June 17, 2005

Paths to Evergreen

Immigration to Evergreen begins in 1850s

By Colleen Cortese
Evergreen Historian

Evergreen remained quietly isolated for hundreds of years. The forests of oak shaded the creeks and protected the Ohlone people.

Yet this was bound to change when early foreigners began coming to California by sea. Spanish ships arrived in San Francisco and Monterey in the early 1800s.

By 1822, a pioneering spirit coaxed the legendary fur trader Jedediah S. Smith to begin a decade of travel, covering 15,000 miles of the American West. He became the first known white man to reach California over land and also the first to cross the Sierra Nevada Mountains following a well-traveled fur trapper’s path. A few years later this path would become the great emigrant route.

Captain John Sutter obtained extensive land grants and built a fort at the junction of the American River and the Sacramento River in 1839. Before the gold discovery, Sutters Fort was the frontier post for the overland emigration where everyone was welcomed. From Sutters Fort, the gold discovery news spread.

Gold Rush immigration
“Gold Fever” hit San Francisco, causing businesses to close and buildings to be left unfinished. People of all classes—lawyers, storekeepers and merchants—packed up their belongings, gathered shovels and pans and headed to the mines.

In 1849, the immigration to California exceeded all previous migrations in the history of man. By Jan. 1, 1849, ships prepared to depart from every seaport on the Atlantic coast. Sixty ships alone left from New York.

As the snow melted across the Sierra Nevada range, the overland travel began for 40,000 men gathered at different points along the Missouri River. Horses, mules and oxen pulled all manner of vehicles. Ahead of the gold hunters lay unknown suffering, and for many, death.

Thousands died when cholera broke out among the wagon trains. Those able to continue the long journey staggered across the desert where exhaustion and starvation took the lives of many more.

As if their hardships crossing the desert were not enough, they now faced the great Sierras. Blinded by the color of gold and deaf to the cries of their women and children, they pressed on toward the Golden State.

A year had passed since the treaty of peace with Mexico had been signed making California a United States territory. To bring harmony and order to the territory, a convention was held at Colton Hall in Monterey on Sept. 1, 1849, bringing together 48 delegates representing all the principal districts of California.

San Jose—California capitol
The Constitutional Convention designated San Jose as the capitol of the state. California had not yet been admitted into the union. Many months passed while congress debated the issues. Pro-slavery extremists fought hard to preserve their balance of power.

Finally compromise and concessions won, and on Aug. 13, 1850, the senate approved the admission of California into the United States. The bill was passed by the house and approved and signed by President Millard Fillmore on Sept. 9, 1850.

In the 1850s the first American and immigrant families began to settle in Evergreen. From the hills, where natural springs brought sweet cold water to the valley floor covered with oak trees, they began to clear the land. Down came the oak, making way for the oxen to turn the soil. They planted the first wheat, barley and other field crops.

The rush to the gold mines ceased, and men began to settle on the land. Gold fever created a business boom in San Jose, along with widespread building. Agriculture was soon to become the real gold field of California.

Settlers arrive in Evergreen
From 1851, when Santa Clara became a county, a great immigration began, swelling the population to about 6,000. During this time many settlers came to the Evergreen area. Gilbert Cain settled on White Road around 1854, and Henry McClay built on Quimby Road in 1857.

Dust flying and wheels creaking, the loaded wagons moved slowly on King Road toward the foothills. Others traveled on the old trail called White Road. Families struggled desperately to hold their belongings together until a choice home site could be found.

Unknown to the Argonauts, this land belonged to the family of Don Antonio Chaboya. Many of the early settlers would eventually pay for their land two or three times over.

Among the first Evergreen families were O.B. Cottle, Louis and Pierre Pellier, A.J. Fowler, Jerry Kelliher, Patrick Kelliher, Michael Kelliher, John Tully, Simeon Holland, J.R. Holland, J.H. Holloway and John Weathers.

D.B. Fuller, M. Drinkwater, John Aborn, John Hassler, Gottlieb Hassler, Adam Hassler, George Bloomfield, George Matthews, George Friyer, Tom Farnsworth, John McCarthy, Isaac Bicknell and Carl C. Smith also were among the early Evergreen families.

Neighboring ranchers speaking German, Spanish, French and English somehow began communicating and translated their words into a common voice of understanding.

The next Paths to Evergreen column will focus on the women of Evergreen.

Copyright 2005: © Colleen Cortese.

Taming the Wild West: The Legend of Jedediah Smith

No single man did more to push into the vast and perilous West than the legendary fur trader, Jedediah Smith.
Viewers can follow this intrepid pioneer on his 10-year journey along with his epic clashes with the American Indian tribes in the early 1800s, as The History Channel presents “Taming the Wild West: The Legend of Jedediah Smith.”

The two-hour saga, narrated by Matthew Settle, premieres Monday, July 18 at 8 p.m. PDT.