Pioneer Lafayette
The Knave: Next Wednesday evening, May 23, the
Contra Costa County Historical Society
will hold its spring meeting and banquet at the Pioneer Village Restaurant
in Lafayette. Judge
A F. Bray, society president, will be in charge, and the speakers will be Mrs.
William Rosenburg,
[Margaret Jennie Bickerstaff Rosenberg]
pioneer school teacher, and the Rev.
John W. Winkley, amateur California historian.
Lafayette
is the oldest settlement in Contra Costa County.
Elam Brown, its founder, was the second white American to make his residence in the
county. Brown arrived at
Sutter's Fort on
Oct. 10. 1846, with a company of 24 families and 16 wagons which had crossed
the plains that summer. He was a native of New York State. After a visit to
San Jose he returned to the Oakland hills and spent the year of 1847
whipsawing redwood lumber
which he hauled to the
San Antonio Landing and
shipped to San Francisco. During the year 1847 Brown learned that
William A. Leidesdorff
was offering for sale his "Rancho Acalanes," which lay in the area east of the Oakland-Berkeley hills. This rancho
land had been granted to
Candelario Valencia
in 1834.
The name "Acàlanes" apparently came from the small Indian village called
"Akalan which stood somewhere in the vicinity of modern Lafayette.
As often happened to the Spanish Dons, Valencia fell into debt and was
forced to sell his land. It was acquired by Leidesdorff. Elam Brown purchased the rancho from
Leidersdorff in the fall of 1847 and moved his family to the rancho proper
on Feb. 7, 1848. He had a small shack built and occupied by the evening of
the same day. Later he built a better house of lumber which he had cut in
the Oakland hills. This stood two miles from Lafayette on land later owned
by
Thomas W. Bradley. Later in that same year he moved his home to a site near the
Plaza. Since Brown had to haul his flour from San Jose by way of San Ramon he
bought a horse-power mill at
Benicia in
1849, then in 1853 superseded it with a grist mill built near his home. One
of the old millstones was placed in the little Plaza a year ago by the
Lafayette Lions Club. The inscription on the stone dates Brown's settlement
in Contra Costa as 1846, but this should have been 1848. It was also 1848
that Brown sold 300 acres of his Rancho, at the east end of Lafayette, to
Nathaniel Jones for $100. Jones built a house
on "Locust Farm," as he called it, in 1848.
Benjamin Shreve, a schoolteacher, passing Brown's home in 1852, was persuaded to stay and
teach school. He later opened a store and in 1857 applied to the Federal
Government for a post office under the name of the French General
Lafayette, only at that time it was spelled “La Fayette."
Milo Hough
built a hotel in 1853;
Jack Elston
opened a blacksmith shop and sold it in 1859 to
Peter Thompson: A church was erected on Golden Gate Way about 1856, thus Lafayette was on
its way to become a community. - John W. Winkley.
See also:
- Redwoods Atop Oakland Hills First Brought Settlers Here - Oakland Tribune - 09 Oct 1966, Sun - Page 137
- Knave: Potter Elk Horn, Redwood Canyon, Redwood Regional Park, Mariano Vallejo
- Knave - Oakland Tribune, 03 Mar 1940 - 'Acalanes'
- Knave: The Spanish Settlers, El Rancho de Laguna de Palos Colorados - Oakland Tribune, 19 Nov 1933
- Knave - Oakland Tribune,14 Oct 1956 - Contra Costa
Where's Weaverville?
Was there a
Weaverville in El Dorado County
during the very early days of the Gold Rush? Most historians today insist
that any reference to the name of Weaverville in El Dorado County was a
misnomer for the town of Webberville. But every now and then the name of
Weaverville pops up in letters and journals written by early prospectors for
gold in the area now called El Dorado County. It's hard to believe that all
these men misspelled or miswrote the name for that of Webber(ville). And we
know for certain that what is now
Webber Creek, where
Webberville once stood, was originally known as Weaver Creek. It appears so
on maps and surveys as late as 1860, according to
Beverly Cola of Placerville. Today the creek is called Webber Creek, and few persons are aware of a
town called Weaverville ever having been in El Dorado County. Information
found in
Walter N. Frickstad's
recently published "A Century of California Post Offices" places the only official California post office named Weaverville as
being in Trinity County. However, there appears in Frickstad's excellent
research work an endorsement in the Auditor's Review Section which notes
this particular post office as being "late in El Dorado County." Frickstad
tells us that these endorsements were usually intended to correct a previous
error. Post Office records show that the first Weaverville postmaster was
one A. Woodworth, appointed April 9, 1850. The name A. Woodworth does not
appear in El Dorado County registers, so he must correctly belong to the
Weaverville Post Office in Trinity County. The question of a Weaverville in
El Dorado County comes to mind as the result of a letter written by
John Fuller
to his
brother
in Ohio. The epistle is dated Aug. 11, 1850, at "Weverville, 50 miles from
Sacramento City.” The spelling isn't too important in this instance, as you
will discover in reading the uncorrected contents of Fuller's letter brought
to us by
Mrs. A. C. Krampff
of Albany, a great-great-granddaughter of the author. Among other instances
of references to the El Dorado County Weaverville is that of
Dr. William Wallace Wixom's journal. Dr. Wixom was the father of the once famous songstress
Emma Nevada. He was
mining in the vicinity of
Hangtown
(Placerville) in the fall of 1851 and on Sept. 20 noted that "D. Petty and
myself started for Auburn; arrived at Weaverville about 10 o'clock; went to
Coloma, stayed all night at the Scisson Wade Hotel." Again on Sept. 24 he
wrote: "Went to Pleasant Valley to camp. The boys had taken out $200 since
had been away. Remained on Clear Creek until Oct. 2. Made $300. Oct. 2,
packed and started for Auburn. Went to Weaverville, stayed all night..."
Sacramento 50 Miles
Now for the letter thật brought about the quandary about Weaverville.
Unfortunately, John Fuller's letter throws no additional light on this early
El Dorado settlement other than to note it was "50 miles from Sacramento
City." He wrote his brother: "I am here and all is well at present and have
bin since I wrote to you from Ft Laramie, also Salt Lake, and must
acknowledge that I have seen the Elephant. The first curiosity after we left
Salt Lake was some Salt Springs as salt as brine also cold and hot Springs
within ten rods from each other are so cold that the water would make your
teeth ache and the other so hot that it would scald a hog. After this we
started over some dreary desert without much grass or water until we came to
the Humtate river where we had plenty of water but very little grass without
swimming for it and then cutting it with butcher knives to keep our stock
from starving. The river had no ferries on it, and we had to cross it twice.
The river being high in order to save our provision we had to unload our
waggons swim the horses and mules and carry the provision over on our
shoulders to keep from getting it wet. After this we came to the great
American Desert. Before we entered it we found plenty of grass, at least
10,000 acres of clover and other grass which we mowed and cured for the
purpose of feeding our animals across the Desert, though horable to relate,
the heart-rendereing scene had just commenced. All most one half of the
emigrants were out of provision, a great many had to kill their horses and
mules and eat them to keep from starving to Death. Others were seen shooting
and drowning themselves to keep from Starving.
Miners Everywhere
“On the desert," Fuller's letter continues, "we found men and animals
perishing to death for watter, men offering five to fifty dollars for one
pint of watter and some of them Died for the want of it. For my part
I had plenty and some to spare which no doubt was the means of Saving the
lives of others. We got within about 7 miles of Psalmon-trout river on the
west side of the desert before we had any trouble. There the team gave out
and some of the com. wanted to leave the animals and go through for fear we
would perish. We were then in sight of timber on the river. I told the boys
I would take the stock and go to watter and done so, watered them, returned
again and brought the wagon and the balance of the com. through. The
emigrants divided their provision until they were all about out when we met
provision trains from California which releaved them at the moderate rate of
two dollars per lb. for flower and the same for wheat. Well says you why
don't you say something about the mines. I have not worked any in the mines
yet. After working a while I will doo like everybody else. Write to you all
I know about them and a great deal more. It is impossible for me to tell
(when) I will be at home. The whole country is fluded with miners and I
don't beleave that one tenth of them will ever leave here as well off as
they left the States. For my part I came here to make a pile and intend to
doo it or Die in the attempt. Give my best respects to all enquiring
friends. It is impossible for me to write about every thing at one time.
Write your letter to Sacramento City, Calif. Yours in friendship forever,
John Fuller. Near Sunset." A postscript read: “The big Storys you have heard
about the Sickness of the country are all false. I have slept on the
ground for 120 knights and never had better health in my life and others
have done the same."
Awh, What the Heck!
Alex Rosborough, whose
Siskiyou County historical items
have entertained so many readers of these columns, recently took time out to
visit his old Oakland haunts. He was in town only a few hours before he
found his way to the
Knave's
hideaway where he immediately began complaining about "the great hurry" he
met on the Oakland streets he preferred to remember as pacific and
stroll-inviting. "If we had rushed around like this in our day we'd have a
policeman putting his hand on our collar," he chided. “Nowadays everybody is
in such a hurry they even cut diagonally cross the corner at
14th and Broadway with a
policeman's blessing. The only thing that looks natural to me is the
southeast corner of Broadway at 14th. I remember when they were tearing down
a building there to put up the
Macdonough Theater
which became the
Henshaw Building.
Before that particular day there was a little, narrow walk that stretched
between Broadway and Franklin that was known as 'Lover's Lane.' That's been
swallowed up by 14th Street, and now they're putting up another skyscraper
where the Henshaw Building stood. In the old days
the Presbyterian church stood at the northeast corner of 14th and
Franklin, and
Tisch had his barbershop
in the basement of the bank building at Broadway and 14th.
Washington Street didn't go any-farther north than 14th where it smacked
into the old City Hall, and a big wooden hotel known as "The Centennial" stood at the northeast corner of 14th and Clay. Mrs. Johnson was
proprietoress. Very noticeable to a man from the mines is how drug stores
have changed. They've added dining counters where office girls now take a
running jump at something to eat, while blowing cigaret smoke into the other
fellow's coffee. No doubt about it, we fellows from the tall timber country
will probably soon be going to these drug stores to buy our thrashing
machines and farm equipment.
Train in the Estuary
"The big block bounded by 14th, Franklin, 13th and Webster Streets, where
they're now stacking automobiles on top of one another, was the terminal
for the Narrow Gauge Railroad in the days of my youth," our visitor recalled. "The train tracks ran down Webster Street and
crossed the estuary on a pivot-swinging bridge.
Over in Alameda the tracks turned west and paralleled the estuary on the
south side on down to the station where ferry boats docked for San
Francisco passengers. Another track on the Alameda side turned south and crossed the marshland,
passing the swimming and picnic resorts along the Alameda bayshore. The
wagon road from Oakland to Alameda crossed the estuary on the same bridge as
the Narrow Gauge, but it was a much shorter route between the bridge and the
swim resorts
than the railroad. One day we young fellows were over in Alameda for a swim
and as the Oakland train was not due at the
Baths for some time we
decided to walk to the bridge via the wagon road. We were almost to the
bridge when the train we should have been on rounded the curve. Lo and
behold, the bridge was open! The engineer socked on the brakes and blew a
blast on the whistle, but he couldn't stop her. The engine dove off into the
deep water tugging the first car along; the front end of this car clinging
to the submerged engine. The rear end of this coach was held out of the
water by its coupling to the second car. But everybody and everything in the
front end was submerged under water. I got across the estuary by boat and
went at once to the
Oakland Daily Times
office on Broadway, between Ninth and 10th Streets. The editor assigned me
to Woolsey Hospital,
down on 12th Street across from the present Post Office. My job was to
interview the injured brought in from the wreck.
Time's Alterations
"The hand of time," continued Rosborough, "has done more for Lake Merritt
than anywhere else in Oakland. In the old days
12th Street joined Oakland and Brooklyn (East Oakland) by a narrow, dirt
fill called the 'Lake Merritt Dam.'
The land south of the dam was mere tideland. Now 12th Street is a beautiful,
broad boulevard, and the land to the south holds the Oakland Auditorium,
Exposition Building and an attractive playgrounds. Up at the north end of
the Lake stands the
Convent of the Holy Names. It has been there a long time, but I understand that, too, will soon be
gone. In its place will rise a great business development center. The idea
of the school's moving is rather sad to me, for it was there that my sister
went to classes long ago. Another missing landmark is the old
Reliance Athletic Club
over at
17th and San Pablo Ave.
Whoever tore it down must have had a job on his hands for it was one of the
stoutest brick buildings to be built in Oakland. The Reliance was a great
club in its day. Many athletes trained there. In
1888 the Reliance walked away with the amateur baseball championship
in the Bay Area, and for several years held the football championship. The
club's
bicycle riders were tops. Its teams competed under the name of the 'Highland Park Wheelmen.' I remember
the 50-mile race from Gilroy to Redwood City, and a 25-mile race on the course termed the 'San Leandro Triangle." In each of these events there were 'headers' who would toss men out of
the race for any
rule violations.
After the
Gilroy-Redwood City
race three members of the Highland Park Wheelmen - after a dinner at Redwood
City - rode back to San Jose and then to Oakland, making a total of 120
miles for the day. The old Reliance gym was the scene of many splendid
exhibitions of boxing, wrestling and bar exercises."
See also:
That Breyfogle Mine
Long has been the search for the lost
Breyfogle Mine
in Nevada. The following is a report from Austin's
Reese River Reveille
of Nov. 18, 1871. "We yesterday published a letter from Eureka stating that
a man named Brown had got news that the party which started from that place
a short time since had struck the long-sought Breyfogle mine, which said
mine can be traced for eight miles and assays all the way from $9,000 to
$18,000 per ton. The letter was from Mr. Blain, a former resident of Austin,
and we have no doubt was written in perfeet good faith, for Mr. Blain is an
honorable man. But notwithstanding all this we
must be permitted to say that we consider the whole thing an absolute hoax,
at least a gross exaggeration. In the first place we do not believe that any
such thing as the 'Breyfogle Mine' ever existed. It was our misfortune to be
one of the first victims of this man Breyfogle. On the strength of his
positive assertion that such a mine had been found by himself and another
man named Milligan, whilst lost in the desert and trying to reach the
Colorado River, we consented to 'put in' toward fitting out an expedition
led by Breyfogle himself to go in search of and locate the aforesaid mine.
He produced very rich specimens, showing both free gold and horn silver,
which he affirmed he had gouged out of the mine with his knife, the only
tool he and his companions had. We will here remark that subsequent
investigations have convinced us that these specimens were taken from the
cropping of the Gold Hill mine ore of the Comstock range. The expedition
returned without finding anything but a horrible desert country; but this
man Breyfogle pretended that he had got offended at some actions of one of
the members of the party and would not disclose the locality of the mine
until another expedition was organized which would not comprise the
obnoxious member.
Symptoms of Excitement
"A second expedition,” the report continues, "ended in the killing by the
Indians of two good men named McBroom and Sears, and the wounding of two
others, Messrs. Simons and Gearheart. As for the
mine, it was still non est. By this time we had invested seven hundred
dollars in this Breyfogle venture and concluded that was enough for us. He
subsequently made his way to San Francisco and victimized another party
there, who went to Death Valley by the way of Los Angeles. The poor devils
passed through Austin on their return from their fruitless search, ragged
and dirty, and cursing all the Breyfogles that ever lived. The man was
evidently a monomaniac on that particular subject. That he ever saw such a
mine as he described no man familiar with his actions in connection with
this search will believe. It may be that the Eureka party may have struck a
rich mine; if they have it is something entirely new, for Breyfogle never
saw any mine in that country. The description given, however, is calculated
to shake the faith of the most sanguine. A vein eight miles long, assaying
not less than $9.000 a ton, is too steep a yarn for any miner endowed with
common sense to believe. Had the informant of Mr. 'Brown' made his assays a
little lower and reduced the length of the mine by about seven miles and a
half he might have deceived somebody. As it is, we shall believe the whole
thing to be an unmitigated hoax til positive proof is produced ..."
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1866-05-29 Reese River Reveille |
Moral Responsibility
Recent suggestions that parents be held responsible for the behavior of
their children is by no means a new idea. The following is some "Town Talk”
that appeared in the
Virginia City Enterprise
of June 1, 1888, when
that city was something more than a Nevada ghost town. "I notice by the Enterprise," said a minister of the gospel yesterday,
"that boys throw stones at passing trains of cars. It is a dangerous
practice, and a boy strong enough to throw a heavy stone has reason enough
to realize the chances he takes of doing someone great injury, if not
actually taking chance of committing murder. In regard to this matter, I
don't think that parents fully realize the situation. Let me put it this
way: Suppose it becomes known that John Brown's and Bill Smith's and Sam
Jones' sons throw stones at the cars, and indulge in other dangerous and
reckless pastime. Those who employ Brown, Smith and Jones will argue,
properly, that if they do not care enough about the moral training of their
children to do something toward keeping them out of jail, they are not
trustworthy men, and the first thing they know these men find themselves on
the retired list, and after that it is only one step to the indigent list. I
think parents are morally responsible for the acts of their children, and
the hardboiled business world holds them as such in a great measure, too."
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