USA > California > Amador County > History of Amador County, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 11
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The "Orphan " explains the process of Indian sig- nal-fires :-
" A hole is dug in the ground much wider at the bottom than at the top; this hole is filled with eom- bustibles and set on fire; onee well ignited the hole is nearly elosed at the opening. By this means the smoke rises to a considerable height in a column, and thus information is conveyed to different tribes of the approach of an enemy or friend, and whether they are coming in large or small bodies."
The gluttonous habits of the Indians are described:
" The Indians that constituted the erew of the sehooner, having been rather stinted of food for a day or two, determined on a feast as a recompense for their previous fasting. They presented on that oceasion a spectaele I'had never before witnessed of disgusting sensual indulgenee, the effect of which on their eonduet, struek me as being exceedingly strange. The meat of the heifer, most rudely eooked, was eaten in a voracious manner. After gorging themselves they would lie down and sleep for a while, and get up and eat again. They repeated this glut- tony until they actually lost their senses, and pre- sented in their conduct all the phenomena peculiar to an over-indulgenee in spirituous liquors. They eried and laughed by turns, rolled upon the ground, dozed, and then sprang up in a state of delirium. The following morning they were all wretehedly siek, and had the expression peculiar to drunken men recovering their reason after a debaueh."
The great fertility of the soil in parts of the Sae- ramento valley is referred to as follows :-
" Vegetables of all kinds ean be raised in the great- est abundanee, frequently two or three erops a year. Wormwood and wild mustard abound as weeds. Oats grow wild, and the eultivated grow to an enormous height. Wheat erops sown in the Fall, early the fol- lowing year have yielded one hundred and fourteen bushels to the aere. At the Mission of St. Joseph it was ascertained that the yield was one hundred and twenty bushels to the acre, and the spontaneous crop the following year was sixty bushels to the acre. The wheat of Taos has six distinet heads. Clover and the grasses are extraordinarily fine and pro- duetive. Indian flax grows wild all over the coun- try. Horses, eattle, sheep, and hogs thrive well, and
are possessed in greater or less numbers by all the inhabitants, aud are tended by herdsmen."
CHAPTER XII. SUTTER'S FORT IN 1846.
Aspect of Sacramento Valley-Sinclair's Ranch-A Lady Pion- eer-Captain Sutter at Home-The Fort Described-Condi- tion and Occupation of the Indians-Farm Products and Prices-Dinner with the Pioneer-New Helvetia.
THE following interesting and accurate deseription of Sutter's Fort, before the gold discovery, is from Edwin Bryant's work, " What I Saw in California," published in 1849. Mr. Bryant, with a party of nine persons, left Independenee, Missouri, on the 1st of May, 1846, and reached Sutter's Fort about midsum- mer, when he took the following observations :--
"Sept. 1, 1846. A clear, pleasant morning. We took a south eourse down the valley, and at + o'clock P. M. reached the residenee of John Sinclair, Esq., on the Rio de los Americanos, about two miles east of Sutter's Fort. The valley of the Sacramento, as far as we have traveled down it, is from thirty to forty miles in width, from the foot of the low benches of the Sierra Nevada to the elevated range of hills on the western side. The composition of the soil ap- pears to be such as to render it highly productive, with proper cultivation, of the small grains. The ground is trodden up by immense herds of eattle and horses, which grazed here early in the Spring, when it was wet and apparently miry. We passed through large evergreen oak groves, some of them miles in width. Game is very abundant. We fre- quently saw deer feeding quietly one or two hundred yards from us, and large floeks of antelopes.
"Mr. Sinclair, with a number of horses and In- dians, was engaged in threshing wheat. His erop this year, he informed me, would be about three thousand bushels. The soil of his raneho, situated in the bottom of the Rio de los Americanos, just above its junetion with the Saeramento, is highly fertile. His wheat-fields are seeured against the numerous herds of cattle and horses, which consti- tute the largest item in the husbandry of this coun- try, by ditches about five feet in depth, and four or five feet over at the surface. The dwelling-house and outhouses of Mr. Sinclair are all eonstrueted after Ameriean models, and present a most eom- fortable and neat appearance. It was a pleasant scene, after having traveled many months in the wilderness, to survey this abode of apparent thrift and enjoyment, resembling so nearly those we had left in the far-off country behind us.
"In searching for the ford over the Rio de los Americanos, in order to proceed on to Sutter's Fort, I saw a lady of a graceful, though fragile figure, dressed in the costume of our own countrywomen. She was giving some directions to her female ser- vants, and did not diseover me until I spoke to her, and inquired the position of the ford. Her pale and delieate, but handsome and expressive countenance, indicated much surprise, produced by my sudden and unexpected salutation. But, collecting herself, she replied to my inquiry in vernacular English, and the sounds of her voiee, speaking our own language, and her eivilized appearance, were highly pleasing. This lady, I presume, was Mrs. Sinclair; but I never saw her afterwards.
"Crossing the Rio de los Americanos, the waters
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HISTORY OF AMADOR COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
of which, at this season, are quite shallow at the ford, we proceeded over a well-beaten road to Sut- ter's Fort, arriving there when the sun was about an hour and a half high. Riding up to the front gate, I saw two Indian sentinels pacing to and fro before it, and several Americans, or foreigners (as all who are not Californians by birth are here called), sitting in the gateway, dressed in buckskin pauta- loons and bluc sailor shirts, with white stars worked on the collars. I inquired if Captain Sutter was in the fort. A very small man, with a peculiarly sharp red face and a most voluble tongue, gave the re sponse. He was probably a corporal. He said, in substance, that perhaps I was not aware of the great changes which had recently taken place in California ;- that the fort belonged to the United States, and that Captain Sutter, although he was in the fort, had no control over it. He was going into a minute history of the complicated circumstances and events which had produced this result, when I reminded him that we were too much fatigued to listen to a long discourse, but if Captain Sutter was inside the walls, and could conveniently step to the gate a moment, I would be glad to see him. A lazy- looking Indian with a ruminating countenance, after some time spent in parleying, was dispatched with my message to Captain Sutter.
"Captain S. soon 'came to the gate, and saluted us with much gentlemanly courtesy and friendly cordi- ality. He said that events had transpired in the country, which, to his deep regret, had so far de- prived him of the control of his own property, that he did not feel authorized to invite us inside of the walls to remain. The fort, he said, was occupied by soldiers under the pay of the United States, and commanded by Mr. Kern. I replied to him that, although it would be something of a novelty to sleep under a roof, after our late nomadic life, it was a matter of small consideration. If he would supply us with some meat, a little salt, and such vegetables as he might have, we neither asked nor desired more from his hospitality, which we all know was liberal, to the highest degree of generosity.
"A servant was immediately dispatched with orders to furnish us with a supply of beef, salt, mel- ons, onions, and tomatoes, for which no compensa- tion would be received. We procceded immediately to a grove of live-oak timber, about two miles west of the fort, and encamped within a half a mile of the Sacramento river. * *
" He [Captain Sutter], planted himself on the spot where his fort now stands, then a savage wilderness, and in the midst of numerous and hostile tribes of Indians. With the small party of men which he originally brought with him, he succeeded in defend- ing himself against the Indians, until he constructed his first defensive building. He told me that, sev- eral times being hemmed in by his assailants, he had subsisted for many days upon grass alone. There is a grass in this valley which the Indians eat, that is pleasant to the taste, and nutritious. He succeeded by degrees in reducing the Indians to obedience, and by means of their labor erected the spacious fortification which now belongs to him.
"The fort is a parallelogram, about five hundred feet in length, and one hundred and fifty in breadth. The walls are constructed of adobes or sun-dried bricks. The main building, or residence, stands near the center of the area, or court, inclosed by the walls. A row of shops, store-rooms, and barracks, are inclosed within, and linc the walls on every side. Bastions project from the angles, and ordnance,
mounted in which, sweep the walls. The principal gates on the east and the south are also defended by heavy artillery, through port-holes pierced in the walls. At this time the fort is manned by about fifty well-disciplined Indians, and ten or twelve white men, all under the pay of the United States. These Indians are well clothed and fed. The gar- rison is under the command of Mr. Kern, the artist of Captain Fremont's exploring expedition.
"The number of laboring Indians employed by Captain Sutter during the seasons of sowing and harvest, is from two to three hundred. Some of these are clothed in shirts and blankets, but a large portion of them are entirely naked. They are paid so much per day for their labor, in such articles of merchandise as they may select from the store. Cotton cloth and handkerchiefs are what they most frcely purchase. Common brown cotton cloth sells at one dollar per yard. A tin coin issued by Captain Sutter circulates among them, upon which is stamped the number of days that the holder has labored. These stamps indicate the value in merchandise to which the laborer or holder is entitled.
"They are inveterate gamblers, and those who have been so fortunate as to obtain clothing, fre- quently stake and part with every rag upon their backs. The game which they most generally play is carried on as follows: Any number which may be concerned in it seat themselves cross-legged on the ground, in a circle. They are then divided into two parties. each of which has two champions or players. A ball, or some small article, is placed in the hands of the players on one side, which they transfer from hand to hand with such sleight and dexterity that it is nearly impossible to detect the changes. When the players holding the balls make a particular motion with their hands, the antagonist players guess in which hand the balls are at the time. If the guess is wrong, it counts onc in favor of the playing party. If the guess is right, then it counts one in favor of the guessing party, and the balls are transferred to them. The count of the game is kept with sticks. During the progress of the game, all concerned keep up a continual monotonous grunt- ing, with a movement of their bodies to keep time with their grunts. The articles which are staked on the game are placed in the center of the ring.
" The laboring or field Indians about the fort are fed upon the offal of slaughtered animals, and upon the bran sifted from the ground whcat. This is boiled in large iron kettles. It is then placed in wooden troughs standing in the court, around which the several messes seat themselves, and scoop out with their hands this poor fodder. Bad as it is, they eat it with an apparent high relish; and no doubt it is more palatable and more healthy than the acorn mush, or atole, which constitutes the prin- cipal food of these Indians in their wild state.
"The wheat crop of Captain Sutter, the present ycar [1846], is about eight thousand bushels. The season has not been a favorable one. The average yield to the acre, Captain S. estimated at twenty- five bushels. In favorable seasons this yield is doubled; and if we can believe the statements often made upon respectable authority, it is sometimes quadrupled. * *
* * The wheat-fields of Captain S. are secured against the cattle and horses by ditches. Agriculture, among the native Califor- nians, is in a very primitive state, and although Cap- tain S. has introduced some American implements, * still his ground is but imperfectly cultivated. " Wheat is selling at the fort at two dollars and
UIN. BRITION & REY. S. F. B. He. Schachty
TOMPSON & WEST PUB, OAKLAND, CALA
4.9
THE HISTORY OF THE DONNER PARTY.
fifty cents per fanega, rather more than two bushels English measure. It brings the same price when delivered at San Francisco, near the mouth of the Bay of San Francisco. It is transported from the Sacramento valley to a market in launches of about fifty tons burden. Unbolted flour sells at eight dol- lars per one hundred pounds. The reason of this high price is the scarcity of flouring-mills in the country. The mills which are now going up in various places will reduce the price of flour, and probably they will soon be able to grind all the wheat raised in the country. The streams of Cali- fornia afford excellent water-power, but the flour consumed by Captain Sutter is ground by a very. ordinary horse- mill.
"I saw near the fort a small patch of hemp, which had been sown as an experiment, in the spring, and had not been irrigated. I never saw a ranker growth of hemp in Kentucky. Vegetables of several kinds appeared to be abundant, and in perfection. * * * * X *
*
"Captain Sutter's dining-room and his table fur- niture do not present a very luxurious appearance. The room is unfurnished, with the exception of a common deal table standing in the center, and some benches, which are substitutes for chairs. The table, when spread, presented a correspondingly primitive simplicity of aspect and of viands. The first course consisted of good soup, served to each guest, in a china bowl, with .silver spoons. The bowls, after they had been used for this purpose, were taken away and cleaned by the Indian servant, and were afterwards used as tumblers or goblets, from which we drank our water. The next course consisted of two dishes of meat, one roasted and one fried, and both highly seasoned with onions. Bread, cheese, butter, and melons, constituted the dessert. %
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"Such has been the extortion of the Government in the way of import duties, that few supplies which are included even among the most ordinary elegan- cies of life, have ever reached the inhabitants, and for these they have been compelled to pay prices that would be astonishing to a citizen of the United States or of Europe, and such as have impoverished the population. As a general fact, they cannot be obtained at any price, and hence those who have the ability to purchase are compelled to forego their use from necessity.
" The site of the town of Nueva Helvetia, which has been laid out by Captain Sutter, is about a mile and a half from the Sacramento. It is on an eleva- tion of the plain, and not subject to overflow when the waters of the river are at their highest known point. There are now but three or four small houses in this town, but I have little doubt that it will soon become a place of importance.
"Near the Embarcadero of New Helvetia is a large Indian 'sweat-house,' or temescal, an appendage of most of the rancherias."
CHAPTER XIII.
THE HISTORY OF THE DONNER PARTY.
Seene of the Tragedy-Organization and Composition of the Party-Election of George Donner as Captain-Hastings' Cut-off-Aseent of the Mountains-Arrival at Donner Lake -Snow-storms-Construction of Cabins-"Forlorn Hope Party "-Captain Reasin P. Theker's Relief Party-James F. Reed's Relief Party-"Starved Camp "-Third Relief Party-Heroism and Devotion of Mrs. George Donner -- Fourth Relief Party-The Survivors.
THREE miles from Truckee, and resting in the green lap of the Sierras, lies one of the loveliest sheets of water on the Pacific coast. Tall mountain peaks are reflected in its clear waters, revealing a picture of extreme loveliness and quiet peacc. Yet this peaceful scene was the amphitheatre of the most tragic event in the annals of early California. " The Donner Party " was organized in Sangamon county, Illinois, by George and Jacob Donner and James F. Reed, in the Spring of. 1846. In April, 1846, the party set out from Springfield, Illinois, and by the first week in May had reached Independence, Mis- souri, where the party was increased until the train numbered about two or three hundred wagons, the Donner family numbering sixteen; the Reed family, seven; the Graves family, twelve; the Murphy family, thirteen; these were the principal families of the Donner party proper. At Independence, provisions were laid in for the trip, and the line of journey taken up. In the occasional glimpses we have of the party, features of but little interest present themselves, beyond the ordinary experience of pioneer life. A letter from Mrs. George Donner, written near the junction of the North and South Platte, dated June 16, 1846, reports a favorable journey of four hundred and fifty miles from Independence, Missouri, with no forebodings of the terrible disasters so soon to burst upon them. At Fort Laramie a portion of the party celebrated the Fourth of July. Thereafter the train passed, unmolested, upon its journey. George Donner was elected captain of the train at the Little Sandy river, on the 20th of July, 1846, from which act it took the name of "The Donner Party."
At Fort Bridger, then a mere trading post, the fatal choice was made of the route that led to such fearful disasters and tragic death. A new route, via Salt Lake, known as Hastings' Cut-off, was recom- mended to the party as shortening the distance by three hundred miles. After due deliberation, the Donner party, of eighty-seven souls (three having dicd) were induced to separate from the larger por- tion of the train (which afterwards arrived in Cali- fornia in safety) and commenced their journey by way of Hastings' Cut-off. They reached Weber river, near the head of the canon, in safety. From this point, in their journey, to Salt Lake, almost insurmountable difficulties were encountered, and instead of reaching Salt Lake in one week, as antici- pated, over thirty days of perilous travel were con- sumed in making the trip-most precious time in
7
50
HISTORY OF AMADOR COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
view of the dangers imminent in the rapidly ap- proaching storms of Winter. The story of their trials and sufferings, in their journey to the fatal camp at Donner lake, is terrible; nature and stern necessity seemed arrayed against them. On the 19th of October, near the present site of Wadsworth, Nevada, the destitute company were happily repro- visioned by C. T: Stanton; furnished with food and mules, together with two Indian vaqueros, by Cap- tain Sutter, without compensation.
At the present site of Reno it was concluded to rest. Three or four days' time was lost. This was the fatal act. The storm-clouds were already brew- ing upon the mountains, only a few miles distant. The ascent was ominons. Thick and thicker grew the clouds, outstripping in threatening battalions the now cager feet of the alarmed emigrants, until, at Prosser creek, three miles below Truckce, October 28, 1846, a month carlier than usual, the storm set in, and they found themselves in six inches of newly- fallen snow. On the summit it was already from two to five feet deep. The party, in much confusion, finally reached Donner lake in disordered fragments. Frequent and desperate attempts were made to cross the mountain tops, but at last, baffled and despairing, they returned to camp at the lake. The storm now descended in all its pitiless fury upon the ill-fated cmigrants. Its dreadful import was well understood, as laden with omens of suffering and death. With slight interruptions, the storm continued for several days. The animals were literally buried alive and frozen in the drifts. Meat was hastily prepared from their frozen carcasses, and cabins rudely built. One, the Schallenberger cabin, erceted November, 1844, was already standing, about a quarter of a mile be- low the lake. This the Breen family appropriated. The Murphys crected one three hundred yards from the lake, marked by a large stone twelve feet high. The Graves family built theirs near Donner creek, three-quarters of a mile further down the stream, the three forming the apexes of a triangle; the Breen and Murphy cabins were distant from each other about one hundred and fifty yards. The Don- ner brothers, with their families, hastily constructed a brush shed in Alder Creek valley, six or seven miles from the lake. Their provisions were speedily consumed, and starvation, with all its grim attend- ant horrors, stared the poor emigrants in the face. Day by day, with aching hearts and paralyzed ener- gies, they awaited, amid the beating storms of the Sierras, the dread revelation of the morrow; "hoping against hope " for some welcome sign.
On the sixteenth day of December, 1846, a party of seventeen were enrolled to attempt the hazardous journey over the mountains, to press into the valley beyond for relief. Two returned, and the remaining fifteen pressed on, including Mary Graves and her sister; Mrs. Sarah Fosdick, and several other women, the heroic C. T. Stanton and the noble F. W. Graves (who left his wife and seven children at the lakes
to await in vain his return) being the leaders. This was the " Forlorn Hope Party," over whose dreadful sufferings and disaster we must throw a veil. A de- tailed account of this party is given from the graphic pen of C. F. McGlashan, and lately published in book form from the press of Crowley & McGlashan, pro- prietors of the Truckee Republican, to which we take pleasure in referring the reader. Death in its most awful form reduced the wretched company to seven- two men and five women-when suddenly tracks were discovered imprinted in the snow. "Can any one imagine," says Mary Graves in her recital, " the joy these foot-prints gave us ? We ran as fast as our strength would carry us." Turning a sharp point they suddenly came upon an Indian rancheria. The acorn-broad offered them by the kind and awe- stricken savages was eagerly devoured. But on they pressed with their Indian guides, only to repeat their dreadful sufferings, until at last, one evening about the last of January, Mr. Eddy, with his Indian guide, preceding the party fifteen miles, reached Johnson's ranch, on Bear river, the first settlement on the western slope of the Sierras, when relief was sent back as soon as possible and the remaining six sur- vivors were brought in next day. It had been thir- ty-two days since they left Donner lake. No tongue can tell, no pen portray, the awful suffering, the ter- rible and appalling straits, as well as the noble deeds of heroism that characterized this march of death. The eternal mountains, whose granite faces bore wit- ness to their sufferings, are fit monuments to mark the last resting-place of Charles T. Stanton, that cul- tured, heroic soul, who groped his way through the blinding snow of the Sierras to immortality. The divinest encomium-" He gave his life as a ransom for many "-is his epitaph, foreshadowed in his own noble words, "I will bring aid to these famishing people or lay down my life."
Nothing could be done, in the meantime, for the relief of the sufferers at Donner lake, without securing help from Fort Sutter, which was speedily accomplished by John Rhodes. In a week, six men, fully provisioned, with Captain Reasin P. Tucker at their head, reached Johnson's ranch, and in ten or twelve days' time, with provisions, mules, etc., the first relief party started for the scene at Donner lake. It was a fearful undertaking, but on the morning of the 19th of February, 1847, the above party began the descent of the gorge leading to Donner lake.
We have purposely thrown a veil over the dread- ful sufferings of the stricken band left in their wretched hovels at Donner lake. Reduced to the verge of starvation, many died (including numerous. children, seven of whom were nursing babes) who, in this dreadful state of necessity, were summarily disposed of. Rawhides, moccasins, strings, etc., were caten. But relief was now close at hand for the poor, stricken sufferers. On the evening of the 19th of February, 1847, the stillness of death that had settled upon the scene was broken by pro-
51
THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD.
longed shouts. In an instant the painfully sensitive ears of the despairing watchers caught the welcome sound. Captain Tucker, with his relief party, had at last arrived upon the scene. Every face was bathed in tears, and the strongest men of the relief party melted at the appalling sight, sat down, and wept with the rest. But time was precious, as storms were imminent. The return party was quickly gath- ered. Twenty-three members started, among them several women and children. Of this number two were compelled to return, and three perished on the jour- ney. Many hardships and privations were expe- rienced, and their provisions were soon entirely exhausted. Death once more stared them in the face, and despair settled upon them. But assistance was near at hand. James F. Reed, who had pre- ceded the Donner party by some months, suddenly appeared with the second relief party, on the 25th of February, 1847. The joy of the meeting was indescribable, especially between the family and the long-absent father. Re-provisioned, the party pressed on, and gained their destination after severe suffering, with eightcen members, only three having perished. Reed continued his journey to the cabins at Donner lake. There the scene was simply inde- scribable; starvation and disease were fast claiming their victims. March 1st (according to Breen's diary) Reed and his party arrived at the camp. Proceeding directly to his cabin, he was espied by his little daughter (who, with her sister, was carried back by the previous party) and immediately recog- nized with a cry of joy. Provisions were carefully dealt out to the famishing people, and immediate steps were taken for the return. Seventeen com- priscd this party. Half-starved and completely exhausted, they were compelled to camp in the midst of a furious storm, in which Mr. Reed barely escaped with his life. This was "Starved Camp," and from this point Mr. Reed, with his two little children and another person, struggled ahead to obtain hasty relief, if possible.
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