Oakland Tribune from Oakland, California • 124

-s. i a n. 3 i i -T- 1 ltr 1 O-FL Dec. 1 1 963 I 1 mm I 1 mm, regime, hot only in our state but widely nvpr the entire southwest; The Spanish, -r-H-: I Til IN -'w-a I 'mi tN ViJi i V' on Temescal Creek is undated, but must be over the ledge in a small stream, probably meandering along for thousands of years to form the onyx ledge. This onyx is of clear texture and with some light yellow veins through and across There was.

some clear onyx with a very light tinge of the early 1890s many picnickers took this onyx and made it into beautiful mantel clocks weighing about 40 pounds. The jeweler, shoemaker and grocer all worked on this hobby." ONE of these clocks remains in Vacaville today; according to McMillan "When I was alt the quarry in 1901 mineral, water still poured over the ledge," he continues. "About all tiiat is left up there now are broken bottles. It seems that the last man who operated the springs didn't want anyone-to. follow in his footsteps.

He cracked the head of bottle so no one could cap them. I have been up there several times since 1901 and note many changes. The onyx leage nas been converted into a quarry for crushing the onyx. They even use a JbulldozerJodig itouL.lt. is.

even jsoldin sacks, some buyers hauling it out: themselves. Some of the onyx has bubble holes in it but much of it is good with a clear luster. It is hard to dig due to the seepage of the mineral water. Tolenas Springs is now a private enterprise and a gate blocks the road. 'Not a Thoroughfare a sign warns." There are more padlocked gates, too.

The most weird thing to me Is' the loss of the Tolenas Soda Springs bottling My great-grandfather 'told me the Tolenas legend, handed down by the Pena and Vaca families. My grandfather was Charles McGarry who settled in Vaca Valley soon after the Penas and Vacasr Indians camped up thete in the early days. Because it was high up, they v-' Phofo from Albert E. Horman Collection prior tomid-1880s when it disappeared escaped the winter floods. Game was plentiful bear, deer, antelope, cottontail rabbits, and lots of acorns.

But -the mineral water was close to the surface. Gophers had to high-tail it for the hills, to survive. The Indians left no fnark of ever having been there, but they have words that tag it the 'land of healing waters I have never heard of anyone being healed of anything, but there was a day when all Vacaville stores and -bars carried Tolenas Soda Springs water. It was a chaser in the bars, a competitor to Jackson and Shasta oda water. When sweet drinks became popular after 1901 death knell was sounded for.

mineral The Roundup EVERY California schoolboy has heard about the rodeo, many having aR tended some "kind of wild outdoor show that goes by that name mostly bucking horses and cattle ridden by cowboys, and sometimes by real vaqueros. "Children who have studied history," Dr. Rockwell D. Hunt comments, "may have some notion of the California rodeo) a familiar feature of the days of the dons in the Spanish era. But even their picture is probably much distorted these days by the shows they have actually seen or looked at in television.

I think the children (and grownups as well) needa clearer Idea "of what the rodeo was in early California, and the reasons for it. But beyond that, all of us need to know more about the Spanish rodeo and its successor, more properly called the as practiced by American cowmen. Every history of California tells about the earlier practice; but few of therfi tell us anything about the changes under the. American By, Mike Parks NTONIO and Ygnacio Peralta (whose early adobe dwellings have been described here the past two Sundays) were already -residing in their 1821 and 1835 homes, and harvesting produce rom their gardens by the time Jose Vicente Peralta, their youngest brother, began building ac- tivity on his Temescal share of the huge Rancho $an Antonio. Ygnacio was on San Leandro Creek at the eastern border of the rancho and Antonio on Peralta Creek in what Fruitvale.

Now Vicente selected TemescaT Creek for his. home. He had been managing 'his land from the 1821 dwelling of brother Antonio, but with the coming of Dpmingo to the rancho in 1834 to join the brothersVhe and Domingo jointly erected a dwellinonthe north bank of Temescal Domingo later moved on; this was Vicente's home and land. From Bowman's excellent 1951 treatise.entitled "The Peral-tas and Their Houses" we learn that "the first adobe at Temescalsimltinrl83fr in the middle of the present block bounded by Telegraph Avenue, 55th Street, 56th Street, and Vicente Street. Here again was the usual one story adobe with tile roof and dirt floor, but this one was almost square in dimension, approximately 40 by 40 feet.

The long front porch faced Temescal Creek to the south. This first Vicente house was removed during the latter part of the 1880s. Nothing more is known of it except that Domingo' moved from it in 1841 or.early.inl842..togQLiOLiisff adobe "on Codornices Creek," Dr. Bowman says; "Vicente's second home in this section was a large adobe erected in 1847 or 1848. Separate swings were added to this building during Jhe 1850s, thus, expanding it into the largest of the Peralta adobes." THE FIRST part of Vicente's big adobe on Temescal Creek was that portion facing toward the creek to the south.

"The east wing was built next," Dr. Bowman tells us, "and then the north wing. Each wing was about 40 by 20 feet It was the western end of this new wing that was used as the living room with a fireplace in the west wall. The first wing continued to serve as a kitchen. The three wings formed a patio large enough to drive a carriage in and turn around.

Also recalled was a small adobe near the patio entrance, no doubt a chapel and the first place of religious worship north of Mission San Jose in the East Bay area. The adobe house burned in 1866 and the following summer Vicente built a big yellow frame house that stood at an angle to Vicente Street on land now numbered 5511-5521 Vicente Street. The earthquake of 1868 completed the destruction of the burned adobe, but the ruins were not removed until the-enOMhL 1880s. Vicente lived in yellow frame house until his death June 30, 1871. The frame house was moved in 1892 to the northwest corner of Clarehiont Ave-' nue and Vicente Street.

There it stood until destroyed by fire in 1932. Vicente's corrals were to the northeast of the houses, the first gardens 'being established just north of the house. There were later gardens to the south and near the creek. Eventually the 'gardens "'extended' on both sides of the creek down to San Francisco Bay. By 1852, about the time Horace Carpentier, Edson Adams and associates were busy planning the city of the road between1 Mission San? Jose and Antonio's adobe in Fruitvale was extended from the ford of Temescal Creek at 51st Street northwest past the houses and on north across present Berkeley to Domingo's hacienda." DR.

BOWMAN tells us that the late Mrs. Henrietta Linden Scoville knew, the Vicente Peralta home on Temescal Creek intimately during her childhood. There are stories of how Vicente was so fond of little Henrietta because of her red hair. He often held her on his knee as he sat on the front porch of his home and admired her red tresses. Dr.

Bowman talked with Mrs. Scoville before her death. He also had first hand evidence from Henry Maloon who helped to build Vicente's big frame house. "Another Peralta house is frequently mentioned by-old Temescal residents," Bowman says. "We must mention it because legend often indicates it as a home of Vicente.

It is the frame house built by his widow, Encarnacion, after her marriage to Dr. Juan Ayala. It stood at the rear of the present Golden State Creamery at 5307 Telegraph Avenue, but must not be confused with the houses built by. the Peralta brothers on Rancho San Antonio." We are grateful to Albert Gorman, Oakland realtor and historian, for the picture here today showing the Vicente Per alta adobe in the late 1880s. Last Sunday's photo of the Antonio Peralta property in Fruitvale also came from the Albert E.

Norman archives. Unfortunately, no picture can be, found of the Domingo Peralta adobe on Cordonices Creek in Berkeley. We will tell of Domingo's ac-' tivity next Sunday rodeol.usually held huMarch or April, was the occasion of bringing the herds of wild cattle, including the new crop of calves, together for identification and branding. The wide ranges were entirely unfenced- The cattle were the famous but low-grade longhorns, wild as deer or antelope. Horses used were "carefully trained for the difficult work; vaqueros specially skilled shall not recite the familiar tory of the Spanish practice, but it be a good time to remind ourselves of a few of the Spanish terms sug-- gested by the rodeo." GABALLERO was a horseman, Spanish gentleman: "fandango" continues Dr.

Hunt, "acommori expression, meaninga ball, or general dance. The fiesta was an entertainment, a holiday, or a day merrymaking. The neophyte-was the baptized Indian at the mission, reata.was the lasso. The juez de campo was the head officer, rebozoa scarf, was dbwboy. The matan-za was the annual, (or, sometimes semiannual) slaughter of cattle, chiefly for their hides.

And the white inhabitants were gente de Irazon, the unbaptized Indians were gentiles, and the arrpba was a Spanish weight, -t equal to about 25 pounds. The carreta was the clumsy ox cart, everywhere ill -evidence, while cas-carone referred to the eggshell filled with confetti and used at balls and on other festive occasions. My chief purpose is to mention "certain points" arid "features of the roundup as it was (and still ivto some extent) in the American period, as practiced by cattlemen of the great southwest. One of the best descriptions is that of Emerson Hough in 'The Story of the Cowboy also found in The Great West edited by Charles Neider. Hough, a native of Philadelphia, was a prolific writer on the general theme of the American West, having traveled extensively over the territory, and familiarized himself with the Among his books are The Story of the The Sage Brasher and The Way to the W6st He also wrote extensively about Alaska, The roundup was a legitimate successor to.

the rpdeo, but American progress1 brought inevitable changes. Sectional differences were also to be noted. A most important difference is in the disappearance, of the low grade Texas longhorn and the prevalence of the shorthorn cattle, with preference for the whiteface Hereford, a hardy stock quick to mature, with better weight. In all cases it meant (in the expression of Mrs. Sanchez) the 'cattle An underlying principle was the desire for absolute Justice to all concerned sometimes a considerable number.

The wide open ranges, with thousands of cattle, were entirely without fences; -individual ranches being poorly defined, the owners sometimes numbering a dozen or more." THE ROUNDUP of cattle meant, Dr. Hunt explains, that "all are gathered together, counted, separated, identified, a total task requiring many skilled horsemen, much hard riding, days of downright hard work and good judgment. Jt-was-no-place-ior-the greenhorn or mere playboy, nor the jaded, wornout bronco. The details, as given by Emerson Hough, are intensely interesting. A chief item was the singling out; lassoing and branding of the calves, after identifying them.

Each owner had his registered branding iron, each new brand was recorded. It was far from easy to bring calf and mother together again, but the cow always knew her own offspring. As many as 2,000 head of cattle often constituted the total herd, within a little valley only a mile across. Hough gives a vivid description of the actual branding, from which I quote: The unfortunate calf is laid by the heels. The pony stops and squats, flaring back upon its haunches i nere is a twist of the rope about the horn of the saddle, and all is over with the wild life of the curly, bawling calf.

It is flipped lightly upon its side and away it goes, racing along over the sagebrush Two men seize it One catches it by the ears and twistsiits'head sideways Helpless, the calf lies still, panting. A mah1 approaches with a glow-, ing iron "fresh from the fire and claps this hissing and seething iron upon the shrinking hide A piteous bawl arises -frpm the little animal The branding process, like the other features of the roundup, has been reduced almost to a Each man knew his place and his particular function the work was hard, rough, and exacting. The whole might be called a grand pageant of many a drama out on the range with-wild scenes and a deal of impromptu acting; not without its chivalry. As time goes on, population increases, wilderness1 yields to the encroachment, of 'reclamation and irrigation. One wonders how long anything resembling the roundup of even the beginning of this century may continue in the land.

Js it, too, destined This photo of Vicente Peralta's adobe Tolenas Soda Springs JUST what year the Tolenas 'mineral springs were founded over in Solano County we don't know, but an interesting report comes to us from Edward H. McMillan of Vacaville as aesult of some probing by Les Sipes, Tribune news- hawk in Walnut Creek: Sipes is a "rock hound" and visited the Tolenas site chiefly to investigate quarry now producing onyx and crushed rock for terrazzo floors. While there he. stumbled on some broken bottles stamped with jhe Tolenas Soda Springs legend. In his effort to learn more about Tolenas and the mineral war ter he finally went to Solano County Recorder Larry Ball, who in turn introduced him to McMillan.

"Tolenas Springs," reports McMillan, "was established years ago. I remember ads in the Vacaville Reporter telling about Tolenas mineral water. There was a bottling works there, and "a small resort Solano County residents would go there for Sunday picnics. Some rwen took tents and camped near the springs for a few days. The grade up to the springs was steep and travel hampered by sharp protruding rocks.

There are still residents around who have picnicked there. Tolenas Springs is about half way between Vacaville and Jairfield on the west side of the road, perhaps half a mile up a canyon. I was there in 1901 and it was then dotted with large oak trees; Now therrare only a ewoaks lef but many eucalyptus and an old almond orchard. There are three ravines that carry the mineral water over the onyx ledge, and one spring of fresh water then piped to the resort for home use. They were, bottling Tolenas water there until early.in the 1900s; The springs had a big volume in the 1880s.

The water ran down CALIFORNIA CAVALCADE STRUCK GOLD THROUGH BAHDIT A Mariposa couniv minct fired at andit who WAS TfaVING "TO TK)B HIM. HIS BULLET WENT" Through the bandits body, killing uim, amd striking behind. it left A SPARKLING YELLOW SCAR WHETRE1 HAD BEEN KNOCKED OFF ROCK, SO RUNS 0 fXi I -u WV 01 STORV 0F "THE DISCQVERV OF -ftE GOLD-BEAH-ING QUARTS VEIN CALIFORNIA CHIPS 1HE 4 Tt fEiVlt'M? 4, Sakah WHOSE QUES- if STATUS INVOLVED SO MANV MILLION DOLLARS THAT "THE CASE REACHED TUP States Supreme Court which ft mtt l' till -v, i HffJillw ll'lii' in r.K rt XHE FIRST IN -r I 3. I lffS HI Hi I UkllTfcn ordered fWiAV A TOWN BETWEEN "the 1 "RIVER WMICK WAS DESTINED Avl It) BECOME fftE PRESENT r'Aoi-rtii du-ai icxdwiia A NEW TRIAL. WMEM THE DECISION WAS ADVERSE SHE ACCUSED JUDGE OF BEING BRIBED.

-AND SO INSTEAD OP 15,000,000 SHE GOT 90 DAYS in Alameda county jail for contempt of court to disappear? -THE KNAVE 1,.