History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888, Part 9

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 9
USA > Nevada > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 9
USA > Wyoming > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 9

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

19 Mott, with his wife, left Salt Lake for Cal. with a train in May 1852. He first settled 4 miles above Reese, and built a house out of the beds of wagons abandoned in the valley. He made a window-sash with a jack-knife, paying 75 cts a light for 7 by 9 inch glass to put in it. He was the founder of Mottsville. His wife, who was the first female settler, married a second time to A. M. Taylor, and later resided in Carson valley

PROGRESS IN 1852-53.

road up the mountains beyond. A mail route was established between Salt Lake City and San Bernar- dino, and a post established at Las Vegas spring, which. was for the protection of this route. At Car- son valley this was a prosperous year. The immi- gration was large and hungry. At Mormon station turnips grown in the virgin soil of the valley sold for a dollar a bunch; watermelons, potatoes, and corn brought extravagant prices ; wheat and barley were also marketable for cash, or cattle, which were better than cash. Reese, who was the principal trader, bought out a would-be rival, Ben Holladay, after- ward famous as a stage-owner.

In 1853 the settlements had very much increased, and land entries became frequent.2º A number of families had been added to the population, and some of the forms of social life begun to be observed that year, notably a marriage, a divorce, and a ball.21 It was a year later before a school was opened.

20 J. H. Scott and Charles Ferguson filed a claim April 11th; also the same day J. H. Haynes and David Barry, and Thomas and E. H. Knott. On May 12th Charles A. Daggett filed a claim; May 17th R. T. Hawkins in Jack's valley; July 22d, L. M. Young and James Greene; Sept. 30th, L. Olds and John Olds; Oct. 5th, John L. Cary and Thomas Knott sold a farm to W. B. Thorrington for $600. Oct. 6th, four sixth of the Eagle rancho was sold by Frank and W. L. Hall to E. L. Barnard, two sixths having already been sold to them by their former partners, A. J. Rollins and George Follensbee.

21 Mrs Laura M. Dittenrieder, who arrived June 9, 1853, was at that time the wife of James B. Ellis. Her husband took a land claim 1} miles below where Dayton now stands, and ereeted a substantial log house. Oct. 4, 1854, Ellis accidently shot himself. Mrs Ellis, like an intelligent woman, kept a journal, in which she wrote the following facts: Spafford Hall, from Fort Wayne, Indiana, kept a trading post and station at the Gold cañon, on what is now Mine street. Opposite to it was a blacksmith shop made of wagon beds. The only women she found in western Utah, outside of Carson valley, were Mrs MeMarlin, Mrs Cosser, her 12-years-old daughter, and the wife of the blacksmith named Henry Van Sickle, who went to Cal. before winter. In her place, however, came a family with several daughters, one of whom married Lucien Olds, and another Al. Squires, both of Carson valley. The Halls, after selling Eagle rancho, returned to Cal. and Frederie Bishop resided at the rancho, later the property of Reese and Barnard. That autumn Walter Cosser began business in the mercantile line, at a point which eventually became known as Johnston. In March 1854 Thomas Knott began building a saw-mill for John Cary, at the head of Carson valley. The first plank was sawed on the 26th of July; the first lumber produced in western Utah bringing $100 per 1,000.

The marriage and divoree occurred under the following circumstances: An immigrant named Powell, whose wife had died on the road, had among his children a daughter 14 vears of age, named Mary. While the father was

SETTLEMENT.

In February 1853 there was presented in the legis- lature of California a petition of forty-three citizens of Carson valley, praying to be annexed to California for judicial purposes until congress should otherwise

absent looking for a place to live, Benjamin Cole, a young man from Missouri, induced the child to marry him, the ceremony being performed by a justice of the peace named Parker. Having no home to take her to, he left her with Mrs Cosser while he proceeded to erect a cabin, and that motherly Scotch woman advised Mary to remain with her until her father's return, to which the girl consented. The husband demanded his wife, but Mary declined to leave the protection of Mrs Cosser until her father should sanction it. This late prudence created a feud in society, some approving it, and others advo- cating the rights of Cole. On the return of Powell he took possession of his child, and started with his family for Cal., followed by the irate bridegroom and his friends, with the purpose of abducting the girl. But the Cosser- Powell party also mounted their horsea and rode after them to prevent any forcible measures. To avoid a bloody conflict, Powell at length offered to abide by the decision of his daughter if the other party would do the same, to which they agreed, and Mary declaring her desire to go with her father, Cole returned to Gold cañon. The divorce was even less informal than the marriage, for no other proceedings were ever instituted.

The first ball was held on the last night of 1853, in a room over Spafford Hall's store, at the mouth of Gold canon. There were present 9 females, great and small-all of womankind there was in western Utah except three -and about 100 men. While the dancing was going on the Washoes made a descent on the horses of the company, and drove them all off. The animals were recovered, with the exception of two which had been roasted and eaten. Spafford Hall, having been accidently wounded and disabled, sold his sta- tion to James McMarlin, his clerk, early in 1854, and returned to Indiana. John McMarlin, on the way to join his brother, was killed by Indians at Slippery Ford a few years later. Asa Kenyon located himself at Ragtown, where the overland road first touched Carson river. Above Ragtown 4 miles, a blacksmith, Thomas Pitt had a station, and called his place The Willows. James and Harvey Hughes, from Mo., established themselves not far from Honey lake on Carson river; and John Smith purchased the trading post of a Californian at the west end of Twenty-six Mile Desert, which place became later known as Coonie's rancho. George Brown settled at a station on the river about 3 miles above old Fort Churchill. J. S. Child and Moses Job were traders who established stations near Cosser's. Job's peak was named in honor of the latter; and the foriner became an influential citizen of Nevada. On the 1st of May, 1854, the first white child was born in western Utah, a boy, named James Brimmel Ellis, who died in 1869 at Virginia City. In July 1834 Charles H. Albrecht and family, from St Louis, were encamped at Ellis' place. Among his party was Rachel F. Albrecht, his sister, who cap- tivated a miner named James Dover. The enslavement was mutual and the couple wished to marry, but there was neither justice of the peace nor minis- ter on that side of the mountains. In this dilemma, by the advice of Mrs Ellis, a marriage contract was drawn up, signed in triplicate, and witnessed, as follows: 'Carson River, July 4, 1854. By these presents we hereby cer- tify, in the presence of witnesses, that we will, from this time henceforth, to the end of our lives, live together as man and wife, obeying all the laws of the U. S., as married persons. In witness we set our hands and seals, this 4th day of July, 1854. James Dover, Rachel F. Albrecht. Witnesses: James B. Ellis, Charles H. Albrecht, Augustus C. Albrecht.' The contract was published in the Placerville Mountain Democrat of July 29, 1854. For 8 years the obligation was kept, but at the end of that time Mrs Dover left her husband, and went to live with her brother at Placerville, and finally was regularly divorced.

CARSON COUNTY CREATED.

provide. The committee to which the petition was referred asked that jurisdiction be extended east- ward to 120° of longitude, as far north as the 42d parallel,22 and south to the intersection of the 35th parallel with the Colorado river. This action on the part of the people caused the Utah government to take action for their relief.

On the 17th of January, 1854, the legislature of Utah passed an act creating the county of Carson, which embraced all of western Utah, from above the present southern line of Humboldt county, south as far as about latitude 38°, and east as far as to about the 118th meridian. It was made the 3d judicial dis-

After Thomas Knott had built the saw-mill for John Cary he erected a saw and grist mill, with a stationary thrasher, for Reese, at Mormon station. The dishonesty of E. L. Barnard, before mentioned, crippled Reese finan- cially, who was unable to pay for his mill, which added debt to his disaster.

The land claims recorded in 1854 were J. C. Fain and E. L. Barnard, Feb. 28th; H. Van Sickle and Post, March 28th; R. De Frost and Frederiek Bishop, April 2d; John Stephens, April 6th; Joseph Williams, May 18th; A. C. Stewart and A. Clark, and C. D. Daggett, May 27th; George Lambe, October 30th; Nicholas Johnson, Dec. 4th; R. Sides, R. Abernethy, and J. M. Baldwin, Dec. 20th. There were also several transfers of claims. The claim of Samuel Blackford in Jack's valley had passed into the hands of Julius Peltier, who sold it to George Fogle Nov. 29th. The farm of one Brown was sold by the constable, and bought in by Samuel Blackford for $787.32. G. B. Parker, who had purchased the Clear Creek raneho, first taken by George Mires and C. Phillips, sold it to R. Sides and Rolland Aber- nethy Dec. 7th. Joseph Brown sold a farm to Rufus Adams Dec. 26th. Jan 3, 1856, W. P. Cosser recorded a claim; A. L. Kenyon, Jan. 12th; I. N. Hix, Jan. 20th; Reese & Co. transferred land and property to Thomas Knox, valued at $4,000, to pay him for erecting the mills already mentioned. The transfer was made Jan. 23d. On the same day J. & E. Reese & Co. sold or conveyed to William B. Thorrington $23,000 worth of property to make good a loan. The Eagle rancho was included in this transfer. On the 10th of Feb. the same firm conveyed the remainder of their property to their creditors. On the 12th of March W. P. Allen and E. A. Parkerson recorded a land claim. Nicholas Ambrosia recorded a claim on the 24th of March. The last entry on this record was of a sale by Julius Peltier, of land, to R. D. Sides, J. M. Baldwin, and L. B. Abernethy. James B. Ellis kept a record of arrivals of Cal .- bound emigrant wagons, in 1854, up to July Ist, finding them to foot up 213 wagons, 360 horses and mules, 7,528 cattle, and 7,150 sheep. In this year John Reese, accompanied by a sergeant and 3 men of the U. S. troops, pioneered a new, shorter, and straighter route between Salt Lake and Carson valley than the one previously travelled down the Hum- boldt. It was expected that Steptoe, who was to march to Oregon with troops, would come this way. The road was not opened until 1860, when Reesc again piloted Capt. Simpson, of Johnston's army, with 10 wagons, across the country by this route, afterward adopted as the mail route and a wagon-road. A school was taught in the winter of 1854-5, at the residence of Israel Mott, by Mrs Allen. Priees were high, but not so high as they had been, which is proof of a full market.

22 Cal. Jour. Sen., 1853, 90, 130-1, and App. Doc., 46.

SETTLEMENT.

trict of the territory, United States Judge George P. Stiles being assigned to preside in it. Stiles, Hyde, and Haywood were also commissioners to establish ap- proximately, together with commissioners from Cali- fornia, the boundary between Utah and that state. The organic act authorized the governor to appoint a probate judge, whose duty it should be to organize the county, the person selected being Orson Hyde. Accordingly, on the 15th of June, District Judge Stiles, Probate Judge Hyde, United States Marshal Joseph L. Haywood, and John and Enoch Reese, with an escort of thirty-five men, arrived at Mormon station from Salt Lake City. An election was called to take place September 20th for the choice of county officers, which resulted in the election of James C. Fain, sheriff; Henry W. Niles, surveyor; 23 Charles D. Daggett, prosecuting attorney ; " R. D. Sides, treasurer ; H. M. Hodges and James A. Williams, constables ; Nicholas Ambrosia and Henry Van Sickle, justices of the peace; 25 Henry D. Sears, William P. Allen, and James McMarlin, selectmen, 26 whose duties were to act as associates with the probate judge, and attend to the care of the county's poor, orphaned, and insane. There was but little business in the courts during the ante-mining period of western Utah history.21 The first criminal prosecution oc-

23 Niles was appointed clerk of the probate court Oct. 2d, by Orson Hyde, also ex-officio clerk of the county court.

24 Appointed assessor and collector in Dec. 1855.

25 James McMarlin was appointed justice of the peace for Gold Cañon Dec. 3d.

26 Fain resigned in May 1856, Russell Kelly appointed. Niles resigned in May 1856 from the office of surveyor, Orson Hyde appointed. Resigned from the clerk's office Dec. 1855, S. A. Kinsey appointed in March 1856. Hodges resigned in May 1856, Daniel Woodford appointed. Woodford was killed by Indians at Slippery Ford in 1857.

27 The first lawsuit on record was brought by John Reese against George Chorpenning, the surviving partner of Woodward & Co., in March 1853, to recover $675 for supplies furnished them while carrying the mail from Salt Lake to Cal. It was brought before E. L. Barnard, magistrate, and judgment rendered against Woodward & Co. for the amount and $25 costs. The prop- erty sold to satisfy the judgment brought $499; but as Reese bought it all in, it is probable that he obtained full value. Among the effects sold was 'Mor- mon Station to J. Reese, $130.' The second suit was brought in April 1854

ORGANIZATION OF COURTS.

curred November 2, 1855, a negro man named Thacker having been arrested for using threatening language against A. J. Wyckoff and Mrs Jacob Rose. The judge held that " a man may have malice enough in his heart to kill another, and judgment and dis- cretion to prevent him from committing the deed ; he may have the ability to cut a lady's heart out and roast it upon the coals, and at the same time he may have the good sense not to do it." The judgment rendered was that Thacker should pay $50 and the costs of the suit ; he was advised for his own safety to return to California. At the first meeting of the pro- bate court Charles D. Daggett and Samuel C. Perren were admitted to practise in that court.

Judge Stiles appears to have returned to Salt Lake with Marshal Haywood after settling upon an approx- imate western boundary for Utah,28 as no proceedings of the United States court are recorded before 1856. Meanwhile few events of importance had occurred, the most noteworthy act of the people being an attempt to shake off the authority of Salt Lake by draughting a territorial constitution or compact for the govern- ment of Carson valley.29 On the 27th of October, 1855, a special term of court was held at the house of John Reese for the purpose of granting " the sole and exclusive right to take out any portion of the waters of Carson river which they may desire in a ditch or canal, for mining and other purposes, in the vicinity of Gold canon, to J. C. Fain, John Reese, Stephen A. Kinsey, John McMarlin, James McMarlin, Christo- pher Merkley, Morris Fitzgibbon, and Orson Hyde." This is the first mention of any enterprise of this

by Henry McCalla vs Thomas Knott, judgment rendered $113.43. No other appears on record before the organization of Carson couuty. The first session of the probate court was held Oct. 3, when the complaint of James Mclntyre vs Asa A Knouse, to recover $187.75, was filed. The case was tried on the 12th, at the house of one Cowan. Mcintyre lost his case, and was ordered to pay $38.50.

28 Beatre's First in Nevada, MS., 7.

29 This instrument was draughted by William A. Cornwall of Cal. S. F. Alta, Oct. 27, 1854.

SETTLEMENT.

nature. 30 There was some increase in the population, but the number of women was still small.31

In January 1856 the inhabitants of Carson valley again petitioned the California assembly to annex them for judicial and other purposes. A resolution was passed in that body asking congress to make the 118th meridian the east boundary of California. 32 This move a second time aroused the Utah authori- ties, although congress denied the prayer. No at- tempt to form a religious colony in Carson was made before 1856.33 At this time there was a movement on foot in Salt Lake and eastern Utah to reinvigorate the church of Latter-day Saints by founding new col- onies or missions, and also by preaching a reformation among the members. A colony of between sixty and seventy families was ordered to Carson valley in the spring, most of which arrived before the election in September, when the Mormons took the conduct of affairs into their own hands, being considerably in the majority over the gentiles.34 With this colony came

30 On the 27th of May, 1854, at a citizens' meeting, it was resolved that in the use of water no settler should be deprived of sufficient for household pur- poses; that it should not be diverted from its original channels, and when two or more levied on the same stream they should share water according to the number of acres cultivated, each using on alternate days when water was scarce. The sole right to take water from Carson river compelled settlers to pay a water rate. Jacob H Rose fell heir to the ditch before its comple- tion, and when the work was finished found the foot to be higher than the head.

31 The Reese brothers had brought their families from Salt Lake, Alex- ander Cowan had arrived with his wife, destined to become famous a few years later as the richest woman in Nevada, and the wife of Sandy Bowers. Miss Mary Wheeler was married Oct. 28, 1855, to Squire Mott, son of Hiram Mott, the officiating justice being Orson Hyde. Miss Mary Gibson was married Nov. 6, 1855, to Henry Van Sickle by Judge Hyde, at the house of Niles and Sears. Miss Sarah Jane Thompson was married Oct. 2, 1866, to Stephen A. Kinsey, at the house of Judge Hyde, in Washoe valley, by that dignitary.

32 Sen. Misc. Doc., 48; 34th cong. Ist sess .; H. Com. Rept, 116, 34th cong. 3d sess.

33 William Jennings, in his Carson Valley, MS., 2, says that a mission was got up in 1852 by the two Reeses and others. On page 3 he says: 'The Car- son valley people, I think, were mostly apostate Mormons before 1856. The Reeses.' he continues, 'were only partially connected with the church.'

34 The following Mormon officers were elected: Richard Bently, recorder; Russell Kelly, sheriff (joined the Mormon church); William Nixon and Per- mens Jackman, selectmen; Chester Loveland, justice of the peace; Nelson

THE MORMONS.

another judge of the 3d district, W. W. Drummond, who held a term of court in Mott's barn, four miles above Mormon station. No business was really exe- cuted beyond convicting two men of grand larceny, who escaped after being sentenced, and impannelling a grand jury, which brought in no indictments. Drum- mond, who was not beloved by the authorities of the church, departed almost immediately for San Fran- cisco, whence he sailed for the east.

The new-comers settled in Carson, Eagle, Washoe, Jack, and Pleasant valleys, founding several towns.35 Genoa, at Mormon station, was named by Judge Hyde after the birthplace of Christopher Columbus. A saw-mill was erected by Hyde in Washoe valley, and Franktown was settled and named. The little burg of Dayton, at the mouth of Gold cañon, also took its rise in 1856.36

An attempt was made to form society on the plan of eastern Utah. The settlements were laid out with broad, regular streets, on either side of which ran small ditches carrying water for irrigating gardens and fields, as well as for supplying families. The architecture was of the simplest and rudest; nothing was done for ornament, but everything for use. In dress the same principle prevailed ; personal adorn- ment was unknown. To work and get the most with the least self-indulgence was the law laid down to these patient builders of Zion. Their one amuse-

Merkeley and Seth Dustin, constables; Charles D. Daggett (gentile) was ap- pointed assessor, collector, and treasurer. Placerville American, Sept. 13, 1856; Sac. Union, Sept. 15, 1856.

55 Among the members of the mission who came in 1855 were Christopher Merkley, Jesse M. Perkins, Reuben Perkins, Shepherd, and William Huteh- ins, who were sent on the special business of the church. Beatie's First in Nevada, MS., 7. Other colonists of the same year were Chester Loveland and George Hancock. In 1856 came William Jennings, Christopher Layton, William Nixon, R. Walker, Peregrine Sessions, who founded Sessions' set- tlement, Albert Dewey, William Kay, founder of Kaysward, George Nebe- ker, Cherry, and others.

36 Klein's Founders of Carson City, MS., 2, 6; S. F. Golden Era, May 11, 1856; Carson State Register, July 29, 1871; Kelly's Nev. Directory, 1862, 54-5; Wright's Big Bonanza, 23, 24-5; S. F. Alta, Oet. 6, 1856; Sac. Union, Dec. 19, 1859; Id., Jan. 2, 1860; S. F, Bulletin, June 8, 1860,

SETTLEMENT.

ment of dancing was forbidden to be practised in the company of gentiles, and to wash away their sins re- peated baptisms were enjoined. Still, the authorities in the west did not neglect the subject of instruction. At the December term of court in 1856 it was ordered that Carson county should be divided into four school districts. A school-house was erected at Franktown in 1857, which was afterward sold to Lucky Bill, who moved to Genoa and used it for a stable. Affairs were already so shaping themselves in Salt Lake that nothing less than the complete abandonment of west- ern Utah would make the city of the Saints secure. In November 1856 Orson Hyde left Carson county to return to it no more. When he departed he leased his saw-mill in Washoe valley to Jacob Rose, that being the best that he could do with it at the time. In the following year the colony of the faithful was ordered home to Salt Lake to defend Zion against Johnston's army. As the order was peremptory, they were forced either to abandon their property or sell it at a small part of its value, and they chose the latter course.87 87 Apostate Mormons, some of whom had fled from the reformation at Salt Lake, and gentiles, scarcely less hateful in the eyes of the saints, became the possessors of their improvements ; for which result of a futile undertaking the fortunate heirs of Mormon enterprise suffered condemnation, even to a curse uttered by Orson Hyde in 1862.38

37 On the 16th of July, 1857, P. G. Sessions' train from Cal., consisting of 31 men, 16 women, 18 children, 17 wagons, 40 horses and 32 mules, left Eagle valley for Salt Lake. On the 5th of Sept. the Conover express from Salt Lake arrived in Washoe valley late in the afternoon, and on the 26th 450 persons, some of whom were from Cal. and Or., started with 123 wagons for Salt Lake, which they reached Nov. 2d. Reese left with this train, travelling by the route south of the Humboldt to avoid the Indians. Jen- nings' Carson Valley, MS. 4.

38 In a letter of Orson Hyde, dated Jan. 27, 1862, addressed to the people of Carson and Washoe valleys, in which he relates the history of his mill, he says it was built by himself and a Mr Price; that the property was worth $10,000 when he left it; that for the rent of it he had received in advance ' 1 span of small indifferent mules, an old worn-out harness, 2 yokes of oxen, and an old wagon,' things which he required for his journey to Salt Lake. A war followed between the Mormons and the U. S. govt, an event which was unfavorable to the perfection of Mormon titles, after the organization

THE MORMONS.

The abandonment of Carson county " by the Mor- mons left it with a scant population, and for a time without a government, although attached by an act of the legislature to Great Salt Lake county for elec- tion, revenue, and judicial purposes. From July 5, 1856, to September 12, 1859, the operation of the probate court was suspended, although the county was allowed to retain its organization so far as a re- corder, surveyor, and precinct officers were concerned, and these might be elected in accordance with exist. ing laws, "until further directed by Great Salt Lake county court or legislative enactment ; " but the " rec- ord-books, papers, blanks, and seals, both of probate and county courts, shall be handed over to the order of the probate court of Great Salt Lake county." This act was passed January 14, 1857. On the 13th of April the county court, Chester Loveland presid- ing, adjourned to the following week, but without meeting again for three years." 40

of the territory of Nevada, upon the abandoned premises. Hyde gave the people of Carson valley choice between paying him $20,000, or being cursed with earthquakes, floods, pestilence, and famine, and they took the risk of the latter. Hyde was accompanied on his return to Salt Lake by Simon Baker, James Kathall, John Vance, William Price, Durffee, Carter, Har- shee, Woodland, and Butcher and family, and travelled the route explored by Reese in 1854. He died Nov. 28, 1878, at Spring City, San Pete county, Utah, a man distinguished among his sect as a faithful and gifted servant of God.

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History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888, Part 9

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