El Dorado County History Historical Souvenir of El Dorado County California with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of its Prominentmen and Pioneers. Oakland 1883. Paolo Sioli, Publisher. Compiled by P. Sioli. Transcribed by Peggy Hooper, Oct 2009. This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter. All persons donating to this site retain the rights to their own work. CHAPTER III CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN CALIFORNIA UNDER SPANISH REGIME. The Military Organization of Occupation � Presidios - Castillos - Soldier's Life and Duties - Ranchos - Reglamento of 1781 - Pueblos - Municipal Officers - Plan the Missions were built after- Life in the Missions- How the Mission Indians were dressed - Mission Lands - Agricultural Implements and style of Farm Work - Threshing - Amount of grain used in Upper California in 1831- Value of Field Products- Flouring Mills - Stock Raising- Amount of Stock in 1836- Gleeson on the Missions- The first Grant in California - Increase of Population - Spain's Anxiousness of her Colonies- The Military Government Gaining Supremacy over the Church - Earthquakes, some with Damaging Result, - The Russians in California. The Spanish Government fitting out an expedition, whether for exploration or occupation, used to send a number of priests of the Catholic Church along, so as to have the conquest of the country immediately con- nected and followed by the conquering of the souls for the Holy Church. Just so in California, the Gov- ernor in command of the military forces took possession of the land for Spain, while the priests by making the Indians converts, who, bound by religious affinity, would become subjects to the Spanish Crown, able to defend their country against invasion of other nations. Side by side the soldier and the priest entered California in 1769, establishing the first permanent settlement at San Diego. Seven years later, October, 1776, the Mission of San Francisco de los Dolores was founded, and the province incorporated into Spanish America, with its capital first at Arispe, afterwards at Monterey. The country, on account of occupation, was divided into military districts, each one provided with a garrison place and headquarters for the commandant of the district, and as such the seat of the local government. Eventually there were four of them, called Presidios, in Upper California, located at San Diego, Santa Barbara, Monterey and San Francisco, close to the seaports. In order to serve the purpose of defending the country and giving protection to the missions they were built to resemble in some way a slight fortification; the outside walls made from adobe, about twelve feet high, with small bastions at each corner, mounted with eight twelve-pounder cannons; between these walls there was a space of three hundred feet square enclosed, and occupied with soldiers' chapel, barracks, commandant and officers' quarters and store house ; two gateways communicated the intercourse, being open during the day and closed in the night. For better defence each of the presidios had outside of it a fort, called the castillo, consisting of a covered battery, mounted with a few cannons; the location of the castillos was taken with a view to command the harbor. For each of the military districts were assigned two hundred and fifty soldiers, which number, however, at no time seems to be attained, there being no inducement for men to enlist as soldiers to serve in California. The force was made up out of shipwrecks, outcasts and criminals, and, eventually, as Forbes says : "California became the Botany Bay of America." Their duties consisted in guarding the coast, accompanying the fathers when abroad, and, last, but not least, to hunt up fugitive Indians, converts that had been reminded of their former independent life, when roaming around the forests in dolce far niente, for which purpose a certain number of them were stationed at each mission ; but rarely they were more than half paid. Their dressing was made up from heavy buckskin, supposed to be impenetrable to arrows. In connection with each presidio was a farm, under charge of the military commandant, called the rancho, where the soldiers were expected to spend their leisure time in growing such products as would constitute a part of their living. Up to the year 1781 the soldiers, only in exceptional cases, with a special permission of the crown, were allowed to marry, which permission was never granted without recommendation of the priest. But this army, however small, became in time quite a severe tax on the home government, and a plan was thought of to lessen the burden. A reglamento issued in 1781, ordered that towns - pueblos - be laid out, and each ex-soldier who would stay in the country, becoming a citizen soldier, and as such holding himself ready to take up arms in case of any emergency, be entitled to a lot of 556 1/2 feet square, as an unalienable homestead ; for further inducement the ex-soldier was paid a salary by the government, for a given time, be exempt from taxation for five years, and was to receive an agricultural outfit, consisting of cattle, horses, mules, sheep, hogs and chickens; but were obliged to sell all the surplus of their produce to the presidios at a stated price. There were only three pueblos in Upper California: Los Angeles, San Jose and Branciforte, the last one near Santa Cruz; San Francisco or Yerba Buena was not a pueblo. A sufficient number of settlers this way located on one place, were entitled to have an alcalde, or municipal officer, whose office duties included those of a justice of the peace. He was appointed for the first two years by the governor, thereafter elected by the community. The pueblos also were open to other settlers, but there were no extra provisions for their inducement made. Not so at the missions; the mother institutions of the whole were inhabited only and without exception by the natives, under religious treatment by the fathers ; no others were allowed to stay at these places, except on a short visit. All of the missions were planned alike, containing each a church, the monastery, store houses, barracks and the Father's apartments ; these buildings were constructed out of adobe walls, two stories high, formed a regular quadrangle of about six hundred feet wide each; the church in Basilica style, taking in the height of both stories, occupied three-fourth the length of one quadrangle side. The thus enclosed courtyard was ornamented with fountains and trees, after the style of convents in the mother country, and a porch or gallery ran all around, opening upon the workshops, storerooms and other apartments, one of which was the monastery, where, under the care of the matron, the Indian girls were instructed in all such branches as were necessary for their future condition in life, and where they had to remain until they got married. In the schools, vocal and instrumental music was taught to those children who showed sufficient capacity and musical talent. The entire management of all branches in the mission was under the care of the fathers. Six days in the week were spent in the mission in the following manner : With the ringing of the first bell at sunrise all had to attend church for morning prayers, followed by the celebration of the mass, at which they had to assist. This occupied about an hour. Then breakfast was taken and everybody went to his or her daily employment until noon. At noon two hours were spent for dinner and rest, then work was taken up again until an hour before sundown, repairing again to church for devotions in family prayers and rosary in general, adding extra devotional exercises on special occasions. Supper followed, after which they indulged in innocent games and dances until bedtime. For the night the unmarried sexes were locked up separately, the married people occupying the barracks and small huts a short distance from the main building. These were made of adobes or rough poles, almost round or octagonal, the roof, tent-like, covered with grass. The style of dressing was something similar to that of the Indians in California or Nevada nowadays ; men wore linen shirts, pants, and a blanket, this serving for an over- coat The women got each two undergarments, a new gown and a blanket every year. After the missions had grown rich and a good crop made, the Fathers distributed, as a reward for good conduct and a spur for others, money and other presents. Each mission was in possession of a tract of land fifteen miles square, appropriated for cultivation and pasturing purposes. The cultivation of grain of the different varieties embraced were, Indian corn, wheat, barley, and a small bean frijole, which was in general use throughout Spanish America. The mode of agricultural work under management of the Fathers was still very primitive ; no improvement in any line of farming, no science to renovate the exhausted soil by the alternation of crops, or the utility of fallows, was either not known to them or they had no use for them. Was the soil of a certain piece of land not productive enough for a certain kind of grain it was the custom of the fathers to let it lie idle for a long time, as they thought it necessary to gain strength sufficient for another start. The same primitiveness has to be stated about the agricultural implements. The plow in use was formed out of two pieces of wood, one a crooked limb or root, had to give the shape for sole and handle both, to which the tongue beam was attached, the latter being long enough to reach the yoke of the oxen by which the plow was drawn ; a small upright piece fastened to the sole was mortised through the tongue, to be fixed with wedges in the position as the plowman needed it for deep plowing. A small iron share, equal on both sides, and thus unable to turn a furrow, completed the instrument. With this rude implement nobody could expect that the ground could be broken perfectly, although scratching was done, crossing and recrossing several times, requiring a great number of plows for a large field. Harrows were not known, and in their stead a bunch of brush tied together by a pole, were drawn over the ground ; in some places a heavy log was drawn over the field for the same purpose, but this log did not roll, but only dragged part of the soil over the seed. Grain was sown by hand, Indian corn dropped in furrows, about five feet apart, and by use of the foot, covered with dirt. The sowing took place from November, according to the rainy season; the grain getting ripe about midsummer, was harvested in July and August. Threshing was done in open field, on somewhat hard ground ; the grain was laid in a large circle and a band of horses chased over it, stamping it out with their feet. After the straw had been removed the grain was taken up with a shovel and removed on ox-carts ; but as there was no cleaning done, it was mixed with dirt and stones, and a consid- erable part of it broken. The ox-cart was a most primitive and clumsy affair, the wheels formed solid out of two pieces, without spokes, working on a heavy wooden axle, the upper part above the solid bottom constructed out of upright set pickets connected with another piece on top. For carrying grain it had to be made tight with canes or willows. The oxen were yoked to this cart in a manner alike described at the plow. In 1831, the whole amount of grain raised in Upper California, according to the mission records, was 46,202 fanegas (a fanega being equal to two and half English bushels). Indian corn was then worth one and a half dollars a fanega; wheat and barley, two dollars a fanega. The mills for making flour were still on an equally unimproved style. The power in use was water, working on a horizontal wheel fixed to an upright axle and located under the building, forming a primitive kind of turbine which gave considerable power. The millstone was fastened to the upper end of the same axle with the " tub-wheel " without any transferring machinery for gaining speed, the stone making an equal number of revolutions with the tub- wheel ; the manipulation of grinding flour will be considered a very slow one. There were three of these kind of gristmills at work in 1835, and of their possession the fathers were boasting as of a rare piece of machinery. About the same year the grain raised on mission lands began to attract the attention of the European market, and was considered equally good with that produced at the Cape of Good Hope. (History of Placer Co., Cal.) All other efforts concerning farming life concentrated in stockraising; the unlimited tracts of land afforded an unbroken range of pasture, requiring only very little labor. The stock that the fathers had im- ported from Mexico accumulated fast, and enabled them already in early times to send big droves of young bulls to Mexico for beef, keeping the cows for breeding. In 1836, the amount of stock on mission land is given to be three hundred thousand black cattle, thirty-two thousand horses, twenty-eight thousand mules, one hundred and fifty-three thousand sheep; the value of which was, five dollars for a fat ox or bull, as well as cow ; ten dollars for a saddle-horse, five for a mare, ten for a mule, and two dollars for a sheep. Says Gleeson in his valuable work," " History of the Catholic Church in California: �The mis- sions were originally intended to be only temporary in duration. It was contemplated that in ten years from the time of their foundation they should cease, as it was then supposed that within that period the Indians would be sufficiently prepared to assume the position and character of citizens, and the mission settlements would become pueblos, and the mission churches parish institutions, as in older civilizations; but having been neglected and undisturbed by the Spanish Government, they kept on in the old way for sixty years, the comfortable Fathers being in no hurry to insist on a change." The mission lands assigned for grazing and agriculture were held only in fief, and were claimed afterwards by the government - against the loud remonstration of the fathers, however. From the time of establishing the first presidio, in 1776, for fifty-five following years, the historic events worthy of mention performed by the military branch of the spiritual conquest, were so scarce that we may refer to them in a chronological recapitulation; all the events connected with the military power during that time are absolutely a part of the missions, and so inseparable of the history of those institutions, that up to the founding of the pueblos, it seems no other history was in existence. The first land grant ever issued in California is recorded under date of November 27, 1775, being prob- ably the smallest grant made in this State, containing only 381 feet square. This grant, located at the mis- sion of San Carlos, was given to "Manuel Butron, a soldier, in consideration that he had married Marga- rita, a daughter of that mission, and Father Junipero recommended Mr. Butron and his Indian wife to the Government and all the other ministers of the King, because, as he says, " they are the first in ail these es- tablishments which have chosen to become permanent settlers of the same." As stated already, a reglamento was issued with the King's signature, in 1781, creating a system of pueblos for the settlement of ex-soldiers and settlers. To this reglamento, as we think, has to be counted the in- crease of population - from 1,749, in 1781 the population rose in six years to 5,143, and in 1790 had reached the number of 7,748. With suspicion and jealousy was Spain watching the movements of other powers, always afraid for her col- onies. One instance having reference to the colonies of this coast happened in 1776, where under date of Oc- tober 23d, the viceroy of Mexico wrote to the Governor of California that, " the King having received in- telligence that two armed vessels had started from London under the command of Captain Cook, bound on a voyage of discovery to the Southern Ocean, and the northern coast of California, to be on watch for Captain Cook, and not permit him to enter the ports of California." And thirteen years later the Governor of California wrote to the captain in charge of the presidio at San Francisco, as follows: "Whenever there may arrive at the port of San Francisco a ship, named Columbia, said to belong to General Washington, of the American States, commanded by John Rendrick, which sailed from Boston in September, 1787, bound on a voyage of discovery to the Russian establishments on the northern coast of this peninsula, you will receive the same vessel with caution and delicacy, using for this purpose a small boat, which you have in your possession, and taking the same measures with every other suspicious foreign vessel, giving me prompt notice of the same. May God preserve your life many long years. Pedro Faces." Santa Barbara, May 13th, 1789. To Josef Arguello : The suspicious craft, "said to belong to General Washington," sailed north, without entering the port of San Francisco, and discovered the Columbia River. There is another letter preserved for the record of history, and, however brief, it shows that the time had come where the military power in the presidios commenced to get independent from the missions, that this power was a good ways ahead in the concourse between Church and State, and, in the end, made the latter triumph. The priests taught the Indians to say the mass, to know the names of all saints, and to work under instructions. The schools at the presidios, encouraged by the governor, taught the chil- dren reading and writing. Here was sown the seed for the future harvest. The letter is written by the captain of the Santa Barbara presidio to the governor of California, and reads : "I transmit to you a statement in relation to the schools of the presidios, together with six copy-books of the children who are learning to write, for your superior information. May our Lord preserve your life many years. Felipe Goycochea." Santa Barbara, Feb. 11, 1797. These copy-books are now in the possession of the State Library, having fallen into the hands of the government when California became a part of the United States. The nineteenth century was ushered in amid great irregularities of nature, characteristic of this coast. We take some information out of a letter of Hermenegildo Sal, captain of the presidio at Monterey, written to the governor under date of October 31, 1800, informing the latter that the mission at San Juan Bautista has been visited by severe earthquakes since the eleventh of that month, that Pedro Andriano Mar- tinez, one of the Fathers of said mission, had given the report of six severe shocks in one day, and that there was not a single habitation, though all built with double walls, but were injured, but that most all were threatened with ruin, so that the fathers were compelled to sleep in wagons and other outdoor places to avoid the danger awaiting them in the uninhabitable houses. Furthermore, he states of some cracks and openings observed near the rancheria and in the neighborhood of the river Pajaro, all caused by the earthquakes. In addition, he gives the report of severe earthquakes as witnessed by other persons. Other heavy earthquakes were felt at the presidio of San Francisco, from June 21st to July 17th. Captain Luis Arguello told that all the walls of his residence at said place became cracked, and an antechamber was destroyed, and he was in fear for the safety of the barracks in the Fort (castillo.) Fortunately with these earthquakes, there was no great damage done either to property or to life. But the people of California were not always equally fortunate. While services were in progress on a Sab- bath in September, 1812, at San Juan Capistrano, an earthquake shook down the church, the roof falling in, killing thirty persons. The church at Santa Inez was also totally destroyed. Later, the church at the mission of Santa Clara was destroyed by an earthquake in 1818. The Spanish watchfulness of the former century had given away, or had become lax, when, in 1807, the Russians first appeared on the coast of California, showing unmistakably their intention to become an interested party. The Czar's embassador to Japan, Count Von Rosanoff, in the month of May, came down from Sitka ostensibly for supplies, and attempted to establish communication between Russian America and the Spanish settlements. The better to effect this purpose, he became engaged in marriage with the daughter of Luis Arguello, the commandant at the presidio of San Francisco; but on account of their religious faiths - he belonging to the Greek, she to the Roman Catholic Church - and on his way home, to obtain the sanction of his emperor, being fully twelve days apart, he was thrown from his horse and killed. The lady assumed the habit of a nun, and mourned for her lover till death. The death of the Count put an end to further negotiations, and in a very different sense Russia took possession of the port at Bodega in 1812, with a force of one hundred soldiers and as many Kodiac Indians. Soon they went on to build a fort and maintained themselves by force of arms until 1841, where the establishment was sold to Captain John A. Sutter, of Sutter's Fort, and they quietly moved away. In 1838, this settlement at Fort Ross contained eight or nine hundred inhabitants, stockaded forts, mills, shops and stables. The farmers produced a great abundance of grain, vegetables, butter and cheese, which products were shipped to Sitka to sup- ply the northern fur stations of Alaska.