Yolo County CA Archives History - Books .....From San Diego To Yolo 1913 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com December 3, 2005, 1:21 pm Book Title: History Of Yolo County CHAPTER VII FROM SAN DIEGO TO YOLO In 1542, Cabrillo, the first Spaniard in Alta California, reached San Diego, and just three hundred years after that date William Gordon arrived in that pueblo, on his way to his future home in this county. Thus the reader sees three centuries stretch between the first settlement of California and the first settlement of Yolo. They were not strenuous Saxon years full of sound and fury, that came northward along the Pacific littoral; they were slumberous Spanish years, made up of mananas—tomorrows—that walked-in-sleep along the leagues of golden poppy-plains and across the emerald oaten hills to wake into, to break into the burning day of the gringo. With the Spanish soldier came the Spanish priest and over field and flock the missions lifted—strong in rights temporal and spiritual— to flourish awhile amid their acres and acolytes, and then go down to poor parishes and dull piles of adobe ruins. If the Spanish soldier and priest left little or nothing to mark their presence here, they left no black record of brutality or injustice in their treatment of the simple-minded natives of the land. The mild demands of the missions and of the government did not materially interfere with the Indian's creature comforts; and if his spirituality was shallow or doubtful, his residence within sight of the chapel admitted him to the mission "soup-house" where the meals were regular. Amid the memories of that pastoral period the reader may hear in the din of the money-mad present the faint, sweet echoes of the Angelus bells coming from the missions that are dead and gone. IN THE ROARING FORTIES But time went faster through California when the years got well into the Forties—the "Roaring Forties." The centuries of siesta were over and "hasta manana,"—till tomorrow—became less a rule of daily conduct. The capital of the territory swung up and down the coast from Monterey to Los Angeles—occasionally reaching as far as San Diego—just as the new governor or near-governor elected. The two North American republics were threatening-each other across the Rio Grande; Dixie was clamoring for another slave state, and the "free folks" in the North were watching to prevent that accomplishment. Alvarado was the governor when (Oct. 19, 1842) Commodore Jones, U. S. N., flew his flag over Monterey, and corralled California for Uncle Sam. Next day he learned that the expected war had not commenced and he hauled the flag down with apologies fit and full. BILLY GORDON FINDS YOLO In that year Gordon and his train from San Diego reached Sutter's Fort on the Sacramento, where the adventurous Swiss officer had located about eighteen months before. Sutter directed Gordon to occupy the other bank of the river and the immigrants crossed the stream and settled on the Gordon Grant about ten miles west of the present city of Woodland. This pioneer landmark is on the left bank of Cache creek some three miles above the Stephens bridge. The family dwelling with its rough architecture of a rough and olden day long was the Gordon home, but finally it passed into the hands of strangers. The first domicile was primitive indeed— walls of tree-boughs set upright and neatly plastered with mud— hurriedly erected after the Gordons had unyoked and turned their stock to fatten on the rich verdure of their rancho. Thus with "Old Billy Gordon," Yolo enters the history of California, though the county was not marked out on the map until the legislature of 1849-50—fall of '49 and spring of '50—ran a number of county lines. The Gordons are Scotch, going first to Pennsylvania, thence to Ohio, where William was born in 1800. In 1825 he settled in Taos, New Mexico, where he wedded a Mexican woman— Cyrus Alexander, the well known Sonoma county pioneer, selecting a wife from the same family of girls. These matrimonial investments brough them within the favor of the Mexican government, and Gordon's Grant, or Guesisosi Grant, through his wife, was two square leagues of land—six miles long and three miles wide. The country was crowded with game and the Gordon party—true sportsmen as were all the early California settlers—reveled in the chase. Beaver in Cache and other streams, and elk, deer, antelope in the woods, while plenty of grizzly to make the sport dangerous could be found on every side. THEY LIVED IN CLOVER Life at home in a rich and peaceful Yolo valley was a happy release from the earlier hardships through which this pioneer passed. During one of Gordon's Rocky mountain hunting and trapping trips in 1825 he and a companion named Cooper were surprised at night by hostile Indians. Suddenly awakened by a stinging sensation in the side, Gordon quickly learned that they were surrounded by Indians, one of whom was trying to kill him with a lance. Springing to his feet with his rifle in his hands, he frightened the enemy back and tried to arouse Cooper, who was apparently yet asleep before the low camp-fire. But poor Cooper was dead—killed as he lay in slumber. Horror-stricken but desperate, the young hunter used his rifle and in the confusion ran the gauntlet and was soon away in the darkness, followed by bullets and arrows. Barefooted and lightly clothed, he traveled like a startled deer and was presently safe from the red, murderous devils. But his troubles were only beginning. His moccasins, made from his hunting shirt, were soon worn out and he left bloody footprints over the rocks and snow. The rifle—no ammunition—being useless, he threw it away. For several days he dragged himself, struggling southward, starving, freezing, until he reached a sheep-herder's cabin and was saved. Such was the severe school through which this first settler passed before he retired to the quiet life of a Yolo rancher. WILLIAM KNIGHT'S LANDING In the Gordon party was another man destined to leave his name for all time in the new territory. He was Dr. William Knight, a practicing physician from Baltimore, Md. A cultured man, fully equipped for a professional career in his native city, he possessed a deathless spirit of adventure, a desire for the dangerous life on the western frontier, and to gratify this love of excitement he early found himself out in the wilds of New Mexico. He married one of the daughters of the land and became a Mexican citizen. With the girl came the grant—Madre Mexico was good to the gringo if he treated her daughters fairly—and Knight with wife and ranch landed on the Sacramento river, at the landing since known by his name. This was in 1843. It was a long trek into the unknown California, that overland trip, that early sunset-route journey from Santa Fe to Knight's Landing. In the train were several young children, afterwards known as Mrs. J. W. Snowball, Mrs. C. W. Reed and Mrs. R. Jacobs. There were several sons. The passenger service was by horseback, and the transportation of the youngsters, according to Mrs. Snowball, was unique though safe. A gentle pony, with a basket slung on each side of him, trudged along the trail, whenever there was a trail, and in these baskets the small passengers rode, awake or sleeping. When they grew weary of the cramped position they could climb out onto the ponies' backs and have a change, or take to the ground for a walk. Across deserts, over hills and through deep forests they rode, driving their stock— horses and cattle—always northward to the promised landing on the Bio Sacramento. The way swarmed with dangers—but dangers that minimized in the presence of the American pioneer, and they safely reached their "landing" place. Knight's first dwelling was on a slight elevation or mound built by the Indians in the far past and by them known as the "Yodoy Mound." The pioneer white man's residence at Knight's landing was exceedingly primitive— willow pole frame, fastened together with rawhide, river tule walls and mud plaster. The dense woods in the near vicinity were the habitations of wild animals, prominent among them grizzly bear,— warlike when molested, but no match for the western hunter and his rifle. HAIR-TRIGGER PIONEERS William Knight was a just man, but sensitive and quick to resent what he considered to be an offense. On one occasion he became offended at General Sutter. It was during a visit to the fort, and Knight, when the argument was warmest, produced a pair of loaded pistols and invited Sutter to choose one and step outside where they could settle in accordance to the code. The settlement was made without the duello. At another time he took offense at no less an urbane personage than General Vallejo and invited the distinguished Sonoman to select his weapon and "step outside." They had been admiring a new piano just purchased by the General for his family and thinking to be jovial he asked his guest to "play for the ladies." Unfortunately, Knight considered it a reflection on his lack of musical culture and the matter ended with the challenge, which, of course, was recalled after the host made an explanation and apology. The close of Knight's career should have been more auspicious. In 1849 he was operating a ferry boat on the Stanislaus river, in Stanislaus county, near the Calaveras line. Ever since that time the place and town have been known as Knight's Ferry. He died there November 9 of that year, and is or was supposed to have been a wealthy man, possessing money and property at the ferry, as well as the rancho in Yolo. The Knight children were attending school in Benicia and Major Stephen Cooper of that city, who was public administrator, was solicited to come to the ferry and take charge of the mixed-up affairs of the deceased. He did not do so and all the Knight estate, money and lands, melted in thin air. The heirs got nothing, even the grant deeds were mysteriously lost. Another of the settlers of '43 was Thomas M. Hardy, a native of England, who obtained a grant of six square leagues, or 26,637 acres, located along Cache creek east of the Gordon grant, extending to the Sacramento. His rancho was called the "Rio de Jesus Maria," which was one of the early names of the big river. Hardy was a rude, unfriendly man, possessing a warm dislike for the Americans as well as strong sympathy for Mexico and the Californians. He constructed a tule shack on the west bank of the river near the mouth of the Feather, but much of his time he was away from his home, being in the military service of the Mexican government. In 1849 he was conveying a boat-load of passengers to San Francisco and at Benicia the passengers landed with Hardy's dead body. They reported that on the trip down the river he had accidentally fallen overboard and had drowned. No other account being obtained the remains were buried and the estate of the deceased was administered upon. "TINKER," THE DOG PIONEER Nathan Coombs, head of the Napa pioneers of that name, dropped into Yolo that year and "put up" with Billy Gordon. Next year his connection with the Gordon family became more permanent and more pronounced. An active member of the household was "Tinker," a warlike and intrepid dog, and one day Tinker appeared in a neck of the woods and made some history. It was a psychological moment in the life of Coombs as a very much grown grizzly very much intent on chewing up the man had him prostrate on the ground. It is said that Tinker's plunge into the bloody conflict was magnificent. A brindle-tinted thunderbolt flew out of the adjoining thicket and landed on the bear's back just as that animal was stripping large mouthfuls of flesh from Coombs' arm. The surprised grizzly turned to attend to the waspish attack on his back, and the fallen man was enabled to drag himself away. Tinker slipped down to the rear of his huge foe and got a good nip on that portion of its body. Then the bear began the whirl—literally chasing his own tail, while Tinker, maintaining his grip, was swung around, now in the air, now on the ground, inflicting all the pain he could, chewing up bear, howling in frenzy, but careful to keep clear of those awful jaws and claws. The heroic Tinker might have fared badly in the end, but the rifles of his friends relieved him from a dilemma. 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] File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/yolo/history/1913/historyo/fromsand129ms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/cafiles/ File size: 13.1 Kb