USA > California > Mendocino County > History of Mendocino and Lake 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 13
USA > California > Lake County > History of Mendocino and Lake 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 13
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A road was opened from Laytonville to Covelo in 1885, which livened the town considerably, but its full effect was not experienced until the bridge at Eel river was built in 1892, when all the winter travel to and from Covelo was diverted this way.
One of the curiosities of the township is the mud springs, some six miles west of Cahto on a small spring branch that runs into a creek leading west to Eel river. It is a side hill gently sloping south, of blue clay formation, and over its surface, in the fall, are several mud cones from five to six feet high, in which the mud seems to be boiling, occasionally running over, and thus building up the walls. Some assert that they ebb and flow with the tides, but no one has remained on watch long enough to give data from which to confirm that theory. In the winter the rains wash down the cones, or the mud is too thin to build up, so that they can only be seen at their best in the late fall.
For a time it was believed that the extension of the railroad would go through Cahto valley, and down South Eel river, on account of the heavy body of redwood that would be entered about six miles west of Cahto. It extends from that point to Humboldt bay, and would certainly seem to have been worth the effort in that direction. It is extremely probable that time will bring a branch road in that direction, as it is an easy grade from Long- vale, and only twenty miles to the timber.
Asbestos was discovered in Jackson valley (Branscomb), by J. R. Tracy in 1902, and traces of gold and copper in numerous localities, but none, so far, rich enough for profitable work.
Laytonville has an excellent hotel, and always has had, notwithstanding the numerous fires. For many years Mrs. Van Helm conducted a hotel, as also the post office and stage office. For many years she only had an anti- quated dwelling, but its table was always first-class. Burned out twice, she relegated the task to some one else in 1913.
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There are several princely domains in this township, not least among them being that of George A. Knight, the San Francisco lawyer, which con- sists of over 8000 acres, of which several hundred are susceptible of cultiva- tion. As it is not stocked to its full capacity he has complained that deer constitute his greatest annoyance. The Hardin ranch stretches for miles south of and includes a portion of that valley, is excellent range, and in places heavily wooded with immense tan oaks. A large section of it was in 1858 originally settled by A. F. Redemeyer, who remained there many years, until his removal to Ukiah, where he became very wealthy.
J. H. Clark has a large range of 4736 acres stretching from Cahto south nearly to Sherwood, and from the road west to and into the redwoods. He runs sheep of the Rambouillet breed, known everywhere as of the best. The average annual clip of his sheep is seven and one-half pounds per head. His range is fenced with posts six feet high, and barbed wire from the very ground up, and close watch is kept to see that it is unbroken by falling limbs, rushing torrents, or wandering hunters. Usually from 1700 to 1800 sheep are wintered without loss, and with neither feed nor protection, except what nature supplies. Seven hundred to nine hundred lambs are marked each season. The grasshoppers of 1913 so denuded the range that the young grass had no protection from frost, and the heavy winter rains had a stronger hold for erosion than usual. The family consisted originally of the parents and three boys and a girl, and came to their present location three miles west of Cahto, in 1869. Two brothers, Frank and William, and the parents have died. J. H. Clark married Annie Fowzer, daughter of a pioneer of Sanel, and they have reared and educated a family of five, ready for high school, at home. In that region, Mr. Clark says, this 1913-14 has been a phenomenal season. The highest water he has a record of was on March 5, 1879. On March 4, 1880, the temperature was 10° above zero. Previous to the present March, the highest temperature for the month, the 14th, 1888, 86° above. Last Tuesday. St. Patrick's day, the mercury registered 95°, and remained there for nearly three hours. March has heretofore been a stormy month. The coldest in forty-two years was January 14, 1888, with the mercury down to 6°: The coldest this winter (1913-14) has been 28°.
The finishing of the California Northwestern through to Humboldt will cut off from this valley most of the through travel, and probably reduce the mail service, though the building of the state highway through the valley will insure the automobile travel. Thirty automobiles passed through the town one day last summer, 1913.
CHAPTER XI. Cuffey's Cove Township
This township. the southern portion of the original Big River township, was so named because of the early-day presence of Nigger Nat, who divided the honors of first settler with Frank Farnier, i. e., "Portuguese Frank." The township is bounded on the north by Big River township, at Salmon creek, east by Anderson township, south by Arena, and west by the Pacific Ocean. It is about thirteen or fourteen miles, nearly square in extent, and has almost no open land except on the immediate ocean bank, and there not more than a mile wide, often less. But this land is, or has been, of unparalleled richness,
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being of great depth of vegetable sandy loam, washed from the timbered ridges of solid walls of foliage to the east.
Navarro river is the largest stream, and Elk and Greenwood creeks are respectively about ten and twelve miles long, heavily timbered, rushing moun- tain water courses in winter, purling brooks in summer. Railroads have been up both streams a short distance to mills long since faded away, and Green- wood is likely again to have one extended nearly to its head in pursuit of timber. Since the inauguration of the flying skidder, the Greenwood mill proprietor does not hesitate to run a railroad into the bottom of any gulch, run a heavy cable from side to side of the canyon, garnish it with heavy blocks, drop a chain down to and around a log, with donkey engine raise it clear of a tangle of brush and logs, run it out over the rails, and lower it to the waiting log trucks. All this is done in less than half the time it would require to clear the way for it to be dragged along the ground to the train. Then, too, the track may be up from the bottom of the gulch as far as con- venience dictates, and logs can be lifted and carried from either below or above the train. Nine men and a boy load 70,000 feet of logs per day.
Greenwood is another mill town, though it has considerable agricultural country immediately along the coast, and uses all, or nearly all, that is pro- duced thereon. Considerable cleared land on the ridges back of town has been brought into cultivation for hay and orchard, and produces the best in the market of apples, pears and plums, and peaches also, some miles inland. The neighborhood was once the premium potato locality, but continued crop- ping, without potash fertilizer has caused a deterioration of that product.
The first known white settler in the vicinity was Frank Farnier, after- wards generally known as Portuguese Frank, and as a neighbor he had Nigger Nat. It has been supposed that the name originated from his pres- ence, but another legend attributes the cognomen to Charles Fletcher. He was down from the Navarro in the harbor which as yet had no name. While speculating what to designate the landing he saw a large bear climbing the bank, and at once christened it Cuffey's Cove, and the name still holds. The Switzer Bros. bought out Nigger Nat, and later sold to Michael Dona- hue ; James Kenney bought out Frank Farnier, but no date can be given, as there is no record of either transaction, and the parties are all gone or dead. Farnier died in 1904 at the reputed age of 103. The early history of the place is in obscurity, as little information can be derived from the one or two old settlers still living, so that most of the history, as in nearly all this book, must be written from the personal recollection of the writer.
The Greenwood brothers, Britt, William Boggs and James, arrived about 1854, and built a large house, for that era, on the second bench back from the ocean bluff and nearly east of the present town of Greenwood. It was for a long time the starting point for a trip across country, via Anderson, to the county seat and Cloverdale. Osro Clift built farther up the ridge at a later date, and kept such travellers as presented themselves at his hospitable dwelling. The Greenwoods sold to H. Bonee in September. 1873, for $9435, 519 acres. In 1874 Bonee sold to John Cummings, a one-armed man, one acre, where was a saloon for some years. H. Bonee sold to William Bonee in 1887 twenty-one acres located near the same place. The latter sold to J. S. Kim- ball, who sold to L. E. White, and then began the building up of that vast lumber enterprise, and the decadence of the town of Cuffey's Cove. L. E.
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White eventually bought the Greenwood ranch, and several hundred acres adjoining, and the site of the present town, from Michael Donahue, in 1883.
On Greenwood creek, where is now the mill dam, was once a hotel and livery business, kept by James Greenwood, until 1871, when he sold to J. Turner. Afterward John Reed operated the place, receiving deed therefor from Thos. Kenney, both in 1876 and 1878. Turner also deeded the same property to Reed in 1877.
What was once Cuffey's Cove owed its rise and prosperity to James Kenney, who in 1865 bought land there from Albert Miller, having previously bought of Farnier, and in 1869 bought again from Clinton Gurnee, and in 1873 of Thomas Musgrove ; and in July, 1877, of John A. Coffey. This latter piece was fifty acres of the "northwest corner of the Cuffey's Cove ranch." It is safe to say that he bought the most of his land twice or three times over, such was the indeterminate state of land titles at that early day.
Mr. Kenney recognized the feasibility of shipping the vast amount of timber to be cut on the adjacent ridges, and consequently the value of title to the shore, and did not hesitate to buy every shadow of a title claimed. His one mistake was in thinking no other shipping point was available in the neighborhood. The first shipping was done with a short chute and lighters; but a longer chute was soon designed, under which the vessels could be moored to receive cargo, thus saving one handling of the timber. For some years only split stuff was shipped, but bark wood and lumber added to the work to be done, and it became a busy place.
The town was surveyed and mapped in March, 1876, and the first lot sold of record was to J. D. Gow, 40x80 feet, July 1876, for $1000. Afterwards bought by J. S. Kimball, August 5, 1876. September 19 a lot 40x80 feet was sold to Thomas Lynch for $500. October 16, J. K. Salter, 80x40 feet, $300. December 20, J. K. Reyburn, 40x80, $400. Elizabeth Hitchens, De- cember 20, 40x80, $950. Some of these lots were afterwards sold for double the original price. Now, none so poor as to own them. Even as late as March, 1883, Catherine Ballentine paid $500 for a lot in the town. In 1887 J. S. Kimball sold lots in the town to L. E. White, and on the same date twenty-one acres near or on Greenwood bluff. With his business in ties, and mills projected and built, L. E. White was dissatisfied with the shipping facilities of the Cove, and to the end that he might handle and enlarge the plant, both for his own needs and the benefit of the public, he offered Kenney $40,000 for his holdings there, in 1887. Kenney asked $75,000. White at once put in motion his surveyors and engineers, sea captains and wreckers, and Greenwood is the result. There have been fewer marine casualties at this landing than at any other doing a like business, on the coast. The pur- chase of large tracts of timber, and the building of the mill dam and railroad soon followed. The latter has stretched itself, feeling for timber, up Elk creek, and out over the divide to Alder creek, and even up to the last spring at its head, taking everything in the shape of timber that would square eight inches. In the '60s and '70s or later nothing less than eighteen inches was considered fit to saw. The L. E. White mill is one of the most complete on the coast, and is the only one that has not been burned. The country traversed by this road is as bare as a fire-swept prairie. The railroad is about twenty-five miles in length, and must tunnel through to the watershed of the Garcia, where the company has much good timber, or be soon discon- tinued. The company has cut off over 13.000 acres, and has about as much
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more, but not in compact form. They have been building a railroad up Greenwood creek for more timber. A railroad was built from Cuffey's Cove landing to and up Greenwood creek, in all about three miles, to the sawmill there. It was built by A. W. Hall for Fred Hehnke in 1875-6, but torn up before L. E. White began operations at the Greenwood landing. It had served its purpose when the mills which fed it were discontinued, owing to low price of lumber.
With characteristic energy L. E. White had the big mill at Greenwood in running order by 1890; the wharf and chute under construction, and it has run almost uninterruptedly ever since under his management until his death in 1896. under his son. W. H. White, until his death in 1898, and since then Mrs. W. H. White, and later under her second husband, F. C. Drew. (L. E. White and son each died on the 4th of July.) The mill has cut 110.000 feet in a day, and averaged 60,825 feet during March.
Cuffey's Cove for some years was the headquarters for J. S. Kimball's multitudinous timber operations, until he moved to Westport. He built nu- merous schooners fitted with auxiliary power and hotels everywhere along the coast. Several times almost on the verge of bankruptcy, his genius became more brilliant under adversity, and he emerged with a fortune. In May, 1886, a fire at the Cove burned eight buildings; loss $35,000, insurance $15,000. In April, 1892, fire again destroyed a store, hotel and three saloons. In 1891 a lot was deeded for a Catholic church. Another big fire in 1911 de- stroyed the most of the deserted buildings, and Cuffey's Cove became a memory only. John Conway is almost the only one of the old-timers. Greenwood is essentially a mill town, and should milling discontinue its fate would be much the same as that of Cuffey's Cove. It has about 400 in- habitants, except on Sunday, when an additional hundred floats in from the woods, and the few farms above and below. Of business houses it has six hotels, each graced with a bar; one blacksmith shop, two confectionery stores, two barber shops, one butcher shop, one jewelry store, one livery stable, two general merchandise establishments, one photograph gallery, and no use for any more. The mill company maintains a good hotel, and a large general store. Under L. E. White a fair business understanding with the employees was established. and it has been maintained by his successors. No labor troubles have interfered with the work of the company. He prosecuted the tie business at a loss to give work to men with families in dull times. Five hundred thousand ties have been shipped here in a year; but now about 250,000 in the limit. The company runs three steamers from its wharf to the city continuously, for both passengers and freight.
Beneficial societies are represented in Greenwood by :
Court Greenwood, No. 8225, A. O. F., organized June 4, 1904. Present membership, fifty. Officers: I. W. Freeberg, P. C. R .; Donald Buchanan, C. R .; Albert Popeck, S. C. R .; John P. Conway, Sec. ; H. Anderson, R. : Emil Hagland, Treas.
U. A. O. D., Elk Grove, No. 186, instituted October 28, 1906. Number of members one hundred. Present officers: V. Bettigo, N. A .; V. Luchinetti, V. A .; A. Falleri, Treas ; O. Vivian, Sec .: V. Bacci, A. P.
There are also other societies, but no reports have been received from them.
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South of Greenwood lies quite a stretch of fine farming land, half a mile wide, of unknown depth of soil, as one might say, three or four farms deep, all under a high state of cultivation. Some day it will be refertilized by the tons of kelp obtainable all along its ocean shore. Six miles down there was for a time a busy little place called Bridgeport, but little is done there now save farming and a creamery, which latter was established in February, 1900, and has been in operation since. The shipping formerly done here by chute proved too precarious, two vessels having been wrecked, and it has been abandoned, as have all the mills which once existed in the neighborhood. A store was burned out there in March, 1886.
Six miles north of Greenwood is or was Navarro, once a busy mill town, with a thriving hotel and livery business. Fire and bankruptcy have ended it all. Nothing is left at the flat at the mouth of the river but rotting piles, and one or two of the original dwellings, and they will soon go the way of the others. The mill was burned in July, 1890, and rebuilt a mile up the river. run a few years and closed down, $500,000 in debt, and assigned to A. J. Clunie. The employes took possession of the mill store, and paid themselves the back wages due for labor. The mill was again burned in November, 1902, and the property lies idle. It has been bonded to the American Steel Wire Co., and to other parties, and is now supposed to be the property of the Pacific Coast Redwood Co .- J. C. Cook, et al. Charles Fletcher, a hardy sailor, was the first known settler in this vicinity, and his is the principal house now standing, built in the early '50s. For many years he maintained a ferry here, first with a dugout for the traveler, and a swim for his horse. Later a flat boat increased the accommodation. J. B. Har- grave settled on the ridge north of the river and maintained a stopping place for travelers, and graded a trail a mile and a half to the ferry, which was afterwards widened to accommodate wagons. Haskett Severance arrived in 1858, and with his brothers, Ben and Frank, assumed the job of furnishing the mill with logs. River driving was the established trade, and where suc- cessful was extremely remunerative. But the loss of a season's logging from the breaking of a boom often threw the logger thousands of dollars in debt. Haskett Severance bought the Hargrave place, of eighty acres, on the ridge. and settled down to farming, hotel, livery and teaming business. He also built a large hall for the neighborhood dances, and was the life of the com- munity for many years until his death in 1888. Mrs. Severance was the good angel of every broken and maimed woodsman from miles around, and many owed life itself to her careful nursing. She died in Boston in 1892, but was brought home and laid by her husband and daughter in Little River cemetery.
Charles Wintzer did a large business in a store, express, mail and bank- ing for several years. but closed out when the mill closed down, and the store burned in 1897. Several hotels and saloons were operated between the Severance hotel and Salmon creek, but have all been deserted since the mill there ceased existence. The bridge across the river has been washed out twice, once in 1897, and again in 1914. A ferry is each time established in the interim, and in February of this year the boat sunk without casualty.
A move is being made to establish a new road from Salmon creek round the point to the Navarro, avoiding the two steep long hills now used. At Navarro Flat in years gone the A. O. U. W. and I. O. G. T. flourished, and there was a church and public hall, which latter stood the ocean's force, high water of the river. and the earthquake, to perish at last by fire. The Green-
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wood mill and logging establishment has been singularly free from serious accidents and fire. One old mill man remarked in a letter last year (1913) that it was her turn next, but he has not lived to see his prophesy fulfilled. A landslide at the mill killed one man in the '80s, and two men were killed in one week in the mill in March, 1914.
Thomas Walsh was an early settler in the Bridgeport neighborhood, and south of him one Moody held sway over hundreds of acres, but did not remain to acquire any title. James Nolan was another of the early settlers. A. W. Hall, after a busy life in Point Arena and later at Cuffey's Cove, settled on a fine ranch just south of Elk creek, built numerous improvements, and died there. C. J. Buchanan now owns the place, one of the best on the coast. The earthquake of 1906 badly damaged the ranches between Elk creek and Alder creek. Huge sections of land broke loose from the steep hillsides and slid down upon the farms, burying the soil from two to four feet under gravel and clay, in places sliding down a quarter of a mile.
CHAPTER XII Little Lake Township
This township is in the center of the county, and bounded on the north by Round valley and Long valley, east by Round valley and a little strip of Lake county, south by Potter and Ukiah townships. It contains about eleven government townships, i. e., 253,440 acres, with only one considerable valley, and several smaller ones of one to four ranches each. Little Lake valley, the largest, contains about 12,000 acres of tillable land; if it were properly drained, of exceeding fertility. The soil and climate are very much the same as Round valley and Long valley, though the soil more generally approaches the river loam than either of them. The hardier fruits and veg- etables thrive, especially along the slightly elevated land bordering the valley, and the often occurring table lands in the surrounding hills. Fog often envelops the valley, both from the coast and a ground fog generated by the swampy character of the middle and lower part of the valley. The range of the mercury in summer is from 40 to 104 degrees, with occasional rises to 110 degrees: in winter 15 to 60 degrees, with occasional lapses to 12 degrees.
There is not much timber in the township, for mill purposes, except the fir and redwood along its western border, where it has followed the ocean fogs over the ridge, and the western line of the township trenches upon the timber west of the ridge. Through the valley are a profusion of huge white oaks, and white, black and post ash, madrona, and pepperwood. Fir and pine dot the hills and ravines over the eastern slopes.
Until the coming of the railroad was authoritatively announced in 1900, the valley was so isolated by distance and bad roads that little progress could be made. The best land in the valley was held at only $35 per acre, and only crops enough were raised for home consumption and nearly all the flour used was hauled in from Ukiah or below. A. E. Sherwood was the first permanent white settler in the township, and in 1853 located in Sherwood Valley, where he remained until his death. The Baechtel Bros., Samuel, Harry and Martin, brought a band of cattle from Marin County in Septem-
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ber, 1855, and Samuel and Harry remained there until Harry died in 1913. Following them were Daugherty, Shondreau, Potter, J. G. and R. S. Rowli- son, Partin, Duncan, Levi Felton, Darby, Arnett, and William Fulwider. Nearly every one of these left the valley sooner or later, except Felton, Ful- wider and Daugherty, who died there. J. L. Broaddus, W. C. James and Hiram Willits next came, bringing wives with them, the first in the valley. The first child was a boy born in the James family and the first girl was born in the Upp family.
The first approach towards a town was at the Baechtel ranch, where a store was opened by W. C. James in 1865, and a saloon in 1859. In 1860 a public hall was built there, about 30x40, and there a dance was given July 4th. A rupture in business relations here, as in Cahto, led to an opposi- tion town, and Willits was located about a mile north. Kirk Brier of Peta- luma, opened a store where Willits is now located in 1865. J. M. Jones opened a blacksmith shop and a saloon soon followed, and henceforth it was a town. Hiram Willits soon purchased the store and continued it until 1883, when he sold out to Cerf & Lobree, who in turn sold to Irvine & Muir. Just north of the town Mr. Willits built a two-story dwelling, the only one in the valley for many years, and he and his good wife were first and fore- most in the social life of the valley.
A thirty-three pound salmon was caught in 1860. Countless thousands of these fish come up the streams in the fall with the first freshet; and in the late winter and spring a like number of steelheads come up. There was a tannery three miles south of Willits in 1864, and for several years after, but has long since disappeared. So, too, a distillery was fitted up near the same place, but the project was abandoned before any spirits were run. At the same locality W. C. James operated a grist mill in 1860, but nothing remains of it but the water ditch, now used for irrigating purposes, and the deep cut where stood the water wheel. In 1875 F. L. Duncan built a steam grist mill in Willits, of twenty barrels capacity, with two runs of buhrs. It was improved by Capt. J. A. Morgan and T. L. Kelley, but the venture did not pay and was abandoned, although it was running as late as 1890. It was then turned over to H. B. Muir for the benefit of the creditors of Morgan & Kelley, sold and resold, leased and re-leased, and is now the property of John Havens. He, in company with Barney Schow, established a tannery there, but operated it only a short time, producing $17,000 of leather one year. In 1885 Scudamore Reynolds, Rice & Mason opened a store in Willits and ran it for a few years.
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