Yolo County CA Archives History - Books .....Alta California Drifts To The Gringo 1913
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com December 3, 2005, 12:46 pm

Book Title: History Of Yolo County

CHAPTER VI
ALTA CALIFORNIA DRIFTS TO THE GRINGO

    From 1775 to 1835 the Pacific rim of this hemisphere slipped through its
sixty years—two generations—of peace. Europe passed from war to war, and the
Atlantic seaboard trembled in the reverberations of hostile guns. California was
too young and too far away and too little known to the world, and her people
between the mountain and the sea left alone eddied out of the world's current.
They were children, forgetful of yesterday, living in today that never passed,
and relegating the possible adversities to the tomorrow—the manana—that never
came. They were careless and free, fond of the fandango, the bull fight and the
horse-race, and they mingled these earthly diversions with the ceremonies of the
church holiday. Many of the people were ex-soldiers, dead to the spirit of war
and alive to the excitement of the rancho, and as militant as the old, rusty
cannon on the presidio walls. The ex-mission Indians hanging around the
haciendas could be hired or cajoled into doing the little hard labor of the
establishments and this added to the gay caballero's hours of idleness. The only
dissipation they had, however, was gambling, and anything having the element of
chance would be bet on, though monte was the favorite card game. They accepted
good fortune without lively demonstrations of joy and ill-luck with little
regret, evidently caring more for the gaming than for the winning. Sunday
afternoons, religious devotions being finished, some festivity was in order.
With the broad unfenced plains crowded with cattle more or less wild, fleet
horses were necessary, consequently there were few such riders in the world.
However, that was before the day of that human centaur, the American cowboy.

EARLY TAUGHT TO RIDE

    The boy at an early age was taught to ride at a breakneck speed and to throw
the riata with unerring aim. The Spanish saddle was an elaborate piece of equine
furniture, the wooden frame, or "tree" as it was called, being fastened to the
animal's body with a girth, or "cinch," made of the closely woven hair of his
own tail. This was taking an unfair advantage of poor caballo, but the hair
cinch was very strong and was the only fabric that would not slip on his smooth
coat. Over the tree was fitted a wide leather cover called "mecheres," and on
the stirrups, to protect the rider's feet from the wild undergrowth of the
range, were leather shields or "tapaderos," and the leather leggings on his
lower limbs were for the same purpose. The bridle was a costly, besilvered
affair of finely braided rawhide and the bit was an exquisite instrument of
torture. To the half or quarter "broke" mustang this bit, its steel tongue
extending far up within the mouth, compelled obedience on the slightest pull of
the reins—in fact, the horse perforce soon learned, in pain, to take his cue
from the mere swing of the reins on his neck. And always a necessary part of
this picturesque rider's makeup was a pair of big silver spurs, the size and
ornamentation designating the owner's social or equestrian standing. Mount one
of these fellows on a spirited mustang, trappings agleam in polished metal,
riata hanging in graceful festoons from the saddle horn, heavily-silvered
sombrero on his head, richly braided short jacket, fine cloth pantaloons with
outside seam slashed down each leg and laced with silk cord, around the waist a
beautiful silken sash, over the shoulders the gracefully flowing serapa, or
cloak—then set the little silver bell-tongues on his spurs tinkling musically to
the pace of his prancing steed, and time never produced a more artistic and
elaborate centaur.

DANDY CENTAURS OF THE RANCHO

    It was at the fiesta or "fandango," the race-track, the cock-pit, the
bull-ring, troops of these fantastic dandies would appear and show-off in boyish
vanity themselves and mounts principally for the entertainment and admiration of
the sprightly senorita in her laces and colors out for a California holiday. The
rodeo, or annual stock round-up, was the gala time for the vaquero. when the
corralling and the roping and the branding of the herds made the rancho throb
with excitement; when in the adobe hall the guitars tinkled in the fantastic
dances of Old Spain and the satined dandy descendant of Aragon bowed, vowed and
"looked love" to this far western heiress of Castile. 

MOTHER MEXICO AND HER CHILD

    During all these slow, sleepy years California was drifting to the maldito
gringo and the moving-picture of events show seriatim the incidents that marked
that drift. The newest Californian, the Native Son—with all his Bear Flag
enthusiasm—knows little of the stirring story of his state. Real estate boomers
and passenger agents are photoing and printing the scenic grandeurs of this
wonderful coast, but its past history—undecorated for commercial purposes— is
not among its younger generation a very popular theme. Spain's claim, the first,
had gone glimmering; Francis Drake during his flying visit to this coast annexed
whatever he saw to England, but her claim had long since lapsed, beyond the hope
of the most ardent litigant; Russia cut herself from even the pleasures of a
controversy when she sold Fort Ross and its lands on the Sonoma coast to Capt.
John A. Sutter; the Mexican empire didn't live long enough to know that it could
claim anything in California, and the Mexican republic was too busy handling its
own revolutions —as it is at the present time; moreover, Madre Mexicana was
growing weary of the antics of her disobedient nina, Alta California, and was
almost willing to let the unfilial daughter go, providing she did not go to the
gringo. And that was the young woman's true destination.

FIGHTING OVER THE "ADMISSION"

    We "encouraged" Mexico to fight us, and our policy in that has provided a
living theme for our moralistic critics who are only political partisans in thin
disguise. All ages, all governments have protesting statesmen, and this age—so
full of vituperative free speech—has a protester "roosting on every stump." But
our fight with Mexico was a good scrap for both republics. It gave her all the
territory she can handle, and it rounded us out from ocean to ocean, making our
country proportionally the central, the predominating and the most favorable
piece of soil in the western hemisphere; and moreover, it kept Europe and her
automaton monarchs out of most of America. Yet California was with difficulty
forced through the gamut of protesters and into the Union. In fact, she
"admitted" herself almost a year before her official admission got through the
"slave state" question. Note the beauty and inconsistency of this class of
American statemanship: Texas, about that time, barely justified in her action,
gained complete independence of Mexico and then immediately offered herself to
the Union. There was no special hurry, except to be on hand when the next
election day came around, but she was admitted, a slave state, and by a Whig
administration whose central creed was anti-slavery. And California, a ripe plum
in danger of falling to a British war fleet, her long-length of coast to be a
constant menace to the United States, was a bone of contention between the Whigs
and pro-slavery Democrats, with the latter favoring the admission, and against
the protest of these same Whigs. The protesting statesmen about that time
proposed that California be sold back to Mexico for $12,000,000, and if
agreeable to the southern republic San Francisco be retained, allowing Mexico
$3,000,000 on account. As this government has assumed a Mexican debt of
$15,000,000 due American citizens, these gleaming diplomats considered they were
proposing a highly profitable national real estate deal. But the next
day—practically—J. W. Marshall digging a ditch in Coloma creek shoveled
California up to a golden figure near fifteen hundred millions and to a moral
value that has never been estimated.



Additional Comments:
Extracted from

HISTORY OF YOLO COUNTY CALIFORNIA
WITH
Biographical Sketches
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
TOM GREGORY
AND OTHER WELL KNOWN WRITERS
ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME

HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA [1913]


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