USA > California > Placer County > History of Placer county, California > Part 18
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Colonel Ritchie had come into the country in 1846 via the head-waters of Bear River and thought, from his recollection of the mountains en route, that gold existed there. Striking northward across the country from their starting point, they encountered the limestone belt cropping out on the southern side of the Middle Fork, following it to that stream, thence upon the point which separates the North and Middle Forks not far above the junction, and thence to the North Fork and across that stream to the dividing ridge between the latter and Bear River, the party meanwhile prospecting in thier
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HISTORY OF PLACER COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
travels with unsatisfactory results. A large ravine which ran into the North Fork from this divide was selected as a camp-ground for several days, in which gold was found, but not in such quantities as could be got at the rivers. From here they went to Steep Hollow on Bear River, and remained a week. Their search not being successful, they came down the emigrant trail on the north side of Bear River until they reached a little valley in which they stopped a few days to recruit their animals-the spot where a little more than a year afterward was located Colonel Finley's Camp, a halting place for invalid immigrants. From here they went north to Deer Creek, but did not stay long, for they had not found what they sought. Returning they crossed Bear River and accidentally wandered over the present site of Auburn and into the diggings where Claude Chana and his companions had worked but a month before. Not upon the entire trip, which occupied some six weeks, were any satisfactory results obtained, and the party returned to the South Fork via Sutter's Fort.
Marshall's subsequent journeyings throughout the county now embraced within the limits of Placer County were mostly confined to the year 1850, when be formed a portion of that human mass who car- ried the advancing ripple of civilization that year into the cañons of the California highlands, working during the summer with about twenty others, in Antoine Cañon.
OHIO PROSPECTORS.
About the middle of September, 1850, four men from Delaware County, Ohio, came to a place upon the Divide north of Antoine Canon, ealled Burke's Station, having in their possession about seventy-five pounds of gold-dust, which they reported they had dug in a cañon not far distant in a short space of time. The story of the success of the Ohioans spread rapidly from camp to camp, and many per- sons started out to search for the " Ohio Diggings," supposed to be somewhere upon the Divide. Among these was a party composed of J. W. Marshall. John Winters, Jonathan Favorite, and some five or six others, who prosecuted the search until late in the fall, being upon the trail fully two months. From time to time they would strike the tracks of ani- mals leading across the canons to the south; pur- suing which, Marshall and Favorite, who alone were all that remained of the original number start- ing out, at length found themselves at a large flat upon which were growing numerous big oak trees, on a park-like plateau, situated between the middle and north branches of the middle fork of the Amer- ican, where they found many evidences of former occupation. It was a beautiful spot, as it still is at the present time, its isolation having protected the fine old oak trees from the destructive ax of the wood- man. The place is now locally known as Big Oak Flat. Marshall and his companion camped near here at a spring in a small eañon that sweeps around the base of the flat upon the northeast.
A GHASTLY DISCOVERY.
While exploring the surrounding thickets near eamp, Marshall found a muchilla which led to a more extended seareh, during that and the succeeding day, by himself and Favorite, and resulted in the discovery of the bodies of four men and the car- casses of four horses-the latter having been shot through the head, as the skulls indicated-with sad- dles, blankets, and aceouterments. The men had evi- dently been surprised in camp, and one or two of them killed before leaving it, while the position of the others tended to show that they were shot while running off and trying to escape. It then occurred to Marshall that four Spanish-Americans, with con- siderable gold-dust, had that spring left Kelsey, in El Dorado County, for the mountains, and he subse- quently learned that they had, upon reaching Todd's Valley, deposited their treasure with a man named James Williams, who was then keeping a trading- post there, and with whom some of the Spaniards were acquainted; that Williams a few months later, desiring to leave and go to Santa Cruz, had notified the men of hisintention, and requested them to take their dust away, which they had done, and packed it into the mountains whither they went. The mur- ders had been doubtless done about the first of Sep- tember, and as it was well toward the end of November when their remains were discovered, the skeletons of both men and animals were dismem- bered and scattered, and fleshless from the ravages of wild animals, and, therefore, not readily identified; but no doubts ever existed in the minds of the dis- eoverers that they had unraveled the terrible secret of the locality of the "Ohio Diggings."
IN MEMORY.
Upon this memorable trip. Mr. Marshall, while on one of the little flats situated a short distance south of the old trail leading from the ridge to Sailor Bar, on the North Fork, near the point where it left the summit and began the descent into the cañon, cut in a large rock lying there, with the chisel-point of a pick, the initials of his name- J. W. M .- in letters about six inches high. These must be there to the present time; and, though the lichens and ferns may have overgrown the rude tablet and hidden the in- scription, the eurious prospector, as he wanders through that region, will some day doubtless find that autographie legend of the famous pioneer; per- haps not until his form has long been entombed, for, even now, the grim old ferryman, standing by the other shore, is beckoning for him to cross.
"YANKEE JIM."
The first authentic account the writer ever had of the strange character whose synonym is perpetuated in the name of one of the most important mining sections of Placer County, was from a gentleman, now a resident of Georgetown, El Dorado County, named Benjamin C. Currier, who, with the writer, was mining in the fall of 1849 near Barnes' Bar, on
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EARLY MINING HISTORY.
the north fork of the American. Late in the sum- mer of that eventful year, rumors came to Barnes' Bar of rich diggings having been found in the hills, somewhere up the ridge between the North and Middle Forks; and these rumors were sometimes accompanied by tangible evidence of their existence in the shape of large oblong pieces of gold, often weighing several ounces, brought into the camps by the character known as "Yankee Jim." No thought was that year entertained of wintering upon the river, and it therefore was an object of mo- ment to find some rich spot upon the uplands where men could profitably hibernate. With this laudable purpose in view, sometime during the month of November, Messrs. Currier, Smith, Steen, O'Hara, Spinks, and another man whose name is not remem- bered, fitted out and started from a place then known as Long Bar, in the first bend below Barnes' Bar, in search of Yankee Jim and his diggings. Ascending the hill on the south side of the river and reaching the summit of the Divide, they did not travel far before nightfall overtook them, and they bivouacked under the tall pines with no other cover- ing but such as the branches of the trees afforded, a little way off' from the trail, which by that time was quite plainly marked along the erest of the ridge. At that time it was a common custom for a party of men who imagined they were going to good diggings to start off stealthily-frequently traveling by night- to evade pursuit.
About midnight a brisk rain storm came on and aroused the slumbering men, some of whom got up for the purpose of replenishing the fire with wood. While doing this one of them diseerned the glimmer of a light moving through the forest in the direction of their objective point, and the thought occurred that the light should be followed. A short consulta- tion was held, and two men, Mr. Currier and another, were detailed to do so. For several hours they groped onward through the gloomy forest, with the moving light in view, until at last, like an ignis fatuus, it disappeared and was seen no more. Determining not to surrender the vantage ground, thus so labo- riously gained, the two men, upon hands and knees, in the rain and darkness, gathered what few rocks, sticks, and pine cones they could find and laid them up as well as they could in monumental form at the foot of a large tree, to mark the spot upon the approach of daylight. Having done this they retraced their steps to camp as best they could, reach- ing there about daybreak.
Relating their adventure, breakfast was prepared, and the entire party started on the trail, having now no doubt whatever but they were close upon the haunt of the noted character whose diggings they coveted. They did not succeed in finding the rude monument that the two had piled under the tree until about three o'clock in the afternoon, so changed in appearance did the country seem by daylight, and the course so different than at night. Satisfied at
last that they had found the place where the light disappeared, a careful reconnoisance was begun.
A narrow backbone had diverged to the left from the main divide down which the tracks they were following led, and a distance along this of from 150 to 200 yards brought the pursuing party to the head of a small ravine skirting the eastern border, the ravine leading into an apparently interminable cañon. It was the descent of the party with the light the previous night into this gorge that caused its disappearance. The trailing party were barely enabled to reach the bottom of the chasm where the smaller joined the larger ravine, before night was upon them and they were forced to halt and make eamp. Scarcely had they rolled into their blankets before rain again began to fall in torrents. The rainy season had in reality set in, for the storm did not abate until the expiration of the fifth day after the entrance of the party into the gorge. During this time they had not attempted to explore, devoting the time to improvising such shelter as they could, to proeuring fuel for maintaining a large fire, and to cooking and eating their limited variety of food. They had noted that they were upon quite a large stream, made additionally so by the rain-fall, and that the canon was a rugged one. Meanwhile no sounds had been heard denoting the presence of others, nor had any- thing been seen of the mysterious nocturnal trav. elers who had preceded them into the dismal abyss.
A PRIMAL FOREST SCENE.
On the sixth day, however, the morning sky was elcar and the sun rose brightly upon a glorious autumnal mountain scene, which under more favor- able circumstances would have been highly enjoy- able. The dark green heather of the aromatic, delicate-leafed shrub so common in the uplands of California; the varying hues of the dogwood leaves, pink, erimson, and purple; the bright yellow of the broad-leafed maple; the somber brown of the leaves of the deciduous oaks, all lately touched and beautifully colored by the frost; together with the resplendent verdure of the yew, with their branches spangled with delicate pink, bead like berries; the huge tow- ering pines with long, pendant cones at which the chattering squirrels were at work; the firs and cedars; the live-oaks; and the bushes of hazel and ehincapin, all spangled and glistening with myriads of raindrops sparkling in the sunshine; the precip- itous and rocky sides of the canon rising upon all sides to an indefinite heighth; the mountain tor- rent, with water clear and unpolluted, in which were disporting the speckled trout, running along its stony bed, now leaping down in little cataracts, then swirling around in eddying pools, and again flowing in rapid ripples around great bowlders all encircled by the snake-like roots of the water plant, whose broad, round leaves covered their surface; the fern-lined banks; the little water-ousel fluttering from stone to stone, and occasionally plunging his tiny beak into the clear, limpid water to secure some
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HISTORY OF PLACER COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
aquatic insect or worm upon which to make its morning meal, combined in the formation of such a picture of extreme natural beauty as no easel can faithfully portray nor any pen accurately describe.
OCCUPANTS OF THIE CANONS.
Amid this seene of grandeur there arose another objeet, the sight of which was more absorbing in interest to the little party than all else around them. Not far distant above, in the gorge, was seen the blue smoke curling up from some camp-fire. The first thought was of Indians, rather than the men whom they had followed, and a careful approach under cover of the thickly-growing bushes to the vicinity of the strange camp was determined upon. Stealthily the reconnoitering party reached a point of favorable observation and halted to await develop- ments. The fire was on the opposite side of the stream, and they had waited but a few moments before the moving bushes over the creek gave evi- dence that a living form was there. A moment longer and the head of a man was seen to rise above the brush and peer cautiously down the canon in apparent anxiety, evidently having just discovered that there was a fire in elose proximity. The head appeared to be that of a white man, but being encased in a skull-cap of gorgeous colors, it was hard to determine from the distance they stood. Shortly another head apperared which could not be mis- taken, and was that of a white man. Then the am- buscading party rose and hailed the strangers. One of the men proved to be a Mr. Tuttle, from Connec- tient, who was wearing a silk smoking cap, and the other a Mr. Van Zandt, of Oregon. Mr. Currier, being a Yankee, was soon on excellent terms with Tuttle, while Spinks, who had traveled extensively in Oregon, soon ingratiated himself into favor with Van Zandt. They had been upon the stream for some time and were the two who had so suddenly surprised a lone miner en dishabille not long before, and which circumstance fastened the appellation " Shirt Tail " to the canon. The smaller one, at the junction of which was their camp, has since been known as Brushy Canon. Tuttle and Van Zandt had discovered fair diggings, which they had been working for several months, and were the ones who traveled by night. not for the purpose, however, of evading pursuit, but to reach their camp before the coming of the storm. The last party, also, set to prospecting, and had no difficulty in making good wages by digging ont the crevices of the bed-rock with knives and panning out the material taken therefrom.
FINDING OF YANKEE JIM.
Not a great while after the circumstances oc- eurred which are above related, Mr. Currier started out alone from camp to explore the country lying a short distance westerly from Brushy Canon. After traveling perhaps two miles he entered a little flat of comparatively smooth ground, and was aston- ished to see the legs and feet of a man, encased in
breeches and boots, projecting from a temporary shelter made by standing large slabs of pine hark endwise against a tree, the latter being a big sugar pine, into the butt of which the fire bad burned a good-sized cavity. There were also a few articles of camp equipage lying around.
Without hesitation Currier approached and hailed the sleeping man, for such he appeared to be. Ronsing himself, he got up and returned the saluta- tion, but apparently somewhat disconcerted and embarrassed at the sight of a stranger; and about the first inquiry he made was to ask from whence the intruder came and how long he expected to remain. Upon being told that there was quite a party near by, who came with the intention of remaining there all winter, he seemed more perplexed and annoyed than at first. His sole weapon, besides a knife, was an old-fashioned Government "yager," bullets for which he was anxious to get, as he had but a few and no lead to make more. It so hap- pened that Mr. Currier, among his effects at camp, had several pounds which he thought might fit the yan, and he offered to bring some over to him on the following day. At this he intimated to Currier that he would like to have the knowledge of his whereabouts kept a secret, and said that if he would not tell his companions that he had met with him and his lonely camp he could be of some service in the future.
Currier left, kept his own counsel-for each man of the party belonged to separate companies who had been operating upon the river, and therefore were not partners any further than in the discovery of a district over which all could locate-and the next day returned with the bullets, which secured the good will of the unknown man. He soon became quite communicative, and told Mr. Currier that ifhe would persuade his companions to return to the river and come back alone to that spot that he would show him where he could find the best dig- gings in the country. In proof of his assertion he took a batea and went down to the bank of a small ravine and there washed out a number of pans of gravel, each time getting a good prospect in coarse gold.
He then told Mr. Currier that he it was whom they called Yankee Jim, and said he was a native of the State of Maine. He also told his newly-formed acquaintance his proper name and the town of his nativity. These facts were all noted at that time in Mr. Currier's journal, which is now in Boston and are not remembered, else this work would be the first to rescue from obscurity and forever perpetuate the true name of that historieal character, as well as locate his nationality. Common belief has obtained that he was an English convict, in early days called " Sydney Ducks," but Mr. Currier is of the firm opinion, from his patois and knowledge of the New England States that he really was a Yankee, and that for a number of years before the discovery of
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EARLY MINING HISTORY.
gold he had " combed the beach " along the Califor- nia Coast, having previously ran away from some ship. That he was a bad character and a criminal there is no doubt.
After his disclosures, Mr. Currier became afraid of the man-that is, to associate with him and become an adjoining claim owner. Tuttle and Van Zandt had, a couple of months preceding this time, found the skeletons of a man and horse, supposed to have been shot not far from this camping place. Of course his presence became known to all of the men camped in the vicinity; but the storms began soon to occur very frequently, and were of great severity, which caused the abandonment for that winter of the diggings upon Shirt Tail Canon, the men return- ing to the river and other places. The following year that part of the country was well filled with people; extensive mines were discovered, and the new town started, the rise and progress of which will be detailed hereafter. As to the fate of Yankee Jim, there have been several accounts, the most probable of which is that he was hung by orders of an irregu- lar court at Los Angeles, September 18, 1852, for an attempt to steal, in the harbor at Wilmington, the pilot boat Plutus with the intention of putting to sea, with the probable intent of engaging in piratical acts.
JOURNAL OF A PIONEER.
The following extracts from the journal of a pio- neer of Placer County, John A. Markle, now a resi- dent of Kelsey Township, El Dorado County, will be of interest as it was written at a time when all of the localities spoken of were known by their primary names. On Sunday, September 2, 1849, Mr. Markleand party had arrived at Sacramento via the Truckee, Donner, Bear River and Sinclair Ranch route, where he had remamed, suffering from poison oak until (we quote the journal)
Wednesday, September 26, 1849 .- By this time I am much better of the poison. Lorin Robbins and I agree to go to the mines together.
Thursday, September 27th .- This morning we got some provisions, and about 4 o'clock P. M., loaded them on an ox wagon and started for the North Fork Dry Diggings. We traveled with the wagon awhile, but it being slow, we started ahead and got to the Blue Tent at 10 o'clock, where we waited until the wagon came up; we then got our bed and slept at the root of an oak. Distance to-day was thirteen miles.
Friday, September 28th .- To-day we wandered along until we came to the Ilalf-way House, where we got dinner. Four miles more brought us to the Oregon Tent, where we stayed all night with some New Yorkers who had come around the Horn.
Saturday, September 29th .- Seven miles this morn- ing brought us to the Miner's Hotel, where we cooked dinner. We then started ahead of the wagon, and eight miles brought us to another boarding tent kept by a Mormon. Being lost from our wagon, and not
knowing when it would come up, we called for supper, and got it by paying two dollars each.
Sunday, September 30th .- We waited until 9 o'clock this morning and the wagon did not come, so we started on. Four miles brought us to the Dry Diggings, our place of destination but no wagon there. It arrived, however, about 4 o'clock. We then selected an oak, cooked supper, made our bed and slept.
Monday, October 1st .- To-day Robbins and Risher (a man who came with us) sold some articles they had left when they were up here before, and in the evening we moved up the left-hand ravine about one and a half miles to a spring, where we stayed all night.
Tuesday, October 2d .- Robbins and I made a tent, and Risher went to the river to prospect.
Wednesday, October 3d .- To-day Robbins and I went to the river. We prospected with our pans, but could get nothing. We then borrowed a rocker and washed out about five dollars worth of gold.
Thursday, October 4th .- To-day Risher and 1 went prospecting further up the river, but did not succeed well. Robbins went to buy a mule to pack our things to the Middle Fork; like us, he was unsuccessful.
Friday, October 5th .- To-day we all went to the river, and panned out about two dollars apiece; and rather than climb the mountain to our tent, we con- cluded to stay at the river. Our bed was on pebble- stones, and oh! such a sleep as we had!
Saturday, October 6th .-- To-day we washed awhile and then went to our tent, where we suppered on flap-jacks, and then retired.
Sunday, October 7th .- To-day we were wandering around in the Dry Diggings, and I succeeded in pick- ing out a lump worth from three to four dollars; I then gathered up about a gallon of dirt, carried it to the water and washed it, and found about two dol- lars more.
Monday, October Sth .- To-day we dug in the Dry Diggings, and made about six dollars.
Tuesday, October 9th .- To-day we did as yester- day. In the evening it rained enough to wet through a person's clothing-the first rain I have seen fall for a long while.
Wednesday, October 10th .- Still working at the same place. Robbins found a lump worth twelve dollars and a half. It rained in the evening.
Thursday, October 11th .-- To-day we dug and threw up dirt to pack to the water. Robbins found another lump worth nineteen and a half dollars; clear in the evening and no rain.
Friday, Oct 12th .- To-day we bought a horse and packed dirt to a well that we dug; weather clear and cool.
Saturday, October 13th .- To-day we packed six loads and got twenty dollars. Weather clear and warm.
Saturday, October 20th .- Since Monday, we have
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HISTORY OF PLACER COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
been packing dirt and washing it. The weather was very warm all the week, as well as dry and elear.
Saturday, October 27th .- Since Monday last, we have as usual, been packing dirt. The weather, as last week, without any rain.
Monday, October 29th .- To-day we washed what dirt we had packed, and concluded to throw up dirt to wash, when the wet season sets in-as we have concluded to winter here.
Tuesday, October 30th .-- Throwing up dirt to-day. In the evening it began to rain.
Wednesday, October 31st .- To-day it rained- coming by small showers.
Thursday, November 1st .- To-day we commenced to build our cabin. The day clear, and a little cold.
Friday, November 2d .- Still at work at the cabin. It rained some little through the day, and at night it poured down. The water came through our tent; our bed-clothes became wet, and our sleep was not as pleasant as might have been.
Saturday, November 3d .- This morning the rain continued to pour down; the fire all out; our bed wet, and still getting wetter. Robbins, looking at these things, got the blues bad enough for both of us; so I laughed it off without much trouble.
Sunday, November 4th .- This morning it was clear and we went to work on the cabin, as we thought it necessary to do so. In the evening it began to rain again and rained all night; but we were a little more comfortable than on the previous night.
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