USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Biographical review; this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Litchfield County, Connecticut > Part 5
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A few weeks before the Indian outbreak Professor John Veatch and his son Andrew, both of whom were experts as mining men and mineralogists, came in from a prospecting tour, bringing samples of fine silver ore from claims they had located, in what they called the Clan Alpine mining district. They described it as being at the headquarters of the Piute Ind- ian home. They showed me a map of the route to the locality. I wanted an interest in the property. They proposed to me that, if I would go there and protect their interest in one of their locations, they would surrender to me all rights to all other property. I ac- cepted at once. A Mr. Norton agreed to join me in the enterprise. I bought a team of
four good horses and a regular emigrant wagon, selected four men that I well knew, put on a good supply of provisions, tools, etc. After the team was ready to start, Mr. Norton backed out. As my men were not of that kind, we put out on our one-hundred-and- thirty-mile trip across the desert for Clan Alpine. As I look at it now, it was the most reckless thing I ever did in my life. We passed on to "Rag Town," between the sink of the Humboldt and the sink of the Corsan Rivers. The first, after running its course for five hundred miles, and the latter, after one hundred and fifty miles, disappear in the earth. The location of Rag Town is where all the emigrant teams that cross the Humboldt sink first found fresh water after a sixty-mile drive. Of course, they took a good rest at this place ; and the women washed up their clothes, and hung them on the bushes to dry. In that way, very appropriately, it got named "Rag Town." Many a wagon has been abandoned on that desert, and many cattle and horses have lain down and died. Asa Kenyon kept a "dead fall" there (Rag Town). It is said that he used to go out on to the desert ten or fifteen miles, and sell fresh water at a dollar a gallon. He had a very bad reputation, especially as a liar. He was told once that he had the repu- tation of being the greatest liar in the Terri- tory. His only reply was, "I guess they do not know Honey Lake Smith."
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We passed mountain wells and Fort Church- ill (where there were four or five soldiers). There we saw on our left the mountain range where we were to find Clan Alpine. We had come over one hundred miles, and seen no one on the road, no sign of Indians, except that every night their signal fires were burning. We did not sleep very well nights; and we had plenty of time to think over what the chances might be of an unwelcome
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reception by Chief Winnamucca and Bill, who was the active man in all the tribe, his father having got so old that he wanted rest. At 4 P.M. we arrived at the foot of the cañon that led up to the Indian encamp- ment -or town, more properly speaking - two miles distant. We drove our team right up in front of a huge shelving rock, which looked like a good shelter for ourselves, and left the wagon close up in front, to serve as a breastwork in case of trouble. As soon as we got located, I got on to one of our horses, and rode up the cañon to find Bill. I had got almost up to the village when I met three Indians, the first I had seen since our little war. I inquired for Bill. They pointed the direction of his house, one-fourth of a mile away. I passed many houses and Indians; and, when stopped by any of them, I asked the same question, and got the same answer. When I found him, I told my business in his territory, and asked him to come down in the morning and get our horses, and take care of them until I wanted them, as I was afraid some one would steal them. "All right." "Come carly in the morning," I said, as I wanted him to "be there to breakfast." "All right." I, for the first time since I left Vir- ginia City, began to feel quite comfortable.
On my way back I took a look at the situa- tion. It was a gem of a little valley, a mile wide and several miles in length, with moun- tains surrounding it, with only that canon I travelled as an outlet. A beautiful brook wound about the valley and out of the canon. There was a beautiful growth of trees of nu- merous kinds, giving the whole valley a park- like appearance. I can say truly I never saw a more beautiful spot for a quiet village. Soon I was back to camp. The pot was boil- ing, and we were in good spirits. In ten min- utes we heard a commotion up the cañon ; and
there appeared a dozen Indians on horseback, coming for our camp as though the Old Nick was after them. My hair began to rise, and I began to ask myself how it would feel to have my scalp taken off. Our weapons were in order, and I thought we should have a fair chance to get the best of that number of Indians, anyway. As they got near us. I could see they did not mean fight. They greeted us as friends, and we received them the same. Bill said he thought he would rather come for the horses that night, and rather have his breakfast that night than wait until morning for it. I think by the way they enjoyed their food they had been waiting at least a month for breakfast.
They had undoubtedly exhausted all their store of food (pine nuts and grass seed ) during their war with the whites; and with food I furnished them and fair treatment I made them my fast friends, and for the four years I stayed there off and on I was treated with the greatest kindness and consideration. We located our abode near the brook at the month of that beautiful canon. I could see that, if any settlement was ever required there by the development of mines, it must be at the mouth of that canon, as there was the only place where wholesome water could be ob- tained for many miles. I made a government location of one hundred and sixty acres, and bought of the Indians any rights they might have to it. I got a deed signed by Chief Winnamncca, his two sons, Buffalo Bill (no connection of the show man ), Buffalo Joe. and Natchez. I bought out Professor Veatch's reserved claim for twenty-five thou- sand dollars. I paid the Indians four hundred dollars in gold, and abont as much more in provisions. That made me monarch of the Clan Alpine property. I built a good cabin of stone and mnd, which was also well
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adapted for use as a fort. We were comforta- ble and the Indians rich. I was obliged to go often to Virginia City and San Francisco for supplics and to look after my mining interests.
In 1861 I spent considerable time in the Humboldt mountains, east of the sink of the Humboldt, prospecting for silver and looking over the claims being worked there. There were many mines rich in silver; but the veins were small, and the ore was so impregnated with copper, lead, bismuth, arsenic, and other substances that it was too rebellious to be re- duced at a profit. During that summer I crossed the desert from Humboldt City to Rag Town several times; but it was in the night, with fresh horses, and with a supply of water and feed, and I did not suffer, though this is the place where overland emigrants suffered the most. Until the summer of 1864 I spent much of my time vibrating between San Fran- cisco and Virginia City, or that place and Clan Alpine. The roads over the Sierra Nevada Mountains had been nicely graded. Wells & Fargo's express and stage line, the overland stage and pony express to the Missouri River, the telegraph from Virginia City to San Francisco, were all working well. Good hotels and four churches and a theatre were built in Virginia City. Somc mines were producing largely, and the excitement in re- gard to them and other mines anticipated was much like a craze.
The trip over the mountains on the fine Con- cord coaches, with fine horses changed every eight miles, with Hank Monk or Watson to drive, was a pleasure that all could appreciate. The trip was always made in the night, when all teams were laid up. In the daytime there was a constant procession of teams, some of them with from twelve to twenty mules, draw- ing one immense wagon with from two to six
smaller ones ("back actions"). In the course of four years I crossed the mountains nearly one hundred times. I always endeavored to get an outside seat, and I always enjoyed the scenery and the excitement beyond anything I can write. In September, 1864, I had taken Buffalo Bill to Virginia City, and intro- duced him and his colored friends to the back door of white society again, where they had been strangers for four years. I took steamer to New York via Panama. I returned the next spring to California and Nevada. I dropped most of my mining interests into the hands of persons who were anxious to show how much better they could do with them than I could.
In August, 1865, I returned to New York, where I took a nice office on Broadway, put my name on the door, and was ready for any- thing that turned up. I made several little turns in business that were satisfactory. I had been knocking about the world so much I began to think it was time for me to establish a home. In New York I became acquainted with Mrs. Alzora Stone Hine, of New Mil- ford, Conn. On April 14, 1866, we were married. I bought a comfortable house in Stamford, Conn., thirty-five miles from New York, where we established a happy home. I, like two or three hundred other citizens, went into New York every morning, and re- turned home in the afternoon or evening. That summer was delightful. As cold weather came on it was rather uncomfortable, and I frequently longed for the California cli- mate. One morning in February I started for the city as usual. It was snowing hard, and increased to such an extent that it took us until near 3 P. M. to reach New York. I could see that it was impossible to go down town and back again in time to get home at a rea- sonable hour, so I took the train back at once.
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I was more than ever disgusted with New York and New England climate. I at once proposed to Mrs. Wilson that we should quit it and go to California, where it was always comfortable. She assented without any hesi- tation. By April I had wound up all busi- ness and sold out our home, and we were ready to leave many warm friends and a delightful society for far-off California. We took steamer via Isthmus of Panama. There was much that was new for Mrs. Wilson to see and enjoy, and we had a delightful trip. Two days before our arrival at San Francisco I was taken down with Panama fever for the fourth time. I soon got better, but for several weeks I was up and down. In a couple of wccks we went to Sacramento City. We then drove out to my eight-hundred-acre ranch, six miles from the city, over a smooth level road six rods wide, all the way in sight of the capital and of the snow-capped Sierras. There were an old adobe house and an orchard on the premises. We decided to build a house and improve the property, and make a home. In a few months I had completed a good-sized house of Gothic architecture, with large wing and a hundred feet of piazza. It
was all we could wish for comfort and style. In one year I got sct one hundred acres of vineyard, new fruit and ornamental trees, shrubs, and flowering plants. The place was made beautiful. We had quite an extended acquaintance and pleasant society in Sacra- mento City, which we visited almost daily. We entertained considerable company, and it was a pleasant home. In May, 1871, when the Pacific railroads were completed, Mrs. Wilson and myself came East on their second through trip for a two months' visit. I spent much of my time in New York City, where I arranged for the receiving and sale of Cali- fornia fruits, to be shipped regularly in car-
load lots. My vineyard had been set with the special kinds considered to be the most desira- ble for the New York markets; and I sent three carloads of grapes, one at a time, with three days intervening between shipments, twelve hundred dollars' freight on each car in advance. Those three shipments of grapes were the first ever made from California to New York. After the commission merchants and their friends divided up what they wanted, there was nothing left to pay cartage, which I was asked to pay. That was the first and last business I ever had with New York commis- sion merchants. Soon after the arrival of those grapes in New York I saw numerous peo- ple who came to California, and I learned from them that they were retailed out at fifty cents to one dollar a pound. Draw your own con- clusions. I cured many white muscat grapes into raisins, packed them in any kind of boxes that I could get handy, and sold them to Sacramento City grocers at twelve cents a pound. I believe they were among the first California raisins ever sold in that market.
In September, 1872, Mrs. Wilson got a tel- egram notifying her that her sister. Vesta Stone, was dangerously sick with fever. The next day Mrs. Wilson was on her way to Merryall; but, when she arrived there, the sister had passed away, and was in her grave. Her father and mother were left alone in their old age, both in health and spirits broken down. Mrs. Wilson decided that she could never leave them while they lived. Consequently, I disposed of most of my be- longings in California, and came home to the family, where I arrived in March, 1873. Then I became a citizen of New Milford. Six weeks after my arrival both Mr. and Mrs. Stone died within a few hours of each other, and were buried together; but they still live in loving memory of many friends and rela-
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tives. The care of the old homestead devolved upon Mrs. Wilson and myself. Here we kept an open house, with the door open for the old friends and relatives of Mr. and Mrs. Stone, who always availed themselves of paying us summer visits, always too short to suit us.
The early part of the year 1876 the new oil field at Bradford, Pa., was discovered; and a few weeks after I went there out of curiosity. I found it like a new mining town of the Far West, felt at home, and decided to take a hand with the boys again. I bought oil lands, and leased others on a royalty. I also took an in- terest in company with several of the old oil producers, who had arrived there ahead of me, and who had tied up territory that I coveted. Among them was the great five-thousand-acre tract of the Quintuple Company, in which I secured a three-tenths interest. That tract of land has proved to be one of the most valuable ever discovered. The Hon. Lewis Emery, Jr., was at the head of the company. He has made himself famous by the large amount of money he has made out of the oil business and the liberality with which he has used his money, especially in fighting the Standard Oil Company. He is still at it, with a fair prospect of having an independent pipe line to tide water within a few months, when he will be in a position to do a fair competitive busi- ness, and do the oil producers a great benefit. His name will live as long as oil flows from the ground and after Rockefeller's millions are scattered. Mr. Emery has fought almost single-handed the Standard Oil Company in the courts and in the Pennsylvania legis- lature, where the Standard Oil Company gen- erally came out ahead; and it is generally believed that money was used to influence the decision. I sold out my interest in the Quin- tuple Oil Company to Mr. Emery and C. S. Whitney, a Bradford banker. I made a satis-
factory trade, but I can see that I should have made a million or two by holding on until now.
I was a member of the firm of Wilson, Germer & Co., composed of Otto Germer, a wealthy manufacturer, of Erie, Pa., Dr. John Wilson, a large capitalist, of Pleasantville, Pa., and myself. We secured several valua- ble tracts of oil lands, upon which we drilled inany wells. I also bought several producing wells, and drilled numerous others on land that I secured on my individual account. I also drilled several wells in company with my brother-in-law, Major E. M. Curtis, of Tidioute, Pa. The cost of machinery and drilling wells, with tankage to hold the oil, was on an average five thousand dollars for each well. Within one year after I went to. Bradford ten thousand people located there. All were comfortably housed. It was a gay town. The excitement, the extravagance, and life were only equalled by San Francisco in its early days. Mrs. Wilson and myself lived in a first-class hotel. Our house at Merryall was never closed, and we spent what time we could there in the summer with our friends; and I came there several times each year to look after business for a few days at a time. In the rush to Bradford came the brightest and most active young men to be found in the larger towns, middle-aged men with their families from the older oil fields, laboring men seeking employment at good wages, drones with large families, seeking a home where they hoped to pick up a living some way.
Of course there was more or less sickness and destitution. A relief association was formed by a few worthy and well-known ladies, who went from house to house, looking up all cases where kind words of advice, pro- visions, clothing, medicine, and sometimes
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cash were wanted. Mrs. Wilson was one of the most active ladies in that most worthy work. Ragged children were clothed. The hungry were fed. Shanties were made more secure from winter cold. Children and grown people were induced into the churches and schools, and were taught how to earn a com- fortable living. A hospital was established. Most of those ladies are still living and car- rying on the good work then begun. Those children are now young men and women; and Mrs. Wilson's name is cherished by them, as well as by hundreds of the older citizens of Bradford, with loving remembrance. Any- thing the ladies of the relief society asked for was generously provided by the citizens of all denominations and creeds. Bradford has never gone backward. It now has a popula- tion of fifteen thousand inhabitants, ten churches, four theatres, paved streets, water works, gas and electric lights. In refinement its population is above the average. Its musical taste and moral tone are something to be proud of. I think Mrs. Wilson and myself enjoyed our twelve years' residence in Brad- ford better than any place we ever lived in, and can now count up more warm personal friends there than anywhere else.
In 1884, while on a short visit to New Mil- ford with a friend from Western New York, I visited for the first time a feldspar mine, which had been worked in a small way twenty years, located less than a mile from my resi- dence. From what I saw on the surface 1 at once decided that I ought to own the property, and the next day with my friend had secured it. Later work convinced me that I had se- cured the most valuable mine I had ever had anything to do with, right in sight of home, what I had travelled thousands of miles to find, and to which I had devoted the best part of my long life. Most of the work so far at
the mine has been done to prove what I firmly believed, that I had a true fissure vein, reach - ing down to a very great depth in the earth, the bottom of which no one could ever expect to find and in the history of mining no one ever has found. I have uncovered the foot wall of the vein for near three hundred feet in length and to a depth of fifty feet. In a drift across the vein I have found the hanging wall, in perfect order, near fifty feet from the foot wall. They are both dipping at the same angle, and each one has a clayey coat from about a half an inch thick (slickensides). These developments, that cost me much money, are a proof to experienced mining men that we have an everlasting vein. (See Dana's " Manual of Mineralogy and Lithol- ogy," p. 413.) In doing this work we took out gems, mica, and feldspar that have been sold on the market for more money than I ever knew to be taken from any mine in America for the same amount of surface work done. This was hand work, without machinery. In this statement I include the great Comstock vein of Virginia City, with which I am famil- iar.
In two years after we commenced work on the mine I made a trade with an English syn- dicate for a controlling interest in the mine. After more than two years' waiting for the money and much trouble, I kicked th trade over: and I then bought out my partner's in- terest in the property. Other parties agreed to buy the property for a controlling inter est in it ). These contracts rather obstructed further developments, and most of the time for several years it has been closed down: but there are more valuables in sight now than ever before. The long sickness of my wife. which occupied me day and night, her death. and the complete breaking-down of my own health have prevented my working of the
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mine; and I never expect to do much more with it. I make this record that future gener- ations may know what I know about it, and I want to leave a record of what I think of the value all the way down deep in the earth. Should anybody ever be disappointed in not finding great value there, they can say, "Wil- son did not know as much as he thought he did."
Since the death of my wife, March 24, 1891, I have been alone in the world; but I cannot say I have felt lonely. I feel sure that my wife and children still live, and that they are living a higher and happier life than is ever known on earth. I have friends and neighbors who are ready at any time to do everything possible for me, either in sickness or in health. With my reading and my living over in memory my rather adventurous life I cannot be lonesome. I like this world, and I think my home is one of the pleasantest places in it. My friends enjoy visiting me, and I enjoy their visits. I am leading the kind of life that I think will be most likely to lengthen out my days, but I do not live in dread of being called away. I realize that a kind Providence has watched over me these many years, and many a shaft of destruction that threatened me has been gently turned away ; and I am confident that I shall not be called away until my mission on earth is at an end.
The portrait of Mr. Wilson, which is pub- lished in connection with his interesting auto- biography, was engraved on steel from a photograph recently taken, and represents him as he now appears, at the age of seventy-three years.
J OHN L. BUEL, M.D., proprietor and manager of the Spring Hill Home for Nervous Invalids at Litchfield, is a native of this town, born November 6, 1861,
a son of the late Henry W. Buel, M.D., a sketch of whose life appears in "Representa- tive Men of Connecticut."
Henry W. Buel, M.D., founder of the Spring Hill Home for Nervous Invalids and a former President of the First National 'Bank of Litchfield, was born in this town, "which has produced so many men of mark," April 7, 1820, and there died January 30, 1893. As his father, Samuel Buel, and also his father's brother, William Buel, were physicians of prominence, it was not surprising that, after graduating with high honors from Yale Col- . lege in 1844, the young man should enter at once upon the study of medicine. He began in the office of his father, and later in suc- cession with Dr. W. P. Buel and D. Gurdon Buck, M.D., of New York City. In 1847 he was graduated from the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons, and with such honors that he was immediately appointed House Surgeon at the New York Hospital, where he remained two years. In 1850 he accepted a similar position at Sanford Hall in Flushing, N. Y., where, it may be said, com- menced his career as an expert in mental dis- eases. Resigning his position at Sanford Hall after five years, the Doctor came in 1854 to Litchfield, where he assisted his father for two years. With the view of enlarging his knowledge of the maladies of the mind and body, he then went to Europe, making a tour of the larger cities. On his return in 1858 he founded the Spring Hill Home, where has been accomplished the chief work of his life. His energy and profound knowledge of the specialty he has adopted, backed by his busi- ness aptitude, have made the institution a complete success. In 1872 he was elected President of the State Medical Society, and re- ceived a vote of thanks for his annual address on "The Advancement of the Medical Profes-
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sion." Outside of his profession in his native town and State he has filled several stations of honor and trust. For twenty-two years he was Vice-President of the First National Bank and President from 1887 until the time of his death. At one time he was also President of the Shepaug Railway Company. Interested in the history of his State, he was a member of the Connecticut Historical Society, and also belonged to the New York University Club. In political life he was a zealous Re- publican; and in religious faith he was a Con- gregationalist, having served as a Deacon in the church for thirty years. He was twice married. His first marriage, performed March 24, 1859, was with Mary Ann C. Laidlaw, who died December 31, 1864, after a married life of less than six years. He afterward married Catherine K. Laidlaw, a sister of his former wife; and she died August 26, 1882. Of his marriages three children are still liv- ing; namely, Dr. John 1 .. , Minerva W., and Katherine I ..
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