Rancho San Marcos

RANCHO SAN MARCOS

CHANNEL ISLANDS NOMENCLATURE

VOL. IV,

NO. 3

OCTOBER, 1958

SANTA BARBARA HISTORICAL SOCIETY OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS 19 5 8

OFFICERS President

Thomas J. McDermott

First Vice President,. ,

Hugh J. Weldon

Second Vice President

., Elmer H. Whittaker

Secretary.

....Paul G. Sweetser

Treasurer

...Mrs. Henry Griffiths

Past President

Elbert S. Conner

DIRECTORS Mrs. Natalie C. Bigelow Elbert S. Conner Mrs. Wilson Forbes John Galvin W. Edwin Gledhill Mrs. Robert Ingle Hoyt Rev. Basil Kelly, O.F.M.

W. Edwin Gledhill

Dr. Hilmar 0. Koefod Mrs. E. F. Menzies William S. Porter Miss Edna Sharpe Mrs. Van Rensselaer Wilbur Don W. Woods

Museum Director

Mrs. W. Edwin Gledhill..

Curator

Edward Selden Spaulding

...Editor-in-Cbief

NOTICIA5 QUARTERLY BULLETIN OF THE SANTA BARBARA HISTORICAL SOClEPf' MAILING ADDRESS: OLD MISSION, SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA

Rancho San Marcos

By Dwight Murphy

Although the history of the San Marcos Ranch is inextricably bound to the history of the Santa Barbara Mission, the ranch was not granted to the mission or to any other person prior to the Mexican grant to Nicholas A. and Richard S. Den. In fact, no lands were ever granted to the missions.

When the missionaries first came to California, the entire country was deemed to belong to the King of Spain, and the missionaries were his agents.

Further verification of this fact can be found in the decree of King Philip V, dated September 15, 1713: “Being well disposed toward the Ordi nances and Laws concerning the Indians, and especially the 8th of title 3, book 6 of the Recopilacion, which provides that the new reductions or mission pueblos, that are being formed for the Indians, be given a location which has the convenience of water, arable lands, ranges, entries and exits, that they may live from their own labor, and a commons of a league (about 4,400 acres) in every direction of the wind, where their cattle may graze without mixing with those of the Spaniards: I command my Viceroy of New Spain, the Audiencia, the governors, etc., that, in conformity with and in the observance of these laws, they exercise all their vigilance and efficiency, so that the said newly-converted Indians be given the lands, public commons, and water that have been conceded to them.”

The first reference to what is now the San Marcos Ranch is found in the statement of Father Duran, then head of the Santa Barbara Mission. He reported in 1804 that the mission was in possession, among other proper ties, of all lands of the Santa Ynez River.

The San Marcos Ranch, as one of the properties under the care and supervision of the Santa Barbara Mission, was presided over by one or two padres who supervised the care of the livestock and the raising of agricultural products. Not only did the missionaries run cattle and sheep; but they irri gated lands besides. Still visible are remains of an old flume where water from the creek in Hot Spring Canyon was diverted, and land now lying across the highway was irrigated. The “asistensia”, comprising a chapel and living quarters, was established on this property in 1804. Although this structure is now in ruins, the size of the building can easily be determined even in its present dilapidated condition.

1

I

’.

/JU

.\ !(

'. ' ^""nn(TiiT!i,,f,.

A'

A'' V

,4

\ ●' \7''

V

yr

\ ''/[7vA)’"^’’'f''iTr''''^”'''i//,, ^ \

ir

● "-’Ik h' ,"

I

I

::\^■

-f'V

r-'-' N, "t

T

\

^J\

V’’/ ' . '^%y;.

\

i-

*V

»

I

; f

/

s >

■

*i :

j

I

^

'‘/"V

,

r/ /

/I’ »e¥{? '’P

/■ J/M.

%

\

\

A

\

f>f

● r.;t'

\’

. -V

r

●●-.%.

I

.\U/^ .

:U\MV

I

hi!

r' > y, 'll..

!J¥fr y

l lliw,

./ J

A

-d?

●o.

fe \

● ^-

'%v#

'■'●■

<y

A short distance from the “asistensia”, an Indian Village was established.

Also within a short distance, there is a small knoll where the threshing corral was located. The corral was built of stones taken from the river and cemented together with mud. It evidently was about 3^ or 4 feet high. Flat stones were placed on the floor of the corral, and on top of these was laid flat tile. Then, when the grain was to be threshed, it was placed on the floor of this corral; and livestock were driven around over the grain in order to thresh it. This method of threshing was quite common during the days of the Spanish occupation.

On April 11, 1822, Spanish rule in Alta California came to an end. The oath of allegiance to the new government was taken on that day, the name New Spain was supplanted by Mexico, the flag changed from Spain to Mexico, and under the Mexican rule, the plan for secularization of the missions began by the appointment of an administrator for certain missions and the properties under their supervision.

In 1843, the administrator of Mission Santa Barbara leased to Nicholas A. Den and Richard S. Den all of the property of the mission, including the San Marcos Ranch, for $1,200 a year.

Debts incurred in administration of the missions were large; in 1845 Pio Pico, then governor, called upon the assembly “to devise some means of saving the missions from total ruin. If leased, the amount of rent legally applicable to payment of debts would be insignificant. If not rented, ex penses of administration would eat up all revenue”. Consequently, certain mission controlled lands were sold, and one of the properties sold was the San Marcos Ranch.

On June 8, 1846 Nicholas A. Den and Richard S. Den purchased from Pio Pico, the Mexican Governor, the San Marcos Ranch for the sum of 1,500 silver pesos. The Dens were ordered to appear before Judge Pedro C. Carrillo, Presiding Judge in the Santa Barbara District, to obtain legal title to the ranch. Judge Carrillo ordered a survey made of the San Marcos Ranch and appointed Joaquin Valenzuela and Carlos Brown to make this survey.

The survey was to be made on horseback with a rope approximately 135 feet long, and the surveyors were instructed to station diemselves at the Corral de los Prietos as a starting point. In surveying in this manner, one horseman stood in a fixed location until the rope was drawn taut by the second horseman, who then waited for the first to overtake and pass him and again draw ihe rope tight.

After this survey was done, Judge Carrillo called in those who had made the survey and also the owners of adjacent property to testify as to the boundaries of the San Marcos Ranch. This testimony shows that, on the north, the ranch was bounded by the San Rafael Mountains; on the south, by the Santa Barbara Mountains; on the east, by a tribe of very black people; and, on the west, by the Tequepis Ranch (sometimes spelled Jequepas or Jequepis). After hearing the testimony as to the boundaries, the judge issued a legal title to Nicholas and Richard Den, they having paid 1,500 silver pesos for slightly over 35,500 acres.

However, before the Dens could take physical title, it was necessary for the judge and witnesses to proceed to the headquarters of the ranch and perform a certain ritual to establish the Dens as actual owners of the prop3

erty. This ritual consisted of breaking limbs of trees, pulling up plants, scat tering handfuls of earth, etc.

In December of 1846, Colonel Freemont passed over the San Marcos Ranch with his troops and while there purchased several head of beef from the Dens.

On October 4, 1848, Colonel J. D Stevenson, American military gov ernor, revoked Pico’s order giving ownership of the ranch to the Dens and ordered that they be ousted from possession. The United States District Court, when the case was presented, affirmed the Dens’ right to the San Marcos under their grant from Governor Pico.

In 1850, Nicholas Den mortgaged his interest in the ranch to secure the payment of an annuity of three hundred pounds sterling to John J. Davis, and Esther, his wife. This mortgage was released in 1859.

As time passed, it seems as though Richard Den gave more attention to the management of the ranch than did his brother Nicholas; and in time, about 1859, Richard Den brought suit against his brother to require the latter to execute a conveyance of all his interest in the San Marcos Ranch, based on the contention that Richard Den had paid the entire purchase price to the Mexican government. Another statement asserts that Richard Den claimed the sum of S500 for improvements to the ranch. The action was dismissed on the demurrer to the complaint, but some of the allegations are interesting: “And he further shows that the Rancho San Marcos is located among the mountains and was originally of trifling value; that it was subject to the incursions and ravages of bears and other wild beasts to so great a degree as to be wholly unfit for the pasturage of animals or the residence of man; and that he had exterminated the bears and other wild beasts upon the said rancho at considerable personal expense and has there by rendered the same habitable and suitable for the rearing of stock; that he has spent much time, labor and skill in the improvement of the said Rancho by the repair of buildings and construction of fences thereon, by the removal of brush and stubble and by the opening of roads and trails . . .”

For several years after the United States came into possession of California, there were disputes over the Mexican grants of California lands, and ownership of the San Marcos Ranch by the Den brothers was challenged in court in 1854. National Archives record No. 540 refers to a petition pre sented by the Dens claiming the eight leagues known as San Marcos Ranch.

This petition refers to the patent issued them by Pio Pico in 1846, and their receiving judicial possession on July 10, 1848. The deposition of Fran cisco Badilla in National Archives record No. 539 further attests the dispute. Witnesses were called to testify before the Board of Land Com missioners in April, 1854, to ascertain and settle the private land claims in the state of California. Badilla appeared as a witness in behalf of the Dens; and as his testimony indicated, his rancho, Los Ritos, adjoined the property of the Dens. BadiUa was asked questions concerning boundaries as well as questions indicating the attempt to establish the date of first occu pancy by the Dens. Badilla testified that he remembered Judge Pedro Carrillo’s granting of possession, and also remembered that Carrillo had said that the ranch covered eight leagues.

4

Badilla further testified that the Dens occupied the Rancho by planting wheat, barley, com, beans, etc., and a vineyard, and had about 300 head of cattle. “They had an adobe house covered with tiles, a large house, also 99 a corral or corrals, fences, and other improvements.

Another witness in behalf of the Dens, Abel Steams of Los Angeles, was questioned as to the authenticity of the signature of Pio Pico on the docu ment giving possession—also the signatures of the Dens, Judge Carrillo, and Luis T. Burton. By virtue of knowing the individuals concerned and being familiar with their handwriting, Stearns vouched for the genuineness of all signatures on the document in question.

The validity of the Den brothers’ claim was recognized by the Com missioners, and on July 17, 1855, a decree of confirmation was granted.

The land was surveyed by the office of the U.S. Surveyor General and ap proved by the Surveyor General on May 19, 1860. For four successive weeks notice of the survey was published in two newspapers, the Santa Barbara POST and the San Francisco TIMES. Notice attested that the survey and plant had been made and retained for inspection in the office of the Surveyor General for ninety days, during which time no protest had been filed against said survey.

The official survey verified the survey made under the supervision of Judge Carrillo and described the ranch as bounded, on the north, by the base of the mountains of San Rafael; on the south, by the base of the mountains of Santa Barbara (Santa Ynez); on the east, by the Corral de los Prietos (yard of the dark people); and, on the west, by Tequepis. The Santa Ynez River runs through the San Marcos Ranch from east to west.

The San Marcos Ranch passed through the famous estate of Nicholas A. Den, who died in 1862. Under Den’s will, which was executed in 1859, his half interest in the ranch was left in trust for the benefit of his ten children. The probate notices were published in the HERALD and MIRROR, a newspaper published in San Francisco.

In 1862 the executors filed a petition to sell the decedent’s interest in San Marcos Ranch. The sale, however, was not effected until 1868. At the time of the sale, the executors testified that “a part of the livestock was con sumed by the family and by the servants employed in taking care of the Rancho, and the larger part of the remaining stock was destroyed by the unparalleled drought which prevailed in the County of Santa Barbara in the year 1863-64.

This allegation appears as to the San Marcos Ranch: “This Rancho is said to be well adapted to the grazing of cattle and horses, but is commonly believed to be too rough and mountainous for sheep grazing. There are no 99 improvements on this Rancho except an old adobe house and a few corrals.

The interest of the estate in this ranch was appraised in the inventory at $4,000. The court confirmed a sale by the executors to C. C. Hunter for $16,500. One J. R. Willoughby claimed to have prior bid which had been accepted and brought action to determine his title. He subsequently assigned his interest to William Pierce. The executors duly made a conveyance to Himter in 1868, and Himter conveyed his interest to Pierce. The interest of Richard Den was later likewise acquired by William Pierce.

5

At this time the history of the San Marcos Ranch became involved with that of Tequepis, its neighbor on the west. Like San Marcos, Tequepis was a Mexican grant—granted by Pio Pico to Antonio Maria Villa in 1845 and confirmed by U. S. Grant on July 24, 1869. The Tequepis grant was for 8,919 acres. On November 5, 1868 the Tequepis ranch was acquired by William Pierce from “Villa’s heirs and their successors in interest, specifically Leon Baldwin.

This purchase added to the original 35,573 acres of the San Marcos Ranch gave Mr. Pierce a total of 44,492 acres. With additional purchases of slightly under 3,000 acres from the “home-steaders”, he ultimately acquired a ranch of more than 47,000 acres, which remained in i the possession of Mr. William Pierce, et al, until 1919.

In May 1919 negotiations were begun to transfer the complete Pierce holdings to F. W. Matthiessen (recorded of Triunfo, Ventura, in the deed book); the sale was consummated on September 2, 1919 and recorded on September 5, 1919. Six parcels of land were involved for a consideration of $521,557.63 in gold coin: Parcel 1, the 35,573.10 acres of Rancho San Marcos; Parcel 2, 8,919 acres of Tequepis; Parcels 3-6 adjacent acreage totaling 2,922.23 acres, making a recorded total of 47,414.3 acres deeded to Matthiessen. Matthiessen, in turn, sold the property in parcels of various sizes, thus in a few years disposing of his entire interest.

Highway 150 now runs through the greater portion of the San Marcos Ranch, and the waters impounded by Cachuma Dam flood approximately 5,000 acres of the ranch property.

Mr. Dwight Murphy Santa Barbara, Calif.

Dear Mr. Murphy: Attached is a sketch of the old mission adobe at the San Marcos, with the dimensions as I found on my recent trip to that delightful country.

The walls still show up well except the north wall of the north room.

Also as no walls show on the N. E. corner ruins perhaps no room existed there, tho Ford in his painting indicates a long ridge pole over the area from the center room.

The doors shown check with those shown in the Ford painting which I examined at the Riverside Inn. While at San Marcos I examined the stone corral above the Sup’t. house by the two new water tanks which one of your men kindly told me about.

This appears to be the old threshing floor of the Rancho as it is floored with flat rocks and is too small (?) for corral use. Also between the thresh ing floor and hiway, along the small flat appears to be the ruins of an old adobe house, as foundation rocks and many pieces of floor tile are here, as well as wall mounds. Perhaps this was a granary, as it is not far from the headquarters adobe.

Trusting that the enclosed will be of interest and thanking you for the pleasant visit in yom- office, I am Yours very truly, R. S. Smilie.

Thursday, June 23, 1949 570 O.Farrel St., San Francisco.

6

Measuv-ewe«is R. S. Smi' li'e

made San

Oh Ba*t Sid*-

●Santfi Barbara, /W/5S/Oi-t-

/9W F»>4ricisco

Raricho

I

li

Sart Hav*C05

Adobe

Houc< Head ^U4r ^ CVS ►li'sr wagHehew4U0 ” OH Fio ole S^hfa. Thcs ISO*!

Opfosite ^eleu' H^Cj- Coic/J oC Sa.h M4CC0S IfflMcfi 0-1 mile Wo^-ffc O-SC-S. S4n Safael (^utdransle

J|

de

i^lSo

Byll+-

I

>1

f

!

? {

f

'iSSlICAii 1/

riir^*

East

eiavatiori/

/ Ed.rl>j

To

l^oa-d

C^eeK

30 ±. ^«vd«

Pvobable

on Vo fV«t /ru//i/5 /d/ W« if/ie/r

w/wOow *

Porcl)

Ro«d side

enoLE

DOO^

probable

^u/fi/s

He

s ‘ wtce

% I

Di/«en9»0/t5 OM ^ pr*s^nt r uins O/ «-«//s-/?V?-3-5 I i)oo»s X Shew; on ^voi^nd- 1 and- also 18 75Wi'nd«K/5 OM painting bi^ ford ~ olhev Door» shoM' I'H Puins Adobe BvicKa Adobt avthed

//*X aa' A 3 - Walls ai"tA<cK

MorT^v — btj

foi-cL-

Al(

doovs

Koof «»4

fhou/H floor -fil^

4& used-:

)t«nf«p

Channel Islands Nomenclature

By Walker A. Tompkins Santa Barbara County s “maritime possessions”, the Channel Islands, are currently in the news as a result of efforts by a southland group to per suade Congress to rename them in honor of their “forgotten” discoverer, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo.

Since the nante was established in 1792, the proposal to change it is owners being vigorously opposed by Santa Barbarans, including the private : of property on the islands, and the directors of your Historical Society.

The project had its genesis in a recently published book “The California Islands,” by Charles Hillinger of the Los Angeles Times.

Mr. Hillinger’s hankering to rename the Channel Islands is neither new nor original; it has been a popular sport for over four hundred years. The islands have probably been tagged with more labels than any other geo graphical feature on the coast, so that the practice of renaming them could almost be given the status of one of our old California customs.

No less than nine major groups have taken turns at christening the islands: the Indians; Cabrillo, in 1542; Vizcaino, in 1602; Costanso, in 1770; Perez, in 1774; Vancouver, in 1792-94; Wilkes, in 1841; the U.S. Coast Survey, of 1850; and a host of latter-day place namers, who finally consol idated their efforts, in 1938, when F.D.R. officially proclaimed the estab lishment of a “Channel Islands National Monument”.

This Monument included the two westernmost of the Anacapa group, and Santa Barbara Island to the south; but it excluded San Nicolas Island, of “Lost Woman” fame, the tourist resort of Santa Catalina, and the south ernmost island, San Clemente. Thus it becomes obvious that the key word in naming the islands is the Channel which they create by their off-shore location.

The Islands today are virtually inaccessible to the average tourist. In the case of San Miguel, the island is restricted to guided missile personnel of the U. S. Navy. Nevertheless, the Channel Islands are of great import ance to Santa Barbara. Paralleling the shore line, they form a vast break water which shields the county’s South Coast from ocean storms, thereby playing a key role in our far-famed climate. The islands have long been of major interest to scientists in the specialized fields of archaeology, ethnology, paleontology, anthropology and geology.

Today the Channel Islands are named, from east to west as follows: the Anacapa Group; Santa Cruz (the largest) ; Santa Rosa; and San Miguel.

Collectively and individually, however, they have been officially known by a host of other names, which this article mil attempt to summarize. Historians for centuries have consulted contemporary maps of California and, where the off-shore islands were concerned, “paid their money and took their choice”.

The Channel Islands, as any school child knows, were discovered by Juan Rodriguez. Little is known of this man except that he was a Portuguese mariner, better known by his nickname of Cabrillo, which translates “little 8

goat”. He set sail from the port of Navidad, Mexico, on the 27th of June, 1542, with two ships, the San Salvador and La Victoria, for the purpose of exploring the west coast of New Spain.

California was sighted July 2; but it was not until the 15th of October that Cabrillo reached the sheltered waters of the Santa Barbara channel and his unidentified diarist noted in his Relation of the Voyage of Cabrillo': “This day they passed along the shore of a large island, which must be 15 leagues long. They said it was very densely populated with the following pueblos: Niquipos, Maxul, Xugua, Nitel, Nacamo, and Nimitapal.”

Cabrillo named this “large island” San Lucas. A few days later, dis covering that it was actually three separate islands, he renamed them “Las Islas de San Lucas”. The native Indian names had been Ciquirauymu (San Miguel), Nicalque (Santa Rosa) and Limu (Santa Cruz).

On October 25 Cabrillo anchored in a sheltered bay on San Miguel Island. It was here that he suffered a fall which broke his arm and caused gangrene which eventually took his life. They took possession of the island in the name of the Crown and christened it La Posesion in honor of the occasion.

During the stormy month of November, Cabrillo continued up the California coast, reaching as far north as 38“ 31' in the vicinity of Fort Ross, but failing to note the Golden Gate or Monterey Bay, the most important landmarks. Returning south, heavy weather off Point Concepcion drove Cabrillo to the shelter of La Posesion (San Miguel) once more.

His diarist reports: “Passing the winter on the island of La Posesion, on the 3d of the month of January, 1543, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo . . . departed from this life . .. He left as captain, Bartolme Ferrelo, a Levantine, who named the island Juan Rodriguez ...”

Historians do not know positively whether Cabrillo was buried on San Miguel or Santa Rosa islands, due to the conflict of nomenclature existing at the time.

Six decades were to elapse before another European sail appeared on the horizon, Sebastian Vizcaino’s, in 1602. Vizcaino was a Spaniard with a penchant for scattering new place names in his wake. Some were a bit unwieldy; as for example “'The Bay of the Eleven Thousand Virgins” for Port San Quentin, Baja California. He won local immortality, at any rate, when he bestowed the name “Santa Barbara” on the Channel to honor the martyred Roman virgin whose feast day was Decemher 4, a day which found him anchored off our coast. He describes his arrival in the Santa Barbara Channel in his Diary^ as follows: .. we went on skirting the coast, and on Monday the second of said month we sighted two other large islands. Passing between the first and the mainland a canoe came out to us with two Indian fishermen . . . rowing so swiftly that they seemed to fly. They came alongside without saying a word to us, and went twice around us with so great speed that it seemed impossible; this finished, they came aft, bowing their heads in way of courtesy ...

Vizcaino also gave the name Santa Barbara to the easternmost of the Anacapa Islands, although the name was later transferred (permanently) to the island lying to the southeast of the Channel group, far enough to fall 9

/O-

S.jFMWtisio reioiBxo

1^1 TMJlttSa' >e saiiiSB*!

L

♦owri

FL CnrAlNO RERL

m

PJ?E5IDI0S JMS » GOKPUIP*

MlWlOMi

SBN7B CLBI'H

I

IV iTOUl

{

V

■i

s.

LH PVFISilMn

i VTMtt U

N

●^--rs

V'5S ■●’’“'J

CBPI»T«"NC>

\ M

«»

PP^fi

/>.4 ●f%%

», S-ClPNSBMTt t»a»p

^ o 3 JIKRHS®

>-

i S.VtUMTE

Ptnttt,

inside the orbit of that most elastic and predatory of all geographical boun daries, the Los Angeles Coimty line.

(The name “Canal de St. Barbaria” also appeared on Briggs type maps as early as 1625).

Vizcaino kept on juggling place names at will. Santa Rosa, which had been Nicalque to the Indians and San Lucas to Cabrillo, was set down as “San Ambrosio” on Vizcaino’s charts. He also showed Santa Barbara and San Nicholas Islands, but makes no reference to them in his diary.

To San Miguel went the name “Isla de Baxos”, which Juan Perez, in 1774, also applied to that island. On a 1794 map we find “Santa Rosa” in the middle of the three Channel Islands, and George Vancouver fixed this nomenclature in 1793.

Next in line, working down the coast, is Santa Cruz Island. The Indians referred to it as Limu or Limun; Ferrelo in 1543 inked the name “San Sebastian” on his map of the island. Vizcaino, in his turn, called it “Isla de Gente Barbud” because he had heard rumors that bearded men—possibly mariners from Europe or the Orient who had been marooned there by ship wreck—had been seen by the Indians.

The name Santa Cruz first appeared in April 1774 when a shore party from the San Antonio, Juan Perez’s ship, landed on its shores. A friar lost a staff with a Cross on it, which an Indian found and returned the next day.

However, it is not clear from Perez’s maps and reports whether this inci dent occurred on what we now call Santa Cruz Island.

The easternmost islands in the Channel group were by far the most troublesome, not only to lookouts posted in the crows nest atop a galleon’s foremast, but to place-namers. The Anacapas, as we know them today, are actually a string of disconnected rocks large enough to be called islands.

Caspar de Portola, in 1770, mistook the westernmost island for the sail of a ship on the horizon. When he learned his mistake, he named the island Falsa Vela, false sail, and the adjoining islands Las Mesitas, or small tablelands. Four years later Juan Perez came along and renamed them “Isoletas de Santo Tomas”, a name which frequently appeared on European maps of the period.

The only changeless thing where the Anacapas are concerned is the “monarch” who reigned there. His name was Confusion. For example, Costanso reports that “Anajup” was the native name for modern Santa Cruz Island, and that this name was transferred to the neighboring Anacapas.

Vancouver, in the last decade of the 1700s, called all three islands “Eneeapah”, but spelled it “Enecapa” on his maps later on. Gibbs has Encapa, while the U. S. Coast Survey in 1852 set it down on their official charts as Anacapa. Two years later the name “Anacapa” first appeared on pub lished maps. It is believed that the name was derived from a Chumash Indian word, the meaning of which died when that culture became extinct.

In 1841 the U. S. exploring expedition led by the Navy’s Charles Wilkes, the first American exploration of the interior of California, gave the three largest islands of the Channel group the names they now bear, verifying an alignment which had been est^lished by Vancouver some fifty years pre viously.

The Coast Survey named the group the “Santa Barbara Islands” but local usage—the final arbiter in most hassles of this type—led to the official 11

adoption of the name “Channel Islands” in 1938. Whether this name will become a political football and be changed, with the resulting confusion and cost of revising maps all over the world, remains to be seen.

In reviewing the roster of the Saints whose names have at various times been allotted to Santa Barbara County’s off-shore territory, hindsight tells us that a lot of trouble could have been saved 416 years ago if Cabrillo had named them “Las Islas de Todos Santos” and been done with it!® FOOTNOTES 1. The “Relation of the Voyage of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo 1542-1543” was first pub lished in Spanish in 1857 by Buckington Smith in his Coleccion de Varios Documentas para la Historia de la Florida y Tierras Adyacentcs from an unsigned contemporary manuscript in the Archive General de Indias at Seville. The writers identity is not establish^, some historians believing him to be Ferrelo, others Juan Paez, who seems to have the weight of evidence on his side.

The first English translation was by Richard Stuart Evans, made from the Buck ington Smith text, and published in Washington, D.C. in 1879 as a Report upon United States Geographical Surveys West of the 100th Meridian.

2. The complete Diary of Sebastian Vizcaino may be found in the volume “Spanish Exploration in the Southwest, 1542-1706” edited by Dr. Herbert Eugene Bolton of the University of California and published in 1916 by Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York.

3. For those interested in delving into the derivation of geographical nomenclature, the geographical dictionary California Place Names compiled by Erwin G. Gudde and published by the University of California Press in 1949 is an excellent source. Readers are also referred to the August 1958 issue of the National Geographic Magazine article Ranches in the Sea, a profusely illustrated description of the Channel Islands by Earl Warren, Jr.

Director GledhilTs Address to Native Daughters COVARRUBIAS ADOBE—SEPTEMBER 7, 1958 Members of the Reina Del Mar Parlor, Native Daughters of the Golden West, and their guests: Today on the anniversary of the admittance of California to statehood, September 9, 1850, it is particularly fitting that we should honor the memory of Jose Maria Covarrubias—in this patio of his historic adobe, that was his family’s home. Jose Maria Covarrubias was one of the elected delegates to the Constitutional Convention at Monterey in 1849.

I am holding in my hand, a priceless piece of paper with the actual sig natures of the members of that convention. The names of Pablo de la Guerra, Jose Antonio Carrillo, and Jose Maria Covarrubias interest us most because of their being connected with Santa Barbara. But written into this document are the names of Californians who also made the history of their times, such as John Augustus Sutter of Sutter’s Fort, Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, Hugo Reid, Abel Stearns, Thomas O. Larkin, and Henry W. Halleck, to mention but a few.

Just to show Covarrubias’ popularity, he was elected four times to the Assembly after the Constitutional Convention. He was in the State Assembly at the time of our admittance to Statehood. Pablo de la Guerra was Senator.

There was a lapse of time before California heard the great news of her becoming a State. On the morning of October 18th, San Francisco received the tidings with the arrival of the steamer “Oregon”, when it entered the 12

Golden Gate, firing its cannons to give notice of her coming. The good news was signalled to the entire city from Telegraph Hill, and every person who could leave his home or business went to the waterfront to give the “Oregon” and her message a welcome. It must have taken time in those days for other parts of California, like Santa Barbara, to receive the wonderful news.

Jose Maria Covarrubias was, in 1853, chosen as one of the first presi dential electors and went to Washington to cast California’s vote for Frank lin Pierce. He was immensely popular with his fellow legislators.

Owen McNeill, in his history of Santa Barbara, writes about Covarrubias’ trip as presidential elector and how he gave an interpretation of the largesse of the true Californian grandee, which has become a legend and cost the Democratic Party, at that time, S10,000. Covarrubias spent $5,000 each way, from California to New York and Washington via Panama, in wine and entertainment for his political friends. Stopping at New York, Tammany went wild over him, and at Washington he presented California’s vote in a mag nificent speech, pledging the Democratic Party support for all time.

Jose Maria Covarrubias was born in France, emigrated to Mexico in 1817, at the age of twenty, and came to California with the Hijar-Padre Col ony in 1834. He was naturalized in 1937 under the authority of Juan Bau tista Alvarado, governor at the time. Jose Maria married Maria Carrillo, daughter of Domingo and Concepceon Pico Carrillo, who built this adobe.

He was appointed Secretary of the Department of California by Pio Pico, the last governor before the American occupation, and later became the Secretary of State. Here is the actual document of this appointment.

This adobe is supposed to have been the last meeting place of Pio Pico’s

Cabinet.

Here Jose Antonio Carrillo may have met with his kinsmen and others and planned the governorship of his brother, Don Carlos Antonio Carrillo.

Perhaps with Jose Maria Covarrubias and fellow Californians, they also discussed and planned for independence from Mexico. Their dream was an independent California, governed by Spanish Californians.

Covarrubias had two land grants, that I know of, the Castac Rancho in 1843, and the one of Mission Santa Inez purchased from Governor Pio Pico. This latter one was disqualified by the American courts and the prop erty returned to the Church.

In 1861, he was elected County Judge, in which his citizenship was questioned unsuccessfully. He discharged his duties as Judge, in an able, impartion manner, and died on April 1870 at 61 years of age. He left a family of sons and daughters, including Nicolas and Onesimo, one a noted sheriff of Santa Barbara County for many years and the other, Onesimo, who spent his life in the care and training of horses. We are honored to have with us today, Aurora and Yris Covarrubias, descendants of Covarrubias and his wife Maria Carrillo. Born in this old adobe, they also are part of the fascinating history of this family. Here in this very garden where we are assembled today and where the Covarrubias children played, not so many years ago, the spirit and atmosphere of historic Santa Barbara in the 1830 and 1840’s has been preserved. For whatever restoration work these adobes received, it has been done with perfect taste.

These two adobes are in what was known as the Pueblo of Santa Bar bara in Spanish and Mexican California days. And it is my hope, that this historic pueblo area be zoned to protect and preserve for all times, these 13

few remaining historic landmarks from destruction by commercialy minded investors who have no interest in Santa Barbara’s real beauty and historic background.

It is my hope that an area which shall be known as El Pueblo Viejo or Old Spanish Town, will some day be created from State to Laguna Street, and from Carrillo to Cota Street. That it shall be zoned to preserve such structures as the historic Covarrubias, de la Guerra, and Orena adobes and other landmarks in this area, and that any future building in this area will conform to the one or two-story Monterey or historic California adobe type of architecture.

When the presidio is eventually restored by the State, we would then have in Santa Barbara a restoration of the old pueblo town that could make this area, that we are enjoying today, one of the great tourist attractions of the United States. Such a zoning plan would be without cost to the city of Santa Barbara, but its value to oxir community could hardly be estimated as a tourist attraction. It would create a harmonious frame for the res toration of the presidio of Santa Barbara, the study of which is now being made by the Division of Beaches and Parks.

Now my own memories of an historic Santa Barbara do not extend earlier that 1902, when I arrived with my father and mother. My earliest recollections are of the old Lobero Theatre, where I attended many plays starring famous people. There I saw the first motion picture seen in our city.

Everybody was chasing somebody else. We all looked wise and said that this sort of thing would never be a success.

Do you remember the old Ruiz Drug Store with its colored decanter jars in the window at 729 State Street and the Gutierrez Drug Store at 635 State Street on which this Parlor placed a plaque a year or two ago?

The first automobiles or horseless carriages that I remember belong to Dr. Conant, the optician, and Dr. Winchester.

There were horseback rides to the Montecito Hot Springs for a bath and climbs to the lookout points on the mountain above.

Many of you can remember the Chinese gardeners in the lower Milpas Street district, carrying, what I remember as, two large baskets on a shoul der pole, as shown in our Fiesta parades.

The delicious food served with wine at the Raffour House, on the de la Guerra Plaza, and in later years at Brabo’s, in which was Dr. Shaw’s old home.

You remember the excitement caused by the coming of the fleet in 1908 .. . The entertainment for the officers and men and Miss Inez Dibblee as solo dancer. I had the honor of managing the arc lights used as a spot light for this performance.

Then I remember how impressed I was at the sight of the Hawley family, Walter, Albert, mother, and sisters, all dressed in black and riding in one of the first large black limousines, a sight one could never forget.

The Potter Hotel on the beach, and old Mr. Rockefeller giving his dimes to the children, and Paul Whiteman’s famous dance band, which originated there. The Arlington Hotel with the delightful Clerbois orchestra. I was pres ent when both the Arlington and Potter burned. What a tragic sight!!!

Then there was John Diehl’s famous grocery store where one shopped for rare delicacies from all over the world and met at luncheon your friends and many distinguished people.

14

And Show and Hunt grocers and Morton’s grocery store where you phoned your order and it was delivered. We all remember the St. Charles Meat Market (Alpheus Thompson Home—Built 1834).

I remember the Hotel Mascerel at 539 State St. and the New Morris Hotel at State and Haley Street. Both have disappeared now. Also that Santa Barbara had four newspapers in 1905 ... The Daily News, The Independent, The Morning Press, and The Santa Barbara Herald.

Do you remember visits to the studios of these famous Santa Barbara artists ... Edward Borein, Carl Oscar Borg, Ellen Cooper Baxley, Alexander Harmer, Ferdinand Lungren, William L. Otte, and Rob Wagner?

A few of the personalities that I can remember in the 1900’s were H. G. Chase, Louis Dreyfus, Charles Albert Storke, Frank Sands, Cameron Rodgers, Reggie Fernald, George P. Tibbets, Dr. Robert Winchester, Caesar Laittalade, C. C. Hunt, Mark Bradley, George Edwards, Sheriff Ross, Sam Stanwood, Judge Crow, J. L. Hurlburt, Henry P. Lincoln, Wm. M. Eddy and his wife with her electric automobile, Clio Lloyd, and the Larco Brothers.

In 1907, I opened a studio with my wife Carolyn Even GledhiU in the first block of Chapala Street, and for forty years made portraits of Santa Barbara’s most interesting personalities. The early part of this period was in the days when four or five private railroad cars were standing on the siding at the depot.

In closing I know that we all will wish to pay tribute to the memory of two of our friends who are not here today. I refer to Don Marteen, our troubador, who captured for all the very spirit and song of old California days ... and to Louise Peck, “Our Luisa”, as she was called, whose inspired publicity for the Fiesta created an idealistic picture of the pastoral period of Spanish California.

Admission Day Luncheon

By Jean Menzies A luncheon meeting of the Santa Barbara Historical Society took place on Admission Day, September 9th, in the Gold Room of El Restaurante del Paseo. Guest speaker was Mrs. W. M. O’Donnell, secretary-treasurer of the Monterey History and Art Association, Inc., and secretary of the Monterey Foundation, established primarily to aid in the program to acquire historic sites and buildings. Her topic was “Old Monterey—Doorway to History.”

Mrs. O’Donnell commended the city of Monterey, the City Planning Commission, and the State Division of Beaches and Parks for their close cooperation in the development of a Master Plan for the business district and water front. Still under way, this plan, when completed, will effectively preserve the major part of the historic area of California’s first capital.

Declaring that 26 historical buildings, many state-owned, others in private-hands, are safe for future generations, the speaker cited the names of several of Aese, including the Old Custom House, California’s first theatre, both state historical monuments, and her own home, Casa Soberanes.

She and her husband acquired this adobe in 1941 and five years ago, after his death, she presented the building to the State of California to be come an historical monument. She retains a life interest for herself in the property.

15

Another adobe occupied by the owner, Mrs. Wesley Heard, is Casa Alvarado. She accompanied Mrs. O’Donnell to Santa Barbara and was pres ent as a special guest at the luncheon. Such privately owned adobes are not generally open to the public but may be visited during the annual Adobe House Tour sponsored by the Monterey History and Art Association as one of its money-raising projects.

Mrs. Henry W. Toulmin (Alice Larkin), currently a resident of Santa Barbara, last year presented Larkin House to the State. This adobe was built in 1843 and until 1848 served as the consulate under California’s first and only consul, Thomas Oliver Larkin, grandfather of Mrs. Toulmin.

Stevenson House, Mrs. O’Donnell told her audience, was bought by Mrs. Celia Tobin Clark and Mrs. Edith Van Antwerp and given to the State in 1941. When Robert Louis Stevenson went to Monterey in the autumn of 1879 to be near Fanny Osbourne, whom he later married, he occupied a small room in this adobe. The building now contains furniture later used by the Stevensons and presented by Stevenson’s step-daughter, Mrs. Isobel Field, before her death in Santa Barbara a few years ago.

Other adobes are owned by groups of men or women and used as clubs, and one, Casa Amesti, was willed by the late owner, Mrs. Frances Elkins, to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It has been leased to the Old Capital Club for use as a men’s club.

Monterey’s present city hall will be transferred to the State as soon as a new city hall is completed. Known as Colton Hall, for its builder, Walter Colton, first American alcalde, it was the scene of California’s first Consti tutional Convention in 1849. The adobe was restored by the City of Mon terey Museum Board in time for the Centennial Celebration of September, 1949. The second floor now houses the Museum.

To finance its program of preservation of these reminders of historic Monterey, the 600-member History and Art Association, founded in 1931, promotes various money-raising projects. Among these is the sale of post cards of state-owned buildings, for which permission was received from the State Division of Beaches and Parks.

Last year “The Old Pacific Capital”, a sketch by Robert Louis Steven son giving an accurate picture of Monterey in the 1874’s, was published in a special edition by the association and sells for 50 cents.

For October 30th and 31st of this year, the board of directors are plan ning a series of day-long tours by bus to Hearst Castle, the San Simeon estate of the late William Randolph Hearst on Highway No. 1, a state monu ment opened to the public on June 2nd. Other sources of income are mem berships, gifts and bequests, the speaker noted.

The Santa Barbara Historical Society luncheon was well attended by members and local residents. Thomas J. McDermott, president, presided and introduced Mrs. O’Donnell. Special guests included city and county officials and their wives, and civic leaders. The Rev. Virgil Cordano, OFM, guardian of the Old Mission, gave the opening prayer, and the Rev. Basil Kelly, OFM, pastor of the Old Mission, gave the benediction.

Mrs. Robert Ingle Hoyt, board member, was chairman in charge of arrangements for the luncheon meeting. She was assisted by Mr. and Mrs. A. Edwin Gledhill and Mrs. Henry Griffiths, treasurer.

16

GIFTS Gifts of importance have been gratefully received from the following: Earl P. Anders Mrs. Helen Bauer Dr. Kurt Bauer Mrs. Beverly Belton Miss Margaret Conklin The Misses Winifred and Theodora Coffin Mrs. Elizabeth Campbell Mr. Carl Dittmann Mr. Richard H. Dillon Miss Jean Bradford Fay Mrs. Wilberta Finley Mr. W. T.Genns Mrs. James J. Cuisto Mrs. James A. Jameson

Dr. and Mrs. H. 0. Koefod Mrs. Lucia T. Lockard Mrs. Donald Myrick Cliff May and Paul C. Johnson Mrs. Joseph M. Northrop Miss Irine Pilat Mr. and Mrs. Russell Ruiz Mr. and Mrs. Sherman Sawtelle and Family Albert Stein

F. J. Tone Mrs. Van Rensselar Wilbur Mr. Arthur E. Woolman Mr. David E. Wallis

NEW MEMBERS ACTIVE

SUSTAINING

Mrs. L. V. Brady Mr. Henry Dittman Mrs. Gerald C. Hatton Mrs. Frank C. Learned Mr. Joseph Maguire Dr. and Mrs. Horace F. Pierce Mrs. M. M. Raisch Miss Bertha Zackrison

Mrs. Walter Briggs Dr. and Mrs. Mackinley Helm Mr. John H. Shepard PATRON Mr. and Mrs. H. L. Chabfoux Mrs. Walter H. Hoffman, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Adolf Pedotti

BOARD OF EDITORS Edward S. Spaulding Charlotte Myrick Russell Ruiz Virginia Hoyt Walker Tompkins Sylvia Griffiths

Wilberta Finley Helen Low Perry Austin Robert Hoyt Gerald Carpenter

HISTORICAL SOCIETY MEMBERSHIP There are five classes of membership: Benefactor, $100; Patron, $25; Contributing, $15; Sustaining, $10; Active, $5. Dues are tax deductible.

MAILING ADDRESS: OLD MISSION, SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA