USA > California > Amador County > History of Amador County, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 40
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" As I have before stated, the fire broke out at a quarter before two o'clock, and ended its course at five. At that hour definite information was received at this place of the great disaster. In fifteen minutes a meeting was held in front of H. Atwood's Union Hotel, presided over by Jeff. Gatewood, Esq. The circumstances were narrated, and a committee con- sisting of Dr. Hærchner, W. S. Moses, and Dr. Soher appointed to collect subscriptions. At six o'clock a four-horse team, belonging to Mr. Taft, started laden with provisions and blankets, under charge of Mr. Chas. Spiers, which reached Jackson about half-past eight o'clock, much to the joy of the inhab- itants of the desolate place. At eight o'clock an adjourned meeting was held at the Court IIouse, where reports were made that at least fifteen hun- dred dollars in provisions and money had been collected, and seven or eight teams forwarded to Jackson with provisions. Judge Badgely spoke at this meeting, and gave a detailed account of all the circumstances, he having gone through the fire. I never saw such good feeling manifested by any pco- ple as those of this place, and more promptitude shown in acting in such a matter; without their aid, the people of Jackson would have been in a terrible condition. They acted in a manner which will always cause Mokelumne Hill to be remembered with pride and pleasure.
.
"On this morning sixty dollars' worth of fresh bread, innumerable provisions and blankets were sent. When I arrived at Jackson this morning, thirteen hours after the fire, there were at least a dozen loads of joist, lumber, and planking, in different localities, waiting for the burning embers to cool, preparatory to rebuilding. The town will be rebuilt long before the rainy season, although the losses are severe, at least seven hundred and fifty thousand dol- lars, upon which there is said to be an insurance of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, which I hope is the fact. The fire-proof buildings were about as much fire-proof as a shect of paper. The Chief Engi- neer ordered the walls of Steckler & Newbauer's building, at the corner of Main and Court streets, to be pulled down, and also that of Levinsky Broth- ers, on Main street, on account of their tottering condition. I should judge that in the construction of the former, at least two barrels of cement were
used, and, in the latter, not less than a barrel and a half-perfect counterfeits on the name of fire-proof.
"The Amador Ledger will be issued from the Chroni- cle building this week. I have not learned what dis- position the Amador Dispatch people have made in regard to a rc-issne. Springer saved his two inside forms, but not a letter of type besides. In regard to the fire department of Jackson (every member of which is a sufferer by the firc), too much praise cannot be awarded for their efforts. They were unfortunate, it is true, in their choice of position, and, like McLellan, were forced to change their base of opera- tions, and in doing so the enemy attacked their right, left, and center; but notwithstanding all that, they made a gallant fight. Disastrous fires have befallen other departments much more experienced than they. In rebuilding the town, I would suggest to the depart- ment of Jackson to locate one of their engines in the neighborhood of where the Louisiana and Union Hotels stood, near where the new hall was to have been built, and the truck, on Court street, above where it stood before.
"It will never do in the world to mass the appa- ratus as was the intention before the fire; and above all, more cisterns and larger ones; they are the real dependence for a prompt supply of water in the event of a fire. To say that we sympathize with Jackson in this great disaster is unnecessary. The Spirit gives prompt assurance of that. To condole with Californians is not to be thought of, but that there may never be a repetition of the event of Sat- urday last is our fervent wish. B."
JACKSON FLOOD, FEBRUARY 17, 1878.
A remarkable flood occurred in Jackson and vicinity, on the 17th of February, 1878. For some weeks the streams had been bank full; but, as sailors say, everything was made snug and tight, and no one anticipated any particular trouble, and were unprepared for a flood which had no precedent in the history of the State. Since the denudation of the hills of their wood, the country has become sub- ject to extraordinary showers, the rain coming down in torrents, or, as the people usually call them, cloud bursts, which seem to be a condensing point, or meeting, of two opposing currents of wind which remain stationary for some considerable time over a tract of country. The strip of land ten or twelve miles wide near the foot-hills, seems to be particu- larly subject to these rains. Several of these showers have passed over the bare hills in the vicinity of Lancha Plana, and more particularly along the ridge west of Jackson and Sutter creek. Fifteen, or even ten minutes' rain, was enough to raise a stream three feet deep, in a gully two or three hundred yards long; and streams that have a mile or two in length, come roaring along with a breast or wall of water, generally held back to some extent, by trash or timber, of five or six feet, running a stream decp enough for a steamboat to float, where ten minutes before there was scarcely a drink for an ox. Usually, these showers extend over but a small space; otherwise, general destruction would occur. Those who were watching the weather on that Sun- day morning, noticed a dense bank of clouds to the south-east, with a line something like the colors
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HISTORY OF AMADOR COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
seen in tempering steel, dividing this bank from a similar one in the north-west, both banks of clouds charged with water; both seemingly determined to "fight it on that line," the ominous line of precipita- tion being drawn just over Jackson. The wind which for some time had been quite a gale, ceased, like a breathing spell before two opposing armies lock themselves in the embrace of death. The fall of a leaf could be heard on the ground, but, high up in the air could be heard the roaring of the fierec, surcharged currents, as they met each other. Down came the rain, great drops as large as bullets, some fect apart at first, but soon ncarer together, until one could not sec ten steps away; in five minutes the hill-sides were a sheet of running water, the little gulches were creeks, and the crceks, rivers; still the rain continued for some time. When its force scemed exhausted, and silenee had come, a great roar of rushing waters, mingled with shouts and shrieks, was heard; the waters from the head of the north fork, and the other forks heading near the New York ranch, had come rolling in a wall or breast, variously estimated at five to ten feet high, carrying before it houses, barns, logs, fences, and uprooted trccs.
It struck Chinatown (the north end of Jackson), carrying everything in its way. A few were able to take out some articles, but in five minutes the stream was full-struggling Chinamen, houses, shops, goods, all in a rolling mass. Most of the Chinamen escaped before the stream entered the cañon. Six of them went down the stream in the wreck, the bodies being afterwards found all the way from Jackson to Buena Vista. Some white men, assisting the Chinamen, were carried down the stream, but saved themselves before they entered the cañon. In half an hour or more after the flood had swept Chinatown away, the middle fork, which is longer than the north fork, eame booming the same way, with a bulk-head of timber, fences, and trees. It struck the bridge across the ereek near Genochio's store, forming a dam, and for a few minutes the stream turned through Jackson, in front of the National House; and at one time it secmed as if all that end of the town would be swept away in one wreck. Several persons narrowly escaped drowning in the streets. A foot-bridge, belonging to Mushet, lodged in the street in front of the National. The bridge finally gave way, and the channel cleared, car- rying with it all the out-houses and lumber in its course. The flood was over, and people eould then estimate their losses.
The Amador Canal Company were damaged to the sum of thirty thousand dollars by the breaking of reservoirs and ditches.
The French garden above Jackson lost about two thousand dollars; Geo. Clark, four miles above Jaek- son, one thousand dollars.
Some considerable damage was done to ranches in the valley also.
The following is a partial list of the losscs :-
ON WATER STREET.
A. S. Kelly. $ 100 00
J. B. Phelps $ 500 00
National Hotel ..
250 00
H. 1. Stribley
200 00
Benjamin & Ledou. . 1,000 00
Mrs. Westfall.
100 00
Thos. Jones
500 00
N. Draper.
100 00
R. W. Palmer.
600 00
B. S. Sanborn
300 00
B. F. Richtmyer.
100 00
R. M. Briggs.
100 00
Bridges
7,500 00
Henry Barton.
500 00
Mrs. S. Bradley.
1,000 00
ON MAIN STREET.
E. G. Freeman
100 00
Frank Guerra. 100 00
Mat. Ryan.
100 00
Madam Retrou ..
200 00
W. Little
100 00
B. Sanguenetti.
400 .00
A. C. Brown
100 00
Benjamin & Carreau
1,500 00
C. Weller.
100 00
Eight China stores
R. Hall.
50 00
and contents. ...
15,000 00
J. Williams.
100 00
P. Kelly
700 00
E. Genochio.
300 00
Geo. White.
300 00
F. Rocco.
2,000 00
Antone Silva ..
250 00
J. A. Butterfield.
700 0℃
John Belleuomini ..
200 00
INCIDENTS.
As one Chinaman sat astride of his house, which was whirling in the cañon, some one asked him :-
" Where you go, John ?"
" No sabe," says the Chinaman, in an impatient, savage manner. It was supposed that he was drowned in the cañon, but two or three days after the flood, he came to life, or rather he came walking into town, being probably the only man who ever successfully navigated Jackson creek through the cañon.
BIG FROLIC.
Thanksgiving day, 185-, was the witness of the most extraordinary frolic that ever occurred in the eounty. No one could tell how, or exactly when, it commenced, but as the sun went down it was evi- dent that there were sounds of revelry in the air; but this was no gathering of beauty and chivalry. As the whistling of the wind through the rigging sends the sailor aloft to make all snug, or the moan- ing of wind around the chimney portending a storm sends the thrifty housewife out to gather in her wash from the clothes-line, so at the ominous signs the careful mother sends after her son, and the pru- dent wife seeks her husband, for the Baechanalian press gang werc out.
Some were drinking who never drank before;
Those who always drank now drank the more.
As usually sober men found themselves getting more than was good for them, they determined that their friends should share the pleasure or disgrace. An eminent lawyer once asked, how do men, who never get drunk, know cach other ? Did not Byron say of a man, " He is a splendid fellow and I long to get drunk with him " ? and of another that he had "tried him drunk and tried him sober, there's nothing in him"! All who had held office, or had run for it, or were known to want it, as well as those who drank, were sought out and pressed into service. When the hunt commenced some retreated to their homes, but the warrant for arrest reached them even there, and men were torn from their wives' arms. O. D. Araline's wife, firmly locking her arms around her husband, deelared that if they took her husband
i
RESIDENCE & RANCH OF MRS MARY M. KIDD, JACKSON VALLEY, AMADOR C9 CAL.
DIE
LITH. BRITTON & REY. &. f.,
RESIDENCE AND RANCH OF 320 ACRES, INGLEFIELD B. GREGORY, JACKSON VALLEY, AMADOR CO CAL.
177
JACKSON.
they should take her also, and looked as if she meant it too, and the party had to leave him.
They took possession of the Young America saloon and appointed a door-keeper who locked the door on the outside, opening only for the admittance of new victims, no egress being permitted. A press gang waylaid the Judge, who was expecting to hold court the next day. He resisted their importunitics a long time on the grounds of public duty, but he had been known to take a spree and no excuse would answer now. "Good-bye, boys," said he; " it can't be helped." What took place on the inside can only be guessed. Some in their wild excitement were tossed like foot-balls over the tables. Speeches and songs, and shouts mingled in confusion dire. Four- teen dozen of champagne had their necks broken. Some were soon helpless on the floor; one or two escaped from an upper window, and some were able to keep up the orgies till midnight. When morning came those who were able had left. The Judge's pants were found on the steps of the Court House, other garments in other places. He, with a sense of public duty still uppermost, was delivering a charge to an imaginary jury. The officers of course took care of him until he was sufficiently sober to attend to business, which was not for some days. The Grand Jury found a Bill against him for mis- demeanor and conduct unbecoming a magistrate. The Judge complimented the jury on having fear- lessly done their duty, acknowledged the delinquency and promised that they should never have occasion to do so again, and with his silver tonguc, which so often had charmed away opposition, turned aside the righteous indignation of his constituents.
CELEBRATION OF ADMISSION DAY.
[Taken from Amador Dispatch.]
.
"The celebration of the 30th anniversary of the admission of California into the Union by the Ama- dor Pioneer Association, in this place last Thursday, was one of the most pleasing, unique, and successful affairs of the kind ever witnessed in the county, and reflected great credit upon the Association, owing to the excellent manner in which the programme was carried out from beginning to end. The pro- cession was formed about ten o'clock, and was quite an extensive and imposing affair, extending nearly the whole length of Main street, and consisting of pioneers and others on foot to the number of about one hundred and fifty, many of whom were armed with guns of various kinds, axes, and other imple- ments generally used in frontier life, also, pioneers and others on horseback, followed by a large num- ber of vehicles of various kinds, including a regular emigrant ox-team, driven by our pioneer friend, William Cook of Buena Vista, who was rigged up for the occasion in regular '49 style, including a huge leather belt to which was attached the inev- itable pistol, bowie-knife, tin cup, etc. This and the dilapidated looking emigrant wagon which followed, loaded with women, children, frying-pans, pots, ket- tles, tin pans, and other cooking utensils, formed one of the most familiar and noticeable features of the grand procession, and created much merriment among the hundreds of spectators who thronged 23
our streets. After marching through the principal streets of the town, under the command of the hand- some and energetic Marshal of the day, R. W. Pal- mer, who was closely followed by Kay's Ione Cornet Band, the procession wended its way to the picnic ground in Walker's ranch, where the literary and musical exercises were gone through with, consist- ing of an oration by Hon. J. A. Eagon, poems by C. B. Swift and J. F. Gould, an impromptu address by Hon. J. T. Farley, singing, music by the band, etc. Our room will not permit us to speak in detail of these exercises, but suffice it to say that they all did well, and the audience were well satisfied there- with. At the conclusion of these exercises, all hands were invited to partake of a sumptuous lunch, consisting of pork and beans, and other substantial edibles, and the invitation was accepted with a vim seldom surpassed in this or any other country. After dinner, horse-racing, foot-racing, and other amusements were indulged in until near sundown, when the procession and many of the spectators returned to town to prepare for the grand ball in the evening.
"The ball, like everything else connected with the celebration, was a grand success, Love's hall being well filled with gay and festive pleasure-seek- ers of both sexes, who enjoyed themselves in a man- ner well calculated to create envy in the heart of a king or prince-or even a country editor. In short, nothing transpired during the day or night to mar the pleasures of the occasion, and the affair will hereafter constitute one of the most pleasing pages in the history of Amador county."
MOKELUMNE RIVER.
It is uncertain whether gold was first mined on the Mokelumne river or at Ione valley, though the discovery, according to Weber's account, was on the Mokelumne. In the Summer of 1848 James P. Mar- tin passed through Ione valley, on his way to Mokelumne river, Hicks' rawhide house being the only improvement there. A man was mining at lone. A Spanish cart was doing duty as a house near where the National Hotel now stands, there being no houses at the time, or even mining, at Jackson. At first, Martin's company of eight men were the only ones on the river, though quite a num- ber came in shortly afterward. They did very well, making several thousand dollars each in the course of two months. They had some fears of Indians, who, however, did not trouble them. Nearly the whole party were taken sick with diarrhea, and com- pelled to leave. Colonel Stevenson, with about one hundred of his men, who had previously been mus- tered out of service, mined here and at Mokelumne IIill in the Autumn of the year. The Colonel drew up the first code of mining laws, perhaps, ever writ- ten in the State, for the use of his men. A party of his was the first to turn the river, the place being near the crossing. A cabin was built on the ground, afterwards proving very rich, though his party did not discover it. He returned to Sutter's Fort in December, at the beginning of the rainy season, a few inches of snow having fallen at Mokelumne Hill. With regard to the report that a decp snow fell all over the State in that year, and that he had
·
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HISTORY OF AMADOR COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
to send a patry of relief to his men, the Colonel says he knows nothing of it; that the men were well supplied with provisions, and could have stood any siege of snow. Colonel Stevenson, from whom these facts were gathered, though nearly eighty years old, is still hale and hearty, his memory having a full retention of the early incidents in his California life.
SPRING OF '49.
Very many came the following Spring. A com- pany, consisting of J. S. Smythe; Michael and John O'Neal; Peter Jacobs, a German; Captain Rogers, from the Sandwich Islands; Godey and Perry Lake, the two latter of Stevenson's regiment, dammed the river near the mouth of Rich gulch. The claim did not equal their expectations; that is to say, it did not yield a bucketful of gold a day, and they abandoned it.
Colonel James gave his name to the bar. His part- ners were two brothers, Vanderslice, one a doctor, the other a gambler. Judge Smith, who afterwards killed Colonel Collyer at Jackson, and a man by the name of Haskell, kept a store there. Soon after the immigration got in it was estimated that a thousand men were mining on the river within a distance of two or three miles, mostly with pans and rockers. A large meeting of miners was called to drive away foreigners, which project however, did not carry. McKimm mined here in '49, as also did Donnelly (who is now driving a wood team), J. D. Davis and Dr. Elliott. McKimm had at one time seventy-five pounds of gold-dust; Donnelly had, also, about the same quantity. N. W. Spaulding and Company whip- sawed out thirteen thousand feet of lumber one season, to flume the Mokelumneriver. The project was determined upon by getting a few cents' worth of gold in a shovel of dirt out of a deep hole in the river. When, after immense labor, the river bad been dammed and flumed, and the channel exposed, all the gold of consequence found in the claim, was in that immediate spot, and amounted to about one hundred and sixty dollars. As many thousands would not have been considered anything great.
The river in the vicinity of Rich gulch and Mur- phy's was very rich, men taking out with a rocker several thousand dollars in a day. In some places the gravel would be " lousy " with gold, It must not be supposed that all fared this way, however. As many men then were wandering around " broke" as now. When Winter came on most of the men left, some going up the gulches and others to Jack- son and Mokelumne Hill, which now began to be permanent camps. At the present writing, one walking along the banks of the Mokelumne river, can hardly realize that the stillness, broken only by the murmur of the water, was ever otherwise. A few old cabins rotting away on the side-hills, or the relic of some chimney, where thirty years since the miner fried his slapjacks or dried his wet clothing, are all
that remain to tell the story of the thousands that toiled under a broiling sun, in the ice-cold water.
The following poem by Charles Boynton, written in 1853, will give an idea of the river in its best days:
TO TIIE MOKELUMNE RIVER.
To thee, Mokclumne, the bard His humble tribute pays,
And should he work but half as hard
In chronicling thy praise, As he has labored on thy bars, His daily grub to gain,
The reader would pronounce his verse A very labored strain.
Of thee, Mokelumne, I sing, For I have known thee long ;
And, from that knowledge, I can bring Some truth into my song.
Four long and tedious years have passed Since first I reached thy shorc,
And near thy stream my lot is cast, I fear, forevermore.
For now my pile is quite as small As when I saw thee first ;
Thy early freshets in the Fall My bubble fortunc burst.
The rise of water and of flour, And every drink a scad,
Together with the monte-bank, Soon took what dimes I had.
Time was-I mean in '49- When in each wild ravine And tributary gulch of thine, A jolly crew was found.
Who dug up chispas by the pound, And spent them fast and free,
Thinking that gold would still abound, As late as-'53.
But ah! a change came o'er their dream, Ere yet a year had sped; For '50 brought a living stream Of miners to thy bed.
Old Pike with half his stalwart sons, And Hoosierdom was thar,
While all the Suckers in the world Camped on each gulch and bar.
They turned thy waters from their course, Through many a rude canawl;
They dammed thee, from thy very source, Down to the lowest fall.
Ingratitude personified ! Without the slightest shammiug,
Each company was occupied In the hardest kind of damming.
But those who dammed thee, were the men, Who never made a dime; Thy waters raised indignant then Long ere the usual time;
They burst all dams and carried off Toms, rockers, pans, aud kettles,
And left each claim not worth a dam, And raised the price of wittles.
Mokelumne, thy source is in Nevada's hills of snow. And, when thine icy torrents reach The burning plains below,
A draught from thee is better far, The miners' thirst to slake,
Than choicest cobblers at the bar, That ever Bruce can make.
And though thy waves have ever been As free and uncontrolled, As when the New York Volunteers, First sought thy banks for gold, Soon will the Anglo-Saxon race, With science, labor, skill,
Throw over thee their mighty chain, And make thee work their mill.
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JACKSON.
Thy waters will be made to come And go at their command, Led around to wash their ore, Or fertilize the land. And even here in Jackson town We are expecting soon To see Cap Ham* and all his men Come sailing down the flume.
Reader, if Logan t had the time He would extend the song, But, like his liquor bills up street, 'Tis even now too long. Beneath Mokelumne's dark waves Lies many a precious nugget, And there the poet's fortune is If some one hasn't dug it.
Soher & Parrish's Big Bar bridge has quite a history. The first ferry, a dug-out, was run by a Seotchman, the price of passage being one dollar. Getting tired of the business, he donated it to Dr. Soher, who in turn gave it to John Hasley, who sold it in 1850 to Pope & Burns for fifty dollars. They bought some lumber and built a small ferry- boat, charging the same for crossing as formerly. Horses were made to swim by leading them beside the boat. Travel increasing, they began to make money rapidly, secing which, Dr. Soher thought to buy it back; but the stock had now gone up, the parties asking twelve thousand dollars for it. The Goodwins, Soher, A. J. Houghtaling, and Kenny bought it, the latter selling his share for six thousand dollars. The bridge was built in 1853, costing twelve thousand dollars-the road on the Amador side, twelve thousand dollars, and on the other, three thousand dollars.
MURPHY'S GULCH
Was naturally traced up from the Mokelumne river, into which it empties. It lies parallel to the great quartz lode, crossing it once, and derives its gold from the breaking down of that auriferous reef of slate. It has been the source of many fortunes, having been worked and re-worked for years. It is threaded by many veins of rich quartz, not extensive enough, however, to justify large mining. Murphy's gulch starts on the west side of the lode, keeping its course along the base for a mile or so; then crosses the lode, emptying into the river on the north side.
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