USA > California > Merced County > A history of Merced County, California : with a biographical review of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 13
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William D. Haralson : 2 mules, $200; 400 bushels wheat, $400; 1 wagon, $125; 2 tons hay, $40; farming utensils, $15; total, $780.
Berry Roberts: 1 colt, $15; 1 wagon, $125; total, $140.
E. I. Thomas: 2 mules, $170.
William Dunn : 1 mule, $65; 1 note, $300; total, $365.
D. C. Clary: 145 acres land bounded as follows: north by the Merced River, east by Dunn, south by public land, west by Griffith, $180; improvements, $400; 3 work horses, $200; 1 colt, $15; notes, $56; accounts, $375; total, $1226.
Samuel M. Brown : 160 acres land, being the northeast Qr. of Sec. 27, Township 5 South, Range 13 East, $200; improvements, $200; 4 mules, $400; 600 bushels barley, $420; 100 bushels oats, $100; 100 do. wheat, $100; 7 stock cattle, $140; 8 hogs, $24; farm- ing utensils, $12; house & kitchen furniture, $5; total, $1601; 8 tons hay, $160; total, $1761. Note that this is the first reference to oats.
H. P. Bales : 1 horse, $35.
Samuel R. Gwin: 640 acres land, being a part of Sections 28 & 29, Township 5 south, range 13 east, $800; improvements, $800; 440 bushels barley, $308; 800 bushels wheat, $800; 400 do. oats, $400; 5 wagons, $350; 12 work horses, $1200; 8 stock cattle, Ameri- can, $160; 40 tons hay, $800; 1 reaper, $200; farming utensils, $50; house & kitchen furniture, $50; total, $5918.
Ashley Roberts: 6 work horses, $400; 1 wagon, $100; total, $500.
Lewis Snook: 800 bushels barley, $560. (Then in E. G. Rec- tor's handwriting) Reduced 200 bushels, being 600 bushels, $420.
N. D. McCoy: 1 work horse, $100; 800 bushels barley, $560; farming utensils, $14; total, $674.
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Spencer Cursell: 160 acres land bounded as follows: north by Gwin & Curtiss, east by Gwin, south by Haralson & Stephens, west by Reynolds, $200; improvement, $300; 4 mules, $400; notes & accounts, $450; money on hand, $100; 2 wagons, $150; 3 tons hay, $60; farming utensils, $25; house & kitchen furniture, $20; total, $1705.
A. Bunch: 140 acres land bounded as follows: north by the plains, east by Reynolds, south by Neill, west by Judd, $175; im- provement, $150; 2 mules, $160; 1 wagon, $80; 18 stock cattle, American, $320; 275 bushels barley, $190; 2 tons hay, $40; farming utensils, $15 ; house & kitchen furniture, $20; total, $1150.
David Slinkard: 2 stock horses, $125; accounts, $100; total, $225.
William Ingram: 2 horses, $100.
R. R. Reynold: 160 acres land, being the southeast Q. of Sec. 30, Township 5 south, range 15 east, $200; improvement, $500; 5 work horses, $450; 2 colts, $50; 18 stock cattle, American, $360; 7 do. do., Spanish, $105; 2 wagons, $175; 800 bushels barley, $560; house & kitchen furniture, $50; total, $2450.
Samuel H. Curtiss: 320 acres land, being the southeast Qr. of Sec. 31 and southeast Qr. of Sec. 32, Township 5 south, range 15 east, $400; improvement, $300; 6 work horses, $450; 34 stock cattle, American, $680; 800 bushels barley, $560; 100 bushels wheat, $100; 1 wagon, $100; 2 tons hay, $40; house & kitchen furniture, $30; total, $2660.
Ingalsbe & Brother: 640 acres land, being southeast & south- west Qr. of Sec. 16 and the northeast Qr. of Sec. 20 and a fraction of Sec. 17, Township 5 South, Range 13 east, $800; improvement, $1000; 2 horses, $100; 21 stock horses, $420; 6 tons hay, $120; 2400 bushels barley, $1680; notes and accounts, $1000; house & kitchen furniture, $30; total, $5430.
William B. Akin: 2 mules, $200; 200 bushels barley, $140; 250 do. wheat, $250; 60 do. oats, $60; farming utensils, $15 ; total, $665. L. F. Hopwood: 1 horse, $20.
Chico Degoria: 4 work horses, $200; 10 stock horses, $120; 5 jack asses, $100; total, $420.
George B. Foster : 1 mule, $75 ; money on hand, $60; total, $135.
Joshua Griffith : 172 acres land, being fraction 6 of Sec. 29 and fraction 8 of Sec. 30 and fractions 1 & 2 of Sec. 32 and the north- east Qr. of 31, Township 5 south, range 13 east, $215; improve- ment, $1000; 12 mules & horses, $720; 17 stock horses, $340; 80 do. cattle, Spanish, $1200; 160 bushels wheat, $160; 160 bushels barley, $112; 2 wagons, $100; farming utensils, $20; house & kitchen furniture, $50; total, $3927.
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John B. Hale: 160 acres land bounded as follows: north by Merced River, south by plains, east by Chandler, west by Dunn, $200; improvement, $200; 2 work horses, $120; 225 bushels barley, $157; 200 do. wheat, 200; 2 wagons, $150; house & kitchen furni- ture, $30; total, $1057.
William Cozine: merchandize, $150.
I. T. J. Cain : 3 work horses, $240; 1 note, $80; money on hand, $80; 1 gold watch, $100; total, $500.
John Laughlin: 160 acres land, being fractions of the northwest Qr. of Sec. and southeast Qr. of Sec. 35, $200; improvement, $200; 4 mules, $400; 1 horse, $40; 300 bushels barley, $210; 100 do. wheat, $100; 1 wagon, $75; farming utensils, $20; H. & Kitchen Furniture, $10; total, $1255; 8 stock cattle, $160; total, $1405.
Bird Strickland: 320 acres land, being the southwest Qr. of Sec. 7 and the northwest Qr. of Sec. 18, Township 5 south, range 14 east, $400; improvement, $500; 4 work horses, $240; 1 colt, $40; 1000 bushels barley, $700; 170 do. wheat, $170; 1 wagon, $40; house & kitchen furniture, $10; 5 stock cattle, American, $100; total, $2200.
Wheat & Jenkins: 588 acres land bounded as follows; north by Merced River, east by Graham, south by the plains, west by Ostran- der, $735; improvement, $900; 9 work horses, $720; 4000 bushels barley, $2800; 1 threshing machine, $660; 1 reaper, $100; 2 wagons, $200; farming utensils, $40; 4 tons hay, $80; house & kitchen, $100; total, $6495.
1
Thomas Hockerby: 160 acres land situated on Dry Creek ad- joining I. N. Ward's Ranch, unsurveyed, $200; improvement, $600; 600 bushels barley, $420; 40 do. wheat, $40; farming utensils, $25; house & kitchen furniture, $15; fire arms, $10; 2 tons hay, $40; total, $1350.
James Thorp: 100 acres land situated on Dry Creek adjoining Hockerby and unsurveyed, $125.
John McFarlane: 160 acres land situated on Dry Creek and unsurveyed, $200; improvement, $700; 5 work horses, $800; 11 stock cattle, American, $220; 100 bushels barley, $700; 20 do. wheat, $20; 30 tons hay, $600; farming utensils, $30; H. & kitchen furniture, $100; total, $3370.
Hildreth & Dunphey: Improvement, $140; 300 stock cattle, American, $6000; 1000 do. do., Spanish, $15,000; 50 horses, $2500; 25 stock horses, $500; total $24,150.
W. B. Taylor: 160 acres land situated on Dry Creek and un- surveyed, $200; improvement, $400; 3 work horses, $275; 4 stock cattle, American, $80; 330 bushels barley, $231; 70 do. wheat, $70; 5 tons hay, $100; 1 wagon, $50; farming utensils, $20; house & kitchen furniture, $50; fire arms, $20; total, $1496.
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B. F. Howell: 120 acres land situated on Dry Creek and unsur- veyed, $150; improvement, $700; 2 miles, $300; 2 stock horses, $50; 800 bushels barley, $560; 20 do. wheat, $20; 1 wagon, $20; 12 tons hay, $240; farming utensils, $6; H. & Kitchen furniture, $60; total, $2206.
Enoch Moore: 100 acres land situated on Dry Creek and un- surveyed, $125 ; improvement, $1500; 6 work horses, $360; 3 stock horses, $100; 12 work & beef cattle, $560; 90 stock cattle, Spanish, $1350; 6 do. do., American, $120; 700 bushels barley, $490; 25 do. wheat, $25; accounts & firearms, $140; 5 tons hay, $100; 2 wagons, $350; 1 carriage, $50; farming utensils, $30; house & kitchen furni- ture, $100; total, $5400; 1 miscellaneous library, $20; total, $5420.
Ramsaur & Co .: 600 acres land situated on Dry Creek and un- surveyed, $750; improvement, $700; 1 horse, $40; 8 work oxen, $400; 12 stock cattle, American, $240; 1200 bushels barley, $840; 25 tons hay, $500; 1 wagon, $50; farming utensils, $60; house & kitchen, $40; total, $3620.
Alfred Burton : 160 acres land situated on Dry Creek and un- surveyed, $200; improvement, $700; 1 mule, $150; 6 stock cattle, American, $120; 400 bushels barley, $280; 2 tons hay, $40; farming utensils, $15 ; house & kitchen furniture, $30; total $1535.
Truman Vaughn: 160 acres land situated on Mariposa Creek under fence and known as Vaughn's Ranch, $200; improvement, $50; 2 mules, $140; 2 stock horses, $60; 200 bushels barley, $140; total, $590.
Frank Binkley: 160 acres land bounded as follows: north by the plains, east by Willcox, south by Rodgers & Harald, west by Wall, $200; improvement, $500; 3 stock horses, $120; 6 work oxen, $300; 15 stock cattle, American, $300; 800 bushels barley, $560; H. & Kitchen furniture, $75 ; fire arms, $20; total $2075.
Madison Marler : Notes & accounts, $260.
B. Delashmutt: 160 acres land, being the north west Qr. of Sec. 24, Township 5 South, Range 15 East, $200; improvement, $300; 4 work horses, $240; 6 stock horses, $120; 600 bushels barley, $420; 50 do. wheat, $50; fire arms, $20; farming utensils, $10; house & kitchen furniture, $20; total, $1380.
Richard Johnson: 600 bushels barley, $420; 1 six shooter, $20; 50 bushels wheat, $50; 1 note, $10; 2 tons hay, $40; total, $540.
David Daugherty: 60 acres land under the enclosure of John Hawke, $75; 1 horse, $50; 4 tons hay, $80; total, $205.
Hamlin & Lyons: 120 acres land, being the west 12 of south- west Qr. of Sec. 16 and east 1/2 of Sec. 17, Township 5 south, range 14 east, $150 (this is the way the description is given though obvi- ously a mistake; probably we may assume that the land was in the sections named) ; 6 work horses, $360; improvement, $500; 250
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bushels barley, $175; 400 do. wheat, $400; 1 wagon, $100; 1 grist mill, $2000; total, $3685.
John Hawke: 160 acres land bounded as follows : north by Bird Negro, east by Jackson, south by the river, west by Delashmutt, $200; 8 work horses, $800; 800 bushels barley, $560; 1 wagon, $100; money on hand, $100; notes, $130; farming utensils, $10; 1 six shooter, $25; total, $2325.
John F. Shirley: 160 acres land, being the northwest Qr. of Sec. 12, Township 5 south, range 14 east, $200; improvement, $300; 4 mules, $400; 1500 bushels barley, $1050; 1 wagon, $50; 8 stock cattle, Spanish, $120; 1 note, $300; farming utensils, $30; house & kitchen furniture, $10; total, $2460.
L. B. Harbour : 100, being fractions of Sec. 12, $125 (this is certainly sketchy ) ; improvement, $400; 5 horses & mules, $400; 700 bushels barley, $490; 50 do. wheat, $50; 1 wagon, $70; farming utensils, $10; house & kitchen furniture, $20; total, $1565.
Phillip Ropp: 1 mustang, $25.
Thomas W. Whitney: 2 colts, $50; 1 wagon, $25; accounts, $500; 1 six shooter, $20; house & kitchen furniture, $5; total, $400.
Nelson Boulton: 2 stock horses, $50; accounts, $300; total, $350.
Arch Pruitt : 120 acres land, being fraction of the south east Qr. of Sec. 30, township 5 south, range 13 east, $150; 4 work horses, $200; 68 beef cattle, $1300; 6 stock horses, $120; 1 six shooter, $20; total $1790.
Brent & Crittenden: 4444 acres land, being one undivided league of the tract known as La Panoche Grande y Los Carilitos, valued at fifty cents per acre, $2222.
Antonia Montoya : 160 acres land, $200; improvement on same, $200; 7 horses, $280; 4 work oxen, $200; 32 Spanish stock cattle, $480; 250 bushels barley, $175; total, $1535.
Juan Portia : 3 work horses, $120; 125 bushels barley, $88; total, $208.
G. Warcia: 125 bushels barley, $88.
Alonzo Dean : 20 acres land bounded on the north by the Merced River, south by the hills, east by Montoya, west by the river, $25; 3 work horses, $150; improvement, $50; farming utensils, $20; 1 six shooter, $15; total, $260.
R. Leon: 1 horse, $50.
Cyrus Lopez : 2 horses, $80; 2 work oxen, $100; 100 bushels wheat, $100; 60 bushels barley, $42; total, $322. One wonders if the assessor didn't get Lopez' first name wrong; it seems a queer combination, this of Cyrus with Lopez.
Lewis Espenosa: 1 jack ass, $30; 40 bushels wheat, $40; 50 bushels barley, 35; total, $105.
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Conceseon Eukis : 2 work horses, $80.
Lewisiana Bogore: 10 horses, $300; 2 jack asses, $60; 30 bush- els barley, $21; total, $381.
The three names just preceding afford further evidence that the Spanish was too much for the assessor, just as the place names which we have retained from the language in California often prove too much for visitors from the East.
Alex. Forbes: 17,776 acres land, this track of land known as La Panoche Grande y Carisalitos, $8888. This and the Brent & Crittenden assessment, totaling between them 22,220 acres, obviously constitute the present Arburua Ranch on the West Side, called Rancho Panoche de San Juan y Los Carrisalitos, and having an area, accord- ing to the county map of 1919, of 22,175.34 acres.
Juan Frana : 1 horse, $30.
Farrens & Hickman: 275 acres land bounded on the north by the Merced River, west by Mr. Cox's ranch, south by the plains, & east by Richardson's Ranch, valued at $343 ; improvements on same, $800; 12 horses & mules, $900; 1250 bushels barley, $875; 10 stock horses, $200; solvent debts, $500; 1 wagon, $200; house hold & K. furniture, $50; 2 six shooters, $30 ; total, $3898.
Stephens & Haraldson: 105 acres land situated on the Merced River and bounded as follows: (no description), valued at $150; 26 tons hay, $390; 130 bushels wheat, $130; total, $650.
F. B. Brown: 1 mule, $100; 1 colt, $20; total, $120.
Wm. Porter: 12 oxen, $600; 1 wagon, $300; 1 horse, $50; 1 note, $300; 1 six shooter, $20; total, $1270.
Moses Dameron: 320 acres land on Mariposa Creek bounded north by public land, east by M. F. Turner, south by Fitzhugh, west by public land, $400; improvement, $300; 7 work horses, $420; 8 work oxen, $400; 9 stock cattle, Spanish, $135; 1000 bushels barley, $700; 5 tons hay, $80; 2 wagons, $100; farming utensils, $20; 1 reaper, $150; house & kitchen, $10; total, $2715.
John M. Montgomery: 640 acres land, being the west 1/2 of south east Qr. of Sec. 17 and north 1/2 of the west Qr. of Sec. 20, township 7 south, range 15 east, the balance being undescribed, $640; improvement, $2000; 28 work horses, $2520; 122 stock do., $3660; 150 beef cattle, $5250; 650 American stock cattle, $13,000; 2200 Spanish do., $33,000; 1700 sheep, $5100; 60 hogs, $180; 3 wagons, $300; 40 tons hay, $900; money on hand, $540; notes and accounts, $1950; 1 reaper, $200; farming utensils, $50; house & kitchen furniture, $100; fire arms, $30; 3000 lbs. wheat, $90; total, $69,510.
H. J. Ostrander: 160 acres land, being north east Qr. of Sec. 16, township 5 south, range 14 east, valued at $200; improvements, $400; 2 horses, $250; 1 cow, $25; 50 bushels barley, $35; 3 tons
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HISTORY OF MERCED COUNTY
hay, $60; 1 wagon, $250; farming utensils, $20; house hold & K. furniture, $10; 1 six shooter, $5; total, $1255.
Augustus Jones : 160 acres land undescribed situated on Merced River & valued at $200; improvements on same, $500; 10 work horses, $1250; 8 stock do., $160; 8 tons hay, $80; 287 stock cattle, $4305; 1300 bushels barley, $910; 1 six shooter, $25; total, $7430.
Bludworth & Moore: 320 acres land, being tract No. 1, 2, & 3, Sec. 9, and the south east Qr. and south half of north east Qr. of Sec. 4, township 5 south, range 14 east, valued at $400; improve- ments on same, $6000; 1 mule, $80; 23 stock cattle, $460; 11 hogs, $33; 1 work ox, $50; 1 cart, $15; accounts, $800; house hold & kitchen furniture, $500; farming utensils, $30; total, $8368.
This is the first assessment on page 118, the last page of the book now in existence. The last assessment on that page has been crossed out; it is to Varmew Westcott, and is as follows: 80 acres land bounded north by public lands, south by same, east by same, west by same, $100; improvement, $100; 4 work horses, $240; 3 Acerican stock cattle, $60; 27 Spanish do., $405; 7 hogs, $21; 1 wagon, $200; 1 reaper, $50; money on hand, $102; accounts, $75; house & K. F. & far. utensils, $25; total, $1378. The word "house" occurs on two or three lines out of place, and may have furnished the reason for crossing out the assessment. We find in the index "V. Westcott, page 119," the next page after this.
The names which were on the twenty-eight missing pages of the assessment roll of 1857, which may be gathered from the index, are as follows :
J. R. Bube
Antonia (sic) Espanosa
W. W. Brown
R. S. Eaton
B. P. Brown
David Erans
Wm. Byers
Ernst Fass
G. G. Belt
A. Frazier
C. M. Blair
John Fruit
Barfield & Ruddle
I. W. Fitzhugh
Thomas Bird
W. F. Freeman
Jos. Bertine
Peter Fee
John Burkhead
Gould & Steinberg
Boledo & Co.
Thomas Givens
Bird & Son
Heely & Brother
Dan Baldwin W. C. Hoge
A. Cortner
C. M. Hoge
William Dennis
H. D. Hoeder
Alex Dunn John Hawkin
Santez Duran
John James
- Davis
F. F. Lether
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HISTORY OF MERCED COUNTY
Alex. Manarr
James Rigsby
John Montozo
John Rhodes
Harvey Martin
Robles & Brother
McSwain & Sons
C. A. Richardson
J. O. McGahey
A. Stevinson
R. C. May
J. J. Stevinson
E. J. McDade
Mahlon Stone
Miguel Mora
W. R. Smith
Neill & Brother
Joel Smith
J. R. Oneal
R. L. Swope
A. J. Paige .
Geo. M. Somers
Geo. W. Prother
Silvester & Bell
Geo. W. Patrick
W. C. Turner
Phillip Simon
B. Triplit
H. B. Porter
I. N. Wiliford
Post & Lord
I. N. Ward
W. R. Price
William Wilson
Francisco Pacheco
CHAPTER IX EARLY DAYS IN THE COUNTY
The assessment roll of 1857 tells us a number of interesting things, and some of them are important in the early history of the county. Perhaps the most striking thing of all is the light it gives us upon the location of the population at that time. When we con- sider that this population was for the most part located in two main groups, one stretching down the Merced River from Merced Falls to about the Ingalsbe place, according to the pages that are extant, and including Neill, Cox, W. C. Turner and the Stevinsons as the index shows, and the other along the creeks from Bear and Burns Creeks south to the Chowchilla, and stretching out from the edge of the hills to, say, not more than half-way to the San Joaquin (except for the Cocanour and Bludworth places in the vicinity of the present Robla ), the conclusion is strongly forced upon us that the population was, as we should have expected, probably largely an overflow from the mines in the Mariposa hills.
On the West Side we find the Rancho Panoche de San Juan y Los Carrisalitos, some 22,220 acres, assessed; we find Hildreth & Dunphey assessed for a lot of stock, though for no land, but the in- ference is probable that they were on the Santa Rita Ranch, later, we know, owned by Hildreth & Hildreth, and still later acquired from them, along with their "H & H" brand, by Miller & Lux; and we find Francisco Pacheco named in the index, and Juan Perez Pacheco was one of the grantees of the San Luis Ranch, one of the Mexican grants, which still exists, stretching from the western edge of the level San Joaquin Valley lands on to the pass which now bears Pacheco's name, and across it out of Merced County. In addition there are a number of Spanish names, a few assessed for land, and it is probable that a portion at least of these were on the West Side. However, if we may take the fifty cents an acre of the Pancoche Grande y Los Carrisalitos Rancho assessment as a standard of valu- ation for the West Side lands, they may not have been. It is a pity we have not also the assessment on Pacheco's San Luis Ranch to check by. There may perhaps have been an unconscious tendency on the part of the assessor to assess the larger land tracts a little lower. We notice, for example, that John M. Montgomery's 640 acres on Bear Creek and E. J. Stearns' 2240 acres near the present Le Grand are assessed at a dollar instead of the almost universal (for the East Side) dollar and a quarter. The smaller holdings were
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HISTORY OF MERCED COUNTY
practically all bottom land, and where a tract ran to greater size there was more chance for the inclusion of some less valuable plains. We can only guess.
And we must guess with some caution. For example, one might conclude, from the fact that there is half a dozen or more times as much barley on the roll as there is wheat, that more barley than wheat was raised. One familiar with the conditions might guess better than this, and he would be supported by facts which do not appear in the assessment roll. The assessment was taken in the spring ; barley was used for horse feed; the wheat crop, which was really much larger than the barley crop, was planted before the assessment was taken, and the crop was grown, harvested, and marketed and out of the way before the next assessment. Even the seed wheat was not on hand but in the ground. Henry Nelson, who came to Merced Falls in March, 1854, and was in the flour mill business with his father from the fifties on-his own experience in that line ended only in 1893-is authority for the statement that there was much more wheat than barley raised.
Cattle are obviously the most important product. We find a majority of the Spanish stock cattle, assessed usually at $15 a head -Texas longhorns, Mr. Nelson says. He relates that in 1859 he and two other young fellows rode over from Merced Falls to a rodeo just down Bear Creek from J. M. Montgomery's ranch-the present Wolfsen Ranch, about eleven miles in a straight line up Bear Creek from Merced, and about four from the Mariposa boundary-and that there were 10,000 or more cattle at the rodeo. It is significant that the Mexican official known as Juez de Campo, or "judge of the plains," was retained by the Gringo successors of the Mexican, and we can read in the early minutes of the county where four citizens were appointed by the board of supervisors as such. The minute entry is found on page 25 of minute Book "A," and it was at the session of May 5, 1856: "The Board then appointed John Sylvester, John Ruddle, Jr., S. R. Dehart, and Bates Dehart, Judges of the Plains." The De Harts were West Siders.
But though the Spanish cattle were numerous, there were a good many American cattle. Not a few had been brought across the plains. We find quite a number of work oxen, valued pretty uniformly at $50 each. That oxen continued to be used for some time in the county is evidenced by the fact, related by Mrs. Dora Shillington, a deputy county clerk today, that her mother, Mrs. Joseph Heacox, of the Robla neighborhood, now in her fifties, came here at the age of one year from San Francisco in an ox cart.
John M. Montgomery is assessed for 1700 sheep-the only sheep on the roll. It is probable, however, that the Panoche Ranch was used for sheep; it is noteworthy that the two assessments covering
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HISTORY OF MERCED COUNTY
that ranch (4444 acres to Brent & Crittenden on page 87, and 17,776 acres to Alex Forbes on page 89) are the only property assessed to these owners. The usual practice nowadays would run sheep on this West Side hill range in the early spring, and drive them to other pastures as the grass failed, and this would most likely occur before the time of assessment in the spring. Very likely it so occurred in 1857.
An interesting study which would throw some light on how people lived in those days would be to work out the total assessments on the three items of "farming utensils," "house & kitchen furniture," and "fire arms." The two former were almost unbelievably small in amount and valuation, the last nearly always present. Henry Nel- son states that nearly every man carried a six-shooter, and relates that on his return from one trip from their mill up to the vicinity of Sonora and Columbia, he had two with him because he had left one behind on a former trip and was bringing it home. He did not make the last trip up without going armed again. Whether he ever had occasion to use a revolver himself or not, he was at least present in Snelling one day in the late fifties when three men were shot. This is probably the same occurrence referred to in Peter Fee's diary early in 1858, where he states in one line that three men were killed in Snelling.
It is noteworthy that pretty much everything was assessed, in- cluding money on hand, accounts, notes, money at interest, and three dogs. But, query : Weren't some dogs missed? This assessment of dogs, even though there are only three mentioned, and most of the canine population must have been missed, still indicates that the system, born no doubt of the county's stern necessities, was to assess pretty much everything. We have noted that money on hand, money at interest, notes, and accounts, were not overlooked. We note also that so far as we can judge, the personal property was assessed at what was probably a lot nearer its full market value than is the usual practice in assessing today. The fact that these were the days when the fabulous mining prices prevailed-or occasionally occurred, for it is doubtful if the extremely high prices which we sometimes hear of ever really prevailed in the sense of being the usual run of things-may lead us to concede that some of the values may have been higher than the assessments. We nowadays must look of course at the personal property ; we shall find it quite impossible to put our- selves back in our imaginations sufficiently into a time so different from our own as to understand the land values of what was in actual time only two-thirds of a century ago.
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