KNAVE - Oakland Tribune - Sunday, December 02, 1956

KNAVE

Oakland Tribune Sunday, December 02, 1956

[Paragraphs about politics of the day deleted. See clippings below for text. MF]

The Great Malakoff

The Knave: Some weeks ago I visited again the great Malakoff Diggings or Wash on the North San Juan Ridge. This great hydraulic Wash never fails to stir in me a sense of wonder and admiration for the men who dug this artificial canyon with water power. This great Wash extends along the ridge for about 12. miles and covers a vast acreage. Along its side walls are sheer cliffs, pinnacles, and castelated rim-rock that create scenes of beauty and enchantment. Here and there are deep, muddy ponds; remnants of the hydraulic washings of three-quarters of a century ago. The "old timers" say (and this appears to be the estimate of mining engineers) that there are probably several hundred million dollars worth of gold still in the ancient river bed. Hydraulic mining was stopped by State law back in 1884 on account of the debris washed down the rivers, ruining farm lands in the valleys. The story of the discovery of this great gravel gold mine is one of those strange tales out of the past. Along in the winter of 1851-52 some Irish and German prospectors discovered some rich gold deposits in the gravels of a little stream on this high ridge. They took out a large quantity of gold in a short time, but soon ran out of provisions. One of their number was dispatched to Nevada City to obtain supplies, but was warned not to mention their lucky strike. However, the fellow filled up with liquor which loosened his tongue, and the story was soon told. Miners trailed him to the diggings, but the newcomers found poor pickings in the stream. aside from the claim which the prior company was working. Disgusted, they returned to Nevada City, giving the name of "Humbug" to the creek. But in the years following gold was found at various places on the gravel beds of the ancient Pliocene River and the Brobdingnagian enterprise of washing down mountains was soon underway. I drove along the 12 miles of this vast wash and inspected the little towns - ghost towns - of the people who once worked here. The site of Grizzly Hill and the original location of North Columbia have vanished, but ruins mark the spot where Lake City stood. I climbed in and out of cellar pits and foundation enclosures about which still grow old locust trees and rose bushes. In one remaining little cabin was a bedstead and stove deep covered with dust. Across the road (once a street) lay the great floor timbers of the Lake City Hotel, once a place of rest and revelry. Along the broad, tree-lined main street of old North Bloomfield I saw a few remaining houses, some in a stately though weather-beaten architecture of a past age. A few families still live here. Forest Service, lumbering, road work, cattle and the like keep them busy. Long shadows of declining day hastened my ride back to Nevada City.- John W. Winkley

Fifty Years Ago

Erection of study halls and development of a campus on Mountain Blvd. at the head of 35th Ave. for the College of the Holy Names has inspired Frank Paulson to take a backward glance into the history of the area. "I collaborated with my old school chum, John Henry Behrens, in setting up the following story of 50 years ago," Paulson relates. "The story moves down the east side of 35th Ave., touching on the Laurel and Allendale districts, and continues as far as Foothill Blvd. We then return up the west side of 35th Ave, to our starting point. The coming of the college to its new location is just another milestone in the progress of the area. Growth of the district was greatly stimulated 50 years ago by the influx of refugees from the San Francisco fire. Many will remember pre-earthquake days when 35th Ave. was known as Redwood Road. The home of Walter McGee was then located where the College of the Holy Names is being built. This commanding site affords a broad view of the Bay region. Today the scene is completely filled with homes, but in 1906 the McGees had only five neighbors in the immediate vicinity. The neighbors included Oliver Morosco, the renowned playwright; Dr. E. F. Card, then Oakland's eye, ear and nose specialist; the Travano and Trenor families, whose properties make up the Avenue Terrace of today; and Andrew Murphy, whose hayfields reached from the McGee property line to Maple Ave. It was a day of wide open spaces, the jingle of harness and the rumble of the hay wagons. The Key Route Heights tract, which extended from what is now Harbor View to Redding St., was a broad open field from Redwood Road to the 38th Ave. line. The north end of this tract was farmed by Hans Paulson, a teamster; and the lower part where the Laurel School and business district now stand was farmed by Sing Suey Ah Wong, a Chinese vegetable gardener. On Quigley St. were the homes of Deputy Sheriff and School Trustee John J. Reilley, the Locke family, and John Rupp, a teamster. Hageman and Mangels Avenues were opened in 1906 with one home now occupied by the Lazar Nursery. Soren Nielsen and Joe Lewis were dairymen on Penniman Ave. near the Allendale School.

Proud Boast

"Proceeding down Redwood Road from Penniman Ave.," continues Paulson, "were the residences of Leeper, Clark and Flaherty. Mrs. Belle Flaherty is remembered by many as the pioneer school teacher of the district, having taught classes in Allendale Hall prior to the building of the Allendale School. The school withstood the terrific shock of the earthquake of April 18, 1906. Along Allendale Ave. Henry Miller, a carpenter, had built the bakery building adjoining the Methodist Church on Lięse, now 38th Ave. Here also was the Herbert Phillips home, Arnold's Butcher Shop, and the homes of Mr. Jacobs, school janitor, and Fred C. Schnarr, expressman and father of Edward T. Schnarr. The area's first M.D., Dr. Fouch, lived opposite Bergendahl on Octavia St. Henry Harmon kept a caged bear at the rear of his saloon at Allendale Ave. and Redwood Road, Harmon's neighbor, Vernon Douglas, operated the first horse-drawn bus on Redwood Road when the nearest other choices were the Leona Heights or Fruitvale Ave. car lines. On Glenn Ave., now Brookdale, were the homes of Charles Grant; Mr.. Dietzman, the Civil War drummer boy, and Mr. Nygreen, who lived in a hexagonal-shaped house of four stories, with setback design and tapering to a point at the top. Continuing down Redwood Road on the east side there was H. E. Harwood, deputy county assessor, whose home adjoined the property of County Supervisor William B. Bridge, whose stately home has just been razed to make way for a modern multiple dwelling. It was the proud boast of Billie Bridge that Redwood Road would some day become the leading artery joining Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, and, as a Supervisor, he did much to improve this thoroughfare. From Carlsen's Grocery at Meadow St. and southward to the old County Road, now Foothill Blvd., there were about a dozen houses facing Redwood Road, plus a considerable settlement in the vicinity of Paxton Ave.

Open Fields

"On the high bluff at the end of Paxton Ave., overlooking Peralta Creek, was the site of the old Peralta adobe, where some of the first pages of Oakland's history were written. Don Luis Peralta received his land grant, embracing all of the Eastbay cities, from the King of Spain on Aug. 3, 1820. Some of the adobe bricks taken from this historic old adobe were used in the Scout Building in Dimond Park. 

Adobe bricks from the original Peralta home repurposed for a Boy Scouts building in Dimond Park

Beginning at Davis St., where large crowds used to gather on Sundays to watch the baseball games, and extending northward to School St., was an open tract of land that stretched all the way west to Humboldt St. where the homes of Elwitz, Baumgartner, Gregory, and others snuggled against the tree-lined Peralta Creek. This large tract with its double row of erect poplar trees bordering Redwood Road, remained a wide open field until the coming of contractor MacGregor and the modern idea of tract-building. North from School St. was the Grimes Grocery, followed by five Pleitner built homes occupied by James Russell, Henry Behrens, Henry Brandau, Henry Hansen and Joe Krelling. Behrens had a real estate office near the Fruitvale Southern Pacific Station. Krelling was the scenery painter at the Tivoli Theater. Continuing northward from the Lars Thompson property, now Quigley Lane, running along Redwood Road to the hilltop and extending back to the James J. Reilley estate, was a wide open field that later became the Fruitvale Addition. A kindly old gentleman named Manuel used to graze a herd of dairy cows the entire length of this pasture daily, and then drive them via School St. to Loretz's Dairy which adjoined the playground of Fruitvale School No. 1. Such was the picture of this area 50 years ago."

Guenoc Rancho

Today's highways that reach into Lake County from the south bisect the same area around Middletown as did the trails of the Spanish cattle barons and the wagon roads of early-day American settlers. "It wasn't long until the land of this area was desired for cattle raising," Henry Mauldin of Lakeport tells us. "Gold had not yet been discovered when George Roch was ceded the Guenoc Rancho on Aug. 8, 1845, by the Mexican government. The grant consisted of six leagues, or 21,220 acres, and was eventually approved by the Departmental Assembly on Sept. 26, 1845. This is the same grant to which Col. A. A. Ritchie and Paul S. Forbes filed claim to before the Board of Land Commissions on Jan. 27, 1852. They also filed a supplemental petition on Oct. 9 of the same year. The claim was confirmed by the board on Dec. 18, 1852, and as no appeal. was taken by the United States, their action became final and a patent was duly issued. The Guenoc Rancho lies only one mile north of Middletown. It is a full 10 miles east and west, and approximately seven miles north and south. All of Coyote Valley lies within its boundaries, as well as most of the farming land of the Detert Ranch. Among the streams flowing into the grant are the creeks of Gallagher, Coyote, Big Canyon, Cockerall, Harbin and Cassidy. Putah, Bucksnort and Butts Creeks flow out of the rancho eastward. Within this rancho is the Detert Reservoir or lake, and Lake McCreary. Elevation of the land varies from 970 feet in the east to 2,500 feet on Harbin Mountain in the west. The meaning of the name 'Guenoc' has never been fully determined, although it is thought to be of Indian origin from a tribe further down Putah Creek.

First Log Cabin

"The Indians of the entire Middletown area," continues Mauldin, "had their year-around home on the Guenoc Rancho. The village was on the present Mary A. Bowcher place. It was called Ole-yome, or Kee-la-yome - meaning old home. All other Indian sites within this territory were seasonal camps only. George Roch, acting as an agent for Jacob P. Leese, brother-in-law of General Vallejo, had cattle here as early as 1846. In 1850 Roch built a log cabin, apparently the first cabin in this area, where the stone house now stands in Coyote Valley. J. Broome Smith took over as agent in 1852, but soon was replaced by Robert waterman. Capt. R. Steele and Robert Sterling took Waterman's place and started the stone house in 1853. Mrs. Sterling was the first white woman to live in this territory. In 1853 J. M. Hamilton took over. The stone house was finished in 1854. The Hammack Party stopped over for a few days at the corrals of this, rancho on their way to Rig Valley in 1854. At that time Col. A. A. Ritchie had only two men working the grant. These two men tried to drive the Hammack Party off the premises, thinking them to be land jumpers. In the late 1850s there were many who insisted the grant was not legal, and several families settled on the lands. But when the title to the land grant was declared legal by the courts these little settlers were all forced to move on. That was in 1860. Their cabins have since disappeared.

Ghost Town

"Not long after the small settlers on Guenoc were forced to go elsewhere, the legal owners decided to sell the grant. The land was purchased and divided by many newcomers to the area. It wasn't long after this that fences and roads began to make an appearance. The store of Herrick & Getz, the first in the lower end of Lake County, was started near the site of the stone house and after a few years was moved to Lower Lake. The town of Guenoc started about 1866 at a point just east of the State Highway, on the south side of Putah Creek and at the end of the steel bridge over this stream in Coyote Valley. That same year Strader & Clark opened the first store in Guenoc, and O. Armstrong followed with a saloon. The Odd Fellows put up a hall here which was moved to Middletown in 1871. There was also a blacksmith shop, and several dwellings. The hotel built in Guenoc was moved to Spiers Springs. When Middletown started up in 1870 and 1871 the town of Guenoc moved bag and baggage to the new location. Some of the old town's buildings were torn down and moved, others rotted away over the years. It is said that one of the present small buildings at this site is an original home in the old town. Outside of occasional flareups at different mines, Guenoc, is the only ghost town in Lake County of any consequence. Most of the rancho has been retained in large acreage, considering such a statement from Lake County standards. The largest ranch in the county, the present Detert Ranch, lies mostly within its boundaries. About 6,500 acres of the Detert Ranch was once purchased by Lillian Langtry, the 'Jersey Lily,' a world famous actress and beauty who lived here in 1888. The house in which she lived is in fine condition and is in use today. One of the oldest Grange organizations in California is located oi this grant, and its modern hall helps to serve the needs of the community. School was maintained for years in Coyote Valley, the last one being on a site between the State Highway and Putah Creek about one-quarter mile northwest of the steel bridge. It was abandoned only a few years ago in favor of a larger school at Middletown..."

John Bidwell

As past historian for Piedmont Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Alicia Compton Methmann is constantly on the watch for interesting recollections of pioneer Americans. It was she who called our attention to an article by John Bidwell in the November, 1890, issue of Century magazine. The article abounds with interesting incidents which marked the beginning of an important era in American history. John Bidwell was a California. pioneer of. 1841. He arrived in Monterey when not more than 100 Americans lived in all of California. "But the initial movement of his journey across the trackless plains and mountains into the new El Dorado began in 1840," Mrs. Methmann points out. "Members of the party, in which he was a leading spirit, met at Sapling Grove, Kan., in May of 1840. At this place of rendezvous a count of noses determined that the party consisted of 69 men, women and children. And such is the sanguine faith of youth and human enterprise that they made all preparations for the western journey but forgot entirely that a guide was necessary to direct them over the Rockies," she comments. Now for some words by John Bidwell. "In five days after my arrival," he wrote, "we were ready to start, but no one knew where to go, net even the captain. Finally a man came up, one of the last to arrive, and announced that a company of Catholic missionaries were on their, way from St. Louis to the Flathead Nation of Indians with an old Rocky Mountaineer for a guide, and that if we would wait another day they would be up with us. At first we were independent, and thought we could not afford to wait for a slow missionary party. But when we found that no one knew the way to go, we sobered down and waited for them to come up; and it was well we did, for otherwise probably not one of us would ever have reached California, because of our inexperience.

Regretful Goodbye

"Afterwards," Bidwell continued, "when we came in contact with Indians, our people were so easily excited that if we had not had with us an old mountaineer, the result would certainly have been disastrous. The name of our guide was Captain Fitzpatrick. He had been at the lead of trapping parties in the Rocky Mountains for many years. He and his missionary party went with us as for as Soda Springs, now in Idaho Territory (1890), where they turned north. to the Flathead Nation. The party consisted of three Roman Catholic priests - Father DeSmet, Father Pont, Father Mengariniand - 10 or 11 French Canadians, and accompanying them were an old mountaineer named John Gray and a young Englishman named Romaine, and also a man also a named Baker. They seemed glad to have us with them, and we were certainly glad to have their company. Father DeSmet had been to the Flathead Nation before. He had gone out with a trapping party and on his return had traveled with only a guide by another route, farther to the north and through hostile tribes. He was genial, of fine presence, and one of the saintliest men I have ever known, and I cannot wonder than the Indians were made to believe he was divinely protected. He was a man of great kindness and goodness and great affability under all circumstances. Nothing seemed to disturb his temper. The Canadians had mules and Red River carts, instead of wagons and horses; two mules to each cart - five or six of them - and in case of steep hills they would hitch three or four of the animals to one cart, always working tandem. Sometimes a cart would go over, breaking everything in it to pieces; and at such time Father DeSmet would be just the same, beaming with good humor." Captain Fitzpatrick led the train of emigrants across the plains, always riding in advance. At Soda Springs on the northernmost bend of Bear River, the party separated, the missionaries branching off to where their destination lay, about 50 miles northward. "After getting all the information we could from Captain Fitzpatrick," continues Bidwell, "we regretfully bade goodbye to our fellow-emigrants, and to Father DeSmet and his party." The fellow-emigrants alluded to comprised a portion of the party who concluded to with the missionaries to Fort Hall and thence to Oregon by the Snake and Columbia Rivers.

Do You Remember?

A. R. McPhail wonders if there is anyone who remembers when the Produce Markets were on 11th St. between Broadway and Washington. "This street was a scene of great activity in the early morning hours, and I recall walking along here when I was a small boy and watching the hustle and bustle; with horse-drawn trucks and wagons backed up to the sidewalks. Later the produce merchants moved to the block on 11th St. between Webster and Harrison, still later moving to their present location at the lower end of Franklin St. Does any one remember a church that stood on the northwest corner of 12th and Brush Streets? When I was a messenger boy I would be sent to this church for the morning service. My duty was to work a lever that would pump the organ while the singing was in progress. When not employed I had to sit by the lever, and when given the word to go, I would pump away. It was fast and furious work, and I was always glad when the speaking started so I could relax. Does anyone remember the little public library that was located back of the old city hall on 14th St.? I really lived at that place. It was wonderful to read the works of Dumas and be one of the three musketeers. When I think back to that little building and then see our new big public library, it astounds me. You could put the old building in one corner of the new one. Nevertheless, the old library played an important part in our young days. I am very grateful for the knowledge I took from the books there." THE KNAVE

Knave - Redwood Road - Oakland Tribune - Sunday, December 02, 1956