USA > California > El Dorado County > Historical souvenir of El Dorado County, California : with illustrations and biographical setches of its prominent men & pioneers > Part 11
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 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55
They advanced to the country west of Salt Lake, and suffered a great deal from want of food and water until they reached Mary's River, now Humboldt, fol- lowing this stream to its sink ; then it was decided to cross and trap for the following summer on the Cali fornia side of the mountains ; so they went on, but again ran short of water, and had to send out in search of it, and one of their hunters came upon the Truckee river, near the Meadows, turned his horse and in full speed brought the joyful news back into camp, shout- ing : " A great river ! A great river !" This man's
Seamen : Daughty, Sutton, Waltham and Merzer.
Sergeant, Stearns ; Corporal, Hughes.
Privates, Marsh and Smith.
There were attached to the expedition for observa- tions, etc .:
T. R. Peal, naturalist.
W. Rich, botanist.
James D. Dana, geologist.
A. T. Agate, artist.
J. D. Breckenridge, assistant-botanist.
Baptiste Guardipii, guide.
Tibbats, Black, Warfield, Wood, Molair and Inass, mountaineers.
The years 1840-1841, introduced a new feature in the history of the exploration of the territory on this coast. Dr. John Marsh's-then a resident of this country-glowing description of California, given in the newspapers of St. Louis, Missouri, commenced to attract considerable attention, and some adventurous
47
EARLY CONDITION. INHABITANTS. EXPLORATIONS.
characters who did not find room enough at home for the development of their faculties, soon banded to- gether in a little emigrant army to set out for the Pa- cific coast ; and among their number we find names of men whose subsequent acts helped materially to shape the destiny of this state.
The party consisted of thir y-six, thirty-four of them were men. Mrs. Nancy A. Kelsey, the wife of Ben- jamin Kelsey, and her little daughter Ann, were with- out doubt the first American females who entered California by the overland route. Following are the names of the men forming the party :
Captain J. B. Bartelson, captain of the party ; re- turned to Missouri, is now dead.
John Bidwell, lives at Chico.
Joseph B. Childs, still alive.
Josiah Belden, lives at San Jose and San Francisco. Charles M. Weber, died at Stockton, May 4, 1881.
Charles Hopper, lives in Napa county.
Henry Huber, lives in San Francisco.
Mitchell Nye, had a ranch at Marysville, probably now alive.
Green McMahon, lives in Solano county.
Nelson McMahon, died in New York.
Talbot H. Green, returned. east.
Ambrose Walton, returned east.
John McDonel, returned east.
George Henshaw, returned east.
Robert Ryckman, returned East.
Wm. Betty or Belty, returned East by way of Santa Fe.
Charles Flugge, returned east.
Gwin Patton, returned East, died in Missouri.
Benjamin Kelsey, lives in Santa Barbara county or at Clear Lake, Lake county.
Andrew Kelsey, killed by Indians at Clear Lake.
James John or Littlejohn, went to Oregon.
Henry Brolasky, went to Callao, South America.
James Dowson, drowned in the Columbia river. Maj. Walton, drowned in the Sacramento river. George Shortwell, accidentally shot on the way out.
John Schwartz, died in California.
Grove Cook, died in California.
D. W. Chandler, went to the Sandwich Islands.
Nicholas Dawson, dead.
Thomas Jones, dead.
Robert H. Thomes, died in Tehama county, Cal., March 26, 1878.
Elias Barnett. James Springer. John Rowland.
The train was made up out of three different divis. ions, one being emigrants for Oregon, the second was a company of Jesuit priests going on a mission to the
Indians of Oregon and Idaho, the third was the above named party. They left Independence, Missouri, May 8, 1841, and traveled together to Fort Hall, near Salt Lake, where Captain Bartelson's party separated from the rest, and without a guide started for Califor- nia, by the way of Mary's or Humboldt river, then went to Carson river, and from this to the main valley of the Walker river, which they followed up near to its source, and from this point commencing their mountain passage of the Sierra Nevada, descending the western slope of it between the Stanislaus and Tu- olumne rivers, reaching the San Joaquin valley and passing down along the Stanislaus, then crossing the San Joaquin river, arrived at Dr. Marsh's ranch, near the eastern base of Mount Diablo, on November 4, 1841. After a rest of a few days here the party dis- banded, and each one looked after his own interest.
About the same time, in November, 1841, another party of emigrants from the Western States arrived by the Santa Fe and Sonora route, in the southern part of the territory, disbanding at Los Angeles. Mem- bers of this company were :
William Workman, in command, died at Los Ange les in 1876.
John Roland, living at Los Angeles.
Benito D. Wilson, living at Los Angeles.
Albert G, Toomes, living in Tehama county.
William Knight, died in Yolo county in 1849.
William Gordon, died in Yolo county, October 3, 1876.
Thomas Lindsay, killed by Indians at Stockton, 1845
William Moore.
Wade Hampton.
Dr. Gamble.
Isaac Givens.
Hiram Taylor.
Colonel McClure.
Charles Givens.
Frederick Bachelor.
Dr. Meade.
Mr. Teabo.
Mr. Pickman.
CHAPTER XIII.
EARLY CONDITION-INHABITATION AND EXPLORATIONS
IN THIS REGION. (Continued.)
John C. Fremont's Report to the Chief of Topographical Engi- neers, Extract from Jan. 28, 1844, lo March 6, 1844-Fre- mont entering Lake Valley-Difficult Traveling-His Peaceable Encounters with the Indians-Abandoning the Howitzer-One Indian Guide-Fremont Encouraging his
48
HISTORY OF EL DORADO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
men by describing the wonders of the Sacramento Valley- Breaking Road through the Snow-On the Upper Truckee River-Appearance of the Central Ridge of the Sierra Ne- vada -Cold Increasing-Experience with the Second In- dian Guide-Making Sleighs and Snow Shoes-On the Summit-Hard Struggle to bring the animals over the Snow-Delicacies of the Table-The Rock Forming the Summit-Camping on the Head Waters of the American River -Comparison of the Pass with the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains, in Regard to High, Latitude and Lon- gitude-Early Rising Repaid with a Beautiful Sight of Sunrise-Scenery of the Mountains Amidst and After a Storm-Second Unintended Bath in the Cold Stream- Structure of the Central part of the Sierra and of the Sum- mit-Fremont's Favorite Horse giving out on top of Pilot Hill-An Indian Mistakes the party for some of his Fel- lows-High Qualities of the Country for Pasture-The Lower Foothills appear like Parks in Old-settled Countries -- An Indian Village-Arrival and Reception at Sutter's Fort-History of the Donner Party.
John C. Fremont, then Brevet Captain of Topo- graphical Engineers, on his return from his first ex- ploring expedition to Oregon, passed south on the east side of the Sierra Nevada, crossing it under all kinds of hardships and suffering from privation, from the Carson river to the American river, in the month of February, 1844. His experiences are laid down in his report to the Chief of Engineers. Out of this we shall quote such of those passages as are of inter- est in regard to the character of the mountains, the nature of the inhabitants and their limited knowledge of the regions they were living in ; their principal in- terest, however, consisting in the fact that this passage took place in El Dorado county : On the evening of January 28, 1844, the party of twenty-five men passed the mountain range dividing the Carson river from the basin of Lake Tahoe, and from here we may fol- low the verbal quotation of the report :
"Jan. 28 .- To-day we went through the pass with all the camp, and, after a hard day's journey of twelve miles, encamped on a high point where the snow had been blown off, and the exposed grass afforded a scanty pasture for the animals. Snow and broken country together made our traveling difficult ; we were often compelled to make large circuits, and as- cend the highest and most exposed ridges, in order to avoid snow, which in other places was banked up to a great depth.
During the day a few Indians were seen circling around us on snow shoes, and skimming along like birds ; but we could not bring them within speaking distance. They seem to have no idea of the power of firearms, and think themselves perfectly safe beyond arm's length.
To-night we did not succeed in getting the howitzer into camp. This was the most laborious day we had yet passed through, the steep ascent and deep snow
exhausting both men and animals. Our single chro- nometer had stopped during the day, and its error in time occasioned the loss of an eclipse of a satellite this evening. It had not preserved the rate with which we started from the Dalles, and this will ac- count for the absence of longitudes along this inter- val of our journey.
The last observation was taken on the 27th of Jan- uary, with 38° 18' or" for the latitude, and the eleva- tion above the sea, 6,310 feet. January 29 .- From this height we could see at a considerable distance below, yellow spots in the valley, which indicated that there was not much snow. One of these places we expected to reach that night. We followed a trail down a hollow where the Indians had descended, the snow being so deep that we never came near the ground; but this only made our descent so much easier, and, when we reached a little affluent to the river at the bottom, we suddenly found ourselves in the presence of eight or ten Indians. Our friendly demeanor reconciled them, and when we got near enough they immediately stretched out to us hand- fuls of pine nuts, which seemed an exercise of hospi- tality. The principal stream still running through an unpracticable canyon, we ascended a very steep hill, which proved afterwards the last and fatal obstacle to our little howitzer, which was finally abandoned at this place. We passed through a small meadow a few miles below, crossing the river, whose depth, swift current, and rocks, made it difficult to ford ; and after a few more miles of very difficult travel emerged into a large prairie bottom, at the farther end of which we encamped, in a position rendered strong by rocks and trees. The lower parts of these mountains were cov- ered with the nut-pine. Several Indians appeared on the hillside, reconnoitering the camp, and were in- duced to come in. Others came in during the after- noon, and in the evening we held a council. We explained to the Indians that we were endeavoring to find a passage across the mountains into the country of the whites, whom we were going to see; and told them that we wished them to bring us a guide, to whom we would give presents of scarlet cloth and other articles, which were shown to them. They looked at the reward we offered, and conferred with each other, but pointed to the snow in the mountains, and drew their hands across their necks and raised them above their heads, to show the depth ; and sig- nified that it was impossible for us to get through. They made signs that we must go to the southward, over a pass through a lower range, which they pointed out. There, they said, at the end of one day's travel, we would find people who lived near a pass in the | great mountain, and to that point they engaged to
1
49
EARLY CONDITION. INHABITANTS. EXPLORATIONS.
furnish a guide. They appeared to have a confused idea of whites who lived on the other side of the mountains, and once they told us, about two years ago, a party of twelve men like ourselves had ascended their river and crossed to the other waters. They pointed out to us where they had crossed ; but then, they said, it was summer time, while now it would be impossible. I believe this was a party led by Mr. Chiles, one of the only two men whom I know to have passed through the California mountains from the interior of the basin, Walker being the other, and both were engaged upward of twenty days, in the summer time, in getting over. Chiles' destination was the bay of San Francisco, to which he descended by the Stanislaus river. Both were western men, animated with the spirit of exploratory enterprise which charac- terizes that people.
The Indians brought in during the evening an abundant supply of pine-nuts, for which we traded with them. When roasted, their pleasant flavor made them an agreeable addition to our now scanty store of provisions, which were reduced to a very low ebb. Our principal stock was in peas, which contained scarcely any nutriment. We had still a little flour left, some coffee, and a quantity of sugar, which I reserved as a defense against starvation. The Indians informed us that at a certain season they have fish in their waters which we supposed to be salmon-trout ; for the remainder of the year they live on pine-nuts, which form their great winter subsistence, a portion being always at hand, shut up in the natural storehouse of the cones. They were presented to us as a whole people, living upon this simple vegetable.
The other division of the party did not come in that night, but encamped in the upper meadow and arrived next morning. They had not succeeded in getting the howitzer beyond the place mentioned, and there it had been left in obedience to my orders. It was of the kind invented by the French for the moun- tain part of their war in Algiers. We left it to the great sorrow of the whole party, who were grieved to part with a companion which had made the whole distance from St. Louis, and commanded respect for us on some critical occasions, and which might be needed for the same purpose again.
January 30th-Our guide, who was a young man, joined us this morning, and leaving our encampment late in the day, we descended the river which imme- diately opened out into a broad valley, furnishing good traveling ground. In a short distance we passed the village, a collection of straw huts; and a few miles below the guide pointed out the place where the whites had camped before entering the mountains. impossible to cross the mountains on account of the With our late start we made but ten miles, and en
camped on the low river bottom, where there was no snow but a great deal of ice, and we cut piles of long grass to lay under our blankets, and fires were made of large dry willows, groves of which wooded the stream. The river here took a northeasterly direc- tion, and through a spur from the mountains, on the left, was the gap where we were to pass the next day.
January 31st-We took our way over a gently rising ground, the dividing ridge being tolerably low, and traveling easily along a broad trail, in twelve or fourteen miles reached the upper part of the pass, when it began to snow thickly, with very cold weather. The Indians had only the usual scanty covering, and appeared to suffer greatly from cold. All left us ex- cept our guide. Half hidden by the storm, the moun- tains looked dreary ; and as night began to approach the guide began to show great reluctance to go for- ward. I placed him between two rifles, for the way began to be difficult. Traveling a little farther we struck a ravine which the Indian said would conduct us to the river ; and as the poor fellow suffered greatly, shivering in the snow which fell upon his naked skin, I would not detain him any longer, and he ran off to the mountain. He had kept the blue and scarlet cloth I had given him tightly rolled up, preferring rather to endure the cold than to get them wet. About dark we had the satisfaction of reaching the foot of a stream timbered with large trees, among which we found a sheltered camp with an abund- ance of such grass as the season afforded for the ani- mals. We saw before us in descending from the pass, a great, continuous range, along which stretched the valley of the river, the lower parts steep and dark with pines, while above it was hidden with clouds of snow. This we instantly felt satisfied was the cen- tral ridge of the Sierra Nevada, the great California mountain, which only now intervened between us and the waters of the bay. We had made a forced march of twenty-six miles, and three mules had given out on the road; we have now sixty-seven animals in the band.
We gathered together a few of the most intelli- gent of the Indians-that had come into camp nearly naked-and held this evening an interesting council. I explained to them my intentions. I told them that we had come from a very far country, having been traveling now nearly a year, and that we were desirous simply to go across the mountain into the country of the other whites. There were two who appeared particularly intelligent-one, a somewhat old man. He told me that before the snows fell, it was six sleeps to the place where the whites lived, but that now it was deep snow ; and showing us, as the others had done,
50
HISTORY OF EL DORADO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
that it was over our heads, he urged us strongly to the best we could for him. Leggings, moccasins, some articles of clothing and a large green blanket, in addi- tion to the blue and scarlet cloth, were lavished upon him, and to his great and evident contentment. He arrayed himself in all his colors, and clad in green, blue and scarlet, he made a gay looking Indian ; and with his various presents, was probably richer and bet ter clothed than any of his tribe had ever been before. follow the course of the river, which, he said, would conduct us to a lake in which there were many large fish. There, he said, were many people, there was no snow on the ground, and we might remain in there until spring. From their description, we judged that we had encamped on the upper waters of the Salmon- Trout river (Upper Truckee.) I told him that the men and horses were strong; that we would break a The river was forty to seventy feet wide, and en- tirely frozen over. It was wooded with large cot- tonwood, willow and grain de boeuf. By observation, the latitude of the encampment was 38º 37' 18". road through the snow, and spreading before him our bales of scarlet cloth and trinkets, showed him what we would give for a guide. It was necessary to obtain one, if possible, for I had determined here to attempt February 2 .- It had ceased snowing, and this morning the lower air was clear and frosty ; and six or seven thousand feet above, the peaks of the Sierra now and then appeared among the rolling clouds, which were rapidly dispersing before the sun. Crossing the river on the ice, and leaving it immediately, we com- menced the ascent of the mountain along the valley of a tributary stream. The people were unusually silent, for every man knew that our enterprise was hazardous, and the issue doubtful. the passage of the mountains. Pulling a branch of grass from the ground, after a short discussion among themselves, the old man made us comprehend that if we could break through the snow, at the end of three days we would come down upon grass, which he showed us would be about six inches high, and where the ground was entirely free. So far, he said, he had been hunting for elk, but beyond that (and he closed his eyes) he had seen nothing ; but there was one among them who had been to the whites, and going out of the lodge, he returned with a young man of very intelligent appearance. Here, he said, is a young man who has seen the whites with his own eyes; and he swore, first by the sky, and then by the ground, that what he said was true. With a large present of goods, we prevailed upon this young man to be our guide, and he acquired among us the name of Melo -- a word signifying friend, which they used very fre- quently. We gave him skins to make a new pair of left. On the way we passed two low huts entirely moccasins, he being nearly barefooted, and to enable him to perform his undertaking with us. The Indi- ans remained in the camp during the night, and we kept the guide and two others to sleep in the lodge with us-Carson lying across the door, and having made them comprehend the use of our fire-arms.
February 1 .-- The snow, which had intermitted in the night, and it snowed steadily all day. In the morning I acquainted the men with my decision, and explained to them that necessity required me to make a great effort to clear the mountains. I reminded them of the beautiful valley of the Sacramento river, with which they were familiar from the description of Carson (Kit Carson), who had been there some fifteen years ago, and who in our late privations had delighted us in speaking of its rich pastures and abounding game. I assured them that from the heights of the mountain be- fore us, we should doubtless see the valley of the Sacra- mento, and with one effort place ourselves again in the midst of plenty. Our guide was not neglected, extremity of suffering might make him desert, we therefore did
The snow deepened rapidly, and it soon became necessary to break a road. For this service a party of ten was formed. mounted on the strongest horses, each man in succeession opening the road on foot, or on horseback, until himself and his horse became fatigued, when he stepped aside and the remaining number passing ahead, he took his station in the rear. Leav- ing this stream, and pursuing a very direct course, we passed over an intervening ridge to the river we had covered with snow, which might very easily have escaped observation. A family was living in each. We found two similar huts on the creek where we next arrived ; and, traveling a little higher up, en- camped on its banks in about four feet depth of snow. Carson found near an open hill-side, where the wind and the sun had melted the snow, leaving exposed sufficient
the evening, commenced falling again in the course of bunch-grass for the animals to-night.
The nut-pines were now giving way to heavy tim- ber, and there were some immense pines on the bottom, around the roots of which the sun had melted away the snow-here we made our camp and built huge fires To-day we had traveled 16 miles, and our ele- vation above the sea was 6,760 feet.
February 3 .-- Turning our faces directly towards the main chain, we ascended an open hollow along a small tributary to the river, which, according to the Indians, issues from a mountain to the south. The snow was so deep in the hollow that we were obliged to travel along the steep hill-sides, and over spurs where the wind and sun had in places lessened the snow, and where the grass, which appeared to be in good quality
resa
RESIDENCE & RANCH OF P . D . BROWN . PILOT HILL.P.O. ELDº Cº CAL.
51
EARLY CONDITION. INHABITANTS. EXPLORATIONS.
along the sides of the mountains, was exposed. We opened our road in the same way as yesterday, but made only seven miles, and encamped by some springs at the foot of a high and steep hill, by which the hollow ascended to another basin in the moun- tain. The litte stream below was entirely buried in snow. The springs were shaded by the boughs of a lofty cedar, which here made its first appearance; the usual height was from 120 to 130 feet, and one that was measured near by was six feet in diameter. There being no grass exposed here, the horses were sent back to that we had seen a few miles below. During the day several Indians joined us on snow-shoes. These were made of a circular hoop, about a foot in diameter, the interior space being filled with an open network of bark.
February 4 .- I went ahead early with two or three men, each with a led horse to break the road. We were obliged to abandon the hollow entirely, and work along the mountain-side, which was very steep and the snow covered with an icy crust. We cut a footing as we advanced, and trampled a road through for the animals; but occasionally one plunged outside the trail, and slid along the field to the bottom, a hundred yards below. Late in the day we reached another bench in the hollow, where, in summer, the stream passed over a small precipice. Here was a short distance of dividing ground between the two ridges, and beyond an open basin, some ten miles across, whose bottom presented a field of snow. At the fur- ther or western side rose the middle crest of the mountain, a dark-looking ridge of volcanic rock.
The summit line presented a range of naked peaks, apparently destitute of snow and vegetation ; but the face of the whole country was covered with timber of course with this people had gradually forced upon my extraordinary size. Toward a pass which the guide indicated here, we attempted in the afternoon to force a road ; but after a laborious plunging through two or three hundred yards our best horses gave out, en- tirely refusing to make any further effort, and, for the time, we were brought to a stand. The camp had The mountains here consisted wholly of a white micaceous granite. The day was perfectly clear, warm and pleasant, while the sun was in the sky. By observation our latitude was 38°, 42', 26"; and eleva- tion by the boiling point, 7,400 feet. been occupied all day in endeavoring to ascend the hill, but only the best horses had succeeded ; the ani- mals generally not having strength enough to bring themselves up without the packs ; and all the line of road between this and the springs was strewed with February 6 .- Accompanied by Mr. Fitzpatrick, I set out to-day with a reconnoitering party on snow- shoes. We marched all in single file, trampling the snow as heavily as we could .. Crossing the open basin, in a march of about ten miles we reached the top of one of the peaks, to the left of the pass indi- cated by our guide. Far below us, dimmed by the distance, was a large snowless valley, bounded on the western side at the distance of about a hundred miles, by camp-stores and equipage, and horses floundering in the snow. To-night we had no shelter, but we made a large fire around the trunk of one of the huge pines, and covering the snow with small boughs, on which to spread our blankets, soon made ourselves comfort- able. The night was very bright and clear, though the thermometer was only 10º. A strong wind which sprung up at sundown made it intensely cold, and
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.