Butte County Biographies

JOHN BIDWELL

Submitted by Betty Wilson

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


	GEN. JOHN BIDWELL.  The life of Gen. John Bidwell has been so 
closely interwoven with the pioneer history of the state of California that his 
name calls up to the old generation a past replete with incident, the events 
which laid the foundation for California�s present prosperity; the hardships, 
the trials, the dangers and privations which accompanied every effort of the 
first settlers of this then practically unknown country.  To the present 
generation General Bidwell is equally well known, for Time dealt gently with him 
as with an honored landmark which connects a courageous past with a prosperous 
present, and until April 4, 1900, he remained an important factor in all that 
marked the progress and development of his adopted state and especially of Butte 
county, where he had made his home for so many years.
	General Bidwell was a native of Chautauqua county, N.Y., born August 
5, 1819, the descendant of a sturdy New England family.  His father, Abraham 
Bidwell, was a native of Connecticut, and a farmer by occupation who, in 
manhood, married Clarissa Griggs.  She was born in Massachusetts, a member of 
the prominent family of that name.  They immigrated to the western part of the 
state of New York, where the birth of John Bidwell occurred.  In 1829 his father 
removed to Pennsylvania and thence in 1831 to Chico.  He was there reared to 
young manhood and trained in the practical duties of a farmer and inculcated 
with the thrift and energy which distinguishes the character of the New 
Englander.  On account of limited finances he received but scant scholastic 
training, the greater part being obtained in Kingville Academy, Ashtabula 
county, Ohio, a distance of three hundred miles from his home, which he walked 
after working all summer to get means to attend, at wages of $7 per month.  The 
knowledge thus obtained formed a foundation for that which the years of 
experience and application brought him.  In 1839, at the age of nineteen years, 
Mr. Bidwell determined to seek his fortune among the broader opportunities of 
the more remote west, and with no capital but his courage and energy he left 
home and located first in Iowa.  From that location he went to Missouri, whose 
rich lands on the frontier had been thrown open to the settler.  In Platte 
county, about nine miles from Leavenworth, he secured a claim of one hundred and 
sixty acres, shortly afterward going to St. Louis for supplies.  While absent on 
the journey of four weeks his claim was jumped and as he was neither the head of 
a family nor twenty-one years of age the other party was upheld at law when an 
attempt was made in the winter of 1840 to prove up.  Just about this time he 
became interested in California, a returned emigrant describing it as a land of 
paradise.  About five hundred signed an agreement to go to this western land, 
but shortly afterward the celebrated letter of Farnham�s was published 
detracting from California and as a result the greater number decided to 
withdraw their names.  Under great difficulties Mr. Bidwell succeeded in 
reaching the place of rendezvous, from which set out finally a band of 
sixty-nine men, women and children in a daring attempt to reach the unknown 
land.  They fortunately obtained the guidance of a missionary party which was 
then on its way to the west and in the spring of 1841 they started upon their 
journey.  They were the first of those courageous emigrants to attempt this 
perilous journey and a settlement in the west, and they were attracted by the 
prospect of homes rather than the gold, which later served as the magnet to 
bring settlers from all parts of the world.  Some time after the parting with 
the missionary party the remainder separated, all but thirty-two deciding to 
locate in Oregon instead of braving the difficulties which lay in the path of 
their journey to the �land of sunshine and flowers.�  Nothing daunted, the 
remainder continued upon their way.  This was two years before Fremont�s survey 
of the country, where was practically nothing to prove as guides for them; it 
was in the fall of the year and the air was full of smoke; consequently they 
could see but a short distance ahead and could not select their road.  Soon 
after leaving Salt Lake they were compelled to manufacture pack saddles for 
their mules, horses, and even some of their oxen.  During this part of the 
journey General Bidwell had an interesting as well as dangerous and exciting 
experience, in search of several of their pack-oxen which had strayed from the 
camp in the darkness.  With another he was detailed to search for them, while 
the balance of the party went ahead in an effort to find water.  His companion 
becoming discouraged, Mr. Bidwell was left alone, and after finding the oxen 
rejoined the party, which had sent two men back to meet him.  Following this 
they had several adventures with the Indians, besides wandering too far south 
into the desert, and on changing their course found difficulties in the canon 
north.  They finally found their way out along the Humboldt river, of Nevada.  
Later seven of the company, leaving them to find their way as best they could 
into California.  Successfully crossing the Sierras they descended into the 
beautiful Sacramento valley, reaching Marsh�s Ranch near the foot of Mt. Diablo, 
November 4, 1841, whence Mr. Bidwell proceeded to Sutter�s settlement 
(afterwards known as Sutter�s Fort), where he arrived the last of November 4, 
1841.  It was about this time that Sutter had come into possession of the 
Russian property on the sea at Fort Ross and at Bodega.  He purchased all the 
property which they were unable to remove when they left the country.  This was 
but a branch of the Russian Fur Company, of which the Czar of Russia was the 
president and which had a charter from Old Spain, authorizing the company to 
establish a branch for the purpose of taking furs along the coast at Fort Ross.  
The charter had nearly expired, so they sold everything to Sutter, including a 
schooner together with some old muskets, some or most of which were of those 
lost by Napoleon on the disastrous campaign to Moscow.  Mr. Bidwell�s first 
occupation in California was at Bodega and Fort Ross, in conjunction with Robert 
T. Ridley, taking charge of the Russian property still remaining at those 
points, and removing the same as rapidly as possible to Sutter�s settlement at 
Sacramento.
	Upon the completion of his first work in California, Mr. Bidwell 
took a journey on horseback in February, 1843, to Sutter�s Fort, accomplishing 
the trip in four days.  When about sixty miles on his journey he made a stop for 
the night.  He was accompanied by an Indian and each had his two horses and a 
pack horse to carry provisions and blankets.  That night the horses disappeared. 
 Being very valuable horses Mr. Bidwell lost no time in undertaking to recover 
them.  Borrowing animals with which to enter on the search they started forth in 
pursuit, an adventurous week following, one experience being a successful 
crossing of the Putah creek, which is well known on account of the impossibility 
of crossing it even in a dry season, both banks being exceedingly steep and the 
sands very soft.  Mr. Bidwell�s crossing was made in the night and it was not 
until afterward that he learned of the nature of the creek.  This expedition 
proved a failure, as they not only failed to recover their lost property, but 
lost as well their borrowed animals.  Finding it necessary to pay an exorbitant 
price for the lost animals Mr. Bidwell decided to search for them as well as for 
his own.  The latter he found at the ranch of the man from whom he had obtained 
the extra animals.  Setting out in search of those, he heard of a party which 
had started for Oregon and with the idea that they might have taken them, he 
followed their trail.  The trail of the Oregon company they struck on what is 
now known as Chico creek, Rancho Chico, Mr. Bidwell�s first view of the spot 
which was to be his home for the remainder of his life, and the greater part of 
its progress and development.  They overtook the party and recovered the animals 
and immediately returned south.
	The following year General Bidwell enlisted in the defense of 
California against insurrection of the native chiefs Castro and Alvarado in the 
revolt of 1844 and 1845, acting as aide-de-camp to General Sutter until the war 
ended by expulsion of the Mexican governor Micheltorena.  In 1846 he was 
appointed magistrate of San Luis Rey district by General Fremont.  A short time 
before this grants of land had been made, consisting of great cattle ranges, 
whose boundaries were very indefinite.  Among these was one given to William 
Dickey, the Rancho del Arroyo Chico, of twenty-two thousand acres, which General 
Bidwell purchased in 1849, and the cultivation and improvement of this property 
formed the chief interest during his years of activity that followed.  In 1852 
the first log dwelling was burned and the historic adobe was built.  From the 
time of his residence in Butte county General Bidwell took an active part in its 
development and upbuilding, and proved a potent factor in all that tended toward 
the general welfare.  Not alone prominent in Butte county, he became a factor in 
the formation of the commonwealth of California, being chosen in 1849 a member 
of the first constitutional convention of California at Sacramento, from that 
time on occupying a place of importance in the history of the state.  Owing to 
his absence in the mountains at the time of his appointment he failed to receive 
notice in time to attend the convention.  In the same year he was elected to the 
state senate of the first California legislature.  In 1850 Governor Burnett 
appointed General Bidwell and Judge Schoolcraft to convey a block of native 
gold-bearing quartz to Washington as California�s tribute to the Washington 
monument.  Continuing a power in the governmental life of California, he was 
chosen delegate to the Democratic National convention at Charleston in 1860, and 
loyal to his country in its time of need three years later he accepted the 
appointment of Governor Stanford to command the Fifth Brigade, California 
Militia, serving until the close of the Civil war.  In 1864 he was elected to 
the Thirty-ninth congress and two years later could have had the re-nomination, 
but he had decided not to be a candidate and so declined.  In 1875 he was 
nominated for governor of California on the anti-monopoly or non-partisan state 
ticket, and in 1886 was a delegate to the anti-Chinese convention held in 
Sacramento.  Besides these he was the recipient of many other honors equally as 
great.  In regard to General Bidwell�s political convictions we quote from his 
own utterance:  �My politics are intensely Republican, in the sense of that term 
as used to bring that party into existence in its mission to preserve the Union, 
but I am more than a Republican; I am a prohibitionist, a native American, and 
anti-Chinese in the sense of wholesome restriction of all foreign emigration, 
and anti-monopolist in the truest sense of the term.�  His loyalty to his 
country in its time of need, his patriotism, his strong integrity, all placed 
him as the highest type of citizen and one upon whom the honor of the country 
may safely rest.
	General Bidwell�s relation to Chico is that of its founder and the 
stanch supporter of its growth and progress.  In 1860 he laid out the town, 
where he had been a successful farmer for a dozen years, and where, for ten 
years more, no railroads came to bring him remuneration for his efforts to build 
up a city in the midst of the wilderness.  His courage, ambition and stirring 
enterprise called others and his undertaking was eminently successful; the city 
grew, business enterprises multiplied, the first academy being built upon the 
Woodman block, a valuable piece of property donated for the purpose by General 
Bidwell.  It was also through his efforts that the city secured the state normal 
school, he being in Europe at the time and on receiving a cablegram, asking for 
land upon which to place the building, he sent back the message that they were 
welcome to any piece of land on his ranch with the exception of his dooryard.  
This property donated for the purpose was valued at $15,000.  He also gave to 
the city the lot upon which the city hall stands, General Bidwell forestalling 
the intention of the city to purchase a site, and in addition to this land he 
gave valuable building sites to the different churches of Chico, the 
Presbyterian, the Roman Catholic, the North and South Methodist and African 
Methodist, each of them receiving as much land as they asked for, often 
supplemented by liberal money donations.  He was always a constant supporter of 
the Free Reading Room and gave liberally for its establishment, it being for 
some time in one of his own buildings.  He has taken the greatest interest in 
beautifying the city, one of the most attractive drives, over a mile in length, 
so arranged that there are two carriage ways, two bicycle courses and a road for 
heavy teaming, being the result of the general�s planning and efforts.  His own 
mansion and grounds are an evidence of the taste and ability which always 
distinguished his efforts, the numerous driveways shaded by tall, old trees 
planted many years ago in the pioneer days of the state.  He was largely 
instrumental in opening to the public the famous Humboldt road, which extends 
over the summit of the Sierras from Chico to Prattville, being sixty-four miles 
in length.  To the building of this road the general gave liberally both of his 
time and money, interesting others and securing donations which brought about 
its successful consummation.  No enterprise, in fact, was complete without his 
co-operation and it can truly be said that he never withheld his support from 
any movement calculated to advance the welfare of the community which knew him 
and honored him for so many years.  Passing on to that which awaits a man beyond 
the portals of death, General Bidwell left behind him a record of a life 
well-spent, an example worthy of emulation, and an influence which will outlast 
the passage of time and make for the betterment of all who come within its 
radius, either through a personal contact in the past, or through the eloquent 
language in the works that stand as monuments to the ability, honor and manhood 
that characterized his entire career.
 
History of the State of California and Biographical Record of the Sacramento 
Valley, California, by Prof. J. M. Guinn, Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1906
Gen. John Bidwell

Submitted by Kathy Sedler

GENERAL JOHN BIDWELL
 
	In the person of General John Bidwell is exemplified, perhaps more 
fully than ever before, the adage that truth is stranger than fiction.  It does 
not seem possible to one who meets him for the first time and marks his upright 
form, elastic step and military bearing, that he has been a witness of and actor 
in the chief parts of all the scenes that go to make up the history of 
California, from the quiet pastoral days of Mexican rule and the mission 
domination, through the tremendously exciting times of the gold discovery and 
the invasion of the Argonauts, down to the present with its wealth of orchard 
and grain field.  Yet such is a fact, and indeed amid all the people of the 
State, no one has been a more effective worker for progress, or deserves so 
highly the thanks and appreciation of the people than General Bidwell.  His life 
has been a romance; yet through it all there runs such a thread of reality that 
one recognizes from the first the presence of a master-mind and listens intently 
to the �strange, true tale.�  We present here, as a leading figure in our 
sketches of pioneer California biography, a short outline of the General�s life, 
but from information obtained from him is made up a great part of our picture of 
early days and early doings; and we take this opportunity to record our 
obligation.
	General Bidwell was born August 5, 1819, in Chautauqua County, New 
York, of the sturdy New England stock that has made itself felt throughout the 
history of this continent, and has always been in the van of progress.  His 
father, Abraham Bidwell, was a native of Connecticut, and a farmer of no great 
means, but of thoroughgoing and energetic, traits that have been still further 
developed in his son.  His mother, whose maiden name was Clarissa Griggs, was a 
native of Massachusetts, a member of the old family of that name.  His youthful 
life was full of change, very few opportunities being presented for education or 
advancement. The principal and last schooling he received was obtained at 
Kingsville Academy, in Ashtabula County, Ohio, walking 300 miles to reach it, 
and working a whole summer to get means to go through, at wages of $7 a month.  
This lack, however, has been no real disadvantage to the General, for he has 
learned so well from the school of experience and of wide and general reading, 
that there are but few men better informed or with better applied knowledge than 
he.
	In 1839, at the age of nineteen years, he left his home to seek his 
fortune in the West, single-handed and without means other than a brave heart, 
backed by right resolves.  He went first to Iowa and to the rich new lands just 
thrown open to settlement on the western frontiers of the State of Missouri. 
Here in this lovely spot he intended to make his home, and took up some lands.  
This was in Platte County, at a joint about nine miles from Fort Leavenworth, 
but on the Missouri side of the river.  The General secured a claim to 160 
acres, and then went down to St. Louis for supplies.  The trip was a long one, 
occupying about four weeks.  Meantime another jumped his land, and having built 
a cabin his claim was upheld at law, when an attempt was made in the winter to 
prove it.  While in the state of indecision caused by this fact, he met a man 
who had been to the then unknown lands of California.  He described it as a 
paradise, and great enthusiasm was around among the people, some 500 signing an 
agreement to arm and set out for the western shore.  Just at this time Farnham�s 
celebrated letter detracting from California was published, and as a result the 
people all except himself backed out, and for a time General Bidwell found 
himself unable to reach the place of rendezvous.  He had a wagon but no horses.  
As luck would have it a certain George Henshaw happened along on horseback, 
traveling westward in search for health.  He had a horse and a little money 
(twelve or fourteen dollars), which he placed at the disposal of our adventurous 
young hero.  He traded the horse for a yoke of oxen for his wagon, and a 
one-eyed mule for the invalid, and finally reached the rendezvous, to find only 
a few gathered.
	Eventually a party of sixty-nine men, women and children, set out to 
attempt the unknown wilderness.  They fortunately obtained the guidance of a 
missionary party then on its way to the West, and with them started on the long 
journey.  This was in the spring of 1841, when young Bidwell was in his 
twenty-second year only.  It must be remembered that this was the first train to 
venture upon the dreary trip across the plains.  The whole country was 
practically unknown, even the maps being far astray.  On them Salt Lake was 
represented to be 300 or 400 miles long and with two immense outlets to the 
Pacific.  Indeed, a friend of General Bidwell seriously advised him to take 
along tools to make canoes, in which to descend one of those rivers to the 
ocean.  The route taken was first up the Platte River, thence a day�s journey up 
the South Fork, then across to the North Fork and up it to the Sweetwater and 
its head.  Thence over to Green River and across to one of its forks, and up to 
the divide separating the waters that find their way to the Pacific Ocean, down 
the Colorado River from those flowing into Salt Lake, by the Bear River, the 
principal stream from the north; thence along the Bear River to Salt Lake.  The 
missionary party left them at Soda Fountain at the most northern bend of Bear 
River, and from that point they explored the way for themselves.
	Meantime the party had divided, all but thirty-two of them striking 
off for Oregon.  The remainder, nothing daunted, pushed their way into the 
unknown.  It must be remembered that Fremont�s survey was not made until two 
years later, and at that time all the well-known rivers and other land-marks of 
the country were unnamed.  They were finally forced to abandon their wagons at a 
short distance beyond Salt Lake, and after manufacturing as best they could pack 
saddles for mules, horses and even some of their oxen, they pushed on, -- one of 
the most adventurous journeys that history has ever known.  It was the fall of 
the year and the air was full of smoke, so that they could get no clear view 
ahead, and consequently were unable to pick out the road with ease.  They pushed 
on, nevertheless, crossed the Sierras, being the first party that ever did so, 
to the head waters of the Stanislaus River, and made their way down to the San 
Joaquin Valley.  At that time, General Bidwell thinks there were not over 100 
foreigners (Americans, British, Germans, and other nationalities) from San Diego 
to Sonoma.
	It was in camp at Mount Diablo that General Bidwell first heard of 
General Sutter, who at that time had begun a settlement (and afterward erected a 
fort) near the Sacramento River, within the present capital city of the State, 
to which the General made his way.  Since that time General Bidwell�s life has 
been a series of notable, stirring events.  He engaged and remained in the 
employ of Sutter; enlisted in defense of California against insurrection of the 
native chiefs Castro and Alvarado, in the revolt of 1844 and 1845, and acted as 
aid-de-camp to General Sutter till the war ended by the expulsion of the Mexican 
Governor Micheltorena.  Near what was supposed to be the closing scenes of the 
Mexican war in California, in the latter part of 1846, young Bidwell, then but 
twenty-seven years of age, was appointed by General Fremont as Magistrate of San 
Luis Rey district.  In 1849, at the age of thirty, he was chosen a member of the 
first Constitutional Convention of California, but owing to his absence in the 
mountains he did not receive notice in time and failed to attend.  In the same 
year he was elected to the Senate of the first California Legislature.  In 1850 
Governor Burnett appointed General Bidwell and Judge Schoolcraft to convey a 
block of native gold-bearing quartz to Washington, as California�s tribute to 
the Washington monument.  In 1860 he was a delegate to the National Democratic 
Convention at Charleston.  Three years later he was appointed by Governor 
Stanford to command the Fifth Brigade, California militia, serving till the 
close of the civil war.  In 1864 he was a delegate to National Republican 
Convention at Baltimore, which renominated Abraham Lincoln, and on the committee 
to notify the President of his renomination.  In 1864 also he was nominated and 
elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress.  Two years later he might have had the 
renomination, but he had decided not to be a candidate.  In 1875 he was 
nominated for Governor of California on the anti-monopoly or non-partisan State 
ticket.  He was a delegate to the anti-Chinese convention held in Sacramento in 
March, 1886.  Besides these he was the recipient of many other honors equally 
great.
	The following are General Bidwell�s political sentiments as 
expressed by himself:  �My politics are intensely Republican, in the sense of 
that term as used to bring that party into existence in its mission to preserve 
the Union, but I am more than a Republican; I am a Prohibitionist, a native 
American and anti-Chinese, in the sense of wholesome restriction of all 
undesirable foreign immigration, and anti-monopolist in the truest sense of the 
term.�
	Personally, General Bidwell is tender, kind and benevolent to a 
fault, and a strict Presbyterian.  By his benefactions he has acquired the 
sobriquet of the �Father of Chico.�  Among his most noteworthy donations are a 
$10,000 site for the North California Forestry Station, a $15,000 site for the 
Northern State Branch Normal School, and also valuable building sites for the 
different churches, the Presbyterian of Chico, the Roman Catholic, the Methodist 
Episcopal, the Methodist Episcopal South and the African American Episcopal, 
each of them receiving as much land as they asked for, often supplemented by 
liberal money donations.
	The Chico Flouring Mill, erected and carried on by General Bidwell, 
and one of the famous mills of the State, were the first water mills in the 
Sacramento Valley, being preceded only by Peter Lassen�s horse-mill.  The 
General began also at an early day to set out his magnificent orchards.  These 
now cover 1,500 acres of land, and are being yearly increased.  They are among 
the oldest, the most extensive and the most valuable in the State, some of the 
older trees being of gigantic size.  His estate, the Rancho del Arroyo Chico, is 
one of the finest stretches of land on the continent.  It is largely devoted to 
grain-raising, but the portion near Chico is magnificently improved, the walks, 
drives and ground surrounding his handsome residence being a worthy home domain. 
 It is a pleasing combination of park, garden and orchard, the idea being to 
preserve as far as possible the wilderness and the native growths.  The 
wonderful old fig-tree before the house should be especially noted.  Banyan-like 
it has sent its branches downward to the earth, where they have again struck 
root.  A space of nearly 3,000 square feet is shaded now, -- a curious and 
interesting freak of nature. 
	We conclude this sketch with a little incident that shows most 
clearly the high standard of morality and the conscientious determination for 
the right which marks General Bidwell at once as one of California�s bravest and 
most worthy citizens.  Some years ago he set out to make pure wine for communion 
use and similar purposes, being advised to do so by clergymen and others.  To 
that end he employed a first-class wine-maker.  After an absence of two years he 
returned home to find that sure enough he had as pure wince as is made, having 
in storage about 1,000 gallons of the best quality besides considerable material 
for inferior grades.  He was not long in discovering, however, that his 
wine-maker had numerous friends whose number seemed constantly increasing.  In 
fact their business with him was so urgent that they had to come while he was 
engaged in the wine cellar!  He observed too that their business kept them a 
good while, with his own eyes he saw that men began to go away with unsteady 
steps.  It then dawned upon him that he was actually engaged in the business of 
manufacturing drunkards.  His first impulse was to knock the casks in the head 
and spill the wine on the ground.  From this he was dissuaded, however, on the 
plea the wine would be useful in a hospital in San Francisco.  As soon as he 
learned that this was the case, he sent all the good wine as a present to that 
institution, while the poorer stuff he had manufactured into vinegar.  He then 
dug up and burnt all the wine grapes and washed his hands of the whole business.
 
A Memorial and biographical history of Northern California. 
Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co., 1891, pp 107-110


            The life of Gen. John Bidwell has been so closely interwoven
with the pioneer history of the state of California that his name calls up
to the old generation a past replete with incident, the events which laid
the foundation for California's present prosperity; the hardships, the
trials, the dangers and privations which accompanied every effort of the
first settlers of this then practically unknown country. To the present
generation General Bidwell is equally well known, for Time dealt gently with
him as with an honored land-mark which connects a courageous past with a
prosperous present, and until April 4, 1900, he remained an important factor
in all that marked the progress and development of his adopted state and
especially of Butte county, where he had made his home for so many years.

            General Bidwell was a native of Chautauqua county, N. Y., born
August 5, 1819, the descendant of a sturdy New England family. His father,
Abraham Bidwell, was a native of Connecticut, and a farmer by occupation
who, in manhood, married Clarissa Griggs. She was born in Massachusetts, a
member of the prominent family of that name. They immigrated to the western
part of the state of New York, where the birth of John Bidwell occurred. In
1829 his father removed to Pennsylvania and thence in 1831 to Ohio. He was
there reared to young manhood and trained in the practical duties of a
farmer and inculcated with the thrift and energy which distinguishes the
character of the New Englander. On account of limited finances he received
but scant scholastic training, the greater part being obtained in Kingville
Academy, Ashtabula county, Ohio, a distance of three hundred miles from his
home, which he walked after working all summer to get means to attend, at
wages of $7 per month. The knowledge thus obtained formed a foundation for
that which the years of experience and application brought him. In 1839, at
the age of nineteen years, Mr. Bidwell determined to seek his fortune among
the broader opportunities of the more remote west, and with no capital but
his courage and energy he left home and located first in Iowa. From that
location he went to Missouri, whose rich lands on the frontier had been
thrown open to the settler. In Platte county, about nine miles from
Leavenworth, he secured a claim of one hundred and sixty acres, shortly
afterward going to St. Louis for supplies. While absent on the journey of
four weeks his claim was jumped and as he was neither the head of a family
nor twenty-one years of age the other party was upheld at law when an
attempt was made in the winter of 1840 to prove up. Just about this time he
became interested in California, a returned emigrant describing it as a land
of paradise. About five hundred signed an agreement to go to this western
land, but shortly afterward the celebrated letter of Farnham's was published
detracting from California and as a result the greater number decided to
withdraw their names. Under great difficulties, Mr. Bidwell succeeded in
reaching the place of rendezvous, from which set out finally a band of
sixty-nine men, women and children in a daring attempt to reach the unknown
land. They fortunately obtained the guidance of a missionary party which was
then on its way to the west  and in the spring of 1841 they started upon
their journey. They were the first of those courageous emigrants to attempt
this perilous journey and a settlement in the west, and they were attracted
by the prospect of homes rather than the gold, which later served as the
magnet to bring settlers from all parts of the world. Some time after the
parting with the missionary party the remainder separated, all but
thirty-two deciding to locate in Oregon instead of braving the difficulties
which lay in the path of their journey to the "land of sunshine and
flowers." Nothing daunted, the remainder continued upon their way. This was
two years before Fremont's survey of the country, where was practically
nothing to prove as guides for them; it was in the fall of the year and the
air was full of smoke; consequently they could see but a short distance
ahead and could not select their road. Soon after leaving Salt Lake they
were compelled to manufacture pack saddles for their mules, horses, and even
some of their oxen. During this part of the journey General Bidwell had an
interesting as well as dangerous and exciting experience, in search of
several of their pack-oxen which had strayed from the camp in the darkness.
With another he was detailed to search for them, while the balance of the
party went ahead in an effort to find water. His companion becoming
discouraged, Mr. Bidwell was left alone, and after finding the oxen rejoined
the party, which had sent two men back to meet him. Following this they had
several adventures with the Indians, besides wandering too far south into
the desert, and on changing their course found difficulties in the canon
north. They finally found their way out along the Humboldt river, of Nevada.
Later seven of the company with the captain, deserted the company, leaving
them to find their way as best they could into California. Successfully
crossing the Sierras they descended into the beautiful Sacramento valley,
reaching Marsh's Ranch near the foot of Mt. Diablo, November 4, 1841, whence
Mr. Bidwell proceeded to Sutter's settlement (after-wards known as Sutter's
Fort), where he arrived the last of November, 1841. It was about this time
that Sutter had come into possession of the Russian property on the sea at
Fort Ross and at Bodega. He purchased all the property which they were
unable to remove when they left the country. This was but a branch of the
Russian Fur Company, of which the Czar of Russia was the president and which
had a charter from Old Spain, authorizing the company to establish a branch
for the purpose of taking furs along the coast at Fort Ross. The charter had
nearly expired, so they sold everything to Sutter, including a schooner of
about twenty tons, and forty pieces of cannon, together with some old
muskets, some or most of which were of those lost by Napoleon on the
disastrous campaign to Moscow. Mr. Bidwell's first occupation in California
was at Bodega and Fort Ross, in conjunction with Robert T. Ridley, taking
charge of the Russian property still remaining at those points, and removing
the same as rapidly as possible to Sutter's settlement at Sacramento.

            Upon the completion of his first work in California, Mr. Bidwell
took a journey on horseback in February, 1843, to Sutter's Fort,
accomplishing the trip in four days. When about sixty miles on his journey
he made a stop for the night. He was accompanied by an Indian and each had
his two horses and a pack horse to carry provisions and blankets. That night
the horses disappeared. Being very valuable horses Mr. Bidwell lost no time
in under-taking to recover them. Borrowing animals with which to enter on
the search they started forth in pursuit, an adventurous week following, one
experience being a successful crossing of the Putah creek, which is well
known on account of the impossibility of crossing it even in a dry season,
both banks being exceedingly steep and the sands very soft. Mr. Bidwell's
crossing was made in the night and it was not until afterward that he
learned of the nature of the creek. This expedition proved a failure, as
they not only failed to recover their lost property, but lost as well their
borrowed animals. Finding it necessary to pay an exorbitant price for the
lost animals Mr. Bidwell decided to search for them as well as for his own.
The latter he found at the ranch of the man from whom he had obtained the
extra animals. Setting out in search of those, he heard of a party which had
started for Oregon and with the idea that they might have taken them, he
followed their trail. The trail of the Oregon company they struck on what is
now known as Chico creek, Rancho Chico, Mr. Bidwell's first view of the spot
which was to be his home for the remainder of his life, and where a city
should be founded and owe to him the greater part of its progress and
development. They overtook the party and recovered the animals and
immediately returned south.

           The following year General Bidwell enlisted in the defense of
California against insurrection of the native chiefs Castro and Alvarado in
the revolt of 1844 and 1845, acting as aide-de-camp to General Sutter until
the war ended by expulsion of the Mexican governor Micheltorena. In 1846 he
was appointed magistrate of San Luis Rey district by General Fremont. A
short time before this grants of land had been made, consisting of great
cattle ranges, whose boundaries were very indefinite. Among these was one
given to William Dickey, the Rancho del Arroyo Chico, of twenty-two thousand
acres, which General Bidwell purchased in 1849, and the cultivation and
improvement of this property formed the chief interest during his years of
activity that followed. In 1852 the first log dwelling was burned and the
historic adobe was built. From the time of his residence in Butte county
General Bidwell took an active part in its development and upbuilding, and
proved a potent factor in all that tended toward the general welfare. Not
alone prominent in Butte county, he became a factor in the formation of the
commonwealth of California, being chosen in 1849 a member of the first
constitutional convention of California at Sacramento, from that time on
occupying a place of importance in the history of the state. Owing to his
absence in the mountains at the time of his appoint-ment he failed to
receive notice in time to attend the convention. In the same year he was
elected to the state senate of the first California legislature. In 1850
Governor Burnett appointed General Bidwell and Judge Schoolcraft to convey a
block of native gold-bearing quartz to Washington as California's tribute to
the Washington monument. Continuing a power in the governmental life of
California, he was chosen delegate to the Democratic National con-vention at
Charleston in 1860, and loyal to his country in its time of need three years
later he accepted the appointment of Governor Stanford  to command the Fifth
Brigade, California Militia, serving until the close of the Civil War. In
1864 he was elected to the Thirty-ninth congress and two years later could
have had the re-nomination, but he had decided not to be a candidate and so
declined. In 1875 he was nominated for governor of California on the
anti-monopoly or non-partisan state ticket, and in 1886 was a delegate to
the anti-Chinese convention held in Sacramento. Besides these he was the
recipient of many other honors equally as great. In regard to General
Bidwell's political convictions we quote from his own utterance: "My
politics are intensely Repub-lican, in the sense of the term as used to
bring that party into existence in its mission to preserve the Union, but I
am more than a Republican; I am a prohib-itionist, a native American, and
anti-Chinese in the sense of wholesome restriction of all foreign
emigration, and anti-monopolist in the truest sense of the term." His
loyalty to his country in its time of need, his patriotism, his strong
integrity, all placed him as the highest type of citizen and one upon whom
the honor of the country may safely rest.

           General Bidwell's relation to Chico is that of its founder and
the stanch supporter of its growth and progress. In 1860 he laid out the
town, where he had been a successful farmer for a dozen years, and where,
for ten years more, no railroads came to bring him remuneration for his
efforts to build up a city in the midst of the wilderness. His courage,
ambition and stirring enterprise called others and his undertaking was
eminently successful; the city grew, business enterprises multiplied, the
first academy being built upon the Woodman block, a valuable piece of
property donated for the purpose by General Bidwell. It was also through his
efforts that the city secured the state normal school, he being in Europe at
the time and receiving a cablegram, asking for land upon which to place the
building, he sent back the message that they were welcome to any piece of
land on his ranch with the exception of his dooryard. This property donated
for the purpose was valued at $15,000. He also gave to the city the lot upon
which the city hall stands, General Bidwell forestalling the intention of
the city to purchase a site, and in addition to this land he gave valuable
building sites to the different churches of Chico, the Presbyterian, the
Roman Catholic, the North and South Methodist, and African Methodist, each
of them receiving as much land as they asked for, often supp-lemented by
liberal money donations. He was always a constant supporter of the Free
Reading Room and gave liberally for its establishment, it being for some
time in one of his own buildings. He has taken the greatest interest in
beautifying the city, one of the most attractive drives, over a mile in
length, so arranged that there are two carriage ways, two bicycle courses
and a road for heavy teaming, being the result of the general's planning and
efforts. His own mansion and grounds are evidence of the taste and ability
which always distinguished his efforts, the numerous driveways shaded by
tall, old trees planted many years ago in the pioneer days of the state. He
was largely instrumental in opening to the public the famous Humboldt road,
which extends over the summit of the Sierras from Chico to Prattville, being
sixty-four miles in length. To the building of this road the general gave
liberally both of his time and money, interesting others and securing
donations which brought about its successful consummation. No enterprise, in
fact, was complete without his co-operation and it can truly be said that he
never withheld his support from any movement calculated to advance the
welfare of the community which knew him and honored him for so many years.
Passing on to that which awaits a many beyond the portals of death, General
Bidwell left behind him a record of a life well-spent, an example worthy of
emulation, and an influence which will outlast the passage of time and make
for the betterment of all who come within its radius, either through a
personal contact in the past, or through the eloquent language in the works
that stand as monuments to the ability, honor and man-hood that
characterized his entire career.

"History of the State of California and Biographical Record of the
Sacramento Valley, Cal.," J. M. Guinn, The Chapman Publishing Company,
Chicago, 1906, Pages 485-487.

Transcribed by Sally Kaleta, April 2009.