USA > California > Siskiyou County > History of Siskiyou County, California > Part 5
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59
retraced their steps to Humboldt river; thence south to the Colorado; thence up that stream; thence north again, passing west of Great Salt lake to Bear river, where they met Bonneville. In the fall of 1834 Meek went with Bonneville and twenty- two men, and trapped Snake river and all its tribu- taries to Walla Walla; then up John Day river, over to Lake Harney; then to Melheur, Owyhee and Powder rivers and wintered on Snake river. In the spring of 1835, Meek started for the Willamette valley and when he reached Walla Walla engaged to the Hudson Bay Company, staying till the spring of 1836 at Vancouver. That spring he went with a party of men under the celebrated Tom McKay to California, trapping Scott river and the Sacra- mento. They went to Yerba Buena (San Fran- cisco) and left their furs with the agent of the com- pany, Mr. Ray, and then returned, trapping on the American, Yuba, Feather, Pit, McLeod and Shasta rivers, and then to Vancouver.
In the spring of 1837 he went to the Rocky mountains with a few companions, trapping on the way, selling pelts to Bridger at Green river. He then trapped in the Black Hills, on the Sweetwater and Platte, and wintered at Fort Laramie, which was just built by William Sublette. In the spring of 1838 Meek went south to Pike's Peak, then to Taos, New Mexico, then to the Arkansas and to the north fork of the Platte, and wintered at the mouth of Cherry creek, where Andrew Sublette built Fort Robert (Campbell) opposite the city of Denver. That winter he went to Independence on horseback, carrying the annual express. Having ten days to spare, he went to Lexington to see his brother and sister. While there he called on some young ladies to whom he related many incidents in his mountain life, which so startled their worthy mother that she exclaimed, "Law sakes! Mr. Meek, didn't you never get killed by none of them Indians and bears ?" "Oh, yes, madame," said he gravely, " I was fre- quently killed." Going back to Laramie with the express, he made the spring hunt with Frapp's brig- ade, and in July went as wagon-master of the train of ox-teams taking the furs to Independence. He spent the winter in St. Louis, and in the spring of 1840 engaged with McGoffin Bros. to take a train of wagons to Santa Fè and Chihuahua. He wintered in the latter place, and in the spring of 1841 joined a party of American mountaineers under James Kirker, engaged by the governor of Chihuahua to fight the Apaches. Several battles were fought, but in the fall a new governor was appointed who thought Mexican troops should fight Mexican bat- tles, and the Americans were recalled. They came in with fifteen thousand head of captured stock, for which they received two dollars and one-half each,
23
HISTORY OF SISKIYOU COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
according to agreement. He again spent the win- ter there, and in March, 1842, returned to Indepen- dence, where he found seventeen families waiting to go to Oregon, who engaged him as a guide. He took them as far as Green river, where they were overtaken by Fitzpatrick's brigade on the way to Fort Hall, and several of the families cut up their wagons and made pack-saddles, and packing their effects on their animals, went along with Fitz- patrick. The balance of the wagons Meek con- ducted safely to Fort Hall, and by going through a new route, known as Meek's, or Sublette's, cut -off, he arrived there the same day the others did, much to their surprise. The wagons were left there, and the goods were then packed upon the animals. They went down Snake river and by Boise river to its mouth, crossed Snake again, down to Brule, or Burnt, river, up to Powder and Grande Ronde, crossed the Blue mountains at Jason Lee's encamp- ment to the Umatilla, down the Columbia and to the Dalles, then by the Mt. Hood trail to Oregon City, which was laid out that fall by L. W. Hast- ings of this train as agent of Dr. Mclaughlin, Meek carrying the chain. In the spring of 1843 he piloted a few of those who had become dissatisfied with Oregon to California, over the old Hudson Bay trail, meeting Capt. Joe Walker and others in Rogue River valley with two thousand cattle com- ing from California. He went to Sutter's Fort and then to Monterey where he spent the winter. Here he met Captain Smith with the trading vessel George and Henry of Baltimore, who persuaded Meek to start with him on a voyage around the world. When they reached Valparaiso, Smith received advices that called him at once to Balti- more and he and Meek started in a packet for the Isthmus. They reached Gaquille, Columbia, where Meek nearly died with the yellow fever, then to Panama where they took a vessel for New York. Arriving there in July, 1844, Meek went to Pitts- burg with some Sante Fe traders, then to his old home in Virginia, where he found an absence of seventeen years had made him almost a stranger. In March, 1845, he went to New Orleans and then up the river to St. Louis where he got letters of recommendation from Fitzpatrick, William Sub- lette, and Robert Campbell, which secured him the position of guide to the immense emigrant train of four hundred and eighty wagons then preparing to go to Oregon. They started on the eleventh of May, 1845, on which day Meek first saw Elizabeth R. Schoonover, whom he married a week later. Arriving at Fort Hall, one-third of the train under William B. Ide, of bear flag notoriety, went to Cal- ifornia, guided by the old trapper, Greenwood. The balance Meek conducted safely to Oregon, the first
large train of wagons ever taken through. He lived in Linn City and Oregon City till the spring of 1848, when he went with his wife and child to San Francisco. In October of that year he went to the mines at Coloma, and in January, 1849, opened a butcher shop there. That summer his wife went to Oregon and in December, 1850, Meek followed.
In the spring of 1851 he started for Scott river, but stopped at Yreka and mined till October, when he returned with $6,000. In the spring he went by sea to San Francisco with his family, and took a stock of goods to Coloma, which he sold, and went to mining. The mine caved in, and he sold out and went to Santa Cruz and opened a butcher shop. While here he paid $34,000, cash, for a Mexican grant near Watsonville, which the former owner's heirs got away from him again in the courts. Being now poor again, he went to Frazer river in the excite- ment of 1858, but returned poorer than before. In 1859 he went to Jackson, Amador county, and mined until the death of his wife, in 1865. Taking his youngest child, George, then four years of age, he went in search of his wife's father, and found him at Humboldt bay. In the spring of 1867 he took a train of twenty-two wagons, loaded with quartz machinery, from Sacramento to South Boise, Idaho, and then went to the ranch of his brother, the well - known Joe Meek, near Portland, where he spent the winter. In 1868 he piloted a party of thirty men to the Melheur river, where rumor had located the fabulous Blue Bucket Diggings. This wild goose chase being over, he engaged as wagon-master for the government during the Bannock war, and soon became a scout for General Crook, finding in a few days the hiding place of the Indians, Sugar Loaf Crater Hole, which the troops had in vain sought all summer. The war being ended by the battle that took place there, he went to Silver City, Idaho, thence by stage to Winnemucca and by rail to Sac- ramento. He spent the winter in Amador county, the summer at Humboldt bay, the next winter in Amador, and then lived in Truckee till the fall of 1871. Being now well advanced in years, and having lost all the money his good fortune and hard labor had brought him, he was compelled to take again to the mountains to secure a livelihood. He went to Red Bluff, bought animals and traps, and has ever since been trapping the waters of the Sac- ramento, Pit, McLeod, Scott, Trinity and other rivers of northern California. In all his wanderings since the death of his wife he has been accompanied by his son George, who is now twenty years of age, and his father's right-hand man. He makes the house of Josiah Doll, in Scott valley, his headquar- ters, and from there ranges through the mountains with his son, or as guide to hunting parties. His
24
HISTORY OF SISKIYOU COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
arm is not as steady, but his eye is as bright as it was when he sighted his rifle at the grizzlies or Blackfeet, and his spirits and vigor are so well pre- served that many years of life seem still assured to him. It is to be hoped that a complete record of his adventures and services will be gathered from his lips and penned for the benefit of posterity, before his feet go down into the waters of the silent river.
CHAPTER V.
THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD.
HISTORY fails to inform us of a time when gold was unknown. The researches of the achæologist convince us that, in the dim twilight of civilization, jewels and the precious metals were unknown or unappreciated, but the earliest authentic records that now exist of the most ancient civilized nations speak of gold being used, both as a commercial medium and an ornament. The great Pharaohs of Egypt procured it in the Zabarah mountains in great quantities, and of this gold were made the golden ornaments of which the children of Israel spoiled the Egyptians when they fled from the land, as well as the golden calf that Aaron set up for the discontented people to worship at the base of the holy mountain of Sinai. In the reign of Solomon, one of the most splendid and magnificent the world has ever known, gold abounded in great profusion, and was wrought into ornaments and vessels for the temple with astonishing prodigality. This was the celebrated gold of Ophir, brought by the Phoenicians and Jews from that unknown land of Ophir, whose location is a puzzle to historians. From the coast of Asia Minor a voyage thither and return con- sumed three years, and it is supposed to have been on the south-east coast of Africa or in the East Indies. In the Ural mountains, that still yield their precious treasure, gold was being mined in the time of Herodotus, and ancient Ethiopia and Nubia added their contributions to the precious store. The Romans procured it in the Pyrenees and in the prov- inces of Italy bordering on the Alps, while the Athe- nians obtained it in Thessaly and the island of Thasos. The ancient Spaniards washed the golden burden of the river Tagus, while the nations of Eastern Asia found it in abundance in their own country.
At the time of the discovery of America and the opening to Europe of the vast store of treasure accumulated by the Aztecs and Incas, as well as the inexhaustible mines, the estimated supply in Europe was but $170,000,000. Its production had, to a great degree, ceased, so that only enough was annu- ally added to replace the loss by wear and usage. For years the alchemists had been endeavoring to
transmute the baser metals into gold, many of them claiming to have succeeded, being persecuted by the ignorant, credulous and bigoted populace for witch- craft and being in league with the devil ; and long after the great store-house of America was thrown open did these deluded and deluding scientists pursue the ignis fatuus of gold. Humboldt estimated the quantity of gold sent from America from the time Co- lumbus planted the cross on San Domingo until Cortez conquered Mexico, in 1521, at $270,000 annually, but from that time the golden stream that flowed into Spain made that nation the richest in Europe. An idea of the vast quantity possessed by the natives, and used chiefly for ornaments, can be had from the statement that the celebrated Pizarro received for the ransom of the captured Inca, in Peru, a room full of gold, that is estimated to have been of the value of $15,480,710. The discovery of the great silver mines of Potosi, in 1545, added to the vast mineral wealth that poured into Spain from Mexico, Peru and the East Indies.
Although gold is found in small quantities in nearly every country, the three great centers of production are California, Australia and Russian Siberia. Gold is found in considerable quantities in Italy, Austria, Hungary, Ural mountains, Siberia, China, Japan, India, and the Indian Archipelago, Borneo, and the other large islands of that group, Australia, New Zealand, and Africa, and in small quantities in Scotland, Ireland, England, Wales, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Russia in Europe, and, in fact, in nearly every land in the Old World. In the western hemisphere it is found and mined in Brazil and from Chili, following up the Andes, Cordilleras, Rocky, Sierra, and connecting chains of mountains, clear into British Columbia, and now, by recent discoveries, even in Alaska. Canada and Nova Scotia add their quota, while the Appalachian gold fields, running through Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee, have yielded a golden treasure since the first discovery was made, in 1799, in Cabarrus county, North Carolina.
Until the discovery in California, followed by Australia three years later, Russia was the greatest producer in the world. The home of big nuggets seems to be in Australia, where were found the great Ballarat nugget of 2217 oz., 16 dwts., valued $50,000 and exhibited at the great Paris Expo- sition, and the still larger one, called the Sarah Sands, weighing 233 lbs., 4 oz., troy. The first dis- covery of the metal in Australia was made in 1839, but the government officials fearing the effect upon the 45,000 convicts there, caused it to be kept a secret. Several times was the fact that gold lay hidden in the soil ascertained and the knowledge
HANCOCK MINE, GEO.W. SMITH, SUPT. SCOTT BAR, CALIFORNIA. J. B. LEDUC AND MOUNTAIN VIEW DITCH & MINING CO., PROPR'S.
25
HISTORY OF SISKIYOU COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
suppressed, but at last, in 1851, E. H. Hargreaves returned there from the mines of California, pros- pected on the river Macquarie, in New South Wales, and made the discovery that brought thou- sands thither and to the still richer mines of Vic- toria, and added millions to the world's store of precious metals.
The estimated production of gold in the United States from 1848 to 1873 is $1,240,750,000, of which California gave $985,800,000.
Blake gives the following table of the gold yield of the world for the year 1867 :-
California . $25,000,000
Nevada . 6,000,000
Oregon and Washington Territory 3,000,000
Idaho
5,000,000
Montana 12,000,000
Arizona
500,000
New Mexico 300,000
Colorado .. 2,000,000
Utah and Appalachians 2,700,000
Total for the United States. . $56,500,000 British Columbia. $ 2,000,000
Canada and Nova Scotia 560,000
Mexico 1,000,000
Brazil
1,000,000
Chili. .
500,000
Bolivia 300,000
Peru .
500,000
Venezuela, Columbia, Central ) America, Cuba and Santo Domingo
3,000,000
Australia.
31,550,000
New Zealand.
6,000,000
Russia 15,000,000
Austria 1,175,000
Spain
8,000
Italy
95,000
France 80,000
Great Britain 12,000
Africa .
900,000
Borneo and East Indies. 5,000,000
China, Japan, Central Asia, Rou- mania and other unenumer-
ated sources
5,000,000
Total. $130,180,000
One of the chief allurements possessed by the unknown country to the north-west of Mexico, to Cortez and other explorers, was its supposed richness in gold, silver, and precious stones. In his letter to Charles V. of Spain, in 1524, Cortez speaks of this unknown land "abounding in pearls and gold." Still later the not over veracious chaplain, Mr. Fletcher, who chronicled the events of Sir Francis Drake's voyage along the coast in 1579, in speaking of the country just north of the bay of San Fran- 4
cisco, says, "There is no part of earth here to be taken up, wherein there is not a reasonable quantity of gold or silver." As at the same time, in the month of June, he speaks of snow and weather so cold that meat froze when taken from the fire, one at all acquainted with the nature of the climate there and knowing that snow seldom falls in winter and that the thermometer, even in the most severe seasons, sees the freezing point but occasionally, needs not be assured that the worthy chaplain was addicted to drawing largely upon his imagination in chronicling events. No gold has ever been discovered there, and the probable possession of it by the natives, may have been the foundation for his assertion. The opinion that the precious metals existed in California scems never to have entirely died out, although it lost its potent influence in stimulating exploration and conquest.
J. Ross Browne, in his report to Congress, says :---
The existence of gold in California was known long before the acquisition of that territory by the United States. Placers had long been worked on a limited scale by the Indians; but the priests who had established the missionary settlements, knowing that a dissemination of the discoveries thus made would frustrate their plans for the conversion of the aboriginal raees, discouraged by all means in their power the prosecution of this pursuit, and in some instances suppressed it by force. As early as December, 1843, however, Manuel Castanares, a Mexican officer, made strenuous efforts to arouse the attention of the Mexican Govern- ment to the importance of this great interest.
The first actually known of the metals was the reported discovery, as early as 1802, of silver at Alizal, in Monterey county. In 1825, Jedediah S. Smith, at the head of a party of American trappers, while crossing the Sierra Nevada in the vicinity of Mono lake, "found placer gold in quantities and brought much of it with him to the encampment on Green river." This passage occurs in a letter writ- ten in 1860 by Thomas Sprague, of Genoa, Nevada, to Edmund Randolph, of San Francisco. This is the first known discovery of gold in California, and much of the honor that is showered upon James W. Marshall should properly fall upon this intrepid and enterprising pioneer trapper, Jedediah S. Smith.
In 1828, at San Isador, in San Diego county, and in 1833, in the western limits of Santa Clara county, gold was also discovered. Gold placers were discovered in 1841 by a Canadian, near the mission of San Fernando, forty-five miles north-east of Los Angeles, and were worked until 1848 in a small way, yielding some six thousand dollars annually. In 1842, James D. Dana, the well-known geologist, visited the coast with the Wilkes Exploring Expe- dition, and wrote later as follows :-
"The gold rocks and veins of quartz were observed by the author in 1842, near the Umpqua river, in southern Oregon, aud pebbles from similar rocks were met with along the shores of the Sacramento, in California, and the resemblance to other gold dis-
26
HISTORY OF SISKIYOU COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
tricts was remarked; but there was no opportunity of exploring the country at the time."
The next year, Dr. Sandels, an educated Swed- ish gentleman of much experience in the mines of South America, visited Sutter's Fort, and was per- suaded by Captain Sutter to make an examination of the country to see if gold did not exist there. The Doctor had but a little time to spare, but he made an excursion up the Sacramento river as far as the site of Chico, and gave the opinion, that, "judging from the Butte mountains, I believe that there is gold in the country, but do not think there will ever be enough found to pay for the working "
Gen. John Bidwell narrowly escaped reaping the honors of a gold discoverer, in 1844. At that time he was in charge of Sutter's establishment at Hock Farm, and under him was a Mexican vaquero named Pablo Gutteirez, who was familiar with placer mining in his own country. He one day informed Bidwell that in the foot-hills on Bear river he had found black sand and other signs of gold, which he pointed out to him when the two visited the locality to investigate. He said that to work it a peculiar implement called a batea was required, and that it would be necessary to go to Mexico for this. His means being limited, Bidwell was unable to do this, and requested the vaquero to keep the matter a secret until they could procure the indispensable implement. In the spring of 1845 the Mexican was killed, and Bidwell abandoned his golden dreams. Had he known that the wonderful batea was simply a wooden bowl, and that any tin dish or most any kind of receptacle would have answered the same purpose, the name of John Bid- well would have gone down to history instead of James W. Marshall.
The man who made the final discovery of the precious metal in the mill-race at Coloma, January 19, 1848, the news of which brought thousands from all the points of the compass, was a Mormon named James W. Marshall. He was a member of the California Battalion, and when the war ceased, in 1847, he returned to Sutter's Fort, at which place he had enlisted. He soon after made an excursion up the American river and was so pleased with the water- power at a place on the south fork, called by the Indians " Culloomah," known now as Coloma, that he desired to build a saw-mill there. Having entered into partnership with Captain Sutter, for the pur- pose of erecting the mill, he started for the field of action on the twenty-eighth of August, 1847, with workmen, tools, etc. By January the building and tail-race, for carrying off the water after being used, were completed. The method of making the race was what led to the discovery. A ditch was cut to direct the course of the current, and at night the
head-gates were raised and the stream allowed to rush through the ditch, carrying with it inud and sand and leaving the stones, which were thrown out the next day by Indians. In this way the race was gradually enlarged.
The following extract from " The Life and Adven- tures of James W. Marshall " contains the best and most authentic account of the circumstances attend- ing the discovery. It was published by Marshall in 1870, who was then, and is now, in straightened cir- cumstances, living not far from the scene of his dis- covery, and written by George F. Parsons :-
We now approach the most important event, not only in the life of Marshall, but in the history of California, and as many erroneous statements have been made and published, from time to time, concerning the manner of the first discovery, and as attempts have been made to foist a spurious discovery upon the public, we deem it proper to enter into details with such minute- ness as the historical value of the events appears to demand and to warrant.
The names of the men who were then working at the mill, and who, if living, can substantiate the accuracy of this narrative, are as follows : Peter L. Wemer, William Scott, James Bargee, Alexander Stephens, James Brown, William Johnson, and Henry Bigler (the latter afterwards moved to Salt Lake, together with Brown, Stephens and Bargee, and became an elder in the Mormon church). * *
On the morning of that memorable day Marshall went out, as usual, to superintend the men, and after closing the fore-bay gate, and thus shutting off the water, walked down the tail-race to see what sand and gravel had been removed during the night. This had been customary with him for some time, for he had previously entertained the idea that there might be minerals in the mountains, and had expressed it to Sutter, who, however, only laughed at him.
On this occasion, having strolled to the lower end of the race, he stood for a moment, examining the mass of debris that had been washed down, and, at this juncture, his eye caught the- glitter of something that lay lodged in a crevice or a riffle of soft granite, some six inches under water. His first act was to stoop and pick up the substance. It was heavy, of a peculiar color, and unlike anything he had seen in the stream before. For a few minutes he stood with it in his hand, reflecting and endeav- oring to recall all he had heard or read concerning the various minerals. After a close examination. he became satisfied that what he held in his hand must be one of three substances-mica, sulphuret of copper, or gold. The weight assured him that it was not mica. Could it be sulphuret of copper ? He remembered that that mineral is brittle, and that gold is malleable, and, as this thought passed through his mind, he turned about, placed the specimen upon a flat stone, and proceeded to test it by strik- ing it with another. The substance did not crack or flake off, it simply bent under the blows. This, then, was gold, and, in this manner, was the first gold found in California. * %
The discoverer proceeded with his work as usual, after show- ing the nugget to his men and indulging in a few conjectures concerning the probable extent of the gold fields. As a matter of course, he watched closely, from time to time, for further developments, aud, in the course of a few days, had collected several ounces of the precious metal.
Although, however, he was satisfied in his own mind that it was gold, there were some who were skeptical, and as he had no means of testing it chemically, he determined to take some down to his partner at the fort, and have the question finally decided. Some four days after the discovery it became necessary for him to go below, for Sutter had failed to send a supply of provisions to the mill, and the men were on short commons.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.