USA > California > Siskiyou County > History of Siskiyou County, California > Part 52
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1855.
1860.
1866.
1870.
1875.
1880.
Inclosed acres.
5,856
67,620 130,000 210,000
Cultivated acres.
13,373
46,740
28,395
26,000
Wheat, aeres
3,000
4,545
9,840
12,000
7,500
Wheat, bushels
60,000
54,187
81,156 135,800 180,000 120,000
Barley, acres
1,200
1,692
2,400
2,450
5,600
Barley, bushels. .
24,000
22,586 54,899
58,200
49,000 108,000
Oats, acres
1,500
2,099
3,200
4,720
2,600
Oats, bushels
80,774
57,900
76,840 118,000
70,000
Corn, acres.
250
75
100
250
275
Corn, bushels
4,936
1,364
3,300
2,500
5,500
Potatoes, acres
600
71
600
350
Potatoes, bushels. .
60,000
54,339
11,187
78,000
70,000
Hay, acres
Hay, tons.
8,680
5,997
12,000
12,525
17,000
Butter, pounds.
84,692 56,450
75,580
6,700
2,500
16,000
5,790
4,000
3,800
144,000
Hives of bees.
598
1,000
1,000
Horses.
1,000
2,881
4,125
9,820
4,708
6,004
Mules
2,500
708
543
1,178
534
663
Cattle.
3,000
29,800 14,315
6,900
45,967
21,769
Cows
6,317
2,259
5,100
34,068
36,014
Hogs
7,190
4,493
6,000
2,200
4,093
Poultry
101,000 18,000
23,764
8,400
Apple trees
10,000 20,061
37,500
50,000
Pear trees
2,000
1,105
2,080
3,000.
Plum trees
3,000
992
1,600
3,200
Peach trees
15,000
8,118
15,840
8,000
Cherry trees
1,000
677
1,240
Gooseberry vines.
1,935
10,200
Raspherry vines
4,411
9,800
Strawberry vines.
16,905
60,000
Grape-vines
8,469
57,000
50,000
Wine, gallons.
4,500
500
Brandy,
800
Beer,
10,000| 30,000
Value of fruit :
crop, $7,500
2,320
Sheep
200
2,000 14,912
28,000
80,000 105,000
Honey,
Wool,
1,150
7,200
6,800
8,350
8,000
Cheese,
37,500
3,210
13,383 11,210
HISTORY OF SISKIYOU COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
ELTON T. BAILEY
Was born near Parkersburg, Virginia, in 1834. His parents were natives of Scotland. While still an infant he was taken by his parents to Illinois, which was then sparsely settled and passing through the pioneer stage of development. Here he lived with his folks until arrived at the age of nineteen, when the aimless energies of youth are directed and merged into the progressive purposes and desires 'of man- hood. It was then that he carried out a plan of emigration to the Pacific coast, by crossing the plains with the tide of emigration which surged westward in 1853. Mr. Bailey came directly to Yreka and began to engage in mining in the neigh- borhood. His first efforts were made at Deadwood, followed by ventures on the Scott and Klamath rivers. Afterwards he spent some time mining in Shasta county. In 1857 he operated on McAdams creek, then he changed to Indian creek, where he has remained continually working at mining until the winter of 1880 and spring of 1881, when the dis- covery of the Grizzly Bonanza ledge was made, in which he and Mr. E. D. Brown are interested. This has been a big paying strike, and Mr. Bailey is amply deserving of the rich reward for his pains that he is reaping. Mr. Bailey was married to Elizabeth Bowen, of Pomeroy, Ohio, in July, 1873. Three children have blessed their union. Mining has been the sole business of Mr. Bailey during his long resi- dence in the State. He is a practical and thorough man, with great energy and perseverance.
HENRY J. DIGGLES
Was born at Taunton, Massachusetts, September 11, 1835. He was the son of Jonas and Marietta (Alden) Diggles, who were married at Taunton. His father was an Englishman by birth, and his mother a native of Plymouth, belonging to the fam- ily of Allens of revolutionary fame. Henry has an elder brother, James A. Diggles, who now resides at Etna. While Henry was five years old his parents removed to Lowell, Massachusetts, where for seven years he lived with his father, who was a manufac- turer of clothing. Here he attended the superior public schools of that city. When he was twelve years old his parents again changed their residence to New Sharon, Franklin county, Maine, and Henry lived there till he was eighteen, when he and his brother started for California via the Isthmus on the boat Illinois from New York, and the Califor- nia on the Pacific side. At that time the building of the Panama railroad was just begun and 1,000 men went down on the same boat with them. For several years the Diggles brothers engaged in min- ing, first on the North Yuba and latterly near Yreka. After making a stake they gave up mining and went to Fort Jones, building the first store in the town on the site of the present Odd Fellows hall, where they did a fine business. In 1861 they built the brick block, now occupied by Mr. Henry Diggles. This was the first brick structure in the valley. Its size is 33x100 feet, with a warehouse 30x100 feet. In 1864 the brothers dissolved part- nership, Henry J. continuing the business alone,
which in its palmy days amounted as high as $125,- 000 per annum. In company with others Mr. Diggles erected the steam flouring mills now owned by Mr. Reynolds, which was not a paying venture. For many years this was the principal point of sup- ply for the entire valley and the mining districts adjoining. Mr. Diggles was married October 16, 1862 to Miss Charlotte S. Pattison, daughter of Silas and Harriett Pattison, a native of Plymouth, Wayne county, Michigan, and came to California when she was but nine years old. By this union there are seven children, as follows: Henry E., born September 13, 1863; Lottie Alden, born August 4, 1865; Marietta E., September 11, 1867 ; Grace P., October 26, 1869; James A., August 10, 1871; Harriett A., June 29, 1873; Robert Newton, June 10, 1875. All are living at home with their parents. Mr. Diggles has a common school educa- tion, but might have availed himself of the benefits of a collegiate course, had he not been so eager to enter active life and business. He has done more than any other man in the valley to build up churches, schools and other public interests of the community. He is a member of North Star Lodge, No. 96, Free and Accepted Masons ; Cyrus Chapter No. 15, at Yreka ; Fort Jones Lodge, No. 115, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows; and Scott Valley Encampment, No. 39. He has held all the offices in the Blue lodge and the Odd Fellows; has represent- ed the Masonic fraternity in the grand lodge five consecutive years ; on several occasions has also represented the Odd Fellows in their grand lodge, and has been to the grand encampment. Mr. Diggles is a Protestant in religion and a Republican in politics. He takes a lively interest always in all matters pertaining to the public good and the wel- fare of his fellow-man.
REMEMBRANCE HUGHES CAMPBELL.
This gentleman was born in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, in 1839, his parents, William and Elizabeth (Hughes) Campbell, having moved thither from Greene county, Pennsylvania, that same year. In the spring of 1850 his father came to California, and returned home in 1852. The next year he took his family across the plains, reaching California in August, 1853. He purchased one of the few ranches in Nevada county for $5,000, three miles north of Nevada City. This was on a stream on which was soon discovered rich diggings, and in a short space of time the miners destroyed the ranch, and Mr. Campbell had to look elsewhere for some- thing to support his family of six small children. He erected a saw-mill, in which the subject of this sketch, being the oldest child, assisted in earning a living for the family. He worked thus until 1859, when his father sold his property and soon after moved to Cacheville, Yolo county, where the father and mother still live, in the enjoyment of good health, the children being all grown up and mar- ried. It was in 1859 that the Comstock excite- ment sprang up and R. H. Campbell, then twenty years of age, joined the mob of silver-hunters from Nevada county, and spent the summer in Carson City. Believing, with the majority, that the mines
HISTORY OF SISKIYOU COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
were a failure, he returned to Nevada county in the fall, and spent the next two years there and in Yolo county. In the spring of 1862 he started for the Cariboo mines, and went as far as Lillooet, on Fraser river, where he spent the summer, returning to Yolo county in the fall. In the spring of 1863 he married Miss Lizzie Neel. He then clerked in a store in Cacheville one year, and in May, 1864, moved to Red Bluff and entered into mercantile business with B. Neel. In 1866 Mr. Neel retired, and S. F. Frank became associated with Mr. Camp- bell. In 1868, L. S. Welton joined them, forming the firm of Frank, Campbell & Welton. For sev- eral years this firm enjoyed an extensive trade through northern California and southern Oregon, being also heavy purchasers of wool and grain. They were large shippers of sugar-pine lumber, manufactured in the eastern portions of Tehama and Shasta counties. The increased demand for this superior quality of lumber led Mr. Campbell to exert himself to increase their facilities. He induced some San Francisco capitalists to associate them- selves with the firm in constructing a V flume, then a new invention, from the lumber region to a shipping point. A route was surveyed, terminating on the Sacramento, twelve miles above Red Bluff. Water rights and rights of way were secured, and about nine thousand acres of timber land located, all under the active superintendence of Mr. Camp- bell. In the spring of 1873 work was begun, and in June, 1874, the flume was completed to the river, a distance of thirty miles. Another party had commenced a parallel flume, which this com- pany purchased and joined to the first one. They then had forty-five miles of flume, four saw-mills, with a total capacity of one hundred thousand feet per day, a telegraph line from Red Bluff to the mills, fifty miles long, large planing mill and factory in Red Bluff, yards, side-track, etc. At the mills they employed two hundred and fifty men, one hundred oxen, and twenty-five horses and mules during the summer, and the pay-roll was $16,000 per month. The yearly cut was nearly ten million feet, half of which was sent to San Francisco to sash factories, and the balance sold in Tehama, Shasta and Colusa counties. In the spring of 1875 Frank, Campbell & Welton became sole proprie- tors of this lumber business, which was called the Blue Ridge Flume and Lumber Company, and was superintended by Mr. Campbell. They shipped that season 350 carloads of lumber, besides rafting as much more down the river and making large yard sales. The mercantile business, under charge of Mr. Welton, was also large, and they shipped the same year about one million pounds of wool. In February, 1876, they sold all their lumber interests to a heavy firm of capitalists, known as the Sierra Flume and Lumber Company, for $275,000. This corporation also purchased all other lumber mills and property in Tehama and Butte counties. Mr. Campbell was employed .as superintendent during the season of 1876, but not being content with a good salary he left them and became interested in the Afterthought mine in Shasta county. He superintended this for two years, and after spending over $150,000 on its refractory ore, the mine was shut down in the fall of 1879. On the sixth of
December of that year a fire in Red Bluff destroyed his residence, and he determined to change his base of operations. He formed a partnership with Alex- ander Parker, of this county, and in the summer of 1880 erected the brick building in Etna, now occu- pied as a general store by Parker, Campbell & Co. The business is managed by Mr. Campbell, and they carry a stock of general merchandise, farming and mining machinery valued at from $25,000 to $40,000. Mr. Campbell's family consists of Mary Ella, born in Yolo county, February 24, 1864; Harry Neel, born at Red Bluff, May 12, 1871; Emma Louise, born January 26, 1874.
MYRON KNOTLY THOMAS.
Daniel Thomas, grandfather of Myron, was born August 17, 1774, and died at Battle Creek, Michigan, May 1, 1836. When twenty years of age he was employed on a vessel on the Pacific coast for the Hudson Bay Company. The father of Myron, A. R. Thomas, was born at Schenectady, New York, February 3, 1812, and died at Lawler, Iowa, Janu- ary 15, 1875. Myron's mother was a Goddard, and was born at Detroit, Michigan, in 1814, and died in Green county, Wisconsin, in 1859. Her father and mother are still living at Fort Atkinson, Iowa, at the ages of ninety-seven and eighty-three years. The old gentleman was born in Massachusetts, served as a captain in the war of 1812, and was in the memorable battle of Plattsburg. Mr. and Mrs. A. R. Thomas were married at Battle Creek, Michigan, in 1833, where Myron K. was born May 15, 1835. The other children were: Daniel D., residing at French Bar, California; Angeline, now Mrs. Wil- liam M. Morton, residing at Lawler, Iowa; Angelia, now Mrs. Tubbs, residing at North McGregor, Iowa; Josephine, died in infancy; Emma, now Mrs. Sprague, residing at Caledonia, Minnesota ; Hannah, now Mrs. Lovejoy, residing at Lawler, Iowa ; Henry, died in infancy; Ferdinand, now farming at Fort Atkinson, Iowa; William Aranthus, now editing a paper in Osage, Iowa. When eleven years of age the subject of our sketch moved with his parents to Rockford, Illinois, and two years later to Green county, Wisconsin. In January, 1852, he started for California across the plains, with his uncle, Argalius Thomas, and arrived in Oregon City on the fifteenth of November. He engaged in farm- ing with his uncle, Lorenzo L. Thomas, near Salem, for two years, and then came to his present home on Lytle flat, on Scott river, below Scott Bar. Before settling permanently in his present home, in 1858, he ranched in Sciad valley in 1854; mined below Hamburg in 1855; at old Scott Bar in 1856, and at Happy Camp and Fort Goff in 1857. He is mining very successfully in the bed of Scott river, the operations being well portrayed in one of our illustrations. In 1880 he drifted under his resi- dence with good success. His wife, Alvira Chand- ler Tyler, was born at Griggsville, Pike county, Illi- nois, October 1, 1844. They have a family of two children: Lyman Gideon, born November 7, 1866, at Griggsville, Pike county, Illinois, and Edgar, born October 31, 1872, at Lytle Flat, Siskiyou county, California. One daughter, Hattie, born April 9, 1871, died the following September.
THE GRIZZLY- DONANZA MINE. BROWN, BAILEY & CO. PROPRIETORS,
-
193
HISTORY OF SISKIYOU COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
potatoes raised in this county is so superior to those of the Sacramento valley that cheap transportation by rail ought to make the raising of potatoes a large and profitable industry.
The stock and dairy business is also a leading one, and with cheaper transportation would be largely increased, especially the dairy branch. The great grazing section is in the eastern end of the county, though many horses and cattle are raised in both Scott and Shasta valleys. Butter and cheese, the latter chiefly the product of Scott valley, are of most excellent quality.
In the spring of 1854, C. H. Pyle brought over six hundred fruit trees to the county from Oregon. Wm. Davidson and D. H. Lowry each purchased a number for an orchard, and the balance were never set out. Sinee then fruit has become plentiful and of that excellent quality and flavor only to be found, in California, in the mountains.
GRIST-MILLS.
The old Lafayette, or Shores' mill, was the first one built in the county for flouring purposes. It was erected in Quartz valley in 1853, and was soon followed by the Etna mills at old Etna. In 1855, Charles C. Schlicht built the mill on Shasta river, which he still owns, and in 1856 the Rough and Ready mills at Etna were built. The same year Demming Brothers, and others, built a steam grist mill on Oregon street, in Yreka, which was torn down and taken to Etna in 1866, and now forms the mill at that place. A mill was built at Fort Jones in 1866. There are now in the county six grist-mills with ten pairs of buhrs, the Little Shasta mills, near Table Rock, owned by Shep- ard, Terwilliger & Walbridge; Schlicht's mills, on Shasta river; Farmers' mill at Fort Jones, owned by J. S. Reynolds; Phoenix mill by Camp & Co. (the old Lafayette), in Quartz valley; the Rough and Ready mill, at Etna; the old mill at Butteville. The first five are being operated, and make about 9,000 barrels of flour per annum.
SAW-MILLS.
The lumbering business has been quite an exten- sive one in the mining regions. Aside from the lumber required for building purposes, a great deal of timber was used in mining. It is said that at. Scott Bar there is enough timber under the ground to construct a number of towns like the one on top. Several mills were built in 1852, and in 1860 there were thirty in the county. There are now eleven mills in the county that saw 3,500,000 feet of lumber annually. These mills are owned and situated as follows :- John Cleland, on Little Shasta; George Deter, on Little Shasta ; Maxwell, on head-waters of the Sacramento; Dobkins, on head-waters of the Sacramento; Newton Lamb, between Greenhorn and Cherry creeks; Charles E. Owen & Son, on Hamblin gulch, near Fort Jones; M. B. Pittman, at Etna ; Festus Payne, on French creek; J. B. Leduc, at Scott Bar, and one on Doggett creek, near Oak Bar; E. Lee, on Kidder creek ; John Hilt, on Cottonwood creek.
BREWERIES AND DISTILLERY.
There are three good breweries in the county, which make an excellent quality of beer. The two at 24
Yreka are institutions of a long standing there, and are operated by two of its foremost citizens, Charles Iunker and Charles Peters. The one at Etna is owned by Charles Kappler. These breweries make about 30,000 gallons of beer per annum.
A distillery was erected at old Etna in 1856 by the Davidson Brothers, and was operated by them for ten years, and then abandoned. At the Forest House, Short manufactures annually about 1,200 gallons of wine and 500 of brandy. He also dries apples, peaches, plums, potatoes, corn, and tomatoes, by evaporation, a process which leaves the article pure and white, far superior to the ordinary dried fruit. He has 12,000 fruit trees and 2,000 grape- vines.
FOUNDRY AND MACHINE SHOPS.
The first shop of this character was erected in Yreka in an early day, and was burned down in the summer of 1864. It was ealled the Yreka Iron Foundry, and was rebuilt by the proprietor, Mr. Shepard. The Siskiyou Iron Works, on the corner of Lane and Second streets, Yreka, were opened in March, 1870, by Messrs. Lawton & Skinner. They were destroyed in the great fire of 1871, and rebuilt. They were again totally destroyed by fire on Satur- day afternoon, June 25, 1881, and are now in pro- cess of rebuilding. The new structure is of brick, and the works, when completed, will be far superior to those destroyed.
FACTORIES.
The wagon and furniture factory of Frantz & Wallis, at Etna, was built by Louis Fafa, and came into the possession of F. W. Frantz and Albert Wallis in 1877. It is well supplied with machinery for the manufacture of mouldings, sash, doors, and blinds, and the turning of various objects. Jackson Brothers of Yreka also have facilities for manufactur- ing articles of furniture, and for doing nearly all kinds of wood work. The pail and tub factory at Strawberry valley, owned by Gilbert Lanphier, is another institution of the county.
There are in every town blacksmith and wagon shops, and in Yreka are the repair shops for the stage company.
KING'S SALT WORKS AND ARTESIAN WELL.
One of the peculiar industries of the county is the manufacture of salt from water flowing from an artesian well. This is an enterprise conducted by F. J. King, on his place near Shasta river. He has a well 409 feet deep, that flows 144,000 gallons of salt water every twenty-four hours. The con- tractors for the work were Moses & Nesbitt, who were engaged upon it several months. At a depth of 107 feet they came to quicksand and gravel, which necessitated the sinking of a pipe- casing. This was found too light, and a new well was started a short distance away, with heavier pipe, and completed. The following is a record of the observations and indieations as the work pro- gressed, with the character of strata encountered :-
Six feet of alluvial soil strongly impregnated with alkali, and supporting a rich growth of salt grass.
Sixty-three feet of clay and tine gravel, some- what cemented.
194
HISTORY OF SISKIYOU COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
Seven feet of boulders, hard, and difficult to pass. Thirty-one feet of hard, cemented clay.
Eleven feet of quicksand and gravel, carrying water at a depth of one hundred and seven feet, which flowed over the pipe. This was extremely difficult to pass, and took four weeks.
Two hundred and ninety-one feet of sand-rock, in which, at the depth of two hundred and eighty- five and three hundred and seventeen feet, fossil marine shells were brought up. Water, with a daily flow of thirty thousand gallons, was found at a depth of three hundred and fifty-seven feet, and flowed five feet above the surface. The third water was struck at three hundred and eighty-four fect, and flowed one hundred and forty thousand gallons per day. Considerable gas came up, and the water was impregnated with salt. At four hundred and nine feet the fourth water was found, rising in pipes thirty feet above the surface. The well was continued to four hundred and fifty feet without advantage.
With a system of shallow reservoirs for evapo- ration, brush heaps for condensing, and steam-vats for boiling, Mr. King extracts the saline properties from the water, and manufactures salt, both for the table and for stock and dairy purposes.
MINING.
The mining industry was the first and only one in these mountains. By it was the country devel- oped, and for its sustenance were the farms taken up and cultivated. It is still the leading industry, and the mineral wealth of the county is its greatest resource, though agriculture has made great strides in the past twenty years.
To go into a detailed history of the mining opera- tions that have been carried on, is beyond the province of this work, if, indeed, it can be done at all. They have embraced all classes of operations in placer, from the pan to the hydraulic giant; in quartz, from a hand mortar to a large quartz mill. The first quartz prospecting was done in 1851, and the next year there was considerable quartz excite- ment on Humbug and in Scott valley, but the high price of labor and materials, with the almost impos- sibility of getting machinery, caused it to die out. In 1858 another excitement sprang up, and again in 1862. On Christmas-day of that year, the North Star lead was discovered. Report of the discovery, and that six dollars had been worked out of eight pounds of rock in a hand mortar, reached Humbug that night during the progress of a Christmas ball. The ball-room was deserted, and the gray dawn of morning found many a gay reveler skirmishing about the hills in search of a quartz ledge and a fortune. Most of them found neither. They were lucky. A few found ledges. They were unlucky. A poor quartz ledge is an expensive luxury. Quartz mining has turned out to be an unlucky venture for many, while a few have succeeded. Recent developments give grounds for hope that several good quartz ledges have been discovered and will be worked to advantage to the owners and the county.
The mining claims of the county are assessed for the current year at $177,960, and the improvements on them at $62,950.
The following is a complete list of all mining operations of importance in progress in the county :-
GREENHORN.
Portuguese, sluice claim.
Chinese, hydraulic, Ying & Co.
Tesh & Clark, drift claim.
Stewart & Reese, sluice claim.
Chinese, hydraulic, Tin & Co.
Several Chinese sluice claims, and a few others on a small scale.
YREKA FLATS.
Simon Contini, sluice claim.
Pellet & Truitt, hydraulic claim.
Weymeier claim, by Chinamen.
Long claim in Humbug gulch, by Chinamen.
John Knapp, drift claim.
Gus. Hahn, drift claim.
Nehemiah Payne, small claim.
Hop Wau & Co., or China hydraulic.
Several small claims not worked.
HAWKINSVILLE.
Yreka Creek Mining Company, working in the bed of the creek with a hydraulic elevator.
Ah Toy & Co., wheelbarrow claim.
William Booth claim, below the Yreka Creek Mining Company, only a part being worked by Chinese.
One Chinese and one Portuguese company in Long gulch, also a quartz ledge being prospected by A. V. Burns.
John DeSoza & Co., and three Chinese companies in Canal gulch.
Manuel Quadras & Co., and John Josephs & Co., in Rocky gulch.
Joseph Cora & Co., John Demello & Co., Enos Cas- tro & Co., Caetano Alves & Co., Thomas Green- wood, Manuel S. Dutra & Co., on the Hawkinsville flats.
HUMBUG.
A dozen Chinese claims, a few small claims owned by white men, and the Spengler claim, embracing thirty-eight acres of patented land, and owned by the Lower Humbug Fluming Company.
Siskiyou quartz mine, on the middle fork, owned by J. S. Cleland, H. B. Warren, Thomas Orr, Calvin Edgerton, and other Yreka parties.
Eliza ledge, formerly worked by D. N. Lash, with a fifteen-stamp mill.
C. C. Cornish ledge, on north fork.
Not much quartz prospecting here now.
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