USA > California > Amador County > History of Amador County, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 42
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Starkey was a powerful man, and bore it until the flesh was cut into shreds, and the blood was dripping to the ground. At every swing of the riata the blood would fly off in the air and fall among the crowd. At the one hundred and twenty- fifth blow the doctor made a sign to suspend the whipping. He was untied and his shirt put on. He
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HISTORY OF AMADOR COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
was able to step up to the bar and take a drink of whisky, after which he laid down on a mattress in the corner of the room. A branding iron in the shape of the letter R, about two inches cach way, was made from a piece of hoop irou. Hicks applied it to the man's face. It did not make a very distinct letter, as the victim turned his face during the oper- ation. Perhaps Hicks had mercy on the man and purposely made it indistinct. Starkey's wife, who was present, wanted to share the punishment. After it was over, he was mounted on a horse behind his wife, and they left for their cabin, near the mouth of Jackson creek, where Frank McMurray's house now stands.
The bired man, Reed, received the twenty-five lashes, which eame near proving fatal, as he did not have the iron nerves of Starkey.
Many cattle had been stolen during the year, and Starkey's conviction had fixed the whole loss on him, though in after years it became a current opinion, in the mountains, that stealing cattle was a common practice on the ranehes. It is quite certain that teamsters and others would, at the close of Summer, drive their eattle and horses to the valleys to tres- pass on the farmers, who might sometimes have taken that way to get even. At any rate, a great crowd, mostly from the mines, eame to Starkey's the next day to hunt their missing cattle. Not finding them, they burned his house and voted to hang him. which they were in the aet of doing when Hieks, Reed, and other parties, who witnessed the punish- ment of the day before, coming up, persuaded the erowd to remit it on condition of his leaving the country. He recovered, and was seen afterwards driving a team in some of the Territories.
FIRST MILLS.
In 1831 1 Wooster and the Reed brothers built a saw-mill where J. Farnsworth's barn now stands. Reed was then living on the place now owned by D. Younglove.
FUN WITH GRIZZLIES.
In going to their daily work of hewing timber for the mill, they discovered bear tracks in the road, and the provisions, which they hung up in the trees. over night, were stolen by the grizzlies. Wooster and Baker, the latter of whom was a blacksmith, made steel traps, and sueeeeded in catching three of these monsters. The difficult and dangerous task of tying them was accomplished by R. Reed, with one assistant. They sold one to Hicks, who advertised for a bull and bear fight. A great crowd came from all directions to see so novel a spectacle. Among those who came from Winters' Bar, on the Mokel- umne river, was Dr. Brusie, who was then a Justice of the Peace there. The bear, however, died before the day fixed for the fight, and the day was turned into horse-racing. They also sold one to the Q ranch folks for the same purpose, and with the same result. The other one was eaged up in a pen on
the ground where Woolsey's lumber yard now stands, but finally broke out and ran away. A Cal- ifornia lion, or panther, was caught in a ravine north of Ione. An attempt was made to take him away alive, but the animal struggled fiercely, and died on the way, the day being very hot. Dr. E. B. Harris, .who built and was then keeping the afterwards " Newton Copper Mine House," stuffed the panther's skin and made it look natural as life, and twice as fierec. It was placed at the head of the chamber stairs. Many a stranger, who was indueed to pre- cede the landlord, has been frightened out of half a night's sleep by the glaring eyes and open mouth with the frightful fangs, of the well fixed up skin.
One Indian, trying to get the meat with which the trap was baited, got caught and had to stay until help could be got from Ione, the Indians not know- ing how to free him from the trap.
J. M. Wooster built the first house of hewed logs. It still stands where it was built, and is used as the sitting room of the Arcade Hotel. The house in which Judge Carter resides was the first frame built in the county. It was brought around the Horn in 1850 and is still a very good house. A man by the name of Baker did the first blacksmithing at a forge under a tree below the steam flour-mill. Abraham Sells built the first blacksmith shop on the corner west of the livery stable. He was bought out by A. Sheak- ley, who run it until he was burnt out in the fire of 1865. In the Spring of 1851, A. G. Lane opened the first store, on the corner now oceupied by J. P. Fer- rier's saloon. Reed, Wooster and Lane built the briek grist-mill in 1835, which runs by water-power and is now owned by Dr. Cumming. Daniel Stewart built the first briek store in 1855. Dr. E. B. Harris was the first practicing physician who located here.
ORIGIN OF THE NAME IONE.
The valley was named Ione before a town was started here, by Thomas Brown, who was a great reader. He was reading a historieal romanee of Bulwer, entitled " Hereulancum; or the last days of Pompeii," one of whose heroines was a very beauti- ful young girl named "Ione." By one of those happy thoughts which sometimes come to us like a revelation, it occurred to him that " Ione" was a most appropriate name for this valley, and he aecord- ingly gave it that name. But the town itself did not escape the fate of most California towns, without being christened evil names. It was named first, Bedbug, then Freezeout. Finally a meeting was called to decide on a name; a few were in favor of Wooster, but a majority were in favor of naming it after the valley, so it was christened Ione City. Thus it remained for Bulwer, the great English scholar, novelist and poet, to furnish a name for this beautiful town and valley. Wooster, after whom it was proposed to name the town, was the discoverer of the big trees in 1850, having followed some miners in that direction who were supposed to be going to
RANCH AND RESIDENCE OF JONATHAN H. RINGER, JACKSON VALLEY, AMADOR CO CAL.
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IONE VALLEY AND VICINITY.
Gold Lake. He cut his name on one of the trees with a hatehet. Andes Courtright was the first Jus- tiee of the Peace. W. C. Pratt was the first Assem- blyman eleeted from this town. Mr. Pratt was a man who went for everything with his whole might and strength. While in the Legislature he cither knew or thought he knew of immense sums of money being expended in the Senatorial election then pend- ing, Broderiek and Gwin being the candidates. He made a very enthusiastie speech without throwing mueh light on the subjeet however, but he told the members that he knew something of it. In those days people had a habit of mixing Spanish words into their talk. " I sabe moucha," said he. He was known ever after as "sabe moucha." Amador was then ineluded in Calaveras county, of which Henry A. Carter was the first Distriet Attorney.
FIRST SCHOOL.
The first school was taught by a man by the name of Meade in 1853, in a house owned by Reed. The Methodist church was organized in 1853, Thomas Riekey being the most active person in promoting the organization. He also kept the Irene Hotel, and a store at the same time. George B. Taylor was the first minister stationed here. He was a man of considerable talent, though some of his subsequent aetions would hardly square with the notions of ehureh people. The church building, used at that time, was converted into a paint shop some ycars since. About this time several families began to exert a moderating influenee on the manners of the people. There were then living here the families of Thomas Rickey, Robert Recd, R. D. Style, A. Preater, John T. Poe, I. B. Gregory, Judge Turner, Phillips, the MeMurrays, Speneer, and others. Therc were several marriageable girls, who uneonseiously exerted a good influenee in elevating the morals of the young men, who would visit the town to get a glimpse of them. Dr. E. B. Harris, the first praetie- ing physician to locate here, taught a singing-sehool which drew a erowd of well-behaved people.
FIRST FLOUR MILL.
The first flour mill was built in 1855 by Reed, Wooster, and Lane. At first it was intended for a feed mill but was soon afterwards improved so as to makc flour. The steam mill was built in 1856 by Thomas Riekey, though, at the time of the ereetion, it was but a small affair compared to what it after- wards beeame under the ownership of Hall & Son.
Daniel Stuart built the first briek store in 1855, John Edwards putting up the next, now oeeupied by George Woolsey. The school-house was built in 1858, the upper story being occupied by the Masonie fra- ternity. A town hall was also built in 1858, which was afterwards used by the Presbyterian denomina- tion as a chureh. The Baptist ehureh was built in '59.
THE METHODIST CHURCH
Was built in 1862, Bishop Simpson laying the corner- stone July 4th, Dr. Peek, Dr. Owens and several other 24
prominent men of the Methodist church assisting. Some effective solieitation was done and a large amount of money was raised, not cnough to complete the church however, which, owing to reverses which will be mentioned hercafter, remains, nearly twenty years afterwards, hopelessly in debt. A man by the name of Mandel was the architeet. The estimated eost of the edifiec was eight thousand dollars, but whether from ineorreet estimates of labor and material, or other causes, the church cost twiee as mueh, which, with interest paid on mortgages, and other debts pertaining to it, will make the total not far short of twenty-five thousand dollars.
A celebration was held the same day, Thomas Fiteh, the celebrated orator, being the speaker. A ear of young ladies representing the galaxy of States was a noticeable feature of the occasion. A eireus, and afterwards expensive fire-works, concluded the day. So many notable cvents are not often erowded. into one occasion.
The centennial celebration was an event in the history of Ionc. It was notable in many respects; for the unanimity and good feeling with which it was eondueted; the general and almost universal attend- anee of the people, and the marked differenee of the assemblage, in eharaeter and sex, from all former gatherings. In carly days a few seats of honor near the Chair would have aeeommodated all the' females and children who would be present. What a differ- ence a quarter of a century had made. As the hour for the cxereises approached, wagon after wagon unloaded children of all ages, and before long they took the town. They swarmed through every strcet and lane, and out of every door. The old '49ers who had daneed in glee around a woman's east-off bonnet, or taken a walk of miles to eateh a glimpse of a sun- bonnet flitting around a house, now stood aghast with the change. The tide had turned. Men were now emigrating to the mines, leaving a redundant female population. If the quails in '49 or '50 had donned female gear and eome tripping around the miners' cabins, the pioneers would not have been morc astonished than in 1876, to see the turn affairs had taken. Seores of attractive, blushing damsels thronged the grounds as if a natural product of the valley. The miner, with a red shirt, and revolver slung to his side, must now be sought in our Terri- tories.
A proecssion was formed under the charge of J. Brannan. An immense carriage had been impro- viscd for the occasion in shape of a pyramid, with the goddess of liberty seated on the apex, and young ladies scated around to represent the galaxy of States. Then followed a troop of boys dressed in continental uniform, with military companies, eiti- zens, and earriages containing the officers of the day. The exercises were held in a grove of shade trees at the foot of Church strect, near Hall's mills. Two thousand people were estimated to be present.
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HISTORY OF AMADOR COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS.
"J. D. Mason, president of the day, opened the meeting with the following remarks :-
" FELLOW-CITIZENS: It is unnecessary to announce the object of this gathering. The old and the young alike know why we celebrate this day. The cen- tennial of our nation's birth is a festal day in every civilized land. From an inauspicious beginning-a birth in pain and sorrow, and surrounded by adverse circumstances-our conntry has grown to marvelous dimensions, reaching from ocean to ocean, including in its boundaries the longest rivers, the largest lakes, mountain ranges rich in all valuable minerals, fertile valleys and plains, producing all the heart of man can desire, where the humblest laborer can rest in the bosom of his family, secure in the protection of just laws. Unlike nations of the Old World, no millions toil in sorrow that a pampered few shall rest in wealth and power.
"While other nations have marched to greatness through blood and carnage, crushing out other governments and civilizations, ours has achieved its victories over the silence of the desert, the lone- liness of the forest, and the rock-guarded treasures of the mountains. Her victories are the triumphs of peaceful industry, filling the land with churches, schools, and comfortable, happy homes.
"The earth is filled with the wrecks of nations that have flourished a time, only to be submerged in the surrounding barbarism; but the student of history will discover in the upheaval of thought which produced our free institutions, the germ of a greater, better, and more permanent eivilization than the world has ever seen, surpassing the wildest dreams of the ancients. With the aid of the tele- graph, the steam engine, and the printing press, remote nations now share their wealth and wants, their joys and sorrows. All our surroundings are conducive to prosperity.
"We begin the second century of our existence with these substantial achievements and brilliant prospects. It is well to commemorate this day that our children may learn the value of the estate we transmit to them. It is proper to usher in the sec- ond century of our existence with bonfires, illumina- tions and hymns of joy."
The Declaration of Independence was read by F. C. Hall, after which the Rev. A. K. Crawford, for- merly Professor of Belles-Lettres, at the Santa Clara College, delivered the poem, portions of which are given here :- *
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* Honor, all honor to-day to those men, And their labors and triumphs- Labors that shaped a new world, And triumphs that crown them immortal. Rude was the wild they traversed, A continent, virgin and pathless.
An unformed choas of men, From the ends of the earth flung together, Mingled as quartz and feldspar And hornblende are mingled in granite; Mingled by fiery fusion, To make the bedrock of the nation.
Fierce were the forces that fought In the furnace where freedom was molded,
"Tyranny kindled the flame, But Liberty fanned it and fed it," Till the crude mass, refractory, stubborn, chaotic, Blended at last in a union of hearts And of States in firm compact, Welded in blood and fire, established for ages of ages.
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The Declaration made that day Was no incre mass of glittering words;
It set the nation in array Against far more than British swords.
"Iwas the proposal we still make That all mankind shall here be free.
Jchovali smiled and said, "Go take The right to nationality."
That smile, sent for our pledges' sake,
Is now the ground on which we stake Our hope of perpetuity.
Each nation of antiquity, When first its life began, Gave promise to co-operate With God in his great plan To elevate humanity. And each was made invincible While faithful to her trust; But when she failed to do her work, Her heroes bit the dust. * * * * *
*
We have passed through some terrible conflicts, Our banner still kissing the sky, While star after star has been added Before the world's envious eye.
Shall that banner, hereafter, by traitors Be trampled in dust and decay? Or shall it float on, over liberty's sons, Till the dawn of unending day?
Say, friends, shall it wave O'er the free and the brave, Till the stars and blue sky It resembles on high, Into ruin shall roll, Like a shriveling scroll ?
The oration which was delivered by the Rev. J. T. White, was somewhat lengthy, and was a histor- ical review of the circumstances out of which grew the modern Republies and the spirit of freedom, moving governments to ameliorate the conditions of the people. * *
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" And here the question arises, Was the Revolu- tion, taking all the circumstances of the case into review, right? Was it right? This is a very proper question to ask, and this is the proper time to ask it. I say, then, was it right? Every American will answer with an emphatic ' Yes.' Every true patriot, no matter in what land born or reared, will answer, Yes. Every lover of liberty, in whatever country his destiny may have been cast, will answer, Yes. The truest men in old England at the time said it was right, and protested in indignant terms (still to be read) against the cruelty and oppression that rendered such a stop necessary on the part of the colonists. The splendid eloquence of Pitt, and the brilliant oratory of Burke, were heard in denuncia- tion of such flagrant wrong-doing. The long halls of the British House of Parliament rang again with the echoes of the clear voice of the great Earl of Chatham, as in bold and uncompromising language he declared, ' Were I an American as I am an Eng- lishman, while a foreign troop was landed in my country I never would lay down my arms-never, never, never!' And the circumstance that I stand here to-day to raise my voice in this matter is a proof-a solemn assurance in faet-that I think it was right. Were it otherwise, I should not be found on this platform to-day.' Money couldn't buy me, and threats couldn't intimidate me, and flattery couldn't induce me to get up here and let sentiments escape my lips, either on the subject of liberty, or any other topic that didn't find an echo in my heart.
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IONE VALLEY AND VICINITY.
Yon will consider it no breach of etiquette for me to remind you that the spirit of liberty is neither native to the American soil, nor exclusively confined to the American people. Wherever on the face of God's wide earth there is a true man with a true heart in his bosom, the spirit of liberty is there- is there inspiring him with a noble love for every- thing that is beautiful, and pure, and good, and filling him with a lofty scorn for everything that is low, and base, and mercenary. My position, there- fore, and the post assigned me in connection with this centennial celebration to-day, although one from which I naturally did shrink on the ground of conscious incompetency for many reasons, is yet one from which I do not shrink, and have no reason to shrink, on the score of want of sympathy with this day's proceedings, or with the grand object which we are assembled here this day to commem- orate. I yield to no man in my love of liberty. I yield to no man in my sympathies with the enslaved. My mission from week to week is to proclaim ' lib- erty to the eaptives, and the opening of the prison to those that are bound.' Why should I shrink from the performance of a duty so nearly allied to that to-day ?"
" And now before quitting this part of our subject, let us consider what is the grand lesson taught us by the history of the Revolution. What do you think it is ? As I read that event, I take it to be this: that man was made to be free. God ordained every man to be a free man. Liberty is the inherent, inalienable birthright of every son and daughter of God. The American Revolution, and similar revolu- tions in other lands and other times, have been nothing more nor less than man asserting his claim to this God-given heritage. All down the ages, ever since the primal curse rested upon the raee, men have been saying here and there, and yonder: 'We want you to be subject to us-bow down and serve us;' and ever the reply has been hurled baek: ' We shall not do it-we were born free as you-we shall not do it-we shall die first.' And henee on this very point have arisen all the battles that were ever fought on the theater of this world, between despot- ism on the one hand, with its chains for the van- quished, and freedom on the other, with its glorious charter of equal rights for every man, and unfet- tered liberty for all. It was to conserve and preserve intact this grand principle, this legacy of God to his children here below-that marshaled that little band of Grecian warriors on the plain of Marathon; that filled their hearts with a courage almost super- human, and nerved their arms with almost more than mortal strength, and sent a thunderbolt of God scattering confusion, and dismay, and disaster, throughout the length and breadth of the mighty hosts of Persia, making Marathon the grandest name in the military history of our world-a syno- nym for Liberty herself. It was in behalf of this great principle that that tiny handful of three hun- dred heroic men disputed the narrow pass of Ther- mopylæ, against the combined hosts of Asia, and on gory death-beds, under the open firmament of heaven, testified their allegianee to the spirit of liberty, and practically said, writing it in their hearts' blood in the soil of their native Grecce, ' We shall not wear your chains; we shall not do it; we shall die first.' And they did die, every man of them, every man of the three hundred. Died, did I say? Such men never die! The world will not let them die. They shall live, embalmed in the memories of the nations, as long as the world itself has an existence. It was
over the settlement of this great question that the continent of Europe during the early part of this century was turned into an immense battlefield, where despotism and liberty were pitted against each other in mortal conflict, the victory at one time inclining toward despotism, and then again alternat- ing on the side of liberty, until on that memorable 18th of June, there was drawn up to settle the con- test the grandest and most imposing military specta- cle that the world has ever witnessed-the grandest because of the mighty issues at stake, the most imposing because of the unrivaled and wonderful combination of power, skill, discipline, zeal, courage, and extraordinary military genius of the opposing forces-and there and then, on that memorable Sunday in June, on the plains of Belgium, amid smoke, and slaughter, and carnage, and ten thousand deaths, and confused noise, and garments rolled in blood, the great battle of liberty was won, and the name of Waterloo crowned for all time with imper- ishable and deathless glory! Such cases as these teach us (what your own Revolution teaches with equal foree and clearness) that man was made to be free. This, I take it, is the grand lesson to be learned from the important events we have had under review."
After the oration the Hon. C. B. Swift, in accord- ance with the recommendation of the President of the United States, gave a brief history of Ione valley, the most of which has been incorporated into this work; as it will be of interest hereafter, the con- dition of Ione, as given by him at that time, will be added.
IONE IN 1876.
Ione City contains a population of about six hun- dred. Of this number one hundred and thirty-eight are between the ages of five and seventeen; two hundred and twenty-nine are under seventeen. Nine woman and eleven men are over seventy. The Chinese population numbers about one hundred. It has four churches, two Sunday-schools, one pub- lic school, one division of the S. of T., with sixty members, one Masonic lodge, one Legion of the K. of A. C. Pastor of the M. E. church, Rev. A. K. Crawford; pastor of the Presbyterian church, Rev. James White; pastor of the Catholic church, Rev. Father Welch. The Baptists have no minister here at present. Teachers of the public schools, Miss Augusta Withington and Mrs. T. Stewart. It has four stores, two hotels, one meat market, onc brew- ery, one restaurant, one millinery establishment, one art gallery, six saloons, one drug store, one barber shop, two paint shops, two blacksmith shops, one harness shop, one tin shop, three shoe shops, one variety store, one jewelry store, one cabinet shop, one powder house, one livery stable, two flouring mills -one running by steam, the other by water-power. The water mill has not been running the past year. The steam mill grinds a yearly average of over two thousand tons of barley, one thousand or twelve hundred tons of wheat, and one hundred and fifty tons of corn.
Ione will close the centennial ycar with a rail- road completed to her town limits. The project of
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HISTORY OF AMADOR COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
a road from Galt to lone, was first broached to the directors of the Central Pacific by F. C. Hall, about the time of the "miners' strike" in Sutter. The company then agreed to lay the track and put on the rolling stock, whenever the road-bed should be graded. The general depression in business which followed the " strike," postponed the enterprise. Finally, Messrs. Hart, Goodman & Co., seeing that their coal interests demanded a road, entered into a contract with the Central Pacific to build the grade from Galt to Buckeye. While this work was in progress, the citizens of Ione called a meeting to take measures to continue the grade from Buckeye to Ione, a distance of six miles. A committee was appointed to raise the necessary funds, and to let the contract. Nine thousand nine hundred and forty dollars was raised by subscription, one thousand of which was appropriated to buy the right of way.
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