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 28
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47
[ 285 ]
HISTORY OF LASSEN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
mount his horse. He hung to his gun and carried it away with him. The blood on the ground showed that he had been severely wounded.
In some way the Honey Lakers heard about the shooting of the Indian, and thinking there might be trouble about it, they hitched up five ox teams and went out there after Marriott's freight. When they got there they loaded it as rapidly as possible and left the place-the men who had been staying there going along with them. A night or two afterwards the buildings at the station were all burned. H. L. Spargur was coming in from the Humboldt and intended to stay there that night, but he saw the buildings burning and struck across the hills leaving the station to one side. This must have occurred during the first week in April.
HORSES AND CATTLE STOLEN BY THE INDIANS FROM SUSANVILLE Told by John T. Long
One night in the latter part of May eight or ten Indians, as near as could be told from their tracks, came into Susanville. They went into Mr. Jenison's chicken house and walked along the street past the few houses then in the place. When they went away they took a work steer belonging to Milton Craig out of a corral near the Roop cabin. This was one of an extra fine yoke of cattle. They also took six horses owned by William B. Long from the little flat just north of the cabin. They stayed on the Antelope hill the next day and the people in town could see them walking around a fire. From the signs left there they built a fire and had a feast and jerked what was left of the steer's flesh. Nobody went out after them, it being the only case on record where the Never Sweats stood anything of that kind from the Indians without giving them a fight if there was any chance to do so.
That same spring a man named William R. Hill lived with his family in the little valley on Piute creek about half a mile northwest of Susanville. One evening as they were milking their cows near the house a band of Indians came into the corral. They didn't try to hurt any one, but drove the cattle out of the corral and went off to the northeast with them toward the Antelope hill. One of the Hill boys ran down the canyon to Susanville and gave the alarm and several men took their guns
[ 286 ]
THE YEAR 1862
and set out toward the hills. They succeeded in heading the Indians off and fired on them when they came along. They never returned the fire, but left the cows and departed in great haste. It is hard to understand why they were so inoffensive. While the men were gone the rest of the people living in town, not knowing what would happen next, gathered at Arnold's hotel.
On the fifth of June eighty soldiers (cavalry) came into the valley, but they stayed only a few days.
The last of June or the first of July a party of men were coming along the emigrant road from the Humboldt river to Honey Lake valley. Dr. H. S. Borrette was with them. Near Deep Hole an Indian joined the crowd and rode along with them. Among the men there was one whose brother had been killed by the Indians and he had sworn vengeance on them. This man worked around until he got on the right hand side of the Indian so his gun, which he carried on the saddle in front of him, would be pointed toward the red man. He rode in this way beside the Indian until he managed to get him out on the left hand side of the crowd where there was no danger of hitting any one else. Then he aimed his gun the best he could while it was in that position, fired and killed the Indian. It is very probable that some other white man had to suffer to pay for this.
THE MURDER OF JAMES BAILEY AND WILLIAM COOK
It has been told that Mr. Bailey went out to the Humboldt mines in April. He settled up his business in Star City and in company with his partner, William Cook, started with five yoke of cattle and a wagon for their homes in Shasta county. On the night of the eighth of July they reached Antelope Springs fifteen miles west of Lassen's Meadows on the Humboldt river. Appearances indicated that they got there late at night, and after turning their cattle loose, they made their bed a short distance from the wagon and went to sleep. Early the next morning Cook took a little keg and a dipper and went to a spring not far away. It looked as though Bailey was rolling up the bed when some one slipped up behind him and struck him on the head with his own ax. This did not kill him and he fought his way to the wagon and tried to get his gun, but he failed to do it and was killed a short distance from the wagon. There
[ 287 ]
HISTORY OF LASSEN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
were some bushes on the point of a hill between the wagon and the spring and the tracks showed that ten or twelve Indians had been concealed there. When Cook heard the noise of the fighting at the wagon he started to help Bailey, but the Indians who were in the bushes rushed out to meet him and killed him. It is not known whether any Indians were killed or not. Cook had a pistol and probably he gave a good account of himself before he died. Both men were stripped of their clothes and mutilated and left where they fell. The Indians took their weapons and the cattle and everything the wagon contained excepting some ground coffee which they scattered around the ground. They carried away quite a sum of money which the men had with them. They left the yokes and chains and did not burn the wagon. That night John C. Dow and John Prichard, who were coming from the Humboldt mines, reached the scene of the murder. They rolled the bodies of the men in some blankets and buried them where they found them and they still lie there.
When the news reached the Humboldt mines ten men, Captain Weatherlow, William Jackson, and John Pool being among the number, started out on the trail of the Indians and followed them to the northwest into the Queen's river country. They found a camp of nine Indians and succeeded in surrounding it and killing eight of them. The ninth one, who was a big fellow, got into the rocks, and thinking himself safe, climbed out onto a point and began to yell and make insulting gestures. Jackson borrowed Weatherlow's gun, a Sharp's rifle, and taking careful aim, shot the Indian through the body killing him instantly. One of the Indians had on a pair of Mr. Bailey's trousers and in one of the pockets was a promissory note for $50, but it was so badly worn out that the name of the maker could not be read. A. L. Harper says that the Indian killed by Jackson had the gun that Peter Lassen was carrying when he was murdered. It was taken to Susanville and the people there recognized it because it had a black walnut stock the whole length of the barrel. It was given to Governor Roop and Mrs. Arnold says that Harper's account is correct.
The following story was also told by Mr. Harper. The last of July seven or eight Indians came into Star City with some fine nuggets. The people of the place were much excited about it and two or three parties tried to hire the Indians to tell
[ 288 ]
THE YEAR 1862
where they found them. Finally, after they had tried all sorts of plans, such as shutting them up, feasting them, etc., the Indians agreed to show them the place, but they wanted a good many blankets for doing it. But they kept coming down with their price and at last four of them said they would go with a party of twelve or fifteen white men and show them where they found the gold. For their pay they were to receive a few ponies and some provisions and their board while they were on the trip. They went up the east side of the Humboldt river, but after they had traveled a few days two of the Indians left in the night and before long another one did the same thing. Harper doesn't know whether the other one got away or they killed him. The party then started back toward Star City. When they got down to Gravelly Ford they ran across a band of Indians who were fishing camped by the river and they killed a lot of them, perhaps ten or twelve, and scalped them. They brought the scalps into Star City with them and some of the crowd wore them on their belts around town. There were a good many tame Indians who frequented the place, and probably some wild ones, too, and they all knew where the scalps came from. The sequel to this will be told later on.
Early in September a man coming to this valley from Red Bluff with a load of fruit had three arrows shot into him by the Indians. About the same time an emigrant train camped in the valley and they reported that they had buried fourteen men, women, and children on the Humboldt. They supposed that the Indians had killed them. A week afterwards a man was killed at Fredonyer's house in Mt. Meadows, twenty arrows being shot into him.
TWO INDIANS SHOT NEAR BANKHEAD'S
September 26th two Washoe Indians came into Lomas and Bankhead's blacksmith shop in what is now Janesville. James Doyle of Milford says they had a couple of old guns and they wanted Bankhead to fix them. They were of no account and he threw them down on the ground and said he could not fix the old things. The Indians didn't understand English very well and they went around the place saying "- - old things" until the women got frightened. H. E. Lomas tells the rest of the story. He says the Indians were very impudent
[ 289 ]
HISTORY OF LASSEN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
while they were in the shop, and because there had been a great deal of trouble with the Indians that year, it made him a little nervous. Their actions frightened the few women who lived in the place. A man named Tunnel was in the shop at the time and he felt himself insulted by what they said and did. When they started off up the road Tunnel and another man went around and got in ahead of them and lay behind a log by the side of the road at the top of the hill about half a mile west of Fort Janesville. When the Indians came along they fired on them killing one and wounding the other. The wounded one, who was lame, ran straight up toward the mountain and escaped. He went down the valley where some one dressed his wounds and he got well. The men who did the shooting put the body of the dead Indian on a log and burned it.
This affair was not very creditable to the whites, but there was some excuse for it from the fact that they had been driven almost to desperation by the Indians that year. Besides the stealing and murdering done by them, for which they escaped punishment the most of the time, they would come into the valley with property taken from the whites and sometimes boasted of it. The young bucks delighted in being as mean and impudent as they could and seemed to think that the whites dare not resent it. There is a limit to what men can stand, and between fear of invasion by the Indians and anger at what they had already done, the Honey Lakers had reached that limit.
FOUR MEN ATTACKED BY THE INDIANS NEAR THE SHAFFER RANCH Told by H. E. Lomas and the "Quincy Union."
On the 28th or 29th of October Mr. Lomas was putting a roof on his cabin at the Shaffer Ranch (Lathrop and Bradley had sold out to the Shaffer Brothers) when a man came to the station from the emigrant road. He was very much excited and said that four of them had been attacked by the Indians not far out on the road to the northeast. There were two teams, one an ox team and the other a mule team, and they were going from the Humboldt to Red Bluff. The ox team was somewhat behind the other one, and when they were about two miles from Shaffer's fifteen Indians rose up from among the sagebrush some thirty yards away and fired on the teamster and a passenger that he had. While the latter was trying to get his gun out from under
[ 290 ]
THE YEAR 1862
some blankets he was slightly wounded in the wrist by an Indian more brave than the others, who had come close to the wagon. He got the gun, however, and handed it to the driver who fired at the Indians. One of them fell, but soon got up and ran off. Several shots were fired by the passenger, who had a revolver, but upon the nearer approach of the Indians they were com- pelled to leave their wagons and go to Shaffer's. They came in one at a time, and as each one arrived he was received like one risen from the dead by those of the party already there. They raised a small crowd and went back to the scene of the fight and found the coast clear of Indians. They recovered the wagons and the teams, but the ox wagon had been plundered of the driver's trunk which contained $250.
AN ATTACK BY THE INDIANS ON MUD FLAT
From the narratives of A. L. Harper, William R. Bailey, William W. Asbury, William Pool, H. E. Lomas, A. L. Tunison's diary, and from what was written from Susanville to the "Quincy Union."
The last of October a party started from the Humboldt mines to go to Honey Lake valley. There were eleven of them, John Green, George H. Dobyns, Joseph Block, "Bobby" Jordan, John Spencer, John McCoy, Theodore C. Purdom, G. Loomis Kellogg, and perhaps Dr. Baker. The names of the other two can not be ascertained. Purdom and Kellogg belonged in Honey Lake and the rest of the party, so far as is known, were from Shasta county, and all of them were on the way to their homes. Some of them had been in business in the Humboldt mining towns and the others were prospectors and teamsters. Dobyns had a four- horse team, Purdon and Kellogg, who were partners, had another one, and there was some kind of lighter rig drawn by two horses or two mules. Stories regarding the details of the affair are conflicting, but the writer has been able to get the truth in regard to the principal facts.
The Indians were troublesome, but large parties felt secure from attack by them. The night of the last day of October the party stayed at Smoke creek. One of them showed three Indian scalps, said to be some of those taken from the Indians killed at Gravelly Ford the last of July, and said he wanted more of them. He had a Sharp's rifle and two revolvers and he thought
[ 291 ]
HISTORY OF LASSEN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
he could whip all the Indians they could bring to him, and he wanted some brought. When the fight began his horse ran away with him and so the red men escaped with their lives. The next morning all the men excepting Green rolled their guns up in their blankets because they thought they were out of danger of an attack by the Indians. Green said he was going to stick to his gun until he got home and was ridiculed for his timidity. When they came down off the bluffs onto the east end of Mud Flat, about nine miles from Shaffer's, a band of Indians, estimated at from fifteen to fifty, rose up from behind some sagebrush that had piled up a short distance from the road and poured a volley into them. Purdom was shot just under the shoulder blade. It was a serious wound and he fell from the wagon. The horses then swung around and tipped the wagon over. Green, Spencer, McCoy, and another man were on horseback and a little distance ahead of the wagons, but the three first named immediately turned and rode back to them. (Lomas says that Spencer was in one of the wagons.) In the fight that followed Kellogg was shot through the heart and instantly killed. McCoy was shot through the hip and Spencer was struck between the shoulders, almost on the neck, but either the bullet had not much force or he had on a good many clothes, and it only raised a big lump. It is said that Block ran toward the Indians, some say making Masonic signs, others that he offered them money to spare his life, but they killed him before he got very far. It was not much of a fight on the part of the whites, and the man they had laughed at that morning for his cowardice did the most of the fighting. He fired at the Indians several times and killed one of them at least. (Another story is that not an Indian was killed.) He got between them and the white men, a correspondent of the "Sacramento Union" writing from Susanville says he got off his horse and threw rocks at them, and kept them back until his companions, part of them, got into the light rig and drove off. Harper says they were going to leave Purdom there on the ground, but Green made them come back and get him. McCoy's wound made it very difficult for him to ride and Green held him on his horse until they reached a place of safety. Lomas says he came to the station across his horse face down. George R. Dobyns says that his Father cut his horses loose from the' wagon
[ 292 ]
THE YEAR 1862
and got Jordan on one of them, then mounting a race mare, he took his blacksnake whip and drove the other horses toward Shaffer's as fast as he could. Another story is that Jordan hung onto the hind end of the light wagon for three or four miles before they would stop and let him get in. The Indians pursued them for some distance, but they reached the station in safety. The two dead men were left behind where they fell.
The next day five or six men took Shaffer's wagon and brought in the bodies of Kellogg and Block. The former was not mutilated a great deal, but Block was scalped and badly cut up. Purdom and Kellogg's team had been taken away and the two wagons plundered. It was known that Block had $500 in money on his person and the Indians got that. They took from Dobyns' wagon an express box containing some jewelry and considerable money, and from the other wagon a sack in which was all the money Purdom and Kellogg had received for their Humboldt mines. Mrs. M. J. McLear, who was Purdom's wife, says it was a goodly sum. Lomas and another man made some boxes and buried Kellogg and Block out in the sagebrush north- west of the Shaffer station. It was north of the road to Susan- ville and west of the Humboldt road, perhaps twenty or thirty rods from each one of them. They were never moved from there. Purdom recovered to some extent, but two years later he died in San Francisco from the effects of his wound. McCoy was crippled for life.
THE PURSUIT OF THE INDIANS
This murder caused great anger in Honey Lake valley. On the third and fourth of November meetings were held in Susan- ville for the purpose of raising a company to pursue the Indians. The following account is from the diary of A. L. Tunison who went with the expedition.
There were twenty-six well mounted men under the com- mand of Captain John Byrd and nineteen soldiers under Major McMillan and they started from the Shaffer ranch on the 12th. Excepting Byrd, William Dow, and Tunison the names of none of the men were given. They went to Smoke creek, Painter Flat, the east end of Madeline Plains, and then northwest and camped in one of the north arms of the Plains. The next day they went north and camped on a branch of Pit river. That
{ 293 ]
HISTORY OF LASSEN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
afternoon they went out on a scout and again at night, and the last time they saw one camp fire and one blind or signal fire. "November 17th. Twelve of us went to Tula valley on branch of Pit river ten or twelve miles on foot to form on one side of a supposed camp of Indians, and twenty-one mounted men went on horseback to come up on the other side of the supposed camp, but before getting there saw a trail of Indians and followed them. Came up with them and killed seven Indians, and squaws and papooses." They then returned to Tula valley, went from there northeast across two branches of the Pit river, and then east towards Surprise valley. They went into that valley and down it to within three or four miles of Wall lake. "November 22. Traveled thirty or thirty-five miles in a southeast direction without water. Left one pack mule which tired out. Camped on Deep Hole creek. Went on to Deep Hole, several soldiers got pretty tight here. Indians stole six head of cattle from here four days ago." November 26th they arrived at Shaffer's and Tunison went home the next day. A short time previous to this the Indians robbed a camp at the Big spring fifteen miles west of Susanville.
It was thought by some that the attack on the whites at Mud Flat was made by Smoke Creek Sam's band. Others claimed that the Indians who made it had followed the party from the Humboldt river and were taking revenge for the killing of the Indians at Gravelly Ford.
A COMPLAINT FROM, SUSANVILLE ABOUT THE INDIANS From the "Sacramento Union" of November 20, 1862
Their Susanville correspondent says in part: "The only aid we have received from any one is when the government sends a few soldiers in the summer during emigration when we do not need them, excepting when Lieutenant Warner with twenty men stayed here one winter. A fort was established at Ft. Churchill but that was too far away to do Honey Lake any good. There is a barrier of snow to the west several months in the year, and not knowing whether we are in California or Nevada, the Indians steal our stock and murder our people. We are abandoned by California except when her officers collect taxes which they do not fail to demand. Last winter and spring we were constantly harassed by the Indians. At last Captain Price with part of a
[ 294 ]
THE YEAR 1862
company was sent here, but he stayed only a few days and then he returned to Ft. Churchill and reported everything quiet in the valley. At the time Captain Price was in the valley the Indians were stealing all along the Humboldt road and it was not safe for a company of less than ten or twelve armed men to travel that road. Is it possible that Governor Stanford and Governor Nye and General Wright are so ignorant of Indian character as to think they would find bands of Indians prowling around the valley when we were ready to receive them? On the first day of November eleven men were attacked by fifty or seventy-five Indians when within eight miles of the valley and two men killed and three wounded. The Indians got several of their animals, some provisions, and several hundred dollars in money and escaped. Last week Captain Byrd was chased by five Indians while he was looking after some horses. All these depredations are looked upon with apathy by those whose duty it is to protect us. Soldiers are stationed on the road from Carson to the Humboldt, and people can travel along the road with safety. Thousands of people from northern California travel through here on their way to the Humboldt mines, and risk their lives and property in doing so. If the governor of Nevada could see anything outside of Storey and Washoe coun- ties, things might be different. This condition of things should be remedied at once."
SOLDIERS PROMISED TO HONEY LAKE
The "Sacramento Union" of November 22, 1862, says the following letter was received by Governor Nye of Nevada Ter- ritory from General Wright :
"Headquarters of the Pacific,
Sacramento, Nov. 13, 1862.
"Governor: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency's communication of the 9th inst. Rest assured that I shall afford all the protection in my power to the settlers. I have received a petition from the settlers of Honey Lake valley asking for the presence of United States troops and I have given orders for a detachment of cavalry to take post at or near Susanville, and in the spring I will make arrangements for a permanent post in that section of the country.
[295 ]
HISTORY OF LASSEN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
"With great respect, I have the honor to be your Excellency's obedient servant, G. Wright,
Brigadier General, U. S. A., Commanding.
"To his Excellency J. W. Nye,
Governor of Nevada Territory, Carson City."
The last of November the Indians stole ten head of stock from Deep Hole springs. This closes the long list of their depre- dations for this year.
FREDONYER'S TALK AGAINST TIME
Dr. Atlas Fredonyer's name has been given several times among those who filed squatter claims on land in this valley. Mention has also been made of the pass between this valley and Mt. Meadows which he claimed to have discovered. He was the first actual settler in Mt. Meadows, the high mountain between Eagle lake and Horse lake was named after him, and on some of the old maps a road that circled around in California and Nevada sixty or eighty miles north of here was called "Fredonyer's Route."
F. and S. have the following : "Atlas Fredonyer was indicted May 7, 1862, for an incestuous and criminal assault upon the person of his own daughter. His case came on trial May 12, before the court of sessions, Judge E. T. Hogan presiding. Patrick O. Hundley, being then district attorney, prosecuted the case; while the prisoner volunteered to conduct his own defense. The evidence was conclusive and damning. Mr. Hundley made a strong argument, which carried conviction to the mind of every juror. Fredonyer then opened his case, and by subterfuge and windy argument, endeavored to prolong the trial and gain time. All this while a young man from Honey Lake valley, who was confined in Fredonyer's cell for horse stealing, was making a laborious effort for liberty. Fredonyer held the court for four days, while the young man sank a shaft and tunnel under the floor of the jail. Just as he got the avenue of escape completed, and while Fredonyer was still talking against time in the courtroom, three other prisoners, confined in different cells, told the sheriff that a fresh, earthy smell came from Fredonyer's apartment. An examination proved the cor- rectness of their impressions, and the plot was frustrated just in the nick of time, for the birds would have flown that night.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.