USA > California > Amador County > History of Amador County, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 2
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A good history is a growth; the first attempts to collate the facts bearing on the settlement and develop- ment of a country arc necessarily imperfect. Many things will ereep in which were better left out, and others of importance arc omitted. Some matters will receive undue importance, and few will be accu- rately related. Not until edition after edition has been brought before the public will the prominent events receive due notice, or the doubtful oncs have justice done them. A thousand eyes will be sharp- ened to criticise the narrative. A thousand new witnesses will arise to contradict, affirm, or correct. The publishers hope that the public will make due allowance for errors unavoidable in the first attempt to collect the facts pertaining to the early history of the county. In many instances the testimony, even of cye-witnesses, is very conflicting. This is true of the affairs of August, 1855. Hardly any two agree in their narratives of the circumstances. In this, as in other matters, the most probable statements are recorded. Nothing has been set down in malicc, and some things have been left out as being too much like tales told out of school; as far as possible con- signing them to oblivion.
Having resided over a quarter of a century in the county, and acted a part, though a humble one, in
many of the circumstances narrated, the writer has drawn largely on his own memory for many of the incidents.
The chapters on geology and mining, will, it is hoped, furnish interesting and profitable reading to all, especially those engaged in mining. The facts and theories are the result of years of observation, and many miles of travel, and are not retailed at second hand from Whitney or other scientists. The observations on mining have been compiled from the statements, opinions and experiences, of hun- dreds of intelligent miners. Thanks are due to all the superintendents, especially to those of the Ama- dor Consolidated, the Keystone, the Oneida, the Empire, the Downs and the Zeile mines for valuable information on gold mining, and to Edward Johnson of the Newton mine, for statistics and methods of copper mining.
The habits of the early miners will be read with interest. The writer hopes that some of the false impressions, produced by Bret Hart, Joaquin Miller, and other writers, regarding early Californians, will be dissipated by a true description thereof. The stories of the " Yuba Dam," "Tuolumne Debating Society" and others of that kind, have truth enough for a hint to a lively imagination and no more; and those who, in after years, judge California by those things, will be wide of the mark. The writer, having been a resident of the State since 1850, has an interest in the good reputation of the pioneers, and is glad to enter his protest to such absurditics being re- corded as history. With him, the work has been one of love, and a design to do justice to our coun- trymen, with no desire to hold them up to derision.
The publishers intended to give statisties of the growth of the mining and agricultural industries, but found the published returns entirely worthless. In some instances, the estimations were utterly ab- surd. In 1877, the yield of wheat in Amador county was estimated at 236 bushels to the acre, this esti-
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HISTORY OF AMADOR COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
mate being copied without remark into all the works on statisties. In 1866, the number of grape-vines was estimated at 557,773; in 1867, at 1,140,000; 1868, at 683,623. The estimates in many instances were mere guess work. The values of real and personal property as a basis for taxation, are the only esti- mates that approximate the truth. These have been given from year to year, in the continuous history of the county.
The history of the Arroyo Seeo Grant has been ex- hanstively treated. The facts in regard to this, the most important event in the history of the county, werd fast sinking into obseurity, and it was deemed best to colleet and preserve them, that our children might know the great wrong that was perpetrated under cover of the law. Valuable assistance in this was rendered by J. A. Forbes (now deceased), who was familiar with the whole history of the grant system.
The chapter on the Colorado Canon will be found interesting, and worthy of being preserved with the other faets bearing on the discovery and settlement of California.
The article on the Dead Rivers of California, eop- ied from the Overland Monthly, is well worth preser- vation in connection with the geology of the county, and will be welcomed by all who are interested in the ancient river system.
In making up this work, many authorities have been consulted; Forbes' History of California, writ- ten in 1835; Farnham's History of the Period of the Arroyo Seeo Grant; Annals of San Francisco and California, by Frank Soule; Tuthill's His- tory of California; History of the Pacifie School System, by John Swett; Cronise's Natural Wealth of California; Hittel's Resourees of California; Bay- ard Taylor's El Dorado; Seenes in El Dorado in 1849-'50, by S. C. Upham; Raymond's work on the Mines of the Pacific Coast, and others too numer- ous to mention. The Odd Fellows' libraries of Oak- land and San Francisco, the school library of Alameda county, and mereantile library of San Francisco, as well as private eolleetions, have been frequently visited. The files of the Alta Cal- ifornia; Spirit of the Times (M. D. Boruck's paper), and other eity papers have often been consulted, as well as files of the county papers, the Ledger, Sentinel, News and Dispatch. To the proprietor of the Dis- patch especially, are many thanks due. The county papers published previous to August 23, 1862, were mostly destroyed in the great fire. The loss is irrep- arable, though it is said the hermit at the Gate, J. G. Farrar, has complete files of all the papers ever pub- lished in the county, but the author was unable to get aeeess to them.
To point out all the sources of information, or to name all the persons giving us valuable assistance would be impossible. It had to be gathered from a thousand sources, and thousands of notes com- pared. Valuable assistance was rendered by Hon.
H. A. Carter in matters of the Arroyo Seeo Grant, Robert Reed, James Bagley, D. Stewart, II. F. Hall, Hon. R. B. Swift, Hon. L. Brusie, J. M. F. Johnson, Mrs. J. T. Henley, J. W. Surface, W. H. Fox, J. P. Martin, P. Scully, William Cook, John Fitzsimmons, Hon. I. B. Gregory, A. Thompson, Hon. J. W. D. Palmer, Isaac Waddell, Hon. William Waddell, Will- iam Maroon, J. C. Fithian, R. W. Palmer, George W. Porter, James M. Porter, Thomas Love, Louis Tel- lier, Ellis Evans, A. Askey, Mrs. Ellis Evans, J. D. Davis, James Meehan, George Durham, Hon. M. W. Gordon, Hon. John A. Eagon, Hon. A. C. Brown, J. C. Shipman, Thomas Jones, William Lowry, John Vogan, H. Goldner, J. A. Butterfield, C. J. Nickerson, C. A. Purinton, P. N. Peck, Wilmer Palmer, William Pitt, E. R. Yates, J. E. Reaves, R. Robinson, J. T. Wheeler, A. P. Clough, Jacob Cook, J. C. Ham, Ed- mund Wise, S. Loree, James Henry, L. Ludikens, L. MeLaine, D. S. Boydston, A. Petty, F. M. Whitmore, F. Maee, James Hall, J. A. Foster, W. Q. Mason, A. Jerome, S. Petty, R. Fry, Isaac E. Eastman (who was here in 1848), James Hall, E. Genochio, L. J. Fonten- rose, County Clerk, C. H. Turner, A. Cammetti, Dis- trict Attorney, B. Ross, Hon. J. T. Farley, Thomas Frakes, C. Gossum, T. B. Greenhalgh, J. F. Gould, C.J. Garland, C. B. Goodrich, W. H. Harmon, W. E. Huey, Henry Kutehenthall, James Livermore, S. S. Man- non, James McCauley, I. G. Nute, I. N. Randolph, W. T. Wildman, William Jennings, J. C. Williams, Frank Henderson, S. B. Boardman, H. H. Towns, Superintendent of Amador Canal, James Morgan, J. O. Bartlett, R. T. Bisbee, Wm. O. Clark, M. B. Church, T. A. Chieizola, A. K. Dudley, Jacob Em- minger, Dan. Worley, John Marchant, Wm. Moon, T. J. Phelps, A. S. Putnam, B. S. Sanborn, E. A. Smith, W.Southerland, Silas Tubbs, J. Northup, Leroy Worden, Hon. Chapman Warkins, and many others.
Many old residents have been interviewed in San Franeiseo and Oakland, and valuable information gained: John Hanson first Sheriff of Calaveras, John Burke, Dr. Henry M. Fisk, Dr. W. Ayer, J. W. Paugh, J. G. Severance, J. A. Robinson, N. W. Spaul- ding, Dr. Louis Soher, Hon. E. D. Sawyer, A. J. Houghtaling, W. C. Pratt, (the last three being mem- bers of the Legislature at the time of the Aet pro- viding for the organization of the county), Hon. W. W. Cope, Hon. Wm. Higby, Hon. Wm. B. Ludlow, B. S. E. Williams, Hon. J. W. Bicknell, Alvinza Hayward, A. W. Richardson, Hon. J. D. Stevenson (commander of the famous Stevenson regiment), J. Alexander Forbes, James Foley, who established Post-offiees in Amador, and others names not reealled.
The author may be permitted to say in conclusion that the labor has been a source of constant pleasure; that the memories of the many reunions with the pioneers will remain pleasant as long as life lasts. He hopes the patrons of the work will manifest the same good spirit in reading the work, passing lightly over the unavoidable imperfections, and remember- ing only that which is good.
11
EARLY HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA.
CHAPTER 1.
Scanty Knowledge of the Pacific Coast Fifty Years Since-Story of "Sergas," by Esplandin-Titles to Immense Regions Conferred by the Pope -Expeditions for Discovery and Settlement-Sir Francis Drake's Operations-Expeditions Overland-Marvelous Stories of a Big Cañon-Expedition of Father Escalante.
THOSE who studied geography forty or fifty years sinee, reeolleet how little was known of the "Great West." "Lewis and Clarke's Expedition to the Rocky Mountains and Oregon," contained about all that was known of the Pacific coast; and hundreds of persons now living, remember that that portion of the map now marked California and Arizona, was occupied with a table of distances from Wash- ington to our larger eities. The Rocky Mountains were represented as a single range, running from the Isthmus of Darien to the North Pole. More faets concerning the Pacific slope were learned in the first fifty years after the discovery of the New World, than in the following two hundred. The deserts of Arizona and the "Great Canon," shut off exploration and settlement from this direction, though rumors of a country rich in gold, had eircu- lation among the hordes that overrun Mexico soon after its conquest by Cortez and his followers. On such rumors, was founded the story of "Sergas" by Esplandin, the son of Amadis of Gaul, which eon- tained "the story of a country ealled California, very near to the terrestrial paradise, which was peopled by black women without any men among them, because they were aeeustomed to live after the manner of the Amazons. They were of strong and hardened bodies, of ardent courage, and great foree. The island was the strongest in the world, from its steep and rocky cliffs. Their arms were all of gold, and so were the caparisons of the wild horses they rode."
At that time, the world was filled with rumors of wonderful discoveries, by land and by sea. Some, like De Soto, set off in quest of the "spring of eter- nal youth," which it was confidently asserted was just on the other side of a certain range of mount- ains. It was easier to believe in a land of gold, than in a spring of eternal youth. This exciting book, written to satisfy the literary market of that age, was universally read in Spain; and, it is highly probable, was partly the eause for the expedition which afterwards, under the charge of Hernando Grijalva, actually discovered "California very near to the Terrestrial Paradise;" so that it is probable that a dreamy old romaneer in Seville, Spain, sug- gested the name of the country that was to upheave new continents in the commercial world.
IMMENSE REGIONS GRANTED BY THE POPE.
Cortez had achieved the conquest of Mexico with but a handful of men, in 1519; and nine years after returned to Spain, laden with the spoils of an empire larger and rieher, and, perhaps, more eivilized than
Spain herself; also with accounts of countries still richer and larger, to the north-west of Mexico. He was received with distinguished honors by Charles V., and rewarded by many royal concessions, among which were the right to one-twelfth of all the precious metals he could find, and a perpetual vice- royalty for himself and heirs, over all the countries he should diseover. It must be remembered that the Pope, in consideration of the dissemination of the " True Faith," had granted to the Emperor of Spain all lands that his subjeets might discover; so the title seemed to be fee simple in Cortez, who, from being a piratieal, roving vagabond, bounded into royal honors.
EXPEDITIONS OF DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT.
Returning to Mexico, he immediately set about the expedition; but, delayed by the difficulty of building and fitting out ships on the western coast, he did not get off until 1535. Having landed on the lower peninsula of California, he found the country so barren and uninviting, that he abandoned the expedition, and returned to Mexico in 1537. On his return, he heard of the De Soto expedition, which, like all the other expeditions, had nearly, but not quite, reached the land where arms, as well as trap- pings for horses, were made of pure gold. This led to the fitting out of another expedition in 1542, under José R. Cabrillo, who sailed northward as far as Cape Mendocino, which he named Cape Mendoza, in honor of his friend, the Viceroy of Mexico. Keep- ing within sight of the coast the greater part of the way, he discovered the Farallone Islands, also some of the more southern groups; but, like his predeees- sor, failed to see the future Golden Gate. In an English work printed in 1839, Mr. James Alexander Forbes states that two out of the three vessels, eom- posing this expedition, with some twenty men, were lost in the Gulf of California, in consequence of a mutiny and a difficulty with the natives, near La Paz.
These expeditions were so unsatisfactory, that Cortez resolved upon exploring the coast himself. Three vessels were fitted out at Tehuantepee, he marching overland with a large body of soldiers, slaves, settlers, and priests. Cortez explored the Gulf of California, proved that California was not an island, but part of the main land. For some time the Gulf of California was known as the Sea of Cortez. It was also called The Red Sea (El Mar Rojo), from having a reddish eolor from the wash of the Colorado river, which empties into the gulf at the head. Cortez returned to Aeapuleo, but con- tinued to employ others in the explorations, which were confined mostly to lands in the vicinity of the gulf. Several attempts were made to settle the land, but, as it was very barren and poor, the eol- onies made little progress. The natives were desti- tute of means and character, both sexes going nearly or quite naked.
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HISTORY OF AMADOR COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE'S OPERATIONS.
Sir Francis Drake reached the Pacific ocean in 1578, through the Straits of Magellan, thirty-six years after Cabrillo named the Cape of Mendocino, and, not having heard of the former expeditions, took possession of the whole country in the name of Queen Elizabeth. It has been claimed for him that he entered the Bay of San Francisco; but the lati- tude in which he located it (37° 59 5"), proves it to have been some miles north, at a place now called Drake's bay, though most of the old geographics give the present sea-port as " The Bay of Sir Francis Drake." It is strange that, having much inter- course with the natives, he should have failed to discover the great harbor which was in sight from some of the surrounding hills. The real discovery of the Bay of San Francisco, was made by Portala, in an overland expedition. What a vision, when he stood on the top of some of the low ranges of mount- ains surrounding, and saw the rich valleys reposing in a perpetual Indian Summer, stretching to the northward sixty miles. Little did the Spaniard, or those who came after him, suppose that the rivers flowing into the bay ran over golden sands, or that the hills near the outlet would be covered by a city larger than any of the cities of magnificent Spain.
It is now time to turn to the attempts to explore the country in other ways.
EXPEDITION OVERLAND-MARVELOUS STORIES.
The ill success attending the expeditions up the coast, induced explorations by land, especially as marvelous reports of rich walled cities in the far north, occasionally reached the capital of Mexico. In less than fifty years from the discovery of Amer- ica, soldiers and priests had explored the Colorado river for a considerable distance above its mouth. The stories of a gigantic people, walled towns, and impassable cañons a mile or more in depth, were con- signed to the same fate as the stories of mermaids and other sea monsters. Cervantes in Spain, and Dean Swift in England, had poured unsparing ridi- cule on the fabulous stories and achievements of the age succeeding the discovery of America. Since the exploring expedition sent out by the United States, the accounts of the great Colorado river have been overhauled and read with avidity, and what was then deemed a pleasant after-dinner fiction of some bibulous priest, has proved to be substantially cor- rect, though the Mojaves, who, doubtless, are the persons described as giants, do not quite come up to their ancestors of three hundred and fifty years ago.
As carly as 1540 the Viceroy of New Spain, inter- ested in the stories of a San Franciscan monk who had seen some of the territory, sent out an expedi- tion under the command of Vasquez de Coronado. When they struck the river, a party of twenty-five was detached and sent to the westward. They explored the river to the mouth, and from this point was sent the expedition which eventually succeeded
in discovering the bay. Another of Coronado's captains, named Cardinas, reached the pueblos of the Moquis, and from these towns made a visit, under Indian guides, to a portion of the river some hundreds of miles above the explorations of pre- vious parties. The history states that after a march over a desert of twenty days, they came to a river, the banks of which were so high that they seemed to be three or four leagues in the air. The most active of the party attempted to descend, but came back in the evening, saying they had met with dif- ficulties which prevented them from reaching the bottom; that they had accomplished one-third of the descent, and from that point the river looked very large. They averred that some rocks, which ap- peared from above to be the height of a man, were higher than the tower of the cathedral of Seville. This is the earliest notice in any work of the cele- brated cañon of the Colorado, the most astonishing of all mountain gorges, and which may, without doubt, be reckoned the greatest wonder of the world.
EXPEDITION OF FATHER ESCALANTE.
About one hundred years ago, Father Escalante visited the region north of New Mexico, keeping along the head-waters of the Colorado to Salt Lake, thence south-west to the Colorado river at a point nearly opposite that reached by one of Coronado's captains over two hundred years before. This mea- ger account of the great cañon is about all that is on record previous to the acquisition of Arizona by the United States, though trappers and hunters sometimes related incredible stories of a country where great rivers ran in cañons so deep that day- light never reached the bottom. As this river forms a part of the boundary of California, and was, to a great extent, from its unapproachable character, a barrier to the carly settlement of this coast, thus perhaps preserving it for its present occupants, and as it has recently become a center of interest on account of the mines in its vicinity, a somewhat extended account of this remarkable, and, even now, little known wonder may be justifiable, and will be incorporated into the work in a separate chapter.
CHAPTER II. BIG CANON OF THE COLORADO.
Lieutenant Whipple's Expedition-Lieutenant Ives' Expedi- tion-First Attempt to Explore the Canon-Land Party Organized-One Sight of the River-First Exploration- . Unwilling Venture-Consider the Situation-Death of One of the Parties-Three Months in the Canon-Arrival at Fort Colville-Exploration Made Under the Direction of the Smithsonian Institute-Indescribable Character of the Stream-Loss of Boats and Provisions-Death of a Portion of the Party-Emergence of the Survivors-Geology and Climate.
LIEUTENANT WHIPPLE'S EXPEDITION.
IN the Spring of 1854 Lieutenant Whipple in com- mand of an expedition for the exploration and sur- vey of a railroad route near the 35th parallel, reached the Colorado at the mouth of Bill Williams' Fork, and
AMADOR COUNTY HOSPITAL,JACKSON, AMADOR CO., LOOKING TOWARDS BUTTE MOUNTAIN.
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BIG CANON OF THE COLORADO.
aseen ded the river from that point about fifty miles and reported the country as mostly impassable. From an elevated point a view of an apparent valley or course of a river could be seen, which seemed to be a net-work of impassable cañons. This partial explo- ration still further intensified the interest in this region. That any portion of the United States was unapproachable was too absurd to credit.
LIEUTENANT IVES' EXPEDITION.
It was not until 1857 that an appropriation became available for further exploration. A small steamer was constructed for the purpose of ascending the river and shipped to San Francisco in parts, and thence re- shipped to Fort Yuma, where it was put together. When loaded it drew somewhat less than two feet of water, and the river was ascended four hundred and fifty miles above Fort Yuma. Sometimes the little craft was nearly overwhelmed in the treacherous cur- rents and sometimes the men were obliged to tow the steamer over shoals where it would touch bottom continually. Bands of natives would follow the boat, hugely amused with the puffing, snorting canoe that was, apparently, so helpless and good for noth- ing. At length the party came in sight of the much talked of cañon, of which so little was known and so much conjectured. The enormous, perpendicu- lar walls of roeks, hundreds of feet high, which had formed the banks of the rivers in many places, had prepared them for wonders, but they did not ex- pect to see a large river come out of a gate-way two thousand feet high and only a few feet across. If the ancients had known of this place they would have added new horrors to their infernal regions.
FIRST ATTEMPT TO EXPLORE THE CANON.
The attempt to navigate the cañon with the steamer without a previous reconnoissance was thought too hazardous, and a boat expedition was organized. Lieutenant Ives with three or four men entered the dark gateway. With much labor they worked their way, sometimes rowing and sometimes dragging the boat over rapids. Night coming on, the party took' advantage of a small shingle beach for a camping place. Some drift- wood lodged in a cleft of rocks furnished material for a camp fire. There was no need of sentinels. Eternal silence reigned ; not even the chirping of an insect broke the low murmer of the waters as they wound their tortuous way through the dark depths. We quote freely from his report to the Secretary of War :-
" March 10, 1858. * Darkness supervened with surprising suddenness. Pall after pall of shade fell, as it were in clouds, upon the deep recesses about us. The line of light through the opening above at last became blurred and indistinct, and, save the dull red glare of the camp fire, all was enveloped in a murky gloom. Soon the narrow belt again brightened as the rays of the moon reached the summits of the mountains. Gazing far upwards upon the edges of the overhanging walls we witnessed the gradual illumination. A few iso- lated turrets and pinnacles first appeared in strong
relief upon the blue band of the heavens. As the silvery light descended and fell upon the opposite crest of the abyss, strange and uncouth shapes seem to start out, all sparkling and blinking in the light, and to be peering over at us as we lay watching them from the bottom of the profound chasm. The contrast between the vivid glow above and the black obscurity beneath, formed one of the most striking points in the singular picture. This morning as soon as the light permitted, we were again on the way. * * * The cañon continued to in- crease in size and magnificence. No description can convey an idea of the peerless and majestic grandeur of this water-way. Wherever the river makes a turn the entire panorama changes, and one startling nov- elty after another appears and disappears with be- wildering rapidity. Stately façades,august cathedrals, amphitheatres, rotundas, castellated walls and rows of time-stained ruins surmounted by every form of tower, minaret, dome and spire have been moulded from the cyclopean masses of rock that form the mighty defile. The solitude, the stillness, the sub- dued light and the vastness of every surrounding object, produced an impression of awe that ultimately became almost painful. As hour after hour passed, we began to look anxiously for some kind of an out- let from the range, but the declining day only brought fresh piles of mountains, higher apparently than any before seen. We had made up our minds to pass another night in the eañon and were search- ing for a spot large enough for a resting place, when we came into a narrow passage between two mam- moth peaks that seemed to be nodding across the stream, and unexpectedly found at the upper end the termination of the ' Black Cañon,' and we came into rather of an extensive valley, without a trace of vegetation however; but the hills and mountains around were in parti-colors and prevented the scene from being monotonous. The length of the Black Cañon is about twenty-five miles. It was evident that the river could be navigated no farther. Climb- ing a mountain nothing but a confused mass of vol- canic rocks piled in eonfusion upon each other eame to view. * *
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