USA > West Virginia > Tucker County > History of Tucker County, West Virginia, from the earliest explorations and settlements to the present time; > Part 20
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Having finished his contract on the railroad, he returned home, and announced that he was going to California. "Where is California?" his father asked in amazement, as though the name of a new world had been spoken. Pool acknowledged that he himself had only vague ideas where the mysterious realm was situated; but others had gone there, and he was certain that he could find it. It was in the West, and might be reached either by land or water. This was the substance of all he knew concerning it. For, be it remembered, that the science of Geography, in this part of West Virginia, was then known or partly known only to a privileged few.
But the uncertainty concerning the latitude and longitude of California was no obstacle in the way of getting there ; and Enoch Minear even encouraged his boy to go, and gave him three hundred dollars to help bear his expenses on the way. This was December 23, 1849. Four days later, young Minear left his home for the far West. It was in the dead of winter, and the snow was more than a foot deep. The nearest railroad station was Cumberland, in Maryland, some seventy miles distant. Solomon Minear, his brother, accom- panied him on horseback to the Red House, on the North- western turnpike, some twenty miles from St. George, and there set him down in fifteen inches of snow to make his way to California as best he could, and there left him.
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He had a letter of introduction from Senator Ewin to Mrs. Wainright, of New York, a sister of Mr. Ewin. This was all he carried with him to recommend him to anybody in the great world of strangers into which he was burying himself. The undertaking before him seemed a great one, and it was a great one to a young man whose life had been spent almost entirely in the narrow limits of Tucker County. California, the bourne and the goal of his ambition, was a vague realm, of which he possessed only the merest knowledge, and to him it seemed only as an ideal land be- youd the ocean. He was leaving all he knew behind him, and was launching boldly, if not blindly, out upon the great ocean of the wonderful and the unknown.
With these and similar thoughts crowding thickly upon him, he stood in the snow on that winter day, and watched his brother, who had turned back, until, hidden by the fly- ing snow and the roughness of the country, the horse, rider and all passed from sight, and Pool was left entirely alone. The next time he saw his brother was in California.
When the last gray outline of his brother's overcoat was lost from sight in the distance, A. P. Minear turned to the east, and with his small portmanteau slung across his shoul- der, he plodded onward slowly through the snow. His journey lay across the Backbone and the Alleghany moun- tains, through a region fair and beautiful in the greenness of summer, when all nature from the lowest forms to the highest are thrilled with passion and life; but, a region drear and bleak when the fierceness of winter is upon it, and the wild storms of sleet and ice and snow are never weary. Slowly and with labor the young man climbed the slope of the Backbone, and at last stood upon its desolate summit. To the northward and westward the country of
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the "Glades" was in view; and as the whole frigid pano- rama burst upon his vision, and the white; snowy fields were interspersed with darker expanses of forest, and away in the distance the winding, tortuous course of the Yough- iogheny could be traced along the ancient lake beds, whose water it had carried off in past ages, he felt that the under- taking was to him a momentous one. The land looked lone and desolate; but, he could still see beauties in it, and then felt that it was his home.
But he was too impatient to remain long in contemplation of the winter scenery, and in the reverie that the picture drew upon him. That dim, but not phantasmal land of gold and romance was so vividly painted in his mind that the brightness of its colors soon surpassed and blotted out those of the white hills and mountains far beneath him ; and with but one thing before his fancy, and that the Golden Shore beyond the sea, he turned, perhaps forever, from the scene at his feet, and with his portmanteau on his back, he pushed forward along the forest-lane that marks the line of the road across the mountain, and soon began the descent into the rugged valley of the North Branch of the Potomac.
The country was only thinly inhabited. Here and there was the cabin of a mountaineer, who was willing to live apart from the rest of mankind in order to enjoy the luxur- ies of a forest life. Soon Minear turned down from the high plateau of the Backbone, and the snow grew less deep and he walked easier. Where Fort Pendleton now stands in ruins, was then only a field and a forest ; and as he passed wearily by, on the steep descent of the way, he had noth- ing to remind him what scenes of history would sometime be enacted about that very hill. The surrounding silence gave no token that in after years the tramp of troops, the
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trundling of train-wagons and the deep roar of ordnance would shake the very rocks over which he walked. Nor, when he reached the roaring river, which washed the mount- ain's feet, and plunges and raves and dashes eternally, did he once think how, in time to come, the ponderous iron horse would thunder through the mountains at forty miles an hour and that a city might sometime spring up where was then only a rough bridge and a dilapidated tavern.
But, if such thoughts came not to him in the whisper of prophecy, there was still enough to occupy his mind. He crossed the river, and the next day crossed the Alleghanies, passed over the little river, Difficult, a stream of legends and myths, and crossed the rough ravine, called Stony River. At Mount Storm he was on the summit of the great Alle- ghanies. The name is suggestive of the character; for Mount Storm was a stormy mountain, where the wind knows no rest or mercy; and the tornadoes are forever raging around the bald dome which marks the highest point.
From there the road led down toward the lower valleys; and by evening Minear was so far on the plains below that he could look back and upward and see the mountains at intervals, and at intervals they were hidden in the thick masses of clouds, which are nearly always hovering there.
The young man had now placed between himself and his home one range of hills, one sierra of snowy summits, and he felt, at one time, that he had gained a victory, and at another that he was that much nearer his doom. But it was no time to think of either. He was going, and nothing could or should discourage or dissuade him. The excessive labor of walking through so much deep snow began to have an effect on his body but none at all upon his mind. His limbs were tired ; but his will to triumph, his determination
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to push on, over and through and around obstacles and dif- ficulties, was not diminished, and down, down still nearer to the valley he took his way, and his mind that dwelt on am- bition and pictured the future knew no weariness. At Cum- berland the most arduous part of his journey would be at an end, and to that was due the fact that he would not stop on his way until that town was reached.
From Cumberland to New York it was only a trip by rail, and possessed nothing of especial interest. Minear reached New York and was kindly received by the family to whom he was presented by his letter of introduction. Mr. Wain- right had a son and daughter about Minear's age, and as he expressed it in a letter written afterward :
I remained there a week and had a splendid time with these young people, who took me, one by each wing, and showed me the strange New York sights.
New York was the first vivid impression of the vastness of the world and its human inhabitants that he had ever received. But it was not the end of his journey, it was really only the beginning of it, and from there his way would lead through lands and seas still stranger than any he had yet seen.
He remained in the metropolis one week and then took passage on the steamship Empire City for the Isthmus of Panama. That was the principal and the most usual route to California at that time. The other routes were across Central America at the San Juan del Sur, and by Elizabeth Bay, or around the southern extremity of South America, at Cape Horn, the route taken by some who went from Tucker, and by which the distance to California was more than half the distance around the world. The other com- mon road was the emigrant trail across the plains. Capt.
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Harper took this route when he went in 1848 and 1849.
At that time there was not, as there now is, a railroad across the Isthmus. Passengers got themselves across in any and every possible manner. The climate was hot and unhealthful, and those who remained on the Isthmus any length of time did so at the peril of their lives. However, many were obliged to stay for weeks, and sometimes for months, waiting on the western side for a vessel to carry them to San Francisco.
When Minear reached there, he found only the rudest conveyances to carry him and the rest of the passengers to the other side. A portion of the journey was in canoes, manned by natives, dressed in linen as white as snow. It was hot, and when the canoes were fully under way, the natives threw aside their costume, and for the rest of the way were clad after the manner of Adam and Eve while innocent in the Garden of Eden. The remonstrances of the passengers were utterly unavailing in causing them to dress themselves, and so they proceeded in that manner, although some of the passengers were ladies.
The natural scenery along the way was tropical, and con- tinually called forth words of admiration from the passen- gers. They stopped at times and bought fruit and drank native coffee, and after a series of adventures, their desti- nation was reached. In a letter Minear speaks thus of one of the native taverns :
At one of these little native huts, we got splendid coffee and, as usual, cream or milk in it, which was quite a treat and helped wash down the crackers and cheese. At this particular place I now mention, I had drank one cup of coffee and called for another. As the lady took my cup and went into the adjoining hut to get the coffee, I stepped into the doorway, or open space, to take a look into the other room, when I saw her with my cup of coffee in
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one hand, streaming the cream or milk from her breast into it with the other. Just then I had finished lunch and did not care for any more coffee,
He reached Panama on January 18, 1850 ; and the very next day commenced looking about for something to do. There was no prospect of getting to go to California any time soon, and it was his purpose to save all the money he could. It was a hard place to get work, and the best offer he could find was that of one dollar a day in a pancake bakery. This was better than nothing, and he accepted the offer and went to. work. But he was only waiting for an opportunity to fall in with something better.
A few days later he thought he saw a chance for specula- tion, and at once entered into it. Twelve miles from Pan- ama was Taboga, where the steamers took in coal and water. He saw money in running a boat from Panama to that place to carry the passengers who would want to go. Accord- ingly, he bought a whale boat for eighty dollars, and soon got a load of passengers. He had a "fair wind and made a splendid run ;"" and his passengers were safely landed at their destination. About sunset he left Taboga in his boat, accompanied by his two seamen, and started back to Pan- ama. But the winds were contrary ; and the boat was driven hither and thither all night, and not till the next day did it reach Panama. Minear was sea-sick, and entirely disgusted with his speculation. As soon as the boat touched the shore, he leaped out, started for the town, yelled back to his men that they could have the boat, and he never looked back,
There was still no show of getting a passage to California, and he commenced looking about for something else to make
*Letter from San Francisco.
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money at. He rented a large room at two dollars a day, and charged ten cents a night to each person who spread his blanket and slept there. He made some money at this, and thought himself more fortunate than those who were on continual expense and were making nothing.
As soon as he got a little better acquainted, he saw an- other opening for speculation in passenger tickets, and he entered into that business and made some money at it.
He had now been on the Isthmus more than a month, and his impatience to get away may be imagined. Fortunately for him, it was in the winter time; for had it been in the hot season of the year, the whole collection of passengers must have fallen by fever. The first of March came, and they were still there and no show of getting away. Some wished they had stayed in New York, others that they had crossed the plains, and still others that they had the opportunity of going back home. But during all this, Minear was making the best of the situation and was looking sharply about to take in all the loose money that was floating around among the reckless of the passengers. In this he was successful, and made more than enough to balance what he had lost in his whale-boat transaction.
Early in March, 1850, the steamer Panama came into port, and the passengers were jubilant at the prospect of getting to leave that fever-plagued coast. On March 5, they departed for San Francisco, and had a stormy voyage of twenty-four days before they approached the Golden Gate.
As they were coming up the coast, Minear made the ac- quaintance of B. R. Buckelew, Esq., who had gone to Cali- fornia in 1846, but had been east with his family and was just returning with his brother Scott. The acquaintance was a fortunate one for Minear, who was totally unac-
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quainted with any one in California, except Capt. E. Har- per, and he knew not where, in all that wild country, to find him. Mr. Buckelew soon found that young Minear had nothing definite laid out to do, and accordingly offered to furnish him a shed to sleep in until he could find something better. Pool felt grateful and accepted the offer ; but he couldn't help thinking that in West Virginia a stranger would not have been offered a shed to sleep in. But he was learning the ways of the new world, and he had no hesi- tancy in accepting the shelter of a shed.
They landed, and Minear was shown the shanty; and, af- ter looking about for an hour or two, and as night came on, he lay down upon the floor to sleep. He was not in imme- diate need of anything, and had over two hundred dollars in money. His only companion was an Irish boy, and with this company he lay down to sleep his first sleep in California.
That night he was taken sick, and in the morning he sent for a doctor. He grew no better, and the doctor visited him regularly for two weeks, and finally got him on his feet. The doctor's bill was four hundred and fifty dollars. Pool had not money enough to pay it. Mr. Buckelew's brother furnished the necessary money, and the doctor's unreasona- ble bill was paid off .*
As soon as Minear felt able to work, he offered his ser- 'vices to Mr. Buckelew, but was advised not to attempt work until he felt stronger. Accordingly, he laid off a few
* It may not be amiss to note that Captain Harper was some distance from San Francisco, when he heard that Minear had arrived and was sick. Harper's business was such that he could not get away to visit his young friend ; but he did not neglect. him. On a bank in San Francisco where he had money deposited, he gave Minear an order to draw all he wanted. But Mr. Buckelew's generosity had already rendered this unnecessary. This incident Is mentioned to show the friendship that then exist- ed between these two young West Virginians, in the strange country. The kindly feelings and confidence between them never grew less, and In their subsequent business transactions each would trust the offer further than he would trust himself,
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days longer. But he felt that he must be doing something, - and again went to Buckelew for a job. This time he was more successful. He was shown a ponderous pile of bricks that it was necessary to move about two hundred yards. Pool did this with a wheelbarrow. Mr. Buckelew was so pleased with the perseverance and pluck of the young man that he invited him to his own house and kept him there as long as he had anything to be done. Mr. Buckelew had several city lots which needed leveling, and Minear was given the contract. He soon had fifty men at work, and kept at it until every lot was leveled, and his employer had nothing else for him to do. This was April 15, 1851. In their settlement, Minear was paid two hundred and fifty dollars a month, and was charged with no lost time.
Minear now turned his attention to the lumber business, which in California is usually a paying one. There is money in it to all who are fortunate ; but, it is risky for those who are not used to the business. Minear bought two ox-teams, and went to hauling logs for the mill. He was successful at every turn. Every stream "was bubbling over with luck," and he made money fast. Soon another mill near by offered him greater inducements, and he went to work for it, and was still as successful as ever. He remained with the new firm that bought the old one out, until in the fall of 1853. But, in the meantime he built a new mill for the same company. They were gradually placing in his hands the whole business, and he was not backward in accept- ing it.
In the fall of 1853 he accepted the position of manager in general for a large lumber establishment and had the entire control of the business. He was paid twenty thousand dol- lars a month. He was now on the road to fortune, and was
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doing well in every particular. But, in April, 1854, his monthly payment was not made. This did not make much difference, and he continued the business, paying ex- penses from his own pocket. The next payment was not made, and he began to inquire into the cause of it, but still kept the business going. But, in the midst of his investigations the company broke. One of the partners left for Mexico, one died and the third had no money. Minear paid up the indebtedness of the mills and had nothing left. He spent forty thousand dollars of his own money in set- tling with small contractors and laborers. He considered that he could afford to lose all he had easier than so many could give up their all ; and so he paid that which, by law, he need not have paid. But, it broke him up, financially, but not physically or mentally.
Before this financial failure, Minear had sent to Iowa for his brother-in-law, Henry M. Stemple, and family, and they crossed the plains to join him. He had bought them a home; but, before they got to it, the crash came, and Mi- near left California on horseback and went to Oregon. But Stemple reached the farm, and lived and died on it, and his wife, formerly Eliza Minear, still lives on the prop- erty, some miles north of San Francisco, in a beautiful and fertile country.
At Rainier, Oregon, A. P. Minear met his old friend, Capt. E. Harper, who was then carrying on an extensive mercantile business there. As Minear was out of employ- ment, and had not an extra supply of money, he was glad of the presented offer of going into partnership with Mr Harper. For a while after this, they conducted the busi- ness together, and when Harper went to California. Minear continued the trade. 19
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About this time Minear made the acquaintance of Miss Lucretia Moody, a young lady from New York, who, with her father's family, and other friends, had crossed the plains to the Pacific coast. They were soon afterward married ;" and they continued the stores at Rainier until some time in 1856, when the business was brought to a close.
With his wife he now returned to California, and lived that year with Stemple, his brother-in-law ; but did not en- gage deeply in business. Some of the affairs in Oregon needed looking after, and he returned for that pur- pose. In order to close up the concerns there, he found it necessary to buy and sell to a considerable extent. While doing this, he found that he was making money, and he saw no reason why he might not continue it. He decided to do so, and went to California for his wife. In Oregon they carried on a large store and hotel. Mrs. Minear assumed management of the latter, and Mr. Minear of the former. Things went on well, and they made money at every turn of the wheel of fortune. This was in 1857.
In 1858, a Mr. Warren, who owned a saw-mill at that place was desirous of visiting his family at Boston, and wished Minear to look after his lumber interests. This Minear agreed to do, and added two or three thousand dol- lars worth of improvements to the mill. But, before the return of Mr. Warren, the mill burnt down. When Warren got back, he offered Minear the burnt machinery as pay for the service done, and as return for the money invested in improvements. This was rather poor pay ; but it was that much better than nothing, and Minear accepted it. He at once set about rebuilding it, using such of the ma-
+ February 25, 1856.
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chinery as was available, and replacing the worthless with new.
To rebuild the mill cost him eight thousand dollars. He got it ready to start at six p. m., and made arrangements to commence work at six next morning, and had men employed to run it night and day. At four in the morning it burnt down. He rebuilt it at the same cost, run it six days, and it again burnt down.
These reverses would have bankrupted him, had he not been making large sums of money in the other departments of his business. He built the mill the third time; but, the price of lumber had fallen until a small mill would not pay. Meanwhile, he was furnishing money and supplies to a man named Fox, who was building a water mill just back of the town of Rainier, for the purpose of sawing cedar lumber. By the time his mill was fairly started, he owed Minear near seven thousand dollars, and, feeling dubious about being able to make that much out of the mill, he offered to give it, lumber and all, to him, in satisfaction of the debt. Minear accepted the offer. Fox made him a deed for it, and the whole matter was settled and the mill, property and all, were in Minear's hands. He was yet standing at his desk, having just signed his part of the contract when the sawyer came running in and exclaimed : "Mr. Fox, your mill is on fire."" It burnt down, and was the third mill so to be destroyed on Minear's hands. He now thought it time to get out of the mill business, and sold his steam mill, that he had rebuilt the third time, for one thousand dollars, and never got a cent of the money.
Although uniformly unsuccessful in the mill business, yet with his hotel and store he made money very fast. His
* From a letter written afterward.
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great trade was with the Columbia River bottom-land far- mers, who bought their goods one year and paid for them the next, when their crops came into market. This was all working beautifully until 1862, when a great flood came down the Columbia, higher than it has ever been known since or was ever known before. It drowned out the far- mers. Many were left destitute, had nothing to pay debts or buy bread, The land, which before the flood was valua- ble, was now worthless.
The depreciation in the value of property left us about, on a level with the rest of the people. Our hotel and store were worth- less. I paid our debts and had very little left .*
Meanwhile, among the people of Tucker there was still a remnant of the California excitement. The Minears seemed to be the readiest to go. Jacob, Thaddeus and Jerome Harper had followed their brother, Captain Harper, to Cal- ifornia, and before this time, were scattered along the Pacific coast from Chili, in South America, to British Co- lumbia. From the time Pool Minear went, until 1859, ten years, several persons had gone from Tucker County to try their fortunes in the Golden State. William and George Minear had gone west. George settled at Killbourne. Iowa, and still resides there. William lives at Oakland, California, just across the Bay from San Francisco.
In the summer of 1859, quite a number of young people in and about St. George determined to go to California. Among them were A. T. Bonnifield and family, and John WV. Minear. In November of that year they left West Virginia and repaired to New York, where they took the steamer for Panama. The journey to New York contained nothing of particular interest, and the stay in the city was
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