History of Placer county, California, Part 88

Author: Angel, Myron; Thompson & West, pub
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Oakland, Cal., Thompson & West
Number of Pages: 558

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Mr. Rogers was an enterprising man, and he desired people with families to settle about him. An objee- tion to this was raised, because there was no school in the vicinity. To obviate this, Mr. Rogers applied for, and was successful in, the establishment of a school district-calling it Norwich District-from a portion of Manzanita Distriet, in 1864. Of Nor- wich District he was elected one of the Trustees. There was no school house in which to hold a school. nor school money with which to pay a teacher; but all this did not daunt Mr. Rogers, who hired Mrs. M. E. Reynolds as teacher, gave the use of his ball- room at the "Shed " as a school house, boarded her, and paid her $60.00 a month for two months out of his own pocket. Subsequently the teacher's wages

was paid ont of the school fund. Thus was the school district at Sheridan established, and for four- teen years did Mr. Rogers retain the position of Trustee.

In 1860, there was a voting precinet established there called Union Shed Precinct-now changed to Sheridan, as is the name of Norwich to Sheridan School District. The locality being upon quite high ground, in the undulating lands just where the lower foot-hills blend with the stretches of the valley, and overlooking a long distance thereof, it was a central position at which stock-raisers met in searching for estray animals, and a number of them selected this point upon which to erect an observatory, or " look- out," as the vaqueros termed it. This structure was forty feet high, and had a large telescope some four or five feet long, mounted at its apex, which took in a view for many miles, and with which stock could be descried for a long distance. It was situ- ated a little west from the "Shed."

In 1865, a church was organized and also a Sunday - school, the latter probably the first in the valley, both of which were held in the ball-room of the "Shed," and were well attended. Mr. Charles Luco was the first Superintendent of the Sunday-school.

Business was good at the old " Shed " on the road until 1866, when the railroad was constructed through as far as Wheatland, and a great change was the consequence. Finally, in 1868, the entire establishment, together with a large quantity of hay, grain, etc., was destroyed by fire, by which Mr. Rogers lost 83,000, there being no insurance.

The first depot building constructed at Sheridan was in 1866, near the "Shed," by the farmers in the neighborhood; but in 1868, it was moved some sixty rods to where it now stands in the village, by Messrs. Dougherty and Rogers. The post-office was first established in 1868, with Mr. Young Dougherty as Postmaster, to which position Mr. E. C. Rogers soon succeeded, and has ever since and now holds it. The first store was built in 1869. The population of the village, as given by the census of 1880, was 125, but the precinct, including considerable of the surround- ing country, has a voting population of about 130. The village has, in 1881, three stores, one drug store, two blacksmith shops, one shoe store, two hotels, three saloons, two elergymen, one doctor, and one school teacher. The school house is of wood, with a seating capacity of sixty, and was erected at a cost of $3,000. It contains a school room. library. and ante-room. There are two church denomina- tions-Baptist and Methodist. Rev. John S. Jesse is pastor of the Baptist Church, and Rev. L. S. Feath- erston is pastor of the Methodist Church. Several social orders are, or have been, represented in Sheri- dan. Sheridan Lodge, No. 304, I. O. G. T., was organized in November, 1870, and a Division of the Sons of Temperance was formed in 1878. Sheridan Band of Hope was organized November 7, 1880. The first officers were: Y. Dougherty, Superintend-

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HISTORY OF PLACER COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.

ent; Mrs. R. V. McDonald, President; J. Boyce Chaplain; Daniel Click. Treasurer; Joseph Jesse, Secretary; Mrs. Lucy McAllister, Sentinel and Usher. The present officers are: Mrs. E. C. Rogers, Presi- dent; Miss Lelah Carpenter, Vice-President; Miss Ella Rickey, Assistant Superintendent; Joseph Jesse, Chaplain; Daniel Click, Treasurer; Mrs. R. V. Mc- Donald. Secretary; Miss Alice Murphy, Sentinel; Miss Mary Raymond, Usher. There are thirty-six members. Mr. J. T. Briggs is the Justice of the Peace, and E. C. Rogers is Constable.

SHIRT-TAIL CANON.

A short distance above the historic spot once known as Barnes' Bar, on the North Fork of the American River, a stream flows into the river from the southward, known as Devil's Canon. Going up this, perhaps three miles, a branch joins it upon the left hand side, and Shirt-tail Canon presents itself, to the beholder. Like all streams of its magnitude, its bed is a deep gorge, narrow and rocky, from 1,000 to 1,500 feet below the crests of the surround- ing " divides." It became an important auxiliary to the gold-producing fields at an early period in the history of the State, and has poured forth from its rough bosom a large quota of treasure to swell the volume of that precious commodity by which com- merce regulates the standard of values.

The unique name it bears was bestowed in the following manner: Early in the summer of 1849 two men, one named Tuttle, formerly from the State of Connecticut, and the other Van Zandt, from Oregon, were prospecting upon Brushy Canon and in that locality, and at the time supposed there was no one nearer to them than the people who were at work along the river bars. From Brushy they emerged into the valley of the larger stream into which it emptied. It was sultry and hot, and no sound but their own suppressed voices broke the silence of the gorge. A bend in the creek a short distance below them obstructed the view, and they walked down the stream to overcome it. Abruptly turning the point, they were astonished to see before them, but a little way off, a solitary individual-whether white or red they could not at first determine-engaged in primitive mining operations, with crevicing spoon, and sheath-knife and pan. The apparition was per- fectly nude, with the exception of a shirt, and that was not overly lengthy. The lone miner was in the edge of the water, and, happening to look up, saw the two men who had intruded upon his domain at about the same time that they discovered him. Had this not been NO, Tuttle and Van Zandt, as they declared afterward, would have stepped back, made some noise, and given the man a chance to don his overalls. As it was, the eyes of both parties met, and an involuntary "hello!" came from all three mouths. "What in the devil's name do you call this place ?" queried one of the intruders of the sans cullottes, who proved to be an American. He glanced

at his barc legs, and from them to his questioners, took in at a moment the ludicrous appearance he made, and laughingly answered: " Don't know any name for it yet, but we might as well call it Shirt- tail as anything else," and under that euphoneous nomenclature has it since been known, and must thus go down to posterity. It is to be regretted that no record can be found of the name of the man in the shirt.

SUNNY SOUTH.

The little town of Sunny South, represented in the picture upon another page, owes its existence entirely to the extensive and rich gravel mine known as the Hidden Treasure. Lying upon the southern slope of the ridge which separates the waters of the North and Middle Forks of the American, the exposure to sunshine causes such a contrast with respect to cli- mate to that of the temperature enjoyed by the kindred villages upon the northern side of the ridge, that its first residents bestowed upon it the above appellative, in contra-distinction between their own and the snow-buried domiciles of their neighbors. Being about 3,500 feet above sea-level, on the north crest of the ridge, which here assumes the char- acter of a broad plateau, rises some 700 or 800 feet higher, and is, for four or five months of the year, ordinarily covered with snow-sometimes to a great depth-during which time the ground at the immediate locality of the village will be nearly or quite bare. It is five miles from Michigan Bluff, which lies in a southerly direction, and seven from Damascus, situated toward the north; and from the site of the town appcars one of the most magnifi- cent views of the rugged side of nature that can be well imagined in a bird's-eye survey of the tremen- dous gorges of the branches of the Middle Fork of the American, with the towering bluff's and peaks that skirt them, which are here spread out at the feet of the beholder. A school house, two hotels, and two stores, and numerous cosy and well-furnished family cottages, are among the structures of Sunny South. The school has an attendance of about twenty scholars. The stores are kept, respectively, by Peter Just and John Abram & Son, and the hotels by Mrs. B. Lyons and James A. Abram.

EMIGRANT GAP

Is a station on the Central Pacific Railroad, forty- seven miles northeast of Auburn, at an elevation of 5,221 feet above the sea, in Township No. 4, and has a population of 137. It is in the midst of the great pine forests of the Sierra, and lumbering is the chief resource of the place. The scenery around Emi- grant Gap is grand and inspiring, and, coupled with its fine summer climate and good hunting, makes it a pleasant place of resort for those seeking health and pleasure.

FOREST HILL.

This mining town is pleasantly situated on the ridge between Shirt-tail Canon and the Middle Fork

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TOWNS AND LOCALITIES.

of the American River, twenty-two miles northeast of Auburn, at an elevation of 3,230 feet above the sea. The region is a gravel formation, and was originally covered with a noble growth of pine trees. Before March, 1850, the surface of the ground was un- broken, and its forest unhacked by the hand of the white man. In that month the story was spread of the discovery of rich diggings at Bird's store, and a rush of people passed up the country via Coloma and Greenwood Valley from the south, and via Auburn from the west. On the top of the ridge, a few miles from Dr. Todd's store, now the village of Todd's Valley, the two routes came together. Some of the prospectors stopped near the junction and washed in the surface for gold, making from five to ten dollars a day each, with a rocker. The first of such mining was in the middle of April, 1850. Wher- ever running water was found, there gold could be ob- tained; but with the simple appliances of pan, shovel, and rocker, in use at that time, the returns were not such as satisfied the expectations, and the inexperi- enced and hopeful miners moved on. The point being well situated for trade, it was occupied in the fall of that year by M. and James Fannan and R. S. Johnson, who established a trading-post. This way- side brush shanty grew into a house and hotel, known as the Forest House, as here was a dense forest of pine, fir, spruce, and oak trees. In 1851 other houses were built in the vicinity, and the Forest House became quite an important trade and travel center.

Mining was continued in a small way in the neigh- boring gulches, but an accident in the winter of 1852-53 led to greater enterprise and the opening of the deep mines which have given to Forest Hill its celebrity. That winter is historically remembered as one of great severity of storm and flood. During one of the storms a mass of earth was loosened at the head of Jenny Lind Canon, above the mining claims of Snyder, Brown & Co. Upon going to their claim, when the storm had abated, they saw with dismay the havoe that had been wrought. A great slide of earth had covered their mine and mining implements, and, in curiosity, they proceeded to examine the mass and the freshly-rent bank whenee it came, and it was a bank of rich deposit for them. Chunks of gold were seen glistening in the gravel, and these they at once proceeded to gather, finding some 82,000 or $2,500 worth a day. This led to the opening of the Jenny Lind Mine, which has pro- duced over $1,100,000 of gold. Claims were then located on all the gravel region thought accessible, and tunnels started to develop them. Among these were the Deidesheimer, Rough and Ready, Inde- pendent, Northwood & Fast, Gore, Alabama, Darda- nelles, Eagle, Garden, India Rubber, and others, covering quite an extended area. The miners were considerably scattered, and, for some years, the labor was devoted to opening the mines, rather than extracting the precious metal.

Forest Hill is remarked to have seen its most pros. perous days in the first eight or ten years of its existence, but under the more skillful and economical management of mining of late years the prospects must be considered very favorable. There are, moreover, many resources besides mining, but the absence of railroad facilities and an abundant supply of water prevent full development. In 1859, and for several years, the Placer Courier was published here, and with its newspaper, fine blocks of fire- .proof stores, hotels, elegant saloons, banks and express offices, and pleasant flower-adorned resi- dences, Forest Hill had quite a metropolitan air. This, in a measure, it retains at present, though the bustle on the street is not so great, and it still bears the appearance of a prosperous and pleasant village. The population, as given by the census of 1880, was 688, showing it to be one of the large towns of Placer County.

J. G. GARRISON

Is a native of the State of Maine, and was born in Harpswell, Cumberland County, March 15, 1830. At the tender age of fourteen years, he left his home and became a sailor on the " briny deep," making his first voyage in the brig Rebecca C. Fisher. This vessel was engaged in the West India trade. Mr. Garrison followed the sea until the year 1850, at which time he came to California by way of Cape Horn, in the ship Powhatan, from Baltimore, Mary- land. One hundred and seventy-five days were con- sumed in the trip, and he landed in San Francisco on the 15th of November. About four months were passed in the latter city by him, when he went to Drytown, Amador County, but remained only a few weeks, returning to the city, and, soon after, coming to Placer County, and locating at Auburn. In the fall of 1851, he removed to Coloma, and from there to Trinity County, and engaged in mining for about nine months. He then returned to Placer County, and was engaged in the same line of business, until 1855. During the latter year he conducted a butch- ering and meat business at Volcanoville, El Dorado County, and, in March, 1856, was engaged in mer- chandising with Harding & Kennedy, at Gray Eagle, in the same county. He remained with this firm about one year and a half, and then removed to Horse-shoe Bar, in Placer County, and established a business of his own, general merchandising, which he conducted until the great flood of January, 1862, destroyed his place and stock. Mr. Garrison barely escaped death in the troubled waters, by breaking a hole through the roof of his house. His next ven- ture was purchasing the interest of S. S. Kennedy in a mercantile house, at Forest Hill, where he has since resided. His establishment is one of the largest in the county. His residence at Forest Hill is in keep- ing with the cultivated tastes of its owner, and will compare favorably with many in large cities, costing about $14,000. Among the misfortunes to which he has been subjected during his eventful life, was the

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HIRTORY OF PLACER COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.

burning of a $10,000 residence, July 30, 1879. His present house is erected upon the site of the former.

Mr. Garrison was married October 23, 1864, to Miss Alice M. Humphrey, a native of Wiseonsin. They had, in 1881, four children, three sons and one daughter. aged respectively, fourteen, twelve, ten and eight years.

WILLIAM REA.

This gentleman is the fifth son of Robert and Mary Rea, who were natives of England. Our pres- ent subject was born at Hillsboro, New Brunswick, March 25, 1833. In his infancy he removed with his parents, to the State of Maine, where he lived until he was twenty-one years of age. He was employed in the mills after he became old enough to work. In 1854 he came to California, by the Nicaragua route, arriving in San Francisco in the month of June. He went immediately to El Do- rado County, and two months later removed to Lakeport, in Lake County. In company with an elder brother, he erected a saw-mill at the outlet of Clear Lake, on Cache Creek. About one year later he came to Placer County, and located at Forest Hill. Mr. Rea has been largely interested in the milling business during his life in California, and is at pres- ent the owner of a mill situated in Black Hawk Canon, about three miles from Forest Hill. This mill was erected in 1869, by two brothers of Mr. Rea, but was subsequently purchased by him, and moved to its present site. About five years since Mr. Rea leased the well-known " Forest House." which hotel he has since condneted. In the fall of 1880, he became one-third owner in the stage line running between Auburn and Michigan Bluff. a dis- tance of about thirty miles.

Mr. Rea returned to Maine in the spring of 1861. and was married to Miss Angeline Riee, and returned with his bride to California during the following winter. In 1864 he went East again, in hopes to recruit his wife's health, but she died in 1866. He was again married in 1870, to Miss Annie Allen, a native of Maine, and the same year returned to Cal- ifornia, and has since resided at Forest Hill.

GOLD HILL.

In the early history of Placer County Gold Hill was quite a conspicuous point, but as a village its glory has departed. It is situated in Anburn Ravine, seven and one-half miles west of the county seat. Here are the lower foot-hills of the Sierra, slight undulations distinguish it from the great valley that a few miles west stretches off a level plain, and at the present time orchards, fields, gardens, and vine- yards occupy the places once devoted to mining. The first attempt at mining was in 1851, and in April, 1852, the village was organized and received its name. J. M. Bedford was Justice of the Peace; T. Taylor was Constable, and C. Langdon was Recorder of mining claims. The busy population of its early days may be estimated from the votes

given. In 1852, Presidential election, the vote at Gold Hill numbered 444; in 1853 it was 304, and in 1854, 294. The diggings were in the surface, and almost everywhere, where water could be obtained, a miner eould get some gold, and in some spots rich deposits were found. Gradually the village declined, until at present it is not distinguished as a voting precinct.

GOLD RUN

Is situated on the line of the Central Pacific Rail- road, twenty-nine miles northeast of Auburn, having an elevation above the sea of 3,206 feet. Through this region extends that succession of auriferous deposits of gravel found in Nevada and Placer Coun- ties, which some have, without authority of faets, constructed into an imaginary and impossible con- tinuous "Dead Blue River" channel. For some miles around Gold Run are these gravel deposits, constituting hills similar to Dutch Flat, and which are mined by the hydraulic process. This system of mining has been carried on here very extensively until enjoined, in the fall of 1881, by order of the Superior Court of Sacramento, in a suit brought by the Attorney-General in behalf of the State against the Gold Run Diteh and Mining Company, to restrain the running of debris from the mines into the American River. This put a temporary stop, pos- sibly perpetual, to the hydraulic mining.

In this vicinity were some of the first hydraulic mines of the State, opened by that process, as sworn to by J. F. Talbott in the trial above referred to, early in 1833, on Indian Hill. Mr. H. H. Brown stated in the trial that the population of Gold Run, engaged in mining in 1865, was about 250. In 1866 it was about 400. From 1866 to 1878 the population diminished, until now they only poll about 100 votes. The census of 1880 gives the population at 377. Mr. Brown, who had formerly been a banker at Gold Run, stated that there had been shipped, through Wells, Fargo & Co.'s Express, from 1865 to 1878, $4,500,000, and via Dutch Flat $1,625,000, making the produet, in twelve years, $6,425,000. In 1865 the product was 8400,000; in 1866, 8600,000; in 1867, $500,000, and a gradual decline to 1877, 8250,000. Prior to 1878 the wages paid to miners was $3.00 for ordinary and $5.00 for foremen per diem of eight hours. Since then the ordinary pay is $2.50 a day, the miners paying all their own personal expenses. While mueh mining was done prior to 1865, it was not until that year that an abundance of water was supplied and the mines opened systematically and with improved mining apparatus. Since 1877 the prodnet has averaged about 8200,000 annually from this locality.

The early history of Gold Run is given in the bio- graphical sketch of O. W. Hollenbeck (see page 307), who laid out the town in 1862, when called Mountain Springs, and was its first postmaster. The name of Gold Run was adopted in September. 1863. by the

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TOWNS AND LOCALITIES.

authorities at Washington as the name of the post- office. In July, 1866, the Central Pacific Railroad was completed to this point, and since then the village has been one of the important ones of Placer County.

IOWA HILL.

So much has already been told in this history of the mining region of the Iowa Hill Divide that an extended notice here specially devoted to the town would be superfluous. The town is located on a nar- row part of the ridge between the North Fork of the American, on the north, and Indian Canon, on the south, twenty-six miles northcast of Anburn, ria the Central Pacific Railroad to Colfax, in Township No. 7. The population. as returned by the census of 1880, was 450; the elevation, 2,867 feet above sea level. The surrounding localities are, Independence Hill, Roach Hill, Birds' Flat, Monona Flat, Grizzly Flat, Wisconsin Hill, Elizabethtown, and Stephens' Hill. The first discoveries of gold were made in 1853 on the ground subsequently so famous for its productions, called the Jamison Claim. Other claims were opened, first by drifting and ground-sluicing, and then by the hydraulic. The weekly product in 1856 was stated at $100,000. The historian of 1861 says, " The business portion of Iowa Hill consists of three large grocery stores, fonr hotels, five dry-goods and clothing stores, one fancy store, three variety stores, one brewery and soda factory, two hardware and tinware stores, and two butcher shops, besides the usual number of bowling alleys, billiard and lager beer saloons. Iowa Hill also has a splendid Catholic Church, a Methodist Church, a Masonic Lodge, and a lodge of Independent Order of Odd Fellows, also a public school, and a theater.

February 2, 1857, the town was destroyed by fire, of which the following account was published in the Iowa Hill News, Extra, of that day :-

MONDAY, February 2, 1857.

This morning at 3 o'clock the alarm of fire was given. In a few moments the central portion of the town was in flames. The fire was first discovered in the back part of the City Bakery, and is supposed to have been the work of an incendiary, as there had been no fire in the building for baking purposes since Sunday at 10 A. M.

The east side of Main Street, from Temperance Hall to McCall & Co.'s Brewery, is swept away with the exception of Colgans' brick store. The post-office was in this building. On the west side of the street the fire extended from the office of the News to Hill's reservoir. The dwelling-houses in the rear on either side of Main Street were all saved. About one hun- dred buildings and tenements are destroyed. It is almost miraculous that no lives were lost.

The material of the News printing office was all moved, but by tearing away a building between it and the St. Louis House, and by the indefatigable exertions of our citizens, our office was saved and the fire arrested on the west side of the street. We are under deep and lasting obligations to friends and our citizens generally, for their generous and timely assistance.

It is almost impossible to approximate anything near the loss sustained. So rapidly did the flames extend that the fire-proof cellars under the most of the large stores were of little use, there being no time to remove merchandise into them.

We give an estimate of some of the heaviest losses :-

Creamer's Hotel

$10,000

Melbourne (clothing)

7,000

Hawkins & DeLiano 8,000

Rosenburg. 8,000

Sanders ..

5,000

Block (cigars, etc.)

5,000

Gross & Co.

2,000

Berger

2,500

Egbert & Co. (grocers) 3,500

John Kneeland.

10,000

Isabella Connor

10,000

St. Louis House.

1,000

Jas. Walworth

3,000

Brown

2.500

Hotel De Paris

3,000

Peacock Stable

1,000

Alleman & Baker

1,250

Kimball & Co.

1,000

Barber 2,500

Sheafe

1,500

Dr. Strong (drug)

5,000

Roberts (saloon) .

3,000

Garity (liqnors).

5,000

McCall & Co.

3,000

Henley

5,000

Smith (City Bakery)

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History of Placer county, California, Part 88

Author: Angel, Myron; Thompson & West, pub Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Oakland, Cal., Thompson & West Number of Pages: 558

Author: Angel, Myron; Thompson & West, pub
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Oakland, Cal., Thompson & West
Number of Pages: 558