California, a little history of a big state

Front matter

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CALIFORNIA

REDWOODS

Preface

This book has been prepared primarily for children. It is well known that there are already available a number of children’s books dealing with certain phases of California life and history, such as stories of the Indians, great explorers and discoverers, the Missions, and the Gold Days. But so far as the present author is aware, there is no single volume, at once authoritative and simple enough to meet the requirements of a little child, sufficiently comprehensive to be available as a first general textbook in California history. It is the present purpose to provide such a book, which, while nar¬ rating the salient features in the long course of history, attempts to preserve a just sense of proportion, to present a picture with a true perspective of background and foreground.

That the fascinating history of California is a proper subject of study for even the very young school children of the state has come to be regarded as axiomatic. Alert teachers have come to recognize this as never before. The significance of the truth is heightened, however, when it is remembered that there is a constant influx of families into California from remote centers, and that among this ever-increasing population there is an almost total ignorance of the charm of the Arcadian days and of the successive episodes of our romantic and fruitful history.

The prepared teacher will encourage the child to become alert — for example, by asking for other paragraph headings than those used, and by stimulating questions whose answers may not be found in this book. There should be full opportunity for free expression by the child. The effectiveness of the book may be increased by actual participation on the part of the children in appropriate exercises, by the frequent use of selected pictures, as well as of models and other illustrative materials. An excursion to some old mission, or plaza, or prominent landmark, or a visit to a near-by museum of history, or an exhibition of simple pageantry on an anniversary occasion will prove of great interest and permanent value.

No apology is offered for the omission in the book, itself, of the

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VI

PREFACE

end-of-the-chapter questions and exercises typical of the usual textbook. It is felt that the young reader will find the story of California more attractive without these pedagogical appendages, and for that matter, that any competent teacher can readily provoke from her pupils all the suggestive questions, exercises, and discussions that may be needed for classroom use.

It is quite obvious that there are certain episodes in California history which it would be inappropriate or impossible to present in a manner suited to the minds of young children. However, these are not of sufficient historical importance to cause their omission seriously to mar the truth or perspective of the picture as a whole as it is here presented.

Here and there it has been found advisable to include a few technical terms — this also by design. The meaning of such terms is usually made clear by the descriptive matter of the context; when mastered, these terms form interesting additions to the child’s vocabulary and are to be accounted valuable acquisitions.

It is hoped that the use of this little book, coupled with the influ¬ ence of the prepared and sympathetic teacher, will contribute toward making the children of the schools proud of the fact that they are Californians. And, though written in a style of the utmost simplicity and intended primarily for the little folks, the further hope is indulged that it may not be devoid of interest to children of older years — even, perhaps, to those beyond the borders of the Golden State.

Grateful acknowledgment is made to Mary Belle Murray, Supervisor of California History in the elementary schools of Los Angeles, for invaluable assistance in suiting this book to the needs of the children and for her constant and unfailing interest during the course of its preparation. The author also desires to acknowl¬ edge his special indebtedness to Mr. Robert H. Lane, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Los Angeles for reading and criticising the manuscript and offering most helpful encouragement. Thanks are also due to Mr. Laurance L. Hill of the Security-First National Bank of Los Angeles, to the Chambers of Commerce of Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Pasadena, and San Jose, and to the Los Angeles Museum for the use of selected photographs for purposes of illustration. To all the kind friends who by word of encouragement or spirit of cooperation have contributed to the preparation of this little book the author makes grateful acknowl¬ edgment.

Rockwell D. Hunt

Chapter I The Indians

The first people who lived in California were Indians.

For long ages before the time when the white men came, many thousands of them lived in the valleys and on the hills of California. In some ways these were like the Indians of the East in their looks and in the way they lived, but in other ways they were very different from the red men of the East as well as from the Aztecs of Mexico. You will surely wish to know more about them.

How They Looked. — Most of the California Indians were short and heavy, but some of the mountain tribes were tall and fine looking. There was a chief named Solano who was said to be more than six and a half feet tall.

Some tribes were of rather light color, others were of a dark color, and there was every shade of color in between. Those that lived near the seaside or in the open sunshine had very dark skin — some of them almost black, while those that lived in the forest or other places away from the direct sunshine were much lighter. But all had straight black hair, and men as well as women wore their hair long. They had small dark-brown eyes, and their cheek bones looked a good deal like those of the Chinese.

Their Clothing. — In the warm valleys the Indians wore very little clothing. During the summer months there was little need for clothing. In cold weather the chil¬ dren sometimes wore rabbit-skin or deerskin cloaks, and the women wore short skirts made of grass or bul¬ rushes called tules. But they were fond of pretty things; so they had bright feathers from birds, and beads made from shells for their odd-looking headdresses and belts. Some of the tribes trimmed their clothes with the beaks of certain kinds of birds, or teeth of animals, or shining pieces of shell. When the men could find porcupines, they used their quills in making designs on the skirts. Some of the Indians wore bowl shaped hats that looked like small baskets, and most of them painted queer pat¬ terns on their faces and bodies. They thought this made them better looking.

Their Food. — Nature was very good to the Indians in California, for they could find many kinds of food with¬ out much work. And if they had enough to eat, they did not see why they should work. Most of their food was vegetable of some kind, such as leaves, roots, twigs from trees, many kinds of seeds, nuts, and berries. Acorns were used a great deal. These were first dried, then pounded or ground up in a stone mortar into coarse meal, soaked for a long time in the sand to take away the bitter taste, then made into a sort of coarse bread. Pine nuts were a favorite food. A good deal of wild clover was eaten in the spring time, and different kinds of greens.

The Indians liked meat and fish, too; but these were not usually so easy to get. Mussels and clams were plentiful along the seacoast. Some huge mounds of shells have been found that tell us how fond the Indians were of shellfish many, many years ago. They caught different kinds of fish with hooks and snares. They also used spears and nets. Salmon they were always glad to have.

Grasshoppers were dried and eaten, and when they found some young yellow-jackets they had a real treat. Then we must not forget gophers, lizards, snakes, mice, cottontails, squirrels, ducks, geese, and a hundred other kinds of animals and insects. Nearly every living thing they could lay their hands on was used for food. Large game, like the deer and the antelope, was caught in traps or snares more often than it was hunted with bows and arrows. They did not care to bother the grizzly bear. When hunting, the Indians showed great patience, and they never seemed to be in a hurry.

The Indians at Home. — Most of the Indians had their simple homes in queer little houses called wikiups, made of long willow poles driven into the ground, with the upper ends drawn together and tied with tough thongs. These huts were covered with grass and earth, and they looked much like big bowls turned upside down. Many of these huts taken together with the people living in them formed a village, and this was called a rancheria. In each village was to be found one large assembly room,

An Indian Village which was called the temescal , or sweat house. In this room the Indians had their tribe meetings; it was also used as a sort of hospital, and as a room for village dances. After dancing for hours the Indians would dash outside and jump into the cold water of the creek.

The Indian mother had plenty of hard work to do. She was often kept busy from sunrise till dark. It was she who gathered the wood and brush for the fire and prepared the food, dressed the deer and squirrel skins, wove the beautiful baskets, and did whatever her hus¬ band asked her to do. The women spent much time in pounding and grinding the acorns or grain in the stone mortar with the heavy pestle, or pounder, until the meal was fine enough to be made up into cakes. Have you ever seen one of these Indian mortars?

How the Indians Played. — The Indians of California were simple folks, but they had happy times. They were very fond of dancing. Of course they had war dances, but they also had peace dances. They danced when another tribe came to visit them, and they danced when they had their winter’s supply of acorns, nuts, and berries all ready to store away. The children did not have many toys, but you may be sure the boys had fun learning to use their little bows and arrows, and learning to swim, as they did when they were little children. Even if their games were simple, the Indian boys and girls loved to play, just as other children do.

And these people sang a great deal. I am afraid you wouldn’t understand much of their singing — you might not call it singing at all — but in their own strange way they sometimes sang all night long so loudly that it was very hard for anybody to sleep.

Indian Legends. — The Indians had many stories about the earth they lived in, about how they were made, and about the great spirit world. The most important' bird was the eagle, and the wisest animal was the coyote. They tried to explain the thunder and lightning, how the first light came, how fire was made, and how the world itself was created. Nature was the Indian’s God.

You will learn more of what happened to the Indians after white men came, and why there are not so many Indians in California now as there were in the long ago. But it is pleasant now to remember that some of our pretty names are really Indian names. I know you must have heard of Colusa, and Modoc, and Shasta, and Mono, and Suisun, and of other Indian names.

Before the whites came to California, the Indians did not know how to read or write; they had never heard of such things. But like other Indians they had many old customs and legends that the older ones taught to their children.

These stories about spirits, about the wonderful things animals and birds could do, and about the powers of the sun and the moon, seem very strange to us. None of them is more strange than the legend of El Dorado, and everybody knows that the name El Dorado has something to do with gold.

The Legend of El Dorado. — From the very first, Cal¬ ifornia was thought of as a land of gold. The first time that the word California was printed in a book, years before Cortes conquered Mexico, it was given as the name of a magic island, where gold was the only metal, and where there was plenty of it all about.

El Dorado was really not the name of a country or a state at all, but of a man, and it means “the gold-covered one.” Many tribes of Indians had their own stories of El Dorado, the Golden; he was supposed to come from an island somewhere in the East. We have read about an Indian prince, called El Dorado, who lived in Colom¬ bia, which is in South America. Once a year his body was covered with oil; then small bits of gold were sprinkled all over him, and he was taken out in a boat to the middle of the lake, where he would dive into the water and wash the gold off his body as a gift to the god of lakes and rivers. At the same time the people on the shore would throw small pieces of gold into the lake. El Dorado seemed to be the sun god of Indian tribes in South Amer¬ ica and North America alike. He taught the people to be kind to everybody.

El Dorado was often thought of as a white man, and that helps to explain why the Indians were at first so friendly to Cortes and other Spanish leaders, who seemed like gods to them. When the missionaries pointed upward to the sky in teaching the Indians about the Heavenly Father, the Indians were sure to think of El Dorado, the spirit of the Golden Heart.

The Legend of the Creation of Earth. — In the begin¬ ning — so the story goes — darkness was everywhere, like a great black ball without any light in it. Earth

Doctor flew back and forth over this many times, until he decided to make a resting place for himself. He took a little dust and made it into a flat cake, and while he danced on the cake he sang a magic song.

Then Earth Doctor made some ants, and one of these made the cake larger and larger until it was as large as the earth is now. Next he made a cover to fit over it, shaped round like an Indian house. That was the sky. The edges of the earth and the sky were fastened tightly together.

Earth Doctor made water, mountains, grass, and trees, as we see them now. But still everything was black. So he poured water into a dish, and when it became ice he threw it far to the north. It began to shine very brightly — and that was the sun. He threw another ball of ice far to the north. That began to shine, also, but not so brightly. It was the moon.

It was still dark when sun and moon were not in the sky. So Earth Doctor blew water from his mouth like a spray, and made little stars. Then he drew his staff across the sky and made the Milky Way.

So it was that the Pima Indians thought Earth Doctor created the earth and sky, the sun and moon, and all the stars.

The Legend of the Creation of Man. — Coyote wished to create man; so he called all the animals together to get their advice.

Lion wished man to have a roaring voice, so that he could frighten other animals, and to have sharp teeth and claws. Grizzly Bear said man should be very strong, but should not make a great noise. Deer thought man should have beautiful horns, “ears like a spider’s web, and eyes like fire.”

But Coyote said the animals were foolish, because each of them wanted man to be like himself. Man might have a roaring voice and great strength, keen eyes and good ears, but he should be as wise as Coyote.

All the animals set to work to make man out of lumps of earth, each one like himself. They kept on working till they fell asleep. But Coyote stayed awake, working all night. He spoiled the work of all the others by throw¬ ing water upon it while they were asleep, and in the morning he gave life to his own model.

In this way the Indians of San Joaquin Valley thought Coyote created man.

The Legend of the Golden Gate. — There was a time in the long ago when there were no people in California; but there were two spirits, one evil, the other good. The good one overcame the evil.

The whole country was covered with water, except Mount Diablo and Reed’s Peak, which are not far from San Francisco Bay. On the peak was a coyote, living alone. One day Coyote saw a feather floating on the water, which turned into an eagle when it touched the land. Then away it flew to the mountain.

Coyote and Eagle visited each other and lived in peace together. One time, after talking awhile, they decided they would make Indians. They did so; and as there came to be more and more Indians, the waters of the lake got lower and lower, and there was much dry land. At

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The Golden Gate of San Francisco that time there was no Golden Gate, but a chain of mountains stood across the place. All at once came an earthquake so great that it split the chain of mountains, and it was then that the Golden Gate was formed. The rivers flowed into the bay, and the waters of the bay and of the ocean came together.

After that it was not long till the “palefaces” found their way into the Indians’ country; and then the In¬ dians became fewer and fewer, as they “passed silently away from the land of the coyote and the eagle.”

This legend of the Golden Gate was told by one of the early pioneers.

Chapter II Mountains And Valleys, Rivers And Ocean

The Map of California. — California is a very large state. There is only one state in the whole country that is larger, and that is Texas. Just across the northern boundary is the state of Oregon. On the east stands Nevada, and to the south is Mexico. Looking west, California faces the Pacific Ocean.

If you will look at the map you will see two mountain ranges running almost the whole length of the state, and between these you will see the great central valley. On the eastern side are the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and along the western slope, close to the ocean, are the Coast Range Mountains. A little more than halfway down in the Sierra Nevada stands Mount Whitney, which is the highest point in the United States, outside of Alaska. It is more than 14,500 feet high.

Look again at the map and notice two large rivers, each of them having many branches, coming out of the mountains. The northern river is the Sacramento, which flows toward the south; the southern river is the San Joaquin, which flows toward the north. After mak¬ ing a great many bends, and winding around in what seems a strange manner, they flow together in the low lands called the delta, forming many islands with rich 12

MOUNTAINS, VALLEYS, RIVERS AND OCEAN 13

soil. Then they empty their waters into the San Fran¬ cisco Bay, and at last the Golden Gate lets them both out into the Pacific Ocean. The central valley has the same names as the rivers. The upper part is called the Sacramento Valley, and the lower part is called the San Joaquin Valley. There is enough rich land in this valley to produce grain and fruit for millions of people.

Besides the two great mountain ranges and the two large rivers there are other mountains and a great many streams of water. And besides the great central valley many other valleys are found in California. It is this wide variety of mountains and valleys, with their streams and lakes and waterfalls, that helps to make California so famous.

The Fine Climate. — r But the climate also adds to the fame of the Golden State. Where most of the people live, the climate is mild, neither too hot in the summer nor too cold in the winter, without heavy snowstorms, and with but little thunder and lightning. But you can find every variety of climate somewhere in California. In an automobile ride over our good roads from the central valley to the mountain heights you may pass in only a few hours from the tropical heat of a summer day to what seems the frozen arctic region of everlasting snow.

It very seldom rains during the summer, except in the mountains. In many places the rainfall is not heavy enough to produce good crops. But the rain and snow in the mountains provide water for irrigating the dry regions.

To understand the many different kinds of climate and

Yacht Harbor and Beach at Santa Barbara

the heavy rainfall in some places and the drought in other places, we must think of the great mountain walls with their forests and their snow-covered peaks, of the winds, and of the ocean; for it is the greatest body of water in the whole world, the Pacific Ocean, that forms the western boundary of California.

The coast line, with all its bays, like San Francisco and Monterey, its many points jutting out into the ocean, and its other windings, is about one thousand miles long. There are now many seaside towns and cities. During the summer months, when it is quite warm in the central valley, these seaside towns and cities are visited by thou¬ sands and thousands of persons for a vacation at the beach.

Chapter III Nature’s Great Gifts

Wild Flowers. — Nowhere in the world are there more beautiful wild flowers than in California. And there are hundreds of different kinds of them. They were seen by the very earliest pioneers. John Bid well, who came a long time before gold was discovered, said the flowers “paint the face of nature with a thousand colors.”

The Golden Poppy is known as the State Flower. It grows in all parts of the state, and everybody loves it. This bright flower is like the sunlight; it seems to reflect the warm sunshine of California. It has another name, also; it is called the Cup of Gold. No wonder people love the Golden Poppy.

Every spring thousands of acres are covered with a carpet of lupine and buttercups. People go many miles to see the bright butterfly tulips and the fragrant wild lilac. Every boy and girl should know the larkspur, the Indian paintbrush, and the baby-blue-eyes. And what can be more beautiful than the ferns of many kinds that grow in the shady places of the California mountains?

Birds and Animals. — California was the home of a great many kinds of wild birds and animals, both little ones and big ones. You can have no idea how many wild geese and ducks there were before white men came to hunt them. One of the largest game birds is the graceful 15

Desert Flowers

white swan. The condor was a great bird of pure black that looked like a huge buzzard: most people have never seen one of these. Sometimes the tiny humming bird is found far up in the mountain heights. But Californians are most proud of the golden eagle, as the real American bird. The meadow lark is a favorite bird in all parts of the state, and the call of the quail is a pleasant and wel¬ come sound.

Some of the largest animals were the deer, the elk, the mountain lion, and different kinds of bears. The power¬ ful grizzly bear was supposed to be like California it¬ self: so we have a state flag with the picture of a big

NATURE’S GREAT GIFTS grizzly bear on it. And we must not forget that many kinds of fish were found in the mountain brooks, the rivers and lakes, the bays, and the ocean. The Indians used to eat fish long before the white men came. What a paradise California must have been for the hunter and the fisherman in the early days!

Giant Trees. — John Muir was a student of nature who has written interesting stories of the out-of-doors. He has told us that the cone-bearing forests of the Sierra Nevada Mountains are the grandest and most beautiful in the world. “The giant pines, and firs, and Sequoias held their arms open to the sunlight, rising above one another in the mountain benches.”

Of all the many kinds of trees in California the most wonderful are the Big Trees, called Sequoias. There is one named “General Sherman” that is the largest and oldest living thing in the whole world. In the Coast Range Mountains are found the Redwoods, trees which are cousins of the Big Trees, and which are also very large as well as very beautiful. One of the Redwoods is said to be the tallest tree in the world. To keep the Big Trees from being cut down and sawed up into lumber we now have three great parks; these are Sequoia National Park, General Grant National Park, and Yosemite National Park. The map shows you where these parks are located.

Yosemite Valley. — Yosemite is so wonderful that everybody wants to see it. It has become famous in many countries. Who has not heard of El Capitan, and Glacier Point, and Bridal Veil Falls? How well do I

In the Yosemite Valley

remember the day when I climbed to the very top of old South Dome and had one of the grandest views to be had anywhere in the world!

It used to be very hard to get into Yosemite Valley, but now the roads are good, and more and more people are happy to visit it every year. It is grand in the winter time, with snow everywhere; but nothing is more lovely than its waterfalls in the early summer.

Lake Tahoe. — Of all the countless lakes in the moun¬ tains and valleys of California, the most famous is beau¬ tiful Lake Tahoe, which is in the Sierra Nevada, on the eastern border of the state. Thousands of tourists from all over the world go to see this lake every summer. Who

NATURE’S GREAT GIFTS would not take delight in a boat ride on its deep blue waters, clear as crystal? No wonder that its fame has spread throughout the earth.

The Seashore. — Besides the mountains and the val¬ leys of California, with their trees and parks, rivers and lakes, we must not forget the long seashore. Here Nature has given us many playgrounds of great variety, and people come from far and near to enjoy them. Miles of ocean front are open to rich and poor alike. Many beautiful towns are found along the beach. The bracing air, the ebb and flow of the tides, and the booming of the breakers make a change that is most welcome to those who leave the heated valleys in summer time for a vacation at the seaside. Surely the big ocean is one of Nature’s best gifts.

But I cannot stop now to tell you about all the gold and silver, the fruit and grain, the oil and other things that come from California. The oil is sometimes called “black gold,” because it is worth so much to the people. The gasoline that we use in automobiles and airplanes comes from the oil. We do not know how we could get along without it now.

When we think of the wild flowers, the birds and animals, the great forests with their giant trees, the beautiful valleys and grand mountains, and then the long seashore, with all the good things that come to us every day, I know you will agree with me that Mother Nature has been very kind to California.

Chapter IV From Columbus To Cabrillo

It was half a century after Columbus discovered America that California was found by white men. But after that it was more than two whole centuries before white men really came to California to make their homes. What a long, long time that was! We must remember that during all that time, and for ages before, there were thousands of Indians here.

Columbus. — Christopher Columbus was the great captain who sailed across the Atlantic Ocean from far-off Spain and found in 1492 the New World which a little later was named America. But Columbus did not find the gold and precious stones for which he was looking, and did not know — no one knew then — that America is between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.

Balboa. — It was Balboa that pushed his way through the swamps and jungles of the Isthmus of Panama, then climbed the mountains till he reached the top and looked westward. He was overjoyed to see the shining waters of the mighty Pacific; he had discovered the greatest of all oceans. He waded into the water and claimed the ocean and the lands about it for Spain.

FROM COLUMBUS TO CABRILLO

Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean