USA > California > Lassen County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 61
USA > California > Plumas County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 61
USA > California > Sierra County > Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850 > Part 61
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McCarty's . 3,250
Shady flat 3,225
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down the steep descent, and Anderson's first impression was that they were Indians thirsting for his gore. Grasping his knife firmly, he determined to sell his life dearly, but was soon pleased to find no necessity for the exercise of his native valor, as they proved to be the Jim Kane party. Rush- ing down to the river bank, they paid no attention to Anderson, but began at once to wash gravel with their rocker. They were very fortunate in their selection of a point to work, for they cleaned up all the rest of that day three hundred dollars to a pan. Anderson went down to Little Rich bar in the evening, full of enthusiasm, and guaranteed to Mr. Haven, if he could wash a hundred · pans of dirt in a day with a rocker, $30,000 for his trouble. Of course the result fell far short of his extravagant expectations, the Kane party having at first struck a natural sluice, where the gold had accumulated, but which was worked out in a few hours. Notwithstanding, the yield on the following day, and for several days thereafter, was by no means insignificant. The morning's work for the Kane party on the fifteenth netted $2,800. Further particulars of this period are noted in their proper order elsewhere.
Philo A. Haven's account of the finding of gold on Little Rich bar is quite amusing. About the last of August, 1849, while working at Cut Eye Foster's bar, just below and near Indian valley, in Yuba county, he, with his three companions, saw an Indian who had a larger nugget than any they had found. On being asked to tell where he found it, the native became exceedingly reticent on the subject ; but after much parley, he agreed to point his finger in the direction of the place he had taken it from, in consideration of what he and his son, a half-grown youth, could eat then and there. The bargain being made, enough bread was brought out to supply two meals for the four white men, and as a sort of trimming to the repast, Mr. Haven began frying pancakes. The company soon saw visions of a famine. Even the great American pie-eater would have hung his head in shame had he beheld the delicate mouthfuls and the quantity of food devoured on this occasion. But even an Indian's capacity is limited, and the feast was finally finished, greatly to the relief of the gold-hunters. Then the company awaited with ill-suppressed impatience the perform- ance of the Indian's part of the contract. With great dignity poor Lo arose, and calling the attention of his son to the way he was about to indicate, faced to the bluff, and holding his finger straight out before him, turned completely around, the index digit taking in every point of the compass; after which he sat down with a loud laugh at having so easily sold them. Mr. Haven joined heartily in the laugh, and said it was a good joke, telling the jocose aborigine that he was " heap smart-much too smart for white man"; by which compliments he secured his assent to a bargain to allow his son to show the place; the conditions being that if nuggets the size of small walnuts were found, the Indian was to have one gray blanket; and if only the size of corn or beans, a new blue shirt. The next morning they started up the river. About two o'clock of the second day they arrived opposite what was afterward known as Big Rich bar. Here the Indian pointed to gold lying around, and asked for his recompense. Perceiving Hedgepath & Co.'s notices posted in various places, claiming seven claims of thirty feet each, they said it would not do, and that not a single piece should be touched. He then led the way to the place where he had found the nug- get, which was near the edge of the river opposite the place now known as Coyoteville, and point- ing to a crevice, said : " Dig, you ketchum here." Mr. Haven soon raked out a piece weighing an ounce and a half. On the same day he located Little Rich bar a little way up the river. The next day he went upon the ridge and saw the Forks, now the site of Downieville. A week after, the Hedgepath claims were jumped by several parties. On the Sunday following their location at Little Rich bar, Philo Haven and Carlos Haven, his nephew, strolled up the river, and picked up - $700 in pieces between their claim and the mouth of the middle fork of the North Branch, a short
RESIDENCE AND RANCH OF H.H.KENNEDY, GOODYEAR'S BAR, SIERRA CO. CAL.
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distance above where the Gold Bluff mill now stands. While returning to camp, they fell in with a miner who had some jerked venison, and rather than continue on their way that night, they offered the man its weight in gold for a piece of meat weighing eight or nine ounces, which rather liberal offer was summarily refused.
In April, 1858, Major Downie published in the Sierra Democrat a series of personal reminis- cences of 1849, containing, among other things, his recollections of his first entry into what is now Sierra county, and his settlement on the present site of Downieville. He and his party arrived at San Francisco June 27, 1849, in the ship Architect. He was soon en route for Nye's ranch (Marys- ville), to which place he and his companions navigated a barge from Benicia. The North Fork being reputed rich in gold-dust they started in search of it, but had great difficulty in finding the stream. At Bullard's bar, on the Yuba, he tarried for some time agitating a rocker, all the time hearing fabulous stories from prospectors of rich finds elsewhere, none of whom would indicate the precise place where wealth could be so easily secured. He finally resolved to go farther up the stream ; but those whom he asked to accompany him had not the courage to brave the hardships of the unknown country above. After many disappointments he met with some colored sailors, ten in number, who were willing to go, and also induced an Irish lad, Michael Deverney, to make one of the company. On the 5th of October, 1849, they started. At Slate range a Kanaka, Jim Crow, joined them. The succeeding Sunday was spent with " Cut Eye Foster," who was reputed to be a professional horse-thief, and employed Indians to carry on his nefarious business. His corral was the highest up in the mountains, and many a stray mule found its way into it. However, old Foster is represented by Major Downie as being a very philanthropic, if a dishonest, man.
At the Mountain house site the Downie party found the trees blazed to indicate the road to Goodyear's bar; but they kept up the divide, expecting to find the big pieces of gold on higher ground. They camped that night on the north fork of Oregon creek. At Secret canon they found the first gold since leaving Bullard's bar. They began to think they were nearing nature's treasury, and crossed the river and camped on O'Donnell flat. Here they prospected a day or two, but failed to discover the rich deposits there, afterwards brought to light. Four of them crossed the hill from the flat and saw the deep East Fork canon below them. Following the ridge, they went towards the Forks. He says :
" When we got to the first island above the Forks the boys insisted on going back. I had my attention turned to the low ridge that divides the North fork from the South. There had already been so much speculation that one did not like to urge his surmises very strongly ; so I said but little, yet felt assured that there was a fork of the river just beyond that ridge. I agreed that if the boys would go with me around that point, I would then go back to camp with them. They consented to do so. Turning the point, we saw the forks of North Yuba, which have since become so famous. The spot where the town stands was then the handsomest I have ever seen in the mountains. Long willows waved on the banks of the north fork, small pine and spruce trees stood in beautiful groups where the saloons now stand; the hillsides were covered with pretty oaks, stretching out their strong branches and thick foliage, sheltering the Indian wigwam; and here and there a tall pine, towered above everything. But the miner and the trader spared none of these ; the willows were uprooted, the pine and spruce were cast out upon the Yuba's current, the branches were lopped from the oaks, and their trunks made heat for sordid slapjacks; the tall pine was laid low, and all was changed."
When they came to the junction of the two streams, they noticed that the water of the north fork was not so clear as the other. An exploration of the upper regions revealed a party at work
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on a small bar just below the Blue banks. They were very reticent about the diggings; and in answer to a question if they intended to stay long in the mountains, they replied that they "mout stop a spell longer, and then again they moutn't." They seemed to entertain the idea that when their crevice was worked out, gold digging in California would be over with. The remainder of the party came up the next day, and they unpacked on Jersey flat. While encamped on Jersey flat Jim Crow one day 'killed with a small crowbar a salmon-trout which weighed fourteen pounds. It was boiled in the camp kettle, and the major says that afterwards gold was found in the bottom of the kettle. As crevicing was better up the fork, they broke up camp on Jersey flat, and moved up to Zumwalt flat, where each man could make about five ounces a day. A day's work was then three hours and a half. Fourteen ounces a day was no uncommon crevicing. They found gold all along the banks of the north fork, seldom using a shovel, the implements being a butcher-knife, a tin pan, and a crowbar. The party intended to winter on a rough-looking bar up the south fork half a mile. The major speaks of the rich yield on this bar in these words :
"On Monday I commenced to work on the bar. Mamoo and I had about ten feet between us, running lengthwise of the bar. On Monday we took out seventeen ounces; on Tuesday, twenty- four; Wednesday, twenty-nine ; Thursday, forty ounces in the forenoon; and as we took out only nine ounces in the afternoon, Mamoo would work no longer in the place, saying it was worked out. I have washed as much as fourteen ounces in one pan while Mamoo was making coffee. In four days we had taken out in all about $6,000."
Eight of the boys started below for provisions, taking all the mules with them, and promising to be back in a few days. Jim Crow went with the party. None of them came back with the necessary commissary stores. The only one who returned was Jim Crow, and he came back in the spring with a number of Kanakas and about five hundred white men, whom he was leading to the rich diggings at the Forks, supposing that the Downie party was frozen or starved to death. The winter was spent at the Forks by the party, who experienced great hardships and privations, both from the weather and the scarcity of food.
Many of those who prospected through the eastern part of Sierra county in 1849 returned to the lower camps in the winter, and told glowing tales of the fortunes to be made there. The sub- stantial sacks of dust and nuggets they displayed convinced the doubting miner that his paltry fifty dollars a day or less could be many times increased by seeking the upper country. When the sun- shine and rains of spring had melted the deep snows from the ridges, they poured into Sierra's terri- tory by the hundreds. In 1850 many flourishing and populous camps were formed, some of which still exist as substantial, well-built towns. Among them were Downieville, Goodyear's bar, Forest City, Alleghany, Howland Flat, and Gibsonville. The famous Gold Lake excitement, though dis- appointing many in their Aladdin expectations, yet served to open up and settle many localities through the vigorous exertions made to discover that supposed valuable sheet of water. [For an account of the celebrated Gold Lake expedition see page 145 in this work.]
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ORGANIZATION OF SIERRA COUNTY.
The territory now embraced by Sierra county became a part of Yuba county under the act of February 18, 1850, dividing the state into twenty-seven counties. Great difficulty was experienced by the first legislature in making a proper assignment of territory, the population being so shifting that sections then unoccupied were liable in a few months to become populated with thousands of eager miners, or perhaps they might never have sufficient inhabitants to demand a county organiza- tion. The courses of the rivers and the character of the mountains were almost unknown, and thus many queer boundaries were given to counties of a most ungainly shape. Yuba county extended from the Sacramento river to the eastern boundary of the state, embracing Sierra, Nevada, and a portion of Placer counties, together with its present territory. Five townships then composed Sierra county ; viz., Goodyear's bar, Downieville, Durgan Flat, Rose Bar, and another not named. Owing to the little knowledge then had of the nature of the country, none of the boundaries of these townships can be definitely ascertained. The lines designated were generally of a fictitious nature, and it is impossible to trace them out, were it at all necessary to do so. We have no record of there being more than two justices of the peace at a time in all of them, many of the localities cling- ing to the alcalde system promulgated by Governor Bennett Reily, in 1849, in this state. The disadvantages of belonging to Yuba county were early felt; Marysville was too distant, and a county government located at that place was to the citizens here as useless as one in Kamtchatka. The trouble, expense, and time required to send criminals to Marysville were so great that many escaped the just punishment for their acts, while others were severely dealt with by Judge Lynch. No protection whatever was afforded by the Yuba government, and no benefit whatever was derived from it; in fact, the only official who at all interested himself, and paid a visit to this region, was the tax collecter, who failed not to scrape together all that he could. The two justices alluded to were stationed at Downieville. Richard Galloway was the first who administered legal justice, but was succeeded in 1851 by Thomas Graham. Graham was a tall, dignified man, wear- ing a long blue coat with brass buttons, all buttoned down before, like the time-honored Old Grimes, deceased. He had a thorough consciousness of his official importance in the community, and was very rigid in exacting the utmost obeisance from the frequenters of his court. William C. Lem- mon was Graham's judicial contemporary. But notwithstanding the exceedingly small number of those authorized in the regular way to dispense justice, and the great number of people resident here, these courts were not overburdened with business. The miners' courts, organized in nearly every community, settled most of the litigation, and tried a very large majority of the criminal cases, whether the most intricate problems as to the right of possession, or whether human life or liberty depended on their decisions. Nothing was shirked. The limited jurisdiction of the jus- tices' courts made this seeming extravagant assumption of authority absolutely necessary, because of the great difficulty in reaching the higher seats of justice at all seasons of the year over the mountain trails, and more especially in winter, when the snow lay in great depth on the inter- vening ridges. For several months of the year Sierra county was entirely cut off from the remainder of the county. As the constantly increasing population rendered a separate county government more and more necessary, the matter was considerably discussed in the latter part of 1851, and a bill for the segregation of Sierra county from Yuba was introduced in the legislature of that winter. The passage was easily effected, and the bill became a law by the signature of the governor on the sixteenth of April, 1852. The boundaries, as defined by the act, were as follows :
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" Beginning at a point in the middle of the middle branch of Yuba river, ten miles from its mouth, running thence in a north-westerly direction to a point on the north branch of Yuba river, known as Cut Eye Foster's bar; thence westerly to a point on the dividing ridge between the waters of Feather and Yuba rivers, known as the Lexington house, leaving said house in Yuba county ; thence northerly, following out said ridge; thence easterly in a straight line to the boundary line of the state; thence south along said boundary line to a point east of the middle branch of Yuba river and the north-east corner of Nevada county; thence west, following the northerly line of Nevada county, to the place of beginning. The seat of justice shall be at Downie- ville."
A slight effort was made by the inhabitants of Goodyear's bar, then a formidable rival of Downieville, to get that place named in the act as the county seat, but it failed on account of the apathy and indifference shown by the miners to the advancement of their town, considering themselves only temporary sojourners among the mountains, and not caring at all for the glory of county-seatship. The indebtedness of Yuba county at the time of division was thirty-six thousand nine hundred and one dollars, the proportion of debt to which the new county fell heir being nine thousand two hundred and twenty-five dollars. An election was ordered to be held on the second Monday of June, 1852, for the selection of a county judge, a district attorney, a county clerk, a sheriff, a surveyor, an assessor, a coroner, and a treasurer. A committee, empowered with dis- cretionary powers as to the apportionment of election precincts and the canvassing of the returns, was appointed, consisting of Francis Anderson, John Craycroft, John C. James, C. E. Smith, and T. M. Ramsdell. The election occurred on the fourteenth of June, and the following persons were elected to positions of trust in the county :
Office.
Name.
Party.
Majority.
County Judge.
Ferdinand J. McCann
Democrat.
452
District Attorney
. Thaddeus Purdy
Democrat
488
Sheriff
William J. Ford .
Democrat. 555
County Clerk.
J. Webb Nicholson
Whig
84
County Treasurer
T. M. Ramsdell
Democrat 485
Assessor
E. Frazer.
Democrat
567
Coroner
Cyrus D. Aiken
Democrat. 453
Surveyor
William G. Still
Democrat 495
The officers entered upon their several duties a few days after the election, and the county machinery was soon put in motion.
The county boundaries as established at this time have, with one exception, remained substan- tially unchanged to the present time. Disputes have at various times arisen about different render- ings of the words employed in the statutes, owing principally to the ambiguity of the landmarks established by the surveys.
RESIDENCE OF F. M. ROWLAND, 3 MILES FROM SIERRAVILLE SIERRA VALLEY, SIERRA CO. CAL.
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425
OFFICIAL HISTORY OF SIERRA COUNTY.
Sierra county was first divided into townships by the court of sessions shortly after the organ- ization of that body, but as its earliest records are not in existence, the exact date of the order, and its provisions, cannot be ascertained. The first reference to townships made in the chronicles of the court of sessions at hand was rendered October 15, 1853, when Benjamin Hall was instructed to draw a plat of the several townships of Sierra county, which being done, was approved on the following day. His definition of the township boundaries was made by him a few days later, and published in the Mountain Echo in December. By this it appears that the county was originally divided into nine townships, numbering from one to nine; beginning at the north-west corner and running eastward, in the order of numbering congressional townships. June 19, 1855, township No. 10 was created from the western part of township No. 7. Township No. 11 was created in 1856, by the board of supervisors. On the second of August, 1859, townships Nos. 8 and 10 were abolished and added to township No. 7, while No. 11 was changed to No. 8. Other changes of a minor character were subsequently made, and on the nineteenth of November, 1863, there being ten townships, names were given to them instead of numbers, viz. :
Township No. 1 was changed to Alturas; No. 2, to Sears; No 3, to Table Rock; No 4, to Eureka; No. 5, to Indian ; No. 6, to Lincoln; No. 7, to Forest; No. 8, to Gibson ; No. 9, to Butte ; No. 10, to Sierra.
Many changes have since occurred in these county subdivisions, to enumerate which would be both tedious and profitless. Sierra county at present is divided into nine townships, with the fol- lowing names : Oneida, Sears, Table Rock, Eureka, Lincoln, Forest, Gibson, Butte, and Sierra. The last election precincts established by the board of supervisors are as follows :
SIERRA TOWNSHIP-Loyalton, Sierraville.
ONEIDA-Antelope, Crystal Peak.
FOREST-Alleghany, Chips, Forest City, Pike City.
LINCOLN-Brandy City, Indian Hill, Goodyear's bar, Mountain House.
BUTTE-Downieville, Sierra City, Butte, Gold Lake, Loganville.
EUREKA-Eureka, Little Grizzly, Monte Christo.
SEARS -- Port Wine, Scale's, St. Louis.
TABLE ROCK-Howland Flat, Poker Flat.
GIBSON-Newark, Gibsonville.
In March, 1863, the north-western boundary of the county was more clearly defined by the legislature, in these words : " From the Lexington house, thence northerly along the center of said ridge [the dividing ridge between the waters of Feather and Yuba rivers] to a point known as Pilot peak; thence south-easterly along the center of said ridge to a point due west from a point about one mile below the outlet of Gold Lake, known as the falls; thence due east to the eastern boundary line of the state," etc. This by no means settled permanently the northern boundary of Sierra county, for a great deal of dissatisfaction was caused in La Porte and the vicinity, the inhabitants of which desired to be severed entirely from Sierra, for the purpose of forming a new - county or of attaching themselves to Plumas. The matter was vigorously discussed during the next three years, and finally resulted in an act of the legislature, approved March 31, 1866, setting off a considerable territory in the north-western part to Plumas county. [See pages 162, 163, and
48
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164 of this work for an account of the change of boundary.] Sierra county recovered a small portion by the act of March 28, 1868, giving her all that portion of Plumas county lying south of Slate creek. The northern boundary of Sierra county has remained as then established to the present time.
Uncertainty as to the source of the south fork of the Middle Yuba river led to quite a controversy between Nevada and Sierra counties at this time. In 1868 each county made a survey, but as the initial point was not the same for both, neither would adopt the work of the other. By agreement, the two boards met on the disputed territory, but could come to no understanding. Sierra county brought suit against the Eureka company, that had paid taxes to Nevada county on some of the disputed ground, to enforce payment of taxes. Nevada county instructed her district attorney to defend the Eureka company. The question was settled by the supreme court in 1869, giving Sierra the contested ground. The surveys and litigation cost each county more than the land in controversy was worth to either of them ..
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS.
Prior to May, 1855, all the business of the county was transacted by the court of sessions, which consisted of the county judge and two associate justices, elected each year by the justices of the peace of the county, from among their number. This body being also empowered to try certain criminal cases and affairs in litigation, we have placed it under the general heading of " The Courts and Judiciary," where a full account of its proceedings may be found. The establishment of the supervisor system in the state of California necessitated the division of Sierra county into three districts. The first election occurred on the first Monday in May, 1855, and resulted in the choice of Seth Chandler, William Henry, and Gustavus B. Wright as the guardians of the county interests. Following are the proceedings of the first meeting of the board :
" At the first meeting of the board of supervisors, held in and for the county of Sierra on this sixth day of May, 1855, the following-named persons were duly sworn and installed as supervisors, under an act of the legislature of the state of California: Seth Chandler, William Henry, Gustavus B. Wright. J. Webb Nicholson, clerk.
"On motion, Seth Chandler was elected chairman. Report of the committee on public buildings read and accepted, and the committee discharged from further duty.
" In the matter of the acceptance or rejection of the court-house and jail: It appearing to the satisfaction of the board that said buildings are necessary to the convenience of the county, it is hereby ordered that said buildings be accepted; and it is further ordered that the claim of D. G. Webber, contractor, for five thousand five hundred dollars, be allowed, and that the county auditor draw his warrant on the treasurer of Sierra county in favor of said Webber for said amount, to be paid, one-half in one month and the balance in two months from the date of this order.
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