From an Old Drawing. SACRAMENTO CITY IN 1850.From an Old Drawing.SACRAMENTO CITY IN 1850.
rope’s length, and then draw the other boat up by means of the rope.
The river being high and there being a strong head wind blowing for us to contend with, together with the fall in the stream at this place, we found it to be a slow and very tedious process to pull a heavily loaded boat up the river by the willows that skirted the shore. We would first pull up one boat a rope’s length, and then draw the other boat after it, and thus we labored incessantly until at length we succeeded in getting both boats near the head of the rapids, when by some unfortunate mishap, the boat got into the stream beyond the reach of the willows, and before we could recover we were again at the foot of the rapids and the other boat was also with us. To pull her up again was the hard labor of two or three hours, but it seemed to be the only practical plan that we could pursue.
Consequently, we all worked with a will and at length succeeded in pulling her up the second time, arriving at a point a little higher up the stream than we reached at the first time. We were pulling the other boat up after us by the rope and holding our boat to the brush, when suddenly the brush gave way and very soon both boats were again at the foot of the rapids.
These repeated accidents and disappointments, considering all the existing circumstances and conditions, were anything but comforting to our empty stomachs and wet backs. It was now getting toward the end of the day and we had tasted no food since the night previous.
The rain had descended in torrents all day and we were cold and wet, but to pull the boat again to the head ofthe rapids before dark seemed to be our only alternative. Could we succeed in getting our boat safely over the rapids by daylight, we could soon reach our destination, and we were anticipating a warm supper and dry lodgings in Burch’s tent.
Consequently, we once more, for the third time, worked our way by the brush to the head of the long rapids, and just as it was becoming dark we had succeeded in bringing both boats to the head of the rapids for the third time. Just at that point of the river there was a short bend in the stream so that we would get the benefit of a fair wind from that point up. Pinney was in the bow of the boat holding to the brush, Captain Bonner and Burch were near the stern arranging to get under weigh, and I was hoisting the sail.
Mr. Burch said: “Be sure to hold fast this time, Pinney.” But for the moment the latter seemed absent-minded and before I had the sail raised he released his hold upon the brush and seized the foot of the mast to enter it into its place. Instantly we were again beyond the reach of the brush, and very quickly were again at the foot of the rapids! Our companion boat continued up the river without trouble, so far as we knew.
To work our way up again to the head of the rapids that night seemed to be an impossibility. It had become extremely dark. The rain continued to descend copiously, as it had done continuously for more than twenty-four hours. The river was so full of snags that to make the attempt to cross it in the dark was to hazard our lives.
We were on the opposite side from Mr. Burch’s ranch,and also on the opposite side from another ranch owned and occupied by a Frenchman, John Ruells. On the side where we were there were no habitations within twelve or fifteen miles. After a consultation we came to the conclusion that the best we could do, under the existing circumstances, was to land and await until the next morning.
Accordingly, we pulled our boat as far into the willows as it were possible, and I, being at the bow, chained the boat to a small tree. I thought it was probable that considering the large quantity of rain that had fallen the stream would continue to rise some during the night, and to guard against accidents I chained the boat about three feet above the water and gave it about twelve feet of spare chain.
The small willows were extremely dense, and in making an attempt to reach the shore, I found the water at the bow of the boat was five feet deep. As we had no dry matches and there was no possibility of procuring any fire, we concluded our condition would probably be nearly or quite as comfortable aboard the boat during the night, as it would be if we could succeed in reaching the bank. Consequently, we concluded to remain on board, though we had nothing cooked that we could eat and we were cold and wet.
The rain was still descending and I believe that in all my life I never laid down to a night’s lodging with so small a prospect of the enjoyment of a moment’s comfortable rest and repose as on that night. The rain, although it was from the south, was cold, and each one of us shivered so badly that the boat fairly quivered from stem to stern!
I covered my head and after enduring the situation for some hours, fell into a broken, dreamy slumber, from which I was suddenly awakened with the cold water rushing over me. I jumped to my feet immediately and simultaneously with the whole crew. But we had no sooner gained our feet than the boat went under, sending us all with our load of freight into the river! The boat immediately after came to the surface with its keel upward.
The first thought that occurred to me was to immediately strike out and swim to the shore, but my second thought was to get upon the bottom of the boat and get, if possible, a survey of my situation.
Consequently I pulled myself up upon the upturned boat. At about that time Mr. Burch cried out: “For God’s sake pull me up or I shall drown.” I took him by the hand and drew him up. He said he could not swim a single stroke. Captain Bonner, who had sometime been a sailor, attempted to swim.
He wore his “sou-wester,” a canvas hat painted white. In the darkness I could just trace the white hat as it slowly moved along the surface of the water, but it soon disappeared from sight and then it reappeared. It almost immediately disappeared the second time when I reached for one of the oars that was within sight to try and reach him, if possible. Again he came to the surface and climbed up a small tree that was standing in the water near the upturned boat. He climbed as far up the tree as he could, it being the top of a small willow. His feet were about four feet above the surface of thewater. No sooner had he gained his position on the tree, than he said he came very near drowning.
To all appearance our position since we chained the boat to a tree the night previous had been transformed. The rain had ceased to pour, clouds were beginning to become broken, and the darkness was not so dense. We could dimly discern on our side the waters of the river rushing swiftly past, gurgling and whirling, carrying along with them large masses of flood wood, intermixed with immense logs and whole trees, while on the other hand we could discover small trees and brush rising above the surface of the water, and still a little farther in the distance was a large growth of cottonwood trees. The latter were probably some twelve or fifteen rods distant to the east of our position. We could see no land.
The question of what was the immediate cause of this severe accident soon began to be discussed among the party. Mr. Burch made the inquiry who it was that chained the boat. I answered that it was I who chained it. He thought that it was not fastened sufficiently secure and that it probably came unhooked, floated down the river and in some way became capsized. The same opinion at first seemed to be entertained by the majority of the party. However, I knew it had been faithfully secured and that it was almost an impossibility for it to have become loosened.
It occurred to me that the boat was still chained to the willow tree as we had left it when we had laid down, and that the river had risen to such a height that the bow of the boat had been drawn beneath the surface and it naturally capsized. This seemed almost an impossibility, but it proved ultimately to be the true version of the cause of the accident.
After I had considered the matter as to the safest and best course to pursue, I concluded to stay by the wreck as long as it seemed possible, and the entire crew seemed to be of the same mind.
We soon began crying for help at the top of our voices, but at the same time we were without the slightest hope or expectation that anyone could render us any assistance on that night.
First one would cry aloud for a few moments and then another would take it up for a time, and thus it would go around through the whole list.
The day previous Captain Bonner had a two-quart jug aboard which he had drawn nearly full of whiskey for his own private use, and when he discovered the “little brown jug” resting against the tree beneath his feet, he was very much pleased. He soon recovered it and after taking a drink from it, passed it around. It was about one-half full when recovered and it went around at intervals the remainder of the night.
We were compelled to sit in the cold water nearly to our waists, from the time of the accident until daylight, and it was not anything like a comfortable position. As near as we were able to judge, the boat upset about one o’clock.
Occasionally we heard a voice in reply to ours, but no one came to our assistance until it became daylight, when an Italian came in sight around the bend in the river in a small zinc boat and took us ashore. Captain Bonner had nearly perished.
Before we were rescued the water had reached to his waist, as he stood upon the tree, and he could ascend no higher. Mr. Burch and Captain Bonner both said that they never expected to see another day, and they would have it no other way from the moment of the accident until the rescue.
Mr. Burch stated and several times repeated it, that he would willingly give all he possessed in the world to be set on shore. I made the reply that I would pay fifty dollars to any one to put me ashore safely, but that was the extent I would give.
After getting ashore I found my limbs so benumbed that it was with great difficulty that I could walk a step.
About ten o’clock we partook of a little breakfast that had been prepared for us, it being the first of anything we had eaten for upward of forty hours. On an investigation a little later we found the river had risen about twenty-five feet during the night, occasioned from the heavy rains together with the melting of large bodies of snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains.
After two days’ rest we all felt nearly or quite as well as if nothing had befallen us, and strange as it may seem, not one of the party even caught the slightest cold from all the exposure.
The night of the 8th of January, 1850, will probably be long remembered by all of this little party of four men.
At that time the great freshet and overflow at Sacramento City was experienced, which destroyed an enormous amount of property and caused so great an amountof sickness, suffering and death—when it was said the population of the city decreased about three-fourths in the space of six weeks, owing to deaths from cholera, fevers and others diseases, and from immigration to other places.
After a lapse of 44 years—January, 1894—I resumed this narrative.
The foregoing was written not long after the events therein written had transpired, from notes taken from day to day. All those events were then fresh in my memory.
Such notes as I took subsequent to the 9th of January, 1850, while I remained in California, and later while I was in Oregon, were not so copious and full, and what I may hereafter write in relation to my experiences in those states (then territories) for the next four years and more will be drawn from these scanty notes, with the assistance of a very retentive memory.
At the date of the sad experience with the boat on the Feather River, January 9, 1850, I was a young man of a little more than twenty-one years of age; while at this time I am more than sixty-five, yet my memory is still quite fresh in regard to many of those events that transpired in those times, while I doubt not that many others of equal interest may have been forgotten altogether; or I may retain only a partial or faint recollection of them at this time.
In consequence of this, whatever I may write in the following pages will be such only as I distinctly remember, and they will be a few of the leading incidents connected with my residence in California and Oregon until August, 1854, when I returned to New Hampshire.
After a rest of two days from January 9, 1850, the time of the accident with the boat, we again resumed work with Mr. Burch, and soon after commenced the excavation of the ditch, which was for the purpose of a fence on three sides of a field of ten acres, Feather River to form the boundary on the remaining side. The land was sandy and free from stones, and the shoveling excellent. We made a very good job, as by hard work we could each excavate four or five rods a day. The weather at this time was pleasant. The rainy season had not entirely passed, but February was a fine month and very agreeable.
After the ditch was completed, as Mr. Burch had no more work for us, we traveled down the river to Yuba City, a small, new village on the west bank of the Feather River, opposite the mouth of the Yuba River.
At that time Marysville, situated on the other side of Feather River and a short distance up the Yuba, was composed of very few buildings, with the exception of Nye’s ranch, which was one of the old California adobe ranches. This was substantially at the head of steam navigation on Feather River, and there was quite a rivalry between the two “cities”—each trying to becomethe“city.”
Yuba City had the first beginning, but Marysville later outrivaled her and became the more important place. At this time two or three small steamers plied between Sacramento, Yuba City and Marysville. The largest of these was a flat-bottomed boat of considerable size, which,if I remember correctly, was the Vezie. It was owned by a company from Maine, called the Vezie Company, and was built in Maine, taken around Cape Horn on a vessel, and set up in California. I believe Captain, Colonel or General Vezie was at the head of the company.
Green oak wood was used for fuel to operate the steamboat, and as there was quite a number of men present, members and stockholders of the company, a small board shanty was erected a short distance below Yuba City for the accommodation of the choppers who undertook to cut the fuel for the steamer from the oaks that grew near by.
The majority of these men were young and were entirely unused to such hard manual labor as chopping, and the outcome was that eight or ten of them could not, or did not, cut a sufficient amount of wood to supply the boat with fuel.
Shortly after our arrival at Yuba City, I met the agent of the steamboat company and made an agreement with him to cut 100 cords of wood at $6.50 per cord.
The wood was to be cut three feet in length and split, but no deduction was to be made on account of its short length. I informed Pinney and Butler of the contract I had entered into, and of course they expected to take part in the job.
Mr. Pinney was a native of Vermont, and cutting cord wood had been his principal work for many years.
For several years previous to his immigration to California he had resided in Pelham, and had cut wood for about nine months in each year, being engaged at hayingand other work for the farmers during the heated term of summer. He was noted in Pelham as being an expert chopper, one that could cut more wood in a given time than any other man known in or about Pelham. Mr. Butler and myself both knew how to use the axe, but had never cut very much cord wood.
Mr. Pinney made the remark that in all probability he would cut as much wood as Mr. Butler and myself together. I made the reply, that if he should cut twice as much wood as I did, I would leave the job.
A ferry spanned the river from this place to the Marysville side, and the fare for foot passengers was fifty cents each way.
No axes were on sale in Yuba City, and Mr. Pinney was selected to go to Marysville and purchase three chopping axes. In due time he returned with the axes—three being the entire stock found in the market in Marysville.
As I remember, the price paid was ten dollars each, without helves. One of them was about the ordinary size and weight for a chopping axe, while another was a large, heavy one, and the third light and small like a boy’s axe. Mr. Pinney selected the one of medium size for himself, and said that Mr. Butler and I could make such arrangements as we should choose in regard to the other two. I gave Mr. Butler his choice and he took the heavy one. We made arrangements with a man by the name of Galushia, who had a tent, to supply us with board at the price of two dollars per day. He did the cooking over a fire outside the tent.
We each made a helve and hung the axes and began chopping. The wood was the white oak species and wasgrowing a short distance back from the river. The trees were principally large, very old and brash, not very tall but with numerous large branches spreading over a wide surface. The trees were scattering, with no underbrush, “oak openings.” It was seldom that we cut the trunks of the trees into wood, but left them on the ground, making use of the branches only. In many instances we would climb the trees and cut off the branches and leave the trunk standing.
The first of my work at chopping caused my hands to blister badly. It was late in the forenoon when I commenced, and when it became night I felt an anxiety to know about how much I had succeeded in cutting. I piled and measured it, when I found I had cut in the short day, one and one-quarter cords, or had earned over eight dollars.
By the agreement made we were not required to pile the wood, but the company was to have it drawn out and piled on the bank of the river, where it could be measured.
We were not a long time in completing the contract of cutting one hundred cords, and we made another contract to cut another hundred cords. Each of us had our wood kept separate and piled by itself. Some days, when I was fortunate in the selection of a good tree, I would cut as much as four cords; while on some other days, when I had a bad tree, I would not cut more than two cords. The first week or ten days of chopping caused my hands to become very sore, so much so that the helve of the axe would be covered with blood when they came in contact with it.
March 1, 1850.
After having worked at chopping about one month and having had our wood drawn out and measured, it was found I had cut almost two-thirds as much as had Mr. Pinney, and Mr. Butler had cut about one-half as much.
As spring was approaching and as gold mining was our chief object and uppermost in our minds as a means by which to make a fortune in California, we thought the time was near at hand when we should select a mining claim for the coming summer.
At that time it was almost the universal opinion among the miners of California that the beds of the rivers and large streams must be very rich with gold dust. That to turn the water from its natural channel so as to be able to work out the gravel from the bed of the stream, a quick fortune was almost sure to result.
The mines had been worked for a comparatively short time, and this plan had not been tested in only a few instances. The theory was that as gold was found in greater or lesser quantities along the shores of nearly all the streams, in almost every bar, and in paying quantities in a great number of them, if the river bed could be worked there would be necessarily large deposits of the yellow metal, as owing to its great specific gravity it would naturally seek the lowest levels and there remain.
The rivers in the mountains were a succession of falls and rapids, and at many such places it was practical to construct temporary dams, so as to turn the streams from their channels for a greater or lesser distance.
Almost the entire mining population of Feather River in the spring of 1850 was engaged in enterprises of this nature. Many had selected their mining claims in the autumn previous or in the early winter, and had worked upon them during the winter in making preparations to carry their project into execution as early in the spring as the water should become low enough to permit of its being successfully carried out. The Pelham company owned a claim on the south fork of Feather River, where they had built and were occupying a comfortable log-house, and had expended much time and labor in making the necessary preparations.
They bought a pitsaw with which they sawed sufficient plank for the construction of a long flume to carry the water a considerable distance. In appearance it was one of the most promising gold claims in the mountains. It was almost certain that for each one of the company there was a fortune awaiting in the bed of the stream.
Numerous similar companies were constructing improvements of greater or lesser magnitude. Everybody seemed sanguine of success.
We were doing fairly well at cutting wood and could continue to cut for the Vezie Company at six dollars per short cord. We could earn on the average, including some rainy weather, twelve or fifteen dollars a day.
But we naturally reasoned something different. If our friends in the mines shouldstrike it richand succeed in making a moderate fortune in a few months and we should spend our time cutting wood when we had the opportunity of securing a claim at some place along theriver, perhaps equally as rich as others, we should regret that we did not attend to it at the opportune time.
After discussing the matter in many different aspects, it was decided by us that Mr. Pinney would remain and cut wood, while Mr. Butler and myself would go up the river into the mountains and endeavor to secure a claim.
Consequently, we left Yuba City and went up the Feather River into the mining country. After prospecting for several days, we succeeded in securing a claim on the middle fork of Feather River, nearly thirty miles above Bidwell’s.
At this time large quantities of snow still remained in the mountains above Bidwell’s Bar. We made sufficient arrangements to comply with the mining rules and regulations to hold the claim, and formed a company.
The names of all of this company I do not at this time recall, but at least there were two additional men that made the journey with us from Boston to California—Alden J. Nutting, of Westford, Mass., and Cyrus Whittemore, of Antrim, N. H.
The most promising claims had been selected and we made the best arrangements that seemed practical at that time.
The winter of 1849-50 was noted for the great amount of rain that fell in the valleys and the enormous depth of snow that accumulated in the mountains. It was not expected that the streams would become sufficiently low so as to admit of working our claim before June.
After making the arrangements to hold the claim we returned to Bidwell’s and did some mining there and at a place on the middle fork of Feather River, about 15
From an Old Print. POSTOFFICE IN ’49.From an Old Print.POSTOFFICE IN ’49.
miles from Bidwell’s. The water being high our success was poor.
While at Yuba City I became acquainted with a man by the name of Damon. Capt. Robert D. Bonner went into trade then in company with another man and desired to hire some money at 10 per cent interest per month.
I loaned him a considerable sum, but unfortunately I never received from him any interest nor any part of the principal. I soon afterwards lost sight of him and never knew his fate. As he had become very dissipated probably he did not survive long.
Hay had sold at very high prices the winter previous, in some of the cities as high as $500 per ton.
Mr. Damon of Yuba City made the proposition that we go up Feather River to a suitable place and there cut and stack a lot of hay and sell it later. He said he could not mow himself, but that he would hire a man to mow with me, and as he owned a horse, he would draw the hay together and pile it up, and we would sell it before the rainy season should set in.
I acquiesced in the proposition and we went up the river a few miles to a place where we found the grass was quite good. We bargained for the right to cut as much as we might desire for a nominal sum from a man that owned a ranch nearby. He was a squatter and probably had no more right to the grass than we had.
Mr. Damon owned one scythe and we succeeded in finding another—an old one—which we purchased for about fifty dollars. Mr. Damon hired Alden J. Nutting, before mentioned. Mr. Nutting was a short, thick set,robust, muscular man, and seemed to be in the enjoyment of good health.
The grass grew on the river bottom and was the natural product of the soil. It stood quite thick and was a fair crop, but had been trampled by cattle that had ranged over it and fed upon it at will, which caused it to be slow and difficult mowing.
We commenced mowing on Monday morning and I continued mowing every day through the week until Saturday night. Mr. Nutting complained of being exhausted and quit work at Thursday noon, but resumed again on Friday morning. There was no dew there at the time and the hay remained in the swath as it fell from the scythe, where it cured perfectly.
The next week we pitched it together into small piles where we loaded it upon a wagon and formed it into a square pile on the ground in a broad, open field.
Rakes of any kind we did not use. We did some more mowing for Mr. Damon, as he would need some to feed to his horse.
Our stack of hay was about 40 feet long by 30 feet wide and ten or eleven feet high, and was estimated to contain twenty tons.
It is impossible at the present time, after the lapse of nearly forty-five years, to give from memory aconnectedaccount ofallthe transactions in which I was engaged during the spring, summer and fall of 1850. Consequently, I will write about events of which I find my original minutes, or others of which I still have a distinct memory, without regard to the exact dates or order in which they transpired. It is possible that some eventswhich I may relate may have taken place at a time previous to that of cutting the hay.
Some time I believe during that spring as Mr. Pinney and myself were returning from the mines on our way to Marysville, or Yuba City, we made a stop at Charles Burch’s ranch, where we met a party of surveyors.
The engineer, Robert Elder, a Scotchman who had been employed for twelve years as an assistant engineer on the Michigan and Illinois canal, said to us that he was short of help and would like to employ us for a short time if our price was satisfactory.
Having no particular work in view, we set our price at eight dollars per day with board. Mr. Elder thought that was more than he could afford to pay for help that had had no experience at such work, but said we could go to work on trial for two or three days.
He was laying out a new city a short distance farther up the river, it being a mile square, or nearly so. He had then worked upon it for a few days. The survey was being done for a company in Sacramento City, who later erected one or two large buildings, and made considerable effort to get a city started, but at length it proved to be a “paper city,” as has been the fate of numerous other like schemes in the West. We commenced work and after a few days were constantly expecting a notice of acquittal from Mr. Elder, or otherwise a reduction of wages. Nothing, however, was said by either party in regard to it for nearly two weeks, when I inquired of him how much longer he supposed our services would be needed. His reply was: “I would like to haveyoustay a good while.”
Mr. Elder was a very kind man, yet he was somewhat eccentric, and his likes and dislikes very decided. Up to that time I had no reason to believe that he had any preference for me over Mr. Pinney.
We worked a few days after the time of the incident narrated, when one day he said to me that he would suspend work and go to Marysville for a few days and he desired us to go with him. We had boarded with an Englishman whom Mr. Elder had employed for that purpose, but he had lived at the ranch or house of a Frenchman by the name of John Roulo, located more than a mile down the river. Mr. Roulo had an Indian wife.
The Englishman was not a bad cook, but the principal diet for breakfast, dinner and supper the week through was stewed beef. This beef was of good quality and was very well cooked, but it did not agree with me for a constant diet, with scarcely any other kind of food.
About this time we went to Marysville, and Mr. Elder took a trip to Sacramento City to consult with some of the officers of the company for whom we were at work, or they came to Marysville, I am not certain which.
Mr. Elder desired me to remain and return with him. I made the proposition that I would do so upon the condition that I should board at the Frenchman’s, where he did. I confessed I could not stand the Englishman’s stewed beef any longer. He said I could just as well board at that place and might have done so if I had spoken about it to him. We returned and I worked until the job was finished. Mr. Pinney did not return with us.
There was in our party a Scotchman by the name of Campbell, one of the Sidney convicts. He was quiteagreeable when he was sober, but sometimes he would get partially intoxicated, and then he was a bad man to get along with. He appeared to be a man of good education and understood surveying. Mr. Elder was obliged to be absent a part of the time, and in his absence he made Mr. Campbell his foreman.
Sometimes when he had indulged too freely of whiskey, he would neither work himself nor permit any one else. This did not suit me, as I intended to labor just as faithfully in the absence of Mr. Elder as I would if he were present.
One day when Mr. Campbell became quite drunk and foolish, and had allowed but very little work to be done by the party until afternoon, my patience had become exhausted. I undertook to drink from the waterpail that was standing nearby under a large tree, when he gave the pail a sharp tilt, which spilled some of the contents upon me. I started the second time to drink from the pail and he repeated the same foolish trick. After he had done this for several times, I dashed all the remaining water in the pail squarely into his face. He at once became almost frantic with rage, and seizing an axe threatened to cut me in pieces. I kept myself a short distance beyond his reach, and laughed at his threats.
I knew it was an easy matter for me to keep beyond his reach, but I didn’t know how long his anger would continue to rage, or whether he would revenge himself at some convenient time in the future when I might not be expecting it. After a short time he ordered me to go to the river near by and refill the pail with water, but he still held the axe in one hand and the pail in the other.I invited him to put aside the axe and give me the pail, which he finally did, and I immediately complied with his request.
After Mr. Elder returned I spoke to him in relation to Mr. Campbell’s actions, and he discharged him. The next winter I heard that he was lynched at some place in one of the mountain valleys for horse stealing.
One incident I always remembered which took place while we were employed on this job. When we were boarding at the French ranch, we carried a lunch for our dinners, which we would eat while seated under a large oak tree. One day we sat down in the shade of a large branching tree and ate our dinner and rested ourselves perhaps nearly an hour. Upon starting for our work we had gone but a short distance from the tree, where but a moment previous we had been quietly seated, when we heard a loud crash, and upon turning around we saw that a very large limb had broken from the tree and had fallen exactly upon the spot where we had been seated but a moment previous.
This branch at the point of breakage was more than a foot in diameter, and probably contained nearly a cord of wood. There was not a breath of wind stirring and the branch had broken from its own weight, being just fully leaved out. It seemed to me to be a very narrow escape from a serious accident. I afterwards learned from my own observation that it was very often that limbs broke from such trees when loaded with leaves and there was no wind stirring.
Mr. Elder seemed to manifest a deep interest in my welfare, and while he was drafting the plan of the surveywe had made, desired me to learn to use the protractor, scale and dividers.
At that time I had no intention of taking up the business of surveying, although from what little experience I had had with it, I thought I would like the work very much. I practiced with the instruments as I had the time to spare from my other work, and learned something about protracting and the use of the scale and dividers.
Later in the same season I assisted Mr. Elder in laying out another “paper city,” but it was not of so large extent as was the former one.
Not only was the winter of 1849-50 an excessive one in cold and storms, but the year 1850 was the most trying in the history of the gold-seekers. The struggles for the possession of titles to the claims staked out by the prospecting miners reached a critical stage; the cholera raged in every section of the Pacific slope—aye, spread from ocean to ocean—and in addition to these and the trials and uncertainties of life in the mines, where hundreds were losing to one making, the Indians started upon the warpath.
Early in the summer, while I was at work at Bidwell’s on Feather River, I witnessed the interesting and somewhat startling spectacle of a band of her men decked out in all of the horrible panoply of savage warfare. All were elaborately painted in striking colors and armed in Indian fashion, bows and quivers, decorated in bright figures and filled with sharp pointed arrows tipped with glass heads, knives and other implements of a warlike nature.
These dusky forces were composed of the “Valley Indians,” as the native inhabitants of the lowlands were called, among whom was a branch known as the “Digger Indians,” and the mountain tribes that had their homes in the Sierra Nevadas and adjacent highlands. The last named tribes were at enmity with the first—a predatory warfare that existed for a long period—a war as it seemed to the bitter end.
An Indian village was situated twenty or twenty-five miles from Bidwell’s easterly in the Sierras, which I had frequently passed through when I was prospecting in the Feather River gold mines.
One day about noon there suddenly appeared in this little mining settlement a file of naked Indian warriors; forty or fifty in number, nearly all young men in the vigor of manhood, all apparently sound, well developed, beautifully proportioned, athletic men, the leader the most conspicuous figure. They came into view traveling at a slow dog trot, single file, each at a uniform distance from his file leader. No word was uttered, and no one of them perceptibly turned his head to the right or to the left.
As the foremost reached the river, which at that place was deep and of considerable breadth, he stepped boldly and deliberately into the current without the slightest hesitation, and swam quickly to the opposite shore, where he again resumed the Indian trot of a few minutes before. Even the river did not break the line or check the speed materially, but the line was maintained and the speed was continued on and up the steep mountain incline as on the level, without break or hesitation, far,far up the rugged mountain trail as we could see, their military order and discipline unbroken.
They were from a valley tribe and had suddenly come into view, passed through the village, swam the river, climbed the mountain side, and passed beyond our view in silence, bent on their errand of bloody carnage and death. Determination, vengeance and savage destruction was pictured on every brow.
Something of vital moment to the aboriginal population not far distant was about to transpire. And it was not long delayed. It was learned a little later that the Indian village in the mountains before mentioned, was suddenly and sadly surprised on the night of the day that the war party passed through Bidwell’s, and for the small Indian settlement it proved a great slaughter or massacre of the men, while a large number of the women and children were taken prisoners and conducted to new homes.
Some time in the spring, James M. Butler being somewhat out of health, went to the Pelham camp to do the cooking for the company, where he remained until late in the fall, when he returned to his home in Pelham.
I did some mining at Bidwell’s and one or two other places while we were waiting for the water to subside. We visited our claim on the middle fork of Feather River several times, and made preparations to work it as soon as the state of the water would admit of doing it. We were obliged to convey all the provisions needed there on our backs over the mountains from Bidwell’s Bar, a distance of 25 or 30 miles.
It was some time in July when the water became sufficiently low so as to admit of working the claim to advantage. At that time the companies that had taken claims in the most favorable locations had succeeded in getting a part of the water turned aside from the channel, so that they had begun to work some of the beds of the streams. A few of those who had succeeded in working any part of the river bed had found the claims rich, but a very large majority of such mines were only paying very moderately, and many were almost entirely worthless. Some companies that had been at work all winter making preparations to turn a stream from its bed, when at last they had succeeded at the cost of so much labor and expense, found the bed of the stream so poor that it would not pay the expense of working. This state of affairs was not encouraging for us. As yet we had expended but little labor on our claim, but in loss of time in making arrangements, going back and forth conveying provisions and tools, with the loss of time in waiting for the water to subside, all together made it a matter of considerable magnitude, reaching probably two or three thousand dollars. However, it was not our purpose to abandon our claim without a fair trial.
Instead of arranging to turn the whole stream at once, as we had originally intended, we concluded to construct a wing dam, so as to be able to test the paying qualities of the bed. If it should prove of such richness as to warrant it, we could then build the dam as we had planned and turn the whole stream. If it should prove of poor paying quality we would abandon it.
Consequently, we constructed a wing dam so as tobe able to turn the water from a small part of the river bed so as to permit of working so far as to be able to test the quality.
After completing this work, and washing the material from the river bed, we found but very little gold, not sufficient to pay for working.
I would probably have had nearly or quite a thousand dollars more than I did have at that time if I had kept at work and taken no part whatever in or about any river claim.
The Pelham company worked their claim and it paid for working after the stream was turned, but the returns as a whole were small, and the company was dissolved in the fall.
Many of the miners lost a whole season’s labor, and had no more than they had the fall previous. In the early part of the season there was quite an excitement at Marysville, and at the mines on Feather River, known as the “Gold Lake” excitement.
This was caused by a man who told in some respects a very plausible story or yarn. He said he had been a long distance east into the Sierra Nevada mountains, where he had made the discovery of a lake where gold was so plentiful that it could be gathered in almost unlimited quantities.
He also said he was there at the lake for only a few days and that he had gathered more than he could carry, and had secreted it.
Many believed his story to be all true, and the result was that quite a large company was gathered and went away back into the mountains and camped. Gold Lake was searched for but could not be found. It was said that after getting back into the mountains the Gold Lake leader appeared to be insane.
The result of the expedition was the discovery of Nelson’s Creek mines on a stream emptying into the middle fork of Feather River, some 90 miles or more in the mountains.
Hearing of this discovery, which was said to be very rich, I concluded to go and take my chances. This was before we had built our dam on the old claim. Alden J. Nutting went with me, as I remember. We traveled up there on foot, and in those days in California every one carried his blankets, if nothing more. When we arrived at Nelson’s creek, we found a large number of people already there, provisions scarce and high, and although there were some very good mines, they did not appear to be very extensive or lasting. We made a prospecting tour farther east among the mountains for two or three days, but as we found no gold in paying quantities, we soon after returned to the valley.
After we had abandoned our claim on the middle fork, I concluded to go to Nelson’s Creek again. I started from Marysville and traveled up there the second time. This was in August, and yet at one place we traveled over a snow bank which we estimated was 25 feet deep. After arriving there in company with one or two others, I selected a claim on the middle fork of Feather River, a short distance below the mouth of Nelson’s Creek, where the stream could be turned by a dam. We thought there was a possibility that the river bed might be rich, and we concluded to construct a small wing dam sufficient to test it. We put in the dam so as to throw the water from a small portion of the river’s bed. The claim proved as worthless as our first one.
I then traveled up Nelson’s Creek two or three miles and hired myself to a company who had turned the creek from its course and was working out its bed.
This was paying fairly well. If I remember correctly I was to have ten dollars per day and board. The next camp below ours on the creek was about 80 rods distant, where three men were at work. They were all from Vergennes, Vermont, and were neighbors before they left home. They had a paying claim and were doing well. As the stream between the two camps passed through a small canyon, the trail was a rough one.
One Saturday night, about twelve o’clock, one of these men came running up to our camp very much excited and out of breath, saying his two partners had been killed. His version of the matter was that, as they all lay asleep, two or three men had killed his two companions with a hatchet while they slept, and that he was awakened by the noise of the blows, to discover a man with a hatchet raised over his head, just in the act of striking him the fatal blow. He had jumped to his feet and run for his life. He had heard someone running after him, but from the sound he thought his pursuer had fallen, and after that ceased to follow him.
We immediately went to the stricken camp, but could do nothing that night. The next morning we went down and found the two men in the creek. We took them out and found their heads cut to pieces, and also found the hatchet in the creek that was used by the murderers. The men were said to have had a considerable quantity of gold, which they kept under their heads. The gold could not be found.
We rolled the murdered men in their blankets as well as we could and buried them on the side of the mountain.
It would perhaps be natural for some to suspect thesurvivor of the three men as being the guilty murderer of the other two, and that seemed to be the case to some extent, especially by those who knew but little of the circumstances, while all those that were present when the murdered men were found and buried, were of the opinion that he was innocent of the crime.
On the next Sunday, one week after the two dead men were found and buried, quite a company of men came into our camp, all being strangers. Soon after they began to inquire in relation to the circumstances accompanying the murders, and all such circumstances and conditions were minutely gone into so far as was known.
After learning all that seemed to be possible to be known about the sad matter, they quietly departed. We did not know their mission at the time. Soon after we learned that they came from a small mining town, a few miles distant. They heard of the murders, and of the circumstances of the three men being camped together, two of whom were killed.
They had talked the matter over and discussed the circumstances attending them, so far as they could learn them correctly at such a distance, and at a public meeting. They had arrived at the conclusion that the survivor of the three men was undoubtedly the murderer. The men that came to our camp had been selected at the meeting for the purpose of investigating the case, and to try the supposed murderer before Judge Lynch, and if found guilty, execute him.
When they came over Sunday morning they supposed it would all be completed and that they would return to their homes before night.
But after an investigation had been made by them, they came to the conclusion that the companion who had made his escape was innocent.
At the time I left home for California in April, 1849, I was not in the enjoyment of very good health. I was suffering somewhat from a cough, and it distressed me to inhale a long breath. I did not feel strong and robust. However, I had kept the matter a secret so far as was possible, thinking that if my friends knew the conditions they would oppose my going to California, and I was fully determined to go if possible and take the consequences, whatever they might be.
This condition of my health continued in some degree for a considerable length of time. While at Independence, Missouri, where we remained about four weeks, my illness caused a pain in my side when I rode horseback. The same was true after we had started on our journey over the plains. It gradually wore away and long before we reached the Rocky Mountains, my health seemed to be perfect.
It continued to be excellent during all the last part of the journey and through the winter of 1849-50. I was more fleshy and of heavier weight at that time than I had ever before been, or have been since. When cutting wood at Yuba City I weighed more than 160 pounds, but during the summer of 1850 I did not enjoy entirely uninterrupted good health.
Our work on Nelson’s Creek was very laborious. It lay in a mountain gulch, deep down, where it was quite warm as long as the sun shone upon us. I cannot at this time recall the exact length of time I worked there,