Sacramento Co Courthouse
Completed 1910
Sacramento's first courthouse, built in 1851, became the Capitol in 1854 and was destroyed in a fire that same year. After the county outgrew its second courthouse, this three-story granite-and-marble county center was "built to last forever" but was abandoned in 1965 for a more modern facility and demolished in 1970. A new county jail was constructed on the site in 1989 |
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A Memorial and Biographical History of SACRAMENTO COUNTY - Chicago, Lewis Publ. Co., 1891
Sacramento County is named after the river upon which it is situated, and the latter was named by the Spanish Mexicans, Catholics, in honor of a Christian institution. The word differs from its English correspondent only in the addition of one letter. It would have been a graceful compliment to General Sutter if his own name, or the name New Helvetia, which he had bestowed upon this locality, had been given to the city. Helvetia is the classic name of Switzerland, Sutter's native country.
Sacramento City is 38° 35' north latitude and 121° 30' west longitude from Greenwich.
The surface of the Sacramento Valley presents three distinct features. As the mountains descended into the valley, they are fringed by a range of low foothills; which gradually disappear in a broad; level plain, which must have been at some time long past the bottom of a large body of water. Through the center of this plain runs the Sacramento River, fringed by the low bottom lands always found with such geological formations. Thus the foothills, the plain, and the bottoms present three distinct tracts of land, each with peculiarities fitting it for special use. It may be said in a general way, that on the foothills and the plain lands near them are the great fruit-raising districts, while the plain proper is most suitable for grains and grasses, and on the rich alluvial bottom lands any fruit or vegetable suitable for a temperate or semi-tropical climate will grow to full perfection.
The depot at Sacramento is thirty-one feet above sea level. From the city the most prominent mountains and mountain ranges visible are:
- The Sierra Nevada, snow-capped during half the year or a little more. The most visible portion of this range, to whose snow-line the distance is about seventy-five miles eastward, is the head of the American River. The most conspicuous peaks there are: Pyramid, 10,052 feet high; Alpine, 10,426; Round Top, 9,624; Tell, 9,042; Ralston, 9,140.; Robb's, 6,746.
- To the southwest fifty-three miles, rises Mt. Diablo, 3,450 feet high.
- Toward the west thirty or forty miles arises an eastern spur of the Coast Range, while toward the northwest about ninety miles, in the same ranges, are Mt. John's, 8,000 feet high, Mt. Snow and Sheet Iron Mount, on the western border of Colusa County.
- The Marysville Buttes, forty to fifty miles north, are about 2,000 feet high and cover an area of fifty-five square miles.
At the southern end of Sacramento Valley, in the very richest portion of the State, and very near its geographical center, lies Sacramento County, with an area of 640,000 acres, 200,000 of which are under the highest cultivation, while about 320,000 more are in use for stock-raising, pasturage, etc. It is watered its entire length from north to south by the Sacramento River, and by the American, Cosumnes and Mokelumne from east to west.
The surface of the county is generally level, a section along the eastern side rising into low hills and rolling prairies. Along the east side of the Sacramento River extends a belt of tule land, which toward the southern boundary of the county expands to a width of fifteen miles. Parallel with the Cosumnes is Dry Creek, forming part of the county boundary. Sycamore and cottonwood abound along the watercourses.
Near the center of Sacramento County, and on the east bank of the Sacramento River, at the point of its confluence with the American, is the city of Sacramento, the capital of the State, a thriving, wealthy and beautiful city. Here is the railroad center of the State. To the east, the Central Pacific stretches its iron arm across the continent. To the north, the California and Oregon reaches out to connect with the Northern Pacific, and so furnish another route to Eastern markets; to the west the California Pacific makes possible almost hourly communication with San Francisco and the commerce of the Pacific Ocean, while the Western Pacific connecting at Oakland with the Southern Pacific system opens up another route to seaports east and west. In addition numerous branch roads and feeders make this city the best connecting and distributing point in the State.
The average rain-fall has been 19.4 inches. This, with the moisture incident to the proximity of so many rivers and running streams, and the almost annual overflow of the bottom lands, renders the county so well watered that but little irrigation is necessary. Still there are some small sections lying comparatively high, and away from the streams, where the natural water supply is insufficient. They are, however, small, and in nearly all cases abundant water is obtained by sinking wells and raising the water by windmills or other power. A total failure of crops for want of water has never been known. Still, as an abundant supply of water renders many things possible which are not so without it, a company has been formed to offer an abundant supply of water to all who desire to irrigate any of the plain lands, in raising crops that need more water than the usual rain-fall affords, or where the availability of water may insure against the danger of injury to valuable plants, which might be seriously affected by even an occasional year of unusual drought. An application has been made for 2,000 inches of water from the American River.
All fruits do well without the aid of artificial watering, but in some of the high-lying sections irrigation is said to increase the lusciousness of the fruit. Vegetables require irrigation, especially for the second and third crops.
As stated, the soil of the county offers every variety requisite for a large and varied production. The foothills and their washings form a fringe, from five to eight miles wide, entirely around the Sacramento Valley. The soil here varies from a red, sandy loam to a cool, gravelly soil, all especially adapted to fruits. For many years the foothill lands were regarded as almost valueless, but experience has shown that their soil is perhaps better adapted to a full development of the best qualities of strength and flavor in fruit, especially in grapes, than the lower-lying lands, which are of more clay or alluvial character, and so warmer soils. And it is now claimed that the question of securing fine flavor for California grapes and wines, as well as abundant quantity, will find its best solution among the cool, gravelly soils of the foothills. The soil of the plain lands varies from red loam and a rich clay to a rich alluvium mixed with sand. This varies in localities, but affords such a variety that the productions of this portion of the county covers a range from those of the cereals of the middle temperate climate to the fruits of the semi-tropical. They afford, however, mostly soil for grains and grasses. Wheat, oats, hay, alfalfa, barley, corn, hop, besides grapes and fruits, flourish when planted in suitable locations. But the richest lands are the bottom lands, which fringe the rivers and larger streams for a distance of from one to three miles. These are covered with a deep, rich alluvium, upon which may be raised any kind of vegetables, and temperate and semi-tropical fruits are reaching full perfection in size, quantity and quality. These lands are almost annually overflowed, and the deposit left by the receding waters is said almost to equal guano, in its fertilizing effects. Many of these lands are now protected, so that the rising waters may be controlled and utilized with judgment. Upon such lands, so watered, and in such a climate, almost anything will grow.
Owing to the fact that the country is traversed by so many rivers, it contains an unusual amount of this exceedingly rich land, which is nearly all under the highest cultivation.
MINES AND MINERALS.
In the early days of mining a great deal of gold dust was taken from the placers in this county—Mormon Island, Michigan Bar and several other localities having afforded good diggings of this kind. In the low hills on the east a considerable extent of shallow placers have also been worked, some of these until quite recently.
The most of the gold now produced in Sacramento is taken out in the vicinity of Folsom, chiefly along Alder Gulch, by the Portuguese and Chinamen. The deep deposits are worked by shafts and drifting, the shallow by hand sluicing in the dry season and ground sluicing in the wet, when there is free water. There are gold-bearing quartz veins in the east-lying hills, but they are mostly small, and have been but little worked. In these hills occurs a belt of serpentine containing chromic iron in small bunches and pockets.
In the neighborhood of Folsom occurs an extensive bed of excellent granite, which for many years has been largely worked.
At the quarry of David Blower, two miles east of Folsom, opened ten years ago, there is exposed a thirty-foot face, twenty feet above and ten below the surface. About fifteen tons of roughly dressed stone are shipped from this quarry weekly, the most of it being used for cemetery work and street curbs. Thirteen men are employed here at wages ranging from $2.50 to $4 per day.
In the quarry on the State Prison grounds at Folsom, a large force of convicts are employed getting out stone for the dam being built by the State on the American River.
Most of the cobblestones used for paving the streets of San Francisco were taken from the banks of the American River, in the vicinity of Folsom.
At Michigan Bar, on the Cosumnes River, occurs an extensive bed of potter's clay. Being a good article, and easily obtained, large quantities of this clay are taken out and shipped to the potteries at Sacramento, San Francisco, and elsewhere in the State. Great quantities of brick are made from the more common clays found abundantly in this county.
THE MEXICAN LAND GRANTS
within the present limits of Sacramento County were: Cosumnes, 26,605 acres, patented to the heirs of W. E. P. Hartnell in 1869; Omochumnes, 18,662 acres to Catherine Sheldon and others in 1870; Rio de los Americanos, 25,521 acres to J. L. Folsom in 1864; San Juan, 19,983 acres, to Hiram Grimes in 1860. In Sacramento and San Joaquin counties, Jabjon de los Moquelumnes, 35,508 acres, to the heirs of A. Chavolla in 1865.
In February, 1858, Edwin Stanton was sent to San Francisco as special counsel for the Government in pending law cases. Captain Sutter claimed thirty-three leagues of land in the Sacramento Valley, under two grants; one for eleven leagues made by Governor Alvarado in 1841, which was adjudged legitimate; but the other, which he had obtained from Micheltorena, for twenty-two leagues, covering the sites of Sacramento and Marysville, was not allowed, the commissioners deciding that the act was done after Micheltorena had been expelled by a revolution, and not being governor he continued to exercise the powers and functions of that office. This decision also affected the titles of several other grantees in this region. Nye's claim to four leagues on Sacramento was one of these. Great uneasiness prevailed among the settlers regarding the titles until 1865, when Sutter's original grant of eleven leagues was confirmed.
JOHN A. SUTTER AND HIS FORT.
The first permanent settler within the limits of what is now Sacramento County, who is known to history, and who initiated European civilization, was Captain John A. Sutter. The following sketch of his life we condense from a lecture delivered in New York, April 6, 1866, by General Dunbar in Sutter's presence, and published in the Sacramento Union, of May 10 following:
Sutter was born of Swiss parents, in the Grand Duchy of Baden, February 28, 1803. Reared and educated in Baden, young Sutter entered the military service of France as Captain under Charles X., and remained there until he was thirty years of age. At this period, yielding to his pioneer impulses, he embarked for New York, and arrived there in July, 1834. His object in coming to the New World was to select a place and prepare the way for a colony of his countrymen in the West. He first located at St. Charles, Missouri; but the vessel containing his effects was sunk, his property lost, and he abandoned the place of his first choice.
After sojourning in St. Louis for a time, he made a journey of exploration to New Mexico, where he met hunters and trappers, who had traversed Upper California, and they described to him the beautiful sun-lit valleys, the verdure-covered hills and the magnificent mountains of that remarkable land. These accounts resolved him to make California the field of his future operations.
The only way of reaching the Pacific Coast at that time was to accompany trapping expeditions of the English and American fur companies. On the 1st of April, 1836, Sutter joined Captain Tripp of the American Fur Company, and traveled with his party to their rendezvous in the Rocky Mountain region. Thence, with six horsemen, he crossed the mountains and after encountering many dangers, arrived at Fort Vancouver. Not finding it practicable to go south from Vancouver by land, he embarked on a vessel bound for the Sandwich Islands, hoping to find an opportunity of sailing thence to the California coast. He sailed from the Islands in a vessel bound for Sitka, and from there down the coast. The vessel was driven by gales into the Bay of San Francisco on July 2, 1839. (The point at which San Francisco now stands was then called Yerba Buena.) The vessel was boarded by a government officer, with an armed force, who ordered Sutter to leave, saying that Monterey, ninety miles southward, was the port of entry. Permission, however, was obtained to remain forty-eight hours for supplies.
On reaching Monterey, Sutter told the Governor, General Alvarado, that he desired to occupy and colonize a section of country in Upper California, on the Sacramento River. The governor warmly approved his plan, as he was desirous that the upper country should be subdued and settled. He informed Sutter that the Indians in that country were hostile, that they would not permit the whites to settle there, and that they had robbed the inhabitants of San Jose and the lower settlements of their cattle, etc; but he readily gave Sutter a passport with authority to explore and occupy any territory which he should consider profitable for his colony, and requested him to return in one year, when he should have his citizenship acknowledged and receive a grant of such lands as he might desire.
Sutter returned to Yerba Buena, then containing scarcely fifty inhabitants, engaged a schooner and several small boats and with a company of ten whites started to ascend the river with no guide, as no one could be found in Yerba Buena, who had ever ascended the Sacramento River. After eight days' search he found the mouth of the Sacramento. Reaching a point about ten miles below the present site of Sacramento City, he encountered a party of 200 Indian warriors, who exhibited every indication of hostility. Fortunately, two or three of the Indians understood Spanish and Sutter soon soothed them by an assurance that there were no Spaniards in his party,—against whom the Indians were particularly hostile,—and explained to them that he came only to be a peaceable citizen.
Guided by two Indians, who could speak Spanish, Sutter made his way up the Sacramento to the Feather River, and ascended the latter stream some distance; but, on account of the alarm of some of his men, returned down the Sacramento River to the mouth of the American, and on August 16, 1839, landed his effects upon the south bank of that stream, a little above the mouth and near where the city of Sacramento is now located. Here he informed the disappointed whites that they might leave him if they wished, but that the Kanakas were willing to remain. Three of the whites left, with the schooner, for Yerba Buena.
Three weeks later Sutter removed to where he built the fort which has since become famous. But little did he think then that he was to be the most important instrumentality in the founding of a magnificent empire. His companions were six wandering whites of various nativities and eight Kanakas, who were ever faithful to him, and who constituted his "colony" and his army. By their aid he was to hold his ground, subdue and colonize a district of country entirely unknown, and inhabited only by wild and roving tribes of hostile Indians. This portion of Upper California, though fair to look upon, was peculiarly solitary and uninviting. It was isolated and remote from civilization. The nearest white settlement was a small one at Martinez. The Indians were of that class known as "Diggers."
Born and reared in the atmosphere of royalty and the refined society of Europe, with a liberal military education, gentle and polished in manners, and of unbounded generosity of heart, we find Sutter successfully planting his little colony in the midst of the wild Digger Indians of the Sacramento country. At length a few pioneers came stealing over the border, then the solid tramp of masses was heard, and then came a human deluge, that overwhelmed our bold Swiss pioneer.
The first tide of immigration was entirely from Oregon. In the fall of 1839 there was an accession of eight white men, and in August, 1840, five of those who had crossed the Rocky Mountains with Sutter, and whom he had left in Oregon, joined him. During the fall of that year the Mokelumme Indians, with other tribes, became so troublesome that open war was made against them; and after a severe but short campaign they were subdued, and an enduring peace established. Other bands of Indians organized secret expeditions to destroy the colony, but by force and strict vigilance their machinations were defeated, and Sutter conquered the entire Sacramento Valley, bringing into willing subjection many of those who had been his fiercest enemies. In time he made them cultivate the soil, build his fort, care for the stock, and make themselves generally useful. In the subsequent military history of California, Sutter and his Indians were a power. Traffic increased apace. He sent hides to San Francisco, furnished the trappers with supplies, and received in exchange or by purchase their furs. The mechanics and laborers who came he employed, or procured them work.
In June, 1841, Sutter visited Monterey, then the capital of the country, was declared a Mexican citizen, and received from Governor Alvarado a grant of the land upon which he had located—eleven " leagues "—under the title of "New Helvetia." The Governor also gave him a commission. Returning to his colony, he was shortly afterward visited by Captain Ringgold, of the United States Exploring Expedition under Commodore Wilkes, with officers and men. About the same time Alexander Kotchkoff, Governor of the Russian Possessions in California, visited Sutter and offered to sell him all the possessions of his government known as Ross and Bodega. Accepting the bargain, Sutter came into possession of a vast extent of real estate, besides 2,000 cattle, 1,000 horses, fifty mules and 2,500 sheep, most of which were transferred to New Helvetia.
In 1844 Sutter's improvements were extensive, and the amount of his stock was large. During that year he petitioned Governor Micheltorena for the grant or purchase of the surplus over the first eleven leagues of land within the bounds of the survey accompanying the Alvarado grant, and this petition was granted February 5, 1845, in consideration of Sutter's valuable services and his expenditure of $8,000 in the suppression of the Castro rebellion.
About 1844 small bodies of emigrants began to find their way to California direct from the States, striking Sutter's Fort, the first settlement after crossing the mountains. Year by year these parties of immigrants increased in size, until after the gold discovery, when they could be counted by thousands and tens of thousands. It was then that the value of Sutter's settlement and the generous qualities of the man became strikingly apparent. No weary, destitute immigrant reached his fort who was not supplied with all that he needed and sent on his way rejoicing. Frequently he even sent supplies in advance to those coming through the Sierras. Year after year he did this, without thinking of any return. On one occasion a solitary immigrant was just able to reach the fort and reported that his companions were at some distance back dying of starvation. Sutter immediately caused seven mules to be packed with supplies, and, attended by two Indian boys, started with the immigrant for the scene of distress. On arriving, everything was seized by the crazed wretches and devoured.
Other starving immigrants arriving, they killed Mr. Sutter's seven mules and ate them.
Then they killed the two Indian boys and ate them! Said Sutter, referring to the circumstance afterward, with much feeling: "They ate my Indian boys all up!"
During the war between the United States and Mexico, Sutter was a Mexican citizen, and the representative of the Mexican government on the frontier; but his sympathies were naturally with the United States. Whenever any party of American citizens, civil or military, visited him, his unbounded hospitalities were uniformly and cordially extended to them. When the country surrendered to the United States forces, with joy he raised the American flag, July 10, 1846, and fired a salute from the guns of his fort. In 1849 he was a member of the Constitutional Convention; at the first State election was a candidate for Governor, and was afterward a Brigadier-General in the State militia.
But the day on which gold was discovered was an evil one for him. His mechanics and laborers deserted him, even the Kanakas and Indians. He could not hire laborers to plant or harvest his crops. Neither could he run his mills. For a time after the immense flood of immigration poured in, his rights were respected; but it was not for long. When men found that money could be made in other ways than by mining, many forcibly entered upon his lands and cut his wood, under the plea that they were vacant and unappropriated lands of the United States. By the 1st of January, 1852, the settlers had occupied his lands capable of settlement or appropriation, and others had stolen all his horses, mules, cattle, sheep and hogs, save a small portion used and sold by himself. One party of five, during the high waters of 1849—'50, when his cattle were partly surrounded by water near the Sacramento River, killed and sold enough to amount to $60,000.
Sutter, broken in purse, disheartened, robbed and powerless to help himself, removed to Sutter County and took up his residence at Hock Farm, then a beautiful piece of property, but now a waste of sand and debris, never having recovered from the devastation of the floods of 1862. For some years he led the quiet life of a farmer there, but afterward was a continual haunter of Congress at Washington, where he sought to obtain redress from the General Government for the barefaced robberies that had been practiced upon him. In 1873 he removed to Litiz, Pennsylvania, and on the 18th day of June, 1880, died at Washington, District of Columbia.
Sutter was a generous man. His manners were polished, and the impression he made on every one was favorable. In figure he was of medium height, rather stout but well made. His head was round, features regular, with smiling and agreeable expression, while his complexion was healthy and roseate. He wore his hair cut close, and his moustache trimmed short a la militaire. He dressed very neatly in frock coat, pantaloons and cape of blue.
Such was the man to whom California owes so much, and upon whom she bestowed so little.
Captain John C. Fremont, the "Pathfinder," arrived in this country in March, 1844, and in his narrative thus describes the situation of Sutter and his fort:
"Captain Sutter immigrated to this country from the western part of Missouri, in 1838–'39, and formed the first settlement in the valley, on a large grant of land which he obtained from the Mexican Government. He had at first some trouble with the Indians; but by the occasional exercise of well-timed authority, he has succeeded in converting them into a peaceful and industrious people. The ditches around his extensive wheat fields; the making of the sun-dried bricks of which his fort is constructed; the plowing, harrowing and other agricultural operations, are entirely the work of these Indians, for which they receive a very moderate compensation—principally in shirts, blankets and other articles of clothing. In the same manner, on application to the chief of the village, he readily obtains as many boys and girls as he has any use for. There were at this time a number of girls at the fort, in training for a future woolen factory; but they were now all busily engaged in constantly watering the gardens. Mr. Sutter was about making arrangements to irrigate his lands by means of the American River. He had this year sown, and altogether by Indian labor, 300 bushels of wheat.
"A few years since, the neighboring Russian establishment of Ross, being about to withdraw from the country, sold to him a large number of stock, with agricultural and other stores, with a number of pieces of artillery and other munitions of war; for these, a regular yearly payment is made in grain.
"The fort is a quadrangular adobe structure, mounting twelve pieces of artillery (two of them brass), and capable of admitting a garrison of 1,000 men; this at present consists of forty Indians, in uniform: one of whom is always found on duty at the gate. As might be expected, the pieces are not in very good order. The whites in the employ of Captain Sutter, American, French and German, number thirty men. The inner wall is formed into buildings comprising the common quarters, with blacksmith and other work-shops, the dwelling-houses with a large distillery house, and other buildings occupying more the center of the area.
"It is built upon a pond-like stream, at times a running creek, communicating with the American River, which enters the Sacramento about two miles below. The latter is here a noble river, about 300 yards broad, deep and tranquil, with several fathoms of water in the channel, and its banks continuously timbered. There were two vessels belonging to Captain Sutter at anchor near the landing—one a large two-masted lighter, and the other a schooner, which was shortly to proceed on a voyage to Fort Vancouver for a cargo of goods."
Nothing now remains of the fort excepting the main two-story building, which is still unprotected against the ravages of the elements and the vandalism of reckless boys. The southern end was many years ago replaced with fire burned brick, and a new roof of shingles has supplanted the primitive Mexican tiling. The property is owned by a gentleman in the East.
OTHER NOTED MEN.
Samuel Brannan, Mormon elder and chief of the colony sent from New York on the ship Brooklyn, arrived in California in 1846. He was born in Saco, Maine, in 1819; learned the printers' trade in Ohio from 1833; from 1842 published the New York Messenger and later the Prophet, as organs of the Mormon church; and on coming to California it was evidently his intention to build up his own fortune with those of his church. Being displeased with Brigham Young's change of plans respecting California, his religious fervor gradually cooled down until he became an apostate; meanwhile he published the Star at San Francisco, preached eloquently on Sundays, bought town lots, participated in political controversies, worked zealously for the town's educational and other interests, always aggressive but liberal in his views, showing no signs of sectarianism.
In 1847 he established the firm of C. C. Smith & Co. at Sacramento, later Brannan & Co., in which Mellus & Howard and Wm. Stout were partners. The immense profits of his store after the discovery of gold, in connection with his mining operations at Mormon Island, and the rise of San Francisco real estate, made him a little later the richest man in California. As a capitalist and speculator his operations were very extensive, and he did more for San Francisco than scores of. other capitalists who have lived here. In 1859 he purchased the Calistoga estate, which he vastly improved, establishing thereon also an immense distillery; and here, in 1868, he received eight bullets, and nearly lost his life in a quarrel for the possession of a mill. Meanwhile he had given himself up to strong drink; for twenty years or more he was rarely sober after noon, and he became as well-known for his dissolute habits and drunken freaks as he had been for his wealth and ability. Domestic troubles led to divorce from his wife, whom he had married in 1844. Division of the estate was followed by unlucky speculations, and Brannan's vast wealth gradually melted away. He afterward supported the cause of Mexico against Maximilian, obtained a grant of lands in Sonora, and was at last accounts living at Guaymas in that country.
Samuel J. Hensley, a native of Kentucky, came overland in the Chiles-Walker party in 1843, having been for some years a trapper in New Mexico. The next year he was naturalized and obtained a grant of the Agua de Nieves rancho, and entered Sutter's service as supercargo of his launch; while there he also signed the order for Weber's arrest, and during the Micheltorena campaign he served as commissary in Sutter's army. Returning to the north, he took charge of Hock farm and attended to Sutter's general business. In 1846 he was prominent in fomenting the Bear revolt; was captain, and later major, of the California Battalion in the south; went East with Stockton in 1847 and testified in the Fremont court-martial; returning to California he mined a short time and then opened a store in Sacramento, in partnership with Reading. From 1850 he engaged in the navigation of the Sacramento River, and a little later was one of the founders of the California Steam Navigation Company, of which he became president. His residence for many years was at San Jose, and he died at Warm Springs, Alameda County, in 1866, at the age of forty-nine years.
Wm. A. Leidesdorff, a native of the Danish West Indies, came to the United States when a boy and to California in 1841; entered business on a large scale in San Francisco, and after naturalization obtained a grant of the American River ranch, in what is now Sacramento County. In 1847 lie launched the first steamer on San Francisco Bay. Also held local political offices in San Francisco. He was an intelligent man of fair education, speaking several languages, enterprising and public-spirited, but quick‑tempered. He died in May, 1848, at the age of thirty-eight years.
William Daylor, an English sailor, is said to have left his vessel in 1835. He entered Sutter's service in 1840–'41, and about 1844 settled on the Cosumnes River with Sheldon, his brother-in-law, in Sacramento County. General Kearny camped upon his rancho in 1847. He died in 1850 of cholera. He had in 1847 married Sarah Rhoads, who after his death married, in 1851, Wm. R. Grimshaw.
Joseph Libbey Folsom, a native of New Hampshire, graduated at West Point in 1840, and later was instructor in that institution; came to California as captain in the United States army, and assistant quartermaster in the New York Volunteer Regiment, and was chief of the quartermaster department station at San Francisco, being also collector of the port 1847'49. He invested all the money he could raise in town lots, which in a few years made him a rich man. During a trip to the East in 1849 he was smart and lucky enough to find the heirs of Wm. A. Leidesdorff, and buy of them for a trifle their immense Leidesdorff estate in San Francisco. He thus became one of the wealthiest men in California. Among his possessions was the American River rancho, on which the town of Folsom now stands; and there is also a street in San Francisco named after him. His reputation is that of a most enterprising man of business, an honorable gentleman of superior education and refinement, but somewhat haughty and formal in manner. He died at Mission San Jose, in 1855, at the age of only thirty-eight years.
Louis Keseburg, who was forced to subsist upon human flesh longer than any other member of the Donner party, was supercargo for Sutter in 1847 and later for Vallejo at Sonoma; was in the mines in 1848–'49, kept boarding house and hotel at Sacramento, and was later a brewer at Calistoga and Sacramento. He made and lost several fortunes, the losses. being mostly by fire and flood. He was an intelligent man, able in business, and in 1880 was living at Brighton, aged sixty-six, in extreme poverty.
Sebastian Keyser, a native of the Austrian Tyrol; was a trapper who came overland with Sutter to Oregon in 1838, and afterward joined him at New Helvetia. He was naturalized in 1844 and obtained a grant of the Llano Seco rancho. Married Elizabeth Rhoads, who soon left him, but afterward returned to him. In 1849 he sold his interest in the rancho, and subsequently resided on the Daylor place, running a ferry across the Cosumnes for Daylor & Grimshaw, by the sinking of which craft he was drowned in 1850.
James King 'of William' assumed the affix "of William" at the age of sixteen, from his father's given name, to distinguish him from others named James King. He was a native of Georgetown, District of Columbia, and came to California in 1848, made some money in the mines, clerked for Reading & Co. at Sacramento, and in 1849 opened a bank in San Francisco; 1854–'55 he was employed by Adams & Co.; in October, 1855; he founded the San Francisco Bulletin, through which he attacked local corruption in violent terms, but was apparently honest in his sentiments. He was shot in May, 1856, by James P. Casey, and his murder led to the organization of the famous Vigilance Commitee. He left a widow and six children.
FOUNDING OF SACRAMENTO CITY.
The city of Sacramento is located on the east bank of the Sacramento River, immediately below the mouth of the American River. The first settlement was made by John A. Sutter; in 1839, and long before there was any thought of establishing a city. The news of the gold discovery attracted to Sutter's Fort a large immigration from all portions of the civilized world, and this point, being practically the head of inland navigation, became the first nucleus of a settlement. At first a town of canvas tents was established, and afterward the city was regularly laid out, the survey being made in December, 1848, by Captain William H. Warner, of the United States army, assisted by W. T. Sherman, now General.
In 1844, however, an effort was made, under the patronage of Sutter and others, to lay out and build a town at a point three miles below the site of Sacramento City. A survey was made and a village commenced. The first house was erected by Sutter, the second by one Hadel, and the third by George Zins. The last mentioned was a brick building, and the first of the kind erected in California. Zins afterward manufactured the bricks, in Sacramento, which were used in the first brick buildings erected in this city. He stamped each brick with his initials, and one of them is now preserved in the Crocker Art Gallery Museum of the city, and one in the Museum of the Pioneer Association. For a time, "Sutterville," as it was called, in honor of its projector, flourished; but after the gold discovery the population centered at Sacramento, or the "Embarcadero," the Spanish name.
At the time of, or shortly after, the discovery of gold, quite a number of stores were established at the fort; and indeed that was the practical business center in this portion of the territory. The first store, an adobe building, was that of C. C. Smith & Co., Samuel Brannan being the "Co." This was started two months prior to the opening of the mines, and across its counters were made the first exchanges of American goods for California gold. Brannan subsequently became the sole proprietor. Hensley & Reading had a store afterward in the fort, and one of the clerks was James King of William, just mentioned.
When the city of Sacramento was established Sutter owned its site. After the discovery of gold and the laying out of the city, Sutter conveyed his entire interest in the plat to his son; and on December 30, 1849, Sutter, Jr., employed Peter H. Burnett—afterward governor—as his lawyer to manage his newly acquired interests. Conveyances were made by Sutter and his son, which resulted in a confusion of titles that were not adjusted until after many years of litigation.
After the establishment of Sacramento there was a steady improvement of the town. From a village of canvas tents it grew to be one of wood and brick structures, and the town of Sutterville soon had an existence only on paper. After the flood of 1861—'62, an effort was made to revive the town of Sutterville, but it again failed.
During the time that Sacramento was flooded, in January, 1853, all communication with the mining counties was cut off, and some of the enterprising merchants sought higher ground for the city site, where freight could be landed from vessels without danger from floods. The site they selected was on the south bank of the American River, nearly due north from the point now called Brighton, and they named the new town "Hoboken." At that day the American River was navigable to that point. A large town was laid out there, with wide streets and a steamboat landing. Within ten days a place sprang up which promised to be a rival to Sacramento. Three steamers made daily trips between the two places. An express office was established at Hoboken, besides many other facilities for commercial business. Trade there flourished. Many of the business firms of Sacramento removed to the new town, and the newspapers of the city devoted a page to the interests of Hoboken. But Hoboken declined as rapidly as it h |
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