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 37
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 37
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The earliest memories of Mr. Baker cluster around Northern California, though he was born in Wilson county, Iowa, near the Missouri line, in January, 1857. It was in the spring of the same year that his parents, H. W. and Eliza- beth (Wilkerson) Baker, brought their five children across the plains with a 17
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party of homeseekers. The expedition was of considerable proportions and Mr. Baker, who owned the major portion of the drove of cattle, was chosen captain of the train, which he brought through in safety. The trip was made less difficult by reason of his previous overland journey to California in 1850 and the return trip to the old home a few years afterward. Nor did these two journeys represent the limit of his knowledge of the vast region west of the Mississippi, for he had served throughout the Mexican war as a wagon master and had seen much of the frontier. In recognition of his faithful service during the war he was awarded a medal by congress and this valued keepsake is now in the possession of a grandson, Raymond Baker. During 1857 the family settled at Napa, where the father became landlord of an hotel. Three years later he removed to the Bodega valley, Sonoma county, and secured a tract of raw land for farming purposes. Twice he paid for the land. but even then lost it through later proof that it belonged to an old grant.
The year 1865 found the family in Mendocino county, where the father spent two years on a farm in Walker valley and then bought a claim in the mountains between Potter valley and Willits, about ten miles east of the latter place. On this ranch he developed mineral springs that even to this day bear the name of Baker Springs. His last days were passed in Santa Maria and he died there in 1909, while his wife also passed away at the same place. Of their twelve children eight are now living. The fifth of these. Martin Van, was eight years of age at the time of coming to Mendocino county and lived here until 1874, when he began to ride the Nevada range as a cowboy for the Riley & Hardin ranch. At the expiration of three years he was transferred to the firm's ranch in Eastern Oregon near Burns and there he made his headquarters for many years, raising horses for one-half interest in the sales. Unfortunately he refused an offer of $14,000 for his part of the stock. At the time stock was high and he considered his share worth much more than the sum offered, but eventually he was forced to sell four hundred head for $1,000, such had been the depreciation in the values of horses. One of his most exciting summers was that of 1878, when the Bannock Indians were on the warpath and kept the cattle and the camp on the move without much rest.
After his heavy loss in the horse business Mr. Baker was hired by Mr. Riley to take charge of a herd of twelve thousand cattle and for ten years he remained on the range until all of the drove had been sold and the business closed. Meantime he had bought from Mr. Riley the Cahto ranch in Long valley. Mendocino county, and for a time he made his headquarters on this place, but when he had sold it he went to Nevada as manager for Mr. Hardin of the Humboldt Cattle Company. When the interests of that corporation had been sold he returned to Mendocino county in 1909 and the following year bought the farm northeast of Willits which he has since operated. Throughout all of his life since attaining maturity he has voted the Democratic ticket. While living in Oregon he married Miss Alice Thornberg. of Burns, that state, a native of Kansas. They are the parents of one son, Raymond Carl, a graduate of Sweet's Business College at Santa Rosa and now engaged as bookkeeper for Fairbanks & Baechtel, Willits. While living in Oregon Mr. Baker was made a Mason in Burns Lodge, F. & A. M., and he now belongs to Willits Lodge No. 365, while both he and his wife are charter
R. J. Dryden
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members of Willits Chapter No. 314, Order of the Eastern Star, and Mrs. Baker has been honored with the office of matron ever since the organization of the chapter.
ROBERT JAMES DRYDEN .- The proprietor of the Little Lake sta- bles has been interested in the livery business at Willits since 1900, when he opened a small barn on the present site on Main street and embarked in the business that he still follows. Having very little capital, he was forced to begin upon a small scale, but it was not long before he had gained the confi- dence of business men and was establishing a trade that gave gratifying promise for the future. At first he kept very few horses ; now he has twenty- one head of good drivers. Needing more room, he erected his present large stable, 72x120 feet, two floors, all devoted to the livery business. The equip- ment of vehicles is complete, well-assorted and modern. Everything pertain- ing to the carriages and harness is maintained in first-class condition, indica- tive of the careful, close oversight of the proprietor. In 1914, seeing the need of garage and automobile livery in Willits, he associated himself with Barney Schow and built a garage 62x130 feet, adjoining his stables, but facing Hum- boldt street. This is a two-story steel building, the first floor for automobile storage and repair shop and second floor for painting and storage. Antomo- biles are kept on hand for hire as well as for sale.
While giving his attention closely to the building up of a good trade and the enlargement of his business, he has not neglected the duties of good citi- zenship, but has found time to serve as a member of the city school board and the board of trustees of Willits, in which capacities he has labored to promote the best interests of the people.
The son of Nathaniel Dryden, a California pioneer who crossed the plains from Missouri during the summer of 1849, Robert J. Dryden was born at Georgetown, Eldorado county, this state, November 6, 1867, and passed the first fifteen years of life in his native county. During 1882 he came to Little Lake, Mendocino county, and found employment on a ranch, after which, either in the employ of others or in working for his own interests, he engaged in raising sheep and cattle in the valley. Always he was skilled in the treat- ment of stock and was regarded as an expert judge of horses, which he could break and manage with skill, and it was this fondness for horses that led him into establishing a livery barn at Willits. Since coming here he has been made a Mason in Willits Lodge, No. 365, F. & A. M., and with his wife is a member of the Eastern Star. He is also a member of the Eagles, Odd Fellows and the Woodmen of the World. By his marriage to Lillie Longland, a native of the county and a daughter of George Longland, one of Mendocino county's most honored pioneers, he has two children, Roberta and Ernest.
HENRY EUGENE WITHERSPOON .- Each section of our United States has its own characteristics, varying from each other as widely as the causes which produce them. The nationality of the settlers, geographical location, climate, are only a few of the reasons which underlie this individual- ity. In California and other western states where similar soil conditions pre- vail the agricultural population must depend so largely upon the diversion of the waters of their lakes and streams to irrigate the fertile but dry soil that water rights and privileges have grown to be a matter of paramount im- portance. Out of their use and abuse has grown a recognition of the necessity for observing the rights of all-no one to profit to the detriment of others. If properly conserved, if each has his due share, the supply is more than
·
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enough for all. In the struggle to maintain this equable distribution of nature's gifts to his native state, Henry Eugene Witherspoon has applied his talents to mastering the laws of water rights, to such good purpose that he is a recognized authority on this vital subject. With much of the originality and native western boldness in his makeup, he has striven almost single- handed in this cause which lies nearest his heart, efficient, watchful, tireless, never despairing of accomplishing what he has set out to do-to hold the natural title of the people against intrusion until such time as wisdom shows them they may claim it without fear. Mr. Witherspoon's career in the law has been brief but brilliant. Though he has actually given all his time to practice for less than ten years, he has been acknowledged a worthy opponent by the best legal talent in Lake county, the fact that he has been ranged against such forces neither discouraging nor terrifying him nor interfering with his successful handling of highly important cases. Water and mining laws have occupied most of his attention, but he has been engaged in some famous litigation of other nature and has proved he may be trusted to defend the cause of his clients whatever the legal points may be. He is a member of the law firm of Bull & Witherspoon, his partner being Franklin P. Bull, of San Francisco, where they have offices on the sixth floor of the Pacific build- ing. Their other office is at Lakeport, Lake county, in the Levy block.
Mr. Witherspoon's father, John Witherspoon, was a civil and mining engineer by profession, and having charge of the building of the Southern Pacific road over the Sierra Nevada mountains in Nevada county, Cal., made his home for about three years at Donner Lake, where Henry Eugene Wither- spoon was born June 30, 1866. His mother, Elizabeth (Halligan) Wither- spoon, was a native of Pittsburg, Pa. They had three children, all sons, two · dying in infancy. When Mr. Witherspoon was a young man his father mys- teriously disappeared, nothing having been heard from him since 1893. He had become much interested in mining in the southwest, in Arizona and Mexico, and it is believed he was killed by the Yaqui Indians in Mexico, in the Sierra Madre mountains. At the time Mrs. Witherspoon was living at San Jose, Cal., where she remained for several years afterward, in 1909 com- ing to Lakeport to join her son. She died August 30, 1910.
Mr. Witherspoon's first recollections are of Oregon, where the family lived on a farm three miles from Jacksonville from the time he was three years old until he was six. From that time until he was twelve they were at Chico, Cal., where he attended grammar school, and from there moved to Virginia City., Nev., where he graduated from high school. He then went to Arizona and followed his father's example, getting into the mining game, following copper mining at Bisbee and Ash Canyon. Coming back to California he attended the normal school at San Jose, from which institution he was gradu- ated in 1885. For the next twenty years he was engaged at the teacher's profession. In 1884 he had begun to teach mathematics in the normal school, where he was retained in that capacity until 1886. Then he became a public school teacher, and advanced steadily in the various positions he filled, begin- ning in country schools, later acting as high school principal, and eventually becoming a professor of higher mathematics. After teaching at Scotts Bar, Etna and Fort Jones, in Siskiyou county, Cal., he went to Nevada, where he was engaged at Virginia City and Battle Mountain. In 1895 he came to Upper Lake, Lake county, Cal., and was principal of the grammar schools from that
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year until he abandoned teaching, in 1906, for the legal profession. Mean- time he had studied law, making practically all his preparation by himself. and in 1900 being admitted to the Supreme Court of California. Though he had some experience as a lawyer while engaged in educational work, he did not enter upon practice formally until June, 1906. His partnership with Mr. Bull was formed in 1910.
Within a few years Mr. Witherspoon found himself in the thick of litiga- tion involving such large interests that the confidence of his clients was an acknowledgment of strong faith in his trustworthiness as well as ability. His splendid victory in the Green Bartlett will case-the second largest will case ever fought out in Lake county, and kept alive for a period of two years- as attorney for a contesting heir, was a triumph sufficient to make a reputa- tion for a lawyer. Other suits, some of them among the most important con- ducted in the county, have been intrusted to him with equally happy results. One of his first notable achievements was the winning of the case of W. P. Mariner in the condemnation suit of the Yolo Water & Power Company against Mr. Mariner and two hundred and eight other defendants. The trial lasted about two weeks and the case was decided in favor of Mariner, who was awarded $25,500 for his lands, a sum so large that the company would not give it. However, they abandoned their condemnation suit. This is the most famous of all the cases growing out of disputed water rights in Lake county.
At first thought there would seem to be little intimate connection between mathematics and the law, but Mr. Witherspoon has turned the mathematical hent inherited from his father and skill developed in his work as a teacher into the most practical possible use. His precision and infinite patience with details may undoubtedly be attributed to this training. Again, his genius for leaving no stone unturned, however trifling the matter may seem, and thus meeting emergencies before they arise, probably had its origin in the same source. Whatever the cause, it is a fact that he calculates his precedures to a nicety, and though he is fluent, eloquent and above all well grounded in the law, he inakes as careful preparation of all his cases as if he expected to be beaten and had to do his utmost. He investigates the facts of every case as thor- oughly as possible, then looks up all the statute and substantive law relating thereto before he drafts his proceedings, and his court papers are always systematically and conscientiously prepared, for he is in the habit of briefing every case exhaustively long before he draws his complaints and other plead- ings. His phenomenal success in winning cases rests on a substantial founda- tion. His ready wit, courage and fine diction are impressive, yet he never relies on these or takes a chance on slighting little matters, which might appear unimportant on the surface to a more superficial thinker. His imagina- tion and the comprehensive study which he gives to everything he undertakes show the earnestness and sympathetic interest of which he is capable. Re- sourceful, untiring and sincere, he combines ability with perseverance and insight which make him a force to be reckoned with whenever he is engaged on a case. In appearance Mr. Witherspoon is not unlike the late Colonel Ingersoll.
To illustrate the value of his training in mathematics we have some of the incontestable evidence he has used in his hard-fought cases. When he was working on the Green Bartlett will case he made a complete diagram, a
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sort of chart-like arrangement showing the family history, all the facts in the case, and the citations of law applicable to every point appearing there- with-a collection of facts which made a powerful argument by itself. His wonderful mastery of the figures which play so important a part in the trial of cases pertaining to water rights is astounding. He can figure out the in- tricate and gigantic problems dealt with by the civil engineers as well as they. His calculations on the water pressure on the proposed dam at Cache creek, the contents of the Clear lake basin at low water, at high water, etc., are beyond criticism. The litigation affecting Clear lake in Lake county, in which he has been interested, divides itself into three periods: His work as attorney for D. W. Shetler, in his attempt to utilize the waters of Clear lake for irrigation purposes ; as attorney for the Yocolano Company in its opposition to the Yolo Water & Power Company ; as attorney for the citizens of the county against the aggressiveness of the Yolo Water & Power Company. It may be stated that the Taxpayers' League is composed of seven hundred and fifty tax- payers and was organized primarily to prevent the granting of the permit for utilization of the waters of Clear lake by any private corporations.
With painstaking system Mr. Witherspoon has gone into every phase of this big problem and its effect on the welfare of so many of his fellow citizens. Believing he is in the right, and furthering the public good in opposing the selfishness of interests whose self-interest has provoked the censure of some of the leading men of the day (including Theodore Roosevelt), he has not spared himself in his efforts to see that the people get a square deal. Begin- ning at the beginning, he has made charts of Clear lake showing the high and low water marks ever since the records have been kept, and his knowledge of the levels, etc., is most exact, so that he goes into court armed with proofs of his statements which there is no gainsaying. One of his briefs on this subject has become a celebrated legal document. It has been all through Wall Street, New York, and the various courts. The history of the conten- tion of the people of Lake county with the Yolo Water & Power Company is taken up exhaustively therein.
Mr. Witherspoon's library on the "law of the waters" is said to be the most comprehensive owned by any lawyer in the United States, if not the most complete of the kind anywhere. A unique and valuable collection, it is typical of himself. With his faculty for covering all the ground, getting so familiar with his subject that he lives it. he has not been content with modern vorks, but has endeavored to obtain everything on water law which has ever been published, including Babylonian, Egyptian, Roman, Mexican and Spanish customs and laws. His law publishers have a standing order for every new and valuable work on the subject issued, anywhere. Besides, his books in- clude Pacific Reports, Lawyers' Reports Annotated. American and English Annotated Cases. American and English Encyclopedia of Law (second edi- tion), Encyclopedia of Forms, Encyclopedia of Pleading and Practice, Ameri- can Leading Cases and United States Supreme Court Reports. He is a mem- ber of the Lake County Bar Association and a Republican in politics.
Mr. Witherspoon has a nice country home in the West Upper Lake pre- cinct of Lake county, a fine productive ranch containing forty acres of valley in that very fertile section. Besides, he is interested with others in twelve hundred acres of grazing land. He was married January 1, 1896. to Miss Maud Sleeper, daughter of the late D. O. Sleeper, of Upper Lake, whither he
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came in the year 1855. Mrs. Witherspoon's mother, whose maiden name was Mary J. Way, also came to Lake county in pioneer times. She, too, is de- ceased. Mr. and Mrs. Witherspoon have had three children: Floye E., who died December 3, 1906, the day she was three years old; Wanda Janet, born in 1907 ; and Gertrude, born in 1909. Mrs. Witherspoon is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Upper Lake and active in its work, being president of the Ladies' Aid Society.
JAMES HUSTON BURKE .- The history of the early agricultural development of Mendocino county forms in many respects a record of the lives of its pioneers. Bravely they surmounted obstacles, cheerfully they faced difficulties and efficiently they solved the problems incident to existence on the frontier. Nor is James Huston Burke less efficient or patient than his companions in the difficult task of development, for he has worked with a determination, industry and energy that could not fail to produce results. From the time of his arrival in the west, more than fifty-five years ago, he has been an efficient factor in the material upbuilding of the state. He studied the needs of the soil, planted crops adapted to the climate, pioneered in the raising of alfalfa and hops, started an orchard of different varieties of fruit, and in every respect proved a resourceful, competent tiller of the soil.
Descended from an old southern family, James Huston Burke was born in Clay county, Mo., November 15, 1834, and spent the years of boyhood in that county and Jackson county, same state. His father, Alexander Burke, was a native of McMinn county, Tenn., where he grew to manhood and married. Some years after his marriage he moved to Missouri and settled in Clay county, where he operated flat-boats on the Missouri river. April 24, 1853, the father, with the family, left the old Missouri home and started on the long journey across the plains, traveling with wagons and ox-teams. An uneventful journey was brought to an end at Sacramento during October of the same year. For a time the father held a claim on Hood's grant in Sonoma county. Upon selling the claim he began to mine at Prairie City, Sacra- mento county, and in that same county he engaged in dairying and stock- raising. Returning to Sonoma county, he bought a squatter's claim on Mark West creek and there engaged in raising stock. Upon coming to Mendocino county in 1864, he bought a ranch south of Ukiah, near property owned by his sons, and there he engaged in farming and sheep-raising. His last days were passed in retirement at his home in Ukiah, where his death occurred in 1897. By his marriage to Susan Shelton, a native of Tennessee, he became the father of ten children, of whom four are deceased, John William, Thomas Lee, Martha and Susan. The six still living are James H., Francis M., An- drew, Mrs. Mary Standfield, N. R. and Joseph.
The eldest of the children, James H. Burke, accompanied the family to California in 1853, and thus introduced to the hardships of western pioneer- ing, took up the work manfully and found a livelihood as a farmer, besides which he worked in the mines. During the fall of 1857 he and his brother J. W. came to what is now Mendocino county (then a part of Sonoma), driving with them from Cloverdale four yoke of oxen. At that period roads had not been made. The trails over the mountains were seldom used and formed an uncertain mode of progress. Wild animals were numerous. Dangers abounded on every hand. The two young travelers, with their wagon and oxen, brought one thousand pounds of flour with them on that trip. On their arrival they purchased nine hundred and seventy-four acres
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of the Yokayo rancho in the valley south of Ukiah, extending from Robinson creek to Burke Hill, about two miles. On the land some former squatter had put up a rude cabin. A well also had been provided and furnished an abundance of water. With that exception, the entire work of improvement fell upon them. In addition to the ordinary hardships of such a condition, they were unusually troubled by the wild animals that killed their sheep and cattle and entailed heavy losses upon them. In 1866 hops were planted on the farm for the first time and in 1872 that crop was sold for sixty cents per pound. During 1872 James H. bought the interest of his brother, but later sold a part of the property to Mr. White and later some to Messrs. Higgins and Moore, still retaining, however, about two hundred and eighty acres, on which he raises alfalfa, hay, hops and fruit. He has been twice married and is the father of two children, Green C. Burke, who manages the farm, and Mrs. Nellie Stipp, of Los Angeles.
NEIL ANKER .- When fifteen years of age, but already a man in endur- ance of privation and hardship, Neil Anker left the old home in Hadersleben, Schleswig (where he was born in 1843), and began to earn a livelihood as a cabin boy in the trans-Atlantic trade. For a decade or more he sailed the high seas and visited many of the leading ports of the world. Six times he rounded Cape Horn, three times he made voyages to Cuba and on more than one occasion he also visited South America. During one of the voyages to England the ship was wrecked off the coast of Land's End and the lives of the crew were saved with difficulty, the vessel itself and its contents being lost. During 1867 he passed navigation in Liverpool and became an officer on the Van Dieman, a new steel ship. To gain promotion from boy to officer while yet a young man indicates the high quality of his service. After a voyage to Australia and thence to California he left the ship at San Fran- cisco in 1868 and went to Santa Rosa, where he was employed in the manu- facture of pressed brick. The call of the sea, however, was still too strong for him to be satisfied as a landsman and during December of the same year we find him again bound for Australia, this time as a passenger on the ship Moses Taylor, to Honolulu, where he took ship for Sydney. No business opening presenting itself in Australia, he shipped with Captain Newell back to San Francisco and that voyage ended his life as a sailor.
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