USA > California > Lassen County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 35
USA > California > Plumas County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 35
USA > California > Sierra County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 35
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Prominent among the residents of the valley is Mr. G. W. Meylert, extensively engaged in dairying and raising vegetables. He supplied the Plumas Eureka Company the past year with 120,000 lbs. of potatoes, 30,000 lbs. of cabbage, 20,000 lbs. of turnips, 7,000 lbs. of beets, 7,000 lbs. of carrots, and 26,000 lbs. of onions.
There are some gravel mines in the valley, a quartz ledge owned by Hapgood & Co., which prospects well; also some rich iron ore yet undeveloped, but which gives promise of great value. The valley and adjacent mountains are covered with a heavy growth of excellent timber, and the coming of the railroad promises to work wonders in the development of the latent resources of this region.
The first settlement in the valley was made in the early part of June, 1851, by Asa Gould and a few others on the Mohawk ranch, now the property of Mrs. King. The same party, with a few others, among whom were Jamison, whose name was given to the town of Jamison, and a Mr. Friend, located the Sulphur Springs place, now the property of Mr. McLear, early in the following July. The name Mohawk was given to the valley by these first settlers, in honor of the valley by the same name in the Allegheneys, from which some of them came.
GEORGE SPEAR MCLEAR .- This gentleman was born in the town of Mount Jory, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, January 28, 1828. He was the third child and second son of Arthur and Isabel (Spear) MeLear, who were both natives of the same county. When he was seventeen years of age his father died, and he went into a furniture manufactory, where he learned the cabinet trade. After completing his education in this branch, he removed to Dayton, Montgomery county, Ohio, where he followed the same business. In February, 1855, he went to New York and sailed for San Francisco, where he arrived on the sixth of March. From there he went to Georgetown, El Dorado county, and followed mining and carpentering for a short time. His next move was to Weaverville and Yreka, in northern California, on a prospecting trip. Soon he returned to Thompson's flat, near Oroville, where he worked at carpentering until the spring of 1856, when he removed to Jamison creek, and spent three years mining; after which he purchased the hotel kept
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by Friend & Byers. It was destroyed by fire some time after, and he engaged in merchandising for five years. He disposed of his store in 1867, and purchased the Sulphur Springs ranch and hotel. On the seventeenth of October, 1867, he married Mrs. Mary J. Purdom, and by this union there are four children, George, Isabel, Maud, and Edith. Mrs. McLear's maiden name was Holmes. She was a daughter of William and Margaret Holmes, of the north of Ireland, where she was born on the second day of February, 1843. When about twelve years of age she came to the United States, in company with a brother and sister, and settled in Galena, Illinois. She came to California in 1861, and stopped in Honey Lake valley, where, on September 16 of the same year, she was married to T. C. Purdom, who died in 1864. They had one daughter, Frankie, who was born June 14, 1862. Mr. McLear is a republican in politics; in 1879 he was appointed to fill a vacancy in the board of supervisors, and in 1880 was elected to the same office for three years. An engraving of the Sulphur Springs hotel, of which he is proprietor, can be seen on another page of this volume.
GURDON W. MEYLERT .- Seckn and Abigail (Nichols) Meylert, the former a native of Germany and the latter of Connecticut, reared a family of nine children, the youngest of whom, the subject of our sketch, was born at Montrose, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, May 19, 1837. He was educated at Lewisburgh, Pennsylvania, and at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, at Troy, New York. At the age of seventeen he made a trip to China, and thence to California in 1855. He resided for a time in San Francisco, and then went into business in Sacramento, where he was at the time of the flood of 1861-62. From thence he came to Plumas county, where he has resided and engaged in active business pursuits ever since. For the past eight years he has been a contractor at the Plumas Eureka mine. He has always taken an interest in public affairs; was superintendent of the county schools for several years; was one of the projectors of the Sierra Iron and Quincy R. R. Co., in which he is a large stockholder. He is a member of Plumas Lodge No. . 88, I. O. O. F., and Plumas Lodge ' No. 60, F. & A. M. Mr. Meylert is extensively engaged in dairying, for which purpose he keeps about 120 cows on his ranch in Mohawk valley. He has 1,200 acres of fine land for pasture and meadow, from which he cuts 250 tons of hay. He also raises great quantities of vegetables. February 27, 1864, he married Miss H. E. Madden, daughter of G. W. Madden of Taylorville, in this county. Mr. Meylert has recently been appointed by the president to take charge of the United States land office at Susanville.
MRS. R. KING .- This lady is a resident of Mohawk valley, and was born in Syke, near Bremen, Germany, September 12, 1825. She was married in Germany to a Mr. Dieterick. In 1855 they came to California directly from Germany, and settled at Gibsonville. Here her first son, Henry Dicterick, was born; and here also Mr. Dieterick died. In 1857 she removed to Mohawk valley ; and in the same year was married to Fred King, who lived on the Sulphur Springs ranch, where three of their family were born : Fred M. (who was the second boy born in the valley), Nellie C., and Ida E. Charles D. was born in Marysville; Nellie died January 7, 1878, after a brief illness of four days. Mrs. King now lives on the Mohawk ranch, and is the post- mistress of Wash post-office.
JOHN W. HILL .- He was born in Monroe county, Missouri, January 24, 1834, and is a son of Wesley and Elizabeth Hill, who were natives of Bourbon, Kentucky. He crossed the plains with his father in 1849, remained in the mines until October, 1851, when he returned to the states, and came to California again in 1852. His father died en route across the plains. He settled in Napa county, and followed farming and stock-growing until 1857. Then he removed to Arizona, and raised stock until 1860, when the Indian troubles drove him out. His next move was to Texas.
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Here he joined the command of General Sibley, and served in the Confederate army until parolled in 1864. He then went to Montana, and engaged in mining until the fall of 1867, when he returned to California, and has since, in company with William Elwell, operated the Squirrel Creek mine. He was married December 25, 1877, to Miss Emma F. O'Neil. There is one child, Emma F., born September 27, 1878.
WILLIAM ELWELL .- This gentleman is a son of Joseph M. and Susan Elwell, and was born in the city of Philadelphia January 28, 1821. When about 22 years of age he removed to Louisiana, and in May, 1850, to California; and has been engaged in mining ever since. For a number of years he was superintendent of the 76 mine, now the Plumas. He, in company with J. W. Hill, owns the Squirrel creek gravel-mines. He is one of about sixteen veterans of the Mexican war now residing in Plumas county. Mr. Elwell is a member of Hope Masonic Lodge No. 294, at Beckwourth ; also a Royal Arch Mason, and a life member of the council at Marysville.
WILLOUGHBY BROTHERS .- Matthew, Henry, and John Willoughby are all natives of Cornwall, England. Matthew came to the United States in the spring of 1869. In a short time he sent for his brother Henry, who arrived in 1870 on American soil. He in turn sent for their younger brother .John, who arrived in the United States in 1872: By industry and business tact they have built themselves up, and we find them at Johnsville, proprietors of a good merchandising establishment, of the Mountain Home, and of a butcher shop, in cach of which they are doing a good business. Henry is the manager in charge of the hotel, John of the store, and Matthew of the meat market. The hotel is one of the best in the county, being neat and comfortably furnished. In connection with the business in Johnsville they own a ranch in Mohawk valley.
HENRY GRAZER .- He is a native of Germany, and emigrated to the United States in 1852. He settled at Cincinnati, Ohio, and removed from there to the Pacific coast in 1870, locating on Crystal creek, then in the state of Nevada. In September, 1876, he removed to Johnsville, and in company with his brother, A. Grazer, engaged in the brewing business. The latter disposed of his interest, and the firm is now Grazer and Lavano.
JOHN A. PHIPPS .- Mr. Phipps is a son of Joseph and Margaret Phipps, natives of the north of Ireland. John was born in the town of Mercer, Mercer county, Pennsylvania, on the twenty-seventh day of December, 1841. When about seventeen years of age he learned blacksmithing from his father, who now resides in Oakland, California. He followed this work in Sharon, Pennsylvania, for a while ; and in February, 1864, sailed from New York for San Francisco. After his arrival he went at once to Amador City, and for eleven years was connected with the quartz-mines there. In 1875 he removed to Plumas Eureka, and took charge of the mills of that company. He was mar- ried September 10, 1866, to Miss Isabel Creighton, daughter of Joseph Creighton of Indian Run, Pennsylvania. There are three children living : James Farley, born September 27, 1873; Eliza J., born June 6, 1876; and John A., born February 4, 1879. Mr. Phipps is a member of the Masonic lodge at Sierra City.
CHARLES M. HILL, M. D .- The doctor is a son of Hon. E. Y. Hill of Georgia, and was born at La Grange, in that state, on the first day of November, 1847. He received his literary education at Washington College, Lexington, Virginia; and his medical education in Louisville, Kentucky, and at Atlanta, Georgia. He removed to California in February, 1877, and located, in April of that year, at Etna Mills, Siskiyou county. After a short time spent there, he was called east on business, and sold his practice. On his return to California, he located at Plumas Eureka mines, as physician and surgeon to the same. He was married on the fifth of February, 1876, to Miss M. J. Hill, daughter of Dr. John S. Hill, who was a brother of Senator Benjamin H. Hill of Georgia.
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F. RODONI .- He is a native of Switzerland, and emigrated to the United States in 1877, and resided for a short time in St. Louis, Missouri. He removed to Plumas county, California, in 1878, and began business at Johnsville, as F. Rodoni & Co., in 1880. Mr. Rodoni is a member of Mohawk Lodge No. 292, I. O. O. F.
W. M. PRATT .- He was born in Wayne county, New York, and removed to Plumas county, California, in 1875. For some years he has been in the employ of the Plumas Eureka mine, work- ing in the Mohawk mill. Mr. Pratt is a member of Mohawk Lodge No. 292, I. O. O. F.
JOHN NEVILL .- Mr. Nevill was born in Wisconsin in 1841. He emigrated to California in 1860, and stopped for a time at Humboldt bay. He removed to Plumas Eureka in 1872, and has since been connected with the mines as contractor for furnishing wood and lumber. He is a mem- ber of Mohawk Lodge No. 292, I. O. O. F. Mr. Nevill was married in 1880 to Mrs. J. V. McNichol of Plumas county.
GEORGE WOODWARD .- This gentleman was born in Wilmington, Delaware, July 14, 1821, and was the son of Alice and George Woodward. He removed with his father's family to Chester county, Pennsylvania, and when twelve years of age went to Champaign county, Ohio, where his parents died. The family consisted of eleven children, ten of whom grew to be men and women. Mr. Woodward, who is a carpenter by trade, served his apprenticeship in Columbus, Ohio. From there he emigrated to California in 1849, and worked at his trade in Sacramento until the flood of 1850, when he went to mining in the fall of 1850 in Plumas county. Since 1851 he has resided permanently in Plumas. He was married October 25, 1857, to Martha Portman, a native of Eng- land. Seven children have been born to them : Florence E., Alice I., George F., Fannie, John J., Edgar W., and Arthur. Mr. Woodward was one of the locators of the Mammoth mine.
MINERAL TOWNSHIP.
This with Quartz comprised the two townships into which this section of Butte county was divided in 1851. It embraced the whole north fork, east branch, American, Indian, and Meadow valleys, as well as the whole north-eastern portion of the county. [See Official History.] Mineral township now embraces the country lying south of the north fork and east branch, west of American valley, and north of the middle fork. The census of 1880 gives this section a population of 729, of which 240 are Chinese and 47 Indians. For the most part the people are engaged in mining at various points, the Chinese nearly all following that pursuit. In Meadow valley and Buck's valley agriculture and dairying are engaged in to some extent.
In the past the most important place in the township, and for a few years even in the county, was Rich bar, on the east branch of the north fork. It was the chief mining center, and flourished a number of years as a prosperous mining camp, and then went the way of all others of its class. A few are working there now, and at other points along the river; but the days when the stream was lined with industrious miners, and the busy hum of life filled the air, have gone never to return. Junction bar, 12-mile bar, Soda bar, and the dozens of others have been practically deserted, and no one but the few surviving pioneers will ever be able to realize what once was here, and how great has been the change. Every bar, bend, hill, flat, and ravine is replete with stirring scenes and interesting events to the pioneer of thirty years who again revisits the scene of his early adventures ; while to the man of to-day they present but the ordinary features of nature.
Rich bar was one of the foremost discoveries in the county, following quickly upon the heels of
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Nelson creek and the middle fork, where the disappointed crowd of Gold lake proclivities had concentrated, and where there were not claims enough by several hundred to give them all a chance to work. In such a case extensive prospecting was done, and about the first of July, 1850, these celebrated diggings were discovered. Who composed the party that made the discovery is a matter of uncertainty. It is variously stated by different gentlemen, none of whom claim any positive knowledge on the subject. However, the date is agreed upon as the last week in June or the first in July. The news soon reached the crowd of disappointed and impatient men on the middle fork, Nelson, Hopkins, and Poorman's creeks, and a rush was made for the new diggings. It is stated that a man named Greenwood, from two pans of dirt, realized $2,900; and that was the reason for calling the place Rich bar. The same authority gives Greenwood as the original discoverer of the bar. The crowd that came pouring in spread all along the stream, making new discoveries and opening up new places every day. Indian, Missouri, French, Smith, Brown, and Junction bars were quickly found and covered with claims, till the whole river from the mouth of the east branch to Rich bar was lined with busy miners.
Claims were forty feet square, and the amount of gold said to have been taken from several of them is almost fabulous. Pans of dirt frequently yielded from $100 to $1,000. One company of four men took out $50,000 in a very brief period. Enoch Judson, now one of the wealthy men of San Francisco, had a claim on Smith hill in the fall, from which he carried the dirt in a flour-sack to the river, sometimes getting as much as $750 from one sack of dirt. Provisions were brought in by packers, and sold for one dollar per pound, except flour, which was fifty per cent. higher. One man was accommodated by a packer who was disposing of the last of his stock, by securing a sack of flour for $95, a pair of brogans for $8.50, and a bottle of whisky for $7. Beef was brought to camp on mules by some Mexicans who had some cattle herded where Spanish Ranch now stands. The price was one dollar per pound. Soon after this old Joe Haywood opened a butcher shop on the bar, and sold meat for seventy-five cents and one dollar per pound. No regular traders estab- lished themselves at Rich bar that year; but goods were brought in by packers, who quickly disposed of their loads and returned for more. At Smith's bar, Moulton & Day, and Thomas J. Taylor & Co., had rival mercantile establishments in the fall of 1850.
About the middle of September, 1850, the rain commenced, and continued falling for three days. As the miners had no houses, and but few rejoiced in the luxury of tents, the wet weather was disagreeable in the extreme. As a rule, pine brush laid upon poles formed the only protection from the elements these people had taken time to provide themselves with. The river raised considerably, and washed out the only wing-dam that had been constructed, which was at the head of Rich bar. Thinking the rainy season had commenced, and fearing that the supply of provisions would be cut off, and that the rigors of a mountain winter could not be endured with safety, the greater portion abandoned their claims and made their way out of the mountains. The few remaining ones built log cabins, and prepared to spend the winter there. The first cabin built was by Doctor Goodall, Harry Chappel, and Mr. Pool, on the flat where the town was afterwards constructed. On Smith hill the first cabin was built by the Phillips brothers. These few who remained were enabled to do considerable work during the winter, owing to the unexpected mildness of the season.
Early in the spring came a vast throng of miners upon the east branch, and towns sprang up with magical rapidity on all the bars of importance. At Rich bar, Kingsbury, Hall, & Co. opened a store in February, the only one on the bar at that time. In the spring and early summer quite a number of trading houses were established, the more prominent ones being Hunt & Lindley, C. A.
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Bancroft, and Clark & Wagner. Considerable prospecting had been done the year before on Indian bar, but nothing of importance had been developed. Along in the winter months a party of Missourians sank a shaft near the head and back part of the bar, and obtained very rich pros- pects. They sold out to Frank Ward, H. W. Kellogg, M. H. Presby, W. V. Kingsbury, and H. A. Chase, the ground proving very rich. In the summer of 1851 quite a town sprang up, and Indian bar became for a time the liveliest camp on the east branch. Among the stores opened there were Bartlett, Brown, & Co., Kingsbury, Hall, & Co., and Mayer & Helbing. It was not long before Rich bar surpassed all the others, and became the general headquarters for the whole river, which then swarmed with miners. The first express by Herman Camp and John R. Buckbee, spoken of elsewhere, ran to Rich bar, as did their successors for years afterwards.
The river, at the head of Rich bar, having prospected so richly in the summer of 1850, another wing-dam was constructed in the summer of 1851, and paid immensely. From this point for miles down the stream the river was taken up that season, and wing-dams put in. The first below the old dam was an Illinois company, composed of Major John S. Love, Peter Bailey, Richard Thomp- son, Richard Irwin, and others to the number of eighteen. Next to them was the Virginia company, composed of Clem. Davis, Nat. Cruzen, Paul Jones, Joseph Kent, Thomas Moore, Doctor Cronan, and F. B. Whiting. This claim was worked five weeks, and paid $1,500 to the share. The next season it failed to pay more than one-third that amount. The remaining river claims paid little or nothing, with but a few exceptions. The bars and benches all paid richly for work- ing, but as a rule the river claims were barren of golden fruit, and many a miner left the cast branch in the fall of 1852 bankrupt.
Among the pioneers who were at work along the east branch in 1850, besides those who have been mentioned, are remembered the names of Dr. J. W. Bidwell, James and William Phillips, Thomas Orton, Colonel James Fair, - Townsend, Jack Harrington, Richard Garland, Samuel and Bradford Colley, Hiram Hill, Hubbard Moore, Stephen Moore, Dr. Smith, Thomas Beatty, Peter Bailey (who died in the Stockton asylum in 1873), Ripley C. Kelly, Andrew Kelly, and Robert A. Clark. Mr. Orton is still mining on the north fork, at Cariboo.
Mr. Ripley C. Kelly relates the following account of the way in which the first discovery ou Rich bar was made, which, he says, is a big story, but every word of it true : In the fore part of July, 1850, three Germans, one of whom was named Spreckles, came down to the river and camped at the head of the bar, or at the mouth of French ravine. In going to the river for water to use in cooking, they passed over the high, barren bed-rock at the head of the bar, when one of them descried a piece of gold which weighed two ounces. They very soon set to work, staked out three claims of forty feet each, and during the ensuing four days took ont $36,000. Mr. Kelly and his brother Andrew were the first to work on Willow bar. He took out seventeen ounces the first day, and in a short time made a " small pile." He was one of the first assemblymen from this county, and is still mining in the county.
A gentleman who is still living on Rich bar, honored and respected at the ripe old age of seventy- six years, is Joshua Brown McShane, affectionately called Pap by his early associates. He is a native of Pennsylvania, worked in the lead mines of Wisconsin, and came to this state in 1851. It was on a hot spring day of that year that Pap first descended Rich bar hill, crowned with a silk hat, and holding aloft an umbrella to pretect himself from the warm rays of the sun. The unusual spectacle filled the miners with astonishment. Down dropped their tools, and a crowd soon gathered about the curiosity to take a look at it. Pap was eminently sound on the social question, and invited the boys in to take a " smile." They went, and the smiling was several times repeated, finally winding
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STOCK BARN !
RESIDENCE OF D.R.FINLAYSON, 2 MILES EAST OF QUINCY, PLUMAS CO.CAL,
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up by Pap's hat being made a target for a shower of potatoes, while the boys decorated the head of its owner with a fine chapeau of the regulation style. Pap made an honorable record as a miner and butcher on the bar for many years. He is the oldest living Odd Fellow in the state, having been initiated into the order in Wisconsin, in 1838, by Thomas Wildey, the father of Odd Fellow- ship in America.
The first white lady on the east branch, and probably the first to reside in the county, was the wife of Mr. Charles A. Bancroft. Early in the spring of 1851 Mr. Bancroft settled as a merchant at Rich bar. The appearance of a lady descending the trail to the river created a sensation among the miners on the bar. Down dropped pick and shovel from the hands of miners, who had not seen the face nor heard the soft voice of a lady for many weary months, and her progress along the trail was watched with eager eyes for several miles. Ladies were treated with the utmost respect and courtesy by those early miners, who saw in them the mother, sister, and wife waiting for them in their far-off homes. Mrs. Bancroft's first child was born on Rich bar August 28,. 1851, the first white child born in the county. His name is Charles E. Bancroft, and he is at present residing in New York, the castern agent of the publishing house of A. L. Bancroft & Co. of San Francisco. Several other ladies came to the river in the spring of 1852, among whom were the wives of De Witt Kellogg, Milton Presby, and Peter Bailey. Langdon Kellogg, now living in San Francisco, was born on Indian Hill early in 1853.
GEORGE B. MCCULLOUGH came to Rich bar, east branch, in the summer of 1852. He was a fine specimen of manhood, aged about fifty years, and hailed from Cecil county, Maryland, where he had been a heavy contractor on public works, and had held many positions of trust. He had heard of river fluming, and came to this state with a view of securing contracts for the construction of flumes. On his arrival he found that the mining companies did all such work themselves, and was therefore disappointed. Being a proud man, he felt unwilling to return to his home without making an effort in some direction, and so engaged in mining on Rich bar, but was not successful. He was beloved by all whose acquaintance he made, and was known and recognized as "Old Man Mccullough." " Not a miner there but would have shared his last dollar or his last loaf with him. Mccullough, living in a cabin alone, became despondent, and gradually resorted to the intoxicating cup for consolation. He labored faithfully all the time, but realized little more than a bare subsistence. Many fruitless efforts were made by his friends to induce him to return to his devoted wife at home, and she in frequent letters earnestly besought him to do so, but in vain. A strong intimacy existed between him and Mr. F. B. Whiting, who tells the following :
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