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Collection: Books and Periodicals
A Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California (1891) (713 pages)
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Page: of 713
HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. 95
like Shasta City, the Indidn name for Mount
Shasta, I-e-ka, (meaning white) was substituted,
and the orthography was changed to Wyreka.
In the course of time the “« W ” was dropped,
and the present spelling adopted.
Appended are a few of those names bestowed
on localities by the miners in early days. It is
not necessary to trace their derivation, as they
are sufficiently suggestive:
American Hollow, Barefoot Diggings, Bloomer Hill, Blue Belly Ravine, Bob Ridley Flat,
Bogus Thander, Brandy Gulch, Coyote Hill,
Centipede Hollow, Chicken Thief Flat, Christian Flat, Chucklehead Diggings, Coun Hollow,
Dead Man's Bar, Dead Mule Cafion, Deadwood,
Devil’s Basin, Devil’s Elbow, Gas Hill, Git up
‘and Git, Gopher Flat, Gospel Gulch, Gouge
Eye, Graveyard Cafion, Greaser’s Cainp, Greenhorn Cafion, Gridiron Bar, Wild Goose Flat,
Whisky Bar, Grizzly Flat, Ground Hog Glory,
Happy Valley, Hell’s Delight, Hempback Slide,
Hen Roost Camp, Hog’s Diggings, Horsetown,
Humbug Cafion, Hungry Camp, Jackass Gulch,
Jim Crow Oafion, Last Chance, Lasy Man’s
Cafion, Liberty Hill, Loafer Hill, Loafers’
Retreat, Long Town, Lousy Ravine, Love Letter Camp, Mad Cafion, Miller’s Defeat, Mount
Zion, Murderer’s Bar, Nary Red, Nigger Hill,
Nutcake Camp, One Eye, Paint-Pot Hill, Pancake Ravine, Paradise, Pepperbox Flat, Piety
Hill, Pike Hill, Plughead Gulch, Poker Flat,
Poodletown, Poor Man’s Creek, Port Wine,
Poverty Hill, Puppytown, Push Coach Hill,
Quack Hill, Ragtown, Rat-Trap Slide, Rattleenake Bar, Seven-by-Nine Valley, Seven-up
Ravine, Seventy-six, Shanghai Hill, Shinbone
Peak, Shirt-tail Cafion, Skinflint, Skunk Gulch,
Slap-Jack Bar, Sluice Fork, Snow Point, SugarLoaf’ Hill, Swell-Head Diggings, Wild-Cat Bar,
Yankee Doodle.
ALAMEDA COUNTY.
Alameda derives its name from the Spanish
term “alameda,” signifying a “grove of poplars,” many trees uf that kind having by the
original settlers been found growing along the
streams.
Although doubtless visited at occasional
intervals previously by emissaries of the missions or the military posts in California, there
seems to have been no settlement within the
limits of what afterward became Alameda
County antil on Sunday, June 11, 1797, was
founded the mission San José, with Fathers
Barcevilla and Merino at its head. In the early
gold-mining days this mission was an important point. The firat man to receive a grant of
land within the county was Don Luis Maria
‘Peralta, to whom was granted the Rancho San
Antonio, of five leagues, being the whole of the
country west of the Contra Oosta Hills between
San Leandro Creek and the northern county
line. On this are situated now the cities of
Oakland, with its saburbs, Alameda and Berkeley. Don Luis never resided here, his home being at San José, but divided his princely domain
up among his four sons. José Domingo received the uortherly portion where Berkeley
now is. To Vicente was given Encinal de
Temescal, now the city of Oakland. To Antonio
Maria, he gave the portion next sontherly, now
East Oakland and Alameda; while Ygnacio took
the most southerly part. This division was
made in 1842, the brothers having previously
held the rancho in common. From this time
on at intervals grants were made to the heads
of the following families, some few of which
have representatives still residing in the county,
—Higuera, Sufiol, Vallejo, Alviso, Amador,
Pacheco, Pico, Estudillo, Castro, Bernal, and
Soto.
The complete list of Mexican land grants for
Alameda County is: Mission San José, twentynine acres, patented to Bishop J. S. Alemany
in 1858; Las Positas, 8,880 acres, patented to
Livermore and Noriega in 1872; Potrero de
los Cerritus, 10,610 acres, patented to Pacheco
and Alviso in 1866; San Antonio, 9,416 acres
to Ygnacio Peralta in 1858; 15,206 acres to A.
N. M. Peralta in 1874, and 18,849 acres to V.
and D. Peralta in 1877; Santa Rita, 8,894