Sierra County CA Archives History - Books .....Northern Sierra 1882
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 21, 2006, 11:45 pm

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

NORTHERN SIERRA.

   ST. LOUIS.—Early in the spring of 1850 P. A. Haven and Harvey Wilcox
prospected the country where were afterwards located Sears' Diggings, Cedar
Grove, and Pine Grove, but not considering it better than they already had, they
made no location. On returning in a couple of weeks they found Sears there with
his company. Sears' Diggings were the first on the north side of the county,
being at the outlet of a flat containing six hundred acres of shallow mining
ground, and were very easily worked. In the fall of 1852 a town was laid out by
several Missourians, who conferred upon it the title it now bears. The place
soon became a lively camp. A. L. and B. O. Williams, William Meyers, and one
Stewart built a ditch in 1852, which took water from the south fork of Slate
creek, the water right having been purchased from other parties who had made the
first location on this branch. E. M. Purinton and Benjamin Taylor located it
before the ditch was built and claimed the right to it, proceeding to construct
a ditch of their own. Considerable dissension followed, but the matter was
finally settled by the arbitration of a miners' court. In August, 1853, both
companies united, and became the Sears' Union Water company. The Williams ditch
extended four miles in length, and the Purinton ditch seven miles. A very
substantial stone building was put up at this time, which was occupied below by
Everts & Wilson as an express office, and above by the Odd Fellows and Masons.
It is now used for hotel purposes by Mr. Schwartz. Charles Gerichten and
Mendelsohn & Co. erected two fire-proof buildings also in 1853. Upon the first
day of September, 1854, St. Louis was entirely destroyed by fire, with the
exception of the three structures mentioned. The town continued to grow, and at
the presidential election in 1856 cast a vote 398. At daylight Sunday morning,
July 26, 1857, a fire broke out in the stable of Gallatin & Standish, which
rapidly communicated to the buildings on both sides. Property to the value of
$200,000 was destroyed before the progress of the flames could be stayed. The
heaviest losers were Fuller & Co., hardware merchants, $15,000; Burbank & Babb,
hotel, $10,000; De Pew & Tell, $5,000; Madame Touvounties, $5,000; Gumbert &
Sheffield, $5,000; Caster & Rigby, town hall, $5,000; McFarland, $4,000; L.
Heffron, $3,500; G. Seavy & Co., $3,500; S. Wary, $3,500; J. Gibson, Gallatin &
Standish, Critcher & Johnson, S. McCrary, and Trainor & Gordon, $3,000 each;
while many others lost lesser amounts. The town gradually declined after this
fire, and now has only one hotel, a saloon, and a livery stable. The first
school at St. Louis was taught by Acanthus Hinchman in the fall of 1853, having
twenty pupils, whose tuition was paid for by subscription. The present
school-building was erected in 1855, to which numerous additions were made in
1862. A Jew peddler lost his life at St. Louis in 1854, while exposing his wares
to some women in a saloon. The proprietor asked a man who entered to pay his
bill, but was told that he didn't owe him anything. Pistols were drawn, and
during the friendly exchange of shots the Jew was accidentally killed.

   HOWLAND FLAT.—This place, situated two miles and a half from St. Louis, has
for many years been an important mining camp. Settlements were made here in a
very early day. In the fall of 1862 the town was partially destroyed by fire,
about twenty buildings being burned, but was soon rebuilt in much better shape
than before, and vacant lots were sold at high figures. Potosi, a half-mile
east, grew up in 1863, and in that year both camps together had a population of
nearly 1800. Mining was carried on extensively on the ledges, the Union Water
company's location being the principal one, with a ledge a half-mile one way and
2,000 feet the other. The owners at the time were E. A. Strob and the Moyle
brothers. The place rose to the distinction of possessing a fire department, of
which A. McMillan, E. A. Strob, Conrad Schotte, David Gaby, and Thomas Eve were
trustees, and Charles D. Nichols chief engineer. At Potosi the Pittsburg
company's tunnel was then being run. Howland has for a number of years been a
favorite place for the practice of snow-shoeing, many an exciting tournament
having occurred there. The speed that has been attained in this strange mode of
travel is indeed wonderful, rivaling that of the swiftest railway train. In 1869
the astonishing feat was performed of running six hundred yards in thirteen
seconds, or at the rate of a mile and a half a minute. The principal mines in
this neighborhood are the Empire, from which has been cleaned up as high as
$30,000 in a month, the Bonanza, the Last Chance, and the Sears Union Water
company's claims.

   PINE GROVE is situated two miles from St. Louis and a half a mile from
Howland flat. Its growth and development has kept pace with the rest of this
region, being a place of considerable importance. It was near this place that
Richardson was killed, in 1863, by a man named Chandler, who drove a pick
through his companion's body, penetrating his right lung. No arrests were made.
The unfortunate killing of Fred Willet happened in Pine Grove, on the first day
of January, 1855. A fallen tree having broken in Kavanaugh's house, a large
number of Irishmen congregated to assist in setting the place to rights.
Opposite to Kavanaugh's was Peter Glenn's hotel, where a man named Mullen lived.
Glenn went over, and in the course of the conversation said that his man Mullen
could whip Willet, who was among the crowd that had assembled. Willet, being
under the influence of liquor, went at once to Glenn's hotel to try his prowess
on Mullen, who, being a timid man, refused to fight, and started to go out of
the room. Willet intercepted him before he reached the door, when he received a
fearful wound in the abdomen from a knife in the hand of Mullen, from which he
died on the fourth day afterward. Mullen gave himself up to Squire Hill, at St.
Louis, but no one appearing against him, he went away. For his hand in the
affair Glenn was arrested soon after, with his wife as an accessory. They were
kept in prison at Downieville for nearly a year, when they were liberated by the
verdict of a jury exonerating them.

   GIBSONVILLE.—This thriving village was at one time a very large mining camp,
with a number of hotels, stores, and saloons. Though at present bereft of much
of its former glory, it is still a lively place of more than two hundred
population. The Gibsonville Union Water company controls nearly all .the water
in this vicinity, having two ditches from Slate creek and two from springs in
the ravines. The principal mines in the neighborhood are the Chalcedonia
Consolidated, the Union Consolidated, the Gravel Hill, and the Michigan.

   NEWARK, formerly known as Whisky Diggings, is situated a mile and a half
above Gibsonville. It has been a place of some note, but has long since suffered
the fate of most mining towns, and retrograded.

   HEPSIDAM, nearly a mile from the latter place, is the location of the great
North American mine, a very rich drift claim. In 1877 one hundred and fifty men
were being employed in the tunnel, which had penetrated the hill a distance of
4,500 feet. Work is not now being earned on on so extensive a scale.

   PORT WINE.—This place is four miles west of St. Louis, and four south of La
Porte. It has greatly deteriorated from what it was formerly, though there is
considerable mining  still in progress in the vicinity.

   EUREKA CITY was, in 1856, another of the flourishing camps. In December of
that year a fire started in the New Orleans hotel, burning also the Pacific
hotel and the stores of H. S. Beck, Brazelton & Reis, J. B. Frankell, together
with Moore's, Reynolds', and Hubbard's butcher-shops, and Robinson & Ward's
saloon. Of late years Eureka has again risen to some prominence, in consequence
of the opening and developing of mines.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Illustrated History of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties

San Francisco: Fariss & Smith
(1882)

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/sierra/history/1882/illustra/northern158nms.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/cafiles/

File size: 8.7 Kb