Mount Diablo Beacon

 

For millennia, humans have dreamed of flight. From ancient myths like Daedalus and Icarus to the designs of Leonardo Da Vinci, to Superman, humans have always wanted to fly like a bird. Almost every culture has stories of human flight. With the first human flight in a balloon by Etienne Montgolfier on October 15, 1783, the dream of human flight was realized, if not exactly like a bird. As early as 559 CE, attempts had been made at heavier than air flight, using a variety of kites, wings, and gliders, most with varying degrees of failure. The first manned glider flight was in 1853, and Otto Lilienthal made the first controlled glider flight in 1891. Lighter than air flight progressed, with the invention of the blimp in 1852 and the zeppelin in 1900, but heavier than air, powered, controlled flight remained elusive. It wasn’t until the Wright Brothers’ flight on December 17, 1903 that powered, controlled, heavier than air flight was achieved.

With the Wright Brothers’ success came an aviation explosion. Militaries around the world were interested in the new-dangled hydroplanes. Balloons had been used in military roles as early 1794 and by the American Civil War, had come into regular use as observation platforms. Balloons had two distinct disadvantages however, they were large and to be effective observation posts, they were tethered in place, making them rather conspicuous targets for the enemy. Airplanes suffered from neither of these drawbacks, they were small, fast, and maneuverable; making them perfect for reconnaissance missions. The US Army purchased a one of a kind Wright Model A for the Signal Corps in 1909, marking the beginning of military aviation. In 1909, the French Air Force was established. In 1910, the Imperial German Army established the Imperial German Flying Service. In 1911, the US Navy purchased it’s first plane, the Italian Air Force was founded, as was the Imperial Russian Air Service. In 1912 the Royal Flying Corps was founded.

This was the era of “Those Magnificent Men and their Flying Machines”. Competitions were held beginning in 1909 and many early speed and endurance records were made. There was growing fascination with these flying machines and those who flew them. The first Aeronautical Competition in the United States was held in Los Angeles in 1910. A year later, the Italians sent the airplane to war in the Italio-Turkish War of 1911, where they use airplanes for reconnaissance and bombing missions. It wouldn’t be long before airplanes became a staple of warfare.

In 1914, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, plunged the Europe into World War 1. This was when aerial combat came into its own and armed fighter aircraft, bombers, and reconnaissance aircraft were developed. The term “ace” was introduced for the first time, by the French to describe a pilot who had five or more victories, Certain planes became legendary, the Fokker DIII, the Albatross, the Sopwith Camel, the Fokker DR 1, and the Nieuport 17. This is when pilots became famous, Manfred von Richthofen, Max Immelmann, Ernst Udet, Eddie Rickenbacker, Rene Fonck, Werner Voss, and a young pilot named Hermann Goering.

When the war ended, many of the pilots who survived went on to help develop faster and safer planes. Air shows and competitions became popular and the airplane once more captured the public’s attention; particularly in the United States. In 1919 the US Navy Seaplane NC-4 completed the first trans-Atlantic flight from Long Island to Lisbon. As early as 1911, the US Postal Department experimented with using airplanes to transport mail and on May 15, 1918, the US Airmail Service was established. The creation of the airmail service accomplished two goals, the faster and more efficient transport of the mail and the expansion of civil aviation which, in turn, led to the training of new pilots.

There was a problem, due to the lack of aeronautical aids to navigation, especially those suited for night flying, airmail was placed on trains at night, adding valuable time to it’s delivery. A solution was at hand, in 1923, Congress authorized the Transcontinental Airway System, a series of concrete landmarks, beacons and emergency airfields that would stretch from coast to coast. By 1925, the airway extended from New York to San Francisco and by 1933 the airway was complete covering 18,000 miles and consisting of 1,500 beacons. This “highway in the sky” reduced the delivery time of transcontinental mail to be reduced by two business days.

In 1928, Standard Oil built five aviation beacons on the west coast as part of the system. They were located in Seattle, Portland, Mount Diablo, Los Angeles, and San Diego. The Mt. Diablo beacon is the only one still remaining and functional. The signal to light the beacons was given by Charles Lindbergh on April 15, 1928. Originally atop of a 75 foot steel tower, the light was moved to the top of the summit building by the Civilian Conservation Corps in April of 1941. The Mt. Diablo beacon could be seen for 150 miles and was one of the terminal beacons for the Transcontinental Airway. The beacon remained in service until December 8, 1941, when it was extinguished as precaution against a possible Japanese attack. It remained extinguished until December 7, 1964 when Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz attended a memorial relighting ceremony to honor those who lost their lives at Pearl Harbor. He suggested the beacon be lit every December 7^th as a memorial. Since then it has been lit, every December 7^th as a memorial to those who lost their lives on that terrible day. Beginning in 2022, it is also lit on Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day. By 1973, the Transcontinental Airway System was obsolete and it was dismantled. While many of the concrete arrow landmarks still survive, the beacon on Mt. Diablo is one of the few surviving operational relics of the beginning of commercial aviation routes.

French Camp

 

        In front of an elementary school in an unincorporated community near Stockton; there is a California State Historic Marker, placed by the California State Parks Commission, partially in cooperation with the Native Daughters of the Golden West.  It recognizes the community of French Camp as a historic place as the terminus of the Oregon-California Trail and as a camp used by traders and trappers of the Hudson’s Bay Company, at one time one of, if not the largest fur trading corporation in the world. 

The text of the plaque reads: 

“Here was the terminus of the Oregon-California Trail used from about 1832 to 1845 by the French-Canadian trappers employed by the Hudson's Bay Company. Every year Michel La Framboise, among others, met fur hunters camped with their families here. In 1844 Charles M. Weber and William Gulnac promoted the first white settlers' colony on Rancho del Campo de los Franceses, which included French Camp and the site of Stockton.”

As early as 1493, Spain laid claim to all the lands 100 leagues west of the Azores based on the Papal Bull “Inter Caetera” issued by Pope Alexander IV.  This bull gave Spain a monopoly to colonize the lands west of the 100 league line.  In the next year, Pope Alexander VI mediated the Treaty of Tordesillas between Spain and Portugal which moved the demarcation line between the two countries’  respective spheres of colonization to 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands, granting Brazil to Portugal and the rest of the “New World” to Spain.  With Balboa’s sighting of the Pacific Ocean in 1513,  Spain had a solid claim to the west coasts of North and South America.  It wasn’t until Cabrillo and Bartolome Ferrelo’s  voyages in 1542-43 that Spain made any attempt to see how far their claim actually went and what it might contain. Later voyages in the 1700’s by Juan Perez and Bruno de Hecta kept Spain’s claims viable. 

Spain was not alone in laying claim to the Pacific Coast.  England based it’s claims to parts of the Pacific Coast on the voyages of Sir Francis Drake and George Vancouver.  Russia claimed parts of the Pacific Coast too, based on the 1728 and 1741 voyages of Vitus Bering.  The United States also claimed parts of the area based on the 1792 voyage of Robert Grey and the overland expedition of Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery as well as John Jacob Astor’s establishment of Fort Astoria in 1811.  With all these competing claims, conflict was inevitable.  When the Spanish captured four British ships in 1789 in Nooka Sound near Vancouver Island, Great Britain threatened war, leading to what what was called the “Nootka Crisis”.  Spain quickly negotiated a settlement and relinquished its exclusive claims to the Pacific Coast.  By 1824, both Russia and Spain had given up their claims to the Pacific Northwest.

Why did these counties all want a piece of the Pacific Coast?  Well, for trade with the native tribes, for a harbor on the Pacific to facilitate trade with China and the rest of Asia, and most importantly, for the vast natural resources of the region one of the most valuable of which were the pelts of fur bearing animals.  Before the Gold Rush, the main impetus for coming to California was trade.  The Russian American Company established Fort Ross as both a trading and agricultural supply post for its outposts in Alaska.  John Jacob Astor established Fort Astoria and an outpost for his Pacific Fur Company and the Hudson’s Bay Company established Fort Vancouver on the north bank of the Columbia River.  American, British, and French-Canadian trappers and mountain men combed the Cascades, Sierra Nevada, Coast Ranges, Willamette, and Central Valleys for otter and beaver which were becoming scarce further east. Meanwhile, at sea, seals and sea otters were hunted from the Aleutian Islands to Baja California.  

With the absorption of the North West Company in 1821, the Hudson’s Bay Company had a monopoly on the fur trade in British North America.  Its agents roamed from the Rockies to the Pacific, from the Arctic Ocean to California’s San Joaquin Valley searching for beaver and otter and trading with the Native tribes.  Fort Umpqua was established in Southern Oregon in 1836 and, in 1841, the Hudson’s Bay Company opened a store in Yerba Buena.  French Camp arguably was the southernmost extent of the Company’s activities in California.  Beginning in about 1832, Michel La Framboise, a French-Canadian “voyageur” hired by the Hudson’s Bay Company made annual visits to French Camp as the leader of several fur hunting expeditions.  In fact La Framboise had been warned against taking beaver in California in 1834 and in 1835; General Mariano Vallejo warned him to leave and stay out of California altogether.  Eventually, the activities of the “Spanish Brigade” as the company of Hudson’s Bay men were called, became bothersome not only to Vallejo, but to John A. Sutter and Dr. John Marsh, both of whom complained to the government and demanded that something be done.  As a result, the governor placed a duty on furs taken in California and by 1842, the HBC trappers withdrew.

The fur trade was one of the major impetuses for the westward expansion of the United States and the early exploration as settlement of the Pacific Coast.  However, it was not to last.  By 1846, the Hudson’s Bay Company withdrew from California and the Oregon Treaty was signed ending the dispute between Great Britain and the United States over their competing claims.  In the treaty, the HBC was allowed to continue operating Fort Vancouver, on the Columbia, but the Company abandoned the fort in 1860.  By the late 1800’s many of the fur bearing animals had been hunted to near extinction.  Due to the decline of fur bearing mammals, the United States, Great Britain, Russia, and Japan signed the North Pacific Fur Seal Convention of 1911,  which was the first international treaty concerned with wildlife conservation.  This led to the Fur Seal Act of 1966 which extended protection to sea otters and the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, which prohibits the taking of any marine mammal in United States waters and by any US citizen on the high seas, with a very few permitted exemptions. Today, the Hudson’s Bay Company continues as a retail company in Canada and in 1943, the HBC renamed its fur trading division as the “Northern Stores Division”, and in 1987 the “Northern Stores Division” was sold and became a new “North West Company” and operates stores in northwest Canada and Alaska.  The “California Fur Rush” only lasted a few short years, but it is remembered in a few places, like French Camp, and it’s legacy are some of the first wildlife protection laws in history.

GETTING THERE: From 414 Mason Street:  Get on I-80 East.  Take exit 8B onto I-580 East. After 45 miles stay left onto I-205 toward Tracy and Stockton.  Merge onto I-5 N.  Take exit 467A onto Eldorado Street.  Turn right onto East Mathews Road, continue onto Ash Street.  Turn left onto French Camp Road and then right onto Elm Street.  The marker will be on your right.  It is about a two hour drive from San Francisco.

Fort Humboldt

Sitting on a windswept bluff above Eureka sit the remains of one of the most important military outposts on the west coast.  There isn’t much there today, a couple of buildings, one of which is a reconstruction, some informational signs and an outdoor exhibit of logging equipment; but in it’s heyday, Fort Humboldt played an important part in the military history of the west coast and of the United States.

The end of the Mexican War and the discovery of gold brought sweeping changes to California.  Before the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill, emigration to California had all but come to a standstill, partially due to the press reports of the ill-fated Donner-Reed Party and the start of the Mexican War.  Yet, the situation changed with President Polk’s announcement in his December 5th State of the Union address that: 

It was known that mines of the precious metals existed to a considerable extent in California at the time of its acquisition. Recent discoveries render it probable that these mines are more extensive and valuable than was anticipated. The accounts of the abundance of gold in that territory are of such an extraordinary character as would scarcely command belief were they not corroborated by the authentic reports of officers in the public service who have visited the mineral district and derived the facts which they detail from personal observation.

Argonauts from around the world began making their way to California.  These individuals fanned out across the state, looking for gold in every stream and river.  Before long, the prospectors, miners, gold seekers, traders, and con-men who rushed into California came into conflict with the Californios and Indigenous People who already lived here.  More importantly, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo guaranteed that the United States would respect the “property, language, and culture” of Mexicans now living in the United States.  As a result, many of the United States army troops who had fought in Mexico now found themselves being sent to California to perform garrison duty and to shore up United States control of the land at the edge of the continent.

The discovery of gold on the Trinity River by Major Pierson B. Reading, for whom the City of Redding is named, in July of 1848 opened what had once been a remote area of California to non-indigenous settlement and in 1849 and 1850 thousands of gold seekers entered the area.  With the influx of new people came inevitable conflict.  The Europeans and others who flooded the area soon had a multitude of gold claims almost entirely without Indigenous permission or consideration for the traditional boundaries of tribal settlement.  There were violent clashes between the Indigenous peoples and the interlopers.  The devastation wreaked upon the Indigenous people of the area is well documented and is deserving of a more detailed telling than I have room for here; suffice to say that depending on the tribe and the estimate, 75 to 95% of the Indigenous population died through a combination of disease, competition for resources, starvation, and outright murder.

In January 1853,  Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Robert C. Buchanan and the 4th US Infantry arrived to establish Fort Humboldt and mediate between the native and settlers in the region.  By 1857 there were 14 buildings situated on the bluff overlooking Humboldt Bay.  The Army’s mission to bring peace between the European settlers and Indigenous tribes was hampered from the beginning.  The settlers in the area wanted the Native Peoples removed to reservations and did not support the idea of the military authorities negotiating with the tribes.  Seven treaties were negotiated and signed with the tribes who lived between Clear Lake and the Klamath River.  None of those treaties were ever ratified and the Natives never received any of the land nor any other considerations which were contained in the treaties.

While unsuccessfully trying to maintain a sustainable peace between the settlers, gold seekers and the native peoples, Fort Humboldt also served as a supply depot for many other forts and outposts in Northern California and Southern Oregon.  On January 5, 1854, Captain Ulysses S Grant arrived at Fort Humboldt to serve as the Quartermaster and take command of Company F, 4th Infantry.  Grant and Buchanan did not get along and the tedium of garrison duty did not sit well with Grant.  He was a newly wed and missed his wife and he felt very isolated and depressed.  He often rode to a nearby tavern and found solace in drink. After being reprimanded, Grant resigned his commission effective July 31, 1854 and went home.  Grant was not the only soon to be famous officer to be stationed at Fort Humboldt,  Gabriel Rains, who became a Confederate Brigadier General, George R. Crook who rose to fame during the Civil and Indian Wars, and Dr. Lafayette Guild, who became Medical Director of the Army of Northern Virginia, all served at Fort Humboldt.  

On February 26, 1860, one of the darkest incidents in the History of California occurred, one that the garrison of Fort Humboldt was supposed to prevent.  On that day, a goup of “vigilantes”, calling themselves the “Humboldt Volunteers, Second Brigade” attacked and massacred 80-250 Wiyot people who lived on Tuluwat Island in Humboldt Bay.  Called the “Indian Island Massacre”, this event showed just how ineffective the US Army was at protecting the native people.  The many of the survivors  of the massacre were put in “protective custody” at Fort Humboldt and eventually transferred Klamath River Reservation.  The island was then owned and ranched by European settlers.  It was also the site of a shipyard. In 2019, the City of Eureka deeded the island back to the Wiyot people.

With the coming of the Civil War, the regular US Army troops were withdrawn from Fort Humboldt.  The fort was garrisoned by units of the California Volunteers.  In 1866, the US Army re-garrisoned the fort and it was abandoned in 1867.  As surplus land it was sold to WS Cooper in 1893, the Cooper family owned the site of the fort and it’s one remaining building until 1923, when Mrs. Laura Cooper donated the land to the City of Eureka as a public park.  In 1955, Eureka deeded the site to the state and Fort Humboldt became a state historic park in 1963.  The park is open from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM daily.

Henry Clay and California

 

    On September 9, 1850, California was admitted into the United States. For years, Americans had been settling in the Mexican territory, many to trade, some to begin new lives. Men like Jedidiah Smith, Dr. John Marsh, Robert Semple, John Bidwell, John Bartleson. and others made the long and arduous trek to the Mexican territory. Even before Mexican Independence, there were men, like Andrew Jackson, who believed that the United States should rightfully possess all of “Spanish North America”. By the time of the discovery of gold, fewer than 1000 Americans lived in California. The entire population of Alta California was around 160,000, the vast majority of whom were native peoples. The United States expressed interest in California, primarily as a point of access to the Pacific Ocean as early as 1844, yet until the end of the Mexican War nothing much came of the dreams of the proponents of “Manifest Destiny”.

    Of course, the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill and the subsequent events changed all of that. An estimated three hundred thousand of gold seekers, the “49ers”, the “Argonauts” flooded the newly acquired region in search of wealth and adventure. The flood of gold stabilized the US economy and drove the desire that California should enter the Union. There were issues however, the United States was unraveling. Missouri entering as a slave state in 1820, the tariff and nullification crisis of 1828 and the annexation of Texas had all caused threats of disunion and civil war. Each of these resulted in a compromise which delicately held the Union together. In 1849, President Zachary Taylor urged leading Californians to write a constitution and apply for statehood as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, California, New Mexico, and the Latter Day Saints in the Great Salt Lake area all applied for statehood nearly simultaneously. There was almost no chance that three free states would be admitted to the Union at once and there were issues surrounding New Mexico’s boundary with Texas and with the practice of polygamy in the proposed state of Deseret. There was one man who could possibly get California admitted to the Union, the man who, as Speaker of the House, had crafted the Missouri Compromise, who had ended the Nullification Crisis, who had crafted the American System of internal improvements and that was Henry Clay of Kentucky.

    Henry Clay was born in 1777 in Virginia, the son of a Baptist minister. His father died in 1781 and his mother remarried. Clay learned how to read and write and his hand writing caught the attention of Virginia jurist George Withe, who was Thomas Jefferson’s mentor. Clay read law under Withe’s tutelage and was admitted to the Bar in Kentucky and Virginia in 1791. Clay began his political career in 1803 in the Kentucky legislature and eventually become a US Representative, Senator, Secretary of State and presidential candidate. He would be known as “The Great Compromiser” and play an important part in the three major compromises of the 1800’s that delayed the Civil War.

    To solve the issues surrounding the admission of California into the Union, Clay originally proposed eight resolutions. Eventually, the Compromise of 1850 consisted of five separate statutes, one admitting California into the union, one settling Texas’s debts and settling the boundaries of Texas, one establishing a new fugitive slave law, one ending the slave trade in Washington DC, and finally one creating two new territories, New Mexico and Utah and allowing the territories to decide whether or not to allow slavery. The bills were signed into law by President Millard Fillmore on September 9, 1850. There was jubilation, not only in California, but in the whole United States as many thought that the disputes that had led to threatened civil war had finally been put to rest; but in reality the crisis had only been forestalled.

    In 1806, Henry Clay purchased a 672 acre estate he named Ashland for the many ash trees on the property. Located near Lexington, conveniently close to his law office it has been preserved as a memorial to Henry Clay and his family who lived on the estate until 1950. Clay himself died in Washington DC in 1852 believing that his final compromise has saved the country from civil war. While Clay was alive, he took an active role in the running of the estate, introducing new breeds of cattle, horses, and donkeys. Many race horses can trace their ancestry to Henry Clay’s stock today. Hw as also a gambler who once famously waived $40,000 he has once won after asking for $500 of it from the loser. His greatest gamble however, was the compromise that brought California into the Union and delayed the Civil War for ten years. Henry Clay, the statesman responsible for California’s statehood never once visited California, yet he, with some help from Stephen A. Douglas, can be considered the person who brought California into the United States.

    Ashland is located in Lexington, Kentucky at 120 Sycamore Road. For more information about tours, exhibits and hours please visit their website at: www.henryclay.org

Sam Kee Laundry

There is an unprepossessing building in Napa, located at 1245 Main street, which has a rather checkered history. Originally built as the Pfeiffer Building in 1875, it is the oldest commercial and oldest stone building in the city of Napa. It has been part of a brewery, a boarding house and alleged bordello, a saloon, a laundry involved in a famous series of court cases, a meat market and deli, and most recently, a wine tasting bar.

The Pfieffer Building was built by Phillip Pfeiffer and was part of Barth’s Bavarian Brewery, arguably the first brewery in Napa. By 1901, it housed the “Old Stone Saloon” and in 1937, Sam Kee moved his laundry business into the building. The building housed the Sam Kee laundry until 1977, when the business, then owned by Bik Wong, closed its doors for good, the last remnant of a Chinatown and Chinese laundries in Napa. It then housed Andrews Meat Market and Deli until 2002 when Vintner’s Collective moved in. The building was heavily damaged in the 2014 Earthquake and rebuilt.

While all of this is important, Sam Kee and his business were very important in United States legal history. In the mid 1800s, Chinese immigrants to the United States were generally well received. There was a labor shortage, especially in California and the Chinese who came here filled the gap. This was not to last long. Competition in the Gold Fields and the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, meant that there were thousands of young Chinese men who were willing to work for lower wages than Americans. This led to a rapid rise in anti-Chinese discrimination, especially in California and the western states. After California passed a series of anti-Chinese laws, many of which were soon found unconstitutional, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which forbid any immigration from China and forbade citizenship to Chinese immigrants. This was a stark reversal of the Burlingame Treaty of thirty tears earlier which allowed Chinese people to immigrate freely to the United States.

In the wake of the Chinese Exclusion Act, many cities and towns began to pass “nuisance” laws, that while being non-discriminatory on their face, were applied almost exclusively to the Chinese residents of the city or town. Napa was one of these. In 1887, Sam Kee was arrested and fined for operating a “public laundry” within the city of Napa. A recently enacted municipal ordinance declared that public laundries were a “nuisance” and the operator would be fined 100 dollars or put in jail for refusal to pay the fine, “not to exceed one day for each dollar of the fine”. Sam Kee refused to pay the fine and was subsequently jailed. He then asked the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals for a Writ of Habeus Corpus. Habeus Corpus was granted in In Re Sam Kee, 31 F. 680 (9th Cir. 1887) because the US Supreme Court had recently decided Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U.S. 356, 6 S. Ct. 1064 (1886) and the Ninth Circuit had previously decided The Stockton Laundry Case, 26 F. 611 (9th Cir. 1886). Both of these cases declared “nuisance laws” in violation of the 14^th Amendment of the United States when disproportionately applied to Chinese businesses.

In the opinion of the court, it was noted that the laundry had been operating in Napa for twenty years and that Sam Kee had been its owner for eight. Thus, the building Phillip Pfeiffer had built in 1875 housed a business not only with a long history in Napa, but also one that played a small part in ending discrimination against Chinese. It wouldn’t be until 1943 that the Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed, but the striking of “nuisance laws” was a first step.

GETTING THERE: From 414 Mason Street: Take Interstate 80 East toward Sacramento and then take Exit 33 onto CA-37W; then take Exit 19 onto CA-29N toward Napa. Take CA-221N and then stay on Soscol Avenue. Follow Soscol Avenue to Clinton Street. Turn left on Clinton Street and the building will be four blocks up on the left hand side.

 

Petaluma Adobe

 

Located in the City of Petaluma on the banks of Adobe Creek sits the remains of the largest privately owned rancho in Northern California, Rancho Petaluma. The Petaluma River Valley had long been home of the Coast Miwok. The valley had a mild climate, abundant fresh water and wildlife, fertile soil and it’s proximity to the San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean made the valley an ideal place for the Coast Miwok to settle. For centuries before European contact, the Coast Miwok lived in this resource rich area.

The establishment of Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma in 1823, forever changed the lives of the Coast Miwok in the area. Villages were emptied and the indigenous people became part of the mission system. Yet, the area north of San Francisco was sparsely populated for some time. That began to change with the establishment of Fort Ross, the Russian outpost on the coast in 1812. When Mexico became independent of Spain in 1821, foreign trade was tolerated and, in some cases, encouraged. However the new Mexican Republic became very wary of “foreign influence”. The passage of the Decree for the Secularization off the Missions of California by the Congress of the First Mexican Republic in 1833 was an attempt to lessen the Spanish influence of the mission system.

In 1834, Governor Jose Figueroa ordered Mariano G. Vallejo, the Commandant of the Presidio of San Francisco, to move north, secularize the mission of San Francisco de Solano in Sonoma, and establish a military presence north of San Francisco in order to counter Russian expansion from Fort Ross. Figueroa also granted Vallejo the initial 44,000 acres of what would become Rancho de Petaluma; partially as a reward for his service and partially to provide a means of support for the military presence north of San Francisco Bay.

Vallejo began construction on what would become his Petaluma Adobe in 1836. Rather than have numerous small building scattered over the rancho lands, Vallejo decided to build one large building to house workshops and living quarters. Construction, expansion and improvement continued over the next ten years and the Petaluma Adobe became the largest privately owned adobe building in California. At its height, Rancho Petaluma employed 600-2000 laborers including Californios, local Miwok, Hawaiians, and others. The primary economic activity was cattle ranching, but there was also sheep ranching, grain farming, a grist mill, a blacksmith’s shop, harvesting and weaving of wool, and candle making.

With the Bear Flag Revolt and the Mexican American War, the Rancho Petaluma became less and less profitable. General Vallejo sold and subdivided much of the land and in 1857 sold the remaining land and the building to William Whiteside. In 1859, Whiteside deeded the property to local attorney, William D. Bliss. In 1910, the Bliss family wanted to donate the adobe and seven acres of property to the City of Petaluma to be used as a public park. Petaluma Parlor #27 acquired the property in March of 1910 and maintained it until 1951 when it was deeded to the state.

The Adobe currently is in need of more restoration and it is open to the public. Various rooms hold authentic artifacts to illustrate what life was like during the Ranch Era. The Park hosts various school and living history groups during the year.

Getting there: From San Francisco: Take US 101N to Exit 472B to CA-116 East. Follow CA-116 East to the entrance to the park.

For further information please contact: Petaluma Adobe State Historic Park

3325 Adobe Road Petaluma, California 94954

(707) 762-4871

Oakland Museum of California

 

  

  Over two years ago, when the lock-downs for the COVID-19 pandemic began, I wrote a column naming several museums and historic landmarks around the state which had online exhibitions, virtual tours and other online resources for people to visit from the safety of their homes. Admittedly, most online museum tours, exhibitions, or galleries simply not the same as physically visiting the place and viewing the items. One of the museums which I listed was the Oakland Museum of California, which has a large part of many of its collections available for online perusal. The Oakland Museum is unique in that it showcases the natural history, history, and art of our beloved state, often with a focus on the interaction of people in California and groups who have been underrepresented in the “standard” historical narrative.

    The Oakland Museum was created by amalgamating three separate museums, the Oakland Public Museum, the Oakland Art Gallery, and the Snow Museum of Natural History. Each of these museums had a focus upon one of three areas, California History, California Art, and California’s Natural History so it seemed natural to combine the three museums into one. The eventual merger of the three museums began in 1954 when the boards of the three organizations formed a non-profit to merge the institutions into one. In 1961, the voters authorized a bond issue to build a new home for the combined museum and, in 1969, the museum opened its doors. Created during the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Power Movement, and the anti-Viet Nam War protests, the new museum’s goal was to be more inclusive, more “a people’s museum”, more interactive, and more “open”. This approach was not without controversy and still guides the museum’s overall mission to this day.

    After you enter the museum, I suggest that you go to the California History Gallery first. There you will find a number of displays telling the story of our state from the indigenous people, to first contact, to the Spanish Era, the Mexican Era, the Gold Rush, the coming of the railroads, the growth of the movie industry, petroleum, and agriculture, to the growth of the electronics and technology industry and beyond. Of special interest are the exhibits on the contact between the indigenous peoples and the early Spanish, the Gold Rush and the effects of the railroads. In each of these exhibits, the curators do an excellent job of not only presenting the history but of telling of the interaction between groups and cultures, and how that created the society in which we live.

    Next is the Natural History Gallery. Here the curator has decided to begin with the physical geography of California and then the rest of the collection is divided by geographic area. There are exhibits on coastal regions, the Sierra Nevada, the Central Valley, the deserts, the Bay Area and even the Sierra Buttes. One of the highlights, for me at least, was an exhibit on what happened to the oaks which gave Oakland its name and how their fate was unplanned, unforeseen, and serves as a cautionary tale for environmental preservation.

    Finally, there is the California Art Gallery. This can be considered, alongside the History Gallery, the “gem” of the museum. First, the museum is the repository of the Dorothea Lange archive and has a display of many of her photographs. It is also home to Albert Bierstadt’s 1868 painting of the Yosemite Valley, William Keith’s 1878 painting of the King’s River Valley, and Henry Raschen’s “California Miner with a Pack Horse”. There is also an exhibition on Edith Heath and Heath Ceramics, a retrospective on Hung Liu, and works from many contemporary artists and craftspeople. What is displayed in the gallery is but a fraction of the museum’s holdings and the staff rotates exhibits on a regular basis.

    So, now for the important items. The cost to enter the museum is $16.00 per adult 18 years of age or older. For Seniors, 65 and older the cost is $11.00. Youths between the ages of 13-17 pay just $7.00 and Children 12 years of age and younger are free. There is an additional $5.00 charge for any “special exhibitions”. The Museum is currently open Wednesdays through Sundays 11:00-5:00 with extended hours on Fridays until 9:00 pm. It is closed on various holidays and public observances. Please check the museum’s website at: https://museumca.org/ for further information and to purchase tickets. Be advised that the museum still requires masks, proof of vaccination, and social distancing at this time.

Getting There: The Oakland Museum of California is easily reached by BART. The station nearest the museum is Lake Merritt which is on the Orange Line. If you take BART. You exit the station and walk one block east on Oak Street from 9^th to 10^th Street. The Museum’s address is 1000 Oak Street.

If you are driving from 414 Mason Street: Cross the Bay Bridge and take 580 East to 980 West/Downtown Oakland. Take the Jackson Street exit; you will be on 5th Street. Continue straight on 5th Street to the third stoplight (Oak Street). Turn left and continue on Oak to 10th Street.

The OMCA garage is located at 1000 Oak St. with entrances on Oak and 12th Streets. Parking fees are $5 per hour with an early-bird discounted flat rate of $20 (in before 10 am, out before 5 pm). Those parking before 8 am and leaving before 10 am will pay the regular incremental rate.

The Museum has a café and a gift shop.

Fortuna

 

 On the northeast bank of the Eel River, four and one half hours north of San Francisco lies the city of Fortuna. It is the third largest city in Humboldt County, the home to the annual Fortuna Rodeo and several other events. Before European settlement, the area where Fortuna is today was the home of members of the Wiyot Tribe, who named the area Vutsuwitk Da’l, after a legend where a young woman cooked eels for a young man with whom she was in love and threw the ashes of her cooking fire into the river where Fortuna now sits.

Fortuna was founded in 1874, and originally named “Slide” for a large earth slide nearby. In 1875, the town was called “Springville” after the construction of the Springville Lumber Mill and the numerous natural springs in the area. Because there was already another “Springville” in California, the post office, which opened in 1876 was named “Slide”, the original name of the town. In 1884, the citizens of the town petitioned the state legislature to change the name of the town to “Fortuna” after the Spanish word for “fortune” and in 1888, the petition was granted.

For years, the primary industries in Fortuna were lumber, ranching, fishing and farming. While, farming and ranching are still large industries in the area, fishing and lumber have been on the decline. Today, Fortuna is still dependent on ranching and farming but tourism is becoming more and more important too. The city hosts several events throughout the year from the Daffodil Festival in March, the Fortuna Rodeo and Redwood AutoXpo in July, the Apple Harvest Festival in October to the Lighted Parade in December, there is always something going on in or near Fortuna.

Nearby are the Humboldt Redwoods, Richardson Grove, and Grizzly Creek State parks, all of which preserve old growth redwood trees. Humboldt Redwoods State Park is home to the famed “Avenue of the Giants”. It and Grizzly Creek State Park were the forest moon of Endor in Return of the Jedi. In Fortuna itself is Rohner Park, home to the Fortuna Rodeo Grounds and the Depot Museum. The museum, housed in the former Northwestern Pacific Depot, built in 1889 and relocated to its present location in 1974, the museum has several displays tracing Fortuna’s history from the Native Wiyot people to the present era. It also houses the archive of the Humboldt Beacon newspaper, providing a valuable research collection for those who are interested. The museum is open from 12:00 pm – 4:30 pm Thursday through Sunday, September through May and daily in June through August. It is best to call the museum to make sure that it is open and staffed. (707) 725-7645. The museum is located at 3 Park Street, Fortuna, CA.

GETTING THERE: From 414 Mason Street, Get on US 101 N and drive north for approximately 4 hours, take exit 668 to 12^th Street in Fortuna. Turn right onto Main Street and then Left onto Park Street. The Museum will be on your right.

Since you may wish to spend the night in Fortuna, I can recommend the Redwood Riverwalk Hotel, 1859 Alamar Way in Fortuna. (707) 725-5500 and I can also suggest the Double D Steakhouse for dinner. 320 Main Street, (707) 725-3700.

Fort Ross Chapel

 

From the early 1600’s on, many European nations looked to “New World” as a potential source of wealth. The Empire of Russia began it’s colonization efforts in the 1741when Vitus Bering sighted the mainland of Alaska and claimed it for Russia. The first permanent Russian settlement in North America was founded on Kodiak Island in 1784. n 1808, the Russian-American Company established it’s headquarters, named New Archangel, on Sitka Island and looked to expand south. In 1812, Fort Ross was originally established to provide food for the Russian-American Company settlement in New Archangel and farming efforts never met demand.

Located in the stockade a small Russian Orthodox Chapel was built in the 1820’s to serve the spiritual needs of the Russian settlers and the native Kashaya Pomo, some of whom converted to Orthodoxy. For 30 years, the outpost remained under the control of the Russian American Company. In 1841, the Company decided to sell Fort Ross. The poor farming and the declining sea otter population made the Fort an economic drain on the Company. The Fort was sold to Captain John Sutter who sent John Bidwell to remove several buildings and moveable goods to his fort in the Sacramento Valley. On January 1, 1842, the Russian-American flag was lowered at Fort Ross and the remaining 100 Russian settlers set sail from Bodega Bay for Sitka.

Eventually, the Fort was sold to George W. Call in 1873 who established the 8,000 acre Call Ranch and ran a successful ranch and lumber business. Many of the Fort’s buildings were put to use, one as a hotel and saloon and another as a dance hall. The chapel was used for weddings and as a barn. In 1903, George Call sold 2.5 acres including the Fort to the California State Landmarks Commission. The Fort was deeded to the state in March of 1906. On April 18, 1906, the earthquake damaged the fort and destroyed the Chapel. Between 1916 and 1918, the Chapel was rebuilt. In 1925, the Chapel began to be used for Orthodox religious services for the first time since 1841 and on September 23, 1928 the Chapel was dedicated by the Historic Landmarks Committee of the Native Sons of the Golden West. The plaque reads:

“This Chapel was part of a settlement founded by the Russians in 1812 and known as Fort Ross. The Fort was in the form of a quadrangle, about 300 feet square, inclosed by a redwood wall, with two block-houses at opposite corners. Fort Ross contained fifty-nine buildings, nine of which, including this Chapel, were within the inclosure. The Russians withdrew in 1841, selling their improvements and stock to John A. Sutter of Sutter’s Fort. Property acquired by the State of California in 1906. Tablet placed by Historic Landmarks Committee, Native Sons of The Golden West, 1928”

The Chapel was granted National Historic Landmark status on October 8, 1969. On October 5, 1970, the Chapel was completely destroyed by an accidental fire.  It was taken off the list of National Historic Landmarks due to its destruction on December 7, 1971 and was reconstructed in 1973. The Calls owned and lived at the remainder of their ranch until 1973. The Chapel is still used for Orthodox services twice a year on July 4 and Memorial Day and is known as Holy Trinity Chapel.

Broderick-Terry Duel

 

  

  Dueling has been a part of the human experience since at least the Middle Ages if not before. Starting as the medieval trial by combat, dueling as a method to establish the guilt or innocence of a person or to defend their, or another party’s “honor”, has a long and checkered history. One of the earliest recorded trials by combat occurred in 630 in the Kingdom of the Lombards in Northern Italy. Trial by combat was first sanctioned in France by Louis the Pious in 803, and in the Holy Roman Empire by Otto The Great in 967. It had long existed in Saxon, Burgundian, Frankish, and Lombard legal codes and well as Irish Brehon law.

    Beginning in the 1100’s, trial by combat was gradually replaced by trial by jury and the two coexisted for some time. In 1215, article 29 of the Magna Carta guaranteed the right to a trial by jury in England, yet the last judicial combats were fought long after. France’s last trial by combat was in 1386, Italy had trial by combat as late as 1560, and it wasn’t until 1819 that Great Britain abolished wager by battle. By the 17th century, trial by combat was a relic of a more “superstitious and barbarous time” to paraphrase Edmund Burke.

    Dueling to settle private disputes and “affairs of honor” had always been considered quasi-legal at best, even if it was not directly outlawed. Here in what would become the United States, the first duel was fought in 1621 in Massachusetts Bay, not long after the founding of the colony. The idea of a duel resolve alleged slights and insults had become ingrained in European upper middle class and aristocratic culture for some time, but here in the United States, it took on a new dimension. Not only was dueling a method to settle “affairs of honor” but often political disputes were resolved via the duel. The most famous of these was the duel in which Vice-President Aaron Burr killed Alexander Hamilton at Weehawken on July 11, 1804, which later was immortalized in a famous “Got Milk” commercial. There were others, including a duel between Button Gwinnett, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and Lachlan McIntosh in 1777, in which Gwinnett was fatally wounded; a duel in 1806 between future president Andrew Jackson and Charles Dickinson, Dickinson was killed and Jackson became the only US president to have killed a man in a duel; a duel in 1820 between Stephen Decatur and James Barron, in which Decatur, hero of the Wars against the Barbary Pirates and the War of 1812, was killed, and a duel between Henry Clay and John Randolph of Roanoake in 1826 among others.

    Here in California, the most famous and the last “notable duel in the United States”, took place between Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court David S. Terry and US Senator David C. Broderick on September 13, 1859 near Lake Merced, just outside of San Francisco. This duel, which for all intents and purposes was the last political duel in the United States would have consequences not just for California, but for the United States as a whole.

    David C. Broderick was born in Washington DC in 1820. He was the son of an Irish stonecutter who immigrated to the United States to work on the US Capitol building. In 1823, Broderick’s parents moved to New York City and after attending public school, the young Broderick became involved in politics joining the Democratic Party and becoming active in the Tammany Society. In 1846 he was the Democratic Candidate for New York’s 5th congressional district and lost. Broderick headed west in 1849 and 1850 found him in San Francisco where he worked as an assayer and smelter of gold. He reportedly also minted ten dollar gold coins which contained only eight dollars worth of gold, keeping the difference to finance his political aspirations.

    Broderick quickly became involved in the nascent Democratic Party in California, serving as a state Senator from 1850 to 1852 and as the Acting Lieutenant Governor from 1851 to 1852. He was then elected United States Senator from California and served from 1857 until his death in 1859. While he was active in politics in California, Broderick was aligned with the “Free Soil”, anti-slavery faction of the Democratic Party. He also brought Tammany Hall style corruption to San Francisco and while he was acting Lieutenant Governor, he was San Francisco’s political boss.

    David S. Terry was born in 1823 in Kentucky and in 1831 moved to Texas and then California in 1849. Terry read law while in California, was admitted to the bar, and then became active in Democratic Party politics. In 1855 Terry became involved in his first high profile case, representing Maria Encarnacion Ortega de Sanchez who was being cheated out of the proceeds from the operation and partial sale of Rancho Llano de Tesquisquita and Rancho Lomerias Muertas, two land grands totaling over 49,000 acres that she had inherited from her husband. Also in August, 1855, Terry was elected to finish the remaining term of California Supreme Court Justice Alexander Well, who died suddenly and was reelected to a full term in November. In 1857, he was appointed Chief Justice of the state Supreme Court. Terry was a political ally of Broderick even though Terry was a member of the pro-slavery faction of the California Democratic Party.

    In 1856, Terry stabbed Sterling Hopkins, a member of the San Francisco Committee of Vigilance. He was released by the committee. In 1859, Terry sought another term on the state Supreme Court but the state Democratic Party nominated Warner Cope instead. Terry blamed is former friend and ally Broderick for failing to secure the nomination. He then proceeded to make some very caustic remarks about Broderick, which led to the duel.

    Broderick and Terry met to fight their duel in a ravine, just south of Lake Merced. Broderick’s pistol discharged early and Terry fired his at the Senator. At first, Terry thought that he had only wounded Broderick, but Broderick died three days later at the home of Leonidas Haskell, which still stands as Quarters 3 in Fort Mason. Terry was charged with murder but acquitted in 1860. He then moved to Texas and joined the 8th Texas Cavalry, fought in the Civil War for the Confederacy and became commander of the 37th Texas Cavalry by war’s end. He was involved in a scandal involving his wife Sarah in the 1880’s and was killed attacking a judge who had ruled against her.

    Broderick, became a martyr upon his death. He was seen as someone who died for the cause of abolition. Thousands attended his funeral and Broderick Street was named in his honor. California became one of the few states to pass a law specifically outlawing dueling. Terry and the pro-slavery Democrats were accused of assassination, thus further cementing California’s place in the “free soil” camp. In 1872, California make it illegal to duel in the state with punishments of up to four years in state prison. The laws prohibiting dueling in California were repealed as “obsolete” by AB 3326 in 1994.