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 Jackson County News: 1855 See also my pages on the 1855-56 Rogue River Indian war. OPENING OF THE MILITARY ROAD CONNECTING UMPQUA AND ROGUE RIVER VALLEYS
We learn that this road is completed. The money has been expended under
contracts, and the whole labor bestowed upon the worst part of the old
road, viz: the canon and the Grave Creek Hills. The new line upon which
it is located is a great improvement. The appropriation made by
Congress was $20,000; and the construction of the road put in charge of
Major Benj. Alvord, U.S.A. $5,000 was expended in the reconnaissance,
location and survey; and of the remaining $15,000, $10,000 has been
expended on the canon section, and $5,000 upon the Grave Creek Hills.The road is of great importance to all Oregon and being the thoroughfare to and from California; opening a communication by wagons from the Willamette Valley to Yreka, or into the Sacramento Valley by the circuitous route of Goose Lake and the emigrant road. A route for a wagon road direct from Yreka to Shasta is yet to be discovered. Many emigrants enter Oregon over the southern route via Rogue River Valley, and will hereafter avail themselves of it rather than across the Cascade Mountains. They accompany the California to the sink of Humboldt River, then turn to the right to reach Oregon. About two hundred wagons entered Rogue River Valley over this route last autumn.--Oregonian. ----
There has been landed at the port, within the last month, nearly ten
thousands tons of merchandise, with more on the way. This speaks for
itself. It shows that our merchants sell more goods than any others on
the coast. It speaks for the permanence of the place, when that amount
of business is done. There is no steamer that touches here that does
not land from fifty to one hundred tons of freight. Persons who have
capital to invest could not find better investments in this state than
in real estate in Crescent City. It is bound to be the San Francisco of
Northern California and Southern Oregon. Nothing can keep it back. Talk
about Scottsburg or Port Orford as a rival for Crescent City; it's all
fudge. You might as well compare Oakland to San Francisco.----
A band of fifty-six warriors, with two hundred horses, arrived in Yreka
on Wednesday last week from above The Dalles, in Oregon. They were on
their way to fight the Shastas, who had put to death two small parties
of their tribe. The Mountain Herald
says they asked permission of the whites to avenge their brethren and
that it was promised them, unless the Shastas would give up certain
fugitives from justice who had committed an aggravated crime.----
A surveying expedition, under T. B. Robinson, county surveyor, started
from the city, some few weeks since, for the purpose of surveying the
northern boundary of California. We will soon know who owns the
disputed territory--California or Oregon.----
Front Street is in a very bad condition. Cannot our "City Fathers"
devise some way to keep it clear of obstructions, and remove the old
logs and stumps to some more convenient place.Crescent City Herald, January 3, 1855, reprinted in the Del Norte Triplicate, Crescent City, January 19, 1923, page 1 THE WINTER IN SISKIYOU.--The Herald of January 6th says:--"Since our last issue about two feet of snow has fallen in the valleys. How much there is on the mountains between this place and Shasta is as yet, to us, a matter of conjecture, as we have had no arrivals from that direction since the snow fell. It is somewhat cold, too, three degrees below zero this morning about sunrise." The snow in Rogue River Valley is about two feet deep; on the Siskiyou Mountain about six feet. The roofs of several houses in Jacksonville have been crushed by the weight of the snow. "California," Moreton Bay Courier, Brisbane, Australia, May 5, 1855, page 4 GLEANINGS FROM THE CRESCENT CITY HERALD
A communication from Jacksonville says: The other day, in strolling
through the neighboring diggings, some of which are very deep, I
stopped near one shaft when I learned from the man at the windlass that
it was twenty-six feet deep and the drift about thirty feet long by ten
in width. Before I left, I had observed an unusual activity at the
bottom of the shaft, followed by a shout of laughter, but it was only
the next day that 1 learned that the three men at work there had taken
out $300.OF JAN. 11, 1855 Del Norte Record, Crescent City, February 25, 1893, page 1 SNOW.--The snow in Rogue River Valley is about two feet deep, on the Siskiyou Mountain about six feet. Several roofs have been crushed by the weight of the snow.--Ib. Daily Alta California, San Francisco, January 14, 1855, page 2
The following
is an extract from a letter received from the Hon. A. C. Gibbs, dated
Jacksonville, 10th Jan., 1855:
"The merchants here are generally 'down on' Crescent City, and will ship all their goods to Gardiner next spring. They say they will contract for their freight from San Francisco, if to be done at reasonable rates. At all events they will send their goods by the Umpqua in the spring, and we must make it so easy for them as to keep the trade, which can be done. "I think plenty of teams can be got to haul at low rates. I heard of a large number wishing to go on the road, both in this county and in Douglas. The farmer must do something, and the days of big prices are passing away." Umpqua Weekly Gazette, Scottsburg, January 27, 1855, page 2 By reference to an extract from Mr. Gibbs' letter, which we publish in another column, it will be seen that the enterprising merchants of Jacksonville are already turning their attention towards this place. They find that they cannot afford to pay from 12 to 15 cents for damaged goods (by way of Crescent City) when by transporting them through this place they can have them delivered in good order at greatly reduced rates. "Keep It Before the People," Umpqua Weekly Gazette, Scottsburg, January 27, 1855, page 2 Goods from Crescent City came by pack train. A wagon road from Scottsburg to Jacksonville had been recently completed. From the Crescent City Herald, Jan. 31, 1855.
By way of Trinidad we receive the startling intelligence of an Indian
war on the Klamath. From letters sent here, through some friendly
Indians, from Trinidad, we are permitted to make the following extracts:"The greatest excitement exists here--the Redcap Indians have murdered six white men, viz: Thos. O'Neal, Proctor, Danham, Wheeler, Jack Smith and a German; several more were wounded. The whites have burnt Stone rancheria and killed five Indians at the mouth of Redwood Creek, and others at the Lagoon. By all means caution persons against coming down by land. Twenty men have just arrived who say that the upriver Indians have come down on the coast and are determined to pick off all lone travelers; a party of four is hardly safe, as the Indians have rifles." Another letter says: "I shall start the two Indians that came down with me tonight, and hope they may reach Crescent City in safety, although I think it exceedingly doubtful, as the whites are shooting them whenever an opportunity offers; for this reason I start them in the night, hoping they may be out of danger ere morning. On the Klamath the Indians have killed six white men, and I understand some stock. From the Salmon down the whites are in arms with a determination, I believe if possible, to destroy all the grown-up males, notwithstanding this meets with the opposition of some few who have favorite Indians amongst them. I doubt whether this discrimination should be made, as some who have been considered good have proved the most treacherous. I understand that the ferry of Mr. Boice, as also that of Mr. Simms, has been cut away. Messrs. Norton and Beard have moved their families from Elk Camp to Trinidad; they were the only white females in that section that were exposed to the savages. I have no doubt there will be warm times on the Klamath for some weeks, as the Indians are numerous, well armed and determined to fight." Del Norte Record, Crescent City, March 18, 1893, page 1 The Oregon Legislature have voted to remove the capital from Salem to Corvallis, in Benton County, and the university from Corvallis to Jacksonville. "From Oregon," The Pacific, San Francisco, February 9, 1855, page 2 Correspondence
of the Weekly Gazette.
Jacksonville,
Jan. 24, 1855.
Dear Boyd:--I
turn from the press of business for a moment to write you and say that
trade is slower than ever--flour is down to six, eight and ten
cents--it is hard to cash a [check of a] large amount at any price; in
consequence of this state of things, and the unabated demand for water
to work out the "dust," every branch of industry is knocked very nearly
dead.
The committee on the Indian spoliation appropriation, now sitting here to receive and adjust claims against [the] government, are progressing, and will rise and go to their several homes about the 15th of February. Yours, H. Umpqua Weekly Gazette, Scottsburg, February 10, 1855, page 2 We have a letter from Wm. H. Packwood, late of this city, now at "Johnson's Diggings," Southern Oregon. He represents the miner's as a hard life, and that as much as most of them do is to make a living, without amassing sufficient means to return to the States. Farming is as much depressed as mining. Mr. Packwood says if the young men of Sangamon County knew when they were well off, they would stay at home. He says--"My advice to the young men of Illinois is that they stop where they are, where they can hear the neighing of the iron horse, and all other kinds of noises made by workmen attending to their trades and business, and whenever they see anything which appears to be exaggerated in regard to California and Oregon, set the same down as gas. I send you the worth of $2.30 in native gold for my subscription to the Journal."--[Ill. Jour. Quincy Whig, Quincy, Illinois, February 3, 1855, page 1 The bill to relocate the university at Jacksonville has passed the house, and its friends claim that it will pass the council tomorrow. Amen! and God speed it, say I. If Southern Oregon, with her immense mineral wealth, is worth having, it is worth preserving. The south has never been treated by this valley in any other light than that of an attachée. The south has felt this want of affinity of feeling--she has felt the aggressions of the older portions of the country--and she has watched with a jealous eye the manner in which the congressional appropriations have been converted to the sole and exclusive use and benefit of this valley. Once, indeed, she avowedly revolted, reared on high her youthful but vigorous crest, openly bid us defiance, and asked to be stricken off into a separate Territory, and I speak not unadvisedly when I say that a bill will pass the California legislature, during the present sitting, to annex the counties of Jackson and Coos to that state so soon as an act shall have passed this legislature striking them off. Let us, then, instead of treating our southern sister in the capacity of a hungry dog, affiliate with and treat her as she deserves, to consideration, respect, friendship and justice. Jan. 22 letter signed "Multnomah," Oregonian, Portland, February 3, 1855, page 2 By the latest intelligence we can gather from Jacksonville, the miners are having dull times. No rain of any consequence has fallen during the winter. Oregon Spectator, Oregon City, March 3, 1855, page 2 The gold mines of Southern Oregon and Northern California are now yielding fair profits to the miners, with a prospect of doing better when it rains more and affords more water. There is a brisk and a heavy trade now going on between the farming section of Oregon and the mines, in the way of flour, beef, pork, bacon and goods and groceries of every variety. The entire supply of these mines are now taken from Oregon. Benjamin Cleaver, February 5, 1856, "Letter from Oregon," Daily Alton Telegraph, Alton, Illinois, March 31, 1855, page 2 Correspondence
of the Weekly Gazette.
We Were Blind--Now We See!
The experience of the last year has
convinced us
that Scottsburg is the point to which we should ship our goods. The
wagon road is now
opened from
Jacksonville to Scottsburg, and there is fifteen thousand dollars of
government money to be expended on the road between this and June next,
which will make a first-rate
wagon road. Farmers
along the route are preparing to put teams on the road in the spring,
and are willing to contract for the delivery of goods at Jacksonville
for six cents a pound. Packers are throwing away their pack saddles and
purchasing wagons, well knowing that they can haul cheaper than they
can pack.All charges from San Francisco to this place will not exceed eight dollars a hundred--responsible men are now willing to contract for that price. We have been shipping to Crescent City till we are sick of it. Sometimes our goods are carried to Portland, then back to San Francisco--up and down again--because the harbor is so dangerous they cannot be landed. While Umpqua is acknowledged to be the best winter harbor from San Francisco to Puget Sound, and perfectly safe in the summer for all classes of vessels on this coast. Goods are frequently damaged in being landed at Crescent City through the surf. And to cap the climax, after all our winter goods had been landed there, those of us who had no mules were obliged to pay seventeen cents, and over, per pound for packing; as the saying is, they had the deadwood on us, and we were obliged to weigh out. Some say: "The wagon road will be opened to Crescent City next summer." Bah! It will cost one hundred thousand dollars, and all that can be raised is thirty thousand. Foreign capital cannot be obtained to open a road over a mountain so high that the snow falls ten feet deep on it in the winter, when the holders of the same can get 3 percent a month for their money, and good security. Again, there is a scarcity of feed on the route. Packers have to purchase hay, at over one hundred dollars a ton for the same, while the Scottsburg route is over the finest grazing country in Oregon. The Southerner is reported lost, north of the Columbia--what of that? A better steamer will gladly take her place. The advantages of the Umpqua are known, and a revolution of the trade of Southern Oregon and Northern California is at hand. Goods brought in wagons to this place, in original packages, are worth two cents per pound more than if packed. We now see--and our goods will be shipped to Scottsburg, and wagons will bring them here. JACKSONVILLE
MERCHANTS.
Umpqua Weekly Gazette, Scottsburg,
February 10, 1855, page 3Jan. 26, 1855. TAKEN UP.
This is to
certify that W. C. Myer, of Ashland precinct, Jackson County, O.T.,
brought before me, a Justice of the Peace, in and for said county, a
cayuse horse, sorrel with a bald face, and three white feet, as an
estray to be appraised, valued at $40--this 16th day of January, 1855.
S. H. Taylor, J.P.
Umpqua Weekly Gazette, Scottsburg,
February 24, 1855, page 3JACKSONVILLE.--The Mountain Herald has the following extract from a letter of Mr. Dugan: "Business is on the improve. Dust will begin to come in soon. Miners are making some big strikes at the new diggings (Sterling). Three miners took out of their claims three days ago $1360." Crescent City Herald, March
7, 1855, page 3
Messrs. Oppenheimer and Peters of this place have just returned from a
trip to the mines. They report "hard times," there not having been rain
enough the past winter to materially assist the miners, in consequence
of which money is very scarce. They inform us that several merchants in
Jacksonville, who have bought goods in San Francisco, have ordered them
to be shipped by way of the Umpqua River, instead of Crescent City;
they find it to be a great deal cheaper and more safe to have their
goods hauled on wagons from this place, instead of paying an enormous
percent. to packers for damaged goods from Crescent City. We are glad
that they are beginning to see the importance of this course.
Umpqua Weekly Gazette, Scottsburg, March 10, 1855, page 2JACKSONVILLE, O.T., March 1.--No run has been made on either Cram, Rogers & Co. or Rhodes & Co. at this place, all persons having perfect confidence in the house. Crescent City Herald, March
14, 1855, page 2 Adams
& Co. had failed in February.
The California Chronicle, upon striking a balance in its Homicide Calendar for 1854, concludes that one person of every six hundred in California will be killed by his neighbor in 1855--that in one-half the cases the weapons will be revolvers, in one-fourth knives, and in the remaining fourth guns and miscellaneous weapons. The prospect, so mathematically set forth, must be a comfortable one to Californians. Detroit Free Press, March 18, 1855, page 2 SEALED PROPOSALS WILL BE RECEIVED at the office of the Assistant Quartermaster, No. 120 Sacramento Street, San Francisco, until the first day of June, 1855, for the transportation of stores from San Francisco, Cal., to Fort Lane and Fort Jones, O.T. [sic]. There will be 13,000 pounds (more or less) of subsistence stores, together with a quantity of quartermaster stores, to be transported to Fort Lane; and 41,000 pounds (more or less) of subsistence stores, together with a quantity of quartermaster stores, to be transported to Fort Jones. The stores will be ready for shipment about the first of August, and it is expected that all the shipments will be completed by the 31st of October. The stores will be received at the wharf in San Francisco by the contractor, or his duly authorized agent, and the contractor to be responsible for any loss, or damage, which they may sustain, until delivered at their proper destination. Bonds for the faithful performance of the above contract will be required in the sum of ten thousand dollars, and the quartermaster reserves to himself the right to reject any or all the bids, the conditions of which may be satisfactory. For further information apply to Brevet Major R. ALLEN,
San Francisco, Cal., March 26th, 1855.Assistant Quartermaster, U.S. Army. Daily Alta California, San Francisco, April 12, 1855, page 1 SAILOR DIGGINGS.--According to previous notice a sparring competition came off on Sunday, the 1st of April. Lots of gentlemen took part in the sport and proved themselves "no muggings" at all, but stood up boldly, even under occasional trickling of "claret" [blood]. All was taken in good part, however, and done for the sake of science. The closing scene was a set-to between the landlord of one of the hotels and the butcher boy; the latter came off victorious and "beef" rose accordingly. Crescent City Herald, April
4, 1855, page 2
JACKSONVILLE.--We understand that steps are being taken immediately for the erection of a building for the use of the university which has been located at this place by the Legislative Assembly of Oregon. Great hopes are also entertained of concerting appropriate measures for bringing the waters of Applegate to the neighboring diggings. Crescent City Herald, April
4, 1855, page 2
PROCESSION AT JACKSONVILLE, OREGON.--The Yreka Herald publishes, from a correspondent, an amusing take-off of a supposed celebration at Jacksonville, Oregon. The following is given as the order of procession: Three Trumpets,
Nevada Journal, Nevada
City, California, April 6, 1855, page 1Fifty-six Walla Wallas, eight abreast in full armor, consisting of leggings and spurs, as a guard of honor. Ten digger squaws, with papooses in baskets, twenty buck Indians bearing old boots. The Gyascutus, wheeling himself in a handcart. Committee on the Applegate Water Ditch, seventy abreast, supported by Marshals. Banner of the city (a shield azure, on which is emblazoned a jackass rampant, refers to the name of the city), supported by two multitudes; The crest, a coyote's head with a suckling pig in his mouth. Two men mounted, going the other way; children of the public schools (when- ever they get a school). The horse, mare and "Auld women" of the Burg. Orator of the day in a meat wagon drawn by two spavined mules, on which (the wagon) had been erected a platform of fifty feet elevation. MARRIED.
At the residence of G. H. Ambrose, on the evening of March 18th, by S. H. Taylor, Esq., Dr. E. H. CLEAVELAND to Mrs. MARELA FONSEMAN, all of Jackson County.
Well, our old friend, the Doctor, has gone off at last. He has taken unto himself a rib, which shows him to be a man of sense, as well as an anatomist. Give us your hand, Doctor; we wish you joy.--ED. Weekly Oregonian, Portland, April 7, 1855, page 2 FROM JACKSONVILLE.--We learn from a gentleman who has arrived from Jacksonville that the miners in the vicinity of that place, and at Sterling, have been doing well for some time past. The weather was dry, and the miners apprehended that water would soon be scarce if rain did not fall again this spring. Business was rather dull. Umpqua Weekly Gazette, Scottsburg, April 14, 1855, page 2 THE CROPS.--We are pleased to learn that the crops in the Umpqua and Rogue River valleys look very promising. Persons say that they have never saw them better at this season of the year. We believe that the above-named valleys will produce sufficient grain for the consumption of the inhabitants, and probably a large overplus. Umpqua Weekly Gazette, Scottsburg, April 14, 1855, page 2 Jackson Co., O.T. Democratic
Convention.
The proceedings of the Democratic Co. Convention of Jackson County is
published in the Yreka
Herald of
the 31st ult., and we take the liberty of transferring them to our
columns. We hope our friends in Jackson County will not be offended at
us for so doing. It has been our earnest desire to cooperate with the
Democratic Party throughout the Territory, and we would have been
pleased to receive a copy of the proceedings of the Jackson County
Convention for publication. We have no comments to make on the
proceedings, for we hold that any person or portion of the Democratic
Party have the right to express his or their preferences for candidates
for any office whatever, from the President of the United States down
to a supervisor of a road district.
The Democratic Convention to elect eight delegates to represent Jackson County in the Territorial Convention was held at the courthouse, in Jacksonville, on the 24th March 1855. The convention was organized by appointing D. Newcomb, president, L. F. Mosher and A. J. Kane, secretaries. John F. Miller, S. H. Taylor and James Tatem were appointed a committee on credentials, who reported the following delegates present: Ashland--Jas. H. Russell, Thos. Smith, Jas. Kilgore. Applegate--G. B. Davidson. Butte Creek--D. Newcomb, Jas. Tatem, F. O'Neil. Dardanelles--Geo. H. Ambrose, A. J. Kane, John Benjamin. Canon Creek--A. P. Turner, H. W. Wixem. Jacksonville--S. H. Taylor, J. F. Miller, L. F. Mosher. Sterling--Geo. Manville, David Powell, Isaac Skeeters. Eden--S. D. VanDyke, Geo. Vining. The report was adopted. The present having stated the object of the meeting, the convention proceeded to an election, which resulted in the choice of the following persons as delegates: George H. Ambrose, Richard Dugan, John F. Miller, Jas. H. Russell, David Powell, James Kilgore, A. P. Turner, L. F. Mosher. The following resolutions were unanimously adopted. Resolved, That the delegates be instructed to cast their votes in convention in favor of Gen. Joseph Lane, as the choice of Jackson County for Delegate to Congress. Resolved, That in case of the absence of any of the delegates, the balance be entitled to cast the whole eight votes of this county. On a motion of Mr. Smith it was: Resolved, That a central committee of five be appointed to apportion the number of delegates to each precinct, and to call together the county convention on the 21st of April next. S. H. Taylor, Geo. H. Ambrose, A. P. Turner, Thos. Smith and D. Newcomb were appointed said committee. On motion of Mr. Taylor, Resolved, That the delegates from each precinct to this convention act as precinct committee until others are appointed by the people. The convention then adjourned. D.
NEWCOMB, Prest.
Umpqua Weekly Gazette, Scottsburg,
April 14, 1855, page 2L. F. Mosher and A. J. Kane, Secretaries. LETTER FROM GEN. LANE.--We find in the Yreka Herald of the 31st the following letter from Gen. Lane, which we publish for the benefit of all who are interested in the Rogue River war claims: Washington
City, Feb. 18.
G. W.
Tyler, Esq.--Dear Sir:
You will not think hard of me for not writing. I am and have been
constantly busy.I have finally succeeded in procuring an adjustment of the expenses of the Rogue River war. Some vouchers have been returned for certificate and proper authentication. By this mail drafts for a considerable amount will go out to the care of the Governor of Oregon for the benefit of the parties concerned. By next mail the balance will go out, except such as have, as above stated, been returned. In a few days the rolls for payment will be forwarded to a paymaster, who will proceed to Jacksonville and Yreka and pay the troops, officers and men. This matter has been a most troublesome affair, but I have at last succeeded in obtaining justice, and the people will ere long have their pay.
Your friend,
Umpqua Weekly Gazette, Scottsburg,
April 14, 1855, page 3JOSEPH LANE. NEW MINES.--Diggings of coarse gold are reported to have been discovered sixty miles further up Rogue River. The beach diggings have in a great measure been abandoned for the new placers. Crescent City Herald, April
18, 1855, page 2
MARRIED:
Daily Alta California, San Francisco, April 22, 1855, page 2 At Crescent
City, April 8th, Mr. WM. COLLINS, to Miss MARY FLINGLING, all of
Jackson County, Rogue River Valley, O.T.
By a letter received from Jacksonville we learn that Col. T'Vault, and a man by the name of Mason had a fight recently. Mason stabbed T'Vault, and it was supposed he would not recover from the wound. Umpqua Weekly Gazette, Scottsburg, April 28, 1855, page 2 This is the way they do timid virgins and modest young men in Jacksonville. (Jacksonville, however, is in Oregon.*):-- A young (but very simple) woman, anxious for a husband, was married to an individual of undoubted character (laziness being the most prominent), by a fictitious ceremony. After the happy couple had retired, their ears were greeted by a splendid serenade of cow bells, tin pans, bones, etc. The door was then opened, the loving couple "en deshabille" compelled to kiss each other, the connubial bedstead was fractured, and finally, in the morning, the husband left with a pack train. Shasta Courier, Shasta, California, April 28, 1855, page 3 *To distinguish it from Jacksonville, California. From the Crescent City Herald, May, 1855.
Some apprehensions are entertained of another Indian
war in Illinois Valley, O.T. The Indians are stealing cattle.We are informed that a man who goes by the name of "Potato Waga" (having been the first to raise potatoes in the neighborhood of Orleans Bar) got into a spree and shot at some Indians, wounding one warrior and a squaw. The Yreka Herald says: An affray occurred at Sterling, last week, in which a Mr. Day was accidentally shot by one Livingstone, of Crescent City notoriety.… A letter from Indian Creek dated May 14, says: A company of seven miners were at work on the South Fork of this creek. Yesterday being Sunday, five of them came down to this place. Of the two remaining ones, one went out hunting, leaving the other, a man by the name of J. B. Hills, of Washington, alone in the camp. He is supposed to have been in bed and asleep when the Indians broke through the window, dragged him out, stabbed him, and then endeavored to cut off his head with an ax they found in the cabin. They then plundered the cabin of whatever they could lay their hands on, and decamped. A statement of the circumstances attending this tragedy was then made to a meeting of miners, who immediately organized a company of volunteers, numbering 25 men, J. W. Burke being elected captain. They are now preparing to pursue the Indians, who are supposed to be either Scott or Rogue River Indians. The Chinese at that time were looked upon about the same as they are today, judging from the following from Bestville, Salmon River: "The miners here were taken all aback by the report currently circulated that 1000 Chinamen, like Pharoah's frogs, would be in upon us in a few days. A mass meeting of the miners of this river was held today, April 1, on Sawyer's Bar. The Chinese were driven out of Shasta and Siskiyou counties, and at the meeting, a preamble and resolutions were adopted. Two of the resolutions read: Resolved: That it shall be unlawful for any Chinaman to buy or hold a mining claim on this river; Provided, That nothing in this resolution shall prevent the Chinamen who now have claims on the river from working them until such time as the laws of the state shall interfere in our behalf. Resolved, That all Chinamen who were on the river prior to the 20th day of March last shall be allowed to remain in accordance with the foregoing resolution; and all who have come since that time shall be requested to leave. The subject of Chinese emigration to this country is one in which the Californians begin to manifest some interest. It is very evident that something must be done; our laws allow their coming, but popular opinion is against it, and finally the Legislature must yield to the voice of the people." Del Norte Record, Crescent City, April 15, 1893, page 1 INDIAN TREATIES EAST OF THE CASCADES.--We learn that Gen. Palmer, Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Oregon, and Gov. Stevens of this territory, says the Pioneer and Democrat, will, in May next, treat jointly with the tribes common to the two territories--the Walla Wallas, the Cayuses and the Nez Perces, who occupy lands in both territories--will be assembled in the Walla Walla Valley, and there is every prospect of negotiations being successful. The Yakimas, Klickitats, Pisquows, Okanagans and the Palouses, all of this territory, will be assembled at the same time and place, as well as the remaining small bands of both territories, adjacent to the waters of the Columbia. We are gratified to learn, says the Portland Times, that through the instrumentality of General Lane, Gov. Stevens, Judge Lancaster, and the California delegation in Congress, we are to have Ocean Mail Service, semi-monthly from San Francisco to Olympia, touching at Humboldt Bay, Trinidad, Crescent City, Port Orford, Gardiner City or Umpqua, Shoalwater Bay, Port Townsend, Astoria and such other points as may be designated by the Postmaster General. We learn that the steamships Peytona and America, both favorites with Oregonians, are to be employed in this service. Their pay is limited to $120,000 per annum. The towns down the coast, Southern Oregon, and Northern Washington will now be served with news as they ought to have been long since. And by this additional service, Oregon or the Willamette Valley will be supplied with a States mail every week--as this additional service does not in the least interfere with the present contracts of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, consequently they will perform their semi-monthly service as heretofore. The new service will be put on, we are informed by Gen. Lane, immediately. TELEGRAPH IN OREGON.--The agents of the Portland and Corvallis line of telegraph are "blazing out the line" preparatory to letting contracts for setting the poles. Oregon City, Lafayette, Dayton and Salem are to be points on the route, provided sufficient encouragement is given to the work by those interested in the above mentioned points. Sacramento Daily Union, May 1, 1855, page 1 NEW MINES.--The correspondent of the Yreka Herald says that extensive mines have been discovered on the North Fork of Applegate Creek. 1500 persons have already taken claims, and it is asserted that 5000 could find claims paying from $8 to $50 per day. Water abundant. These mines are about 75 miles from Crescent City and on the main route to Yreka. Crescent City Herald, May
2, 1855, page 4
MARRIED.
In Rogue River
Valley, on Wednesday the 25th ult., at the residence of Mr. Isaac Hill,
by the Rev. Mr. Stearns, Mr. A. V. Gillette and Miss Martha L. Hill.
Shasta Courier, Shasta City, California, May 5, 1855, page 2 Jacksonville.
The New Mines on Applegate--Necessity of a Geological Survey.
From a correspondence we find in the Yreka Herald and dated
Jacksonville, April 21, we extract the following:
The miners are doing well in most quarters, and new diggings have recently been discovered on the upper portion of Applegate, which promise to pay well. But in order to develop our mining resources, it is highly necessary that the proposed ditch from Applegate should be speedily completed, and it is to be hoped that a portion of the moneys received from government for Indian depredations may be applied to this end, for it will yield more ample profits to the holder thereof in this manner than by any other investment. Farmers hold most of this fund, and to ensure the sale of their produce, they must assist the miners. The ditch is the mainspring to develop these mutual benefits. The mining region here has never been prospected, and where it has been worked will now pay as well as ever. Neither science or energy have yet, to any extent, been applied to the Jacksonville mines and its vicinity. If a thorough geological survey was ordered and paid for by government, some strange accounts of the real mineral riches of this beautiful valley would be disclosed which even its most sanguine friends do not now dream of. Whoever makes this survey must be a scientific man, and with the broad aegis of the U.S. over his operations, so as to give him a credence which any private communication can never do. Northern California is in need of such a survey as much as this Territory, and why cannot this be procured in the next Congress? Yours
truly,
R. d'C.
Crescent City Herald, May
9, 1855, page 1
BUSINESS IN CRESCENT CITY.--The Herald says trade is lively, and from fifty to two hundred mules are dispatched most every day heavily loaded to the mines at Sailor Diggings, Althouse, Jacksonville and the various localities on the Upper Klamath as far as Yreka. Since the disappearance of the francs, silver change is getting very scarce. Gold coin is also much in demand, and gold dust has been offered at $16½ an ounce in exchange for coin. Daily Placer Times and Transcript, San Francisco, May 9, 1855, page 3 ROGUE RIVER WAR PAY.--A letter from a friend in Salem, O.T. informs us that a small portion of the Treasury warrants for the payment of subsistence, foreign and other supplies furnished on account of the Rogue River War of '53 will arrive in the course of a week. Governor Curry will make arrangements to forward them to the proper persons at an early day. The payment for services rendered will be made in money by Major Alvord, U.S.A., at Yreka City, Jacksonville and Salem. It will probably be three or four months before the proper arrangements can be made to do so.--Mountain Herald. Crescent City Herald, May
9, 1855, page 4
Business has greatly improved during the past week. There are about one hundred mules in town, loading for Jacksonville and Yreka. We learn from gentlemen who have just arrived from the interior that there will be quite a number of wagons here in a few days. Present appearance indicate that there will be a large amount of business transacted here this summer. We notice that considerable quantities of goods for merchants of Jacksonville and Yreka were shipped to this place on the steamer Goliah. Umpqua Weekly Gazette, Scottsburg, May 12, 1855, page 2 Bounty Lands
FOR SOLDIERS WHO SERVED In the Rogue River or Cayuse Wars
The undersigned will attend to the procuring of bounty lands, under the
new act of Congress, for persons who have been regularly mustered into
the United States service for the term of fourteen days or more.
Persons who were engaged in either of the Indian wars in this country,
and all widows and orphans of such persons, are entitled to 160 acres
of land, and by forwarding the necessary proof of their service to the
undersigned, the official forms will be made out and forwarded to the
proper department at Washington, which will ensure the return of a
LAND WARRANT
For the applicant.Having a competent agent at Washington, it enables me to transact this kind of business with great efficiency and dispatch. Charges moderate. Address-- G. D. R. BOYD,
Umpqua
Weekly Gazette, Scottsburg, May 12, 1855, page 3Scottsburg, O.T. For
the Oregonian.
Port Orford Mines. PORT ORFORD, April
3, 1855.
Editor Oregonian, Sir:
Hoping my letter may do some good to some of the unemployed men in your
vicinity, and some information to your numerous readers, I send you
this line. I fear that the letter-writers from this place, last year,
caused so much trouble that I fear there will be some that may think I
have some design in writing, but I have no other than this: Myself and
several others want men to work, and are willing to pay good wages for
them. Upon Cape Blanco beach there are wanted from 35 to 50 men to work
by the mouth at from $40 to $60 per month, mining, and their pay sure.
I will give you a statement of the diggings there. The beach is about
one mile long that has been prospected, and will pay from $5 to $50 per
day to the man, every foot. (Don't anyone start thinking to get a
claim, for they are all claimed now and have been for a year.) Claims
are held at from $50 to $1,000. There have been but four claims worked
this winter, and they have paid very well. The tides have prevented the
rest from working, but as they are getting less every day, as soon as
men can be had every claim will be worked. Cobern &
Backenstow's
claim is paying $16 per day to the hand; they work five men. Mr.
Blakely's has paid all winter, and is paying now $25 per day
to
the man. He works two and three men. He has taken out $3,600 since last
fall, and says that had he have had the drop riffle he would have taken
out $1,000 more. Mr. Worden & Co. have water about three hours
each
day, and take out from $10 to $20 per day. Mr. Coffee and his two boys,
the youngest is about ten years old, pump their water and take out
about $40 per day, and have done the same all winter. Above here there
is a large amount of the beach that will pay with the drop riffle. This
is a new method for saving gold with quicksilver, and by far the best
that has ever been used here. It was got up and brought to its present
perfection by the miners on the beach in this vicinity, and is no
patent and can be had for the making. If there are any men that are out
of employment in your vicinity, they, as I said before, can get
employment, and as there are claims for sale, they can buy by paying a
good price. By the way, I have no claims for sale. There is about a
mile of beach below Port Orford that will pay from $3 to $5 per day;
but little of it is taken. But it costs something to get started. No
one can begin at all without getting a tom and drop riffle, shovel and
quicksilver. The miners on the beach at Rogue River are doing well;
some of the claims are paying as high as $50 per day to the man. At
Coquille, those that are working are doing well, and many more of the
miners will be at work in the course of this month. We have had no new
diggings struck, nor any excitement this winter, and I hope we will not
have any of the latter again.Yours, respectfully,
Weekly Oregonian, Portland,
May 12, 1855, page 1JOHN W. SUTTON. THE MILITARY ROAD.--The several parties who have contracts on the military road from this place to Myrtle Creek are progressing very rapidly with their work, and the majority of them will have their contracts completed previous to the time specified--the 1st of June. That portion of the road which is being made by Mr. Wells, between Mr. Bratton's and Mr. Spicer's, will be a great improvement on the present traveled route. We notice that where Mr. Wells has finished the road he has done it well; we think, however, that it would add much to its permanency if ditches were made on the upper side of the road, and culverts under it at those places where there are springs running the whole season. With a good wagon road from Scottsburg to Jacksonville, and regular steam communication between San Francisco and the Umpqua, we can offer great inducements to the business men of Rogue River Valley and Yreka and vicinity to buy their goods here, or ship their freight from San Francisco to this port, than either Crescent City, Shasta or any place south of this.--Umpqua Gazette. Daily Placer Times and Transcript, San Francisco, May 15, 1855, page 2 ROGUE RIVER VALLEY.--The other day we had the pleasure of examining some flour from the Eagle Mills, owned by Messrs. Thomas Bros., 15 miles from Jacksonville. The flour is of the whitest and finest quality and cannot be excelled by any manufactured in Oregon or California. These mills are fast becoming very popular throughout the northern mines, and their product commands readily one or two cents more per pound than any other flour. The best qualities of butter and cheese are also produced in abundance through this extensive valley. Some of the cheese we received from there is tiptop, and fit to grace a king's table. Crescent City Herald, May
16, 1855, page 2
Correspondence
of the Gazette.
Sterling, April 26,
1855.
Mr. Editor: Push along, just keep moving,
has been our
maxim for life, and obeying the mandate we have found ourself snugly
stored away for the night in the big house with heaven for a roof, near
Sterling, On every hand it is dig! dig! dig! and all for gold. Thank
God (if it be not profanity) that there is something that will induce
men to work. The miners are doing well; the greatest cry is
water--water to cool--to fill our toms and no coin for the dust. Once
in a while we have a row to keep up excitement, now and then an
accident to keep up sympathy, a horse or two stolen for talk's sake or
to help some poor devil off to parts unknown. The roads are bad, the
Grave Creek Hills and on to Rogue River absolutely dangerous; they
steal flour from widow women, threaten to kill calves, run off horses,
occasionally hang a man, pickpockets, no telling, while Judge
Lynch quietly leans against the old pine with the lasso in one hand and
the cowhide in the other, around him the pick-and-shovel men in humble
attitude watching the proceedings of the civil law. Ah me, how times
have generated. No more till I get another sharp stick to write with.Yours, N.T. Umpqua Gazette, Scottsburg, May 19, 1855, page 2 For
the Umpqua Gazette.
On hearing
Miss Susan Sniggs say
she thought the bachelors of Oregon the best-natured, industrious and
contented class of people she ever [did] see.Humph! I guess, Miss Susan, you don't know much about them. You haven't been here long, just come across the Plains. I thought so. By the time you have summered and wintered near them, had them for your nearest neighbors, you could find out the difference. Good-natured: You haven't seen them in the morning when they was building fire curse and swear, throw the wood helter skelter, because it was green and would not burn? You haven't seen them when a log fell and tipped over the coffee pot, kick the inoffensive coffee pot until it was more battered than a drunkard's hat? Or seen them wring the neck of a neighbor's pet chicken, because it hopped onto the table and broke a plate? Or seen them kick the dog until it became a cripple, because it stole a paltry piece of meat from the spider? Or seen them take the cat by the nape of the neck and sling her out of the window because she lapped their gravy? You haven't seen them, huh? Well, I have. Now what do you call industrious? Lying in bed until eleven o'clock a cold morning because it saves firewood? Or letting the weeds grow and choke the corn because it makes the back ache to weed it? Or refusing to plant a garden because it is some work to fence it? Do you call that industrious? Contented: Oh, Susan, if you had seen them after sauntering through the day, sitting at eve, hovering over a few dying embers, smoking a nasty black pipe, heaving sigh after sigh, enough to rend the heart of an oak, you would exclaim--"Contentment would ne'er dwell in a bachelor's hat." Now, Susan, you are young and pretty, with a heart as tender as a young chicken's; beware, never marry an Oregon bachelor; better take a widower with nine children. How would you like, after being married a month or so, if your bread was a little heavy, have your husband ask you, why you do not make as good bread as he used to, or have him tell you your pots and kettles were not in good order. Or, after doing a hard day's work, you say you are tired, he says he would like to know what has tired you, for he used to do the work in the house and out of doors too. You would not like it, would you. Then be careful. For after they have had their liberty, or you may say run wild for a year or two, they are no more fit to become the partner of a loving and gentle woman than the Oregon panther. TABITHA.
Umpqua
Gazette, Scottsburg, May 19, 1855, page 3MARRIED.
In Rogue River Valley, May 3rd, by Rev. T. F. Royal, LEWIS H. ZIGLER to MISS SARAH PLYMALE, both of Jackson County, O.T.
Sacramento Daily Union, May 26, 1855, page 2 ILLINOIS VALLEY, O.T.--Some apprehensions are entertained of another Indian war in that section of country. The Indians have again taken to stealing cattle and [have] committed other outrages upon the property of the whites. The Indian agent, it is reported, is actively engaged in the endeavor to effect an amicable settlement of the difficulties and thus prevent an outbreak. An Indian boy, while riding the bell mare of a pack train, was recently killed by the Indians in the neighborhood of Mooney's ranch (Deer Creek Valley). The murderers of Jas. B. Hills, of Indian Creek, have not yet been discovered. Crescent City Herald, May
30, 1855, page 2
NEW TRAIL TO CRESCENT CITY.--Messrs. Jackson and others of Buckeye Bar contemplate starting to cut a new trail from that place to Illinois Valley, thence to Crescent City. Mr. J. says that they have a low pass in the Siskiyou, nearly north from the mouth of McKinney Creek on the Klamath, and that a good trail can be got, and that it will shorten the distance between Yreka and Crescent City some 30 or 40 miles and represents the grass on the route as good. From the Klamath to Yreka the trail is already tolerably good, and with a slight improvement in places could be made an excellent pack trail. Crescent City Herald, May
30, 1855, page 2
From the Crescent City Herald, June, 1855.
On the 1st, six men were killed by the Indians in Illinois Valley.There are reported to be from three to five hundred miners working on Althouse Creek with very good success. Port Orford is "gone in." There are some twenty-odd soldiers stationed there; the balance of the population hardly amounts to an equal number. Three stores, put up a year ago at a cost of from $500 to $1100 each, were recently sold for a gold watch worth about $100. The Yreka Herald says: Hamburg Bar, situated on the Klamath, two miles below the mouth of Scott River, contains a population of about 30 or 40 miners. They have two trading posts. In the claim of Messrs. Martin and White, they took out in one day $900 to three men. In the same claim they took out in one week $1,714. Del Norte Record, Crescent City, April 22, 1893, page 1 There are apprehensions of serious Indian difficulties on Rogue River. Umpqua Gazette, Scottsburg, June 2, 1855, page 2 ILLINOIS VALLEY, O.T.--The Indian troubles in that section are far from being settled. The Indian agent, Dr. Ambrose, we are informed is using every exertion to concentrate them on the reservation on Rogue River. Tuesday before last, some of them drove away Reef's cattle, and a party of volunteers in pursuit of them surprised, on Tuesday, four Indians supposed to be their scouts. Firing, they killed one Indian and wounded the others, who retreated into the bushes. Crescent City Herald, June
6, 1855, page 2
ALTHOUSE CREEK.--There are reported to be from three to five hundred miners working on this creek with very good success. Crescent City Herald, June
6, 1855, page 2
From Illinois Valley.
SIX MEN KILLED BY THE INDIANS IN ILLINOIS VALLEY.
As
we finish writing the above, we learn from packers just arrived that on
Saturday last, the Indians killed four white men (travelers, as far as
we could ascertain) and two Chinese, in Illinois Valley, O.T. (some 50
miles distant from here). Wm. Shelly is reported to have been severely
wounded.
Crescent City Herald, June
6, 1855, page 2
Information has just reached this place that the Indians in Rogue River Valley have again commenced depredations on the whites. Report says that sixteen whites have been killed. The U.S. troops have been ordered to the scene of hostilities from Fort Jones. The election at Jacksonville went off quietly--only four fights and nobody killed. Gen. Joe Lane, so far as heard from, is ahead of his opponent, Gaines. "Later from Oregon," Sacramento Daily Union, June 12, 1855, page 3 ROGUE RIVER WAR PAY.--The Mountain Herald publishes the following order: "War
Department, Jan. 2nd, 1855.
"The Auditor will
state the accounts for
payment allowing to officers and men the rates received by dragoons in
California and Oregon, in the Army Appropriation Act of Sept.
28,
1850, and allowing further to the mounted men, commissioned officers
and privates of the mounted companies pay for the use of their horses
at the rate of $4 per day for the time they were in service, but
limiting the amount to be paid for the use of the horse so that it
shall in no case exceed twice the appraised value of the animal."JEFF.
DAVIS,
And adds
in explanation:"Secretary of War." "The act of 1850 above referred to gives double the pay of the regular soldiers to the rank and file, and an additional allowance of $2 per day to the officers. This was a law which ceased in its operation in favor of the regular army on the 1st of March, 1852. The addition was given for service upon this coast. This, together with the allowance for the use of horses, makes the pay received by the volunteers of the Rogue River war the best ever given to any troops in the United States. Besides the pay each man can get 160 acres of land by the present Bounty Land Law." Crescent City Herald, June
13, 1855, page 1
MAIL ROUTE FROM CRESCENT CITY TO JACKSONVILLE, O.T.--We have been often complaining of the want of mail facilities in Northern California, and are the more pleased to learn now from J. J. Arrington, our late member of Assembly, that proposals had been invited by the Post Office Department during the past winter, and were published in the Washington Globe, for a semi-monthly mail route from Crescent City to Jacksonville, touching at Sailor Diggings and other intermediate points. We are further informed that several bids for the route had been sent in, and that in all probability the next U.S. mail may bring out the award of the Department. Crescent City Herald, June
13, 1855, page 2
ILLINOIS VALLEY, O.T.--Our correspondent from Sailor Diggings, whose letter will be found in another column, gives a succinct account of the situation of Indian affairs in that section. By later advices we learn that the Indians are congregated in the neighborhood of Deer and Slate creeks, that the volunteers have been within sight of them, but found their own number too small to attack them with success. On Saturday last the Indians robbed the house of Mr. Chapman. Crescent City Herald, June
13, 1855, page 2
CONTRACT.--We learn that the contract for forwarding supplies from San Francisco to Fort Lane, O.T., via Crescent City, was awarded to Col. A. J. Butler, at what rates we could not ascertain. Crescent City Herald, June
13, 1855, page 2
NORTHERN MAILS.--The Klamath Herald, in regretting the want of postal facilities between San Francisco and Crescent City, takes occasion to say that a mail route from the latter place to Yreka is an absolute necessity, and would accommodate a large portion of Northern California and Southern Oregon. The last Legislature very properly recommended the establishment of a mail service from Trinidad to Yreka, but Crescent City was not even enough thought of by the Legislature to be made a participant in the bestowal of such a cheap favor. Recommendations, however, are worthless as long as the Department insists upon the principle that the remuneration for such service shall not exceed the net proceeds of the route, and it will be some time yet before we shall see a mail carrier through that northern country, where traveling is rather dear sport, unless the Post Office Department could increase the rates of postage. Sacramento Daily Union, June 15, 1855, page 2 What We May Expect from the "Parties."
Oregon Argus, Oregon City, June 16, 1855, page 2 Mr. W. L. Adams--DEAR SIR:--Your
paper meets with strong opposition from certain quarters out here,
owing to its Know Nothing proclivities. The Democrats endeavor to
create the impression among the people that it is a wolf in sheep's
clothing, coming wrapped in the mantle of Temperance and Reform, when
in reality it is a Whig-Know Nothing paper, got up for the express
purpose of furthering the "anti-Republican principles of the secret
order of Know Nothings" &c. * * *
There is, however, a respectable number of citizens in this valley that are opposed to slavery and its further extension--men who are in favor of a prohibitory liquor law, and who have long deplored the necessity of a paper in Oregon that would rise above the contaminating influences of party politics, and advocate those great principles of reform and progress that are now agitating the whole people of the North--questions which they conceive to be of paramount importance to the future welfare of society, even in Oregon. Such men hail the appearance of the Oregon Argus with delight, as a mark of the advancement of society in moral reform in Oregon, and as the medium through which can be disseminated the opinions and views of the people on these important topics. Such men will give it a warm and hearty support. I do not believe there is anything to be gained for these great principles from the present political parties, as they are organized. What think you, Mr. Editor? For instance if the Whigs of this country had adopted the resolutions that passed at [the] Yamhill County convention, not one half of the Whigs in this county would have voted the ticket. Thus you see whiggery in Yamhill County is just the opposite to whiggery in Jackson County. There was a political meeting in this neighborhood on the 17th inst. The Democrats boldly advocated the doctrine of "squatter sovereignty" and opposition to a prohibitory liquor law. There was but one Whig candidate present; he followed suit and advocated the Kansas-Nebraska bill and "squatter sovereignty," and when asked his opinion on the temperance question he did not think it a party question, but thought probably he would use his influence in favor of temperance. Now I would like to know, Mr. Editor, how we should act in order to remedy these evils? * * * The grand jury of this county indicted the merchants of Jacksonville for keeping open houses on the Sabbath, and also the liquor vendors for the same offense. The houses will probably be closed from this on, as the American portion of the merchants are in favor of it. Yours &c.,
Jackson Co., O.T., May 19th.J. M. McC. [John M. McCall?] THE MINES.--The mining operations in Southern Oregon are almost entirely suspended for the want of sufficient water. It is said there has been less rain during the last winter and spring than ever before. Oregonian, Portland, June 16, 1855, page 2 Indian Affairs in Illinois Valley.
Up to the time of our last issue the Indian difficulties in that
section had progressed to an alarming extent. Volunteer companies were
in search of the Indians, who had all left the reservation on Rogue
River. Judge Peters, Mr. Rosborough and others on their way to this
city were induced to return to Jacksonville. Mr. T. A. Jackson came
through accompanied by a guard a short distance of the route, and two
days after his arrival a letter was received, written by Mr. Shoudy,
and dated Applegate, June 10th, from which, by permission, we make the
following extract:
"Yesterday Mr. Jackson got Mr. J. Dyer and Mr. D. McHues to guard him over to Mooney's Ranch. On returning home they were waylaid by the Indians and both killed, one having received seven balls and the other ten through the body in various places. Some soldiers who passed along this morning found the bodies and buried them. This of course causes considerable excitement, and families are obliged to move to places of safety. Travel has for the moment almost ceased, and there is but little doing in the diggings here or at Jacksonville. It has rained all this afternoon and two or three trains have just come through without experiencing any trouble." These statements are fully corroborated by Mr. Cornwall, the expressman, who came in a few days after. THE INDIAN DIFFICULTIES IN ILLINOIS VALLEY SETTLED.--From G. S. Rice, of Sailor Diggings, we learn that news had been brought in of the adjustment of the Indian troubles, it being reported that the Indians returned to the reservation after having given up six of their number concerned in the murder of J. B. Hill on Indian Creek and also in the murder of Dyer and McHues on Applegate. P.S.--Mr. B. F. Dorris of this city returned last evening from Yreka; he passed through Illinois Valley on Sunday, reports everything quiet and confirms the statement that the murderers of Hills, Dyer and McHues were given up to the Indian agent. Some soldiers and volunteers, however, are still out. Crescent City Herald, June 20, 1855, page 2 Correspondence
of the Crescent City
Herald.
Althouse Creek,
June 7, 1855.
Eds. Herald--Having
become very well acquainted with the diggings in this region, I offer
this for insertion in your columns, hoping it may prove valuable to the
wandering yeomanry at least, not that I do not sympathize with the
legals, the faculty and particularly the one-horse politicians, but
being of the digging class myself, it is but natural that "birds of a
feather flock together." I can cheerful concur with "G. T." in his
report, yet I know he underrates the products of Althouse; so far as he
states is true enough, but still he knows very well that there are
companies who are doing a bigger business in digging than he is, and I
will take the liberty to assert, from personal knowledge, that he
realizes at least forty dollars per day to the man in his claim,
consisting of 250 yards.There is about 14 miles of diggings known as Althouse diggings, consisting of the South and Southeast Forks, and I cannot hear of a single company who are washing that are not making at least five dollars to the man per day, and occasionally very large strikes. "G. T's" claim, I hear from a reliable source, yielded 104 oz. in one week. The number of men employed I don't know. Many others are doing a big business. Sucker Creek, I am told, is entirely abandoned in consequence of the hostilities of the Indians. There are some two or three companies running drifts in the low hills near Democratic Gulch who are striking rich leads of coarse gold. There is plenty of room for many more. Come ahead all who desire to fulfill the mandates of the good book (by the sweat of thy brow thou shalt eat bread). We red-shirted, gum-booted, long-whiskered fellows won't turn our backs even to ye hawkers of popcorn, pill-peddling quacks, shenanigan legals, nor even the assuming codfish aristocracy. Come right along, and if you are verdant we will show you the modus operandi of getting ripened. Yours,
KENTUCK.
Crescent
City Herald, June 20, 1855, page 2INDIANS.--We understand that the Indians on the Klamath River between Humbug and Scott River are becoming quite insolent--trespassing on the property of the whites and making assertions that "they would act as they pleased, as it was their own land," &c. We would invite the attention of the Indian agent to this. The inhabitants of that, as well as all other parts of the county, are law-abiding, taxpaying people, and are entitled to the support and protection of the government. These people are able and willing to protect themselves, but would prefer having the proper authorities attend to this matter. Otherwise they will be forced to protect their own lives and property.--Yreka Herald. Umpqua Gazette, Scottsburg, June 30, 1855, page 2 THE REPORTED MASSACRE OF THE KLAMATH CONTRADICTED.--We take the following extract from a letter from Mr. Whipple, Indian agent, to the Crescent City Herald: "I am happy to inform you that the story of the massacre at this place on the night of the 2nd of June was, like most of the reports derived from Indians, entirely without foundation. I found everything going on well. Imagine if you can the astonishment of Hamilton and others when they read of their murder. Get out of the scrape of killing six innocent young men as best you can, and when you feel like making another onslaught, Mr. Shelton gives you leave to put him also on the list." TRADE IN CRESCENT CITY.--Papers from Crescent City, dated the 20th of June, give the following résumé of business matters in that flourishing locality: "The Indian difficulties in Illinois Valley, O.T. have as yet affected our trade but little if any. Packers, traders and travelers follow the route as usual, without even getting a sight of the Indians, and many therefore believe that the rumors which reach us from that quarter are very much exaggerated. We noticed even, during the past two weeks, more than an average number of trains in town, loading up and making heavy drafts upon our stocks of merchandise, which are as quickly replaced and improved upon by means of three steamers now plying between San Francisco and this coast." A later date than the above extract says: 'The cheering news of the settlement of the Indian difficulties in Rogue River Valley has again set the trains in motion, none of whom have been holding back for the moment. The prospect of a simultaneous opening of the two new trails on the right and left of the present one across the Coast Range is further calculated to make Crescent City the favorite resort for traders and packers, as the expenses of travel will be materially lessened by a plentiful supply of grass along the routes--an item of importance at a time when freights are ruling so low." New York Daily Tribune, July 26, 1855, page 6 JACKSON COUNTY ELECTION.--From a brief synopsis of the election returns from Jackson County, Oregon, which reached us just as we were going to press, we learn that Gen. Lane's majority over Gov. Gaines at the recent election in the county was 142. Geo. E. Briggs, Whig, M. C. Barkwell, Dem., J. A. Lupton, Dem., and Thomas Smith, Dem., were elected members of the House by about the same majorities. The vote on the convention question stood 312 for and 734 against a convention to form a state constitution. The following county officers were elected: W. G. T'Vault, Prosecuting Attorney; ----- Hoffman, Auditor; G. T. Vining, Assessor. The largest vote cast was for Delegate to Congress, which was 1,496. Crescent City Herald, June 27, 1855, page 2 From the Crescent City Herald, July, 1855.
Mr. Kelsey has started with seventeen men to construct our trail from Crescent City to the Klamath.On the 7th inst., at Jacksonville, J. S. Oldham shot Dr. Alexander. They were both armed with pistols. Considerable quantities of potatoes have lately been brought here from San Francisco. They sell readily at three and four cents per pound, and are forwarded into the interior at an additional expense of from five to ten cents per pound. A letter from Althouse, O.T., says: We have here a population of about 500, who came from the northern and southern mines, and all seem contented. "Deadwood Bar," at present, seems to be paying the most regular. There are six companies upon this bar, and upon an average they are making $10 a day to the hand. Many other places are paying much better. The Humboldt Times of the 14th says: The Indians on Klamath River are at their old tricks, robbing houses and stealing The Indians on Weeot [Wiyot] River have for some time past, been troublesome and threatening; they have searched men for their money and have threatened and menaced others. A few days ago a party of them attempted violence upon a lady living on the river, which becoming known to the settlers in that vicinity, they collected and proceeded to chastise them. Wednesday the whites succeeded in killing three Indians. Del Norte Record, Crescent City, April 29, 1893, page 1 RATTLESNAKES.--These venomous reptiles are found in great numbers in Southern Oregon. We were told that three men recently went to the mountains where dens of these snakes were known to exist in large numbers, and killed seven hundred. In our recent tour through the southern portion of our Territory we killed five which we found in the road while riding along. We saw several others which had been killed by persons who had preceded us.--Oregonian. Sacramento Daily Union, July 3, 1855, page 2 Statistics of Northern California
and Southern Oregon.
Crescent City Herald, July
18, 1855, page 2
An acquaintance
of ours, for several years a resident of this section of country, and
whose varied and somewhat extensive business relations enable him to
judge correctly in such matters, estimates the population of those
parts of Northern California and Southern Oregon which are more
immediately connected with the trade of Crescent City, as follows:
ILLINOIS VALLEY,
O.T. (Jackson County)
ROGUE RIVER VALLEY,
O.T. (Jackson County)
The same gentleman estimates the number of acres in wheat, now ripe or
nearly so:
There are two flouring mills in Rogue River Valley and a third one is building. Scott's Valley has two mills; in Shasta Valley a mill is in course of construction and another one at Yreka. Taking the population of this section of country to be 12,000 (in round numbers), our home produce of wheat this year will furnish each inhabitant with 1¼ of a pound of flour per day for the space of one year. AFFRAY IN JACKSONVILLE.--Death of Dr. Alexander.--On the occasion of a horse race, which came off over Hall's race course near Jacksonville, on the 7th inst., a considerable crowd had gathered in a barroom. Mr. Jas. S. Oldham and Dr. [Charles] Alexander, who for some time past had not been on speaking terms with each other, met there and the former invited the Dr. to drink, which was refused in rather harsh terms. Sharp words ensued, when Mr. O. drew his revolver. The Dr., unarmed as he was, dared him to shoot. But upon being called on to arm himself, the Dr. procured a revolver. Then several shots were fired, and a ball struck the Doctor through the abdomen, shattering the backbone very much. It is said the Dr.'s pistol snapped the first cap and would not revolve afterwards. As soon as it became evident that Dr. Alexander was dangerously wounded, his antagonist was taken in charge by the Sheriff. Dr. Alexander died on the following day and was buried on Monday. This sad occurrence created great excitement at Jacksonville, the Dr. having been an old resident in the neighborhood, where Mr. Oldham was comparatively a stranger. Crescent City Herald, July 18, 1855, page 2 See Jimmy Twogood's account. FATAL RENCOUNTER.--We regret to learn that Dr. Alexander, of Jacksonville, Oregon, was recently killed, on the race course near that place, a few weeks since, by Simeon Oldham, of Yreka. It is stated that Oldham acted in self-defense, Dr. Alexander having fired first. It was the result of the revival of an old grudge. Both gentlemen were formerly residents of this place. Shasta Courier, Shasta, California, July 28, 1855, page 3 THE FOURTH IN ILLINOIS VALLEY.--Our Althouse correspondent, "Gus" (whose letter will appear in our next issue), says: Many went from this creek to attend a ball given at the house of Reuben Olds, some eight or ten miles distant from this place, where we had a splendid dinner, consisting of all the good things found in any country, after which the Declaration of American Independence was read by Dr. Watkins and a speech delivered by Mr. Sprague, of Sailor Diggings. Then came horse racing and foot racing. Upon the arrival of all the ladies, to the utter astonishment of those interested, they numbered eleven; fortunately they possessed strong constitutions and held out to the last. Upon the whole we had a fine time, as well as a civil one. Crescent City Herald, July 18, 1855, page 2 THE FOURTH IN ROGUE RIVER VALLEY.--The birthday of our country's independence was celebrated with all due ceremony at Jacksonville. During the evening there were no less than three balls in different portions of the valley, one at the "Robinson House," Jacksonville, another at the "Mountain House" and a third on Butte Creek. Crescent City Herald, July 18, 1855, page 2 ARRIVED.--On Saturday the 14th inst., Schr. Exact, Capt. H. B. Congdon, with 130 tons of assorted merchandise and government freight for Fort Lane, O.T., and Fort Jones, Cal. Crescent City Herald, July 18, 1855, page 2 COAL FROM COOS BAY.--We were yesterday shown some specimens of coal just brought from Coos Bay, in Southern Oregon, which was brought from a depth considerably below where any has been hitherto obtained. These specimens are something between cannal and lignite, but more perfectly the former than the latter. Some have the appearance of anthracite of a high luster; in others, the woody fiber is plainly distinguishable. These, however, are very superior to the lots brought thence some six months since. The vein extends through the pieces of table land about four miles from the shore of Coos Bay, where there is excellent anchorage and good depth of water close to the landing place. A wharf has been completed at this place. It is from six to ten feet in thickness, lies vertical and runs in a horizontal direction from the bay. The veins, however, extend over a surface of thirty miles in extent. The country is heavily wooded with cedar trees, such as is cut at Port Orford. Some of these are 300 feet high and form a gigantic forest hitherto almost untrodden by the foot of man. Bears, deer and other wild animals abound here. This coal, the surface specimens of which have been brought here, is not calculated for ocean steamers, burning so quickly and brightly that the vessel could not carry a sufficient store of it. It is, however, well calculated for use in factories, river steamers, foundries and private families, burning freely and rapidly and throwing out a most intense heat. It is a little singular that this coal has not come into more extensive use, when wood is sold at such high rates for fuel. However inferior it may be to Eastern or English coal, it is certainly better calculated for cooking purposes than wood, and, considering the inexhaustible quantities of it, should be furnished at one-half the cost of any other material. Alta California, San Francisco, July 23, 1855, page 2 STATISTICS OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA AND SOUTHERN OREGON.--The Crescent City Herald of the 18th publishes the following estimates of the population of these parts, Northern California and Southern Oregon, more immediately connected with the trade of Crescent City.
There are two flouring mills in Rogue River Valley, and a third one is building. Scotts Valley has two mills; in Shasta Valley a mill is in course of construction, and another one at Yreka. Taking the population of this section of country to be 12,000 (in round numbers), our home produce of wheat this year will furnish each inhabitant with 1¼ of a pound of flour per day for the space of one year. Alta California, San Francisco, July 25, 1855, page 2 INTERIOR DEPARTMENT.--Indian Bureau--Map of Oregon.--A sketch map has been received by the Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs from the Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Oregon Territory, exhibiting a correct sketch of the locations of the various Indian tribes, the districts of country ceded by them to the United States by treaty, with the dates of purchases, and the reservations of the Umpqua and Rogue River Indians. Daily American Organ, Washington, D.C., July 28, 1855, page 2 We regret to hear of the death of Dr. Alexander, of Jacksonville. From private letters we learn that Dr. A. was shot by a man named Oldham, at a race course near Jacksonville on Saturday, July 7, and died the next day. Dr. Alexander was from Virginia. He sustained the reputation of being a scientific physician and a gentleman possessing those qualities which make the man. His untimely end--thus cut down in the prime of life by violence--will be mourned by numerous acquaintances beyond his immediate neighborhood. Weekly Oregonian, Portland, July 28, 1855, page 2 ROGUE RIVER VALLEY.--The farmers in this valley have for some time past been cutting their wheat, and in a few weeks the mills will be ready to commence grinding. Sacramento Daily Union, July 30, 1855, page 2 Grasshoppers.
The
rapid strides of these pestiferous marauders have not yet slacked. In
the upper part of this valley everything in the way of vegetables has
been entirely destroyed. Every day brings us news of their work of
devastation. Farmers have had to resort to covering their fruit trees
in order to save them, while those who have failed to do so have
witnessed the destruction of many valuable trees, which they had
tenderly nourished for many years. In the Rogue and Klamath River
valleys their ravages have been worse if possible than here, as there
they commenced earlier and destroyed the greater portion of the wheat
and oats. In this valley it is estimated that about one-fourth of the
wheat and oat crop has been destroyed--while corn, vegetables
&c.
will prove to be not worth gathering. We shall continue to publish
everything that will tend to enlighten the farmer as to the best means
of preventing their destructions another year. The editors of that
excellent agricultural journal, the California Farmer, are
in pursuit of knowledge upon this subject at present, and we shall
continue to give our readers the benefit of their views and
investigations upon the subject.
Umpqua Gazette, Scottsburg, August 2, 1855, page 2 Grasshoppers.
Editor Journal of Commerce:
SIR:--As there seems to be a great deal of apprehension about the reappearance of the grasshoppers this year, and having noticed several articles in the papers lately, which no doubt gives reason to these fears which I am afraid is calculated to deter some of the farming community from sowing spring wheat, or doing much of any farming, I feel it a duty incumbent on me to give my experience to the farming community. Having lived in Northern California and Southern Oregon for several years, having traveled through all the principal valleys of Nevada and Utah, I have learned the history of grasshoppers. In the summer of 1855, in Rogue River Valley, Southern Oregon, where I was then living, the grasshoppers (the same identical insect we had here last fall, call them what you please) came in such clouds that what we had here last fall was no comparison. They destroyed every green thing on the face of [the] earth; a valley luxuriant with grass and all kinds of vegetation was left like a desert plain. The fruit trees were all destroyed, and even the mistletoe on the oak did not escape their ravages. The farming community became so disheartened that many sold out for what they could get, and left the valley in disgust. They were inexperienced in them, and consequently reasoned the matter about as some do now, that the eggs would be all hatched and consequently grasshoppers would be more numerous the next year. But their fears were entirely unfounded, for the next year there was none to do any damage. Shasta Valley, Northern California, is probably more troubled with grasshopper raids than any portion of the United States, and yet they never come two years in succession. The same is true of Scotts, Honey Lake, Long, Carson and other valleys. In 1857 they ate everything green in Salt Lake Valley, and came near starving the Mormons out, since which time old Brigham keeps one year's supplies on hand, knowing that they would not come the second year. But it is useless for me to bring any more proof to establish as well known a fact as that they will not reappear from the eggs. To do any damage in a country like this is, is only when they come from the dry, hot plains as was the case here, that they do any damage. Even the naturalist, to whom some specimens were sent from Leavenworth, asserted the same thing with a very learned piece of advice, to destroy all the eggs possible. I would say to the farming community that they need not have any fears of their appearance from the eggs, to do any damage, no more than though they never had been here. That they need have no fears about the grain sown after they left, and now that the time for sowing spring wheat is at hand, I hope that anyone will not be deterred from so doing, on account of the frivolous nonsense about grasshoppers. WM. J. ALLEN,
Journal of Commerce, Kansas City, Kansas, February 23, 1867, page 4KANSAS CITY, Feb. 20, 1857. THE
MINES IN SOUTHERN OREGON.
Mining
operations in Southern Oregon are almost entirely suspended for the
want of sufficient water. It is said there has been less rain during
the last winter and spring than ever before.
Daily Pioneer, St. Paul, Minnesota, August 4, 1855, page 2 Rattlesnakes seem to abound in Southern Oregon. Three men recently went to the mountains, where dens of these snakes were known to exist in large numbers, and in a short time killed 700 of them. Sentinel of Freedom, Newark, New Jersey, August 7, 1855, page 4 DIED.
At Sterlingville, Jackson County, Mr. GODFREY EIGNER, aged 27 years, formerly of Augsburg, Bavaria.Daily Alta California, San Francisco, August 8, 1855, page 2 INDIAN OUTRAGES.--The stories of Indian outrages that originate with the travelers on the Plains generally find their way to the public ear in a much exaggerated form. Some time ago the story of a terrible outrage committed by the Klamath Indians, in which several whites were alleged to be killed, was published in the California papers, and thence generally circulated over the Union. An official letter from the government agent of these Indians now contradicts the whole story, and certifies to the safe condition of the parties who were made the victims of the outrage, and their astonishment at reading the account of their murder. It further appears that the Klamath Indians, instead of being hostile, are gathered peacefully upon their reservation, to the number of 1500, and in the adjoining districts to the number of over 3000. The difficulties with the Indians in Illinois Valley have also been settled, and they have returned to their reservation on Rogue River, after giving up six of their number as the offenders who had committed the murders. In Texas, in more than one instance lately, the crimes and depredations attributed to Indians have been traced to bands of disguised white men, who had taken that means of effecting their schemes of murder and robbing. If the government would direct more of its efforts to the protection of Indians from the reckless whites, we should find less cause of complaint against them. Trained to seek revenge for the injuries they suffer, the Indians are first excited to retaliate [against] the evils inflicted on them, and are then punished for crime which in truth they are scarcely accountable. Athens Post, Athens, Tennessee, August 10, 1855, page 3 MARRIED.
At
the Willow Springs, Rogue River Valley, on the 7th ult., by Rev. T. F.
Royal, S. F. Van Choate, Esq., formerly of the Yreka Herald office,
and Mrs. R. A. Huston, of the former place.
Umpqua Gazette, Scottsburg, August 16, 1855, page 3 We understand that about forty miners from the Rogue River Valley were in Oregon City a day or two since, going to the Colville mines. We have seen here several from Yreka, Jacksonville, Sterling, Althouse &c., bound for these new gold fields. From their appearance we opine that these men will not be easily intimidated from giving these new mines a thorough prospecting, and will develop their resources without regard to Indians, mountains or hardships. We shall expect something effectual from them. Oregonian, Portland,
August 18, 1855, page 2
Dayton, Ohio,
February 2, 1909.
Better Fruit
Publishing Company. Dear Sirs: I have been requested to read a paper on "Fruit Growing in Oregon" before the meeting of the Montgomery County Horticultural Association in May. I want all the light on the subject I can get. I was brought up in that region, and remember the first apple I ever saw. It was a big red one from the Willamette Valley, and was packed over the mountains on a mule's back in the year 1855, and was sold in the Rogue River Valley for one dollar. With that recollection it does not seem high at all to get Oregon apples here for a nickel apiece. The interest of horticulturists here is aroused on the subject, and as the business of fruit culture has improved somewhat since I left the state in 1874 I need to get late information. Can I get back numbers of your magazine? May I depend on you to guide me and help me? It may be that I can help Oregon, the state of my pride, in some small way. Yours,
"Miscellaneous Letters and Communications," Better Fruit, July
1909, page
58S. O. Royal. From the Crescent City Herald, Sept., 1855.
From D. W. McComb, the agent of Wells, Fargo & Co., who
returned from a tour through the interior on Wednesday last, we learn
that on Sunday, the 2nd inst., a party of whites were in pursuit of
some Indians who had stolen cattle on the emigrant trail, Jackson
County, O.T. A little this side of Russell's Mountain House the party
came upon an Indian camp, from which the squaws had just been
retreating. Proceeding further on in their search they were fired upon
by the Indians who had concealed themselves in the bushes. A man by the
name of Stein was killed; Fred Armitage was shot through the head and
another man had his arm broken.Del Norte Record, Crescent City, May 13, 1893, page 1 Notice
IS HEREBY GIVEN to all persons interested in the Estate of HENRY M. MYRE
that letters of administration have been granted to me on the said
estate by the Honorable Probate Court of Jackson County. All persons,
therefore, having claims against said estate are requested to present
them to me at my residence in Jacksonville, Jackson County, O.T.,
within one year, or be forever barred.
M. G. KENNEDY, Adm'r.
Jacksonville, August 14, 1855.Weekly Oregonian, Portland, September 29, 1855, page 2
Administrator's Notice.
NOTICE
is hereby given that Letters of Administration has been granted to the
undersigned, by the Probate Court of Jackson County, O.T., on the
estate of DR. CHAS. E. ALEXANDER, deceased.
All persons indebted to said estate are called upon to make immediate payment; and all persons having claims against the same are hereby requested to present them for allowance within one year from date hereof at Jacksonville, in said county. CHAS. H. CRANE, Adm'r.
Jacksonville, August 15, 1855.Weekly Oregonian, Portland, September 29, 1855, page 2
Administrator's Notice.
TO all persons interested in the Estate of GODFREY EIGNER,
deceased, notice is hereby given that I have been appointed
administrator of said Estate by the Honorable Probate Court of Jackson
County.
All persons, therefore, having claims against said estate will present them to me for allowance, at my house, in the town of Sterlingville, Jackson County, O.T., within one year from the date of this publication, or they may be forever barred. ALEXANDER M. BERRY, Adm'r.
September 22, 1855.Weekly Oregonian, Portland, September 29, 1855, page 2
TRIAL OF J. S. OLDHAM.--At the last term of the U.S. District Court for Jackson County, O.T., James Simeon Oldham, of California, was tried for the murder of Dr. Charles E. Alexander, on the 8th of July last, and acquitted. "Further from Oregon," Sacramento Daily Union, October 3, 1855, page 1 MARRIED.
"Marriages, Births and Deaths," New York Herald, October
14, 1855, page 1
In Rogue River
Valley, Aug. 16, Mr. James McDonough to Miss Matilda, daughter of Wm.
Kahler, all of Jackson County, O.T.
In Rogue River Valley, August 17th, Mr. Benjamin Davis to Miss Pauline, daughter of G. D. Taylor, all of Jackson County, O.T. Rev. John Flinn.
From
the proceedings of the Oregon Annual Conference of the M.E. Church, we
observe that Mr. Flinn, of this place, has been transferred to
Jacksonville. While we regret very much the departure from our midst of
no inestimable citizen, yet we are gratified to know that he carries
with him the best wishes of all who know him for his future happiness
and prosperity. Mr. Flinn is one of the few professed ministers of the
Gospel, in these "degenerate days," who does not pollute his high
calling by meddling in the exciting political strifes of the day, by
turning his pulpit into a political rostrum from which to preach
political sermons. From his consistent course in this particular, his
honest, upright bearing and Christian devotion, he has won the respect
and esteem of all who know him. May his efforts in his new field of
labor, in the cause in which he is engaged, be crowned with much
success.
Umpqua Gazette, Scottsburg, August 23, 1855, page 2 Correspondence
of the Umpqua Gazette.
Jacksonville, O.T.,
Editor Gazette--Dear Sir:--The
present term of the U.S. District Court for this county is one of
unusual interest. Last week several important cases were disposed of,
and the greater portion of this week has been consumed in empaneling a
jury in the case of Jas. S. Oldham, who is now on trial under an
indictment for the murder of Dr. Alexander. Quite an array of counsel
has been retained, both on the part of the prosecution and the defense.
W. G. T'Vault, Esq., Pros. Atty., is assisted by L. F. Mosher, P. P.
Prim and S. F. Chadwick, Esq., of your place. W. H. Farrar, Esq., of
Portland, Cook & Cosby, of Yreka, Cal., and Kenny, of this
county,
are counsel for the defendant.August 17, 1855. Business of all kinds is dull in this valley at the present time, nor do we see any indication of improvement for several months to come. Nothing happens to arouse our citizens from their usual quiet, save the arrival of the mail from the north with the Gazette and the latest news from the Colville gold mines. Many of our miners have already left for these new diggings, and others are preparing to follow. Since the last election, we have been free from political excitement. The old Whig dynasty, once so powerful in Jacksonville, has fallen--completely caved in--the high "places" of trust which "they once filled will know them no more." A change has come over Jackson County. From this time forward, her citizens will be found ready to cooperate with other portions of the Territory in all matters pertaining to the common good of Oregon. Recent developments have shown such an amount of corruption on the part of the late Whig office holders in this county as its honest citizens never dreamed of. We hesitate not in affirming that in no part of our whole Territory is there is a better prospect for the Democracy than in this valley. The Democrats have selected good and honest men for places of trust and responsibility, and I doubt not they will maintain the honor of the party. Those demagogues in the Know Nothing-Whig ranks, who have hitherto lived by keeping alive sectional prejudices and by appeals to the lowest passions and the most selfish interest, have been forced to retire to that obscurity from which they have shown themselves unworthy ever to have arisen. It is unnecessary to name those who formerly composed the Whig regency in this county. We will be magnanimous and leave our prostrate adversaries to their fate--believing that their history and present position will furnish a warning example of the inevitable fate of all unscrupulous demagogues. By the late mail arrangements between this place and Scottsburg, the time of transporting the mails between the two points has been reduced from twelve days to six. We regret very much to learn that no service is to be placed on the route from San Francisco to Puget Sound, including the delivery of the mails at Umpqua by ocean steamers. Gen. Lane will undoubtedly be unremitting in his exertions to procure service on this new route. We still think that upon proper representations the Department will advertise proposals to receive bids for the service, and feel assured that our Delegate will spare no efforts to obtain a delivery of the mails at Umpqua, under the act of last session of Congress. You must not be discouraged, nor despair of Scottsburg. It must ultimately come out. If you had regular communication, direct by ocean steamers, with San Francisco, it would be the best point in Oregon for the publication of a good Democratic newspaper. This you must have. Your paper has done good service to the party and the Territory during the year. The success of the Democratic Party in Southern Oregon, and the prosperity of this portion of the Territory imperatively demands that it shall be sustained. Yours, CANDOR. Umpqua Gazette, Scottsburg, August 23, 1855, page 2 For
the Umpqua Gazette.
Jacksonville, Aug.
17, '55.
Smiley Harris, a very worthy gentleman
of this
place, was shot a few evenings since by a man by the name of W. H.
Mitchel. Mitchel was drunk, and discharged his pistol at any and every
object he saw, without reference to what it was, and before he could be
arrested he shot Mr. Harris. Had his pistol gone off at the first
attempt to discharge it, Mr. H. would have been killed. Mr. Flanagan
(whose brother lives at Coos Bay), whom you say was killed by the
Indians, is living. I have met him several times since his death was
published, therefore it is a mistake, and please correct it. The
several hundred of volunteers from Yreka and thereabouts, who have been
here after the Indian murderers of Klamath, have returned--not,
however, until arrangements were made to secure the prisoners. The
volunteers have behaved well and complied with the suggestions of Capt.
Smith, of Fort Lane, and Dr. Ambrose, Indian agent, which could only
secure peace with the Indians in this valley. The Indian troubles are
quite settled. The Indian murderers are to be delivered up to the
authorities of Yreka.Yours, Jackson. Umpqua Gazette, Scottsburg, August 23, 1855, page 2 U.S. District Court--Jackson
County--August Term, 1855.
[FIRST WEEK.]
Hon. M. P. Deady, Judge.
W. H. Farrar, Esq., U.S. Dist. Atty. W. G. T'Vault, Esq., Pros. Atty. J. W. Drew, Dep. U.S. Marshal. T. Pyle, Sheriff. S. H. Taylor, Clerk. Attorneys present--Messrs. Farrar, Mitchell, Chadwick, Cook, Crosby, T'Vault, Kenny, Prim, Brenan, Mosher, Reed, Colver and Stearns. Grand Jurors.--U. S. Hayden (foreman), W. W. Fowler, Jas. R. Davis, H. W. Nixon, Woodford Reams, Jas. Barrett, Isaac Woolen, Rowland Hall, John Kennedy, George Ross, James Pool, N. B. Evans, Eber Emery, B. B. Griffin, N. W. Fisk, Wm. Ducker, E. B. Ball, Thomas Bailey, Clifton Riley, Granville Lewis, Benj. Armstrong. The grand jury presented 15 true bills of indictment, viz.: 1 indictment for murder, 1 for assault with intent to kill, 3 for selling liquor to Indians, 10 for selling liquor without license. Twenty-eight cases on the civil docket. Trials have been had in the following criminal cases continued from the May term, A.D. 1855: Territory of Oregon vs. James Hamlin. Indictment for assault with intent to commit murder. Prim for Territory. T'Vault for deft. Verdict--Not guilty of assault with intent to commit murder, but guilty of assault. Sentenced to pay a fine of $250 and costs of prosecution. Territory of Oregon vs. Horace Ish. Indictment for assault upon Francis Ball by shooting with a pistol with intent to kill. T'Vault and Colver for Territory. Farrar, Cook, Mosher and Kenny for deft. Verdict--Not guilty. Territory of Oregon vs. George Livingston. Indictment for assault upon E. H. Day by shooting with a pistol with intent to commit murder. Prim for Territory. Cook, T'Vault and Kenny for deft. Verdict--Not guilty of assault with intent to kill, but guilty of assault. Sentenced to one year's imprisonment in Linn County jail, and to pay costs of prosecution. Notice of an application for modification of the sentence has been given. Umpqua Gazette, Scottsburg, August 23, 1855, page 2 The farmers in the vicinity of Yreka have commenced harvesting their wheat, and in Scott Valley will commence in a few days to cut their grain also. The crop is generally good, and injury from grasshoppers being mostly confined to the vicinity of Table Rock, in Shasta Valley. Brooklyn Evening Star, August 27, 1855, page 2 The Yreka Union of Aug. 25th says that the trial of Mr. S. Oldham, for shooting Dr. Alexander at Rogue River Valley, a few weeks since, was concluded on last Tuesday. The jury after a few minutes deliberation returned a verdict of not guilty. Messrs. Cook & Cosby were counsel for the defense. Shasta Courier, Shasta City, California, September 1, 1855, page 2 Dr. E. H. Cleaveland, of Jacksonville, Oregon, died recently very suddenly. He was a member of the Territorial Council for Jackson County. Sacramento Daily Union, September 1, 1855, page 3 Dr. Cleaveland is not listed among those buried in Jacksonville Cemetery. From Southern Oregon.
Forest Dale,
Jackson County,
Editor of the Oregonian:--I
have but little news to send you this week. The trial of Oldham for the
murder of Dr. Alexander is over, and has resulted in an acquittal.
There has been another stampede of Indians from the reserve, and the
troops are in the field endeavoring to persuade their naughty pets to
return to their friends, in order that the "fatted calf" may be killed,
and that there may be much rejoicing thereat.Southern Oregon, Aug. 25, 1855. The Indians engaged in the late bloody tragedy on the Klamath are still at large, and the probability is that they will be suffered to go unpunished, unless the citizens of northern California shall rise in their might and with their own hands inflict the punishment these "red devils" so richly deserve. Thousands of dollars have already been expended by her citizens in an honest endeavor to avenge the death of so many of their friends and comrades; they traced the perpetrators of these foul deeds through the mountains to the reserve in this valley, whither the guilty had fled for protection, which was immediately offered them by the military at Fort Lane, and, as a matter of course, the pursuing party was compelled to return without having accomplished their designs. In the event, however, that the Indians are not soon given up, the volunteers who enlisted in this cause at the commencement will return with the requisite reinforcement, and will, with renewed vigor, prosecute the object of their mission to the bitter end, and, if necessary, assistance will be rendered them by citizens of this valley, notwithstanding we are compelled in a measure to obey the mandates of "a secret political organization" known as "Durhams," whose chief has proclaimed to the world that no expedition against their particular favorites--the Indians--shall receive the sanction of his office, or, in other words, the sanction of the executive of this Territory. Those of our citizens who are so often compelled to act on the defensive, and to make the rifle their constant companion, who have lost relatives and friends, and perhaps the fruits of years of toil, can best judge of the position in which we are placed by such manifestations on the part of those in power in Oregon. The same line of policy should be adopted here with regard to Indians that is pursued by our companions on the other side of the Siskiyou--viz.: to commence a war of extermination, which would at once compel the military to keep the Indians garrisoned, and if the government is particularly desirous of propagating the species, would also compel them to furnish the Indians such nourishment as in such cases is required. CLARENDON.
Note--Since writing the above,
information has
arrived that the Indians have robbed several houses on Applegate Creek,
twelve miles from Jacksonville.Oregonian, Portland, September 8, 1855, page 2 LATE FROM THE INTERIOR.--Mr. J. W. Galbraith, of the C. C. Express, informs us that on Saturday last, while on his way to Jacksonville, and about one and a half miles above Applegate crossing, O.T., he was shot at four times by the Indians, who, it would appear, are still prowling through the country bent on mischief. He represents the crops in that faction as good, with the exception of potatoes, which, in some instances, have been destroyed by the grasshoppers. Mr. Galbraith met over sixty men going to the Colville mines. He also received a letter from the Dalles, confirming previous reports. The writer had made from $30 to $150 per day while working--brought between $5,000 and $6,000 to the Dalles and returned with provisions. There is some doubt, he says, whether the Indians will allow the Americans to work. He worked with rocker and pan, and states that 2,000 men are under way to the mines.--Crescent City Herald, Aug. 29. San Joaquin Republican, Stockton, California, September 2, 1855, page 2 The Surveyor General of Oregon Territory has transmitted to the General Land Office twelve maps of the surveys completed in the Rogue River Valley, in that Territory. From these maps it appears that the country is very mountainous; in fact, it is so much so that portions of the valley could not be surveyed at all. Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, Buffalo, New York, September 29, 1855, page 2 Letter from the South.
Forest Dale,
Jackson Co., O.T.
Friend Dyer:--I have but little news to
send you
this week. Business is somewhat dull, though apparently improving.
Farmers are busily engaged marketing their wheat and other products,
and our merchants are laying in their winter supply of goods. The
miners in this vicinity are preparing for a good winter's work--an
abundance of water being anticipated.Sept. 28th, 1855. Three excellent flouring mills are in active operation in this valley, and a large portion of the flour manufactured is being sent to Yreka and sold or placed in storage. The past has proved an exceedingly prolific harvest, paying but a small remuneration however to the farmer, on account of the low prices for which he is compelled to sell his produce. A young man by the name of Thomas Low, some few days since, caught his foot in the gearing of a threshing machine and so fractured the leg as to render amputation necessary. The operation was performed by Dr. C. B. Brooks of Jacksonville, under whose judicious treatment the patient is doing well. A zealous opposition to the chastisement of Indians who have, and still are, committing depredations upon the citizens of this section of country in the settlements and on the highway is manifest on the part of several official dignitaries residing south of the California mountains, all of whom belong to the Durham herd. It is the opinion here that every one of the correspondents of the Oregon Statesman, and its echo the Umpqua Gazette, aside from the conductors of those sheets, are office holders. Such being the case, it seems to be a candid observer that no other evidence is required to establish the fact that a mutual sympathy does exist between the Indians here and the so-called Democracy of this Territory, especially as these communications have been freely endorsed by the leading stars of that secret political organization, known as the Salem clique. To the impartial reader, however, let these matters be submitted; one thing is certain, that the depredations which the Indians are constantly committing has created a violent antipathy against the entire Indian race in the minds of the majority of the citizens of both Southern Oregon and Northern California which cannot easily be eradicated, and these feelings are kept alive by the Indians visiting, whenever their own safety will admit it, the relatives of those who have suffered from their hostilities, and boasting of the tortures they have inflicted on their relatives and friends. Notwithstanding the oft-repeated declarations made by the Indian sympathizers, as heralded forth to the world through their hireling presses, that the utmost harmony exists between the two races, a system of warfare has been carried on by the Indians here that has within the last five months in this section of country alone brought no lesser number than twenty-two of our citizens to an untimely grave. To make up this number I am compelled to note the massacres which have occurred during the present week. On Tuesday last, as a small party of men with teams were crossing the Siskiyou Mountain on the road to Yreka, they were attacked by Indians, and two of their number, Calvin Field and John Cunningham, killed. The Indians also killed thirteen head of oxen on the spot, drove off several more, and carried away a considerable quantity of merchandise. This was not enough, however, to satisfy their savage thirst for blood, for on the following day they succeeded in killing another citizen, making the third [death], and wounding the fourth. Who is to be the next victim time alone can tell; occurrences of this kind have become so numerous within the past few months that I cannot but believe that the extirpation of every Indian tribe infesting this section of country particularly is a sacrifice due to the glory of God and the security of the lives and property of our citizens. CLARENDON.
Oregonian,
Portland, October 13, 1855, page 2INTERIOR DEPARTMENT.--General Land Office--The Fort Lane Reservation.--The Acting Commissioner of the General Land Office has issued instructions to the register and receiver at Winchester, Oregon Territory, to reserve from sale or entry about a section of land on Rogue River, opposite the Rogue River Indian reservation, and immediately surrounding Fort Lane, for military purposes. "Department News," Daily American Organ, Washington, D.C., October 16, 1855, page 3 The Coos Bay Coal Company have issued a report made by their agents. Col. Wm. V. Wells gave the mines a thorough investigation, and also the harbor and adjoining country. His report contains a flattering account of the prospect and shows that a valuable bed of coal is there situated, and in a most convenient locality for shipping. His report is very interesting, and the operations of the company will undoubtedly be of the utmost importance to the steam navigation of the Pacific. The specimens of coal exhibited in San Francisco are of superior quality. Vessels have already been dispatched for cargoes of the coal. "Two Weeks Later from California," Daily Union, Washington, D.C., November 2, 1855, page 3
We are indebted
to Mr. Beekman's Express for the receipt of a prospectus of a newspaper
to be started in Jacksonville, O.T. on the 25th inst., by Messrs.
Taylor, T'Vault & Blakely. It is to be weekly, independent in
religion and politics. Of the contemplated name we are not informed by
the prospectus. It is to be the size of the Yreka Union.
The interests of Rogue River Valley and Southern Oregon have long since
demanded the establishment of a press at Jacksonville, and under the
management of the above-named gentlemen we cannot think otherwise than
that success will attend their new undertaking. From our slight
knowledge of the proprietors we are led to believe that in them will be
found will and capacity to render every satisfaction to the people of
Jacksonville and vicinity. We wish them every prosperity.
Crescent City Herald, October
17, 1855, page 2
By Mr. Brunner, who arrived in town last evening, we learn that on Thursday, the 25th inst., at 11 o'clock p.m., a fire broke out in Jacksonville, and consumed eight buildings. The fire started in the upper story of Little's saloon, on Main Street, spread rapidly and was only stopped by the brick buildings belonging to Messrs. Maury & Davis and J. A. Brunner & Bro., the former suffering considerable damage. The fire lasted two hours. The losses are estimated as follows: Maury & Davis, $1000; Stearns & Green, $5000; Baker, late of N.O., $1000; Little & Co., $2,500; P. Levy & Bro., $500; P. J. Ryan, $8000. In the late Indian affray in Deer Creek Valley--as published in another column--two Spaniards were killed and another wounded--28 mules found dead--two Spanish trains containing some 48 mules has been recovered. On the same day (23rd) the Indians drove off all the cattle of Mr. Northcutt (7 head) from the yard. The people in the neighborhood of Deer Creek Valley have gathered at D. Smith's ranch, which has been fortified. Sam Fry's company ranges through that section and escorts the trains. Mr. Hart, the expressman, had returned to Sailor Diggings, but was unwell. "The Latest from the Interior," Crescent City Herald, October 31, 1855, page 2
JACKSONVILLE BURNED.--Horsley
& Brastow's Yreka Express brings the news that the town of
Jacksonville, in Rogue River Valley, Oregon, was about half destroyed
by fire during the past week. It was thought, however, notwithstanding
the destruction of so great a portion of the town, that the houses
still standing were sufficient to answer the purposes of the
population, as about the number of houses destroyed had for months
previous been unoccupied.
FIRE AT JACKSONVILLE.--We learn from Mr. B. B. Jackson, who left Jacksonville on last Monday, that the Thursday night previous a fire broke out which consumed about one-fourth of the town. It originated in a saloon in the western portion of the town, and spread rapidly to the adjoining buildings. All the buildings from Davis & Maury's up, on that side of the street, were consumed. The loss is very heavy. The fire is supposed to be the work of an incendiary. "Latest from the South," Oregon Statesman, Corvallis, November 3, 1855, page 2 The Shasta Courier announces that the town of Jacksonville, in Rogue River Valley, Oregon, was about half destroyed by fire during the past week. Most of the buildings destroyed were unoccupied. The Pacific, San Francisco, November 9, 1855, page 3 FROM YREKA.--The Shasta Republican says that Captain Jacob Rhodes has organized a company in Yreka for the purpose of taking a part in the warfare which now exists with the Indians. The company consists of twenty-five picked men. On Wednesday last it was to have marched for Rogue River Valley. It is the intention of Captain Rhodes to scour that region of country. We have no doubt he will do good service. On Wednesday last several wagons, heavily freighted, arrived at Yreka from the Sacramento Valley, via the new wagon road. The road is in good condition, and travel will continue over it until the snows begin to fall. Los Angeles Star, November 10, 1855, page 2 MOVEMENTS OF TROOPS.--On Saturday last, Lt. Hazen passed through this place in command of a portion of a company belonging to the 4th Regiment U.S. Infantry, under orders to repair to Fort Lane, Rogue River Valley, Oregon Territory. On Tuesday last, Lt. Underwood passed through with the remainder of the company, under orders for the same destination. Lt. Underwood had with him a large train of government mules loaded with military stores and equipments.--Shasta Republican, Nov. 17. Daily Alta California, San Francisco, November 19, 1855, page 3 For
the Oregonian.
Jacksonville,
Nov. 20, 1855.
Editor Oregonian--Dear Sir: In my
communication of the 3rd inst. I expressed my surprise as to the course
pursued by that Bush-whacker
of the Statesman,
in regard to our Indian disturbances, his various
misrepresentations as to facts
in
regard to them, his version as to the immediate cause of the outbreak
&c. My surprise was indeed still greater upon reviewing his
issue
of the Statesman
of the 3rd inst., to witness the ranting of this miserable poltroon,
cooped as he is within the polluted walls of the Statesman office,
steeped in liquor and dyed in iniquity--inflated with ignorance,
arrogance and self-conceit--this aspiring genius dictates to the
freemen of Oregon how they should proceed in matters of war, how the
various petty officers should be distributed in order to promote union,
how supplies should be obtained--and he should have dictated how and
by whom they should be consumed.Santa Anna, even in his palmiest days, when in unlimited power, never domineered over, nor dictated to his subjects, as does this Bush-whacker of the Statesman, to the federal officers, and the people of Oregon. He sways the scepter, and all must bow submissively. His authority none dare dispute. Since the first intelligence conveyed to him concerning the outbreak of the 8th ult., every issue of his paper has teemed with the basest of falsehoods. Column after column has been filled with communications from the seat of war, giving the details of attacks, and both or all, professing to narrate the same circumstances, yet neither corroborating each other. Who has read his southern correspondence that will not admit this truth? Now why this variance in their statements? Can you tell me, fellow citizens? Are they mistaken or were they misinformed? Who are his correspondents in Southern Oregon? Oh, nobody but Judge Deady, Major "Bill," Dr. Drew, Mosher, Col. T'Vault, S. H. Taylor and a few others? Are these correspondents true and reliable men--free from party bickerings? Would they tell a plain story without throwing a missile at some unfortunate "Whig" or "American" who should be found doing service for his country? Oh yes, they are all men of honor, character and standing! They are not prejudiced! They would give every man his just deserts; they would detract from no one; they would never speak in sneering terms of anyone found in arms of defense of his country, but on the contrary would laud them to the skies for thus inheriting the spirit of their sires. Their love of country would prompt them to this. Their firm adherence to Jeffersonian principles and to the support of the Constitution and the Union would prompt them to this. But let us look for a moment as to the action of certain officials when it is decreed that we should take up arms in defense of our homes. The Bush-whacker had already assailed the expedition of 1854 under Capt. Walker and had assured the claim holders of that expedition that they should never receive a dime for supplies furnished. This staring them full in the face, and another call for volunteers to repel the foe, what was to be done? Subscription papers were prepared by the secretary of a public meeting, and ordered to be circulated throughout the country to receive such sums as the people were willing to contribute. These subscription papers were freely signed--some contributed flour, some coffee, sugar, tea and such things as would be needed by the volunteers in the field. Money was thus to a considerable extent raised, besides the groceries, when Capt. Fowler and Dr. Gilbert were dispatched to California for supplies, arms &c. Thus, Mr. Editor, were we, the favored citizens of a republican government--a government boasting of twenty-two millions of surplus funds in her treasury--compelled to solicit aid by subscription, to enable us to repel a hostile foe, and why? Because Bush-whacker of the Statesman--the alpha and omega of the great national Democratic Party in Oregon--had decreed that those who had heretofore furnished supplies for similar occasions should not have a dime. Now as for the appointments to office: When Capt. Miller was called upon to know if he would act in his official capacity, and having immediately responded in the affirmative, and organized the quartermaster's department, the first man he appointed to office was C. Westfelt, a well-known Whig. Did Capt. Miller once consider that? No, sir. He knew that Mr. Westfelt was well qualified for the station--that he was an excellent penman--and having accompanied the Captain on his expedition to the plains in 1853, by order of Gen. Lane, was well known, and his qualifications duly appreciated. Did our citizens demur to this? Did they rail at Capt. Miller for making this appointment? No, sir: but Bush-whacker says virtually, if not in plain terms, that such men are unworthy of office. If they are unworthy of office then they are unworthy to be trusted with a rifle in defense of their country; they are unworthy to be placed as sentinels, to guard and protect them in their unconscious moments. The editor of that classic journal, the Statesman, that beautiful parlor ornament, so replete with gems of poetry and wit, as well as sentiments of the highest moral character (over the left), endeavoring with an energy unequaled in the history of the past to engraft into the minds of the people pure, patriotic and philanthropic feelings, is certainly of a republican people. His untiring industry--his unwavering integrity--his firm adherence to truth--his mild and amiable disposition--his kind and courteous behavior to his cotemporaries--his untiring devotions to the holy cause of liberty, moral reform and the "freedom of the press," as well as his ceaseless exertions to promulgate the genuine principles of the invisible national Democratic Pa-i-rty [sic], are sufficient to endear him to an American people and to entitle him to a high position in the tablet of fame. Future generations yet unborn will then point with American pride to his name, as it stands enrolled with those of Washington, Lafayette, DeKalb, Warren, Clay, Jo Lane, Calhoun, Greeley, G. D. R. Boyd, Webster and a host of others, and lisp a fervent wish that their lives may be crowned with as much honor and glory as was his. Oh, cheering thought! To know that we "have done our duty"--to know that we discharge the duty assigned us--that we have acted with credit to ourselves, honor to our country and to the acceptance of God. To know that for our many virtues, our zealous advocacy of truth and right on all occasions, that our memory will be revered and cherished in the breasts of an ever-grateful people. You American mothers, to whom is entrusted the holy charge of instilling into the minds of your offspring those sacred principles which will actuate them in after years, I entreat to you with all sincerity, to portray in glowing colors to their youthful minds the brilliant achievements of this glorious patriot--this modern reformer and wonder of his age. Impress upon their young and tender minds that falsehood and treachery, deceit, hypocrisy, slander and villainy are far more preferable than truth, virtue, honor, candor and honesty. That these former principles, fully impressed and fully adhered to, will be the steppingstone to future greatness. Deprive them of all light reading--deny them the right to search the scriptures--limit them to the same doctrines promulgated in the Statesman--rivet upon their minds the truths therein contained--assure them that this religion must be theirs--that his views and doctrines must be acquiesced in and advocated as theirs, ever keeping fresh in their minds the sad displeasure which they will undoubtedly incur should they refuse. Let them know that to controvert him in any manner whatever would be calling down upon their heads his wrath "which knoweth no bounds." That they would be branded as traitors to their country--stigmatized as "midnight assassins," and held up to the detestation, scorn and contempt of all honorable citizens--that they would be slandered, vilified and abused, hunted as the wolf from his lair, with the purpose of annihilation. While on the other hand, remember that cheerful submission, implicit obedience and faithful practice of the precepts contained in his "divine teachings" that you will sooner or later see those cherished objects ascending step by step to a position far above the rabble, a position to which they will be exalted by their countrymen for their country's good. The populace will be loud in their demonstrations, as they are thus exalted in consideration of their meritorious services to their country; they will be clothed in fine linen of spotless purity--they will be attended with the clergy and other dignitaries. They will receive at the hand of someone in attendance a diadem of the finest texture, which will more than crown their heads--a monstrous cord of the brightest hemp will be placed around their necks, and as they thus stand crowned and honored, will be required or at least expected to present "their heartfelt gratitude for the honors thus conferred." More anon. PHILEMON.
Oregonian, Portland,
January 12, 1856, page 1MARRIED.
In Salem, by Hon. Geo. H. Williams, ROBERT MULLIGAN, of Jackson County, and Mrs. HARRIET CARLTON, of the former place.Oregon Statesman, Corvallis, November 24, 1855, page 3 The losses by the fire at Jacksonville, O.T., on the 24th ult., did not exceed $15,000. Placer Herald, Auburn, California, November 24, 1855, page 2 From the Crescent City Herald, Dec., 1855.
Jacksonville, Or., was located by miners and traders in the month of
February, 1852, and contains a population of 800, about one-tenth of
the population of Jackson County.From Mr. Miller, who came down from Chetco on the 4th inst., we learn that everything is quiet in that quarter as far as the whites and Indians are concerned. Some ten of the younger members of a rancheria, however, have attacked the chief and the older portion of the tribe for the sake of plunder, it would seem, killed three on the 27th ult., and afterwards took to the woods. Some packers with a train of twenty mules came safely over the mountains lately. They inform us that, according to a report circulated in Illinois Valley about the 5th inst., volunteers had descended on the southern bank of Rogue River, a distance of 60 miles below Vannoy's, and when opposite the encampment of the hostile Indians at the "Big Meadows" commenced the construction of rafts with a view of crossing the river. The Indians opened fire upon them, killing one of their men and wounding six others. From January to October, 1855, the number of trips made by steamers was 33; sailing vessels 10. Freight landed, 3,867 tons, and passengers landed, about 3000. The price of freight from San Francisco to Crescent City was, with but little variation, $12 per ton on sailing vessels and $20 on steamers. Passage in the cabin $40, and the steerage $20. The following steamers ran here during the year, a number making only one trip: Columbia, Republic, Fremont, Goliah, Sea Bird, America, City of Norfolk, and schooners Exact, Arno, T. H. Allen, Odd Fellow and J. Pringle. We have no news whatever from the seat of war in Rogue River Valley. The troops have been slowly concentrating and preparing for an attack upon the Indians at the "Big Meadows," down on Rogue River. The hostile bands appear to be still gathered in that neighborhood, and we hope the troops will be able to keep them there until they can be killed or starved out. Through the mining districts comparative quiet and security is restored, and if a decisive blow is dealt upon the enemy we may look forward to a speedy revival of business in all its branches. It is to be hoped that the 500 regulars and volunteers may accomplish something in that direction. Del Norte Record, Crescent City, June 3, 1893, page 1 T. McF. PATTON,
Weekly
Oregonian, Portland, December 1, 1855, page 4ATTORNEY AND COUNSELOR AT LAW, AND SOLICITOR IN CHANCERY, Will practice his
profession in the various courts of the 1st Judicial District of Oregon.
Bonds, mortgages, deeds, agreements, powers of attorney drawn up on the shortest notice. Collections promptly attended to throughout the Territory and Northern California. OFFICE--IN DREW'S BLOCK, JACKSONVILLE, O.T. We have received the first number of the Jacksonville paper. It is called the Table Rock Sentinel and is published by Messrs. T'Vault (Col. Wm. G. T'Vault), Taylor and Blakely, the two first named being the editors, we understand. It is published on the Umpqua Gazette materials, and resembles that paper in typographical appearance. Oregon Statesman, Corvallis, December 8, 1855, page 2 Jackson County is not represented in the Legislature, and an election had been held to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Dr. Cleaveland. "From
the South," Oregonian, Portland,
December 8, 1855, page 2
Alex. McIntyre, a member of the Oregon Legislature and a native of Leesburg, Va., died at Jacksonville, Oregon, recently. The Daily Dispatch, Richmond, Virginia, December 18, 1855, page 2 NEW PAPER.--The Table Rock Sentinel is the name of a new paper published in Jacksonville, Oregon. We are indebted to the Pacific Express for the second number. It is a handsome and well-edited sheet. Shasta Courier, Shasta, California, December 8, 1855, page 3 JACKSONVILLE, Nov. 24, 1855.
Friend Adams--Lest
you should think from my long silence that I had been slain by the
Indians, or some other calamity befallen me, I snatch upon a leisure
moment to give you a few items of interest. Jacksonville is improving.
It has this evening issued its first number of a weekly paper entitled
the Table Rock Sentinel. It is quite a respectable sheet, and will of course be devoted to the mining interests. In this you Walla Wallas can get the war and
gold news, without depending upon faithless correspondents.
Jacksonville still continues to do business and to prosper,
notwithstanding all her surrounding difficulties and the late fire.
Before proceeding further, permit me to correct a mistake which I am
told some of you valley folks are laboring under. That is, that the
present war has been brought about by designing politicians and
unprincipled traders, for the purpose of making political capital, and
of selling a large amount of goods and surplus provisions to government
at exorbitant prices. A great mistake indeed. Our government was never
more completely driven into a
war than upon the present occasion. We have borne with the Indians, and
forbearance ceased to be a virtue. Our miners could not travel from one
part of the country to another without being shot down by the wary
savages in ambush. Our teamsters and packers, on whom we depended for
supplies, were treated in like manner, and defenseless families were
inhumanly butchered in their own houses by the Indians. Houses were
laid in ruins, whole herds of stock were slain, and our country in many
places presents a scene of general devastation. That the white man (as
is argued by some) has been the aggressor is not true. If
some (not very conscientious) men have killed now and then an Indian,
it was but in retaliation for past injuries. These Indians have never
been true to their treaties. They never kept a treaty until the
blankets which bought it were worn out. But thank Providence, Lane is
not here this time, and I think the next treaty that is made with them
will be kept always.The news from headquarters is not very exciting just now, but is nevertheless full of interest. The Indians are all pressing down Rogue River to a point known as the Big Meadows, where a general fight is anticipated. I learn that a union of the regulars under Capt. Judah has been effected with the southern battalion of Oregon mounted volunteers, and the command given to the aforementioned officer. Capt. Judah is highly esteemed and has the reputation of being a good Indian fighter. The troops are pressing down the river to the Meadows to overtake the Indians. The Indians have had the best of it so far. Our boys got badly used up on Grave Creek some three weeks ago. The Indians have had a decided advantage over our volunteer troops which were drawn up in haste, equipped with such firearms as they could pick up, whilst the Indians who have been preparing for a year are supplied with the best U.S. rifles. There seems to be quiet in our camp now and little political feeling manifested, which was far from being the case a few weeks ago. Our Surgeon Maj. for the southern battalion is Dr. Barkwell, one of the Democratic members-elect from Jackson County to the lower house of the Legislature. How he can legislate at Corvallis and attend to the duties of his office here is more than I can divine. Yet as this is an age of wonders the thing may be done. I am informed that a gentleman from Polk County on a former occasion represented in part his county and held two other offices at the same time. Such being the fact, the Dr. stands a good chance to make it "pan out well." Dr. Greer is hospital surgeon at this place and Dr. Breyman and other assistants in the field. The people seem well satisfied with the course of Gov. Curry, but in regard to the disposition of the troops and the appointments to office, there is no doubt some latent feeling in the bosoms of the disappointed, but no public opposition to his course. Bush's appeal to the people for aid in the matter of those "petitions" met with a weak response here. We look forward with great anxiety to the close of the war. People have left their farms, and mining claims, to fight our common foe and the resources of their country being for a time undeveloped, we must expect hard times and dull prospects. For the present adieu. G-------.
Oregon Argus, Oregon City, December 15, 1855, page 2CROPS IN SOUTHERN OREGON.--The Jacksonville Sentinel says that since the rains, plows are moving all over the valley. There is time now, notwithstanding so many men have been drawn off to the wars, to put in a good crop of wheat. The rains are favorable for the mines, so far as the disturbed condition of our Indian relations will admit of their being worked. The increase of water is taking some miners back to their claims in favorable localities, and some are venturing into the more remote gulches where the exposure speaks more for their territory than judgment. Whatever may be the amount of water, the mines cannot be worked safely except in protected places, until the war closes, or the hostile Indians are driven from the country. Sacramento Daily Union, December 19, 1855, page 2 DIED.
In Jackson County, O.T., Dec. 7th, from a wound received in a threshing machine, THOMAS LOWE, aged 24 years.
Sacramento Daily Union, December 19, 1855, page 2 For the Oregonian.
The Democracy and the War at the South. Jacksonville, Dec.
19, 1855.
Editor Oregonian--Dear
Sir: Through the kindness of a messenger from the
department at Roseburg, we have been favored with a perusal of late
issues of the Oregonian,
Statesman, Argus &c. The action of the troops
here, commanded as they have been by a few lickspittles, would
afford sufficient material for a communication, without referring in a
single instance to the hashed-up mess which is prepared and dished out
to the people by the Statesman
in the shape of communications from southern Oregon.
In each of my former communications I charged Bush-whacker of the Statesman of
having published willful and malicious falsehoods respecting our Indian
difficulties. I did not, however, expect, at so early a day, to have
the declaration from his own mouthpiece that he lied, or
published, as he terms it, an "incorrect
statements." It will be remembered that sometime in
October a certain communication appeared in the Statesman, signed
"Sober Sense," containing a tissue of falsehoods from beginning to end.
This "Sober Sense" hombre
is a no less personage than the celebrated Dr. Andrew Jackson
Kane (no connection, by the by, of Dr. Kane
of the Arctic expedition), who is somewhat noted for his feats of courage and strength performed
in our streets, but of late has retired from the ring, and is now
playing second fiddle
to those whom he conquered.
This pliant tool for any purpose whatever was induced by Bush-whacker to prepare a communication--or rather father one already prepared--in unison with Bush-whacker's already expressed sentiments, and those of his correspondents from Rogue River, though properly speaking, from Douglas and Umpqua counties. But upon his return from the Willamette he was called to account for the "deeds done in the body," and, Catholic fashion, made a clean confession, which you have already seen in the Statesman in the shape of a card under his proper signature, attested by witnesses, admitting that he lied. This is one of Bush's "reliable correspondents from Southern Oregon"! Another hombre is entitled to a passing notice. This is Dr. Edgar Buckf--t [sic--apparently "buckfart"] Stone, a California emigrant, a fourth-class quack, who for want of business in Crescent City, California, came up here, and offered his services as a "physician and surgeon"--bah! This valiant hero has come out in flaming tones in a communication for the Statesman (the receptacle of filth) under the name of "Edgar," and if I were to make any prediction whatever I would say that he would be called upon in due course of time to take back his statements, and, like his "illustrious predecessor" and "brother chip" in the practice of surgery, Dr. Kane will be glad to comply. If his reputation for medical skill was one-sixteenth part as great as that for lying, he might feel proud, for it certainly would be enviable in this one particular, by those who make pretensions that way. His character for truth and veracity, both at home and abroad, is certainly below par. And I will here take the responsibility of informing both him and his friends (if any he has) that he is a willful and malicious liar, and the truth is not in him--never was--nor never will be; and if he or his friends have any doubts upon this score, I will prove it to their entire satisfaction. If such scavengers as the two quacks above mentioned are classed among Bush's "reliable correspondents," I would ask what position would he assign an honest and truth-stating correspondent? In the issue of the Statesman of Nov. 24th, I find two communications purporting to have been written in southern Oregon--one dated at "Headquarters, Six Bit House, Nov. 12th, '55," without any signature, and the other, at Jacksonville, Nov. 10th, signed "Wallace." Neither of these letters were written from the place at which they were dated. Their authors are as base as either of the quacks, and to pen such communications ill becomes them in their elevated positions. The "Six Bit" communication says: "At the time of the outbreak in Rogue River, Col. Ross, Drew and some others of that clique wrote to Curry requesting that Col. Ross be authorized to call out the militia of Jackson County." Now this is a sheer fabrication of his own begetting. Ross, Drew and others of the clique (unless it was of the "unwashed") never forwarded any such communication. To write for authority to call out the militia!--a Colonel, duly elected, commissioned and qualified, to write for authority to call out the militia in cases of Indian outbreaks similar to what we have! It may be the practice in Missouri, but not in Jackson County. Again, the author says that "Martin employed Danforth out of courtesy to Gov. Curry." This is, without doubt, a rich specimen of "Paice" politeness. For a subordinate officer to "employ out of courtesy" a surgeon already commissioned by the commander-in-chief of the forces and executive of the Territory is truly a new streak in military practice. The remainder of this communication was full of interesting yarns concerning Major "Bills," attacks on Dr. Henry, and "Bills'" letter to Col. Ross--a strange medley which the author ought to be ashamed of when he sees it in print. Words are inadequate to express the contempt which I entertain for the man who would willfully pervert the truth to further his own and others' base designs. Since Bush-whacker of the Statesman commenced his attacks on Gov. Curry concerning the know-nothing appointments, every nincompoop in the Territory must send in their endorsements "of the early and fearless stand which Bush has taken against them." But "Wallace" embraces an extensive scope in his communication. His imagination is very fertile, and if he would devote more time to studying intricate law points, he would perhaps make it "pan out" better. He says that he is informed "that recent acts on the part of his premiership, Charley Drew, develops some strange and astonishing transactions." Mirabile dictu!! "Strange and astounding transactions! Now what are they? Can you tell me from the tenor of his communication? His aim is to drag Charley Drew before the public gaze, and, as heretofore, to brand him as a villain of the deepest dye. He boldly charges Charley of the immediate agency in bringing about our Indian disturbances solely to get a little office. Listen what he says: "He knew that if he (Charley) could bring about hostilities that Ross was Colonel, and he could be Adjutant. That Charley and others who had figured at the head of a party in this county had lost their grip, and something must be done to save them. Circumstances and the acts of certain hostile bands of Indians on the Klamath and Siskiyou mountains favored their plans, and the idea was conceived that by throwing the fire-brand among the Indians, the entire blame could be saddled on the Democracy." O "Wallace"! thou base and perjured wretch! Depraved and vicious must be the mind that could conceive such thoughts, and utterly reckless and wholly lost to shame or honor must be the man who dare utter them. In no country or land beneath the starry decked heaven, either in a republican, where the stars and stripes are the emblem of freedom, or in a monarchical, where tyranny prevails, can be found a man so debased, depraved, corrupt, reckless and malicious as to charge a fellow being with such crimes as he ("Wallace") has Charley Drew, and all for or through political motives. If this communication should meet the eyes of "Wallace," I would ask him to ponder over his assertion in that communication of his, and then answer me if he has a conscience void of offense toward God and man. Time will not warrant me commenting further, for I well know that the people of Oregon do not believe any of his correspondents out here, for they are undoubtedly "bogus" and won't pass. PHILEMON.
Oregonian,
Portland, March 1, 1856, page 1NEWS FROM OREGON BY THE OVERLAND ROUTE.--Through Wines & Co. we yesterday received a copy of the Table Rock Sentinel, published at Jacksonville, Oregon, and brought overland by Rhodes & Whitney's Express. The rainy season has set in and miners are doing well. Indian depredations continue unabated, and much excitement exists in relation to them. The Sentinel complains that the troops near that place have been compelled to retire for want of provisions, the persons charged with their support having entirely neglected them. On the 6th of December the store of Riley & Stone was destroyed by fire at Jacksonville.--State Tribune, Dec. 19. AN OREGON POTATO.--A potato raised at Eden, in the southern portion of Oregon Territory, has been shown to the editor of the Table Rock Sentinel, who says that it measures twenty-even and one-fourth inches in circumference. "Interior Items," San Francisco Bulletin, December 20, 1855, page 2 JACKSONVILLE, O.T.--Jacksonville was located by miners and traders in the month of February, 1852, and contains a population of about 800 souls--about one-tenth of the population of Jackson County--eight dry goods and grocery stores, three blacksmith shops, two livery stables, one hotel and several boarding houses, one brewery, one stove and tin shop, one boot and shoe store, one millinery shop, two bakeries, one market house, two cabinet shops, two or three drug stores, billiard saloon, one tobacco and cigar store, practicing physicians, four lawyers. J. A. Brunner & Bro. and Maury & Davis have each built large and extensive fireproof brick stores and have them well filled with a good assortment of goods suitable for the consumption of the country. The Territorial University is located at Jacksonville.--Table Rock Sentinel. Crescent City Herald, December 26, 1855, page 2 REMME'S GREAT RIDE.
A Reminiscence of the Great Bank Failures Twenty-Seven Years Ago. KNIGHTS LANDING TO PORTLAND. The Story of the Famous California Cattle Man Who Beat the Steamer from San Francisco to Oregon's Metropolis. Who thundering comes on blackest steed
With slackened bit and hoof of speed? Our rocky islet's caverns sound With stride for stride and bound for bound. The foam which streaks the courser's side Seems gathered from the ocean side. --The Giaour.
The annals of the turf contain several records of remarkable endurance
of horse and rider, both in the old world and the new, but we are about
to recall in the memory of Oregon pioneers an exploit that was a part
of
the history of this state and of California; a feat which, when we
consider the
disadvantages that surrounded it, was without a parallel. Before going
further we will give several of the greatest rides on record, in Europe
and America:100 miles, George Osbaldiston, in 4 hours, 19 minutes and 40 seconds, at Newmarket, England, riding 16 horses, Nov. 5, 1831. 200 miles in 8 hours and 42 minutes, using 29 horses. Same as above. He weighed 104 pounds. 300 miles in 14 hours, 9 minutes. Nelson H. Mowry, using 30 horses, San Francisco, Aug 2, 1868. His weight was 152 pounds. 1304 miles in 90 hours by Quincy Anderson, at Bay District Race Course, San Francisco, May 15, 1880. He weighed 150 pounds and rode an unlimited number of mustangs 15 hours each day for six consecutive days. SACRAMENTO CITY
was
a booming town in the spring of 1855. She had thoroughly recovered from
the floods and the fires, and had half the gold of the Sierra dumped
into her lap. At that time there were five banking institutions there,
to wit: Adams & Co., Wells, Fargo & Co., John M. Rodes, D. O.
Mills & Co., and Harris, Marchand
& Co. All these concerns not only received and sold exchange on
eastern cities, but purchased gold dust also. One day a cattle dealer
named Louis Remme came into Adams & Co.'s bank with $12,500 in
fifty-dollar pieces, which he deposited and took a certificate for it.
A week rolled round, and Remme was down at San Francisco, having a good
time, when, on the morning of Saturday, February 17th, the good
old
steamer Oregon, Capt. Allan
McLane, arrived from Panama with 540 passengers. She brought the news of the failure of the greatest banking house west
of the Allegheny Mountains, the old and hitherto reliable firm of Page,
Bacon & Co., of St. Louis. This firm was composed of Daniel Page,
Henry D. Bacon, David Chambers, F. W. Page and Henry Haight. The first
two resided in St. Louis, and the others in California. Haight was an
uncle of Governor Haight of that state.A TERRIBLE FINANCIAL PANIC
sprang up in consequence of the receipt of this intelligence.
Page, Bacon & Co. had just moved into their new banking house on
Battery Street, and the bank had been open just twenty minutes when
the steamer arrived. A "run" was started up, which lasted till 4 P.M.,
and then the bank closed till the following Monday, having paid out
over four hundred thousand dollars. The run was resumed on Monday
morning and began to extend to other banks. Robinson & Co.,
Sanders & Brenham and Wright's Savings Bank had collapsed before
noon, But Wells, Fargo & Co., Lucas, Turner & Co., and Parrott
& Co. lasted through the day, as did Page, Bacon & Co., but
that afternoon the old house closed, never to open again. At 2 o'clock
on Tuesday morning Delos Lake, then Judge of the twelfth judicial
district, got up out of his bed and appointed Alfred A. Cohen receiver
of the assets of Adams & Co., and that was the last the depositors
ever saw of their money. So intense was the feeling against Judge Lake
that he resigned, and John S. Hager (later a United States Senator) was
appointed by Governor Bigler to succeed him. The bank was managed by I.
C. Woods and Daniel Hale Haskell. The latter died in San Francisco, in
the alms house, recently, half crazy, and covered with sores caused by
vermin.LOUIS REMME
returned to Sacramento on Monday night's
boat, and Tuesday morning called on the agent of Adams & Co. to get
his money. He was told with a bland smile that the concern had gone
into liquidation, and if he wanted his money he must get it through
Cohen, the receiver, and share the expense pro rata with other
depositors. He stood stupefied a moment, and then walked out into the
street. He had less than a thousand dollars in the world, and something
told him that to regain his money he must take some step outside the
usual mode of procedure. Should he go to Marysville? The bank there was
already aware of the suspension. All hope was lost, and his brain began
to reel. Broke, after five years of unceasing toil and self-denial.
Stay, there was hope yet! Adams & Co. had a branch bank in Portland,
but he must reach Portland ahead of the steamer, which was to sail the
next day from San Francisco. It was already 10 o'clock (for banks
opened at nine in those days), and as he walked towards the levee he
saw a sternwheel boat just getting ready to start for Knight's Landing, 42 miles above Sacramento. To jump aboard was butTHE WORK OF A MOMENT.
He knew that every mile of riding that he could save was so
much gained, and 45 miles was a great gain. Arriving at Knight's
Landing, he got a horse from Knight himself and rode to the head of
Grand Island, where he got a fresh horse from old Judge Diefendorf. All
through the Sacramento Valley he could borrow horses of his personal
friends, and was at no expense till after he got into the mountains. He
finally got to where he had to buy a horse every thirty miles and
change as often as possible. Every new horse cost him $80, and he did
not know whether he would ever see it again; nor did he care whether he
rode a horse to death or not. He went through Red Bluff after night
and ate his breakfast at the Tower House on Clear Creek, thirteen
miles above Shasta. Here ended everything that bore the resemblance of
a wagon road, and henceforth a narrow bridle path was all he had to go
by. As the day wore along he reached the Trinity River and found
himself in the vast knot of pine-clad mountains where the Coast Range
ties itself to the Sierra Nevada.THE BLINDING SNOWS
of a
February night began to darken his trail, but he kept his horse moving
briskly till he reached Trinity Center. Here he found it impossible to
purchase a horse, but a good-natured miner offered to lend him a fresh
one, provided he would return it in two weeks. The wind howled
frightfully as he began the ascent of Trinity Mountain, but he had the
one thought uppermost in his mind. It was now forty-eight hours since
he had closed his eyes, and his brow grew hot and feverish,
notwithstanding the intense cold and the whirling snow. The tall firs
and tamaracks creaked with their fleecy burden, and every once in a
while a great forest monarch would fall to the ground with a crash that
made the hills ring out with its shivering boom. The wind increased its
roar; the winding sheet of the tempest had enveloped cabin and stock
alike; and with the lonely man forcing his way towards Scott Valley,
let us turn to another picture, and leave him to pursue his solitary
journey.THE STEAMSHIP COLUMBIA,
now running between here and San Francisco, is not
the first vessel of the name that has plied upon this route. In 1850 a
small steamer was built to ply between New York and Charleston, S.C.,
and named after the capital of South Carolina. But the Pacific Mail
Company bought her and put her on this route as soon as Congress passed
the act granting a subsidy for a mail route between this city and San
Francisco. She was of about 700 tons burden and had double sidewheels
with lever engines of a pattern now wholly obsolete. The following is a
correct list of her officers at the time of which we speak: Captain,
Wm. L. Dall; first officer, Charles Tayloe; second officer, W. P.
Burch; third officer, M. T. Nolan; chief engineer, W. H. Bryan; purser,
R. W. Meade. Of these Bryan is the only one living today and is
dockmaster for the Occidental and Oriental Steamship Company at San
Francisco. All the rest have answered the Great Captain's call. Charley
Tayloe was one of the 400 heroes who sank on the decks of the doomed Central America
in 1857. And since human valor was first made holy in the hearts of
men, theirs was the noblest sacrifice that ever wafted its incense
heavenward.IN THOSE DAYS
there were no fifty-eight-hour passages from San Francisco to Portland. The Columbia would
leave San Francisco and stop first at Mendocino Mills, made famous by
Harry Meigs; next at Humboldt Bay, where Grant was a poor lieutenant;
then at Trinidad and Crescent City, the embarcadero of an immense
section of mining country; next at Gardiner, at the mouth of the Umpqua
River, where there was a large military post, and thence to Portland,
via Astoria. This amount of way-landings consumed a great deal of time,
and the steamer seldom saw Portland before the sixth day after leaving
San Francisco. On this occasion she was ordered to make a quick trip
and had a company of soldiers to land at Humboldt Bay and another at
Rogue
River, under command of Nick Sweitzer.
The following was her list of passengers to Portland: Lieut. W. Myers
and wife, Mr. Frost, Capt. Tilton, F. Sprague and wife, Mrs. Pike and
son, Mr. Brenham and servant, I. Smith, J. Starkey, M. Pritchard, J.
Gibson, G. Gallagher, M. Oppenheimer, Capt. Dodge, W. Whipple, C. L.
Ricks, W. Hess and wife, Miss Tebber and 25 in the steerage.THE WEARY TRAVELER
reached Scott Valley in sixty hours, where he slept
till noon, and Yreka, in seventy hours from Knight's
Landing. He reeled into a bar room and drank off a big glass of
brandy as he was called to his frugal meal, and then a fresh horse was
brought him. Away he sped, leaving the lofty dome of peerless Shasta
behind him. Four
hours later he was slowly ascending a long eminence about eleven miles
north of where he had crossed the Klamath River. A huge cairn of stones
was heaped about a small oak tree whose boughs of which had been lopped
away by an ax, and as much of it as projected above the stones bore
curious
marks placed there by United States surveyors. It was the mark of the
boundary line between a state and a territory. He looked at the tree
for
a brief moment and alighted from his saddle to drink from the swollen
waters of
Hungry Creek that roared beside his path."THANK GOD FOR OREGON,"
sighed Remme, as he left the tree behind
him. His path, however, was fraught
with dangers from this time along. The savage Modocs ranged the whole
region between the Klamath and Rogue rivers, while another band, more
deadly and murderous, infested the too appropriately named Grave Creek
Hills. And here was Louis Remme, galloping along over the hard, frozen
ground, down the valley of Bear Creek. He took a cup of coffee at
Jacksonville and slept two hours, then mounted a fresh horse,
crossing Rogue River at the old ferry near the Dardanelles, instead of
at the Rock Point bridge. He looked back at the ferry as he ascended
the
bank and looked at his watch. "Um--just eighty hours out," he murmured,
and so he rode along, at times almost reeling from the saddle
with fatigue. At the Dardanelles he had hired a strong horse from a
stout Irish farmer named Kavanagh [Thomas Chavner],
and was walking him along near Jumpoff Joe [Creek] when a ball whizzed
past his head, and the crack ofSIX INDIAN RIFLES
on the bluff above
the trail told that his journey was no pleasure trip. But he wore a
charmed life, and no redskin bullet was destined to be billeted on his
person. And so he rode along till he came
to Cow Creek, where he had to ford the stream, which was full of
treacherous quicksands, but his sturdy nag carried him well through it.
At every twenty miles or so he would buy a horse at $60 to $80 with the
stipulation
that he should have the privilege of returning the animal at a discount
of ten percent, if sound. To most of the people he appeared to be the
worst
kind of "crank," and some acted as though they were afraid of him. And
so he sped along down the great canyon that has been so
prolific of toll-road lawsuits, through
the picturesque little Round Prairie, and over the beautiful plateau
where Roseburg now stands. It was daylight on Saturday morning
when he came to the village of Winchester, on the north fork of the
Umpqua, where Joseph Knott and his two sons, A. J. and Levi Knott (now
proprietors of the East Portland ferry), kept a small trading post and
tavern. He wanted to leave his tired horse and get a fresh one. The
morning was a bitter cold one as Levi took him to the barn andSHOWED HIM TWO HORSES.
"You have been very lucky in striking good
weather and hard roads, so far," remarked Levi, "but you won't carry it
much further, and it will be about all you can do to reach the Coast
Fork of the Willamette with one horse. You can take your choice of
these two. The brown horse is a good deal the best galloper, but the
sorrel is much the strongest walker; and my opinion is that you will
find it pretty muddy in Pass Creek."Acting on Levi Knott's advice, Remme mounted the sorrel horse and asked how far it was to Portland. Knott answered: "About 195 miles, as straight as it can be made. You will be lucky to reach it in 200 miles." Louis chuckled to the horse and was soon out of sight. Fortune had indeed favored him with good weather so far, for the dreaded "Jo Lane's lane" was as hard as a Belgian pavement. [The lane was famous for its gumbo mud.] But the cold, leaden gray of the sky was rapidly changing to a darker hue, and as he entered the beautiful valley of the Yoncalla the rain began to drop as he drew up at the door of a farm house where a tall man, still in the full vigor of life, bade him alight. That man still lives, bowed with age and broken with sorrow. He has lived to see the principles triumph which he so boldly advocated, and to see LESS WORTHY MEN
represent the state of which he was the founder in the United States
Senate. And for want of a better and nobler name, I will call him
Jesse Applegate. Louis told him he was after a thief who had stolen his
money, and the old man loaned him a fresh horse. He needed it, for the
rain came plashing down, and Pass Creek was a quagmire as his nag
trudged through the somber forest. Night now began to draw along with her dark veil, and through the tall
firs came the howl of the cougar, varied at times by the scream of some
night bird as he flapped his wings from the boughs of some tall
cottonwood tree. About eight o'clock he saw a light and rode for it.
Arriving in front of the door of a log cabin he gave the "Woohoo" of
that era, and soon a man came to the door."What stream is this?" asked the rider. "The Coast Fork," replied the settler. "I am after a thief," said Remme, "can you loan or sell me a fresh horse?" "I reckon so," replied the man; and in ten minutes more Remme had paid $80 for a fresh nag and was on his way again. The rain fell in torrents, and the wind blew in fitful gusts. He rode along till just before the day broke, when he found himself entering A SMALL TOWN
which he
knew must be Eugene City. He put spurs to his horse and picked out the
sod whenever the road was bad. He began to feel hungry at last and
stopped for breakfast at John Milliron's, who sold him a fresh
horse and allowed him $65 for the horse he had ridden from the Coast
Fork. Away he sped past the present site of Junction and
crossed the Willamette at Peoria. The day was mild and clear after the
storm of the previous night, and the lofty peaks of the Cascade Range
towered into an unclouded vista of liquid blue. The picture was a
lovely one, and yet the weary man said to himself:"This is the fifth day, and I have slept just ten hours in all that time. I shall not lie down till I reach Portland." He rode all that night through Linn and Marion counties. About midnight he rode up to a cabin and peeped through the window. A young man sat by the fire with a young girl on his knee, for he was telling her the story that is ever new. He took his breakfast at the lower end of French Prairie and hired a horse for $5 to bring him to Oregon City. He reached there at half-past ten o'clock, to find that there would be no steamboat for Portland till next day. MONDAY NOON
found Louis at Milwaukie, and the ferryman's son got him
across the swollen Willamette. The ride to town was exceedingly muddy,
but by 1 o'clock he had reached Stewart's stable and put away his horse. He asked, "Is the steamer in from 'Frisco?""No," replied the hostler, "but we look for her today." "Where is Adams & Co.'s bank?" asked Remme. The hostler directed him, and he walked around to the bank. Dr. Steinberger was agent, and had just returned from lunch. "Can you cash a certificate of deposit for me on Sacramento--it's on your own bank." "1 guess so," replied the Doctor; "we charge half of one percent exchange for all sums over one thousand dollars, and one percent on all below that. How much is it for?" "Twelve thousand and a half," replied Remme; "I've bought a band of cattle, and the longer I wait to pay for them the worse I'm off." The Doctor examined the certificate, which bore the signature of W. B. Rochester, agent of Adams & Co. at the California capital. There could be no doubt of its genuineness. He counted out the money to Remme and was chuckling over his being able to sell $12,500 worth of exchange on San Francisco without shipping a dollar's worth of dust or coin. Remme went around to his hotel and deposited the money in the safe. He then he came back and told the Doctor, "YOU'D BETTER SAVE YOURSELF."
"What do you mean?" asked the Doctor."I mean that your bank has failed, and everything is attached in San Francisco and Sacramento. I have ridden from Sacramento since Tuesday noon, and killed a dozen horses, pretty near. You'll find I'm about right when the steamer gets in." ''Ridiculous! You might as well talk of Page, Bacon & Co. failing." "Well, they failed first, and that's what started the run on your bank," retorted Louis. ''Bah! now I know you are crazy," sneered the Doctor. "Bang!" rang out a gun, and looking toward the river they saw two brig-rigged masts approaching the city. It was the Columbia, with Capt. Dall on the bridge, and Billy Gladwell, the river pilot, standing by his side. Before the ship had her line fast to the dock a constable had served a writ of attachment on the bank of Adams & Co., at the suit of Ralph Meade, the purser of the steamer, who had $950 in the rotten bank. The depositors never got anything after that, and although the local banks stood the run, the town got a pretty severe shock one way and another. No local failures grew out of it, but the project of building up Linn City, where the Cascade Locks now stand, was forever extinguished by the failure of Page, Bacon & Co., who had the largest interest there. OUR HUMBLE HERO
was a
Canadian-Frenchman by birth, and was as wiry a specimen of humanity as
can well be imagined, being about five feet eight inches in height, and
weighing about 155 pounds. And while his weight was far below that of
"t'auld squire," as Osbaldiston was called. It must be remembered that
the squire rode on the springy turf of an English race course and was
mounted on the stoutest thoroughbred horses that could be had for love
or money. On the contrary, Remme had horses of inferior size all the
way to the Oregon boundary, and had the snows of Trinity and Scott
mountains and the mud of Oregon to contend with. Hence I believe his
horses bore the greater burden of the two. Remme never complained of
fatigue after he
had been in Portland the second day, and but for the mishap detailed
below, might have lived to realize the three score and ten of a Hebrew
patriarch. He weighed as many ounces to the pound as any man that ever
saw Oregon or California, even in that heroic age.THIS PERFORMANCE,
all things considered, was worthy of rank beside those of Mowry and
Osbaldiston. The former made his ride on an American racetrack, with
men to saddle fresh horses for him while he was riding. Squire
Osbaldiston rode nothing but the most highly trained thoroughbred race
horses on the English turf, one of which--Tranby--is to be found in the
pedigrees of Foxhall, Molly McCarthy and Vandalite. On the contrary,
Louis Remme had to ride day and night a distance of 665 miles, from
Knight's Landing to Portland, in storm and darkness, over Indian trails
and through a trackless wilderness, as it then was. He made it in just
143 hours, deducting ten hours for sleeping--two hours in each of the
five days between Red Bluff and Eugene City--which leaves 133 as actual
running time. In the Grave Creek Hills and the Pass Creek Canyon he did
not make two miles per hour, on account of deep mud; and his losses by
deep snow in Trinity and Scott mountains were even greater than by the
Oregon mud. Therefore his average time was just live miles per hour
over a distance of 665 miles, of which at least forty miles was deep
snow and eighty miles deep mud. Five times his horse gave out, so that
he was obliged to dismount and lead him; and twice he lost the trail
and had to travel over an hour to regain it.LOUIS REMME'S RIDE
is one of the legends of early Oregon that the old pioneers like to
tell of beside the roaring oak fires in the Willamette farm houses in
the long winter nights, when the apples are roasting on the
hearthstones and the cider sparkles in the white china mugs on the
kitchen table. It is borne on the mountain torrent of tradition down to
the vast ocean of history--a history such as no other people
knew--replete with heroism and self-sacrifice. The time-scarred veteran
of that Argonautic era, the man who hewed logs near the Long Tom
[River] on the Calapooia, and lived on salt salmon and cracked wheat in
the days of "54:40 or fight,"
sometimes awakens in the night to listen to a rattle of hoofprints borne on
the breeze of the midnight noon, and says as he rolls over in bed--"There's that crazy Frenchman a-goin' to Portland after some more money. Wonder if he'll beat the steamer this time!" And our hero--what became of him? About four years after the events detailed in the foregoing paragraphs he started from Rogue River for Yreka with some cattle. The pass of the Siskiyous was blocked with snow, and he tried to go out by Sams Valley toward Klamath, and so down towards Cottonwood. The snow was too deep, and the gallant fellow, after vainly trying to extricate his dumb beasts, was frozen to death. M.
Weekly Oregonian, Portland, February 12, 1882, page 1 Abridged and reprinted by the Livermore Herald, Livermore, California, April 27, 1882, page 1The Remme story stands up to historic scrutiny, but there is question as to by how many hours--or days--he beat the steamer to Portland. The news of Page, Bacon's failure reached San Francisco February 17th. According to the Oregonian of March 10, 1855 (page 2), the Columbia arrived in Portland with the news at 9:00 p.m. March 7th. The Portland office of Adams & Co. in that issue reported it had sufficient funds to cover its Oregon liabilities. The Oregonian is silent on when the office closed, but its ad ran on page 4 into June--probably surviving much longer than the business. Adams & Co. went into bankruptcy in Oregon, and on July 7, 1855 announced that it would settle outstanding accounts at 50 cents on the dollar.
RIDING AGAINST TIME.
Yreka, thirty or thirty-five years ago, was a prosperous mining town,
and in 1857 a telegraph line was first established there. A gentleman
from Oregon who disposed of considerable interests in Yreka for checks
on San Francisco was horrified one morning, a few days after the
transactions, to read in the morning papers that the bank, against
which most of his cheeks were drawn, had failed and he was left nearly
bankrupt. A thought struck him, and seeing that the Oregon steamer left
San Francisco that morning for Portland, he resolved to beat it there
if possible.But He Saved his Money by the Effort. He drew his checks, bought a horse and began the race. The setting sun found him on Rogue River, where he changed horses, and by morning he emerged from the big canyon, where he again traded horses, and again at Roseburg at noon he made another trade. Night found him in the Calapooia Mountains. He was frequently detained in making his "horse trades," but the third morning found him in sight of Portland and he soon saw that the dreaded steamer had not arrived. He put up his horse at Stevens', on the east side of the river, and crossed over on the horse ferry. As the bank was not yet opened he walked impatiently up and down the street, fearing every moment that the cannon which announced the steamer's arrival would send forth the news. A few minutes appeared as many hours. Finally the doors of the bank swung open and he went in and drew his coin. He again crossed the river and was just lying down when the vibrations of the cannon rattled his windows and announced the arrival of the boat. Ten minutes afterward the doors of the bank were closed, but he had won the race and saved himself from being a penniless man. ----
The above item is taken from the Mott Star published in Siskiyou County. In relation to it the Yreka Journal
says it can find no pioneer of Yreka who recollects the occurrence.
Weaverville can match the episode, and it is probable that the above is
it garbled account of an early-day incident in Weaverville, the facts
concerning which are as follows: in 1855 the Loomis Bros., Jud. and
Leander, were running a meat market in Weaverville at the present stand
of the Mountain Market of J. C. O'Neil. A short distance from them,
where the vacant lot now is, stood a building occupied as a branch
office of Adams & Co. of San Francisco; Ed. Rowe was agent and did
a general banking and express business. Because of its convenience
Loomis Bros. left their surplus cash there on deposit. One morning
early in the year Leander went to the office to draw some money, as he
was going to Oregon to buy cattle. Rowe informed him that Adams &
Co. had failed, word having reached Weaverville the preceding night,
and that their surplus was involved in the general wreck. Adams &
Co. had a branch office in Portland, Oregon, but there was no telegraph
between the two cities at that time. Rowe gave Mr. Loomis a check on
the Portland office for $5000 and told him as long as he was going to
Oregon, he might as well take it along; it might be of use to him if he
reached Portland before the San Francisco steamer, which ran rather
irregularly in those days. Mr. Loomis took the hint and check, mounted
his horse and started on his arduous trip to beat the steamer and win
$5000. He was a spare, well-knit man and in good trim for a long ride.
He pushed the horse till the horse gave out and then hired or bought
another as the circumstances required. He rode the distance of about
600 miles in five days and reached Portland before the steamer. He went
to the bank, cashed his check, bought his cattle and returned to
Weaverville, but more leisurely than on the up-trip. $1000 a day are
pretty good wages for even hard riding, and that is what he made by his
sagacity and pluck.Weekly Trinity Journal, Weaverville, California, April 5, 1890, page 3 See the story of Louis Remme, above and elsewhere on the internet. HOW REMME GOT COIN FROM OREGON'S FIRST BANK
A letter from Thomas B. Merry of Los Angeles to the Journal tells of the first bank in Oregon as follows:
"You are palpably in error when you state that W. J. Ladd started the first bank in Portland. It is a matter of history that when the San Francisco bank failure of February 19 and 26, 1855, came, a cattleman named Louis Remme, living near Jacksonville, had $15,000 on deposit in Adams & Company's bank at Portland. He went to Sacramento by boat and rode all the way from that place to Portland, getting his money out of the bank before they heard of the failure of the parent house in San Francisco. The steamer Columbia (side-wheeler), commanded by Captain W. L. Dall, arrived in Portland at 5:30 p.m. with the news of the failure, and Remme got his money out of Adams & Co. three hours before that. Jack Knott told me that Remme fell asleep at the breakfast table at his ferry-house on the North Umpqua River, during this long five-days' ride." THOMAS B. MERRY.
Medford Daily Tribune, December 20, 1907, page 1Last revised October 31, 2024 |
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