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 9
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"Moved, that the citizens of this valley attend the place of voting on the day of election, and prevent the polls being opened. Carried.
"Moved, that a committee of three be appointed to wait on Dr. Fredonyer (one of the justices appointed by the supervisors of Plumas county), and politely inform him that the citizens of this valley can dispense with his services. Carried. Com- mittee, Mark Haviland, R. J. Scott, Z. N. Spalding.
"Moved that the proceedings of this meeting be published in the North California (Oroville paper). Carried.
"Moved, that the meeting adjourn. Carried.
"M. Thompson, Chairman. "L. N. Breed, Secretary."
Evidently these people and some of the other citizens of the valley took the foregoing proceedings in earnest, as the follow- ing, taken from the "Marysville Express" of about a month later, will show; though, in all probability, the story grew on the road to Marysville. "The citizens of Honey Lake valley are, for the most part, as violently opposed as ever to the exercise of any jurisdiction over them by the authorities of Plumas county. There is, however, some little inconsistency in their conduct, for when the tax collector of Plumas county came among them, they told him they were not in California but in Utah, and when Orson Hyde from Salt Lake visited them, they said they lived in California. A portion of the people tried to
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hold an election there on the day of the last general election, but the rest got double-barreled shotguns, revolvers, and butcher knives and stampeded the whole ballot box establishment, 'horse, foot, and dragoons.' "
TERRITORIAL MEETING IN HONEY LAKE VALLEY
The following account was taken from the "Shasta Courier" of October 17, 1857: "A mass meeting of the people of Honey Lake valley was held in the town of Mataga (probably they got that name from Nataqua, and got it badly mixed) on Saturday, 3d of October, 1857. The meeting was called to order by Isaac Roop. Peter Lassen was chosen president, C. Arnold, Geo. Pur- cell, and John A. Slater vice-presidents, and L. C. MeMurtry and E. Wick, Secretarys.
"The object of the meeting having been stated, Messrs. I. Roop, W. Cornelison, J. Taylor, Wm. Weatherlow, and Mark Haviland were appointed a committee to report business. In the absence of the committee J. M. Crane addressed the meeting for an hour, and reviewed the policy of the government from 1798 to the present time."
The committee submitted a preamble and some resolutions which were adopted by the meeting. The preamble stated that it was well known that the people inhabiting the Great Basin between the Goose creek mountains and the Sierra Nevada, the Utah line on the north, and the Colorado river on the south had no protection from the Indians, or any protection for life and property. That the people of Carson valley, at a meeting held in Genoa, had petitioned Congress to establish a territory within the limits of those boundaries.
"Resolved, That we endorse what the people have done at Genoa, and we pledge the faith of the people of Honey Lake valley to co-operate with them in this undertaking. That we endorse and approve of the election of James M. Crane as the delegate to Washington for the proposed new territory. That if any attempt is made by the authorities of California to bring the people of Honey Lake valley into subjugation before the line can and shall be made, that we resist all such attempts with all the power we can command. That the California authorities do not try to protect us and defend our lives and property, but try to extend their jurisdiction over us for the purpose of extort-
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ing revenue from our people. That Isaac Roop be and is hereby appointed to co-operate with Wm. M. Ormsby of Carson valley and Martin Smith of Lake valley, and bring before the legisla- ture of California a proposition to transfer all of her real or supposed claims to lands lying east of the Sierras to the new territory. That the thanks of the people of this territory are due and are hereby tendered to Judge Crane for the many per- sonal sacrifices he has made for us, and for his untiring efforts to secure for us a territorial government."
INDIAN TROUBLES. 1857
It has been told that in 1856 a treaty was made between the whites of Honey Lake valley and the Pahute Indians, and that for several years it was strictly observed on both sides. Mrs. A. T. Arnold has a long statement made by Capt. Weatherlow in regard to the Indians and the Indian wars of early days, and in it he says: "The Pahute tribe of Indians occupied the valley at that time in common with the whites. They were on the most friendly relations, visiting the houses of the whites and trading furs and game for such articles of clothing, etc., as they desired. They were unlike any other tribe I had met in the country inasmuch as they were never known to beg for food or clothing, nor did they at every opportunity pilfer and carry off articles from the whites.
"From the first settlement of the valley the Pit river Indians which inhabited the country north of Honey lake made frequent incursions upon the settlement, driving off stock and committing other outrages. Finding that we could have no safety or security for life or property without the Pit river tribe was driven off, I raised a company of sixty men in the year 1857, and went out against the Pit river Indians on several occasions when they had made descents upon the valley and driven off stock. Winne- mucca volunteered to go out with his warriors and aid us in fighting the Pit river tribe. The offer was accepted, and he and his warriors placed themselves under my command and rendered most efficient service. He obeyed orders strictly, and fought as well as any white man. He was also of great service in giving me information in regard to the Pit river tribe, their places of resort, etc."
On the 9th of October, 1857, the Pit river Indians stole five
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nead of cattle from John Weikel, who lived a little to the north- east of Rooptown. Five men immediately started in pursuit, overtook them, and found that the cattle had been killed; but some twenty Indians appeared and showed fight, and the pur- suers were compelled to return. Capt. Weatherlow with thirty- two men, accompanied by Winnemucca and some of his warriors, started after the Indians again. They found them, and destroyed two rancherias and captured two squaws. Sixty or seventy Indians were put to flight and scattered in every direction. They were closely followed as far as the head of Pit river; but they succeeded in eluding their pursuers, and none of them were killed. The provisions of the pursuing party gave out, and they had to return to the valley. When they reached home they found that the Honey Lakers had got into trouble with the Washos, who may have been aided by some of the other tribes.
THE POTATO WAR
The following account was compiled from what was told Mr. Dodge by Wm. H. Clark and A. G. (Joe) Eppstein, from the "Alta Californian," "The Sacramento Union," "The Marys- ville Inquirer," and other newspapers published at the time, and from what has been told the writer by Mr. Clark and others.
William Morehead, who owned a ranch about two and one- half miles northwest of where Milford is now, had a patch of potatoes at the foot of the mountain about half a mile back of his house. The Washoes had been stealing vegetables and small articles from the whites; and one day early in October when Morehead had gone up to Roop's place, they dug his potatoes and carried them away. When he returned and saw what had been done, he told his neighbors about it; and Joe Eppstein, Cap. Hill, Henry Denny, F. M. Jackson, and the two Robertson brothers went to the Indian camp about four miles down the mountain, Mbrehead, who was lame, remaining behind. They got into a fight with the Indians, killed three of them and wounded another one; but were chased back to Hill's cabin by the Indians. They fortified themselves there, and the Indians went back to their camp. Goodwin's fort was not far away, and about twenty settlers gathered there. Shortly after this they made a dash on the Indian camp and captured some potatoes, but killed no Indians. Eppstein, who had gone to Indian valley,
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returned with ten men, and some provisions which they greatly needed; and they decided to attack the Indians on the morning of the 17th of October.
There were thirty-five or forty men, and they made T. J. (Old Tom) Harvey their captain. Among them were Cap. Hill, Eppstein, Joseph A. Knettles, Denny, the two Robertsons, Jack- son, Billy Clark, Lathrop, Tom. Watson, Storff, Charley Cooper, L. N. Breed, J. P. Sharp, A. C. Neale, Ben. Foreman, Van Hickey, Frank Johnson, and probably Fullbright and Crawford. The names of the others could not be ascertained.
The Fullbright and Crawford cabin stood about half a mile below where the road runs now, and near the creek that is a little over a mile southeast of Milford; and they started from there early in the morning so as to reach the Indian camps and attack them just about daylight. These camps, two or three in number, were along the foot of the mountain several miles to the south- east. Lathrop, Eppstein, and Clark coneluded to go to the farthest camp, because they thought they would find considerable plunder and not many Indians to fight. They hurried along ahead of the others, and got on the steep sidehill about three hundred yards above the camp while it was still dark. There they waited, and just at daylight they heard two or three guns fired by the men who were attacking the other camps. Then from the camp below them, where they expected to find plenty of buckskins but no bucks, seventeen of the latter came forth, all armed with rifles, and started for the upper camps. Their course was toward the three white men, who just then had a sudden longing to see their friends. They started up the hill on the run, and the Indians soon saw them and gave chase. Clark and Eppstein outran Lathrop, and he said "Hold on, boys, we must keep together," and the others waited for him to come up. A couple of the Indians had got pretty close to them, and Lathrop said "Let's fix these two." They dropped behind a granite boulder, and resting their guns on it, fired and brought the Indians down. Just then a bullet fired by one of the other Indians struck the rock in front of them, and filled their faces full of rotten granite. Clark says it stung, and he wiped his face with both hands; and when he saw they were covered with blood, he was badly scared. They then ran on up the hill fol- lowed by the Indians. When they reached the top of it, they
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could see the other men pursuing a band of Indians. They had driven them from the upper camps, and were coming down along the foot of the mountain. The Indians were now getting very close to the three white men, and Clark, who was ahead, was waving his hat and yelling to the other party to hurry. The latter thought they were Indians and were going to fire on them, but just then they saw their pursuers come over the hill. The whites fired and killed two or three of them, and the rest turned off and joined the other Indians. Right there was where the battle commenced. It was in the sagebrush near the foot of a steep bluff, something like five and one half miles below Milford. The Indians were driven up the bluff for a short distance, and there they got into a pile of rocks and made a stand. When they opened fire from the rocks, every white man jumped behind the nearest tree. The timber was scattering at that place, and there was neither time nor opportunity to pick out a tree to fit the size of the man. Newt. Breed, then a slim young fellow, happened to get behind a big tree; but Harvey, who was large and fat, was so unfortunate as to get a small one. After trying in vain to shrink himself up to fit the size of his tree, Harvey asked Breed to trade with him; but neither at that time nor any other was Breed known to trade a big tree for a little one, and Harvey had to dodge around his tree the best he could. After the fight had gone on for a while, Weatherlow, who had just returned from the Pit river expedition, joined them with a few men and some of Winnemucca's braves. As they were coming up one of the Indians was shot by mistake. The fight went on for some time. There were a good many Indians, their number was estimated at one hundred and fifty, and they made it very unpleasant for the whites. Finding that they could not dislodge the Indians, they started back along the edge of the timber. Eppstein, who had been shot in the thigh, they carried with them in a blanket. The Indians followed along in the timber above them, and kept up the fight. Both parties sheltered them- selves behind the trees the best they could, firing at each other whenever they thought it would do any good.
After a four hours' fight the whites got back to their starting place, the Indians having stopped their pursuit a while before they got there. The loss of the Indians was estimated at from seven to eleven killed and fourteen wounded. Eppstein was the
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only white man hurt, and his was a flesh wound and not danger- ous. One thing that accounts for the small loss of the whites is the fact that during all of the fight the Indians were above them, and probably shot too high.
Winnemucca demanded blood money for the killing of his man, and it took both presents and bluffing to quiet him down. It would not do to have the Pahutes hostile at this time.
Fifteen or twenty of the settlers intrenched themselves at the Fullbright and Crawford place. The Indians remained in the neighborhood, and the whites prepared still more for defense. It was reported that they attacked the whites on the 18th. That day Morehead and McMurtry came in from Carson valley, and it took watchfulness and fast traveling to get through without being caught by the Indians. While the fight was said to be going on, Messrs. J. Williams of Honey Lake valley and M. Milleson of Indian valley started for the lower country with the following petition to the governor of California:
"Honey Lake Valley, Plumas County, State of California, Oct. 19, 1857.
"To his Excellency, J. Neely Johnson and the citizens of the state of California: We, the citizens of Honey Lake valley, would call your attention to the state of affairs now existing in our midst. We are now enduring all the horrors of an Indian war. The Washoe tribe of Indians whose rendezvous is at the lower end of Honey Lake valley have commenced hostilities upon us. Upon Saturday the 17th of October, inst. after an obstinate fight of four hours we were compelled to retreat owing to a dis- proportion of numbers. Since that time we have been engaged in recruiting our forces, removing our families, stock, etc. On the evening of the 18th inst. our forces were attacked at their fort and the battle is now raging. We have every reason to believe that the Pi-Utah tribe of Indians here-to-fore friendly, have joined the Washos and intend exterminating the entire white population east of the Sierra Nevada range. The Washos around us number four or five hundred warriors. The Pi-Utahs a still greater number. We are too small in numbers to contend against such great odds. There is in the valley now three to five thousand head of cattle, besides houses, grain, hay, etc. to a large amount in value. We therefore call upon the citizens of the state of
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California in the name of common humanity to aid us in repelling the foe now in our midst, and enabling us to maintain our posi- tion as a frontier settlement. We desire one hundred stand of arms from the state of California for our protection. J. Williams of Honey Lake valley, and M. Milleson of Indian valley, are hereby appointed to present our appeal to the Governor and the citizens of the state of California, and any attention shown to them will be gratefully remembered by us.
"Signed Isaac Roop. M. C. Lake. John Weikel and 43 others."
The two messengers reached Sacramento on the 23d or 24th inst. and found the Governor absent, and they could not deliver the petition. However they saw General Kibbe, the Quarter- master General, and he let them have "some 50 stand of arms." General Clark of the U. S. Army, who was also appealed to for assistance, said his forces were too far north to give the aid asked for.
"The Sacramento Union" of October 27th, in commenting on the petition of the Honey Lakers for arms to fight the Indians with, said they did not see how the governor of California could help them as he had the right only to grant aid to the citizens of the state. They told about the meeting of the citizens of Honey Lake valley August 29, 1857, and said they prevented the election as they agreed to at this meeting. They told that the justices and constables appointed for the valley by the board of super- visors of Plumas county had been told that their services were not required, and that the Plumas county assessor had to leave the valley without making an assessment. They referred to the meeting held October 19, 1857, where the Honey Lakers said they would withstand any efforts made by Plumas county to control them before a line had been run to show where they were located. The "Union" thought the governor should not help them unless they were willing to abide by the laws of the state and the jurisdiction of the officers of Plumas county.
On the 27th Mr. Williams had an interview with the Gov- ernor about the matter embraced in the petition from the citizens of Honey Lake valley and Indian valley. He admitted the course taken by the citizens of Honey Lake valley, but said they were
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willing to come under the jurisdiction of California, if it were found they were within its boundaries. Mr. Williams had been in San Francisco and laid the case before Col. Henly, who sent out a quantity of blankets and other Indian goods, with the view of enabling Mr. Lassen, as agent, to settle all difficulties without further bloodshed. Some months before this, application had been made for arms for the volunteer company organized in Plumas county. These arms-sixty stand-were forwarded at once by General Kibbe. It was understood that Mr. Williams was satisfied with this arrangement. The goods were to go up in charge of Mr. Milleson.
We will now see what took place in the land of the Never Sweats during the absence of their messengers. They had a genuine Indian scare on hand, and, as is usual at such a time, the stories grew as they traveled. It was reported that the last of September thirty well armed men had left Quincy to protect emigrants along the road east of Honey Lake. They were to go to Gravelly Ford on the Humboldt and punish the Shoshones. They killed and scalped a Pah Ute east of Honey Lake, and an- other one at the Humboldt; and the Pah Utes were going to take revenge upon the settlers of Honey Lake valley. Besides the Washos there were fifteen or twenty thousand Pah Utes; and these two tribes had induced the Indian valley Indians to join them in making a descent upon Honey Lake valley, and had threatened Indian valley. A few families left the valley. Mrs. A. C. Neale says that she went away with Dr. Slater and his family, but they soon came back. The attack on the settlers at the Fullbright and Crawford place was a false report. The Washos withdrew from the valley, and when the Plumas Rangers arrived to help the settlers, they found no Indians to fight. Prob- ably Mr. Lassen made some sort of a treaty with the Washos, for they never made any more trouble in this part of the country.
It was a narrow escape for the settlers east of the mountains. If the Pah Utes had commenced hostilities, too, the Indians could easily have wiped out all the settlements in western Utah.
The settlers in Carson valley also had some trouble with the Washos at this time, for Col. Wm. Rodgers was sent to San Francisco for arms and ammunition to defend the settlers against them. Along the last of October Capt. Jim, the chief of the Washos, came into Carson valley to negotiate for peace with
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the settlers. He stipulated that justice should be enforced against the white men who violated the rights of the Indians, and agreed to give up to the whites any man of his tribe who committed depredations upon their property. There was no person author- ized by the inhabitants to enter into a treaty with the Indians; but Mr. Mott, an old gentleman who was held in great esteem by the neighbors, accepted the terms of the chief, and agreed to furnish his tribe with flour, etc., and in consequence good order prevailed.
THE PURSUIT OF THE INDIANS WHO STOLE VARY'S CATTLE
The following story was told by Fred Hines. In early days the country between this valley and the Humboldt, and later on up to southern Idaho, was much frequented by the Never Sweats; and what they did in that section will be told in the following pages.
It will be remembered that when Hines came in from the Humboldt in the fall of 1856, he left some cattle here on the range to winter. When he came back the next spring they were very fat; and he drove them to Quincy and traded them for goods, and hired L. F. Hough to pack them to this valley. He then fitted up some teams and hauled his goods out on the Hum- boldt about a hundred miles above Lassen's Meadows, and again traded with the emigrants. Morton and Sylvester went with him, but Vary stayed at Deep Hole springs and kept a trading post there. Tutt and Walden had a trading post on the Humboldt in 1856, and in 1857 they went out there again.
About the last of October Sylvester, Tutt, Hines, Chas. Lewis, Walden, J. B. Gilpin, and several men who were helping drive their cattle, were coming back to Honey Lake valley. When they reached Deep Hole Vary told them that if they would stay there a day and give him time to gather up his cattle, he would go along with them. He had nineteen head of large emigrant oxen that he had traded for; and they were running near a spring on the west side of the Granite creek range, about five miles from Deep Hole. The next day in the afternoon, Vary went after his cattle, but he could not find them and came right back to camp. The matter was talked over, and Hines and Sylvester told him they would go back with him that afternoon and see if they could not find them before dark. Fearing they would be out all night,
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they put some crackers into their pockets. They took no weapons but their six-shooters.
Soon after reaching the spring they found the tracks of the cattle and followed them until dark. Then they stopped on a sagebrush flat and hid themselves in the tallest brush they could find, ate some crackers, wrapped their saddle blankets around them, and wore away the long, cold night the best they could. The next morning they followed the trail, which was going in a northerly direction. Some time before noon some Indian tracks came into the trail of the cattle, and this was the first Indian sign they had seen. The cunning savages had, in the first place, scared the cattle into going the direction they wanted them to take without going near them, and then followed, keeping at quite a distance on each side of them until they thought they were safe from pursuit. That day Hines shot a sagehen and a couple of rabbits, and they ate part of them. They followed the trail until dark, and then camped as they did the night before. The next day they followed the trail all day toward the north, and ate what was left of the game killed on the previous day. On the third day Hines, who was in the lead doing the trailing, thought he saw an Indian coming down a ridge from the east, his course being such that it would cross theirs at right angles. He was not sure, though, that it was an Indian so he stopped and waited for the others to come up. He pointed out to them the object he had seen, and after watching it a while they came to the conclusion that it surely was one. Hines told the others that from the way the Indian was acting either he had not seen them, or if he had, was paying no attention to them. He thought the best plan was for the other two men to ride along on the trail of the cattle, and he would ride up the mountain on the side of the ridge back of the Indian until he judged he was opposite to him, and then ride over to him. This was done, and Hines made a good guess and came in sight of the Indian when within a hundred yards of him. He had a load of beef on his back- seventy-five or a hundred pounds-and this he threw down as quickly as he could and tried to get his bow and arrows ready to shoot. But Hines was too quick for him. He put spurs to his horse, drew his pistol, and got there before the Indian was ready ; and making him throw down his weapons, held him there until Vary and Sylvester came up. It was an Indian who had
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