USA > California > Lassen County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 55
USA > California > Plumas County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 55
USA > California > Sierra County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 55
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HON. J. W. HENDRICK .- The superior judge of Lassen county was born at Bowling Green, Pike county, Missouri, November 4, 1851. When eleven years of age, he accompanied his mother to California, settling in Napa. He attended school at Oakland until 1866, when he went to Provi- denee, R. I., and entered Brown University, from which he graduated with honor in 1872. He then returned to this state, and commenced the study of law with Messrs. Daingerfield & Olney of San Francisco. In 1873 he removed to Lassen county, and continued his studies in the office of Judge John S. Chapman, until 1875, when he was admitted to the bar of the supreme court at Sacramento. He then began the practice of his profession in Susanville, and has continued it successfully to the present time. In 1877 he received the republican nomination for district at- torney, and was elected. He gave general satisfaction with the manner in which he conducted the office, and in 1879 was elected superior judge of the county. He has been on the bench two years, and by prompt, terse, and logical decisions, has won the respect of the bar and the confidence of the people. January 1, 1879, he married Miss Annie H., daughter of Hon. John S. Ward. They have two children : Jennie E., born October 25, 1879, and Mary E., August 7, 1881.
MASSILLON MARSTELLA .- This gentleman was born in Prince William county, Virginia, October 14, 1853. He received a collegiate education at Georgetown, D. C. In 1872 he went to Mendocino county, in this state, where he commenced reading law in the office of Harrison & Carothers, of Ukiah. Late in 1873 he returned to the Georgetown college, and entered the law department, from which he graduated in 1874, and was admitted to practice in the supreme court of the Dis- triet of Columbia. He again came to this state, and practiced in Mendocino county, where for a time he was deputy district attorney. In 1875 he came to Lassen county, and was that fall elected district attorney on the Democratic ticket, serving until 1878. Since that time he has been engaged in the practice of his profession in Susanville. He is a young man of good, studious habits, and is rapidly winning an enviable position in his chosen profession. January 9, 1878, he married Miss Nannie Tanner, born in New York in 1860. They have been blessed with three children : Massil-
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lon, born October 13, 1878, in Prince William county, Virginia; Dorsey, born March 20, 1881, in Susanville, and died March 27, 1881; infant child, born February 1, 1882.
CLARENCE G. KELLEY .- The latest addition to the bar of Lassen county was born in Rutland county, Vermont, in March, 1852. He came to California with his parents in 1859. In 1869 he com- menced teaching school, and taught in Lassen and Marin counties for six or seven years. In 1876 he began the study of the law in the office of W. B. Haskell of Petaluma, continuing there for about two years. He was admitted to practice in the supreme court in November, 1879, and in the following May he settled in Susanville, and began the practice of his profession. He has met with good success, and is bending his energies to reap the rewards and honors of his noble pro- fession.
INDIAN DIFFICULTIES.
Besides the usual trials and hardships of pioneer life, the settlers of Honey Lake valley had to guard their families from the attacks of brutal savages. This condition of affairs in California existed chiefly in the mountains and valleys of the northern portion of the state, where the Indians were more warlike and of a less tractable disposition than the natives of the Sacramento valley.
The Indians with whom the people of this valley came in contact were of the Washoe (Wasso), Pah-Ute, and Pit River tribes, the last named being the most thieving and murderous in their disposition. From the time that Governor Roop and his companions built the first habitation in the valley, in 1854, the Indians had to be carefully watched to prevent them from committing thefts, depredations, and even murders. That the Indians on the frontier have not always been treated properly, and have frequently been grossly deceived and abused, is a fact well known to all; but this does not excuse them for their acts of barbarity and horrible cruelty, which are accounted for only by their inherent bloodthirsty disposition. Even in case the savages were simply avenging real or imaginary injuries, the innocent settler who sees his wife and children in deadly peril is comforted but little by knowing that some other white man has wronged the savages that are now seeking the death of him and his loved ones. All that he can see is that he and those who cling to him for protection are threatened with a horrible death by a fiendish, treacherous, and relentless foe. This was the condition of the pioneer settler, and it is no wonder that he fought the savages, and pursued and exterminated them whenever they were guilty of committing outrages upon him- self or his neighbors.
No serious difficulty occurred until 1857, when the Indians, moved largely by a lack of food, became so troublesome by their thieving habits that difficulties arose between them and the settlers. The valley was then in its second year of permanent settlement. The troubles of this season are generally referred to as the Potato War, owing to the cause of the difficulties. The troublesome savages were of the Pit River tribe, and a company of the settlers, under Captain William Weather- low, and accompanied by Winnemucca and a band of his Pah-Ute braves, went out against the savages, and punished them severely. The Plumas Rangers from Plumas county came over to the aid of the settlers, but arrived too late to participate in active hostilities. The Pit River Indians still annoyed the settlers during the next two years, and only ceased after their severe chastisement by General Crook.
April 29, 1859, Peter Lassen was killed by Indians, the particulars of which appear in Captain Weatherlow's statement a few paragraphs below. Many believe to the present day that Lassen
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was murdered by white men; but in his statement Captain Weatherlow indignantly disputes that assumption, and shows how the idea was first disseminated, and how it failed to be sufficiently contradicted at the outset. This is a statement made by him soon after the great war of 1860, and is the best and most authentic account that can be obtained of the Indian troubles in this valley. We condense portions of the statement, but nothing of an essential character is omitted.
Captain Weatherlow says: "In the month of June, 1856, I settled in Honey Lake valley. There were but two or three houses in the valley at that time. The Pah-Ute tribe of Indians occupied the valley in common with the whites. They were on the most friendly relations, visiting the houses of the whites and trading furs and game for such articles of clothing, etc., as they desired. They were unlike any other tribe that I had met in the country, inasmuch as they were never known to beg for food or clothing, nor did they at every opportunity pilfer and carry off articles from the whites. They were under the control and command of Winnemucca, the present war chief, and faithfully obeyed his commands. There was a band, however, which lived in or near Smoke Creek canon, and were under the control of a chief known as Smoke Creek Sam. They had drawn out from Winnemucca's band, and although they were still on friendly terms with Winnemucca's people, yet they were in a degree independent of his control. This band was also on the most friendly terms with the whites. In the year 1855 (should be 1856 or 1857), the settlers in Honey Lake valley made a treaty with Chief Winnemucca," providing for the peaceful settle- ment of all difficulties that arose, and the punishment of the offenders, whether white or Indian.
" From the first settlement of the valley, the Pit River Indians, which inhabit the country north of Honey lake, had made frequent incursions upon the settlement, driving off stock, and committing other outrages. Finding that we could have no safety or security for life or property without the Pit River tribe was driven off, I raised a company of 60 men, in the year 1857, and went out against the Pit River Indians on several occasions when they had made descents upon the valley and driven off stock. Winnemucca volunteered to go out with his warriors, and aid us in fighting the Pit River tribe. He obeyed orders strictly, and fought as bravely as any white man." On several occasions they punished the depredators severely, at one time rescuing a small train of twelve emigrants near Goose lake, killing twenty-five of the savages. "By the aid of Winnemucca and his warriors, we finally scattered the Pit River tribe of Indians, and they have never since that time made an incursion upon the valley.
"In the spring of 1859 I started with four men on a prospecting trip to the Black Rock country. Two days after we left Honey Lake, Peter Lassen, an old mountaineer and settler, left the valley in company with two men (Clapper and Wyatt), to overtake and join us. We reached our place of destination two days in advance of them, and were encamped on a hill about seven miles from Mud lake. Lassen's party followed our trail, and arrived within a mile of our camp, when darkness overtook them ; and not knowing the location of our camp, they concluded to camp at the mouth of a small canon near the foot of the mountain. The next day they sent out one of their party to search for our camp, but, unfortunately, he missed our trail, and returned to Lassen's camp, saying that he could not find us. They passed another night in the canon, and at daybreak the next morning they were attacked by a party of Indians, and Peter Lassen, with one of the men (Clapper), was killed. The third man (Wyatt) succeeded in mounting his horse, without saddle or bridle, and thinking our party had also been massacred, he made his way directly to Honey lake. I remained out with my party until our provisions grew short, and supposing that Lassen's party had taken a different route, and we were unable to find them, we started to return, knowing nothing of Lassen's murder until the second day of our travel homeward, when we met a party of
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settlers who informed us of the massacre, and that they had started out to ascertain the fate of my party, which they feared had been also killed.
"The killing of Lassen and his companion caused great excitement in the settlement, and much feeling against the Indians. Several of the settlers attributed the murder to the Pah-Utes, but from my knowledge of the friendly relation between Chief Winnemucca and Peter Lassen, and the high estimation in which Lassen was held by the Indians, and from the fact that there was no apparent change in the conduct of the Pah-Utes, who continued to visit our houses and exchange civilities and friendship, I did not believe that the Pah-Utes had committed the murder, nor that they were at all cognizant of the fact. I attributed it entirely to the Pit River tribe, which the whites had fought and defeated, and who frequented the Black Rock country in small hunting bands. There had been no difficulty of any kind between the Honey lake people and the Pah-Utes that would have provoked them to so wanton an act of revenge, especially upon Peter Lassen, who had ever been their warm friend. But the Pit River Indians, against whom we had fought, would certainly have exulted in surprising and cutting off any small party of whites ; and to them alone did I attribute the murder of Lassen. Up to this time, Major Dodge, the Indian agent to the Pah-Ute tribe, had never visited the valley, to my knowledge; but shortly after the killing of Lassen's party he came to Honey lake, remained about one day, and returned to Carson City, with- out having had an interview with the Chief Winnemucca, or made any inquiries into the causes or the perpetrators of the murder. Shortly after the departure of Major Dodge, there appeared a statement in one of the newspapers (I think the Sacramento Union), with authority from Major Dodge, to the effect that he (Dodge) did not believe the Indians had killed Lassen at all, but that he was murdered by white men. This was a charge of the most unwarrantable nature against the four white men who were the only ones within hundreds of miles of the place where the massacre took place; and I, as their leader and commander, called Major Dodge to an account personally for the charge. He retracted the charge, and promised to do so publicly through the press. Whether he did so or not I cannot say, as I have never heard of Major Dodge visiting our valley since."
Mr. Weatherlow then refers at length to the filling up of the Washoe country with the rush from California in 1859, and the difficulties that at once sprang up between the new-comers and the Pah-Utes, producing a feeling of hostility among the Indians against the whites everywhere. The first act of hostility was the murder of Dexter E. Demming, January 13, 1860. He was attacked by a band of Indians at his ranch on Willow creek, ten miles from Honey lake, himself killed, his cabin plundered, and his stock driven away. The settlers were highly excited, and addressed the follow- ing petition to Governor Roop :
" SUSANVILLE, NEVADA TER., Jan. 15, 1860.
"DEAR SIR-We, the undersigned, would most respectfully urge the necessity of your Excel- lency's calling out the military forces under your command to follow and chastise the Indians upon our borders. We make this request to your Excellency from the fact that we have received infor- mation that we fully rely upon, to the effect that Mr. Demming has been murdered, and his house robbed, on or about the 13th instant, by Indians, within the borders of Nevada Territory. Your petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray, etc.
A. D. McDonald, E. A. Rower,
N. Purdy,
Wm. Brayton,
W. M. C. Cain,
F. Drake,
E. Aubrey,
Wm. Dow,
Chas. Kingman,
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Wm. Hamilton,
Wm. Arullary,
· W. Taylor,
D. Chandler,
Thomas Bare,
C. A. Fitch,
G. W. Fry,
Z. C. Dow,
F. Long,
E. Brannan,
Thos. Sheffield,
Mark W. Haviland,
Wm. Hill,
E. G. Banghamn,
John Morrow,
J. E. Shearer,
Henry Hatch,
H. Kingman,
Geo. W. Shearer,
F. H. Moshier,
I. E. Ellison,
Jas. Belcher,
U. J. Tutt,
M. C. Thaderson [or Shaderson ].
E. R. Nichols,
G. V. Lathrop,
J. W. Shearer,
Cyrus Smith,
O. Stresley,
J. L. O'Donnell,
I. N. Boswick,
J. Bourette,
J. W. Doyle,
S. S. Smith,
Dan Murray,
H. E. Arnold,
W. C. Taylor,
J. H. Hollingsworth,
L. J. Spencer,
J. M. Painter, Jas. A. A. Ohen [or Cohen ],
B. B. Gray,
C. Brown,
A. L. Tunison,
B. B. Painter,
Fred Morrison,
Jas. Huntington,
P. W. Shearer,
G. W. Mitchell,
E. L. Varney,
James McFadden,
John D. Robinson,
M. S. Thompson,
J. H. Anderson,
S. H. Painter,
Clark Doty,
A. Ramsey,
Milton Craig,
Alex. McLoud,
J. E. Parker,
A. A. Holcomb,
Wın. D. Snyder,
John Taylor,
Wm. Hobby,
S. D. Patten,
T. Campbell,
A. D. Beecher,
A. W. Worm,
F. A. Sloss,
Dr. Jas. W. Stettinias,
John Altman,
S. Conkey,
Dr. H. S. Barrette,
A. B. Jenison,
C. Hall,
B. E. Shumway,
L. D. Sanborn,
Antonio Storff,
L. Vary,
J. S. Haggett,
C. T. Emerson,
Joshua H. Lewis."
It was not decided for the best to commence active hostilities against the Pah-Utes, until it was made to appear that the murder was committed by that tribe. Accordingly, Lieutenant U. J. Tutt, of Captain Weatherlow's company, was sent out with fifteen men to trail the murderers. They came back to Susanville and reported, January 24, 1860, that they had followed the murderers to camp, and they belonged to the Smoke creek band of Pah-Utes. In view of the fact that prospectors were scattered through the mountains, exposed to attack in case hostilities were begun, and that great numbers of cattle were grazing in remote valleys, where they and the few herders in charge of them were at the mercy of the savages, it was decided to send two commissioners to Chief Winnemucca, to demand punishment of the offenders under the terms of the treaty. Governor Roop commis- sioned Captain William Weatherlow and Thomas J. Harvey to perform this duty. After consider- able difficulty, and an exhibition of repressed hostility by a few bands of Pah-Utes, they finally obtained an audience with Chief Winnemucca on the banks of Pyramid lake. The chief not only refused to visit Honey lake, or interpose his authority to prevent his followers from committing depredations, but demanded that the citizens of Honey Lake valley pay him $16,000 for the land they had taken. He was at the same time levying contributions of beef upon the cattle men, and the commissioners returned and reported that it was their opinion that " the Pah-Utes are deter-
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mined to rob and murder as many of our citizens as they can, more especially our citizens upon the borders."
Their report was made on the eleventh of February, and the following day Governor Roop addressed a letter to the general in command of the Department of the Pacific, asking for arms, ammunition, and a field-piece. A portion of the letter said: " We are about to be plunged into a bloody and protracted war with the Pah-Ute Indians. Within the last nine months there have been seven of our citizens murdered by the Indians. Up to the last murder we were unable to fasten these depredations on any particular tribe, but always believed it was the Pah-Utes, yet we did not wish to blame them until we were sure of the facts." After referring to the murder of Demming, the letter continued : "It is now pretty well established that the Pah-Utes killed those eight men, one of them being Mr. Peter Lassen. How soon others must fall is not known, for war is now inevitable. We have but few good arms, and but little ammunition. Therefore, I do most respectfully call upon you for a company of dragoons to come to our aid at once, as it may save a ruinous war to show them that we have other help besides our own citizens, they knowing our weakness. And if it is not in your power at present to dispatch a company of men here, I do most respectfully demand of you arms and ammunition, with a field-piece to drive them out of the forts."
In response to this appeal, no troops were sent and no arms furnished; and in the following May the murder of five men at Williams Station, on the Carson river, was followed by the massacre of Major Ormsby and his command. The particulars of this war will be found in the recently pub- lished history of Nevada. Aid was sent from California, and the Washoe regiment, composed of volunteers from California and Nevada, was organized at Virginia City, and marched out, 544 strong, under Colonel Jack Hays, to punish the Indians. They were joined by 207 U. S. troops, under Captain J. M. Stewart, and on the second of June, had a stubborn battle with the Pah-Utes near Pyramid lake, in which the Indians were defeated, and retreated north. The Washoe regiment dis- banded, and the California volunteers returned across the mountains, leaving Captain Stewart and his troops in camp at Pyramid lake, where they had thrown up earth-works, and called the place Fort Haven. Captain Bird, with a small company from the south end of Honey Lake valley, joined the command of Colonel Hays; while Captain Weatherlow, with thirty-five men, scouted about be- tween the valley and Pyramid lake, being on the alert to protect the settlers in the valley from any raid by the savages.
Captain Weatherlow's narrative details the events that subsequently occurred : "On the news of the volunteers having returned to California reaching our valley, a second panic occurred. Nor was this unreasonable, for the Indians who had escaped north held the country around the valley. A small party of prospectors, who were driven in by the hostiles, had seen them in force, some 400 strong, at Wall springs, on the emigrant road. We were poorly armed, short of ammunition, and many of us even destitute of provisions. The Indians had also about this time recommenced hostil- ities in their worst style. Knowing our helpless condition, they burned dwellings, drove off stock, and killed settlers at their own dwellings when remote from the town.
" We were momentarily expecting an attack from an enemy with whom we were but poorly able to cope. At this critical juncture, Colonel F. W. Lander, superintendent of the U. S. over- land wagon road, arrived in our valley with his company of some fifty men, well armed and equipped. Their presence was a welcome relief to our unprotected settlement, for the Indians had grown so emboldened by success that they entered the valley within a few miles of the chief settle- ment, and in broad day killed Mr. Adams, one of our most respected and worthy citizens. Governor Roop, with a number of the principal settlers, waited upon Colonel Lander, and besought him to
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aid them in protecting the valley against the Indians. Colonel Lander agreed to take a part of his force and go out to reconnoiter the Indians' position, if the settlers would raise a company to join him. He asserted that he should only seek an interview with Winnemucca; but if that were impossible, and the chief persisted in the war, harassing the settlements, obstructing his work, or interfering with the emigration, he would fight him. On this arrangement, I joined him with thirty men. The Indians fired on our approach, killing one of my company (Alex. A. Painter). We charged and drove the Indians. They occupied the mountain where our ponies could not penetrate. Colonel Lander left his arms, and went among them with a flag. They shot at him, and although he remained, persisting in an interview, they would not grant it. When he returned we charged again, and kept up the battle for five hours, when the Indians retired at all points, going farther north. We buried the dead man on the field, and returned to Honey lake. Two days afterwards Lander's party left the valley for their work."
During this battle, soon after Painter was shot, a Spaniard of Colonel Lander's command, who was dexterous with a lasso, observed one of Winnemucca's runners riding at full speed across the country towards the main band. The Spaniard was mounted on a powerful horse, and started in pursuit of the savage, coiling his lasso as he went. The Indian, seeing he would surely be overtaken, stopped and awaited his pursuer, and when he drew near fired at him with his rifle. The Spaniard was watching his victim closely, and, as the savage fired, threw himself around the neck of his horse, who still kept on at the top of his speed. Straightening himself up, the Spaniard whirled the rope around his head and sent it whizzing and uncoiling through the air. Checking his horse and turning about, he dashed off to rejoin his company just as the noose settled down over the shoulders of the astonished savage and jerked him from his horse. The Indian plowed the desert and swept the sage-brush at the heels of the Spaniard's horse until they reached the cheering troops, the captor exultant, the victim dead as a herring. Painter's grave is on a flat at the head of a cañon that has ever since been known as Painter flat, and near him was buried the savage whose body the Spaniard brought so summarily into camp. Colonel Lander afterwards presented S. H. Painter the flag under which his brother died.
A short time after this event Colonel Lander had an interview with Numaga, one of the Pah- Ute chiefs, who reported that his followers were in a most famished condition, the result of their war against the whites, and of being driven from their home about Pyramid lake. A council was then held by Lander with Winnemucca, and a treaty of peace was made, which the old chief has carefully observed. Not long after this, two Pah-Utes came into Honey Lake valley, and some of the settlers who had lost friends during the war tried to kill them. The two Indians were taken prisoners by the U. S. troops under Captain Hamilton, and when Colonel Lander arrived they were released. The citizens called a meeting for the purpose of restraining such of the settlers as might by hostile acts cause a reopening of the war, and from that time the difficulties ceased, and the In- dians became as friendly and peaceable as before.
About the middle of June, 1866, Mr. Joseph Hall of Susanville, while hunting horses about ten miles west of that place, came unexpectedly upon an encampment of Indians. There were present Indians from Pit river, Indian valley, and Honey Lake valley, and it was evident that the latter two had met the Pit River Indians for the purpose of selling them ammunition, as those Indians were engaged in acts of hostility. As soon as they perceived that they were discovered, they packed their ponies and left. Mr. Hall returned immediately to Susanville and reported what he had seen, and soon after a party that had been out to Pine creek on a fishing excurison returned to town and reported that they had seen the band of Pit River Indians, and indulged in a little skirmish with them, no injury having been inflicted by either party.
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