The Aboriginal Population Of Alameda And Contra Costa Counties, California Part 2

The second (map 2) is carefully done and gives an extensive list of localities. The original is in the Ministry of War, Madrid, Spain. It is an elaboration of, and a very great improvement on, a map drawn by Ayala in 1775 which showed merely the outline of San Francisco, without detail. Ayala's map has slight value, hence it is not shown here, but a copy is available in the Bancroft Library, Berkeley.

Since the present map is itself reproduced from a photograph of a photograph, the text of the legends in the boxes is very faint and blurred. To facilitate reading, these legends have been copied, with translations. The symbols used on the map are the Latin alphabet, using capitals, for twenty-three items; they then continue as Greek letters, which are difficult to decipher and do not run strictly in sequence.

Hence, for convenience, I have subst.i.tuted in the legends numbers for the Greek letters, number 1 following Z of the alphabetical series. The use of these numbers in conjunction with the Greek letters on the map will not be difficult. In the left-hand column is the Spanish text; in the right-hand column, a literal translation. No attempt is made to correlate the names given by Canizares with those applied at the present time.

The third map (map 3) copies the second, is carefully done, and gives essentially the same information, but varies in minor points. Canizares remained in San Blas for several years after his visit to San Francisco.

During this period his 1776 map was apparently redrawn by Manuel Villavicencio, in 1781, presumably under the supervision of Canizares himself. Whether it is more accurate than the 1776 map is open to question. Small and capital letters are used for the localities on the map and in the legends.

The letter describing the survey of the Bay was written by Canizares and addressed to "Senor Capitan," obviously Ayala. It was dated September 7, 1775, "en este nuebo Puerto de S. Fran^{co} al abrigo de la Isla de Los Angeles." This doc.u.ment, which is an account of the first boat trip throughout San Francis...o...b..y, has never, to my knowledge, been published. Its intrinsic interest, consequently, as well as its bearing upon primitive geography and ethnography, warrants its presentation.

A translation follows herewith. Various matters requiring comment are discussed immediately subsequent to the translation.

_Canizares' Report_

On the four occasions when I went out to explore this port and survey its northeastern and north-northeastern portion I discovered what is shown on the map and is set forth here. To the north-northeast of the Island of Los Angeles, at a distance of one mile, there is a bay which runs north-northwest to south-southeast. The distance across between the points which form it is about two leagues and its length two and one-half. In its northwestern part there are three little islets, forming with the coast a narrow channel, which is shut off at its southwestern mouth by a shoal. Around all the margin of the bay are folded hills, with very few groves of trees and these which there are consist in part of laurel and live-oak; there may be seen in the interior to the west-northwest a forest of trees, which from afar seem to be pines. In the middle of this sound there is situated a great high cliff with some submerged rocks on the northeast side. As the map shows its depth is sufficient for anchorage; it no doubt is a roadstead for such vessels as have good cables and anchors, for much trouble would be caused by the current which flows here and which would not be less than four knots.

To the north-northeast of the said bay is a gap, the width of which might be two miles, in which are four white islands of small size, the northernmost forming with those on the southern sh.o.r.e a channel of 9 fathoms. These islands form the separation from another bay more capacious than the preceding, the diameter of which might be about eight leagues and the form of which is a perfect isosceles triangle. The above mentioned gap separates into two channels. The first, on the southwest sh.o.r.e, turns to the northwest a long mile distant, eventually disappearing in two big inlets, which are situated on the same sh.o.r.e, four leagues away from the opening which communicates with the first bay. If one goes a league and a half from the northwestern end of the inlet running farthest to the north, he rounds a point and discovers toward the west-northwest a s.p.a.cious sound. I did not explore this because the channel which communicates with it is so restricted and narrow, there being scarcely three _codos_ of water. From here a low island, level with the surface of the water, runs toward the east-northeast, ending at a point where the mountains divide. The second channel, which is quite large and capable of being sounded, immediately trends northeast, one quarter east, until it reaches the dividing point in the mountains where it enters a canyon, following the direction mentioned.

All this bay, which is called the round [bay]--although it is not such--is bordered by rough mountains without trees except two groves in the coves which are situated to the southwest. All the rest of it is arid, hilly and of melancholy aspect. Aside from these channels, in no part of the bay does its depth reach five _codos_; at low tide there are two and a half, and some areas are dry. It is not difficult to enter, but it will be difficult to get out of, for we found that the prevailing winds are from the southwest. Having examined its sh.o.r.es exhaustively, I found no fresh water, nor even indication that there had been any in former times.

Starting at the gorge which is at the northeastern end, the land forms a strait a mile and a half wide, clear, and capable of being sounded. At the eastern part of the entrance there is located a rancheria whose population might exceed 400 souls. I traded with these people, not to buy anything from them, but to present them with the beads which your Excellency has given me for this purpose, together with some of my used clothing.

Contact with them was very useful to me and the crew on account of the many gifts they made us of very choice fish (among them salmon), seeds, and ground meal. After visiting them on four occasions I found them as they were the first time, and observed in them an urbane courtesy, and what is more, much modesty and neatness among the women. They tend to beg for nothing except for that which one gives them freely; without pressing to the limit of impertinence, like many others whom I have seen in this conquered territory. This rancheria has some rafts, better described as canoes, of tule rushes so carefully wrought and woven that it caused me admiration of their handiwork. In these they embark four men to go fis.h.i.+ng, each one rowing with a double-ended oar. Using the latter they travel with such dexterity, as I found out, that they go faster than the launch.

These were the first and the last Indians in this part of the north with whom I had communication.

Following the above mentioned channel, at a distance of a league from its mouth, the coast forms a cove so s.p.a.cious, navigable, well provided with firewood and watering places, and protected from all winds that I judge it to be one of the best interior ports which our sovereign possesses, large enough to anchor a fleet of wars.h.i.+ps. I gave it the name of Port of the a.s.sumption [Puerto de la Asumpta] on account of having reconnoitred it on the day of this festivity. To the southeast of this port the pa.s.sage continues until it merges with the channel of the rancheria. Then it continues three leagues in an east-northeasterly direction. At the end of this distance it enters another bay with a depth of 13 fathoms, the latter diminis.h.i.+ng until it reaches four. Into this bay flow several rivers, as is demonstrated by the fact that, leaving the salt water, one is able to drink fresh water from where the rivers come as if into a lake. One river comes from the east-northeast (this is the largest, the width of which will be about 250 varas), and the other, which is formed from quite small arms, flows from the northeast through a very low-lying region among swamps and sand dunes. Its depth does not reach two fathoms.

These rivers have at their mouths some sand bars (as the commotion demonstrated to me) at a depth of half a fathom. The reason why I do not consider them navigable is princ.i.p.ally that the second time I went to explore them I penetrated into the interior and ran aground both in the rivers and on the sand bars. In the bay into which these rivers discharge is another port more extensive than that of la Asumpta in which it is possible to moor any vessel whatever, but it would be difficult to get wood because of the remoteness of its sh.o.r.es. From the rancheria at the entrance which communicates with them, to the rivers themselves, all the coast of the east is covered with trees and all that on the west is arid, dry, full of locusts, and incapable of ever being populated.

The foregoing is what I discovered in this part of the north, and proceeding from the above-mentioned Island of Los Angeles the reconnoissance of the estuary to the southeast I describe as follows.

To the east of this island at a distance of two leagues there is another, rough, craggy, and of no value, which divides the mouth of the bay into two pa.s.sages through which the sea penetrates about twelve leagues. The width in places is one, two and three leagues. The channel of this sound does not exceed four fathoms.

Its width is adequate but on departing from it the distance of a pistol shot the depth does not reach two fathoms. The tip of this sound, which faces the east, forms, with a horseshoe-shaped headland, a pocket which, at low tide, is mostly dry. In this inlet are some logs to which are fastened black feathers, bunches of reeds and snail sh.e.l.ls, which gave me the idea that they are fis.h.i.+ng floats, since they are in the middle of the water. Beyond three leagues from the entrance of this estuary I estimate that nowhere is it possible to anchor, due to the lack of shelter. However, if such is the case, position ought to be maintained by force of cables because the same current is found here as in the northern part of the bay.

On the northeastern sh.o.r.e this bay is surrounded by high ranges of hills. At the mouth there is a luxuriant forest of live oak and another even larger at the upper end, together with a heavy growth of redwood. On the southwestern sh.o.r.e is a small estuary navigable only by small boats, and on the same sh.o.r.e two inlets in which anchorage is possible. Another, to the east, has a rancheria of Indians like those at Monterey. This coast appears to have locations very suitable for missions, although I examined them only from a distance.

All that is set forth in this account is what I have observed, witnessed, measured, and sounded during these days when, on orders from your Excellency, I went out to explore the interior of this port of San Francisco. For the record I am composing this account in this new port of San Francisco under the shelter of the Island of Los Angeles, today September 7, 1755.

It is clear that Canizares, starting from what is now called Angel Island, crossed the Bay south of Point Richmond and proceeded northward between Point San Pablo and Point San Pedro into San Pablo Bay (Bahia de Guadelupe or Redonda). He explored Petaluma Creek (Estero de Nuestra Senora de la Merced) and the sloughs near Mare Island. Except for the southwest he found this bay surrounded by arid, treeless hills, thus agreeing with the opinion of the explorers by land. Just before entering Carquinez Strait, he saw a large rancheria. Although this village is not shown on the 1776 map it appears on the 1781 map at the southwest side of the western mouth of the strait. It is no doubt the same site described by Font.

One league, or perhaps three miles, from the entrance Canizares encountered what he regarded as a s.p.a.cious inlet or cove. Wagner (1937) and Cutter (1950) both state that this was Southampton Bay, opposite Port Costa (Puerto de la Asumpta). Cutter (p. 13) also claims that it has been filled with mud since 1775 and largely obliterated, but gives no evidence in support of the opinion. Canizares describes Army Point, near Benicia (Puerto de los Evangelistas on the maps), and then gives an account of Suisun Bay which he says contained numerous islands filled with tules. Toward the upper end of these, on the maps, is shown fresh water. After attempting to penetrate the rivers, and running aground on sand bars, Canizares returned to Angel Island before embarking for a reconnaissance of the southern area of the Bay. His description of the lower delta region is too confusing to be of value. He evidently did not fully understand the relations of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers at their junction.

Cutter (1950, p. 113) states, regarding vegetation, that Canizares found the north sh.o.r.e of the Bay covered with trees and the south sh.o.r.e arid and dry. Canizares says the vegetated sh.o.r.e was "east" and the arid sh.o.r.e was "west." Both maps depict trees on both sh.o.r.es, but with the heavier concentration on the south side. The 1781 map uses for "Bosques de buenas Maderas" the symbol "Q." The latter appears at the southeast end of San Francis...o...b..y, in the vicinity of Oakland and Alameda, on the south side of the rivers at the head of Suisun Bay, and on the north side, well above Suisun Bay. Small groups of trees appear on both maps at each entrance of Carquinez Strait, in the vicinity of Pinole and of Martinez. There is no real evidence that there were trees on the north side of Carquinez Strait.

Although the data in the letter are scanty, the distribution of Indian population indicated by Crespi and Font is substantially confirmed. The text of the letter mentions only one rancheria, the one at or near Pinole or Selby, to which Canizares (on the strength of four visits) ascribes a population of 400. This is the exact value given by Font, and seems to const.i.tute very reliable evidence. Other villages are shown on the 1776 map, under the symbol "q." as "Rancherias de Indios Amigos,"

one on the north side of Southampton Bay, one near Martinez, one apparently near Bay Point (or Port Chicago), and one somewhere near Pittsburg. The same number of symbols (here "O") is shown on the 1781 map, but those on the south side of the strait are displaced several miles to the west. We can be reasonably sure therefore that Canizares found four rancherias, including the one described in the letter, three on the south sh.o.r.e, one on the north. In view of the vague placement on the maps it is scarcely worth while to insist upon the precise location.

As far as population is concerned, what information can be derived from Canizares lends support to the conclusions based upon Crespi and Font.

EXPLORATORY AND PUNITIVE EXPEDITIONS, 1776-1811

After the return of Anza to Monterey in 1776 the San Francisco Presidio was founded. After this a joint expedition was sent out under Jose Joaquin Moraga and Francisco Quiros. The latter was to proceed by water and the former by land to a junction near the mouths of the rivers. The plan, however, miscarried, and Moraga went off on the earliest and the least known exploration of the main San Joaquin River. Meanwhile Quiros, with Jose Canizares and Father Pedro Cambon, sailed up the Bay to a point quite close to that described by Canizares in his first trip. The only account we have of this journey is contained in Palou's New California (1926, IV: 127-130). No details of ecological interest are given and there is no mention of natives. For a detailed discussion of the exploration, reference may be made to Cutter (1950, pp. 24-26).

One further doc.u.ment requires mention at this point: The Historical, Political and Natural Description of California, by Pedro f.a.ges, as translated by Herbert I. Priestley (1937). Written in 1775, this little volume has become a cla.s.sic for its thorough and sympathetic description of the Indians of California by one who was in a position to write on the subject. Unfortunately, however, f.a.ges discusses the Indians of the San Francisco Mission area and of the Central Valley of the interior, but he does not specifically refer to the natives of the East Bay. Hence his essay must be pa.s.sed over with this brief citation.

Following the series of explorations which culminated in the Anza Expedition of 1776, little further official notice was taken of the East Bay counties until approximately 1794. There is an item in the Bancroft Library Transcript series (hereafter designated Bancroft Transcripts, or Bancroft Trans.), consisting of a letter from f.a.ges to Moraga, January 23, 1783 (Prov. Rec., III: 83), noting that the latter had pursued the "indios gentiles Serranos" who had killed 18 head of livestock belonging to the Mission of San Jose. It is probable that many other unrecorded punitive expeditions were being undertaken throughout the two decades from 1775 to 1795.

In 1793 there was activity along the coast, in the course of which Lieutenant Francisco Eliza spent approximately two weeks exploring the Bay, but the doc.u.ments available (Cutter, 1950, p. 29; Archivo General de la Nacion, Mexico, Ramo Historia, Vol. 71, Expediente on Matute and the Bodega Settlement, and Account by Eliza, dated November 4, 1793, at San Blas) include no details of topography, vegetation, or ethnography worth recording.

Late in the following year, 1794, trouble began with the natives of the Contra Costa. The immediate cause appears to have been the zeal of the missionaries to push conversion in the area. On November 30, 1794, the military commander at San Francisco, Perez-Fernandez, wrote to Governor Borica (Bancroft Trans., Prov. St. Pap., XII: 29-30) that "the missionaries of San Francisco have requested an additional two or three men for the guard in order to go from Santa Clara to the other sh.o.r.e, in a northerly direction, as far as opposite the port [of San Francisco] to make conquests of the heathen...." The request was refused for reasons which in themselves throw light on the status of the East Bay natives:

1st. Because it is almost unknown country: there are indications that the heathen who occupy it are uncooperative.

2nd. He [the Commandant] does not believe that a priest, with two or three soldiers and some Christian Indians, const.i.tutes a party sufficiently strong to cross and camp overnight in strange territory.

3rd. Although the Fathers believe this to be a favorable opportunity, because the heathen lack food, having lost their crop due to the severity of the drouth, and this will facilitate catching them, he does not have the means at his disposal for expeditions of this type.

Nevertheless, such forays were already in progress, for Perez-Fernandez reported that the Fathers at San Francisco "sent by sea to the islands and other sh.o.r.e opposite the mouth of the port some Mission Indians in rafts of tule on the 4th of this month to capture heathen." One of the rafts was carried as far out to sea as the Farallones, and two men were lost.

On March 3, 1795, Perez-Fernandez again wrote to Governor Borica from San Francisco (Bancroft Trans., Prov. St. Pap., XIII: 455-456.). (This, and many other letters cited here, are also to be found in the Archivo General de la Nacion, Mexico City, Ramo Californias, Vol. 65, Expediente no. 3, ent.i.tled "Sobre la Muerte que dieron los Indios Gentiles a siete Indios cristianos de la Mission de San Fran^{co}.") He now announced the murder by the heathen of seven Christian Indians sent across the bay by Fray Antonio Danti to hunt for runaway neophytes. The culprits belonged to the rancheria of the Chaclanes, and, says Perez-Fernandez, "these rancherias of the Chaclanes are in the country where the said Father Danti wanted to go, and whom I prevented from going, as I told your Excellency under date of November 29 last."

A lively correspondence ensued, reference to most of which may be omitted. An investigation was inaugurated and some type of scouting party was sent out. At least, we have record of a letter dated at Monterey, June 2, 1795, from Governor Borica to Jose Perez (Bancroft Trans., Prov. Rec., V: 56) in which the Governor orders Perez "to tell Sergeant Amador that he has received the report he sent concerning the reconnaissance to the Alameda, and that he shall continue this with the others who went with him." This is no doubt the expedition by Amador referred to by Danti in his diary (see below).

On June 23, 1795, from Monterey, Governor Borica rendered a full and final account of the affair to Viceroy Branciforte (Archivo General de la Nacion, Californias, Vol. 65, Expediente no. 3, "Sobra la muerte ..."

etc. Doc. no. 122, MS p. 79). Parts of this doc.u.ment are worth quoting.

One of the survivors was a neophyte named Othon, whose story follows.

Five old Christian Indians set out from the San Francisco Mission, including the alcaldes Pasqual and Rogerio, together with nine new Christians of the rancherias from the other sh.o.r.e of the bay, with orders from Father Missionary Fray Antonio Danti to bring back all the Christians who had run away. On the first day they crossed the bay in their boats and slept on the beach. On the second day at dawn they set out for the rancheria of the Chaclanes where they arrived at noon, and not having found any people in it, they kept on all that day and all night, travelling without sleep or rest, in spite of the rain, and reached the rancheria of the Chimenes at about two o'clock in the afternoon. They encountered there a great mult.i.tude, as many as there are in the mission [perhaps 900, according to Borica].

The men, armed with bows and arrows, came out of a big temascal with such a rush that they broke it to pieces, immediately beginning to shoot arrows, shouting, "Kill our enemies." The alcaldes, seeing this violence, tried to persuade the natives that we had not come to fight or to do harm, but the others took no heed and kept on shooting until they killed as many as seven....

Governor Borica goes on to say:

This Othon and others told me that these Chimenes Indians are of a rough and valiant nature. They are at continual war with the neighboring villages, and particularly with the Tegunes. They live toward the north coast in the vicinity of the Port of Bodega. Their food is amole, bellota and pinole and their chiefs are called Mule and Yuma.

The ident.i.ty of these Chimenes is something of a mystery. Certainly the Christian Indians, after leaving the rancheria of the Chaclanes (i.e., Saclanes), somewhere behind the Oakland hills, could not have even approached the port of Bodega, for they could not have crossed the Bay and the rivers on foot. Yet they traveled twenty-four hours, if Othon's account is even approximately correct. Hence they must have covered fully twenty-five or thirty miles, a distance which would have brought them to some point on the south sh.o.r.e of Carquinez Strait or Suisun Bay.

If this is true, then they encountered representatives of the Huchiunes, the Karkines, or the Chupunes, the only tribal groups known definitely to have inhabited the area. The statements of Othon, as transmitted by the Governor, regarding the number of Chimenes, as well as their ferocity, must be heavily discounted (although the smas.h.i.+ng of the temescal is a touch which would hardly be supplied by imagination alone). One hundred, or even fifty, infuriated warriors would no doubt have appeared to be thousands to the fourteen terrified Christians, and the Governor would hardly want to report to the viceroy that his Mission Indians had been routed by a handful of wild natives. On the other hand, the incident proves the existence of a sizable rancheria somewhere in northern Contra Costa County in 1795.

FR. ANTONIO DANTI'S EXPEDITION

In the late fall of the year 1795, following the reconnaissance of Sergeant Amador, of which no written record survives, another and more pretentious expedition covered the lower east side of San Francis...o...b..y.

There are two accounts available describing this trip. One was written by Hermenegildo Sal (1795), a soldier from Monterey, and the other by Fray Antonio Danti (1795). The two doc.u.ments are very similar in form and give indication of collaboration in the writing. Sal's "Informe" is the longer and the more circ.u.mstantial but is so badly executed as to be nearly incomprehensible in some of its pa.s.sages. Danti's "Diario" is very succinct but clearly written. Since both accounts cover the same events, only one needs to be presented in full. Here follows the "Diario" of Danti, commencing with line 5, page 196 of the Bancroft Transcript.

_Diary of Fr. Antonio Danti (1795)_

22 October: After lunch we set out [from Santa Clara] for the place called the Alameda. We arrived by nightfall at the first arroyo, which is [the one mentioned by] Sergeant Amador. At sunrise of the 23rd we went on our way upstream, as far as we could go on horseback, which will be about one league distant from the camping place. We wanted to examine the origin of the stream but the soldier told us that it emerged opposite the town. When the various sections of the arroyo had been explored, the water was found to be of the same quant.i.ty throughout and in my opinion can irrigate two or three ditches of corn at the same time because of the slope of the land. The removal of the water is not a great problem, for the heathen took it out in two distinct places. There is much fine land and easily worked. The timber in this place is scarce, as is also the firewood. It is to the north of Santa Clara about 6 or 7 leagues. In this arroyo are three empty houses.

Having examined all that has been described, we went along the foot of the hills. We encountered [p. 197] another watercourse which was dry, and where there is the stone called cantarra [a type of clay]. This is not far from the camping place. A little farther on is the lime pit, which is no more than caliche [crude, soft limestone]. We arrived at the Alameda, but before reaching it there are three little creeks, one of which could irrigate a garden. The other two, if widened, could serve as watering places for cattle. We went on to the river of the Alameda, which is filled with many large boulders from floods and is heavily overgrown with willow, cottonwood, and some laurel. Where the water runs, the stream is half a vara deep and 4 varas across, and in other places it widens and contains more water. We proceeded along it with much effort for about a league and a half, at which point it is joined by another arroyo from the north, the main stream continuing on to the east. We examined the feasibility of removing water and found it to be not impossible but very difficult. This is because of the gravelly nature of the soil and because several ditches would have to be constructed to regulate the floods, and in case these occurred annually a dam would have to be built. Following the arroyo farther down, we saw where the water disappears, perhaps a quarter of a league from the hills. At a distance of a league the water comes out again. In all this stretch [p. 198] the bed of the river, or arroyo, is deep and the removal of water impossible. In this locality the arroyo is covered with a dense stand of woods: cottonwoods and willows. A short section through which the river flows is reached by the tides of the bay.