Fifty years and over of Akron and Summit County : embellished by nearly six hundred engravings--portraits of pioneer settlers, prominent citizens, business, official and professional--ancient and modern views, etc.; nine-tenth's of a century of solid local history--pioneer incidents, interesting events--industrial, commercial, financial and educational progress, biographies, etc., Part 141

Author: Lane, Samuel A. (Samuel Alanson), 1815-1905
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Akron, Ohio : Beacon Job Department
Number of Pages: 1228

USA > Ohio > Summit County > Akron > Fifty years and over of Akron and Summit County : embellished by nearly six hundred engravings--portraits of pioneer settlers, prominent citizens, business, official and professional--ancient and modern views, etc.; nine-tenth's of a century of solid local history--pioneer incidents, interesting events--industrial, commercial, financial and educational progress, biographies, etc. > Part 141

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).

STEEPLE ROCKS-THE GLORIOUS FOURTH, ETC .- Soon after leav- ing "Sick Camp," as stated, we left the Oregon trail to the right, passing up Raft river (also rising in the " Cut-Off" mountains) and the principal tributary, Rattlesnake river, with their innumerable muddy and mirey crossings, and on the second day, arrived at the junction with the cut-off road, when it really seemed as though we had got home again, one or two small trains, only, besides our own, having been seen on the Fort Hall route. On comparing notes, we found that, deducting the time we had laid by for sick- ness, we had made better time in reaching that point than those who had taken the so-called "cut-off."

From Rattlesnake river, we passed over the low but rough and nearly barren range of mountains between the Rattlesnake . river and Goose Creek, about twenty miles, passing the junction with the Salt Lake road, about mid-way when the grand procession

1131

THE DEADLY HUMBOLDT RIVER.

again became a unit. It was also learned, from the notes posted at the junction, and from conversation with emigrants, that the Salt Lake wing had scarcely made as good time as we did, while the hardships of travel and casualties had been fully as great, their only advantage being in the opportunity to replenish supplies at the extravagant rates prevalent among the saints.

Just before reaching the junction, we found a series of curious granite formations called " Steeple Rocks"-blocks from twenty to forty feet square, being piled one on top of another to the height of one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet, or more, some of the columns quite regular, and others so over-lapping that seemingly a sudden mountain zephyr might topple them down. Camping under the shadow of these rocks on the night of July 3, on the · morning of the Glorious Fourth, the day was duly remembered by a patriotic rendition of "Yankee Doodle" by our martial band, and and by a few extra discharges from our rifles, but though feeling pretty "independent," we could not tarry for a more elaborate cele- bration.

THOUSAND SPRING VALLEY .- The mountain range we had just crossed is the divide between the Columbia and Humboldt valleys. Soon after descending into the latter we reach the head of "Thousand Spring Valley," a sandy but generally grassy basin about thirty miles in diameter, peculiar from the fact that the large number of considerable streams of pure water which flow into it from the surrounding hills, sink into the sand near the bor- der, to reappear near the center in thousands of springs, or more properly wells, flush with the surface, some of them being unfathomable with any sounding appliances at the command of the emigrant.

THE PESTILENT HUMBOLDT .- Thirty miles from Thousand Spring Valley, brings us to the north fork of the Humboldt, and thirty miles further to the south or main branch of that celebrated river, which at that point was found to be fordable, by raising our wagon boxes as heretofore indicated. The previous year, the emigrants had crossed and re-crossed the river its entire length, three hundred miles, at pleasure, but this year, by reason of high water, we were obliged to keep entirely upon its western or sterile side, often making long detours into the neighboring hills to get around impassable sloughs. Nearly its entire length, grass for our stock was only obtainable by swimming the river, wading through water two or three feet deep, from one to two miles, cutting with sickles and knives, carrying it in bundles upon the back, and towing it across the river with ropes.

NEARLY A FATAL SWIM .- Though less than one hundred feet in width, this river was one of the most dangerous streams to swim across, encountered upon the journey. In a high stage of water innumerable eddies are formed, getting into the influence of which the most expert swimmer, being carried round and round, can make no headway, and soon becoming exhausted, sinks to rise no more. One evening, Benjamin D. Wright, of Tallmadge, and Henry Anson and Warren Clark, of Akron, all good swimniers, having arrived with their back-loads of grass, started to swim across so as to be ready to assist in towing the bundles over, when the other grass-gatherers should arrive. Getting into an eddy in mid-stream, they were unable to extricate themselves, while we

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AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.,

non-swimmers on shore were unable to render them any assist- ance with such appliances as we had. The boys were rapidly becoming exhausted, when, providentially, a stranger, from Michi- gan, came along, and comprehending the situation at a glance, divested himself of his clothing, and seizing the end of a lariat between his teeth, the end of which, by splicing with others, was retained by strong hands on shore, succeeded in rescuing all of them from a watery grave.

It transpiring that the stranger's company, having lost their stock and provisions, were footing it through, and subsisting as best they could, he was gratefully taken into the Tallmadge mess, and treated as one of the family during the balance of the journey.

HOT SPRINGS, ASHES, DUST, ETC .- Innumerable volcanic indi- cations had been seen upon the journey, notably in the neighbor- hood of Soda Springs, and at the head of Bear river. But the west bank of the Humboldt, for three hundred miles, was little else than solid packed scoria and ashes. The ashen sage-bush bottoms in the traveled road, were worn down from six to twelve inches, and the plod, plod of the animals, and the continuous grinding of the wagons raised a cloud of fine alkaline dust that permeated everywhere and everything-eyes, ears, nose, moth, clothing, pro- visions, etc., making the emigrant, with his best efforts at cleanli- ness, a fit companion, externally, for the "Digger" Indians, the most squalid and filthy of all the tribes encountered, who infested the last four or five hundred miles of our journey.

At several points, especially at the foot of several volcanic hills over which we passed, hot springs were to be found almost side by side with springs of normal coolness. It was said of a Teutonic member of a neighboring train, that lying down to drink from the first of these warm springs encountered, on nearly scald- ing the tip of his nose, he sprang to his feet and exclaimed: "Trive on, poys ! Trive on ! for hell ish not more as two miles from dish blace !"

A HARVEST OF DESTITUTION .- It was along this river that the most destitution and suffering prevailed among the emigrants. Brackish from the start, the water becomes largely impregnated with alkali, from the volcanic rocks and ashen soil through which it passes, and the innumerable alkaline springs adjacent thereto. Hundreds, and perhaps thousands, are without teams or pro- visions, and many without money with which to buy, even had their more fortunate neighbors provisions to sell, and later in the season scores were driven to the necessity of eating their own famished horses and mules.

The most of our company, though running out of "sorts," gen- erally had enough to prevent serious suffering, and one or two had some provisions to sell generally, in such cases, favoring the members of our own train, though suffering no outside applicant for a bite to go unrelieved.

THE "LAW" OF THE PLAINS .- Speaking of selling brings us to prices and the mode of adjusting differences, and dispensing jus- tice upon the plains. At any time after reaching the Humboldt Valley, all kinds of provisions-bread, flour, meat, rice, beans, pork, sugar, etc., sold readily at a dollar per pound, a pint of all the measurable articles named being counted a pound. On reaching that point in the river, where grass had to be obtained from the

1133

ADMINISTERING JUSTICE UPON THE PLAINS.

opposite side, a member of the company who could not swim, but who had a surplus of bread, made a bargain with the boys of another mess, who were running short, that if they would supply him with grass, he would pay them in bread-a pound for each back-load. The grass was accordingly furnished from day to day, as long as the necessity therefor existed, but when, a few days later, the boys demanded their bread, they were tendered a dollar a load in money, the party of the first part declaring that he had no bread to spare. This the boys refused to receive-they had not risked their lives to obtain the grass for money, but for bread, and bread they would have.

In the course of the discussion it transpired that the surplus bread promised to the boys had been sold to outside parties, for $2 a pound, but as it was worth only one dollar when the bargain was made and the grass furnished, that was all that he would pay them. Things were assuming a serious aspect, when other mem- bers of the company proposed that the matter be settled by arbi- tration, which was agreed to, each party choosing an arbitrator and the two the third.

The "High Court" being duly organized, the statements of the parties were listened to, and other evidence adduced, and the general summing up and verdict of the arbitrators was about this: First, that a fair-sized back-load of grass, obtained in the manner indicated, was worth more than a pound of bread; sec- ond, that if a pound of bread was worth $2 in money, a load of grass was worth $2.50, and that in the absence of bread, the defendant must pay to the plaintiffs, at that rate, in money, for the quantity of grass furnished. The defendant put in a demur- rer after judgment, but finding that the verdict of the arbitrators was approved by the balance of the members of the train, the money was reluctantly paid over.

SEQUEL TO THAT BETTER "BROUGHTEN UP."-Apropos of the bread question, and of the general shortness of provisions at this stage of our journey, recalls the unsifted corn-meal episode of Mis- souri, and a subsequent incident which demonstrates anew the aphorism, that "circumstances alter cases." It will be recollected that we all took along a supply of corn for the subsistence of our animals, in the absence of grass, on the first part of our journey. Knowing that we had at least one forty-mile desert to traverse, without grass or water, further on, the most of us had reserved a small portion of grain to help us over that hard spot.

While not entirely out of provisions, the Wheeler and Howe messes began to run pretty short of "sorts," particularly of bread. A day or two before reaching the desert, looking across the camp, I saw Judge Wheeler and his boys vigorously twisting away at the coffee mill attached to the box of one of their wagons. On drawing near I found them grinding the corn which had been hauled 1,500 miles to feed to the mules upon the desert, then almost in sight.

"Hello, Judge! What are you going to do with that?" I inquired. "Make it into griddle cakes," said he. "But how in the world will you manage to sift it?" I asked. " Eat it without sift- ing," responded the Judge. "Well," said I, with a grin, "you can eat coarse, coffee-mill-ground corn meal, without sifting, if you choose to, but I was better brought up!" The Judge good- naturedly "acknowleged the corn" by saying that I had fairly

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AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

turned the tables on him, and afterwards declared that those coffee-mill griddle cakes were the sweetest he ever tasted.

HUMBOLDT SINK, DESERT, ETC .- The minor peculiarities of the pestilential Humboldt, are above faintly set forth, but its chief characteristic remains to be mentioned, in that, in a run of perhaps 400 miles it suddenly disappears on the northern verge of a forty- mile desert lying between it and Carson river. This year, however, the "sink"-an extensive marsh-by reason of extra high water, had spread itself out into sloughs, several miles on to the desert, making the distance to be traveled, in crossing it, from five to ten miles further than in ordinary seasons.

It is now the 23rd day of July, and though the mountains to the right and left are covered with snow, it is almost suffoca- tingly hot in the valley and on the desert. It is the better plan, therefore, to make as much of the journey across at night as we possibly can. Arriving at the sink about ten o'clock in the morn- ing, we rest there until five o'clock in the afternoon, in the niean- time having provided ourselves with a supply of dry grass, and as much water as we have vessels for.

Starting out with comparative freshness, we hope to reach the Carson soon after daylight the next morning. The first twenty miles were, like the valley of the Humboldt, of a solid ashen foun- dation, sparsely covered with sage brush; then about two miles of heavy sand, then five or six miles of sage brush, and the remainder, sixteen or eighteen miles of heavy fine sand, unrelieved by a single shrub or blade of grass or other vegetation. Ten miles out we stopped two hours to feed and rest, and ten miles further-on the narrow strip of sand spoken of-two hours and a half, by this time using up nearly all our feed and water, and yet not half way across.

MOONLIGHT AND POETRY .- The night was clear and bright- just the full of the moon-a night well calculated, in spite of adverse surroundings, to inspire poesy and melody in the most prosy mind. Our four mules and the two larger horses were attached to the wagon, which for the first twenty miles was in charge of Carson and Mckibben, while to Holmes and myself was assigned the care of the two ponies, the weakest of the eight. As along the Humboldt, dead animals line the road on either hand, by actual count fully twenty to the mile.

'Marching along side by side, in the bright moonlight, and odoriferous atmosphere, each towing a pony, silently ruminating upon the pleasures of the journey, Holmes, remembering the familiar song beginning:

" The moon had climbed the highest hill That rises o'er the source of Dee,"

suddenly broke out:

"The moon had climed the highest hill !

Hesitating a moment, here, I caught up the refrain by adding :

"That rises o'er the Humboldt sink" ---

Holmes continuing :

" And as we travel o'er the plain "-

I completing the stanza :

"Whew! How those old dead horses stink !"

1135

THE TERRORS OF THE DESERT.

ABANDONING WAGONS ON THE DESERT .- On striking the first belt of heavy sand, Wheeler and Howe were compelled to leave their wagons to save their animals; out of the abandoned material constructing pack-saddles for the transportation of provisions, clothing, and such other necessaries as they must carry along.

Striking the sixteen-mile stretch of sand about daylight, our progress was slow and fatiguing in the extreme. Leaving Holmes with Carson and McKibben, to manage the wagon, I started for- ward alone, with the two nearly done-over ponies, having almost literally to pull them along by main strength. Six miles out upon this burning sandy desert, a couple of enterprising emigrants had established a water station-hauling water from the Carson river, and selling it to their famishing comrades at twenty-five cents per quart. Happening to have a loose quarter about me, I bought a quart, gave about half of it to the two ponies and divided the balance between myself and a stranger who was destitute of money, and who afterwards told me that but for that drink of water he should never have got through alive.

THE LIFE-INVIGORATING CARSON .- Thus refreshed, with my two ponies I pushed, or rather pulled forward, but when a mile or two further on the sagacious animals seem to sniff the fresh waters and grasses of the Carson Valley, and pricking up their ears, and quickening their pace, I had to step quite lively to keep up with them the last two or three miles.

I reached the river about 11 o'clock and by noon our entire company, with every animal alive, were snugly encamped in the grateful shade of the immense cotton-wood trees that lined the banks of the Carson river at this point.

The thirst created by that last sixteen miles of desert travel, between broiling sun and blistering sands, was fearful to contem- plate-men plunging into the river and drinking like cattle, while the animals themselves, if not restrained, would rush into the middle of the river, and, turning their heads up-stream, literally let the water run down their throats.

RELIEF STATIONS-SPECULATORS, ETC .- Here, in the Carson Valley, we met so-called relief trains-speculators, who, in antici- pation of the distress which would prevail among the emigrants,' had come from Sacramento with provisions, " whisky," and other necessaries, which they sold at high figures to such as had money, but giving, in limited quantities, to such as were destitute-their prime object being to buy the famished animals of the emigrants at low figures, and recruit them for the California market.

But a few days later we met the real relief trains, sent out by the generous-hearted people of Sacramento and San Francisco, on the report of the earlier emigrants, that there was likely to be ter- rible suffering among those yet to follow, these trains not only affording needed relief to those in the the Carson Valley, but crossing the desert, and extending their humanitarian efforts some distance up the Humboldt.

PACKING BECOMES GENERAL .- Owing to the weakness of our animals, and the extreme labor of getting wagons over the almost impassable ridges of the Sierras, the rest of us, except the Tallmadge messes, also concluded to pack the balance of the way. We left our wagon and tent intact, and such other conveniences

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AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

as we had to dispense with, in good order. Another company with ox-team, observing our operations asked permission to sub- stitute our lighter wagon for their heavier one, which was granted on condition that they would leave theirs standing in like good order. Many "household" conveniences, of course, had to be abandoned with the wagons and tents, but nearly every one had some highly cherished article that he very greatly desired to carry through. The writer, for instance, slung his nice little seven and a half pound rifle across his shoulders, but in a day or two it became so burdensome, that he "cheerfully" gave it away. So, also, with McMasters and his drum-his constant companion for twenty years, and which was such a source of comfort to us all upon the journey-light as it was it got so heavy that on the second morning of our packing life, it was left, not exactly "hanging upon the willows," but on the limb of a large cotton- wood tree.

Carson Valley, which we traversed for about 100 miles, was really the Garden of Eden of our journey, abounding in innumer- able streams of fresh water, luxuriant meadows of timothy, clover and other wholesome grasses, with a sufficiency of fuel for culinary purposes.

CROSSING THE SIERRA NEVADAS. - Taking leave of Carson Valley, we pass through a five-mile zig-zag canon with vertical walls a thousand feet in height, traversed by a rapid mountain creek with many difficult crossings, in which many of the animals of the earlier emigrants had stuck fast and perished, though before our arrival the approaching relief parties had humanely constructed corduroy bridges over the worst of them.

Getting through this canon, we encountered a succession of beautiful valleys sandwiched between lofty and almost inacces- sible mountains, up and down the craggy sides of which men and animals climb with the utmost difficulty, and over which wagons and other similar commodities had to be carried, piece by piece, and hoisted and lowered over the most difficult places, by ropes.

OVER PERPETUAL SNOW .- The tops of these mountains were covered with snow, and on ascending the highest, properly denominated "Snow Mountain"- 10,000 feet above sea-level-on July 31, we passed over hard-packed snow apparently from 50 to 100 feet in depth, the continual tramping of animals and men with a slight softening by the midday sun, having sunk the traveled road from fifteen to twenty feet below the general level. Over- coats and blankets were by no means uncomfortable at high noon, while in the valleys where we encamped, ice would form upon the streams at night nearly half an inch in thickness.

ON THE HOME STRETCH .- On the western slope of the Sierras, the road was tolerably good but feed scarce and difficult of access, being found only in narrow valleys and ravines, considerable dis- tance from the road. But way-side (tent) groggeries were abun- dant, and it was strange to see men, reputed to have been abste- mious and thoroughly temperate at home, throwing off all restraint, and becoming uproariously intoxicated on this the last stage of their long and perilous journey, though I am happy to say our entire company should be excepted from that imputation.

HAY FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS A TON .- At one point, where our guide books advised us that there was a large meadow of good

1137

HAY FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS PER TON. .

grass three miles from the road, we found one of these whisky shops- a cloth affair-called the "Mountain House," the proprie- tors of which had caused all the grass of the meadow in question to be cut, cured, hauled to the road and stacked, to be sold to the incoming immigrants at 25 cents per pound, or at the rate of $500.00 per ton. Other similar philanthropists were found further on, every available blade of grass being thus appropriated, though the price declined, first to 20, then to 15 cents per pound, or $300.00 per ton. Of course, the owners of animals had to have it, our mess treating each of our eight head of stock to half a pound or so, each, twice a day.

FAIRLY IN THE "DIGGINGS."-On the westward slope of the Sierra Nevadas we saw large areas of the more diminutive of the celebrated big trees of California-one of the smaller of which, a redwood, straight as an arrow, having been broken off several feet from the ground, and with the top entirely gone, measured five feet in diameter and 240 feet in length.

Leaving our last camp about 8 o'clock, on Sunday morning, August 4, 1850, at 10 o'clock we rode triumphantly into the mining town then known by the confidence-inspiring name of " Hangtown," so-called because of the summary execution, by strangulation, of two or three offenders against the unwritten "code" of the mines, on a tree standing in front of the principal (cloth) hotel of the village, a year or so before. It has since been known by the more euphonious, and equally appropriate name of "Placerville."

Here we found several Akronians, the Garrett crowd having got into the "diggings" about two weeks ahead of us, and having had about the same pleasurable experiences that we had enjoyed. Here, too-Sunday though it was-our animals and other saleable effects were disposed of-the four horses for $250.00 and the four mules for $175.00, just about one-half what they had originally cost us.

We had now been just four months and a half from home, ninety-four days of which had been consumed in making the journey from the Missouri river, a distance, by the route traveled, of just about 2,000 miles, involving, in addition to the tinie con- sumed, an amount of labor, fatigue and privation that can scarcely be conceived by those who now, in a palace car, perform the journey in less than one week.

IN THE GOLDEN METROPOLIS .- Spending one day in. the mines, among old acquaintances and obtaining a little inkling of the modus operandi of delving for, and the immense amount of down- right hard labor involved in securing, the coveted metal, I hied me to Sacramento City, and after spending a day with the " boys" there, to San Francisco, where I remained until the first day of September, 1852, my rooms being the headquarters of the Summit county boys, when visiting the Bay City, either on business, or en route from the mines for home, via the Isthmus, or, by the same route, from home to the mines; also, during the entire two years, writing semi-monthly letters to the BEACON, and part of the time to the Democratic Standard, thus keeping the good people at home largely advised of the movements and welfare of their loved ones upon the Pacific coast.

EARLY CALIFORNIA LIFE .- Of course, space would not permit, nor the patience of the reader endure, even were the data at my

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AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

command, a full history of the individual fortunes and misfor- tunes of all of those who went from Summit county to California, in those early days. It should, perhaps, suffice to say that while a few "struck it" reasonably rich, and a somewhat larger few secured fair compensation for time and labor expended, and the privations endured, the great majority of those who lived to get home, were infinitely worse off, financially, physically, and, in some instances, morally, than when they started.

One of the great drawbacks to the success of the average miner, was restlessness and impatience. Getting fairly at work on a claim yielding a fair return for his day's labor-say $6 or $8- reports reach him that in the newly discovered "Humbug Dig- gings," one hundred or two hundred miles away, from $100 to $500 can be gathered in a day, and incontinently off he goes, to find either every inch of the new territory occupied, or the dust less plenteous than in his former claim in which, meantime, his more patient successor may have struck a regular bonanza. Then off he goes again to some other reputed rich placers or gulches; only . to be again disappointed, and so on to the end of the chapter.

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Author: Lane, Samuel A. (Samuel Alanson), 1815-1905 Publication date: 1892 Publisher: Akron, Ohio : Beacon Job Department Number of Pages: 1228

Author: Lane, Samuel A. (Samuel Alanson), 1815-1905
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Akron, Ohio : Beacon Job Department
Number of Pages: 1228