USA > California > Glenn County > History of Colusa and Glenn counties, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the counties who have been identified with their growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 31
USA > California > Colusa County > History of Colusa and Glenn counties, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the counties who have been identified with their growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 31
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With modest but steadily accumulating means acquired dur- ing the seven years in which he held this position, he began farm- ing in 1889, and for eight years rented the Logan ranch of four thousand acres, which he planted to wheat and barley. In 1897, he bought the Killebrew ranch of nine hundred sixty acres, located six and a half miles southwest of Willows, to which he later added three hundred twenty acres adjoining; and there continued farm- ing, also renting a full section near by.
With a brother, James W., he now began to extend these operations, renting five thousand acres of the Boggs ranch near Princeton, and later assumed added responsibility by renting eight thousand acres of the Glenn ranch northeast of Willows. Thus Snowden Bros., for the time being, became the largest grain- growers in the valley, and were among the most successful. In their farming operations they used about fifteen to eighteen eight- mule teams for putting in the crops, and it took three combined harvesters to gather and thresh the grain. Five or six big teams 18
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were kept busy for months hauling the grain to the landing on the Sacramento River and to Logandale on the Southern Pacific for shipment. Much of the success of George W. Snowden was due, no doubt, to his tireless energy and perseverance. No task seemed too large for him to surmount it. The success of his operations may be ascribed, also, to his use of modern and up-to-date meth- ods, through which he applied every talent that he possessed to the task of each day and the solution of each new problem. In- cluded in his home ranch he owned two sections of land which he improved with a good residence and other buildings, setting out orchards, and avenues of eucalyptus trees, which last were also set around the ranch buildings. He was a lover of nature, and found especial pleasure in beautifying his place; and he stood for permanent improvement.
On September 19, 1889, in Sacramento, Mr. Snowden was married to Miss Elizabeth M. Woolf, a native of Clinton, Henry County, Mo., and a daughter of James and Margaret E. (Patrick) Woolf, natives respectively of Kentucky and Missouri. The father served in the Confederate army during the Civil War, afterwards engaging in farming until his death at the age of fifty years. At a later date the widow, with her children, removed to Glenn County, where the daughter, Elizabeth, lived until her marriage to Mr. Snowden. Two sons, Raymond and Herbert, were born to Mr. and Mrs. Snowden. They were educated in the high school in Willows and the Oakland Polytechnic. Raymond married Freda Lohse, and Herbert was united in marriage with Norma Lohse. They became partners in large farming operations on the home place, and on thirty-six hundred acres of the old Logan ranch. Both are members of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to Laurel Lodge, No. 245, F. & A. M., in Willows. The third child, Lorene Margaret, who also attended the Glenn County High School, finished her education in the San Jose Normal and the University of California, making a specialty of music, after which she taught music and art in the Willows school, resigning to be- come the wife of Carl M. Lohse, of San Francisco.
At Willows, on May 28, 1907, Mr. Snowden passed away, lamented by a very large circle of friends. He was a member of Laurel Lodge, No. 245, F. & A. M., of Willows; Colusa Chapter, No. 60, R. A. M .; Colusa Commandery, No. 24, K. T .; the Eastern Star Chapter; and Chico Lodge, No. 423, B. P. O. Elks. He was a lifelong Republican, a prominent leader in his district, and will be missed from the councils of the party. After his death the partnership with his brother James W. was dissolved. The mem- bers of his immediate family own the estate and have since con- tinned the farming operations he had begun. Mrs. Snowden
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makes her home in Willows, enjoying the companionship of her children and many friends, and places the fullest confidence in the ability of her sons to manage the large affairs left by her hus- band. She is prominent in club life in Willows, and in the East- ern Star, and in social circles is one of the highly respected and honored leaders.
THE MANZANITA AND CHERRY MINES
Twenty-six miles west of Williams, on Sulphur Creek, are located the old Manzanita and Cherry Mines. Practically the entire gold output for Colusa Connty has come from these two mines. The Manzanita was located early in 1865 and has been worked intermittently since that time, both for gold and for quick- silver. This mine, according to the Geological Survey, has the rare distinction of being the only quicksilver mine in the world with a sufficient quantity of gold to work the ore for that metal.
These two mines, which were formerly one immense body of slate and sand shale, have been separated by the entting action of Sulphur Creek. These slate beds, with their strata standing almost perpendicular, rise several hundred feet above Sulphur Creek. Both the gold and the quicksilver ocenr in the seams of the shale. The mineralization is no doubt due to the hot springs of this section, and is evidently very recent. In fact this process of depositing mineral is now going on, and can be watched from week to week. Prospect tunnels driven into this slate bed soon have their walls coated over with mineral salts.
Both the Cherry and the Manzanita were worked for gold in the early days, and prodneed something over $104,000 of which there is a record, and probably considerably more of which there is no record. The ore from the Cherry was first milled in an old Mexican arrastra which was driven by water power from the waters of Sulphur Creek. According to local records, Mr. Cherry, from whom the mine took its name, recovered in this ernde way something over thirty thousand dollars. Amalgamating the gold with quicksilver was the only process for recovering the gold at that time; and owing to an excess of free sulphur in the ore, making the water strongly acid, both the gold and the quicksilver were coated over. This prevented amalgamation, so that only a small percentage of the gold was recovered. From time to time various other processes were tried; but these met with no better snecess than Cherry's.
The Manzanita was later opened up and operated for a nnm- ber of years by Mr. J. R. Northey. He did considerable prospect- ing and developing of the ore bodies, and also conducted some
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very thorough and expensive tests for the recovery of the gold by various processes, but was never rewarded with any great measure of success in the recovery of gold. He was successful with his quicksilver mining, however, and produced something over two thousand flasks, or approximately 150,000 pounds, of the pure metal.
In the fall of 1916, Chas. L. Austin, a young mining engineer, undertook to solve the metalurgical problems of these mines. After careful sampling and laboratory work, he set up a small mill on the Cherry mine for testing purposes. After several months of careful study, he worked out a combination process of cyanide and amalgamation which was highly successful in the recovery of the gold. In the spring of the year following he organized a stock company among the ranchers and stock- men of Glenn County. About the first of June active opera- tions on a large scale were begun with the construction of a one- hundred-fifty-ton mill. Owing to excessive cost of cyanide, due to the war, it was decided to try some new amalgamating machinery and avoid cyanide until costs became normal again. This plant was completed, but had run only ten hours when it was completely destroyed by fire. Unfortunately it did not run long enough to try out the process. The plant was promptly rebuilt, however, and was given a thorough test. While the various mineral salts, which had formerly given so much trouble, were disposed of, it was found that the gold was so finely divided that it was carried off in suspension in the water and lost; so the plan was given up, and work was suspended until the price of cyanide should make its use practicable.
Among those interested were Z. E. Simpson, John Scribner, Col. A. Hochheimer, H. B. Turman, L. F. Turman, Ben Turman, T. W. Harlan, and A. L. MeLamore, all of Glenn County.
MATTHIAS OSSENBRIIGGEN
A successful rancher, and a man of affairs of the Sacra- mento Valley, Matthias Ossenbriiggen was born near Hamburg, Germany, on July 8, 1864. He is a son of Matthias and Annie (Rove) Ossenbriiggen, who were prosperous farmers in his native country. Young Matthias was reared to farming in his native place, where he helped with the work on the home farm; and there also he received his education. He had an older brother, Peter, who had migrated to California in 1870 and was engaged in ranching on Grand Island, Colusa County. The letters he wrote back to the home land mentioned the opportunities that
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here awaited young men of brawn and energy, and Matthias was inspired to come to the Pacific Coast to cast in his lot with the wonderful West so vividly described by his brother. In May, 1882, he arrived in California; and on the 28th of that month he was at Grand Island. Necessity demanded that he at once get to work, and he therefore found employment for a time on ranches in that section. Afterwards he was employed in Sutter County for nine months, and then came back to Grand Island, where for five years he was in the employ of W. F. Howell. After this he assisted his brother Peter, working on his ranch for another year.
Mr. Ossenbriiggen had now resided in the state about seven years; and in the meantime he had saved enough of his earnings to enable him to go into business for himself. Accordingly, in 1889, with Adolph Fendt, he leased from Fred Monson his ranch of four hundred eighty acres, for five years, and bought a ranch- ing outfit, paying down twenty-two hundred fifty dollars, and his partner fifteen hundred dollars, on the purchase price of sixty- five hundred dollars. They gave their notes for the balance. The partners put in their crop, and then went to work for others with their teams. Mr. Ossenbriiggen remembers making eight hundred dollars; so that in spite. of a flood that cansed a total failure of their crop, their work paid their expenses and the interest on deferred payments. They stuck to their original plan, and were finally successful, in the third year adding to their leasehold an- other tract of four hundred eighty acres, which they farmed for three years. At the end of six years, they dissolved their partner- ship, dividing their equipment, stock and profits.
In the fall of 1895, Mr. Ossenbriiggen went to Glenn County, and south of Butte City bonght four hundred forty acres of land, going in debt for much of it. With the same tenacity of purpose displayed in his earlier operations, he kept at work with his teams when he was not working for himself on his own place. He had a lot of timber on his place, and this he hired cut, and sold it. All in all, he made a success of his work, and in four years paid for his land and got out of debt. In 1905 he bought another ranch of three hundred forty acres, north of Butte City, and this he rented while he operated his own place. In 1908, wishing to obtain better school advantages for his children, he rented both of his places and moved to Chico, where he pur- chased a comfortable residence on Sixth and Laburnum Streets, Chico Vecino, where he has since made his home.
Mr. Ossenbriiggen was married at Grand Island to Miss Amanda Fendt, who was born in Holstein. Four children have
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blessed this union; George, who is farming the home place; Annie J., who graduated from the Chico State Normal and taught school until her marriage to L. F. Cecil, with whom she now lives in Sutter County; Dora M., who became Mrs. Crenshaw, and lives in Colusa; and Harry H., who lives at home. In 1892 Mr. Ossenbriiggen became a citizen of the United States; and ever since he has been a stanch adherent of the policies of the Republican party. He has served as a delegate to county con- ventions, has done jury duty, and in every way has shown his appreciation of the treatment accorded him in this country. He is a firm believer in the principle of constitutional rights for every citizen. Mr. Ossenbriigg'en was made a Mason in Emanuel Lodge, No. 318, F. & A. M., at Biggs. He was reared in the Lutheran Church, and with his wife attends the church in Chico. By hard work, good management, and perseverance he has acemulated enough to enable him to live retired from hard work and enjoy life with his wife at their home in Chico, where they have made many friends. When they moved from their old home in Glenn County, they left many friends, who felt their moving as a per- sonal loss, but whom they still visit from time to time.
WILLIAM HARVEY OTTERSON
An enterprising, efficient and prosperous rancher, William Harvey Otterson is also a public-spirited citizen who looks beyond the confines of his own interests and is ready to do anything pos- sible for the public good and the advancement of the state. Mr. Otterson is a native of Santa Clara County, born at Mayfield, November 22, 1867, a son of James and Alice (Short) Otterson. James Otterson was born in Canada, but came originally from a pioneer family of New York State, who crossed the Isthmus of Panama on their way to California in 1852. Grandfather James Otterson crossed the plains in 1849, from Canada, where he was engaged in the lumber business ; and after his arrival in California, he settled in Santa Clara County and conducted a hotel at May- field. He died in this state at the age of eighty-two years. The mother of W. H. Otterson, Alice Short, came with her father's family to California in 1852, settling in Santa Clara County, where she was married to Mr. Otterson. During the Civil War, Capt. William Short, with James Otterson, father of our subject, organ- ized a company at Mayfield. They were not sent to the front, how- ever, but saw service in California until the close of the war. Captain Short was a Mexican War veteran. When he found that
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the company were not going to the front, he resigned and went East, where he secured a commission in the regular army. He served valiantly until the close of the war, and then went to Idaho, where he passed his last days at the home of Mr. Otterson. James Otterson, Jr., was a blacksmith by trade. He is living in Riverside, retired from all activities, and is enjoying his declining days.
William Harvey Otterson was but four years old when his parents moved to Oregon and settled in the vicinity of Engene. From there they went to the Palouse country in Idaho. Mr. Otterson's education was received in the public schools of Oregon and Idaho. He led more or less of a roving life, living in various places in Idaho for twenty years. Near what is now the site of Gooding, in that state, he owned a ranch of one hundred sixty acres, which he planted to alfalfa. He rode the range in that country, and from there went to Arizona, where he engaged in freighting, and was exposed more or less to the dangers of frontier life in the early days. When he arrived in Kingman, with a wife and six children, he had but thirty-five dollars to his name; but he soon found employment. He began freighting from the Needles to the German-American camp, and in connection with this enter- prise ran a stage line to Gold Roads. The Salt Lake Railroad was then just beginning the extension of its lines through that section of Nevada ; and with a partner, J. P. Parker, now of Los Angeles, Mr. Otterson was engaged for about two and one half years in construction work for the railroad company, with a gang of from fifty to one hundred men and seventy-five to one hundred twenty head of stock. He next began freighting from Las Vegas to Bull- frog, and then from Nipton to Searchlight, for about a year, after which he located in Cima and freighted to the Standard mines, hauling copper ore from there and other camps. We next find him at Tacopa, on the edge of Death Valley, teaming to the railroad with silver and lead ore. When the work opened up on the con- struction of the Roosevelt Dam in Arizona, he went to Colton and shipped his outfit to Mesa, and began work on that most important piece of construction, becoming a teamster for the government. One difficult contract undertaken by Mr. Otterson, and which he successfully carried out, was the hauling of two boilers, of fifty-two thousand pounds each, from Casa Grande to the Jack Rabbit Mines. This he did with thirty-six head of stock, and wagons built especially for the work. This was one of the largest contracts of its kind executed. The next contract he undertook was hanling for concrete construction on the El Paso and Southeastern Rail- road. In all of his large undertakings, Mr. Otterson seldom had an accident. He was careful to avoid unnecessary exposure to
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danger for his men and stock, and carried out his contracts to the best of his ability, gaining the commendation of those by whom he was employed.
After his many years of experience in freighting and other hard work in the mining country, Mr. Otterson decided he would settle down to a quiet life and enjoy the society of his family. He saw in the Sunset Magazine an advertisement of the opening np of the lands in Glenn County, and in 1911 came to look the ground over. When he found a satisfactory location, he made a purchase of eighty acres; and in 1912 he brought his family to their new place of abode. He planted every tree and shrub seen on the place, built fences and ontbuildings, and erected a comfortable home. He built a silo of a hundred twenty tons capacity, one of the best in this section of the county. A considerable acreage is now seeded to alfalfa. The ranch maintains a fine dairy of abont forty cows, three quarters Holstein, with a registered Holstein bull at the head of the herd. Mr. Otterson raised some fine Berkshire hogs, and had some rare turkeys on his place. In August, 1917, he disposed of this property and moved to Mark West Springs, Sonoma County.
In 1888, William Harvey Otterson was united in marriage with Miss Edith L. Vader, a native of Illinois, of Holland descent. She is a talented lady, and for some years was a school-teacher in the state of her birth. Of this union seven children have been born: Wilbert, residing in the Bayliss district, who is married and has two children; George, in Arizona; Olive; Drucilla, who married Ralph Montz, of Fresno, and has one child; and Jack, Leland, and Edith Lenore. Mr. Otterson is a Progressive Repub- lican, and takes an active interest in public affairs. He is a mem- ber of Damon Lodge, No. 19, K. of P., in Mesa, Ariz., and belongs to the social organization of that order, the D. O. K. K.
PETER R. GARNETT
The abiding influence and optimism of Peter R. Garnett, and his wonderful power of perception, stimulated by visions of the valne and possibilities of Sacramento Valley lands in the future, have never been more apparent than at the present day. The keenness of mental vision which enabled him to foresee the pos- sibilities of production, and the wise provisions for the welfare and moral nplift of the community which he advocated during his career in Colusa and Glenn Counties, are seen the better in the light of present-day development. His advocacy of improvements in irrigation, his loyal support of temperance and Christianity,
Ruth a. Garnett.
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and his honest, straightforward business methods, have born their natural fruit; and results have shown this man's breadth of out- look, and vindicated his prophecy of expansion, placing him in the forefront of the upbuilders of his generation in the community where he lived so long and became so well and favorably known.
The late Peter R. Garnett belonged to an old and prominent Southern family, being descended from Virginian forebears. He was born in Ralls County, Mo., February 14, 1841, and died in Glenn County, Cal., March 21, 1911. During the seventy years of his life, he accomplished much good, and meanwhile accumulated a competency which was left to his descendants, along with the legacy of an untarnished name. His father, James Richard Gar- nett, was born in Virginia, as was also the grandfather. James R. Garnett was a farmer and miller by occupation. He removed to Meade County, Ky., where he founded a town called Garnetts- ville in his honor; and there he built a flour mill, which he ran in connection with his farm. In 1820 he settled in Pike County, Mo. Here he engaged in farming, and also had a flour mill at Hannibal, until his death. His wife, Elizabeth (Parker) Garnett, was also a native of Virginia. Her demise occurred in Missouri in 1875, at the age of seventy-three. Of the ten children born to this pioneer couple, J. St. Clair and Mrs. Katie Garnett Davis were the only ones, besides Peter R., that migrated to California.
Reared on the home farm until the age of seventeen, Peter R. Garnett assisted diligently with the farm work, meanwhile at- tending the subscription schools, and then left home to seek better educational advantages, in time matriculating at McGee College, College Mound, Mo. Here he continued his studies until the breaking out of the Civil War, when, at the age of twenty, he left college and enlisted for service in the Second Missouri Regiment, under General Price's command. He performed his duty faith- fully, and was several times wounded in battle. At Grenada, Miss., he was promoted and commissioned lieutenant, in recogni- tion of meritorious services. After this his brigade was captured at Mobile Bay, at which time Lieutenant Garnett and his com- mand were sent to Jackson, Miss., where they were paroled.
After the war, Mr. Garnett taught school near Vicksburg, meantime studying law, as he intended to follow the legal profes- sion. He was duly admitted to the bar; but the confinement nec- essary to the practice of his profession proved injurious to his health, and he therefore decided to give up the law and seek out- of-door work. His brother, J. St. Clair Garnett, had come to California in 1853, and was located on a farm near Dixon, Solano County; so he determined to come to the Golden West. Making
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the journey via Panama, he joined his brother at Dixon, on June 15, 1868. His operations in ranching continued in that vicinity until 1873, when he settled on a farm three miles southeast of Wil- lows. Here he enlarged his operations, and was very successful in raising wheat, barley, and stock. Having confidence in the pro- ducing quality of the soil, he purchased land from time to time, until he became the possessor of thousands of acres, and was one of the largest owners of land in the Sacramento Valley. Fore- seeing the great future in store for the rich lands of Glenn County through the building of canals to tap the Sacramento River, Mr. Garnett exerted his powerful influence in behalf of the cause of irrigation, and never tired of emphasizing the increase in land values, and the vast extension of the state's resources, that must follow upon the wise conservation, and the liberal develop- ment and distribution, of the waters from the Sacramento River and its tributaries. He was a director in the Central Irrigation Company; and in recognition of his services and sincerity in the cause of irrigation, Governor Pardee appointed him a member of the International Irrigation Congress that met in Portland, Ore., in 1905.
Mr. Garnett was always a Democrat; and while not a radical, he was always progressive in his political views. Before county division, he was elected and served three years as a member of the board of supervisors of Colusa County, and proved a worthy rep- resentative of his district. After county division, he was elected a member of the board of supervisors of Glenn County, in 1894, and was reelected in 1898; and he took an active and conscientious part in so guiding the destinies of the new county that it is found today in the front rank, in financial standing, among the counties of the state. The cause of education found in him a stanch friend and supporter. He served for many years as a school trustee, and was the prime mover in the organization and erection of the Wil- lows High School, serving as a member and president of the board. Always favoring religious movements, Mr. Garnett con- tributed to all denominations in his locality, and aided in erecting their church buildings. For years he was a member and the superintendent of the Sunday school of the Baptist Church. Fra- ternally, he was a Mason, being a member of Laurel Lodge No. 245, F. & A. M., at Willows.
At Dixon, on October 21, 1873, Peter R. Garnett was united in marriage with Ruth A. MeCune, a daughter of the Honorable Henry E. MeCune, ex-state senator and prominent landowner and financier of Dixon. Mrs. Garnett is a native daughter of Dixon ; she is represented more fully in a separate sketch on another page
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