*** Source: Thompson, Robert A., Historical and descriptive sketch of Sonoma County, California. Philadelphia: L.H. Everts & Co., 1877, 122 pgs. Notice: This data is donated to the Public Domain by TAG, 2004, and may be copied freely by anyone to anywhere. *** ---page 56--- Major H. P. Hentzleman and Major Lewis got up this scheme. They purchased a tract on the east side of the creek of General Vallejo, where there was a good land- ing, and laid off a town which they called Petaluma City. It was known in vulgar vernacular as "New Town." Lewis went to San Francisco and sold out his interest to Colonel J. B. Huie, on condition that a steamer of certain size could get up to the proposed site of the New Town. The steamer Red Jacket, afterwards Kate Hayes, came up in November, 1852, under command of Captain Van Pelt. The same boat made trips at intervals that fall, and it was given out that the New Town was the head of steamboat navigation. The Petaluma boys were not scared at trifles; they went down to New Town one night when the boat lay there, and using all their powers of persuasion, induced the captain to steam up and see if he could not get up to the original town. The venture was a success; this stroke of policy killed New Town; it lan- guished for a year or more but finally gave up the ghost, and, as the cars speed by, it is hard for the old resident to locate the site of the once rival of the city of Petaluma. The first regular steamer was the Sioc, put on by Colonel J. B. Huie to run to New Town. Ex-Sheriff Latapie was captain, and once part-owner of this boat. The name was changed to the Reindeer. The E. Corning was the first boat that ran regularly to Petaluma. Fare was six dollars to San Francisco, and the trip occupied nearly all day--quite a contrast to the present time, when the trip to Petaluma is made in two hours, and that will soon be reduced to one hour and a-half. The late Capt. Charles M. Baxter took command of the Corning in 1856, and, for many years after, ran the elegant steamer Petaluma, built by Charles Minturn, expressly for this route. From the beginning of 1853 up to 1855 the town of Petaluma grew rapidly; the great valleys north and south of it settled up with an industrious popu- lation, and every acre of land brought under cultivation was a benefit to the town, which had now become the general shipping point for the produce of all Sonoma and Mendocino counties as far north as the country was occupied. With so rich a district to support it, Petaluma soon took rank as one of the most flourishing agricultural towns in the State. Its capital increased as rapidly as its commerce extended. It was, at a very early day, and still con- tinues to be, the largest shipping point for dairy products of all the towns in California. The first newspaper, the Petaluma Journal, was issued on the 18th of August, 1855. The names of several merchants still residing in the town appeared in its advertising columns. In 1855 and 1856 the growth of the city was very rapid; in the former year the vote was 481, and in the latter it had increased to 801. In July, 1857, an accurate census was taken by John S. Van Doren, and we are enabled to give the population of the town then, included within an area of a mile square, commencing at the junction of Keller and D streets. White males 802; white females, 502; colored males, 23; colored females, 8; Chinamen, 3. Total, 1,338. The town of Petaluma was incorporated at the session of the legislature of 1857-8, and the first municipal election was held on the 19th of April, 1858. *** end ***