History of Humboldt County, California : with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, farms, residences, public buildings, factories, hotels, business houses, schools, churches, etc., from original drawings, including biographical sketches, Part 22

Author: W.W. Elliott & Co
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: San Francisco : W.W. Elliott
Number of Pages: 344


USA > California > Humboldt County > History of Humboldt County, California : with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, farms, residences, public buildings, factories, hotels, business houses, schools, churches, etc., from original drawings, including biographical sketches > Part 22


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" There is no harbor under heaven Called . Bay of Trinidad.' "


And sighis, and groans and shrieks were heard, As down from mortal view, Beneath the wave they disappeared, That phantom hrig and erew; And while they gazed in sore dismay, 'There rose a sulph'rous smell, And loud was heard " We'll find the hay, Or run the hrig to h-1,"


That night the sehooner anchored near, And there arose a gale, Which gave the erew new eanse of fear, And made stout hearts to quail ;. For ragged rocks were all around. 'Gainst which the waters roared, Which certainly was not a souud,


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FIRST DISCOVERIES BY LAND AND SEA.


To comfort those on board; And all prepared to meet their fate, And thought that hope was vain, And thronged upon the deck to wait The parting of the chain.


'The schooner trembled like a reed, Then with an awful shock. The chain gave way, and on with speed She hastened towards the rock. But cool and calmn, devoid of fear, Did her bold captain stand, And clear of rock her conrse did steer Direct upon the sand.


The crew were saved, but there she lays, Dismantled and forlorn. The prettiest schooner of these days, The fmsous Paragon.


The brig Arabian next did meet The Cumco on the wave, And of her crew, ere enn hind set, Five found a watery grave; For when the phantom brig appears, Most dire is the effect;


The sight of her has been for years Forerunner of a wreck.


But onward she is doomed to Rail, Along the rock-bound coast, And when most londly ronrs the gale, Is Been the Cumco's ghost; And then a voice is heard to say, With loud. unearthly yell, "By God, we'll either find the bay, Or run the brig to 11-1."


May 1, 1850.


Tho news that Trinidad Bay had been discovered spread like wild-fire, and a dozen expeditions began to fit out, a few by land but most of them by sea, somo of them having mein- bers of tho late exploring party connected with them, and somno "going it blind " on general principles.


Besides the town of Humboldt, two others were laid out on Humholdt Bay in April, 1850, Eureka and Union, that hecamne its rivals as woll as Trinidad. During the same month the town of Reading was laid out on tho Sacramento River by Major P. B. Reading, as a supply point for the Trinity Mines. During all this time the Trinity Mines were fast filling up by men from tho Sacramento Valley. A number had wintered there, and as carly as February they began to pour in across Trinity Mouutain, settling generally on the North Fork. Many were induced not only to embark in the sea oxpeditions, hut to hasten ovorland to tho new mines, by such letters as the fol- lowiug in the Sacramento and San Francisco papers :-


"SACRAMENTO CITY, March 9, 1850.


" 'The latest news from Trinity is that seven men and two boys have just arrived in this eity from there with $150,000. Mr. J. D. Baker, formerly proprietor of the Bran- nau House, is now in my office and tells me that he has seen the gold, which is in some forty large-sized bags. Mr. Moran, one of the party, has deposited his portion at Mr. Lee's store (formerly Priest, Lee & Co.), of this city. The party left here in the latter part of December, 1849. Two of the quen are from New York, two from New Jersey, and the others from Oregon. Beat this from the southern mines if yon cau.


" When communication was opened between the new towns


on the coast and the mines, which was not effected until May, there were about 2,000 miners on the river :"


SHXED TOPOGRAPHY STRAIGHTENED.


It did not take long then to get the topography of the coun- try straightened ont. It was found that Eel River was by no means a highway to the mines, and that both Trinidad and Humboldt Bays were of little use to the miners on Trinity River, who could communicate more easily and cheaply with the Sacramento Valley than with the sea. It was also found that the Trinity Rivor, whose eccentrie course had so deceived the early prospectors, did not enter the occan at all, but was simply a tributary of the Klamath. To see how this became known we must go back a little.


Among those who wintered on the Trinity were Robert G. Shaw, James Chick, Samuel Jackson and Julius Holtzwart. Thesc men started down the river on the 1st of March, 1850, intending to go to its mouth in a canoc. They had progressed somte thirty miles, when the canoe overturned, and all but Shaw were drowned. Thus was the knowledge of the location of Trinity and Klamath Rivers delayed till they were entered from the sea in April. On the 3d of April Captain Ottin- ger of the Laura Virginia had discovered the mnouth of the Klamath, but could not enter it. He located it in 41º 33' and supposed it to be the Rogue River, as he considered it too far north for the Trinity. Fremont had given the latitude of the Klamath at its source as 42º 27', and for this reason it was supposed to lie much farther to the north, in Oregon.


DISCOVERIES MADE BY THE CAMEO.


When the Cameo was driven from off Trinidad in March and supposed to be lost, she proceeded to Point St. George, near Crescent City and landed a part of the passengers consisting of B. W. Bullett, Herman Ehrenberg, J. T. Tyson, A. Heepe and Mr. Gunns, explored the coast to the south on foot, and on the 10th of April reached the Klamath, which they supposed at first to he the Trinity. They explored the river up heyond the mouth of the 'Trinity, and parties coming down that stream soon settled the identity of both rivers. A few miles above the mouth of the Klamath they took up 160 acres of land each, on the south bank, and then started down the coast for Trinidad. They reached that place on the 13th and told of the dis- covery of the river.


KLAMATH CITY LAID OUT.


A number of others of the Cameo returned with them to lay out the new town, which they called Klamath City. Here they learned the fate of five others of the Cameo party who had fol- lowed them down from Point St. George in a hoat. They had been upset in the surf and four of theun drowned, Eugene Du Bertrand alone being rescued by an Indian.


This river was variously called Rogue, Chester, Trinity and


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FIRST SETTLEMENTS BY GOLD HUNTERS.


Klamath, the latter naine being found the correct one. A party explored it for a long distance in May, passing the mouth of of the Trinity, and returning the same month, have been driven out by hostile ludians. Miners on Upper Trinity River, with their usual restlessness, pushed down that stream, and thus set- tled the much-mooted point of where the mouth of the river was. Prospeeting parties up the Klamath and others down the Trinity soon set at rest all doubt as to the location and names of the two streams,


Klamath City had but a brief and inglorious career. It was soon discovered that the shifting sands at the mouth kept so incessantly altering and obstructing the channel, that it was a matter of considerable uncertainty when a vessel could enter, aml when once inside it was just as uncertain when it could get out again. No sooner was this fact realized than the peo- ple, to use an expressive phrase, "slid out," and the beautiful metropolis, with its projected parks, boulevards and institutions of learning became again a mountain wild, and so remains at the present time.


RIVAL TOWNS ON BOTH BAYS.


The towns of Trinidad and Humboldt Bays vied with cach other in their endeavors to secure trade and travel. Every issue of the San Francisco alta contained letters from both, landing their advantages to the skies and decrying the rivals. The Humboldt people said that Trinidad Bay was not a safe harbor, in fact, no harbor at all, while the Trinidad proprietors asserted that a vessel could pass neither in nor out of Humboldt Bay in safety, because of the bar at the entrance. Both claimed to be nearest to the mines and to have the best road to them, and they also both claimed to be doing all the business thet was done.


The fact was that neither of them was in a sitnation favor- able to do much business with the mines on Trinity River, but the discovery of gold on the Klamath, Salmon, and Scott Riv- ers during the spring and summer, to which region they were the most accessible points, saved them from wasting away like a pluekell rose.


RICH DIGGINGS ARE FOUND.


Early in June a number of men erossed the ridge from the north fork of the Trinity and came upon the south fork of the . Salmon River, which they followed down to the forks and there struck rich diggings. Severel hundred men collected there and spread up the north fork, working at various points along the stream. During the same month a party consisting of Rufus Johnson, James Duffy, -- Van Duzen, - Dollarhide and a number of others, went on an exploring expedition up the Klamath from its mouth. They proceeded about as far as Happy Camp, when the Indians became so hostile they had to turn back. Leaving the river they struck across the mount- ains and reached the forks of Salmon River.


PROSPECTING UP THE KLAMATH.


They related wonderful stories of the richness of the bars on the Klamath River, asserting that a man could make two ounces a day. This was enough. A company of some forty men was formed to go ou a prospecting tour on the Klamath, in search of two-ounce diggings.


The party left the forks of the Salmon in July, and struek across the country in a northwestely direction, reaching the Klamath, which there runs nearly south, a distance above the mouthi of Salmon River. Their first move was to cross the stream to the west side, which they did by making a raft of two logs, secured by a lariat, upon which their effects were placed, and which they pushed across the stream, the men and stock swimming. This method of transportation was used in all their frequent crossings of the river. They had secured a Klamath Indian or two for guides, being able to maintain an aggravating and uncertain conversation with them by means of the Chinook jargon, with which they were all slightly famil- iar. They then started up the stream, following an Indian trail, knowing that the best rontes would there be found, some- times going directly away from the river, across a spur of mountains, but always getting back to it again. Their Indian guides would go with them as far as the limits of the range of their tribe or band and then stop, but others soon appeared in camp.


Major Cook, probably to be provided for any emergency, was driving along a good fat steer, but one day it commenced rolling down a steep declivity, and when it reached the bottom it was quickly resolved from steer into minced beef, being left for the Indians to regale themselves upon, if they chanced to find it. In this way they passed up the stream, prospecting in a superficial and unsatisfactory way all the bars and streams they passed, frequently crossing the river for that pur- pose, and always getting "color," but never finding any two- ounce diggings. One noon they camped a little more than half a mile below Scott River, and a few of them swam over to Hamn- burg Bar, where were congregated a large number of Shasta Indians, with whom they talked and visited. After prospect- ing a little on the bar, they returned to camp, and the com- pany resumed its journey. All are familiar with the bend in the river where Scott River empties into it, and it will be read- ily understood how, in following the trail over the spur of the mountain, around which the river makes a broad sweep, they missed seeing Scott River, although passing within half a mile of its mouth.


The next day near Oak Bar, where they also prospected, they | lost a man by means of the Indians, and after that had consid- erable difficulty with them, the details of which will be given in another place. The highest point reached was a mile above the mouth of the Shasta River. Here they' were overtaken and joined by the party of Rufus Johnson, which had been 1


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RESIDENCE OF MRS. A.MONROE, COR, OF E.AND 9 TH, STS, EUREKA, CAL.


Jos. P. Albu.


A. Monroe


1


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FIRST DISCOVERIES BY LAND AND SEA.


reorganized, the united company being above sixty strong, They then crossed to the south side, aml started for Shasta Val- ley, a glimpse of which they had obtained from the opposite hills. As the beautiful valley with its wealth of tall, war- ing grass and its snow-crowned king, grand old Shasta, opened before their vision, it seemed like a veritable Garden of Ellen, Ho different was it from the rugged and precipitous mountains through which they had been passing. After considerable prospecting they finally settled down for the winter at Middle- town, where were also quartered hundreds of others, who pen- ctrated this region the next spring.


EXPLORATIONS OF KLAMATH AND TRINITY.


Rufus Johnson went down tho Klamath and reorganized his party, and again started up tho stream. At the mouth of the Trinity he fell in with Charles MeDermit, Abisha Swain, John W. Burke, Stevens, Charles D. Moore, and Buck, who went with him as far as the mouth of the Salmon, where they stopped to mine, whilo the Johnson party continued up the Klamath. They prospected in a number of places, and finally came to Scott River and did a little work there. In this party of' somno forty men there wero Rufus Johnson, Dollarlide, Duffy, Suyder, and Van Duzen. They left Scott River and continued up the Klamath, overtaking and joining the Jones and Bean party near the mouth of Sbasta River.


But a few days after the departure of Johnson's party from Scott River, a small company of men from the forks of Sal- mon, led by Jolin Scott, arrived there and went to work, the place being named by them Scott Bar. They had, however, worked here but a short time when the Indians made such hos- tile demonstrations as to induce them, being few in number, to abandon tho river.


They went up tho stream to tho valley, and then over thio divide to the north fork of Salmon, and thence over to 'Trinity where the nows of their discovery soon spread and several parties wero organized to find tbo river, some of them led by members of the Scott party. Some of this company went to Trinidad and others to Reading's Springs, and in this way the fame of Scott Bar was rapidly spread abroad, and as it was considered dangerous to winter in the mountains many made a silent resolve to go to Scott Bar early in the spring as was safe.


A few days after Scott's party was cbased off the river Jesse J. Pool was working on the north fork of Salmon River, when an Indian, arrayed simply in a breech-clout, appeared beforo him and opened a conversation in Chinook, which Pool could not understand. "Close tum tum," said he, smiting him- self on the breast and smiling in a winning way, "Boston man, Hi you, Shasta," pointiug over the mountains to the northeast. Seeing that be was not fully understood, he took Pool's pan, put in somo small stones and began shaking the implement as if washing dirt, all the time laughing and saying, " Hi you Bos- ton man. Hi you, Hi you, Sbasta." Pool decided that be


was trying to tell him there was a party of white men mining on Shasta River, and that they were finding coarse lumps of gold. That there was such a river as Shasta, all the miners knew, and they expected to find it to the east, in fact when Salmon River was first found it was supposed to be the Shasta. He is satisfied that the Indian referred to Scott's party on Scott Bar, and by "Shasta" meant over towards Mount Shasta. He told his partner, Moses Dusenberry, what he thought, aud they went up the streaur a short distance and got eleveu more to join them in a trip over the mountains. A careful search revealed a fresh trail. This they followed into Scott Valley, where they were delayed three days by reason of Indians steal- ing some of their stock, and then continued on till they reached Scott Bar, where they found a party of about tifty inen had arrived but the day before.


At the head of this company was Doctor Goodwin, and they had come direct from Trinity River, where they had been in- formed of the discovery here by some members of Scott's party. It was probably due to their coming over the trail that made the confusion of tracks. Doctor Goodwin, Pool, Dusenberry and ten others formed a company and put in a wing dam. This was just below the bridge on the opposite side from the present town of Scott Bar. They made hand-barrows of beef hides. From that time till the present day mining has been carried on nnremittingly along Scott River.


THE GOLD BLUFF EXCITEMENT.


There is one other clement that entered into the develop- ment of this region that must not be overlooked, and that is the Gold Bluff excitement. In the month of May, 1850, B. Nordheimer, J. H. Stinchfield, Charles D. Moore, and a num- ber of others, were going up the sea-shore from 'Trinidad to the new town of Klamath City, when they observed gold in the sand on the ocean beach. They took some of this, but it was so mixed with fine gray and black sand that they could do nothing with it. They passed on, and no attempt was made to work the sea-shore deposit. In the fall, J. M. Maxwell and - Richardson went to the bluff and began operations. They soon found that it was but occasionally that the gold was visible. The bluff is several miles loug and 400 feet high, with but few feet between it and the sea. In times of storm at high tide the surf beats against the bluff and washes down the quartz that partially composes it. The fine grains of gold that thus become mixed with the sand are sometimes brought to the surface by the action of the water, and some- times buried out of sight. Maxwell and Richardson watched their opportunity, and when the glistening particles appeared on top of the sand, they filled buckskin bags with the mixture of sand and gold, and carried it back on the bluff to be worked over at their leisure. The gold was so fine and the sand so heavy that they only saved a small per cent. of wbat the mixture contained.


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FIRST SETTLEMENTS BY GOLD HUNTERS.


MOST WONDERFUL GOLD STORIES.


News of the wonderful beach of gold went to San Fran- cisco, and a company was organized, that chartered the steamer Chespeake, to explore the place. She arrived off Gold Bluff on the 23d of December, 1850, and the next inorn- ing sent a boat ashore. This was broken up in the surf, but the occupants succeeded in reaching the beach in safety. The others, not wishing to land in such a damp and dangerous manner, sailed for the month of the Klamath, but could not cross the bar. They then returned to Trinidad and went up the coast on foot with pack-mules owned by J. C. Campbell. The Chesapeake then returned to San Francisco to report the success of the expedition. The Alta California contained the following, January 9, 1851 :-


"A NEW EL DORADO .- We have been all along prepared to hear marvelous accounts of discoveries of gold; that it would be as abundant as lead seemed not altogether improba- ble; and we have looked forward to a time when a man would have to give a cart-load of the precious metal in exchange for a barrel of wheat. But there is nothing left for credulity now. 'The world has never heard of such wealth as lies on the shores of the Pacific.


"It is well known that the steamer Chesapeake, with about thirty adventurers, left this port on the 21st ultimo, for the Klamath, and in yesterday's paper we gave some account of her progress, Scarcely was our paper issued when the Chesa- peuke came into port, bringing back five or six of the ‘pros- pectors,' Gen. John Wilson and John C. Collins, Esq, among the number. A meeting of the stockholders was called, to hear the result of the expedition, which meeting we attended, and if we can bring our ideas down to anything like reason after hearing the wonderful details, we will let the public into the secret.


GOLD BLUFF MINES.


" Twenty-seven miles beyond the Trinity, there is a beach sev- eral miles in extent and bounded by a high bluff. The sands of this beach are mixed with gold, to an extent almost beyond belief. The sands are of two kinds, a fine black sand and a gray sand. The gray sand can be separated very easily from the black sand, and this seems to be a desirable object. The gold is mixed with the black sand in proportions from ten cents to ten dollars to the pound. At times when the surf is high, the gold is not easily discovered, but in the spring of the year, after a succession of calms, the entire beach is covered with a bright and yellow gold. Mr. Collins, the Secretary of the Pacific Min- ing Company, measured a patch of gold and sand, and estimates it will give to cach member of the company the snug little sum of 843,000,000, and this estimate is formed upon a calculation that the sand holds out to be one-tenth as rich as observation warrants them in supposing,


"The Pacific Mining Company (the adventurers of the Chesa-


peake have banded themselves together under this title) found some nineteen inen at these diggings. The men had no dispo- sition to dig, for the gold was all ready for them whenever they felt disposed to take it. Besides, such is the character of the roads, that they cannot take away more than seventy-five to 100 pounds apiece-an amount too trifling for their consider- ation. They had erected a comfortable log cabin, and designed watching this claim till spring, and then take a ship-load of the gold and travel to some country where the metal was not so abundant. Mr. Collins saw a man who had accumulated 50,000 pounds, or 50,000 tons-he did not recollect which-of the richest kind of black sand.


"General Wilson says that thousands of inen cannot exhaust this gold in thousands of years, and he gives all who doubt his statements the liberty of going and ascertaining these facts.


"'The company will send up 100 additional laborers as speed- ily as they can be embarked. They also design purchasing a steamer and running her up to the " Goldl Bluffs." Sixty men are now at the scene of operations. We await with anxiety further reports. Numerous specimens of the sand and gold were exhibited to stockholders at the meeting last evening."


In addition to the long article in the Alta, Mr. Collins pub- lished two affidavits he had secured while at the wonderful beach, One was signed by M. C. Thompson and C. W. Kinsey, and the other by Edwin A. Rowe, both attested by L. B. Gil- key, Justiec of the Peace of Trinity County. They spoke of the nature and richness of the beach, and Rowe's contained the fol- lowing passage; "I am now, however, confident that with the proper arrangements for amalgamating the gold, on a scale as extensive as your company is capable of doing, millions upon millions of dollars can be easily obtained every year for more than a century to comc."


A RUSH FOR THE GOLD BLUFFS.


The next day shares demanded a premium, On the 18th, the steamers Chesapeake and General Warren sailed for Gold Bluff, and a few days later the bark Chester. A great many companies were formed and vessels chartered to take them to the auriferous beach. Hundreds reached Trinidad en route to the bluff; but were met with the news that the gold could not be separated from the black sand, and that it was a waste of time and money to attempt it. Still many went to be con- vinced by experience, and when so convinced pushed on up the Klamath to the Salmon Mines. It was principally these adven- turers, unprovided with supplies, who crowded into the Salmon country and produced the starvation times there. All efforts to work the beach on an extensive scale failed and were aban- doned. Every year, however, a few men bave worked there at a favorable scason and made good wages, and they are doing the same at the present time; Unt how the "millions npon mill- ions" bave dwindled. The Gold Bluff Mines of later times will be more fully mentioned hereafter.


ORGANIZATION OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY.


ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY.


The First Counties Organized; Rapid In- crease of Population; Constant Change of Boundaries; Humboldt Organized; First County Seat Contest; First Courts, Officers, etc., etc.


THE first election held in the State, in 1849, was not partici- pated in by residents of this region, if any there were. At that time the State was not organized, and election precinets were es- tablished only in those interior towns and mining camps that had sprung into recognized prominence during the few short months that had elapsed since had begun that tumultuous rush for the gold-fields of California. As yet the venturesome foot of the prospector had uot pressed tho grassy carpet of these northern altitudes. Of those who were to become the founders of the county, some were in the carly southern mines, some were toil- ing wearily westward, or tossing upon the heaving bosom of the ocean, eager to reach the land of gold and sunshine, while others were still in their eastern homes, with scarce a thought of that far-off land so soon to beckon them away.


Let no unmerited blot be east upou tho grand army of ad- venturers who reached these western shores and brought with them the foundations of our society, schools, churches, and homes, and here established a great Stato.




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