USA > California > Lassen County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 18
USA > California > Plumas County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 18
USA > California > Sierra County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 18
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Since then the name Yuba has become as familiar as a household word, and dear to the heart of every old Californian. Many a partaker of the excitements of these early days, quietly sitting in his eastern home, wishes himself again on the banks of the swift-rushing Yuba; but, alas! would he recognize in its mud-burdened waters the crystal home of the salmon he knew so long ago ?
About the first of March, some six weeks after the discovery at Coloma, John Bidwell went from his ranch on Chico creek to Sacramento. There the wonderful tale was related to him, and pieces of the precious metal exhibited in confirmation. Some of this he took with him to San Francisco, and the result, as has been related, was the inauguration of mining on the American river. A few days later, having visited Coloma, he returned to his home, satisfied that all the gold in California was not to be found on the American river. On his way home, therefore, he camped for the night on the bank of Feather river, where the town of Hamilton was afterwards laid out.
10
122
Here was a broad gravel-bar, on which, while supper was being prepared, he washed a few pans of dirt, and obtained a small quantity of light scale-gold, harbinger of the vast fortunes lying in that stream awaiting the pick, shovel, and pan of the carly miner.
He went to his home and immediately fitted out an expedition, composed chiefly of Indians, and prospected the river, finding gold in large quantities. His camping-place is still known as Bidwell's bar, and was for a time the county-seat and most important place in Butte county. Here he established a trading-post, and commenced a highly profitable trade with the natives, who soon learned that the "yellow stuff" in these streams, where they and their fathers had fished for years, was valued by the whites, and could be exchanged for such desirable articles as beads, sugar, blankets, etc.
Bidwell's success in finding gold brought to the river all the settlers in the upper end of the valley, each one accompanied by a score or more of Indians, who did the mining under direction of their employers, their wages being plenty of meat to eat, and trinkets of little value. Of these, Potter, from the Farwell grant, settled at Potter's bar, on the north fork; Neal at the place on the main stream afterwards known as Adamstown, directly opposite Long bar; Davis, from Lassen's ranch, on the main Feather river, near Thompson's flat, just below the mouth of Morris ravine. Others came in later and worked at various points along the stream, the majority of them aided by Indians, and nearly all securing a fortune.
Such was the manner in which gold was discovered on those marvelously rich streams, and in that first year nearly every man in California paid a visit to some of the mines. Crops were per- mitted to rot in the fields, buildings were left incompleted, and all the avenues of industry were deserted-men even refusing to work for fifteen dollars a day, so great was their eagerness to get to the mines. From Oregon and along the coast a great many arrived that fall to seek the yellow treasure, and hundreds worked in the mines, became rich or disgusted, and abandoned them · forever, before the advance guard of that army of Argonauts of 1849 began to make its appearance. Such a one was David Parks, who worked on the celebrated Parks' bar, on Yuba river, returned , east, and arrived in New Orleans early in the spring of 1849, to meet the first tide of emigration and to enthuse them with the sight of eighty-five thousand dollars in gold-dust that he had brought back with him. When these, the forty-niners, began to arrive, they went to the streams on which gold had been found and commenced to work. Soon they were in such numbers that claims were not plentiful enough on the bars then being worked. Farther up the streams they pressed, finding . new and rich diggings on every bar, ravine, gulch, and creek, until in a year there was scarcely a stream in the heart of the Sierra that had not its quota of industrious miners.
To what is generally known as the Trinity excitement we must look for the development of the mines in the northern section of the state. In 1858 Major Pearson B. Reading, the old trapper and pioneer Californian, gave the following account of the first mining in northern California. At the time he named it, Trinity river was not an unknown stream to the trappers of the Hudson Bay Company, who were familiar with any stream of consequence in this portion of the state; that they had ever given it a name, however, is uncertain; if so, it is unknown to history.
" In the spring of 1845, I left Sutter's fort for the purpose of trapping the waters of upper Cal- ifornia and Oregon. My party consisted of thirty men, with one hundred head of horses. In the month of May, I crossed the mountains from the Sacramento river, near a point now called the Backbone; in about twenty miles' travel reached the banks of a large stream, which I called the Trinity, supposing it led into Trinity bay, as marked on the old Spanish charts. I remained on the river about three weeks, engaged in trapping beaver and otter; found the Indians very numerous,
123
but friendly disposed. On leaving the Trinity I crossed the mountains at a point which led me to the Sacramento river, about ten miles below the soda springs. I then passed into the Shasta and Klamath settlements, prosecuting my hunt. Having been successful, returned in the fall to Sutter's fort.
"In the month of July, 1848, I crossed the mountains of the Coast Range, at the head of middle Cottonwood creek; struck the Trinity at what is now called Reading's bar, prospected for two days, and found the bars rich in gold; returned to my house on Cottonwood, and in ten days fitted out an expedition for mining purposes ; crossed the mountains where the trail passed about two years since from Shasta to Weaver.
" My party consisted of three white men, one Delaware, one Walla Walla, one Chinook, and about sixty Indians from the Sacramento valley. With this force I worked the bar bearing my name. I had with me one hundred and twenty head of cattle, with an abundant supply of other provisions. After about six weeks' work, parties came in from Oregon, who at once protested against my Indian labor. I then left the stream and returned to my home, where I have since remained, in the enjoyment of the tranquil life of a farmer."
Oregonians could not have disturbed him in 1848, as news of the gold discovery did not reach Oregon until September of that year, and Mr. Reading has, perhaps, placed his mining expedition one year too early, and should have said in 1849, or else he went back again the next year-some- thing that his language implies, though it does not positively state, he did not do. At all events, he did go to Trinity river in the summer of 1849, for a report of his trip was given by the Placer Times, of Sacramento, in August of that year. In June, 1849, Major Reading started from his ranch with a small party, for the purpose of exploring this stream. They went up Clear creek and then crossed the mountains to the river, going up the stream some distance, and finding gold in abundance. About the first of August they returned to the Sacramento valley, and reported that they had made forty dollars per day to the man, for the few days they had worked. They also laid considerable stress on the fact that, in crossing the summit, they had camped one night above the snow-line.
The effect of such a statement as this can well be imagined. Emigrants were then coming down from Oregon, or entering the upper end of the Sacramento valley by the Lassen route from across the plains, and, while most of these preferred to go on to the well-known mines farther south, a few were venturesome enough to cross the high mountains to Trinity river. In this way quite a number of miners gathered and worked on the banks of Trinity in the fall of 1849. The reports sent out and brought out by these men created quite a fever of excitement, but the fears of the rigors of winter were so great that few dared to go into the mountains until spring, and a majority of those who were on the river in the fall went back to the valley for the same reason.
The error made by Major Reading, in supposing that the river he had named Trinity flowed into the old Trinidad bay of the Spanish explorers, was communicated to others, and became the general opinion. It was then conceived that the best route to the mines must be to go to Trinidad bay in a vessel, and thence up the river to the mines. All that was known of the bay was the record of the explorers, and the indication of such a place at an indefinite point on the northern coast. To find Trinidad bay, then, became the next and the all-absorbing question. It had been discovered by an exploring expedition, consisting of a frigate commanded by Bruno Ezerta, and a sloop under Juan de la Quadra Y. Bodega, on the eleventh of June, 1775. This was the Sunday of the Holy Trinity, and the bay was named Trinidad in consequence. 'As the bay discovered by the Americans and named Trinidad is an open roadstead, and scarcely deserves the name of bay, it
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is possible that the one the Spaniards christened Trinidad was the one known to us as *Humboldt bay.
As early as March, 1848, a call was made in San Francisco for a public meeting to take steps to re-discover and explore Trinidad bay, to see what kind of a harbor it presented, and what was the character of the country tributary to it. The announcement of the gold discovery at Sutter's mill, however, put an end to all such designs, and the matter lay in abeyance until the reports from the Trinity mines revived it.
In the month of November, 1849, two parties left the Trinity mines to discover the desired harbor. One of these went over to the Sacramento valley, and down to San Francisco, where they commenced fitting out a sea expedition. The other party, consisting of Josiah Gregg, L. K. Wood, D. A. Buck, - Van Dusen, J. B. Truesdall, C. C. Southard, Isaac Wilson, and T. Sebing, fol- lowed down the Trinity to the Bald hills, and then crossed over to the coast, thus failing to discover the fact that the Trinity did not empty into the ocean direct. They came upon the coast at Mad river, which was so named by them because Gregg flew into a passion there, when some of the party wanted to abandon the enterprise and not go up the coast a few miles to examine a bay the Indians told them lay in that direction. They had endured many hardships on the mountains, and now gladly accepted the fish the Indians offered them. As directed by the natives, they went up the coast, and discovered a bay about fifteen miles long and eight wide, supposing the river and bay to be the Trinity and the Trinidad. These were, in reality, Mad river and Trinidad bay. From this point they traveled south inland, and soon came upon a stream whence they found Indians taking fish in great abundance. They named the stream Eel river, and continued up its banks and through the Coast Range to Sonoma, reaching there some time in February. The news that Trinidad bay had been discovered spread like wildfire, and a dozen expeditions began to fit out : a few by land, but most of them by sea, some of them having members of the late exploring party connected with them, and some " going it blind " on good principles.
Meanwhile, the other party that had come down to San Francisco in November had chartered the brig Cameo, and sailed on the ninth of December. They utterly failed to find any such bay, and returned with the report that Trinidad was a myth, only to be greeted by the appearance of the land party, and the assurance that it certainly did exist. Away sailed the Cameo again, fol- lowed by the others as rapidly as they could be gotten ready.
Up and down the coast they sailed, meeting with numerous adventures and mishaps, but failing utterly to find any bay. Some of them returned with reports of their ill success, claiming the bay to be a myth, while others still maintained the search. The return of the unsuccessful searchers did not restrain others from attempting the voyage. Ships sailed loaded with adventurers, some of them being on the co-operative plan, while others charged from fifty to one hundred dollars for
* In regard to the knowledge the trappers had of this region, Mr. Meek writes as follows :-
ETNA, Siskiyou Co., Cal., January 4, 1882.
MR. H. L. WELLS-Dear Sir: As regards the early history of Humboldt bay, it is very clear that the first exploration along that coast, and within the bay itself, was made by Mr. William G. Ray, a factor of the Hudson Bay Company, who was sent down the coast from Vancouver to attempt the establishment of one or more stations on the coast, about the year 1830 or 1831. He entered this bay (being under the impression that it was Drake's bay), passing elose under the bluff called Table bluff, and discovered what he named Clearwater bay, on account of the purity of its waters. On landing he found the Indians so hostile that no permanent station was established at that time, whereupon he sailed fartlier south and established a post at Drake's bay, which is there yet, I believe. This same Mr. Ray, as good a man as ever lived, at the beginning of the Mexican war, being still an employee of the Hudson Bay Company, took sides with the Americans in the contest, contrary to the wishes of his employers, for which action he was cash- iered. This disgrace preyed upon his mind to such an extent that he committed suicide in his own house in San Fran- cisco, and was buried in the garden of the old establishment, from whence his remains have been removed to a cemetery.
Yours truly, STEPHEN H. MEEK.
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passengers. In this way, the Cameo, Sierra Nevada, James R. Whiting, Isabel, Arabian, General Morgan, Hector, California, Paragon, Laura Virginia, Jacob M. Ryerson, Malleroy, Galinda, and Petapsco, had all gone in search of the mysterious bay by the first of April, 1850, at which time news of its discovery reached San Francisco from passengers of the Cameo, the first to sail, and the first to discover, though not till three months afterwards, the long-sought harbor. On the sixteenth of March, 1850, the Cameo rounded to off Trinidad heads, and sent a boat's crew to examine a point that made out into the sea. This crew, among whom was W. C. R. Smith, rounded the point, and found the entrance to a harbor which they believed to be the long-sought Trinidad. The Cameo was compelled to sail on account of the stormy weather, and proceeded to Point St. George, where she landed her passengers, unaware that the men in the boat had dis- covered the bay. The deserted men explored the bay, near the head of which they found a tree with the following inscription :
Lat. 41° 3' 32" Barometer 29° 86' Ther. Fah. 48° at 12 M. Dec. 7, 1849. J. Gregg.
This was the record left by the other party, and proved the truth of their story about having seen the bay. Some twenty miles north of the bay they discovered a river entering the ocean, which they supposed to be the Trinity. They were on shore eight days, and were nearly starved, when the Laura Virginia arrived in the offing, and was piloted in by the hungry explorers, being the first vessel to enter the harbor. She was soon followed by the James R. Whiting and Califor- nia. The California sailed for San Francisco on March 28, with news that the bay had been found, and the Cameo supposed to be lost.
Late in March, Selim Franklin, C. E. Gordon, Captain McDonald, and G. Chandler, with two sailors, left San Francisco in a whale-boat in search of Trinidad. Early in April they came to the mouth of Eel river, which they supposed to be the Trinity. The schooner Jacob M. Ryerson appeared a few hours later, and the two companies united in exploring the stream a distance of forty miles, finding deep water. A town was laid out, and some of the men went over to Trinidad to get goods that had been shipped to that point. Franklin returned from there to San Francisco to procure supplies and to advertise the new town, which he did by assuring every one that the river led direct to the mines, though he had no evidence of the fact beyond his hope that it was true.
A few days prior to this, however, Eel river had again been discovered and named. Samuel Brannan had fitted out the schooner General Morgan, commanded by his brother John, and on the fifth of April anchored off the mouth of Eel river; the Laura Virginia, which had left Trinidad, also coming to anchor there. Two boats, each commanded by a Brannan, entered the river, which they named Brannan river, followed by a boat from the other vessel, which was swamped in the surf, and Julius S. Rowan drowned. The Laura Virginia sailed north, and entered a fine bay, which Captain Ottinger named Humboldt in honor of the renowned traveler, and located the town of the same name. The Brannans explored the river some distance, and the next day crossed a neck of land at the front of a high bluff, which they named Brannan bluff, dragging their boat after them, and entered Humboldt bay. This they called Mendocino bay, after the cape not far distant, apparently forgetting to apply the name Brannan to it also. They went to Trinidad, com- menced to lay out a town there with R. A. Parker's company, quarreled about the division of the lots, and returned to San Francisco in disgust.
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About a dozen men from the different vessels were drowned by the upsetting of boats in the surf, among whom were Lieutenants Bache and Browning, of the United States coast survey, and John H. Peoples, the man who had gone to the relief of the suffering emigrants on the Lassen route the fall before.
When news of the discovery of the long-sought bay of Trinidad reached San Francisco, there was great excitement, and vessels at once advertised to start thither with freight and passengers. Nor were these enterprises confined to ventures by sea, for even before the bay was found, parties had started overland for the Trinity mines; and when word was received of the discovery of the bay that many had begun to believe mythical, a new impulse was given in this direction. Men went from all over the state, and by various routes, generally through Napa valley, or up the Sacramento river and by way of Shasta.
After the discovery of the bay, the geography of that section of the country was soon settled by the indefatigable prospector. The Trinity was discovered to be only a tributary of the Klamath, which stream was at first supposed to be Rogue river. Within a few weeks gold was found on the Klamath, Salmon, and Scott rivers, and at the celebrated Gold Bluff, which caused such an excite- ment the following winter. The towns of Trinidad, Humboldt, Eureka, Uniontown, and Klamath City were laid out, and during that and the next season the whole northern portion of the state was opened up and added to the gold-fields of California.
HISTORY
OF
PLUMAS, LASSEN, AND SIERRA COUNTIES.
ATOWN HALL OF
PUBLIC SCHOOL, QUINCY .. HISTORY OF Town HALL - QUINCY.
PLUMAS COUNTY
CALI
CALIFORNIA.
CHURCH, QUINCYA
INDEX
· TO TIIE
HISTORY OF PLUMAS COUNTY.
Page
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Topography 133
Snow and Rain 140
Geology 134
Lassen Peak 136
Perils of the Snow 141
Beckwith's Exploring Party
136
Altitudes
137
Floods
143
Population.
138
EARLY HISTORY OF PLUMAS COUNTY
144-156
Development of Plumas 152
Exodus of 1852. 152
Sufferings in the Snow
153
First Diggings in the County
151
Formation of Butte County.
151
ORGANIZATION OF PLUMAS COUNTY
156-160
First Election. 160
Organie Act. 157
Meeting of Commissioners.
159
Buckbee and Porter play Seven-up
160
Townships created by Butte County
159
Harbison's Election
160
OFFICIAL HISTORY OF PLUMAS COUNTY 161-166
First Townships 161
First Board of Supervisors . 161
New Townships.
162
Creation of Lassen County . 162
Supervisor Districts
166
THE COURTS AND JUDICIARY 166-183
District Court. 166
County Court 168
Probate Court 169
Court of Sessions .
169
First Grand Jury 170
POLITICAL HISTORY OF PLUMAS COUNTY
183-200
List of County Officers.
192
Senators and Assemblymen .
195
Presidential and Gubernatorial Vote
.199
Biographies of Treasurers
188
Officers of Court of Sessions
171
Superior Court
171
Justices of the Peace.
172
The Bench and Bar, with Names and Biogra-
phies of Judges and Attorneys
.174
Biographies of County Clerks 183
Biographies of Sheriffs
185
Yeates-Clark Contest
187
Annexation of La Porte
163
Boundaries of Plumas
163
Present Townships
164
Sage-Brush War (see Lassen county).
Trappers and Explorers. 144
Lassen Route . . 144
Gold Lake Excitement 145
Sharpe vs. Kingsbury . 160
Reasons for a New County 156
133-143
Snow-slide. 140
Snow-shoeing
142
11
130
PLUMAS COUNTY FINANCES
200-206
Old Butte County Debt. . 200
Chapman's Defalcation 202
Foreign Miners' Licenses . 200
Sharpe's Defalcation 201
Miners' Shortage ..
202
Assessment and Taxes
206
HISTORICAL REMINISCENCES 206-230
The Rich Bar Painting .206
Early Justice in Plumas .207
Miners' Meeting at Rich Bar
207
Hanging of Amada Cardinez. 219
Fredonyer's Talk against Time
219
Lynching of Ross and Williams 220
The Francis Trial.
220
The Gilson-Wilson Tragedy 210
The Leggett-Morrison Duel 211
Lynching of the Negro Joshua
211
Pioneer Probating.
213
Murder of A. Z. Page 225
Phillips Killed by Kelley
226
The Crawford-Ross Tragedy
226
Murder of John R. McVay
226
Fire in Green Mountain Mine.
227
Anderson's Administration 228
List of Felony Convictions
228
Patients in the Insane Asylum
229
Veterans of the Mexican War
230
Got the Wrong Witness
217
TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION 230-241
Methods
230
Quincy and Indian Valley Road
235
Express Lines 231 La Porte and Quincy Road . 235
Dog Express
232
Stage Lines. .
233
Red Clover Wagon Road
237
Oroville and Honey Lake Road.
237
Oroville and Virginia City R. R. Co. 237
Sierra Iron and Quincy R. R. Co
240
Telegraph Lines.
240
Telephone Line
241
Oroville and Beckwourth Pass Road.
235
QUARTZ TOWNSHIP. .
Discovery of Quartz. 241
Plumas Eureka Mine
242
Mohawk Valley
242
Jamsion City .
242
MINERAL TOWNSHIP 246-256
Rich Bar 246
Pap McShane's Hat 248
Meadow Valley 251
First White Lady and Child 249
Buck's Ranch 253
Old Man McCullough
249
Spanish Peak. 255
Monte Christo Mine
255
Robert M. Blakemore 250
Barton's Bail Bond.
218
Tragic Death of Ransom Griswold.
218
Miners' Meeting at Rocky Bar
. 207
The Peregrinating Justice
.208
The Slate Creek Tragedy .
209
Killed for a Bear
221
The Centennial in Quincy
221
A Plucky Chinaman
224
Indian Troubles in Indian Valley
213
Hanging of George Rose
214
Nelson Creek Vigilantes
214
The Jacinto Arro Case.
215
A Model Inquest.
216
Three Fugitive Murderers
216
O'Brien's Brief Bonanza .
216
Execution of Elder and Jenkins
.217
The $10,000 Folly.
237
Snow-shoes on Horses.
233
Quincy and Spanish Ranch Road 234
Pioneer Wagon Road
234
Plumas Turnpike Company
234
Chico and Humboldt Road.
235
241-246
Johnsville
242
Spanish Ranch 250
County Debt.
203
Licenses in 1854
203
Page
131
Page
SIERRA VALLEY ..
Discovery of Beckwourth Pass .257
Discovery and Settlement of Sierra Val-
ley . . 259
Beckwourth
260
Summit.
260
Randolph
.261
PLUMAS TOWNSHIP
Description .275
Town Hall Association 279
Settlement of American Valley 275
Quincy Hose Company 280
Elizabethtown, or Betsyburg 276
Quincy Church
280
Quincy
277
Young Men's Reading Club 281
Court-house and Jail
278
Quincy Lodges 281
Quincy Schools
279
Plumas Rangers 282
GOODWIN TOWNSHIP.
287-293
First Discoveries 287
Little Grass Valley . 290
Rich Bar 287
Onion Valley 290
Mining Camps on Middle Fork.
288
Saw Pit Flat
290
Nelson Creek and Nelson Point . 288
La Porte
290
Butte Bar.
289
Sierra County Blues 292
Incident of Butte Bar
289
SENECA TOWNSHIP
293-294
Humbug Valley .293 | Big Meadows and Prattville 293
INDIAN VALLEY
295-311
Early Settlement 295
Crescent Mills 298
Taylorville 296
Round Valley 298
Greenville.
297
Red Clover Valley
299
JOURNALISM IN PLUMAS COUNTY
312-313
Newspapers and their editors.
SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION
313-315
Early Schools
313 | Pioneer District
314
CHURCHES OF PLUMAS COUNTY
.315-316
By Rev. L. Ewing.
INDUSTRIES OF THE COUNTY
316
Agriculture 316
Saw-mills
. . .
.317
Dairying 317
Mining
318
Flour Mills. 317
INDEX TO BIOGRAPHIES OF PLUMAS COUNTY.
Abbott, Joshua C. 294
Beaton, Alexander. . . . 263
Bonner, Thomas D . 208
Adams, J. C. 271
Beckwourth, James P. 256
Boring, Isaac C 188
Bacher, Antone 307
Bidwell, Henry C .302
Brabban, Dixon . 292
Banet, Walter M. 267
Black, Thomas 265
Bringham. Marion C. 262
Barnett, Robert I 182
Blakemore, Robert M. 250
Brown, A. M 274
Battelle, T. S. 270
Blood, J. M. 301
Brown, J. C.
268
Baugh, B. B .310
Blough, W 309
Buckbee, Hon. John R.
182
256-275
Loyalton .260
Craycroft 261
Antelope District
261
Sierraville
261
275-286
132
Bunnell, L. Wellington . .. 322
Buxton, G. Q. . . 273
Byers, James D. (see Lassen
County also) ..
186
Byers, William T
185
Carter, Dr. J. S. .307
Cate, Daniel R.
188
Cate, La Fayette, M. D
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