USA > California > Lassen County > Fairfield's pioneer history of Lassen County, California; containing everything that can be learned about it from the beginning of the world to the year of Our Lord 1870 Also much of the pioneer history of the state of Nevada the biographies of Governor Isaac N. Roop and Peter Lassen and many stories of Indian warfare never before published > Part 12
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THE YEAR 1858
THE TRIP TO GOOSE LAKE VALLEY IN PURSUIT OF THE INDIANS Related by Dow and Hines
On Sunday, April 18th, 1858, the Pit river Indians stole two horses and two mules from Hines and Tutt and three horses and a mule from Jonathan Scott. The animals were running on the flat to the north of Haviland's ranch and their loss was not dis- covered until the next day.
Just as soon as they found out that the stock was gone Dow, Tutt, and an Indian who had come from southern California with J. Scott started out to get the course the Indians had taken with the stolen animals. Dow and Tutt were considered to be among the very best Indian fighters of the valley and they did consider- able scouting. They followed the trail up past the Big Spring at the head of what is now known as the Antelope grade; and then wrote what they had learned on a piece of juniper bark and sent the Indian back with it to notify the crowd to get ready. Dow and Tutt followed the trail on over into Willow Creek val- ley, but came back home that night. The next day the men who were going in pursuit of the Indians met at the ranches of Dow & Hatch and Hines & Sylvester, which were just across the road from each other. The party consisted of Capt. Weatherlow, Tutt, Dow, Hines, C. C. Walden, Henry Arnold, Thad. Norton, Alec. Chapman, Storff, Amos Conkey, Frank Johnson, Rough Elliott, Charles Adams, Lathrop, and J. B. Gilpin.
They started out the same day, taking with them three weeks' provisions, but they did not get very far. They got a late start, and not knowing the country very well, struck Willow creek about the middle of the Big Swamp. It was frozen over, but would not bear them up, so they followed down the stream about four miles until they found a narrow place, and there they crossed the creek. They went back up the creek until they found the trail of the Indians, and it then being late, they camped for the night in a neck on the north side and a little west of the center of the valley. The next morning they got an early start and followed the trail along the west side of Fredonyer Butte. Along here somewhere the Indians had killed one of the mules. About ten o'clock in the forenoon they came in sight of Grasshopper lake. They saw a big flock of brants fly up, and the man in the lead, who was doing the trailing, thought he saw a dark object on the lake and mo-
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tioned for the others to stop. They had a spyglass, and with the aid of that they could see some Indians who appeared to be setting nets for ducks in the lake. They thought these might be the Indians they were after, so a man or two went up on a ledge of rocks to watch them through the spyglass and the rest of the party went down into a canyon and camped. Just before sunset the Indians left the lake and went west across the valley to what appeared to be a mound south of the middle of the lake, and half or three quarters of a mile from it. The whites sat around their camp fire until some time after midnight, and leaving Conkey to watch the camp, they set out to find the Indians. The lake lay between them and the mound, but from the actions of the Indians they thought it must be shallow and they took a straight course. When they reached it they found it was deeper than they ex- pected, and some of the men went around instead of going through the water. Those who waded got ahead of the others and had to wait for them to come up. When they got to the mound they found there were three of them, and the two southern ones looked very much alike. This bothered them; but after talk- ing the matter over they concluded to divide and part of them go around the south side of the south mound and the rest go up on the east side, and if they found no Indians they would try the next mound. It was the right one and both parties reached the Indians about the same time. They were camped on the east side of a steep ledge and those who went around came out right above them-not more than eight feet away. It was then just after daylight, and one of the Indians raised up and poked the fire with a little stick.' The whites immediately fired and killed all of them, three bucks and a squaw. Only one man fired the sec- ond time. One of the Indians sprang up convulsively when he was shot, and some one who had a double-barreled shotgun shot him as he raised up. They were Pit river, or Dixie valley, Indians, but not the ones they were following. The white men thought, however, that they deserved their fate, for there were marrow- bones and fresh rawhides in their camp. The party then went back to their camp, and after breakfast took the trail and followed it along the east side of the lake, through Dry valley, then over a little sand ridge onto the west end of Madeline Plains, kept on north, and that night camped by a spring at the northwest corner of the Plains. The next day they went down through a pass to
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the south fork of Pit river, and camped that night on a creek that runs into it near where Alturas now stands. That night Dow and Elliott put on some moccasins they had taken from the In- dians killed in Grasshopper valley, and went up on the side of a mountain twelve or fifteen miles away to look for Indian camp fires. They went up the mountain until they could see all over that part of the country, but saw no fires. The next morning the trail led them up Pit river, and during the day they came to a place that looked as though the Indians they were following and the rest of their band had wintered there. The Indians who had been left in camp joined the ones with the stolen animals, and they all went on together. In this place Dow and Hines do not agree, but the matter is not important. Dow says they camped that night near the south end of Goose Lake valley at the place where the Indians had camped the night before. Hines says the trail had not been very fresh, and the next morning after they camped here some of the men became discouraged and wanted to turn back. Rough Elliott and Alec. Chapman almost had a fight over it. Finally it was agreed that they would follow the trail until noon, and if it was no fresher they would turn back. Early that forenoon they struck the Sheep Rock road which left the Lassen Trail at the lower end of the valley and went west to the Yreka country. In this road they found the fresh tracks of shod horses and this puzzled them. They knew it was too early for emigrants, and they thought that either the Indians had stolen some horses in Shasta county and brought them there, or that an- other party of white men had come from the west hunting Indians. They followed the Lassen Trail to the north, the new tracks and the tracks of the Indians they were following both being in the road. They were excited on account of finding the new tracks and also because they saw a signal fire, the first one they had seen on the trip, in the hills to the northeast, and they rode fast until they came to a steep hill that ran west to the lake. Here the tracks separated, the new ones going around the hill toward the lake and the Indian tracks straight up it. Here the Honey Lakers divided their crowd, nine men following the new tracks and the other six going up the hill. The foregoing is the way Dow tells it. Hines thinks they saw the signal fire before they reached the Sheep Rock road and that the six men started in that direction as soon as they saw it. The nine men went on around
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the hill, which Dow and Hines think must be the Sugar Loaf, and before long came to some people camped on the north side of it near the road. They were the party with the shod horses, and were twelve Mormons, seven men, three women, two of them young ladies, and two children, from Eugene City, Oregon; and they were going to Salt Lake City in obedience to a call from Brigham Young. The names of six of the men were B. Young, David M. Stewart, or Steward, Dr. Silas G. Higgins, Lorenzo L. Harmon, J. L. Adams, and Henry H. Winslow. The night before the Never Sweats got there, the night of the 24th, while they were changing their guard fifty or sixty Indians surprised them and stampeded all their horses, twenty-three in number. The next morning several Indians came to their camp and laid down their bows and arrows and wanted the Mormons to lay down their guns and be friendly. They said that some bad Indians had stolen their horses and after some talk they agreed to bring them back if the white men would give them a tent and some clothing. They wanted one of the white men to go with them, and Dr. Higgins volunteered to do this and had not yet got back. He told after- wards that he went with them to their main camp, probably in what is now known as Fandango valley, and there they found seventy-five Indians, as near as he could judge. These Indians said that some of the horses had been run off by other Indians, and they could return only part of them. Shortly after this they started back to the Mormon camp with twelve horses, ten or a dozen Indians going along and riding the horses. The rest of them went along, too, but they took another route.
We will now see what was done by the smaller party of Honey Lakers. The trail which they followed over the hill led almost directly to the Mormon camp, and when they got about a quarter of a mile from it they came to a place where a high ledge of rocks ran parallel to the trail. There was a ravine between them and the ledge, and they saw a couple of Indians sneaking along it. Walden called out to take them prisoners, but Dow said they would take no prisoners, for a man had been killed by an Indian prisoner just before they left home. He and two or three others fired at the Indians, and thirty or forty more of them immedi- ately jumped up from behind the ledge and gave a war whoop. When the Honey Lakers at the Mormon camp heard the yelling and shouting they struck out in that direction as fast as their
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THE YEAR 1858
horses could run and soon came upon Higgins and the Indians coming back with the horses. When these Indians heard the noise they suspected treachery, and setting up a yell, they jumped from the horses and shot them and the white man full of arrows. Higgins was shot through the hip with a bullet, two arrows were shot into his arm and three into his back, but the latter did not go through into the cavity. In an account published in a news- paper of the day it was said that he was shot ten times. Eight of the horses were wounded so bad that they died, or had to be killed. The Indians then ran away and the whites followed them as fast as they could. The six men were chasing their bunch of Indians, too; but it was hard work getting over the ledge, the ground was soft so they could not run their horses very fast, and they got behind the others. All hands were now in sight of each other. The two bands of Indians were running toward the north in almost parallel lines, but gradually drawing together, and the whites in close pursuit. Dow shot a big Indian who had got be- hind, Tutt shot another one, and probably several more were killed while the chase was going on. The Indians soon came to- gether and shortly afterwards suddenly dropped into a canyon. The larger party of white men were still a little ahead, and seeing the leading Indians running up the hill on the other side, they rode right up to the edge of the canyon and found a sheer drop of twenty feet or more. They hastily pulled up and just then the air became full of arrows. Hines's horse was shot in the neck and in the shoulder before he could get off and get behind it. An arrow struck Lathrop on the breast, but he had a powder flask in his shirt pocket and that saved his life. An arrow struck Adams's stirrup. Dow says eight horses were wounded, all of them slightly, excepting one of them that was shot in the throat. Probably the arrows were poisoned, because the wounds swelled a great deal, though none of the horses died. Hines thinks only two horses besides his were shot here and that the wounded horses belonging to the Mormons came to them and stood around while the fight was going on, and some of them died there. At the edge of the canyon there was a big rock pile, and the Indians hid them- selves behind and under it. The steep part of this rock pile was about one hundred and fifty yards long. It was in the shape of an elbow with the point to the west, and at each end of it one could go down into the canyon very easily. The white men
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stayed at the top of the canyon and fired at the Indians around the ends of the ledge, or wherever they could see them. The fight commenced a little after noon and lasted about four hours. The whites did not expose themselves very much and only one man was injured. Elliott got too far around the rock, and an arrow with a stone point struck him on the side of the head, making a painful but not dangerous wound. After all of the Indians had either been shot or had run away so that no more living ones could be seen the whites thought some of going up to their main camp. They talked the matter over and finally came to the con- clusion that they might find more Indians there than they could handle. Besides that they didn't know what had happened to the Mormons during their absence, and thought they ought to go and see. But before they went away they wanted to see what was in the canyon, and Hines and Johnson started to climb down into it. Just then Weatherlow, who was down where he could see under the rocks, called to them to stop, for there was an In- dian down below waiting for them. Several men got their rifles ready, and then a couple more held Lathrop by the hand and he leaned out over the rocks and fired his revolver as Weatherlow directed him. When he fired the Indian jumped out into sight and the men with the rifles shot and killed him instantly. The two men then went down into the canyon and found that the Indian had only one arrow and that had no point, but he had it fixed to his bow and stood ready to shoot the first man that came down. He was a brave man, for he came to his death trying to fight with a poor weapon instead of running away. The two white men gathered up what bows and arrows they could find, the arrows all having stone points. Evidently the Indians had only one gun, for that was all the whites heard during the fight. They found seventeen dead Indians and these they scalped and brought the scalps home with them. Hines said so many parties had gone from Honey Lake after Indians and never brought any- thing back, they thought they would take something home to show that they had killed some this time. They never knew how many Indians were killed and wounded. There must have been fifty or sixty of them in the canyon, and probably there were more killed than they scalped and a good many wounded. On the way to the Mormon camp Dow told Hines about the Indian he shot before they reached the canyon, and said he wanted to see
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what had become of him. They looked around and finally found him sitting with his back against a juniper tree apparently dead. Hines was going to him to take his scalp when Dow told him to hold on, for the Indian might not be dead and would hurt him. He stopped and Dow took a shot at the Indian, but he never moved. Then they went to him and found that he had been dead for some time.
They found the Mormons at their camp. They had pulled the arrows out of Higgins and they thought he would die before morning. They made a stretcher out of a blanket and some poles to carry him on, and then they all went to an open place near a creek a little south of the lake and camped there. They were afraid the Indians would attack them in the night, and in an open place there was less chance of their being surprised. No Indians came around that night, and as Higgins was better the next morning, they concluded to stay there that day. Elliott wanted his wound attended to, so he and another man started for home that morning.
During the fight their spyglass was lost and that day Tutt, Arnold, Norton, Dow, and Adams went back to look for it. They did not find it, but they found two horses, one belonging to the Mormons and one that had been stolen from Honey Lake valley. Of the eight animals stolen this was the only one they recovered. They saw no Indians that day. There must have been a good many of them in that locality at that time, and it seems strange that they did not kill every one of the little band of whites. Per- haps they had got all the fighting they wanted, and were willing to let them depart in peace without having any more trouble with them.
The next morning they started for the land of the Never Sweats, taking the Mormons with them. They carried Higgins in a litter made of a blanket sewed between two long poles. A horse was put between the poles at each end and a couple of men led the horses. Hines footed it all the way home, his horse being so badly wounded that he could carry only the saddle and Hines's blankets. Higgins stood the trip all right, and after Dr. Spal- ding had treated him a while he went below and had the bullet taken from his hip. Some of the Mormon party went to the lower country and stayed there, but the most of them went back to Oregon and settled near Jacksonville, where Dow afterwards
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heard of them. Though the Honey Lakers brought back only one of the stolen animals, they made a good many of what they then considered to be the only good Indians, and so were well sat- isfied with their trip.
ANOTHER INDIAN HUNT
Some time this fall the Indians stole two or three head of cattle from a man who lived with Capt. Weatherlow, name unknown. The owner of the cattle, Weatherlow, Hatch, John Mote and two Indian valley Indians went in pursuit of them. They had no fight with the Indians and brought back no cattle, but they cap- tured a couple of squaws.
CHAPMAN'S ESCAPE FROM THE MORMONS
The "Alta Californian," dated May 29, 1858, quotes the fol- lowing from the "Red Bluffs Beacon": "Before Mr. Adams and party left the valley (Honey Lake) Mr. Chapman and six others arrived there from Salt Lake City. Our informant learned from this party that they went to Salt Lake City last fall for the pur- pose of purchasing stock, and that on their arrival at the city were taken and thrown into prison, where they remained all win- ter, and until the late excitement prior to the evacuation of the Mormons, when they escaped, and were pursued some thirty miles, when they fell in with a party of forty-two teamsters from Col. Johnston's command."
Without doubt this was the man who was called "Big" John Chapman in this valley, and who was cousin to Judge John S. Chapman and his brother and two sisters who came to the valley in 1859.
The following was told by Fred F. Kingsbury: In 1882 Kingsbury lived in Chico. One day as he was walking down the street he came to a saloon in front of which sat a man who ap- peared to have been drinking and who was surrounded by a -crowd. As Kingsbury came up he heard him say "Does any one here know John Chapman?" No one made any reply, and he waited until the crowd had all gone away and then asked the man what John Chapman he meant. The fellow replied that he meant the one who lived in Honey Lake valley and asked Kings- bury if he knew him. Fred told him that he saw Chapman just after he was shot by Smith, and when he inquired what the other knew about him the man said that he was the one who saved him
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from the Destroying Angels at Salt Lake City. He said that at the time he was herding horses not far from the city. One even- ing just after dark a man came to the corral where the horses were kept at night. He was without weapons and alone in a strange country, and had to throw himself on the mercy of the man who was telling the story. He told him that his name was Chapman and where his home was, and said that he and some others had been put into jail by the Mormons, but did not say for what reason. He and another man were condemned to die, and that evening some of the Destroying Angels took them out of the city in a wagon to kill them, as they supposed. The prisoners, who were not tied in any way, sat together and not much atten- tion was paid to them. They talked the matter over in whispers and came to the conclusion that as long as they had to die any- way they might as well take a chance. When it got a little dark they made a break for liberty. The other man jumped out of the front end of the wagon, but his clothes caught on a single-tree hook and he was overpowered and put back into the wagon. While this was going on Chapman jumped out of the hind end of the wagon and ran a little ways out into the brush and lay down. They hunted for him quite a while, and once or twice came very close to him, but finally they gave up the search and went away. When he could no longer hear them he struck out regardless of the direction he took, and kept going until he came to the corral. After listening to his story the narrator told him that some sol- diers had passed there that day on their way to California, and that he might overtake them. He saddled a horse, helped Chap- man to mount him and said "Good luck to you." He rode all night and the next day overtook the soldiers. The next morn- ing the Mormons came to the corral and asked the herder if he had seen anything of a man during the night. He told them that he had not. They missed the horse and saddle and thought that Chapman had stolen them and started for California, and they immediately went in pursuit of him. The Mormons found him with the soldiers, but they would not give him up and he reached home in safety.
From what the writer has learned in connection with this he believes that the foregoing story is almost right, although the nar- rator told it partly from hearsay and twenty-five years after it
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happened, and Kingsbury told it more than twenty-five years after he heard it.
Thomas N. Long says that a man named Horace Buckley went to Salt Lake City with the Chapman crowd. He never came back with them and some thought that Chapman, who was a little afraid of him because he was so wild and reckless, had killed him while they were gone. Perhaps Buckley was the man who was with Chapman when the latter made his escape from the Mor- mons. If he was, that would account for his failure to return.
FERRY'S HORSE TAKEN BY SHERIFF J. D. BYERS
Notwithstanding the position taken by the Honey Lakers the Plumas county officials exercised a sort of jurisdiction over the valley.
Early in the spring of 1858 a resident of Honey Lake named John H. Ferry, known as "Blackhawk," was sued in Plumas county and the plaintiff was given judgment against him. All the property Ferry had was a saddle horse, also called "Black- hawk," which was then running in a pasture owned by Rice and Neiswender. James D. Byers, the second sheriff of Plumas coun- ty, came here after the horse. He stayed over night with Rice and Neiswender and the next morning started for Quincy riding Ferry's horse and leading his own. Believing that the Plumas county officers had no business here, Ferry, Sylvester, and another man followed Byers with the intention of taking the horse away from him. The other two men were ahead of Ferry and they caught up with Byers about the time he reached Gold Run. Rid- ing up to him Sylvester caught him by the leg and threw him off the horse. Byers wasn't the man to stand much of anything like that, and probably there would have been a man or two killed in short order, for the Never Sweats were also ready and willing to shoot. Just then Ferry rode up, and after seeing how matters stood, said he didn't want to see a man killed on account of a horse and told the others to let Byers take the animal and go. Thus ended what might have been a serious affair.
THE MURDER OF HENRY GORDIER
In the spring and early summer of 1858 a series of events took place in western Utah which caused great excitement throughout that region. The first of these was the murder of Henry Gordier, a Frenchman, in Honey Lake valley, and the events that followed were the result of this.
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The following story was nearly all told by William Dow, but information was also received from Fred Hines, S. J. Hill and Wife, W. H. Clark, O. Streshly, William and David B. Bankhead, Isaac Coulthurst and Wife, and John Baxter. All of these ex- cepting Hill were in the valley at the time, and the most of them took more or less part in what was going on. The details of this and the following story are much more complete than any ever published before this time.
In the fall of 1857 a man whose name is said to have been William Combs Edwards killed - Snelling, the postmaster at Snelling in Merced county, California. After the murder he fled across the mountains to western Utah and there called himself William Combs, but the early settlers of Honey Lake and the Carson country always call him Bill Edwards. Snelling was a Mason and the Masonic Lodge and the people of Snelling offered a reward of $1500 for the arrest of Edwards and notified the Ma- sons on this coast to look out for him.
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