Sierra County CA Archives History - Books .....Court-House And Hospital 1882
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 20, 2006, 6:37 am

Book Title: Illustrated History Of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties

COURT-HOUSE AND HOSPITAL.

   On the third of August, 1853, G. A. Booth, E. J. Smith, and T. Purdy were
appointed by the court of sessions to draw up specifications for a jail in
Sierra county. The state of society which then existed, the large population
that Sierra could boast of, and the numerous criminals whom it was highly
important should be temporarily deprived of their liberty, made the erection of
a convenient bastile not only a necessary, but an economical, step. The
committee alluded to submitted a report to the court August 18, but it was
referred back to them for amendments and alterations; and so changed, to be
published in the Mountain Echo at Downieville. The court decided, on the
fourteenth of October, 1853, that it could not at this time take into
consideration proposals for building a county jail, and the matter was
postponed. However, five hundred dollars were appropriated for a temporary jail.

   A special term of the court of sessions was held March 14, 1854, to consider
the expediency of building a court-house and jail, and the opinion prevailed
that both were absolutely necessary to the proper administration of county
affairs. The committee on plans and specifications appointed at this session
were H. B. Cossitt, Benjamin Hall, Alanson Smith, and D. G. Webber. An
advertisement for sealed proposals for the erection of a court-house 35x51 feet
in size, a jail 36x13 feet, and a jailor's house 36x20 feet, was published for
one mon^h. Four bids were made on this work, which were opened April 18, and the
contract was awarded to D. G. Webber, for $12,975. The other bids were made by
J. F. Day, Cornelius Day, and William W. Robinson.

   An order issued from the court on the seventh of April, taking for the public
use as much land on Durgan's flat as was deemed necessary, the ground
appropriated being then in the possession of William J. Ford. Three hundred and
fifteen dollars were allowed him for this tract. In May, 1854, a tax of
one-fourth of one per cent, was levied on the taxable property of Sierra county
to pay the indebtedness incurred on the court-house and other buildings. On the
eighteenth of December of the same year, fifteen hundred dollars were
appropriated as a special fund for furnishing the court-house.

   The buildings that the county had contracted for at such a liberal price were
put up during the summer of 1354, but the court, considering that the
specifications were not closely adhered to, refused to accept the buildings when
finished. They remained unoccupied till the first meeting of the board of
supervisors, May 6, 1855, when that body accepted them for the use of the
county, as we have already shown on a former page. The court-house still stands
on a sightly point of Durgan's flat, and though not an imposing or gorgeous
structure, presents a very substantial and creditable appearance.

   To supply medical attendance and suitable food to those who, by misfortune or
through their own faults and misdeeds, are deprived of the greatest boon of
life—health—and have not the means to recover it or to alleviate their
sufferings, has from the first been a matter of solicitous care for * the people
of Sierra county. To the cry of distress they have never turned a deaf ear. Camp
hospitals, where the disabled or broken-down miner might find a welcome refuge,
were sustained in many communities by freely given donations. It is necessary to
correct the impression prevailing among the new generation, that in the early
days the every-man-for-himself policy was universal through the mines. Though
men lived rough, talked rough, and acted rough, the average miner had a great,
noble heart, capable of feeling the sufferings of others; and his purse-strings
were seldom tied when calls were made for help. The first official provision
made for the aid of unfortunates was the appointment by the court of sessions,
on the eighth of May, 1854, of Doctors. T. R. Kibbe and C. D. Aiken as
physicians for indigent sick. On the eleventh of May, 1855, the board of
supervisors appointed a resident physician in each of the three supervisor
districts, to furnish medical attendance upon the indigent sick of the county.
The following appointments were made:

   Dr. Alemby Jump in district No. 1, with a salary of $500.
   Dr. R. W. Carr in district No. 2, with a salary of $700.
   Dr. W. E. Rust in district No. 3, with a salary of $500.

   Changes were made each year in the physicians, until 1858, when the district
system was dropped, and one physician for the whole county was appointed, who
had all the indigent sick under his charge. In November, 1858, the supervisors
ordered the fitting up of the old Fetter building on Jersey flat, in
Downieville, for a hospital, and in December, Dr. E. J. Bryant was appointed to
its charge. Dr. Bryant at that time was a promising young physician, and
afterwards married the daughter of Samuel Hungerford, now Mrs. Mackey. He held
the position of county physician until 1862, when Dr. Thomas R. Kibbe was
appointed, and served two years. Dr. Alemby Jump was his successor, serving six
years, until the appointment of Dr. G. C. Chase, in 1870, who presided over the
hospital for three years. Dr. Jump was reappointed in the fall of 1873, and Dr.
Chase again in 1875, serving two years. Dr. Jump became the county physician for
the fourth time in 1877, and is still the incumbent of the position.

   The new hospital, situated picturesquely on the north fork of the North Yuba,
was built in the fall of 1880, and occupied in the middle of December. The main
building is 24x46 feet in size, with two stories. The dining-room forms an
addition 24 feet in length by 14 feet in breadth, and the kitchen another
addition. The building is very neatly finished both inside and out, and is
surrounded by well-kept grounds subject to constant improvements. The
institution is admirably conducted under the management of Dr. Jump, and
provides accommodation for twenty-six patients, though the average number
furnished with attendance for the last four years is fourteen at a time. The
cost to the county for maintaining patients during several years has averaged
eighty cents per day for each patient. During 1881 forty-nine persons were cared
for. Four of these died during the year, twenty-five were discharged, and one
sent to the state insane asylum at Napa. On the first floor of the main building
is a receiving-ward, with bath-room and a small room for the incarceration of
unruly patients. Up-stairs there are two wards and a steward's room. The
institution is certainly a credit to Sierra county.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Illustrated History of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties

San Francisco: Fariss & Smith
(1882)


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