390 Transactions of the 



INDUSTRIAL SURVEY OF SONOMA COUNTY. 



ITS TOPOGRAPHY — VALLEYS — WATERCOURSES — MOUNTAINS — MINES — TIMBER 

 — AGRICULTURE — RAILROADS — TOWNSHIP SUBDIVISIONS — ITS RESOURCES 

 GENERALLY. 



BY R. A. THOMPSON, OF SONOMA COUNTY. 



A BRIEF HISTORICAL SKETCH. 



The first settlement made inside of the present limits of Sonoma 

 Countj' was in eighteen hundred and twelve, by the Eussians, from 

 Alaska. They occupied the Bay of Bodega and the surrounding coun- 

 try, trapping along the coast, in the Bay of San Francisco, and on the 

 interior streams. At the same time they raised grain in the Bodega 

 countiy to Bupply their colony in Sitka. In eighteen hundred and forty- 

 one they abandoned the country. 



The Mission at Sonoma was founded August twenty-fifth, eighteen 

 hundred and twenty-three. In eighteen hundred and thirty four, there 

 were one thousand three hundred Indians at the Mission, three thou- 

 sand head of cattle, seven hundred horses, and four thousand head of 

 sheep. About this time the decree of the Mexican Government was 

 passed liberating the Indians, and the downfall of the Mission soon fol- 

 lowed. 



In eighteen hundred and thirty six, the Californians declared their 

 independence of Mexico. Alvarado was elected Governor, and General 

 M. G. Vallejo was made military commandante, with headquarters in 

 Sonoma, at which place he continued to reside until the occupation of 

 the country by the Americans. On the thirteenth of June, eighteen 

 hundred and forty-six, thirty-three Americans took possession of the 

 Town of Sonoma and the person of General Vallejo, raised the bear 

 flag, which was soon after superseded by the American colors, and the 

 Territory of California became a part of the great republic. 



For some time after this event Sonoma was occupied as a military 

 post, an Alcalde being the only civil officer. After the adoption of the 

 State Constitution, the first members of the Assembly and Senate were 

 chosen to the Legislature, which met at San Jose on the fifteenth of 

 December, eighteen hundred and forty-nine. Sonoma District then 

 embraced all the territory west of the Sacramento River and north of 

 the Bay of San Francisco. The entire vote for the Senate was only six 

 hundred and twenty-three, divided as follows: M. G. Vallejo, one hun- 

 dred and ninety-nine; J. P. Walker, one hundred and sixty-eight; S. 

 Cooper, forty-nine; Jonas Spect, one hundred and forty-nine; scatter- 



