A Brief History of Napa County
Napa County was created 1850. It was named after Napa Valley. The word 'napa' is of Indian derivation and has been variously translated as "grizzly bear," "house," "motherland" or "fish." Of the many explanations of the names's origin, the most plausible seems to be that it is derived from the Patwin word napo meaning house.
On January 4, 1850, a committee of California's first constitutional convention, chaired by General Mariano Vallejo, recommended the creation of eighteen counties. They were Benicia, Butte, Fremont, Los Angeles, Mariposa, Monterey, Mt. Diablo, Oro, Redding, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Jose, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Sonoma, and Sutter.
Between January 4 and February 18, 1850, the California legislature added nine counties to the list recommended by General Vallejo's committee, some of the changes based on additional recommendations by the committee. The nine added counties were Branciforte, Calaveras, Coloma, Colusi, Marin, Mendocino, Napa, Trinity, and Yuba. This brought the total number of counties to 27. The legislature also approved several name changes. Benicia was renamed El Dorado, Fremont was renamed Yola, Mt. Diablo was renamed Contra Costa, San Jose was renamed Santa Clara, Oro was renamed Tuolumne, and Redding was renamed Shasta.
Effective February 18, 1850, twenty-seven counties were created in California. The new counties were Branciforte, Butte, Calaveras, Colusi, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Los Angeles, Marin, Mariposa, Mendocino, Monterey, Napa, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Solano, Sonoma, Sutter, Trinity, Tuolumne, Yola, and Yuba. In early 1850, not long after the legislature adopted its first statute creating counties, new statutes were adopted changing some county names. Branciforte was changed to Santa Cruz, Colusi was changed to Colusa, and Yola was changed to Yolo.
In the 1830s, the Napa valley became one of the first in California to be settled by American farmers. When California was granted statehood in 1850, Napa Valley was in the territory of California, district of Sonoma. In 1850, when counties were first being organized, Napa became one of the original 27 counties of California with "Napa City" (later shortened to Napa) as the county seat.
By 1870, smallpox and other new diseases had all but wiped out the native inhabitants of Napa Valley. In 1848, Napa City was laid out by Nathan Coombs on property he acquired from Nicholas Higuera's Rancho Entre-Napa, an 1836 Mexican Land Grant.
It was the gold rush of the early 1850s that caused Napa City to grow. After the first severe winter in the gold fields, miners sought warmer refuge in the young city. There was plenty of work on the cattle ranches and in the lumber industry. Sawmills in the Valley were cutting timber that was hauled by horse team to Napa City where it was then shipped out via the Napa River to Benicia and San Francisco.
Napa Valley is now known mostly for its premier wines. In the beginning, white settlers planted vineyards with cuttings supplied by Catholic priests from Sonoma and San Rafael. In 1861, Riesling cuttings were introduced to the Valley and, from these small beginnings, Napa Valley has become noted as one of the premier wine-making regions of the world.
The most eloquent word picture of the Valley at the close of the pioneer period was drawn by noted author Robert Louis Stevenson after he rode the train from Vallejo to Calistoga in 1880 on his honeymoon.
"A great variety of oaks stood now severally, now in a becoming grove, among the field and vineyards. The towns were compact, in about equal proportions of bright, new wooden houses and great and growing forest trees; and the chapel bell on the engine sounded most festally that sunny Sunday, with the townsfolk trooping in their Sunday's best to see the strangers, with the sun sparkling on the clean houses, and great domes of foliage humming overhead in the breeze."
Further Reading
Menefee, Campbell Augustus. Historical and Descriptive Sketchbook of Napa, Sonoma, Lake and Mendocino. Fairfield, California: J. Stevenson, [1994]. Subtitled: "comprising sketches of their topography, productions, history, scenery, and peculiar attractions." Originally published in Napa California in 1873 by Reporter Publishing House. An index has been added to this 1994 reprint.
Sullivan, Charles L. Napa Wine: A History from Mission Days to Present. San Francisco: The Wine Appreciation Guild, 1994.
Weber, Lin. Old Napa Valley: the history to 1900. St. Helena, CA: Wine Ventures Publishing, 1998.
Further Surfing
Napa County History
From A Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California. Chicago: Lewis Publ. Co., 1891.