USA > California > Tuolumne County > A history of Tuolumne County, California : compiled from the most authentic records > Part 2
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HISTORY OF TUOLUMNE COUNTY.
At this date the observing student of history is struck most forcibly with the apparent air of prodigality that per- vaded 'all classes and all doings of the time of which this section treats, and indeed of the subsequent years of rich strikes. He sees the spectacle of myriads of hardy, adven- turous men daring every danger and hardship in the frantic pursuit of gold, which, after attaining, they flung recklessly away! It needs no further exemplification of this than the further spectacle which he sees to-day of the remnants of those myriads dragging out their days, mostly in penury and want, many of whom, once possessors of unbounded wealth, which could have purchased every comfort which desire could dictate, but now living in squalor, and dying, to be buried by the hands of charity! With some, the fierce fight for wealth past, and the prize ungained, ambition loses her sway, and the once energetic miner settles into the narrow groove of a hanger-on of a whisky saloon, to clean the spittoons for a drink, to await the generous pa- tron at whose expense the liquid stimulant passes his ap- preciative lips. For such ends as these does he wear out his days and belie the promise of his earlier years. But not all are thus. Some of that immortal band still carry hearts as brave as those that first dared the perils of the "Horn" to dig the sands of the Stanislaus and the Tuol- umne. The weight of years has not diminished their cour- age nor abated their energy, which still directs them in their toil for the perhaps delusive goddess. Ever in the van when new regions are explored and new fields give up their treasure, the rigors of an Alaskan winter can not daunt them, nor the soft sweetness of a tropic climate lull them into forgetfulness of the spirit of the early Californian. By the mountain top his camp-fire burns, and the crags of the Andes and the Cordilleras echo back the still forceful blows of his pick. Never until the kindly earth
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HISTORY OF TUOLUMNE COUNTY.
against which his own stirring blows have fallen shall in- close him in his windowless palace of rest, shall his efforts cease. His little cabin is perched far up the rugged side of the mountains that bound the State he helped to found. The railroad train passes far beneath, bearing back those of happier fortune to the old home and friends in the East; but the old prospector's work is not-never will be finished until he lies down in his blankets for the last time. There is heroism in his work; there is heroism in every day's ex- istence of every old Californian whose spirit is not quenched nor his soul debased by misfortune's slights. All honor to the men who advanced civilization's bounds over the Western shore! Kindness and honor to the living; honor and peace to the dead!
Travel to the Southern mines was very constant during the year 1849, the immigrants coming by way of Stockton, the road from which to Sonora becoming a celebrated route. The garrulous recorder of those times informed his readers that the camp-fires on that highway were near enough together to show the traveler his way. He also says that the dealers in mining tools, provisions and gen- eral merchandise, who, by the way, wisely combined the retailing of liquors with the above, also supplied the hun- gry miners with pork and beans at the moderate rate of one dollar per plate! A similar charge was also made for house-room for sleeping, the applicant finding his own bedding. It is mentioned that board was at the rate of three dollars per day. The same veracious chronicler says that gold-dust, serving as a medium of exchange, was often
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HISTORY OF TUOLUMNE COUNTY.
guessed at as to its value. Gold scales, he explains, were unknown at that date, and such an amount of gold as could be held between the thumb and finger was called a dollar's worth, while a teaspoonful passed for an ounce; a wine- glassful was one hundred dollars, and a tumblerful was called a thousand dollars. Much gold was dropped in handling, and to obviate this loss, blankets were stretched upon the counters and gambling tables, which received the falling particles.
All unite to pronounce the miners of that day men of the most reckless prodigality; but, as might be expected where such habits prevailed, the virtue of charity was much prac- ticed. Towards the sick or destitute, the miners, gamblers, traders and all, were most ready in their demonstrations of good will. Nor did these demonstrations take the sole form of kind words and speeches: these were left to the utterance of a later generation, whose purse-strings do not so readily loosen to the cry of misfortune. The readiness of the gamblers to respond in cases of distress has been supposed to have been a bond between them and the honest class, which led to their being tolerated as they were. Charity to the unfortunate took the other hazardous, though hardly less praiseworthy, form of reliance upon the word and honor of strangers, so that, as is well known, an entire stranger could buy on credit, without introd iction or refer- ence, hundreds of dollars' worth of the necessaries of life, and this without exciting remark. Again, if a stranger be- came sick, it was not uncommon that the trader of the nearest camp assumed charge of the case, paid the bills, medical fees, etc., and in case of death, buried the unfor- tunate. Such cases are attested to, and are, beyond doubt, true. Such reports go far to remove any unpleasant reflec- tions which the reported avarice may occasion.
Early in the year 1849, two events occurred of which the
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HISTORY OF TUOLUMNE COUNTY,
narration will throw much light upon the primitive ways of administering what was thought to be justice. These events were two trials, for theft and murder, respectively. As is well known, neither written law, properly constituted officers, nor courts of law, existed. In lieu of the present machinery of the law, an officer, called by the Mexican term Alcalde, was selected from the inhabitants of a dis- trict, and to him were delegated the necessary powers for preserving the peace, settling disputes and trying offenders. The mode of choosing an Alcalde was as unsystematic as the powers that he assumed. Instances are on record of an Alcalde's assumption of his position without the form of a vote, or even a request from the surrounding inhabitants, as did R. S. Ham, the first Alcalde of Sonora, who was recognized in that capacity until a case which demanded more talent than he was supposed to possess, when he was summarily deposed and James Frazier, a store-keeper on Sonorita Gulch, was raised to the dignity.
The circumstances of the case of theft, to which allusion has been made, were as follows: Shortly after the dig- gings along Sonora Creek had been first discovered, Charles Bassett, a sailor, from the P. S. S. Oregon, had settled there with a number of others. The cook of the steamer, one of the party, had been accused of robbing an American, whose cabin was at the present location of the Washington street bridge. This he denied, but was taken before Al- calde Ham, who ordered him into confinement until the morrow, when he would doubtless hang him. Bassett, however, anxious to save a shipmate, collected the neighbor- ing miners and elected Frazier to the now important post of Alcalde, ignoring Ham, who is described as a rough, illiterate man, while the new officer was regarded as the most influential and cultivated person in the vicinity. The trial came off the next day, the first act of Alcalde Fra-
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HISTORY OF TUOLUMNE COUNTY.
zier being to name the new place Sonora Camp, or in the uncouth habit of the Americans, "Sonorian Camp." The trial did not plainly show the guilt of the prisoner, so that the sentence was not death, which would doubtless have been inflicted if the accusation had been proved, but as there was a serious doubt, the verdict was guilty, with a recommendation to mercy. Frazier accordingly sentenced the man to be flogged, but it is thought that this sentence was never executed.
The circumstances of the murder case alluded to were these: a quarrel had arisen between one Atkins, an Ameri- can gambler, and some Irishmen, at Big Bar, on Sullivan's Creek. Atkins, being roughly used, retired to his cabin, and, loading his rifle, fired at and killed a man whose name has been given as Boyd or Boydan, and who had been ac- tively engaged in freeing Atkins from the assaults of the others. Then was seen the spectacle of a mob, clamoring for condign punishment upon the guilty man-a spectacle that has been witnessed many times since in Tuolumne, with all the added horrors of executions unauthorized and undeserved. In this case, however, the party of order tri- umphed. Atkins was taken away under guard and subjected to trial before Alcalde Frazier, when a verdict and sentence in the case were arrived at, "That Mr. Atkins be found guilty of murder and that he be fined five hundred dollars, and be ordered to leave the settlement, forthwith, under pain of death."
This verdict was not received with favor by the friends of the murdered man, one of whom armed himself with the fixed purpose of killing the Alcalde, for which luxury he offered to forfeit five hundred dollars also. Atkins left as commanded, and went north and became the Sheriff of Siskiyou some years later. Thus ended the first murder trial in Tuolumne county-a trial that affords a fair exam-
.
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HISTORY OF TUOLUMNE COUNTY.
ple of the administration of so-called justice by lynch law.
On June 3, 1849, a proclamation was issued by General Riley, the Military Governor of California, ordering a gen- eral election, the first ever held by Americans on the West- ern slope. The following is a copy of the original tally- list made on the occasion of the election:
" At an election held at the office of the Alcalde of the Sonora Camp, in the San Joaquin District, on Wednesday, the 1st day of August, 1849, in accordance with the pro- clamation of B. Riley, Brevet-Brigadier General, U. S. A., and Governor of California, dated 3d day of June, 1849, » for the purpose of choosing delegates to a General Conven- tion, and for filling the offices of one Judge of the Supe- rior Court, for the District of Sonora, Sacramento and San Joaquin, one Prefect, two sub-Prefects, and one 1st Alcalde for Judge of the First Instance, for the District of San Joaquin, the following persons voted:
William Walker, J. A. Talbot, Thomas Smith, Edward P. Kennedy, Thomas Williams, Moses B. Carson, Henry J. Wilson, Nathaniel McCullock, Charles C. Sweet, Daniel Okeson, Francisco Duarte, Juan Sanchez, John Riley, Manuel Valencia, Domingo Curiega, Edward Blair, R. B. Wilbur, George Weeks, W. Warren, I. M. R. Clements, J. R. Barton, Vicente Duarte, Dorotea Sabileto, Wm. Ford, Pio Moreno, Nathaniel Delano, Orson Murray, William Bowers, W. R. Banks, Wm. Long, James M. Key, Benja- min F. Ross, John D. Winters, H. G. Brown, William Howard, John Mason, James R. Lewis, Richard H. Clarke, H. W. Theall, D. A. Enyart, Francisco Pavia, Antonio Palma y Mesa, Juan Machado, Jesus Jeda, E. R. Clay, James Demican, John Finch, G. C, Armstrong, Casimir Labetoure, John Campbell, Robert Keating, James Dove, Thomas Hudson, Charles McIntyre, Henry Ryan, Fred.
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HISTORY OF TUOLUMNE COUNTY.
Bohringer, Elanah Galasha, Robt. Hill, Jno. Phillips, Alex. M. Coe, J. M. Bradshaw, Pat. Halpin, William Belt, Will- iam K. Smith, H. Fairchild, K. G. Ackley, Alba Maurison, S. Haley, Louis Pollock, George Kerr, A. W. Luckett, James M. Duncan, James B. Lyons, Joshua Holden, John E. Stothers, Ignacio Bayez, David Carson, William Wil- son, John Campbell, Jr., Rosario Marin, Louis Crane, Isaac Thomas, M. G. Patterson, Exaltacion Canscio, Louis Van Reed, Antonio Labori, Alonzo Green, Eli Dobson, John Hart, James Cahn, William Callahan, Jens Schon, H. C. Nesbitt, Charles Van Winkle, John Satterlee, Andrew Lublette, W. Yaker, James Fraser. James Fraser, Charles C. Sweet, Daniel Okeson, Inspectors. Total vote 98."
That Mr. James Fraser, or Frazier, as the name is indif- ferently spelled, was a popular officer is shown by the fact that the residents of Sonoran Camp held a meeting to ex- press their sentiments of respect and gratitude, at which complimentary resolutions were passed, speeches were made and the following document signed by thirty-nine of the prominent men:
SONORANIAN CAMP, 2d August, 1849.
To MR. JAMES FRASER : If there had been a vacancy in the office of local Alcalde for this camp, and we had conse- quently voted for a person to fill that office, we would have voted yesterday for you in preference to any other candi- date.
We remain, your obedient servants, (Here follow the signatures.)
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Prospecting was now rife, and new placers were almost daily discovered. The diggings at Yankee Hill were found, and on the 17th of May the place was given the above name
7
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HISTORY OF TUOLUMNE COUNTY.
by Thomas Hill, a discharged drummer of Stevenson's regi- ment, who formed one of a party of nineteen prospectors who came from Mokelumne Hill, and who won the toss which conferred the honor of naming the locality. The names of "Frenchy," Rochette, (later of Lee and Mar- shall's Circus), Thomas Hill, P. Cutrell and L. G. Alexan- der, only, are preserved of all the company. It seems that this company, or a part of it, left these new discoveries to go to still newer diggings at Yorktown, of which extrava- gant reports were in circulation. At an informal election at the latter place, P. Cutrell was elected Alcalde, and Ro- chette Sheriff. The latter did not hold his office long, preferring to follow mining as an occupation. Accordingly, L. G. Alexander was selected to succeed him. Diggings were discovered on Sullivan's creek which proved remuner- / ative. The finder's name is given as Savage, but there is at present no means of identifying him with certainty. In the month of June Jacksonville was founded, Colonel Jack- son having discovered gold-bearing gravel at the junction of Wood's creek and the Tuolumne river. These diggings are said to have sustained for many years their reputation of moderate richness, other more pretentious camps having died in the interim.
The delegates to the convention which framed the'consti- tution met on September 1st, 1849. Those chosen from this district were four in number, viz: Colonel B. F. Moore, of Texas, J. M. Jones, a celebrated lawyer of New Or- leans, O. M. Wozencraft and B. S. Lippincott. James Fraser, who has been frequently mentioned in these pages as the first regular Alcalde, gave place to Hiram S. Theall, who became prominently identified with the affairs of So- nora, as a judicial officer, as military commander of a local body of militia and as a business man. Subsequently, Chas. F. Dodge, another prominent business man of Sonora, was
1
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HISTORY OF TUOLUMNE COUNTY.
chosen to the office, in which position he remained until the legislative enactment organizing the town of Sonora went into effect. Previously a town organization had ex- isted, for it is on record that on the 7th of November, 1849, the citizens of Sonora met and organized a town govern- ment, mainly with the view of providing a hospital for the sick, for the scurvy had raged during the preceding winter from the unsuitable diet, consisting almost entirely of salted provisions. The mortality was great, especially among the Mexican population; and it was with an idea of abating such sufferings that the hospital was built and maintained throughout the ensuing rainy season, partially by the contributions of the benevolent and partly by the sale of town lots. A steward was hired at a daily pay of eight dollars, lime juice was bought for five dollars per bottle, potatoes at one dollar to one dollar and a half per pound, and other supplies at a corresponding rate. These prices, it must be observed, were not considered high at that time.
The first Town Council of Sonora consisted of C. F. Dodge, Joshua Holden, Peter Mehen, C. Labetoure, E. Linoberg, J. B. Litton, William Perkins and another whose name cannot be ascertained. One of their acts was to order a survey of the town into lots. This was done by Cooper and Galledge, whese map became the official chart. On the arrival of the news from San Jose, the seat of the State government, that Sonora was to be the county seat, the Council passed a resolution that all vacant lots should be regarded as the property of the town and that the money derived from their sale should be applied to paying for the survey and to the hospital expenses. Apropos of the latter subject it may be appropriate to reproduce cer- tain bills of goods furnished to that institution, as at this day they have a historical interest never before possessed:
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HISTORY OF TUOLUMNE COUNTY.
Town of Sonora to Holden and Greene, Dr.
For 38 yards wide matting, $2.50 per yard. $ 95 00
For 16 yards narrow matting, $1.50 per yard. 24 00
For tacks and labor, in putting down matting 20 00
For 15 lbs. nails, from Theall & Perkins 30 00
For 2 lbs. sperm candles, from Theall & Perkins 12 00
For William Williams, for building 300 00
For berths 50 00
For nails. 8 00
For clearing of lot for building
15 00
Total
$554 00
Received Payment.
GREEN
& HOLDEN.
Dickinson, Dr. to Elkins.
January 15, 2 lbs. bacon, $3; 1 1b. chalk, $1 50 $ 4 50
18, 6 lbs. bacon $100; flour $2 12 00
18, 2 lbs. coffee, $2, cash, $3 5 00
February 9, 1 bottle brandy 4 00
9, 6 lbs. bacon 7 50
6, 4 lbs. rice
3 00
66 8, 11 lbs. flour
8 25
Paid cash to Bell, for medicine 7 00
Total
$51 25
Received Payment.
A. ELKINS.
SONORA, February 13, 1850.
· Town of Sonora to Green and Holden, Dr.
To one bottle lime juice, by Dr. Shepherd $ 5 00
To bread 1 00
To one pair blankets 12 00
To 66 feet of plank, at 50c.
33 00
Total
$51 00
GREEN & HOLDEN.
It required the utmost exertions to keep the hospital open, the most striking instances of liberality being shown
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HISTORY OF TUOLUMNE COUNTY.
in its aid. Messrs. C. S. Dodge & Co., who kept a meat shop, the first in Sonora, were prominent, and it is said that a very large bill for meat furnished by them was left unpaid by the town of Sonora. The same Charles F. Dodge, when Alcalde, paid, from his own private funds, the deficiency in burial charges, amounting to very considera,- ble sums.
On the morning of Nov. 14, 1849, the first serious fire broke out in a gambling tent situated where the Shaw's Flat road crosses Wood's Creek. Very soon it had extended the whole length of town, causing a loss variously esti- mated at from thirty to forty thousand dollars, which is not large, considering that the population of the town was not less than five thousand.
It was on the occasion of this fire that Charles Bassett organized a guard of four ex-soldiers of Stevenson's regi- ment, who were camping in the gulch then called by his name, but which now is Sonora Creek. These men being in uniform and armed with their muskets, were stationed on the outskirts of the fire, taking charge of whatever prop- .erty was saved, and not suffering anything to be removed from their supervision. By this means thefts were pre- vented. Alcalde Frazier gave his sanction to Bassett's disposition of these affairs, so that Bassett may be said to have held the first military command in this place.
Dr. Strother opened, in the Fall of 1849, the first drug store in Sonora. It was situated in the vicinity of Bassett's camp, or near the present location of the City Hotel. Just below his place were a few remadas (brush houses), which together were called "Scott-town," from the name of the most prominent of the occupants, a gambler "of gentle- manly deportment."
Thus early in her history, Sonora had arrived at the maxi- mum of her importance and population, she not having less
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HISTORY OF TUOLUMNE COUNTY.
than 5000 at this date-a number she has never exceeded. As is the custom in all mining camps, the favorite day for trade and barter was Sunday ; when her streets were thronged with miners from the surrounding claims, in town for their mail and for the purpose of purchasing supplies, and to seek the excitement of the gaming table. Still in the memories of present inhabitants are recollections of the streets so densely thronged that locomotion was im- peded ; stores filled to overflowing with men seeking to spend their accumulations of the week; on such days the number of people in town could not have been less than ten thousand ! And these vast crowds consisted almost wholly of men ;- men in the prime of life and of uncommon mental and physical vigor, as if they had been the picked men of their respective distant communities. And they were so in some sense, possessing the best qualities of dar- ing, strength and determination that have left their impress that shall exist through all time.
Religious matters, as is usually the case with all new set- tlements, and more especially mining towns, had not at first received much attentive consideration; other than those / of money, had not disturbed the current of existence in any appreciable degree, until at a much later period. A slight sprinkling only, of God fearing men, began in a quiet way to make their influence felt as early as the fall of '49, when Padre Arnault settled in Sonora. This gentleman came from Mexico, and was the reported possessor of great wealth, of which he gave freely to endow the first Roman Catholic organization, which was formed under his aus- pices, giving the ground on which a church was built to succeed the small adobe building which was first erected for celebrating the Catholic service, and which was completed in the summer of 1850. The efforts of the projectors of this concern were said to have had a good effect upon the
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HISTORY OF TUOLUMNE COUNTY.
remainder of society. At first scoffing and jeering at the proposed new order of things was heard, but insensibly a change was affected which has continued beneficially down to the present time, when, despite the complaining of clergymen and other professional religionists who never see aught but the dark side of things, Sonora, and Tuol- umne in general, contains as moral, decent and upright a community as grace any portion of God's footstool.
Discoveries at Columbia.
In March, 1850, the diggings at Columbia were found. This location, which has ever since been celebrated for the remarkable extent and richness of its gold deposits, is said by some to have been first discovered by a party of Mexi- cans from Santiago Hill, about a mile northwest of the
new discovery. According to this account, these men were seen by a party of Americans, among whom were Dr. Thaddeus Hildreth, George, his brother, John Walker, William Jones and Alexander Carson. These, being in- formed that the place was rich, stayed to try their luck, and finding the result beyond expectations, they returned home for supplies and afterwards located permanently at the new discovery. Another account, being a slight mod- ification of this, is to be found in Heckendorn and Wil- son's Business Directory. This ascribes the discovery to the same party having encamped under an oak tree that stood at what is now Main street, near the bridge. Rain falling during the night, they were obliged to remain some time in the morning to dry their blankets, and while thus detained Walker prospected the ground in a small gulch leading from Kennebeck Hill, so named at a later day. His prospect being encouraging, the party decided to re-
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HISTORY OF TUOLUMNE COUNTY.
main for the day, which they occupied in examining the im- mediate neighborhood ; their work for the day giving a re- sult of one ounce of gold. They then decided to locate at this point; but water being scarce, they were obliged to carry their dirt in sacks to it, and wash in rockers. It is said that even by this laborious process, they were able to make six or eight ounces per day to the man.
Such are the two stories in reference to this very im- portant discovery. Which one is true it is impossible at this time to say, nor does it matter much, the essential point being the time of the discovery, which both ac- counts place in March, 1850. The first account bears the most likely appearance of truth, as there is a well-known tendency on the part of mankind in general, to ascribe to trivial causes the most important and far-reaching effects; and this story of the wet blankets, and the consequent detention, is on a par with others that have been invented to account for other similar discoveries.
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Whether or not the Mexicans were already on the ground when the Hildreth party arrived, there were, at all events, men of that nationality at work alongside of the Ameri- cans when the latter commenced systematic work. Their location is stated to have been four hundred feet above where a wooden suspension bridge was constructed about 1860. The proximity of the hated foreigners had the usual effect of causing the Mexicans to remove them- selves from their unwelcome neighbors, to seek other fields. It is related that the new-comers took out fifteen pounds of gold dust daily for the first three days, the most of which was from ground that the Mexicans had once worked. The accounts of their success in the com- mencement disagree somewhat, but there is no occasion to doubt that it was immense, since the "rush" that im- mediately set in for "Hildreth's Diggings," the name by
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