An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 8

Author:
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: [S.l.] : Western Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1524

USA > Idaho > Kootenai County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 8
USA > Idaho > Nez Perce County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 8
USA > Idaho > Shoshone County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 8
USA > Idaho > Latah County > An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho > Part 8

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Notwithstanding the great sacrifice made by the United States for the sake of peace, it was not long until war clouds were again darkening our national skies. The determining of the line after it reached the Pacific ocean soon became a matter of dispute. Hard- lv had the ratifications been exchanged when Captain Prevost, for the British government, set up the claim that Rosario was the channel intended by the treaty.

The claim was, of course, denied by Mr. Campbell, who was representing the United States in making the survey line. It was contended by him that the Canal de Haro was the channel mentioned in the treaty. Lord Russell. conscious, no doubt, of the weakness of his case, proposed as a compromise President's channel, between Rosario and de Haro straits. The generosity of this proposal is obvious when we remember that San Juan island, the principal bone of contention, would be on the British side of the line. Indeed Lord Lyons, the British diplomatic representative in the United States, was expressly instructed that no line would be accepted which did not give San Juan to the British. The position of the United States was stated by Secre- tary of State Lewis Cass, with equal clearness and de- cisiveness. Efforts to settle the matter geographically proved unavailing and diplomacy again had to undergo. a severe test.

For a number of years the matter remained in abeyance. Then the pioneer resolved to try the plan he had before resorted to in the settlement of the main question. He pushed into the country with wife and family. The Hudson's Bay Company's representa- tives were already there and the danger of a clash of arms between the subjects of the queen and the citizens of the United States, resident in the disputed terri- tory, soon became imminent. Such a collision would undoubtedly involve the two countries in war.

In the session of the Oregon territorial legislature of 1852-53, the archipelago to which San Juan island belongs was organized into a county. Taxes were in due time imposed on Hudson's Bay Company prop- erty, and when payment was refused, the sheriff promptly sold sheep enough to satisfy the levy. Gen- eral Harney, commander of the Department of the Pa- cific, inaugurated somewhat ' summary proceedings. He landed over four hundred and fifty troops on the island, and instructed Captain Pickett to protect Amer- ican citizens there at all costs. English naval forces of considerable power gathered about the island. Their commander protested against military occupancy. Pickett replied that he could not, under his orders, per- mit any joint occupancy. General Harney, however, had acted without instructions from the seat of govern- ment, and the president did not approve his measures officially, though it was plainly evident that the admin- istration was not averse to having the matter forced to an issue.

At this juncture, the noted General Scott was sent to the scene of the difficulty, under instructions to per- mit joint occupancy until the matter in dispute could be settled. Harney was withdrawn from command en- tirelv. Finally an agreement was reached between General Scott and the British governor at Vancouver that each party should police the territory with one hundred armed men.

Diplomacy was again tried. Great Britain pro- posed that the question at issue be submitted to arbi- tration and she suggested as arbiter the president of the Swiss council or the King of Sweden and Norway or the King of the Netherlands. The proposition was

HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

declined by the United States. For ten years the dis- pute remained unsettled. Eventually on May 8, 1871, it was mutually agreed to submit the question, without appeal. to the arbitrament of Emperor William of Germany. George Bancroft, the well-known historian, was chosen to present the case of the United States, and it is said that "his memorial of one hundred and twenty octavo pages is one of the most finished and tmn- answerable diplomatic arguments ever produced." The British also presented a memorial. These were inter- changed and replies were prepared by each contestant. The emperor gave the matter careful and deliberate at- tention, calling to his assistance three eminent jurists. His award was as follows: "Most in accordance with the true interpretation of the treaty concluded on the 15th of June, 1846, between the governments of her Britanic Majesty and the United States of America, is the claim of the Government of the United States that the boundry line between the territories of her Britannic Majesty and the United States should be drawn through the Haro channel. Authen- ticated by our autograph signature and the impression of the Imperial Great Seal. Given at Berlin, October 21, 1872." This brief and unequivocal decree ended forever the vexations controversy which for so many years had disturbed friendly feelings and endangered the peace of the two great Anglo-Saxon peoples. No

shot was fired; no blood was shed; diplomacy had triumphed.

In this cursory review of early Northwest history, the events transpiring between the signing of the treaty of 1846 and the organization of Idaho territory can- not be incorporated in any fulness. Another struggle for possession followed hard mpon that with Great Britain, the final struggle in the great race war as a result of which our national domain was wrested from the hands of its aboriginal inhabitants. This struggle could have but one termination. The inferior race must yield to the superior. The Cayuse war, growing out of the Whitman massacre at Waiilatpu in 1847, and the Indian wars of the 'fifties resulted favorably to the whites and though the red man was a power in the land for many years, he could not withstand the steady oncoming tide of thrifty gold hunters and homeseekers. The Northwest pioneers being lovers of law and order, governments were instituted as a matter of course, first, the provisional government for the Oregon territory ; then territorial government tin- der the laws of congress, then separate territorial gov- ernment for the country north of the Columbia river and eventually on March 3, 1863, separate territorial government for Idaho, with the northern counties of which our history must concern itself in future chap- ters.

PART I. GENERAL NORTH IDAHO HISTORY

CHAPTER I.

PERIOD OF PLACER MINING.

Just when the existence of gold in the country north and east of the big bend in the Snake river became known it is impossible to state with any certainty. Bancroft says that in 1854 a man named Robbins, a resident of Portland, had purchased some gold of the Spokane Indians, and that the Catholic missionary, De Smet, had known of its existence in what is now north Idaho even prior to that date. E. D. Pierce is also credited with an early knowledge of the aurifer- ous character of the country, and the reason given for his not having prospected it long before he did is the hostility of the Indian tribes. The reason is indeed a plausible one, for it is difficult to see how any man or set of men could carry on such operations during the era of Indian wars.

Many writers have assigned a different reason for Pierce's manifest interest in the prospecting of the Nez Perce country. They state that some time in the early 'fifties an Indian of one of the northern tribes visited the locality in California where Pierce was then mining : that the Indian told a strange story of an ap- parition seen by himself and two traveling companions in the rugged cliffs of his Idaho home; that the ap- parition was in the shape of a great, blazing ball of light which the superstitious red men believed to be the eye of the Great Spirit. The Indians were too awe- striken and fearful to venture any explorations until daylight, when diligent search revealed a large, glitter- ing ball that resembled glass, embedded in the country rock. Believing their discovery to be "great medicine," they endeavored with all their might and skill to dis- lodge and appropriate the treasure but were unable to do so, and the great ball was still in situ. This story, says the writers referred to, so fired the imagination

of the visionary Pierce that he at once formed the de- sign of going in search of the wonderful ball, believ- ing it to be a huge diamond.

Whether the story is veritable fact or pure myth or partly the former and partly the latter, the writer is unable to state. George W. Pierce who knew E. D. Pierce in Siskiyou county and mined with him there says there is no truth in the legend. It sounds very much as though it might be one of the fictions so cur- rent among mining men and prospectors of the early days, which, however, generally take the form of lost cabins, lost diggings, fabulous wealth discovered by lost miners and hunters, etc. But whatever may have fired the enthusiasm of Col. E. D. Pierce, certain it is that the Nez Perce country had a great fascination for him and that his assiduity and zeal have had a marvelous ultimate effect upon the history and de- velopment of the country.

In 1858 Pierce made a visit to the land of the Nez Perces, but does not seem to have found any oppor- tunity for prospecting, owing to the unsettled condi- tion of Indian affairs and the opposition to his pro- jects of the conservative red men. Undaunted, how- ever, he renewed his efforts at the first opportunity and his zeal was rewarded in the spring of 1860 by a dis- covery of gold on the Clearwater river. An account of this important find gained currency in Walla Walla during April and some mention is made of it in the Oregon Argus of the 30th of that month, but the state- ments of Pierce seem to have been doubted by many and no special excitement was created. Pierce's im- mediate return to his discovery was prevented by In- dian opposition and that of the military authorities, for those whose duty it was to conserve for the Indians

HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

their rights under the treaty of 1855 foresaw the trouble which a discovery of gold and consequent rush would cause them. In August, however, Pierce and ten others, of whom William Bassett was one, made an- other trip into the Clearwater country and examined the region with considerable thoroughness. Returning in November, they freely communicated the result of their investigations. Mr. Bassett sent a letter to the Portland Times, then edited by Alonzo Leland, in which he gave a brief account of the trip and the pros- pects found by members of the party. His representa- tions then and in interviews at a later date had the effect of thoroughly converting Mr. Leland to a belief in the great importance as a field for the prospector of the entire region between the Snake and the Bitter Roots. Throughout the winter of 1860-61, the news- paper man kept on publishing articles in his paper, the Daily Times, his authority being Mr. Bassett's account. So great was his enthusiasm that he did not escape the charge of fanaticism and the graver one of being in the pay of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company, doing this writing and publishing for the purpose of building up their business.

Immediately upon his return to Walla Walla, Pierce began organizing a party to return with him and spend the winter in the Oro Fino basin. Some diffi- culty was encountered in making up this company, owing to the fear of trouble with the Indians and the efforts of those who dreaded another Indian war, but at last he succeeded in enlisting the interests of thirty- three stout-hearted men. An effort was made to pre- vent by military force this party from carrying out its designs. A detachment of dragoons was sent after the men. and pursued them as far as the Snake river, but failed to overtake them. The men had hardly reached Pierce's old camp before they received a visit from the Nez Perce Indian agent, A. J. Cain, who, however. did not attempt to interfere with their operations but on the contrary expressed his satisfaction with their good behavior.

All winter long the party wrought diligently build- ing cabins, whipsawing lumber for sluice boxes, pros- pecting and the like. The result of the prospecting was very satisfactory, though Pierce himself does not seem to have been unduly sanguine, being fully aware of the difficulties. He believed the discovered gold district was on the outskirts of a mining country of great rich- ness and large extent.

The first intelligence received by the outside world concerning the welfare and doings of these men came in March, 1861, when four of the miners arrived in Walla Walla. After a tramp on snow shoes to the mouth of Oro Fino creek, they had reached, in a half starved condition, an Indian camp, whence they pro- ceeded with more expedition and better fortunes, bringing to Walla Walla a considerable sum of money in gold dust. The news was sent by special express to the Portland Daily Times. It was especially pleasing to the editor of that paper, whose sentiments and pre- dictions were thereby confirmed, and naturally the news was given due prominence. The effect among the business men, merchants, and in fact all classes was

magical. Newspapers sent special reporters into the country and the result was an inception of interest in the wild, weird terra incognita of eastern Washington. It needed now but some confirmation of these accounts to stimulate a stampede into the country, of a magni- tude unprecedented in the northwest.

No one foresaw the coming deluge of humanity into the Nez Perce country with greater clearness than the officers of the government, civil and military, whose duty it was to protect the rights of the Indians. Though the Nez Perces had offered no resistence to Pierce and his men, they strenuously objected to fur- ther encroachments upon their reservation privileges. Nothing was more certain than that the whites would violate without scruple these rights when once the passion for gold had fired their imaginations and when the hope of securing it began producing its pleasant in- toxication. What was to be done to prevent trouble?

In the hope of finding a satisfactory solution of this problem. Superintendent E. R. Geary held a con- cultation with Colonel Wright and the result of their deliberations was that the former repaired forthwith to the Indian country, called a council of the tribe, and succeeded in negotiating a treaty permitting the white men to enter the country for mining purposes on the promise of military protection and the enforcement of United States laws. The consent of the Indians was given wholly against their will, but they saw no way by which they could defend themselves against the in- coming tide, and being of a pacific disposition, thought it better to surrender gracefully than to do so under compulsion. They had abundant proof that the deluge of whites was coming for, for weeks before the treaty could be negotiated, merchants had been taking goods to Pierce City from Walla Walla and the van of the advancing army of miners was already arriving from that city and Portland. Bancroft says that at the time of the signing of the treaty there were three hundred men in the Oro Fino district and that a month later there were one thousand.

Fortunately the Oregon Steam Navigation Com- pany was enabled to do something for the accommo- dation of the incoming hordes daily arriving from various points in the northwest, California and else- where during the spring of 1861. Previously that company had sent Ephraim Baughman (who at pres- ent commands the Steamer Lewiston, plying between Lewiston and Riparia, in company with Captain Leo- nard White. to Colville on the upper Columbia with instructions to build a small boat there and explore the river down to The Dalles. Their object was to deter- mine whether or not navigation was practicable. They set out sometime in March, made the exploration, and were back in Portland in the early part of May.

Meanwhile the events were happening in the Nez Perce country which have just been narrated. The company was as anxious to get as mich patronage out of the rush as possible, so it ordered White, as cap- tain, and Banghman, as mate and pilot, to take the Steamer Colonel Wright up the Columbia to Snake river, thence up that river as far toward the newly dis- covered mines as possible. The Colonel Wright was

HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

a vessel of some fifty tons burden, about 125 feet in length, fitted up with good machinery and well supplied with necessary equipments. Her engineer on this first trip on Snake river waters was John Gurty, her purser, Frank Coe, and besides she was manned by two fireman, a steward and assistant, an assistant engineer, a cook and six deck hands. Sev- eral business men came as passengers and one, Seth S. Slater, was so confident of the success of the enter- prise that he brought with him between ten and fifteen tons of freight, expecting to get with it to some point within easy reach of the mines.

"We cleared," says Captain Baughman, "about the Ioth of May. With all of us it was a voyage of dis- covery after we steamed into the broad mouth of the Snake river as none of us had ever before ridden upon its swift, turbid waters. As pilot, I directed that we travel very slowly and only during the day time, for rocky reefs and shoals were numerous and the waters were not deep. Each stream which we thought had not theretofore been named, we took it upon ourselves to christen ; likewise every other natural feature, and even to-day many of the landmarks and creeks bear the names which we gave them. In due time, we swept around the big bend in the Snake just below where Lewiston now stands and were met by the rush- ing waters of a stream clear as crystal and broad enough to be classed as a river. Before us spread out a beautiful bunchgrass valley, or rather a series of plateaus, reaching away to a high prairie to the south- ward: This Indian paradise was occupied here and there by a tepee. Several Nez Perce Indians loitered about and a few bands of ponies grazed contentedly upon the luxuriant grass. The picture was indeed a pretty one.

"The sound of the steam whistle and the pounding of the engines naturally attracted the attention of the Indians, who flocked to the water's edge to gaze on the wonderful fire boat.

"I turned the vessel's prow into the water of this new river. Slowly the little steamer propelled itself onward in the direction of the Oro Fino mines. We had to line the vessel over the Lawyer and several other rapids and about thirty miles up the Clearwater we found an obstruction which we could not pass. This was what has since come to be named Big Eddy. Throughout our entire journey on the Clearwater thus far we were accompanied by Indians riding along the shore on horseback. By many little acts and signs did these children of nature manifest their friendliness, no one of their number, so far as I can now remember, giving the slightest evidence of other than kindly sentiments.

"At the Big Eddy we were forced to land as the little steamer could not make headway in the rapids. Twice we lined her and moved slowly up stream, but the vessel did not have power enough to keep herself in the channel, so finally we gave it up for the time being, came on shore and began making explorations. The result was not favorable. There was therefore nothing to do but to unload the freight. Slater thought the site a good one as it was the apparent head

of navigation so he and a few others remained there establishing Slaterville."

The Colonel Wright went back to Celilo at once. On the return trip she stopped at the mouth of Lapwai creek and most of her crew went to visit Chief Lawyer, whose home was on a tract of bench land overlooking the Clearwater. "From the river," says Captain Baughman, "we could see his tepee and before it a tall pole from whose top the Stars and Stripes floated in the breeze. This display of patriotism by the brave and friendly old chief touched a responsive chord in our hearts and we never forgot it. Lawyer, who had been educated in the east and could talk good Eng- lish, received us most cordially and we chatted with him a long time. His hospitality was especially praise- worthy when it is remembered that we were invading his territory and opening the way for thousands to follow. The Indians may have protested mildly against the establishment of a settlement at the mouth of the Clearwater, but their remonstrances were never very strong, and finding these unavailing they ac- quiesced with remarkable grace."

Having loaded again with a few passengers and some freight, the Colonel Wright made a second trip to the mouth of the Clearwater. Here she was met by a messenger from Slater requesting her to proceed up the river and get his outfit as he had decided to es- tablish his store at the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater that he might be on the trails leading in- land. The vessel steamed up to the eddy, got Slater and his goods, and brought them safely to the shores of the Snake, where Slater again pitched his tent. Soon he had opened near the confluence of the rivers the first store in what is now Lewiston and perhaps the first in the Clearwater country.

Immediately after the second trip of the Colonel Wright, the company placed another new steamer in service, the Okanogan, which was much larger and better equipped than the former. Captain White was placed in command, and the Colonel Wright was en- trusted to the care of Captain Baughman. A month later, the Tenino, still larger than the Okanogan, was placed in service and to the command of this vessel Captain Baughman was transferred. Steamboat ser- vice was discontinued entirely in July, owing to the lowness of the water.

In July of the following year, Levi Ankeny, Dor- sey S. Baker, Captain Baughman and several others placed an opposition boat, the Spray, upon the river, between Celilo and Lewiston. The Spray was a small vessel, built especially for shallow water, so it was able to continue its trips uninterruptedly until No- vember. During the following winter it was sold to the O. S. N. Company for nearly double its cost.

In the spring of 1863 the People's Trasportation Company was organized in Portland for the purpose of establishing an opposition line of steamers to Lewis- ton. The E. D. Baker was placed on the Columbia between Portland and the Cascades, the Iris between that and the Dalles and the Cavuse Chief, under Cap- tain Leonard White, between Celilo and Lewiston. After a successful career of six or seven years' dura-

HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO.

tion, this company sold out to the O. S. N. Company, leaving that corporation again the autocrat of the Columbia and its tributaries.

But to return to the history of the mines-rapidly the Oro Fino district was populated with gold seekers. Discovered in the fall of 1860, it was occupied that autumn and winter by Pierce's party. In February merchants and miners from Walla Walla began to work their way in, so that by April the population was perhaps 300. A month later it was more than three times that many and when Judge James W. Poe en- tered in July he found the creeks and gulches swarm- ing with people. He estimates their number at 2,000. Some claims were yielding fabulous returns and wages ranged from five to eight dollars a day, the common stipend being a half ounce of dust.

Oro Fino gold was very fine, as one familiar with the Spanish language would have surmised from the name of the diggings, which signifies fine gold. Sub- sequently coarse gold was discovered by William F. Bassett across the divide to the eastward of Oro Fino creek, and from the character of the metal the dig- gings were named Oro Grande. It is related that Mr. Bassett saw the country in which this discovery was made from the top of a tree on the divide be- tween Oro Fino and Rhodes creeks. The general ap- pearance of the country induced him to prospect it with the result above stated. The tree was ever after- wards known as Bassett's tree. The Oro Grande dis- trict never proved especially rich.

The richest claims in the Oro Fino district were on Rhodes and Canal gulches, though there were many claims of merit on Barclay, Blacksmith, French and Moore's gulches as well as on Oro Fino creek itself. Early in the history of the camp a miners' meeting had been held and the California mining laws adopted, by which code three kinds of claims were recognized, namely, creek and gulch claims, extending two hundred feet along the creek or gulch and of the width of one hundred and fifty feet : also hill claims which were last extended from the rim rock to the summit of the hills, with two hundred feet frontage. The miners were in the habit of holding a meeting on Sunday, whenever there was any occasion for such, and at these popular assemblages the laws were amended to suit new con- ditions as they might arise, disputes about claims were settled and plans for the promotion of the general wel- fare of the camp were weighed and discussed. For- tunately there was little lawlessness during the earliest days of the Oro Fino diggings.

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An illustrated history of north Idaho : embracing Nez Perces, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, state of Idaho, Part 8

Author: Publication date: 1903 Publisher: [S.l.] : Western Historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1524

Author:
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: [S.l.] : Western Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1524