USA > California > Amador County > History of Amador County, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 23
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 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76
"Nigger in the bed With your sister wed."
But the more thoughtful knew that two opposing civilizations had met in the " irrepressible conflict;" the one based on the rights of all men to pursue their own substantial happiness; the other, on the customs which made privileged classes of kings, nobility, and hereditary masters, with the concom- itants of subjects and slaves. It must be confessed that in the history of the ages that have gone before, the privileged classes have usually won the field.
The relative strength of the parties, as manifested by the vote for Governor, was: For Stanford (Repub- lican), 1,299; Conness (Douglass Democrat), 1,258; Mc Connell (Breckenridge Democrat), 827.
The following persons were elected in Amador county :-
State Senator-R. Burnell.
Assemblymen-G. W. Seaton, W. A. Waddell.
Supervisor, District No. 3-James H. Allen.
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
Township No. 1-J. G. High, G. S. Smith.
Township No. 2-Chas. English, J. A. Peters.
Township No. 3-H. T. Barnum, John Doble.
Township No. 4-J. S. Hill, H. Wood.
Township No. 5-R. C. Brown, E. B. Styles.
Township No. 6-Green Aden, B. Nichols.
Township No. 7-S. H. Loree, N. Vipon.
AMADOR WAGON ROAD REVIVED.
The increasing importance of the Nevada mines, the discovery of the veins at Markleeville, Silver City, and other places in the eastern part of Amador county, the transportation of enormous quantities of goods over the Placerville route, and the conse- quent prosperity of that portion of El Dorado county, traversed by the road, induced the friends of an Amador tramontane road, to make another effort. Accordingly, in answer to the requests of a large number of petitioners, the Legislature granted a
second trial, specifying how the road should be built, in case the people voted for it. An election was held May 10, 1862. About sixty per cent. of the popu- lation voted, the measure being carried by less than half of the voters in the county. Towns along the proposed line of the road, or connected with it, voted nearly unanimously for it. Towns outside, like Lancha Plana, were equally opposed to it. The question was decided by a vote of 1,307 for, and 542 against.
VOTE BY PRECINCTS For or Against the Amador Wagon Road, May 10, 1862.
PRECINCTS.
Issuance of Bonds
For the Road and
Bonds ........ and Issuance of
|Against the Road
Amador ... .
14
54
Sutter Creek.
117
29
Badgers Store.
40
8
Forest Home.
34
1
Fiddletown ..
209
Drytown
18
80
Arkansas.
19
. .
Aqueduct City
30
5
Fosters Ranch.
24
....
Upper Rancheria.
50
13
Pine Grove.
64
1
Volcano. .
416
7
Butte City .
22
9
Clinton. .
21
7
Lancha Plana.
126
Q. Ranch. . .
25
3
New York Ranch.
20
9
Jackson.
97
101
French Bar
15
1
Ione City.
65
64
Iowa Flat
1
24
Total.
1307
542
A. J. Potter, Wm. Crangle, and W. C. Jennings were chosen a Board of Commissioners to build the road.
The franchise for building this road was granted to C. D. Burleson, James Tullock, E. B. Wooley, Geo. Johnson, R. M. Briggs, David Coblentz, M. Tynan, and Leroy Worden. The county was permitted, by Act of the Legislature, to assist these parties to the extent of twenty-five thousand dollars in bonds bearing twelve per cent. interest per annum, payable in one, two, three, four and five years from date. In case the county donated these bonds, the road was to be finished by the 1st of October of the same year, or the franchise was to be forfeited. The road was to be sixteen feet wide, and the maximum grade eighteen feet to the hundred. Tolls were per- mitted as follows :-
For each loaded wagon, one dollar; for each ani- mal attached, twenty-five cents; loaded pack-ani- mals, each twenty-five cents; pleasure carriages and buggies, one dollar; empty freight wagons and unladen pack-animals, half rates. The tolls were to be reduced twenty per cent. at the end of five years.
The route was divided into five sections, begin- ning at Antelope Springs, thence to Tragedy Springs, which formed section No. 1; thence to the crossing
99
AT THE BEGINNING OF 1860.
of the outlet of Silver lake, which formed seetion No. 2; thence to Carson Spur, No. 3; to Summit lake, No. 4; and Hope valley, No. 5; the road at the latter place intersecting the Big Tree and Carson Valley road. The payment of the bonds was provided for by taxes as follows, levied on all property :-
1862-Twenty-five cents on each $100.
1863-Fifty cents on each $100.
1864-Forty-five cents on each $100.
1865-Forty cents on each $100.
1866-Thirty-five on each $100.
1867-Thirty cents on each $100.
When the vote was found to be in favor of the road, quite a rush was made to get favorable locations for public houses, and several tine buildings were erected at different points along the road. Saw-mills were con- strueted with the expectation of supplying both the Washoe mines and the Sacramento market. On com- pletion of the road a stage line, in connection with the Sacramento and Stockton lines, took passengers to Silver Lake and other way places. Quite a trade sprang up over the road, the farmers carrying their fruit and produce to Washoe. The travel had to be abandoned as winter came, on account of the snow, which fell to the depth of from three to twenty feet, the last named being the usual depth at Silver Lake. The deep snow very often crushed the houses and destroyed the furniture. A fine house near Corral Flat, owned by Goldsworthy and Mayo, was de- stroyed in this way. The road did not answer the expectations of the publie. The trade was not diverted from the Placerville road, and, on the completion of the railroad to Nevada, both roads fell into compara- tive disuse. The lower portion of the road is used to take lumber from the mountains, and, in Summer, a few visitors to Silver Lake give a little life to the higher portion.
IMPEACHMENT OF JAMES H. HARDY.
Hardy was Judge of the Sixteenth Judicial Distriet comprising the counties of Amador and Calaveras. He was a man of undisputed talents, great inde- pendence of character, amounting to recklessness. Like all men of that character, he took no middle course, was always in one extreme or the other, and made hosts of friends as well as enemies. Early in the contest he took the side of the South; often boasted of being a rebel, expressed the opinion that the Government had gone to hell, drank to the success of the Southern Confederacy, and conducted himself generally in a way hardly suitable to the position he occupied. Early in the session of the Legislature of 1862, Judge Campbell of Calaveras, prepared articles of impeachment, numbering some twenty or more, charging him with malfeasance in office on divers occasions; one specification being a charge of violating his oath of office in procuring the dis- charge of David S. Terry, on his trial for killing Broderick. The article alleged that a change of venue had been made to Marin county, where Hardy
was holding Court; that, with his knowledge and consent, the clock had been put forward; that he opened Court at ten according to the clock, although it was much earlier by the true time; that the trial was hastily and indecently hurried through, with- out giving time to get the witnesses on the part of the State; that, although the important witnesses were then on the way from San Francisco, and, even in sight on the bay, being detained by con- trary winds (there then being no steam-ferry), he refused to continue the Court, and ordered the jury in the absence of the witnesses, to find for the acquittal of Terry, setting him free. On this charge, the Assembly, sitting as a High Court of Impeach- ment, was evenly divided, standing eighteen to eighteen. On the charge of uttering disloyal senti- ments, and using language unbecoming his high posi- tion, he was found guilty, and suspended from per- forming the duties of the office.
Judge W. H. Badgely, afterwards unanimously elected to the position, was appointed to fill the unexpired portion of the term.
POLITICAL PARTIES IN 1862.
The disruption of the Douglass Democracy, became apparent early in the season. The efforts put for- ward by the South to maintain the Confederacy, and, by the Administration to break it down, eon- vinced the most skeptical that peace could come only by the utter defeat of one or the other. The Democracy now assumed a stronger tone. The Dispatch, their ably edited organ, did not hesitate to avow its sympathy for the Rebellion, and kept in its columns the Kentucky resolutions of 1798, which held to the right of each State to judge of any infrac- tion of the compact by any other State, as well as the right to choose it own remedy therefor, mean- ing that each and every individual of the family of States had a right to step out, at its will or con- venience. About this time, the "Knights of the Golden Circle " were organized in different parts of the county. Their meetings were generally held in out-of-the-way places, and as quietly as possible. The object of the organization was probably made known to but few of the members even, the design being to have the material well in hand to use in case an opportunity offered, rather than the execu- tion of any well-digested plan of aiding the Rebellion, or carrying the State of California out of the Union. A hundred and twenty-eight men had monthly meetings in the hills west of the Blue Ridge, near where Stony creek comes into Jackson creek; though, it is said, that a few meetings were held near Buena Vista. The organization was met by another, the "Loyal League," and also by the organization of the " Home Guards," who were sup- plied with guns and ammunition by the Govern- ment. The fact that the population of California was composed of people from all the States, ren- dered it quite certain that an insurrection would be
4
100
HISTORY OF AMADOR COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
attended with a fearful destruction of life and prop- erty. Property is always a powerful conservator of the peace; and it was much harder to arouse the people into a war of ideas than it would have been ten years before, when the farms, residences, and valnable stores, had not yet made their appearance; and no insurrection occurred.
When the Republican Convention met, a petition, signed by three hundred Douglass Democrats, was handed in, asking the Convention to drop the name " Republiean," disorganize, and form a Union party. As there was nothing in a name, and the objects of the two were essentially the same, the request was aeceded to. It will be remembered that the Doug- lass Democrats in the county, only a year before, had a much larger number of votes than the Breek- enridge Democrats; the relative numbers of the parties on the vote for Governor being for Stanford, 1,299; Conness, 1,258; MeConnel, 827.
They had swept all the county offices by majori- ties from three to eight hundred.
The vote for State Senator in 1861 was: For Bur- nell, 1,546; Farley, 1,029; Hanford, 753.
Mr. Burnell joined the Union party. The move- ment seems to have been preeoneerted throughout the State, as from this date the Douglass party dis- appeared. The Democratie party ceased to wear any qualifying prefix, and became, theneeforth, the "Simon Pure." The old and well-known war horses, Farley, Gordon, Axtell, and Eagan, still held their places as leaders in the ranks; but Porter and Briggs were now found with the Republicans. It will be seen that Wm. H. Badgely, who had been appointed to fill the unexpired term, made vacant by the impeachment of James H. Hardy, received the unani- mous vote of all parties.
ELECTION RETURNS IN 1862.
(Showing the relative standing of parties.)
State Supt. Publie Instruction. VOTES.
John Swett (Rep.). 1497
J. D. Stevenson (Dem.). 1327
O. P. Fitzerald (A. D.). 391
Distriet Judge.
Wm. H. Badgely [vice Hardy impeached] received the entire vote of. 3067
Assembly.
A. B. Andrews (Dem.) 1563
E. M. Simpson (Rep.). 1550
Edward Gallagher (Dem.) 1496
J. G. Severance (Rep.) 1524
County Judge.
M. W. Gordon (Dem.)
1595
J. M. Porter (Rep.)- 1560
County Clerk.
James W. Bicknell (Dem.) 1712
C. C. Belding (Rep.) 1464
County Reeorder.
A. Day (Dem.)
1692
Isaiah Heacoek (Rep.). Sheriff.
1501
R. Cosner (Dem.) 1765
S. F. Dexter (Rep.)
1431
District Attorney.
S. B. Axtell (Dem.) 1657
R. M. Briggs (Rep.). 1505
County Treasurer.
F. McGrath (Dem.). 1609
Antonio Arata (Rep.)
1556
Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Samuel Page (Dem.). 1790
E. B. McIntyre (Rep.) 1403
Public Administrator.
Geo. W. Beers (Dem.)
1668
Wm. Pitt (Rep.) 1510
Coroner.
Louis Wentzel (Dem.).
1670
J. Shumer (Rep.). 1506
Surveyor.
Geo. Kress
(Dem.).
1633
J. M. Griffith (Rep.) 1500
Supervisor, District No. 1.
I. B. Gregory (Dem.)
769
G. W. Withington (Rep.)
502
Township System.
For
327 Against
2075
THE GREAT FIRE
On the 23d of August, 1862, will be more particu- larly deseribed under the head of "Jackson," in the township histories, The principal interest at this point of our view is the destruction of the county buildings. It will be remembered that the town of Jackson donated the Court House, eosting some ten thousand dollars, to the county, the jail being after- wards added at an expense of more than six thousand dollars. On the morning of the 24th, the county was without a place of meeting for the Courts. Rooms were hired in different places for transacting the county [business, at high rates-one hundred dollars per month being paid for the use of a hall in which to hold Court. The offices of Sheriff, County Clerk, Treasurer, and Distriet Attorney, were kept from necessity in inconvenient and improper places. These eireumstanees indueed Judge Gordon to set ยท forth the necessity of ereeting eounty buildings, and the powers of the Supervisors in the premises, in the following petition :-
PETITION OF M. W. GORDON.
"To the Board of Supervisors, of Amador county, Cali- fornia: Your petitioner, a resident eitizen and tax- payer of said county, respectfully represents to said Board, that, by artiele eleven, seetion five, of the Constitution of said State, the Legislature thereof " have power to provide for the election of a Board of Supervisors in each county; and that these Super- visors, shall jointly and individually perform such duties as may be preseribed by law." Your peti- tioner states, that, in pursuance of said law, the said Legislature, at its sixth session, by an Aet approved March 20, 1855, did ereate and establish, in each of the counties of this State, a Board of Supervisors.
" Your petitioner says, that, both by the said Con- stitutional provision and by the provisions of said law, the sole power over the property of each county, is given to the Board of Supervisors, and is pro- hibited to the Legislature of the State, the Legisla- ture having the power to provide only for the eleetion of a Board of Supervisors, who shall perform such duties as may be preseribed by law.
RESIDENCE AND RANCH OF JAMES W. SHEALOR. 6 MILES E. FROM VOLCANO, AMADOR COUNTY, CAL.
RESIDENCE AND SAWMILL OF F. M.WHITMORE. ANTELOPE CREEK , NEAR VOLCANO, AMADOR COUNTY, CAL.
101
AT THE BEGINNING OF 1860.
" Your petitioner says that amongst the duties pre- scribed by law, to be performed by said Board, (Wood's Digest, page 692, section 91), is the duty " To cause to be erected and furnished a Court House, jail, and such other public buildings as may be neces- sary, and to keep the 'same in repair." It is true, that section 16, page 696, says: "The Board of Supervisors shall not, for any purpose, contract debts or liabilities, except those fixed by, or in pursuance of law; and whenever debts or liabilities shall have been created, which, added to the salaries of county officers and other estimated liabilities fixed by law for the remainder of the year, will equal the revenue of the county for current expenses, no allowance whatever shall be made of any account; nor shall any expense be incurred other than the salarios and fees expressly prescribed by, or in pursuance of, the law." But it will be observed that the erection and furnishing of a Court House and jail are fixed by law in section 91, clause 11.
" Your petitioner says that the granting of the powers in said Act to the Board of Supervisors by the Legislature, and the specification of the duties to be performed by said Board excludes the Legis- lature from all power over the : airs of each and every county in the State, and fxes those duties exclusively on the Board of Supe visors.
" Your petitioner says that, by article 514, section 2, page 127, Wood's Digest, Ja( son is the county seat of Amador county; and that, by article 670, section 59, page 154, the Court House must be situated at the county seat.
" Your petitioner says that the Court House and county jail of Amador county was destroyed by fire on the 23d of August, 1862; that these public buildings are necessary for the conducting of the civil and criminal business of the county, and that the public business cannot be transacted without them; that, as already shown, it is the duty of the Board of Supervisors to proceed, as soon as practicable, to erect and furnish a Court House and jail at Jackson, for the use of said Amador county.
"Your petitioner, therefore, moves the Honorable the Board of Supervisors of Amador county, on the 3d of October, A. D. 1862, to hear this petition, to examine the law and the facts in said petition alleged; and upon the allegations herein being proved, that said Board will decide upon erecting, as soon as practicable, a Court House and county jail, on the site of the late Court House and jail, not to exceed in cost the sum of twenty thousand dollars. September 15, 1862. M. W. GORDON."
Board of Supervisors-District No. 1, J. B. Greg- ory; District No. 2, H. B. Bishop; District No. 3, J. H. Allen.
On the 4th of October the Supervisors invited pro- posals for the building of a Court House and jail, according to plans presented, but on opening the bids at the following session they were found too indefinite for acceptation, and new ones were called for, according to a plan presented by S. D. Mandell, architect of the M. E. Church of Ione. It will be seen that during this year the debts were made which hung over the county for twenty years, bonds being issued for Amador wagon road, twenty-five thousand dollars; for Court House and jail an indefinite sum; for hospital, also uncertain.
October 3d, the Commissioners reported the com- pletion of the wagon road, and the full amount of the bonds authorized to be issued was paid over to the contractors.
POLITICAL PARTIES IN 1863.
The doubtful result of the war, the loss of friends and relatives on one side or the other by nearly all, begat an ill-feeling between the two parties that, at times, looked like the forerunner of hostilities. The Ledger and Dispatch now flung terms of reproach, more true than polite, perhaps, but bitter and unre- lenting. It was difficult to tell whether national issues, personal animosity, or desire for office, was the greatest motive in the conduct of the campaign. Men would be found first on one side and then on the other, as one or the other of these motives pre- vailed, and, it would seem, buried all doubts by an increased or simulated enthusiasm for the side adopted. An old politician expressed the sentiment that each side accused the other of all kinds of venal- ity, and knew themselves guilty of it. Every tech- nicality was used to further the interests of the dif- ferent individuals.
Some men were bold enough to throw technicali- ties to the winds, and fix up ballots by the hun- dred. The famous
FRENCH BAR AFFAIR
Occurred this season. At night the poll list num- bered twenty-six, but, during the counting, it swelled to one hundred and thirty-eight, with votes in the ballot-box to correspond. Jim Saultry was credited with planning and executing this brilliant raid on the enemy's ranks, which, however, failed to elect anybody. The names were said to have been taken from a Panama passenger list.
The eastern part of the county, up among the pine trees, had rather uncertain boundaries, and pleasure parties, or others could, according to the existing law, get up a precinct almost anywhere, and shape or influence elections. When the tempta- tions for fraud were so great, and the opportunities so frequent, nothing less than divine strength would take the just course, and we have to look in century- old annals for politicians of that character.
Complaints, that the collecting of taxes by the Sheriff gave too much importance to that office, hav- ing become general, the Legislature provided for township Assessors and Collectors; and for six years, from 1863 to 1869, the latter method was in use.
At the election for Supervisors, held in 1863, quite a contest occurred as to the boundaries of Amador County in the vicinity of the Summit. The follow- ing extract from the Ledger will show the animus of the affair :-
" Out of curiosity, however, and for the purpose of branding Copperhead demagogues with the eternal and ineffacable stamp of burning infamy and dis- grace which of right belongs to them, the recount was made, and that same count did disclose and fasten
102
HISTORY OF AMADOR COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
upon the so-called Democratic party of Amador county, the most disgraceful, hellish, diabolical, and deep-dyed villainous scheme to commit a crime upon the body politic that ever disgraced the criminal calendars of the whole world. The bare thought of what he has done to the " tool " employed to execute it, must be a coal of fire in his brain, an enraged adder in his heart. He must feel as if every hair of his head were a serpent, like the hair of Eumenides, and his aids and abettors, the devil's scanty leavings, over whom, in their last hours, black despair shall sit, with carrion birds and secesh owls hovering over their heads."
As the article does not give any clue to the crime, it may be explained that tampering with the votes was suspected.
Ilaving given a sample of the cditorial style of the Ledger, the Dispatch must be equally favored. In the edition of June 4, 1864, referring to Lincoln, it said :-
"Is it possible that this long-shanked, flop-eared, jimber-jawed, mule-countenanced, backwoods, rail- splitting boor is wiser, purer, morc far-seeing, and understands better the powers of the Government than the great Father of his country, who presided over the deliberations of the Convention that made it? "
OFFICERS ELECTED IN 1863.
State Senator-R. Burnell.
Members of Assembly-Wm. B. Ludlow, A. C. Brown.
County Judge-J. Foot Turner.
District Attorney-R. M. Briggs.
County Clerk-E. S. Hall.
Recorder-H. Wood.
Sheriff-B. B. Redhead.
Treasurer-Otto Walther.
Surveyor-J. M. Griffith.
Supt. Sehools-D. Townsend.
Public Administrator-H. Robinson.
Coroner-C. H. Kelly.
From the minutes of the Board of Supervisors it appears that some doubt existed as to who was elected Supervisor from District No. 3. E. B. Woolley and E. A. Kingsley both appeared and claimed the seat. The latter had acted as Super- visor one month, and drawn pay therefor. On the 22d of November, Bishop and Gregory recognized E. B. Woolley as the member, Kingsley filing a pro- test thereto. The latter appeared for several days as a elaimant to the seat. November 6th, he was allowed thirty-seven dollars salary and mileage, Woolley retaining his position.
GENERAL RESULT IN 1863.
Governor.
F. F. Low (Rep.). 2,245
J. G. Downey (Dem.). 2,046
Congress.
T. B. Shannon (Rep.) 2,258
Wm. Higby (Rep.)
2,256
C. Cole (Rep.). 2,257
John B. Weller (Dem.) 2,042
John Bigler (Dem.).
2,043
N. E. Whitesides (Dem.) 2,044
County Ticket. Senator.
R. Burnell (Rep.) 2,165
J. T. Farley (Dem.) 2,022
Assemblymen.
W. B. Ludlow (Rep.) 2,166
A. C. Brown (Rep.) .. 2,182
Woodburn (Dem.) 1,908
- Lea (Dem.). 1,948
Sheriff.
B. B. Redhead (Rep.) 2,153
R. Cosner (Dem.) 2,043
County Clerk.
E. S. Hall (Rep.) 2,152
J. W. Bicknell (Dem.). 2,036
Treasurer.
Otto Walther (Rep.)
2,184
Francis McGrath (Dem.) 2,008
District Attorney.
R. M. Briggs (Rep.) 2,210
S. B. Axtell (Dem.) 1,869
Public Administrator.
H. Robinson (Rep.). 2,196
Beers (Dem.) .2,009
Surveyor.
J. M. Griffith (Rep.)
2,185
Kress (Dem.) 2,003
This estimate includes the vote of the territory afterwards incorporated into the territory of Alpine.
TOWNSHIP ELECTIONS, 1863.
No. 1-John Burke, Collector; J. G. High, C. Y. Hammond, Justices of the Peace.
No. 2-J. Farnsworth, Collector; H. M. Roberts, Chas. English, Justices of the Peace.
No. 3-T. A. Goodwin, Collector; H. T. Barnum, J. H. Bradley, Justices of the Peace.
No. 4-Thomas Dunlap, Collector; J. S. Hill, J. S. Porter, Justices of the Peacc.
No. 5-Chas. D. Smith, Collector; W. W. Swadley, R. C. Brown, Justices of the Peace.
No. 6-A. P. Wood, Collector; J. T. Phelps, B. Nichols, Justices of the Peace.
No. 7-M. B. Oliver, Collector; W. H. Jones, Jacob Emminger, Justices of the Peace.
No. 8-S. A. Hawkins, Collector; O. Bonney, J.
B. Marshall, Justices of the Peace. No. 9-D. N. McBeth, Collector; Geo. J. Newman, J. C. Ransom, Justices of the Peace.
TAXES FOR 1863 BY TOWNSHIPS.
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.