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HomeMy WebLinkAbout27 orig counties letterBOARq OF SIJPE±RVI54RS Butte County Board of Supervisors Administration Building ~Cj ~ ~. ~~~~ 25 County Center Drive Oroville, CA 95965 OROVII.LE, OALIFOR~tiA Dear Butte County Supervisors: October 29, 2011 Yours is one of our State's 27 Original Counties. They were created April 5, 1850, in the First Session of the California Legislature. Shouldn't the civic pioneering our form of local government involved receive recognition? Some of us in Orange County (which came into being in 1889) have been seeking to revive appreciation for haw the State of California came into existence November 13, 1849. In doing so, we're not blowing our awn horn, but yours. Your County-one of the original 27 -came into existence just a few months after our State was born. November 13 was the rainy day on which Californians ~-who went to polling places to vote - approvedour Original State Constitution 12,872 to 811. They chose our first State and Federal Legislators, Governor, and Lt. Governor. Held in San Jose, the First Legislature authorized our original local governments. Yours was one. Enclosed find your photocopied page from CALIFORNIA 1850, A SNAPSHOT 1N TIME (Janice Marschiner, 280 pp., 2000, Coleman Ranch Press, Sacramento). This was before our already functioning State was admitted to the Union on September 9, 1850. This achievement in self-government was unique. New Mexico produced a constitution that reached Washington, D.C., a year ahead of ours ---but had to wait as a Territory 63 years before being granted Statehood on admission to the Union in 1912. Butte County helped start our civic existence. We recognize your County and the other 26 original Counties for pioneering local government in our State. We would appreciate your perspectives and comment on this to include with our suggestion that, in future, November 13`n be observed as California's Birthday. Sincerely, l%~~/~ Galal Kernahan Gaial@camline.com For the California Initiative of Los Amigos of Orange County and the Society for Hispanic Heritage and Ancestral Research. SAME ORIGINAL COUNTIES QF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA Apri116,185Q Concluded on Oilier Side To the Senate of the State of California _ __ ____-_ -. . The Select Committee (a committee of one: State Senator Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo)' appointed by your honorable body in the latter part of January past. "to report to the Senate the derivation and definition of the several counties of the State," as established by the bill entitled AN ACT SUBDIVIDING THE STATE INTO COUNTIES, AND ESTABLISHING THE SEATS OF JUSTICE THEREIN would respectfully report... (Here follow 8 of the 27) EL DORADO: The far famed fabulous region of genial clime and never- fading verdure, where gold and precious stones are as common as rocks and pebbles, where wines gently flow from fountains, where wheat spontaneously grows overtopped with tiny loaves of bread and pigeons fly about already roasted, where nature has converted the rudest things into harmony of shape and appearance, and where, in fine, a creature of the genus mulier, full of sympathy and grace, trips about in natural loveliness, the most heautzf ul of God's creatinn,r, Francis Arrellana, a companion of Pizarro ,~ first spread the account of the supposed existence of this province in South America. As it is universally known how and when the discovery was made thaf has caused the star of the West to spring up as if by magic, given it the appropriate epithet of "golden" and will ev veld in this lcounty at Suite s Mil s here deemed remark that gold was first disco unnecessary. BUTTER: This county is named after John Augustus Sutter, from Switzerland, and formerly a military officer under Charles X. He immigrated to this country in the latter part of the year T839, for the purpose of forming a colony. With this object in view, he petitioned the Mexican government for a grant of land, which he obtained, subject to regulations prescribed - by law. He then ,fixed the site of the colony on the eastern side of the Sacramento River, between its tributaries, known as the American Fork and Consumnes, and named it New Helvetia. To inspire confidence in his colonists as well as to protect them against sudden attacks of the aborigines, who were very numerous in that period, or against any surprise whatsoever from any other power, he built a fort and manned it with several pieces of artillery. The building is well-known as Butter's Fort. Captain Sutter is the oldest settler in the valley of the rushes {vane de los tulares) on the banks of the Sacramento. His ,enterprise, openness and urbanity of manners, and characteristic hospitality toward all ,have commanded public. respect and gained for him. the personal regard of ,friends. BUTTE: This is purely a French word, signifying hill ar mound of earth. The high hills or peaks situated in the Valley of the Sacramento, and seen at a great distance, were so named by a detachment o, f hunters, headed by Michael La Frambeau, from the Hudson Bay Company at Columbia River, who visited the country in search of beaver in the year of T 529. Nine years previous to this period they were denominated peaks (picachos) by Captain Luis R. Arguello, who headed an expedition to the Columbia River by order of the governor of the province. This county contains these peaks and takes their name. COLUSA: Is purely an Indian word, being the original name of a numerous tribe on the western side. of the Sacramento River; its meaning is not ascertained. The sa-called county is one of the new counties created by the first Legislature of the State. SHASTA: Is the name of the tribe living at the foot of the height an a mountain, being remarkable as being considerably higher than the range, and encircling the source of the Sacramento River. Upan subdivision of the State into counties, Mr. Walthall, member of the Assembly of the delegation from the district of Sacramento, proposed this name for the county, and it was adopted by the Legislature. The mountain likewise has been so named. TRINITY.- Signifies Trinity. The Roman Catholics celebrate a certain Sunday in honor of the Most Holy Trinity. The Festival has been observed since the year I26fl, when it was so regulated by a Church Council. Trinity Bay was so called for having been discovered on the anniversary of this festival, June II, 1775, by the second naval exploring expedition, consisting of a frigate in commend of Captain Bruno Ezeta, and a sloop commanded by Juan de la Quadra y Bodega . Hence the name of the county. The hay has been newly surveyed and found accessible. Since last January, many `placeres" have been discovered there and the surrounding fertile country, formerly known as New Albion, is now being settled. CALAVERAS: This word signifies skull, and the so-called creek, which gives name to the county, derives its own name from the immense number of skulls having been found lying in its vicinity from time immemoriak According to the diary of Captain Moraga, who headed the first incursions an the Sacramenta and San Jaoquin rivers and the Sierra Nevada, the chiefs of the tribes encamped on these rivers made war against the tribes of the Sierra, during which a sanguinary battle was fought near the creek Calaveras. The tribes of the valley were victorious, and more than three thousand killed on both sides remained an the field. Hence the name of the creek as given by Captain Moraga. NOTE: From an original 27 counties established the State's first year, 3! more were carved (for a total of SS today). Mariposa was the original county contributing mast to new ones the last century and a half. The counties occupying land once within Mariposa County are Inyo, Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced, Mono, San Benito, Stanislaus, and Tulare. Even Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties acquired slices. GK .~~. ,, - ;ra.. - • = -- - -- - ~4 ~- Cau~t+es: ~~ :: 850 x ~:.; - . . . . r- .. ~ti . -~ . J_. G Ml. 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