Chapter IX: Mining on the Yuba River

Some time after we had cut the hay I met Mr. Damon, my partner, when he said that he had concluded to go to his home in the East for a short stay, and he would return probably as early as the next winter or spring. He desired me to sell the hay before the rainy season should set in and retain his part of the proceeds until his return. I proposed to send his share of whatever I should receive for the hay to him in the East, but he said that it would be his wish that I would keep it until his return.

One object I had in view when I left Nelson’s Creek was to attend to selling the hay. While it would be some time before the rainy season would set it, there was danger from fire. Everything in the valley was as dry as tinder, and the hay was on the open plain where people were passing back and forth to the mines and cities.

I concluded to make an effort to dispose of it. This was some time near the end of September. I traveled from the Pelham camp to the place where we cut and stacked the hay and found it to be safe.

I sold a small part of it to some one, and then went to Marysville. I there managed to dispose of the balance on condition that the purchaser should do the teaming, but that I should assist in the loading. The distance it was to be drawn was 12 or 15 miles. As it would require several days to do the teaming, and as there was no convenient place near by where I could procure board, I concluded to board myself and sleep on the hay. So I filled a half barrel with water, procured a quantity of salt pork and other provisions, which I hired drawn to the haystack.

I remained at that place and assisted the teamster in loading the hay, otherwise I had no company with the exception of coyotes, of which there were plenty.

These little animals of the wolf species were very numerous at this time. They were not dangerous, but were mischievous. They were small in size but they could make a great amount of noise. About the time it was becoming dark every evening they would begin their howling. First, the voice of one would be heard in some direction, which would seem to be answered by another in another quarter, and then another and another would follow, until there would appear to be a perfect chorus of voices, howling and barking.

I had heretofore learned to keep completely out of their way as much as was possible everything that I had that they would care to eat. However, they soon found my quarters, and I would hear them in the night all about near where I was lying. At first I took little notice of them. One night I was awakened by more noise and disturbance than was usual, when I arose to see what they were doing.

The moon shone brightly and I could see them in large numbers around and very near me. I made an effort to drive them away but they would scamper for a short distance only, when they would stand and look at me.

Upon making an investigation I found they had drawn my pork away a considerable distance into the grass. It was in a sack and had been almost under my head. They had also taken almost everything else that they could find. I took the sack of pork and some of the other most tempting articles I had to the top of the stack of hay, and after making a hole in the pile and burying them about two feet deep, I made my bed directly over them. In this way I succeeded in preserving them from the coyotes.

The next morning I discovered that they had carried away almost everything I had about the camp. They had dragged away to a considerable distance a brand new rope, about 30 feet in length. A new tin pint drinking dipper, a tin spoon, and other articles I found scattered about in various directions, and they had even invaded my water cask and taken the bung out.

I don’t now remember at what price I sold the hay, but believe it was between $40 and $50 a ton, so we made a very fair job in cutting it.

Between the time of the disposal of the hay and the time of the setting in of the rainy season, I cannot at this time give any detailed account of my work.

Some time during the season, and I believe it was during this time, I cut some more wood near Yuba City. At that time the steamboat company did not wish to buy any green wood, but they said if we should cut some and have it drawn out and piled on the bank of the river they would need it after it had become seasoned. Some one, Worcester Gage of Pelham, as I remember, cut with me. We cut quite a quantity and had it piled on the river bank below Yuba City, near an Indian village.

About this time the cholera was raging among these Indians to a fearful extent, and many of them died of the disease. It was their custom to cremate their dead bodies, which they did by placing them on a pile of wood and burning it. The flesh was burned, but the bones would remain unconsumed, which they would gather up and deposit in a small hole in the ground, dug for that purpose. When these bodies were being consumed it created a very sickening odor. After the wood became seasoned it was very convenient for these Indians to use for their domestic purposes, and they carried away considerable quantities of it.

I once tried to frighten them, telling them that I would shoot the first one that I should find in the act of removing any of the wood. It seemed to me that there was not so much removed afterwards. Before the wood was sold Mr. Gage went home to Pelham and left his share of the wood with me to be disposed of and to forward to him his share of the proceeds. I afterwards sold it and sent him his share of the money.

Some time during the fall, after I had sold the hay, I was traveling up the road going toward Bidwell’s, when I heard a horse coming behind me, and on looking back I saw some one riding toward me horseback that I soon recognized as my friend Mr. Damon, though I had supposed he was in the states. He soon overtook me and said he had been no farther than San Francisco, where he had remained for some time, and had concluded to return and not go East at present. On his reaching Marysville he had learned that I had started for Feather River mines, and he came on after me. I was not expecting him for several months and had made no plans to pay him his share for the hay, but presumed of course that he would like his money. I believe I was owing him something more than $400.

I explained to him the situation, and said that probably I did not have enough with me to settle with him in full. He said he had anticipated that situation and that I could pay him as much as I could conveniently spare, or if I could not spare him any at that time it would be just as well. After we had calculated the amount due him from me, we went into one of the cloth hotels by the roadside near by and weighed out the amount in gold dust that was his due, and which exhausted almost the whole amount I had with me. He almost absolutely refused to take it _all_ at that time, but I insisted and he did so. As he was then present I desired to have the matter fully settled.

We then parted and he went toward Marysville, while I continued my journey toward Feather River mines. I have no remembrance of ever meeting Mr. Damon afterwards. He was a good man.

One incident that transpired during the spring of 1850 while I was in the mines of Feather River: Several of us were camped there at the time, one of whom was a man from some town in New Hampshire who crossed the plains in company with us, and whose name as I now remember it, was Watkins. He and I were taken at about the same time with a similar illness, and one was substantially as ill as the other. I didn’t apprehend that either of us was dangerously ill. Mr. Watkins soon lost his courage and began to talk that the should never again meet his friends at home. I endeavored to encourage him to the best of my ability, but it seemed to have no beneficial effect whatever.

Soon after I began to improve, but he grew worse constantly and became more despondent. We had a tent to camp in, but as it was previous to the end of the rainy season, there was yet some damp, cold, stormy weather, and it was cold in the tent.

That he might be made as comfortable as was possible, I constructed a stone fireplace at the end of the tent and built a stone chimney to a point a little higher than the ridge of the tent. This made it possible to keep a fire so as to warm the tent and keep it dry and comfortable, and it operated quite satisfactorily. Mr. Watkins seemed to be very well pleased with the arrangements, but did not improve. I nursed him to the best of my ability, but he steadily declined, and a few days later he died.

We opened a grave in a convenient place, wound his blankets about him, and buried him, which was all we could do for him. Poor Watkins! He had gone to his home, but not to the home that seemed to be uppermost in his mind.

One day in the fall of 1850, when I was in Marysville, there was an auction at which horses were being sold. A very thin, rundown horse was offered and as nobody made a bid, I started it at a small amount, and as no one raised the bid, it was knocked down to me. After making a little inquiry I learned that a man keeping a ranch a few miles out, took horses to herd. I took the horse out there and engaged him to keep it until I should call for it.

Some time in November, about the time the rainy season set in, I one day met George Carlton at Marysville. He inquired what my plans for the winter were. I had made no definite plans for the future. He suggested that we go up on the Yuba, as I remember it was to Park’s Bar, possibly it was Long’s Bar, and work with him during the rainy season at mining. I consented to go with him. At this time I believe the Pelham company had broken up and scattered. A few of the number had gone home or did so soon after, and the others were at different places. The company had made some money, but their mining claim did not yield anything near the amount of gold that was expected of it.

Previous to this time I had met James M. Butler in Marysville on his way to San Francisco and then to go home. I sent by him to my brother Moses at Pelham 18¾ ounces of gold dust, which at $16 per ounce, the California price, was worth $300. This was to pay the money borrowed to pay the expenses to California in 1849. Mr. Butler went home by the way of Mexico and had a hard journey. He arrived home in January.

Mr. Carlton and I went up the Yuba River and made a camp. I made a small quicksilver machine for washing gold. It was of my own invention and I had made one of the same kind before. It was made watertight, and when working it the back end was set lower than the front end. The quicksilver was worked in the rear end, and that end being the lowest part of the machine, the quicksilver would remain there. When the gold touched the quicksilver it would amalgamate and be held there, while the gravel would be washed away and pass out at the other end of the machine. It operated very satisfactorily.

The mines were not very rich at this place, but in good weather we could each make from $8 to $12 dollars a day, and some days considerably more. One advantage here over many other places was that the water did not give us so much trouble, as the bar was larger and higher than many others. The rainy season was not nearly so severe as was that of the year previous. We could also procure better provisions. All eatables were high, and that was to be expected, but they were of a very fair quality. We could procure plenty of either Irish or sweet potatoes, produced, I believe, at the Sandwich Islands.

Mr. Carlton cooked the meat and potatoes and I made and baked the bread and washed the dishes. We passed a very comfortable winter.

At this place were two brothers by the name of Davis from Nashua, N. H. The given name of the elder one I believe was Josiah. If I remember correctly they both lived to return home, but both died not very long after. Josiah died first. The younger one was not more than seventeen or eighteen years of age at that time, but he was very active and smart. They kept a store in quite a large cloth building very near our camp.

An elderly man from eastern Tennessee slept in the building. He was a blacksmith and was probably a man who never accumulated very much property during his life before he came to California. He owned a little forge with a kit of tools and did jobs for the miners, for which he received good pay, and he had accumulated already between $2,000 and $3,000, all of which was in gold dust and which he constantly kept secreted on the ground under his blankets where he laid. He was very jolly and happy and probably then had more money than he ever anticipated having.

Within the same building lodged a man from Virginia, a miner, a tall, spare man, always good-natured, but somewhat taciturn or reserved, and appeared to be an honest man, one which almost any one would not hesitate to trust. The Davis brothers, and some others, also slept in the same building.

I was very friendly with the Davis brothers, who by the way, were brothers of the late S. S. Davis of Nashua. I was in the building quite often when I was not at work.

One day Mr. Blacksmith came running from the building about breakfast time, almost insane with excitement. Upon making inquiry as to the cause of his grief he said some one had stolen all his purse of gold. At first it was thought he had probably mislaid it, and that it would be found where he had put it.

An investigation was made at once, after which all present were satisfied that a theft had been committed by some one, but who the guilty party was no one could seem to determine.

The first thing to be done was to make a thorough search of every person known to have been in the building that morning. That was done, and as I had been into the place, I was searched with the others, but the search revealed nothing.

There was a man there of rather eccentric character, who was also mining on the bar. He made quite

From an Old Print.

VIGILANTES IN ’49.]

numerous inquiries, during which it was brought out that the Virginia man went to the river quite early that morning for a pail of water. After leaving the route he took, the eccentric man took the trail and followed it to near the river, where he discovered some traces or tracks leading from the trail a short distance to a place where the sand had been disturbed, as appeared, with some one’s hands.

He didn’t disturb it or even go to the place, but immediately returned and made report of his discovery. A party soon after went with him, and digging away the sand at the spot of the disturbance, the blacksmith’s bag of gold was revealed.

It was carried to the camp and Mr. Blacksmith was asked to identify his bag of gold, which he had lost. This was before he knew there was any prospect of ever recovering it. This he readily did, and when it was placed in his hands he was as happy a man as I ever saw. He was so overjoyed that he wanted to give one-half of it to those that found it.

However, the incident so shocked him that he concluded to return immediately to his home in Tennessee, where he had a daughter. Soon after he left for home.

The evidence against the Virginian seemed to be quite conclusive. He was the only person known to have pursued that trail to the river that morning, and the footprints in the sand agreed very perfectly with his boots. “Judge Lynch” was soon summoned to hold a court. The court was organized and the Virginian was arraigned. The evidence was very damaging, but was circumstantial and not entirely positive, every one present and hearing the evidence seemed to believe him to be the guilty party. The verdict of the court was to the effect: That he was probably guilty of committing the robbery, but as there was room for a little doubt, he was entitled to that doubt. He was not sentenced to be executed at once, provided he would leave the bar immediately, otherwise, he must suffer the penalty. He immediately left and I never again saw or heard of him.

We remained at that place until near the end of March, 1851. I believe I enjoyed our stay here better than any other time of the same length during my time in California. My health was fairly good; we made average pay, and had good company.

About this time we concluded to go to San Francisco, where neither of us had yet been.

Mr. Carlton had been talking continually about going to farming in some of the coast valleys, which at that time seemed to be paying good returns. We started for Marysville.

At that time the Yuba River was quite high, swollen by recent rains, and we were obliged to make the crossing at a ferry. At the place of the ferry the current was rapid and strong, and immediately below were falls or rapids, full of immense boulders.

The ferry boat was a large one, made for the purpose of carrying teams, mules and horses, as well as foot passengers. It was held at its place and guided across the river by a large rope made fast over the river. At this high stage of water only foot passengers were ferried over. The rope was a large one, but I noticed that it was quite old and considerably worn.

There were several fellow passengers with us in crossing. As soon as we were fairly in the stream I noticed there was a heavy strain on the rope, and it seemed to me it was liable to part at any second. I looked at the whirling, boiling stream below, that I might, if possible, make some consistent attempt to save myself in case the rope should part and we should go over the rapids.

I could see no possibility of escape for any one aboard in that event. I uttered not a word until we had landed safely on the opposite shore, when I made the inquiry of the ferryman if he considered the rope used to be safe for the purpose at that stage of water. He said he believed it to be perfectly safe. I told him I could not be hired at any price to recross the stream again under like conditions, as I did not consider the rope safe.

I afterwards learned that on the following day, while thirteen men were crossing in the same boat, the rope parted and every one of the men, including the ferryman, were drowned.

We went to Marysville, and I continued on to the ranch where I had left the horse the fall previous. Upon inquiring for my horse of the proprietor, he went out to the range and returned with a sleek, fat black horse that did not seem to resemble in any way the one I had left there, except in color. At first I could not believe it to be the same animal, but I accepted his word, and after settling for its keeping, I rode it away. It was a very handsome horse. As Mr. Carlton also owned a horse we rode down the valley on horse back to Sacramento City, where we left our horses and took a steamer for San Francisco.

At that time there were as many as three quite large steamers constantly running between Sacramento and San Francisco. One company was running the “Senator” and “New World,” both of which I believe formerly were run between Boston and Bangor, and had been taken around Cape Horn to San Francisco. The other was the Hartford, a slower and older boat. The fare I don’t remember, but it was not so much on the Hartford as on either of the other two boats. We took passage on the Hartford.

This was near the time that the excitement in regard to the Vigilance Committee was at its height. Several persons had been tried and executed in San Francisco, and considerable excitement existed there. The civil law had taken the place of lynch law, and had been in operation several months.

Murders, robberies and other crimes were of almost every-day occurrence. The courts had failed in most cases to make convictions, and the criminals, especially in such cases where they possessed a considerable amount of wealth, went free and unpunished. Life or property had become very unsafe almost anywhere. The Vigilance Committee soon caused a far different and a much better state of affairs. Many were the cases in which the evidence against the prisoner would seem conclusive, but the verdict would be “not guilty.” The prisoner would be immediately seized, taken to the rooms of the committee and there tried and convicted and executed, and all within the space of a short time after he had been cleared by the court.

Several such cases took place while we remained in San Francisco, which was several days.

We went out to the old Mission Dolores, and to what has been later called Seal Rocks. We continued our journey down the valley and made some investigation in regard to lands for farming purposes. We learned that all those lands were claimed under old Spanish or Mexican grants, which at that time had not been settled or adjusted by the United States government, consequenty we abandoned the scheme of farming and returned to Marysville.

We soon after parted and I have no remembrance of ever meeting Mr. Carlton after that time. He never returned to his home in New Hampshire, but died in California a few years later.