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HISTORY
El
Dorado County, California.
LOCAL
HISTORY.
PLACERVILLE
(HANGTOWN, RAVINE CITY)
[section 1 of 5-- 1, 2,
3, 4,
5]
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Southern
Highway 49 includes
Amador, Calaveras, Tuolumne, Mariposa (with Yosemite), and Madera
Counties
Includes Jackson, Sutter Creek, San Andreas, Angels Camp, Sonora,
Murphy's, Jamestown, Mariposa, Coulterville, Oakhurst and smaller communities along the route.
Pages: 302 Photos: 268
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was incorporated in virtue of an act that for the proof
of having passed State Senate as well as Assembly bears the signatures of
Charles S. Fairfax, Speaker of Assembly ; Samuel Purdy, President of
Senate, approved May 13, 1854, John Bigler Governor.
Thus
Placerville became a city, after having passed through nearly six years of
most eventful experience, from the date of its first settlement ; some of
these having been the reason to impose upon the young town the name of HANGTOWN,
under which it was going for several years, known by all miners of
California up to this day, and not seldom used even now after about thirty
years. We have got before us three different statements of the affair that
caused the above name, as given by three most distinguished citizens and
oldest pioneers, and we think it is the best to make space here for all
three of them, on account of some varieties in the different statements
that are corroborant and supplement one to another.
"Allow
me to give you the true version," says Judge Grimshaw of Daylor's
ranch, Sacramento County: "In the Summer of 1848, three ranchers
residing in what is now Sacramento County, William Daylor, Jared Sheldon
and Perry McCoon, with a number of Indians in their employ, were mining in
Weber creek at a point of about one hundred yards below the crossing of
the road leading from Diamond Springs to Placerville. One morning the
vaquero, who had charge of the cavalada (tame horses) informed his
employers that he had discovered some new dry diggings; exhibiting at the
same time some specimens of gold which he had picked up. One of the white
men went to the place, indicated by the Indian, but found that the
diggings were not sufficiently better than those on the creek to justify
them in moving their camp. When prospectors came along they were referred
to the new location, which
up to January, 1849, went by the name of the "OLD
DRY DIGGINGS." "One night during
that month, three men were in a saloon, tent or hut at the Old Dry
Diggings, engaged in a game of poker. In due time one of the party got
'broke.' The proprietor of the place was fast asleep. The one who had lost
his money suggested to his companions that he had gold dust on hand, and
proposed that he should be robbed. The proprietor was awoke, a pistol
presented to his head, and told to disclose the whereabouts of his hidden
treasure. This he did, the robbers divided the spoil, threatened the
saloon keeper with certain death if he disclosed anything about the
matter, and resumed their game.
 "The next day
the saloon keeper mustered courage to tell some of his friends about the
robbery, the affair became noised about ; the three men were arrested,
tried by the miners sentenced* to be flogged, and the judgment executed
with the promptness which characterized that kind of criminal procedure.
The criminals were then ordered to leave. In a few days two of the
men, under the influence of whiskey went about the camp, intimating that
the men who were engaged in the trial were 'spotted', that they would not
live to flog another man, etc. "A meeting was
called, the two men were arrested and hung on the leaning oak tree in the
hay yard below Elstner's ElDorado Saloon, the same tree on which
afterwards other malefactors expiated their crimes. "For
many years the camp went by the name of Hangtown, to distinguish it from
other dry diggings. Daylor, Sheldon and McCoon remained on the creek until
the fall of 1848, when they returned to their homes on the Sheldon and
Daylor grant in Sacramento County. "Capt.
Charles M. Weber, of Weber's embarcadero (or Tuleburg) later Stockton,
established a camp and trading post on the same locality and gave the
creek the name which is has borne to the present day." Mr.
E. N. Strout, for long years a citizen of El Dorado county, says :
"In 1848, and the early part of 1849, Placerville and surroundings
were known as 'Old Dry Diggings.' At that time there were organized bands
of desperadoes, with signs, passwords and grips, and with chiefs and
lieutenants, who lay in wait in and around the mining camps, ready for
plunder and murder, either for gain or revenge. Murders and robberies were
frequent along the branches of the South and Middle Forks of the American
river, and finally found their way to the mining camp on the north branch
of Weber creek--Old Dry Diggings, now Placerville. A Frenchman who kept a
trading post in Log Cabin ravine--now Bedford avenue--was known to have
considerable gold dust, and he was selected by the 'Owls'--the name of the
organization--as their victim to be robbed. Four of this band, composed of
one American, one Mexican and two Frenchmen, made a descent on the post
and robbed the merchant of his gold dust and such other valuables as they
wanted, while the owner was powerless to resist ; but the robbers were
marked men from that moment. The Frenchman gave the alarm and the
vigilantes started in pursuit of the robbers, who were captured, brought
to trial, condemned and executed, except one of the Frenchmen, who escaped
after sentence had been pronounced. The execution took place under a white
oak tree of gigantic size that stood on the south bank of Hangtown creek,
now the northwest corner of Main and Coloma streets, on February 12th,
1849. George G. Blanchard's brick building covers the stump of the tree.
W. T. Sayward, Esq., of San Francisco, who was Deputy Prefect for the Old
Dry Diggings at the time, declared that murder was clearly proven against
the culprits, as well as robbery. Their bodies were buried on the north
side of the creek. The Mountain Democrat's office was subsequently
erected over their graves, and said paper published there for more than
twenty years." "The third version--the
soubriquet of 'Hangtown,' by which Placerville was at one time only known,
ane* which is now not unfrequently applied--had its origin in the hanging
by a mob, in 1849, of two Frenchmen and a Spaniard, to an oak tree at the
northwest corner of Main and Coloma streets. The victims had been arrested
for highway robbery on the Georgetown road. While being tried by a jury of
citizens for this offense, and while it was doubtful what penalty would be
inflicted on them, an officer from one of the lower counties arrived, in
search of the perpetrators of a horrible murder in his section, and at
once recognized two of them as the murders for whom he sought. This at
once settled their fate. Death was decreed and the sentence carried out
immediately at the place and in the manner mentioned." In
the first municipal election held at Placerville, on June 5th, 1854,
Alexander Hunter was elected Mayor and Messrs. Elstner, Cary, Lee,
Douglass, Bingswanger and Jones, Aldermen. The first Board of Aldermen met
in common council on Monday, June 12th, 1854, at Justice Doyle's office,
and the following standing committees were appointed : On Finance--Jones,
Douglass, Elstner ; Ways and Means--Elstner, Cary, Lee ; Police and
Watch--Bingswanger, Jones, Elstner; Nuisances--Lee, Cary, Bingswanger ;
Contracts and Expenditures--Jones, Douglass, Elstner ; Applications for
Offices--Elstner, Jones, Bingswanger ; Printing--Douglass, Elstner, Jones;
Hospital and Sick--Lee, Bingswanger, Cary. M. E. Elstner was Secretary pro
tem. The following gentlemen were appointed to
fill the city offices: For Marshall, L. B. Hopkins ; for Treasurer, A. W.
Bee ; for Assessor and Clerk, E. B. Carson ; for Attorney, S. M. Johnson ;
for Captain of Police, John Vanderbilt ; policemen, Messrs. Mount,
Converse and Vanderbilt. Few people who have had
even the briefest residence in California but have heard of Hangtown, and,
despite the coarse cognomen, its mention always brings with it the memory
of the most romantic era of the modern El Dorado--the pioneer age--when
the hardy sons of the Atlantic States, through danger and toil, had won
their way to these canyons and gorges of the western slope of the Sierra
Nevada, and turned up the earth of all these hills and ravines of the
mountain's side, and moved hills as well as creeks and river beds, until
it yielded the shining gold to their eager search. There was a day when
Placerville was a solid mass of houses, a time when the "Emigrant
ravine road" was lined night and day with the teams of the incoming
pioneers, and the loaded trucks and freight wagons of the carrier ; when
"Shirt-Tail Bend," just above Upper town, now deserted and
lonely, was the scene of busy life and activity ; when Placerville cast
more votes than the whole county does now ; when the surface of the earth
yielded gold to the slightest touch ; when fortunes oftentimes were made
in a day, and often enough squandered again in an hour; when the crack of
the revolver was undisputed law, and Judge Lynch made his visits in town
to preside in Justice Court ; when money was counted by the weight--not by
dollars, but by the ounces ; and the necessaries of life were measured out
at prices romantic and extravagant. For those that have seen the town of
Placerville in those early days, as the beautiful but wild and romantic
youth, radiant in her brilliant luxury, but criminally careless about her
future--the city of Placerville, now so quite and staid, her dress much
too wide for her shrunken body--it must be a contrast of indescribably and
saddening effect to look on so many deserted houses, left for dilapidation
and decay, and offending the passer-by with the view of these modern ruins.
From 1856, when the mines of the neighboring country ceased to contribute
to the express and banking houses of Placerville a weekly harvest of from
six to eight thousand ounces of gold dust, but went down far below this
average, and the big fire of July 6th, that destroyed nearly the whole
town and urged so many of the citizens to invest their savings in
expensive stone and brick fire-proof buildings, just when the business
began to shrink, the city began to decline--first slowly, but one by one
more rapidly it descended from the extravagant life it was leading and the
uncertain position it held to its present solid foundation, upon which
there is a regular trade in commerce, a permanent planting and harvesting,
a healthy development and a settled people, who are industrious, peaceful,
contented and imbued with a faith in the future possibilities of the
place, and are determined to make them actualities. In 1853 to '56,
Placerville could boast of as many inhabitants as the whole county of El
dorado now contains,1
but the thousands dwindled down to hundreds. The present population of
Placerville is about 2,400. The township is casting about seven hundred
votes on a full poll. This population has neither increased nor diminished
for quite a number of years, and shows to have sufficient support from the
county to maintain all its business legitimately and furnish labor for all
its people.
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Voters |
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In 1853 |
In 1854 |
| San Francisco |
10,113 |
10,881 |
| Sacramento |
-- |
2,914 |
| Placerville |
-- |
1,944 |
| Marysville |
1,807 |
1,290 |
| Nevada |
1,088 |
1,116 |
| Diamond Springs |
-- |
943 |
| San Jose |
772 |
942 |
| Stockton |
1,472 |
884 |
| Grass Valley |
-- |
812 |
| Columbia |
807 |
761 |
| Mokelumne Hill |
786 |
690 |
| Iowa Hill |
-- |
655 |
| Georgetown |
-- |
641 |
| Sonora |
773 |
593 |
| Los Angeles |
-- |
541 |
| Weaverville |
545 |
538 |
| Downieville |
-- |
505 |
| Santa Clara |
387 |
468 |
| Coloma |
-- |
435 |
| Auburn |
-- |
315 |
THE RAVINE CITY, As Placerville
was called also, according to the locality of its situation, in the
ravines and around the lower hills that are forming the irregular bottom
of a deep depression or hollow, at the very base of the first grand rise
of the Sierra Nevada, walled in by round topped hills, with only a scarce
covering of forest trees growing on them ; but with a fine view over the
dark pine forest, gradually rising towards the white capped crests and
peaks of the central line of the Sierra Nevada, in the eastern direction. Contrary
to the plan and style of the modern American cities, that are to be built
after the checkerboard system, sometimes in total ignorance and
inconformity with the ground, and causing the greatest inconvenience ;
there being no fishnet on hand to lay out the streets after the crossings
of the meshes, the pioneers who came to settle on the ground, where
Placerville has been grown up since, accommodated themselves to the
locality by running their streets so as to follow the course and bends of
the different ravines, and the result is an easy and convenient traveling
in town, and when seen from the surrounding hills, has a very picturesque
effect. The city is divided by the intervention of a long narrow strip of
property that is only thinly built up, into Upper and Lower Placerville, a
little stream, the northern branch of Weber creek is flowing through both
parts, its name derived from that of the original town is up to this day,
Hangtown creek. 1.
The returns of the general election in 1854 show
that at Placerville there were more votes polled than at any other city in
the State, with the only exceptions of San Francisco and Sacramento.
Placerville polled more votes than the whole county of San Joaquin,
including the town of Stockton. [Note: in the book
there was a large error in format made here and the last line of the above
was included in the "Votes" chart.] Go
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