Monterey County History

The Indians that once lived in Monterey County were well established by the time the Spanish explorers documented them in the late 1760s. The major Monterey County Indian groups were the Ohlone (formerly Costanoan), Esselen, and Salinan. The Indians occupied all of California in well defined provinces or territories. The provinces were defined by natural topographies such as rivers and mountains. These provinces provided a sense of security so there was little need for warfare and most tribes lived a peaceful and harmonious existence. There are no clear records of the number of Indians living in the county at the time. Traded items among the Indians were for things such as obsidian used for arrowheads and sea shells. Shells provided an artistic avenue and a useful currency. The main diet of the Indians was a mush made of acorns. The acorns needed to be leached of the tannic acids and ground into meal before cooking the mush with hot stones in a water proof basket. Grinding rocks used in the preparation of acorn meal still exists today in spots around the county (in the Monterey Presidio, and in Carmel Valley on the Esselen tribe land).

A favorite fish was salmon, folk lore mentions that the salmon was plentiful in those days. Salmon swam in most streams, some times twice a year. According the first European account the Indians wore very little clothing, not unusual considering the Monterey County’s mild climate and the generations of Indians acclimating to the weather.

The darkest time in the Indian civilization was the California Mission Era when most of the Indians were rounded up and forced to serve in the Missions. Not allowed to speak their native tongue, not able to practice their customs and living in separate male and female quarters the Indians suffered. During the gold rush the Indians suffered another dark time when miners having quit the search for gold settled down to farming on Indian land by either killing the inhabitants or running them off their land. Today the only large Indian owned land is the 1200 acres of Esselen land privately owned since the Mission era.

The Spanish merchant Sebastian Vizcaino discovered Monterey Bay while searching for a port along the California coast for a safe harbor for the Spanish galleons. Vizcaino named the bay in honor of the Viceroy, the Conde de Monterey. Monterey Bay was highly thought of as a sheltered port but it was not until one hundred and sixty eight years later that an outpost was established.
Don Gasper de Portola governor of Lower California and Father Junipero Serra headed an expedition one by land and one by sea to occupy the port of Monterery from San Diego on July 14, 1769. The expedition included two soldiers whose families were to become influential and important in Monterey County, Juan Bautista Alvarado and Jose Maria Soberanes. The expedition struggled through the Santa Lucia mountains and it is said they did not recognize Monterey Bay, continued their search to discover San Francisco Bay. Retracing their route back to San Diego they were still unable to locate Monterey Bay.

The Portola expedition of June 3, 1770 took possession of Monterey and dedicated the Presido de Monterey and the Mission San Carlos de Borromeo. Four of the twenty one California missions were located in Old Monterey County. Father Serra dedicated San Carlos Borromeo and San Antonio de Padua, later father Lasuen (Father Serras successor) dedicated Nuestra Senora de Soledad and San Juan Bautista. The missions were more than a way to save the souls of the natives; the Missions enslaved the natives, using their forced labor to develop the economy necessary to grow the new community. Indians were taught to read and write, tanning, cooking, sewing and agricultural arts. There are many accounts of the Indians being mistreated. In 1826 a Captian Beechey visited a mission and stated that the Indians who did not want to be converted were typically imprisoned and only released when they showed a readiness to renounce the religion of their fathers. Indians that managed to escape where tracked down and brought back to the mission and always flogged and an iron clog was attached to one of their legs as prevention for running away again. It is documented that the Indians were not highly thought of during this period of time. Indians that did not want to be saved or quartered in the missions were most certainly killed. The missions produced many of the traded goods needed for commerce in early California and became very prosperous and a key factor in economy of old California.

April 1822 marked the end of Spanish Rule as military officials and padres of the missions swore allegiance to Mexico. Mexican rule changed from the Spanish system where there were no privately owned lands to a land grant system. The decline of the missions was accelerated by the land grant system and the secularization of the missions. Only ten families controlled most of the Old Monterey Counties thousands of acres of grazing lands. During this era there were a few American merchants that benefited from the brisk trade. Among the prominent merchants was Thomas Oliver Larkin. Mexican rule was an era of much turmoil, political rivalries and landowner squabbles.  Monterey became the capital of California in 1836 via a successful revolt led by Juan Bautista Alvarado against the appointed Mexican governor. The capital of California was previously located in Los Angeles. The successful rebels declared "California a free and sovereign state."

A weak and ineffectual government plagued Mexican rule in California. During this time American merchants, tallow traders, hide traders; whale and sea-otter hunters became well integrated into the Mexican economy. In a pre-emptive move to thwart a British push to gain control of California the American President James Polk in 1845 assigned Thomas Oliver Larkin to bring about a peaceful annexation. In March of 1846 John Charles Fremont headed a party of 62 armed volunteers and took up a position in the Salinas Valley. In July of 1846 Commodore John D. Sloat sailed into Monterey Bay with a force of 250 Marines and three war ships taking possession of the capital of California declaring that "henceforward California will be a portion of the United States."
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