Sierra County CA Archives History - Books .....Early History Of Sierra County 1882
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Book Title: Illustrated History Of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties

EARLY HISTORY.

   The first explorers of this region are not all known. Along the cafion of the
North Yuba men were mining as early as the summer of 1849. Philo A. Haven came
up the North Yuba early in September, 1849, and at that time found notices of
seven different claims posted on Big Rich bar, signed by Hedgepath & Co. He
located on Little Rich bar, and was joined by Francis Anderson, who, on the
fourteenth of September, found the first gold discovered in the neighborhood of
Sierra's capital town. Several other settlements were made within the present
confines of the county, either prior to the discoveries on the North Yuba, or
simultaneously with them. By November several of them were quite populous camps.
A few days prior to Mr. Anderson's discovery at the Forks, he was in Indian
valley with John C. Fulton and------Elliott. There they abandoned their mules,
and packed their culinary and mining utensils over to where Mr. Haven was on
Little Rich bar with his party. Among these was a rocker, so invaluable in those
days for a guaranty of large returns. On their way thither they met an Indian,
who, being unable to communicate in the English tongue, indicated to them, by
laying his head three times on a rock, that there were three men working on the
river a short distance off. In this way they discovered the near proximity of
Mr. Haven and his companions. On the fourteenth, as previously stated, Mr.
Anderson went up to the Forks, and discovered gold at a point immediately above
where the Jersey bridge at Downieville now stands. The value of the find was not
large—about four dollars —but it encouraged him to proceed farther up in hopes
to discover larger pay. The traces of Indians were apparent everywhere. A tree
on Jersey flat was still burning, while a white log lay across the river on
which were a number of deer skulls. Other indications were seen of a fishing
party having been there. Anderson was standing in the water taking out from ten
to twenty dollars to a pan, when he heard a loud noise on the hillside, and saw
a party of men dressed in various bright colors descending towards him. They
were whooping and yelling as they clambered down the steep descent, and
Anderson's first impression was that they were Indians thirsting for his gore.
Grasping his knife firmly, he determined to sell his life dearly, but was soon
pleased to find no necessity for the exercise of his native valor, as they
proved to be the Jim Kane party. Rushing down to the river bank, they paid no
attention to Anderson, but began at once to wash gravel with their rocker. They
were very fortunate in their selection of a point to work, for they cleaned up
all the rest of that day three hundred dollars to a pan. Anderson went down to
Little Rich bar in the evening, full of enthusiasm, and guaranteed to Mr. Haven,
if he could wash a hundred pans of dirt in a day with a rocker, $30,000 for his
trouble. Of course the result fell far short of .his extravagant expectations,
the Kane party having at first struck a natural sluice, where the gold had
accumulated, but which was worked out in a few hours. Notwithstanding, the yield
on the following day, and for several days thereafter, was by no means
insignificant. The morning's work for the Kane party on the fifteenth netted
$2,800. Further particulars of this period are noted in their proper order
elsewhere.

   Philo A. Haven's account of the finding of gold on Little Rich bar is quite
amusing. About the last of August, 1849, while working at Cut Eye Foster's bar,
just below and near Indian valley, in Yuba county, he, with his three
companions, saw an Indian who had a larger nugget than any they had found. On
being asked to tell where he found it, the native became exceedingly reticent on
the subject; but after much parley, he agreed to point his finger in the
direction of the place he had taken it from, in consideration of what he and his
son, a half-grown youth, could eat then and there. The bargain being made,
enough bread was brought out to supply two meals for the four white men, and as
a sort of trimming to the repast, Mr. Haven began frying pancakes. The company
soon saw visions of a famine. Even the great American pie-eater would have hung
his head in shame had he beheld the delicate mouthfuls and the quantity of food
devoured on this occasion. But even an Indian's capacity is limited, and the
feast was finally finished, greatly to the relief of the gold-hunters. Then the
company awaited with ill-suppressed impatience the performance of the Indian's
part of the contract. With great dignity poor Lo arose, and calling the
attention of his son to the way he was about to indicate, faced to the bluff,
and holding his finger straight out before him, turned completely around, the
index digit taking in every point of the compass; after which he sat down with a
loud laugh at having so easily sold them. Mr. Haven joined heartily in the
laugh, and said it was a good joke, telling the jocose aborigine that he was
"heap smart—much too smart for white man"; by which compliments he secured his
assent to a bargain to allow his son to show the place; the conditions being
that if nuggets the size of small walnuts were found, the Indian was to have one
gray blanket; and if only the size of corn or beans, a new blue shirt. The next
morning they started up the river. About two o'clock of the second day they
arrived opposite what was afterward known as Big Rich bar. Here the Indian
pointed to gold lying around, and asked for his recompense. Perceiving Hedgepath
& Co.'s notices posted in various places, claiming seven claims of thirty feet
each, they said it would not do, and that not a single piece should be touched.
He then led the way to the place where he had found the nugget, which was near
the edge of the river opposite the place now known as Coyoteville, and pointing
to a crevice, said: "Dig, you ketchum here." Mr. Haven soon raked out a piece
weighing an ounce and a half. On the same day he located Little Rich bar a
little way up the river. The next day he went upon the ridge and saw the Forks,
now the site of Downieville. A week after, the Hedgepath claims were jumped by
several parties. On the Sunday following their location at Little Rich bar,
Philo Haven and Carlos Haven, his nephew, strolled up the river, and picked up
$700 in pieces between their claim and the mouth of the middle fork of the North
Branch, a short distance above where the Gold Bluff mill now stands. While
returning to camp, they fell in with a miner who had some jerked venison, and
rather than continue on their way that night, they offered the man its weight in
gold for a piece of meat weighing eight or nine ounces, which rather liberal
offer was summarily refused.

   In April, 1858, Major Downie published in the Sierra Democrat a series of
personal reminiscences of 1849, containing, among other things, his
recollections of his first entry into what is now Sierra county, and his
settlement on the present site of Downieville. He and his party arrived at San
Francisco June 27, 1849, in the ship Architect. He was soon en route for Nye's
ranch (Marysville), to which place he and his companions navigated a barge from
Benicia. The North Fork being reputed rich in gold-dust they started in search
of it, but had great difficulty in finding the stream. At Bullard's bar, on the
Yuba, he tarried for some time agitating a rocker, all the time hearing fabulous
stories from prospectors of rich finds elsewhere, none of whom would indicate
the precise place where wealth could be so easily secured. He finally resolved
to go farther up the stream; but those whom he asked to accompany him had not
the courage to brave the hardships of the unknown country above. After many
disappointments he met with some colored sailors, ten in number, who were
willing to go, and also induced an Irish lad, Michael Deverney, to make one of
the company. On the 5th of October, 1849, they started. At Slate range a Kanaka,
Jim Crow, joined them. The succeeding Sunday was spent with "Cut Eye Foster,"
who was reputed to be a professional horse-thief, and employed Indians to carry
on his nefarious business. His corral was the highest up in the mountains, and
many a stray mule found its way into it. However, old Foster is represented by
Major Downie as being a very philanthropic, if a dishonest, man.

   At the Mountain house site the Downie party found the trees blazed to
indicate the road to Goodyear's bar; but they kept up the divide, expecting to
find the big pieces of gold on higher ground. They camped that night on the
north fork of Oregon creek. At Secret canon they found the first gold since
leaving Bullard's bar. They began to think they were nearing nature's treasury,
and crossed the river and camped on O'Donnell flat. Here they prospected a day
or two, but failed to discover the rich deposits there, afterwards brought to
light. Four of them crossed the hill from the flat and saw the deep East Fork
canon below them. Following the ridge, they went towards the Forks. He says:

   "When we got to the first island above the Forks the boys insisted on going
back. I had my attention turned to the low ridge that divides the North fork
from the South. There had already been so much speculation that one did not like
to urge his surmises very strongly; so I said but little, yet felt assured that
there was a fork of the river just beyond that ridge. I agreed that if the boys
would go with me around that point, I would then go back to camp with them. They
consented to do so. Turning the point, we saw the forks of North Yuba, which
have since become so famous. The spot where the town stands was then the
handsomest I have ever seen in the mountains. Long willows waved on the banks of
the north fork, small pine and spruce trees stood in beautiful groups where the
saloons now stand; the hillsides were covered with pretty oaks, stretching out
their strong branches and thick foliage, sheltering the Indian wigwam; and here
and there a tall pine towered above everything. But the miner and the trader
spared none of these; the willows were uprooted, the pine and spruce were cast
out upon the Yuba's current, the branches were lopped from the oaks, and their
trunks made heat for sordid slapjacks; the tall pine was laid low, and all was
changed."

   When they came to the junction of the two streams, they noticed that the
water of the north fork was not so clear as the other. An exploration of the
upper regions revealed a party at work on a small bar just below the Blue banks.
They were very reticent about the diggings; and in answer to a question if they
intended to stay long in the mountains, they replied that they " mout stop a
spell longer, and then again they moutn't." They seemed to entertain the idea
that when their crevice was worked out, gold digging in California would be over
with. The remainder of the party came up the next day, and they unpacked on
Jersey flat. While encamped on Jersey flat Jim Crow one day killed with a small
crowbar a salmon-trout which weighed fourteen pounds. It was boiled in the camp
kettle, and the major says that afterwards gold was found in the bottom of the
kettle. As crevicing was better up the fork, they broke up camp on Jersey flat,
and moved up to Zumwalt flat, where each man could make about five ounces a day.
A day's work was then three hours and a half. Fourteen ounces a day was no
uncommon crevicing. They found gold all along the banks of the north fork,
seldom using a shovel, the implements being a butcher-knife, a tin pan, and a
crowbar. The party intended to winter on a rough-looking bar up the south fork
half a mile. The major speaks of the rich yield on this bar in these words:

   "On Monday I commenced to work on the bar. Mamoo and I had about ten feet
between us, running lengthwise of the bar. On Monday we took out seventeen
ounces; on Tuesday, twenty-four; Wednesday, twenty-nine; Thursday, forty ounces
in the forenoon; and as we took out only nine ounces in the afternoon, Mamoo
would work no longer in the place, saying it was worked out. I have washed as
much as fourteen ounces in one pan while Mamoo was making coffee. In four days
we had taken out in all about $6,000."

   Eight of the boys started below for provisions, taking all the mules with
them, and promising to be back in a few days. Jim Crow went with the party. None
of them came back with the necessary commissary stores. The only one who
returned was Jim Crow, and he came back in the spring with a number of Kanakas
and about five hundred white men, whom he was leading to the rich diggings at
the Forks, supposing that the Downie party was frozen or starved to death. The
winter was spent at the Forks by the party, who experienced great hardships and
privations, both from the, weather and the scarcity of food.

   Many of those who prospected through the eastern part of Sierra county in
1849 returned to the lower camps in the winter, and told glowing tales of the
fortunes to be made there. The substantial sacks of dust and nuggets they
displayed convinced the doubting miner that his paltry fifty dollars a day or
less could be many times increased by seeking the upper country. When the
sunshine and rains of spring had melted the deep snows from the ridges, they
poured into Sierra's territory by the hundreds. In 1850 many flourishing and
populous camps were formed, some of which still exist as substantial, well-built
towns. Among them were Downieville, Goodyear's bar, Fores City, Alleghany,
Howland Flat, and Gibsonville. The famous Gold Lake excitement, though
disappointing many in their Aladdin expectations, yet served to open up and
settle many localities through the vigorous exertions made to discover that
supposed valuable sheet of water. [For an account of the celebrated Gold Lake
expedition see page 145 in this work.]


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Illustrated History of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties

San Francisco: Fariss & Smith
(1882)


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