USA > California > Del Norte County > History of Del Norte County, California : with a business directory and travelers guide > Part 11
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COAL
Was discovered several years ago on Point St. George, and a company was formed to work the same. But like every other mining company, with the exception of the Tyson company, who have worked mines in the vicinity of Crescent City, the coal company was destitute of capi- tal; and after sinking a shaft some seventy or eighty feet,
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and finding excellent prospects, they were compelled to suspend work at the urgent request of creditors. This is the only coal mine that has ever been worked here, though the same coal ---- a brown coal of valuable properties --- has been discovered in various parts of this section,
CHAPTER IX.
THE AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES OF DEL NORTE COUNTY.
That portion of the. Crescent City Plain comprising Elk Valley and Smith's River Valley consists of about 18 square miles of the richest and best agricultural lands, viz: Smith's River Valley, 15 square miles; Elk Valley, 3 square miles. The quality of the land varies somewhat in different localities, but in general it is a heavy, black soil, raising the finest of vegetables, oats, wheat and bar- ley, and the best and most nutritious grass.
A comparatively small amount of the arable land of the county is cultivated, dairying being the great industry which requires nearly all the land for grazing purposes. Owing to this fact the amount of grain raised in the county is very small, not sufficient for home consumption. The yield of grain is about 30 bushels of wheat to the acre, 50 bushels of oats, 40 bushels of barley. Potatoes could be raised with great protit if the demand of the home market was sufficient to afford buyers for them. New land yields from 8 to 12 tons to the aere; land which has been under cultivation for years, from 2 to 5 tons to the acre.
There is a small amount of arable land in the vicinity of Happy Camp and on Indian Creek. The farmers there nearly all raise large quantities of vegetables, which find a ready sale among the miners at fair prices.
Fruit abounds in Del Norte county. A brief notice of
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some of the fruits indigeneous to the Northern coast, and which may all be found in this county, is here given.
The thimbleberry is a small, luscious red berry, with a delicious flavor. They grow on a thornless bush, four or five feet high.
The salmonberry is of two colors, red, and dark yellow, and the bush is covered with spines or thorns, like the blackberry. The shoot continues to grow from year to year, and in time sheds its spines. The bush is sometimes three inches through near the ground, and ten or twelve feet high. The fruit is somewhat larger than the largest specimens of the Lawton blackberry, and they are the first fruit to ripen, commencing during the latter part of May and continuing till the latter part of June. The fruit is used in its raw state, fresh from the bushes, with cream and sugar. It has a plain acid taste, is not juicy like the thimbleberry and blackberry, and is not good for pies.
There are two varieties of huckleberries. The blue huckleberry is-the finest flavored of all the native berries . of this region. Grows about two feet high; fruit ripens through July and August. Another species grows in the redwood forests eight to ten feet high ; has a pleasant acid taste; ripens through summer to antumn.
The strawberry is found in small quantities on the sand ridges bordering the ocean, and on the warmest spots on prairies. Berry small, and of little account.
The blackberry is abundant. Any quantity can be gathered in close proximity to Crescent City.
Of the cultivated fruits, the apple and plum do exceed- ingly well. The apple lacks the rich flavor of the Oregon apple, but the plum is perfection itself. Apples keep all winter to April, and will stay on the trees until Christma -. Most varieties of pears do well The raspberry and cur- rant are perfectly at home, and some very fine varieties of strawberries are raised in Smith's River Valley. Some varieties of gooseberries do very well.
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Besides the varieties of wild berries mentioned, there are several kinds of beautiful flowering shrubs, growing ou the prairies and in the forests of the foot-hills. One is known as the Shrub Honeysuckle, growing on prairies, from four to five feet high: It bears a profusion of sweet scented flowers, filling the air with their delicate perfume.
In the forests of the foot-hills are rhododendrons and laurels with large, showy flowers, and other trees and shrubs worthy of a place in every garden.
The dairying interests are so intimately connected with the agricultural interests of the county, that they will be considered under the same head. The largest dairies are in Smith's River Valley. The following is a list of the principal dairymen and the number of cows milked by each during the season of 1880:
J. R. Nickel, 87: Wm. Robinson, 40; Mrs. Ann Rigg, 190; L. W. Jones, 53; Bailey Brothers, 55; J. H. Hall, 42; A. Grow, 7; F. W. Oberschmidt, 7; S. T. Youmans, 99; Theodore White, 51; Strain Brothers, 108; Henry Alexander, 33: D. R. Griffin, 30; Jas. Ewing, 18; Eli Howland, 40; Jos. Younker, 20; J. MeLaughlin, 125; J. D. Kirkham, 9; H. C. Ransom, 180; H. Westbrook, 200; C. Woodruff, 11; C. Beam: 18; Jas. Hight, 10; Henry Marsh, 10; Denis Tryon, 200; Jas. Aulpaugh, 40; M. V. Jones, 70; L. DeMartin, 68; E. W. Smith, 110; J. Bertch, 39; Chris. Steiger, 15; J. Maris, 56; F. Gay, 25; F. Chap- man, 25; others milking from 2 to 6 cows, making the total, 2,150 cows.
These 2,150 cows will average 150 pounds of butter to the cow, making the annual product of butter in Del Norte county, 322,500. Reckoning that this butter will net 25 cents per pound, which is a very low estimate, it will amount to the sum of $80,625. The Del Norte butter is of the very best quality, and is eagerly sought after in the San Francisco market, where it competes successfully with fancy brands from Marin and Sonoma counties. Every
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year the production increases, and in a few years it will probably reach a half million of pounds.
Before we take leave of the subject of the agricultural resources of the county, we will glance at the history, present condition, and agricultural, lumber and mineral resources of the Klamath Indian Reservation, in this county. In this Klamath Reservation, locked up by the Government, and rendered useless by the idiotic measures of the Indian Department, are thousands of acres of as fine timber land as the sun ever shone upou. And im- mense resources in minerals lie useless and idle because of the unjust and absurd policy of the Federal Government. A territory twenty miles long and two miles wide is kept sacred to the use of 82 Digger Indians.
When the Reservation was first formed in 1855, it was a necessity arising from the danger to be apprehended from three or four thousand Indians who were running over the county, threatening the whites, and making themselves generally obnoxious. This necessity has long since passed away. The Indians on the Reservation have decreased from over 2.000 to less than 100; and as most of their warriors and braves sleep in the embrace of death, there no longer remains any reason to fear them.
The Indian Department, entirely ignorant of the true state of affairs, or else careless and indifferent in regard to the matter, have turned a deaf ear to every appeal made to them on behalf of the whites. Our Congressmen have more than once been reminded that it was their duty to interest themselves in procuring an abandonment of the reserve by the Government, but have as yet accomplished nothing more than to make a repetition of the representa- tions which have from time to time been made to the In- dian Department.
Uncle Sam is a rich old gentleman. He is rich enough to give all who apply a farm, and he is as generous as he is rich. It is his evident intention that every man shall
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have a home of his own; for that purpose he has estab- lished land offices in nearly every section of the country. Laws have been enacted for the purpose of distributing lands among the people, and all the land laws scem to point in one direction, that is, that each citizen may acquire 160 acres of land. And if we admit that 160 acres of land are sufficient for a white man, who tills the soil and improves his possessions, then it is a matter of sur- prise that such an unjust discrimination in favor of the Indian as is shown by the Government regarding the Klamath Reservation should be made. There are about twenty-five able bodied male Indians on this reservation. A moments calculation, taking into consideration that the reservation is twenty miles long and two miles wide, will prove that each one of these Indians is allowed eight or ten times as much as a white man. And the injustice of the thing will be more apparent, if possible, by considering that the Indians occupying the reservation are of the lowest class of the slothful, ignorant Digger tribe, and that they are never known to bring an acre of land into cultivation, much less open mines, and convert timber into lumber.
It may be said in answer to this, that the amount of arable land in the Klamath Reservation is so small that it would not support any considerable number of settlers. Admitting this fact, yet it cannot be denied that there are lumber resources within the bounds of the reservation sufficient to give thousands of men employment; that the mineral wealth stored in its gulches and mountains would prove almost inexhaustible; that the salmon fisheries which would be established on the Klamath River would be another source of wealth and industry. By construct- ing a rock wall cight hundred feet long from the main land to a rock outside, the entrance to the river could be made safe at all times. Light-draft steamboats could nav- igate the river for 65 miles, from its mouth to Orleans
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Bar, if a few thousand dollars were spent in improvements to the river.
All these facts show conclusively the reason for urging the Government to remove the Indians now on the reserve to some other reservation, and open the Klamath Reser- vation to settlement by the whites. The Indians could . be easily removed to the Hoopa Reservation. about 50 miles above the mouth of the Klamath.
It was at one time believed that the reservation would be opened, and in this belief a number of settlers located on the reservation and made improvements to the amount of 810,000 or more. They continued in uninterrupted possession of their claims for over a year. M. V. Jones, of Crescent City, established a fishery at the mouth of the river, a tavern for the accommodation of travelers was erected by M. G. Tucker, and a ferry was also kept by the same gentleman .. There were located at the mouth of the river and vicinity a dozen settlers, and many others were preparing to locate there as soon as the Indians were removed and the reservation declared open Those who had already located felt that they were secure in their possessions. A postoffice was created by the Government and M. G. Tucker appointed Postmaster. This fact con- firmed the settlers in their belief that the reservation was soon to be declared abandoned for Indian purposes. And great was their consternation when in the fall of 1877 ยท they received an official order commanding them to vacate the premises immediately. The Legislature was then in session, and Mr. Tucker wrote to Jas. E. Murphy, Repre- sentative from Del Norte, requesting him to endeavor to procure a stay of proceedings and an extension of time in which to remove their property from the reservation. Mr. Murphy accordingly went to Gen. McDowel, Com- manding the Pacific Coast Division, G. A. R., and laid be- fore him the situation of the settlers and their request. As a result of this interview, orders were given that. the
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time in which the settlers must remove from the reserva- tion be extended six months. Six months passed and the settlers did not remove. Thus matters stood until July, 1879, when a detachment of U. S. soldiers ejected the set- tlers from the reservation.
So unjust was this proceeding considered, and so confi dent were the people that the Indiau Department were in ignorance of the true state of affairs, that the aid of our representative in Congress was demanded, and a bill was introduced by Congressman Berry looking to the opening of the reservation to settlement by the whites. But Mr. Berry was probably too much engaged in other business to attend to the interests of his constituents, for nothing was accomplished by him beyond the introduction of the bill above referred to.
About the same time Bill No. 5038 was introduced in the House of Representatives by the Committee on Indian Affairs.
In April, 1880, a letter was received by a gentleman of Crescent City from Congressman Berry, reviewing the provisions of the bill above mentioned. The following is an extract from the letter alluded to:
"I think it (the bill) is wholly impracticable and will result in no benefit to the Indians, but be an absolute in- jury to them, and an injustice to every section of country in which a reservation is located. In the Klamath Reser- vation, the operation of the bill would be, if carried out, to tie it up for fifteen or twenty years; at least that is my judgment."
Representative Berry professed to take a great interest in the matter of opening the reservation to settlement by the whites, but this interest was manifested only in words, for notwithstanding a bill, No. 3454, was reported back to the House of Representatives by the Committee on Indian Affairs, to whom it had been referred, recommending in the most unqualified terms that it be passed, nothing more
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was done in regard to it, and up to the present time the matter remains in the same situation as before; indeed, our own Congressmen were so negligent that after the bill was reported back favorably by the Committee on In- dian Affairs, no attempt was made to pass it through the House.
The Report of the Committee on Indian Affairs, to whom was referred the bill for the restoration of the Klamath Reservation to the public domain, is so full of information on this subject, that it is given here, without any apology for its length or the length of time which has elapsed since its return to the House:
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, May 7th, 1880. S
[REPORT TO ACCOMPANY BILL H. R. 3454.]
" It is in evidence that the reservation in question was set apart for Indian purposes by executive order of Nov. 16, 1855, in pursuance of the act of March 3, 1855, relating to the Indians of California, and included the lands em- braced in a strip one mile wide on both sides of the river for a distance of twenty miles from its mouth.
"The formation of this reservation was exceedingly wrong and unjust to the public interests, as it rendered all the lands lying outside, opposite, and adjoining the same comparatively valueless, as the water front on both banks was within the reservation, and the evidence diseloses the fact that these adjoining lands are very valuable for the timber growing upon them, and likewise for grazing and agricultural purposes.
" It is also in evidence that this reservation was occupied. in accordance with the executive order, until the year 1861, when a great freshet occurred, which washed away all the houses and improvements which had been erected thereon. Early in the following year (1862) the Indians were removed by official direction temporarily to Smith's
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River, and soon thereafter to the Hoopa Reservation on Trinity River, where they were permanently located, and an agency established for their benefit.
" After this destruction of the Indian settlements and public property by the freshet of 1861, which was un- doubtedly the primary cause of the removal of the Indians from the Klamath River Reservation to that of the Hoopa Valley on the Trinity River, it was generally understood and believed that the Government had abandoned all claim to the lands embraced within this reservation. As a re- sult of such belief and understanding, citizens of the United States seeking homes in this portion of the State of California entered upon, occupied, and improved certain portions of these lands, many of whom expended large sums of money, and still greater values in labor, in the development and improvement of the lands in question, and the erection of their homes. To dispel any doubts that might have been entertained as to the rights of settlers on this abandoned reservation, in the year 1874 the Hon. J. K. Luttrell applied to the Department of the Interior for information as to whether the Klamath River Reservation was still held as such by the Government, and in response received the following letter, to wit:
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, Washington, D. C., Feb. 27, 1874. )
SIR :- In response to your verbal inquiry concerning the Klamath Indian Reservation in California, I will state that the reservation in question, being described as a strip of country commencing at the coast of the Pacific Ocean and extending one mile in width on each side of the Klamath River, and up the same twenty miles, was approved by the President on the 16th of November, 1855, as one of the two reservations for Indians in California authorized by a clause in the Indian appropriation act of March 3, 1855 (Stat. L., vol. 10, p. 699). In the year 1861 nearly all of the arable land was destroyed by a freshet, rendering the reservation almost worthless, in view of which a new
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reservation was established adjacent thereto by order of the Secretary of the Interior, dated May 3. 1862. This reservation was known as the Smith's River Reservation, and was discontinued by a clause in the Indian appropri- ation act approved July 27, 1868 (Stat. L., vol 15, p. 22). The Klamath Reservation has not been used for any pub- lic purposes since the freshet referred to, and the depart- ment has no claim upon it.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, EDWARD SHUTER, Commissioner.
HON. J. K. LUTTRELL, House of Representatives.
" This official communication, proceeding from an authorized agent of the Government, was, of course, relied upon as an official declaration that the Government had relinquished and abandoned all claim to the lands of the said reservation which had been conferred upon it by the act of March 3. 1855. This official letter was confirmatory of what had been for years the understanding and belief of every one conversant with the facts in the case.
" After the publication of this official declaration on the part of the Government, through the agent authorized by law to give expression to such determination and decision on its part, settlers on the abandoned reservation rested in security. As natural to such an event, possessed with the idea that the title to their homes and the results of their labor would remain undisturbed, a fresh impetus was given to the improvement of farms, building of houses, es- tablishment of fisheries, erection of mills, and many other processes of development incident to the settlement of a new country. In the progress of this development the wants of the settlers called for mail facilities, and a post- office was established at the mouth of the Klamath River. The establishment of this office was another recognition on the part of the agents of the Government of the perma- nency of the white settlers on this abandoned reservation.
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As a further mark of the belief of these settlers that their homes and property would be reserved to them, they erected bridges and established ferries to promote inter- course between the settlements on both sides of the river.
" In the midst of this progress of white civilization on an abandoned reservation, in the year 1877, for some cause which is not apparent at this time, the Government chose to reassert its rights to this reservation. It appears that some Indians, probably those belonging to the Hoopa Reservation, had found their way back to the Klamath River, and were living, as Indians in that section of country do, on fish, supplemented with what they could beg from the whites, and when this source failed would perform such labor for the settlers as would proeure the means of sustaining life.
" From the testimony of eminent citizens of the vicinity, who are well informed as to the facts of which they speak, and whose veracity is unquestioned, it is established that the whites and Indians were living in a state of peace, and also in a state of mutual dependency and communion with each other, so far as labor and food were concerned, inas- much as the Indians depended more or less upon the whites for subsistence, and the whites in turn employed the Indians to perform such labor as they were capable of performing.
" It is in evidence that some time in the spring or early part of 1877 Lieut. James Halloran made a scout to the mouth of the Klamath River, and reported a condition of affairs likely to lead to hostilities between the whites and Indians if the cause of disagreement was not speedily re- moved. The inciting cause is not stated, but regarding the declaration of reliable and trustyworthy citizens as correct, that the whites and Indians were living in peace, and that the Indians did not desire the whites to leave, it is difficult to surmise what the "conflicting interests " were, or what the cause of dissatisfaction. There were
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neither agent nor superintendent at the Klamath River Reservation, and it is hinted that liquor was being sold to the Indians, but there were laws in force under which those who sold intoxicating liquors to these Indians could have been punished. There is no spirit of justice or equity in a rule that would make a whole community suffer for the misdeeds of a few of its members, and that punishment so great as to sweep from them their homes and property, the result of long years of industry, sobriety, and the ex- penditure of large sums of money in the development of the resources of the country.
" This report of Lieut. Halloran was, through the War Department, laid before the Secretary of the Interior, and, in turn, he called upon the Secretary of War to cause the settlers to be removed from the Klamath Reservation.
" Acting upon an order from the War Department, Gen. Irwin McDowell, on the 19th of October, 1877, ordered Captain Parker to notify the settlers on this reservation to leave immediately, and this order he executed by noti- fying fourteen persons to leave with their property, four of whom were admitted to be without the limits of the reservation.
" These settlers earnestly protested against being forced to leave at the time of year when the rainy season was upon them. Subsequently the order was modified, allow- ing them six months in which to abandon their homes. These settlers protested that they had lived there many years in the belief that they were on the public lands, and that such belief was strengthened by the universal im- pression that such was the fact, and that the Government had relinquished its claim, as evidenced by the letter above. quoted of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs addressed to the Hon. J. K. Luttrell, Representative from California.
"Under this order, however, a portion of the settlers were removed or driven off, and at the time of their re- moval it is in evidence before the Committee that there
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were not to exceed 115 Indians occupying this reservation. Unimpeachable testimony of a sworn character has been submitted establishing this fact. M. G. Tucker, who has lived in that vicinity for many years, acting as an inter- preter, states under oath that there are not to exceed 95 Indians in all now upon the reservation, to wit, 29 bucks, 50 squaws, and 16 children.
" Joseph Ewing, equally well informed, states that there may be 115 in all, to wit, 30 bucks, 70 squaws, and 15 children.
" Judge J. P. Haynes places the number at 125 in all.
" Both of the affiants, Tucker & Ewing, state that these Indians are of different tribes, families, or bands, and that they are continually at war with each other; that homi- cides and murder are of continual occurrence. The re- straining influence of the white settlers, in the absence of United States troops and Government authority, is needed to preserve peace in the community.
" It has been shown that these Indians have made no advancement in the arts of civilized life, there being not more than five acres of land under cultivation by them in the entire reservation, and that amount is contained in small parcels around their huts.
"Should this Committee admit the power of the Presi- dent to establish permanent reserves by executive order, there should be a protest entered against the manner in which that power was exercised in establishing the Klam- ath River Reservation. A reserve containing but forty square miles of territory, covering forty miles of water front, extending but one mile back from the river's banks, is, to say the least, preposterous. This reservation might just as well extend ten or twenty miles back from the water, on each side of the river, as one mile, inasmuch as no one can or will settle upon these lands outside of the reserve for its entire length, as they would be cut off en- tirely from the river, which is their only and natural
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