Knave - San Jose capitol - Tony Lavezzola - California history timeline - gold - Oakland Tribune - Sunday, September 6, 1959

California state capitol, timeline, Downieville, Lavezzola, gold, Sun, Sep 6, 1959 – 35 · Oakland Tribune (Oakland, Alameda, California, United States of America) · Newspapers.com

ANYONE preparing a toast for next Wednesday's observance of California's 109th birthday anniversary can't afford to overlook San Jose, first capital of the state following the Constitutional Convention at Monterey in 1849. It was by a vote of 23 to 14 that the Monterey convention chose San Jose as California's capital. Here's the way Clyde Arbuckle, secretary of San Jose's Historic Landmarks Commission tells the story: "The San Jose delegates and lobbyists had done their work well. Now San Jose had only to provide a statehouse, which was not easy in a town that had no funds and was composed of tents, shanties and one-story adobes. Fortunately, two Frenchmen Pierre Sainsevain and Zepheryn Rochon [Other sources say this was Charles Roussillon, who perhaps had an alias "Rochon"? See bottom of this post for a transcription of the linked article. - MF] were building a two-story adobe which they intended to use as a hotel. It was 60 feet long by 40 feet wide, and located on the east side of the Plaza between San Fernando and San Antonio Streets. The San Jose authorities proposed to rent it as a capitol for $4,000 a month, but better counsel prevailed. It was bought outright for $34,000, the deal being financed by 19 public-spirited -citizens who gave their joint note for the money. In order, to secure their loan these citizens took a mortgage on certain public property known as pueblo lands. On Dec. 15, 1849, a little over a month after California's first general election, the first Legislature convened in this 'hotel statehouse.' But since the building was yet incomplete, only the assembly could find enough room in it. The Senate had to meet for a while in the dwelling of Isaac Branham at the southwest corner of the Plaza where San Jose's civic auditorium now stands.

This is the 1900 Jubilee replica of the first State Capitol at San Jose. A 1949 Centennial replica is now San Jose's museum.

'The Forty Thieves' 

"San Jose," continues Arbuckle, "soon lost favor with the state's lawmakers. Owing to incessant rain, poor hotel accommodations and other unsatisfactory conditions, the Legislature had hardly . convened when a bill was introduced to remove the capital to a more suitable location. The matter was deferred at first, but on Feb. 14, 1851, an act of removal was passed, When the Legislature adjourned on May 1 of that year San Jose surrendered the seat of government. Meanwhile, the city having experienced financial difficulties with the statehouse, sold it to Santa Clara County for $38,000. But none of the money from this transaction went toward paying the city's debt to the 19 civic-minded men who had financed the venture in the first place. In order to protect their investment these men foreclosed the mortgage on the pueblo lands. The result of their action was years of expensive litigation that finally ended in victory for the city in 1871, and men who had tried to help the city were dubbed 'The Forty Thieves' by an ungrateful public. In the meantime, on April 29, 1853, the building that caused all of the trouble was destroyed by a fire which many suspected of being set by an arsonist." The only picture of our state's first Capitol building is a drawing made by Levi Goodrich, '49er and early day architect, made while he sat in the Plaza across from original statehouse. San Jose's Historic Landmarks Commission and museum is housed today in a replica of the first State Capitol Building created for the Centennial celebration at San Jose in 1949. The replica stands in the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds at San Jose. The photo on today's Knave page is that of an earlier replica made for the 50-year Jubilee celebrated in 1900. The earlier replica stood on the north lawn of San Jose's old 1887 city hall, and is seen in today's photo sandwiched between the city hall and a giant Phoenix palm tree.

Mayor of Downieville 

"Downieville, nestled in a green Sierra canyon at the confluence of two forks of the Yuba River, has a population of 325 and is the seat of government for Sierra County," reports Edward T. Planer, instructor at Oakland City College, in way of an introduction to one of Sierra County's most interesting personalities. "Despite its unprepossessing size," he continues, "the town has an unofficial but honored mayor in the person of Tony Lavezzola, now in his 79th year, and a lifetime resident of the area, Tony's office, easily available to everyone, is a wood bench under the locust trees on Downieville's main street, In this pleasant headquarters Tony relates engrossingly interesting tales of pioneer days - days after the great mining rush of the 1850s, to be sure, but days within his remarkable memory spanning more than 70 years. Lavezzola was born on a Sierra County ranch on Nov. 25, 1881, and was baptized Antone. His father, a Genovese, had acquired 400 upland acres six miles north of Downieville in 1867. The next year he returned to Italy, and came back with a 21-year-old bride who was to spend the ensuing 70 years on the mountain ranch, bearing and raising six children and doing a man's work in the fields, orchard, and potato patch. In 1869 a substantial two-story frame house was erected on an excavated cellar whose walls were retained With 'dry masonry' - rock work without benefit of cement or mortar - and which stands today, although the house was destroyed by fire in 1940.

Long, Hard Winters 

"In 1870 Father Lavezzola set out 275 apple trees on his rolling acreage. All cultivation had to be done by hand due to the steepness of the terrain, and water was flumed in from a branch of the North Yuba to irrigate the young orchard. [Is this the flume along First Divide? - MF] The mile long wooden flume still exists on the property and carries water to this day. Hay had to be cut by long hand scythes and baled by hand, farming machinery being impractical to use. Feed and mountain apples were the surplus, salable products of the ranch, and young Tony made many a trip with his laden mules to Downieville, to Johnsville, Plumas County - a long, steep, narrow 16 miles distance - and to such nearby mines as the Empire, Four Hill, Willoughby, and Red Oak. At the turn of the century these gold mines employed 80 to 100 men. Since the mountain trail was often blocked by snow, and winters were long, self-sufficiency at the ranch was a necessity. To support the parents, five brothers and a sister, plus two hired hands, a thousand pounds each of flour and sugar were stored in the rock-walled cellar in addition to quantities of homemade sausage, cheese, butter, homecured corned beef, ham, bacon, and potatoes. Tony warmly recalls hunting expeditions to vary the winter diet, and many a time he and his brothers returned with grouse and a deer or two. 'We killed just what we needed for immediate consumption,' he said emphatically, 'not just for the sport of killing.' Mayor Tony clearly recalls the winter of 1890-91 when 12 feet of snow and drifts 14 feet obliterated the trail to Downieville and civilization. One of his brothers made him a pair of skis 10 feet long, and with these he reached sources of supply during that memorable winter. The skis are still in his possession, a memento when Sierra Nevada winters were long and hard. So demanding was work on the ranch that Tony's schooling didn't begin until he was 17 .

The St. Charles 

"Life was simple, happy and healthy in the Sierra uplands in the 1880s and 1890s," continues Planer. "It was uneventful except for the changing seasons, characterized by fragrant white apple blossoms and vivid meadow green in the spring; new-mown hay and buff-colored hillsides in the summer; flaming forests in the fall as dogwood, oak and maple put on a color spectacular, while the dazzling white of winter's snowy silence ended the cycle of the seasons. Occasionally the Rev. Fathers Clair, Dermody and McGary would reach the ranch by horseback, erect a portable altar in the Lavezzola parlor and conduct Mass for the household. Baptisms, if required, were also performed by these circuit-riding priests, and then they would push on to Johnsville to continue their ministrations. On their return they were put up at the ranch and Mother Lavezzola's choicest foods and finest napery recognized the occasion. In 1904 Tony bought the St. Charles Hotel in Downieville, a widely known Northern Mine's establishment since its founding in 1853, and which he was to operate for 40 years ending in 1944. Here board and lodging cost $1 per day, and Tony's charming wife, [Teresa M Lavezzola - MF] who was in charge of the kitchen, made sure guests got their money's worth at the well-laden family style table. Often 100 guests and transients would be served at a single meal. In addition county prisoners were fed from the hotel kitchen, food being transported in baskets to the nearby jail. ...

Those Good Old Days 

"Tony acted as bartender, and despite the fact that he has been a total abstainer since 1900, he never missed a drink when invited to share one with his patrons. He would pour his own special libation from a container under the bar - cold tea! On a July midnight in 1947, three years after he had sold the three-story, frame hotel, Tony saw the St. Charles go up in flames, never to be rebuilt. 'One man and one cigaret did it,' he observed. Now the site is a parking area for the convenience of another generation. A small sign on the property suggests some California history; 'Site of the St. Charles Hotel; built 1852-53; headquarters for stage lines and Wells Fargo; destroyed by fire July 28, 1947.' Mayor Tony, when quizzed about the old days, emphatically endorses them as being far superior to the present. His eyes sparkling behind gold-rimmed glasses, his gestures animated, His Honor says, 'The old days were the best. People were basically honest and could be trusted. ..."

Gold Pockets 

The Knave: Gold pockets in the Mother Lode were numerous in the gold days of California. These occurred where disintegrating gold-bearing rock released the gold nuggets and gold dust in quantity. Sometimes the pockets held thousands of dollars in pure gold. A Sonora writer in the mid 1850s told of two such finds along Woods Creek. One such pocket was found by a sailor who took out $40,000 of gold in two days. He deposited his gold in a local bank, drew out several thousand dollars in coin and went on a wild debauch. In a short time his money was spent on liquor and gamblers. He sobered up enough to draw out all the rest of his account and went to a faro gambling place and began betting against the faro bank, both winning and much more losing. He bet his last $28,000 on a single card and lost. Then he went back to his cabin, slept off his drunkenness, borrowed money to get to San Francisco, and there shipped as a sailor on board a vessel bound for Shanghai. He said he had enjoyed a real jolly time at the mines. Another rough fellow named Bill Ford who spent most of his time drinking, gambling and deer hunting sallied forth with his rifle one day to hunt deer. He found no game but sat down at noon under the shade of a small tree. In an idle sort of way he began digging into some loose quartz rock with his hunting knife. Soon he had uncovered nuggets of gold by the handful. He covered his digging and hastened to town where he secured a large iron bucket, then he hurried back to his diggings. He took out buckets of gold which - like the sailor's find - amounted to about $40,000. Then it petered out; not another bit of gold could be found there, though many men searched the area carefully. Bill began celebrating his good fortune by going on a wild spree of whisky drinking, gambling and fighting. He was an ugly, quarrelsome fellow and a few days later in a fight at the City Hotel was shot dead. Most of his gold remained unspent. Often, in those lawless days of early California legal heirs got little of such an estate. . . . -John W. Winkley.

September 6

1522 - Ferdinand Magellan arrived in Port of San Lucas (Baja California), on the Victoria, and completed first voyage around the globe.
1791 - Alejandro Malaspina sighted Cape Mendocino, continued to San Francisco, anchored at Monterey on the 13th.
1847 - Record of the first brick building in San Francisco appears in the Annals of San Francisco - corner of Montgomery and Clay Streets.
1871 - State election, resulting in choice of Newton Booth (Republican), for Governor over Henry Haight (Democrat).

1876 - At Lang Station (10 miles east of Saugus), last spike driven on Southern Pacific Railroad, ending isolation of Los Angeles; Stanford and Huntington officiated.

September 7

1850 - California Bill passed House of Representatives, having already passed U.S. Senate.
1854 - Basket of fine peaches from Sacramento (one measuring 10 1/8 inches in circumference), exhibited in San Francisco.
1855 - Weaverville mining center (Trinity County), almost totally destroyed by fire.

September 8

1771 - Mission San Gabriel Archangel founded by Padres Angel Somere and Pedro Benito Combon, on direct overland route, Mexico to Monterey.
1797 - Mission San Fernando (17th Mission), founded by Padre Fermin Francisco de Lasuen.
1857 - First Industrial Fair at San Francisco's Mechanics Institute.
1859 - Judge David S. Terry's letter, dated at Oakland, to Hon. David C. Broderick, demanding retraction of remarks "offensive in their nature." The Terry-Broderick duel resulted.
1862 - San Francisco Stock Exchange founded.

September 9

1805 - Birth of William Gwin in Summer County, Tennessee.
1849 - First California Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, instituted in San Francisco.
1850 - Admission of California into the American Union as the 31st state - 16th free state.
1854 - Elaborate Admission Day celebration in San Francisco headed by Gen. J. E. Wool and Capt. John A. Sutter. Grand marshal was A. Bartol; orator, E. J. C. Kewen.
1893 - "California Day" at Columbia International Exposition in Chicago.
1928 - Tablet dedicated to Joaquin Miller dedicated by Native Sons of the Golden West near "The Abby." The Hights later purchased by the City of Oakland.

September 10

1812 - Fort Ross completed and dedicated near Bodega Bay by Ivan Kuskof, Russian explorer.
1849 - Shannon resolution against slavery and involuntary servitude unanimously passed Monterey Constitutional Convention a "pivot point of slavery question in the United States."
September 11
1886 - Native Daughters of the Golden West founded at Jackson (Amador County), by Mrs. Frank Dyer (Lilly Reichling).
1894 - Death of Don Pio Pico, last Mexican Governor of California; well-respected citizen, aged 93.
September 12
1539 - Francisco de Ulloa began voyage that proved that the "Isle of California" was really a peninsula and not an island.
1851 - Electric telegraph of Messrs. Sweeny and Baugh of Merchants Exchange in San Francisco a successful operation.

1860 - Execution of William Walker , "gray-eyed man of destiny," filibuster, after failure of his fourth expedition.
1877 - Organization of Workingmen's Party of California under leadership of Denis Kearney.

-THE KNAVE.

[This next article, from 1932 helps explain the Sainsevain reference in the first article. -MF]

Roussillon and Sainsevain Sun, Sep 25, 1932 – Page 29 · Oakland Tribune (Oakland, Alameda, California, United States of America) · Newspapers.com

Escaped From Whaler 

A STORY of a French whaling vessel stopping at Santa Cruz, the desertion of five sailors, and some speculation as to what became of them are to be found in the collection of Spanish and Mexican documents preserved in the office of the county recorder of that city. In 1844 the French whaling vessel La Grange was at Monterey, involved in smuggling for which two French residents of that town, Pierre Richards and Henri Cambuston, were fined 500 pesos each. There was, however, another occurrence in connection with the La Grange which incensed the Mexican authorities, who were struggling bitterly to prevent "foreigners" getting a foothold in California. In the recorder's office is the original of an order sent by Florencio Serrano, acting first alcalde at Monterey in the illness of .Jose Amesti, to the Branciforte alcalde, who was Francisco Alviso, grantee the previous year of Agua Puerca rancho, on the coast to the west. Serrano wrote: "There having deserted five sailors of the French whaling vessel Le Grange, and holding well founded suspicions that those individuals may have taken refuge in the establishment of Santa Cruz in the house of Carlos Roussillon, you will make all necessary inquiries to learn if the sailors can be found in that or any other place, not sparing any means in your power until their capture. For this purpose I have secured of the commander general and send you the assistance of two dragoons and a corporal. I hope from your exacting patriotism the most heedful compliance with this as the public good and the interests of the country depend upon it to avoid the illegal introduction of vagrant persons who can not be useful. A return on this must be made with all possible haste, at the latest next Monday. God and Liberty. April 3, 1844."

Roussillon, the Trader 

BANCROFT, IN HIS exhaustive history of California, recorded reference to the five French mariners who deserted their ship. If they found their way to Santa Cruz the "two dragoons and a corporal" may have failed in their search and the mariners joined Carlos Roussillon in his lumbering operations on Pierre Sainsevain's Rancho la Canada del Rincon in the lower San Lorenzo Valley. Roussillon was a French trader whose name appeared on the records at Los Angeles in 1843. From 1844 he was at Santa Cruz with Sainsevain, working a sawmill either as an employee or a partner. The Branciforte padron of 1845 showed him as 31 years old. Bancroft remarks that he found no record of him after 1848 and that he may have gone to South America, but old records in the Santa Cruz clerk's office show Carlos Roussillon still in Santa Cruz in 1854, part owner of Rancho del Rincon. That the French deserters remained in the region of Santa Cruz is more than possible. In a brief history of Aptos, published in the Santa Cruz Surf in 1896 by A. A. Taylor, he relates that in 1851 Sainsevain was "leader of a company of Frenchmen" who erected a mill on Aptos Creek on land leased from Rafael Castro.