WHEREAS, An act entitled "An act to submit the question of removal of the county seat of El Dorado county to the qualified voters thereof," having been enacted by the people of the State of California; and WHEREAS, Said act having been approved by the governor of this State, and the same certified to the Wadsworth and D. W. Gelwicks were appointed secretaries. The object of the meeting being stated, to take into consideration the subject of the location of the county seat, on motion, the following gentlemen were appointed a committee to draft and report resolutions expressive of the sense of the meeting: B. R. Nickerson, Captain Smith, Dr. Child, Captain Norton, | board; and, whereas, said act provides that an elecand J. O'Donnell. Mr. Nickerson reported the following resolutions, which were, after a full discussion, unanimously adopted. The most determined spirit characterized the whole proceedings. tion, thirty days after the passage of said act, shall be held in said county of El Dorado, to locate and establish the county seat of said county, and to determine whether the said county seat shall remain at Coloma or be removed to the city of Placerville. Therefore, we, the Board of Supervisors of said county, hereby give notice under our order, that an Resolved, That we fully recognize the inherent right of governments, whether territories, states, counties or corporations to legislate and determine their own local affairs through the direct action of their own cit-election will be held in all the precincts in this county, izens; therefore, on Saturday, the 17th day of May, A. D 1856, in pursuance of said act. Resolved, That the course of portion of the El Dorado delegation in our State Legislature, consisting of Messrs. Taylor, White, Welch and Oliver, to whom was referred the bill to submit the permanent location of our county seat to a direct vote of the people at a special election, is a gross outrage of every principle of popular sovereignty, and merits our decided reprobation. ALEX. IRVINE, Chairman Board of Supervisors. D. C. MCKENNEY, Clerk. The election returns gave a total vote of 13,393, of these 85 had been rejected for want of proper certificates; the balance of the 13,308 were divided as follows: For Coloma, 7,413; for Placerville, 5,895. In consequence of this vote, an indignation meet Resolved, That the committee of the House, upon "Counties and County Boundaries," for their unanimous report in favor of the passsage of the bill to sub-ing of the citizens of Placerville was held on the plaza, mit to the electors of El Dorado county, at a special election, the permanent location of the county seat, deserves our unqualified approbation. Resolved, That Messrs. Gage, Heiskell, Bowe and Borland, for their strict adherence to.the true interests of their constituency, as well as to a well settled national principle, in urging upon the Legislature the passage of the bill to submit the question to a direct vote of the whole people, disconnected with party politics, have done their duty to their constituents. Resolved, That the report submitted by Dr. Taylor is in direct conflict with the will of a large majority of the people he was elected to represent, and in all the essential features at variance with the facts; and that part of said report relating to our county buildings a wanton attempt to mislead the Legislature upon a subject of vital importance to the citizens of our county. Resolved, That we will support no man for office at the coming election, of any particular party, who by his action upon this vital principle of self-government refuses to submit the same to the people directly concerned. Thursday evening, May 29th, 1856, for the purpose of eliciting the sentiment of the people in regard to the late flagrant outrage upon the right of suffrage committed in Coloma, and developed in counting the returns of the late election for county seat. The meeting was called to order by nominating S. M. Johnson, Esq., chairman, and Dr. I. S. Titus, secretary. Able addresses were delivered by Messrs. Hume, Keene, Bruce, Lee, Carr and Stewart. During the proceedings, the following preamble and resolutions were unanimously adopted: WHEREAS, At an election held in this county on Saturday, the 17th inst., to decide upon the permanent location of the county seat, it was determined by the votes of the people, as declared and known after closing the polls, and counting the votes in the vari ious precincts of the county, that the city of Placer. ville received a majority of all the votes cast, of over five hundred votes; and, whereas, fraudulent returns have been made to the county clerk from three precincts, representing a vote of 2,245 votes, thereby changing the result, and overriding the voice of the people, and substituting in the place thereof the will of designing knaves; therefore, be it Resolved, That the returns from Uniontown of 811 votes, from Dry Creek house. 872 votes, and from McDowellville, 562 votes, are base forgeries upon the election franchise; degrading the ballot box; a deep disgrace, which must rest upon every freeman in the Empire county, who does not with all his political, moral and physical might resist this invasion of our liberties. Resolved, That to submit to this outrage upon our dearest rights, is to entrust our future welfare and right of self-government committed to us by our fathers, into the hands of ballot-box stuffers, and lawdefying villains; by so doing, rendering the will of the people powerless, and destroying all our liberty. Resolved, That all the corrupt officials who have been accessory in vamping and producing false returns from the above precincts, have shown themselves utterly unworthy of the confidence of the people of El Dorado county, and should be held to a strict account therefor, etc. Resolved, That John Hume, Esq., late an honored citizen of this place, for his bold and able advocacy of the claims of this city, is hereby accorded our highest respect and profound thanks. from the above; the vote of Coloma, within the short space of two weeks was increased astonishingly from 5,280 to 7,413. The above report gave Placerville a vote of 5,926; the official vote was 5,895, a difference of but thirty-one votes. Coloma township at the county seat election cast 2,038 votes, at the Presidential election the same township gave but 937 votes. At the county seat election White Oak precinct cast 347 votes, all but five for Coloma, while at the Presidential election it gave 69 votes in all. The precincts of McDowellville and Dry Creek at the county seat election cast 1,436 votes, but two of them for Placerville; while at the Presidential election there was not one vote cast in either of these precincts. The question of the removal of the county seat that had rested for nearly a year, sprung to life again with the opening of the legislative session in January 1857. On the 22d of said month, Mr. G. McDonald presented a bill in the Assembly, providing for the removal of the county seat of El Dorado county from Coloma to Placerville. The bill passed the lower house without any opposition, while some controversy came in when the bill was brought up in the Senate; but a large majority of the votes of the latter body decided for the removal of the county seat of the Empire county from Coloma to Placerville. This ended the struggle of three years agitation for the supremacyat last Placerville had won a victory and fully en Resolved, That we recognize to its fullest extent, the right of the people to decide every question of public interest, at the ballot box; and to that verdict, when fairly expressed, we should ever submit; and we denounce those who have attempted to defile this sacred palladium of our liberties, as enemies of our race, traitors to our glorious land, and more justly entitled | joyed it. to the benefits of hemp, than some of their predeces sors. Some parties of the northern part of El Dorado county to show their discontentedness and dissatis Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be faction with this result, held a meeting at Georgetown, published, etc. S. W. JOHNSON, Chairman. where some resolutions were read and accepted, out of which we give the following: Resolved, That we are in favor of a division of the county of El Dorado, making Georgetown the seat of the new county. Resolved, That the members of the Legislature from this county are requested to use their influence to secure the immediate passage of a bill for the above purpose I. S. TITUS, Secretary. The facts about this election were these: On May 17th, 1856, the people of El Dorado county by a large majority, voted to remove the county seat from Coloma to Placerville. In fear that fraud would be committed by the friends of Coloma, the citizens of Placerville took the precaution to send two agents to each precinct in the county, with instructions to re- The line which these office-seekers and county main at the polls until they were closed, and to pro- butchers proposed for that new county was the South cure from the judges of election a correct return of Fork of the American river--to include the whole disthe votes polled, and the number cast for each place-trict bounded by the South and Middle Forks of the Placerville and Coloma-certified by a proper officer. The judges in every instance furnished the desired information and sent the following returns, as counted after the polls had closed : For Placerville... For Coloma Majority for Placerville American river running east to the state line-stating 5,926 646 The official vote, as given before, differed materially Orvis presented a remonstrance against it, causing the whole matter to be referred to the El Dorado delegation. The latter presented a majority report signed by Messrs. Hamm, Hall, Orvis, Hume, McDonald and Carpenter, and a minority report signed by Messrs. Turner and Mitchell. The bill came up for consideration in the Assembly on the 8th of April, 1857, and a motion to reconsider the vote by which that body refused to order the bill engrossed, was indefinitely postponed. But while all those who had an interest in county affairs were attentively following the proceedings of the proposed county division, anxiously wishing that it might be prevented, not sufficient attention was given to the danger from a similar robbery on the southern boundary; here, a part of El Dorado county from Dry creek, the hitherto boundary line, to the South Fork of the Cosumnes river was given to Amador county to increase her size. The petitioners for this act had pretended to work in full agreement with the people of that respective part of country, but in fact, the people had not been asked about their opinion; on the contrary, just those people had only a short time ago expressed their opinion, by requesting the removal of the county seat from Coloma to Placerville. Now in this request they had been satisfied, what reason could exist for another move. Meanwhile the county seat officially had been removed to Placerville, and the ground for the permanent location of the county buildings not yet being selected, the Board of Supervisors rented a large stone building in the rear of the Mountain Democrat office, for county purposes, and by some alterations converted it into a temporary court-house. One would have believed that this would have been the last act in the question of the removal of the county seat, but this was not so. The Legislature in the session of 1857-58, was again requested to take up the matter. A bill had been introduced into the State Assembly providing for an appropriation of $50, ooo to erect the necessary buildings for the county court seat, by Mr. Lee and Mr. Buell answered with a substitute, to remove the county seat from Placerville back to Coloma. The bill passed the lower house in March, 1858, but not the senate, and never turned up again, and Placerville remains the county seat of the county until this day. The buildings occupied as court-house were purchased by the County Supervisors on June 5th, 1861, from Messrs. Boenzly & Brelaz; this conveyance took place in consideration of the sum of $7,000, in warrants drawn on the General Fund of the county. The jail at Coloma, which had been built in 1856, was used for the confinement of prisoners until the present jail building was erected in connection with the court EL DORADO COUNTY, GEOGRAPHICALLY, Reaches from the plains of the Sacramento, on the west, over a dividing range, to the line of the State of Nevada on the east, a distance of over sixty miles; and from the Middle Fork of the American river on the north to the South Fork of the Cosumnes river on the south; comprising an area of about 1,800 square miles. From west to east, there is a gradual change of temperature, commencing with a region where snow and frost are comparatively unknown, and where the summer heat is almost tropical, and culminating in snows thirty and forty feet deep, and with an occasional dip of the thermometer to twenty degrees below zero. Occasionally the winter snows prevail as far down as Placerville (2,300 feet altitude), but here the temperature rarely reaches lower than ten degrees below freezing. During the time when the freight and travel to and from Virginia City all passed this way, the road over the summit, an elevation of 7,373 feet, was kept open all winter, and passengers and mails were regularly carried through. In the lower part of the county the summer temperature ranges from eighty to one hundred degrees, but as throughout California, the nights are always pleasant; while the dryness of the atmosphere relieves the heat of the day of that sultry character so trying in the Atlantic States. Occasionally, for a few hours during the middle of the day, the thermometer has been known to register one hundred degrees, as far up as Cedar Rock. This, however, is rare, and morning and evening fires are generally required even in July, at an elevation of 3,500 feet and above. The summers in the mountains are delightful; a |