USA > California > Siskiyou County > History of Siskiyou County, California > Part 30
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DAVE COLTON'S WEDDING TOUR.
When Charles McDermit was elected sheriff in 1852, David D. Colton became his deputy, and as McDermit had considerable out idle business to attend to, the duties of the office devolved almost entirely upon Colton, who was looked upon as the officer. The next term found him sheriff de jure as well as de facto. In 1854 his soul hungered for a sight of his native heath, and his heart yearned for a fair young maid who was awaiting his return in the land of the rising sun, and he cast about him for a means of satisfaction. It was ready. The grand jury had indicted a man named Holmes for the theft of two cattle, which said Holmes was quietly residing in the flower-carpeted valley of the Sacra- mento. Nevertheless, it pleased our homesick official to apply a telescope to his vivid imagination and descry the object of his search nestling in the shadow of the great State of Missouri. He applied to Governor Bigler for a requisition upon the Governor of Missouri for the body of said Holmes, and thus armed with authority he speedled him eastward. After a visit of several months he returned, accom- panied, not by the criminal, but by the fair maiden who had sighed and waited, and waited and sighed for him, and who was now his wife. By Act, approved April 28, 1854, the Legislature paid the expenses of this wedding tour, to the amount of $1,723, "for services rendered the State." The long-desired Hohnes still dwelt in peace and security, and the two stolen cattle grew fat on the succulent grass in the lovely valley of the Sacramento.
DIGGING STIFFS.
Years ago, the miners on Scott Bar had the pleasant habit of playing practical jokes upon whom- soever incurred their displeasure by "putting on too much dog," as they classically expressed it. One of their favorite amusements was to get the object of their dislike to go out " digging stiff:" some dark night, and then frighten him. One day there came to town a man whom all soon disliked, not only on account of his assumption of "dog," but because of his general meanness and dishonesty. They laid a plot to get rid of him. One of the men got into his confidence and told him that he knew how they could both make some money. This just suited the man, and he was ready for business. He was tokl that the Chinese had just buried one of their women, on whom, in accordance with their custom, they had left her jewelry, which was very valuable. It was agreed between the two that the body should be
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dug up and the jewelry secured, after which they would scek a new camp where the vengeance of the despoiled celestials could not reach them. It was also proposed to the victim that as they were going to leave, they might as well take with them all they could get hold of, to which proposition he gave assent as being sound and good logie. The schemer knew, he said, where he could lay his hand on a a heavy sack of gold dust, and they would take that along with them. This was very agreeable to the vietim, who was very willing to add robbery of the living to theft from the dead. When night canxe on the man repaired to the appointed spot, armed with a pick and shovel, where he was soon joined by the conspirator with a sack of sand weighing about ten pounds, to represent the gold. This the bearer insisted upon giving into the possession of his victim, so as to assure him that everything was on the " dead square," and he strapped it tightly about the man's body under his clothing. They then stealthily advanced to the place where the dead woman was said to be buried, and commenced to dig. No sooner did they stick the pick into the ground than bang! bang! bang! went revolvers all around them. Away sprang the stiff digger, run- ning for his life, followed by his tormentors who chased him clear into the mountains, firing their pistols until they were empty. He was never seen in that locality again, and it was supposed that he carried that heavy bag for at least ten miles before he discovered that his wealth of gold had turned to sand.
COLTON-CABANISS DUEL.
The nearest approach to a duel in Siskiyou county was the affair early in 1858, between David D. Col- ton and Dr. T. T. Cabaniss. The former published an article refleeting on the doctor, in the Union, signed Josephus. Cabaniss replied in a card in the Chronicle, and a challenge was sent and accepted. Captain Goodall was chosen by Colton to act as his second, while Captain W. D. Fair did the same office for Dr. Cabaniss. The terms were to fight with U. S. yagers at forty paces, just north of the forty- second parallel, or in other words, just over the Ore- gon line. February 9, 1858, at three o'clock, was the time set for the bloody work, and when the hour arrived all the interested parties were at Cole's, near the spot selected. Here means were taken to so work upon Colton's feelings that he made an ex- planation, and the affair was settled without the effusion of blood.
THE LOST CABIN.
The lost cabin is a myth of Northern California and Southern Oregon, as illusive as an ignus fatuus and as unsubstantial as a dream; the first thing for a stranger to hear about, and the last thing eon- cerning which to ascertain any satisfactory infor- mation. It is a legend in which vivid imagination has builded upon a slender foundation of faets, a legend as varied and different as the relators. Every- one talks about it and no one knows anything definite concerning it. Such being the case, the fol- lowing legend has been drawn from the man with the liveliest imagination in the county, Alvy Boles, who elaims to know where the cabin is, a claim no one else has ever made to the writer :--
In the good old days, when California was but an infant State, there stood on the road from Shasta to Weaverville a large tent, kept as a public-house, and known far and wide as the Blue Tent. Here, for the moderate sum of one dollar, the weary traveler could procure a meal of bacon, beans, and coffee, and allay his thirst with villainous whisky at two bits a drink. This was a noted rendezvous, a resort every night and Sundays for those who desired to partici- pate in its revelries, try their luek at the gaming table, or swap lies with friends well skilled in the art.
Late in the summer of 1850 there arrived at the Blue Tent a company from Indiana, who had bidden farewell to the land of hoop-poles and pumpkins, and waved a tearful adieu to the beautiful Wabash, to seek their fortunes on the golden slope of the Sierra. Their long journey across the plains being over, and the necessity for union, which its perils and privations demanded, no longer existing, the company broke up into small parties and scattered in all directions. Among them were three warm friends who decided to cling together. They had Hoated down the muddy current of the Wabash, and the ague had shaken their bones in concert on its banks, and now that they were strangers in a distant land, they resolved to unite their fortunes and court the smiles of the fickle goddess together.
Two of these, Cox and Benedict, were men who had long since passed the golden age of youth, while the other, a son of Senator Compton, was still in the vigor of a young and hopeful manhood.
Paying but little heed to the mournful prediction that they would find but little gold, and that their sealps would assist in the interior decorations of some brave Indian's wigwam, they laid in a liberal stock of provisions, and with their blankets and utensils strapped upon their baeks and upon the back of a diminutive and long-suffering mule, they turned their faces northward and resolutely bent their steps into the unknown wilderness beyond. Not- withstanding the hardships incident to a journey into an unknown country, over high mountains and across deep cañons, during which they lost their mu'e by a stampede, and sustained a compound fracture of the cradle that was to have rocked them into a competeney, they arrived at the head-waters of the Trinity river, and pitched their camp on the side of a small mountain, where a cold spring bubbled upward from the ground.
Leaving young Compton to attend to the domestic duties, his two elder companions started out upon a short tour of exploration. They soon discovered a beaten path or trail that had been made by animals. and followed it leisurely around the base of a mount ain into a small ravine. Suddenly an enormous grizzly bear arose from a clump of bushes immedi- ately in front of them, and with an ominous growl disputed their passage. This To run was useless. they well knew, and drawing their revolvers they determined to make as desperate a fight as possible. Shot after shot was rapidly fired into the shaggy breast of the monster, until they succeeded in dis- patching him without receiving any injury them- selves. They coneluded to have a bearsteak for supper, and approaching their late antagonist they found him lying in a hole several feet in diameter
VAN VLECK
PATRICK TIERNEY.
PATRICK TIERNEY,
Whose calm and intellectual face is very correctly portrayed by the above engraving, was born in the town of Scotstown, County of Monaghan, Ireland, on the ninth day of February, 1809. His father's name was also Patrick Tierney, and as all know who have an acquaintance with the son, he never disgraced the name he bears.
Patrick Tierney, the subject of this sketch, arrived in the United States in 1840, came to California in May, 1852, and Siskiyou county in November of that year, since which time he has made Scott valley in this county his home. Whilst he has never pushed himself forward in public life-owing as his
friends think to an over-sensitiveness or diffidence of his own mental worth-he has been held, among those who have enjoyed his acquaintance, a man of fine order of talent, of considerable private culture, and the sternest uncompromising integrity. We place his likeness in our history, as he is one of the pioneers of the county. A man of marked character, one whose life has been an example that the rising generation could profitably emulate. Now seventy- two years old he is spending his remaining days in the family of a friend-he having no family of his own, that being the only social duty of which he has been known to be remiss -- living upon the sav- ings of a laborious California miner's life, and enjoy- ing the respect and confidence of all his neighbors.
LITH. BY C. L.SMITH. S.F.
RANCH OF GED. SMITH.900 ACRES.) SETTLED BY HIM IN 1852. NEARLY 2 MILES NORTH OF ETNA, SISKIYOU CO., CAL.
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HISTORY OF SISKIYOU COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
and partially filled with lava rock. While carving for their anticipated meal, one of them noticed a peculiar object in the hole, and stooped to pick it up. This proved to be a little lump of gold, and bearsteaks were at once forgotten, while the two victorious hunters sprang into the hole and began pitching out the rocks with feverish excite- ment. A small space was soon cleared, and the loose dirt at the bottom was found to be full of lumps of gold of various sizes, enough to make, them all rich and insure their comfort for the balance of their days.
Carefully marking the spot and securing their coveted steak, they returned to camp with samples of the rich deposits they had so accidentally dis- covered. When they reached the spring it was dark, and their young companion was nowhere to be seen. A diligent search discovered him on top of a ledge of rocks, in the act of setting fire to a pile of brush. He had heard their rapid firing, and feeling uneasy about their failure to come in, had gone upon this rocky ledge to see if he could not obtain a glimpse of them, and when darkness had began to settle down upon the mountain, had collected a heap of brush, intending to light it for a beacon to guide them in their return to camp. Their presence rendered this unnecessary, and the beacon was never ignited.
Visions of Sinbad's wonderful va ley of diamonds and of the marvelous riches produced by the genius of Aladdin's lamp floated before their slumber- wrapped eyes that night, and in the morning they moved their camp to the vicinity of the wonderful hole where the grizzly had been slain, and made preparations for reaping the golden harvest nature had provided them. Six hundred paces east of where the bear lay, they constructed two small cab- ins, for themselves and their possessions, and after working a while they decided to build a good house, and began cutting logs for that purpose. As winter approached with its unknown dangers of Indians, lack of food, and possible burial by snow, they decided to abandon their discovery and go belo .v. Leaving their mining tools and camp utensils, and strapping npon their backs their provisions and the results of their labors, which amounted to forty thousand dollars each, they entered upon their return journey, blazing their way upon the trees as they went.
In due season they again reached Blue Tent, and convinced the croakers that their scalps still adhered to their acustomed perch upon their crainums, and that there was gold in the unknown regions, and plenty of it. They made no secret of their discovery, exhibiting their dust and freely telling everyone how it had been found. They then proceeded to San Francisco, from which port Cox and Benedict soon sailed for their home on the banks of the Wabash, leaving young Compton to serve as a guide to the treasure in the spring. It was not long, however, before he was stricken down with the cholera mor- bus, and soon died, being attended in his illness by a man named Maxwell. Both Compton and Max- well were Masons, and before his death the young man gave explicit directions to his fraternal friend how to reach the auriferous hole in the far mount- ains of the Trinity.
Early in the spring party after party started out
in search of the deserted cabins, some of them hav. ing. the directions given Maxwell, while most of them knew no more than that it wis somewhere to the northward. In vain hundreds of men searched the mountains in all directions, the cabins were com- pletely lost, but in their stead were found many rich diggings in which the treasure-hunters worked off their disappointment. Yreka, then called Shasta Butte City, sprang up like a mushroom. The whole of northern California was opened up, and the new county of Siskiyou was organized.
For several summers a number of hopeful ones searched vainly for the lost cabin, and even to the present day, a few, in whose breasts the lingering sparks of hope have not been extinguished, make periodical visits to the head-waters of the Trinity, but always return empty-handed and disheartened. The lost cabin now lives but in the memory of those pioneers of 1851, and the tale of the wonderful pit of gold, guarded by its huge dragon, the grizzly, has become one of those marvelous legends, in which the early history of California is so rich.
THE SALMON RIVER EXCITEMENT.
Early in the summer of 1861, faint and indistinct rumors were heard of rich diggings somewhere to the northward. These fleeting sha lows were soon crystalized into a well-defined and marvelous story of unprecedentedly rich strikes having been made in the Nez Perces country, on Salmon river. For several years prospectors had been patiently search- ing for the golden grains in the mountains of the north, and on Oro Fino creek, a tributary of the Salmon, late in 1860, marvelously rich ground was discovered. In the spring, letters were written by the lucky prospectors to their friends in California, whose contents were passed from mouth to mouth and were given to the public in the columns of the press. It was but two years before that the country had gone wild over the Frazer river mines, an excitement that had cost the lives of hun- dreds and had impoverished hundreds more, and now the wiseheads shook their pates in a solemn way and said that this was only another Frazer river swindle, and they were ably seconded by the newspapers in their advice to receive these strange stories with a great deal of reserve and caution. In this way the summer wore on, while the marvel- ous tales from the northern wilderness came thick and fast, increasing as they circulated to Mun- chausen proportions. The wise ones began to think they had made a mistake, and ceased to shake their heads, while the newspapers gave the stories a more respectful attention and gradually lent the new mines such countenance that a fever of excitement began to be rapidly developed. Maps, such as existed at that time, were brought to light and carefully studied, from which it was ascertained that the point of interest was the Salmon river, a tributary of the Snake river, some four hundred miles east of Portland.
A few adventurous spirits had at once set out for the new El Dorado as soon as the first rumors began to define themselves, and from these the most conflicting reports were received, some of them confirming the previous stories, while others spoke of the mines as being nothing better than
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HISTORY OF SISKIYOU COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
could be found in California. The favorable reports were in a decided majority, and quite a tide of emigration set in from California to the Nez Perces country. When Du Chaillu was in Africa he had a fight with a tribe of natives, in which his men killed some half dozen of the enemy. They had not proceeded fifty miles from the battle ground before the number of slaughtered natives had increased to two hundred, and fifty miles more made it a thousand, so rapidly were the dead piled up in heaps in the narratives of these breech-clout warriors. Thus it was with the stories about Sal- mon river, as the following extract from the Oro- ville Democrat so plainly shows: " Reliable men say that miners on that river are taking ont gold by the pound-that they don't count by dollars and ounces at all-that they take out from three to ten pounds per day to the rocker-that there are hun- dreds who have fifty-dollar diggings, which they consider small pay. A man was in my office to-day who informed mne that he had read a letter from his brother-in-law, stating that he was making six pounds per day.
With such alluring baits it is little wonder. that many were caught. The season was getting late, and a certainty of snow, rain, and mud, almost, if not quite, impassable, lay in the path of every one seeking the magic stream that had but to be seen to enrich all its devotees, and yet they continued to go. Some went by sea to Portland, and from there to the mines, while others came up by land, going through Yreka. A great many miners left claims in Siskiyou county that paid them from five to ten dollars per day, to seek the place where a day's labor was worth a thousand. Great rivalry sprang up between Red Bluff, Yreka, and Portland, as to which should be the base of supplies and the starting-point for Salmon river, each sounding its claims and advantages and decrying those of the others.
The result was that some fifteen hundred men reached the mines before the snows of winter laid their embargo upon travel, and sealed up the moun- tain-passes with their chilling fingers. Hundreds went as far as Portland, and there, with scarce a dollar or a friend. were compelled to abandon the attempt to reach Salmon river until spring. Others were stranded, high and wet, all along the route, but still the fever increased. Great preparations were made to invade this unknown wilderness as soon as returning spring should make the mountains passable. Meanwhile those in the mines were suffer- ing great privations. Those who had arrived late in the season found that the rich ground was con- fined to a small extent of territory, and had all been taken up. They could neither buy into a paying elaim nor find one for themselves. Shovels sold for twelve dollars, pieks and axes for eight dollars, and coffee, sugar, and bacon brought seventy cents per pound. Great was the suffering among those who went poorly provided with money or supplies. Then was the time when friendship and humanity were tested, and in many cases nobly stood the trial. Little brush cabins were built, in which the miners huddled about their log-fire, and became as thoroughly smoked as the bacon they subsisted upon. Snow fell to the depth of thirty feet, and lay six feet upon the ground the entire winter. The thermometer
frolicked about, occasionally sinking to thirty de- grees below zero. Under these circumstances bnt little work could be done, and the disheartened and dis- appointed crowd waited impatiently for spring. Provisions were packed in upon the backs of Indian, or Cayuse ponies, and were so scarce that before May, the earliest that the season permitted them to be transported in any quantity, flour sold at one dollar per pound, coffee one dollar and a half, bacon two dollars, while shovels were held at twenty five dol- lars, and dust was rated at only twelve dollars per ounce.
While this was the condition of those who were so fortunate as to get in before the snow fell, thou- sands were awaiting with great impatience for an opportunity to join them. Tales of suffering and want had no effect upon them. The cry of swin lle and humbug now filled the air, but the fever was at its height, and nothing but a visit to the enchanted ground could allav it. A number of meetings were held in Yreka during the winter to take steps for the exploration of a direct route to the mines, and an expedition was finally organized, which started in Mareb, and made a bold attempt to cross the mountains, going by the way of Klamath lakes and Lost river. From this party and from others word was received that the mountains could not be passed till May, and still the eager men pressed on as far as they could go, and then waited for a chance to get in. As soon as trails were again opened, they rushed in with hundreds of new arrivals, only to find the good ground all claimed. Away they started in all directions prospecting. Parties would start out in the night, followed by other parties, who suspected them of having found something, and these by still other parties, till two or three hundred men would be chasing each other about the country with the firm conviction that they were being conducted directly to a certain fortune. In this way Oregon, Idaho, and Montana prospected, and the diggings on Powder, John Day, Grand Ronde, Snake, and Boise rivers discovered and worked, and miners were scattered all over the northern country. Towns sprang up on every hand, and corner lots were a drug on the market. Hundreds remained in the new country, working claims no better than those they had left, while hundreds more came straggling back in the best manner their resources would allow, some by stage, some on Cayuse ponies, the original and only genuine "crow-bait," while "Foot and Walker's express " accommodated a great many, who never ceased to fill the air with their wailing cries of " humbug." The deserted claims of Siskiyou were again taken up, and many new faces were seen along the streams of this region, and Sis- kiyou mines were once more revived.
Although disappointed, the fever still raged in the veins of these restless ones, and like the Wandering Jew, they seemed to hear the relentless voice of fate erying, " Move on!" and when the next year the Humboldt mines were discovered, awav they rushed again, and once more stampeded to White Pine, to Skagit, and a dozen other places, and are now pour- ing into Arizona. So long as "hope springs eternal in the human breast," so long will these restless spirits flit from place to place seeking for wealth in some new golden creation of the brain.
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HISTORY OF SISKIYOU COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
JOAQUIN MILLER.
One of the characters of Siskiyou county was the celebrated " poet of the Sierra." His true name is Cincinnatus Heine Miller, and he was born near Cincinnati, Ohio, November 10, 1842. Ten years later the family crossed the plains, and settled in Lane county, Oregon. Young Miller enjoyed the privileges of a school but six months in his boy- hood. In 1856, being but fourteen years of age, he ran away from home and came to California, and being unable to earn a living among the rough miners, drifted into an Indian rancheria on McLeod river, where the lazy, dreamy life of the savage seems to have filled the ideal of his poetic imagina- tion. He enjoyed the proud distinction of being what is terined a " squaw inan" for some time. The free and careless life of the savage seemed to satisfy the cravings of his soul, and he found the society of these children of nature, and the faithful ministrations of the daughter of the forest, more congenial to his tastes than the noise, greed and tur- moil of a mining camp.
The massacre of Harry Lockhart and his com- panions at the Pit river ferry, in the spring of 1857, came near being fatal to the young poet. Sam. Lockhart, Harry's twin brother, captured him, and took him to Yreka, where he was placed in charge of A. M. Rosborough, while Sam. was investi- gating the affair. He became satisfied that Miller was not connected with the affair, and let him depart; but had it been otherwise, the poet's days in the land of the living would have been few. After that event the budding poet occupied the dis- tinguished position of cook at a mining claim on McAdam's creek. Even there he considered himself a poet, as does many a deluded young man, and was transferring his burning thoughts, products of his fevered imagination and his adventures, upon paper. for future use.
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