goldfields

Letter from Jas. C. Callen to John Bidwell, courtesy of the California State Library.

On February 7, 1854 James C. Callen wrote John Bidwell about an “Indian ware on the clammoth river.” A ’49er, Callen had been residing in Butte County in 1850, but by 1854 he was living on the Klamath River “ten miles from Yreiky.” Here is the first half of his letter, reporting on a skirmish with Indians. Spelling is just the way he wrote it. Note that he always spells ‘they’ phonetically as ‘tha’, the rest you can probably figure out.

Siskiyou County, Callens Fery Febuary 7^th / 54

Mr. J Bidwell   Sir

Indian ware on the clammoth river

Some of the miners on cottonwood bought squaws of the Indians and pade for them in horses and guns some time after these traids the squaws run away then the boys told the Sitisans that the Indians had some stoling horses and if tha would help them to provision and aminison tha would bring them a way, so tha ware all furnished and when tha came to the place whare the indians ware tha found them all in a large cave and well prepared for wore. So tha wint back and told a worse taile than ever Sitisens and traiders made up a second out fit for the boys and about forty of them turned out now to take the cave and horses when tha came in Sight the indians hailed them and inquired there bisness the cottonwood boys thinking it would ondly be sport for them fired on the indians tha soon saw the indians had the advantage and give ground the indians fought them about four miles and killed four whites and wounded five more one Indian was kild and several wounded this caused the excitement the indians sent them word to come on that tha had a good fourt and could cleare out all that could come you can se the last fight in the mountin herreld.

The Mountain Herald was a weekly newspaper published in Yreka beginning in 1853. This letter is in the John Bidwell Papers at the California State Library, where you can also read the Mountain Herald. The transcription is my own.

What do a 12th century Spanish monastery, Peter Lassen’s ranch, Stanford University, and New Clairvaux Vineyard have in common? They all come together at Vina.

I have been planning to take the short (19 miles from Chico) drive north to Vina for ages now. I finally did it today, together with my husband Jim and our daughter and her family. If you live in Northern California, it is well worth the trip, in history alone, and if you like wine, that’s another reason to go.

New Clairvaux Chapter House.

The Abbey of New Clairvaux is a Cistercian Trappist monastery following the Rule of St. Benedict. It was founded in 1955, and is home to over 20 monks, who spend their days in prayer and manual labor. They care for walnut and prune orchards and grape vineyards.

The abbey site in Tehama County is rich in history. It was once part of the 22,000 acre Rancho Bosquejo, the Mexican land grant belonging to Peter Lassen. In 1852 the property passed to Henry Gerke, who was successful in growing grapes and making wine. It was during Gerke’s time that the site acquired the name Vina.

Later the ranch was bought by Leland Stanford, governor and railroad baron, who built up a land empire of 55,000 acres. His “Great Vina Ranch” became the world’s largest wine operation. The huge brick fermenting plant built by Stanford still stands. Difficulties in growing and processing the grapes in the hot Sacramento Valley meant that the wine business was never as successful as Stanford hoped, but he did pretty well with brandy.

Stanford’s fermenting building.

After Stanford’s death in 1893 his wife carried on the business, which helped to finance Stanford University, but increasing pressure from the temperance movement led the University to get out of the wine-making business. They uprooted the grapevines and sold off the land in 1919. Sixty years ago the Cistercians bought it from a dairy farmer named Flynn. In addition to the orchards, they re-planted grapes and established New Clairvaux Vineyard.

Lassen and Stanford are not the only famous California names associated with Vina. William Randolph Hearst comes into the picture as well. For the last 20 years the monks have been reconstructing a medieval Spanish chapter house using stones from a monastery that Hearst acquired in Spain. Hearst never used the stones to build his second castle. Instead they have come home to the abbey. You can read more about this project at Sacred Stones.

For fascinating history in a scenic package, Vina is hard to beat. Go visit it soon. The linked websites have all the visiting information.

The murders of four Chinese men at the Lemm Ranch near Chico in March 1877, plus several cases of arson against the Chinese and their employers, put Chico on the map as a locus of anti-Chinese agitation. Even though most Californians thought that there were too many Chinese in the state, they stopped short of endorsing murder and arson as a solution. And in Chico, businessmen and civic leaders feared that this lawlessness was making Chico look bad.

Justice was swift. By April 1877 men who had set fires on Bidwell’s property, and that of other farmers, were on trial. The trial of the Lemm Ranch murderers followed. Both arsonists and murderers were convicted and sentenced.

John Bidwell, on a trip to San Francisco, wrote to Annie about what people were saying:

It is astonishing how deep and general the sentiment is against the Chico murderers and incendiaries, and the swift justice that was meted out to the latter receives warm and unanimous commendation. I had no idea how earnestly the people were watching our movements. Am now satisfied we have not only the moral power of the State with us — as well as the law on our side — but a vast majority of the people. In other words, the “Caucasian” element is really an insignificant minority.

Bidwell was relieved that he was not standing alone against public opinion. Anti-Chinese agitation was not over, not in Chico or the rest of the state, but at least the worst actions were condemned and rejected.

The top of a page from the 1860 Federal Census for Chico Twp, Butte Co., California.

I have been looking at the 1860 Federal Census for Butte County. I accessed it at a website called fold3.com, a division of ancestry.com. Fold3 focuses on military records, but for some reason it is the only place I found for the 1860 census. This is a subscription website, but you can get a 7-day free trial. You can look at, print out, or download a lot in seven days.

In 1860 the census was taken in eleven townships in Butte County: Bidwell, Cascade, Chico, Eureka, Hamilton, Kimshew, Mountain Springs, Ophir, Oregon, Oro, and Wyandotte. The Chico township was not just the newly-founded city of Chico; it stretched from Pine Creek and Rock Creek on the north, to Durham on the south. Anyone familiar with Butte County history will recognize names on the list. The last name listed is W. Northgrave [sic], 60 years old, who was living with P. C. Munn and Jas. M. Maxey, hotel keepers, and Sing, a cook.

The census was taken by J.S. Henning and Joseph Pierce, and neither of them totaled their counts when they reached the end of a township. But according to Mansfield, in 1860, Chico Township. had 1482 residents, out of a county population of 12,106. The largest township was Ophir (Oroville) with 3064 people.

Many pages are just long lists of miners, but mining was giving way to agriculture. In Chico, farmer and farm laborer are the most common occupations. Women are still out-numbered by men; pages list anywhere from 1 to 10 females. Probably two-thirds of those females are children, because families are beginning to appear.

The census includes Chinese men (I haven’t spotted any women) and “tame” Indians (those who were working for settlers). One column on the census sheet is for “Color: White, black, or mulatto.” Once in a long while a black miner or cook is listed, and then a “B” is noted in the column. The census sheet doesn’t take into account Asians or Native Americans, so the census taker wrote in either “Ind” for Indian, or “mon” for Mongolian. At the bottom of the page, where he was supposed to total “no. white males” “no. white females” “no. colored males”, and “no. colored females,” all the Asians and Indians go into the white column, since they don’t have a column of their own. Anyone wanting to total these groups would have to go through the census one name at a time.

Here is a representative family, one who still has their name on the map. I won’t list all the names, but summarize some of the list:

J.A. Keefer, 26, farmer and P.M. (postmaster) Rock Creek (should be J.L.)

Rebecca Keefer, 28

5 children, ages 6 years to 4 months

Latham Odell, 37, farm laborer

Jno. Odell, 29, farm laborer (these two were Mrs. Keefer’s brothers)

Tho. Allen, 26, farm laborer

9 male Indians named Sam, Bill, Slick, Pete, Tom, Dick, John, Aleck, and Tim, and two female Indians, Polly and Judah, all designated as farm laborers

2 female Indians, Jenny and Clemmie, house servants. All the Indians are between the ages of 16 and 27.

In addition there is a note written sideways in the margin: “16 Indians in Rancheria uninployed [sic].” These may be older Indians, or children. The census didn’t bother to count Indian children.

I’ll have more from the census next time.

The attitude toward the Chinese in California was one of ambivalence. Employers liked getting labor at low cost. Middle-class families that employed Chinese domestic servants could hardly do without them. And everyone in town turned out to watch the colorful Chinese New Year festivities.

From John Bidwell’s diary for 1871:

Sun. February 19.
J.R.Kennedy & wife also self & wife, went to Ah Sun’s & to Chinatown in evening, found Chinese joyous over their New Year.

Photograph shows a Chinese New Year Parade through downtown Chico, 1894. Special Collections, Meriam Library CSUChico.

But the benefits from the Chinese community were overshadowed by fear, resentment, and prejudice. To the white population, the Chinese were a foreign element that would never assimilate into the American body politic. They were too different. Everything from their food and clothing to their religion was alien.

White workingmen resented the Chinese for taking jobs they thought should be theirs. When times got tough and jobs were scarce, whites turned on the Chinese and blamed them for the loss of jobs. The economic depression of the 1870’s created widespread unemployment and deep resentment of Chinese immigrants.

Men banded together to drive out the Chinese. In Chico they formed a branch of a statewide society called The Order of Caucasians. Members included not only laborers, but store owners, farmers, teachers and lawyers. They rallied to the cry “The Chinese must go!” and repeatedly told John Bidwell and other employers to discharge their Chinese workers or else.

1874    Tues. May 19.
Weather cool and pleasant – Man at dairy abused Chinaman –

1886: Sun., August 29.
Events: Hoodlums threw stones at Chinamen – wounded one badly.-

The chief weapon used against the Chinese was arson. Men set fire to buildings in both of Chico’s Chinatowns. They sent death threats to General Bidwell and told him to get rid of his Chinese workers. Arsonists burned down buildings on the ranch. Chinese men were threatened, beaten, and shot at. For the most part the police ignored these crimes.

1877: Fri. March 9.
Cloudy, but warm, – began to drizzle, – rained all P.M. . . .  Both Chinatowns were set on fire last night.

The tension and agitation would culminate in murder.

Correction:  In reading the census tables, I thought Butte County had the highest percentage of Chinese residents in the state, but that honor goes to Trinity County. Although small in population, Trinity County had the largest proportion of Chinese miners and railroad workers.  In 1880, out of a population of 4939, 1951 (almost 40%) were Chinese.

Butte County reached its peak in 1852, when a state census showed 25% of Butte County residents were Chinese. The percentage was 20% in 1880 This fell off steeply after the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed in 1882.  Chinese immigration was rigidly limited, and older Chinese men (it was almost all men) died or returned to China.

Chinese Railroad Workers

When gold was discovered in 1848, it did not take long for the news to reach China.  Chinese gold-seekers, mostly from the province of Kwangtung started arriving in 1849 and continued coming throughout the next three decades. Immigrants on sailing ships from China could actually reach San Francisco in less time than it took to travel around Cape Horn, 4 months vs. 6 months.

At first the Chinese population in Butte County was concentrated in and around Oroville, where the men engaged in mining. Chinese miners took over abandoned gold claims and through diligence and teamwork extract the traces of gold left behind by less patient white miners who had moved on. They managed to make a living out of “played-out” mines, in spite of the burden of the Foreign Miners’ Tax.

The Foreign Miners’ Tax was levied against non-native born miners, but in reality it targeted only the Chinese. Foreign miners from Europe or South America were not hassled for the tax. The law passed in 1850 called for a tax of $20 per month. When this proved to be too high to collect, the tax was reduced to $4 per month in 1852. This was a major source of revenue for the state of California and it can be argued that state government was built on the backs of Chinese miners.

Mining remained a major occupation for Chinese workers throughout the 19th century, but as the gold dwindled, they moved into other occupations and became everything from ditch diggers and wood choppers to laundrymen and merchants. Many Chinese workers had also come to work on the transcontinental railroad, and when that was completed they migrated to the valley and swelled the ranks of available labor.

Next: Chinese Workers on Rancho Chico

Some of the above information was taken from The Chinese in Butte County, California, 1860-1920, by Susan W. Book.