USA > California > Riverside County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume I > Part 39
USA > California > San Bernardino County > History of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Volume I > Part 39
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The water they caught by spreading their rubber blankets and drank it with a spoon. Being thus refreshed they turned eastward and struck the head of the Muddy River which they followed down until they found a trail and soon afterward came up to Captain Hunt in camp with seven wagons that had remained with him when the rest of his party had taken the route that led them into Death Valley, where so many perished for the want of water. They came on southerly up the Mohave River, through the Cajon Pass, and reached Chino Ranch, where they remained for a month recruiting their stock and were hospitably treated by Col. Isaac Williams. They went on to the Mariposa mines, where the company disbanded, and Mr. Stoddard established a trading post in the
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Carson Valley to supply incoming immigrants. Flour and bacon sold for one dollar a pound, and other articles in proportion. Finally he and his party bought about sixty horses and twenty head of mules and returned with these to Salt Lake.
In March, 1851, Mr. Stoddard married Miss Jane, the second daughter of Captain Hunt, and in April they started for California with the San Bernardino colonists under Captain Hunt, Amasa Lyman, Charles C. Rich. At Bitter Springs Lyman, Rich, Hopkins, Rollins and Captain Hunt started on ahead of the company on horseback, Stoddard accom- panying them with a mule team, arriving and camping at Sycamore Grove, the remaining wagons reaching this location soon afterwards, where all remained until September, 1851, when all moved down to the valley as the leaders had completed the purchase of the San Bernardino Rancho from the Lugo family. Mr. Stoddard at once built the first log cabin out of willow logs on what was known as the Mary Carter place, on First Street, west of I Street. This cabin was later taken down and moved down and erected on the west line of the fort that was being constructed as a protection from hostile Indians. In May, 1852, he brought John Brown and family from San Pedro and located them as his neighbor on the west side of this fort. Mr. Brown purchasing the cabin from Marshall Hunt for fifty dollars. In 1853 Mr. Stoddard built a small adobe house on the northwest corner of D and Fourth streets, where the postoffice is now located. For many years he was engaged in freighting and carrying the United States mail between San Bernardino and Salt Lake City, crossing the desert twenty-four times. in 1865 he made the trip to Nevada and Montana, a distance of 1,300 miles, requiring six months for the journey, with his mule team. In 1882 he entered the employ of the California Southern Railway, and the Santa Fe Railroad Company, under their chief engineer, Fred T. Perris, taking charge of their teaming and quarry work, retiring in 1899 from active work to enjoy a well-earned rest. His beloved wife died in San Ber- nardino, December 26, 1899, since which time he continued to live at the old home, Tenth and D streets with his daughter, Hattie Stoddard Merritt, who cared for him as only a loving daughter knows how until his death, which occurred in 1903. He was elected president of the Pioneer Society to which he was strongly attached as it kept him in touch with many of his old friends. He was active in building log cabins and monuments with the pioneers and loved to go camping and fishing with them. Among these companions in later years were Sydney P. Waite, John Brown, Jr., Bill Holcomb, George Miller, George M. Cooley, Taney, Woodward, Richard Weir, Silas Cox, Jap Corbett, G. W. Suttenfield, Charley Clusker, and others.
His children were Mary Aurelia, who married Nelson Sleppy, now deceased ; Eva, who married Albert Rousseau, now deceased ; Bell, now deceased, and Hattie, wife of S. P. Merritt, now (1922) living.
CAPT. DAVID SEELY, ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
David Seely was one of the historical characters of San Bernardino County. He was born October 12, 1819. in the Township of Whitby. Ontario, Canada, one mile from Port Whitby. Up to his eighteenth year he was reared on a farm making occasional trips with his father who was the owner of three sailing vessels. At the breaking out of the Patriot war in Canada in 1837, his father being known as a sympathizer with the Patriot or Reform party, the Canadian authorities fearing that
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he might convey Mckenzie, the Partiot leader, across the lake to the United States, dismantled one of his vessels. This action caused him to remove to the Far West. He settled in lowa, then a territory, near Burlington. From there he removed to Nashville. About this time he built two 100-ton lighters to be used in transferring the freight from steamers and conveying it over the Des Moines Rapids, he being the pilot for three years.
In July, 1846, he started for California and wintered at Council Bluffs, at a place called Seely's Grove. In the following spring he started for Salt Lake City, which he reached in September of the same year. Here he remained until November, 1849, when he left with Pom- eroy's train by the southern route for California for the purpose of mining, being affected with the memorable gold fever of that exciting year. On the way the company picked up nine men who formed a part of the ill-fated Death Valley party, who were barefoot and starving. Mr. Seeley reached San Bernardino in the month of February, 1850,
CAPT. DAVID SEELY
where he remained two months, going then to Los Angeles, where he sold out his effects and took passage on a brig bound for "Frisco," going direct to Coloma, where he arrived April 6th and engaged in mining for gold in company with his brother and brother-in-law and was reasonably successful.
On August 14, 1850, he started for his home at Salt Lake with others by the way of Humbolt. After wintering in Salt Lake, he was a cap- tain of fifty wagons bound for California. Other wagon trains in charge of Amasa Lyman, Charles C. Rich and Andrew Lytle, 100 wagons all told, under the direction of Capt. Jefferson Hunt as the guide, he having been over the road. Mr. Seely arrived at Sycamore Grove, now known as Glen Helen Ranch, in the mouth of Cajon Pass, June 11, 1851. The other portions of the train arrived a few days later and remained encamped here and on the bank of the creek, about three miles over the ridge south, where Capt. Andrew Lytle camped, and the stream took his name it bears to this day-Lytle Creek. On the way through the deserts the wagon train had to be divided up into small numbers on account of the scarcity of water.
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Messrs. Lyman and Rich having purchased the San Bernardino Rancho from the Luga family, the colonists moved from Sycamore Grove down into the Valley of San Bernardino in September, 1851, where these pio- neers went to farming, raising wheat to apply on the payment for the ranch. The Piute Indians threatened hostility so a fort was built for protection. Needing building material for houses and fences, these pio- neers all joined in building a wagon road up to the top of the mountains, following up West Twin Creek, down which the lumber for the first houses in San Bernardino was brought down, having a pine tree drag- ging by the little end behind the load of timber to serve as a brake to keep the wagon from running on to the oxen, this being before the inven- tion of brakes. In company with his brother, Mr. Seely built a saw mill with a water wheel as the motive power; and furnished lumber for the new settlement. The place where his mill was built became known as Seely Flat. Pioneer Silas C. Cox states that his father, Uncle Jack Cox, had a saw mill on this same stream.
Captain Hunt built a steam saw mill on the flat about three miles east of Seely Flat, having, with the assistance of George Crisman, procured the machinery out near Salt Springs on the way to Utah and began sup- plying lumber and posts and clap boards for the new town. This flat took the name of James Flat, because Mr. John M. James was the sawyer in the mill, when the name should have been Hunt's Flat, as the mill belonged to Captain Hunt.
On April 26, 1853. the Legislature of California passed the act cre- ating the County of San Bernardino from Los Angeles County and in said act David Seely, John Brown, Isaac Williams and H. G. Sher- wood were appointed a board of commissioners to designate election pre- cincts, appoint inspectors of election, receive returns and to issue cer- tificates of election. This first election was held under this act and certificates of election were issued to these, the first officers of San Ber- nardino County : Capt. Jefferson Hunt, Legislature; D. N. Thomas, county judge; Ellis Ames, county attorney ; Richard R. Hopkins, county clerk; Robert Clift, sheriff; David Seely, treasurer; William Stout, county assessor ; H. G. Sherwood, surveyor ; John Brown and Andrew Lytle, justices of the peace.
At the next election Mr. Seely was again chosen to take care of the treasury of the county, showing the confidence already acquired by him among the first settlers. Since then he has been elected county super- visor several times and was always a strong advocate of progress. In the construction of the old court house and the pavilion and the organ- ization of the San Bernardino Society of California Pioneers, the free public road to our mountains and other public improvements he always took a leading part.
In 1891 he took a trip to Illinois and Iowa to view the scenes of his childhood and for the benefit of his health. On May 24, 1892, he passed on to his heavenly home, surrounded by his family, at the old homestead, Sixth and C streets, San Bernardino, one of the pioneers and founders of San Bernardino County, loved and respected by all, leaving his widow, Mrs. Mary Seely (since deceased), and four daughters, Mrs. Mary Abrillia Satterwhite, Mrs. Emma E. Baker (since deceased), Mrs. Caroline Barton, wife of John H. Barton, and Mrs. Maria Isabella Corbett (since deceased), and two sons, David Randolph Seely and Walter Edwin Seely (since deceased).
GEORGE MILLER, Indian fighter, bear slayer, one of the brave pio- neers entitled to great credit for risking his life in clearing the forests and mountains from hostile Indians and grizzly bear so that the county
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could be settled and enjoyed in safety. Teddy Roosevelt had in mind just such men when he stated to the people of San Bernardino on his memorable trip through California that to the rifle and axe in the hands of the trusty pioneers we owe this western civilization. George Miller not only used his rifle but also wielded the axe in chopping down pines for lumber to build cities, cedar to make posts so to fence land for the cultivation of the soil. As a hunter, not only of small game such as rabbits, quail, ducks and geese, but the larger variety-deer, mountain sheep and grizzly bear-he is regarded among the most suc- cessful. When the large game became scarce in the San Bernardino Mountains he went to the northern portion of the state and returned with bear meat which he distributed among his numerous friends. Then as a fisherman he was a worthy disciple of Isaac Walton. Fishing on horseback on the Santa Ana River was one of his favorite pastimes. having his rifle hanging from the pommel of his saddle ready for large game.
He was born February 11, 1850, in Indian Territory (now Okla- homa), the son of George Miller, a pioneer of Illinois, a millwright by trade, who died in 1856, the boy going with an uncle and accompanying him to California, driving an ox team and helping guard the stock, doing the work of a man although he was a mere child. He reached San Ber- nardino in 1862 and began his life's work. He worked at Yucipa for that noted Rocky Mountain hunter and trapper, James W. Waters, doing all kinds of farm work, including putting a roof on a barn, with clap- boards. After his work on the mountains supplying the saw mills of David Seely, Captain Hunt, D. T. Huston, Tyler Brothers, Caley, Tal- madge & Co. and Billy La Praix, he settled down at Highland and since then has been devoting his attention to farming and orange growing.
He early joined the San Bernardino Society of California Pioneers and has been one of its most active members. In cutting the logs and helping to build the log cabins of the pioneers, he rendered valuable assistance. With his wife he brings the grandmothers in his auto to the meetings of the pioneers and returns them. When a pioneer passes away he leaves his work on his farm and comes to San Bernardino and assists in the last tribute of respect at the funerals, nearly always as one of the pallbearers. He served as president of the Pioneer Society two terms very acceptably.
He married Miss Elnorah Hancock, daughter of Uncle Joseph Han- cock, who was born in Iowa in 1851, and came to San Bernardino in 1854. On the way crossing the plains she became very sick and the father, thinking his child had passed away, selected the fiddle box as the only coffin to be had, there being no lumber available, but the child revived and recovered, reached San Bernardino, grew to womanhood and married George Miller and retains that fiddle box as a reminder of her narrow escape while crossing the plains to California.
George and Elnorah have had six children: George E. Miller. deceased : Elnorah, now Mrs. Roswell Crandall; Ida Ann; Mary C., William T. and Charles B. Miller.
JASPER NEWTON CORBETT, more familiarly known among his old friends as Jap Corbett, was a pioneer prospector and monument builder, born in 1843 in Jackson County, Indiana. and came to California in 1856, crossing the plains with an ox team and walking most of the way. The Corbett family first stopped at Sacramento, then came down to San Jose, where they ranched in the mountains nearby for a num- ber of years. In 1871 Mr. Corbett came to Riverside, where he went to work on the old Moses Daley ranch, where he became acquainted
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with Miss Adelaide Daley, and married her and came to San Bernardino to live. He bought all the property between K Street and Mt. Vernon Avenue south of Rialto Avenue to Lytle Creek, and platted a subdivision to the city.
He devoted some of his time to farming the land near his fine home. His wife was a great lover of flowers and had one of the most attractive gardens of roses in all the county. She died in the year 1908, beloved by a large circle of friends. They had four children, Mrs. Estelle Cor- bett Wilkins; Newell Corbett, and Leslie Corbett of San Bernardino. and Mrs. Ida Corbett Castor of Colton, California.
Jap Corbett was an active member of the Pioneer Society, always ready to promote its welfare. He joined his pioneer companions in the mountains, Sheldon Stoddard, Sydney P. Waite, John Brown, Jr., George Miller, Richard Weir, Bill Holcomb, George M. Cooley, Dick Cox, Taney Woodward, Bart Smithson, Joe Brown, M. B. Shaw and George Burton, in chopping down logs for the log cabins of the pioneers. He joined them in the Cajon Pass in erecting the pioneer monuments at the junction of the Santa Fe and Salt Lake Trails and enjoyed with these genial comrades many hunting and fishing trips in the San Bernardino range of mountains.
He prospected the deserts north and east of San Bernardino, visiting Ivanpah Ord Mining District, Old Woman's Springs, Eagle Mountain and the Salton Sea region for gold and silver, frequently having a lonely burro, packing his blankets, provisions, pick and shovel and gun for his sole companions. The lure of the desert had an unspeakable attraction for him. In 1920 he and that well known pioneer mining expert, Tom McFarlane, spent two months in the wilds of the Salton Sea country prospecting but returning, unable to find the fabulously rich mine known as the Peg Leg Smith mine.
Jap Corbett was well known for his patriotism. During the World war he entertained at his home the soldier boys of Company K, both before going and then on their return home, dispensing genuine pioneer hospitality and encouragement and appreciation of the valiant services of our brave boys who certainly added glory to the American name.
During the last week of his illness he invited the Pioneer Society to hold its meeting with him in his sick room, which he enjoyed, and at his request all the members of his family were voted in and made members of the society, which made him so happy, as he expressed himself in his sick bed.
On February 25, 1921, the spirit of this most lovable and genial companion took its flight to that heavenly home, after sixty years of residence in San Bernardino, which he and his faithful wife made better because they lived in it.
WILLIAM STEPHEN, altruistic mountaineer, singer, dancer, musician. actor, and poet, was one of the lively jolly characters who prolonged the days of many pioneers by the versatility of his talents.
"Uncle Billy," as he was familiarly called, was a native of Scotland, classically educated at the Edinburgh University, came to Mendocino County, California, in 1897, going into the redwoods, and he became one of the expert wood choppers in that section of the country, formed the acquaintance of Uncle Sheldon Stoddard, who was freighting with one of the best mule teams in that county. From him Uncle Billy learned of the charms of the San Bernardino Valley and so in the year 1898 came to renew his acquaintance with Uncle Sheldon and settled perma- nently to the time of his death. He became an active member of the Pioneer Society, bringing sunshine to the hearts of the old people as
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well as to the children with comic and sentimental songs, with poems for public occasions and birthdays, with recitations of patriotic and humorous nature, with exhibitions in tripping the light fantastic in jigs, quadrilles and Highland flings he had practiced in "Old Scotia" on the stage. Altruistic in th full sense of the word, contributing to the hap- piness of others, forgetting himself, he made the world happier and better because he lived in it.
Of all his poetical contributions he composed and dedicated the following to the San Bernardino Society of California Pioneers, greatly admired by them and entitling him to the honor of being the "Bard of Strawberry Peak."
GOD BLESS THE PIONEERS (Tune : "God Bless the Prince of Wales.") I sing of folks who wandered From eastern lands afar, To seek a better country, Unguided by a star.
They left their aged parents, Their friends and childhood's home,
And came to California To search the golden loam.
CHORUS : O'er every vale and mountain, In all the coming years, Still let this prayer re-echo- "God bless the Pioneers." They fought the wily Indian, And slew the grizzly bear,
To clear the way for millions Who surged from everywhere. They plowed the fertile level, And bared the brush-clad hill,
To grow the food they needed For stomachs they must fill .- CHO. They built the shingled cottage, And raised the slatted barn, With timber from the Summit, Where snows supply the tarn, With stout steel pick and shovel They reached the forest gloom, Where axes loudly sounding, Announce the cedar's doom .- CHO. They lived in health and comfort, With simple food for fare, And when there came a stranger, He always got his share. Their chickens, pigs and cattle, Grew fatter day by day, And died when meat was wanted At home or far away .- CHO. They reared the young to labor With hearts as well as hands, In fields of grain, or pastures Where graze the fleecy bands. They taught their lads and lasses
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To tame the neighing steed,
And, at the bounding antlers, To draw a deadly bead .- CHO. They stood up for their country Against the Spaniard's blow,
And hoisted high the banner With stars and stripes aglow.
They won this lovely valley, Where cities, slopes and plains
Are decked with groves and orchards That yield the largest gains .- CHO.
But now they're old and feeble, And weak in numbers, too,
For death has placed the many Beneath the grass and dew.
Speak of the absent gently, And fill the present needs,
While prose and song unceasing Proclaim their noble deeds .- CHO. -- William Stephen.
CLOSING ODE MY LOG CABIN HOME Tune, "Old Kentucky Home"
The tall pines wave, and the winds loudly roar, No matter, keep digging away: The wild flowers blossom 'round the log cabin door, Where we sit after mining all the day.
A few more days and our mining all will end, The canyon, so rich, will be dry;
The tools on the bank will be left for a friend, Then my log cabin home, good-bye. -Roscoe G. Smith.
SYDNEY P. WAITE, pioneer, '49er, prospector, hunter, miner, vaquero, and printer, was born June 14, 1837, in Wolf's Den, Kentucky, and moved to the then village of Chicago with his parents, thence to Joliet, where his father erected the first woolen mill in the state of Illinois, having for a partner Joel A. Mattison, afterwards governor of the state. In 1849 the family started for California, outfitting at Council Bluffs. They traveled but slowly and finding it too late in the year to cross the Sierra Nevadas by the northern route, they went into Salt Lake, intend- ing to winter there. Late in August Waite, Sr., with other immigrants who wished to go to California, formed a caravan of 100 wagons, with the intention of going through by the southern route. Capt. Jefferson Hunt was engaged as guide, being paid $1,000, or $10 a wagon. In the middle of September the outfit was organized at Hobble Creek (near where Springville now is) and the journey was commenced, just as small a quantity of provision being taken as would do for the trip. At Mountain Meadow Springs Parson Brier and family, Ira C. Bennett and family, John C. Colton, John Goller, and others left the main party, hoping to get to the mines in California by a shorter route. On the Muddy River a train of pack mules caught up with the caravan. With it was Sheldon Stoddard and there began a strong friendship that lasted until death between Sheldon Stoddard and Sydney P. Waite over seventy years.
In getting through the Narrows both the upper and lower Narrows in the Cajon Pass, Mr. Waite had to take the wagon apart and pack a
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wheel at a time down over the boulders and slide the axle trees and heavier portions on sycamore poles down over the precipices and boulders, there being nothing but a horse and mule trail, known as the Santa Fe Trail. This is the way some of the pioneers entered the San Bernardino Valley in 1849. Arriving at Agua Mansa December 14, 1849, these famished immigrants applied to Mr. Cristobal Slover for food. He opened his smokehouse, supplied them with bacon and squashes, of which they partook so freely without cooking that nine of the party died and were buried on the east side of the trail on the ridge in Politana between San Bernardino and Agua Mansa.
The Waite family settled at El Molino near San Gabriel Mission, where Father Waite purchased the Los Angeles Star and his son Sydney learned the printer's trade. Mr. Waite, Sr., was the first postmaster of Los Angeles. In 1858 the family moved to San Bernardino, where they lived and died. In 1861 Sydney P. Waite, Horace C. Rolfe and David N. Smith took the contract from John Brown and built the first wagon road through the narrow canyon or upper narrows, so to facilitate trans- portation from Southern California to Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and thus became public benefactors. While living at El Molino Sydney P. Waite carried the mail on horseback from Los Angeles to Fort Tejon and Keyesville, always going well armed, as it was dangerous country he had to ride over. He filled the office of county clerk for several years, was editor of the San Bernardino Guardian for a long period and a miner in Bear and Holcomb Valleys. He was one of the charter members of the San Bernardino Society of California Pioneers and one of the monument builders in the Cajon Pass where the Santa Fe and Salt Lake trails join on their way to Southern California.
Mr. Waite furnishes the following interesting historical reminiscences of that thriving region in the San Bernardino mountains known as Bear Valley and Holcomb Valley now very popular mountain resorts about which his old mountain companion Bill Holcomb has given thrilling history.
On March 17, 1859, I left San Bernardino in company with Major Henry Hancock, Rafael Lopez and Ramon Ontiveras for 29 Palms, 72 miles due east of San Bernardino, in search of a rich quartz mine found by Colonel Washington's surveying party in 1854. We did not find it. Came back on the north side of the San Bernardino range of mountains to Cook's lead mines, where Major Hancock had a miner, Barney, at work. From the lead mines Major Hancock went to San Diego via Morongo Pass and Aguas Calientes. Lopez and Ontiveras went to Los Angeles through the Cajon Pass, taking the prospecting outfit. I came through into Bear Valley and found a party of miners sluicing a gulch at wheat was named Poverty Point. Party working were Jo Colwell, Jack Elmore, Madison Cheney, Josiah Jones, Jim Ware, Sam Kelley, Bud Bryant, called the Colwell Company. After prospect- ing a couple of days I found and located a small gold quartz claim on the side of the mountain above the placer gulch being worked by the Colwell Company.
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