the exact
location of the "port of San Francisco" mentioned above, which is the same as
that of the present Drake's bay, and was doubtless one and the same, for the
wreck which he saw could have been none other than that of the ship lost by
Sebastian Cermenon in 1595, "near Punta de los Reyes." But there is still other
evidence that Drake's Bay and the "port of San Francisco" are the same. A map
was published in Europe in 1545, three years after the voyage of Rodriguez
Cabrillo, in which a San Francisco bay is mentioned, and also the Farralones,
which islands were named by Cabrillo after his pilot, Farralo. Now, it is well
known that this famous navigator did not enter the present bay of San Francisco,
therefore, if the bay of San Francisco and the Farralone islands are marked on
this map as conterminous, it is more than reasonable to conclude that the bay
referred to is none other than the present Drake's bay which opens out directly
towards the Farralones, and it is quite probable that Cabrillo himself gave the
name of San Francisco to it." There is also a work extant, written by Cabrera
Bueno, and published in Spain in 1734, which contains instructions to navigators
for reaching the "Punta de los Reyes, and entering the port of San Francisco."
This would go to show that the two places were contiguous, and it is more than
likely that these "instructions" were compiled from the map mentioned above and
similar ones, on all of which the port of San Francisco was marked " behind a
point of land called Punta de los Reyes." It may be further stated that the
Russian navigators recognized the "port of San Francisco" to be separate and
distinct from the present bay of San Francisco, for when, in 1812, Baranoff,
chief agent of the Russian-American Fur Company, asked permission from the
Governor of California to erect a few houses and leave a few men at Bodega Bay,
he designated that place as "a little north of the port of San Francisco." San
Francisco bay had been visited before that by the Russians and was known to be
nearly sixty miles from Bodega bay, hence we must conclude that they recognized
some place quite near to the latter place as the "port of San Francisco," which
place could be none other than that laid down on the charts spoken of above,
which has been proven conclusively to be the Drake's bay of to-day.

  There are several accounts as to how the headland came to be christened Punta
de los Reyes, one of which is to the effect that it being the boldest and most
prominent point met with from Point Conception to Cape Mendocino, was called the
King of the Points, but the construction of the name does not bear that version
out. Its name literally translated is the "Point of the King." It is also stated
that in sailing by the headland, just from the proper point of view, a throne
may be seen in the granite cliffs with a king seated upon it, hence the title
Point of the King, This name was conferred upon the point by General Sebastian
Viscaino in 1602, who, it will be remembered, was driven past the point by a
southeastern wind, and afterwards turned about and anchored behind the point of
land in Drake's bay. Hence it would seem very probable that as they passed the
point they observed this striking resemblance in the cliffs, and at once
christened it "Punta de los Reyes."

  On September 17, 1776, the Presidio and Mission of San Francisco were founded,
on what was then the extreme boundary of California, the former in a manner
being a frontier command, having a jurisdiction which extended to the farthest
limits northwards of Spanish discovery. How the arts and sciences have bridged
time! What do these comparatively few years in a nation's life show? They speak
for themselves! San Francisco to-day is a marvel! Short though her life has been
she has worked wonders; today she is the center of civilization as regards the
western portion of this vast continent; she is the heart which sends pulsations
through the different commercial arteries of the coast; the throbbings of her
veins are felt from Behring's straits to those of Magellan; across the oceans
the influence of her system is known, while at home she is looked up to as the
youth is whose care in the future will be the old, the sick and the maimed.

  At this epoch voyagers who had previously visited Bodega bay on entering the
harbor of San Francisco and seeing the formation of the Marin peninsula, came to
the natural conclusion that there was communication between these sheets of
water, hence an expedition was organized to test the truth of this conjecture.
The exploring party was placed under the command of Captain Quiros, who left San
Francisco in September, 1776, and gaining the entrance of the Petaluma creek
followed its many sinuosities as far as he could, but ultimately returned
without finding the connection he sought. This was an undertaking requiring no
doubt a vast amount of time, labor, endurance, and caution as well, for even at
the present time the mouths of "the creeks which flow into the San Pablo bay are
difficult to detect, what then must it have been to those explorers who had to
find the landmarks .and fix them for all time! As we fly along the bays, rivers,
creeks and railroads of our State we are prone to gaze on either hand and view
with charmed eye and contented mind the miles upon miles of cultivated fields,
.and the thousands of happy homes we pass, taking all as an accepted fact, at
the same time totally forgetful of those intrepid men who had the hardihood
first to penetrate into them when unknown wilds, thus paving the way for
generations yet unborn, and by their labor assuring both peace and plenty.

  About the time of the establishment of the mission in San Francisco, which we
have already noted as having occurred in the year 1776, a party of Spaniards
traveling northward in quest of discoveries by land arrived at Olompali, now in
Novato township, near the Sonoma line, where they were received by the natives,
who then had a large rancheria there, with every mark of friendliness. Owing to
the time of year the streams en route had ceased to flow, hence on arrival at
Olompali, were they the more gratified to find a gurgling brook splashing
merrily along the well-wooded hillsides, where they could refresh their jaded
steeds and be themselves regaled with crystal water, after a weary ride in the
Summer's sweltering sun. This accomplished, the surroundings gave evidence of
the fact that the spot had been long used as the camp of the tribe of Indians
who gave their name to the place. Here the Spaniards were content to remain
among their kindly hosts, and in return for their hospitality commenced the
instruction of the Indians in the art of adobe brick-making and house-building.
This resulted in the construction of the old adobe residence which stood at the
southeast corner of the dwelling of Doctor Burdell, on the old Olompali ranch,
and which will -doubtless be well remembered by many an old traveler on the
Petaluma road. The building of which we speak was. in size sixteen by twenty
feet, with walls eight feet high and having a thickness of three feet; it was
thatched with tules, contained only one room, which had a hole perforated
through the center of the roof to permit the escape of smoke. Running at right
angles to where the erection just described stood is the adobe building now used
as a residence by Doctor Burdell, and which was constructed at a date posterior
to the other, from the fact that while the first mentioned one has decayed the
second is still in an excellent state of preservation. The former of these, it
is almost right to conjecture, was erected by the father of Camillo Ynitia, the
last chief of the tribe, and the latter by the son himself, and therefore we
have little hesitation in saying that to Marin county belongs the honor of
having the first dwelling house in California north of the Bay of San Francisco.

  At Olompali, as indeed in almost every part of the county coast line, are to
be found what may be termed Indian remains. That the reader may have some
knowledge of these curious relics, we here produce from the Overland Monthly of
October, 1874, an elaborate article entitled "Some Kjokkenmbddings and Ancient
Graves of California," by Paul Schumacher:

  "During my last visit to that part of the Californian coast between Point San
Luis and Point Sal, in the months of April, May and June of this year I had
occasion to observe extensive kjokkenmoddings, like those I found, about a year
ago, so numerous along the shores of Oregon. These deposits of shells and bones
are the kitchen refuse of the earlier inhabitants of the coast regions where
they are now found, and, though differing from each other in their respective
species of shells and bones of vertebrates—according to the localities and the
ages to which they belong—they have yet, together with the stone implements
found in them, a remarkable similarity in all parts of the North American
Pacific coast that I have explored—a similarity that extends further to the
kjokkenmoddings of distant Denmark, as investigated and described by European
scientists.

  "In Oregon, from Chetco to Rogue River,* I found that these deposits contained
the following species of shells: Mytilus Californianus, Tapes staminea, Cardium
Nuttallu, Purpura lactuca, etc.; eight-tenths of the whole being of the species
first mentioned. In California, on the extensive downs between the Arroyo Grande
and the Rio de la Santa Maria—the mouth of which latter is a few miles north of
Point Sal—I found that the shells, on what appear to have been temporary camping
places, consist nearly altogether of small specimens of the family Lucuia; so
much so that not only can hardly any other sort be found, but hardly even any
bones. My reason for supposing these heaps to be the remains of merely temporary
camps is the exceptional paucity of flint knives, spear-heads, and other
implements found therein, as also the absence of any chips that might indicate
the-sometime presence of a workshop where domestic tools and weapons of war were
manufactured—a something that immediately strikes the accustomed eye in viewing
regularly well-established settlements. On further examining this class of heaps
by a vertical section we find layers of sand recurring at short intervals, which
seem to prove that they were visited at fixed seasons; those moddings exposed
towards the northwest being vacated while the wind from that quarter was blowing
sand over them, and mutatis mutandis, the same happening with regard to camps
with a southwest aspect while the southwest wind prevailed. It is fair, then, to
suppose that these places were only the temporary residences of the savages to
whom they appertained, and that they were tenanted during favorable times and
seasons for the gathering of mollusks, which, having been extracted from their
shells by the help of the Hint knives found here, were dried in the sun for
transportation to the distant, better sheltered, permanent villages—the
comparatively small quantities of shell remains now found at these regular
settlements going also to support this theory. No graves have been found near
those temporary camps of the earliest known Californian pioneers. I discovered,
indeed, one skeleton of an Indian, together with thirteen arrow-heads, but it
was plainly to be seen that the death of this person had happened during some
short sojourn of a tribe at this place, as the burial had been effected in a
hasty and imperfect manner, and the grave was without the usual lining which, as
we shall see, is found in all the other tombs of this region.


  *Of the collections made by Mr. Schumacher at that place, the complete and
illustrated description will be found in the Smithsonian Report for the year 1874.


  "On the extremity of Point Sal, the northern projection of which is covered by
large sand-drifts, we find down to the very brink of the steep and rocky shore,
other extensive shell deposits, which, with few exceptions consist of the
Mytilus Califomianus and of bones, flint chips being also found, though very
sparsely, in comparison with the mass of other remains. The sea having washed
out the base of this declivity, and the top soil having, as a consequence, slid
down, we can see on the edge of the cliff shell-layers amounting in all to a
thickness of four or five feet -that part closest to the sub-lying rock
appearing dark and ash-like, while the deposit becomes better preserved as the
surface is neared. At other places, for example, on the extreme outer spur of
this Point Sal, the shell-remains have so conglomerated and run together with
extreme antiquity as to overhang and beetle over the rocks for quite a distance.

  "Leaving now these temporary camps, we shall visit the regular settlements of
the ancient aborigines. Traces of these are found near the southern Point Sal,
at a place where it turns eastward at an angle of something less than ninety
degrees behind the first small hill of the steep ridge which trends easterly
into the country, and which, up to this spot, is, on its northern slope, covered
with drift-sand and partially grown over with stunted herbage. Further traces of
a like kind are to be seen on the high bluff between north and south Point Sal.
Here the shells are piled up in shapeless, irregular heaps, as they are met in
all localities on the coast where there were the fixed dwelling-places of people
whose principal food consisted of fresh shell-fish; for, in the neighborhood of
these permanent homes the shell-remains were always put away in fixed places,
while in the temporary camps they were carelessly distributed over the whole
surface of the ground. Very vividly did these bleached mounds recall to my mind
the immense remains of such heaps that I had seen in Oregon on the right bank of
the Checto, as also near Natenet, and near Crook's Point, or Chetleshin, close
to Pistol river. I remembered also how I had watched the Indians in various
places—for example, near Crescent City on the Klamath, and on the Big
Lagoon—forming just such shell heaps; two or three families always depositing
their refuse on the same modding.

  "To return to Southern California. A deposit similar to those of Point Sal,
although much smaller, stands on the left bank of the Santa Maria river, near
its mouth. Both at the first described fixed camps, and at this place, there are
to be found tons of flint-chips, scattered about in all directions, as also
knives, arrow-heads and spear-heads in large quantities-I was somewhat
perplexed, however, by being unable to find any graves: such numerous moddings
revealing the existence of important settlements that should have been
accompanied by burying-places. I therefore moved further inland, seeking a
locality where the soil could be easily worked, where a good view of the
surrounding country could be had, and where, above all, there was good
fresh-water—all of which requirements appear to have been regarded as necessary
for the location of an important village. I soon recognized at a distance
shell-heaps and bone-heaps, the former of which gets scarcer as one leaves the
shore. Approaching these, on a spur of Point Sal upon which a pass opens through
the coast hills, and on both sides of which are springs of fresh water, though I
did not succeed, after a careful examination, in distinguishing single houses, I
believe I found the traces of a large settlement on a kind of saddle on the low
ridge, where flint-chips, bones and shells lie in great quantities. Further
search at last revealed to me in the thick chaparral a, few scattered sandstone
slabs, such as in that region were used for lining graves. Digging near these
spots, I at last found the graves of this settlement—a settlement that the old
Spanish residents call Kesmali.

  "Here I brought to light about one hundred and fifty skeletons and various
kinds of implements. The graves were constructed in the following manner: A
large hole was made in the sandy soil to a depth of about five feet, then a fire
was lit in it until a hard brick-like crust was burned to a depth of four or
five inches into the surrounding earth. The whole excavation was then
partitioned off into • smaller spaces by sandstone slabs, about one and a half
inches thick, one foot broad, and three feet long, in which smaller partitions
the skeletons were. One of these slabs generally lay horizontally over the head
of the corpse as a kind of protecting roof for the skull, just as I had found
them at Checto river, although in the latter instance the graves were lined with
split redwood boards instead of stones. Such careful burial is not. however,
always met with, and must evidently be taken as a sign of the respectability or
the wealth of the deceased; the more so, as in such graves I found usually many
utensils, something not the case with the more carelessly formed tombs, which
were only very slightly lined, and in which the heads of the dead were covered
with a piece of rough stone or half a mortar. The slabs above mentioned were
generally painted, and a piece which I carried off with me was divided
lengthwise by a single straight, dark line, from which radiated on either side,
at an angle of about sixty degrees, thirty-two other parallel red lines, sixteen
on each side, like the bones of a fish from the vertebra. In most cases the
inner side of the slab was painted a simple red.

  "In these graves the skeletons lay on their backs with the knees drawn up, and
the arms, in most cases, stretched out. No definite direction was observed in
the placing of the bodies, which frequently lay in great disorder, the saving of
room having been apparently the prime consideration. Some skeletons, for
example, lay opposite to each other, foot to foot, while adjoining ones again
were laid crosswise. The female skeletons have, instead of the protecting
head-slab, a stone mortar placed on its edge so as to admit the skull, or a
stone pot, which latter, if too narrow in the neck to admit the skull, is simply
buried underneath it. Cups and ornaments, both in the case of men and women, lie
principally about the head, while shell-beads are found in the mouth, the
eye-sockets, and in the cavity of the brain, which latter is almost always
filled with sand pressed in through the foramen magnum. The skeletons were in
some cases packed in quite closely, one over another, so that the uppermost were
only about- three feet below the surface of the ground. The stain of poverty is
very evident on these, except, perhaps, where they are females, as they are in
the majority of cases-I cannot accept the hypothesis that these were the slaves
of some rich man and buried with their master; for the lower skeletons were
generally found to have been disturbed in a very singular manner, such as could
only have been occasioned by a reopening of the grave after decomposition had
set in. I found, for example, a lower jaw lying near its right place, but upside
down, so that both the upper and the lower teeth pointed downward; in another
case, the thigh-bones lay the wrong way, the knee-pans being turned toward the
basin; and, in other instances, the bones were totally separated and mixed
up—all going to show that the graves had been repeatedly opened for the burial
of bodies at different times. Once I even found, upon piercing the bottom crust
of one sepulcher, another lying deeper, which perhaps had been forgotten, as the
bones therein were somewhat damaged by fire. Plenty of charcoal is found in
these tombs, usually of redwood, rarely of pine; and I could not determine any
third variety. Sometimes there were also discovered the remains of posts from
three to six inches in diameter, and of split boards about two inches in
thickness. These are probably the remains of the burned dwelling of the
deceased, placed in his grave with all his other property, after a fashion I
observed in Checto last year.

  "I examined other graves, resembling those described of Point Sal. These
others are known by the name of Temeteti. They lie about fourteen-"miles north
of the Point Sal graves, and are situated on the right bank of the Arroyo de los
Berros, opposite to the traces of former settlements about seven miles inland.
These tombs only differed from those of Kesmali in not being lined with the
thick burnt, brick-like crust mentioned above, but with a thin, light-colored
crust, slightly burned, and not more than a quarter of an inch thick.

  "In company with the well-informed and industrious antiquaries, Doctor Hays
and Judge Venabel, I explored another aboriginal settlement known by the name of
Nipomo. It is situated on a large rancho of like name, and distant about a mile
and a half from the Nipomo Ranch House, occupied by the hospitable Dana
brothers. Lastly I examined the Walekhe settlement. About twenty-five miles from
the mouth of the Santa Maria river, there empties into it the Alamo creek,
bringing down rather a large amount of water. Following the wide bed of the
Santa Maria for about seven miles farther up stream, one reaches a smooth
elevation, which at this place rises about sixty feet above the bend of the
creek, and which trends in a curve toward the mountains on the right bank. At
the farthest end of this, at a place where a fine view over the whole valley is
had, we find the traces of the ancient village now known as Walekhe. A short
distance from the former dwellings on the highest point of the ridge, a small
excavation marks the spot where once a house stood, probably that of a chief.
And here, indeed, I voluntarily imagined that I saw with my bodily eyes the
strange primeval race that once called this place home. I saw the mothers of the
tribe, lying with children at their breasts, or bending above the wearying
mortar, while the sweat rolled over their dusky skins, painted with the colors
and decked with the pearls that we at this day find lying beside them in those
silent graves whose secret we have caught. Under the neighboring oaks—old oaks
now, but young enough then—I saw the squatted men smoking their strange stone
pipes; while, in the creek below, the youth cooled their swarthy bodies, or
dried themselves in the sun, lying sweltering on its sandy banks. I heard the
cry of the sentinels, as they, ever watching warily for an approaching possible
enemy, caught sight of the returning hunter, loaded with elk and rabbits. And
now—their graves lie there.

  "With regard to the general character of the domestic utensils, arms, and
ornaments which I found in the digging down to, and examining of, about three
hundred skeletons in the graves of Kesmali, Temeteti, Nipomo and Walekhe, these
things from the different localities named resemble each other very closely,
seeming to show that all their possessors belonged to the same tribe. First of
all, the large cooking-pots draw one's attention—hollow globular or pear-shaped
bodies, hollowed out of magnesian mica. The circular opening, having a small and
narrow rim, measures only five inches in diameter in a pot with a diameter of
eighteen inches. Near the edge of the opening, this vessel is only a quarter of
an inch thick, but it thickens in a very regular manner toward the bottom, where
it measures about one and a quarter inch through. Made of the same material, I
found other pots of a different shape—namely, very wide across the opening, and
narrowing as they grow toward the bottom. With these I have also now in my
possession many different sizes of sandstone mortars of a general semi-globular
shape, varying from three inches in diameter and an inch and a half in height,
up to sixteen inches in diameter and thirteen inches in height—all external
measurements—with pestles of the same material to correspond. There were,
further, quite an assortment of cups, measuring from one and a quarter to six
inches in diameter, neatly worked out of polished serpentine. The smallest of
these that I found was inclosed, as in a doubly covered dish, by three shells,
and contained paint; traces of which, by the by, were found in all these cups,
from which we may suppose that they were not in use for holding food.

  "Neither spoons nor knives were found in these graves. I got, however, three
beautiful cigar-holder-like pipes of serpentine, much stronger than, but similar
in shape to, those dug out in Oregon. But few arms were picked up here—only a
few arrow-heads and spear-heads; these, however, mostly of exquisite
workmanship. A spear-head of obsidian, five and a half inches long, was the only
object I found of this material; another lance point of chalcedony, nine and a
half inches long, and one and a quarter inch wide, was beautifully shaped and
carefully made.

  "Many of these objects were found perfect, and those that were broken had been
broken by the shifting and pressure of the soil, as could easily be seen from
their position. It is, therefore, certain that the bulk of the property buried
with a person was not purposely broken or destroyed—the same thing holding true
in my investigations in Oregon. I even found mortars and pestles which had been
repaired and cemented with asphaltum. The richer occupants of these graves had
shell beads in great numbers, sickle-shaped ornaments of-the abalone shell, and
an ornament resembling the dentalium but made of a large clam-shell within or
strewed about their heads—striving, though they brought nothing into the world,
at least to carry something out."

  That the mounds to be found in Marin are identical with these described above,
there is no doubt. In leveling that at Olompali, many relics have been
unearthed, while within the corporate limits of the town of San Rafael one is to
be seen in a fair state of preservation; it is now being gradually removed, for
the mixture of shell and soil of which it is composed has been found
particularly Useful in the grading of streets and suburban thoroughfares.

  We have shown that the first settlement in the county was made at Olompali.
The second was the establishment of the mission.

  The Mission San Rafael was founded by Father Ventura Fortuni on the eighteenth
day of December, 1817. It flourished until the year 1834, as the following
numbers will show: Between the years 1802 and 1822, the number of proselytes
baptized were eight hundred and twenty-nine; two hundred and twenty-four were
married; one hundred and eighty-three died, and eight hundred and thirty were
still alive. These numbers augmented and the wealth of the mission increased,
until we find in the year 1834, San Rafael had one thousand two hundred and
fifty Indians on its establishment; three thousand head of cattle, five hundred
horses, four thousand five hundred sheep, goats, and swine, and a harvest yield
of fifteen hundred bushels of grain. In that year came the decree of
secularization, consequent on which was the overthrow of the authority of the
Fathers, the liberation and dispersion of the Indians, and the partition of the
mission lands and cattle, with a result disastrous in the extreme to the
aboriginals, whatever it may have been to the Mexican population.

  It is stated, and with every semblance of historical correctness, that of some
of the missions, which, in the year 1834, numbered fifteen hundred souls, in
1842 counted only a few hundreds. Let us show what havoc was made in the Mission
San Rafael during these short eight years. Of the twelve hundred and fifty
Indians but twenty remained, while of cattle they had all ceased to belong to
the Fathers. There are those, the favorers of the secularization scheme, who
contend that the diminution in numbers was the result of a combination of
complicated diseases, among others small-pox, said to have been contracted from
a subordinate Mexican officer who had caught the disease at the Russian
settlement at Fort Ross in 1837. Be this as it may, the officer recovered, and
sixty, thousand Indians are said to have perished in what are now known as
Marin, Sonoma, Solano and Napa. So rapidly did they die, that it was found
necessary to entomb the victims in huge pits, while others of them abandoned the
land, which to them had become accursed by the presence of the foreign intruder.
Thus have the aboriginal Californians passed away, and now live only in the
memory of the few pioneers who were their contemporaries.

  The tribe of Indians at San Rafael were called Jouskionmes. The mission
premises were built of the never-failing adobe, in the shape of an L and roofed
with tiles made on the spot,- the excavations for the clay for which are still
extant, while the position occupied was that of the site of the present Catholic
Church in San Rafael, the old altar being on the precise spot now occupied by
the new one. The wing used by the church ran parallel with Fifth street for
about eighty feet, and about thirty feet from its present line, while that at
right angles went back one hundred feet and was divided into a kitchen, situated
next to the church; the Juzgardo, or Justice Chamber, a room of forty by twenty
feet; and next, the apartments of the Fathers. There was no second story, still
the space between ceiling and roof was utilized as a granary or grain-loft. Of
other buildings, there was an adobe belonging to the mission, and occupied by
Indians, on the site of W. T. Coleman's private residence, while there was
another, mentioned elsewhere, in the Court House grounds. There was nothing
particularly fine in regard to the ecclesiastical paraphernalia of the church,
and we have failed to learn that there were any handsome ornaments or grand
paintings. The Holy Fathers would appear to have mainly trusted to wise
teachings, firm faith and good example, to attain the christianizing of their
flock, while they encouraged just enough of out-door labor, to secure a desire
to work, and instil a feeling of satisfaction into the breast of the native at
being able to earn his bread by the sweat of his own brow, and the toil of his
own hands. Contiguous to the mission there was a vast orchard and garden which
extended from the Wilkins' place down to the thoroughfare known as Irwin street,
and from thence to the marsh land. Several of the pear trees and grapevines
still remain, but save that they are memories of the past, have no particular
attraction, few of the rising generation knowing little, and caring less, about
their strange and eventful history.

  In a pamphlet published by George W. Gift in 1875, wherein the resources of
Marin county, its health and wealth are briefly set forth, we find the following:

  " It so happens that we are in possession of a most excellent account of this
first settlement, translated from a letter written by ex-Governor Juan B.
Alvarado, dated January 5, 1874, and which we here insert as better and more
authentic than anything we know of on the subject.

  " 'The Mission of San Rafael was founded in 1824,* under Don Luis Antonio
Arguello, Captain and Commandante of the Presidio of San Francisco, and Governor
interim of California, under the unfortunate Iturbide. Friar Juan Amoroso, from
San Carlos, undertook the office of converting the heathen Indians, and teaching
them the practices of Christianity and the arts of civilization. This good
Father was a noted personage. He was one of those missionaries who dared
everything in behalf of the cross. Earnest, faithful and bold, he preached the
story of his Master without fear. Being a most excellent mechanic he needed no
assistance in teaching the neophytes the arts. The Governor saw at the Mission
of San Rafael in 1831 an ingenious water-clock constructed by Father Juan, and
which was a most excellent time-keeper. Fifty years ago the Indians hereabouts
were very savage and hostile, and it was thought prudent to station a small
guard at the mission for protection. This guard of three or four soldiers was
commanded by Corporal Rafael Garcia. The Friar and the Corporal held out the
olive branch to the savages, but were not met in the same spirit. The
Caynameros, a Marin county tribe, made a descent on the mission with a purpose
to surprise and massacre the inhabitants. Our corporal was not surprised,
however, but made a gallant defense. When the Indians appeared in sight, with
hostile demonstrations, he embarked the Friar Juan, his own wife Loreto, and two
or three children upon a balsa or raft made of tules, and despatched them with
the tide to go elsewhere for safety. Strange to say this frail float and its
precious cargo landed safely near the Presidio. The corporal having freed
himself of the non-combatants made a stubborn fight and repulsed the assailants,
or, as the Governor has it, 'Garcia en este caso defendio la mision y devidio a
su valor y resignacion, los Indios fueron rechazados y espulsados de las
immediaciones del establecimiento.' " It will thus be remarked that the family
of Garcia were the Spanish pioneers of Marin county.

  * This is evidently a mistake, for all authorities agree on the year of the
founding of the Mission San Rafael being 1817. The last of the missions
established, namely, that of San Francisco Solano, at Sonoma, was founded August
23, 1823, one year before Governor Alvarado says that of San Rafael came into
existence.


  To Saucelito township is the credit due of having been first settled by an
English speaking people. John J. Read, to whom may be aptly given the sobriquet
of the Father of Pioneers, was born in Dublin in the year 1805, and left Ireland
in 1820. When but a mere lad, his uncle, who was a sailor, took him on a voyage
to Mexico, from thence to California, sailing from Acapulco; arriving in the
State in the year 1826, just after attaining his twenty-first year, and, after
staying a short time in Los Angeles, proceeded northward until he reached
Saucelito, and there took up his residence. In 1826 he made application to the
authorities for a grant of the Saucelito Rancho, but was refused it on the plea
that it was held for Government purposes. He next, in 1827, removed to Sonoma
county, and tilled a portion of the Cotate Rancho, at the same time making
application for the grant, but here he was not permitted to remain, for the
Indians drove him off, destroyed his crop and buried his implements. At this
juncture he was recommended by Father Quijos to proceed to San Rafael, where he
was given the position of Mayor-Domo to the mission, and there tarried until he
came to Saucelito to reside in 1832, erecting for his accommodation near the old
town a wooden shanty, from whence he plied a small boat regularly to the
opposite shore of Yerba Buena, and established the first ferry on the Bay of San
Francisco. In 1834 he received a grant of the rancho "Corte Madera del
Presidio," where he erected a saw mill—the first in the county— while he was
also the first to take soundings in the Bay. On his ranch he made many
improvements, such as fencing, planting orchards, and introducing imported
cattle, all of which this energetic young Irishman accomplished, while he was a
single man, and before he had reached thirty years of age. Mr. Read married
October 13, 1836, at the Church of the Mission Dolores, the Senorita Hilarita,
the youngest daughter of Don Jose Antonio Sanchez, Commander of the Presidio at
San Francisco. He died of a fever at  the early age of thirty-eight years, in
1843, and his remains repose in the Catholic Cemetery of San Rafael.

  The distinction of being the second settler in Marin county belongs to Captain
William Antonio Richardson, an Englishman, who was born in the year 1795. In
1822, he arrived in San Francisco bay; in 1824, he was oranted a lot in the
Pueblo of Yerba Buena; on May 12, 1825, he married Senorita Maria Antonia
Martinez; in 1828, he made application for the Saucelito Ranch, which was not
granted to him until February 11, 1838; in June, 1835, he was appointed Captain
of the Port of San Francisco. It was not, however, until April, 1836, that
Captain Richardson came to reside on the Saucelito Rancho, where he eventually
built himself a residence. He died April 22, 1858.

  Of all the old pioneers of the county none perhaps has left so cherished a
name behind as Don Timoteo Murphy. He came by sea from South America as early as
1828, was born in the year 1800, in the town of Coolaneck, parish of Edermine,
county of Wexford, Ireland. In early life Timothy Murphy received a good
commercial education, and having finished his schooling, obtained a position in
a firm in Dublin, but soon exchanged it for a better appointment in an English
house in Lima. Here he remained for a short time, when he was sent by Hartnell &
Co. to superintend an establishment of theirs for packing and exporting beef at
Monterey; accordingly in the year above named he started for California. Dr.
Quigley, in the "Irish Race in California," says: "Murphy was a man of
commanding appearance, stood six feet two and one-half inch high, muscular and
straight, with a fair, florid complexion and an acquiline nose. He was a famous
'shot.' Even up to the day of his death, he could kill a deer or antelope at a
distance of one-fourth of a mile with his rifle. He also kept a large kennel of
beagles and greyhounds, thirty-five of which he had at one time sent to him, by
sea, by his cousins, the Conroys of Callao. Besides hunting for sport, he used
to pursue other game, such as otters, which abounded in Marin county at that
early time, and whose pelts he used to sell for forty dollars each." Soon after
locating in this section he received from Micheltorena a grant of three leagues
of land at Point San Pedro, Santa Margarita and Las Gallinas, near San Rafael,
and after the secularization of the missions he was made Indian Agent and
Commissioner of the Nicasio tribe of Indians, while, besides giving a
hundred-vara lot in San Francisco —the site of the Palace Hotel—for church
purposes, he deeded a tract of land near San Rafael for an orphan institution.
Of this gift Father Gleeson in his "History of the Catholic Church in
California," says: "Moved by a laudable desire of providing for the moral and
intellectual culture of the Catholic youth in the vicinity of San Rafael, once
the site of a nourishing mission in the time of the Fathers, Mr. Timothy Murphy,
whose name has been already mentioned in connection with the city asylum,
donated to the church for the purpose of establishing and maintaining a school,
three hundred acres of land in Marin county. The charge of establishing and
conducting the school was entrusted by the Bishop to the Sisters of Charity, as
the reader may see from the following:

  "St. Vincent's Seminary, Las Gallinas, near San Rafael, Marin county,
California, A. D. 1855, January 1st.

  "The Sisters of Charity of this city of San Francisco, California, are
appointed to take charge of the school oi St. Vincent, at Las Gallinas Marin
county, California, to carry out the intentions of Mr. Timothy Murphy.

                                    " + JOSEPH S. ALEMANY,
                                        " Archbishop of San Francisco."

  The accompanying extract from the register of the institution, in the Sister
Superior's hand, tells of the commencement of the work:

  "The Sisters of Charity from St. Joseph's House, Emitsburgh, Maryland, whose
mother house is in Paris, founded a branch of their order in Las Gallinas, on a
tract of land donated to the Most Rev. Archbishop Alemany by Don Timothy Murphy."

  "The Sisters erected a wooden building, the cost of which amounted to five
thousand dollars. Sister M. Corsina McRey, Donna Barbara, Miss Glover and four
children, took possession of it January 7, 1825, and on the same day opened a
school for the maintenance and education of children in the neighboring district.

  "The above institution we organized under the name of St. Vincent's Seminary.
Subsequent to the above-mentioned period, we added other improvements, viz.,
fencing, etc.

                                       "SISTER FRANCES McENNIS,
                                             "Directress of St. Vincent's."

  By the foregoing the reader is put in possession of the origin of the Catholic
institution of San Rafael, of which we shall speak more at large in a subsequent
page.

  Don Timoteo Murphy died in the year 1853, having devised his estate to his
nephews, one of whom, John Lucas, now resides on the Santa Margarita ranch.

  As far back as the year 1834, we find that Rafael Garcia had located on the
Baulinas rancho. He was followed soon after by Gregorio Brories, his
brother-in-law, to whom he disposed of the Bolinas rancho, and located that
adjoining it, named the Tomales y Bolinas, in 1837. Here he built a large adobe
residence for himself, and some time later two more were constructed for the use
of his servants and numerous retainers. But of what manner were these regal
establishments? In front of the house was a court-yard of considerable extent,
and part of this was sheltered by a porch; here, when the vaqueros had nothing
to call them to the field, they would pass the day, looking like retainers on a
rude court; a dozen or more wild, vicious-looking horses, with wooden saddles on
their backs, stood ever ready for work; while lounging about the vaqueros
smoked, played the guitar, or twisted a new riata of hide or horse hair. When
the sun gets lower they go to sleep in the shade, while the little horses that
remain in the sunshine do the same apparently, for they shut their eyes and
never stir. Presently a vaqueror judging the time by the sun, gets up and yawns,
staggering lazily towards his horse, gathers up his riata, and twists it around
the horn of his saddle— the others, awaking, rise and do the same, all yawning,
with eye half open, looking as lazy a set as ever were seen, as indeed they are
when on foot. 'Hupa! Anda!' and away they go in a cloud of dust, splashing
through the liver, waving their lassoes around their heads with a wild shout,
and disappearing from sight almost as soon as mounted. The vaquero wants at-all
times to ride furiously, and the little horses' eyes are opened wide enough
before they receive the second dig of their rider's iron spurs. In the year
1834, there dwelt on the southern portion of Point Reyes a man named Smith,
while three years later another, called Blaisdle or Blaisdell, took up his
residence there, but what their occupations were we have been unable to trace.

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

  After the year 1840, among the earliest to arrive were Ramon Mesa and
Bartolome Bojorques, both of whom obtained grants and settled in San Antonio
township, in the years 1844 and 1845 respectively. Both were men of families,
but little can be gleaned, even from their descendants, save that they came from
one or other of the southern Spanish settlements and located in Marin.

  In the year 1844, James Miller and his father-in-law, Martin Murphy, undertook
the guidance of an overland journey to California. This was no ordinary trip,
for it must not be forgotten that at that time the magnitude of the undertaking
had not been as yet tested. Accompanied by his wife and family and a company of
about sixty individuals, one-half of whom were Americans, they followed their
weary way westward, the tedious routine of each day being unrelieved. As night
succeeded night, and daybreak burst on each successive morn, the labors were the
same—the horses were unharnessed and watered; the wagons were arranged for
shelter and defense: the animals were led to pasturage; food was cooked, and the
nightly guard mounted. Of the overland journey, an experienced author says: "To
be able to endure this routine of duties, not to speak of crossing rivers and
mountains, and sliding down the sides of precipices; to do these things for a
week, or a month, would seem at present to be a most difficult undertaking. But,
to continue a labor of which the above is only a brief and imperfect summary for
six or eight, would seem to be a peculiar task indeed. Let anybody think, who
has ever crossed the plains, of having to face the red sun every day, whose rays
were dazzling; of having to encounter the breath of these sometimes hot and
sometimes cold, rainy winds; of having to suffer that almost continual thirst
from the blinding alkali, drifting in ridges like snow-banks; of having to lie
down under the poor shelter of a clumsy tent; of having to rise in the morning
without fires to warm the limbs; of having to go miles, perhaps, in search of
chips, or the dried droppings of the buffalo, to burn for fuel; of having to
endure heat, cold, hunger, fatigue and sadness every single day during the long,
long period of eight months, and that before the discovery of gold to elevate
the spirit; who can realize these, and a thousand other trials the overland
passenger had to undergo, must acknowledge that the undertaking was truly heroic
and sufficient to immortalize those who succeeded in its accomplishment! At
length there is a change in the monotony of the dreary plains. The hill and
snow-capped mountains are reached, which in their solemn grandeur inspire the
mind by their sublimity, and by their friendly shadows protect the wayfarers
from the scorching rays of the sun.

  "For a few days the change of scene encourages the despairing and kindles
within the sinking breast a hope that from the summit of the highest pass
through the mountains all could get a view of the land which they were seeking
to possess. But this brief imagination, inspired by hope, was soon dispelled
when it was found that the mountains, if they cheered their spirits, also
retarded their progress to their destination.

  "There was a not unfounded fear, too, that at any moment, while defiling
through the narrow passages of the mountains, they may be attacked and scalped
by the savage tribes which make their homes in the sombre valleys of the ' snowy
range.' At length after a tedious voyage, the plains and mountains are passed
and the divide reached, where the streams, rivers and creeks change their
courses, all flowing toward the west and southwest instead of the opposite
direction. This change of scene too had a cheerful, effect upon the traveler,
who began to imagine that, as the face of nature seemed to be turned smilingly
toward the west, and as their journey henceforth would be on an inclined plane
toward the Pacific, they would soon get a glimpse, if not a full view of
California."

  Of Mr. Miller's journey Dr. Quigley * tells us : "Here, then, by the banks of
the Humboldt river, when they reached what is called its 'Sink,' on November 10,
1844, the party resolved to rest themselves for about ten days, to gather
strength and provide for the remainder of the journey. The cattle, were let out
to grass, the horses unharnessed, while the men and women too busied themselves
with repairing outfits, mending damaged vehicles washing soiled clothing, and
the younger members shot game, which, in the shape of wild ducks, geese, sage
hens, as well as antelopes and deer, were very abundant, and scarcely heeded the
presence of their pursuers.

* The Irish Race in California.

  Refreshed and renewed though they all were, men and animals, after ten days
rest and recreation, yet this delay possibly occasioned most of the sufferings
which the party were soon to undergo in the defiles of the Sierras, near Truckee
lake.

  The sun withdrew his pleasant face from where they camped a day or two, ere
they renewed their journey. The sky became clouded, and the first fall of
mountain snow warned them to make haste and depart. They did set out, but their
progress was very much slower than before, through the alkaline and sandy drifts
of the mountains. Before it was the glare of the red, angry sun that annoyed
them, or the blowing blasts of the dusty plains that almost suffocated them. But
now it was the snow, the snow that blew into their eyes, like fine sand, or
gathered into high ridges to stop them, or treacherously filled deep ravines and
pits, as it were, in order to lure them on to destruction. This was a dreadful
journey to pursue for about a months when, as the cattle and teams were on the
point of starvation, and the entire party wearied and almost frozen, they came
to the resolution of building some cabins to protect the weaker members of the
party from the weather, and thus save them from inevitable destruction.

  Accordingly, log-cabins were built, all of the cattle that were not needed for
work around the camp or used by the men to go in search of relief, were killed,
and the flesh carefully preserved for the subsistence of those in camp. It was
in December, 1844, when the party was secure in their shelter of rude
log-houses, roofed by poles extending across the walls and covered by the hides
of cattle that had been butchered, that the men were prepared to depart in
search of some settlements.

  After having confided the women and children to the care of Mr. Miller, the
brave men who volunteered to go in search of settlements or other evidence of
civilization, departed. These, after many days travel, reached "Fort Helvetia,"
the residence of Captain Sutter.

  When they reached Sutter's Fort, they found the country in a state of war, a
rebellion having broken out against Micheltorena's authority, in which many of
the Mexicans joined, and most of the Americans, aided by Captain McKinley. The
party of emigrants joined in this uprising or were probably compelled to do so,
as they marched as far as San Jose', as a part of the revolutionary forces. They
were soon, however, allowed to return to the Sierras, but several weeks elapsed
before they got back. In the meantime provisions were scarce among the inmates
of the log cabins. All their flour, which consisted of only three barrels when
they entered camp, was now consumed; and no wonder, when about fifty persons had
to subsist on that limited supply. The starvation stage of their existence now
commenced, and dire destruction began to stare them when they were obliged to
cook and try to eat the hides that protected them from the weather, on the roofs
of the cabins. And no doubt the fate of the Donner party would have been theirs,
but for the presence of mind and cool deliberation of James Miller, the true
guardian of the whole party, who, rather than see his people die of starvation,
resolved himself to go in search of relief. Accordingly, with his gun, a
blanket, and an ax, with a small supply of meat, as well, he started almost in
spite of the advice of the inmates of the camp, who felt, when he had gone, that
they had no protector. Accompanied by his son, William J., then a child of only
a dozen years of age, he set out with the tardy consent of his affectionate
wife, who, with a heroism worthy of epic renown, was satisfied that her husband
would sacrifice his life for the flock committed to his charge. He traveled on
for four or five days with his son, like lulus, following at a distance in his*
father's tracks. Finally, the little hero who volunteered to go with his father,
became entirely exhausted, and lying down on the snow at the brow of a
precipice, he flung the cup which he carried to drink out of, and his blanket,
over the cliff, after which he slept soundly. When he awoke from his slumbers he
felt thirsty, and finding he had not his cup, he seized on one of his father's
boots, who also was taking a needed rest, and drank copiously from a snowy
rivulet. Their small supply of food was already spent, and death by starvation
would be their inevitable fate, had not the intrepid and active pioneer
providentially encountered some game, which he shot, and soon prepared for food,
supplying his empty haversack with some of which, he was prepared to continue
his journey towards the southwest, when the boy, William, who was a little ahead
of his father, and whose hearing was most acute, ran back to report that he
heard the jingling of bells. In a few moments afterwards, horses appeared, and a
party of men, whom the good man recognized as his companions who had gone in
search of, brought relief. The journey back to the camp was made in one day,
where the famishing inmates of the cabins were soon rejoiced and refreshed by
the plentiful supply of food sent by the benevolent Captain Sutter."

  James Miller, who is justly entitled to the merit of having saved what is
called the Murphy immigration party, in 1844, from the terrible fate which
befell the Donner party in 1847, is still a resident of Marin county, where he
resides on his farm, formerly called Las Gallinas. On arrival here there were
only two residents, outside of the mission, in the now prosperous town of San
Rafael, namely, Don Timoteo Murphy and Don Antonio Osio. Mr. Miller built the
first house in the township outside of the town, which was in 1845, and
consisted of what is popularly known as a 'shake shanty;' in 1846 he substituted
another of a more substantial character, made of split redwood; in 1847 he
constructed an adobe residence, which still stands and is used as a store room,
while in later years he erected the commodious mansion known as Miller Hall,
where he now resides. This residence is situated about four miles north of San
Rafael, on the Petaluma road, and is a square, massive edifice, with a verandah
and observatory. The house stands on a knoll in a pretty vale of about a mile in
width, and surrounded on three sides by a ridge of hills, which, like walls,
shelter it from the chilling blasts of the ocean, as well as protect it from the
scorching sirocoes of the north. The building faces eastward, and there is a
view in that direction of the Bay and the ever changing hue of its waters,
disturbed almost continually by the paddles of steamers or the keels of sailing
vessels, interrupting the natural changes of its surface. In the same direction,
but beyond the bay, stand Mount Diablo and the bronzed and weather-beaten hills
of Contra Costa, looking down upon the bay with their burned crowns and parched
peaks, reminding one of the Titans of mythology begging a drop of water to
moisten their burning brows.

  From the above account of the difficulties which one party encountered in
procuring themselves homes in California, an opinion may be formed of the
courage and perseverance which were needed by others who successfully
accomplished the journey across the plains at that early day. But, though
multitudes succeeded in making the overland journey successfully, numbers failed
in the attempt, and the many shallow graves all along from Omaha to Sacramento
prove that hundreds, if not thousands, sacrificed their lives in the perilous
undertaking.

  In the year 1846, there came to reside on Point Reyes Samuel Smith, and three
others named respectively McCaulley, Westgate, Irish, and Higgings, where they
eked out a precarious livelihood, but in what manner or by what means, even
tradition is silent.

  In 1846 there also arrived in San Rafael, Mrs. Merriner, and her sons, J. O.
B., and Jacob Short, where they still reside. They were the second to build in
that now flourishing town, their construction being an addition to an old adobe
which formerly stood on the present Court House block. The Short Brothers have
flourished as the years went by until to-day they are accounted among the
wealthy citizens of Marin.

  Nicasio township is chiefly composed of the grant of that name made to Pablo
de la Guerra and Juan B. R. Cooper in the year .1844; it was, however,
afterwards divided and allotted to Henry W. Halleck (afterwards General), Daniel
Funk, William Reynolds, James Black and B. R. Buckelow. For services performed
as Surveyor, Jasper O'Farrell received that tract known as the Black estate,
which he afterwards exchanged for the Canada de la Jonive Rancho in Sonoma
county, a grant which James Black had received, and upon this being perfected in
1847 or 1848 the latter took up his abode in Nicasio in this county. Of these
individuals, Don Pablo de la Guerra was Administrator General "de la rentas," at
the time of California becoming the territory of the United States, and after
serving on the Convention which framed the original Constitution of the State,
represented the district of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo in the Senate of
the first California Legislature. Juan B. R. Cooper died in San Francisco
February 9, 1872, at the advanced age of seventy-nine years and five months. He
was a native of the Channel Islands and came to America when a mere child, being
reared in the vicinity of Boston. Before he attained his majority, he adopted
the mariner's profession, and in the course of his voyages visited California,
where he settled in the year 1823. He once occupied the position of a Commander
in the Mexican Navy, but aside from that had never figured in any public
position. He married a sister of General M. G. Vallejo in the early portion of
his residence in California, and passed most of his time on his ranch in
Monterey county, though latterly he had removed his residence to San Francisco.
He was a good man, always ready and willing to assist the unfortunate, and,
while quiet and unobtrusive, was kind and true to those with whom he came in
contact. It requires no effort of ours to sketch the career of General Halleck,
his history is that of his country. In the Summer of 1846 he came to the Pacific
coast and served during the Mexican war as a Lieutenant, but for gallantry was
breveted to the post of Captain in 1847. His name is closely identified with the
early history of California, acting as Secretary of State under the military
governments of . Generals Mason and Riley, and during the same period as Auditor
of the Revenues. He was a prominent member of the Convention assembled in 1849
to form a State Constitution; and as an active member of the drafting committee,
had an important part in the preparation of that instrument; being distinguished
also for his able and determined opposition against all attempts to engraft
African slavery upon this State. In 1854 he commenced the practice of law in San
Francisco, and held many responsible positions in that city, until the breaking
out of the war in 1861. when, on the recommendation of Lieu tenant-General
Scott, he was appointed a Major-General in the Army; what his services in that
trying time were the reader knows too well, therefore it will be unnecessary
here to touch upon them. Of James Black, that well-known pioneer, a full sketch
will be found in the history of Nicasio township, suffice it here to say that he
was born in Inverness, the capital of the Highlands of Scotland, in the year
1807. He died on June 12, 1870, at his residence near Novato. He Came to
California in 1832, and by his industrious habits and sound judgment he had
secured a large fortune which enabled him to gratify his natural disposition for
relieving the necessities of those less fortunate than himself. His remains were
interred in the Catholic cemetery in San Rafael, on Monday, June 20, 1870,
attended by a large concourse of people from every part of the county, and by
the Society of California Pioneers, of which association he was a life member.
One of the most amiable traits of the character of James Black is the brotherly
love, akin to that of Jonathan for David, which he evinced to his pioneer
comrade Edward Manuel Mcintosh. From the early days when they first met in
Monterey, they were together, until in the old age and broken health of Mcintosh
he found a home with Jiis warm friend. Edward Manuel McIntosh was also a native
of Invernessshire, Scotland, where he was born February 14, 1784; he died
November 7, 1871. In his early days he followed the sea for a livelihood, and in
the war of 1812 served on board an American privateer. He came to California in
1813, where he remained but a short time, returning in 1823, as first officer of
a hide-drogher, and, abandoning his vessel, remained here until the day of his
death. In 1834 he became a Mexican citizen, and subsequently received a grant of
land in Sonoma county known as the Rancho Estero Americano. In 1844, when
Governor Micheltorena was driven from the country, he served under General
Sutter. He was Second Alcalde for San Rafael district about the year 1847, while
in his private relations he was universally esteemed.

  On January 19, 1848, gold was discovered at Coloma, on the American river. The
noise of it soon reverberated across the continent and over the oceans to Europe
and Asia. Discovery followed discovery, and a rush for the California gold mines
took place in every country. . It was a year of commotion. Europe had risen in a
state of revolution, and many of the defeated and disappointed patriots soon
turned their attention to the Pacific-coast. Mexico, Central and South America,
sent their thousands this way; even the subjects of the far-off Flowery Kingdom
soon appeared upon our shores. The places where the precious metal was found
were far in the interior, in the beds of creeks and rivers, near the foot-hills.
Travel, at first, was 'nearly altogether by land, and the Livermore Pass became
one of the principal routes to the mines. Nearly all, at first, rushed off to
the "diggings," rancheros and vaqueros, and every one who could possibly get
&wa,y. Most of the farmers, however, soon returned. A great demand for farm
products sprung up, and cattle were wanted in the mines. On the development of
this trade the keen sighted residents of Marin were not behindhand; several of
them drove large herds of cattle thither, and realized prices bordering on the
fabulous; others established trading posts, but the greater number pursued the
search for gold with varied hopes, some to be rewarded but the larger proportion
to return to the more certain, and in the long run more profitable industry, of
raising bread for those who remained at the mines.

  Consequent upon the gold discoveries the tide of immigration set towards this
coast and people flocked in thousands to the mines, it being estimated by
General Mason, who visited the diggings at Coloma, in June, 1848. that there
alone, there were two thousand American and Europeans, and two thousand Indians
at work ; and it is known that there were a great many other localities, where
washing and prospecting for gold was then being carried on.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

HISTORY OF MARIN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA;
INCLUDING ITS
Geography, Geology, Topography and Climatography;
TOGETHER WITH
A Full and Particular Record of the Mexican Grants; Its Early History and
Settlement, Compiled from the most Authentic Sources; Names of Original Spanish
and American Pioneers;

A Full Record of its Organization; A Complete Political History, including a
Tabular Statement of Office-holders since the Formation of the County;

Separate Histories of Bolinas, Nicasio, Novato, Point Reyes, San Antonio, San
Rafael, Saucelito, and Tomales Townships;

Incidents of Pioneer Life, and Biographical Sketches of its Early and Prominent
Settlers and Representative Men;
ALSO
An Historical Sketch of the State of California,
In which is embodied the Raising of the Bear Flag

ILLUSTRATED.
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 
ALLEY, BOWEN & CO., PUBLISHERS.
1880.


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