Collection: Books and Periodicals

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Title: A Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California (1891) Collection Type: Books and Periodicals Publisher: Lewis Publishing Company Published: 1891 Copyright: In the public domain or published before 1925 Source(s): Google Books # of Pages: 713 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

Date Scanned: 2024-07-22 00:25:09 Item Sourced From: PDF First Created: 2025-03-17 03:11:29 Last Updated: 2025-03-17 06:30:36

Original Held At: Searls Historical Library Location: 161 Nevada City Hwy, Nevada City, CA 95959

Page: of 713  

HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. 98 tribes. The pits were covered with brush and dirt to conceal them. Placerville was originally called. Hangtown, and was so named from this circumstance: In January, 1849, three men were in a saloon tent engaged in a game of poker. When the game broke up the proprietor was asleep, and the men robbed him at the point of the pistol. The next day they were arrested, tried, and sentenced to be flogged. After the punishment had been inflicted they were ordered to leave the camp. In a few days two of the men, when drunk around the camp, intimated that the parties who had been engaged in the trial were spotted, and would not live to flog another man. A meeting was called and the two men were arrested, tried, and hung to a tree. Pleasanton was at first called Alisal (cottonwood), but was afterward named by John W. Kotlinger in honor of General Pleasanton, a cavalry officer in the Union army. Red Bluff was established by M. L. Covert, and was at first called Covertsburg. Redding was originally called Reading, after Major P. B. Reading, the pioneer of Shasta County. The change to the present spelling was done in compliment to the late B. B. Redding. Red Dog Hill was so named because of its supposed resemblance to a hill of that name in the lead district of Illinois. Redwood City was so called from its Proximity to the vast forests of redwood timber that formerly covered the slopes of the mountains. Rough and Ready was established in the fall of 1849, by the “« Rough and Ready ” company of immigrants, who had just arrived trom Wisconsin nuder the command of Captain Townsend. MRoutier was named after Hon. Joseph Routier. Scott River and Mountain were named from John W. Scott, who mined on Scott Bar in July, 1850. Sebastopol, Sonoma County, was at first called Pine Grove. During the Crimean war, and at the time when Sebastopol was besieged, two men engaged in a fight in the town, and one retreated ‘into the store and the proprietor refused to admit the victorious party. From this circumstance the store was called Sebastopol, and the town was subsequently so named. Shingle Springs was named from the fact that at the upper end of the town are several springs of water. At an early day, near the springs, 4 machine was erected and operated for the manufacture of shingles. Hence the name. Somerville was named from Francis Somers, an early resident. The mountain of St. Helena was named in honor of the Empress of Russia, by the Russian naturalist, Wosnessemsky, who ascended it in 1841. When the settlement of Stockton was started it was called and known everywhere as Weber’s Settlement, oc as French Oamp--the latter name being the better known. Captain OC. M. Weber and his partner were undecided as to the name of the new town. New Albany was the choice of the partner, because of his birth in Albany, New York. Weber preferred either Tuleburg or Castoria. Tuleburg was regarded as appropriate because the tules grew thick and high in the vicinity. Castoria isa Spanish name, meaning beaver settlement. At that time beaver abounded in large numbers. Afterward Weber was taken prisoner by the Mexicans, and after his liberation met Commodore Robert F. Stockton, who promised to send out a government steamer for the use of the pioneers. At Weber's suggestion the name of the town was changed to Stockton, and it was first legally known by that name in a petition to the Court of Sessions, dated July 23,1850. Suisun isan Indian word meaning “big expanse.” Sufiol was named after Antunio M. Sufiol, an early resident who died March 18, 1865. Suscol was the name of an Indian chief. Sweetland was named after H. P. Sweetland, who settled there in 1850. Sutter Creek was named from the fact that in 1848 Captain Sutter came throngh that country witb a retinue of Indians on an excursion to the mountains and camped on the spot where Sutter Creek now stands, which event gave the town ite name. The derivation of the word “ Tahoe ” has, perhaps, been more elaborately discussed than that