USA > California > Placer County > History of Placer county, California > Part 91
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tas puffing cigarettes, and more liquors on sale. On the main street are found the hotels, boarding-houses, stores, bakeries, saloons, in each of which more liquors are displayed. Here are the livery stable, the butcher shop, the shoemaker, the washman, the blacksmith, all in operative order, in all sorts of structures-some stone, some shakes, some canvas, some of boards, and an occasional one of poles with brush thrown over. Pack-mules, saddle-horses, donkeys, and not infrequently large freight wagons to which are hitched eight to ten mules, are seen in the street.
All along the brink of the stream are men with rockers and long-toms washing gravel which other men are either bringing to them in buckets or dig- ging and shoveling to them from holes in the bar, from " claims " of from fifteen to twenty-five feet in width. From the river a wheel set between two boats and having buckets attached to the paddles is seen revolving and hoisting water for the " tom," while the man at the rocker dips up his own. At noon and night they are seen cleaning, drying and weighing their gold-dust, which frequently is an amazing sight. When the work of the day is done the street is thronged, and the populace soon there- after divide their presence where the attraction is greatest for each individual-some to the tent to gamble; some to the dance-house to court terpsichore; some to the billiard-rooms; some to the stores and taverns to play bean poker, talk politics, and discuss the value of claims, etc., etc. An occa- sional dog-fight fills the street with people in an instant, while a row between two half-drunk gam- blers or habitues of the dance-house inspires a desire that there may be a funeral or two. Once in a while a preacher comes to the bar and wishes to exhort the people, and often the bar-room is cleared and prepared for him, his discourse uttered to atten- tive listeners, and his appeal for contributions responded to by a generous erowd, after which "bus- iness " will proceed as though no interruption had occurred. The "alcalde" which the miners have chosen will now and again try and determine cases which have been brought before him, from simple assault, to murder, and decide them in accordance with the popular will, whether strictly legal or not -and has been known to even issue high ehaneery papers, and make them stiek, too, notwithstanding the arguments addneed by lawyers brought from the shire towns that such things "couldn't be done." Among the men who in early times dug for gold upon the river bars, were numbered some of the most prominent of the State-lawyers, doctors, divines, artisans, gentlemen, and roughs of all sorts.
Placer County, embracing as it does several branches of the American, besides Bear River, was the locality of seores of these river bars, where the earliest mining was principally done, and the most exciting scenes of its history have occurred. Beal's Bar is the first upon the North Fork, and situated
QUARRY.
G. GRIFFITH'S GRANITE WORKS, PENRYN, PLACER CO. CAL.
1678 G. GRIFFITH
PENRYN
HARDWARE
DAY GOODS, GROCERIES & PROVISIONS
STORE
RESIDENCE
POLISHING WORKS
YARD
OFFICE
QUARRY G. GRIFFITH'S GRANITE WORKS, PENRYN, PLACER CO. CAL.
401
RIVER BARS, VALLEYS, ETC.
in the southeast corner of the county, and as late as 1853 polled a vote of ninety-six. It was an active mining town, and when the old bar immedi- ately upon the river was worked out sufficiently to require it, the town was moved to a high bench adjoining, and the sight of the primitive village dug out and washed. Among the records left of its for- mer incidents is the following: "On the 6th of September, 1852, a negro was arrested for stealing a watch, and a people's jury empanneled. The theft was confessed, judgment awarded, and thirty-nine lashes duly administered upon the bare back."
Following up the stream from Beal's Bar, are Con- demned, Doton's, Long, Horseshoe, Rattlesnake, Whisky, Milk Puneh, Deadman's, Smith's, Lacy's Granite, Manhattan, Oregon, and Tamaroo Bars, before arriving at the point where the Middle Fork joins, the names of which are suggestive, which have at one time been densely peopled, and each has an interesting history if pains were taken in rescuing it from a fast-coneealing oblivion.
OLD TIME IMPROVEMENTS.
One of the first bridges built in the lower portion of the county was erected at Condemned Bar, and the road which crossed the river here for a long time was run by mail coaches.
Doton's Bar and Long Bar, the former on the north and the latter on the south side of the river, opposite to each other, are about two miles above Condemned Bar. The old '49 wagon road from Sac- ramento came around upon the bench where the later town was built, after leaving Rock Springs and approaching the old original Franklin House, which stood some distance south from the more modern hostelry of that name. From 1849 to 1852, during the summer months, there were probably not less than 500 men strung along the river's edge working in these two bars. When the town was built upon the high flat there were some pretentious buildings there, among which was Grilley's Hotel, a two-story structure, which stood there and did a good business for several years. In 1851, among other miners here, were John C. Heenan, afterward the " Benicia Boy," then an awkward youth working for a fluming com- pany for wages,and the subsequent great grain king. Isaac Friedlander. The former had his first prize- fight at Long Bar with a bully much older, who forced a fight simply because the boy would not acknowledge him as his superior. Old-timers tell of a little brush tent occupied by the tall grain merchant, and of how he fried his flapjaeks, cooked his bacon and beans, and dug and rocked alone at the upper end of Long Bar, all of which the historian must chronicle as fact.
Horseshoe Bar, situated about seven miles above Beal's and about two miles south of the old '49 Sae- ramento road, was first worked by Mormons in 1848. In the four or five following years it had quite a pop- ulation, and was a trading center for the following-
named adjacent bars: Whisky, Beaver, Deadman's, Milk Punch and, until 1853, Rattlesnake Bar. In 1852 there were four hotels and stores there, owned by the following firms: Harrub & Manseur, Sweet & Barney, Clark & Canfield, and George W. Martin & Co. That year it was estimated there were three hundred voters at Horseshoe, and that the gold product was one hunderd thousand dollars.
Rattlesnake Bar beeame notorious as the principal town along the river in 1853, when the town was built on the flat bench, high up, and back of the low bar from which it derived its name. On the 7th of April of that year, John C. Barnett, while prospecting the flat back of the bar, washed out a pan of gravel and got nearly an ounce of gold. The next bucket of dirt contained an ounce and a quarter. This ere- ated a great excitement, the whole beneh was located by people who rushed in, and building upon the flat began immediately. So great was the increase of population that in May, Frank Brown established a daily stage-line from Sacramento, and Jim Birch announced that he would run in there en route from Sacramento and Auburn. The Bear River Ditch Company immediately began the construc- tion of a ditch to convey water there, and by the middle of July had turned it in and begun to supply the miners.
From that time till 1856 the town grew rapidly; the North Fork Canal Company constructed a diteb that supplied water to the mines, and there were several small ditches. There were several hotels; Well's, Fargo & Co. established an express office; a theater was built, and the population rated abont one thousand, and many estimated the number of inhabitants of the town and immediate suburbs at double that number.
The place was the scene of many stirring events and its disreputable haunts were the primary school in which several aftertime notorious eriminals begun their career. Richard H. Barter, alias " Rattlesnake Dick," here worked as an " honest miner" until led astray. In December, 1854, a post-office was first established at Rattlesnake Bar, with Thomas Woods as postmaster, and about the same time the new wagon road was completed upon the El Dorado side, and the Whisky Bar wire suspension bridge finished.
A fire which occurred on the 7th of October, 1863, destroyed a number of the principal buildings, includ- ing a hotel and the theater, and made considerable of an inroad, since when it has been on the decline, and, like all of the old river mining towns, is a thing of the past.
First upon the Middle Fork, after passing up from the junction with the North Fork, is Louisiana Bar; then New York, Murderer's, Sailor Claim, Buckner's, Rocky Point Slide, Mammoth, Texas, Quail, Brown's, Kennebec, Wild Cat, Willow, Hoosier, Green Moun- tain, Maine, Poverty, Buckeye, American, Sardine, Yankee, Dutch, Spanish, Oregon, African, Drunk- ard's, Ford's, Big, Volcano, Sandy, Yankee Slide, Gray
51
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HISTORY OF PLACER COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
Eagle, Eureka, Horseshoe (No. 2), Boston, Pleasant, American, Junction, Alabama, Stony, Rector's, and a score of others, all noted once for their production of gold, and as having been the locality of interesting scenes, comic and tragic, in the early history of the country.
On the North Fork, above the junction, Calf Bar comes first, and then Kelley's, Rich, Jones', Barnes', Mineral, Pickering, and Euchre, with a score of others long since washed away or buried out of sight by the mass of debris sent down into the river by the Gold Run and other mines of more modern days.
THE RIVERS IN THEIR PURITY.
The river canons, where the old bars were located, were romantic places previous to being disturbed and torn up by the gold-digger. The water was as clear as crystal, and above each ripple or rapid place was a long, deep pool, with water blue as turquoise, swarming with fish. Salmon at that time ran up all the streams as far as they could get, until some per- pendicular barrier which they could not leap pre- vented further progress. Before the falls at Mur- derer's Bar was cut down, during spawning time, the salmon would accumulate so thickly in a large pool just below, that they were taken in great numbers by merely attaching large iron hooks to a pole, run- ning it down in the water, and suddenly jerking it up through the mass. And that place was not an exceptional one; it was so at all places where there was any obstruction to free running. During these times, the Indians supplied themselves with fish, which they dried in the sun. Trout similar to those now in Lake Tahoe were also plentiful, and the writer has caught them with hook and line weighing as high as ten pounds in the North Fork, above Kelley's Bar.
Upon every little bend or plat of land bordering the streams, grew the white ash, alder, maple, laurel, honeysuckle and rank ferns and mosses, with other indigenous shrubs and plants, while every projecting bowlder in the river-bed was the home of the broad- leaved water-plant. Tussocks of rank bunch-grass covered the bottoms, and wild grapevines clam- bered over every convenient tree. The water ousel, a little dark-colored bird, flitted from place to place in search of food, and the vigilant kingfisher darted from his perch on overhanging limb into the clear water and rose again with some finny victim in his beak. Deer wandered unscared amid these beauteous scenes, for there were none to do them barm. When first dug over, the old river bars were simply beds of clean-washed gravel, containing gold -natural ground-sluices-where nature had been for untold ages at work, and the innumerable fierce floods had so thoroughly washed away the finer alluvium and abraded material, that what remained, after getting below the surface soil, would scarcely roil the element in which the miner washed it.
Such was the condition of the California streams
when the gold-seeker first approached them-things of rare beauty, joyous to bebold, inconceivable to those who only know them as they are found to-day -treeless, mud-laden, turgid, filthy, and fishless; with matchless beauty gone, and natural purity forever lost, prostituted to the unchaste uses of man- kind in the acquirement of an artificial wealth made absolutely necessary by the civilization of the age.
ALONG THE SOUTHERN BOUNDARY.
The southern boundary line of Placer County is the middle of the North Fork of the American River, from its junction with the South Fork to Lyon's Bridge, where the Middle Fork comes in. At this place the county is narrowest, as a due north course, according to the United States land surveys, would enable one to strike Bear River, the northern line, in less than eight miles. Continuing above Lyon's Bridge, the boundary line follows the center of the Middle Fork up its principal branch, the Rubicon, to where the Georgetown trail crosses the stream, a short distance below Hunsucker's soda spring. The line then follows the trail to the west- ern summit of the Sierra, through Mckinney's pass, where there are four little lakes and several hun- dred acres of fine meadow land, at intervals, to the head of Mckinney's Creek, and following down that stream, strikes the Lake Tahoe near the northern side of Sugar-pine Point, thence continuing east until it intersects the California and Nevada line, toward the center of the lake.
With the multiplicity of diverse territory, it has a shore line upon Lake Tahoe of from fifteen to twenty miles-from the mouth of Mckinney's Creek, via Tahoe City, to the State line, east of the Hot Springs; and for a distance of some seven or eight miles, does the outlet, or Truckee River, flow within its borders. The marine interests of Placer County were first noticed by the Assessor in 1866, when he, that year, listed upon the assessment roll for taxation two schooners which were then plying upon the lake. The lake portion of Placer did not become populated as early as some other parts, owing to its isolation from the direct routes of wagon travel. About the earliest permanent settlements there, of which there is any record, were those at the mouth of Mckinney's Creek, at Ward's Creek, and at the outlet, now Tahoe City, in 1861 and '62. In the winter of 1861, a man who attempted to pass the winter on the lake, near the outlet, was frozen to death. William Fer- guson and Ward Rust built a cabin on the lake at the mouth of Ward's Creek, in the summer of 1862, having gone there from Volcanoville, El Dorado County. John W. Mckinney and Thomas Wren located a hay ranch on the summit, near the county line, in 1861, but Mckinney, in 1862, went to the lake shore, near the creek now bearing his name, and located there, for the purpose of hunting, fishing, and trapping, where he has ever since remained, and has established quite a noted place of resort known as
403
RIVER BARS, VALLEYS, ETC.
THE HUNTER'S HOME,
Which is patronized extensively by people from the State of Nevada, as well as by tourists. He has erected, for the accommodation of guests, besides the main building in which is the dining-hall, com- fortable cottages, to the number of twenty-five or more, bordering the clean, pebbly beach, just far enough back from the lake to be away from the reach of high water. A good wharf extends into the lake some two hundred feet to water deep enough to admit of steamer landing, on which is a good saloon building 22x32 feet in dimensions, and two stories high. All of the steamers running on the lake stop semi-daily at Mckinney's Landing for passengers and mail, and the old pioneer always treats his guests well. He always keeps a number of sail and row-boats for yachting or fishing parties. Among the former is the Transit, the crack yacht of the lake, and the fastest sailer.
Going northerly along the lake shore, from the Hunter's Retreat a mile distant, and the mouth of Madden's Creek is reached; two miles further to Blackwood, where there are nice picnic grounds, with a large floor forty feet square laid for dancing, and a wharf where steamers land. Thomas McConnell, of Sacramento County, owns the land, and has a summer cottage there. Here, too, is the " Wildidle " cottage, belonging to Mrs. Crocker and daughter, of Sacramento, besides another belonging to some resi- dent of the State of Nevada. Other people have bought lots in Blackwood, and will build cottages during the summer of 1882. Two miles further toward the foot of the lake is where Ward's Creek debouches, and here is the "Sunnyside Cottage," belonging to Mrs. Hayes, of Nevada State, with wharf, boat-house, etc. About a mile from the latter- named stream is the site of the saw-mill of Reuben H. Saxton, on the lake shore, which, when running, was propelled by an overshot wheel fifty-four feet in diameter, run with water brought in a ditch from Ward's Creek. All of these streams are resorted to by trout in spawning-time, when thousands of them of large size are taken.
The next point of interest reached is the Truckee River, the outlet of Lake Tahoe. The stream here is about fifty feet wide, with an average depth of five feet, the water flowing with a velocity of five feet a second, and discharging from the lake approx- imately 518,400,000 gallons of water every twenty- four hours. A few hundred yards across the stream, which is crossed by a bridge, is the site of
TAHOE CITY,
Which was first laid out in 1863, by a party of men who, having congregated during that summer and fall at the new diggings in Squaw Valley District, in anticipation of the commercial importance of the place, and in view of its commanding position, located "city" lots, cach proprietor digging a trench around his plat. It lies on a gently sloping plateau,
at an elevation of about fifty feet above the water of the lake, to mark the boundaries. The following year a wharf was begun by John Chesronn, which was afterwards purchased by J. O. Forbes, Jr., and J. B. Campbell, who completed it. It extends into the lake some 200 yards, and is constructed upon cribs built of strong timbers and anchored with rock -- the bottom found in the lake here being too hard to drive piles to sufficient depth in. About 300 feet from the shore, upon the wharf, is situated the "Custom House," a building used as a saloon and post-office, now owned by J. B. Campbell. Beyond the wharf, some 200 feet into the lake, one strong pier has been sunk, where steamers are moored in bad weather, when too rough to lay up at the wharf. The first public house built there was the Tahoe House, by William Pomin, who is yet the owner and pro- prietor. He also built a brewery there. Later, as the place began to be visited by pleasure-seekers, as steamers began to ply the lake, and a wagon road was constructed from Truckee, after the completion to that point of the Central Pacific Railroad. the want of more extended accommodations was felt, and another hotel was built. This. after passing through numerous managements, has at length merged into one of California's palatial hostelries under the ownership of A. J. Bayley, and is now enduringly established, with a world- wide reputation, as the Grand Central Hotel.
LAKE TAHOE.
Tahoe City is justly conceded by all to be the best point of observation for a general panoramic view of the lake, as from bere almost every location of inter- est is within the range of vision aided by a field- glass of ordinary power. Glenbrook, fourteen miles across the water, is distinctly seen. During winter the snow often falls at Tahoe City to the depth of five or six feet, and in summer the climate there is called the coolest of any place upon the lake. The water of the lake is wondrously clear and blue, so that when in repose fish and other objects can be readily discerned at a depth of thirty or forty feet. It is also very cold, but has the peculiarity of never freezing in the winter. The deepest soundings ever made were 2,800 feet. The bed of Lake Tahoe is supposed by some to be the crater of an extinct volcano, and unfathomable. Some plausibility exists for such a theory in the fact that hot springs occur at places on the lake shore, and a small conical mound, evidently the creation of solfataras, exists a short distance northwest of Tahoe City, and masses of scoriaceous rock are strewn promiscuously along the banks of the Truckee River. A phenomenon Was witnessed in September, 1866, from Saxton's saw. mill, at that time in operation, by a number of per- sons employed there. Nearly abreast of the mill, several hundred yards out from the shore, the water, being smooth and calm at the time, was discovered at a particular locality to suddenly rise in columnar form some five or six feet above the surface of the
404
HISTORY OF PLACER COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
surrounding level. The diameter of the column seemed to be eight to ten feet, and when subsiding, as it soon did, a whirlpool was formed. This being noticed upon several occasions, a person rowed out to the spot in a small boat and found the water there quite warm. At the place where this occurred, there is a deep hole, perhaps fifty yards in diameter, which has been sounded to the depth of seventy-five or eighty feet, while all around the indentation the water is only thirty or forty feet deep, and which, until about two years before this phenomenon was witnessed, was noted as an excellent fishing ground. The fact that the water there was found to be warm gave plausibility to the theory that a sub-aqueous volcano caused the commotion, and that its existence, unnoticed before, explained the reason why the fish had been driven away. Perhaps these phenomena have in former ages been noticed by the aborigines, and have been handed down in their traditions, as the Indians of the present day never cross the lake, affirming the belief that an evil spirit would draw them to the bottom were they to make the attempt.
Following the lake shore from Tahoe City, the Island House is approached in a distance of a couple of miles, over a fine stretch of country; thence Observatory Point, a sharp prominence running into the lake at the lower end of Carnelian Bay; follow- ing up the beach, where are found many smoothly- worn and variagated silieious pebbles, the rocky point on the north is passed, and the shore of Agate Bay greets the traveler. Not far from here a small creek enters the lake, about the mouth of which is some pretty meadow land. Griffin's saw-mill is on this stream. East of this a few miles are the Hot Springs, near the State line, now the property of Sisson, Wallace & Co.
The altitude of Lake Tahoe, according to the observations of the United States Geographical Sur- veying Corps, under the command of Lieutenant George M. Wheeler, is 6,202 feet above the sea; Tahoe City, 6,251; Hot Springs, 6,237. The lake is twenty-two miles long and twelve and a half wide,and is fed by the waters of more than thirty streams of various sizes, which have their sources in the surround- ing snow-clad hills, and are ever pouring their volume into it-sometimes in gently flowing brooklets; at others in leaping, laughing, beautiful cascades, and again in fierce and angry torrents.
LAKE TAHOE'S NAME.
The name of this grand lake now appears to be fixed as Tahoe, but over this subjeet an exciting and acrimonious controversy has more than once been held. The first record of the lake is in Fremont's explorations of 1843-44. January 10, 1844, he dis- covered and named Pyramid Lake, and a few days thereafter reached the river at the south end, where he had a feast of salmon trout, and he named the stream Salmon Trout River. This now bears the name of Truckee. He was told that the river came
from another "lake in the mountains three or four days distant, in a direetion a little west of south." On the maps accompanying " Captain Fremont's Narrative," this lake bears the name of " Mountain Lake," and it was so ealled in California until after 1852, and it is thus referred to in the Placer Herald in discussing the subject of wagon roads. In 1852, the Surveyor-General, looking out a route for a wagon road, gave the name of the then Governor of California to the lake, and it became officially and generally known as Lake Bigler.
In 1839, Dr. Henry De Groot was exploring the mountains, and being of an inquiring mind and a writer for the press, formed a vocabulary of Indian words of the Washoe dialect. By this he learned that tah-oo-ee meant a great deal of water; tah-ve meant snow, and tah-oo, water. This he wrote, or a partial explanation, to the Sacramento Union, and the word tah-oo-ee suggested as an appropriate name for Lake Bigler, being the Indian term for " big water." In 1863, Rev. T. Starr King and a party visited the lake. The War of the Rebellion was then raging; Governor Bigler was a Democrat, and was denounced as a "copperhead " and secessionist, and therefore unworthy of the honor of having so grand a feature of natural scenery named in his honor, and Starr King christened the lake " Tahoe." California and Nevada Legislatures have repeatedly " Resolved " that the name was " Lake Bigler," but notwithstand- ing all these " official" declarations, the popular name of Tahoo is adopted, and " Bigler " is only pre- served by bis partisans and friends.
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