The boundary of Randall Hobart’s Preemption Claim of December 24, 1852, is identified by the dark borderline on the map. It was located south of the original mining village of Bidwell’s Bar which is identified on the map. The location of the 1852 ferry is also noted.
The town of Bidwell plotted by Hobart was located in a major portion of the area above the line between points A - B to the Middle Fork of the Feather River.
The identified Bidwell Road is the original route to the ferry crossing. The 1856 road across the suspension bridge was located near the line between points 5 & 6, with the bridge located above the ferry crossing at about point 6. The town area can be seen on the Town Location photo.
Distances between numbered points. Point one to two: 1, 155 feet
Point three to four: 1, 881 feet Point four to five: 2, 829 feet
Point five to 6: 2, 376 feet Point 6 to 1: 924 feet
In February 1850, the California legislature divided the state into twenty-seven counties. The count seat election for Butte County was held on September 21, 1850, and Hamilton received more votes than Bidwell's Bar and won the election. With the new county seat status the town prospered and a courthouse was built in 1851. Later that year, a very dark cloud formed over Hamilton’s future. The developers of Hamilton thought the area of the town was located on public domain land beyond the boundaries of the Fernandez land grant issued by Mexico before the area became a part of the United States. The residents and county officials learned that General Robert B. Moore had a deed to the property where the town was being built. The impact on the existing businesses and the future developments were devastating and were the start of the eventual demise of the town. The land ownership conflict and the resulting state and county concerns were just the opportunity the politically motivated citizen of Bidwell’s Bar could use to their advantage. They were quick to take action!
Within months after John Bidwell's 1848 discovery of gold at Bidwell's Bar, California residents and Oregon settlers started arriving. In 1849, among the new arrivals, was forty-nine year old, Randall Hobart and his seventeen year old son. Hobart’s maturity and experience in past civic activities soon became evident. JEN Lewis a twenty-three year lawyer also arrived at Bidwell in 1849. Hobart and J.E.N. (JEN) Lewis were involved in the 1850 attempt to have the county seat located at Bidwell’s Bar. A Senator representing Shasta and Butte Counties got involved in a political controversy and was forced to resign. A special election was held in October, 1851, to fill the one- year remaining on the term. JEN Lewis won the election and in January, 1852, started serving in the state Senate.
Therefore, Lewis was in a position to early become aware of the brewing land ownership issue at Hamilton. Lewis, Hobart and another politically active Bidwell merchant, A. B. Newcomb, who became the Town Founders, were quick to recognize the opportunity. Behind the scenes they went to work to avenge the loss of the 1850 county seat election. The land ownership issue at Hamilton intensified with no short-term resolution apparent. Capitalizing on this uncertainty in March of 1852, both JEN Lewis and Charles F. Lott, as elected Butte County representatives, introduced petitions “from citizens of Butte County, praying for the removal of the County Seat from Hamilton.” The matter was referred to committee, and over the next year, moved through the legislative process. A State Act was passed on March 9, 1853, directing that the county seat be relocated to The Town of Bidwell at Bidwell’s Bar by August 10, 1853, if suitable county facilities were available.
In 1841, the Preemption Act was passed giving settlers the right to make a claim for eventual ownership of public domain land. It’s obvious planning and work had started much earlier, but the results were not evident until Randall Hobart filed a Preemption claim on December 24, 1852, for one-hundred-sixty-acres. The area was located immediately south of the mining village that had become established at Bidwell’s Bar. The significance of this is Hobart asserted his individual right to become the legal owner of the land area. A portion of this claim became a part of the town of Bidwell and his gift to the community.
The state law required the location of the county seat be provided free of charge to the county with the land and buildings necessary for county government. Using his surveying skills Hobart laid out a town site, including the area of the existing village and expanding south into his preemption claim. The townsite map was recorded in the official county records on July 5, 1853. Unfortunately, diligent research has not located a copy of this Town Map. One deed makes reference to Block 37, but it is unknown how many blocks or lots were designated on the original map. The recreated town map is an attempt to fill this void until a copy of the original map is located. On August 1, 1853, a deed by Randall Hobart, his son, William Hobart, A. B. Newcomb and JEN Lewis, transferred, the ownership of a one-quarter acre and a courthouse building and jail facilities at Bidwell’s Bar to Butte County. On August 10, 1853, the Butte County seat was officially established at the town of Bidwell at Bidwell’s Bar. Legally, at that point:
- the County of Butte owned the courthouse lot and buildings,
- individual miners had mining rights on their claims,
- the legal ownership position of individuals and businesses located in the original portion of the newly mapped town remained “squatters” on public domain land,
- and Randall Hobart had a priority claim to the lands in the new addition to the town of Bidwell.
The new State of California and county government were still in a formative stage in 1850 -1852, with changing areas of jurisdiction. Two different elected judges vacated their positions creating an opening in Butte County. For several months after Bidwell was designated as the county seat, the presiding County Judge was Randall Hobart, who was appointed to the position by the Governor. Hobart did not campaign for election to the position. In the October election, JEN Lewis, was elected as County Judge. However, the state law directed the elected County Judge was to assume his duties on the first Monday after April 1st following the election. Therefore, Randal Hobart was the presiding county judge when Bidwell was initially designated the county seat. It is one of many examples where Hobart was willing to serve his community and County of Butte.
The economic advantage of the relocated county seat would be to the town of Bidwell in general, and not to Hobart or Lewis personally or as business partners. This viewpoint is supported by a review of seventy-five deeds between 1853 -1856 in which Randall Hobart and his wife are only identified four times as the grantor of the property rights to others. Several of the businesses existed prior to the filing of the Preemption Claim and were outside the boundary of the claim. However, the later development areas of the town, including the courthouse area, were within Hobart’s claim giving him and his associates the legal right to transfer the property to the county. After the town destroying fire of 1854, many of the businesses rebuilt on their prior lots, with no indication on any ownership controversy. The Butte Record newspaper does not contain any articles indicating any ownership conflicts in Bidwell.
It appears that Randall Hobart filed the Preemption Claim as a step in the process of securing a claim to the land in order to donate the site for the courthouse to the county. This would avoid the land ownership conflict that Hamilton experienced. This is consistent with Reverend Hobart’s numerous acts of public service. In subsequent years he was often asked by the county officials to fill vacated positions until an election could be held, usually not seeking election to the position. His service to the community and the county included: County Judge position for periods in 1852, 1854 and 1856; was County Administrator in 1854 and 1855. In 1854, he was the treasurer of the Feather River Water Company. In addition to governmental service Reverend Hobart preached at the courthouse on many Sundays and met the religious needs of many individuals in the community. Randall Hobart may have been the most unselfish, civic minded, non-businessman of the town. It appears he used his personal rights to a Preemption Claim of one-hundred sixty acres as a gift to the citizens and community of Bidwell at Bidwell’s Bar.
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