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 6
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).
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On the 26th of April, 1856, a little bunch of men met at the Roop House, organized a new territory, and drew up some laws for its government. F. & S. have the following, taken from Roop's record :
"A NEW TERRITORY FORMED AT HONEY LAKE VALLEY .- LAWS AND REGULATIONS FOR ITS GOVERNMENT
Adopted April 26, A. D. 1856
"Pursuant to previous notice, the citizens of Honey Lake valley met April 26, A. D. 1856, in mass convention, at the Roop House, for the purpose of forming such laws, rules, and regula- tions as are deemed necessary and advisable in view of the set- tlement of said valley.
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THE YEAR 1856
"The meeting being organized by the election of Peter Lassen to the chair, and Isaac Roop secretary, the following laws were unanimously adopted by the citizens :
"Sec. 1 .- Inasmach as Honey Lake valley is not within the limits of California, the same is hereby declared a new territory, and the boundaries thereof shall be as follows, viz. : Beginning at a point where the 381/2 degree of North Latitude crosses the East line of California ; thence East to the 117 degree West Longitude ; thence North to the 42 degree North Latitude; thence running West to the 120 degree West Longitude (N. E. corner of Cali- fornia) ; thence south to the beginning; the said territory to be named Nataqua (i. e., woman).
"Sec. 2 .- Each actual male settler twenty-one years of age shall have the right to take up a claim of six hundred and forty acres.
"Sec. 3 .- Any person taking up a claim shall put up a notice describing the boundaries of said claim as near as possible, and also cause the description to be placed on record.
"Sec. 4 .- All claims shall be surveyed within ninety days from the date of the putting up of the notice and recording, and said survey, together with the recording, shall be done in the presence of the claimant.
"Sec. 5 .- All claims so taken up and surveyed shall be improved or occupied by the claimant or his substitute.
"Sec. 6 .- All that tract of land lying between Roop's house and the timber on the West, and between the top of the bluffs on the North side of the Susan River and three hundred yards west of the Emigrant road, Roop shall cause to be laid out in a town plat, and each settler shall be entitled to one lot in said plat, provided he causes a building to be placed thereon by the first day of May, A. D. 1857. All portions of said plat not claimed and improved according to the provisions of this section shall belong to said Roop.
"Sec. 7 .- Any claimant shall have the privilege to settle on or improve a town lot or his claim, and that either shall be held as an improvement of his claim of six hundred and forty acres.
"Sec. 8 .- No person shall divert water from its original channel to the injury of any prior occupant.
"Sec. 9 .- All difficulties and disputes shall be settled by an arbitration composed of the citizens of the valley, and all decisions of this board shall be final.
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HISTORY OF LASSEN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
"Sec. 10 .- No person shall sell, trade, or in any other manner dispose of any spirituous liquors to the Indians; and any person or persons misusing, maltreating, robbing, or stealing from the Indians shall be considered an offender, and upon any person making a complaint in writing to the Recorder that such offense has been committed, the Recorder shall forthwith summons the citizens together, and they shall form a board of arbitrators, and after hearing all the evidence, they shall determine and assess such punishment as they may deem proper.
"Sec. 11 .- The Recorder shall be chairman in all such boards, and shall keep a docket of all proceedings had in said boards, said minutes to be recorded in a book. In the absence of the Recorder, a majority of said board shall elect a chairman, and majority shall decide all business of said board.
"Sec. 12 .- That there shall be a Surveyor and Recorder elected to hold their office until their successors are elected and qualified.
"Sec. 13 .- That there shall be declared a public road, as follows: beginning at the boiling springs on the North side of Honey lake, thence to run in a Westerly course on the North Bank of Susan River to the Roop House; said road to be one hundred feet wide, and named Emigrant Road.
"Sec. 14 .- That there be declared a public road as follows: beginning at the Roop House, and to run to the Big Meadows on the north fork of Feather river; said road to be one hundred feet wide, and named Lassen Road.
"Sec. 15 .- That there be declared a public road as follows: beginning at the Roop House, and to run a westerly course to the East line of California; said road to be one hundred feet wide, and named Shasta Road.
"Sec. 16 .- That there be declared a public road as follows : beginning at a point on the Emigrant road three-quarters of a mile East of Roop's East line, and thence to run south to the south-east corner of Smith's ranch; thence southerly to the south- west corner of Hasey's ranch; said road to be eighty feet wide, and named Gold Run road.
"Sec. 17 .- That there be declared a public road as follows: beginning at the south-west corner of Hasey's ranch, and thence to run easterly to the south side of Honey Lake; thence to the
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Truckee Meadows; said road to be eighty feet wide, and named Honey Lake road.
"Sec. 18 .- That there be declared a public highway as fol- lows: beginning at the south-east corner of Meyerowitz's ranch, on Honey Lake road, and thence to run North to the Emigrant Road; said road to be eighty feet wide, and named Central road.
"Sec. 19 .- That Isaac Roop was elected and qualified a Recorder, and Peter Lassen was elected and qualified a Surveyor, and each shall act in his respective office from this date.
"Sec. 20 .- That to a strict adherence to and fulfillment of the above laws and regulations, we, the undersigned, permanent settlers of Honey Lake valley, pledge ourselves and our honor, each to the other, to stand to and abide by the same, and defend them inviolate.
"In testimony whereof we, the undersigned, hereunto set our hands and names this twenty-sixth day of April, A. D. 1856.
Peter Lassen.
Wm. Hill.
Isadore Meyerowitz.
L. C. McMurtre.
G. W. Lathrop.
E. W. Shaw.
Isaac Roop.
W. T. C. Elliott.
Joseph Lynch.
M. T. Shores.
R. J. Scott.
M. Mason.
E. Dow.
David Hescock.
Paul Hulsa.
A. G. Hasey.
W. S. Davis.
E. Smith.
John A. Strode.
Marion Lawrence.
"I hereby certify that the above is a true copy of the original.
"Isaac Roop, Re'd.
"The following was omitted by me :
"On motion of Peter Lassen, it was resolved that, in order to fully promulgate these laws, the Secretary be directed to furnish the editor of the Shasta Republican with a copy of them for publication, with a request that other papers throughout the state copy. The convention then adjourned sine die.
"Isaac Roop, Sec. Peter Lassen, Pres."
"With this meager code of laws, and but the two officers to administer them, the new territory of Nataqua was launched upon the political sea."
The new territory was a little over seven times as large as Lassen county. It was about 220 miles long and 150 miles wide.
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Beginning at the northeastern corner of California, it extended to about twenty-five miles south of lake Tahoe. The south line crossed the lower end of Walker lake, and the southeast corner was a little west of where Belmont, Nevada, now stands. The line on the east side ran near the present sites of Austin and Battle Mountain, Nevada, and the northeast corner was near the southwest corner of Idaho.
These twenty men finished a large job in a short time, but they made a wild shot at their location. They didn't even live in the territory they had created. It was nearly thirty-five miles from their place of meeting to the western line of Nataqua, and the settlers furthest down the lake were almost twenty miles west of it.
Besides that, they took in the people of Carson, Eagle, and Washoe valleys, and the other settlers in that vicinity, who at that time must have numbered at least six hundred. It is not on record that these settlers were ever notified of the fact that they had been taken into the new political division. The Never Sweats should have known, though, about the settlers along the Carson river, for some of them had come from there. Apparently they paid no attention to any of these things, but went about their business ; no doubt thinking everything was fixed up all right.
WESTERN UTAH-EARLY SETTLEMENT AND POLITICS
In 1857 the Never Sweats joined the people of what is now western Nevada in trying to get the United States government to organize a new territory, and take them from under the Mormon rule. As the political affairs of the settlers of Honey Lake valley were for several years closely connected with those of the settlers farther south, the following brief history of western Utah, afterwards Nevada, is given in order that what took place in Honey Lake valley may be better understood.
"STATE OF THE DESERT"
On the 18th of March, 1849, the Mormons assembled in con- vention in Salt Lake, and organized a territorial government over what they designated as the "State of the Desert." The boun- daries named for this new territory included what is now Utah, Nevada, Arizona, a portion of Colorado, a slice from Oregon, and that portion of Wyoming lying south of the Wind River moun- tains. It also included of what is now California San Diego and
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THE YEAR 1856
Los Angeles counties, as far up the coast as Santa Monica. From there the line ran directly north to the ridge of the Sierra Nevada, and took in half of Kern county, a part of Tulare, all of Inyo and Mono, a part of Alpine, all of Lassen, and part of Shasta and Siskiyou.
UTAH TERRITORY ORGANIZED
On the 9th day of September, 1850, the day on which Cali- fornia was admitted as a state, Congress, by act, established the territory of Utah with the following boundaries: Bounded on the west by the state of California, on the north by the territory of Oregon, on the east by the summit of the Rocky mountains, and on the south by the 37th parallel of north latitude. In the Report of the "Nevada Historical Society" for 1907-8, R. L. Fulton says : "When California was made a state, the enabling act defined the eastern boundary as beginning at the point where the 35th parallel of latitude intersected the Colorado river and running thence northwest to the 120th meridian, thence north along the summits of the Sierra Nevadas to the Oregon line. But a California man, John F. Kidder, was sent to survey the state line, and when he reached the point where the line running northwest reached the 120th meridian he found it in the middle of lake Tahoe, and instead of following the summits of the Sierras he followed the 120th meridian."
EARLY SETTLEMENT OF WESTERN UTAH
In 1850 a party of Mormons from Salt Lake City started for California. They got to the Carson valley so early that they could not get over the mountains, and while staying there prospected and found gold. The news soon got over to Cali- fornia, and some miners came from there that year and went to work. Mormon Station was founded by Salt Lake Mormons, June, 1850. That fall the Mormons traded with the emigrants. Flour was $1.50 a pound, and beef 75c a pound. That fall they abandoned the place, and the Indians burned all the buildings.
In Sam Davis's History of Nevada, Prof. Robert Lewers of the Nevada State University says: "In March, 1850, De Mont organ- ized a party in Salt Lake City to go to California, and upon reaching the Carson valley some of the party determined to locate there. Among them was H. S. Beatie, who built what was prob- ably the first house in Nevada. This was on the present site of
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Genoa, then called Mormon Station. Beatie and his partner went to California and bought supplies which they sold to the emi- grants. The Salt Lake traders returned to their home that winter. Beatie sold his house to Moore, and he transferred it to John Reese, a member of the mercantile firm of J. and E. Reese of Salt Lake City."
The next spring (1851) John Reese left Salt Lake with ten wagons loaded with flour, butter, eggs, etc., intending to estab- lish a trading post somewhere east of the Sierras. He stopped first at Ragtown, a station on the Carson river down toward the lake, but shortly afterwards went to the place where the Mormon station was the year before and located there. The name of Mormon Station was kept until 1855, and then the ground was surveyed and the name changed to Genoa.
SQUATTER GOVERNMENT
The citizens of western Utah held a meeting at Mormon Sta- tion November 12, 1851. Two more meetings were held that year, and another one May 22, 1852. At each one of these meet- ings something was done toward framing some sort of a local government. They were under the government of the Mormon authorities, but they knew nothing about them and paid no attention to them. At these meetings they made rules for taking up land, elected some county officers, and petitioned to congress for a separate territorial government.
FIRST COUNTY ORGANIZATION
On the third of March, 1852, the legislature of Utah divided what is now the state of Nevada into seven counties. Juab county contained all of Storey county and the most of Washoe county. The same legislature elected judges for these counties, and George Bradley was made judge of Juab county. At that time none of these counties was organized, and for the next three years the settlers governed themselves.
On March 21st, 1853, the citizens held their fifth meeting, and made some more rules about the taking of land, and changed the fees of some of the county officers.
CARSON COUNTY CREATED
On the 17th of January, 1854, the territorial legislature of Utah passed an act creating the county of Carson, and authorized the governor to appoint a probate judge for it. In a couple of
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THE YEAR 1856
days the legislature divided Utah into three Judicial Districts. The governor appointed Orson Hyde as probate judge, and he got to the Carson valley in June, 1855. A lot of Mormons came with him. He called an election that year, and the various county offices were filled. Richard D. Sides was elected treasurer.
In the report of the "Nevada Historical Society" for 1907-8, Miss Beulah Hershiser, A. B. says: "When Utah was divided into court districts Provo was the meeting place of the district that included all western Utah, and of course the Carson valley settlers would have to go clear there to attend court, and so they petitioned to the California Legislature to extend the jurisdiction of the state over the Carson valley. The California senate passed a memorial to congress in March, 1853, urging that Carson valley should be under the control of California; because the desert was the natural boundary, and Utah was too remote. It further suggested that the eastern boundary of California be a line drawn from the intersection of the 42nd parallel and the 120th meridian to the intersection of the 35th parallel and the Colorado river. This memorial was adopted by the California senate, but not by the assembly. This caused the Mormons to organize Carson county in 1854, and a colony of Mormons was sent to put it into effect. Before Judge Hyde, whose task it was to organize the county, could proceed, he had to clear up the indefiniteness of the boundary question. In connection with an act to build a wagou road to the eastern boundary of the state in 1855, the California Surveyor General appointed Mr. Goddard to survey such portion of the state line as should fall in Carson valley. For this work Judge Hyde of Utah furnished supplies. As soon as Mr. God- dard felt convinced that Carson valley was in Utah, Judge Hyde, who had accompanied the party from Sacramento, hastened on to Mormon Station to hold court."
The Mormons had been coming into the Carson valley every year; and in 1856, when the county officers were elected, all excepting one were Mormons. A good many "Gentiles" had settled in that section, too; and as usual, there was a feeling of bitterness between them and the Mormons.
The reader will notice that near the beginning of the next chapter it says that Francis Lanigar and his Wife spent the winter of 1856-57 with Peter Lassen. Since that was written it has been learned that they had four children with them-Jane,
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HISTORY OF LASSEN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
John W., and Freeman. Jane married Frank Murphey and now lives in Surprise valley, Modoc county, California. John W. lived in this section, or not far away, until his death in 1909. Freeman has also been a resident of this section and has lived in Honey Lake valley for a good many years. The name and fate of the other child are unknown to the writer.
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CHAPTER III 1857. SETTLEMENT
L ODGINGS were extremely scarce in the land of the Never Sweats during the winter of 1856-7, and not many of those who came here in 1856 stayed all winter. The following per- sons spent all, or nearly all, the winter here. R. J. Scott and Wm. Morehead stayed on their claims, and A. U. Sylvester spent part of the winter with the latter. E. Smith and his Wife and Capt. Weatherlow stayed at Smith's place on the west side of the lake. Francis Lanigar and his Wife, Eppstein, Antone Storff, and Lynch stayed with Lassen. Hasey, McMurtry, and Elliott stayed on their claim. Dr. W. W. L. Lennox, Lathrop, Cap. Hill, and probably Gilpin and O'Laughlin stayed somewhere in the valley. E. Roop and McNaull stayed at Roop's, and I. N. Roop was there the latter part of the winter.
Early in the spring men began to come into the valley from the other side of the mountains. Wiley Cornelison came here in March. He says there were thirteen men and two women in the valley at that time. Probably some of those who wintered here had gone to the lower country for a short time. The permanent settlement of the valley began this spring. Men came in then to take up land and stay here, and some of them brought their families with them. A good many of those who settled in the valley this year stayed here all the rest of their lives.
The list of those who took up land in 1857 is a long one, but it is given because it will be of interest to those who know the country. It will be noticed that some men took up a good many claims of what was shortly afterwards valuable land, and soon abandoned them, or sold out for a song.
In January A. D. Morton and M. W. Haviland came back, and some time during the month put up a cabin on the latter's claim. It was on the north side of the river about a mile and a half east of Roop's east line, just about where the Jensen house now stands. This was the first cabin put up in the Toadtown (Johnstonville) country. The latter part of this month, or the first of February, Morton built a cabin on his claim. Probably he was helped by Haviland, Sylvester, Johnson Tutt, and C. C. Walden. This cabin was on the north side of the river, a little
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HISTORY OF LASSEN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
northeast of Curlew Butte. January 2nd Stephen O'Laughlin sold his claim to Dr. Lennox, "because I owe him money." Janu- ary 26th S. C. Perrin, John Teskey, and Asa Adams relocated all the land between the claims of Lathrop and Smith, previously claimed by Reed and Cushings. Probably this was along the lake east of Eppstein. The last of the month Nicholas Clark bought E. Smith's claim on the lake for $400, and sold the east half of it to the "Know-nothing Boys" (Thos. Eaton and Ben. Ward). Mr. Clark's Wife walked over here from Elizabeth Town some time during the summer. They and their son, William H., spent the rest of their lives on this ranch, and it is still owned by their descendants.
In February Gabriel Murphy located north of Manley Thomp- son on land that was afterwards partly covered by the Baxter and Bartlett ranch on Baxter creek; David P. Dexter relocated the land northeast of Scott that Whitaker had taken the year before; James Belcher relocated the claim southeast of Roop, "formily held by Florancy Smith"; Wm. Hill (Cap. Hill) gave notice that he constituted himself "substitute for Mrs. L. M. Ellis in place of James Belcher," and he also relinquished his claim east of Lassen; D. M. Munchie claimed a section west of Haviland ;- Butts claimed Haviland's land, but relinquished it in about a week; N. Greenwood took a claim south of Morton; James Belcher relinquished his appointment as agent for Mrs. Ellis; J. W. Tremer took a claim, the northwest corner of which was "a certain tree about two mile below the mound on Susan river"; J. H. Ferry, W. T. Eadwards, and Daniel Terry took three claims along the lake, location uncertain; James F. Ray and John Meyer relocated the claim just relinquished by Hill; R. F. Mastin, Wm. Powell, and Mrs. L. Cooper took three claims in Elysian valley, Mastin's on the west, probably joining the land claimed by Denney and Keelty the year before, Powell east of him, and Mrs. Cooper east of Powell (Charles Cooper was with his Mother) ; John Griffin took a section just north of Belcher's last claim; Joseph Libler claimed the "water of the creek known as Camanchas Creek for farming and mining purposes" (east branch of Baxter creek) ; A. Fredonyer took a claim north of "Geo. Lathrops formerly Isadore Mayerowtz claim, situated in Honey Lake valley and state of California or Utah Territory as the case may be," but relinquished it in a few days "because he
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had since learned the same to be claimed and occupied by an actual settler." In a few days he took another claim along Susau river east of I. N. Roop.
Some time during this month A. T., Leroy, and Cutler Arnold, and the latter's son Henry, and Malcom and Albert Scott came into the valley, but did not stay very long. The fall before, while on a prospecting trip, L. Arnold and M. Scott came into the valley for a few days.
In March Richard Thompson located a section south of Mor- ton, the center of his south line being about twenty-five rods south of the mouth of Lassen creek; Antone Storff claimed the water from Rosees creek, probably the creek three fourths of a mile northwest of Janesville; Wiley Cornelison claimed a half section northwest of Haviland; Daniel Reed made a location, place uncertain, and relinquished it in nine days; Cornelison located west of Haviland, but relinquished it in less than a month; Robert Hamilton, N. Clark's stepson, claimed a tract south of the land sold by Smith to Clark. William Dow, who had come from Michigan to California in 1852, and Henry Hatch came into the valley the last of March. Dow says that the Roop and Weatherlow cabins were then the only buildings where Susanville now stands. They stayed here a few days and claimed some land, and then went back to La Porte; but in the course of a month they returned here to stay.
In April Dow and Hatch claimed two sections on the north side of Susan river seven miles below Roop; Malcom S. Scott took half a section north of the land last claimed by Belcher and transferred by him to Cutler Arnold, but in eleven days Scott relinquished his claim; Leroy N. Arnold located west of McMur- try & Co. and south of the Belcher-Arnold tract; Belcher took another claim a little northeast of Hasey & Co., but relinquished it the following July; James Hood and Isaac Coulthurst took a tract on Susan river eight miles east of Roop's; J. T. Saum claimed Antelope valley northeast of Roop; Daniel Reed located what was "formily knone as the Morhed claim" afterwards claimed by R. J. Lennox. This land, so Reed said, had been forfeited according to the laws of the valley, but after an arbi- tration he relinquished his claim; William C. Kingsbury and Richard F. Cahill claimed a tract east of Lanigar and Nixon and south of Hasey & Co .; Albert A. Smith took a half section join-
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ing Lassen on the north and west of Lassen creek; W. H. Watson located down the river east of Sylvester, and in May he gave up half of his claim to Hugh S. Porter; Thomas J. Harvey took a claim in the "forks of Susan river and Willow creek," but relin- quished it in July; E. P. Townsend made a location west of this; Geo. W. Williams relocated the land northwest of R. J. Scott which had been claimed by Dexter the previous November; James R. Damrye claimed 320 acres joining R. J. Scott on the southwest; W. W. L. Lennox and Mary C., his Wife, sold the claim he bought of O.'Laughlin to Lassen for $50; Morehead took a half section southeast of his place northwest of where Milford now stands; John Tusky, or Tesky, claimed 160 acres northwest of Antones, probably Anthony Barla east of Murphy (see May) ; John Baxter located all the unclaimed tillable land on the creek west of Gabriel Murphy. The western part of this, which he sold to Matchelor, was afterwards the James D. Byers place; Samuel Brown took up 120 acres north of Scott, a part of the land that had been claimed by Damrye a few days before that; F. M. Jackson made a location in the neighborhood of Scott, but didn't record it until June; T. J. Harvey also made a claim this month that he didn't put on record until July; Henry Lish claimed a section "at the foot of the lake." Some time this spring, or perhaps the fall before, Wm. Hill Naileigh (Cap. Hill), located a section joining R. J. Scott, and a little to the northeast of him. This was afterwards the L. P. Whiting ranch, now the property of the Wemple Brothers.
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