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 23
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When they got back to Honey Lake Col. Lander received information that two Pah-utes who had come into the valley on the strength of his talk with Winnemucca had been arrested by the soldiers under the command of Lieut. Hamilton and were detained in custody. The Colonel, fearing that the arrest of the Indians would defeat the consummation of a treaty, rode up to Lieut. Hamilton's quarters. The Lieutenant was absent at the time, but the officer in command, ascertaining the circumstances of the case, at once liberated the Indians who came down to Lander's camp where they remained all night and were kindly treated. Rumors came into his camp, however, that some of the citizens of the valley had sworn vengeance against the Indians and were determined to shoot them on sight, hence the Colonel was compelled to keep an armed guard for their pro- tection and at early dawn dispatch them to rejoin their tribe. He then wrote a letter to Major Dodge, the Indian Agent to the Pah-ute tribe, and sent it by a special messenger to Carson City. Lander told him that he had an interview with Young Winne- mucca and had agreed to do all he could to have the government
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pay the Indians for their lands. This arrangement made with Winnemucca was agreed to by all the Indians. It enabled the emigrants to get through unharmed. It would also allow Dodge to go into any part of the Indian territory and see Old Winne- mucca, the medicine man, who was now with the Pit Rivers, but was expected to arrive at the Big Meadows on the Humboldt river in a couple of weeks. He told Dodge that it was left with him to have an interview with the Indians and set things to rights. There was no danger in going among them if they expected him. The rest of Lander's letter told about the other things that he and Winnemucca had agreed upon and also told about the Indians captured by the soldiers in Honey Lake valley. This letter was left open so the expressman could show it to the people of Long valley, and it was hoped that it would prevent them from provoking the Indians to further fighting.
A MEETING OF THE CITIZENS OF HONEY LAKE VALLEY
The following facts in regard to this meeting were taken from a letter written from Marysville by Knight, September 10,1860.
Before Col. Lander's party left Honey Lake valley! for Marysville where it was disbanded, a meeting of the citizens was held at the hotel in Richmond for the purpose of an expression of opinion with reference to a cessation of hostilities with the Indians and the propriety of an armistice as agreed upon with the Pah-utes. The meeting was largely attended by the principal farmers and citizens of the valley.
Mr. John H. Neale was appointed chairman and Mr. A. D. McDonald secretary. The chairman read a letter from Col. Lander acknowledging a polite invitation to be present at the meeting, but declined the same inasmuch as the object of the meeting, as he was informed, being for the discussion of the propriety or impropriety of his acts in regard to the armistice, etc., his presence might tend to prevent a full and free expression of their sentiments which it was desirable should be given, etc. The meeting was then addressed by Mr. J. H. Lewis who said that having heard that two Indians who entered the valley, possibly upon the strength of the armistice, had been threatened with violence by some of the settlers who swore they would kill them outright, he had signed the call for the meeting in order
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to ascertain the real sentiments of his fellow settlers, whether they were ready to jeopardize the whole overland emigration and nullify by individual acts of vengeance on the Indians all that Col. Lander had accomplished by his interview with them.
Messrs. J. S. Ward, Frank Drake, John Byrd, Dr. Spalding, Col. Lewis, and J. H. Neale, who had been appointed a com- mittee on resolutions, then brought in their report which was read and adopted.
The Preamble stated that because of the fact that it had been the misfortune of the people of the Nevada Territory to be harassed by the depredations of the Pah-utes and other tribes of Indians on the frontier for the last three years (supposed to have been incited by the Mormons of Salt Lake), and for the last six months to labor under the events of a disastrous Indian war, they Resolved That they were especially grateful to the United States government for placing a small military com- pany in the valley, and protested against the removal of that company until a lasting peace had been declared; That the presence of that company was necessary, to keep both the Indians and the citizens in order during the armistice con- cluded with the war chief Winnemucca by Col. F. W. Lander, Supt. of the U. S. wagon road expedition, and undoubtedly to be ratified by Maj. Dodge, Indian Agent to this tribe; That they thought the energy of Col. Lander in protecting the settlers during the war, carrying on the work he was sent to do, and obtaining an interview with Winnemucca and making an armistice with him merited their admiration and respect; That they heartily agreed to the armistice and pledged them- selves to maintain it under the terms agreed upon by Win- nemucca and Col. Lander and that all the persons present constituted themselves a committee to restrain any one from doing anything to re-open the war until the action of the general government could be had in the premises; That Messrs. Drake, Thompson, and Conkey be appointed a committee to receive the accounts of those persons who by reason of loss or expense in the service of the community felt justified in apply- ing to the general government for redress or pay; That a certified copy of these Resolutions be forwarded to the "Ter- ritorial Enterprise," "Plumas Argus," and "Standard" with the request that the same be published and the citizens in the
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southern part of the Territory be requested to hold meetings to indorse or oppose the action of this meeting.
Great unanimity prevailed, though it was a hard matter for some of those present to forget their own wrongs or forego their thirst for revenge. But they all agreed that Col. Lander had done well in making this arrangement with Winnemucca. It would have agreed more with the feelings of the citizens, and probably with those of the Colonel, if the war could have been carried on until the tribe was exterminated or they had come in to apply for peace. But as the government did not seem to be willing to carry on the war, Col. Lander thought it best for the protection of the citizens to make some provision for their safety. The armistice would enable the settlers to perfect their farming operations for the season and stop hostilities until the government could take some action in the matter.
YOUNG WINNEMUCCA'S TALK WITH THE NEVER SWEATS
Two or three weeks after Young Winnemucca's visit to Lander he came into Susanville with twenty-four warriors. He found Governor Roop and told him that he had made a treaty with Lander and that he wanted to have a talk with the people of this valley and have it understood that they were to be good friends from that time on. To make the occasion as formal as possible the Governor got twenty-four of the principal citizens and they all went into a large room in the second story of the Brannan hotel. After the men of the two races had seated themselves on opposite sides of the room Winnemucca, who could speak English, again said that he had made peace with the white government and he wanted the white people to under- stand that he was friendly and he wanted to smoke the pipe of peace. They got a pipe and passed it around, each one taking a whiff, and after that they all shook hands. E. V. Spencer told that Winnemucca said "Now Injun no more steal cattle, Injun no more kill white man, Injun no more fight. Injun good Injun now." Roop said "White man no more kill Injun, no more fight from this on. We are good friends." Winne- mucca said that "Smoke Creek Sam" had twenty or thirty men who killed and plundered the whites and that he had sent some men to kill "Old Smoke," as he called him. If he did send men
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on that errand, they never found "Old Smoke" and he and his band did a great deal of mischief after that.
After this meeting in Susanville word was sent all over this part of the country that a treaty had been made with the Pah-utes. People returned to their ranches and turned their stock out on the ranges. The Pah-utes came into the valley as before and for a number of years both the Winnemuccas came into the valley occasionally to visit the old settlers.
This is the only war the whites ever had with the Pah-utes as a tribe, and probably this could have been averted had the proper measures been taken in time. Perhaps some depredations were committed by the Pah-utes after this in spite of the efforts of their head chiefs to keep them from molesting the property of the white men, for, as Winnemucca once said, "Some bad Injun. Maybe some time some bad white man." A good many outrages, which it was afterwards found had been committed by the Indians of other tribes, were laid to the Pah-utes, and as a result of these reports one, or both, of the Winnemuccas nearly lost their lives while visiting Susanville. But this war showed them the strength of the whites and they never forgot it. A few years after this when some of the renegade bands of this tribe were making trouble for the whites, a good many of the Pah-utes joined the soldiers in hunting them down. They were afraid that if the whites got angry they would exterminate the whole tribe, and they looked upon the Indians who were making the trouble as their enemies, too.
THE SOLDIER'S BRIDGE
This bridge, which gave the name to that section of the country and to the school district in that neighborhood, was for many years a useful and noted landmark. It was built across the Susan river about one fourth of a mile below what is now known as the Tanner lane east of Standish. Some of the early settlers think it may have been built in 1859, but Thomas Brown, whose remembrance of the facts connected with its building is very clear, is positive that it was built in 1860 and part of his story is corroborated by the newspapers of the day. Many of the old settlers who are in a position to know about it think his account is right, and besides that, during the summer of 1859 the water was very low. The sloughs in that section were all
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dry and there was so little water in the river that it was not necessary to have a bridge then.
Mr. Brown says that in the summer of 1860 (Tunison says the Fourth of July) First Lieutenant Hamilton came into the valley from the San Francisco Presidio with fifty men and camped on the river just above where the bridge was afterwards built. He established a military post there and this bridge was built in order to help him get his supplies and material across the river. It was a simply constructed affair-just some timbers laid across the river on which was a floor of puncheon. George Lathrop hauled the material of which it was built from the south side of the valley.
In the fall Hamilton went back to the Presidio with thirty men. The remaining men were left in command of Second Lieutenant E. R. Warner and they stayed here through the following winter at least.
A year or two after the bridge was built the soldiers put up a building 18 by 30 feet, or something like that, and a stone corral on the north side of the river near the bridge. This was for the accommodation of the soldiers whenever they passed through the valley or stayed there for a short time.
At the February, 1867, meeting of the board of supervisors J. N. Pine was given the privilege of moving the bridge about a quarter of a mile up the river. It is not known whether it was moved that year or not, but some time after that it was moved to the site of the present bridge across the river in the Tanner lane.
THE SHOOTING OF "BIG" JOHN CHAPMAN
Early in the spring of 1860 an unfortunate affair took place which perhaps might have been prevented if a few men had interfered at the right time and persuaded the principals in the matter to talk things over a little. This was the shooting of Chapman by Albert A. Smith. Chapman was from Arkansas, was a large, powerful man, a fist fighter, quarrelsome, always looking for trouble and often finding it, and was considered to be a desperate man. Smith was from the state of New York, was rather short in stature, and was a quiet man. Both of these men aspired to the hand of the same lady and Smith was the favored suitor. It was just before the war broke out, political feeling was running high, and the two men were on opposite
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sides regarding the great question of the day. It is also said that there were people who were interested in getting Chapman into trouble, hoping some one would kill him, and they carried tales back and forth between the men. Finally Chapman threat- ened to shoot Smith on sight and this word was at once carried to the latter. On Wednesday, the 7th of March, Chapman, who was living at the Squire Stark place, went up to Richmond where Smith lived. He first went to the store and stayed there a short time and then went across the street to the saloon run by F. A. Sloss. Smith was there and was watching the other man's movements. At this time it is impossible to tell just where Smith stood when Chapman came through the door, but it is certain that he fired at least one shot before his enemy saw him and that crippled Chapman so he never fired a shot. The wounded man walked out of the saloon and part way across the street and then went down on his knees. Some one helped him to get up and go to the store, and there they took him up stairs and put him to bed and called Dr. Stettinius, who was a fine surgeon, to attend to his case. He was shot four times, through the breast, in the jaw, in the wrist, and in the back.
On the 10th the citizens met at Richmond and gave Smith a trial. A judge, some say it was Dr. Slater, others say Squire Stark, was chosen and a jury impaneled. It was proved that Chapman had threatened to kill Smith on sight and the latter was exonerated. Reliable men say that after the shooting Chap- man told them that he came to Richmond with the intention of killing Smith and that he didn't blame Smith for shooting him.
At first it was thought that Chapman would get well, but he died on Friday, the 16th, at nine o'clock in the morning. He was buried on the north side of the hill, near the top, about one fourth of a mile south of east of Richmond. Smith married the lady about whom the trouble occurred and lived in the valley for more than thirty years after that. He held several county offices and was post-master at Susanville. It is said that Chap- man had a brother living in Plumas county who swore that he would kill Smith if he ever met him. But the men never hap- pened to meet and in the course of time Chapman dropped the matter.
A great many conflicting stories have been told in regard to the foregoing. What is here related is given on the authority of
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what was told by F. A. Sloss who was present when the shooting took place, Orlando Streshly who helped to take care of the wounded man, and what was found in the diary of A. L. Tunison who was present at Smith's trial and who wrote the principal facts in the case on his return home.
A BEAR STORY
V. J. Borrette says that during the winter of 1860-61 a grizzly bear paid several nocturnal visits to the people of Susanville and that vicinity. One night he was prowling around a house that stood about one eighth of a mile south of where the bridge now crosses the river. Not very long after dark a boy who was sleeping there heard a noise outside of the house and went to a window and threw it up. Just then the hear reared up on his hind legs in front of the window and the boy found his face close to that of the bear. He was scared half to death, and shutting down the window, he ran up stairs and locked himself into a room and stayed there all night. The next morning when he went up to the mill and told his adventure he was still pretty shaky from fright.
Ladue Vary had a claim north of town and his cabin stood on Weatherlow street a short distance north of Piute creek. A man named Sam. King was living there and one night shortly after the boy got his scare he heard something walking around the cabin-a wild beast he supposed. He loaded an old musket with buckshot, opened the door a little ways, and fired at some animal he could dimly see. He then hastily closed the door without waiting to see the result of his shot. The next morning he found not far away a dead grizzly that weighed eight hundred pounds.
CONDITIONS AT THE CLOSE OF 1860
The natural growth and improvement of the country had gone on during the year and in one or two respects conditions had changed a little. Farm produce brought good prices, but there was still no outside market for it excepting that Virginia City and the mining camps in that vicinity began to take a little butter, hay, etc. Rough Elliott sold quite a lot of grain at twelve and a half cents a pound and hay was sold as high as twenty dollars a ton. One man paid a five dollar doctor bill
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with ten pounds of flour and half a dozen ruta-bagas. Some grain was still thrashed with a flail, but there were two or three small thrashing machines in the valley this fall. "Uncle Johnny " Baxter had one and John F. Hulsman says that Henry Arnold thrashed around Richmond with a six horsepower machine. It had a sort of tub power and would thrash three or four hundred bushels of grain a day.
Because of the improvement of the roads more freight was brought in with teams. Freight was cheaper and more stores were opened in the valley. The greater part of the merchandise was brought from Marysville. Mail was still brought in by private conveyance and H. L. Spargur brought it from Oroville and Quincy part of the time this year. The mail that came across the plains on the overland stage was taken off at Carson City and brought here, but probably this mail was not very regular during the Indian troubles of this year.
Wages were low in comparison with other things. A man got two dollars a day in haying and harvesting and forty dollars a month working on a ranch. Teamster's wages were $75 a month and upwards according to the size of the team driven. Social conditions remained about the same as during the previous years.
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CHAPTER VII
1861. SETTLEMENT
I 'T HAS been told that the "Lassen County Pioneers Society" fixed the end of the pioneer days at the first of July, 1860. This may have been the end so far as people were concerned, but there was a great deal of pioneer work of various kinds done in the county for many years after that.
There were very few land claims filed this year with Governor Roop, Recorder for the valley. The most of the land which was then considered to be of any value had been taken up.
In March Alex Gilman, or Gilmore, claimed an irregular tract south of the upper end of the Adams ditch on Susan river. This year the Susanville sawmill was run by E. V. and L. D. Spencer who bought it from I. N. Roop.
F. and S. have this to say about Lassen Lodge No. 149, F. & A. M .: "March 21, 1861, the grand master of California issued a dispensation to John S. Ward, David Titherington, Absalom M. Vaughan, Richard D. Bass, D. I. Wilmans, Stephen D. Bass, and A. D. McDonald, to organize a lodge of Masons at Richmond, Honey Lake valley. At that time, owing to a mining excitement, the town of Richmond had sprung up suddenly into the most important and populous settlement in the county, com- pletely overshadowing and distancing Susanville. The first meeting under the dispensation was held April 18, 1861."
In April G. Stacy claimed a piece of land bounded on the east by the land of Luther Spencer, on the west by that of M. S. Scott, on the south by Woodstock & Brannon, and running north to the bluffs. This land was one half or three fourths of a mile east of Susanville. This year L. P. Whiting started a small nursery on the Conkey ranch seven miles south of Susan- ville on the mountain road. This was the first nursery in the valley.
J. C. Wemple and Judson Dakin built a board cabin at Milford. (The place was named this year by Mr. Wemple.) It was a little north of the creek and a couple of hundred yards above the road. As soon as the cabin was finished they began to get out the timbers for a gristmill which was completed the last of October or the first of November. It was on the creek
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just opposite to their cabin and was run by a large overshot water wheel. E. V. Spencer had bought the millstones that Lassen brought up from the Deer Creek ranch and they bought them from him. They put them into the new mill and they were used there as long as it was run. This was the first regular gristmill in the valley. In 1865 Dakin sold out to James M. Steinberger who carried on the business with Mr. Wemple until the fall of 1878 and they then sold out to Hiram H. Dakin. He ran the mill until the fall of 1882 and then he moved to Janes- ville where he, J. D. Byers, and Hiram E. McClelland had built another gristmill. The Milford mill was not used any more and in the course of time it tumbled down.
In June V. J. Borrette and B. B. Gray located a section of land beginning at the mouth of Willow creek, extending half a mile up the river, and having a length of two miles to the north. They also claimed the waters of Willow creek to be used to irrigate their land. This year and the next Wiley Cornelison had a store and a blacksmith shop at the Thompson ranch three miles southeast of Bankhead's. David Blanchard was his partner the first year. Timothy Darcey was the blacksmith.
This month when the grain was six or eight inches high a big lot of grasshoppers hatched out in Antelope valley northeast of Susanville. From there they went across the valley, passing through Dr. Spalding's ranch, and doing more or less damage to the crops where they went.
In July A. Ramsey located 400 acres east of Coulthurst's lower claim. He also claimed a section lying to the north of his claim and that of Coulthurst for his son, W. J. Ramsey. Besides this he gave notice that he had taken possession of the waters of Willow creek 480 rods above the ford where the emigrant road crosses it. T. J. Harvey sold his part of the Lathrop and Harvey ranch in the northern part of the valley to a man named Bradley. This year C. C. and William G. Goodrich settled in Mt. Meadows about half a mile below the "Narrows," or about two miles and a half below the upper end of the valley. A man named Duffey, or Guffey, built a cahin about a mile and a half southeast of them and another one named Manuel settled a couple of miles south of them. A family, two men, a woman, and two or three children, lived up the canyon above Duffey.
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Dr. Robert F. Moody came into Susanville this year and soon went in with Dr. Brown. He afterwards bought out Dr. Brown and sold drugs in Susanville for almost forty years. Fred Hines and L. N. Breed kept the Smoke Creek station this summer and fall. George W. Perry and -Parker had a blacksmith shop where Rugg and Harper had one the year before. (See 1859.)
In September several men went into Willow Creek valley to locate, so Tunison's diary says, but he tells no more and the writer could find no one who knew anything about them. B. B. Painter and -Chandler claimed half a section south of Lathrop and Bradley.
The tenth of this month Eber G. Bangham and Louise Borrette, daughter of Dr. H. S. Borrette, were married. This was the fourth wedding in the valley.
F. and S. have this to say : "In 1861 he (Dr. Brown) bought a piece of land from Governor Roop, embracing that on which Fort Defiance stands, and transplanted quite an extensive orchard of apple and peach trees, claimed to be the first in the valley, though Mr. L. Vary is credited with having planted a number of peach stones some time before this." In 1863 the trees set out by Dr. Brown bore four peaches-the first ever raised in the valley. Miss Susan Roop and Mrs. Fuller, the Mother of the Fuller Brothers, ate all of them-the county's entire crop of peaches. "The next school (in Susanville) was taught in 1861-62 by Miss Fannie Long, in a building on the north side of Main street, where the Black Rock saloon was kept."
It should have been told before this that Albert Smedley Wright, who crossed the plains in 1860 and lived a short time in this valley, early this spring took up a small piece of land in Long valley near where the county line is now, built a cabin on it, and put in a garden. The grasshoppers ate up his garden and that fall he bought in with C. M. (Doc.) West who had moved a couple of miles to the north of where he first settled. Osmer Marsh and Robert Ingram came into Long valley this year.
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