USA > California > Napa County > History of Napa and Lake Counties, California : comprising their geography, geology, topography, climatography, springs and timber, together with a full and particular record of the Mexican Grants, also separate histories of all the townships and biographical sketches > Part 72
USA > California > Lake County > History of Napa and Lake Counties, California : comprising their geography, geology, topography, climatography, springs and timber, together with a full and particular record of the Mexican Grants, also separate histories of all the townships and biographical sketches > Part 72
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It is authentically stated that in a very early day there was a party of hunters who spent the winter in the valley near Lower Lake. They were on their way from Oregon, and instead of keeping down the Sacramento River, the usually traveled route, they had started across the mountains, heading for the old Russian settlements at Bodega and Fort Ross. The Rus- sians had left in 1841, and the lower valleys had several settlers in them, both Spanish and American, but it must be borne in mind that this was be- fore the days of telegraphs, railroads, or indeed, stage coaches, and items of news traveled very slowly, and those old trappers often did not hear from the outside world once in several years. They did not know that the Rus- sians had gone, and they did know that if still there they could dispose of their peltry to a good advantage. They did not know of the settlements in Napa and Sonoma Valleys, else they would have crossed the mountains and spent the winter among them. They built a log hut, which was of course the first habitation for white men ever constructed in Lake County. What a place was that to spend a winter ! and yet it only comported with what they encountered every day of their wild, venturesome lives. Indians
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were all of the human species they ever encountered, while the grizzly bear was the only animal that they were forced to take notice of. It is said that they improved their time while in this section, and as game of every species was abundant, their "catch " was good.
In 1811 the Russo-American Fur Company established a post at Bodega, and a few years later at Fort Ross, in Sonoma County. They extended their fur hunting operations all along the coast and up the streams leading therefrom, " hunting out " the entire section very closely indeed. As the game became scarce near the coast they extended their incursions inland, and in all probability they found their way into the Clear Lake Valley. Following up Russian River they would come to the rancheria of the Sanel Indians, who, it will be remembered, are a sort of second cousin to the Hoolanapos on the west side of the lake. It would naturally follow that they would hear of the lake and pay it a visit, and, when once there, would prosecute their hunting operations in it. No direct evidences are left of their visits to these parts, except that in an early day occasionally an Indian was encountered whose skin was whiter than a full-blood's, and it is more than probable that these were half-breeds with Russian parentage.
We now come down to an absolute occupation of the country, not exactly as a resident, but as a possessor of land, a holder or claimant, at least, of a title, that would warrant the claim of a settler. In 1835 General Mariana Guadalupe Vallejo was placed in command of the Mexican forces north of the bay of San Francisco, and proceeded at once to subject all the Indians in his realms. His headquarters were at the Presidio Sonoma, and from thence he made incursions upon any hostile tribes that he might hear of. In 1836 an expedition was organized to make a foray into the Clear Lake country, then a land to the Spaniards unknown except by reports from the Indians. Captains Salvador Vallejo and Ramon Corrillo were put in charge of the expedition, and it is to be presumed that they made a suc- cess of it, as the Indians of that section were ever afterwards very tract- able, and especially so towards the Spaniards. In consideration of these services Salvador Vallejo applied to the Mexican Government for a grant of sixteen leagues of land for himself and his brother, Antonio, embracing Big, Scotts, Upper Lake and Bachelor Valleys. Whether in reality this was ever ceded to him or not is not now known, but it is certain that the proof was very inadequate, as a reference to the chapter on grants will prove to the reader. But be that as it may, his brother, the General, was Comman- dante of the Government forces in this section, and what he said was law ; hence he took possession, either because he thought he had a right to do so by conquest, by the virtue of a grant or the right of pre-emption, sustained by the strong arm of his brother's military authority.
.
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Just when Salvador Vallejo took formal possession of the valley is not now known, but Augustine, chief of the Hoolanapo Indians, informs us that it was about ten years before the killing of Stone and Kelsey, which would. at least take us back to 1840. It is, we think, taking all' things into con- sideration, safe to consider this as about the time. He took a lot of cattle into the valley, putting them under the charge of a major-domo and ten vaqueros. They had a rude log house, and a corral near where Mr. Ricka- baugh now lives, in Big Valley, near Kelseyville. Mr. Woods Crawford states that when he came into the valley in 1854 the remains of this corral still existed, and as far back as 1857 portions of it were dug up and found in a good state of preservation. It will be remembered that these primitive corrals consisted of poles driven into the ground, forming really more of a stockade than a corral. Augustine states that the name of the first major- domo was Juarez, who remained for several years. He was followed by one Guadalupe, who married an Indian woman. His spouse of the forest did not stay with him very long, however, as he abused her, and she became afraid of him and ran away, prefering love in a wickeup to contention in a log house. A man by the name of Moretta canie next, and he was followed by a Mr. Hubbard, and last upon the list comes one Piñola. The Indians did all the work about the place. They constructed the corral, built the house, and did the vaqueroing. The vaqueros rode barebacked, and with only a "hackamore." By this time the stock had multiplied until the val- ley was full to overflowing with cattle, which had long since become as wild as deer, and about as hard to handle. Vallejo ultimately drove out all the cattle he could, and disposed of about eight hundred head of them to Stone and Kelsey when they went to Lake County.
THE STONE AND KELSEY MASSACRE .- We now come to the most interesting part of the early settlement of Lake County, the chief in- terest growing out of the tragical ending of the attempt to live among savages, and be even more brutal than the natives themselves. We are sorry indeed that the truth compels us to place upon record the fact that the death of these two brave frontiersmen was the result of their own folly and indifference to the simplest laws of justice and mercy. They violated those grand fundamental principles which underlie all our relations with each other, and especially the relations existing between superior and inferior races. Of course, these men lived in the rudest stage of the country's de- velopment, and were themselves imbued most thoroughly with the natural lessons which were taught by the times. Vallejo's major-domos had lived among them for the preceding several years and no trouble had arisen, but Kelsey's high spirit set all of them in opposition to him, and at a conse- quence it became a warfare, and he paid the penalty of his turpitude with 4
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his life. We will present both sides of the story giving the fullest details we could glean from white settlers concerning the matter, and also the state- ment made by Augustine, chief of the Hoolanapos, who is said by all to have been the originator of the massacre, and then let the reader judge for him- self as to the absolute justness of the deed on the part of the Indians.
In the fall of 1847, Stone, Shirland, and Andy and Ben. Kelsey-the lat- ter two brothers-purchased from Salvador Vallejo the remainder of his stock at Clear Lake, with the right to use the land which he claimed, as a pasture. Stone and Andy Kelsey went to the place and took possession of the stock, and remained there till the day of their death. It is generally understood that they both went out with a band of Indians to dig gold, but such is not the case. Neither of them ever went away from Lake County with a band of Indians, but Ben. Kelsey did take the Indians away as will be seen further on. They began operations in Lake County (we will speak of it as Lake County for convenience) by the construction of an adobe house, which was about forty feet long and fifteen feet wide. The building was one story high, and had two rooms, and a loft above, the partitions being of adobe and extending to the roof. The house stood, " the long way," from north-west to south-east, and was situated just west, and across the creek, from the present town of Kelseyville. There was a fireplace in the north- west room. The work was all done by Indians, and as slave labor of the worst kind. Pay, outside of very short rations and a few bandana hand- kerchiefs, did not enter into the consideration at all. Of course the Indians did not expect much in that day and age; still, they had always had good food and in abundance when working for the Spaniards, and had a right to expect as much from the Americanos.
When they realized the situation, which they were not long in doing, they began to demur and complain, and they got only harder tasks and lashes for their dissatisfaction. At last the Indians became resentful, just as anybody would under the circumstances, and trouble began to brew. The Indians began to help themselves to what there was in sight, so as to get even on what was their due, and several head of cattle were killed by them ; and had not a wholesome check been put upon them, there is no tell- ing to what extreme they would have carried their depredations upon the stock. Stone and Kelsey were surrounded with Indians, and all attempts at trying to bring the offenders to justice had so far proved futile. They feared to make any out and out attack upon the Indians, lest they should become overpowered. They were smart enough to inveigle the Indians into storing all their weapons in the loft of the house, when they were on good terms with them ; hence, until new weapons could be made, or others secured from other tribes, they had the advantage of them.
At length, in the spring of 1848, the trouble had so increased that the
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Indians had become the aggressors, and had not only threatened them, but had congregated in large numbers around the house in which the two men were virtual prisoners. A friendly Indian managed to escape, and make his way to the settlements of Sonoma, and finally arrived at Ben. Kelsey's, who lived at the Buena Vista ranch, and brought word that a massacre was imminent, and that Stone and Kelsey desired assistance very much. A party consisting of Ben. and Sam. Kelsey, William M. Boggs, Richard A. Maupin, a young lawyer from Louisville, Kentucky, and Elias and John Graham, went from Sonoma for the purpose of succoring the beleagured settlers. The party went by way of Santa Rosa, the Rincon, across the mountains to Elliott's place, which was west of the present site of Calistoga, across the head of Napa Valley, over St. Helena Mountain, through Loconoma Valley, over Cobb Mountain, and down Kelsey Creek to the ranch. They left Sonoma in the evening and went as far as Harlan's place at the Hot Springs, now Calistoga, and arrived at their destination after dark the next night, traveling continuously. At Elliott's the party was joined by Ems. Elliott, a son of Wm. Elliott. When it is remembered that there was only an Indian trail along the route they pursued, some realization of their trip may be had. Dense chapparal grew along the entire road, which it was next to impossible to penetrate. Such a fatiguing journey required nerve and endurance, as well as a great degree of bravery.
As stated above, the party arrived at the end of their journey after dark. They halted in the bed of the creek some distance above the house, and Mr. Boggs made a reconnoisance of the situation by proceeding down the creek to just about where the road leading south from Kelseyville now crosses the creek, thence making a detour to the left till he came upon high enough ground to give him a commanding view of the place. A wild sight met his gaze, made doubly weird by the dim light which the stars shed upon the scene. Looming up in bold relief stood the black walls of the adobe house, with its doors barricaded, proving indeed a veritable fortress. Around it on all sides swarmed a host of naked savages, yelling and howling like so many ravenous beasts of the woods. Near by the dying embers of the evening's camp fires could be seen, the fitful gleams of which revealed the forms of hovering squaws, who were adding to the general pandemonium by uttering dismal wailings. Such a sight needs but to be seen once in a lifetime to so thoroughly impress it upon the tablets of memory that time itself can not deface, and until life itself is lost will it never be less vivid than when first seen.
The scout returned and reported what he had seen, and a council of war was held in which was discussed the best mode of making a successful sally upon the besieging host of Indians. It was finally determined that they would mount their horses and make a fierce charge upon them, and if they
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showed fight to shoot, otherwise not to wound or kill any of them, which, by the way, was a wise and humane plan, and the wisdom of their course was fully vindicated. They passed down the creek, over the same route that Mr. Boggs had taken, and when they came to where he had halted, they put spurs to their horses and with a wild whoop rushed pell-mell among the savages. They fled in all directions in a most precipitous manner, and were soon all hid among the bushes or in the rancheria. It was soon found out by them that the other Kelseys were among the number, and as several of them were acquainted with them, and as there had been no shots fired, several of the Indians ventured forth and began talking with the Kelseys. The Indians were told that a large force of soldiers with their " boom- booms " were coming just behind and might be expected any minute. This had a very quieting effect on the Indians, and nothing more was heard of them that night.
Stone 'and Kelsey were indeed being besieged, and when they heard the clang of the horses' hoofs and the voices of white men they gladly enough opened the doors of their quasi fortress. It was found that the immediate cause of the warlike demonstrations was the fact that they had all the weapons of the Indians in their house and refused to give them up, and the Indians had about made up their minds to force a concession, even if they had to kill Stone and Kelsey to secure their bows and arrows. It was found that they had been under surveillance for several days, and that they had nothing at all to eat in the house, and as the men who had just arrived were out of rations, and had been all day, something had to be done at once for food. Andy Kelsey set about it and captured a wild tule-root and mast-fed hog which they proceeded to cook for supper, partaking of their repast about midnight. A royal feast that, with neither bread nor seasoning.
One would naturally suppose that after this display of the disposition and power also of the Indians, that Stone and Kelsey would have made reasonable concessions to the Indians, and have pursued a course of pacifi- cation in the future; but nothing was further from the plans of the Kelseys than this. The next morning the entire body of Indians was called up and a list made of them, and they were enrolled into a company, as it were; the best of all the body being selected. One chief, whose name was Preetta, had a fine lot of Indians in his tribe and he furnished the most of the com- pany. This company consisted of one hundred and forty-four picked men, and the object of enrolling them was to organize an expedition against a small band of Indians living in Scotts Valley, and who, it was believed, had been the ones who had been marauding the cattle.
When the party was made up Ben. Kelsey gave them their bows and arrows, though some were only armed with a sharpened stick, the pointed end of which had been hardened in the fire. The party consisted of the one
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hundred and forty-four Indians, the eight white men who had come up from Sonoma, Stone and Ben. Kelsey. They left the ranch in the forenoon and proceeded on their journey by where Lakeport now stands. Late in the evening they were joined by Walter Anderson and a young man named Beson, who lived near where Lower Lake now stands, and who had just come into the county. From the site of Lakeport they went directly west till they entered the head of Scotts Valley and passed along down it, scour- ing the country for the band of offending Indians, but they had been warned and the bird had flown. They arrived late that night at the junction of Scotts Valley with the Blue Lakes Canon, where they camped. The next morning they proceeded up the Blue Lakes Cañon, and about nine o'clock a commotion was noticed among the Indians that were deployed upon the right wing of the lines. Soon they came down to the center, where the white men were, dragging a bleeding and trembling captive. He was found to belong to the tribe that was being sought for, and was at once questioned as to the whereabouts of the main body of the band. He indicated by nodding his head-for his hands were already tied behind him-that they were farther up the cañon. The order to advance was given and on they went, he still indicating that the Indians were up the cañon. At noon the party halted at the top of the ridge at the head of the canon. It was then decided that the captured Indian had deceived them, and Ben. Kelsey tied the Indian up to the limb of a tree and made every Indian he had with him cut a switch, or rod, and march by this poor fellow and give him a stroke with it on his bare back. It will thus be seen that he gave the Indian the equivalent of one hundred and forty-four lashes, and an eye-witness states that many of them were dealt in a most heartless and cruel manner, while a few of his friends, or rather who sympathized with him, and in whose breast there still beat a heart with a grain of humanity left in it, lightened their stroke so that it was pro forma only. Kelsey was remonstrated with by those present, but to no purpose, and he went so far as to tell his brother that he "guessed he knew his own business." The prophetic remark was made at the time that somebody's blood, if not his life, would pay the penalty of that fearfully brutal scourging. The Indian was glad enough to tell the truth when he was untied, but one straw more had been laid upon the camel's back which was bearing all the grudges which the Indians had against Stone and Kelsey.
As stated above, the captive and lashed Indian relented, and led them directly to the hiding place of his brethren. They were on the peak of the mountain just west of the mouth of Blue Lakes Canon, in a dense jungle of chemisal. The Kelsey Indians dashed up the rugged sides of that mountain and captured the whole band, and dragged and drove them down to the valley below, It was about dark now, and a lot of deer were
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killed, and the Indians, friends and foes alike, given a good feast of raw venison, entrails and all. To say that that was a pleasant night for the whites, numbering only a dozen all told, surrounded as they were by a horde of savages who were almost all enraged by the transaction of the day, and having a large portion of the mistreated man's own tribe among them, is to state something very far foreign to the truth. One of the party states that it was about as restless a night as any he ever spent, and his experiences in the pioneer days of California would fill a book with real occurrences alongside of which J. Fennimore Cooper's romances would pale. The next day the entire body of Indians were marched by way of Tule Lake and the Clear Lake shore to Kelsey's ranch, a body of whites making a detour into Scotts Valley and destroying by fire the rancheria of the captured tribe, thus rendering them not only slaves but homeless. Their homes were nothing but thatched lodges it is true, but then it was home to them, and to them as to us " the dearest spot on earth."
The next scene in the drama is one that is generally misunderstood and misstated, and we have taken great pains to get at the correct facts in the matter. Reference is made to the gold-hunting expedition, which is gene- rally, and quite properly too, stated to be the grand inciting cause that led to the massacre of Stone and Kelsey. In passing, however, we will state that just subsequent to the events narrated above it was proposed to take a lot of the Indians then at the ranch and bring them to Sonoma, and use them in making adobe houses. This idea was taken up with, and one hundred and seventy-two Indians are said to have been taken out for that purpose. We know nothing of their treatment or their compensation, but suppose that it was all legitimate. Augustine states that he was taken to the Kelsey ranch in Sonoma, and that, having a strong desire to see his home and friends once more, he ran away, and returned to the Kelsey place in Lake County. He further states that he was shut up in a sweat-house for a whole week, and fed on nothing but bread and water. He says that Stone and Kelsey whipped lots of Indians, but never whipped him. These Indians who were taken to Sonoma in 1848 were allowed to return to Lake that fall.
In the spring of 1849, a year after the gold excitement broke out, Ben. Kelsey proposed to ex-Governor L. W. Boggs that a party be made up to go to the head-waters of the Sacramento to prospect for gold. This was acted upon, and the party as organized consisted of Sam. and Ben. Kelsey, L. W. Boggs (who did not go with the party, however), William M. Boggs, Salvador Vallejo, Alf. Musgrove, A. J. Cox (later of the Napa Reporter), and John Ballard. Juan Castinado was with the party, but not interested. Ben. Kelsey then went to Clear Lake, and got fifty picked men of the In- dians of that country, and brought them to Sonoma to join the party there.
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It is not our intention to give a detailed account of this venture, though fraught with many incidents of great interest; but none of the actors in it were in any way identified with Lake County except the Indians; and one word will cover all that is to be said of them, and that word is-DIED ! The party arrived at their destination in good shape, and with an abundance of supplies. After a few days prospecting, Kelsey turned his attention in another direction. It so happened that there were a lot of camp-followers who came up from the south, and a lot of people from Oregon were just coming in from the north on their way to the California mines, and they all met and centered at the camping place of this party. Ben. Kelsey found it less trouble and fully as profitable to him to remain in camp and sell sup- plies, as it was to tramp around on prospecting tours. Prospect he would not, but sell goods he did, much to the disgust of all interested, especially Governor Boggs, who sunk about twelve thousand dollars by the specula- tion. The result was, that Kelsey sold them all out of house and home, and had no supplies for himself, let alone the Indians. They were not put at very hard work, but they were fed just as sparingly in proportion. In a short time malarial fever broke out among whites as well as Indians, and Ben. Kelsey had to be brought home on a bed. But there was no one to bring the poor Indians home on a bed, in a wagon, on a horse, nor to even guide them to their far away mountain home. They were in a hostile land, with neither strength nor arıns. The Corusias were their deadly enemies, as was evinced by the fact that on the way up a camp was struck in close . proximity to a Corusia rancheria, and the Indians of the party would not sleep off by themselves that night at all, being sore afraid of an attack before morning. The estimates of the whites as to the number who re- turned range from one to twenty-five. It is possible, and we shall not say at all improbable, that but only one or two of them ever returned.
But, be that as it may, the Indians who did return had certainly a most heartrending and pitiful story to tell. Sons and brothers who had gone away in the full pride of their manhood, had fallen victims to hunger, disease and the enemy's bow and arrow. The flower of the nation had been mowed down as it were with a scythe, and that too at the instigation of the hated white man, and more, at the instance and under the control of an abhorred Kelsey, and they said to the settlers, "Kelsey blood shall pay the penalty." When Andy Kelsey was asked about where the Indians were, and when they would come home, he told them a plausible story which pacified them and filled their bosoms with hope for yet a little longer, hoping always against hope that the wanderers might yet reach the wigwam of their youth. But such was never to be, and as the solemn and sad truth dawned upon their souls, a feeling of revenge, dire vengeance, began to spring up in all their bosoms, just as it would in any other man's, and if in our own blood
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