USA > California > Lassen County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 48
USA > California > Plumas County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 48
USA > California > Sierra County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 48
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The boundary on the east is the 120° of west longitude, separating the two states of California and Nevada. On the cast the county is divided from Plumas by the summit of the mountains forming the water-shed between the Sacramento river and its tributaries and the streams that flow into and lose themselves in the great inland basin of Nevada. Between this summit and the state line, in the southern part of the county, there lies but a narrow strip only a few miles wide, This widens as we travel north, the summit ridge trending sharply to the north-west, until the upper portion of the county becomes about eighty miles in width. In the narrow strip to the south lies a fertile tract of land some forty miles in length, called Long valley. Just to the north of this, where the county opens out to a width of some sixty miles, lies Honey Lake valley, some forty
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miles long by twenty wide. This valley is divided into two parts by a low range of bald hills, the southern portion being sometimes known as Elysian valley. In the center of the valley lies Honey lake, a large body of somewhat shallow water some twenty miles in length from east to west and about eight miles in the transverse direction. In the extreme north end of the valley, and just over a low range of hills, lies a beautiful sheet of cold water, covering about 100 square miles, and called Eagle lake. Its waters are used extensively for irrigating purposes, and in the near future, by the outlay of capital, will be made to fertilize thousands of acres that are now but arid sage- brush plains.
The dividing line from Shasta county lies west of the Sierra summits, running directly north from a point a few miles east of-Lassen peak, the north-west corner of the county being drained by the Pit river and two large confluents, Butte and Clear creeks, the waters flowing thence westerly to the Sacramento river. This section of the county embraces all or portions of Round, Fall River, and Big valleys, lying along Pit river, and now rapidly becoming settled up and developed. Stock- raising, dairying, and considerable general farming is being carried on in this section, and the future will see it advance with giant strides, and take that important rank and position it is already begin- ning to assume.
Honey lake and Honey Lake valley, the names by which this section is best known, and the only appellations given this whole region in the infancy of its settlement, were named from the honey-dew found on the grass and shrubbery, of which the Indians were very fond, and from which they made a sort of molasses for their food. Webster defines the substance as follows : "HONEY- DEW-A sweet substance ejected upon the leaves of plants by certain insects of the genus Aphis." " APHIS, plural APHIDES-The plant-louse; the puceron ; the vine-fretter."
Lassen county has been described by writers on the resources of the slope as a country of "rugged mountains, alkali flats, and arid sage-plains": certainly a not very complimentary reference to a region that embraces some of the most fertile and productive tracts in the whole state of Cali- fornia. However arid the sage-plains are in their natural state, the introduction of water upon them by means of irrigating ditches converts them into garden spots of the greatest fertility. The marvelous change that has been wrought in these lands by the patient and enterprising settlers has demonstrated the fact that the thousands of acres still as barren and desolate in appearance as were the others need but the hand of enterprise and capital to make them also highly productive and valuable.
Bunch-grass grows in great profusion, and thousands of cattle are grazed upon this nutritious herbage for the beef market, while hundreds of milch cows are also maintained. From these latter were made in the past year 65,000 lbs. of butter and 20,000 lbs. of cheese. The dairying industry is one that is destined to be largely increased in the next few years. In the valley lands the snow- fall is generally so light that but little hay is required to subsist the stock through the winter season. Hay is produced in large quantities, alfalfa being so highly prolific that three and often four crops are cut during the season, yielding from six to eight tons to the acre. Hay was ent from 15,000 acres during the past season, realizing 20,000 tons, as reported by the assessor. The great majority of this was grass; and as cattle had been pastured on the land a portion of the year, the average yield to the acre is good. Alfalfa is being sowed in increased quantities; and as the fields of this clover increase in number, the average yield of hay to the acre will also increase.
The raising of wheat and other cereals is becoming a great industry in the county. The want of facilities for reaching market with the surplus grain has retarded the development of agriculture in that direction to a great degree; but it is hoped that the Nevada and Oregon road will be com-
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pleted as far as Susanville before many months. This will connect them at Reno with the Central Pacific, and thus put them nearly on an even footing with the farmers of the Sacramento valley in the matter of a grain market. Such a condition of affairs would give an impetus to the agriculture of this section, and enlarge the area of cultivated land to a large extent. The thousands of barren plains would soon be brought under the influence of the vivifying water, and be subjected to the dominion of the plow. The tinge of alkali to be found in the majority of sage-brush lands soon disappears after water has been introduced. Some of the finest and most productive tracts in the Nevada basin were a few years ago so badly streaked with alkali as to discourage many from attempting to do anything with them ; but the running of water through them for two or three seasons carried away this objectionable substance, and left a soil of surpassing richness. The grain crop of 1881 was reported by the assessor as: wheat, acres, 3,000, bushels, 60,000 ; barley, acres, 1,400, bushels, 40,800; oats, acres, 630, bushels, 24,500 ; rye, acres, 140, bushels, 1,400; corn, acres, 55, bushels, 1,200; buckwheat, acres, 40, bushels, 350; potatoes, acres, 210, tons, 1,000 (33,000 bushels). The real estate of the county was assessed at $672,564, and the total taxable property at $1,215,353.
Fruit is not one of the smallest products of this region. The fruits of the temperate zone, where frosts of winter harden the trees and cause the sweet sap to course through every vein and fiber in the spring, are raised with a profusion and of a lusciousness of flavor unknown to the insipid fruits of the Sacramento valley. Apples especially reach a perfection of size, soundness, and flavor that can only be attained on this coast in these higher altitudes. There are reported in the county 11,300 apple-trees, 650 pear-trees, 500 plum-trees, 1,000 peach-trees, 300 quince-trees. All these are matured and bearing fruit, while great numbers of young trees have been set out which in a very few years will increase the fruit crop hugely. The raising of grapes has to this time been experimental only, and there are but 3,000 bearing vines in the county. The vines require protec- tion in winter, and those hardier species, whose flavor exceed in delicacy the overgrown,and tender product of the lands lying west of the mountains, thrive and produce in great abundance. An outside market will be required before the fruit industry can be developed to a much greater degree with any profit.
Manufactures have not yet obtained a foothold in the county, with the exception of the mak- ing of flour and lumber. Two grist-mills, operating by water-power three run of stone, are making an excellent quality of flour from the grain raised at their doors, and supply the people with that commodity at prices unknown before their establishment. They produced, in 1880, 4,500 barrels of flour, and ground 1,000 bushels of corn. Six saw-mills, three run by water and three by steam, manufactured 2,500,000 feet of lumber during the same year. A fine growth of coniferous trees covers the mountains along the western side of the county, ample for the production of millions of feet of the best quality of lumber annually for many years to come. In the northern and eastern section of the county, the numerous short mountain ranges are either barren or covered with the piñon pine, juniper, and small cedar, too small to make lumber, but used by many for fire-wood.
In several places can be found mineral and hot springs of the kind so plentiful throughout the length and breadth of the great Nevada basin. One group of these in particular is to be found on the margin of Honey lake, and has attracted considerable attention. One of them boils furi- ously, and hot water leaps several feet into the air, ejected with much force and some noise from an opening in the ground twelve feet square, and apparently bottomless. Others are to be found in several places, and many springs exist so impregnated with sulphur and other bitter-tasting sub- stances that their water has been compared to the flavor of a rotten egg. These may or may not
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be one of the attractions of this region. Some would prefer clear springs of cold, hard water. Wells sunk in the ground sometimes strike warm and sometimes cold water; and instances have occurred where two wells but a few feet apart have differed in this respect-the one having cold and the other warm water. There is, however, no lack of good water on account of these little eccentricities.
Mining is carried on to a limited extent as compared with the counties that lie wholly within the great mineral belt. Several quartz ledges are being prospected and developed, and two quartz- mills are used for crushing the ore extracted from the lodes. The mines of Hayden hill are believed to be as rich as any in the state, and the probabilities are that capital will soon be employed in opening up and developing them to the degree their importance warrants, and thus add greatly to the industrial prosperity of the county.
Lassen county was named in honor of Peter Lassen, one of California's oldest and most re- spected pioneers, and the one who made the first permanent and continuous settlement within the borders of the county. He was a native of Denmark, and was born in the city of Copenhagen, August 7, 1800. At the usual time of life he was apprenticed to the trade of a blacksmith in his native city. In his twenty-ninth year he emigrated from Denmark to the United States, and arrived the same year in Boston. After several months' residence in eastern cities, he removed to the west, and took up his residence at Katesville, Charlton county, Mo. In the spring of 1839 he left Missouri in company with twelve others, two of whom were women, to cross the Rocky moun- tains into Oregon. They fell in with a train belonging to the American Fur Company, and after the usual mishaps and fatigues of such an undertaking, they arrived at the Dalles, Oregon, in Octo- ber of the same year. From the Dalles they proceeded to Fort Vancouver, and thence up the Willamette to a few miles above what is now Oregon City; and after wintering here, they started for California by water, on the vessel Lospanna. After a very rough passage of several weeks, they landed at Fort Ross, then a Russian trading post. After a short stay they left for Sutter's . camp near the mouth of American river, where they remained fifteen days, when they went to San Francisco. Shortly afterward Mr. Lassen went to San Jose to winter, where he worked at his trade. In the spring of 1841 he bought some land near Santa Cruz, where he built a saw-mill. After operating his mill for some time he sold out, taking one hundred mules for pay ; and in the fall of 1842 he took them up near Captain Sutter's, and ranched them. He worked at his trade for Captain Sutter, taking his pay in stock.
It was while in the service of Captain Sutter, in the summer of 1843, that Lassen, with John Bidwell (now living at Chico) and James Bruheim, pursued a party of emigrants on their way to Oregon, overtaking them at Red Bluff, and recovering some stolen animals. The northern end of the valley was then entirely unsettled, and Lassen was so pleased with the country that he selected a tract of land, from a map of the region made upon their return by Mr. Bidwell, and applied to Governor Micheltorena for a grant of the land, which he afterwards obtained. In December, 1843, Lassen started for his new home, but because of high water in the valley he camped at the Buttes until February, 1844, when he arrived at his destination, and built the first civilized habitation north of Marysville. This grant lies on Deer creek, in the county of Tehama. From this time, though others settled around him, Lassen's ranch was the best known and most important point in northern California. It was from this place that Fremont started on his journey from the valley to Oregon, in the spring of 1846, and it was Peter himself who guided Lieutenant Gillespie, a few days later, in search of the Pathfinder, and overtook him that memorable night on the bank of Klamath lake. [See pages 57-60.]
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HON. JAMES D. BYERS.
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After the discovery of gold in the spring of 1848, Lassen started out, with a companion named Paul Richeson, to find a good emigrant trail into the upper end of the valley, intending to divert emigration from the usual route, by the way of the Humboldt and Truckee. They found what was afterwards known as the Lassen route. Two years before, a company from the Willamette valley had 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 lower end of Klamath lake, through the pass to Rogue river valley, and thence by the Hudson Bay trail to the Willamette valley. The route followed to Yreka and vicinity, in 1851 and later years, was this old Oregon trail as far as Klamath lake, and thence to Yreka by the way of Sheep rock. Lassen's route followed the Oregon road as far as the head-waters of Pit river; then branched to the south, following down that stream until north of Lassen peak, passing around the eastern base of the mountain to Mountain Meadows in this county ; then west to the Big Meadows in Plumas county ; then to the head-waters of Deer creek, and down that stream to Lassen's ranch.
Lassen and Richeson reached Fort Hall in the summer of 1848, and induced a train of emi- grants to try the new route to California. Lassen conducted the twelve wagons that composed this train safely, though they encountered some rugged and difficult mountains, until they reached Mountain Meadows or Big Meadows. In one of these valleys they stopped for a time to recruit their stock and supply themselves with provisions, being unable to proceed in the condition they then were. Here they were overtaken, about the first of November, by a party of Oregonians on their way to the gold-fields, and with their aid reached Lassen's ranch in safety. In 1849-50 a large emigration was diverted from the Carson or Truckee route, and induced to follow Lassen's cut-off, or, as it was sometimes called, Lassen's Horn route, sarcastically comparing it to the jour- ney 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 nailed a shake bearing the legend " Lassen Road," to woo the unwary emigrant from the crooked and broad way he had been travel- ing. 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. Those who came late in the fall of 1849 had a sad experience in the snow which blocked the mountain trails. [See page 87.] The experiences of those who had departed from the regular trail in 1849, to try Lassen's road, became generally known in the state; and two or three years later, when many Cali- fornians were returning again to this state, having gone home for their families, it was almost as much as a man's life was worth to endeavor to seduce emigrants from the old route, and attempt any of the new passes and cut-offs.
Having been unfortunate, Lassen went to Indian valley, in Plumas county, in 1851, and with Isadore Meyerwitz, or Meyerowitz, and George Edward St. Felix, took up a ranch and opened a trading post. A few years later, Lassen and Meyerwitz came to Honey Lake valley, the first actual settlers of this region. Meyerwitz was drowned in the lake in 1856, and the kind-hearted Lassen met his death at the mouth of the rifle, three years later. The Indians were charged with his murder, but it is a question whether the perpetrators of the deed were not of the Caucasian race. The citizens recovered the body from where it fell, in the mountains north of Pyramid lake, and brought it to Honey lake for burial. The remains were interred on the ranch he had located, and a monument of gray stone marks his grave, reared by the citizens as a mark of affection and respect for the old pioneer whose kind heart and simple integrity had won the love of all.
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The grand, snow-crowned peak that lifts its head far above its fellows for miles around, and lies on the dividing line between Plumas and Shasta, and just west of the Lassen county line, remains to perpetuate his name long after the pioneer shall be forgotten. Intimately connected with the county by name, position, and historical association, a description of Lassen peak will be very appropriate to this work. State Geologist Whitney, in Volume 1, "Geological Survey of California," thus describes the mountain and its surroundings. The gentlemen who headed the party making. these explorations were Professor W. H. Brewer and Clarence King, both of whom have a national reputation in the field of science. The ascent of the mountain was made in Sep- tember, 1863. The report of Professor Whitney says :
" From the head of the Big Meadows, Lassen's peak is not over fifteen miles distant in a direet line; but by any practicable route it is fully twenty-five. Our party followed up the Red Bluff road to Loveless's ranch, and then struck through the forests without a trail, ascending gradually over a volcanic table, the surface of which had some large rounded bowlders of lava scattered over it ; but which was, in general, covered by a deep soil of a dark red color, formed from the decom- posing basaltic rock, and supporting a heavy growth of timber, Pinus contorta being the most abundant tree. In this lava table the branches of the north fork of the Feather river have cut many deep cañons.
" A few miles south-east of the peak there are several hot springs, and indications of the existence of others, from which cold water is now issuing. One of these is called Steamboat spring, and from this there is a copious flow of boiling water, while steam escapes from a great number of rents scattered over an area of two or three acres. The lava has been very extensively decom- posed by the action of the hot water, which dissolves out a portion of the silica, and leaves a mass of clay, either white or colored, according to the amount of iron in the rock. Portions, which are now quite soft, still retain perfectly the original structure of the mass. In one place, a large amount of steam issues in a pool of hot water, throwing it up in jets to the height of several feet, with considerable noise. Hunters say that they have seen the water raised as high as twenty-five feet; but at the time of the visit of our party the jets did not exceed eight feet in elevation.
"North-west of the locality just noticed, about two miles from it, and eight miles from the summit of the peak, in a direction N. 70° E., magnetic, is the so-called Boiling lake. This is a pool of hot water, about 600 feet long and 300 wide; it lies in a depression between two streams of lava, the banks rising to the height of a hundred feet around it, except on the side of the mountain, where it has an outlet of a foot or two in width. The same decomposition of the lava has gone on around this lake which was noticed above as having taken place at the Steamboat spring. The water is whitened with the clayey material, and in some places is thickened to the consistency of cream. Steam jets issue from this viscous material ; and along the banks and around them the clay accu- mulates, so as to form tubes, or miniature mud volcanoes, from a few inches to four feet in height. At the upper end of the pool clouds of steam and sulphurous gases rise from crevices in the lava, which is slowly slaking and wasting away under their influence, the rocks being covered with deliquescent salts, especially the sulphuret of iron, which by its decomposition gives to the clays a variety of shades of red, pink, purple, and brown. The elevation of this place is 5,976 feet above the sea.
" About four miles north-west of the Boiling lake are other hot springs, which are much more copious than at either of the localities already described, and where the decomposition of the rocks has taken place on a most extensive scale. These springs are scattered along a cañon for half a mile, and they are copious enough to form quite a stream, which, in its downward course, bears
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away the decomposed materials constantly falling into it from the sides of the adjacent cliffs. Sulphur is sublimed from many of the cavities, forming the most delicate and beautiful crystalli- zations on the surrounding rocks. The same highly colored clays and saline incrustations occur here which were described as existing at the other localities. In all of these hot springs the Panicum thermale, and a low form of vegetation, supposed to be Nostoc, are found growing in and about the hot water and in places exposed to the jets of steam, exactly as at the Geysers, which have been already described. [See page 93, volume 1, Geological Survey of California.]
" From the last-mentioned hot spring the land rises towards the north, and a greater variety of rocks begins to be noticed. About four miles south of the summit, beds of volcanic material having a decidedly slaty structure (rhyolite?) were observed. Ascending to a height of about 1,000 feet above the hot springs, at about 7,000 feet above the sea, the vegetation changed and assumed the peculiar character which it has in the high Sierra; Abies Williamsoni, Pinus Balfouriana, with here and there a Picea, were the principal trees in the neighborhood of the camp, which was established for several days, at an altitude of 7,596 feet, while the party was engaged in examining the summit of the mountain.'
" From this camp (No. 149) two ascents of the peak were made by Messrs. Brewer and King: one September 26, 1863; the other on the night of the 29th. That on the first day was not satis- factory, as a dense cloud of dust and smoke hung over the Sacramento valley and obscured the neighboring mountains. At the time of the second ascent the weather was perfectly clear, a light rain having fallen in the valleys and snow on the mountain-tops. The camp was left at 2 A. M., and the summit reached before sunrise. The view is described as one of unsurpassed grandeur, the field embraced within the scope of vision extending from Mount Hamilton on the south to Mount Pitt on the north, a distance of about 340 miles on a straight line. Along the line of the Sierra to the south the whole chain could be distinctly seen as far as Pyramid peak. East and west the field was more contracted, extending from the Coast Ranges, west of the Sacramento river, to the mountains near Pyramid lake.
" There are four distinct summits to the peak, the highest of which is 10,577 feet above the sea. Three of these points are quite conspicuous; the other is less so. These rise to the height of from 250 to 350 feet above the depression or cavity which was undoubtedly once the crater of the vol- cano, the rim of which has gradually been denuded so as to leave only these fragmentary evidences of its former existence. The western point shows, in a very marked manner, the action of steam and sulphurous gases upon it, as it is much whitened and decomposed, everything indicating a long- continued solfatara action within the crater, which has now entirely died away.
"The upper portion of Lassen's peak is an imperfect flattened cone, with an elliptical base, having its longer axis at right angles to that of the Sierra, so that when seen from the plain it has the appearance of a very steep cone, while from the mountains north or south it looks broad and dome-shaped. The cone rises about 2,000 feet above the wide, gently sloping plateau of gray lava at its base. It is principally made up of ashes and the debris of trachytic rocks, from which project four precipitous ridges of trachyte, radiating from the center in various directions. The highest point of the crest is about a hundred feet above any other of the remains of the rim of the former crater, and although quite a sharp peak, it can be ascended to the very summit.
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