History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888, Part 10

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe, 1832-1918; Victor, Frances Fuller, Mrs., 1826-1902
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: San Francisco : The History company
Number of Pages: 872

USA > Colorado > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 10
USA > Nevada > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 10
USA > Wyoming > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 10

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39 There is a statement in the S. F. Alta, Sept. 29, 1857, that Brigham Young had ordered an organization of secret cavalry to western Utah. It was certainly not to Carson. Much comment on the exodus of the Mor- mons is to be found in the Alta. They were ordered in from Cal. also. Mention in Nevers' Nevada Pioneers, MS., 1-2; Cradlebaugh's Nevada Biog- raphy, MS., 3; Gold Hill News, May 16, 1873; San Jose Pioneer, May 26, 1877.

+ Samuel A. Nevers was born in Boston, March 1, 1824, came to Cal. in 1849 by sea, in the ship Sweden; settled in Eagle valley in 1859, and mar- ried thereabout. In a manuscript account of Nevada Pioneers, in my collec- tion, he says: 'There were but 4 persons settled in this part of the valley at that time, to wit, B. L. King, Mart. Stebbins, Jacob H. Rose, and John Mankin, who were settled on land taken up by them under the laws of Utah .... None of the above named were Mormons .... Nearly all the Mor- mons, when leaving for Salt Lake, sold their land to John Mankin for a nominal sum, payment to be made in wheat, which was sold for a very low. price. This sale carried a strip of land from King's canon down to the Hot springs, but Mankin subsequently claimed the whole lower portion of the valley .... Society was on a low plane, every man doing about as he pleased . There was no law here until Judge Cradlebaugh came, who to a great extent brought order out of chaos.'

HIST. NEV. 6.

SETTLEMENTS.

Before the Mormons had made their final exodus, the remaining inhabitants seized the opportunity to prevent their return by again petitioning congress for a territorial organization in Western Utah, with por- tions of California and New Mexico.41 41 At a mass- meeting held at Genoa August 8th, by appointment of a previous informal meeting held on the 3d," it was declared, in a series of resolutions, that it was the sense of the inhabitants of that region that the security of life and property of immigrants passing through it depended upon the organization of a territorial gov- ernment. No other reason for the proposed division of Utah was given in the resolutions, but in the memorial accompanying it other causes were set forth; namely, that no law existed in western Utah except theocratic rule, which was exercised by the Mormon church without reference to statutory regulations. The Utah legislature had abolished the courts of the county of Carson, leaving no officers to execute the laws except two justices of the peace and one con- stable, whose authority no one respected. The county was reduced to an election precinct, in which no one voted, or cared to vote. There were bad men in the community, whose crimes could only be punished by resort to lynch-law ; the country was cut off from Cal- ifornia four months of the year by snow, and equally from the then seat of government by distance. In claiming a white population, however, of between 7,000 and 8,000, and 75,000 to 100,000 natives, the

41 The petition makes the Goose Creek mountains the eastern, the Colo- rado river the southern, Oregon the northern, and the Sierra Nevada the western boundary.

42 The first meeting was held at Gilbert's saloon, and was presided over by John Reese, William Nixon being secretary. The mass-meeting was also presided over by Reese, the vice-presidents being Isaac Roop, F. C. Smith, B. L. King, and Solomon Perrin. The committee on resolutions consisted of William M. Ormsby, R. D. Sides, Elijah Knott, Thomas J. Singleton, B. L. King, Daniel Woodford, S. Stephens, Warren Smith, and John Mc- Marlin. The meeting was addressed by James M. Crane, a California journalist of some repute, in a speech of an hour's length, the substance of which was probably contained in the memorial which he was elected to present to congress.

SEPARATION.

memorialists greatly exceeded the truth."3 In October a mass-meeting was held at Honey Lake valley, which was presided over by Peter Lassen, approving the action of the Genoa meeting, and in January 1858 the California legislature and Governor Johnson endorsed it.

As an inducement to congress to grant their peti- tion, it was submitted that all the routes across the continent would be guarded by the people of the pro- posed territory. A committee " was appointed to solicit signatures, and James M. Crane was chosen to proceed to Washington city with the resolutions and memorial of the meeting, and also to represent the territory as delegate, when it should be organized, in congress. Committees were also appointed to " man- age and superintend all matters necessary and proper in the premises,"" and the newspapers of California, Oregon, Washington, Utah, and New Mexico were requested to publish the proceedings of the conven- tion, as well as the leading papers in all the eastern cities. 16

The attitude of the Mormons had its influence on congress. Crane wrote to his constituents from Wash- ington in February 1858 that the committee on ter- ritories had agreed to report a bill, and that it would be pressed through both houses " as a war measure, to " compress the limits of the Mormons, and defeat

43 S. F. Alta, Sept. 5 and Oct. 21, 1857; Cal. Jour. Assembly, 1858, 56; Cal. Stat., 1858, 350; Sen. Mis. Doc., 181, 35th cong. Ist sess.

4 W. W. Nieols, R. D. Sides, Orrin Gray, J. K. Trumbo, and William Rogers.

45 In Honey Lake valley, Isaac Roop, Peter Lassen, William Hill, Me- Mnrtry, and Arnold; Eagle valley, B. L. King and Martin Stebbins; Carson valley, William M. Ormsby, James McMarlin, C. D. Daggett, John Reese, William Rodgers, Thomas J. Singleton, Moses Job, William Thorrington, Isaae Farwell, Daniel Woodford, Orrin Gray, and D. E. Gilbert; Willow, town, Solomon Perrin; Ragtown, James Quick; Twenty-six Mile desert, Jefferson Atchison; Sink of Humboldt, Samuel Blackford; Walker river and valley, T. J. Hall and James MeIntyre; Hope valley, S. Stevenson; Lake valley, M. Smith.

46 A memorial addressed to President Buchanan was presented by him to the house April 19, 1858. It was signed by William M. Ormsby and Martin Smith, and indorsed by Gov Weller. H. Ex. Doc., 102, 35th eong. Ist sess.

47 The house committee reported favorably May 12, 1858, in a bill to organize the territory of Nevada. H. Jour., 789, 1221, 35th eong. Ist sess .; H. Com. Rept, 375, 35th cong. Ist sess.

SETTLEMENTS.

their efforts to corrupt and confederate with the Ind- ian tribes." So certain was the prospective delegate that an organization would be effected that he ad- vised the sowing and planting of heavy crops, which he prophesied they would be able to sell for good cash prices to the government to supply the army and the Indian reservations. But the army under Johnston having made it possible for federal officers to reside in Salt Lake City, and a governor being appointed for Utah in place of Brigham Young, the necessity no longer existed of creating another territory, and the project slumbered. Under Governor Cummings Carson county was reorganized, so far as the appoint- ment of John S. Childs probate judge, and the order- ing of an election, were concerned. Previous to the election, and in the absence of courts, a committee of citizens had hanged William B. Thorrington for com- plicity in the murder of a cattle-owner, and selling his herd. Thorrington's guilt was not clearly established by the evidence, but from the facts of his being a gam- bler, acquiring property with extraordinary rapidity, and having sheltered the real murderer, he was con- victed in a citizen's court, and suffered the extreme penalty.48 48 This exercise of the judicial functions by

48 It seems that in spite of his known character, Lucky Bill was a popular man on the frontier. He was born in N. Y. state, removing to Michigan in 1848, and to Cal. in 1850, across the plains. He had little education, but possessed a fine person, a handsome face, and a gay and benevolent dispo- sition; benevolent in the sense that Robin Hood was so, he robbed those that had money or property, and good-naturedly gave of his easily gotten gains a small portion to those who had not, when they appealed to his sympathies- a trait which often distingushes the gambler. Being a large and powerful man he had the reputation of great courage; and often defending the weaker party in a quarrel gave him a character for magnanimity. He owned a farm and a toll-road, in addition to his trading-post, and he acquired a large amount of miscellaneous property from travellers at thimble rig. In the spring of 1858 William Edwards, who had shot a man in Cal., took up his quarters with Thorrington, to whom it was said by the friends of the latter he denied his guilt. Later he stopped for a time with W. T. C. Elliott and John N. Gilpin, at Honey lake. Afterward, with one Mullins, he murdered Harry Gordier, for his property, including a herd of cattle, an innocent man named Snow being hanged for the act. Circumstances coming to light which pointed to the guilt of Edwards, he fled to Carson valley, and declaring his innocence, claimed Thorrington's protection from threatened peril. Edwards wished to leave the country, and begged his friends to sell a valuable horse which he rode, and help him to escape. While endeavoring to effect these ends, two

ELECTION.

the people created a division of sentiment, and the formation of two political parties, the sympathizers with Thorrington being called Mormon, and the op- posite party anti-Mormon." The latter party accused the former of condoning Thorrington's guilt because he was conveniently blind to certain practices of their own; and they also made war upon Judge Childs as a Mormon appointee. At the election, October 30, 1858, the votes of four out of six precincts were thrown out because ot alleged illegal voting, and a majority of the "Mormon" candidates elected. H. B. Clemons was chosen representative; M M. Gaige treasurer; L. Abernethy sheriff; W. G. Vyatt, James McMarlin, and R. D. Sides selectmen; C. N. Noteware surveyor ; S. A. Kinsey recorder; Benjamin Sears and James Farwell justices of the peace; T. J. Atchison and J. A. Smith constables. Sides and Abernethy did not belong to the Mormon party.59 Little heed was given to the officers elected, whose duties were not of an onerous nature.

detectives from the vigilance committee, Elliott and Gilpin, purchased the horse and wormcd themselves into the confidence of Edwards and Thorring- ton, learning of the proposed elopement of the former, whereupon both men were arrested and tried by a citizen's court, the evidence being recorded by C. N. Noteware, afterward secretary of Nevada. W. T. C. Elliott acted as sheriff, John L. Cary as judge, and IS others as jurors. Edwards finally con- fessed, and declared tlie innocence of Thorrington; but the jury, prejudiced by the loose character of the latter, and the fear of other crimes, committed one themselves by convicting a man without evidence. Edwards was hanged at the scene of the murder, in Honey Lake valley, June 23, 1858, and Thor- rington at his farm at Clear creek, on the 19th, two days after the trial. Thorrington had a son, Jerome, who died, while his wife went to the insanc asylum at Stockton. There were 2 accomplices of Edwards, who were fined $1,000 each, and ordered to leave the country. Van Sickle's Utah Desperadocs, MS .; 3. Sce also Pop. Tribunals, this series.

49 It should be borne in mind that there were not enough professed Mor- mons left in Carson valley to make a party; but there were apostates, and perhaps also secret believers. They were too well drilled in obedience to venture upon the vigilant system of justice unless ordered to do so by the officers of the church. Reese names the families of Moore, John Dilworth, John Hawkins, and Perkins, who were Mormons and remained in Carson valley.

50 The candidates of the anti-Mormon party, in the order given above, were Martin Stebbins; H. Mott, sen .; George Chedic; John L. Carey, J. H. Rose, and W. Cosser; John F. Long: S. Taylor; A. J. Hammack and H. Van Sickle: J. M. Herring and J. M. Howard. The vote between Clemons and Stebbins was a tie, but the result was 'declared in favor of Mr Clemons, ac- cording to the Utah statutes, page 234, sec. 12.' Had the votes of 4 pre- cincts not been thrown out, Stebbins would have had a majority of 48.

SETTLEMENTS. .

In this year Carson City was laid out in Eagle valley by Abraham V. Z. Curry," who erected a stone house, which was followed the same year by three or four others; 52 but no rapid influx of popula- tion followed that year or the next. 53 Only at one point was there any perceptible increase in population, and that was at what is now Gold Hill, where the discovery of rich placers in 1859 had attracted the usual rush of miners which follows a report of new gold diggings.

By this mixed and migratory population the need of some laws and regulations was felt, and they accord-

51 A. V. Z. Curry was an energetic pioneer. He settled in Warm springs and built the hotel and swimming baths. He discovered the extensive sand- stone deposit at Carson, and erected the stone buildings in the town. He was with Gould in the Gould and Curry mine; was a member of the terri- torial council, and active in various branches of business. 'He belonged to that sturdy class of inen who found empires and build up states.'

52 Nevers, in Nevada Pioneers, MS., 2, states that he himself built the third house, 'in what is now Carson valley,' in 1859. O. H. Pierson, writing in the Carson Tribune, Aug. 5, 1870, says that when he entered Eagle valley in 1859 he found there three houses only, one of which was occupied by Abram Curry, one by William M. Ormsby, and another by Martin Stebbins. Pier- son also says that he erected the fourth house, which was the St Nicholas hotel.

53 Granville W. Huffaker, in a manuscript entitled Early Cattle Trade in Nevada, mentions some of the settlers in western Utah whom he found in 1859. Huffaker was in Salt Lake in 1857-S, when the gentiles were ordered out. Among those who left were John H. Kinkead, Bell, Gilbert, and Gear- ish, the latter two settling in Los Angeles, California. Huffaker had permis. sion to remain, couched in the following trenchant phrase, 'Keep your tongue in your head, and you will not be molested.' He remained, on those terms, until 1859, and then sold his stock of goods, and with a drove of cattle removed to the Truckee Meadows in western Utah, where he took a land claim of 160 acres, and by purchase from other claimants acquired a total of 640 acres. Huffaker was born in Ky in 1831; was educated at Jacksonville college, Ill .; removed to St Louis in 1846 and to Salt Lake in 1851, bringing a train of 40 wagon-loads of goods, which he sold in three weeks. He con- tinued in trade in that place till 1859. Huffaker says that he found in Truckee and Steamboat valleys 6 or 7 white men. Henry Miller and Edward Ing were on the north of Truckee; four miles south of them, at the dairy farm of James and M. F. Evans, called the stone-house rancho, and living with them, were Richard Martin and Henry Berryman. Peleg Brown was another settler of this region. In Pleasant valley was 'Mormon ' Smith. Theodore, Joseph, and John D. Winters, with their mother, were settled in Washoe valley, where they had been since 1857. Richard D. Sides and William Best were also in Washoe valley. South of the sink of the Hum- boldt was the trading post of John F. Stone and C. C. Gates, where Glen- dale now is, then called Stone and Gates' crossing. Buckland mentions Jacob Winters as living in Jack's valley as early as 1857; and Evan Jones in Carson valley next or nearest to McMarlin's rancho, at the same time. Indian Fighting, MS., 1.

PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT.

ingly, on the 11th of June, agreed among themselves to adopt certain simple rules of conduct, and to enforce them on others. 54

At the same time certain politicians stood ready to avail themselves of the suggestion toward another effort for a separate territorial organization, and to make use of the feeling against the Mormons of east- ern Utah to give force to their arguments. These patriots called a mass-meeting for the 6th of June at Carson City, which meeting divided Carson county into precincts for election purposes, and called an elec- tion to take place on the 14th of July, to choose a delegate to visit Washington city and complete the work begun by Crane of getting a bill through con- gress creating the territory of Nevada, and to elect delegates to a convention to be held at Genoa on the 18th of July, when the votes for delegate would be counted, and other business connected with the pro- posed change of government be attended to.

The convention met pursuant to appointment, re- maining in session nine days.55 It was not altogether a harmonious session, the majority being determined to consider it a convention to frame a constitution for a provisional government, which congress would be asked to recognize, as in the case of Oregon, and a minority insisting that the delegates had been elected merely to provide for a constitutional convention to be held in the future by other delegates elected for the purpose. A constitution was, however, framed, modelled closely after that of California, and adopted by a vote of the people on the 7th of September. 36

54 This was the miners' eode: for murder, hanging; wounding, robbing, and other crimes were to be punished as the jury should determine. 'No banking game shall, under any consideration' be allowed in this district, under the penalty of final banishment from the distriet.' Under these laws George Ruspas and David Reise had their ears eut off for stealing cattle. Wright's Big Bonanza, 72.

55 Marysville Democrat,. July 26, 1859; Carson Valley Territorial Enter- prise, July 30, 1859; Sac. Union, Sept. 18, 1859; Kelly's Nev. Dir., 1862, 26-7. 56 In the declaration of eause for separation, two principal evils were complained of: the usurpation and abuse of power by the Mormons, and the danger to life and property upon the routes leading to the Mormon capital.

SETTLEMENTS.

No record has been preserved of the election re- turns,67 but there is evidence that the majority for a constitution was about four hundred, that Crane was reelected delegate, and that Isaac Roop was elected governor, although the board of canvassers failed to meet to canvass the votes, and the certificate of the president of the board, J. J. Musser, alone testified to the result. The cause of this sudden indifference to politics and patriotism will be given in the next chapter.

Immediately after the election the probate judge, John S. Child,58 appointed by the Utah legislature, attempted to reestablish the authority of the probate court in Carson county, by giving notice of a term commencing on the 12th of September, at Genoa, P. H. Lovell clerk; but the only business transacted at the term was the appointment of a coroner, W. P. Morrison, to sit upon the body of John Buckley, killed in a quarrel, and the application of Rebecca A. Bristol for a divorce from Essic C. Bristol, which was granted.

Judge Child made a further effort to reorganize the county by calling an election for the 8th of October, first dividing the county into ten precincts. Out of the ten, only three opened any polls, and the officers elected in these refused to qualify, although their commissions were forwarded by Governor Cummings, successor of Governor Young, with his urgent advice to them to do so, and the county continued to be without a proper corps of officers.

But if the courts of Utah could not sustain their authority against the people, neither could the United

57 From some partial returns it is probable that the following persons were elected; together with the adoption of the constitution: Isaac Roop governor, A. S. Dorsey secretary of state, John D. Winters auditor, B. L. King treasurer.

58 Child was born in Vt in 1825. At the age of 21 years he came to the Pacific coast by sea, via Nicaragua. After mining two years in Cal. he went to Carson valley. In 1859 he married A. E. Lufkin of Placerville, Cal., who died in 1873. He married, in 1874, Eveline A. Gilbert of Carson City. Child was appointed commissioner of Douglas county, and elected to the as- sembly in 1870.

POLITICAL MATTERS.

States court properly administer the laws of the country. John Cradlebaugh, one of the district judges appointed to Utah, was assigned to Carson county, and arrived in the summer of 1859 at Genoa, where the grand jury of the second district congratu- lated him, in their report of October 25th, upon the organization of a court of justice, "under the immedi- ate protection of the United States flag,"" but they had not taken into account the difficulty of establish- ing courts, against which the laws 6º practised in them raised insuperable obstacles, controlling, as they did, the marshalships and the juries, to say nothing of the witnesses. The people, instead of welcoming Judge Cradlebaugh, were opposed to his holding court as a branch of the Utah government, and his position be- came as disagreeable to him as it was useless to them. In October 1860 R. B. Flaniken superseded Cradle- baugh, and held his court in Carson City until the organization of the territory, in the midst of a rebel- lious people, the prosecuting attorney being P. H. Clayton.6

All efforts to revive the county organization had failed, but the hearts of the patriots had not. A mis- fortune had befallen them in the loss of their delegate elect, Crane, who died suddenly of heart disease on the 27th of September, at Gold Hill.62 An election

59 Hayes' Mining Scraps, xi. 24-6. Alfred James was elerk of the court. and George W. Hepperly U. S. marshal.

60 In Clarke's Statement, MS., 10, he mentions that the lawyers praetising in the courts quoted the laws of Utah.

61 The persons chosen at the late election who refused to qualify were C. H. Fountain representative, W. C. Armstrong and L. Drixley seleetmen, E. C. Morse sheriff, Henry Van Siekle treasurer, and J. F. Long surveyor. The only legally constituted officers in 1859-60 were the probate judge and county elerk, road commissioners, D. G. Gloyd, A. Kinne, and Jaines White-the last four already named, the recorder, S. A. Kinsey, the sur- veyor, P. C. Rector; three being appointed in the spring of 1860.

62 Crane ran against Frederick Dodge, U. S. Indian agent, beating him by 61 votes. The election was irregular on both sides. Crane was a native of Va, about 40 years of age, and a printer. He was a well-informed politieian, and founded the first whig paper in Cal .- the California Courier. After the disecntinuanee of this journal he made careful researches into the Spanish records, arranging his knowledge of history in the form of lectures. Before his researches were completed he died. Kelley's Nev. Directory, 29-30.

SETTLEMENTS.

for his successor was held November 12th, resulting in the choice of J. J. Musser; 63 also an election for members of the legislative assembly, which was ap- pointed to meet in December. The vote for governor was canvassed ; Roop was declared elected, and duly sworn in by F. M. Preston, United States commis- sioner for the second judicial district.

On the 21st of November the inhabitants of Car- son valley held another meeting, at which a memorial to congress was adopted, asking for the organization of the territory of Nevada. On the 15th of December four members of the legislature elect met at the house of J. B. Blake of Genoa, O. H. Pierson 64 speaker, H. S. Thompson clerk, and J. H. McDougal sergeant- at-arms. Governor Roop delivered his message, some resolutions were passed, a committee appointed to draw up a memorial to congress, and the legislature, being without a quorum, was then adjourned to the first Monday in July. In his message the governor alluded to the peculiar condition of western Utah, and the helplessness of the United States judge, Cradlebaugh, to administer the laws of the country,6 but expressed his confidence in the justice of congress, and in the disposition of the people to wait upon its action. The administration of Governor Roop was entirely of the negative kind, and corresponded in this respect with the two other governments exercising a nominal authority over the country.6 But the faith of the people in congressional interposition was des-

63 Musser left Carson for Washington city Dec. 12, 1859, carrying a large piece of silver ore from the Ophir mine for the Washington monument. S. F. Alta, Dec. 12, 1859.

64 Pierson came to Carson City in 1859, and built the first hotel-the St Nicholas-on the corner of Carson and First streets. It was filled as soon as completed. He erected 12 other houses in Carson. A portion of the town was called Pierson's Addition. Carson Tribune, Aug 5, 1870.

65 The court-house at Genoa is described as a building 30 by 60 feet, 12 storier high, in the upper part of which Judge Cradlebaugh held his first U. S. D. court, access to it being had by means of a ladder from the street. Later, stairs were built from the sidewalk.

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History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888, Part 10

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe, 1832-1918; Victor, Frances Fuller, Mrs., 1826-1902 Publication date: 1890 Publisher: San Francisco : The History company Number of Pages: 872

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe, 1832-1918; Victor, Frances Fuller, Mrs., 1826-1902
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: San Francisco : The History company
Number of Pages: 872