USA > California > Siskiyou County > History of Siskiyou County, California > Part 43
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been surprised on Willow creek. He said that the chief was near by, who, upon being called upon, came out with one other and surrendered.
A few others were still at liberty, and these, with a number of scattered ones who had not partic- ipated in the hostilities were soon taken and con- veved to" Boyles camp on Tule lake. On the fourthi of June, more that six months after the first fight, the Oregon volunteers captured Black Jim and four other braves, with four squaws and four children, ten miles east of Lost River springs. These were turned over to General Davis, and the great Modoc war was at an end.
General Davis sent out into the woods, and had twenty juniper logs cut and trimmed for the purpose of hanging some of the leaders, but before the preparations were completed a courier arrived from Yreka, with dispatches from Washington, ordering him to hold the prisoners until charges could be investigated. A few days later, he was instructed . to try them by court-martial.
According to the report of the Indians they had but forty-six men capable of bearing arms when the war commenced. Five braves, two boys, and three squaws lost their lives. Opposite these figures can be placed the statement that more that one hundred and fifty soldiers were killed and wounded, three for every Indian in the fight, and the secretary of war reported that the war had cost $338,009.78, exclusive of pay and equipment of troops. After this report was made a great many claims were allowed, and there still exists claims amounting to thousands that never will be liquidated.
On the seventh of June, the few remaining Indians of the Hot Creek band, consisting chiefly of old men and squaws to the number of seventeen, were conveyed from Fairchilds' ranch to Boyles camp. John A. Fairchilds and a number of citizens, with Bogus Charley and Shacknasty Jim, were mounted and rode on ahead, while James Fairchilds followed. with the Indians in a wagon. The escort soon left the wagon far behind, and when James Fairchilds arrived at the crossing of Lost river, he met Cap- tain Heiser's company of Oregon volunteers, who demanded Hooka Jim. They were told he was in Boyle's camp. A distance farther on two dis- guised men stepped into the road, one in the rear and one in front, presenting their rifles, and ordering Fairchilds to stop.
" Get down from there, you old white-headed reprobate," said the man in front.
" By what authority ?"
The man's authority was not as good as that given by bluff old Ethan Allen, when the same ques- tion was asked him at Fort Ticonderoga, for he said, " By mine. I'm going to kill these Indians and you, too."
He then unfastened the mules from the wagon, and Fairchilds leaped to the ground, still holding the reins in his band. The women implored for mercy, but the men uttered not a word. At the first shot, which killed Little JJohn, the mules ran, dragging Fairchilds with them by the reins, in which he was entangled. Five more shots were rapidly fired, and Teche Jack, Poney, and Mooch were killed, and a squaw severely wounded. At this point the men were frightened away, and the balance of the women
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HISTORY OF SISKIYOU COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
and children were conveyed to the camp in safety.
No investigation was ever made of this cowardly and brutal murder, and the matter was hushed and covered up as much as possible. Yet the fact remains, and has scarcely a palliation. If there is one it is that the settlers murdered were citizens of Oregon, that the grand jury of Jackson county had indicted nine of the Indians for murder, and that the military authorities refused to deliver them up for trial, claiming them as prisoners of war. This is, however, but a faint excuse, as the murdered Indians belonged to the Hot Creek band, and had nothing to do with the killing of the settlers.
The governor of Oregon forwarded the following communication to Washington :-
EXECUTIVE OFFICE, SALEM, OREGON, June 4, 1873.
SECRETARY OF WAR, Washington, D. C .: As to the Modoc outlaws now in the custody of the United States military author- ities, I most respectfully request, that those now standing indicted in the Circuit Court of Jackson county, for the crime of murder, who are not amenable to military execution, be delivered to the civil authorities of this State for trial and punishment. If they have a legal defense, based either upon amnesty or denial of their guilt, let the defense be pleaded before the proper tribunal. L. F. GROVER, Governor of Oregon.
The war department declined to do as requested, claiming the right to dispose of the prisoners by military authority.
The camp and prisoners were moved to Fort Klamath, General Wheaton being left in charge, while the majority of the troops were sent to the various posts from whence they had come. Curley- Headed Jack, against whom there was no charge of murder, secured a pistol and committed suicide.
The court-martial for the trial of the murderers of the peace commissioners was finally formed, and consisted of Lieutenant Colonel Elliott, First Cav- alry; Captain Mendenhall, Fourth Artillery, Captain Hasbrouck, Fourth Artillery; Captain Pollock, First Cavalry; Lieutenant Kingsbury, Twelfth Infantry; and Maj. H. G. Curtis, Judge Advocate.
The leading witnesses were Meacham, who had fully recovered from his wounds, and Frank Riddle and wife. The trial lasted from the fifth to the ninth of July. Captain Jack, Schonchin John, Boston Charley, Black Jim, Watch-in-tate (misnamed Barn- cho), and Slolux were found guilty and sentenced to be executed. Of the others, Hooka Jim, Bogns Charley and Shacknasty Jim were entitled to their lives for the services rendered in capturing their companions, while Ellen's Man had already met his death in battle.
The finding of the court was approved, and October 3d, was appointed for the execution of the sentence.
Captain Jack did not want to die. He claimed, and with truth, that he had been forced into the murder by the others, the worst two of whom, Hooka Jim and Bogus Charley, were not to be pun- ished. It was not justice, and he thought they should take his place. He even went so far as to offer the post of distinction to a minister who had been telling him how glorious he would find the happy hunting grounds to be, and how glad he would feel to reach them. Jack said that if he thought so he could take his place, but the minister declined the honor.
On the day before the execution, the sentence of Watch-in-tate and Slolux was commuted to impris- onment for life in Alcatraz, on the ground that they were acting under orders. They both died in con- finement. At the time set, General Wheaton exe- cuted the sentence at Fort Klamath, upon Captain Jack, Schonchin John, Black Jim, and Boston Char- ley, in the presence of two hundred soldiers, one hundred and fifty citizens, three hundred Klamaths, and the Modocs. Thus, as he had said, did Jack's life pay for the sins of his people.
The sheriff of Jackson county made application to General Wheaton for the surrender of the Lost river murderers, but it was denied. October 4th, Judge P. P. Prim issued a writ of habeas corpus, upon which return was made by General Wheaton that the men were held by the United States gov- ernment as prisoners of war, and the court had no authority to issue a habeas corpus.
This ended the clash of authority, and soon after orders were received to move the Modocs to Fort Russell, Wyoming Territory. One hundred and fifty-five, including forty-two men, were taken upon this order by Captain Hasbrouck, the Indians who had remained peaceably on the reservation with Old Schonchin, being allowed to stay there, and are there yet.
Scarface Charley, the best educated and the most civilized of them all, was invested with the chief- tainship. Before they arrived at their destination, it was changed, and they were located upon four thousand acres in the north-east corner of the Shaw- nee reservation, in Indian Territory. A school was established among them, agricultural implements were furnished, and though they have considerably diminished by death, they have since lived peaceable and industrious lives, raising nearly enough food for their own support.
CHAPTER XX. TRANSPORTATION.
WHEN Siskiyou was first settled the nearest approach to a road was the old Hudson Bay trail, leading up the Sacramento river through Shasta valley, across the Klamath, and over Siskiyou moutain into Oregon. Wagons had never been over this trail, except six that Lindsay Applegate piloted as far as Wagon valley, in 1849, and the one taken to the same point by Governor Lane in 1850. From there to Sacramento valley a wagon wheel had never made a track. Into this unknown wilderness of forest and mountain chasms, the prospector plunged with as much confidence as if on an open plain, undeterred by the fear of Indians well known to be hostile. In the spring, the few pioneer prospectors were followed by an immense throng from north, south, and west. They came down from Oregon, up the Sacramento river, and over Trinity, Scott, and the Salmon mountains. Each company was well supplied with provisions and tools, packed on the backs of mules. Several persons had also brought up regular pack-trains, among whom were Maj. E. P. Rowe, and John and William Burgess, and John Haislip. When gold was discovered in March at Yreka, these trains started for Shasta for a new sup-
RESIDENCE OF JAMES CAMP. CAMP'S MILLS, QUARTZ VALLEY, SISKIYOU CO., CAL.
HISTORY OF SISKIYOU COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
GEORGE SMITH,
Of Scott valley, is of English birth and ancestry, being the son of William Smith of Langford, Bed- fordshire, England. George was born at Hartford Hill July 17, 1825. In his second year his parents moved to Langford, where George resided until 1842. In that year he came to America on the ship Cornelia, being forty-two days on the voyage, and arriving in New York in the summer. He went at once to Hartford, Connecticut, where he engaged in farming and butchering till 'the fall of 1847, when he removed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was butchering there for several months, when in 1848 the first news was received of the gold discoveries in California. He resolved to come to the coast but it was the spring of '49 before he could close out his business satisfactorily and leave. He then joined a party and came across the plains with the usual ox- team, leaving Milwaukee March 5th, and arriving at Lassen's ranch on the fifth of October, after many difficulties and trials by the way, having been seven months en route. The party then divided up their effects, and Mr. Smith with one other went to Dry- town, east of Sacramento, and engaged in mining. In the spring of 1850 he went to Calaveras with others and mined till July Ist. On account of bad water and other disadvantages Mr. Smith and friends moved to Nevada City, and a few days later jour- neyed along, Deer creek, to what was at that time known as Anthony's, and in company with nine others who had come overland with him the year previous, began mining again. In a few weeks they went to Frenchtown, west branch of Feather river, from thence to Marysville and again to Canyon creek, sixteen miles above Downieville, where with ten others he mined till September of 1851. Then the party broke up and ten of the number went east via Panama. Mr. Smith was absent from the coast five months, but returned to San Francisco April 1, 1852. During his first trip he had been quite successful and while east had deposited his funds in a savings bank at Hartford. On his return went at once to the Salmon river country where he spent four months mining. Being tired of a miner's life he came to Scott valley with the intention of farming, and with George H. Cain and James Stevens, purchased the ranch, a part of which he still owns and occupies. The other parties sold out to Mr. Smith afterwards and he remained. In 1858 he returned to Hartford, Connecticut, his business being managed in his absence by Mr. Morgan, and was married to Miss Cleopatra H. Fairbrother, a native of Vermont. Six children have been born to them, as follows : Minnie E., the first girl born in the vicinity of Etna ; George F., Georgiana M .; William, (deceased); Nina Maud, and one who died in infancy. Smith's attention has been chiefly given to his large and lucrative farming interests, but he invested somewhat in outside business in 1854-55. He was interested in the erection of the Rough and Ready mill, which in later years he owned entire ; and also purchased the mill at old Etna from N. D. Julien after the death of his nephew Neuschwander, which property he afterwards sold. He has been engaged in quartz and placer mining more or less since living on his farm. He is now interested in the Steamboat mine on McAdams creek and in sev-
eral other claims. In 1879 he went east for the second time with his family and while there took a trip to Europe with his daughter Minnie, who had graduated at Newark, Delaware. His son George F. attended the Napa collegiate institute for a time. Their farm is beautiful and very productive and they have highly developed its resources. Mr. Smith is a member of the Masonic Evening Star Lodge, No. 186, and also of the Eastern Star Chapter, to which his wife also belongs.
IGNACE WAGNER
Is the fifth child of Antone and Katrina Wagner, of Alsace, Germany. Young Wagner was reared by his parents on a farm until about sixteen years of age, when he hired out as a coachman and general laborer. This occupation he followed for about five years, when he was seized with a mania to emigrate to the United States. On the twenty-second of April, 1849, he sailed from Havre de Grace to New Orleans, landing June 8th of the same year. Here he was employed by an omnibus line for nearly three years. In 1852, on the twenty-ninth of February, he started, via Aspinwall, for San Francisco. This was a trip attended with much trouble, he being en route 105 days. The ticket he purchased cost him $200, but it turned out to be a counterfeit and only carried him to the east end of the railroad. He paid thirteen dollars for the ten miles by rail and then footed it from there to Panama. From there he shipped again in the ship Russell, and paid $142.50, which liberal endowment got him to Acapulco. Here he waited three weeks or more, when he took passage on the steamer Winfield Scott, from around the Horn, paying seventy dollars more, and finally landed in San Francisco with only one bit in his pocket, having lived on one pint of water and a cracker per day for the last fourteen days. He borrowed some money from friends at San Fran- cisco and went at once to middle fork of the Ameri- can river, where he worked at mining for two months, and then began to mine for himself. He soon removed to Hangtown (Placerville) and mined there. On the sixteenth of September, 1854, he started from San Francisco for Europe by steamer California. He had been quite successful at mining, having accumulated $5,500. Arriving at his native home in Germany he gave his father some financial help, remained a few months, and on the twenty- fourth of April, 1855, sailed for the United States again. Proceeding to Placerville, in this State, he erected a hotel, which was consumed in the fire of July, 1856. He then removed to Siskiyou county and mined three years. In 1858 he began farming on the Swain place, now owned by Hans Hansen. In 1874 he purchased his present place of residence, then containing 280 acres, to which he has since added 200 acres more. It is one of the finest farms in the valley, being in a good state of cultivation, containing out-buildings for grain and stock, with good and close fences. Mr. Wagner was married the fifteenth of October, 1865, to Miss Mary Lich- tenthaler, daughter of George and Barbara (Fouchs) Lichtenthaler, also of Alsace, who emigrated to America in 1860, residing in New York two years, and subsequently in San Francisco, where their
HISTORY OF SISKIYOU COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
daughter was wedded to Mr. Wagner. Mr. and Mrs. Wagner have had six children, born as follows: George I., December 26, 1866 ; Mary A., August 10, 1868; Frank R., October 4, 1869; William B., May 11, 1871; Emma K., April 22, 1873; John A., March 4, 1877. All are yet living with their parents.
JULIEN NEUSCHWANDER (N. D. JULIEN.)
Mr. Julien, as he is commonly called, was one of seven children of Louis and Fanchette (Bissae) Neu- schwander, both of Switzerland. He first saw the light on a farm near Echallens, county de Vaud, where he attended school in his younger days. At the age of eleven he was apprenticed to a butcher in Echallens, with whom he worked at his trade during the day and went to school in the evening. In 1830 he went to Soleure, Switzerland, where he remained six years and learned the German language. He afterwards worked in various places, took a nine months' tour through France, and in 1844 started from Havre for America. Forty-four days' passage sufficed to land him in Boston. His fellow-passengers being mostly Germans, they were received with great enthusiasm at Boston, that city having seen no emigrant ship for twenty-one years. From Bos- ton he went to Buffalo, thence by steamer to Mil- waukee, passing through a fearful storm and losing two men overboard. Remaining there six weeks he went to Chicago, where he was sick until the fol- lowing spring. Recovering, he visited, in 1845, St. Louis and Galena, Illinois, going into business at the latter place where he remained four years. In February, 1849, he began a journey which finally landed him in San Francisco, going by way of New Orleans and the Isthmus. Much time and money were consumed in making this trip. The party he was with paid $300 each for tickets from Panama and were ninety days in making that part of the voyage. From San Francisco they went to Sacra- mento, thence to Rose Bar, on the Yuba, where he prospected a few weeks and then started a store with another party who teamned back and forth from Sacramento. They were successful here and left the place with $8,000 each. He then engaged in various pursuits and built a hotel at Nicolaus which cost $14,000. In June, 1850, he went to Lower California with an old mountaineer to buy sheep, but returned without any. Next he went to Guay- mas, Mexico, for horses and had great difficulty in getting them through. He settled in Siskiyou county in 1851 on a ranch in Shasta valley. That summer a great deal of his stock was stolen by Modocs. He has lived ever since in this county. He has a fine place on the stage road eight miles southeast of Yreka on which he resides. Mr. Neu- schwander is one of the most solid and substantial citizens of the county, standing high in the esteem of his fellow-men.
JOHN P. WOOD,
The subject of this sketch, was born in Bedford county, Virginia, the eleventh of February, 1823. His parents were John and Nancy Wood. At the early age of fifteen young Wood left his parents' home, where he had been reared, and went to Mis- souri, where he worked on a farm until 1846. In
that year he volunteered in the army and was a member of Colonel Donovan's regiment, which served through the Mexican war. At the close of hostilities he returned and was stationed at Leaven- worth. In the year 1849 Mr. Wood crossed the plains with Colonel Porter and proceeded to Van- couver, Washington Territory. In the same fall he returned with mails. In the spring of 1850 Mr. Wood married Eliza Martin, of St. Joseph, Missouri, at which place he resided till the spring of 1853. On the first day of May in that year he started on an overland trip westward and arrived in Yreka on the fifteenth of August, accomplishing the journey in four months and a half. He was accompanied by his wife and two children. In 1854 Mr. Wood pur- chased a farm near Fort Jones in Scott valley, where he has since lived. Here he has devoted his time to farming and stock-growing. Mr. and Mrs. Wood are the parents of three sons and three daugh- ters, as follows : Isabel, born February 25, 1851 ; Mary, born March 23, 1853 ; John, born April 22, 1856; Eliza, born March 24, 1859; George, born April 19, 1862; and Henry, born December 12, 1866. Twice has Mr. Wood visited his old home and friends in Missouri, and he has been importuned strongly to remain there and make his home in that State, but he preferred the climate and other advantages of Scott valley to the extremes of heat and cold so prevalent in that country, a full realization of which annoyances he had obtained while a boy. Mr. Wood is among our most prosperous citizens and stands high in the community in which he lives.
JOSEPH B. LEDUC.
Hycinth Leduc, the father of our subject, was born in Vandreuil county, Canada, in 1785; his wife, Chevier Leduc, iu 1790. Of the family therc are at present living two brothers and three sisters: Hycinth, Matilda, Edward, Caroline, Joseph B., and Mary. Joseph B. attended the Montreal College until he was seventeen years of age, and then worked for two years on the home farm. At the age of nineteen, wishing to travel, and having a desire to see the great West, he left Canada in 1849 and came to the United States, visiting St. Louis, where he stopped some ten months. On the seventh of April, 1850, he left St. Louis for an overland trip to Cali- fornia. He arrived at Sacramento on the fifteenth of September of that year. Leaving Sacramento in February, 1851, he ran a pack-train for several months, but engaged in mining in the fall at Yreka flats, Humbug, Scott river, and on the Klamath, which occupation he followed till 1862 in those places. Since 1863 Mr. Leduc has turned his atten- tion to lumbering as well as mining, and at present owns a saw-mill near Scott Bar, and also one on the Klamath river. Mr. Leduc also possesses an interest in the Hancock mining claim, and in a wing-dam claim on the Klamath. He married Hen- rietta Christina Jensen August 14, 1877, from which union there has resulted one child. Joseph Leduc is a man of marked characteristics, which have not only won him the highest regard and esteem of a very large circle of friends and acquaint- ances. Socially he is a genial and courteous gentleman. In business affairs he has always been strictly and conscientiously upright.
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FARM PLACE OF L.S. WILSON CRYSTAL CREEK SISKIYOU CO. CALIFORNIA.
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HISTORY OF SISKIYOU COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
ply of goods. From that time until 1856, the only means of transporting goods into the country was the pack-train. The leading packers were, Jerome Churchill and Silas Parker, James Knuff, S. C. Horsley, Frank Drake, Thompson & Wood, Bat- terton & Hickman, John and William Burgess, Augustus Meamber, - Jones, and Orr & Town- send. Besides these, many small packers were engaged in the business, some only for one trip and some for several.
Pack-trains varied in size from thirty to sixty mules, one train that went through having as high as one hundred. Freight at first was forty cents a pound, but this price gradually declined until 1854, when it was but ten cents. Packers procured their goods at Marysville or Sacramento at first, and later at Colusa. When boats began to run to Red Bluff, they loaded there, sometimes teaming to Shasta and packing from that point. Flour, potatoes, etc., were packed from Oregon, until they were pro- duced here in sufficient quantities. Other provisions and general supplies came from below.
Both the Sacramento and Scott mountain trails were nsed, the latter in summer and the former in winter, on account of being more free from snow. In the spring of 1853, Mr. Churchill lay with his pack-train between Colnsa and Tehama for six weeks, unable to proceed. He reached Yreka in February, the first train in to break the monotony of a diet of fresh meat. Packing gradually gave way to teaming as soon as ro ids were built, and now it is driven into one corner of the county. Goods are still taken from Etna over the Salmon mountains in that way, and Augustus Meamber still has a pack- train running from Scott valley through to Crescent City. Mr. Meamber is the only veteran of thirty years' experience in the business. He ran a pack- train of forty mnles into Scott Bar, being the only one constantly on the road. From 1855 to 1858, Elijah Moore and Townsend & Tuttle were in the business on that r ute. In 1855 Mr. Meamber packed a safe into Scott Bar that weighed five hun- dred and fifty pounds. An ordinary load for a mule is three hundred pounds. He now packs flour, hay and grain from the valley to points along the Scott and Klamath rivers, going as far as Happy Camp. He also makes one or two trips to Crescent City each season and brings up a load to Happy Camp. He gets one cent per pound for freight from Scott valley to Scott Bar.
Packing to the Salmon and Trinity mines from Trinida l began in 1850, and among others engaged in it were E. P. Rowe, Abi-ha Swain, Charles Mc- Dermit, Charles D. Moore, F. F. Marx, and E. W. Conner, all well-known citizens of Siskiyou county.
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