June 1920: Pescadero’s Plans for the 4th of July

From the “Coastside Comet,” June 18, 1920

Pescadero to Celebrate

Plans and preparations are being completed for a big Fourth of July celebration in Pescadero this year. The festivities will be held on Monday, July 5, commencing with a musical and literary program at 10 o’clock. At noon there will be the free barbecue and and races and games will be held in the afternoon. Dancing from 1:30 to 5 o’clock, a display of fireworks in the evening and a grand ball in I.D.E.S. hall to conclude the day’s program.

Edward J. Hevey will be the president of the day and H.W. Lampkin of Redwood City has been selected as orator. The committee of arrangements consists of Eli D. Moore, M. R. Mattei, James McCormick, Walter H. Moore, Oliver A. McCormick, Antone George, Hugh McCormick, Antone T. Enos and E.A. Shaw.

The floor mangers for the afternoon and evening dances will be Walter Moore, Oliver McCormick and “Tony” George.

On the reception committee will be William A. Moore, Hugh McCormick, J.A. Moore, Frank George and A.W. Woodhams.

The committee handling the afternoon games and races will consist of J.E. Shaw, Charles Mattei, George Goularte, D.C. Adair and Arthur Teague.

——–


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John Vonderlin: 1887: Shipwreck of the Bark J.W. Seaver at Point Ano Nuevo

Story by John Vonderlin

Email John ([email protected])

 

Hi June,

This is about the shipwreck of the Bark J.W. Seaver, on the rocks of Point Ano Nuevo at 9 A.M. on April 10th, 1887.  There are several aspects of the wreck that merit note. The articles detail every name, victim or survivor, and their job on the boat, something I hadn’t seen before. And the Captain thanks and names, in print, some of the citizens who helped the survivors get ashore, also rare. It turns out we “know” these heroes too.

 

This is from the Shipwreck Data base of N.O.A.A., and describes the wreck of the J.W. Seaver,  on the rocks of Point Ano Nuevo, apparently by the Captain, Mr, Robertson.

 

    “The lee side of the deck was under water and I saw that we could not keep afloat long, so hoping to save life and property, I stood in for the beach. We struck at 0900, a strong wind was blowing and a heavy surf was rolling in, breaking over the ship immediately smashed to atoms. Nothing more could be done and I told the men that we must watch our chance and get ashore as we could on pieces of the vessel. Immediately after we struck she commenced to go to pieces, and every breaker took away some of the cargo and parts of the vessel, and soon the water in shore was a mass of floating wreckage. A party of citizens tied ropes aroung their waists and risked their lives in attempt to help the crew through the breakers.”

 

This is from the April 12th, 1887, issue of the Daily Alta.

 

“COAST WRECK

The bark J. W. Seaver, which was wrecked on the rocks at Ano Nuevo Island, Sunday morning, an account of which appeared in yesterday’s issue of the Alta, carried eight men all told when she left this port Friday, their names being: Captain Robertson;, first mate, John Brown; second mate, John Moore; cook, Ah Sing; seamen, Edward Samuelson, Sever Ericsson, Joseph Smith, Harry Linden.   John Brown, Ah Sing, Edward Samuelson were drowned.”

 

This is from the April 16th issue of the Sacramento Daily Record-Union

 

“The Wrecked Bark.

Santa Cruz, April 11th.— News reached here last evening of the wreck of the three masted bark J. W. Seaver, owned by A. Crawford & Co., 27 and 29 Market street,San Francisco. The second mate, John Brown, a sailor named Anderson (a Swede)and the Chinese cook were drowned. The Captain, R. Robertson, was brought ashore exhausted. One sailor came ashore lashed to a board. The bark was wrecked at PointNew Year, about three (sic) miles from this city.

   She was loaded with hay and salt, bound for the Colorado river, and left San Francisco Friday morning.”  (10 tons salt, 50 tons hay… salt to the desert?)

And this is from the April 16th, issue of “The Dailt Alta.” Note the two heroic Good Samaritans.

 “A. Crawford, owner of the bark J. W. Seaver, which was wrecked on Point New Year, stated to an Alta reporter yesterday, that the value of the wreckage that may be recovered is about $700, and it will cost about half that sum to convey it to this port. Tbe officers and survivors of tbe wrecked bark desire to thank Ed. Dickerman and Osman. N. Steele, who were not only instrumental in saving several of the men, but who afterwards showed them every kindness in their distress.”

While I couldn’t find out for sure who the 109 foot long, 230 ton vessel was named after, I did locate a Massachusetts, longtime political/maritime family, the Seavers, that seemed to be the source. There is a perfect fit timewise, James W., a ship captain, lawyer, and Representative for several terms, but he spells his name, Sever, as a few other family members did..  Perhaps, he changed his name’s spelling for ancestral reasons some time in the 10 year period between when the boat was built and he died.

   Lastly I’ve attached ScreenShots of a summary of vessels and people lost over the winter storm season of 1886-87, that was in the April 16th, 1887 Daily Alta. A lot of sea widows that nasty winter. Enjoy. John

 Seaver1.Seaver2Seaver3

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Millionaire Loren Coburn’s Relatives Owned the Coburn Trolley Co.

From June Morrall

Email June ([email protected])

One of Loren Coburn’s brothers owned the Trolley Track Mfg Co.

 Note: Below is promotional material for Coburn Trolley Track Manufacturing Co., Holyoke, Massachusetts. Loren Coburn was visited in Pescadero by the relatives who had a financial interest in the business.

[Image below: The Coburn Trolley Track Manufacturing Co.]

trolly_2

 “Efficient management coupled with inventive genius have developed under the name of the Coburn Trolley Track Manufacturing Company, a permanent and successful business of no small magnitude.

 “This Company was organized in February, 1888, with a capitol stock of $10,000, which was some years later increased to $150,000.

 “The foundation of this business was the invention of a special form of enclosed track for sliding doors by Mr. Lemuel Coburn. The manufacturing of same began in the basement of the old Whitcomb building on the first level canal in a room about 50×30.

 “The superiority of the special form of track over other tracks used for similar purposes was soon demonstrated, and through the foresight and inventive genius of Mr. Lemuel Coburn in constantly finding new uses for their product, the Company was soon compelled to seek additional capital and also larger quarters, and in December, 1891, moved into the quarters formerly occupied by the Deane Steam Pump Company on Bigelow Street.

 “The development of the various lines here began in real earnest, and with the opening up of agencies in practically every city in the United States, together with branch offices in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Chicago, and also in Manchester, England, the business was given such an impetus that it became necessary to obtain still larger quarters, with the ultimate result of the erection of the Company’s own plant at Williamsett, directly opposite the river from Holyoke. This plant at the present time covers something over two acres of ground and is equipped with such machinery as is necessary to take care of the constantly increasing business.

 “The Company moved into its present buildings in the fall of 1900, and with the increased facilities thus available was able still further to develop the scope and usefulness of its product, and extend the market for same to practically every civilized nation.

 “At the present time the varied lines manufactured by them are such as to create a steadily increasing business each year, and no such thing as a dull season.

 “It is an interesting fact of no small importance in illustrating the value of the original patent granted to Mr. Lemuel Coburn  that in spite of of many radical changes and improvements made in various ways to meet new conditions and also increasing competition, the same form of track has always been adhered to, although new sizes have been added from time to time, as was first made in the Company’s original quarters. It is also true that no form of track was ever so closely imitated. Now that the patents have expired, many firms in the country, England and also France, heretofore making imitations have discarded same for the Coburn form of track.

 “One of the first departures made in finding new uses for the enclosed track was its applications to rolling ladders for the purpose of reaching or storing goods on high shelving. This meant to the storekeeper in many instances, then as now, increased space and better and more rapid handling of the goods, and although originally designed for stores new uses are constantly being found for them, not only in this country but others, shipments having found their way to Cape Town, Australia and the Orient.

 “Sliding door hardware has, and probably always will, offer the greatest chance for variation. Under this heading is included all sort and kinds of doors, from a small closet door weighing a few pounds to doors weighing several tons. Also under this heading come Automatic fire resisting doors which require special and carefully constructed hardware, made to comply with the insurance laws. The Coburn Company now has an enviable reputation for quality of their output, and as an evidence of this the Mexican government has recently, through their agents, placed a large order with them for doors.

 “Conveying materials of any kind have always been to a great extent left for “BULL STRENGTH” and the “GANG” of ordinary laborers, and it was early evident that here, too, was a field for “Coburn Products.” As soon as facilities permitted, they started the manufacturing of suitable track, of the same design, for use in foundries, machine shops and other manufacturing plants, and within a short time so demonstrated the usefulness of the idea that they received a contract for equipping one of the largest foundries in Massachusetts with their “SYSTEM.” This branch of the business has unlimited possibilities along the lines of modern business development and conservation of energy wherein the necessity for the moving of raw or unfinished material occurs, and the problems presented for solution require engineering ability and long experience to determine the proper method of procedure.

 “The organization of the Company consists of Azro A. Coburn, president [and brother of Loren Coburn of Pescadero]; Willis D. Ballard, vice president and general manager and George D. Miller , treasurer.”

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John Vonderlin: Old Ano Nuevo Sketches

Story from John Vonderlin

Email John ([email protected])

Hi June,

This is the sketch of Ano Nuevo mentioned by George Davidson in the excerpt from his “Directory …” book I just sent. There are also ScreenShots of the larger map it is from, and a close-up of the Coastside’s piece of the Pacific Coast from that map. Enjoy. John

d1d2d3

 

ANO

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John Vonderlin: The First to Die

Story by John Vonderlin

Email John ([email protected])

“The First to Die”

 

ProfAlexanderBache

Hi June,
The editorial, “Let Us Have Light,” led me to professor Alexander Bache, the head of the Office of the Coast Survey, one of the predecessors to N.O.A.A. Thanks to their generous sharing of their Archives online, I captured a treasure trove of old Survey maps and logs that include the Coastside. I also became familiar with more of the details of the amazing events going on at the beginning of the Survey of the West Coast, and how important their work was to those who stayed to develop California after the Gold Rush fever played out. Before sharing the maps of the old Surveys, I’d like to salute the efforts of the early West Coast surveyors and relate the incredible problems they faced. A good place to start is the “First Man to Die” in the effort, Lt. William McArthur. This excerpt is from a N.O.A.A. tribute website and summarizes Lt. McArthur’s role in the beginning of this multi-year project. Though, his Surveys were few and barely touched the Coastside, his work sets the scene for George Davidson’s arrival a few years later. Enjoy. John P.S. For the rest of this story check out http://www.moc.noaa.gov/mt/mcarthur.htm

In July, 1848, the Coast Survey was directed to commence surveying the western coast. In October, McArthur received orders to make preparations for proceeding to San Francisco to take command of the hydrographic party of the EWING, a former revenue cutter that was transferred to the Survey. Lieutenant Washington H. Bartlett commanded the ship on its trip to the west coast via the Straits of Magellan. McArthur was to proceed to Panama and thence take whatever transportation was available to California. Unfortunately for McArthur, gold had just been discovered and the great migration of 49’ers had just begun. McArthur left the United States on March 17, 1849, and made it to Chagres on the Caribbean side of Panama in relative comfort; but from there to San Francisco, it was strictly improvisation. Upon arrival in Chagres, he found an overcrowded lawless town. Because he was a United States officer, he was made head of a vigilante committee and within 48 hours had restored order. He soon took a boat up the Chagres River and then went overland by mule train to the city of Panama. There was no transportation out and many of the travelers in the city were becoming sick with various tropical fevers. A delegation of gold seekers approached a local merchant who was using the Ship HUMBOLDT as a coal store ship. They bought the ship with funds from 400 passengers putting up $200 apiece and selected McArthur as commanding officer.
The HUMBOLDT left Panama on May 21, 1849, and took 46 days to reach Acapulco where supplies were taken on board as all on board were nearly famished. Cooking was done in a communal fifty-gallon pot with one meal served per day and coffee served in the morning and tea at night. Bedding was where one could find a place to lie down. The ship arrived in San Francisco on August 31. The EWING in the meantime had left the east coast on January 10, 1849, and arrived in San Francisco on August 1. Because of the possibility of crew desertions for either much higher pay on commercial vessels or leaving for the goldfields, Bartlett took the ship to Tomales Bay, north of San Francisco, on August 26. September 6 he returned to San Francisco and McArthur was installed as captain.
During September and October the EWING was engaged in surveys of San Francisco Bay, and it was by McArthur’s recommendation that the Government secured Mare Island for a naval base and shipyard. That winter McArthur sailed for Hawaii in order “to run away from the incessant rains which are said to prevail with winter.” When the ship returned to San Francisco, many crew enlistments had expired and it was not until April 3 that McArthur was able to sail for a reconnaissance of the northern coast. He was fairly discouraged by this time and wrote to a friend: “I have made up my mind to be disappointed with regard to the probability of our usefulness on this coast. Capt. Williams [Assistant J.S. Williams of the Coast Survey, who was in charge of the land party] has as yet done nothing and Heaven only knows when he may be able to proceed with his labors…. I feel confident that no work can go on at the present wages of the country as it would require the whole of the Coast Survey appropriation to keep a party together. Wages are still from five to twelve dollars per day, and if anything still rising as the mining season opens. I have written to the Professor [Alexander Dallas Bache] and laid my views before him.”
Like with most ships, once the EWING sailed, all the gloom and doom evaporated. On April 13, 1850, McArthur writes from Trinidad Bay,”I may safely say that the only happy days I have spent in the country have been spent since we started. I am at last at work and most usefully employed in making a reconnaissance of the Coast as we go up…. We have completed a very correct outline of the coast, its headlands, Bays, Rivers and indentations from San Francisco to this place, as well as carrying our soundings as we go….” Although not part of his crew, McArthur had the melancholy duty of retrieving the bodies of Lieutenants Richard Bache and Robert L. Browning who had volunteered to do a reconnaissance survey for the Navy in the vicinity of Point St. George, California. Richard Bache was a younger brother of Superintendent Bache. Four years earlier, Bache had another brother die in a hurricane while on Gulf Stream investigations for the Coast Survey.
In June, McArthur describes the scenery in the vicinity of the Columbia River as “beautiful and some places and some points of view the grandest that the eye ever beheld.” He had found time to speculate in real estate as he and two other officers had acquired homesteads in the Willamette Valley. He felt that if he could hold it for five years “it would be a fortune.” In late June and early July he went up to the Puget Sound area on the steamer CAROLINA. He described the waters of the sound as “a strange and peculiar anomaly. The deep blue sea runs up inland passing between straits but half a mile wide with a depth of over an hundred fathoms. Bays, Harbours, Inlets and Roads startle you at every turning forming a perfect labyrinth.” From the south end of Puget Sound, he traveled overland to the Cowlitz River and took a canoe to the mouth of the Columbia.
By the end of August, the EWING was back in San Francisco. McArthur experienced remarkable weather, both at the entrance to the Columbia River and on his trip back down the coast. In his words,”… We have been successful in surveying the mouth of the Columbia River and up the same as far as Astoria…. the dangers of navigation of this truly magnificent river have been vastly exaggerated. We have crossed the bar sometimes as many as ten times a day for weeks together…. On our way from the Columbia River we were successful enough to make a good reconnaissance of the whole coast from Cape Disappointment to this place and the limits of error may be estimated at one mile in longitude and an 1/2 mile in latitude. This I consider quite a triumph.”
While in San Francisco, McArthur was engaged in preparing for the next reconnaissance which was to extend south to San Diego. On November 21, he received the welcome news that he was to proceed to the east coast and take command of a steamship for west coast survey duty. Thus, with the prospect of seeing his wife and family a year earlier than he had anticipated, he booked passage on the steamship OREGON bound for Panama. The ship departed December 1, and, shortly after leaving San Francisco, McArthur suffered an acute attack of dysentery. He never recovered and died December 23 as the OREGON was entering the port of Panama.
William Pope McArthur was memorialized by a service at the Coast Survey office on February 8, 1851. At his service, Alexander Dallas Bache eulogized: ” The work which he accomplished will live forever. Surrounded by circumstances the most difficult, perhaps, which ever tried the constancy, the judgment, the resources of any hydrographer, he vanquished circumstances. His reconnaissance of the western coast, from Monterey to Columbia river, and his preliminary survey there, were made in spite of desertion and even mutiny–in despite of the inadequacy of means to meet the truly extraordinary circumstances of the country….”

[Image below: Map 1863]
Map1863_2

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John Vonderlin: 1911: J. Smeaton Chase Rode Horseback from Mexico to Calif. to Oregon, 2000 Miles and Tells Us What He Saw

Here are J. Smeaton Chase’s Impressions, as he observed the Coastside from atop his horse.

For more information about J. Smeaton Chase, please click here

Story from John Vonderlin

Email John ([email protected])

 

Hi June,

   The following is an excerpt from a book entitled

“California Coast Trails, a Horseback Ride from

Mexico to Oregon.” It was authored by Joseph

Smeaton Chase Smeato

 

and published in 1913. It is

available to be read at Archive.org. I’ve

attached a picture of Mr. Chase along with a short

bio. Anton is his faithful steed.

Enjoy John

 

   “So we lounged along, a mile an hour. Anton was

always curious about my note-book. Usually I did

my scribbling in the saddle, but when I was leading

him and stopped to write, he would watch me with

his head a little cocked and a puzzled air that plainly

asked, “What on earth are you always up to with

that bit of stick?” After some miles we crossed the

west fork of Waddell Creek at a lovely place of dim

pools, mossed rocks, and waving ferns. Reaching the

next crest, on a sudden we were among arid brush

and digger-pines, with a blaze of sunlight reflected

from a white, shaly soil . After the hours of greenness

and “dim religious light” the change was startling.

At the next rise I looked out upon the familiar

sight of a deep seaward canon up which the fog was

creeping. Its waves were just rosied by the evening

sun, and timbered shoulders of mountain stood up,

darkly purple, through the fleecy sea. Down this

canon we pursued our way in thoughtful mood at-

tuned to the gathering shadows, and came by dusk

to a lonely ranch where I made application for our

lodging. The good people made us welcome, and I en-

joyed the unwonted luxury of a table piled with mag-

azines beside the social hearth of a cultivated family.

   A few miles of travel next day down the cafion of

Whitehouse Creek brought me to the coast at

Franklin Point. A thin mist overhung sea and shore,

and through it I could dimly see in the south Point

Ano Nuevo, with a lighthouse on the adjacent little

island. The coast here, though not high, is pictur-

esque with scattered rocks and a sea vexed into con-

tinual turmoil.

   Five miles to the north is the hamlet of Pigeon

Point. A handsome lighthouse stands on the cliff.

I like to pay my respects to these beneficent senti-

nels, so I called there, and was courteously shown over

the building by one of the officers, who explained

to me the latest triumphs of invention in lighthouse

equipment.

   From Pigeon Point the road passed for mile on

mile through a gray land, inordinately dusty, and

palliated only by occasional boons in the shape of

thickets of goldenrod or a sprinkling of lavender

asters. A dull sea with an uneasy voice kept us close

company, and about once an hour we met a team or

passed a lichened farmhouse. After crossing a la-

goon which lies at the mouth of the Arroyo de los

Frijoles, — thus does the Spanish aggrandize even

humble Bean Creek, — the road lay along the cliff

beside Pebble Beach, locally famous for agates and

moonstones. A hotel stood on the bluff, with no

other house in sight and no appearance of having

so much as a solitary guest to entertain. Its windy

desolation was so discouraging that I could not

bring myself to try their entertainment, though it

was time to think of stopping. Before long I found

a road leading inland, and turning into it came to

a broad green cafion with a winding creek. A couple

of miles away I saw the little town of Pescadero,

standing prettily backed by wooded ridges, its white

houses shining in the evening sun. In due course we

marched into town, where I was just in time for

supper at the comfortable inn.

   The experience of Moss Landing was repeated.

A party of bibulous sportsmen arrived during the

evening and pervaded the place with noise and pro-

fanity. When I learned that the noisiest, thirstiest,

and most obscene of the group was a banker of

San Francisco, I congratulated myself that no funds

of mine were in his keeping, and hoped that warning

visions might be vouchsafed to his clients in their

dreams.

 

Dust and wild flowers — Half Moon Bay — “Gilt-edged” real-

estate — The Montara Mountain coast — First view of San

Francisco Bay —

 

In the last day’s travel we had crossed from Santa

Cruz into San Mateo County. Now ensued

twenty miles of dreadful dust, but compensated by

a grateful scarcity of automobiles, though we were

now nearing San Francisco and were almost in the

latitude of the southern end of the bay. The coast

road is continuously hilly, and the great bulk of

travel follows the level inland road by way of Palo

Alto and San Jose. Brown, monotonous hills rolled

along on the east, treeless but for occasional clumps

of eucalyptus that marked the rare farmhouses.

Now and then the road came out upon high whitish

cliffs fringed with a broad band of surf, the growl of

which was a matter of never-failing interest to Anton.

Fog obscured the ocean at a mile or two from

shore. The roadside bushes were drab with five

months of drought, but a few asters and late wild

roses still kept their cheerful smiles, and their petals

were as pure and bright as though newly washed by

the rains of spring, — a miracle which I never cease

to admire in wild flowers in general, and those of

our dry California summers especially.

   At the village of San Gregorio I noted one reason

for the small amount of travel on the road when I

saw the collection of wagons that were drawn up

awaiting their drivers, who were circulating indus-

triously from saloon to saloon. Nearing Tunitas

Creek, we were greeted by the screech of a loco-

motive, and I found that we were at the temporary

terminus of the Ocean Shore Railroad, which comes

down the coast thus far from San Francisco.

   Then we passed a straggling settlement named

Purisima, the capital, so to speak, of a grant of land

enjoying the lengthy title of Canada Verde y Arroyo

de la Purisima; and soon arrived at the town of

Half Moon Bay, lying a mile inland from the shore

of the bay itself, which I could see curving round to

the northwest, where it terminated in the promon-

tory of Pillar Point. It was still fairly early, but I

felt really unable to face any more dust for one day.

So we sought our respective quarters, and I, for my

part, subsided without delay into a bath.

   Next day was the equinox, and the morning was

dull, threatening (or, a better way of putting it,

promising) rain. We were early on the road, which

rounded the head of the bay, passing through a num-

ber of new-born “cities” whose existence was to be

known mainly by pitiful little cement sidewalks,

already bulging and broken. Each place in succes-

sion adjured me by stentorian sign-boards not to

miss the wealth that awaited investors in its “gilt-

edged” lots. It was a boon to exchange the songs

of these financial sirens for the charms of a sea and

sky alike of wistful gray, lighted ever and anon by

gleams of gold that bore no hint of real estate.

   The road came again to the shore at Montara

Point, where there is a small lighthouse. A mile

ahead a fine mountain came sharply to the sea, and

I could trace a road graded steeply over It. I had not

expected another taste of the mountains so near as

I now was to San Francisco, and I rejoiced at the

sight. We soon began the climb, which brought mag-

nificent views of cllfif and sea, often several hundred

feet almost sheer below.

   The mist lay thickly over the water at a little dis-

tance from shore, and I had to leave to the mind’s

eye the view I had anticipated, of the sails or smoke

of many vessels making to the Golden Gate. From

the summit of the grade I looked out to the north

upon the green valley of San Pedro and the long

line of cllfif shore that runs to the entrance of the

great bay. Below, the fine headland of San Pedro

Point stood out to the west, ending in a picturesque

little Island pinnacled like an iceberg; and farther

to the north I could just discern the outline of the

high, bold coast of Marin.

   A steep descent followed by a few miles of no-

notonous road brought us to Laguna Salada, where

I found an ambitious hotel and another array of

empty streets and avenues. Then came a winding

road, which at length turned inland and climbed a

long ascent. At the top I turned in my saddle to

take, as I thought, a backward view of the country

I had been travelling. To my surprise I saw no-

thing that I could recognize, but, instead, a coast-

line entirely strange to me. After a puzzled moment

it dawned upon me that I was looking down upon the

Bay of San Francisco, and we took a few minutes

rest while I digested the fact and congratulated

myself on having reached this salient point of the

expedition.

———————————

California Coast Trails: In 1911, Chase journeyed 2,000 miles on horseback from Mexico to Oregon and intimately recorded his experiences along the way. In his journals, Chase poetically provides a glimpse of California’s towns and wilderness as they appeared at the beginning of the 20th century.

 

J. Smeaton Chase (1864-1923) American Author.

J. Smeaton Chase has become an integral part of California literature: revered for his poignant descriptions of California landscapes. An Englishman who toured the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto mountains in 1915 with his burro, Mesquit, Chase published poetic diary entries detailing his escapades through the Sierra Nevada mountains and California desert.

Joseph Smeaton Chase was born in London in April 1864. He arrived in Southern California in 1890, although information surrounding his motive for doing so is sparse. It is known however, that he lived on a mountainside and managed to obtain a job tutoring a wealthy rancher’s children in the San Gabriel Valley. Chase was always drawn to the plants, animals, and Native Americans that resided along the California coast. Subsequently, in 1911 he took a trip with local painter Carl Eytel, traveling on horseback from Los Angeles to Laguna and then down to San Diego. Chase journeyed through the uncouth California land and detailed his escapades in his book California Desert Trails.[1] He was passionate that the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto mountains be preserved as a national park. Chase appeals to readers who appreciate the unspoiled west and California history.

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John Vonderlin: Coast Survey Point Ano Nuevo to San Francisco

Story from John Vonderlin

Email John ([email protected])

Hi June,

   This is from a book entitled, “Pacific Coast, Coast Pilot of California, Oregon and Washington Territory.” It was written by George Davidson and was published in 1869. Mr. Davidson, for whom the Davidson Current and other features are named, was critical in the early, multi-year surveys of every nook and corner of our coastline, and so much more. This is a pilot guide to landmarks, dangers, and other things a mariner might face sailing our coast. It’s available for reading at Archive.org. Enjoy. John P.S. Note that Mr. Davidson, gives us another alternate theory of the origin of the name Pigeon Point. In this case the wreck of the clipper ship Wild Pigeon. While I do remember reading about the Wild Pigeon, he’s way off ccourse on that one.

 

POINT ANO NUEVO.

 

From Point Santa Cruz to Point Ano Nuevo the distance is eighteen miles, and the general direction west by north three-quarters north, at first curving to the south westward of that course, and then to the northward, until within three miles of the rock off Point Ano Nuevo, when the shore curves well to westward, (for the last mile to the southwest,) forming an anchorage protected somewhat against the heavy swell from the northwest, and having a depth of five fathoms within less than half a mile of the shore, and from ten to fifteen fathoms at the distance of a mile.

   At a quarter of a mile from the point lies a black, jagged islet, consisting of a sloping ledge of rocks covered with a stratum of yellow clay about four feet thick, and this again covered with a mound of sand about thirty feet high. Upon this a light-house is to be built. The point itself is composed of rolling hills of shifting sand, varying from twenty to one hundred feet in height, while behind them rises’. the Santa Cruz range of mountains. The coast trail, which follows the beach from the southward, here strikes up the hills behind the sand diuies.

 

Steamers coming upon the coast from the southward in thick weather always endeavor to make the land near Point Ano Nuevo, and then follow the coast to the San Francisco bar. On account of its importance in this respect a light-house was recommended by the Superintendent of the Coast Survey.

 

The oflf-shore soundings from Monterey Bay to the Farallones show that the depth of one hundred fathoms gradually leaves the coast. South of Santa Cruz the depth of one hundred fathoms is found between eight and nine miles from the shore, and continues at this distance until nearly up with Point Ano Nuevo, where it suddenly increases to fourteen miles distant and thence runs northwest on a line Iying five miles outside of the Farallones. The deepest sounding was obtained only eight miles from shore and twelve miles southwest three-eighths west from Point Santa Cniz, and fifteen miles southeast by south one-eighth south from

Point Ano Nuevo. The depth was three hundred and thirty-five fathoms over

a bottom of coarse black sand and mud, and only one mile outside the one-hundred-fathom line.

 

Black Mountain, in latitude 37o 19′, and longitude 122^ 8′, attains an eleva-

tion of 2,809 feet, and lies twenty miles north by east half east from Point Ano Nuevo.

 

A map of the anchorage was published by the Coast Survey in 1854.

 

Many of the coasting steamers report their compasses affected when close in with the coast between Point Santa Cruz and Point Ano Nuevo. Although the vessel may be principally affected in this locality by undetermined ocean currents, influenced by the great submarine valley of Monterey Bay, yet, the report of Dr. J. B. Trask is that an extensive lode of magnetic iron occurs in this section, running down to the coast, where it crops out and exhibits a depth of several feet

   From Point Ano Nuevo the coast has a general direction northwest for nine miles to Point Bolsa, along a very rocky and bold shore with fifteen fathoms at a distance of half a mile. This is the Cape Tonquin of Tebenkoff and others. At the distance of five miles from Ano Nuevo is Pigeon Point, named from the wreck of the clipper ship Wild Pigeon.

 

The high mountain lying square in from Point Bolsa is Black Mountain, dis-

tant thirteen and one-half miles, and bearing north 53o east. Two miles north of La Bolsa empties the Piscador, a small stream running through a valley of inconsiderable extent. For the foregoing twelve miles the general formation of the immediate seaboard is that of a table-land of three terraces, the lowest gradually sloping from the base of the second to the coast, which is exceedingly rockj and forbidding; the underlying stratum is sandstone.

 

From Point Ano Nuevo to Pillar Point, or Punta de Corral Tierra, forming

the south and western point of Half moon Bay, the general direction is northwest by north, and the distance twenty-four and a half miles. Tliree and a third miles above the Piscador opens the San Gregorio, another small stream, and two and one-third miles still farther opens the Tunitas. The seaboard between the valley of the Piscador and that of the San Gregorio undergoes a striking change both in the character of its topography and its geology. Instead of the table-land, we meet with a spur of the Coast mountains running into the sea, and having an elevation of six hundred feet within a mile of it. The shore-line and the coast generally represent a very broken and rugged appearance, occasioned by the deep gulches cut through to the ocean.

 

HALF-MOON BAY.

 

This anchorage is six miles south-southeast from Point San Pedro, and eighteen miles south by east from the Golden Gate. The southwestern point of the bay is formed by a bluff table-land about one hundred and sixty feet in height, called the Corral de Tierra, three hundred and twenty-five yards south of which stretch a number of black rocks, which show as one when seen coming up the coast, but as three or four when approached from the northwest. The largest is nearly as high as the bluff, and locally known as Sail Rock, or Pillar Rock. The point is known as Pillar Point, and from its southeastern extremity rocky and foul bottom, marked by kelp, extends southeast one-third east, seven-eighths of a mile, dropping suddenly from fourteen feet to five fathoms. This is the inner reef, and makes the bay available as a summer anchorage. One mile and three-

quarters southeast from the same part of the point, a narrow ledge of rocky bottom, one-third of a mile long, and marked by kelp, stretches in the same general direction. The passage between this outer and the inner reef is three-quarters of a mile wide, with rocky and uneven bottom, from three and a quarter to ten and one-quarter fiithoms. These ledges lie parallel with the Coast mountains, and with the shoreline from which the outer one is distant one and three-eighths mile.From the eastern extremity of the point the shore runs northwest by north for a quarter of a mile; then northeast for three-quarters of a mile, curving to the eastward and southeastward in a long bend, for two and a half miles to the mouth of the Arroyo de los Pillarcitos, down which comes the only road crossing the peninsula of San Francisco, between the Laguna de Mercedes and Santa Cruz. The

highest part of this road, which crosses a depression of the peninsula, is near the Coast Survey station ” Ridge,” which is one thousand and ninety-three feet above the ocean, and but a few feet higher than the road. The outer reef is nearly abreast of the Pillarcitos, from which the coast runs south four miles to Miramontes Point, which is south 48° east, five miles from Pillar Point ; thence to the mouth of the Tunitas the distance is four miles southeast. The greatest extent of the bay may be said to be between Pillar and Miramontes Points, but the part near the former only is available.

 

About two and a half miles along the coast, northwestward from Pillar Point, a dangerous ledge lies about one-half mile off shore. It has ten to fifteen feet upon it, and much broken water around it. Detailed examinations might develop l(*8s (?) water. The shore behind it has a low bluff’ from twenty to sixty feet high with a broad, flat valley behind it, so that vessels, in hazy or dark weather, may mistake their distance from the shore.

   The soundings between the rocky ledges and the shore are quite regular,

decreasing from nine fathoms to three fathoms at less than a quarter of a mile from the beach, with sandy bottom. The passage to the anchorage is between the inner and outer reef, with the high, bare-topped mountain bearing a little north of east, and Pillar Point open to the westward. This mountain is steep, with straggling redwoods on its flanks, and the summit bare. It is locally known as Bald Pate; but, on the Spanish grants, as Cumbra de las Auras. When inside the reefs beat up until Pillar Point bears about southwest, distant half a mile, and anchor in four and a half fathoms, hard sand. With light southerly winds a heavy swell sets in ; but upon the approach of heavy southeast weather it is neces- sary to go to sea.

   The mass of redwoods cresting the mountains of the peninsula cease abruptly abreast of Miramontes, and only stragglers are seen to the northward. They are a good mark for recognizing this part of the coast when coming in from sea. Around Half-moon Bay is a limited extent of agricultural country at the seaward base of the mountains, and small coasters carry the produce to San Francisco.

   About one mile along the coast to the northwestward is a small boat harbor, one hundred yards wide, formed and protected by outlying rocks, and having three and a half fathoms in it. In the autumn months it is used as a whaling station. About a thousand barrels of humpback oil were obtained in the fall of 1863.

   Point San Pedro lies northwest by north one-quarter north, thirty miles from Point Ano Nuevo, and south by east from Point Lobos, at the entrance to the Golden Gate. It is a black, bold, rocky promontory, over five (?) hundred feet high, having a high, large, jagged rock at the northern part, and is a prominent and excellent mark for making the entrance to San Francisco. The principal rock is nearly a hundred feet high. Its south face is white, and shows the line of stratification plainly. From the west the dip of the strata shows about sixty degrees to the northward. It is connected with the main by some low rocks. Half a mile to the northeast of the point is the valley of San Pedro, from which the point takes

its name. Southeast from Point San Pedro the hills rise rapidly, and attain a height of one thousand nine hundred and eighty feet at Montara Mountain, three miles southeast by east from the point.

   When Point San Pedro bears southeast, five miles distant, with the rocks off it hidden by thick weather, and the top of the ridge covered with fog, it may be readily known by a single pyramidal hill rising abruptly and breaking the general slope of the mountain towards the southwest. As the fog lifts, or the point is approached, the rock will be seen inside, or to the eastward of this hill; and the low bluff towards Half-moon Bay will show outside of it.

   From Point San Pedro the bar outside the Golden Gate is distant twelve

miles, and from Point Ano Nuevo it is forty miles upon a northwest by north

course.

——————-

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John Vonderlin: 19th Century Coast Survey

Hi June,

    As was alluded to in the previously-posted, hard-hitting  1886 editorial, “Let Us Have Light,” a survey of the local coast for good lighthouse sites  had been done many years before then, by a Professor Bache. That was Alexander Bache, the second Superintendent of the Office of the Coast Survey, the forerunner of the Geodetic Survey. 

   This is an excerpt from the Geodetic Survey website that I thought would serve as a good intro to a bunch of info I’ve gathered about the pioneers of the Coast Survey, that worked on the Pacific Coast, starting in 1848. The website has 21,000 accessible historic maps made by the Coast Survey, going back 200 years. I wanted to share some of those wonderful maps and drawings of our coast, in conjunction with a few mentions of the  people that made them. Enjoy. John

 

“… the big billowing- everlasting – ro-o-a-a-r-r-r-r — onto-the-end-of-the-world of the ocean…”

 

In general the American people have been presented with an American West of wagon trains, trackless deserts, fierce Indian warriors riding painted steeds, mesas and mountains, and vast herds of buffalo rumbling across an endless prairie. This view has glorified the sodbusters, the cattle ranchers, the U.S. Cavalry, the noble savage, the railroaders, the miners, the peace keepers, and the gunslingers. But there was another frontier — a frontier of uncharted waterways, bold and precipitous mountains doing perpetual battle with the on-rushing swells of the North Pacific, wild and tumultous storms that could drive the unwary sailor upon an iron-bound shore, relentless fogs blocking the path of all but the bold or foolish, desert shores to the south and rain forest to the north, majestic redwood and fir forests growing to the very edge of the sea, and sea -going Native Americans who were as fierce and brave as their storied counterparts of the plains and deserts. This was the Pacific frontier, the western-most frontier, that faced the first Coast Surveyors who made the arduous trip from the East Coast of the United States to the western margin of North America. More than any other organization, it was the Coast Survey that helped tame this frontier coast. A small group of dedicated surveyors helped make this coast as safe for commerce and travel as any in the world in the short space of a few years beginning in 1849.

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John Vonderlin: 1868: We want a lighthouse!

Story by and from John Vonderlin

Email John ([email protected])

Hi June,

Now this is what I call a hard hitting editorial. This was published just a week after the shipwreck of the Hellespont, that cost eleven lives. One of your readers sent me an email asking about the process of lighthouse location selection. I opined it was like the process of traffic light placement today. Money being found if their is public demand, which is often driven by spectacular or frequent accidents at the site. I think this article supports that opinion. This article was in the November 30, 1868 issue of “The Daily Alta.” and was entitled, “Let Us Have Light.” The Pigeon Point Lighthouse was built just a couple of years later. Enjoy. John

P.S. I’ve attached a short bio excerpt from Wikipedia, of Professor Bache, and his picture,quite an interesting and accomplished man. The Congressional Library documents from his survey of this part of the Coastside are probably still available, possibly online. I’ll check. That would be real interesting to compare to today.

LET US HAVE LIGHT. The public of California have been waiting for eighteen years to have their Government provide one lighthouse for the ninety miles of coast lying south of the Golden Gate. The vessels which, during that time, have been dashed to pieces upon that ill fated shore, could hardly be connted upon one’s fingers. The lives which have been lost amount to many scores, and all for want of a lighthouse. Last week the ship Hellespont went ashore between Pigeon Point and New Year’s Point, eleven lives lost out of sixteen — total loss of ship and cargo. Two years ago the Coya went ashore between those two points— twenty- six lives lost — three saved— total loss of vessel and cargo. The year before, the ship Sir John Franklin, 1,000 tons register, went ashore at the same place— Captain and eleven seaman drowned — total loss of ship and cargo. A little earlier the Carrier Pigeon had been dashed to pieces against the same shore, leaving nothing behind but her name to designate the point where she terminated her career; and so on at the rate of about one wreck a year, as far back as we can remember. Now, this is not the case where sunken reefs, difficult to guard against, have caused the disaster. There are two bold headlands, as if made by nature for the express purpose of being sites for lighthouses. One of them, New Year’s Point, projocts out into the ocean a mile or more beyond the general coast line, and all of solid rock, standing thirty feet above high water. Moreover, this being a conspicuous point, and about in the line of all vessels arriving at San Francisco from all ports of the Atlantic Ocean, from all Europe, all the United States except Oregon, all Australia and the Indian Ocean, every vessel expects and tries to make New Year’s Point as its first land on the eastern shore of the Pacific and in clear weather it does this in perfect safety; but in foggy weather, or in the darkness of night, it dashes “stem on,” and sinks in the yeasty waves. There has never been a light there, and from present appearances there never will be. The ship-owner who is about to send his vessel past this combined Scylla and Charybdis oannot afford it: the marine insurance companies cannot practically combine to share the expense, although they could afford to take risks from Europe or the Eastern States to San Francisco at one half the present rates if there were good lights on those two points; and so nothing is done, that is nothing that results in a light. There have been on the part of Government officials an abundance of talk, an abundance of observations, reports, recommendations, but no light. Sixteen years ago Professor Bache (Alexander Bache) made most elaborate and voluminous reports upon the fitness of these two points for light-house sites, all of which were nicely printed and illustrated and bound up and paid for, and then packed away in the Congressional Library. The volumes are covered with dust; the Professor himself has died and gone to join the shades of those wrecked mariners whose sad fate would have been avoided had his teachings been heeded; and still the light-house at New Year’s Point is only a thing talked about. Will it be said that Senator Cole got a Congressional appropriation of $90,000 last spring, to build a light-house at New Year’s Point? and will men suppose that therefore there is to be a light there? Nay, nay. There shall be more inquiries, more reports, more paper, more ink, more tape, but no more light. The Lighthouse Board will draw their salaries, as before; the Lighthouse Engineer will draw his, the District Attorney will touch his fee if there chances to be a reference to him for a legal opinion, but that will be all; and yet there has been time enough to build the lighthouse since the appropriation was made. If this had been a matter of private business instead of official red-tape, the house would have been built, and the Hellespont and her crew would have been saved; or if  the building of a permanent lighthouse must await the last possible scientific investigation touching all material of wood, of iron, of brick, of stone— touching wind currents and water currents, touching the decoupling effects of air and of water, of rain water and sea water, and the latter, as affected by the score of decomposed human bodies with which the annual wrecks gratuitously varies the experiment for the official or scientific inquirers- let us at least have a light of some sort and at once a light which can be seen by the sailor, although, perchance, it shall be of some unrecognised “order of Fresnel” give one ot the ‘ redwood men” of the vicinity $50 to cut down three trees, tall as the masts  of Millton’s ” High Admiral.” Get a Pigeon point whaleman to make out of them a tripod, and erect the same upon New Year’s Point, and upon its top to put crude beacon light of some sort. (the whale oil and sea lion oil of the place will furnish the material) Then hire one of those sailors to “shin up” one of the legs of this tripod and light this wide lantern of a dark and stormy night, and you will have done something practical; also, you shall have left 89 of the 90 thousand dollars appropriated, to be snarled and squabbled for, and still the scientific inquiries can go on, relieved, partially at least, of the unpleasant accompaniement of the death shrieksof drowning mariners.

n 1843, on the death of Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler, Bache was appointed superintendent of the United States coast survey. He convinced the United States Congress of the value of this work and by means of the liberal aid it granted, he completed the mapping out of the whole coast by a skillful division of labor and the erection of numerous observing stations. In addition, magnetic and meteorological data was collected.

 Besides being the second Superintendent of the Coast Survey, he was also President of the National Academy of Scviences.

AlexanderDallasBache

 

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John Vonderlin: 1853: The End of the Carrier Pigeon

Story from John Vonderin

Email John ([email protected])

 

Hi June,
   It was the New York Times Archive that settled, at least in my mind, the Captains confusion, created by the “Sea Bird” article. I now believe that Azariah Doane, was the Captain of the “Carrier Pigeon” at the time of the shipwreck. Using the clunky N.Y.T. Archives I found a June 29th, 1853 notice of 
“June 7—Clipper Ship Carrier Pigeon, Capt. DOANE, of Boston, (new) went ashore at the “Heads,” 25 miles below San Francisco; passengers and crew saved. Loss $250,000; insured in Boston $195,000″
It was actually a total of $195,283 for 15 insured parties, according to the July 12, 1853 article in the NYT that I’ve attached a ScreenShot of.
   There was also another article that had Sherman Day of Santa Clara, reporting the cargo had been sold for $1,550.
Oddly, in the extensive Doane Family Association Website, it details Azariah’s father as being the son of Captain Joshua Doane and two of Azariah’s brothers, Isaac Snow Doane and Seth Doane, as Captains, but not Azariah. Sadly, he’s never mentioned again in the newspapers and he died the year after he was shamed. 
   Mr. Waterman, on the other hand, was active in all sorts of salvage operations in the ensuing years and had quite the reputation. Apparently the salvage company that owned the Sea Bird used him as a Captain in their rescue, salvage or charter business. He would also repair salvaged boats and resell them, something that got him some heat when one sank afterwards.
 And Mr. Wright is also shown as a Captain of the Sea Bird in other articles. Lastly Captain Haley, was the master of the Goliah at this time, but he was also Captain of the Sea Bird at one time. I hope I’ve cleared this all up. Enjoy. John 
onetwothreefortyfive
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