November 5, 2004

Paths to Evergreen

The Spanish Pueblo Period

By Colleen Cortese
Special to the Times

While the Ohlone people were fishing along Coyote River, trapping ducks on the shore of the marsh and busy constructing their summer village in Evergreen, the revolution against Great Britain was being planned on the East Coast.

Along the well-tended streets of Philadelphia, crowds gathered—men dressed in their finest uniforms, while the women followed with long, full velvet skirts and feathered hats—all asking one question, “Will Thomas Jefferson draft a document to declare ‘A Statement to All Mankind,’ the Declaration Of Independence?”

In the early stages of battle, George Washington led his patriots, and by July 4, 1776, Congress voted for independence. While on the Atlantic coast the colonies were declaring independence from Great Britain, just 17 months later along the Pacific Coast, San Jose was being settled by Spain to become California’s first civil community.

San Jose’s first colonists
It was Captain Juan Bautista de Anza who opened the “land bridge” from Sonora, Mexico, to Alta, California. Anza persuaded 34 families—66 individuals—to make this perilous journey. So in September 1775, the expedition set out from Horcasitas, Sonora, with the families, Fray Pedro Font and a large herd of cattle and horses.

These families would be our first colonists and farmers from Mexico, poor people of diverse Mexican heritage who were persuaded to join the Juan Bautista de Anza expedition.

Apparently the King of Spain was aware of the torturous journey ahead for these first colonists, and recognizing human nature, had “dangled the ribbons before the eyes of these hardworking people.”

They were paid in advance in the form of clothing and supplies which included “arms, horses, mules, cattle and rations—shirts, underwear, jackets, breeches, hose, buckskin boots and buttoned shoes, capes and hats. The women received chemises, petticoats, jackets, shoes, stockings, hats and ribbons. While items for children’s needs also included ribbons. Spurs, bridles and bit, saddle and cushion, and a leather jacket of seven thicknesses to ward off the arrows of the Indians were added to the men’s quota, while every family was provided with household utensils from frying pan to blank books.” 1929 (Sanchez)

Juan Bautista de Anza led the first colonists from Sonora, Mexico, to San Francisco and Monterey, then “mounted his hardy frontier horse and rode out of the picture forever.” Enough was offered to induce those who walked the long trail to California to first endure the long torturous trip of waterless desert sand and then cross over the snow-covered peaks of the high Sierras.

First civil community
On Nov. 29, 1777, Lt. Don Jose Joaquin Moraga of the Presidio of San Francisco sent nine soldiers, two settlers, 14 with their families and three others with farming experience who had come to California with Anza “picked up for this special duty” to form California’s first civil community. Sixty-six people in all formed the new “The Pueblo de San Jose de Guadalupe.”

This community of farmers would provide food and horses to both Presidios at Monterey and San Francisco, as well as help in the colonization of California. By 1783, Don Pedro Fages, Governor of California, gave the nine founders each a house lot and four suertes (pieces of land enclosed by boundaries) for cultivation. The settlers were soon growing wheat, maize, peas and beans.

The first adobe buildings were built along the Guadalupe River near what are now North First Street and the San Jose City Hall, but with rising water and many floods, the Pueblo was moved to the plaza near the present Fairmont Hotel.
On Jan. 8, 1797, Marcos Chabolla became the Pueblo Alcalde (mayor). It was Marcos who suggested that the site be moved because of the constant flooding from the Guadalupe River. Marcos is the father of Antonio Chaboya who would one day be granted the land in Evergreen known as Rancho Yerba Buena y Socayre, a Mexican land grant.

Families lived in adobe houses with hard dirt floors that had been beaten, sprinkled with water and swept to a glossy finish. A meager collection of hand-made furniture decorated their homes. There was no manufacturing, trade or the sale of any products during the Spanish era.

John Gilroy, the first permanent English-speaking resident in Alta, California, who arrived by ship in 1814, recalled, “The only article of export then was tallow. This tallow sold for $1.50 per hundred weight in silver or $2 in trade or goods. Hides, except those used for tallow bags, were thrown away. Wheat, barley and beans had no market. Nearly everything consumed by the people was produced at home. There is no foreign trade.”

At that time none of the new arrivals had the time or were brave enough to venture out to the wilderness of Evergreen. Building adobe houses, planting crops and hunting to feed their families took most of their time. It would be some time before the colonists would discover this small fertile valley called Evergreen, particularly since it was known as grizzly bear and mountain lion territory.

Organizing the colonists
The responsibility for organizing these early colonists into an orderly community was in the hands of the alcalde. The alcalde, who practically ruled the pueblo, was a highly important and sometimes picturesque figure. His many duties ranged from enforcing laws and drawing contracts to summoning citizens by the beat of the drum and setting an example of what a good citizen must be.

He was judge and jury punishing crime, protecting widows and orphans and settling family quarrels. He needed the “Wisdom of Solomon,” and for all this he received no salary, only the honor. When he passed down the street carrying the tasseled cane, which was his staff of office, all bowed low before him. All transactions and actions, whether civil or personal, were noted in the official book of records. Many of these books have survived today and are used for research.

At this time, all the land, including Evergreen, belonged to the missions or the pueblo. Any use of land was to be used for the good of the community and to provide food for those at the Presidio in San Francisco and the community in Monterey.

Most of those who would journey between Monterey and San Francisco would have traveled along the Monterey Highway known as the El Camino Real just west of the Coyote River. It was believed that when DeAnza made his return trip south he may have traveled down Halls Valley (Grant Ranch Park) and then on south through the San Felipe valley, thus missing Evergreen entirely.

The next “Paths to Evergreen” will explore the Rancho Land Grant period.

Colleen Cortese – copyright 2004 – Evergreen History.