Butte County CA Archives History - Books .....Pence's Ranch And Pentz P. O. 1882
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Book Title: History Of Butte County

PENCE'S RANCH AND PENTZ P. O.

    In 1850, Mr. M. Pence, in company with William Lyon, Robert Bounds, Alfred
Kagy, and John Slocum, located what was then known as the Lyon ranch, in the
Messila valley (an arm of the Sacramento valley), so named by Mrs. Burnham. Here
they opened a store and eating-place in a tent. The bar was kept on a small
board taken from the broken wagon-box. The interests of his partners changed
hands frequently, but Mr. Pence retained his, and in 1866 bought out Thomas
Harrison and became sole owner of the property. A blacksmith-shop and
post-office are kept by Mr. Pence. The latter was established in 1864, with M.
Pence as post-master. The department spells it Pentz. At first the mail brought
to the office could be placed in a cigar-box; now the different publications
taken at the office number a hundred. It is on the old emigrant road, twelve
miles from Oroville, and has a daily mail.

    The ranch consists of four hundred acres, and is one of the most valuable as
well as beautifully-located ranches in the county. All kinds of fruit trees and
shrubs grow and bear abundantly. The vineyard contains about 12,000 vines. In
the orchard are about sixty orange and lemon-trees, together with a good
collection of peaches, apples, pears, nectarines, apricots, and both black and
California walnuts. The grapes are grown without irrigation, and command the
highest price in the market.

    Manoah Pence, the proprietor of the ranch, was born in Perry county, Ohio,
on the sixth day of April, 1819. He was the son of Isaac and Catherine (Heck)
Pence. Manoah was the second son of seven children. His boyhood days were spent
in labor on the farm, mingled with a limited attendance at public school, so
that his facilities for an education were not large. When twenty-one years of
age he left the parental roof, and for eight years resided in Illinois, Iowa and
Missouri. On the second day of April, 1849, he started for California, and came
overland via the Sublette cut-off, landing on the Lassen ranch October 2. 1849.
His party being out of supplies, Mr. Pence and Dr. Chandler were selected to go
to Sacramento for them. On their return, while at a point near Hamilton, the
storms set in, and they could proceed no further. The other members of the party
were sent for, and they all began mining on the river. Mr. Pence took out with
pick and pan thirty-seven dollars daily. He afterwards mined on the west branch
at Ohio bar, and at Rich gulch, near Yankee Hill. In 1850, he abandoned mining
and settled on his ranch. On December 16, 1857, Mr. Pence was married to Mrs.
Sophia (Chase) Finn, a native of Maine, and widow of the late Nemiah Finn. By
her first marriage she had two children: Laura Helen, born September 20, 1848,
and died April 11, 1849; Charles E., born September 20, 1850, and died August
12, 1851. Mr. and Mrs. Pence have also had two children: Watt M., born September
10, 1858; Layton, born October 16, 1860, and died January 5, 1863. Mr. Pence is
a member of Table Mountain Lodge, F. & A. M., at Cherokee. He is widely known
throughout Butte county, and highly esteemed by all.

    Near Pence's ranch is the lumber-dump of the Oroville Lumber Company's
flume. The Sugar Pine Lumber, Flume and Mining Company was incorporated in 1874.
In 1875-6 the flume was built. It heads in Concow township at Flea valley, where
are two large saw-mills. Two thousand inches of water are conveyed in the flume
a distance of twenty-five miles to the dump, in the course of which there is a
fall of 3,500 feet. On the nineteenth of February, 1879, a new company, called
the Oroville Lumber Company, was formed, with a capital stock of $200,000. Mr.
Daniel Hilton was the first superintendent, and still holds the position. At the
dump there is a large planing-mill, where lumber is made to suit the trade.
Three million feet of lumber are cut annually by this company, and the amount
will be greatly increased hereafter, because of projected improvements to be
made the coming year. Near the dump is a good store, kept by J. K Buffington.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

HISTORY OF BUTTE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA,
IN TWO VOLUMES.

I.
HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA FROM 1513 TO 1850.
BY FRANK T. GILBERT.

The Great Fur Companies and their Trapping Expeditions to California.
Settlement of the Sacramento Valley. 
The Discovery of Gold in California.
BY HARRY L. WELLS.

II.
HISTORY OF BUTTE COUNTY,
From its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time. 
BY HARRY L. WELLS AND W. L. CHAMBERS.

BOTH VOLUMES ILLUSTRATED WITH VIEWS AND PORTRAITS.
HARRY L. WELLS,
517 CLAY STREET, SAN FRANCISCO
1882.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1882, by HARRY L. WELLS, in
the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.

FRANCIS, VALENTINE & Co., Engravers & Printers
517 Clay St., San Francisco


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