USA > California > Del Norte County > History of Del Norte County, California : with a business directory and travelers guide > Part 6
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And from the beginning of the year 1861, a blank of sev. eral years in the history of Del Norte occurs, which it is difficult to fill up --- not because of the difficulty in procur- ing reliable information, but for the reason that few events of interest, except the great flood of 1861 -- 2, transpired.
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THE FLOOD OF 1861 -- 2.
Del Norte, in common with the rest of the State, was vibrating back and forth between hope and fear, as news arrived of the victory of one side or the other. As people living in perilous times, and surrounded by great and threatening evils, as citizens of a country which was being tossed to and fro upon the angry passions of sectional war-fare, they saw their danger, and were awed by the presence of war. This was no time for business activity, when the life and property of the people were threatened by civil war; this was no time for improvement and development by enterprising men, when the gloomy clouds of war and rebellion hung over them, stretching their dark shadows from East to West, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. .
Therefore, it was but natural that everything should relapse into a dull waiting, waiting for the storm to break, waiting for the sun of freedom and union to shine forth in its brightness once more.
The winter of 1861-2 was one of unusual severity. The flood-gates of heaven were opened. the rain poured down in torrents, and fierce gales from the ocean added their terrors to the scene The month of December witnessed the worst of these storms. Rain fell in enormous quanti- ties, until rivulets were transformed into brooks, brooks became rushing rivers, and aided by the wind, the mighty waves of the ocean at high tide forced themselves over drift-wood, bulk heads and breakwater, into the streets of Crescent City, extending in some places as far back as Second street. Huge logs were carried up on the side- walks, crashing into Front street buildings, breaking win- dows and doors, and doing other damage. On the beach, the drift- wood was piled up to a great height, whole trees being carried in by the tide. From one end of the beach to the other, huge redwood, spruce and fir trees were piled one upon another in inextricable confusion. It is said that after the tide went out a buggy team was driven
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HISTORY OF DEL NORTE.
on the beach between the drift and the water, and that the pile of drift-wood was so high that people on the streets were unable to see the team. The Crescent City Wharf, which had been built the same year by F. E. Wendell, was crushed by the drift-wood and carried away by the sea. The sea and tide were immense, and had it not been for the piles of drift-wood on the beach in front of town, Crescent City would undoubtedly have been al- most totally destroyed by the tide.
But the loss in Crescent City was small when compared with the loss on Smith's River and the Klamath, The surrounding country was flooded by Smith's River, and houses, barns, fences, cattle, etc., went down with the stream, and were carried out to sea or broken to pieces by falling and floating trees. The "oldest inhabitant " had never seen the river so high as it was then; even the In- dian, usually so fearless of water, was terrified by the ris- ing tide, and the tribes in the valley removed to the mountains for security from the flood. At Fort Dick, (so called from the fact that the citizens had once built a log- house there for the purpose of defending themselves against the Indians ) over a mile from the bed of the river, large dwelling houses were carried by the flood for a dis- tance of half a mile or more. Buildings on the ranch of Major Bradford, a short distance from the river, were moved from their foundations, and much damage done to other property on the ranch, Near the mouth of the river, a fishery owned by W. H. Woodbury was washed away. together with four hundred barrels of salmon.
At the mouth of the Klamath River, the military sta- tion was entirely carried away, all the buildings and much other property being lost.
The company of soldiers stationed at the Klamath, under command of Capt. Stewart, were removed immedi- ately after the flood to Smith's River Valley, where they remained until the summer of 1862, when Camp Lincoln
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SMITH'S RIVER INDIAN RESERVATION. 75
was established. Camp Lincoln was situated in Elk Val ley, six miles from Crescent City. Several substantial buildings were erected there, a few of which are standing at the present time, Soldiers were stationed there until 1867, when the station was abandoned and the property sold at auction.
Owing to the unsettled state of affairs, the citizens were fearful of trouble with the Indians, as a large number of them were roaming over the county. For the purpose of gathering these bands together where the controlling and restraining influence of the soldiers could be exercised upon them, the Government leased the large ranch of Major Bradford, in Smith's River Valley, and established thereon an Indian Reservation. It was under the super- vision of several men at different times, the first being Capt. Buell. A large number of Indians were on the reservation, and they were kept there until the year 1870. In that year the Indians were removed by Agent Whiting to the Hoopa Reservation, on the Klamath River.
During the time of the Civil War nothing of special im- portance occurred except what has already been related. Trade was depressed, business enterprise was checked, and everybody were waiting impatiently for the end ---- when the fate of the Union would be decided. The war feeling ran high, and many bitter animosities were engen- dered by the war question. The majority of the inhabi- tants of Crescent City, if not openly expressing themselves in favor of secession and rebellion, at least sympathized strongly with the Confederate cause, and many of them were loud in their denunciations of the Union, and openly expressed their feeling against its perpetuation. Those who remained loyal to the Republic and Republican insti- tutions were by far the lesser number, and they were bit- terly opposed by the Confederate sympathizers.
There was a flag-pole in front of Dugan & Wall's Ex- press office, on Front street, from which the flag of the
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HISTORY OF DEL NORTE.
Union was often flung to the breeze. Not to be outdone by their Republican neighbors, the Democrats erected a flag-pole on Second street, just back of the one on Front street; and it was not unusual to see the flag of the Union waving in close proximity to that of the Southern Con- federacy. As the war progressed, the bitter feeling be- tween the Democrats and Republicans grew apace. And at one time, as the Democrats were in such a large majority, it was not considered safe to hoist the Union flag on the arrival of the steamers, especially if they brought bad news of the Confederacy.
On one occasion a steamer arrived, and the emblem of liberty and union was run up the flag-pole in front of Du- gan & Wall's Express office. But in a few minutes it was observed that it was hauled down again, and the men at work on the lighters in the bay, noticing this, left their work, marched up to the Express office, and asked Mr. Dugan, who had charge of the flag, why it was hauled down. He replied, "It might cause trouble, if the flag is allowed to remain." The men were not satisfied with this excuse, and finally Dugan took the flag out and threw it down on the side-walk. Willing hands were there to hoist it to the top of the pole,
" And all day long it rose and fell,
On the loyal winds that loved it will."
CHAPTER IV.
WRECK OF THE BROTHER JONATHAN ---- DISCOVERY OF CHROME --- THE SUNDAY LAW ---- THE OLD GUARD ---- BEACH MINING ---- A LIVELY EARTHQUAKE ---- AND OTHER MATTERS, FROM 1859 To 1881.
That wide world of waters, the sea, is as full of mystery and wonder to-day as it was two thousand years ago, when navigators thought that to go farther than a certain distance from land would result in inevitable death, and that a hand would be raised in the Western waters, indi- cating the Ultima Thule beyond which it was folly to . venture.
And the superstitious awe with which the sea inspires us, is felt now as strongly as it ever was. We may ad- vance in science, religion, and art; we may be free from the fanaticism of religious enthusiasm; our minds may be stored with scientific knowledge, and clear with the en- lightenment of the nineteenth century ---- but still the mys- tery and dread of the sea is felt by all, and its superstitions still find a place in the minds of men. That vigorous and thoughtful writer on Nature, John Burroughs, says of the sea :
" It is a wide and fearful gulf that separates the two worlds. The landsman can know little of the wildness, savageness, and mercilessness of nature, until he has been
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HISTORY OF DEL NORTE.
upon the sea. It is as if he had taken a leap off into the interstellar spaces. In voyaging to Mars or Jupiter he might cross such a desert ---- might confront such awful purity and coldness. An astronomic solitariness and re- moteness encompasses the sea. The earth and all remem- brance of it is blotted out; there is no hint of it anywhere. This is not water, this cold, blue-black, vitreous liquid. It suggests not life, but death. Indeed, the regions of everlasting ice and snow are not more cold and inhuman than the sea."
And it is this terror which its grandeur and power in- spires, that feeds the flame of superstition and awe, and keeps it alive in our minds. Dr. Holland says that " it is curious how superstition springs into life at sea. Of all the monsters that swim the deep or haunt the land, there is none so powerful as this, and none like this that is om- nipresent. It can be fought or ignored upon the shore, but at sea it looks up from the green hollows of the waves, and lifts. its ghostly hands from every white curl of their swiftly formed and swiftly falling summits. It is in the still atmosphere, in the howling wind. in the awful fires · and silences of the stars, in the low elouds and the light- nings that shiver and try to hide themselves behind them. Reason retires before its baleful breath, and even faith grows fearful beneath its influence. It fills the imagination with a thousand indefinite forms of evil, and none are so strong as to be unconscious of its power."
Certainly it is: this superstitious feeling that makes tales of the sea so absorbingly interesting when all other sub- jects grow stale and flat. Would that what follows could be given as an off-spring of the imagination, instead of an account of events which actually transpired.
One summer's day in 1865, a great steamship, freighted with a hundred precious lives, and carrying in her hold goods and treasure valued at four hundred thousand dol- lars, prepared to start on her trip from San Francisco to
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THE "BROTHER JONATHAN" --- THE START.
the Columbia River. The ship was overflowing with life; officers in gay uniforms were busy in preparing for the start; passengers were bidding farewell to friends and kindred dear. Presently, the last farewells were spoken, the decks were cleared of visitors, the gang-way was hauled in, the fiery heart of the monster began to beat and throb, the wheels revolved ---- and the steamship Brother Jonathan, freighted with bright hopes and brighter expectations, sailed gallantly out through the Golden Gate in a flood of sunshine, with every prospect of a speedy and prosperous voyage.
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Captain De Wolf, shaping his course to the North, sailed far out into the great Pacific-until the Heads grew indis- tinet and shadowy, and the dark, rugged Farrallones faded away in the blue horizon ---- until the 30th day of July found the ship with nothing in sight but the bending heavens and the heaving waste of waters.
Everything had passed off smoothly till the morning of the 30th, when the wind increased to a howling nor-wester, lashing the sea into a furious commotion. The ship labored and strained in the angry sea, and it was at last thought best to seek a port of safety. She was then about due west from Point St. George, far out to sea, and out of sight of land. Knowing that the Point would afford shel- ter from the gale, the Brother Jonathan was headed for Crescent City Harbor, just south of the cape.
And not one of her hundred passengers dreamed of the fate in store for them! No one saw the hand of Death beckoning from the silvery tide. No one heard the voices in the wind and waves claiming them for their own.
Off Point St. George, about four miles from land, a reef, known as St. George Reef, extends for several miles west- ward into the ocean. It is customary for steamers sailing against a nor-wester, to keep close in shore, inside this reef, in order to keep as much as possible out of the wind, and vessels running down the coast to Crescent City also
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HISTORY OF DEL NORTE.
run inside this reef. The Brother Jonathan was steering on her course for Crescent City, and for some reason was running outside the reef as laid down on the chart. She had made the coast to the north of Point St. George, and was therefore running before the wind, as she was making for the harbor to the south of the Point. She was about four miles off Point St. George, the Quartermaster at the wheel, when suddenly she struck with tremendous power on a sunken rock, with such force that her fore mast went through the hull, her fore-yards resting across the rails. Instantly the deck became the scene of the wildest con- fusion. The crash was so sudden, so unexpected, so awful, that those on board had scarcely recovered from the shock when they saw that their doom was sealed ---- the ship was fast sinking into the embrace of the hungry waves, and short time was left to prepare for death.
The pen is impotent to portray, the mind too feeble to imagine the scenes that occurred on the deck of the ill-fated steamer. Women fainted and implored for aid; strong men who had looked death in the face a hundred times, stared with fierce eyes at this watery grave; and all looked to the Captain for the means of safety and delivery. Life-preservers were distributed, two guns were fired in quick succession, and command was given to lower the boats from their davits. No sooner was the first boat in the water, than a frenzied crowd rushed to the side and threw themselves into it in such numbers that it was swamped before it could get clear of the steamer. A sec- ond and last boat was launched, which succeeded in clear ing the vessel, running before the wind in the direction of Crescent City.
Who can describe that last minute on board the sinking ship; the swooning forms on the deck; the selfish strug gles for the means of safety; the wild, longing looks at the land and sky which seemed to mock them; the last farewells, given and received, "when eyes spake love to
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THE "BROTHER JONATHAN " --- THE WRECK.
eyes which ne'er might speak again;" the hands and faces raised imploringly toward the heavens, from whence the sun glared coldly down upon them.
One awful, trembling motion of the ship, one dreadful plunge, and the great steamer, which but an hour before had been the boast and pride of man, went down, with all her treasure, her cunning machinery, and her precious human freight, to sleep in the caves of ocean, until by the agency of nature or of man she shall be lifted from her bed. Those who but a moment before had crowded her decks, felt themselves dragged down, down among whirl- ing eddies that tossed them to and fro, in the midst of falling timbers that crushed and maimed them. And in the struggle in the cold, deadly element, many a pulse stopped beating forever, many a life went out.
The boat which succeeded in clearing the sinking vessel and reaching Crescent City, contained the Third Mate, the Steerage Steward, a Quartermaster, and fourteen others . They arrived at Crescent City about four o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, (July 30th, 1865,) and upon their arrival, boats were immediately manned to proceed to the scene of the catastrophe. They returned on the same evening without being able to accomplish anything, having seen no bodies. Early on the following morning, two boats, under command of Benj. West and Anson Burr, started out to make another effort to save life. But their efforts were all in vain. Nothing was visible in the shape of wreckage or human bodies. On the same evening à boat manned by the Third Mate of the Brother Jonathan, Charles Brown, Charles Patterson and - Davis, started to Eureka to obtain assistance, but returned before reach- ing that place. They reported that on their way back they saw portions of the hurricane deck of the steamer drifting by, together with beds, trunks, etc., but saw no bodies. The boat which had swamped on being launched from the steamer, drifted ashore on the beach opposite
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HISTORY OF DEL NORTE.
Crescent City, and a portion of the upper work of the vessel was afterwards found near Point St. George The heel of her fore mast, 20 or 30 feet long, also went ashore near the same place. A boat went up with two of the crew to within a short distance of Seal Rock, and when they returned they reported that they had seen people on the rock. Other boats were immediately manned and went up to the rock, but on arriving there discovered that the objects supposed to be men were only sea-lions.
A few days afterwards a boat-load went up and tried to discover the place where the steamer went down. The Quartermaster pointed out a rock, a small part of which is visible at low tide, as the one on which she struck. The rock was not on the charts, and bad never been known before. It was supposed to be a part of the St. George Reef, and was named " Brother Jonathan Rock."
Nine or ten days after the wreck, the bodies of the vic- tims began to come ashore. Every day three or four · bodies would be picked up at sea by the boatmen, and many were washed up on the beach in the vicinity of Crescent City. Horrible discoveries were made in caves and among the rocks. Dead faces showed white from tangled seaweed, wild eyes stared up from shallow pools left by receding tides.
As fast as they were secured, the bodies were taken to Dugan & Wall's ware-house, and an inquest was there held by J. E. Eldredge, Coroner. Forty-five bodies were recovered in the vicinity of . Crescent City, and many others were found at different points on the coast between Humboldt Bay and the mouth of Rogue River. The bodies recovered here were buried in the Crescent City cemetery. A number of them were afterwards removed by relatives and friends and taken to other places ..
On the body of Mr. Nesbeth, editor of the San Francisco Bulletin, was found a will, which stated that'it had been written in the cabin of the steamer just before she went
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THE "BROTHER JONATHAN "
down. ' Who could help admiring the cool self-possession of a man who could thus, in imminent peril of death, for- get his own danger in the thought of those whom he would leave behind him?
The number lost on the Brother Jonathan was between eighty and ninety, and the treasure on board has been estimated at $300,000. Col. Wright, commanding the Pa- cific Coast Division G. A. R., was on board with a large amount of money, with which to pay off the soldiers in Oregon and Washington Territory, and Wells, Fargo & Company also had a large sum on board. Other sums, belonging to private parties, would have swelled the above estimate to a much larger figure, had their been any means of ascertaining their amount.
The Brother Jonathan, Captain DeWolf, was a side- wheel steamship, about 1000 tons burden, and was one of the oldest steamers on the coast. She was at one time esteemed one of the best boats on the Northern Pacific. Several parties have at different times endeavored to find the sunken steamer, but have thus far been unsuccessful. Old Ocean keeps well its secrets, and it is probable that the lost steamer will forever be hidden from the eye of man. A few articles from the wreck were recovered, and are still preserved in Crescent City. The wheel (which was picked up on the beach a few days after the, wreck ) is in the possession of Peter Darby; also a bundle of pa pers, which was picked up by one of the boatmen.
Occurring fifteen years ago, it is yet fresh in the minds of the people of Del Norte. On winter evenings, around the family hearth-stone or in public places of resort, when other subjects have been exhausted. the wreck of the Brother Jonathan is brought up again, and the story, with all its horrible details, is discussed with subdued voices by the older members of the circle, and listened to with deep interest by the younger ones. Nor is this the only way in which the memory of the sad affair is kept alive. In
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HISTORY OF DEL NORTE.
the cemetery at Crescent City, a number of grassy mounds, with a decaying slab at the head of each, bearing the inscription .:
00000000000000000000000000 SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF
00
LOST ON THE BROTHER JONATHAN, JULY 30, A. D. 1865.
00000000000000000000000000
serve as a perpetual reminder of the Brother Jonathan disaster, and testify to the weakness of man as compared with the power of nature.
The years between 1865 and the present time (January 1st, 1881) have passed away with but little of interest occurring, and the remainder of this history, down to January 1st, 1881, will necessarily be disconnected and meagre. Such incidents and facts as have been deemed worthy of notice will be found in the succeeding pages of this chapter.
A high tide in 1866 did considerable damage to property at Crescent City. Several buildings were washed away by the tide, including a part of a large brick warehouse belonging to W. A. Hamilton, a warehouse belonging to Dugan & Wall, and Marhoffer's brewery.
On Thursday, September 12th, 1872, the first number of the Crescent City Courier appeared. It was published and edited by Walter B. Thorp. Its editor was young and energetic, and the Courier was well gotten up and pre- sented a neat appearance. Several years bad elapsed since the publication of the Crescent City Herald, and
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THE SUNDAY LAW.
since that time the town and county had been on the down grade.
At last, however, the lumber trade was started here, and from that time on a steady improvement in the con- dition of the county was noticeable. There were no ex- citing, feverish speculations in town lots and mines as in days of old, but the trade of the county was based on a surer foundation. The farmers throughout the county were cultivating more land every succeeding year, and but little produce was being imported.
Chrome was discovered about twenty miles north east of Crescent City, on the Low Divide, and chrome ore soon became a prominent article of export. The copper mines, which had been discovered several years before, were idle, and the capital with which to work them to advantage was not forthcoming.
Some of the ladies and gentlemen of Crescent City or- ganized a literary society in December, 1872, having for its object the mutual improvement of its members, and the passing pleasantly away of the long winter evenings. It is mentioned here by way of contrast with the present condition of things in Crescent City. Then, the commu- nity were public spirited enough to provide a place of profitable resort at least one evening in the week. Now, they are content to see the boys and young men of the place frequent the saloons (having no other place in which to seek amusement,) and are apparently blind to the ad- vantages which a reading room and literary society would give the rising generation.
The monotony of Crescent City life was somewhat dis- turbed in the beginning of the year 1873, by the attempts made to enforce the provisions of the new Codes in relation to keeping open places of business on Sunday. It had been generally understood that on the first of January some of the officials would try to enforce these provisions, and a petition had been circulated and signed by fifteen or
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HISTORY OF DEL NORTE.
twenty citizens, asking that they should be enforced. The first Sunday in January came on the 5th, and it is supposed that the officers of the law were for once on the look-out for offenders, for on the following Monday morning a complaint was filed against David E. Shipman, for "a vio- lation of the Sunday law by keeping his saloon open for the purpose of transacting business on that day." Mr. Shipman pleaded guilty, and had the pleasure of paying the fees of the District Attorney, Justice of the Peace and Sheriff. The next person engaged in the "unholy traffic" arraigned before the bar of justice was Peter Darby, Esq., who endeavored to convince the zealous limbs of the law of the error of their ways, by standing a trial. It was then discovered that the new Codes had not been received, and in view of that fact, the Attorney for the People went on with the prosecution under the old law of 1861. Mr. Darby was found guilty of a violation of that law, and he too was compelled to contribute his mite in the shape of fees to the District Attorney, Justice and Sheriff. Mr. Smith, who kept a saloon in the City Hotel, was the next in turn. Whether he was a descendant of the celebrated John Smith is not known; but it cannot be denied that his unassuming modesty and honest truthfulness appeal strongly to our admiration. He was taken before the Justice, and stated that " he had only soll one drink, in the morning, and that he had forgotten (?) that it was Sunday." In view of this frank confession, Mr. Smith was "let off easy " .--- by paying the regular fees. The next and last victim was John Richert, who stood a trial, and was found guilty. This gentleman shared the fate of the member of the Smith family, and more too; for he refused to comply with the request to empty thirty-one dollars into the official pockets, and was therefore taken into the charge of the Sheriff and lodged in jail. After remaining in the county jail about twenty four hours. he was released upon his friends paying the legal fees.
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