Land squatting began in earnest promptly at the close of the Constitutional Convention, and, in the brand new county of Contra Costa, land-serious men began settling into the area surrounding San Antonio Slough. San Antonio Slough is now, after some considerable modification, recognized as Lake Merritt.
Within Rancho San Antonio, as it was throughout California, it had been the practice for some years for the occasional settler to occupy a tract of land with the blessings of the ranchero landlords. These tenant farmers were generally Mexicans, a few were South Americans, and there was at least one Frenchmen who occupied the meadows at the eastern end of the slough, at about were the Grand Lake Theater now stands. This man raised cattle and apparently enjoyed some success in selling milk across the Bay to the San Franciscans.
Some of these “squatters” paid their initial respects, established rental agreements with the Peraltas, and later secured their holdings by purchasing them outright. Others preferred to waive the formalities, ignore the legitimate claims of ownership, and occupy the land in arrogant disregard. This practice came to be endowed with legal sanction with the passage of the Homestead Act of April 20, 1851, and was substantially augmented with the passing of the Possessory Rights Act on April 20, 1852. The law provided for the settlement of public lands; the "squatters" were first encouraged to claim for their own private use what they "assumed" was unoccupied land, and later, in order to receive title, they were required only to deny their knowledge of prior ownership. These men soon organized within an alliance they called the Squatters' League. Many men, soon to realize considerable prominence in the East Bay community, began their political life as members of the League. The League did much to erode the security of the holders of Spanish and Mexican land grants.
The Brothers Patten
On the south banks of San Antonio Slough, two groups of settlers had
appeared shortly after the close of the Constitutional Convention. Early
in the fall of 1849 the three Patten brothers arrived by boat from Boston,
Massachusetts. William and Edward landed in San Francisco a few days
prior to their brother Robert. In February of 1850 the brothers leased
from Antonio Peralta 150 acres adjacent to the Slough on its south bank
(increasing this to 400 acres the next year). There they proceeded to
farm, raising crops which were sold in San Francisco. Close by, the
brothers discovered another squatter, and soon established a working
partnership with this man. His name was Moses Chase. Chase and the Pattens
were later to purchase the land they had squatted. The land upon which
they lived grew into the town of Clinton, centered at about 5th Ave. just
east of the Slough.
William Patten soon became involved in the politics of the new county
government and served along with other locals, such Victor Castro and
Samuel Robinson, on the first Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors in
1852. He married in 1854. Robert remained single and was not involved in
much. Edward died within two years of his arrival.
Moses Chase
Moses Chase grew up in Massachusetts. After fulfilling his childhood ambition of being a sailor, he later went on to try his hand at manufacturing, matrimony, and gold prospecting. After realizing a consistently ho hum success at all three, as he had in most of his life's endeavors, he returned to San Francisco from the gold fields and shortly removed himself to the East Bay, occupying himself in a life of hunting and fishing. There, burdened with a gloomy outlook and the press of inclement weather, his health failed him. Moses took to his crude shelter where he was gratifyingly discovered and nursed back to health by his good neighbors the Pattens. Whatever the basis for this serendipitous merger, as the new partner Moses helped establish the town of Clinton. Moses named it in honor of a promising, but ultimately unsuccessful attempt at romance. The town venture did succeed however, but the success was predicated upon a coerced confederacy between Moses Chase and the Pattens and the ruthlessly successful law firm of Jones, Tompkins and Strode.
James LaRue
The second group of settlers which had established themselves on the east
side of the slough arrived about a year after the Pattens. James R. LaRue
settled himself and his family in the same general area after relocating
from his recent home in St. Joseph, Michigan. They arrived via the
overland route, along which he ventured an attempt at mining near the
Northern California town of Placerville. Having failed to realize the
anticipated riches, LaRue settled just east of the Pattens and Chase at
about Thirteenth Avenue, in 1851. The spot chosen by LaRue happened to be
that which was situated at the western end of the Camino Real, the
Peralta/Castro Road, and included within its perimeter their Spanish
"embarcadero".
LaRue opened a general merchandising store and lumber business on land he
too rented from Antonio Peralta. He then built a wharf at the old
embarcadero. The embarcadero had originally been established for the
convenience of the folks at the Mission San Jose, and was later maintained
by Antonio Peralta for his and his bother Ignacio’s use in their business
with Yerba Buena. El Camino Real was the road leading south from the
landing to the Mission (now 14th Avenue and Mission Blvd.).
LaRue, valued
for his “squatters rights”, was also obliged to accept the same offer of
joint venture with the law firm of Jones, Tompkins and Strode; meanwhile,
Jones et al. lost little time in arranging the purchase of title to the
very land LaRue was leasing. The partners later bought more land from
Peralta, expanding the original holdings to extend all the way south to
23rd St. LaRue platted a town on the site, named it San Antonio, and
later, with the progressive leadership of his legal/entrepreneurial
partners, assisted in the merger of San Antonio with the two adjacent
towns of Clinton and Lynn, which thereby resulted in the creation of the
Brooklyn township. Somewhere further along the line Brooklyn came to be
known as East Oakland.
Lynn, which included the property now occupied by Highland Hospital, was
developed by E. C. Sessions. Mr. Sessions, a banker and real estate
developer of some local prominence, and once a partial owner of central
Berkeley, platted the East Oakland area and bordered each parcel with
eucalyptus and cypress trees. Many of these trees yet remain.
Mr LaRue, in a few years time, was operating two steamers from his wharf
between San Antonio and San Francisco, thereby increasing the competition
in Bay transport, for in doing so he was stepping on the political and
economic toes of Horace Carpentier. On this account his service was short
lived, quickly absorbed by the competition, and destined to become a part
of the greater Central Pacific Railroad transportation network. LaRue
threw in his lot with Carpentier and fared well as a result.
On the north side of the slough, three men dominated the real estate.
Referred to as the Encinal, this area was noteworthy for its rich growth
of Oak. It would soon be referred to as the town of Contra Costa, and
soon afterwards as Oakland.
Edson Adams
Edson Adams, born in Connecticut in 1824, sailed for California in January of 1849. He arrived in July of that same year, went directly to the mines, and returned to San Francisco the following March. His luck was not exceptional. This early venture notwithstanding, Mr. Adams was soon to become one of the richest men in the Bay Area. His success was in no small measure the immediate result of his affiliation with Horace Carpentier. Together with Carpentier and a man named Andrew Moon, he squatted, plotted, and incorporated the town of Oakland. He married Hannah Jayne in 1855, she being at the time of her marriage Oakland's first school teacher. Her brother, Anselm Jayne, participated vigorously in the buying and selling of much of East Bay real estate and would soon marry his sister's sister-in-law, Julia Adams. Edson Adams served as one of the original trustees of the town of Oakland, a fact that comes as no surprise considering that he was one of the three "owners" of the town. Adams whose name adorned Oakland's finest neighborhood: Adams' Point, died rich and satisfied in 1888, at the age of 64
Andrew Moon
Andrew Moon, the second of the land greedy and now infamous Oakland squatters, was born in Binghampton, New York in 1800, a full 24 years before his partner Edson Adams. Raised to be a physician, he abandoned this paternal mandate to seek a military career, and served honorably in the Quartermasters' Corps. He traded his military dreams to pursue an equally attractive career in shipping. In 1849, already a man of middle age, and with a less than distinguished occupational career behind him, Moon recognized the opportunities which lay in California as his last chance to make his fortune, and joined the rush to the riches. He arrived in San Francisco that same year aboard the ship Panama. Like Adams, Moon earned his fame and his fortune less by his own cleverness as by his fortuitous membership in the legal/real estate partnership of Adams, Moon and Carpentier.
Horace Carpentier
Horace Walpole Carpentier, the youngest but the unquestionably dominant
partner, was born to the gentry in Saratoga County, New York. Horace
graduated from Columbia University in 1848 with a degree in law, soon
thereafter booked passage westward, arriving in California in August of
1849. With the clear intention of spending no more time than would be
necessary in this remote locale, his first days ashore were consumed in
the cultivation of a splendid array of politically salubrious
relationships, leading him into a career which delayed his return to the
East Coast by more than 25 years. By February of 1850, the 26 year old
Carpentier was already groomed and nominated as a candidate for the State
Senate, an election which he failed to win.
In the Spring of 1850 Carpentier established his law office in San
Francisco where he briefly made his home; he moved to the East Bay in
1852. It is not clear how or where he met his new partners, but with his
practice established, he formalized his relationship with Adams and Moon,
and with them proceeded to squat the lands of Vicente Peralta;
homesteading, as it were, together a total of 480 acres. The property that
they had expropriated stretched from the Slough on the east, the Estuary
to the south, Fourteenth Street to the north and Adeline Street to the
west. These would be the original boundaries of the town of Oakland.
Señor Vicente Peralta advanced serious objections to the cheeky
encroachment by these men, and took exceptional pains to eject them from
his property. Aided by the sheriff and his posse, they confronted the
squatters. With Carpentier’s legal expertise and powers of persuasion,
assets that would eventually make him the largest single land holder in
the state, further difficulty was avoided and a way was secured that would
permit their continued occupancy. In case words would failed, Carpentier
had arranged the added assurance of the covert presence of Billy Mulligan,
chief thug of Broderick's San Francisco political machine.
Authorities differ on the nature of settlement these men effected with
Peralta. Some say Carpentier simply did as he pleased, others say that a
lease was signed and rental payments made. Maybe.
Meanwhile, there were other activities in process which would effect both
Peralta and Carpentier. Recall that several attempts to purchase the
Peralta lands had been made, with no success, while Luis Peralta lived.
When Luis died on August 25, 1851, the first transaction involving Rancho
San Antonio was consummated: the first parcel was sold within three
weeks. And with that sale the East Bay real estate feeding frenzy had
begun.
The Purchase of Alameda
In September of 1850, William Chipman and Gideon Auginbaugh leased the
southwest 160 acres of Antonio Peralta's property on the Encinal of
Alameda. Thirteen months later they purchased the property outright,
following the death of the elder Peralta.
On September 13, 1851, Juan Clar entered into a contract with Vicente
Peralta for the purchase of the "Oakland" Encinal for a sum of $10,000.
This parcel was bordered by San Antonio Slough on the east, the Estuary
and Bay on the south and west, and a line at about Grand Avenue on the
north. It included, of course, the property squatted by Carpentier and his
partners. The sale was to be completed within four months, giving him the
opportunity to find the needed patrons who could assist in the purchase.
He put $3,000 down and promised the remainder by January 13th.
Five weeks later Antonio Peralta sold the portion of Alameda to Chipman
and Auginbaugh for $14,000. Antonio of all the brothers seemed best able
to read the times, could foresee the inevitable, and reconciled himself to
fast profit and as few headaches as possible. By March of 1852 the
purchase of the Oakland Encinal Juan Clar and his associates had been
consummated, and Vicente Peralta's aggravation with the Encinal squatters
was at an end.
William Chipman
William Worthington Chipman, a prominent San Francisco attorney, bought Alameda with his partner Gideon Auginbaugh, later extending the partnership to include Messrs. Fitch, Minturn, Foley, Hays, Caperton, McMurty, and William Sharon, an untrustworthy associate of William Ralston. Chipman was married to Catherine McLean who outlived him and upon his death became the second wife of John Dwinelle.
John Whipple DwinelleMr. Dwinelle, another San Francisco lawyer, came to the area in 1849 at the age of 33 from his home state of New York. He was "elected" to Broderick's City Council of San Francisco in 1850, became the mayor of Oakland in 1864, and a member of the State Assembly in 1867, representing Alameda County. One of the first regents of the University, he was also a trustee of the College Homestead Association and a founder of the Bohemian club. In March of 1866 he became a partner in the Amador Water Co. with Francis Shattuck, Samuel Willey, and J. West Martin. Mr Dwinelle died in January of 1881 off the pier at Port Costa. Returning home from a visit with a client, he arrived at the ferry moments after it had left its landing. Ignoring shouted warnings, he fell into the void midst dock and deck, losing himself forever in the murkey waters of the Carquinez Straits.
The Purchase of the Encinal
Viewing the entire Oakland transaction in the clarity of hindsight, it
would appear that Juan Clar had one foot snugly wedged in the Peralta
door, both because of his Spanish blood, as well as his close personal
friendship with William Toler, and a nephew, by marriage, of Vicente
Peralta. He had further sweetened the pot by promising Vicente help with
the noisome squatters. During the period in which lacked anything that
would resemble valid title on the land, Clar provocatively sold a small
portion of the Encinal (which, not so incidently, included the home of
Edward Moon) to a man named Blakely Kelly. Two months later, in January
of 1852, still operating on an exceedingly informal basis, he sold more
land at the foot of Broadway, including a wharf under construction, which
was unquestionably the project of Horace Carpentier. While certainly
irksome, if not especially fruitful, these actions did get Carpentier's
attention. The result of these provocative efforts to dislodge the
squatters turned out to be somewhat different than had been wished.
While in the process of clearing the land of complications, Clar also
insisted that the Peralta brothers each file a claim with the newly
established U.S. Land Commission. This action was essential both to
establish the validity of the Mexican grant as well as to guarantee title
for the buyers. And in accordance with Juan Clar's advice, Vicente and
his brother Domingo did petition the Land Commission on the 21st of
January, 1852, that being the very first day of filing.
The sale of Oakland to Clar (and whomever he might then have been
representing) was progressing nicely, but there was a need of greater
financial support. More, or different, partners were required to complete
the purchase. Seeking assistance from San Francisco's primary banking
house, Palmer Cook and Company, he was introduced to his soon-to-be boss,
the Sheriff of San Francisco County, John Coffee Hays. With Mr. Hays came
another partner, John Caperton. Joining this association were three
additional partners: B. De La Barra, Jacob Cost, and Joseph K. Irving.
This partnership completed the purchase of 2,000 acres of Vicente
Peralta's "Encinal" on March 13, 1852. The land transferred in this title
conspicuously included the 480 acres squatted by Carpentier, Moon and
Adams. A showdown was not far off.
During this same time Horace Carpentier had not been idle. While his
claim was regarded as tenable, his position was clearly compromised by the
legitimate purchase effected by the Clar group. Recognizing his
increasingly flimsy grasp on this property, he exercised his well
established political leverage by drawing upon his affiliation with San
Francisco's political boss David Broderick. Mr Broderick coincidently
enjoyed a similarly agreeable relationship with the new governor of the
State, John Bigler, a man with pertinent, accessible influence.
In order to protect his interest in the land, Carpentier took swift and
heroic steps to incorporate his holdings as a town, endowing the property
with concocted yet legally authentic governmental status. As a town it
would be exempt from the sale. Carpentier accomplished this ordinarily
protracted process of municipal incorporation by introducing his bill at a
time when the legislative session was all but over and everyone was in a
rush to adjourn. With the issue escaping notice as it was shuffled in
among minor and generally benign legislation awaiting vote and
endorsement, it was further expedited in the process by the offer of
reassurance from the new Governor, John Bigler, for any who begged to
inquire.
Carpentier introduced the bill to the legislature less than two weeks after the Clar purchase. The incorporation was completed less than six weeks later. Nobody seemed to notice, or admitted to having noticed, that the new town was occupying land that was legally owned by other people. The few inhabitants of this new community remained unaware of these procedures.
San Pablo Road
A month after securing Oakland's incorporated status, Carpentier managed
to convince the newly established Contra Costa County Board of
Supervisors, a body which included Carpentier’s confederate, Victor
Castro, to construct a road from Senor Castro's home in San Pablo to the
Encinal, and the Carpentier wharf located at the foot of Broadway (Jack
London Square). This became the board's first order of business at its
first session, and on June 14, 1852 the supervisors dutifully ordered the
laying out of the road from "Contra Costa" to San Pablo. It was variously
referred to as Contra Costa Road, the County Road, and later San Pablo
Road. Mr. Carpentier had cultivated the right kind of friendships.
Carpentier was now co-owner of most of the Encinal in an uneasy and
forever undocumented, unofficial, remarkably informal arrangement with the
actual purchasers. This ambiguous arrangement, a “gentlemen’s agreement”
as it were, contained the opportunity for propitious resolution as time
and circumstances demanded. The kind of arrangement that best suited the
Carpentier style. In addition, he had established direct access from the
seat of county government in Martinez to the town of Contra Costa.
Slavery and California Politics
To understand the nature of political alliances during these early days of
Bay Area growth, it is important to consider the politics of the still
adolescent United States. The difference in philosophy concerning the
ownership of slaves and the question of the priority of states-rights
cleanly divided all political thought. In a matter of only a few years
the country would be divided against itself, these issues and passions
carried to their bloody denouement. With the certain addition of
California as a large, and obviously important new state, there was
substantial concern over whether the new state would be affiliated with
the North or the South; as Slave or Free. While the national balance of
power would rest on the definition of every newly admitted state, the
direction taken by California was expected to represent an important
precedent.
The evolving leadership within California was itself cleanly divided. The
Southern interests, or "The Chivalry," were well represented. William
Gwin, already a political contender in Mississippi, had arrived in
California at the opportune time to lead the Southern cause. His heart
was set on a life in Washington D.C., and for this he wanted the job of
U.S. Senator from the newly admitted state of California.
The northern or Union interests were passionately advanced by the likes of
David Broderick, a man who felt no less strongly than Gwin about
California's still to be filled position of U.S. Senator. Unlike the
genteel background enjoyed by his primary adversary, Mr. Broderick derived
from poor Irish stock, learned his politics on the streets of New York,
and came west to avoid living out his political life as a small fish in
that big pond. With his big city savvy, he fared well in this frontier
town, gaining power and respect in an amazingly short time. He ran San
Francisco as political boss, offered public offices for sale, and enjoyed
the option of selling to whom his favor dictated. He used his position
with admirable skill and maintained the loyalty of all those he appointed.
The relationship between Mr. Broderick and Mr. Carpentier was a natural.
Broderick saw in Carpentier a source of already established strength;
Carpentier regarded Broderick as an ideal point of leverage by which he
could fulfill his political and commercial plans. Carpentier's loyalties
were flexible, his alliances complex. Both men were New Yorkers, both
were politically ambitions, and both were bachelors.
The Temescal Purchase
On August 1, 1853, Vicente Peralta sold the remainder of his holdings, less his 300 acre "reserve", to the same men who had bought the Encinal, plus their new partner Richard Pindall Hammond, brother-in-law of John Hays. On August 15, 1853, a deed of partition was executed allotting portions of "Encinal" lands to the several partners. The official division left Irving holding one half interest (on behalf of himself and some undisclosed "others"), Hays and Caperton jointly owned a quarter, and the heirs of Jacob Cost, who had since deceased, received the last quarter. Unmentioned but conspicuously excluded from the formal partitioning was the 480 acre townsite claimed by the Carpentier associates. Within a few days of the sale the general partnership was extended to include the bankers Edward Jones, William Dameron, and attorney Joseph Black. This was likely the result of the original partners mortgaging their shares, and the emergence of some silent partners.
Berkeley Purchase
Two weeks after the purchase of the Temescal property, a slightly revised
version of that same partnership consummated the purchase of the majority
of the land owned by Jose Domingo Peralta. Like his brother, Domingo held
out a portion of his land from this sale for himself. The portion
retained represented the Domingo Peralta Homestead, but was referred to,
either incorrectly or alternately, but certainly ambiguously, and with an
enduring legal confusion, as the Domingo Peralta Reservation. The
confusion derives from the fact that the Domingo Peralta Reservation is
not the same as the Domingo Peralta Reserve. The Reserve was far greater
in size than was the Homestead.
The “Domingo Peralta Reserve” lands had, some six weeks earlier, been
diminished by a sale in July of 1853 to partners John Fleming and William
Harding. Fleming wanted the land which bordered the Bay (at the foot of
what is now Gilman Street), to raise and ship cattle to his meat market in
San Francisco. A year later he secured his title by paying off the
resident squatters who had preceded him on this space. He then sold off
the north 80 acres to Bridged Speckels. Later, portions which included
the west side of Albany Hill ("El Cerrito") were sold by Fleming to
explosives manufacturers.
A fraudulent "sheriff's sale" to Horace Carpentier also diminished the
amount of Peralta land available for sale. Coincidently, Carpentier
received title to this land on the same day as did Fleming (7/20/53), a
slim three weeks prior to the major Berkeley sale. Carpentier claimed
title to additional portions of the Peralta Reserve as well, and on this
account the precise amount of land available for sale to the partners was
not entirely clear. The complexities engendered by the ambiguous nature
of the "Berkeley" purchase would linger for many years and consume many
hours of legal hassle.
The Incorporation of Oakland
The town of Oakland had been incorporated on May 4, 1852. The first town
trustees were Moon, Alfred Burrell, Amedee Marier, and Alpheus Staples,
with a young Francis Shattuck serving as town clerk. Carpentier did not
become a town officer, because his interests were focused more on the
financial possibilities of the political device he had created than in
bureaucratic title. As a lawyer he was alert to the problems of conflict
of interest. His first interest was in the waterfront. He gathered
around him men who would be sympathetic to his planning and not inclined
to argue with vested power. With the promise of building a school house
and a wharf for the town, and the added "promise" that he would return the
waterfront when they wished, and with the guaranteed cooperation of Mr.
Shattuck, he was deeded the waterfront.
After giving birth to the town of Oakland, Carpentier proceeded to make
use of his political resources in the pursuit of further goals. While
there was reason for confidence, he was nonetheless frustrated by the
conservative proclivities of some members of the Contra Costa Board of
Supervisors. Several of them had taken issue with what they regarded as
his wholesale abuse of privilege, position, and the law. Undaunted,
Carpentier allied himself with Henry Smith, then the State Assemblyman
from Santa Clara County, who was coincidently also perturbed by political
constriction. Together they found the necessary legislative support to
extract portions of both Santa Clara and Contra Costa Counties, and from
them create a new political entity. On March 25, 1853 an Act was passed
by the State Legislature creating Alameda County. On the following day an
election was held which provided Carpentier a seat in the State Assembly.
This election was undisputedly corrupt. But Carpentier was a part of the
Broderick political machine and anything was possible.
Henry Smith
The honorable Henry C. Smith was born in Ft. Defiance, Ohio and emigrated with his brother, Napoleon B. Smith to California as members of the Hastings Party. They arrived at Sutter's Fort on Christmas Day in 1846. Upon their arrival the brothers entered military service, and enthusiastically involved themselves in the Bear Flag Rebellion under the leadership of General Fremont. Within that same year, Henry began farming in the Mission San Jose area, and operated a general store out of the now secularized and all but abandoned Mission. There he successfully offered provisions to the gold seekers, whose overland route east from Yerba Buena took them conveniently past his mercantile establishment. His store was later moved to Alvarado, the community owned and developed by the legal team of Jones, Tompkins, and Strode. Alvarado, at the time of Henry Smith's residency, was not only a town of many pleasures, but an important inland river port as well. Commercial boats from Alvarado's docks provided efficient transport to the hungry Yerba Buena markets. The Mission San Jose area represented some of the richest agricultural land in the Bay Area (this being the prime reason the site was originally selected for a Mission) and the crops converted easily to handsome profits. As the result of his lucrative trade, Smith became not only quite rich, but, along with his brother Napoleon, increasingly effective in local politics.
Smith married Mary Vangorden of Niles, Michigan, and they had four
children. The town of Niles, later to be the early location of
California's motion picture industry, was named after his wife's home
town. In 1846 Smith was appointed one of the first "alcaldes" under
Military Governor Riley. On June 1, 1850 he was appointed Associate Judge
of the Court of Sessions for Santa Clara County, a civic body that was the
precursor to the County Board of Supervisors. In 1852 he was elected to
the State Legislature from Santa Clara County, and introduced his bill on
March 10, 1853 which created Alameda County and removed his jurisdiction
and constituency from Santa Clara County. In March of 1855 Smith was
elected to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors from Washington
Township, was reelected on September 3, 1855, and was made its chairman on
September 12, 1855.
Smith lost his seat on the board the next year to Joseph R. Mason. Mr.
Mason was well known in both real estate and political circles; at one
time adorned what is now Ashby Avenue was Mason Ave. Howver, this is not
the same Joseph Mason who appears later to play a modest Berkeley's
ongoing real estate saga. In 1859 Smith again ran for public office, this
time for the position of County Clerk but was again defeated by Mr.
Mason. Seeking a change in his political fortune, Smith moved from
Alvarado to the Livermore Valley in 1867, was elected to the post of
Justice of the Peace for Murray Township in 1871, resigned in 1872, and
finally died in 1875. While no less of an opportunist, he was never a
friend of Horace Carpentier.
The Carpentier-Smith affiliation was hardly established when divorce
proceedings were instituted. For no sooner had Alameda County been
created that Carpentier took steps to have the county seat moved from
Smith's front yard in Alvarado to his own turf in Oakland. Failing in
this, he attempted to have the southern boundary line of Alameda County
redrawn to exclude everything south of Oakland. This effort failed as
well. History bears testimony that with time Carpentier had his way.
With Peralta's land in his pocket and the County more or less under his
control, Carpentier's dominion now ranged over most of northern Alameda
County. For its first year, the county was governed by the "Court of
Sessions", and this body was replaced by the Board of Supervisors in March
of1854. An election held on December 5, 1854 resulted in a popular vote
to change the county seat from Alvarado to San Leandro, placing it about
half way between Smith and Carpentier. However patently suspicious these
election results were, the site of county government was moved. The
Board's first meeting at the new location was held on April 2, 1855. In
August of 1855 there was a supervisorial decision to move it back to
Alvarado. Which it was. Still later this decision was found to be
illegal and back it went to San Leandro, there to stay until it was
finally removed to Oakland.
Oakland Becomes A City
While maneuvering the political demise of Smith, Carpentier took steps to create a local government for Oakland that was more suitable to his disposition. He set about changing the town to a city and the governing council to a mayoral system. Two years after the creation of the Town, and a year to the day following the creation of the County, Carpentier made himself a city. The event took place on March 25, 1854; Horace Carpentier was dutifully installed as Oakland's first mayor.
The Final Days of Domingo Peralta
The 1853 sale by Domingo Peralta to McAllister et al. represented a large
portion of his land, but by no means all. (While Hall McAllister was a
latecommer to the partnership and altogether played a relatively minor
role, his name has traditionally been employed as the designee of the
purchase; for example, the frequent references to the "McAllister line"
separating the purchase from the Reserve). Domingo held out what he
called his "Reservation", or his "Homestead". The Homestead was often
described as being of about 300 acres. The designation was ambiguous
then, and has been confused more so in the interim. The homestead was
about all that Peralta could then reasonably claim as his own, and was an
area of near square design which surrounded his home. The Peralta house
was located near the intersection of Sacramento and Hopkins Sts.
The "McAllister" purchase did consume all of the southern portion of
Domingo Peralta's land, and everything to the west lying south of a line
drawn from his house to the mouth of Strawberry Creek. The areas lying
both north and east of his house remained a zone of some ambiguity for
years to come.
The Peralta Reserve, designated on the Kellersberger map as including the
northwest part of Berkeley and all of the City of Albany, had been
distinctly eroded prior to the sale by the Carpentier purchase at an
"auction" made in November of '52 (the "sheriff's sale") and that portion
adjacent to the Carpentier claim that had been purchased by Fleming. The
remainder of this "reserve" land would soon be paid out through
unrecovered mortgages to the Peralta attorneys in lieu of fee for
service. Virtually all of it would ultimately fall to the "financial
portfolio" of Horace Carpentier. The Homestead itself was sold in smaller
parcels to a variety of buyers.
In the obligatory disposition of his remaining lands, Domingo struggled to
cut his loses, but pursued this course far to late. He persisted in
referring to his holdings as yet extending from the "land purchased by
McAllister et. al" on the south, on the west by the "waters of the bay",
on the north by either "Cerrito Creek" or "the San Pablo Rancho", and on
the east by the "crest of the range of mountains". In most all of these
claims, Domingo had a tendency to err. However, it would appear that he
was simply not well enough informed to know the true extent of his
remaining holdings.
Of considerable importance is the fact that Domingo Peralta was
illiterate. As a result, he was obliged to accepted the word of those who
consistently betrayed his trust, and by these people he was afforded no
clarity in what he had lost. Further, there were no natural, let alone
man made, points of reference on the land. But even if there had been
points of clear geographic reference the ambiguity would scarcely have
been diminished. Nowhere in the documents relating to the McAllister sale
was there any stipulation as to the number of acres encompassed, nor was
there any clear description of the parcel's northern boundary. Confusion
regarding what had been sold and what was yet available was evident early
and sustained for many years.
Because he was unable to see what he had sold, Domingo thought what he
wanted to think. Consequently there were numerous conflicting sales of
the "mountain lands" (this would be all of the Berkeley neighborhoods
north of Eunice St. and east of Colusa) by both the Peralta family and the
McAllister group, providing a confusing assortment of data to the
historian 130 years later.
To make matters even worse for Domingo, his cousin and neighbor, Senor
Victor Castro, and most significantly a political buddy of Horace
Carpentier, was encouraged to pursue a legal claim of Codornices Creek as
the "Rancho" or "Rodeo Line," the legal boundary between the Castro and
Peralta holdings. Prior to that claim, and certainly since, the boundary
had been set at Cerrito Creek. Had this contention been upheld by the
courts, which after many years of litigation it was finally denied, it
would have deprived Domingo of at least 60% of his "reserve." Regardless
of the merits of the case, Domingo was obliged to defend his land, a
necessity which profited only his lawyer. The fact of the matter,
Domingo, not the most astute of men, was surrounded on all sides by
predators, any one of which was far more clever than he.
With the great purchase and the absorption of the Reserve, the final
curtain began to fall. With the death of Jose Domingo in 1865, the small
remainder of Berkeley lands passed finally from Mexican hands to those of
the Americans. During this period of early sales, there was little
alteration in Berkeley's manifest presentation that would testify to man's
presence or progress, save a small industrial settlement at the shore, and
a scattering of a very few small farms. The Berkeley shore was still in
large part marsh land, interrupted here and there by sandy beaches. San
Pablo Road was crudely laid out and employed by the Castro brothers as
their coach route into and out of Oakland, crossing nine streams as it
wound its way through Berkeley. The Peralta Road, later altered and
developed as Shattuck Avenue, remained for the time a lazy, sometimes
dusty, sometimes muddy path. The creeks were mostly bordered by lush
growth, especially near their source where the canyons interrupt the
descending hills. The land otherwise stretched out in an unbroken
undulating plain, describing its gradual but compulsory rise from the
shoreline to the hills. With the next turnover of the now neatly parceled
chunks of what had been Domingo Peralta's legacy, this bucolic picture
would begin to change.