Merced County CA Archives History - Books .....Organization And Boundaries 1925
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Book Title: History Of Merced County California

CHAPTER VII

ORGANIZATION AND BOUNDARIES

   An act to create the County of Merced, to define its boundaries and to
provide for its organization, was passed by the legislature and approved April
19, 1855, and is as follows:

   "The People of the State of California, represented in Senate and Assembly,
do enact as follows:

   "Section 1. There shall be formed out of the southwestern portion of Mariposa
County a new county to be called Merced.

   "Section 2. The boundary of Merced County shall be as follows: Beginning at a
place on the San Joaquin River known as Converse's Ferry, thence along the main
road leading to a place on the Merced River known as Phillips' Upper Ferry,
thence in a straight line to the southeast corner of Stanislaus and southwest of
Tuolumne counties, thence along the line dividing Mariposa and Stanislaus
counties to the western corner of the same, thence southeastwardly along the
western boundary of Mariposa County to the corner of Tulare and said county of
Mariposa, thence along the dividing line of Tulare and Mariposa counties to the
road leading from Converse's Ferry on the San Joaquin river to Visalia in Tulare
county, thence in a straight line to the place of beginning.

   "Section 3. The seat of Justice shall be at such place as may be determined
by the qualified electors of the county at the election for county officers, as
provided by this Act.

   "Section 4. There shall be an election held for county officers, and to
determine the county seat in said county of Merced, on the second Monday in May
of the present year, eighteen hundred and fifty-five.

   "Section 5. At the election mentioned in the preceding section there shall be
chosen a Board of Supervisors consisting of three persons, one County Judge, one
County Attorney, one County Clerk who shall be ex-officio County Recorder, one
Sheriff, one County Surveyor, one Assessor, one Treasurer, one Coroner and one
Public Administer, also a place to be the seat of justice.

   "Section 6. A. Stevenson, Wm. Neal, W. J. Barfield, Charles V. Snelling, John
McDermot, Samuel Lovejoy and C. F. Bludworth are hereby appointed and
constituted a Board of Commisssioners to designate the election precincts in
said county of Merced for the said election, and to appoint the Inspectors and
Judges of the several precincts as designated; to receive the returns of
election and to issue certificates of election to the persons entitled to the same.

   "Section 7. The laws of a general nature now in force regulating elections in
this State, shall apply to the election ordered by this Act, except that the
above Board of Commissioners herein appointed shall designate the election
precincts, appoint the Inspectors and Judges of election, receive the returns of
election, issue the several certificates to the persons elected, and declare
what place receives the highest number of votes for county seat.

   "Section 8. Said Board of Commissioners shall hold their first session for
the transaction of business at the house of James A. Neal & Co., in said county.

   "Section 9. The said Board of Commissioners shall meet on the Monday two
weeks previous to the election. At such meeting said Board shall appoint one of
their number President, and one as Clerk. A record of their proceedings shall be
kept; the attendance of a majority of the members of the Board shall be
necessary for the transaction of business; at the said meeting the Board shall
designate the precincts of the county and appoint Inspectors and Judges of such
precincts, and give notice at each of the said precincts.

   "Section 10. Sealed returns from the officers of election may be delivered to
any member of said Board. The said Board shall meet on the fifth day subsequent
to the election at the house of James A. Neal & Co., and the returns shall then
be opened and read, and under their direction, and in their presence a tabular
statement shall be made out, showing the vote given at each precinct of the
county, for each person and for each of the offices to be filled at the
election, and also the entire vote given for each person, and in the county for
county seat, and for what place or places cast. The statement made out by such
Board, shall be signed by its President and Clerk. The place for which the
highest number of legal votes shall be found to have been cast, shall be the
county seat. The persons having the highest number of legal votes for the
several offices to be filled shall be declared elected, and the President shall
immediately make out and send or deliver to each person chosen, a certificate of
election signed by him as President of the Commissioners, and attested by the
Clerk.

   "Section 11. The County Judge shall qualify before the President of the
Board, and enter upon the discharge of the duties of his office on the day
succeeding the meeting of the Board as provided in the preceding section. The
persons elected as county offiecrs as provided in this Act shall qualify before
the County Judge within ten days thereafter, and enter upon the discharge of
their duties.

   "Section 12. The President of the Board shall transmit without delay a copy
of the tabular statement prepared as provided for in section tenth to the
Secretary of State. The election returns of the county and a duplicate tabular
statement shall be furnished to and retained by the County Judge of the county
until the person elected as Clerk of said county has qualified and entered upon
his duties, after which they shall be filed in his office.

   "Section 13. The County Judge chosen under this Act shall hold office for
four years from the next annual election for members of the Assembly, and until
his successor is elected and qualified; the other officers elected under this
Act shall hold their respective offices for the term fixed by law, commencing
from the next annual election for members of the Assembly.

   "Section 14. The County Judge shall receive for his services such sum
annually as shall be determined by the Board of Supervisors, not to exceed one
thousand five hundred dollars, to be paid in the manner provided by an Act to
fix the compensation of County Judges and Associates of the Court of Sessions,
approved May 17th, 1853.

   "Section 15. The county of Merced for representative purposes shall be and
remain a portion of Mariposa county as now fixed, until otherwise provided by law.

   "Section 16. The county of Merced for judicial purposes shall be attached to
and form a part of the Thirteenth Judicial District.

   "Section 17. The Board of Supervisors of Merced county shall have power to
levy a special tax, not to exceed fifty cents on each one hundred dollars of
valuation of the taxable property of said county, to be assessed and collected
as other taxes, and the fund arising from said special tax shall be applied
solely to the erection of a jail and court house for said county.

   "Section 18. The Board of Supervisors of Merced county shall appoint two
Commissioners to meet a corresponding-number of Commissioners appointed in like
manner by Mariposa, for the purpose of ascertaining and settling the amount of
indebtedness the said county of Merced shall assume and become responsible for,
of the debts of the said county of Mariposa, and when ascertained and certified
to by said Commissioners or a majority of them to their respective counties, the
Board of Supervisors of Merced county shall cause to be issued by the County
Treasurer in favor of the county of Mariposa the sum so agreed upon payable out
of any money that may come into the Treasury of Merced county.

   "Section 19. All township officers chosen at the general election for
Mariposa county whose districts by this Act may be included within the present
limits of Merced county, shall continue to hold their respective offices for
said county of Merced, during the term for which they were elected, and until
their successors are elected and qualified.

   "Section 20. The Clerk and Recorder of Mariposa county upon application by
any person and payment of the fees, shall furnish certified copies of all deeds
or other papers recorded in their offices, wherein the subject matter of such
deed or other papers are situated in Merced county.

   "Section 21. All actions pending or proceedings in the nature of actions,
whether original or on appeal, civil or criminal, that were commenced by a party
or parties now residing within the limits of Merced county, shall be disposed of
by the tribunals and officers having jurisdiction of the same in Mariposa county
upon the organization of said Merced county.

   "Section 22. It shall be the duty of the County Surveyor under the
instructions and direction of the Board of Supervisors to survey and mark the
lines and boundaries of Merced county in accordance with the provisions of this
Act, and for said services he shall receive such compensation as may be allowed
by law.

   "Section 23. Twenty per cent of all moneys received in the County Treasury of
Merced county shall be set apart as a sinking fund to liquidate the debt due
from Merced county to Mariposa county, and shall be paid over by the Treasurer
of Merced county to the Treasurer of Mariposa county, every three months, and
the Treasurer of Merced county shall take his receipt therefor."

   There are several chapters to the story of Merced County's boundaries, and we
may as well depart from the strict chronological order long enough to trace them
here.

   It will be noticed that the place of beginning designated in the second
section of that act approved on the eightieth anniversary of the battles of
Lexington and Concord, and just quoted, was "a place on the San Joaquin River
known as Converse's Ferry." If we should look for clues to this old ferry in the
vicinity where the boundary line of Merced County now crosses the San Joaquin,
we should be dissappointed. It was located in the vicinity of the present-day
Friant and the old Fort Miller, about twenty miles north of where Fresno now
stands, and where the San Joaquin debouches from the foothills into the plains.

   From that point the boundary followed "along the main road leading to a place
on the Merced River known as Phillips' Upper Ferry," about where the bridge now
crosses at Merced Falls. It is interesting and instructive to note the location
of these early roads. For two reasons they avoided the lower valley country and
kept along the lower edge of the hills. One reason was that the bulk of the
early population—in the mining days—was in the hills. The other reason was that
it was not so far to a solid bottom in winter by that route, either on land or
when fording streams, as further out in the big valley. In the absence of
rock-filled and hard-surfaced roads and of bridges, it was the only practicable
route. The boundary proceeded "thence in a straight line to the southeast corner
of Stanislaus and southwest of Tuolumne."

   The changes which have taken place in the county boundaries will be most
conveniently noticed in their chronological order. Before arriving at the 18th
of April, 1855, when Merced County was created, however, it becomes necessary to
notice the boundary as it had theretofore existed between Mariposa County and
Tuolumne and the portion of Tuolumne which in 1854 became Stanislaus, across the
San Joaquin Valley.

   The Act of April 23, 1851, and the preceding Acts of February, 1851, and of
1850: The Act of April 23, 1851, which by its terms repeals previous acts,
describes the portion of the southern boundary of Tuolumne east of the San
Joaquin River as proceeding from the "summit of the Sierra Nevada to the
dividing ridge between the Tuolumne and the Merced rivers; thence following the
top of said ridge down to the plains at a point seven miles below the mouth of
the Merced River." In Dr. Owen C. Coy's "Guide to the County Archives of
California," this line, both on the map of Tuolumne and those of Stanislaus and
Merced Counties, is marked as a straight line—the portion of it across the
plains, that is, the part which concerns Merced County; that is to say, a
straight line between the corner common to Mariposa, Tuolumne, Stanislaus, and
Merced on the east, and a point on the San Joaquin River seven miles below the
mouth of the Merced on the west.

   From this point on the San Joaquin, the boundary followed up the San Joaquin
to the mouth of the Merced and ran "thence in a due southwest direction to the
summit of the coast range."

   After Merced County was created, the first change that took place in its
boundaries, and the greatest of all changes in them, came from the cutting off
of about three-fifths of Merced's original territory in 1856, to go into the
newly created "Frezno" County. The act creating Frezno County, as it is there
spelled, is in the Statutes of 1856 at page 183; and the portion of Section 2
describing the portion of its boundary which separated it from Merced was as
follows: "Beginning at a point where the Stockton Road to Millertown crosses the
Chowchilla, known as Newton's Crossing; thence down said stream, on the north
side, with the high water mark to the sink of the same at the lower molt of
cottonwood timber; thence south fortv-five degrees west to the south boundary of
Merced County." This so-called south boundary of Merced County referred to is
obviously what we should be more likely to call the west boundary, for
"Frezno's" boundary then proceeds down along the summit of the Coast Range.

   Knowing as we do that the northerly bank of the Chowchilla is accepted as the
boundary between Merced and its neighbor on the south, it is obvious to anyone
who has seen the Chowchilla spread out over a mile or so in width that
high-water mark does not refer to flood water. The "sink of the same at the
lower molt of cotton-wood timber" is in the northeast quarter of Section 6,
Township 10 South, Range 14 East, about two-thirds of the way from the main
Valley Highway to the San Joaquin, and about five miles in a straight line from
the river.

   An act of the legislature approved March 8, 1866, provided for the surveying
of the northern and eastern boundaries of Merced County and gave it a
considerable addition of territory at the expense of Stanislaus—which Stanislaus
got back again in 1868. The Act of 1866, Sections 2, 3, and 4, provided:

   "Sec. 2. The Board of Supervisors of Merced County are by this Act
authorized, whenever in their judgment the same may be necessary, to appoint
some suitable person, who shall be a good practical surveyor, to survey and mark
out the boundary lines of Merced County as in this Act hereinafter provided, and
such appointment may be made at any regular or special meeting of said board.

   "Sec. 3. The person so appointed shall commence at the southwest corner of
Tuolumne County, and southeast corner of Stanislaus County, and northwest corner
of Mariposa County, and run south seventy (70) degrees west to the summit of the
coast range of hills; and the line so run shall be the northern boundary of
Merced County and the southern boundary of Stanislaus County.

   "Sec. 4. It shall be the duty of the person appointed by section two of this
Act to commence at the point designated in section three as the place of
beginning of the northern boundary of said County of Merced, and run on a
straight line to a point known as Phillips' Old Ferry, on the Merced river;
thence across said river in a straight line to the eastern line of the Stockton
and Millerton Road; thence along the eastern line of said road, as traveled in
the year eighteen hundred and sixty-four, to a point known as Newton's Crossing,
on the Chowchilla River; and the line so run shall be the eastern boundary of
Merced County."

   Section 5 provided: "The person running said lines shall, at the end of each
mile, and at the end of every angle in said line, erect lasting monuments of
earth or stone; said monuments shall, if made of earth, be at least six feet in
diameter at the base, and shall be at least two feet in height; and if made of
stone, shall be at least four feet in diameter at the base and at least two feet
in height."

   The remainder of the act provided that the surveyor should file plats and
field notes with the county surveyor and the county clerk, for his compensation
and bond, and that he should enter upon the performance of his duties as soon as
practicable after receiving his appointment, and repealed conflicting acts and
parts of acts. The act by its terms took effect from and after its passage.

   On February 13, 1868, there was approved an Act of the Legislature of the
State of California, entitled "An Act to Define the Boundary Line Between Merced
and Stanislaus Counties," as follows :

   "The people of the State of California, represented in Senate and Assembly,
do enact as follows:

   "Section 1. The permanent boundary between the Counties of Stanislaus and
Merced shall be as follows: Beginning at the monument established by A. G.
Stakes, County Surveyor of Stanislaus County, at the southwest corner of
Tuolumne County and the southeast corner of Sanislaus County; thence in a
straight line to a point on the San Joaquin River, seven miles below the mouth
of the Merced River; thence up the center of the San Joaquin River to the mouth
of the Merced River; thence in a due southwest direction to the summit of the
Coast Range of mountains.

   "Sec. 2. Within ninety days after the passage of this Act the County
Surveyors of the Counties of Stanislaus and Merced shall survey the boundary
line established in the preceding section, and shall mark said line with good
and substantial monuments at the end of each mile and at every angle of said line.

   "Sec. 3. The expense of surveying said boundary line shall be paid in equal
portions by the Counties of Stanislaus and Merced.

   "Sec. 4. Section three of an Act entitled an Act to confer certain powers
upon the Board of Supervisors of Merced County, approved March eighth, eighteen
hundred and sixty-six, and all Acts and parts of Acts in conflict with the
provisions of this Act are hereby repealed.

   "Sec. 5. This Act shall take effect from and after its passage."

   Section 3934 of the Political Code as enacted March 12, 1872, when the codes
were adopted, defines the boundaries (and gives the county seat) of Merced
County as follows:

   "Merced. Beginning at northwest corner, being southwest corner of Stanislaus
as shown on survey and map of A. J. Stakes, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight;
thence northeasterly, on southern line of Stanislaus, as described in section
three thousand nine hundred and thirty-three, to common corner of Tuolumne,
Mariposa, Merced, and Stanislaus, as established in said section; thence
southeasterly, by direct line, being western line of Mariposa, to Phillips'
Ferry, on Merced River; thence southeasterly, on line of Mariposa, being line
shown on "Map of Mariposa County," to Newton's crossing on Chowchilla Creek,
forming southeast corner; thence down the northern side and on high-water mark,
being on line of Fresno, to the lower clump of cottonwood timber at the sink of
said creek; thence south forty-five degrees west, to the eastern line of
Monterey, on summit of Coast Range, forming southwest corner; thence
northwesterly, by said summit and line of Monterey and Santa Clara, to place of
beginning.

   "County seat—Snelling."

   We note in this that the word "molt" has been changed to the better known
"clump," and also that high-water mark on the north bank of the Chowchilla is
specified.

   The Code commissioners' note accompanying this section of the Political Code
states that it is "based on Stats. 1855, page 125, Sec. 2; Stats. 1856, p. 183;
Stats. 1865-66, p. 172, Sec. 2; Stats. 1867-68, p. 56, Sec. 1."

   The preceding section (3933) referred to in 3934, describing the boundary of
Stanislaus, after arriving at the southwest earner of Stanislaus and northwest
corner of Merced according to Stake's survey of "July, eighteen hundred and
sixty-eight," proceeds, "thence northeasterly, on line as established by said
last-named survey, to the junction of the Merced and San Joaquin Rivers; thence
down the San Joaquin seven miles; thence in a direct line a little north of east
to a monument established by A. J. Stakes, being on the summit of the ridge
between Merced and Stanislaus, and marking common corner of Tuolumne, Merced,
Mariposa, and Stanislaus," etc., merely tracing in the opposite direction, it
appears, the line established by the Act of February 13, 1868, already quoted.

   The western boundary, in all the descriptions so far, has followed the summit
of the Coast Range—meaning and accepted as, of course, the most easterly summit,
the summit of the range specifically named the Diablo Range. San Benito County
had been created on February 12, 1874; and on March 11, 1887, section two of the
act creating it was amended, making changes in its boundaries so that they took
in certain land from Fresno and Merced Counties. The portion of the San Benito
boundary, as thus modified, which lay between it and Merced County is described
as follows: "northwest in a straight line to the northeast corner of township
fourteen south, range nine east; thence in a straight line northwesterly,
running toward the northeast corner of township thirteen south, range seven
east, to a point where said line intersects the present boundary line between
the Counties of San Benito and Merced; thence along the present boundary line
between the Counties of San Benito and Merced to the northeast corner of San
Benito County and southeast corner of Santa Clara County." The portion from the
last semicolon describes the unchanged portion of the boundary between the two
counties; what precedes it, the changed portion. The effect was to move the
southwest corner of Merced County several miles to the eastward of its former
location.

   On May 23, 1919, an act was passed by the legislature purporting to repeal
Sections 3909 to 3958 of the Political Code and enact new sections of those
numbers, adding eight new counties to Chapter I of Title I of Part IV of the
Code and changing the boundaries of certain existing counties. The counties were
arranged alphabetically in the chapter, each having a section, and Merced
County's section was 3932. No change was attempted in Merced County's boundaries
from what they had been previously, and therefore the county is not affected by
the decision of the Supreme Court in Mundell vs. Lyons, 182 Cal. 289, in holding
the new act unconstitutional. This was done on the ground that it was in
conflict with Article XI, Section 3, of the State constitution, reading: "The
legislature, by general and uniform laws, may provide for the alteration of
county boundary lines and for the formation of new counties." The matter was
brought before the court by a petition for a writ of mandate by a man who under
the old order had been a resident of Ventura County, but who under the new act,
if it was valid, became a resident of Los Angeles County. He had applied to the
registrar of voters of Los Angeles County to be registered, and had been
refused, whereupon he brought the action to compel the registrar to register
him. His right to registration in Los Angeles County of course depended upon
whether he was a resident of that county, and that in turn upon whether the act
in question was constitutional. Justice Olney, who wrote the opinion, concurred
in by the other six justices, held that it was a special act, or a lot of
special acts joined together, and that the legislature did not have the power to
change a county boundary by special act.

   Since the Act of 1919 had purported to repeal the old sections about all the
counties as well as to enact the new, the legislature in 1923 passed an act,
approved May 16, reestablishing the old boundaries (Statutes of 1923, page 326).

   As has been pointed out, however, neither the Act of 1918 nor consequently
this Act of 1923 changed the boundaries of Merced County. The last change made
in them was that made in 1887, when San Benito took a small portion of territory
from the southwest corner.

   A chapter in the history of the boundary between Merced and Stanislaus
Counties which has not been mentioned, was written in the decision in the case
of People vs. Henderson, decided in 1870. It arose over the question of whether
the seven miles down the San Joaquin River from the mouth of the Merced should
be measured in a straight line or following the meanders of the San Joaquin. The
county surveyors of both counties had surveyed it, together with the resulting
line from the point so determined to the northeast corner of Merced County, but
while the Stanislaus County surveyor took the meanders of the San Joaquin, the
Merced County surveyor took the straight line. P. Henderson had some land
between the two lines east of the San Joaquin thus surveyed. He was assessed in
both counties. He paid his taxes in Stanislaus County, and this action was
brought to compel him to pay in Merced County. Merced County lost out and the
court upheld the seven-mile line along the meanders of the San Joaquin.

   We have now mentioned the various changes which have been made by law in the
boundaries of Merced County. It remains to notice briefly the surveying of these
boundaries and their actual location on the ground. Section 22 of the act
creating the county provided that it should be the duty of the county surveyor
of the county, under the instructions and direction of the board of supervisors,
to survey and mark the lines and boundaries of Merced County in accordance with
the provisions of the act. There appears to be no record in existence of the
survey. Taking the eastern boundary, we do find a report made by Mark Howell,
county surveyor, July 31, 1872, of a survey of this boundary made in May of that
year. It is clearly apparent from his field notes that there had been a previous
survey, for he refers many times to mounds. It will be recalled that the Act of
1866 required that the supervisors appoint some suitable person to survey this
boundary, as well as the one between Merced and Stanislaus, and to mark it at
each mile and each angle with monuments of a size prescribed. Most probably
these are the mounds Howell's survey refers to.

   The Merced-Stanislaus boundary has been the subject of more surveys than any
of Merced's other boundaries, what with the frequent changes made by law and
all. There are on file in the county surveyor's office the field notes of a
survey of that portion of this line between the mouth of the Merced River and
the Coast Range made inl856 by Silas Wilcox, county surveyor of Stanislaus County.

   There are two reports in 1868 on the Merced-Stanislaus line. The first was
made May 10, and was of a survey made by John W. Bost, assistant county
surveyor. Bost and his chief, William G. Collier, report on this. It is approved
and accepted by the board of supervisors. Then on August 4 we find a report by
Collier that he met with the county surveyor of Stanislaus County April 2, 1868,
for the purpose of surveying the line between the two counties, and that they
were unable to agree on that portion of the line east of the San Joaquin. Here
we see cropping up the same difference which led to the case of People vs.
Henderson, already referred to, where the point in dispute was whether the line
running seven miles down the San Joaquin from the mouth of the Merced should
follow the meanders of the former or go straight. Collier reports in this report
on the survey of the portion of the boundary west of the San Joaquin, on which
the two surveyors did agree.

   The county surveyor of Stanislaus at that time was seemingly that same A. G.
Stakes whose survey is adopted by the legislature in the Act of 1868. The
Merced-Stanislaus County line was re-survey in 1913 by A. E. Cowell and E. H.
Annear, county surveyors of Merced and Stanislaus Counties respectively, under
orders from their respective boards of supervisors, in order more definitely and
plainly to locate and mark the line.

   In 1873 A. T. Herrmann, county surveyor of Santa Clara County, and George H.
Perrin, deputy county surveyor of Merced County, made and reported upon a survey
of the line between these two counties along the summit of the Diablo Range.
Their report was filed August 5, 1873. The report shows that they were engaged
for ten days on the job, and took levels to determine the direction the water
would run and thus to locate the watershed which is the boundary.

   In 1887 C. D. Martin surveyed and reported upon the line between Merced and
San Benito following the modifications of that line made by the act of the same
year, which we have already referred to. His report was filed June 28, 1887. It
is interesting to note that he had as chainmen Hilend Worden and F. Flourney,
and as teamster Joseph Carmichael.

   The county's southern boundary has not shifted back and forth because of
changes in the acts concerning it, as has the northern, but it has given its
share of trouble. William G. Collier surveyed it southwestward from a certain
tree in "the lower molt of cotton-wood timber" mentioned in the act creating
Fresno County, in 1866, and eastward from the same tree in 1869. Whether we may
assume from this that Newton's Crossing had already become difficult of location
cannot be determined from the reports. The fact that Collier had a certain tree
in the "molt" to start from would seem to indicate that there must have been
earlier surveys, as indeed there must, but there seems to be no record of their
survival.

   Collier's field notes, filed August 6, 1866, on the "S. W. Boundary" start
his line off as follows: "Beginning at a cottonwood tree in front of and
twenty-five feet from the old Kelley Ranch house, which I marked M. C. & F. C,
Var. 16° E." From this he works the line out following a southwest course.

   There is among the Merced County surveyor's records a transcription made on
typwriter and bound in a cover bearing A. E. Cowell's name, of the old field
notes of William G. Collier's survey from this same tree up the Chowchilla River
and reported by him to the board of supervisors February 1, 1869. The notes
appear to be incomplete; they begin somewhat to the west of the tree, in fact,
and we reach it thus, taking the notes from the beginning as they now stand:
"Thence we ran S. 48 3/4° E. 195.41 ch. to a cotton-wood tree about 2 feet in
diameter standing in about the center of the lowest cottonwood grove on the
Chowchilla River and directly in front and about twenty feet distant from the
mansion house of the Kelley ranch; thence S. 57° E. 23.50 chs. up to fork of the
river . . ." There is also a report by Collier on this survey. It is interesting
to observe in these field notes that Collier reports: "From Station 28 J. M.
Montomery's house bears S. 52 3/4° E."

   The last course given-the margin of the paper is a little torn away—reads:
"N. 77 1/2° E. 7.55 chs. to Station No. 213, R. W. P. set in center of ro . . .
Newton's Crossing of the Chowchilla River." The "R. W. P." is of course a red
wood post. There was evidently a road there then.

   But this corner at Newton's Crossing is giving trouble during the last year
or two. The county surveyors of Madera and Merced County have been working on
it, and it isn't worked out yet. They find by going back to the nearest
monuments they can locate on this line to the west, and to the nearest they can
locate on the Mariposa line to the north, and then following out the last
courses of the two lines from these nearest monuments, that they arrive, not at
one point, but at two. Coming eastward on the Madera boundary they reach a point
somewhat to the north and east of the one they reach by coming south on the
Mariposa line, and both points lie to the southward of the Chowchilla. The
matter has been brought to the attention of the attorney general, but the
difficulties presented are largely of fact rather than of law, and a solution
remains to be found.

   The portion of the southern boundary southwestward from the often mentioned
cottonwood tree has been recently resurveyed. Since the portion of the
Merced-Stanislaus boundary west of the San Joaquin has been described as
starting at the northwest corner at the stake set by A. G. Stakes in 1868, every
straight line in the county's boundary has been determined by a fixed point at
each end except this one on the southwest. It is the only line of constant
bearing in the whole of the county's boundary, striking out from the cottonwood
tree as it does, not to hit another fixed point, but to hit a line, at its other
end. It is the only rhumb line, as the surveyors designate it. Some three of
four years ago the county surveyors of Fresno, Madera, and Merced Counties,
under direction of their several boards, got together at the old Chowchilla
Ranch, took the testimony of Isaac Bird, for many years the superintendent of
the ranch, and of G. A. Howell, then superintendent, as to the location of the
corner cottonwood, fixed that point, and set deputy Edgar C. Smith of Fresno
County and Deputy L. A. Bacheldor of Merced County at the job of resurveying the
line southwestward from the point so fixed to the San Benito line, and also for
a short distance southeastward to connect up with the north bank of the
Chowchilla, which as far back as Collier's survey of 1869 could not be traced
entirely to the cottonwood clump where the tree had been fixed upon. They
pursued their labors with some interruptions, surveying the lines out carefully
and marking them with substantial monuments. In July, 1924, the results of their
labors, in the shape of a report and map for each of the three counties
affected, were filed and approved by the respective boards of supervisors of the
three counties.

   One other report with reference to the southern boundary needs to be
mentioned. It was filed May 8, 1873, by Mark Howell, agent to settle county
boundary line between Merced and Fresno Counties. The report has a certificate
of Henry Descom, clerk of the Fresno County board, attached, to the effect that
the Fresno board have made an order accepting the proposition made by the Merced
board to adopt the surveys made in 1866 and 1869 by William G. Collier and
already referred to, as the surveys of the Merced-Fresno boundary, and that they
are to pay Merced County $881.22 for copies of the maps and field notes. The
report was thus certified by the Fresno clerk May 7, 1873, and accepted by the
Merced County board May 8, 1873.

   With reference to the actual organization of Merced County there is very
little remaining of record. We see in the Act of April 18, 1855, Section 4, that
the election to elect county officers and choose a county seat is to be held on
the second Monday in May. This was the 14th. The board of commissioners
appointed by the act were to meet on the Monday two weeks previous to the
election, which would be April 30, at the house of James A. Neil & Co. in said
county. The board, by Section 10, was to meet five days subsequent to the
election, which would be Saturday, May 19, to canvass the ballots and make a
tabular statement of the vote cast and prepare and deliver certificates of
election to those elected. So far as the records now in existence in the county
are concerned, the only proof we have that they performed these things at the
times specified is found in the fact that on June 4, 1855, the new board of
supervisors of the new county, consisting of G. H. Murray, William J. Barfield,
and S. L. Kelly, with E. G. Rector, clerk, met and held their first official
meeting. It was a special session.

   There is nothing in the minutes of the meeting or of later ones, or in any
existing county records, telling us directly what place was chosen as the first
county seat, or even that a place was chosen at the election of May 14, 1855,
for the purpose, though we are constrained to believe that one was chosen.   
The place of the earliest meetings, until Snelling's Ranch was chosen not long
afterwards, was on the ranch of Turner & Osborn, on Mariposa Creek, the place
which afterwards became the E. T. Givens place, and the exact spot is situated
to the right of the valley highway and the Central Pacific Railroad as one goes
south; that is to say, it is down Mariposa Creek from the highway and railroad.
The distance from the highway and railroad, by the shortest straight line, is
approximately a mile and a half.

   D. K. Stoddard, of Merced, supplies us with the following statement in
writing, signed by J. W. Givens and O.K.'ed by E. V. Givens, both sons of
Eleazer T. Givens, which Mr. Stoddard and others obtained in 1917 on behalf of
the local Native Sons lodge, which had named a committee to identify and mark
the spot:

   "The court house tree stood in Sec. 23, T. 8 S., R. 14 E., where first county
court was held 1855.

   "The tree was killed in winter of 1868-69 by an accumulation of sediment or
mining debris caused by floods, and was cut down and made into stove fuel in 1869.

   "Land on which tree stood in 1855 was owned by Turner & Osborn—Geo. Turner
was afterwards Treasurer of Merced County.
   "Aug. 2, 1917.                                (Signed) J. W. Givens.
   "O. K.—E. V. Givens."

   Mr. Stoddard informs us that the location of the tree was on an old channel
of Mariposa Creek, considerably to the south of the present channel. The creek's
course has been changed, he suggests, by the building of the Santa Fe Railroad.
It apparently followed the old course when the Central Pacific was built, for
the reason that there is a bridge across it large enough for the entire creek
and much larger than now needed for the little flow in the old course. This old
course runs out entirely a very short distance below where the tree was located,
and has been pretty well plowed in and filled up. The portion of the Givens
ranch on which the tree stood is that marked on the county map of 1919 as
belonging to Constance Givens, and the old creek channel appears from this map
to cross Constance Givens' land in the southwest quarter of the northwest
quarter of Section 23.

   Mr. Stoddard informs us that John Ruddle, who until his death on February 1,
1925, was the oldest living pioneer of Merced County of 1855 or earlier, and who
lived in Merced and was ninety-four years of age on October 17, 1924, was
present as a young man of twenty-five when the first court was held.

   The following are the minutes of the first meeting of the board of
supervisors of the county, held at this first county seat on June 4, 1855:

"Minute Docket Bord of Supervisors For the County of Merced,
                      "June 4, A. D. 1855.

   "At a special meeting of the Bord of Supervisors June the 4th, A. D. 1855,
all the members being present, G. H. Murry was appointed Chairman of the Bord.

   "It was then moved and carried that the Bord, in accordance with an Act of
the legislature of the State of California passed April 20th, A. D. 1855, making
it the duty of the Bord of Supervisors to township the County and to appoint
township officers.

   "The Bord then proceeded to township the County, viz.: To comprise two
townships, viz., commencing at the N. E. corner of the County, thence with the
boundary line of said county and the Mariposa County to a point half way between
the Mariposa Creek and Bear Creek, thence south at an equal distance from said
creeks to the San Joaquin River, thence on a strate line to the summit of the
Cost Range of Mountains, the boundary line of said county. All the teritory
laying N. W. of said boundary line to form Township (Number One No. 1), the
remaining teritory South East to form Township (Number Two No. 2).

   "It was then moved and caried the Bord proceed to appoint Township officers
to fill the unexpired of vacancies in said offices.

   "The Board then proceeded to appoint Wm. Finch and William Wall Justices of
the Peace for Township Number Two No. 2) and M. Stockard Justice of the Peace
for Township Number One .  . .

   "It was then ordered by the Bord that notice be given the appointed Justices
of the Peace to come forward, give bond and qualify as the law directs.

   "Said notices was then given as per order.

   "The Board then proceeded in conformity with the aforesaid Act of the
Legislature, A. Stevenson and George Turner Commissioners on the part of Merced
County to meet a similar Bor on the part of Mariposa to apportion the debt due
the County of Mariposa by the County of Merced.

   "Notices was then sent to the said appointed commissioners.

   "The Bord then proceeded to levy the amt. of taxes to be assessed and
collected on every one hundred dollars of property assessed in this County,
viz., Fifty cents for public buildings, Sixty cents for State, and Ten cents for
school fund, and Three Dollars Poll Tax.

   "Given under my hand June 4th, A. D. 1855. 
"Test:    E. G. Rector, exofico     G. H. Murry, Charmn. of Brd. 
    Clerk of Bord of Supervisors,                 of Supervisrs, M. C."
M. C.

   The minutes of the early meetings in "Book A" appear to have been copied;
there is in existence a smaller book, from which the above minutes were copied,
and we judge that this book was the one used until the county seat had been
moved to Snelling's Ranch and the new court house built there and occupied, in
1857. It is significant that the date of the first meeting, as given in "Book
A," is June 4, 1857, an evident error for 1855, and the most likely year for a
person to have made that mistake would of course have been 1857. The small
book.seemingly continued to be used as the book of original entry until later
than 1857, for some meetings at least, the minutes then being copied into the
larger "Book A."

   The first county seat proved inconvenient in location, being difficult of
access. We find very early in the minutes that there is an election called to
vote on the location of the county seat again, and at this election Snelling's
Ranch won out and the county seat was moved there. Oldtimers sometimes still add
the apostrophe and "s" and speak of the second county seat and the site of the
first court house as Snelling's.


Additional Comments:
HISTORY OF
MERCED COUNTY
CALIFORNIA
WITH A
Biographical Review
OF
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been
Identified with Its Growth and Development
from the Early Days to the Present

HISTORY BY
JOHN OUTCALT

ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME
HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
1925


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