USA > Colorado > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 8
USA > Nevada > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 8
USA > Wyoming > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 8
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61
NOMENCLATURE AGAIN.
come very much jaded at that time, feed being scarce. . There the party divided, and those of us who were bound for California joined some others, and a new party was made up, with about 15 wagons. Wc started, and went down and struck the head of Mary's River, at that place only three or four feet wide. The Indians killed some of our cattle, and some of the Indians were killed, the Shoshones; they had no fire-arms at that time. They would come around after dark, and make a noise like a coyote, and call to cach other."
Frémont with a party of sixty came again this year by way of Bent Fort, the Arkansas River, and Utah Lake. Thence they passed on to Nevada, entering
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30
FREMONT'S ROUTE, 1845.
near Pilot Peak. On the 5th of November at Whit- ton Spring, in the vicinity of the head-waters of Ogden River the company divided, Frémont with a few men striking due south-west, and reaching Walker Lake the 23d. The stations named by the explorers were Crane's branch of the south fork of the Hum- boldt; the head-waters of the south branch of the Humboldt; Connor Spring; Basil Creek; Boiling Springs; Moore Creek; and Secondi Spring, Sheep Mountain, meaningless terms for the most part to-day, although the latitude and longitude are given. The main body followed the Humboldt to the sink, and then turned south, reaching Walker Lake the 27th.
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62
PASSAGE OF THE EMIGRANTS.
This party was under Joseph Walker, from whom the lake was named.
Here they all remained for two days, when Fre- mont with fifteen men crossed into California by way of Walker and Truckee rivers, while the others, among whom were Theodore Talbot, Joe Walker, and E. M. Kern, on the 8th of December proceeded southward to Owen Lake and on to Kern River.6
We have seen the veteran trapper and pioneer Jede- diah Smith crossing Nevada from west to east along what was later the track of the emigrant road and the railway. A more difficult and dangerous journey was that achieved by fifteen men from Oregon in 1846, under Levi Scott, Jesse Applegate, and Lindsey Applegate, a full account of which is given in my History of Oregon. Their object was to find a pass through the southern end of the Cascade Mountains, by means of which immigrants could enter the Wil- lamette Valley direct by travelling due west from Great Salt Lake, or rather by bending south and fol- lowing the California trail along the Humboldt for some distance, then striking northerly toward the Modoc country and Klamath Lake, and thus avoiding
6 Thomas S. Martin, in his Narrative of Fremont's Expedition in 1845-6, MS., 9-10, gives the following version: ' We left Hardscrabble with about 60 men; followed the Ark. to its head. Here we crossed the dividing ridge between the head-waters of the Ark. and Grand rivers. On or near the top of this ridge we found a fine lake about half a mile across. Striking the Grand River we followed down it for several days, and then left it, going about due west, I think, across to Hams Fork, which we followed down to Utah Lake. Thence by Jordan River to Salt Lake. Here we remained 22 days taking soundings. From here we crossed to Mary's River, followed it to its sink, thence due south to a large lake, and thence to Carson sink just above Lake. Here Frémont took 15 men to cross the Sierra Nevada at Bear River, while the rest of us, under Lieut. Talbot, proceeded southward and crossed at the forks of the Kern River. Bill Williams, Capt. Walker, and Kit Carson were with us, the former two as guides. Bill Williams left us I think before we left Salt Lake. Frémont was to meet us at the point of the Sierra Nevada, or rather a little above it, at the forks of the Kern River. Having reached this appointed place we waited 18 days without hearing any- thing of Fremont and party. By this time provisions had given out, and all the men threatened to leave Talbot if he did not move. We then crossed cver to the San Joaquin and followed it down to where the railroad now crosses it, where we arrived Feb. 17, 1846.'
63
EXPLORATIONS OF THE OREGONIANS.
the Rogue River Valley. Thence their course was along the banks of the main stream until they en- countered its southeast branch, which they followed to the base of the Siskiyou Range, and from this turned eastward toward the Cascades, passing through a region now for the first time explored, and only a few miles north of the boundary line of California. Ascending the slopes of the latter, a stream named Keene Creek conducted them to a small valley, after- ward known as Round Prairie. A day or two later, Long Prairie was reached, and near it a pass from which, following a ridge trending toward the north, they reached the summit of the Cascades on the 4th of July.
Crossing the mountains, they entered the valley of the Klamath, and following the course of the river to a point where it separates from the lower Klamath Lake, crossed by a ford to the western shore of the lake, skirting its banks until they arrived at Hot Creek, where they encamped on the very spot where three of Fremont's party had been murdered a few weeks before by the Modocs. From Hot Creek they made their way to Modoc Lake, thence to Goose Lake and Surprise Valley, and over the ridge dividing the Pacific lake basin from the great interior basin, and after innumerable hardships, they finally struck the Humboldt River about where now stands Humboldt City. They were now upon a well known road, which it would be useless for them to travel for pur- poses of exploration. So striking northeasterly they examined the country in that direction to ascertain if any better or more direct route might be found than that which they had just now for the first time marked out. They continued their course to Thou- sand Springs Valley, and satisfied that further search was needless, the company divided, part going to Bear River and part to Fort Hall.
It was the intention of the Oregon company to locate a direct road to Bear River, but one not less
64
PASSAGE OF THE EMIGRANTS.
than fifty miles to the southward of Fort Hall, which point would be avoided by Americans in the event of hostilities with England, then threatened by the de- termined attitude of both nations in regard to the boundary question. But as provisions ran short, the party divided, some proceeding to Bear River, and the remainder turning off toward Fort Hall for sup- plies, hoping also to induce a portion of the emi- grants, then probably in its neighborhood, to journey by the new route, and thus open the road for travel.
CHAPTER IV.
SETTLEMENT.
1847-1860.
CESSION FROM MEXICO-ADVENT OF THE MORMONS-COLONIZATION-MORMON STATION-TRAFFIC WITH EMIGRANTS-INTERCOURSE WITH CALIFORNIA- GOVERNMENT ASSUMED-LAND CLAIMS MADE AND RECORDED-CATTLE TRADE, FARMING, AND BUILDING-FIRST SETTLERS-PETITION FOR AN- NEXATION TO CALIFORNIA-MOVEMENTS TOWARD A TERRITORIAL GOV- ERNMENT-CONFLICTS WITH THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS-POLITICAL AND JUDICIAL.
IN the sudden occurrence of remarkable events which followed the war between the United States and Mexico, the settlement of the great American basin was included. Much notoriety was given to Fré- mont's explorations, and less to a far greater move- ment-that of the Latter-day Saints, who founded a city two thirds of the way across the continent, and in so doing forestalled the necessity about to arise for such a station in such a place. The treaty of Gua- dalupe Hidalgo was no sooner signed than the new owners of the California territory, by discovering gold, attracted toward it a stream of immigration. The founders of Salt Lake City, saved from nakedness by the advent of trains of starving but better clad pil- grims to the land of gold, were glad to sell grain and vegetables to the westward bound, which saved the latter much suffering. This mutually beneficial ar- rangement of demand and supply was not confined to Salt Lake, but Mormon and other traders soon posted themselves along the line of travel to the mines, and particularly in the valley of Carson river, where, in
HIST. NEV. 5
(65)
66
SETTLEMENT.
1849, they founded the first settlements in what is now the state of Nevada.
Ceded to the United States at the same time, and, indeed, as one with California,1 this region of the Spanish domain had not, like that west of the Sierra Nevada, a distinctive name, but was described by local names, and divided into valleys.
In March following the treaty with Mexico and the discovery of gold, the inhabitants of Salt Lake valley met and organized the state of Deseret, the boundaries of which included the whole of the recently acquired Mexican territory outside of California, and something more.2
Soon afterward a company was organized among the same people to visit the mines, consisting of eighty men, led by a captain named De Mont, and having for secretary H. S. Beatie,3 who, becoming enamored of the valley of the Carson, and the oppor- tunities offered for turning an honest penny, took possession of the site of the present town of Genoa, and thereupon erected a log house. Several of the company remained with Beatie, while the others con- tinued on to the mines.4
After putting up the walls of the first house 5 built
1 Statutes of Cal., 1850, 16; Hayden's Great West, a book historical, scien- tific, and descriptive, by Prof. F. V. Hayden, once U. S. geologist, in a brief sketch of Nevada history, says that it was at first a 'part of California terri- tory, and was subsequently attached to Utah,' a statement which is some- what misleading.
2 The Mormon State of Deseret included what has since become Nevada, Utah, Arizona, portions of Colorado, Wyoming, and Oregon, and in Califor- nia the counties of San Diego and Los Angeles as far north as Santa Monica, whence the line extended north to the Sierra, taking in half of Kern, a part of Tulare, all of Inyo and Mono, a part of Alpine, the whole of Lassen, and a part of Shasta and Siskiyou counties. See Hist. Utah, this series.
3 Beatie, from whose manuscript narrative, The First in Nevada, I take the history of this expedition, was born in Va in 1826. He moved with his parents to Mo. at the age of 10 years, and in 1840 to Ky, returning to Va and entering college. In 1848 he immigrated to Utah with his wife, whom he had married in Mo. From that period his history is a part of the history of Utah.
4 De Mont, Abner Blackburn and brother, Kimball, and Carter were five of the men who remained in Carson valley. Beatie's First in Nevada, MS., 2. Three other names are given in Beatie's MS .- Pearson, Smith, and Brown --- but I am not certain that they remained.
5 The structure is what is called a double log house-that is, two com- partments connected by a covered passage-way, after the style of the Mis-
67
BEATIE IN CARSON VALLEY.
in Nevada since the disappearance of the old-time fabulous cities,6 Beatie and one of the Blackburns crossed the mountains by the Carson pass to the American river, to purchase supplies for the re. mainder of the summer. There he learned that a large immigation might be expected from the United States to California; so he sold three yokes of cattle for a good price, and purchased provisions. Return- ing to Carson valley, the cargo was quickly disposed of to the immigration, and another journey made to the mines, this time with pack animals, and by the way of a pass over the mountains three miles south of Beatie's claim, the adventurers crossing the streams on bridges and floats of logs.7 At the end of the sum- mer the little party in Carson valley found itself better off from the profits of trade than many who had spent the time digging for gold in California. Other traders had come over the mountains from the west, and dis- posing of their goods disappeared with the immigra- tion. When he returned to Salt Lake in September, Beatie sold his house and claim to one Moore, of whom I know nothing further,& except that he prob- ably sold in 1851 to John Reese. It is certain that one of the Mormon party kept possession until Reese came. Two of Beatie's associates went to California. The other five, with ten who came back from the mines, travelled back in company to Salt Lake, and were attacked by the Bannacks in the vicinity of Bear river, losing all their horses and provisions, and
souri frontier in the past generation, It had neither floor nor roof, but as it did not rain that season, was not uncomfortable. A corral was also eon- strueted, in which to keep eattle and horses.
6 It has been elaimed that the Morgan exploring expedition to southern Nevada and Utah found in a desert valley, two days' journey south of Reese river, remnants of an extensive eity, with regularly laid out streets and good masonry. The ruins were covered several feet deep under sand. The reader may take the statement at what he deems it worth. Corr. N. Y. Tribune, in Elko Independent, Oct. 23, 1877.
7 This was probably the route opened by the returning Mormon battalion in the spring of 1848. See Hist. Cal., this series.
8 Beatie says his house was directly west of Reese's saw-mill, subse- quently erected, and about 50 yards from where Reese built his trading post. First in Nevada, MS., 3.
.
68
SETTLEMENT.
being relieved by a company from Oregon carrying provisions to Fort Hall for the new military post.9
In 1850 there were about twenty trading posts, built of saplings and green boughs, at intervals along the length of the Carson valley, most of them estab- lished by men from California, who this year did not reap the same profit as before, the principal part of the immigration having taken the route by the Truckee river. As there was no communication between the two routes, the traders could not take their flour, which the immigrants greatly needed, to them; in consequence of which failure to meet in Carson valley, the former suffered loss and the latter hunger.1
A disease resembling cholera prevailed in the val- ley, which took off ten or twelve daily, the immigrants falling easy victims, owing to previous exhaustion. These several circumstances retarded the settlement of the Carson valley, and in 1852 there had been no houses erected, although the returning Mormon gold- hunters made selection of several claims as they passed homeward.11 Reese's establishment was called the Mormon station, and was known to all immigrants between 1851 and 1857.12 Reese's capital in trade
9 I find that some have placed the advent of the Mormons in Nevada as early as 1847-8; but for such assertions there are no grounds. The founding of Salt Lake did not take place till 1847, and the Mormons were in no con- dition to send out colonies at that time; nor was there any object for so doing before the State of Deseret was organized. Powell's Nevada, a book which should have been more correct, makes the same mistake, and the additional one of stating that gold was discovered in Nevada 'during the absence' of the Mormon settlers in 1849. In Browne's Min. Resources, 87, the same error in dates is repeated which occurs elsewhere; as in Kelly's Nev. Dir., 1862, 95; Virginia City Enterprise, June 6, 1875; San José Pioneer, May 26, 1877.
10 Those who did reach the immigrants on the Humboldt desert could get a horse, an ox, or mnle for 12, 10, or even 2 pounds of flour; while the 50,000 pounds of that commodity at the trading posts on the Carson route-so said E. Eyre, a trader-could be purchased for 15 cents a pound. Sacramento Tran- script, Oct. 14, 1850; Cal. Courier, July 23, 1850.
11 I take this statement from a manuscript by A. H. Hawley, called Lake Tahoe, full of pertinent facts and suggestions. Hawley, who was born in Vt in 1813 immigrated to the Pacific coast overland in 1852. He speaks of seeing no other building than the ' Old Mormon Station,' kept by John Reese, except the abanded and never completed one erected by Beatie, and 16 miles farther up the valley a brush-tent called Lucky Bill's trading post. See also Sac. Transcript, in Cal. Courier, July 23, 1850.
12 Reese's station was a two-story log structure shaped like an L. It had a frontage of 30 feet, a depth of 50 feet, and at one time formed 2 sides of a
69
REESE'S MORMON STATION.
consisted of ten wagon-loads of flour, butter, eggs, and other articles. His company from Salt Lake com- prised John and Rufus Thomas, Stephen A. Kinsey, two or three of the name of Lee, Condie, Brown, and Gibson, and a few passengers for California-sixteen in all. He stopped for a short time near the eastern end of the valley, at a place which, from the débris around the camping-ground, acquired the name of Ragtown, by which it was long known; but Kinsey having proceeded to the western end of the valley and reported Beatie's former location a better one, he removed in July to that spot.13
On the 9th of September, 1850, congress defined the boundaries of Utah, which did not extend west of the Sierra Nevada.14 In the autumn of 1851 a little handful of settlers, part Mormon and part gen- tile, in order to be enabled to take and hold land claims, assumed to form a government for themselves in this remotest western valley of Utah. The popu- lation at this time did not number more than one hundred, and of these not more than twenty were actual settlers. The first meeting for this purpose was held on the 12th of November, A. Woodward presiding. The resolutions passed provided for a peti- tion to congress to erect a distinct territorial govern- ment in the valley; for the survey of land claims, and the appointment of James H. Haynes as surveyor. The governing and appointing power was vested in a committee of seven, namely, William Byrnes, John Reese, E. L. Barnard, A. Woodward, H. H. Jameson, T. A. Hylton, and N. R. Haskill. The committee on
pentagon-shaped fort. The land which Moore purchased from Beatie, and Reese from Moore, was also purchased again from a chief of the Washoes, named Captain Jim, for 2 sacks of flour. Wright's Big Bonanza, 20.
13 Reese was born in N. Y. state in ISOS. He came to Utah in company with Enoch Reese, his brother, in 1849, and was in business in Salt Lake as a member of the firm J. & E. Reese at the time he removed to Carson valley. Reese's Mormon Station, MS., 1.
14 The boundaries of Utah as first organized were, west by California, north by Oregon, east by the summit of the Rocky mountains, and south by lat. 37.
70
SETTLEMENT.
resolutions, or laws, consisted of John Reese, J. P. Barnard, William Byrnes, Washington Loomis, and H. H. Jameson. The amount of land which could be taken was limited to one quarter-section; a recording officer was appointed, who was also treasurer.
At the second meeting, held on the 19th, John Reese presiding, this pioneer legislature resolved to give claimants a right to sell their claims and take new ones; required improvements to the amount of five dollars before the expiration of six months; gave authority to companies to take claims for each mem- ber, and to hold the whole by improving one claim to the amount of five dollars each ; and decreed that timbered land should be common to all, except in the case of lumber manufacturers, who should be limited to a certain number of acres.
At the third meeting of the settlers, which occurred on the 20th of November, the same officers presiding, it was agreed that a justice of the peace, a clerk of the court, and a sheriff should be elected, and that E. L. Barnard should be magistrate, William Byrnes sheriff, and T. A. Hylton clerk. To provide against abuses, citizens should have the right of appeal to a court of twelve men summoned in the manner of a jury, from whose decision there should be no appeal. A con- stable and clerk of these courts were also provided for. At another meeting, in May 1852, J. C. Fain being chairman, it was decided that to any one who should build a saw-mill, the right to take up a section of timber land should be granted.15 No further action appears to have been taken in the matter of govern- ment before the intervention of the territorial author- ities of Utah. 16
15 The several authorities conflict concerning the date of the first saw-mill. Beatie says that in 1853, on revisiting Carson valley, he found houses built of sawed lumber, but there is reason to believe those he mentions were made of wagon-boxes.
16 It has been later reported of those living in Carson valley in 1851-2, that John Reese is a comparatively poor man in Salt Lake City; Frank Barnard was killed by an immigrant in the winter of 1852; A. Woodward was killed by Indians at Rocky Point on the Humboldt, about the end of
71
LANDS, EAGLE, AND EDEN.
The first land claim recorded under the govern- ment of Utah, on December 1852, was that of Reese, which extended from his trading house south "to a lone tree," and included all between the river and the mountains on the west. Five other claims were re- corded south of Reese's, in the order following: E. L. Barnard, S. A. Kinsey, James C. Fain, J. Brown, and William Byrnes. J. H. Scott and brother took a claim north of Reese, these seven being all that were recorded previous to 1853.17
The land law was amended by a citizens' meeting in 1853, when it was decreed that notice of a claim must be given, and $100 worth of improvements put upon it within 60 days. A married man might take 640 acres, and a single man half that amount. Joseph P. Barnard, Frank Barnard, George Follensbee, A. J. Rollins, Frank Hall, and W. L. Hall came over the inountains from the California mines in November 1851 to look for gold in Carson valley ; but not finding paying diggings, they took up the land where Carson City now stands, and erected a trading-post. Frank Hall one day shot an eagle and stretched its skin on the front of their cabin, from which circumstance travellers first called this Eagle station, then Eagle rancho, and lastly spoke of Eagle valley, which name the region still retains ; but these men disregarded the authority of the self-constituted government in the matter of land claims. In the autumn of 1852 a man named Clark erected a cabin under the shelter of a timbered spur of the mountains, near the site of
1851; E. L. Barnard, one of the firm of Reese & Co., absconded in the autumn of 1854 with the proceeds of the sale of a large drove of cattle, and broke up the firm; N. R. Haskill, in the spring of 1852, attempted the assassination of William Byrnes, shooting him full of bullets, and leaving him, as he believed, dead. A miner's court compelled Haskill to leave the cour.try, together with his partner, Washington Loomis, who was afterward hanged at Los Angeles for stealing. Byrnes, who had been a Texan ranger, recovered from the shooting, and became an inmate of the Stockton insane asylum. Thorring- ton was accused of murder and theft, and hanged.
17 The records of this government, made by T. G. Barnard and T. A. Hylton, are preserved in a book of 60 leaves, 6 by 7 inches in size, in the possession of Martin M. Gaige of Carson City.
72
SETTLEMENT.
Franktown, and called his place the garden of Eden, to which fabled spot he fancied it bore some resem- blance. 18 Like the first Adam, he deserted his para- dise after a short residence for a more lucrative exist- ence in the outside world.
The Utah legislature, on the 3d of March, 1852, created out of western Utah the counties of Weber, Deseret, Tooele, Juab, Millard, Iron, and Washing- ton. The territory was divided by parallel lines run- ning east and west, and the first three named divisions occupied the northern part of what is now Nevada down to about the present northern line of Washoe county. The next two divisions on the south, Juab and Millard, included all of the Carson valley settle- ments. Judges were appointed for a term of four years. For Weber and Deseret, Isaac Clark ; for Tooele, Alfred Lee; for Juab, George Bradley ; for Millard, Anson Call; for Iron and Washington, Chap- man .Duncan. It would seem from these appoint- ments that the Mormons were scattered over the whole territory, or that it was their intention to send out colonies.
In roads, bridges, and mail contracts they became prominent. In December 1852 John Reese and Israel Mott 19 secured a franchise for five years to construct a toll-bridge over the Carson river, and improve the
18 B. L. King settled in 1852 at the mouth of a cañon in Eagle valley, which bears his name. A man named Bowen tarried through the summer and raised a crop, but went away in the autumn. A few others in Carson valley in 1852- 3 were Lee, Condie, and Gibbon, Mormons; and Joseph Webb, T. G. Barnard, and James Fennimore, or Old Virginia as he was called, gentiles. Jacob H. or 'old man ' Rose, was another atom of humanity which found lodgment about this time at the mouth of King's canon in Eagle valley. G. W. Dodge and John Campbell, who had been mining in Gold cañon, took up a claim in Washoe valley, and Christopher West located himself near them. On the Truckee meadows lived a Mormon named Jameson. Dagget took a place two miles west of Reese, and John Redding in Jack's valley. Jones, James, and Hayward settled in Carson valley about 1852.
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