Yolo-Statewide County CA Archives History - Books .....Yolo County 1891
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Book Title: Memorial And Biographical History Of Northern California

YOLO COUNTY.

  Yolo is a corruption of the Indian word "Yoloy," signifying a place abounding
in rushes, with which the Indians composed the term "Toloytoy," or Tuletown,
which was situated in early days on the western shore of the Sacramento River.

  The history of this county extends well back to the earlier years of this
century, it being on the direct highway from north to south, and hence visited
by almost all the older hunting and exploring expeditions, many of which have
doubtless been forgotten. In 1820 Arguello led a party through the county on an
exploring expedition on behalf of the missions, and in 1825 the famous old
trapper, Jedediah S. Smith, spent much time hunting and trapping within the
confines of the county. In 1832 Ewing Young's band of trappers are recorded to
have camped on Cache Creek at the mouth of Capay Valley. In the spring of 1841 a
party of twenty-five persons in all came to California, including in their
number William Gordon, William Knight and others. In that same, year Gordon
obtained a grant of two leagues of land on Cache Creek, and in the following
year (1842) moved upon it, thus becoming the first actual .settler in Yolo
County. Gordon relates that when he came to the country he found two or three
half-breed Indians at Grand Island, the descendants of a Scotch sailor who
thirty years previously had deserted his ship, made his way to the Indians and
became one of them. This story is thought to be corroborated by the discovery in
1851 of a stone on Feather River bearing this enigmatical inscription " 1818—
Gold Cave, in this M. ship—Lodes L. M." This stone is now in Pioneer hall, San
Francisco. Gordon was a genuine character, and a mighty hunter and retailer of
hunting stories. He was extremely hot-tempered and obstinate. For many years he
was a Justice of the Peace. He was a native of Ohio, born in 1800, and had led a
very wandering life.

  In 1842 J. R. Wolfskill obtained a grant on Putah Creek, going upon it in
1843. This latter year William Knight also settled on his grant where Knight's
landing is on the Sacramento. Knight was a physician, a native of Baltimore. He
built himself a house of poles and tules on the Yodoy (or Indian) mound. He died
in 1849 and his heirs lost the grant because the title papers could never be
found. In 1843 Nathan Coombs and others came down from Oregon. Coombs stayed
with Gordon, and in the following year was married to his daughter Elizabeth.
General Sutter was the nearest magistrate, and Coombs and his bride rode
horseback the fifty-four miles to the fort and back the same day to have the
ceremony performed. In 1844 George Schwartz obtained a grant of three leagues on
the Sacramento, where Boruck or Washington now is. In this year several parties
came down from Oregon or across the Sierras, among them the Kelseys, so
well-known in connection with Lake County history, and Joseph Buzzell, whose
chiefest cause of fame is that during high water in 1847 he went by canoe across
the country from Sutter's Fort to Gordon's door.

  The year 1845 was signalized by the fact that Gordon raised seven acres of
wheat, the first grain grown in the county. In this year Thomas M. Hardy got a
grant of six leagues running from Gordons to the Sacramento. He was an
Englishman, very unfriendly to the Americans. His house of tules was erected
where afterward the town of Fremont flashed up like a rocket and sank again as
quickly. Hardy died mysteriously in 1849 while crossing the Sacramento in a
boat. The three Berryessas, Santiago, Nemicio and Francisco, went on their grant
of the Capay Valley in May of this year (1845). James McDowell, a half-witted
fellow in some ways, but a clever lock and gun smith, built a log-house at
Washington, where he lived with his wife. He obtained some local note for his
gun-making. In January, 1846, was born William Coombs, son of Nathan and
Elizabeth, the first white child born in Yolo County. In this year W. L. Todd,
W. W. Roulette and wife, G. J. Scott and his brother W. W. Scott, passed the
season hunting in Capay Yalley, and built the first house in that valley. S. U.
Chase, a prominent man of the early days, who had come out in 1845, also hunted
with them. The man who built this house for the party was one Francis or "Paddy"
Clark, a thorough character, who had come down from Oregon with Coombs. He
squatted on the Berryessas' land, but being dispossessed in 1852 he went to
Bodega and for a time housed with a friend. One morning he took his gun and
disappeared, never being heard of afterward—a silent, solitary man. The only
event of note in 1847 seems to have been the birth, February 21, of a daughter
to McDowell at Washington, the first white female child born in the limits of
the county.

  This brings us to the discovery of gold and a new order of things. New comers
became so plentiful that we cannot mention them all. Jonas Spect, the noted
discoverer of the northern mines, conceived the idea of making his fortune by
.establishing a town at the head of navigation on the Sacramento as a point of
supply for the new mines. Going down the river he noticed the existence of a
heavy bar at the mouth of the Feather River, and in the high lands on the
opposite side of the Sacramento, he imagined he had found what he sought. March
22, 1849, he pitched his tent on the shore and named the spot Fremont in honor
of the Pathfinder. In his tent he started a store and the place flourished at
once. In July the town site was surveyed by W. J. Frierson and others; tents and
wooden buildings sprung up as if by magic. In August Spect built a school-house,
and Miss Matilda McCord, of Bloomington, Illinois, was installed as teacher, the
first one in the county. Rev. John Braly, a Cumberland Presbyterian preacher who
came down from Oregon, began to hold services, and shortly afterward came Rev.
Isaac Owen, a well known early Methodist. To give an idea of the importance of
the place at this time, we may state that at the Territorial election held
November 13th, Fremont cast 102 votes, while the whole of the rest of the county
cast but ninety-two. C. F. Reed kept the hotel.

  As illustrating forcibly the rude times, we may relate one incident. In
October a company of soldiers were sent up from Benicia in guard of a supply
train. Passing through Fremont, one of the soldiers drank too much and became
noisy at the tent of a sick man. Being warned to desist, he would not and was
thereupon promptly shot by A. R. Lovell, a Sydney man, a saloon-keeper and a
character of the day. A crowd quickly assembled, but the proceedings were
brought to a hasty close by these words from Lovell: "My friends, this is a very
solemn occasion: let's all go in and take a drink!"

  The floods of 1849 washed away the bar at the Feather River and with it the
hopes of Fremont. It struggled on for a little time, but soon died out completely.

  At this time Yolo was included in Sonoma district, and at Fremont Judge W. R.
Turner held the first court of the county. Yolo County was set off in the early
part of 1850, according to act of February 18, that year, and the first county
election held in April. The county officers elected were: Judge, G. A. Margrave;
county clerk, B. Frank Brown; treasurer, G. M. Keene, but he resigned and was
succeeded by H. H. Hartley; sheriff, E. A. Harris, and assessor, H. Griffith.
Washington, opposite Sacramento, was the first county seat and continued such
for several years. Then the county seat was removed to Cacheville, which had
formerly been called Hutton's Ranch, the post-office being called Yolo. In 1862
Yolo City, which lay a few miles distant, was made the county town and its name
changed to Woodland, where it has since remained, Woodland becoming since one of
the fairest and most thriving cities of Northern California.

  In the Legislature of 1850 first organizing the counties, the committee
recommended Fremont for the name of this county.

  One of the earliest settlers here was James M. Allen, sheriff of Yolo County
in 1850, who was a son of David Allen and emigrated from Missouri about 1846,
and lived in Santa Clara County until 1848 with his brothers and sisters; then
he was a gold-miner for a time and visited Oregon; next he was a trader in live
stock; in 1849 he founded the town of Fremont; from 1853 he was in Contra Costa
County; from 1861 at San Francisco and interested in Nevada mines; 1865-'68 he
was adjutant-general of California militia; subsequently in real-estate business
at Livermore, where he was recently still living. His wife was Sidesia
Mendenhall, and his children Eugene and Delora (Mrs. Biddle).

  The Mexican land grants in Yolo County were: Canada de Capay, 40,078 acres,
confirmed to Jasper O'Farrell and others in 1865; Quessesosi, 8,894 acres to
William Gordon in 1860; Rio Jesus Maria, 26,637 acres to J. M. Harbin and others
in 1858, in Yolo and Solano counties; Rio de los Puto, 17,755 acres to William
Wolfskill in 1858.

  As with most other parts of the Sacramento Valley, Yolo County has known three
distinct periods. In the first nothing was dreamed of but cattle and
stock-growing. In the second, every energy was devoted to the raising of grain.
The last is the era of fruits, grapes, etc. Yolo County now is noted for its
fine fruits, raisins, etc., but even yet the growth, of wheat and other cereals
continues to be her leading industry, some of her citizens, such for instance as
Dr. Merritt, being among the great wheat-growers of the State. It is doubtful
whether there be another county in California with greater natural resources of
soil and situation. Except for a strip a few miles wide along the western border
adjoining the foot-hills, the entire county presents the appearance of an almost
level plain. This plain is the rich alluvium of the Sacramento Valley, of a
fabulous fertility. Considerable tracts along the river front and lower parts
are tule lands that every winter are covered with a few feet of water. Across
one strip of this, on the road to Sacramento, one J. B. Lewis in '49 and 50' had
a ferry three miles long. A rope was stretched across this distance, and, wind
permitting, he sailed his craft along the rope. Since then large sections of
this land have been dyked and reclaimed, and operations are now in progress
which will reclaim many thousand acres more of this soil. Once secured from
water there is no such wheat land in the world. It recalls the stories of
Egyptian fertilty or of the Egypt of Illinois and its corn lands along the
Mississippi. But yet it is rather the orchards and vineyards that are so
characteristic a scene around the principal centres, as at Woodland, at Knight's
Lauding, near Winters, in the Capay Valley, etc., that give tone and value to
the lands of the county. Of late years especially, rapid advances have been made
in the way of the subdivision of the Spanish grants and large estates, and the
setting out of the smaller farms to fruit.

  A portion of the county that promises very brightly is the Capay Valley, the
position and advantages of which are analogous to that of the Vaca Valley to its
south. Lack of accessibility has kept it back in the march of progress, but a
few years ago the Southern Pacific built a branch line from Winters to Madison,
which lies at its mouth, and thence to Ramsey's at the head of the valley, the
probability being that eventually the line will be extended to Lake County, up
Cache Creek, which flows through the valley. The railroad company has purchased
and opened to settlement at low prices the larger part of the land in the
valley, and it is being rapidly taken hold of. The industrial history of Capay
Valley really begins with the advent of the railroad in 1887, although it was
always regarded as one of the most picturesque and charming parts of the State.

  Yolo County is well-served with railroads. In 1868-'69 the California Central,
now a. part of the Southern Pacific system, was built from Davisville to
Washington, over the low lands, across the eastern end of the county, from the
same point to Woodland and thence to Knight's Landing and, crossing the
Sacramento and the tules, to Marysville. The high water of 1871-'72 washed away
both the section between Davisville and Washington, and that between Knight's
Landing and Marysville. The former was rebuilt at once in a more substantial
manner, and is now a portion of the main line of the Central Pacific, while the
latter is being rebuilt now (1890) and will form an important link in the
railway system of the valley. This Marysville road was originally part of a
comprehensive system of trans-continental roads that came to naught. The line
from Woodland northward through Colusa County to Tehama was completed during the
seventies and has been of great benefit to Woodland and the county. A branch
line was extended from Vacaville to Winters in 1876, to Madison in 1877, and
thence up the Capay Valley in 1887, a cut-off being now projected from Madison
to Woodland, thus making Woodland the real practical center of the county.

WOODLAND

is one of the most handsome and progressive cities in California. Its history
begins in 1855 when James McClure & Son established a blacksmith shop where the
future city was to be. Later in the same year Henry Wyckoff built a store there.
In the fall of 1857 Wyckoff was bought out by F. S. Freeman, who has ever since
resided there and been one of Woodland's most energetic citizens. In 1858 a
postoffice was established, with Mr. Freeman as postmaster, the name being Yolo
City. We ought to mention, however, that prior to achieving the dignity of a
name, a whisky shop or saloon was opened there in 1857, by one By. Hall. He was
run out, very shortly afterward, the sober, better, moral element having always
been strong at this point. In the same year was also built a two-story school
building, in the upper story of which was established a division of the Sons of
Temperance,—auspicious sign,—and a Masonic lodge. In 1862 Yolo City was made the
county-seat and the name was changed to Woodland. The erection of county
buildings was immediately begun and a handsome court-house and hospital was put
up, at a cost of some $40,000.

In 1889 a fine new hall of records, built at an expense of $30,000, has been
added, of most attractive architecture. Woodland has grown rapidly from the
first, the coming of the railway in 1868 giving it an especial impetus. It is
the home of wealthy men, having a larger number of millionaires in proportion to
population, so it is said, than any other place in California. It is noteworthy
too that all this wealth has been made within the county, none of it being
imported or hereditary. Woodland has an unusually large proportion of beautiful
homes, set generally in ample grounds and luxuriantly surrounded by trees and
flowers. Indeed the buildings generally, both public and private are of a
substantial and stately character. Its system of public schools is excellent and
it has also a number of private schools.

  The Hesperian College, under the auspices of the Disciples or Christian
denomination, bears a high reputation for efficiency. The Woodland Commercial
College and St. Mary's Academy, the latter Roman Catholic, are successful
institutions. All these have been in existence for about ten years.

  In Woodland there is a large flouring-mill, woolen-mills, an ice factory, a
pork-packing establishment, a carriage factory and the large Yolo Winery, the
property of the Yolo Wine and Brandy Association. She possesses also Blowers1
Raisin Curing establishment. Yolo County is the scene of the first raisin-making
in California, and R. B. Blowers is the pioneer. The city has an excellent
system of water-works, is lighted by electricity, and at the depot are enormous
grain warehouses for shipping purposes.

  The Bank of Woodland was organized on November 9, 1868, with a capital of
$100,000. The original stockholders were: John D. Stephens, H. F. Hastings,
George Snodgrass, John Hollingsworth, F. S. Freeman, Camillus Nelson, D. Q.
Adams, G. D. Stephens, Frank Miller, B. F. Hastings, O. Livermore, Jeff
Wilcoxon, H. C. Hemenway, U. Shellhammer, L. D. Stephens, Charles Coil and
Charles G. Day. This list of seventeen stockholders has been increased until it
now numbers seventy-five, among whom are the must substantial citizens of the
county.

  The bank was opened for business in the building now occupied by Wells, Fargo
& Co's. Express Office on February 22, 1889. The officers of the bank were: J.
D. Stephens, President; F. S. Freeman, Vice-President; C. W. Bush, Cashier.
Directors, F. S. Freeman, Frank Miller, J. D. Stephens, John Hollingsworth, C.
Nelson, Jeff Wilcoxon, L. D. Stephens, H. F. Hastings and C. W. Bonynge. Five of
these gentleman have held their office continuously since that time, the present
directorship being J. D. Stephens, F. S. Freeman, John Hollingsworth, C. Nelson,
H. Fredericks, J. H. Harlan, L. D. Stephens.

  In 1873 the directors bought and remodeled the building on the corner of First
and Main streets, which is now occupied by the bank. The growth of business was
steady from the inception. In the first monthly statement it is recorded that
the paid-up capital of the bank was $35,500. This modest beginning has grown to
amazing magnitude. Year after year the bank has increased its paid-up capital
till now it stands on the pre-eminence of having the largest paid-up capital of
any institution of like character on the Pacific coast, outside the great
metropolis of San Francisco, it having reached, with surplus, over $1,000,000.
The present officers of the bank were elected at the annual meeting of 1883 and
are: J. D. Stephens, President; F. S. Freeman, Vice-President; C. F. Thomas,
Cashier,—who have held office continuously since that time with the approval of
directors and patrons. The directors have been men of prudence and sagacity, and
have always held the welfare and prosperity of Yolo County as sacred, and by
their good management have been able to return to the stockholders spendid
dividends. Their treatment of patrons has made the name of the Bank of Woodland
synonymous with honesty and fair dealing, and the bank has become the pride of
the county.

  The business of this institution indicates the solid prosperity of Yolo
County. Almost every dollar of its capital is used at home—its interest is the
interest of Yolo County, and it is always in the front rank of enterprise.

VILLAGES.

  Winters, the second town in importance of the county, is of comparatively
recent date. It was laid out in 1875 by the Vaca Valley & Clear Lake Railroad,
and is on the line of Yolo and Solano counties. Its conditions are very similar
to those of Vaca Valley, which it almost adjoins, being the outlet of Pleasant
Valley, in the early ripening and marketing of its fruits and vegetables. Its
early fruits are its pride in fact. It is a good business point with large
shipping trade, and has ample school and church facilities, etc. It has a large
fruit-drying establishment.

  Davisville is an offspring of the railroad. It lies on the borders of Yolo and
Solano counties, and is the point of junction of the Northern Railway with the
main line of the Central Pacific. It is surrounded by a country of orchards and
vineyards, and ships to the cities immense quantities of dairy products and
especially of eggs and poultry, for which it is famous. Some large raisin-drying
establishments are located here. It is well supplied with schools, churches, etc.

  Washington, whose postofiice name is now Boruck, lies on the banks of the
Sacramento river, opposite the capital city, by which it is overshadowed. It has
considerable shipping importance, but is not progressive. It is almost wholly
surrounded by tule lands, but the vicinity possesses many fine orchards, etc.

  Knights Landing is the oldest town in the county, the first house being built
in 1849, and the town being laid out in 1850 and surveyed in 1853, the
postoffice name being at first Grafton. It is a place of some importance as a
shipping point on the Sacramento river, and the peaches grown about it are
famous. Now that the Marysville Railway is again completed it will probably
improve. It will gain much by the reclamation of the overflowed lands near by,
now progressing. It has a fine fruit country about it.

  Yolo, the old Cacheville, once the county seat, is a depot on the Northern, a
few miles north of Woodland. The large Yolo Flouring Mills of S. U. Wering, are
situated here, and a great deal of grain, etc., is shipped. Blacks and Dunnigan
are stations on the railroad, with large warehouses, attesting importance as
shipping points.

  Madison lies at the entrance to Capay Valley and is a place of rising
importance, possessing an ice factory, a large pork-packing establishment, and
is altogether a thriving and progressive place, with large wheat and fruit
shipments. In the Capay Valley are several towns which will soon be important,
from the large development in the way of fruit-growing about Near Madison is the
great Orleans winery and vineyards, the property of the Haraszthys of San
Francisco.

  Yolo County is well represented in the field of- newspaper enterprise. In
Woodland are the Democrat and Mail, both alert and active purveyors of 'news and
effective aids to the dissemination of reliable information about the great
county of Yolo. The Democrat is the oldest paper of the county, its predecessor
being etablished as long ago as 1857, at Cacheville, when county-seat. Dying two
years later, it was revived in 1861 at Knight's Landing, as the News. In 1864
the News was removed to Woodland, succumbing again in 1867, but seeing an almost
immediate resurrection as the Yolo Democrat, at which it stands firm. The Yolo
Mail was established in 1868, and has known constant prosperity, being an ably
handled sheet. At Winters is the Express, a lively weekly, and at Davisville is
the Signal, which worthily represents its town, founded in 1884 and 1887
respectively.

  The Assemblymen from Yolo County have been: L. B. Adams, 1887; F. E. Baker,
1881; Edward Bynum, 1856; A. B. Caldwell, 1853; George W. Crane, 1851; C. B.
Culver, 1885; J. S. Curtis, 1857; W. M. DeWitt, 1877-'78; F. S. Freeman,
1871-'74; Humphrey Griffith, 1854; Harrison Gwinn, 1859-'60; J. B. Hartsough,
1863-'64; David N. Hershey, 1880-'83; I. N. Hoag, 1862; John M. Kelly, 1867-'70;
William Minis, 1858; H. P. Osgood, 1851; John G. Parrish, 1852; Edmund Patten,
1863; Charles F. Reed, 1865-'66; J. H. Updegraff, 1855; Jason Watkins, 1875-'76;
W. C. Wood, 1861.


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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