San Joaquin County
Biographies
ROSWELL CHAPMAN SARGENT
R. C. SARGENT.--California is
noted for the number of her citizens who have embarked in farming and
stock-raising upon a gigantic scale, controlling, improving and putting to the
best use vast areas of land; but among them all certainty none have done more
in the direction of real, useful progress than the gentleman whose name heads
this sketch, and that great firm of which he has so long been a prominent
representative, Sargent Bros. An outline sketch of his career, bringing out a
few salient points, therefore becomes valuable, and indeed essential in this
volume.
He is a native of New Hampshire, born in
the town of Thornton, Grafton County, his parents being Jacob and Martha H.
(Webster) Sargent. His father was a farmer and speculator, and at one time
owned a great deal of land in the northeastern part of Grafton County, at the
head of the Merrimac river, and right at the foot of the White Mountains, a
little to the left of Mount Washington. The family was an old one in that part
of the State, our subject having been born precisely where his grandfather
Sargent settled. The Websters were also an old and well-known New England
family.
When the object of this sketch was about
seventeen years old his mother died, and about a year later, his father
consenting, he left home and went to Boston. He worked at agricultural labor
for two seasons, and for the next three years was engaged in the milk business.
He then joined his brother, J. P., in the ice business, which they carried on
profitably, drawing the ice into Boston through Cambridge from Fresh Pond. The
Sargent brothers sold out their business to Gage, Hettinger & Co., for whom
they then went to work for double the salary paid any other employe (sic). Our
subject asked leave of absence to go to Illinois, and his employers consenting,
he went about the last of December, 1847, to Chicago. There he learned there
had been a brick ice-house built with a capacity of 3,000 tons, the proprietor
of which had been killed by an explosion on a steamer. The plant had been
leased to a man named Sherman, who had made preparations to fill it, when a
warm spell came on and the ice went out. Mr. Sargent went to Sherman and asked
him if he would re-lease the building. Sherman replied in the negative, saying
that he wanted to go into the business for himself. Mr. Sargent asked him how
he could afford to keep ten men and not have any ice in. Sherman wanted to know
if he could do any better, and Mr. Sargent replied that he could if there was
ice four inches thick after thirty days from the date of conversation, and
asked what Sherman would give him to fill the building, proposing to accomplish
the task in four days at a dollar a ton, with four-inch ice. Sherman figured on
the proposition and accepted it. Mr. Sargent sent to Boston for his tools, and
got ready for operations before they came out. They arrived there about the 1st
of February, 1848, and the ice was then four inches thick. He got a man and
went right to work that night grooving, and by daylight had everything ready
for work. He commenced work with ten men that morning and continued right along
until the second morning about seven o’clock. At ten o’clock that morning there
was no more ice in the river. Mr. Sargent went down to Sherman’s shop, and the
latter asked him if he had any ice in yet, receiving the reply that the
building was three-fourths full, and that there would probably be no more ice
that spring. They then went down to the building together and looked at it, and
Sherman took it for 2,400 tons. Mr. Sargent bought one-fourth interest in the
ice and then commenced selling it, first at twenty-five cents a hundred,
afterwards raising it to one dollar a hundred, when ice got short. He had
bought some, however, at Sheboygan, and some more at Peoria. In the fall of
1848 Mr. Sargent bought out Mr. Sherman’s interest in the business and
building. Then his brother J. P. came out, and the brothers went into
partnership, putting up to two large wooden buildings in addition to the
original plant. They had just got them completed when a heavy snow storm came
up, and the next morning when they went down they found the building full of
snow and the roofs at the bottom. They cleaned out the rubbish, put on the
roofs and filled the building with ice that was half snow. A warm spell came on
clearing the river of ice, and the next cold spell froze a foot and a half of
ice on the river, as clear as crystal. They then cleaned out one of the
buildings and filled it with the better quality.
In the spring of 1849 Dr. Jacob L. and J.
P. Sargent made all necessary preparations to start for California, but they
would not make the trip without R. C. The latter told them he would go if he
could sell out, and the Doctor went out on the Missouri river to buy oxen and
complete equipment.
Our subject went to Mr. Sherman to see if
he would buy him out, and the latter said he would like to do so, but had no
money; however, he could give him a note with four good names on it, mentioning
the men. Mr. Sargent went to the bank and asked whether he could get the money
there on those names, and was told that he could on any two of them. He then
took the note back to Sherman, who signed it, and, securing the signature of
one of the other gentleman, he took the note to the bank to have it cashed. The
banker said, “You are going to California, are you not?” and receiving an
affirmative reply, told Mr. Sargent that he had a lot of money worth seventy
per cent of its face, which he would sell him at that rate, and which he could
dispose of at par for gold dust in California, where there was a scarcity of
coin. He took the money, and most of it was carried by him and J. P. in belts,
across the plains to California. When they reached their destination, and it
was learned that they had the coin in their possession, men would come from
miles away to buy it, to use on the gaming tables.
Our subject wound up his business in
Chicago within two days, and he and J. P. went out to Weston, Missouri, where
they joined the Doctor and a man named Arcan, who afterward settled at Santa
Cruz. They had not bought the oxen yet, and R. C. was selected to make the
necessary purchase. He went to St. Joseph, and there bought a fine team, and
brought it down to the camp. Mr. Sargent then started back to buy the remainder
of the teams needed. About twelve miles away he met a man who had two yoke of
oxen, for which he wanted $100 a yoke, although the usual price was only $30 to
$40. They were the kind Mr. Sargent wanted, however, and he took them and was
allowed to turn them out on a ten-acre field belonging to the man, and located
near St. Joseph. He also procured a yoke of high-headed wild steers from the
same man, giving a negro $10 to yoke them. At St. Joseph he bought enough to
make six yoke, with the wild ones, and, with this part of the business out of
the way, they were soon ready to start on the long journey.
They hitched up and started down the
river, which they crossed at Independence on the 1st of May. There
were two conceited men in the train, brothers, who said there was a train of
wagons going to Santa Fe, and that that was the way to go. The party proceeded
in that direction as far as the Kansas river, where they overtook a Government
train. Mr. Sargent went to the commander and talked with him about the route.
The latter said he would show them every courtesy if they journeyed with him,
but advised them to turn back and travel by the regular emigrant trail. This
they did, having lost eight days. They took the route via Fort Kearney, and
when 500 or 600 miles out, their cattle becoming restless, they purchased three
yoke which had given out, making nine yoke in all.
Mr. Sargent one day said to his
companions, “We must have a different arrangement about driving,” and proposed
to do all of it himself if the others would do the remainder of the work. The
Doctor said, “That will suit us all right, but you could not stand it.” However,
this was done. Mr. Sargent took the whip at Fort Kearney, and drove the outfit
all the way to California, walking alongside. When they got to the forks of the
road at Big Sandy, consultation was held considering what branch they should
take. Mr. Sargent said he was going to California, and his wagon and that of a
man named Carr proceeded on via Sublette’s cut-off, the others going by the way
of Salt Lake. During the next seven days his party and Carr traveled 175 miles.
At Carson Wells, on the east side of the desert, they camped a day or two to
rest, and then started for Carson river in the evening. At daylight in the
morning they saw the timber on Carson river, which appeared to be but three or
four miles distant, but was in reality about fourteen. Mr. Sargent, who had
been careful to supply his party with water, etc., necessary for the trip,
stopped for breakfast and saw Carr throwing out a part of his water supply.
Further on, Carr came to Mr. Sargent for some water to save his cattle, and the
latter told him “No,” as he should have saved it, and by trying to save his
cattle those of both would be lost.
About 11 o’clock A.M. , they reached the river, the worst part of the trip
being finished. Among the supplies of Mr. Sargent’s outfit, was a five-gallon
keg of alcohol and one of brandy. A large passenger train got in one day ahead
of them, and their commander, Colonel Rogers, came to Mr. Sargent, and wanted
to buy the alcohol. The latter opened it, put on a good price, and got about
$300 for half of it. Two or three hours later, Colonel Rogers came back for the
balance of it. A short time afterward he returned and wanted to get an ox to
butcher and eat, which was sold to him for $100. They started on, and the mate
of the ox that had been sold dropped dead, the only one lost on the journey.
Just as they reached the top of the
mountain Colonel Rogers again came up, and said he had come for a part of the
brandy, which was sold to him for a stiff price.
They proceeded on to a little place in El
Dorado County, which some Mormons whom they had met in Carson valley had told
them was pretty rich. That place was Ringgold, where they built the first
house. They lay there two or three days, when our subject took a team and
proceeded to Sacramento. On the journey he became acquainted with an Oregonian,
who said he could get out “shakes,” build a house, or do any work of that kind.
He was taken along by Mr. Sargent, and put up a building in which a trading
post was started. Our subject made nine trips to Sacramento and back, and at
any time could take out a load of freight, getting $1 a pound for it, if he
would guarantee to take it through.
During the latter part of that winter and
early in the spring there came reports of a heavy immigration. The winter had
been wet, and they had been keeping their cattle on the hills. When they pulled
the team off the road it was necessary to take the cattle away to Sacramento.
Our subject drove them, while the rain was coming down in torrents, to Sutterville,
three miles below Sacramento, and selected a place across the river for them.
He became sick from exposure, and was prostrated for eight days, having to hire
a man to do his work.
About the eighth day a friend came down to
see him, and he told him to go to Sacramento and get a mule. This was done, and
the next morning he mounted the mule and went to Sacramento. He picked up about
twenty-five pairs of long-legged boots, and started with them to the mines,
where they were worth any price one chose to ask for them. At the first
mud-hole his mule lay down, and he was compelled to take off the saddle and
blankets and carry them out to safe ground, when they mule got up. This was
repeatedly done, at every mud-hole! In the spring, the town being dull and business
poor, the Doctor, R. C. and J. P. concluded they would not stay, and went to
Georgetown, fifteen miles distant. There they lay two or three days and
conversed with some merchants whom they knew, who said they expected no
business for two or three months. Our subject said he was going after the
cattle, and was going back to Ringgold, which he did, and J. P. went with him.
They had a rich mine there, but R. C. never did a day’s work in it.
In the spring, there being no water to
mine with, he engaged in cutting hay by means of a scythe and snath purchased
at Sacramento for $75, and two more which he had previously found under the
floor of an abandoned cabin. One day, having gotten pretty well along with the
haying, R. C. started for Sacramento, and on his way met his brother, Bradley
V., who in company with another man was coming up for a visit. A conversation
ensued which resulted in R. C. engaging them to assist in haying at $10 a day.
He put them to cutting, at which they were engaged until their wages amounted
to about $800, while he went to work drawing the hay home and stacking it up.
The very day after the stacking was completed, the immigration commenced to
appear in an immense volume. Within a week their little town had grown to be a
half-mile long, while there was a continuous stream of wagons from a point
thirty miles above them clear to Sacramento. It was like an agricultural fair
or a race meeting for two months. Oxen could then be bought at $10 to $20 per
yoke, while horses could be had at one’s own price. They had in stack about
eighty tons of hay, which they commenced selling at a bit a pound, and all was
disposed of before any other came into the town. They also had a stack at
Mormon Hill. An old English lady, who with her husband, kept a store at Mud
Springs, came one day and asked Mr. Sargent what he would take for the stack.
He replied $1,000, or $100 a ton. She said she would give $950, and there the
trade stopped. She came two or three more times, but as she would not give the
original price asked, the sale was not consummated. Finally Colonel Rogers
(previously mentioned in this sketch) came along and agreed to give $1,000 for
the hay, saying he would pay for it at another time. He got the hay, but never
paid anything for it. Mr. Sargent only succeeded in saving a load or two out of
it.
About that time would have been an
excellent opportunity to embark in the stock business with success when cattle
were so cheap, but circumstances prevented our subject from doing so. In the
spring of 1850 he went down to look for his cattle, having with him about
$1,000 in gold dust. The first sight he got of his herd was when he saw nine
head stretched out under a tree - dead ! He found seven head on the ranch where
he had turned them out. He also came across a little mare he had lost in the
mountains, and the gentleman who had her gave her up without trouble or words.
He went after a band of cattle containing 200 or 300 head, but could not find
them. He took the seven he had recovered to Sacramento and sold one yoke to a
man named Hastings for $350, taking his note, which was never paid. He spent
the $1,000 in gold dust which he had with him in following the cattle, but he
never got back any except the seven head already mentioned, and one more, which
had a bell on.
When they came out to California property
of all kinds was perfectly safe from being stolen, even if left unprotected.
Along in 1850, however, Mr. Sargent missed some pork when he came back from a
trip to Sacramento, and he afterward learned that it had been stolen, and found
a half barrel of it buried. Horse and cattle thieves then became plentiful, and
one band especially gave the Messrs. Sargent and others considerable trouble.
Our subject had a horse claimed from him on the streets of Sacramento by one of
those miscreants. He followed out the fellow’s bluff, however, to its full
extent and finally entirely discomfited him and his crowd.
In the fall of 1850 R. C. Sargent came to
Woodbridge, San Joaquin County, and built three cabins in that neighborhood. In
the spring of 1851 he started a brush fence from the river about where Lodi now
is, which they continued out on the plains for some distance, striking the
river again about four or five miles from the point of starting. When the fence
was finished, he looked for his stock, but could not find it. Finally, striking
a trail he followed it to the place where he now lives.
The first grain he sowed was in the fall
of 1851--about sixteen acres. The next season he sowed and fenced in 160 acres
of barley. The stock business was carried on from the start, the main market
being in the mountains in the early days, one shop at Mokelumne Hill taking
from twenty-five to thirty-five beef cattle a week.
During the high water of 1851-’52, our subject
bought a pair of boat gunwales forty feet long down from El Dorado County, and
rigged up a boat on his place, utilizing a couple of wagon sheets for sails.
All the work was done under difficulties. He took the boat and some men to
Stockton, where he loaded it with supplies, and started for his home. It got
pitch dark when the boat was yet a half-mile from the landing place, which had
to be approached by a gradual curve. Mr. Sargent was at the helm himself and
knew the route to perfection. He was out of humor, however, with his men for
the awkward way in which they had acted, and when he ran the boat ashore he
told them to jump for their lives. They did so and got a good ducking, though
there was no danger! He took the supplies on shore and next morning loaded them
on packs, which took them to the first crossing of the Calaveras, where he got
a good price for them. The man who bought, however, did not come out even on
his purchase.
Another incident in connection with
packing in those early days will be found of interest. Some men had contracted
to take goods by boat from Stockton to a certain ferry on the road to Mokelumne
Hill, for a man named Sturgis. They had taken them a part of the way and
stopped, claiming that they were only to take them to a nearer ferry with a
somewhat similar name, and demanded a large increase in price to land them
where he wanted them. They would not give up the goods and Mr. Sturgis would
not pay the extortionate price. Thus matters stood when Mr. Sargent met Sturgis
about a mile from Woodbridge. A conversation followed, the result of which was
that our subject agreed to get the goods from the men who held them and pack
them through to Mokelumne Hill on time. He proceeded to the river, found the
goods and the men, and announced his intention of taking them. This brought on
trouble at once; but when it was found that Mr. Sargent paid no attention to
threats, while he offered to the men a reasonable means of recovering wages if
they proved to be in the right, he secured the goods. By the exercise of the
utmost exertion and good judgement he accomplished what was supposed by Mr.
Sturgis to have been an impossible task, and got the goods into Mokelumne Hill
(which was short of food) by 7:30 o’clock in the morning. These supplies were
sold by 2:00 P.M. for good prices, and
none too soon, as directly afterward wagons began to come in with provisions,
sending prices down.
Speaking of teaming in the winter of
1851-’52, our subject, who had been on a trip packing provisions to the mountains,
was coming home relieved of his load, and crossing a slough it was necessary to
follow a narrow trail. He took the head animal and started across, but the
beast stepped off the trail, mired down, and whirled the other way. As he begun
to wallow all got off the trail. Mr. Sargent had a man with him, and the two,
on getting an animal out, would pull his saddle off and turn him loose. When
they got them all out it was not yet daylight, and they camped down on
blankets, tired out. When they awoke it was evening and the sun was setting.
As has been previously stated, the
Sargents were accustomed, in the early days, to sell many of their cattle in
the mountains, and indeed many butchers depended upon them for their entire
supply of beef. In the winter of 1864, after the dry season, R. C. Sargent went
to Bouldin Island, where they had many cattle, to bring some of them up to the
home-ranch. While he was gone the butchers kept coming, until, when he
returned, twenty-two of them were waiting for him. He had not brought enough to
supply the demands of all of them, and there was a great uproar as to who
should get the cattle. At last Mr. Sargent told them that if they would each
tell him how many they had expected to get, he would issue them to each pro
rata as long as they lasted, and would guarantee that each would have
enough. He found he had to shrink all the demands one-half, and, true enough,
he subsequently received letters from nearly all the butchers in which they
said that they had indeed received all of such cattle that they wanted. Some of
these butchers were from as far away as Red Bluff.
It is pre-eminently as general ranchers,
however, that the Sargent Brothers have become so widely known as successful
men. On what is now the home ranch of R. C. Sargent there are 16,000 acres, and
here the Sargent Brothers have been engaged in the Herculean task of reclaiming
an immense area of land for cultivation. Of this large tract all but about
2,500 acres was overflowed land, which they have leveed in. This levee
commences on the north about two miles and a quarter west from the northeast
corner of township 3-5, and runs thence till it strikes the head of Sycamore
slough, then runs westerly on the south side of Sycamore slough to the
Mokelumne river; thence southward to the junction of Potato slough and the
south fork of Mokelumne river; thence along Potato slough until it strikes
White slough, which is their southwest corner; thence it runs up the north bank
of White slough, about four miles to the southwest corner of S. V. Treadway’s
place; then it turns in a northerly course between this land and Treadway’s,
until it strikes the said land of Mrs. Treadway; thence by more of an easterly
course to within about a mile and a half of the east line of township 3-5. There
are two large sloughs crossed by this levee where it was necessary to construct
two extensive dams. The water about one of these is sixteen feet deep, and
about the other thirty feet. Each of the dams is 120 feet across, and they are
150 to 200 feet wide on the bottom, and fifty feet on the top. These levees
were mainly being built before the present improved machinery was in vogue, and
most of the work was done by hand. The embankment ranges from fifteen to
eighteen feet wide at the base to forty feet. In June, 1888, they put up a
dredger on their levee work, and have now been all around Sycamore slough to
Potato slough with it, and the base of the levee for all this distance is fifty
feet across. It will require until the summer of 1891 to finish around with the
dredger. Since 1862 they have been at work on this levee system, and the
advantage it has been to San Joaquin County, in reclaiming so much of its land
otherwise valueless, is greatly to their credit. They have about 8,000 acres of
this land in cultivation, and lease 1,500 for vegetables, mostly potatoes. On
the Blackberry Dam place (part of this ranch) seven acres have produced in one
year 3,000 sacks of onions, which brought 60 cents a sack.
They also have a large tract of the same
kind of land at New Hope. In that body there was formerly 7,000 acres, but a
good deal of that has been sold off. It all has a good levee around it, and all
is in cultivation except 2,000 to 3,000 acres, which is used for grazing. They
also have 2,200 acres of cultivated land in Sacramento County, and some other
smaller ranches. The landed holdings of the Sargent Brothers in Santa Clara and
Monterey counties are very extensive, but as the business of the firm is being
divided, our subject withdraws from his interest therein. The members of this
great firm, one of the best known in its line in the United States, have been
Dr. Jacob L., R. C., J. P., and Bradley V. They have one other brother on the
coast, A. J. Sargent, residing at Mokelumne Hill, and their only sister, Martha
H. (now the wife of S. M. Preston), resides at Newton, Iowa. Her husband was a
Colonel in the Union army during the late civil war.
Mr. Sargent is a remarkable business man,
and has accomplished wonders in the field which he has adopted for his life
work.
R. C. Sargent has been a stanch Republican
since the outbreak of the civil war, and is prominent in the councils of the
party. He has represented his district in four sessions of the General Assembly
of California, taking an active part in the work of the committees on swamp
lands and claims, especially the latter. He is a member of Jefferson Lodge, I.
O. O. F., at Woodbridge, and of Woodbridge Grange, Patrons of Husbandry.
His children are as follows: Clara Root,
born June 4, 1860, died October 24, 1877; Jacob Preston, born June 8, 1863;
Roswell Chapman, born July 7, 1865, died July 7, 1865; Julia Frances, born
January 24, 1868, died February 14, 1885; Mary Emma, born May 20, 1870; Charles
Bradley, born February 13, 1873; Roswell Webster, born August 25, 1877, died
February 6, 1884.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County,
California, Pages 547-553. Lewis Pub.
Co. Chicago, Illinois 1890.
© 2009 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
Biographies
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
Genealogy Databases