Personal Reminiscences of Early Days in California with Other Sketches Part 14

All the circ.u.mstances connected with the reception of the infernal machine were too singular and, at that time, ominous, not to remain vividly impressed upon my memory.

Very truly, your friend, DELOS LAKE.

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EXHIBIT L.

_The following is an extract from the Report to the Commissioner of the General Land-Office by the Register and Receiver of the Land-Office in California, to whom the matter of the contests for lands on the Soscol Ranch was submitted for investigation, showing the condition and occupation of the lands previous to the rejection of the grant by the Supreme Court of the United States, and the character of the alleged pre-emption settlements which Julian undertook to defend._

A general report of the facts established by said evidence is briefly as follows:[1] When the United States government took possession of California, Don Mariana Guadaloupe Vallejo was in the occupancy of the rancho of Soscol, claiming to own it by virtue of the grant from the Mexican nation, which has recently (December term, 1861) been declared invalid by the Supreme Court of the United States. His occupancy was the usual one of the country and in accordance with the primitive habits of the people. He possessed the land by herding stock upon it.

General Vallejo, as military commandante of his district, consisting of all Alta California lying north of the bay of San Francisco, was necessarily the leading personage of the country. His influence among the rude inhabitants of the Territory was almost monarchical, and his establishment was in accordance with his influence. His residence at Sonoma was the capital of his commandancy, and the people of the country for hundreds of miles around looked to General Vallejo for advice and a.s.sistance in business and for protection and defence in time of trouble. These things are part of the history of California.

He had other ranches besides that of Soscol, as that at Sonoma, which was devoted to agriculture and residences.

The Soscol he especially devoted to the herding and grazing of stock, for which purpose it was most admirably adapted. Wild oats grew in great luxuriance all over this tract, from the water's edge to the tops of the highest hills, and being surrounded on three sides by the waters of the bays and rivers, required little attention in the way of herdsmen.

On this rancho General Vallejo kept as many as fifteen thousand head of horses and horned cattle running at will, attended only by the necessary vaqueros employed to watch and attend them.

There was no other use to which the land could at that time be devoted. The want of reliable labor and lack of a market both forbade agricultural operations beyond personal or family necessities. It was not practicable then, nor for years after, to put the land to any use other than stock pasturing.

We have, therefore, to report that the possession that General Vallejo had of "Soscol" in 1846 was the usual use and possession of the time and the country, and that it was the best and most perfect use and occupation of which the land was capable.

The rancho was, therefore, reduced to possession by General Vallejo before the Americans took possession of the country.

Soon after the American occupation or conquest, General Vallejo began to sell off portions of the "Soscol," and continued this practice until about the year 1855, at which time he sold the last of it, and does not appear to have had or claimed any interest since.

This sale and consequent dividing the land into small parcels produced its usual effect in the way of improvements.

From 1855 to 1860 the "rancho of Soscol" was almost entirely reduced to absolute and actual possession and control by his vendees, being by them fenced up into fields, surrounded by substantial enclosures, and improved with expensive farm-houses, out-buildings, orchards, and the like, and was cultivated to grain wherever suitable for that purpose.

It had upon it two cities of considerable importance, viz: Benicia and Vallejo, each of which had been at one time the capital of the State of California.

No rural district of California was more highly improved than this, and but a very small portion equal to it.

The t.i.tle to "Soscol," before its rejection by the United States Supreme Court, was considered the very best in all California. All the really valuable agricultural land in California was held under Mexican grants, and, as a consequence, all had to pa.s.s the ordeal of the Land Commission.

From 1853 to about 1860 very few had been finally pa.s.sed upon by the courts, so that during that time the question for the farmer to decide was not what t.i.tle is perfect, but what t.i.tle is most likely to prove so by the final judgment of the Supreme Court.

Amongst the very best, in the opinion of the public, stood "Soscol."

One conclusive, unanswerable proof of that fact is this, that there was not a single settler on the grant at the time it was rejected. Not one person on it, except in subordination to the Vallejo t.i.tle. Every resident on the whole tract held his land by purchase from Vallejo, or his a.s.signs, and held just precisely the land so purchased, and not one acre more or less. This fact was not even disputed during the whole eight months of investigation through which we have just pa.s.sed.

It is a notorious fact that of the grants in California which have stood the test of the Supreme Court, very many have been entirely in the possession of squatters, and all with more or less of such possessions, and the final patent has alone succeeded in recovering the long-lost possession to the grantholder. There were no settlers on the "Soscol." The people had the most perfect confidence in the t.i.tle.

It had been twice confirmed by tribunals of high authority and great learning--first by the United States Land Commission, and then by the District Court of the United States.

It only wanted the final confirmation by the Supreme Court, and none doubted that it would follow of course. Business could not, and would not, await the nine years consumed in adjudicating this t.i.tle. Farmers were obliged to have lands, and they bought them. Capital must and would seek investment, and it was lent on mortgage. When all t.i.tles required the same confirmatory decree, the citizen could not discriminate, but exercised his best judgment.

The sales of lands upon the "Soscol" were made at prices which called for perfect t.i.tle; they brought the full improved value of the land.

Money was lent on mortgage in the same way.

The deeds and mortgages, which accompany the respective cases, are the very best evidence of the opinion the public entertained of the character of the Soscol grant t.i.tle. The people were amazed when it was announced that the Soscol grant had been rejected.

No fact developed by this examination has appeared so surprising to the mind of the register and receiver as that there were no pre-emption settlers on the "Soscol." This is so unusual in California that we expected to find the contrary. There was no possession on the tract adverse to the grant t.i.tle.

Thus stood matters until early in the year 1862, when the intelligence reached California that the grant had been rejected by the Supreme Court. The struggle soon began. There was at that time employed upon the United States navy-yard at Mare Island, and also upon the Pacific Mail Company's works at Benicia, a large number of mechanics and laborers. There was also in the towns of Benicia and Vallejo a large floating population. Tempted by the great value of these lands in their highly improved state, many of these persons squatted upon the rancho.

The landholders in possession resisted.

The houses of the great majority of the settlers were erected in the night time, as it was necessary to enter the enclosed fields by stealth. These houses were built of rough redwood boards set up edgewise, with shed roof, and without window, fire place, or floor.

They were about eight feet square, sometimes eight by ten feet, and never over six feet high.

We have no hesitation in saying that they were utterly unfit for the habitation of human beings, and further that they were never designed for permanent residences. The mode of erecting these shanties was as follows: The planks were sawed the right length in the town of Vallejo or Benicia, in the afternoon of the day, and at nightfall were loaded upon a cart. About eleven o'clock at night the team would start for the intended settlement, reaching there about one or two o'clock in the morning. Between that hour and daylight the house would be erected and finished. Sometimes the house would be put together with nails, but when too near the residence of the landholder in possession, screws would be used to prevent the sound of the hammer attracting attention. Very few of this cla.s.s of settlers remained upon their claims above a few days, but soon returned to their ordinary occupations in the towns.

Generally after they would leave the landholders would remove the shanties from the ground. In some cases they would pull them down with force immediately upon discovering them, and in the presence of the settlers.

A few of them got settlements near enough to their places of employment to enable them to work in town, or at the navy-yard, and to sleep in their shanties; some regularly, others only occasionally.

These generally remained longer than the others, but none of this cla.s.s remained up to the time of trial.

None of the settlers, who went on since the grant was rejected, have attempted regular improvements or cultivation. A few have harvested the grain planted by the landholders, as it grew on their 1/4 [quarter-section]; they would harvest it, and offer this as evidence of good faith and cultivation.

We have no hesitation in p.r.o.nouncing, from the evidence, that these are not settlers within the spirit of the pre-emption laws, but are mere speculators, desirous of getting the improvements of another to sell and to make money.

[1] The evidence taken before those officers.

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The preceding Personal Reminiscences of Early Days in California by Judge Field, with other sketches, were dictated by him to a stenographer in the summer of 1877, at San Francisco. They were afterwards printed for a few friends, but not published. The edition was small and soon exhausted, and each year since the Judge has been asked for copies. The reprint is therefore made.

The history of the attempt at his a.s.sa.s.sination by a former a.s.sociate on the supreme bench of California is added. It is written by Hon.

George C. Gorham, a warm personal friend of the Judge for many years, who is thoroughly informed of the events described.

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