Statewide County CA Archives History - Books .....Spaniards Press Upon The Russians 1891
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Book Title: Memorial And Biographical History Of Northern California

SPANIARDS PRESS UPON THE RUSSIANS.

  By the year 1830 the influx of the Spanish had so encroached upon the
territory occupied by the Russians that the latter began to entertain serious
thoughts of withdrawing from California altogether. There was no motive for the
Russians to hold an occupancy limited by Bodega Bay on the south and the Gualala
River on the north. At best, there was but a narrow bench of seaboard available
for either farming or grazing purposes. True, there was a wealth of forest back
of this mesa, but they had already learned that this timber was not durable as
material for shipbuilding. They had pretty well exhausted the supply of timber
from which pine pitch could be manufactured. Tan bark for the carrying on of
their tanneries was their most promising continuing supply for the future. The
agents of the Alaska Fur Company had already signified to the California
authorities a willingness to vacate Fort Ross upon payment for improvements.
Through the intricate evolutions of red tape this was transmitted to the viceroy
of Mexico, and as that functionary took it as an evidence that the Russian
colony at Ross was on its last legs, refusal was made on the ground that the
Russians, having made improvements on Spanish territory, with material acquired
from Spanish soil, they ought not to expect payment for the same. While this is
not the language, it is the spirit of the view the viceroy took of the subject.
As a legal proposition this was doubtless true, but as a matter of fact, at any
time after 1825 the superintendent at Ross had at his command sufficient of the
armament and munitions of war to have marched from Ross to San Diego without let
or hindrance, so far as the viceroy of Mexico was concerned. These Dons and
Hidalgo seemed, however, to consider their rubrics to be more powerful than
swords or cannon. As their overtures for sale had been thus summarily disposed
of, the cold, impassive Muscovites pursued the even tenor of their way, and as
the lands around Fort Ross became exhausted by continuous farming they extended
their farming operations southward between the Russian River and Bodega Bay, and
ultimately inland to the neighborhood of the present village of Bodega Corners.
At the latter place there were several Russian graves, in the midst of which
there stood a Greek cross, long after the Americans came into occupancy. The
earliest American settlers in that neighborhood aver that the Russians had a
grist-mill some two or three miles easterly from Bodega Corners. Certain it is
that the authorities at San Francisco had notification that the Russians
contemplated occupation for farming purposes as far inland as the present site
of Santa Rosa. These rumors, whether true or not, doubtless accelerated the
movement of Spanish colonization in that direction.

   Governor Wrangell, now having control in Alaska, seems to have taken an
intelligent view of the whole situation, and realized that unless the company,
of which he was head representative, could obtain undisputed possession of all
the territory north of the Bay of San Francisco and eastward to the Sacramento,
it was useless to attempt a continuance at Ross. To achieve this end the Alaska
company was willing to buy the establishments already at San Rafael and Sonoma.
The fact that the California authorities submitted these propositions to the
Mexican government, now free from the yoke of Spanish rule, would indicate that
by them such a proposition was not considered in the light of a heinous offense.
Alvarado was then at the head of the California government, and no doubt he
looked with great distrust, if not alarm, upon the number of Americans who were
beginning to find their way into California. But General Vallejo, who was now
almost autocrat on the north side of the Bay of San Francisco, was not,
probably, so averse to Americans, as he had already three brothers-in-law of
Yankee blood. Through these kinsmen, who were all gentlemen of good intelligence
and education, Vallejo had become well informed in reference to the push and
energy of the American people, and hence it is quite certain that he did not
favor any permanent occupancy here by any European power. In truth, while the
California government had confided itself to wordy pen remonstrances with the
occupants of Ross, in 1840 Vallejo seems to have made quite a show of calling
Rotchef, the then superintendent at Ross, to accountability for having allowed
the American ship Lausanne to land and discharge passengers at Bodega as though
it were a free port. Some of these passengers, who went to Sonoma, were
incarcerated by the irate Vallejo, and he even sent a file of soldiers to Bodega
to give warning that such infractions would lead to serious consequences if
persisted in. This was the nearest to an open rupture of amicable relations that
ever occurred between Spaniard and Muscovite on this coast that we find any
record of: and this could not have been of a very sanguinary nature, for it
seems that Vallejo and Rotchef were on social good terms afterward.

  The proposed acquisition of territory by Governor Wrangell met with no
encouragement from the Mexican Government. In reference to this matter Bancroft
says: "The intention of the Russians to abandon Ross and their wish to sell
their property there, had, as we have seen, been announced to Alvarado, and by
him to the Mexican government, before the end of 1840. In January, 1841,
Vallejo, in reporting to the minister of war his controversy with Rotchef and
Krupicurof, mentioned the proposed abandonment, taking more credit to himself
than the facts could justify, as a result of that controversy. The Russians had
consulted him as to their power to sell the buildings as well as livestock to a
private person, and he had been told that 'the nation had the first right,' and
would have to be consulted. The fear that impelled him at that time to answer
thus cautiously was that some foreigners from the Columbia or elsewhere might
outbid any citizen of California, and thus raise a question of sovereignty,
which might prove troublesome in the future to Mexican interests. Vallejo also
urged the government to furnish a garrison, and authorize the planting of a
colony at the abandoned post. In February, however, Kostromitinof, representing
the company, proposed to sell the property to Vallejo himself for $30,000,
payable half in money or bills of the Hudson Bay Company, and half in produce
delivered at Yerba Buena. The General expressed a willingness to make the
purchase, but could not promise a definite decision on the subject before July
or August. Pending the decision, the Russian agent seems to have entered,
perhaps secretly, into negotiations with John A. Sutter, who at that time was
not disposed to buy anything but movable property. Meanwhile a reply came from
Mexico, though by no means a satisfactory one; since the government—evidently
with some kind of an idea that the Russian officials had been frightened away,
leaving a flourishing settlement to be taken possession of by the
Californians—simply sent useless instructions about the details of occupation
and form of government to be established. In July Kostromitinof returned from
Sitka, and negotiations were recommended. Alvarado was urged to come to Sonoma,
but declined, though he advised Vallejo that in the absence of instructions from
Mexico the Russians had no right to dispose of the real estate. An elaborate
inventory of the property offered for sale at $30,000 was made out, but
Vallejo's best offer seems to have been $9,000 for the live stock alone."

  In a foot note Bancroft gives the inventory of property offered for sale which
is as follows: " Square fort of logs, 1,088 feet in circumference, twelve feet
high, with two towers; commandant's house of logs (old), 36x48 feet, double
boarded roof, six rooms with corridor and kitchen; ditto (new) of logs, 24x48
feet, six rooms and corridor; house for revenue officers, 22x60 feet, ten rooms;
barracks, 24x66 feet, eight rooms; three warehouses; new kitchen; jail; chapel,
24x36 feet, with a belfry, and a well fifteen feet deep. Outside of the fort:
blacksmith shop, tannery, bath-house, cooper's shop, bakery, carpenter's shop,
two windmills for grinding, one mill moved by animals, three threshing floors, a
well, a stable, sheep-cote, hog-pen, dairy house, two cow stables, corral, ten
sheds, eight baths, ten kitchens, and twenty-four houses, nearly every one
having an orchard. At Kostromitinof rancho, house, farm buildings, corral, and
boat for crossing the river Slavianka. At Khlebnikof rancho, adobe house, farm
buildings, bath, mill, corral. At Tschernich, or Don Jorge's rancho, house,
store, fences, etc. At Bodega, warehouse 30x60 feet, three small houses, bath,
ovens, corrals. As this list of improvements was made out by Russian hands it
may be accepted as a true statement of the conditions at and in the neighborhood
of Ross in the last year of Russian occupation there. The only omission of
consequence seems to have been the orchard some distance back of the fort, on
the hillside, and a vineyard of 2,000 vines at what is designated 'Don Jorge's
rancho.' In reference to this rancho, Belcher in his notes of travel in 1837,
mentioned a rancho between Ross and Bodega claimed by a ci-devant Englishman (D.
Gorgy), yielding 3,000 bushels of grain in good years."

  Governor Alvarado as well as Vallejo evidently thought that they had
Kostromitinof in a corner so far as his ability to sell the Ross property was
concerned, and their only real fear was that he would make a bonfire of the
buildings rather than leave them for Mexican occupation. But in this they were
mistaken, for a purchaser was found in Captain John A. Sutter. In reference to
the sale thus consummated Bancroft says: "Sutter, like Vallejo, had at first
wished to purchase the live-stock only; but he would perhaps have bought
anything at any price if it could be obtained on credit; at any rate, after a
brief hesitation a bargain was made in September. The formal contract was signed
by Kostromitinof and Sutter in the office of the sub-prefect at San Francisco,
with Vioget and Leese as witnesses, December 13. By its terms Sutter was put in
possession of all the property at Ross and Bodega, except the land, as specified
in the inventory, and he was to pay for it in four yearly installments,
beginning September 1, 1842. The first and second payments were to be $5,000
each, and the others of $10,000; the first three were to be in produce, chiefly
wheat, delivered at San Francisco free of duties and tonnage; and the fourth was
to be in money. The establishment at New Helvetia and the property at Bodega and
the two ranchos of Khlebnikof and Tschernich, which property was to be left
intact in possession of the company's agents, were pledged as guarantees for the
payment. It would seem that Alvarado, while insisting that the land did not
belong to the company and could not be sold, had yielded his point about the
buildings, perhaps in the belief that no purchaser could be found; for the
Russians say that the contract was approved by the California government, and it
is certain that there was no official disapproval of its terms." It will be
borne in mind that Kostromitinof, who executed this contract with Captain
Sutter, was the head officer of the Alaska government while, at the time,
Rotchef was manager at Ross. When it came to a delivery of the property Sutter
seems to have induced Manager Rotchef to give him a writing ante-dating the
contract above referred to one day, in which Rotchef certified that the lands
held by the company for twenty-nine years was included in the sale to M. Le
Capitaine Sutter of the other effects of the company for the sum of $30,000. It
was upon the shadowy title to land thus acquired by certificate of a subordinate
officer who had no power to confirm any such sale, that Russian title to land
along the coast became a stalking spectacle among American settlers in after years.

  Previous to this sale of the Ross and Bodega property to Sutter, a portion of
the former occupants there had been transferred to Alaska stations. Manager
Rotchef, together with the remaining employes of the company, took their
departure from Ross in the late days of 1841 or early in January of 1842, on
board the Constantine, bound for Alaska. While all of them, doubtless, had
cherished associations and memories of the land to which they returned, we
imagine that it was not without sore and sad hearts many of them watched the
receding outlines of Fort Ross and the evergreen forests that forms its
enchanting back-ground. Thus, in a day, where for nearly a third of a century
had been heard the ringing of hammer and anvil, the noisy labor of
ship-carpenters and calkers and the din of coopers, a sudden silence fell,
seemingly like that which hovered over that quiet spot just south of the fort
where a Greek cross marked the last resting place of those who had ended their
life-work there. Even the stock that had been reared there were gathered
together and driven to the Sacramento valley ranch of Captain Sutter. And as if
the hand of fate had turned entirely against Ross, Sutter, by means of a
schooner he had acquired in the purchase from the Russians, even carried away
from Ross several buildings with which to adorn the inner court of his fort at
New Helvetia. This will account for the absence at Ross of many buildings
enumerated in the catalogue at the time of sale by the Russians.

  In reference to the departure of the Russians from Fort Ross, Bancroft says:
"One Russian, and perhaps several, remained on the ranches to look out for the
company's interests. Sutter sent Robert Ridley to assume charge for him at
first; but John Bidwell took his place early in 1842, and was in turn succeeded
by William Bennitz late in 1843. Meanwhile most of the movable property,
including the cannon, implements, and most of the cattle, was removed to New
Helvetia. The few hundred cattle left behind soon became so wild that if meat
was needed it was easier to catch a deer or bear. The Californians made no
effort to occupy the abandoned fortress; since having virtually consented to the
sale of everything but the land, the government had no property to be protected
there."

  As already stated William Bennitz took possession of the Ross property as
Sutter's agent in 1843. He subsequently leased the property, in about 1845, and
still later purchased the buildings and fort and became possessor of the Muniz
or Fort Ross grant, extending along the coast from the Russian River northward
to a point just above the present Timber Cove. Mr. Bennitz, with his family,
lived at Fort Ross until 1807, when he sold the property and removed to Oakland.
In 1874 he went to the Argentine Republic, and died there in 1876.

  In 1861 the palisade walls of the enclosure at Fort Ross were still in good
preservation, as also the buildings within, together with the Greek chapel and
hectagonal block-houses described above by Duhant Cilly. Said Mr. Bennitz, in 1861:

  At the time I purchased the Fort Ross property there were around and in the
neighborhood of the Port a large number of Indians. Voluntarily they have become
almost a part of the estate and as obedient to my orders as if mind, soul and
body. I then raised a large amount of grain, and had thousands of head of
cattle, which gave me ample opportunity to utilize the labor of these untutored
aborigines. As my influence over them mainly depended on the kindness and
consideration with which they were treated, I let no opportunity pass to give
them evidence of my regard for their pleasure and welfare. They, like all
Indians I know of, were passionately fond of personal decoration, and for
ornamentation prized nothing more highly than the plumage of birds. One day my
Indians were noticing some vultures, or California condors, on the pine trees
some distance up the mountain side back of the Fort, and I overheard them
expressing a wish that they had some of the feathers.

  Saying nothing I quietly took my gun and sallied forth, determined if possible
to gratify their desire. By tacking backward and forward along the mountain side
I gradually worked my way up to the trees where the vultures were. The heavy
foliage of the pines prevented my getting a ready view of the game I was
seeking. With my gun cocked and the muzzle pointing up I was moving quietly
side-wise with eyes peering into the canopy of boughs, when I was startled by
the breaking of a stick close to my right.

  One look was enough to set every hair of my head on end! Not much over the
length of my gun from me stood, erect on its hind feet, a grizzly bear of
monster size—at the time he seemed to me ten feet high! By impulse I wheeled,
brought my gun to a level, and without any attempt at taking aim fired. The bear
pitched forward upon me and we fell together, my gun flying out of my hands, and
some distance away. I was frightened beyond he [sic] power of language to
express. The bear snd I had fallen together, but I had given myself a rolling
lurch down the mountain which, for the moment, took me out of the reach of his
dreaded jaws. This advantage was not to be lost; and I kept going over and over
without any regard to elegance of posture, until I had got at least two hundred
yards from where I fell; and when I stopped rolling it was a problem with me
which I was most, dead or alive.

  I ventured upon my feet and looked cautiously around, but could see no
grizzly. To borrow a miner's expression, 'I began prospecting around.' I had an
earnest desire to get hold of my gun, but still retained a dislike to the
neighborhood in which we had parted company. With the utmost caution I worked my
way up to a position overlooking the spot where I and the grizzly together fell.
To my surprise, and gratification as well, there lay the bear stretched at lull
length, and dead. My random shot had proved what seldom occurs to grizzly bears,
a dead shot. That was the biggest scare of my life.

  As already stated, William  Bennitz sold the Ross property in 1807, Charles
Fairfax and a man named Dixon being the purchasers. They managed the property
for a few years, when Fairfax died. In winding up the estate and business of the
firm it became necessary to sell the property. J. W. Call became the purchaser
of the upper and much the larger proportion of the ranch, on which stands the
old Fort Ross buildings; and of the southerly end Aaron Schroyer bought a large
tract. These gentlemen are practical in their ideas of business and the property
is now so handled as to yield a profit. At present, through the very center of
the grounds once enclosed by a heavy stockade, now a county road runs. The
Bennitz residence is converted into a public hotel, and a building once used as
quarters for Russian officers is now a saloon. In an outside building is a store
and postoffice. The towers in what was the diagonal corners of the fortress are
now roofless, and, in consequence of the worm-eaten condition of the logs are
canting over, and it is only a question of time when they will topple to the
ground. The Greek chapel yet stands erect with roof and belfry in fair
preservation, but is no longer used for holy purposes. Even the Russian cemetery
to the south of the fort, that was quite plainly visible twenty-seven years ago,
is now nearly obliterated. Accompanied by Mr. Call we visited the old Russian
orchard half a mile back from the fort. The fence made of heavy split boards by
the Russians is still in fair preservation. We entered and plucked Spanish
bellflower apples from trees planted by the Russians back of 1820. The twenty or
thirty apple, plum and prune trees yet standing are moss-covered and their bark
honey-combed by the busy bills of birds. We went back still further and took a
walk through the redwood forest of new growth that has sprung up from stumps of
trees first cut by the Russians when they settled at Ross. Not over half a dozen
of the old redwood forest trees are standing in the grove, and, but for the fact
that the stumps are there yet from which the present forest sprang, we should
not have recognized it as a forest growth of the present century. The trees have
made marvelous growth. Having a pocket rule with us we measured a tree that was
four and a half feet in diameter; and we were assured by Mr. Call that there
were trees in the grove full five feet in diameter. This grove is, doubtless, of
from sixty to seyenty-five years' growth. We are thus exact and explicit in
reference to this forest of new growth because we know there is a wide-spread
fear that in consequence of the rapidity with which our redwood forests are
being converted into lumber, that species of timber will ultimately become
extinct. Right there, overshadowing old Fort Ross, is the refutation of such
fallacy.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California.

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

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

CHICAGO
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1891.


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