USA > California > Lassen County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 20
USA > California > Plumas County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 20
USA > California > Sierra County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 20
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On Tuesday, January 25, 1881, John Harold, a workman at the Monte Christo mine, and Mrs. John Nibecker, wife of the engineer at the same place, started from Buck's ranch to go to the mine on Spanish Peak. At the time they left it was storming some, but before they reached the top of the grade the wind and snow were beating down the mountain in a terrific manner. A few rods from where the road to the mine turns off from the stage road they were overtaken by James Parker, driver of the stage, with his sled, and rode as far as the junction. When Parker learned of their intention to go to the mine, he endeavored to persuade the woman to go on with him to the toll-house and stay all night, and not attempt to climb the mountain until the storm ceased. He told them that they were now sheltered from the force of the storm, but that when they got upon the top of the hill the wind would be terrific, and they would perish from cold and fatigue, and be buried by the drifting snow. His warnings were not heeded, and they started up the hill, accompanied by a dog that had been their companion, while Parker drove on to Quincy. When Parker reached the same point on his trip back the next morning he observed the dog, and at once surmised that his prediction had been realized. Taking a shovel from his sled, he followed the dog a few rods from the road, and began digging at the foot of a tree where the dog had evi- dently spent the night, not, however, without a show of displeasure by the canine guardian. He soon uncovered the stiffened form of Harold, but searched in vain for his companion. He went on to the mine, and gave the intelligence that soon started a party in search of the missing lady. The previous afternoon George Massey, while on his way from the mine to the toll-gate, saw a · man walking down the wagon road, but thought nothing of it. Soon after he heard a cry that
sounded like a woman's call for aid. He answered it, and received a response. Again answering,
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he went in the direction of the sound, but heard nothing more. Satisfied that he had heard the scream of a California lion, he resumed his journey to the toll-gate. When he heard of the loss of Mrs. Nibecker, Mr. Massey went to the peak, and search was made in the direction of the cry he had heard, and the frozen body of the lady was soon found. This was Thursday, the search having lasted since the day before. It seems evident that. the two had progressed to this spot, when the lady became unable to proceed, and the man started alone for assistance, went in the wrong direction, and finally perished near the roadside. The cry for help heard by Mr. Massey must have been the last effort of exhausted nature, and the hope raised in the lady's breast by the answers, followed by despair when help came not and she was no longer able to speak, were both soon lost forever in the icy sleep of death.
The sad tragedy came not to an end with the death of the first two actors. When Mr. Parker carried the news to the mine on Wednesday, the gentleman in charge there, E. J. Parsons, selected George Robinson, a young man twenty-one years of age, to carry the intelligence to the toll-house and Meadow valley, and to procure a large sleigh for the purpose of carrying the bodies to the valley. He strapped on his snow-shoes and started down the mountain, and headed directly for the toll house, where lived his parents, Mr. and Mrs. A. Robinson. Late in the afternoon some of the searchers for Mrs. Nibecker went to the toll-house, and were horrified to learn that young Rob- inson had not been there. They at once thought of a large snow-slide they had observed across the road, and hastened back . to see if perchance the body of the young man lay beneath it. When they reached the point, about a mile above the toll-gate, they found an immense mass of loose snow lying across the road, that had slid down a little hollow. The wind had blown it over the edge of the bank, where it accumulated until it broke off by its own weight and went rushing down the hollow, just in time to meet and bury out of sight the messenger of mercy. The young man was coming down the mountain to the road with the speed of the wind, going in a course diagonal to the avalanche, which the howling of the storm and the beating of the snow prevented him from observing. As he reached the road he was struck by the descending mass, possibly killed by the shock, and covered in a twinkling with a spotless shroud of snow. All this was but
too plainly revealed by the tracks of his snow-shoes that led directly into the slide. Work was at once commenced to excavate the body. Day and night did eager hands ply the shovel, fresh men taking the places of the exhausted ones. Robinson was a young man of splendid character, and a general favorite with all; and when the intelligence was spread abroad that he lay beneath an avalanche of snow, many hastened to render what assistance they could in recovering his body. Thus they labored, half a hundred men, from Wednesday afternoon until Sunday, night and day ; until, on that quiet Sabbath morning, the body was uncovered and taken to his home but a mile away. His funeral the next Tuesday was attended by a large number of friends, who came many miles through the snow to pay their last respects to the inanimate clay of him who had offered up his young life on the altar of mercy.
Another incident, one that occurred during the winter of 1857-58, will suffice to illustrate the perils of the snow. Heavy falls of snow that season had made traveling dangerous to the inexpe- rienced. Few ventured a trip over the mountains, unless in company with the hardy expressmen, who were experts in the art of snow-traveling, and were always provided against emergencies. Occasionally, however, some daring spirit would start out alone, and oftentimes realize but too painfully the folly of his. undertaking. The following adventure is but one of the many similar ones that have occurred yearly since the county was first inhabited. Mining on Rich bar, east branch, that winter, was an old pioneer, William L. Perkins, an old sailor who had pursued the
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mighty leviathan of the deep in the icy seas for many years. One bright morning he left Meadow valley, and followed the trail left by others in the snow to Buck's ranch, at which place he arrived about ten o'clock in the forenoon. After resting a short time, he pushed on towards Buckeye, only to encounter the deep snow on the summit. Through this he struggled and plunged until he became completely exhausted, and he sank powerless in the snow within two miles of the station he was striving to reach. Fully realizing his terrible condition, he managed to crawl through the snow several hundred yards, and then, overcome by cold and fatigue, lay down in his cold couch and surrendered himself to his fate. The drowsy numbness that precedes death in this form soon released him from the agony of a consciousness of his impending fate, and he sank into that slumber that, unless rudely disturbed, leads surely to the embrace of death. A deliverer was at hand. With papers, packages, and letters strapped upon their backs, and fighting sturdily against the elements in their endeavor to make as quick time as possible to American valley, came the energetic expressman, F. B. Whiting, and an assistant. It was about ten o'clock at night when they came upon the unconscious form of a man in the snow, in which Mr. Whiting at once recognized his old friend Perkins. Quickly raising him to his feet, it was found that he was unable to stand or move, and seemed to be beyond hope of resuscitation. The assistant was dispatched in haste to Buckeye for help, blankets, and restoratives. When these arrived, wine was forced down the throat of the benumbed man, which revived him so that he exhibited unmis- takable signs of life. He was then placed upon a blanket and drawn through the snow to the station, where he was fully restored. Though his feet were badly frozen, he continued his journey, after recruiting a few days at the Buckeye. Some years subsequent to this he was crossing the river in a boat at Twelve Mile bar, was capsized, and though a strong swimmer, was drowned with three companions.
Snow-shoeing is quite an art, and to become expert in the use of these implements requires considerable practice. Like skating, it demands natural strength and dexterity to become an adept. All through the mountains this method of travel is adopted to go from place to place, where high mountain ridges covered with deep snow have to be crossed. Two kinds of snow-shoes are used, the Indian and the Norwegian. The former is an egg-shaped hoop, filled with a network of threads. When it is placed upon the foot, the wearer has his weight distributed over a large surface, but has to walk in order to make any progression. The Norwegian shoe, or rather skate, is excellently well adapted to locomotion on the frozen crust of the snow-more so, even, than on the loose snow when newly fallen. It consists of a bar shaped like the runner of a sled, six to ten feet long, four inches wide, two inches thick in the middle, and grooved underneath. The foot is strapped upon the middle of the shoe, and with a long pole in his hand by which to steer, the skater shoots down the hill like a rocket. Climbing the hills by the aid of the pole is not so easy, but still is rapidly done by an experienced skater. The skill displayed in the Scandinavian moun- tains by the originators of these wooden skates is marvelous in the extreme; and for many months . in the year all travel among the icy bergs is done by means of the swiftly gliding skate, and many a legend and tradition hangs about the precipitous mountain passes. One of these relates the bold feat of a Norseman who was captured by a band of Swedes on their way to make a raid into some mountain village of his countrymen; and compelled to act as a guide through the dangerous mountain defiles. He conducted them safely until he came to a place where the trail turned sharply around the face of a cliff but a few feet from the verge of a yawning chasm. Yelling to his captors to follow him, he shot like an arrow down the descent that led to this dangerous pass, and then turned sharply to one side and disappeared around the cliff; while those behind, unaware of the precipice
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until right at its verge, and unable to either stop or turn, plunged, one after the other, over its slippery side, and were dashed to pieces on the rocks and ice below.
The rain-fall in Plumas is the same that is common to the more northern portion of the Sierra. Much of it comes in the form of snow, and it is customary to estimate a foot of snow as an inch of rain, and in this way pretty accurate records can be kept. Aside from the damage to bridges and mining claims, which has sometimes been very great and disastrous, high water has but few terrors for the people in the mountains. Water frequently covers the valleys of this county in low places, but as it leaves nothing behind it but a little of the soil washed down from the mountain-sides, it is rather a benefit than otherwise.
The earliest information we have of a flood exists in the traditions of the savages, who say that years ago there was a terrible flood, in which thousands of natives lost their lives, and hundreds of rancherias on the banks of rivers were washed away and destroyed. It is an era in their history from which they date events in the Sacramento valley, and occurred in the beginning of the present century, about the year 1805. The annals of the Hudson Bay Company show that the year 1818 was one of excessive storms and tremendous floods. The winter of 1826-27, when Jedediah S. Smith passed through California with his trapping party, the water rose so high in the Sacramento valley that he was driven to the Marysville buttes for a camping place, which he found teeming with elk, antelope, and bear that had also sought refuge there.
A number of other wet seasons are reported by the early pioneers. All remember the wet and muddy winter of 1849-50, and the difficulty experienced in keeping the mining camps supplied with food. The winter of 1852-53 was a disastrous one throughout the whole state. The Sacra- mento valley was one vast sea of water, and great damage was done to the cities, and to all improvements, such as mining appliances, bridges, mills, etc. In Plumas county there was little to damage except the flumes and wing-dams in the rivers, but the storms so blockaded the moun- tain trails that many were in danger of starving. [For the particulars of this see The Exodus of 1852, farther on.] The winter of 1861-62 was one that will long be remembered in California for its devastating floods, that came pouring down the mountains, sweeping everything before them, and leaving ruin and desolation in their pathway. The cities of Marysville, Sacramento, and Stockton, as well as dozens of towns lying in the great valley, were inundated, and suffered great loss of life and property. The whole valley was flooded, and covered by a great inland sea miles in extent. Houses, barns, fences, and all kinds of objects went whirling down on the bosom of the torrent, and hundreds of animals mingled their piteous cries with the roar of the angry waters that were rapidly bearing them away to destruction. Every river seemed bent upon adding its quota to the great sum of damage; and when spring set in, scarcely a bridge of any importance in the state remained to boast of successful battle with the foe. In Plumas county, as in the other mining counties of the Sierra, the damage to bridges and mining claims was considerable, and the flood caused many to go to Idaho who would otherwise have remained in the mines of California. Since that time there have been a number of seasons of comparatively high water; but it was reserved for the storms of January and February, 1881, to strike the severest blow. Scarcely a bridge of any importance in the county was left standing, and the bridge bill of the county for the past year, to repair the damage caused by those two weeks of storm, amounts to a fortune.
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EARLY HISTORY OF PLUMAS COUNTY.
With the early history of California, its missions and priests, its Spanish and Mexican rulers, and its conquest by the Americans, these mountain regions have but little part. The native Californians never penetrated into the heart of the mountains that skirt the Sacramento valley on the east. Gazing from a distance upon their snowy crests, they had named them Sierra Nevada-the snowy mountains-but beyond this they remained terra incognita to them. The trappers of the Hudson Bay Company and the American Fur Company crossed the mountains first in 1825, and frequently thereafter, but farther to the south, or by the way of Pit river or the Sacramento. This region remained unknown and unexplored until the ignis fatuus of gold drew into the mountain recesses an eager band of adventurers, and opened to the world these grand mountains and lovely valleys.
The early history of Plumas properly begins with the naming of the river from which its name was derived, and whose arms and tendrils reach out into the county in all directions. Its patron stream, the Feather river, has been for years the fountain of its wealth and the source of its prosperity. In 1820 a Spanish exploring expedition passed up the valley, headed by Captain Louis A. Argüello. By this party the name Rio de las Plumas, or Feather river, was bestowed upon the stream, because of the great number of feathers of wild fowl floating on its bosom. At the same time the Yuba river was christened Rio de los Uva. As the Spanish pronunciation of the word was "Ooba," it is easy to see how it was Americanized into " Yuba " by the heedless miner. Bear river was named Rio de los Osos by the same party.
Passing on, we find the next step to be the settlement of Peter Lassen at the celebrated Lassen's ranch, on Deer creek, in Tehama county. [See Early History of Lassen County, farther on.] It was in December, 1843, that this old pioneer started from Sutter's Fort to settle on his grant on Deer creek, which he reached about the first of February, 1844, having camped for several weeks at the Marysville buttes. This was the first settlement north of Marysville, where Theodore Cordua was then living, and was a celebrated place in the early days and during the first few years of the emigration to the gold fields. Associated with Lassen in the pioneer days was a Russian or Pole named Isadore Meyerwitz. It is probable that these two were the first white men to set foot within the limits of Plumas county. Certain it is that they were here in 1848, and how much sooner it is impossible to say-possibly never before that year. In the year 1846 a company of men from the Willamette valley laid out what is known as the southern route to Oregon [see page 59], running from Fort Hall west to Goose lake, then to Tule lake and through the Modoc country, across Lost river, around the south end of Klamath lake, through the pass to Rogue River valley, and thence up to the Willamette by the old Hudson Bay Company's route. The route followed by emigrants to Yreka and vicinity, in 1851, and later years, was this Oregon trail as far as Klamath lake, and there it turned to the south-west to Yreka by the way of Sheep Rock. Two years after the Oregon road was laid out, Peter Lassen opened up the celebrated Lassen route to California. This was nothing more nor less than the Oregon road as far as the head-waters of Pit river. There it branched to the south, and followed down that stream till north of Lassen Peak, then passing along the eastern base of that lofty mountain it struck Mountain Meadows, then west to the Big Meadows in this county, then to the head-waters of Deer creek, and down that stream to Lassen's ranch, where most of the emigrant parties disbanded.
V
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HON. J. D. GOODWIN.
RESIDENCE OF J. D. GOODWIN, JACKSON ST, QUINCY, CALA.
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Lassen, accompanied by Paul Richeson, went to Fort Hall in the summer of 1848, and induced a train of emigrants to submit themselves to his guidance, and try the new route to California; the route theretofore traveled leading down the Humboldt, over to the Truckee, up that stream and across the mountains by the way of Donner lake and Bear river to Johnson's ranch on the latter stream, and thence to Sutter's Fort. There were twelve wagons in the train that decided to attempt the new road, and Lassen led them along safely, though they encountered some extremely rugged and difficult mountains, until they reached Mountain Meadows or Big Meadows, where their provisions and animals both became exhausted, and they stopped to recruit the one and sup- ply the other. Here they were overtaken by a company from Oregon with twenty wagons, on their way to the gold fields of California-news of the great discovery not having reached Oregon till the last of August. This was about the first of November. With the aid of the Oregon party they made their way safely to Lassen's ranch, where the train disbanded. A large emigration was diverted from the Carson route in 1849 and 1850, and induced to follow Lassen's cut-off, or, as it was sometimes called, Lassen's Horn route, sarcastically classing it with the journey around Cape Horn. The point of divergence from the main route down the Humboldt was indicated by a post stuck in the desert sands, surrounded by a watchful body-guard of sage brush, and inclined at an angle of forty-five degrees, across which was a shake bearing the legend "Lassen Road," to woo the unwary emigrant from the crooked and broad way he had been following. Many were wooed and won, and turned from the beaten track to follow this new road, of which they knew nothing save that it was claimed to be a shorter route to the mines. One of these was Cyrus Laufman, now and for years a prominent citizen of this county. Those who came later than Mr. Laufman had a severe experience with snow and scarcity of provisions, and many would have perished but for the timely succor sent to them from the valley. [See page 87.]
Of the hundreds that traveled through the county, none remained even to prospect its streams. They were bound for California ; and no emigrant thought himself at his journey's end until the Sacramento valley was reached. Sacramento City was the objective point of the majority, and thousands passed by camp after camp of miners to reach that point, only to retrace their steps to the same mines they had passed a month before. For this reason, Plumas county retained none of the many that passed through it in 1849. Yet one of these emigrants was the cause of the opening up of this region the following season, the hero of an adventure so shrouded in mystery, so possible and yet so improbable, that people with equal opportunities for forming an opinion on the subject differ widely from each other in the amount of credence they give to the story he related. The writer has conversed with many who were connected with the Gold lake excitement, listened to their narratives, and heard their speculations and opinions, and feels himself unable to do more than give the story in its different phases as it has been presented to him.
Gold lake, of which Plumas and Sierra counties each has one, is none the less a creature of tradition. If it ever had an existence other than in the brain of the man who claimed to have found it, some other name has been applied to it, and its identity has never been established. We are confronted at the outset by two stories of the way the author of the excitement claimed the lake was first discovered, the most probable of which is as follows: Among the emigrants by the Lassen road in the fall of 1849 was a man named Stoddard, the cause of all the subsequent excite- ment. When they arrived in the Sierra, probably in the neighborhood of Big Meadows, Stoddard, with one companion, went out upon a hunting expedition, for the purpose of replenishing the depleted larder of his company. Unversed in mountain life and unskilled in woodcraft, the two Nimrods lost their way, and wandered about for several days in search of the camp they had left,
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but in vain. They then undertook to get out of the mountains by following the course of the streams. They came one day upon a small lake, with an area of from ten to fifteen acres, inclosed by high and rocky mountains. In a ravine on the lake shore, where the water from the melted snow of the previous spring had washed the bed-rock bare, they found some large chunks of gold. Frightened by their precarious condition in an unknown wilderness of mountains, exposed to dangers they know not what, and feeling that no time nor effort must be wasted if they would extricate themselves from their enforced seclusion and reach the homes of civilization, they did not stop to examine the place critically, nor even to make such observations as would enable them to return to the spot, but put a few of the golden pieces in their pockets, and hurried on. The next day they were suddenly treated to a shower of arrows from a party of Indians, and Mr. Stoddard , took to his heels, and by dint of hard running made his escape. What became of his companion he knew not, but supposed that he fell a victim to their savage assailants. For several days he toiled over high mountains and through dark and rocky cañons, scarcely stopping to rest, until at last he reached the north fork of Yuba river. Here he found the advance guard of the miners, who had pushed themselves up that stream, and obtained food and shelter. His story was related, but as the winter was just setting in, no one dared to trust himself to the cold mercies of a winter in the Sierra, so far from supplies, and in a region as yet unknown. The sad fate of the Donner party, in the winter of 1846-47, was fresh in their minds, and the dangers and hardships of a winter in the Sierra were dreaded by all. Many who had faith in the tale of Stoddard decided to go into the unknown region in the spring, with the hope that if the celebrated lake was not found, or even was a myth, something rich enough to reward them would be discovered. During the winter the miners moved about from place to place, and in this way the story of Stoddard and the wonderful Gold lake was circulated along the Yuba and Feather rivers.
Meanwhile, Stoddard went to San Francisco, where he knew were friends of his unfortunate companion, to see if, by chance, he had also escaped, and had gone to meet his friends in that city. Nothing had been heard of the missing man; and after waiting several weeks, Stoddard became convinced that his body was lying not far from the wonderful lake. He then went back to the Yuba, and sought to organize a company to go in search of the marvelous lake of gold. So strange was his tale, that many believed him crazy, and would have nothing to do with him. His specimens were a convincing argument, however, and hundreds who placed no reliance upon the account he gave of the way he had procured them were none the less anxious to be led to the place where such chunks of gold could be found, without caring whether they came from a lake, river, or any particular place. At that time the miners had a theory that the " source of gold " lay high up in the mountains. They had noticed that the gold became coarser as they ascended the streams; aud what was more natural than to suppose that there was some place up in the mountains where it all came from, and where it could be picked up in chunks such as those exhibited by Stoddard? In many places around the old claims, generally in crevices, had been found "pockets," from which several hundred dollars were taken out in a few minutes, and it was not a violent assumption to think that "farther up," near or at the "source of gold," they could gather in twenty-four hours as much of the precious metal as could be carried away. Stoddard was therefore watched by those who felt a desire to try their luck in the search for Gold lake.
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