RNIA PIONEER 
 
 CARLISLE S.ABBOTT 
 
Class Y "^ ^' ' t 
 
 Book. ,^^ '3 
 6)pyright}i^ 
 
 CDFffilGHT DEPOSni 
 
RECOLLECTIONS OF A 
 CALIFORNIA PIONEER 
 
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Frontispiece 
 
RECOLLECTIONS OF A 
 CALIFORNIA PIONEER 
 
 BY 
 
 CARLISLE S. ABBOTT 
 
 THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
 440 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 
 MCMXVII 
 
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 A f,3 
 
 Copyright, 1917, bt 
 The Neale Publishing Company 
 
 ^ 
 
 //• 
 
 SEP 20 1917 
 
 ©CI.A476t49 
 
To 
 
 my children and my grandchildren 
 this volmne is affectionately inscribed. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Foreword 9 
 
 CHAPTEB 
 
 I. Early Years 11 
 
 IL Off for California 18 
 
 III. The Valley of the Platte ... 26 
 
 IV. Swimming the Platte 34 
 
 V. The Gray Wolf 45 
 
 VI. Westward 53 
 
 VII. The Desert 63 
 
 VIII. At the Carson River 72 
 
 IX. At the Mines 86 
 
 X. Judge Lynch and Yankee Slide . 98 
 
 XI. Diversions and Amusements . . 114 
 
 XII. Just an Incident 117 
 
 XIII. Right Place— Wrong Time ... 124 
 
 XIV, Homeward Bound 128 
 
 XV. The Second Trip Across .... 134 
 
 XVI. Menaced by the Pawnees ... 140 
 
 XVII. At Sacramento— Flood and Fire . 145 
 XVIII. The Wrecks of the Sea Nymph and 
 
 Long Island 151 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTEB PAGE 
 
 XIX. Salinas Valley — A Bull and Beab 
 
 Fight 155 
 
 XX. Early Salinas Valley Politics . . 159 
 
 XXI. Business Ventures 164 
 
 XXII. In Arizona 169 
 
 XXIII. An Awful Journey, and a Fool Bar- 
 
 gain 172 
 
 XXIV. Uncle Ben's Escape 179 
 
 XXV. An Apache War Dance .... 183 
 
 XXVI. Seeing the Country 189 
 
 XXVII. Presentiments 200 
 
 XXVIII. Arizona Politics ...... 205 
 
 XXIX. A Reminder of a Fool Bargain . .210 
 XXX, The Apache Indian and His Atroci- 
 ties 216 
 
 XXXI. The Peck Family 219 
 
 XXXII. An Arizona Romance 222 
 
 Epilogue 234 
 
FOBEWOED 
 
 This book of Recollections was entirely writ- 
 ten after I had passed my eighty-eighth birth- 
 day, the chief inducement to the undertaking 
 being a desire on my part to leave to my child- 
 ren, my grandchildren, and their posterity a 
 story of my long life. 
 
 There will, therefore, be found in these pages 
 some things that will prove of little or no inter- 
 est to the average reader; but these purely per- 
 sonal passages are, I trust, few in number, and 
 they may be readily skipped. 
 
 That all my readers will give full credence to 
 everything that is hereinafter related is more 
 than I can reasonably expect; but this consid- 
 eration does not militate against the truth of 
 the statement I now make: that, however ex- 
 travagant, however extraordinary, some of the 
 incidents here referred to may appear, I have 
 endeavored to give a truthful narrative, and 
 that, while the lapse of years and the infirmities 
 of age have doubtless caused my memory to 
 fail in reference to exact dates, distances, di- 
 rections, and such trifling matters, I have in all 
 the substantial presented the truth. 
 
 The term ** California Pioneer, '^ in its strict 
 9 
 
10 Foreword 
 
 application, includes only those who reached 
 the State prior to January 1, 1850; and while 
 I do not quite measure up to this standard, I 
 have thought that this acknowledgment may 
 soften the criticism that otherwise would prop- 
 erly follow my appropriation of a label of 
 which those dauntless old heroes have always 
 been so justly proud. 
 
 The frequent use I have made of the first 
 personal pronoun singular, — not less offensive 
 to the author than to the reader, — was rendered 
 necessary by the nature of the production ; how- 
 ever, as the word makes for brevity, this blem- 
 ish is in a measure compensated. 
 
 Making no pretension to literary excellence, 
 I shall not complain of the criticisms of the 
 learned concerning the literary qualities of this 
 production; for it is just what it purports to 
 be : a plain life history of a plain old man. 
 
 Carlisle S. Abbott. 
 Salinas, Cal., 1917. 
 
RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 A CALIFORNIA PIONEER 
 
 1828-1917 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 EAKLY YEAES 
 
 In a large farmhouse on the eastern shore of 
 Lake Memphremagog, about twelve miles north 
 of the line between Canada and Vermont, on 
 the 26th day of February, 1828, I became an 
 inhabitant of this little planet, — over which we 
 crawl for a few short years, much as a lady- 
 bug crawls over a pumpkin, — where we live, and 
 love, and strive, and fight. 
 
 Therefore I am a Canadian, although my 
 parents were from Connecticut. They emi- 
 grated to Canada when that country was a 
 dense forest, and they had to clear the land of 
 timber, then of stumps. Then a crop of rocks 
 appeared, which had to be dug out and either 
 made into fences or rolled down into the lake. 
 One of my earlier recollections is of Father say- 
 ing to us three younger boys, — Harvey, Alvin, 
 and Carr : 
 
 11 
 
12 A California Pioneer 
 
 ** Let's go down to the lake and have some 
 fun rolling rocks down the hill and see them 
 jump into the water." 
 
 Well, it was fun all right, but late in the after- 
 noon we got tired, and Harvey said : 
 
 **Look here, Carr, don't Father mean this 
 for workr' 
 
 It did not take long for us to conclude that 
 he did ; and we went home. 
 
 In the winter, when the snow covered the 
 fences. Father would go to Montreal, eighty- 
 miles away, with butter, cheese, and hogs, which 
 were frozen as hard as the ice that covered the 
 lake. 
 
 Our house was an old-fashioned affair, one 
 and a half stories high, with a room eighteen 
 or twenty feet square, in which, — ^not the least 
 of its conveniences, — was a fireplace that would 
 accommodate a log two feet in diameter and 
 four feet long. 
 
 The family originally consisted of seven sons 
 and three daughters ; but some of my brothers 
 being then of age, had refused to take the oath 
 of allegiance to the British government and had 
 gone to the United States. 
 
 When I was quite small, a sister about six- 
 teen years of age picked me up and went romp- 
 ing across this big room with me sitting upon 
 her left shoulder; but she accidentally let my 
 legs slip from beneath her arm; this broke my 
 
Early Years 13 
 
 hold on her neck, and I went over backward \ 
 and down to the floor head first. And ever 
 since then I seem to have been, most of the 
 time, either wrong end np, or in the right place 
 at the wrong time. 
 
 At the age of eight years my mother died, 
 giving me in charge of an older brother, Abiel. 
 I have no fault to find with Abiel, but he was 
 the greatest worker of any age or country, and 
 cared nothing for amusements. In the winter 
 he would go into the pine woods on some timber 
 contract and leave me with all the chores to 
 do, — feeding stock, milking cows, and chopping 
 open water holes (which used to freeze over 
 every night) for the cattle to drink from, and 
 as this made me late to school, black marks 
 were the result. 
 
 On one occasion, when I was seventeen years 
 old, I took the black mare and light wagon and 
 went away three miles, got my best girl, and 
 went to an apple-paring. We pared apples un- 
 til midnight, had a banquet, and then danced 
 until daylight. The sun was well up when I 
 got home; and I got the scolding of my life. 
 
 About two weeks later a neighbor had an- 
 nounced an apple-paring for the afternoon. I 
 told Abiel that my two next older brothers 
 were going and I wanted to go, but he said 
 *'No.'' We were digging potatoes on a rocky 
 hillside, and Abiel remarked that he wanted to 
 
14 A California Pioneer 
 
 get those potatoes dug before the snow fell, 
 saying, moreover, that I was getting rude and 
 unsteady, and was running around with the 
 girls and did not earn my board. I happened 
 to be picking up potatoes at the time and was 
 about ten feet from him, with about a peck of 
 potatoes in the basket; so I slung it at him 
 with all my strength, and the potatoes went all 
 over him. I broke and ran, and at every jump 
 I made down that hill I thought he was in 
 my last step, but I could not look back, for that 
 would take time. Finally I had to turn a square 
 corner to go around the barn, and, looking back, 
 saw he was standing in the same spot, leaning 
 on his hoe-handle. For years after, whenever 
 I thought of him, whether it was light or after 
 I had closed my eyes at night, I could see him 
 leaning on that hoe-handle, looking after the 
 runaway boy who did not return. 
 
 I went to the house, put on my best suit, tied 
 my other clothes up in a bundle, went to the 
 apple-paring, and danced as I had never danced 
 before, for I was not only mad but scared about 
 my present situation, — with no place to go after 
 the dance. I had left the bundle of everyday 
 clothes in the brush along the road, which was 
 all the home I now had ; and that infernal poem 
 that I had recited at our evening spelling-school 
 kept running through my head. I can recall but 
 two of these verses : 
 
Early Years 15 
 
 Pity the sorrows of a poor old man 
 
 Whose trembling limbs have borne him to your door, 
 Whose days are dwindled to the shortest span, 
 
 Oh, give relief, and Heaven will bless your store I 
 
 These tattered clothes my poverty bespeak, 
 
 These hoary locks proclaim my lengthened years, 
 
 And many a furrow down my grief- worn cheeks 
 Has been the channel for a flood of tears. 
 
 My two older brothers, Harvey and Alvin, 
 were at the dance, and wanted to know what the 
 blazes was the matter with me to-night, remark- 
 ing: 
 
 **You dance every set and slash the girls 
 around as though they were bundles of straw. ' ' 
 
 I told them the whole story. They insisted 
 on my going home with them to breakfast, which 
 I did; and after that I struck out for a job. 
 Finally, after two days' search, I got employ- 
 ment at eight dollars a month until the school 
 opened. Then I went to school and worked for 
 my board nights and mornings. 
 
 The following summer I worked for Ralph 
 Merry at Magog. He had a store in town and 
 a farm near by. Wages big, — five dollars per 
 month in cash, and five dollars in trade out of 
 the store I However, I saved money enough to 
 take me to Wisconsin, — the ^^Far West,'' as it 
 was then called, — where I had four brothers, 
 and where I remained until 1850, when I started 
 for California. Brother Alvin and I ran one 
 of those old-fashioned, eight-horse, sweep 
 threshing machines in '48 and '49. This would 
 
16 A California Pioneer 
 
 not be worth mentioning if it were not for an 
 incident that took place in 1849, while thresh- 
 ing for a man by the name of Fox. 
 
 The farmers had to furnish all the help in 
 those days. Fox was a temperance man, and 
 did not allow liquor around if he knew it. New- 
 ell, one of the employees, loved it dearly, and 
 he managed to smuggle in a jug of whiskey, 
 got drunk, and fell off the stack. As this put 
 Newell completely out of commission, the grain 
 was not now coming fast enough, and Fox went 
 to get another man to take NewelPs place; but 
 soon a white flag was put out of the window 
 to announce that lunch was ready. We were 
 afraid Fox would not be able to get the neces- 
 sary help, so we tried to wake Newell and get 
 him to the house, thinking a lunch would fix 
 him for the afternoon's work. We shook him, 
 stood him on his head, and tried to shake the 
 whiskey out of him, but without result. At 
 length some one said : 
 
 ''He is dead, let's bury him." The ground 
 was a sandy loam and easy digging, and we 
 soon had a hole two feet deep at one end and 
 tapering to the surface at the other. We put 
 in some straw, laid Newell in, then put on more 
 straw, then piled on dirt, and patted it down 
 just leaving his face above ground, and went to 
 lunch. On our return Newell was awake, but 
 he could move neither hand nor foot, though 
 he could move his tongue, and he used some 
 
Early Years 17 
 
 language which, as Bret Harte would say, was 
 **frequent and painful and free.'* We dug him 
 out and started him for the house. I never ex- 
 pected to help bury him again, but I was called 
 upon to do so the following year. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 OFF FOR CALIFORNIA 
 
 During tlie following winter ( '49-^50) brother 
 Alvin and I, attracted like so many others by 
 the reported discoveries of gold in California, 
 determined to go to that land of promise. The 
 usual outfit was a four-horse team and a two-* 
 horse wagon, which would carry sufficient sup- 
 plies for four men, who could mess together. 
 
 There were many people taking the trip, and 
 we at length formed connection with two men 
 named Mellon and Vetter. They put up two 
 horses, while Alvin and I contributed a like 
 number, — each man to pay his proportion for 
 the wagon and necessary supplies, and all four 
 to stick together, sick or well, until the **land 
 of gold*' should be reached. Two other out- 
 fits of the same kind joined us, making a com- 
 pany of twelve, all agreeing to share camp and 
 guard duty on the trip. 
 
 We left Beloit, Wisconsin, March 3, 1850. 
 There was a large crowd assembled to see us 
 off, and while shaking hands with wives, sisters, 
 and sweethearts, I slipped over to Dr. Merri- 
 man's to bid my fiancee Elizabeth good-by, and 
 
 18 
 
Off For California 19 
 
 give her a smack, without the crowd's looking 
 on. 
 
 Nothing of importance occurred during our 
 trip to the Missouri River, which we reached 
 at a point opposite where Omaha is now situ- 
 ated. Here we crossed in a skiff to visit a 
 Frenchman named Sarpie, then the only resi- 
 dent of the now flourishing city of Omaha. He 
 had a large log house and was engaged in trad- 
 ing with the Indians, exchanging knickknacks 
 for peltry. He told us we should not think of 
 crossing the plains with so small a company; 
 that we would need a guard at camp and two 
 men out with the horses, and guard duty would 
 come too often. Furthermore, he said we might 
 have trouble with the Indians and get wiped 
 out; and as to swimming the Platte to lead a 
 band of horses across,— it was full of quicksand 
 that would settle in our clothes and sink us. 
 
 We were, however, undismayed by his dire 
 predictions, and upon returning to the east side 
 of the river, the ^^City of Tents,'' we found the 
 numerous outfits there assembled discussing the 
 matter of consolidating into companies of from 
 fifty to seventy-five men. 
 
 We joined one of these companies, which had 
 a man by the name of Clark for its captain. 
 Clark had been an Indian trader and knew the 
 whole eastern slope of the Rockies as well as 
 the climatic conditions, and he was likewise 
 
20 A California Pioneer 
 
 familiar with, the Indian tribes, their customs 
 and habits. 
 
 Our company consisted of fifty-three men. 
 Captain Clark appointed a committee to see 
 that each separate company had a sufficient 
 supply of food, and that each man had a rifle, 
 a pistol and a sufficient supply of ammunition. 
 Without these necessaries no man could join 
 our company. One of our number, by the 
 name of Pardee, died of pneumonia the day be- 
 fore we crossed the river, and was buried where 
 now rests the eastern end of the great railroad 
 bridge spanning the river. The fifty-two of us 
 crossed the river on the 20th day of March, 
 and camped near Sarpie's store, and the next 
 morning we started westward over a gently 
 undulating prairie. This ground had been 
 burned over the previous fall, and the new short 
 grass would hardly sustain stock even if it did 
 not have to work, but we each had a few sacks 
 of kiln-dried corn meal for such an emergency, 
 so we were able to move along at about ten or 
 twelve miles a day, until we passed the Loup 
 fork of the Platte, near its junction with that 
 stream. 
 
 About twelve miles west of the Missouri we 
 came to a small stream, whose banks were 
 nearly perpendicular and about ten feet apart, 
 and whose depth was about six or nine feet, 
 down to a muddy bottom. Those who had pre- 
 viously passed over this place had cut down the 
 
Off For California 21 
 
 banks on eacli side and had crossed by first 
 taking the teams over, then running a wagon 
 down into the strqam, and then hitching a chain 
 to the tongue and pulling the wagon out. Cap- 
 tain Clark said that it would take until dark 
 to get our outfits across in that way, and told 
 us we had better turn our teams out and build 
 a bridge. 
 
 There was a clump of cottonwood trees about 
 three hundred yards up the stream, and here 
 we cut four logs, about eighteen feet long and 
 one foot in diameter, for stringers ; then we cut 
 poles and brush for covering, and by dusk the 
 bridge was completed and ready for use. Two 
 years later I crossed the same bridge with ox 
 teams. 
 
 We rolled out early next morning in order to 
 reach the Loup before nightfall, as the fire had 
 not burned the country to the west of that 
 stream, and the feed there was good. We had 
 traveled some six or eight miles when Captain 
 Clark, who had gone ahead on horseback, came 
 back on the run, shouting : 
 
 **Go into camp quick! Put the wagons in a 
 circle. Lash the tongue of one wagon to the 
 inside hind-wheel of the next, forming a cor- 
 ral. '^ 
 
 **What — What the blazes is the matter f a 
 dozen voices cried. 
 
 ^* There is a red blanket spread across the 
 road a few rods ahead, ' ' replied Clark. 
 
22 A California Pioneer 
 
 This was a signal for a big laugh. 
 
 ^^ Can't we drive over a blanket, or throw it 
 out of the way, or drive around it?'* 
 
 * ^ No ; it is an Indian notice that they want a 
 parley, — a friendly talk with the captain of 
 this company, and if we drive over the blanket, 
 it is to defy them; while if we throw it to one 
 side or drive around it, it means that we ig- 
 nore them ; so get into camp quick, and we will 
 soon see a messenger/' 
 
 This satisfied us that Clark understood In- 
 dian customs better than we did, so we rushed 
 to form the corral, and before the horses were 
 out to graze, six Indians sprang to their feet 
 from a low swag in the plain about two hun- 
 dred yards away. Clark beckoned them to ap- 
 proach, which they did. One of them spoke 
 broken English. He said : 
 
 **Big Pawnee Chief wants to see your chief." 
 
 ''What for? What does he wantT' replied 
 Clark. 
 
 But the messengers did not know, — or pre- 
 tended not to know. They said he was at the 
 river ''four or five miles away, no more.'' 
 
 "All right," returned Clark; "you go to the 
 village. Go fast. I come." 
 
 He then called to his partner Newcomb to 
 saddle and come on; and the two kept close to 
 the Indians ' heels until the village was reached. 
 
 The Chief's tepee was like all the others but 
 larger. Clark and Newcomb rode in front of 
 
Off For California 23 
 
 the big tepee and dismounted, and the Chief 
 came out. He was a tall, robust man, slightly 
 gray, and could speak English fairly well. He 
 said: 
 
 *^You Chief of big train r^ 
 
 **Yes,^' repHed Clark. ^^Me Chief. What 
 do you wantr' 
 
 **Well,'^ said the Indian, *^you eat my grass. 
 It makes game go away, and you kill my game. ' ' 
 
 It is considered by the Indians to be very 
 rude to interrupt an Indian Chief when he is 
 talking, and Clark waited until he was through, 
 before saying: 
 
 **You have no grass, the fire burned it up. 
 We have been in your country only two days, 
 and have seen no game, and we do not want 
 your game. We have plenty of meat, but we 
 want grass when it grows. Now what do you 
 wantr' 
 
 ''Well,*' answered the Chief, ''I want two 
 plugs of tobacco, four pounds of sugar in lumps, 
 twenty pounds of flour and meal, three brass 
 rings for my three wives to wear on their 
 wrists, and lots of jews-harps for the babies.'' 
 
 ''All right," said Clark. "Send men to get 
 it." 
 
 He had written down the articles and had 
 then started back for the train. Four Indians 
 on their ponies followed, and the articles de- 
 manded were contributed by our outfits. But 
 before our teams were ready to start there were 
 
24 A California Pioneer 
 
 at least one litindred men, boys, and girls there 
 with leggins, belts, hat-bands and bnckskin 
 purses and moccasins to trade for trinkets, 
 brass rings, jews-harps and lump sugar, — as 
 they called it. The Beloit outfit had nearly a 
 peck of jews-harps, and we traded the most of 
 them off. And talk about music! — it would 
 have drowned the crack of a rifle. Clark told 
 us not to give the Indians anything. 
 
 **Make them give you something in exchange, 
 no matter what. If you give to them, they 
 think you do it because you are afraid of them. ' ' 
 
 We finally got rid of the savages and were 
 again on our way, reaching the Loup after dark, 
 having made the trip laid out in the morning. 
 We had not made enemies of the Indians, and 
 this was very important, as their territory ex- 
 tended for about two hundred miles west of 
 where we were. We drove into a grove of oak 
 and sycamore on the bank of the Loup, and put 
 a guard of three men out with the horses and 
 one man to guard camp. There was plenty of 
 dry wood near, but it was too dark to get it ; so 
 we ate a cold bite, pitched our tents, and went 
 to bed and to sleep on this our second night in 
 the Indian country. 
 
 At sunrise we were up and at work cutting 
 wood, cooking, feeding horses, and attending to 
 the other camp duties. When we got out of 
 bed on this third day, we saw close to us Joe 
 Bowers' wagon-train from Missouri, which, by 
 
Off For California 25 
 
 reason of the darkness, had not been visible 
 when we camped the night before. On one side 
 of one of the wagons was the original song of 
 **Joe Bowers/' the first verse of which ran: 
 
 *'My name it is Joe Bowers, 
 
 I have a brother Ike, 
 We are from old Missouri, 
 
 All the way from Pike." 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE VALLEY OP THE PLATTE 
 
 We got started in good time and at noon 
 reached the Platte, where we found the feed 
 much better. That part of the country had not 
 been burned over, and as the old grass pro- 
 tected the new, the horses ate both together, 
 and the combination made fairly good feed. 
 
 Nothing of importance happened for several 
 days, the feed, however, getting better all the 
 time. There were wagon-trains all along the 
 road on both sides of the Platte, and every- 
 body was banging away at the buffalo, scaring 
 them away, or killing them and cutting out 
 choice pieces and leaving the rest to rot, while 
 the Indians and their wives and children were 
 starving. It was the most flagrant injustice 
 this Government ever permitted its people to 
 practice. The lines between the different tribes 
 were as distinctly marked as the boundaries 
 between the different States of the Union, each 
 of these tribes claiming the ownership of all 
 the game within its borders, while recognizing 
 the similar claims of other tribes, and they 
 looked upon the emigrants as a white tribe in- 
 
 26 
 
The Valley of the Platte 27 
 
 fringing upon their rights. Indeed I could not 
 have blamed them if they had cleaned out the 
 whole white tribe within their borders, for they 
 had owned and occupied these lands long before 
 Uncle Sam was born, yet I was not ready to go 
 for the fault of others. We shudder at the 
 massacre of the whole nation of Armenians by 
 the Turks, but no pen can describe the misery 
 and despair of a Pawnee village, — of men, 
 women and children dying of hunger, — while 
 the white tribe was killing, or scaring their 
 game off into the mountains, and I say that our 
 Government here caused as much misery by 
 negligence as the Turks have by savagery. 
 
 The next trouble we had was with cholera. 
 It struck the tide of emigration like a cyclone, 
 and on both sides of the Platte. The dates on 
 little headboards along the road were from one 
 to three days old, which showed us that if we 
 had been three days' drive farther west, — or 
 about seventy-five miles, — we would have been 
 ahead of the epidemic; but as all the other 
 trains ahead of us were moving as fast as we 
 could, we simply kept along with the disease. 
 We had just reached that stretch of country 
 where for two hundred miles there was not a 
 stick of timber larger than a whipstock, and 
 where buffalo chips must needs be used for fuel, 
 when John Newell, whom I had helped once to 
 bury in Wisconsin, died of cholera. He had 
 with him two brothers, — from eighteen to 
 
28 A California Pioneer 
 
 twenty-two years old, — and received the best 
 of care and the skill of a good doctor. He was 
 convalescent, but trouble unlooked for was in 
 the air; black angry clouds along the east foot 
 of the Rockies, with vivid streaks of lightning, 
 were seen approaching, to take the place of the 
 hot sultry air. 
 
 * ^ Get into camp ! ' ^ yelled Clark. * * Place the 
 wagons in V form, the point towards the west, 
 and tie every horse inside the V.^' 
 
 This done, some of the men commenced to 
 put up tents. 
 
 *^Hold on there,'' cried the captain. **No 
 tent will stand what is coming. Spread your 
 tents over the front of the wagons to keep the 
 wind from tearing the tops off. Tie them down 
 to the forward wheels. ' ' 
 
 This was barely done when the wind and rain 
 struck us with such force that several men, who 
 were not clinging to the wagon wheels, were 
 knocked down and a number of wagon covers 
 went away in the breeze ; but, fortunately, they 
 were carried over a perpendicular bank of the 
 Platte on to a low ba-r, where they were re- 
 covered the following day. 
 
 Among the wagons that lost their covers was 
 John NewelPs, and the rain was falling on him 
 by bucketf uls. We lifted him out of the wagon, 
 bed and all, and put him under it ; but this did 
 not better the matter. The wind and rain came 
 with such force that he was as wet as though 
 
The Valley of the Platte 29 
 
 he had just been pulled out of the river. The 
 blizzard did not moderate until near morning, 
 and meantime we clung to the back end of the 
 wagons, as wet as water could make us. 
 
 During the previous day five men had gone 
 out into the low hills to the north to get a buf- 
 falo. They had killed one and had just got it 
 packed on their horses when the blizzard struck 
 them. They got separated and lost their way. 
 Just before sunrise two of them came into 
 camp, two more about ten o'clock, and the last 
 one at noon. All had thrown away their meat. 
 
 It was a busy day repairing wagon-tops and 
 drying clothes. Newell had taken a relapse, 
 and the doctor said he would surely die. The 
 following morning, when we were ready to 
 start, the doctor said John would not be alive 
 in one hour from that time, and as no train 
 stopped for a man to die, Clark asked me and 
 my friend Phillips to stop and help the Newell 
 brothers to bury him. We went just back of 
 his tent, and we started to dig a grave; but as 
 only one could work at a time we changed every 
 few minutes, and though we made the dirt fly, 
 John was ready before we had finished. We 
 lowered him down, bed and all, and spread an 
 extra pair of blankets over him, filled the grave, 
 and placed a piece of board, from the foot- 
 board of the wagon, at the head of his last rest- 
 ing-place, and upon this we wrote his name, 
 former place of residence, and cause of death. 
 
30 A California Pioneer 
 
 And I presume the Nebraska fanners have been 
 raising wheat over that spot for the last sixty- 
 five years. 
 
 While we were saddling onr horses, the two 
 brothers came, thanked us and said good-by. 
 
 *^Why good-by r' asked Phillips. ^*We will 
 travel together and overtake the train in camp 
 by eight to-night.'' 
 
 **No," they replied; **we are going back." 
 
 And they went, so our train of fifty-two was 
 now reduced to forty-nine. 
 
 Phillips and I found our train in camp at 
 nine o'clock that night. On the way we counted 
 the graves made the day before, and were sur- 
 prised to find there were thirteen of them. 
 While the blizzard had killed many, it had also 
 cleared the atmosphere, and checked the epi- 
 demic to a great extent. Here there was no 
 wood for fuel, and as the buffalo chips were 
 soaked to the center, we could not burn them; 
 but we did not mind the absence of a fire, as we 
 were prepared with all sorts of bread, sea bis- 
 cuit, crackers, chipped beef, and so on, and were 
 happy, for the grass was now fine. 
 
 One afternoon as we neared the western edge 
 of this treeless region, we saw directly in front 
 of us a clump of trees, which was a welcome 
 sight, for we would camp beneath the spreading 
 branches and probably find some dry wood. It 
 proved to consist of about eight or ten big cot- 
 
The Valley of the Platte 31 
 
 tonwoods in a low swag in the plain. We drove 
 under them, delighted. 
 
 The horses were started off for the river for 
 their evening drink by their caretakers for the 
 night, and we were all busy with our evening *3 
 work when some one said : 
 
 ** Where in blazes does that stench come 
 from? Have we camped by the carcass of a 
 buffalo!^' 
 
 All stopped and looked about. Soon some one 
 yelled : 
 
 **Look in the top of these trees!'' 
 
 All faces were turned in that direction, and 
 there in the tops of those trees was the explana- 
 tion. It was an Indian cemetery. We did not 
 stop to hitch the horses, but twelve or fifteen 
 men would take hold of a wagon and run it off 
 to windward about one hundred and fifty yards, 
 then go for another, and we soon had tents 
 pitched and fires of buffalo chips burning. It 
 was the custom of the tribe, through whose coun- 
 try we were now passing, to wrap a corpse in a 
 green buffalo hide and lash it to the branches of 
 the largest trees that could be found. In the 
 lapse of time the sun, the wind, and the rains 
 would break the lashing, so that here and there 
 would be a skull, a hand, or a shrunk shank 
 sticking out. Bah, what a camping place ! 
 
 We had now traveled nearly four hundred 
 miles in the valley of the Platte, — a plain almost 
 level and from ten to fifteen miles wide, low 
 
32 A California Pioneer 
 
 grassy hills to the north, the river on the south, 
 with steep bluffs close to the river. Looking 
 east or west, the only thing to be seen, except 
 grass, was emigrant trains every few miles, the 
 farthest being mere dots in the distance, or an 
 Indian village by the river. But a wonderful 
 change has come around during the lifetime of 
 those weary plodders, and there are few left to 
 tell the story. 
 
 It was several years before this country was 
 settled, on account of the scarcity of timber, 
 except near the Missouri River. Then a rail- 
 road was built, and settlers could get coal at the 
 stations, and the Government gave a certain 
 sum for every tree that was planted and prop- 
 erly cared for until it was five years old. 
 
 Then the counties took it up and offered a 
 reward for the man that planted the greatest 
 number of trees during a specified time. In the 
 spring of the year this reward was graduated 
 into first, second, third, and fourth prizes. 
 
 Result : Now, looking up or down this plain, — 
 either from the hills on the north or the high 
 bluffs on the south, — a change from savage to 
 civilized life is seen. 
 
 The farmers have fuel, fencing material, and 
 wind-breaks; white cottages shine through the 
 open glades in the timber, where roses bloom, 
 
 **And olive yards and orchards green 
 Along that once drear plain are seen." 
 
The Valley of the Platte 33 
 
 The black smoke from the oil burners along 
 the railroad has succeeded the smoke that curled 
 from the tops of the Indian tepees along the 
 river, and the shriek of the locomotive has taken 
 the place of the crack of the ox-whip. 
 
 A few days after leaving the Indian cemetery 
 we reached a point on the Platte opposite Fort 
 Laramie. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 SWIMMING THE PLATTE 
 
 Heeb we had to cross the river, and one hun- 
 dred miles farther southwest we had to cross 
 back again, on account of a mountain that 
 butted up against the river on the north side. It 
 was generally supposed that there was no pass 
 through this mountain for wagons, yet there 
 was, but the inhabitants of Fort Laramie, with 
 their stores, blacksmith shops, and ferrymen, 
 were determined to keep this a secret, as there 
 was five dollars a wagon charged for crossing 
 the river, besides the other trade that could be 
 gathered in. The ferry carried wagons only, 
 and we had to cross with our horses about two 
 hundred yards above the ferry, there being at 
 that point a good place to enter the stream, and 
 a similar place to leave it on the other side. 
 The river was about a half-mile wide, running 
 quicksand and ice water from the melting snow 
 of the Rockies. It should here be stated that 
 it is very difficult to get a band of horses to 
 cross a stream where they are compelled to 
 swim, and it is practically impossible to do so, 
 unless they have a leader to show them the way 
 
 34 
 
Swimming the Platte 35 
 
 over. I had one horse named Pompey (Pomp), 
 a big, sturdy, black animal, which had been bred 
 and raised near Beloit, on the Rock River. He 
 was accustomed to the water, and was not only 
 a very rapid but a very strong swimmer, his 
 extra girth holding him well up on the surface. 
 I had used him to lead the band in crossing the 
 Cedar, the Des Moines, and the Loup rivers, 
 but I now refused to lead the band across the 
 Platte, as I thought I had done my share; so 
 I told Captain Clark to get some one else. 
 
 We first put the horses in the river three 
 times, and each time, having no leader, they 
 came back on the same side. The wagons had 
 all been carried across on the ferry, and as no 
 one would undertake to lead the horses, I finally 
 consented to try it. We took the horses farther 
 up-stream for a new attempt. The place se- 
 lected for the start looked the same as below, 
 — shallow at the shore and then down gradually 
 to deep water, — but when Pomp stepped off the 
 low bank he went down out of sight, and I with 
 him. When we came to the surface my hat, 
 which was the only garment I had on when I 
 entered the water, was sailing merrily down- 
 stream and may be going yet, for all I know. 
 I grabbed Pomp by the tail with my left hand, 
 and in order not to encumber him with my 
 weight, I used my feet in swimming. In my 
 right hand I held a long stick, with which I kept 
 tapping him on the nose on the down-river side, 
 
36 A California Pioneer 
 
 so as to make him lay quartering up-stream. 
 The other horses, were rushed in as soon as I 
 was fairly started, and with the band about 
 twenty feet behind me, we went all right until 
 we reached about the middle of the river. At 
 this point the horses, frightened at some float- 
 ing object in the water, stampeded, and before 
 I realized the danger, they were practically on 
 top of me, and one of them, reaching over my 
 head and to Pomp's back, forced both Pomp and 
 myself beneath the surface of the murky waters. 
 Without a leader, the band now stopped and 
 began to *^milP' (go around and around in a 
 close pack), while old Pomp and I were under- 
 neath, among their flying feet. I managed to 
 get hold of the mane of one horse, and squeezed 
 my head above the pack, which was now moving 
 rapidly down- stream with the current. It did 
 not require long for me to take in the situation. 
 The river at this point followed a straight 
 course to the eastward, but about half a mile 
 below the ferry it turned abruptly toward the 
 south. The current, of course, did not turn 
 around this curve, but kept straight ahead and 
 impinged on the east side against a perpendicu- 
 lar bank fifteen or twenty feet high, from which 
 great chunks of earth were falling, as the cur- 
 rent struck and undermined it, while nearby 
 were whirlpools and eddies that would quickly 
 swamp and drown any land animal. I feared 
 that the entire band of horses, as well as the 
 
Swimming the Platte 37 
 
 leader, would be lost in these swirling waters, 
 and as I was powerless to do anything to pre- 
 vent this, I determined to save myself, if pos- 
 sible, though the chance seemed slim enough. 
 
 I knew that if I attempted to swim directly 
 toward the shore the horses would overtake me 
 in a few seconds and we would all go into the 
 whirlpool together. I scrambled onto the back 
 of one horse and then stepped from one to an- 
 other, as a boy would cross over a lot of logs in 
 a pond, until I reached the one farthest down 
 the stream. I then dived into the river and 
 swam rapidly down-stream under water as long 
 as I could hold my breath. Upon coming to the 
 surface I looked back for the horses. Old 
 Pomp had got to the surface, and upon seeing 
 a lot of government horses upon the other side 
 of the river, which had evidently been driven 
 there to decoy the band, was heading for the 
 shore and I now knew that the horses were 
 safe, but how about Carr Abbott? 
 
 It is a matter of common knowledge that when 
 a stream is rising it is higher in the middle and 
 lowest at the shores, while the situation is just 
 the reverse when it is falling; and in the case 
 of a large river the extent of the difference will 
 very much surprise one who has never before 
 actually observed it. The Platte was now a 
 raging torrent, yet it was in fact falling, and I 
 therefore had against me the additional circum- 
 
38 A California Pioneer 
 
 stance that I was in a considerable depression, 
 or trough, from which I had to * * climb out. ' ' 
 
 It takes me some time to write it, but it took 
 only a few seconds for me to think and act. I 
 placed my body quartering up-stream, in order 
 to get the aid of the current in driving me shore- 
 ward, and here made the most desperate strug- 
 gle for life I ever had. There was a clump of 
 willow brush just above the turn in the river to 
 which I have referred, and I concluded that I 
 must reach that clump of brush or there was 
 absolutely no hope of my reaching shore at all. 
 I realized also that the ice water in which I 
 had now been floundering for some time was 
 rapidly sapping my vitality, and I fought as 
 only a drowning man can fight. There were 
 about twenty soldiers following along the bank 
 and throwing anything and everything they 
 could get hold of out into the water for me to 
 grasp. I yelled to them to stop, as I had to 
 cross the current and my progress would be 
 impeded by anything in my way, while my get- 
 ting hold of any floating object would not assist 
 me to the shore. In passing the willow brush, 
 by probably the longest *' reach '^ I ever made, I 
 caught hold of a twig not larger than a lead 
 pencil; but it held. And by pulling it down I 
 was able to catch it higher up where it was 
 larger, and in two or three more grabs I had 
 hold of it where it was two inches in diameter, 
 and was saved. 
 
Sivimming the Platte 39 
 
 The soldiers beat their way through the 
 brush, and as they were unable to reach me 
 directly, they quickly cut off the limb to which 
 I was clinging and drew me to the bank. I was, 
 of course, as stiff as a poker, and was altogether 
 unable to stand; but they carried me to an 
 Indian tepee nearby, and the squaw spread a 
 buffalo robe by the fire, while the soldiers 
 rubbed me until I was able to walk. 
 
 In the meantime Brother Alvin had crossed 
 the river, bringing my clothes with him. These 
 were quickly put on, and as our train was now 
 passing, I climbed into the wagon. The grass 
 was so short hereabouts that we drove on up 
 the river about two miles and went into camp 
 in a grove on the river bank, where we found 
 plenty of dry wood, and of course an abundance 
 of the roiled water of the Platte. In addition 
 to the little fires that were used by the different 
 messes for cooking, we had a big log-fire, around 
 which we sat and discussed the situation. 
 
 There was, of course, the usual growling and 
 grumbling among the dissatisfied. Under the 
 restraint of friends and society, men behave 
 fairly well, but away from that influence, if 
 there is any cussedness in them, it is bound to 
 come to the surface. Some of our company 
 said we were going too slowly and the gold 
 would all be dug out of California before we got 
 there; others said we were going too fast and 
 we would kill our horses and not get there at all, 
 
40 A California Pioneer 
 
 unless we got there on foot. Clark, who was 
 sitting on a stump, after listening to this com- 
 plaining for a while finally got up and said : 
 
 **I have heard all the growl I am going to 
 hear. To-morrow morning I start with my two 
 teams at the usual time, and all who want to 
 go faster, get up early and be off; those who 
 want to go slower, fall in behind, but I want 
 to tell you something you probably have not 
 thought of: We shall have to swim back over 
 the Platte, and probably the Green will have to 
 be ferried and swum, and if there are three com- 
 panies, there will have to be three men to swim 
 to lead the band, and the probabilities are that 
 Carr Abbott will do no more swimming. Good 
 night.'' 
 
 And he went to his tent. 
 
 Not a word more was said, but next morning 
 we all rolled out together. 
 
 The two streams of emigration, — that which 
 crossed the Missouri at St. Joseph below the 
 mouth of the Platte and that which reached 
 Laramie from the north, — had now merged, and 
 as the ferry at the upper crossing could not 
 handle the outfits as fast as they came, it was 
 necessary to register with the ferryman, and 
 for each train to take its turn. In this situation 
 Clark sent Newcomb on horseback to make the 
 one hundred and twenty-five miles' distance to 
 the ferry, with instructions to make the trip as 
 fast as his horse could carry him. Arriving at 
 
Swimming the Platte 41 
 
 the ferry, Newcomb informed the ferryman that 
 he wanted to register the Clark Company of ten 
 wagons. 
 
 ** Where is yonr company f asked the ferry- 
 man. 
 
 ^*Just down the river, a bit outside this 
 crowd, where the feed is better than it is here,'* 
 said Newcomb. 
 
 Our train was at once registered, although it 
 was nearly one hundred miles away, and as a 
 result of this foresight on the part of Clark, 
 we had to wait but three days at the ferry. The 
 next train ahead of us was from Kentucky and 
 had about eighty head of horses. Our horses 
 were in a close band just behind, with all hands 
 standing around them, ready to move as soon 
 as the Kentuckians were out of the way. They 
 put their horses into the river several times, 
 but they came out on the same side each time. 
 Then a big, stout rider, mounted with saddle, 
 bridle, big spurs, clothes, and all, rode into the 
 river, and the remainder of the horses followed ; 
 but the leader sank lower and lower and finally, 
 when a little more than half-way across, both 
 man and horse went out of sight and were not 
 seen again ; but the balance of the horses crossed 
 over all right. 
 
 I was now undressing to take our band across, 
 when brother Alvin and Phillips came to me and 
 begged me not to make the attempt; but I had 
 learned how to swim rivers and now had no 
 
42 A California Pioneer 
 
 fears. I took the precaution this time to leave 
 my hat with brother Alvin, for there was no 
 place nearer than Salt Lake City where I could 
 get another one if I lost this. Again I got old 
 Pomp out into the stream, and with a long stick 
 I guided him, holding his tail with my left hand 
 when tapping his nose with the stick, and carry- 
 ing the stick between my teeth when not guid- 
 ing him, thus enabling myself to use one hand 
 and both feet in swimming. If the band got 
 within thirty feet of me, I would give old Pomp 
 a crack with my long stick, and he would draw 
 away from the others. When his forefeet struck 
 the long beach on the opposite bank, I mounted 
 him and rode up the bank, the band following, 
 while the men on the other shore sang or yelled : 
 
 **One more river to cross I'' 
 
 On the following day we reached the Sweet- 
 water, a tributary of the Platte, and were now 
 in the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains. The 
 South Pass, so-called, is a little over twenty 
 miles wide, and is a gently undulating grassy 
 plain until the summit is reached, over one hun- 
 dred miles west. The river runs close to the 
 north side of this plain, at the foot of a long 
 spur of the Rockies, which is for the greater 
 part of the way almost perpendicular. On the 
 south the mountain is not so steep, but, as it 
 slopes to the north, the canyons and benches 
 were covered with snow. 
 
 There was one man in our company by the 
 
Swimming the Platte 43 
 
 name of Losee. He was the oldest member of 
 our company, and rather illiterate. He had two 
 sons, — one about eighteen years of age, the 
 other about twenty. When we were well up 
 toward the sununit and were one evening sitting 
 around the big camp-fire talking about the snow 
 on the opposite side of the plain, old Losee 
 finally could stand it no longer, and he called 
 us a pack of damned fools for our reference to 
 this snow, saying : * * That is white rocks. If it 
 was snow it would melt, for it is at least two 
 thousand feet nearer the sun than it is here, and 
 of course warmer, and would melt. ' ' 
 
 After the laugh was over, the oldest Losee 
 boy said he would go over there in the morning 
 and get some of that snow in order to convince 
 the old man. Clark, who seldom joined in the 
 camp-fire conversation, said : 
 
 ** Young man, do not go. That snow is a long 
 way up the mountain after you cross the plain. 
 You could not reach it before sundown; then 
 you would be thirty miles south of here and we 
 would be thirty miles west." 
 
 "When morning came young Losee was gone. 
 He had not reached us the next morning, but 
 as we were eating lunch, and old man Losee and 
 the younger son were getting ready to go back 
 and try to find him, he came into camp. He was 
 plied with so many questions that he did not try 
 to answer any of them, but just said : 
 
 ** Jim, give me something to eat." 
 
44 A California Pioneer 
 
 At two o'clock that afternoon (about June 
 25tli) we reached the summit, where we stopped 
 and took a good look at the western slope of the 
 backbone of the Continent. The country was 
 rough and in the distance looked black, being 
 covered with grease wood and wild sage, with 
 isolated glades of grass and numerous peaks of 
 volcanic slag. The second night on the west 
 side we camped on the bank of a small stream 
 called the Big Sandy, a tributary of the Green 
 Eiver. Our camp locator had found a nice 
 patch of grass, about a mile and a half to the 
 north of the road, and was at the little stream 
 awaiting our coming. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE GEAY WOLF 
 
 From the time we crossed the Sweetwater 
 nntil we reached Salt Lake we were compelled 
 to put out a guard of four men every night, to 
 protect our horses from the attacks of the big 
 gray wolves with which that country was in- 
 fested. A smaller number of men would not 
 engage in this service because of the danger, 
 and upon the particular night to which I am 
 now to refer, I was to be one of the herders. 
 
 The three men who were to accompany me got 
 started ahead of me, and before I reached the 
 feeding ground, which was distant about two 
 miles from our camp, a thick fog had drifted in, 
 making it impossible to see any considerable 
 distance. 
 
 It was rather a calm night, although there 
 was a slight breeze blowing, and as it was not 
 yet cold, I carried my overcoat on my arm. I 
 also had a six-shooter and a government musket 
 (powder and ball), and, in an endeavor to locate 
 my companions, I fired the musket, but, getting 
 no response, I reloaded the musket and started 
 back (as I supposed) toward camp. I should 
 
 45 
 
46 A California Pioneer 
 
 have gone south, but, as I afterwards ascer- 
 tained, I actually was traveling due west, and 
 instead of reaching our camp, or the Emigrant 
 Road, the course I took was parallel to that 
 road. The night was very dark, and, while I 
 was always hoping to reach camp or the road, 
 I was puzzled by the distance I apparently had 
 covered without reaching either. 
 
 Suddenly, about midnight, I heard the howl of 
 a wolf, and it ahnost froze me in my tracks. I 
 could not tell the distance from which this 
 dreadful sound came, but I judged it to have 
 been perhaps a mile. I knew that when one of 
 these animals either sights or scents game he 
 dares not attack alone, he howls for assistance, 
 and immediately starts toward the game. Very 
 soon I heard another wolf, somewhat farther 
 away, answer and apparently start in the direc- 
 tion of the leader. I stopped and listened, and 
 presently I heard wolves howling from five or 
 six different points, and apparently getting 
 nearer. 
 
 There was, of course, not a tree in this whole 
 region, and not thinking of anything better to 
 do, I started to run, yet not knowing where, for 
 the night was by this time so dark that I could 
 not see twenty feet before me. I stumbled along 
 as best I could over the short brush, and at 
 length ran directly into a clump of grease wood, 
 whose short, stiff thorns badly scratched my 
 
The Gray Wolf 47 
 
 hands and face, before I fell headlong over a 
 clump of wild sage. 
 
 The howling of the wolves, which was inces- 
 santly kept up, now indicated with certainty 
 that the pack was concentrating, and as it grew 
 more distinct, I knew that the beasts of prey 
 were rapidly approaching their supper feast. I 
 had run perhaps half a mile and by this time 
 was panting perceptibly ; I was quite exhausted, 
 and my underclothing was soaked with perspi- 
 ration, caused not perhaps so much by my exer- 
 tions as by the imminent danger with which I 
 was threatened. 
 
 As I had kept warm by running, I still car- 
 ried my overcoat on my arm, and now, in order 
 to lighten my load, I dropped it. In addition 
 to lightening my load the dropping of my over- 
 coat had another effect, for very shortly I heard 
 the wolves tearing it and snarling over it, and 
 this delayed them for a few moments in their 
 pursuit. I quickly concluded that it was of no 
 use to run farther, that it was inevitable I must 
 fight it out sooner or later; and I thought that 
 if I could get my breath before they reached 
 me, and could succeed in killing one of them, 
 they might follow their well-known habit of 
 pouncing upon and devouring their dead or 
 wounded fellow, which might afford me an op- 
 portunity of escape, — although I knew not how. 
 
 I immediately got down to a slow walk, and 
 I had not gone a dozen steps when I found be- 
 
48 A California Pioneer 
 
 fore me one of those volcanic upheavals which I 
 have heretofore mentioned. There was a crev- 
 ice or break in this not more than four feet wide 
 at the entrance, and into this I quickly stepped. 
 
 The width of this break or crevice was such 
 that I could be attacked but from one side, 
 and I felt that, at the least, I would have the 
 satisfaction of killing one or more of my pur- 
 suers before they reached me, and if they 
 stopped to devour the slain, some way out might 
 be found for me ; although it must be conceded 
 that my prospects looked dismal enough. 
 
 It should be remembered that this was before 
 the day of repeating weapons. Had I been 
 armed with a modern Winchester, the contest 
 would have been unequal enough, but I would 
 still have had a chance ; with weapons, however, 
 that could be reloaded only by means of powder 
 and ball, the situation was, of course, altogether 
 different. 
 
 I did not stop at the entrance of this crevice, 
 but kept on walking along it, though unable to 
 see either where it stopped or whither it led. 
 It was quite steep, and got narrower as I ad- 
 vanced, until I presently found my progress 
 almost shut off by a big rock jutting out about 
 two feet from the one side into the crevice. I 
 found that by rolling a rock about eighteen 
 inches in diameter against its perpendicular 
 side, I was able to get my hands on the upper 
 
The Gray Wolf 49 
 
 edge. Placing my rifle and pistol on top of the 
 rock, I drew myself up as quickly as I could. 
 
 It proved none too soon; for I had hardly 
 reached my perch when this pack of timber 
 wolves, — fifteen or twenty in all, — came rushing 
 up the crevice. They immediately located my 
 position, and during the entire night they were 
 one after another continually making the most 
 desperate attempts to reach the top of the rock 
 upon which I was perched, falling back each 
 time with snarls of rage. 
 
 Why did I not shoot? There were two rea- 
 sons. In the first place it was now bitter cold, 
 and my fingers were so stiff that it would have 
 been difficult, if not quite impossible, to reload, 
 and, again, I thought that by some possibility 
 one more agile than the rest might reach my 
 place of refuge, and I kept my weapons loaded 
 for such an emergency. In order to keep from 
 freezing, I would rest the muzzle of the rifle 
 on the rock, and, holding the breech in my hand, 
 would **slap'^ the soles of my shoes upon the 
 hard stone ; then I would lay the rifle down and 
 **slap" my arms around my body. And dur- 
 ing all this time the wolf orchestra played on 
 in the pit below me, with the glaring eyes of 
 those fifteen or twenty gray devils, like balls of 
 fire, for footlights. 
 
 It does not take long to tell this harrowing 
 experience, but it was by far the longest and 
 bitterest night of my life. I got very tired of 
 
50 A California Pioneer 
 
 this hard work which was necessary to keep me 
 from freezing, for I was eight thousand feet 
 above sea level, — where there is frost every 
 night of the year, — a cold wind was blowing, 
 my garments were soaked, and it seemed as if 
 daylight would never, never come. I thought 
 there must be something wrong with the world- 
 machinery, that the planet must have jumped a 
 cog; but blessed daylight did come at last, and 
 with its coming the cowardly pack of devils, — 
 which had tortured me for what seemed to be 
 an age, — slunk away. 
 
 Assuring myself that they had abandoned the 
 attack, I got down from my perch and made my 
 way to the summit of this kopje, as they would 
 call it in South Africa. It proved to be about 
 forty or fifty feet high, three hundred feet wide 
 and about one hundred and fifty yards long 
 with perpendicular sides, a mass of volcanic 
 slag. 
 
 I immediately looked for the smoke of some 
 camp fire, or the dust from a passing train, but, 
 as it proved, I had completely lost my bearings, 
 and was, in fact, looking north instead of south. 
 Finally, upon turning around, I saw at some 
 distance the dust from a passing train, but could 
 not see the train itself, because of the rough- 
 ness of the country. It was not yet sun-up 
 and it seemed to me that this train was headed 
 eastward; but I was in a mood for investigat- 
 ing, — hungry, tired, and with the bottoms of my 
 
The Gray Wolf 51 
 
 feet covered with blood blisters, — so I hobbled 
 toward this passing streak of dust nearly two 
 miles away. 
 
 It proved to be a small train of three wagons 
 (ox teams) and a small band of loose cattle, 
 with two men on horseback driving the cattle. 
 I hailed them and inquired if they had given 
 up their California trip, and were going back 
 to the States. They eyed me a few seconds. 
 Then one of them said : 
 
 ** Young man, you are lost. We are going 
 west. Don't you belong to the Clark outfit T' 
 
 **Yes, I do,'' I replied. 
 
 *^Well," said he, ^^all the men of your com- 
 pany, except the Captain and doctor, are out 
 hunting for your bones. They heard a big pack 
 of wolves after you last night, and believe that 
 you were surely killed." 
 
 He then told me it was about six miles back 
 to where our camp was, and for me to keep the 
 road, even if it did look like going west to me. 
 Well, of all the distance for six miles' walk! 
 The night had surely been long, but those miles 
 seemed to me like a hoop without an end. 
 
 Finally, upon reaching the crest of a little 
 ridge, I came in sight of our camp, and observed 
 Clark standing by the camp fire. As soon as he 
 caught sight of me he got his rifle and fired it, 
 that being the signal they had agreed upon in 
 case my bones were found. They were all sure 
 I was dead, and there was of course not one 
 
52 A California Pioneer 
 
 chance in a thousand of finding anything of 
 one's remains in that rough, sage-brush 
 country. 
 
 On reaching camp I drank a cup of coffee, and 
 lying down in our tent, went to sleep. The doc- 
 tor came in, pulled off my shoes, bathed my feet 
 and cut open the blood blisters, without even 
 awakening me during the operation. Phillips 
 soon came in from the search and asked Clark 
 who had found my bones, and if they had been 
 brought in. 
 
 **Yes," answered Clark; *^they are brought 
 in. They are in that tent. Take a look at 
 them." 
 
 Phillips threw back the flap of the tent and 
 took a look. He came back grinning, and said : 
 
 ' ' Well, I '11 be d ! "Who found him r ' 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 WESTWAED 
 
 When we reached Salt Lake City, tlie Clark 
 Company broke up into the original six compa- 
 nies of which it had been composed, each con- 
 sisting of from six to twelve men. 
 
 Our company consisted of Bemis, Mellon, Vet- 
 ter, Nathan Baker, Ben Baker, Job Strange, 
 Phillips, Casey, Redington, the doctor, whose 
 name I never knew, my brother Alvin, and my- 
 self, — its original members. 
 
 From Salt Lake City there were two routes 
 westward, the main traveled road around the 
 north end of the lake, and the other, called the 
 ** Southern Route,'' around the south end of the 
 lake, — the southern being about one hundred 
 miles shorter than the main road, but necessi- 
 tating the crossing of a ninety-mile desert. 
 Both routes again merged at the Carson River. 
 Two or three of the companies went by the 
 shorter route, while our company determined 
 to take the main traveled way. 
 
 One of the companies that took the shorter 
 route was composed of a man by the name of 
 Marsh, another by the name of Allen, and four 
 
 53 
 
54 A California Pioneer 
 
 other men whom Allen and Marsh had taken 
 into their company upon the payment of a stipu- 
 lated sum of money. Marsh was a short, thick- 
 set man, and as tough as a pine nut, while Allen 
 was over six feet tall, rather slim, and was, 
 moreover, the most profane man who ever hon- 
 ored me with his acquaintance. 
 
 Happening to meet Marsh in Sacramento two 
 years later, I asked him how he got along on 
 the ninety-mile desert. He replied : 
 
 *'Bad.^» 
 
 He then told me that they had started out 
 early in the morning expecting to get across the 
 desert by the following morning, but, as teams 
 do not travel as fast by night as they seem to, 
 their expectations were disappointed, and by 
 eleven o ^clock of the following morning all their 
 horses lay dead in their tracks, and the canteens 
 were empty; that they had then taken a small 
 quantity of food from their wagons and started 
 for the shore (as the edge of the desert was 
 called), intending to refresh themselves at the 
 big spring and then return to their outfit, re- 
 moving and taking away with them all the food 
 they could carry ; that while the road was good 
 and hard, being composed of mixed sand and 
 salt, it gleamed and glistened in the sun, and 
 the heat was as vicious as it was bewildering, 
 and finally Allen and one of the other men 
 dropped to the ground exhausted, when, to the 
 
Westward 55 
 
 amusement of all the others, Allen began to 
 pray : 
 
 *'0 Lord Almighty, send us just one drop of 
 rain ! ' ' 
 
 Immediately from a few fleecy clouds scat- 
 tering raindrops began to fall, and as Allen and 
 his companion had a rubber blanket, they 
 quickly spread it out. But not a sufficient quan- 
 tity of water fell to admit of its running to- 
 gether. 
 
 ^'The damphool,^' said Marsh; ** might just 
 as well have prayed for a barrel of water as 
 for a drop, for he got ten times as much as he 
 asked for.'* 
 
 Marsh and the other three men reached the 
 spring, and after resting a few minutes, filled 
 their canteens and started back. When the cool 
 of the evening set in Allen and his companion 
 were revived and had started on, and a little 
 after dark they were met by Marsh and the 
 others, were given water, and then all returned 
 to the wagon, only to find that some thieving 
 emigrant had stolen everything that was eat- 
 able. Taking their rifles, they returned to the 
 water, filled their canteens, and now, without an 
 ounce of food, again took up the trail for ^'the 
 land of gold," — the distance to the junction of 
 the roads, where it would be possible to pro- 
 cure food, being nearly three hundred miles. 
 On the way they shot a sage hen, a prairie dog, 
 and two pigeons, all of which were quickly de- 
 
56 A California Pioneer 
 
 voured, and thus they poked along, with a cane 
 in each hand, until they reached the junction 
 where they obtained food from the traders lo- 
 cated there. 
 
 Having disposed of Marsh's difficulties, I now 
 return to my own. 
 
 By the time we reached the Humboldt River 
 cholera had broken out among the emigrants ; 
 and here our real trouble commenced, for my 
 brother Alvin was stricken. 
 
 We laid over here for a day, in order to rest 
 our horses and to do what we could for Alvin. 
 Our partners, Mellon and Vetter, had thus far 
 kept the original compact made by us in Wis- 
 consin; but in the face of the present difficulties 
 the ^* yellow streak '' in both of their composi- 
 tions manifested itself, for they declared that 
 they were going to take their horses and their 
 half of our supplies and go on, magnanimously 
 offering to leave the tent for the use of my sick 
 brother. 
 
 **Yes,'' said I, ^^but how about our agree- 
 ment to stick together, sick or well, until we 
 reached California T' 
 
 They replied by saying that if they remained 
 there five or ten days the provisions might give 
 out, and again declared that they were going 
 to pack their horses and leave. 
 
 '*That," I said, ''is exactly what I would do 
 if I were like you ; but if you were in my place 
 and I in yours, I would continue right along 
 
Westward 57 
 
 taking my turn at camp duty and caring for 
 the sick. ' ' Then I added : * * When you were in 
 Wisconsin and under the restraint of law and 
 the influence of friends and society, you were 
 good fellows, but here, where there is neither 
 law nor society, your natural cussedness comes 
 to the surface, and you care for no one but your- 
 selves.'' 
 
 I further reminded them that I had swum 
 every river to lead the horses, that I had re- 
 mained behind to dig a grave and bury the dead, 
 and had been compelled to travel in the night to 
 overtake the train, while they had lain comfort- 
 ably in their tent, and added: 
 
 **And now, with my brother at the point of 
 death, you propose to break up the team and 
 desert us four hundred miles from our journey's 
 end." 
 
 The doctor, w^ho had been listening to our 
 conversation, here interjected : 
 
 **Mr. Mellon, you certainly will not break up 
 the team and leave the Abbott boys in this fix. 
 I have heard enough of this rot." 
 
 But Mellon replied: 
 
 *^Well, I am going." 
 
 Mellon and Vetter proposed to make a pair 
 of pack saddles and, as there was no other ma- 
 terial at hand, I suggested that they use for 
 this purpose one of the front wheels of our 
 wagon and a piece of the wagon box, which sug- 
 
58 A California Pioneer 
 
 gestion was met by several of the men stand- 
 ing by with the remark: 
 
 *^Carr, I would not give the scamps any- 
 thing. ' ' But the two deserters took the wheel, 
 and after I had cut the wagon bed in halves they 
 used some of the discarded boards, completed 
 their pack saddles and got away at sundown, 
 evidently not desiring to camp amid such un- 
 congenial surroundings. I never saw nor heard 
 of either of these worthies again. 
 
 Of course I could not expect the other six 
 men of our party to delay here on account of 
 Alvin's sickness, — for they were under no ob- 
 ligation to do so, not having been parties to the 
 original agreement to *^ stick together, sick or 
 well,^' — and the doctor suggested that I con- 
 struct a cart out of the hind wheels of the 
 w^gon, so that Alvin could be carried, and we 
 could go along with them. The doctor added 
 that Alvin would be more liable to recover under 
 his care than lying here in a hot tent. I adopted 
 this suggestion, and from another company 
 camped nearby I borrowed a saw, which was not 
 only dull but was of the cross-cut variety, and 
 with this cross-cut saw I ripped the dry, hard 
 wagon-tongue into strips, which I roughly fash- 
 ioned into shafts, in order that I might work 
 one of our horses at a time. 
 
 As it was necessary for me to give Alvin 
 medicine every hour, and as I had no right to 
 delay the departure of the rest of our company, 
 
Westward 59 
 
 I did not go to bed that night, but worked upon 
 this cart and finished it at about three o'clock 
 in the morning. I had now been two days and 
 nearly two nights without sleep, and, to use 
 a present-day expression, I was **all in.'' So, 
 after giving Alvin his medicine, I sat down to 
 rest, and fell asleep. 
 
 Because of my being at work that night, it 
 was not thought necessary to have a guard out 
 to watch for prowlers who might be about for 
 the purpose of stealing food ; but while I slept 
 some thieving emigrants slipped into our camp 
 and made away with all of our principal articles 
 of food. Upon taking an account of our larder, 
 we found that by limiting each man to one 
 spoonful of flour, one spoonful of meal, and 
 half an ounce of dried beef made into gruel, to 
 each meal, we had sufficient food left to last 
 until we should reach the forty-five mile desert 
 between the Sink of the Humboldt and the Car- 
 son River. 
 
 The doctor now remarked that, as there was 
 now nothing to eat, *^we could all mess to- 
 gether, ' ' and he regularly measured out to each 
 man his pint cup of gruel, — and was careful 
 that each got his share. Many times I have 
 been asked how it happened that such a scarcity 
 of food existed among the emigrants in 1850. 
 The explanation is simple, and it is this -: 
 
 In 1849, because of the rush to the gold mines 
 from all the countries of the world, every train 
 
60 A California Pioneer 
 
 crossing the plains took one year's supply of 
 provisions, anticipating a scarcity in California, 
 by reason of the enormous influx of people. In 
 1850, however, nearly one-half of the trains did 
 not take enough food, thinking they could ob- 
 tain it on the way, and no train took too much, — 
 and the saying that ** hungry men will steaP* 
 was just as true then as it is now. 
 
 We were now ready for the road. Alvin was 
 lifted into the cart, Pomp was put between the 
 shafts, and our other horse Bob was hitched 
 behind. Pomp did not require a driver and 
 readily followed behind one of the wagons, 
 while, in order to save horse-flesh, I walked. 
 Before we reached the Humboldt River our road 
 led us through what was then known as Decep- 
 tion Valley, and we were now traveling nearly 
 south along the Humboldt River and toward 
 the desert. 
 
 After we had been three or four days on the 
 way we made camp in a little ox-bow bend of the 
 river, the open end of the bow, where it joined 
 the mainland, being not more than fifty or sixty 
 yards wide. By this time Alvin was con- 
 valescent, and the doctor said he would **make 
 a live of it" providing *^he did not eat too 
 much J' Considering the condition of our com- 
 missary, Alvin was now out of all danger, for 
 the chance or probability of his eating too much 
 was what might be called highly contingent. 
 
 Just before sunset a small company came 
 
Westward 61 
 
 along and asked the privilege of camping with 
 ns for the night, as we were now in the country 
 of the Piute Indians. These lousy vagabonds 
 were not regarded as warriors or fighters, but 
 they were generally conceded to be the worst 
 thieves between the Missouri and the Sacra- 
 mento. Their method of stealing stock was to 
 send a few ^^braves^' to crawl among the herd 
 while grazing at night and cut the hobbles, 
 whereupon the other members of the gang 
 would dash toward the horses, or cattle, and 
 with unearthly yells stampede the stock and 
 run it off into the mountains. We were, there- 
 fore, compelled to put out a guard to protect 
 our stock, and on this particular night I was 
 on guard duty with a young man from the other 
 company. 
 
 We were stationed upon opposite sides of this 
 narrow neck of land to which I have referred, 
 near the river, and about midnight I heard my 
 companion fire. It was so dark that as I hailed 
 him and went towards him I could just discern 
 the outline of his body. He told me he had 
 shot an Indian, but that the reprobate (that 
 was not the word he used) had got in the first 
 shot. 
 
 ^^Just look at that arrow," said he. 
 
 I found that an arrow had passed through 
 his coat collar in front, then through his over- 
 shirt above the shoulder, and then through the 
 coat collar at the back, — and there it hung. He 
 
62 A California Pioneer 
 
 said the Indian was cutting the hobbles from 
 the horses when he fired, and that the Indian 
 had fallen, but had picked himself up and ran. 
 Upon the coming of daylight we followed a 
 trail of blood for about sixty yards and there 
 found * * our Indian, ' ' who, in the words of Mark 
 Twain, was * ' the deadest man that ever lived. ' ' 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE DESERT 
 
 The Sink of the Humboldt, as the name im- 
 plies, is a point out in the desert where the 
 waters of the Humboldt River disappear in the 
 sands. 
 
 From the southern extremity of the Sink, 
 and extending for a distance of approximately 
 thirty miles, the surface or floor of the desert 
 was, comparatively speaking, quite level, and 
 it was, practically speaking, as hard and smooth 
 as a concrete pavement, caused in all prob- 
 ability by some chemical substance contained 
 in the receding waters. The last fifteen miles, 
 however, was an almost unbroken stretch of 
 billows of sand, in which a horse's hoof would 
 sink and be covered at every step, and at a 
 point about five miles out in this sand, and 
 distant about ten miles from the Carson River, 
 was a spot then known as Destruction Flat. 
 
 Before reaching the Sink we had rested a 
 day at a place called **The Meadows'' ; and as 
 there was, of course, no horse feed between this 
 point and the Carson River, we cut and tied 
 into bundles some of the tall grass that grew 
 
 63 
 
64 A California Pioneer 
 
 here luxuriantly, and carried this with us for 
 use in crossing the desert. 
 
 We left the southern end of the Sink, and 
 started out upon the desert at about eleven 
 o'clock in the morning, expecting that by- 
 traveling into the night we would be able to 
 reach the Carson River before the heat of the 
 following day; but we here made a serious 
 blunder, because we should have started much 
 earlier, for we were forced to stop and rest 
 after we had traveled about twenty-eight 
 miles, — ^being yet two miles distant from the 
 stretch of soft shifting sand. By sunup the 
 next morning we were again on our way; but 
 we had not traveled more than two or three 
 miles into this soft sand when our teams began 
 to give out and lie down. 
 
 Numerous buzzards had been sailing along 
 behind us, watching and waiting for man or 
 beast to fall. Three of the four horses be- 
 longing to Bemis, Redington, and the Baker 
 boys were the first to drop. They lay down in 
 their harness, and being unable to get up, were 
 quickly shot, in order to end their misery. A 
 few tin dishes were then tied upon the back 
 of the remaining horse; whereupon each of 
 these men put on his best clothes, and, with one 
 pair of blankets each, they were ready to pur- 
 sue their journey. Redington alone retained 
 his pistol. 
 
 A little farther on five of the six horses be- 
 
The Desert 65 
 
 longing to the other outfit went the same way. 
 The two horses belonging to Alvin and me were 
 still alive and able to move, which was due no 
 doubt to the fact that they had worked only on 
 alternate days from the time we reached the 
 Humboldt River. 
 
 We plodded slowly along until about eleven 
 o'clock in the forenoon, at which time we 
 reached Destruction Flat, which, as I have here- 
 tofore stated, was ^ve miles out in the sand, 
 and distant ten miles from the Carson River. 
 
 Destruction Flat was well named, for I here 
 observed more misery and desolation and hope- 
 lessness than I had ever seen before, or than I 
 have seen since. 
 
 The Flat comprised about two acres. It was 
 practically destitute of sand, but had been 
 tramped until it was covered with a thick layer 
 of dust. Upon every hand there were evidences 
 that many emigrants had stopped to rest, and 
 their teams had lain down never to get up. 
 There were perhaps forty or fifty canvas-cov- 
 ered wagons and probably one hundred head of 
 horses and oxen, counting both dead and alive. 
 In these wagons were trunks and clothing, mat- 
 tresses, mining tools (everything but food), 
 which had been hastily abandoned by the own- 
 ers in their anxiety to reach the Carson River 
 and water, and to leave behind them this hell 
 hole of the desert. 
 
 Here I saw a number of ox teams of five or 
 
66 A California Pioneer 
 
 six pairs each, lying down in their yokes, — 
 some of them dead, some of them with their 
 swollen tongues lying extended ont into the 
 dust, and moaning and groaning as pitifully as 
 one of our own kind, — unable to avoid the 
 almost perpendicular rays of the sun now beat- 
 ing upon this spot with a fury almost inde- 
 scribable. The owners of these animals had 
 not delayed their flight long enough to end the 
 misery of the poor dumb brutes. There were 
 loose horses and oxen wandering listlessly 
 about, and in the first part of the day this loose 
 stock, in an endeavor to escape the fierce heat 
 that beat down as if coming from a furnace, 
 would huddle together on the western side of 
 the high-topped wagons, and there lie down; 
 and when the sun passed its meridian height 
 those yet alive and able to move would shift 
 their position and pile up on the eastern sides 
 of the wagons, and about some of the wagons 
 the accumulation of dead horses and oxen 
 reached as high as the tops of the wheels. In 
 two instances I observed wagons at each end of 
 which the accumulation of dead animals ren- 
 dered it possible for oxen to climb over them, 
 and at each end of both of these wagons an ox, 
 in order to get the shght shade afforded by the 
 wagon covering, had climbed up and had got the 
 front half of his body under the canvas, — and 
 there had died. 
 
 The stench from these dead animals was 
 
The Desert 67 
 
 stifling, and the groans of the dying, distress- 
 ing; a myriad of buzzards hovered around, 
 alighting now and then to pick out the eyes of 
 the prostrate, whether dead or alive, while the 
 terrific waves of heat, as from a furnace, drifted 
 over the Flat. 
 
 Redington and I went among the dying ani- 
 mals and gave each one a bullet in the brain, as 
 long as our bullets lasted, and then threw our 
 pistols away. Our canteens, which we had filled 
 at the Sink, were, of course, long since empty, 
 and as we were entirely without food of any 
 kind, Redington and I poked around in the 
 dust, finding by this means a few bacon rinds, 
 which the doctor divided among the members 
 of our company, allowing each a piece about 
 two inches long, which, by his orders, were 
 sucked. 
 
 By way of diversion Redington and I then 
 set fire to two or three of the abandoned wag- 
 ons, whereupon the doctor said: 
 
 *^If you can do mischief, you can go to the 
 river for water. You are the two strongest 
 men in the company, and there are two men 
 here who, unless they get water, will never live 
 to reach the Carson River. You go on ahead, 
 and as soon as it gets cool this evening we will, 
 if possible, start along and meet you." 
 
 Redington was about six feet two inches tall, 
 raw-boned and muscular, and by far the best- 
 preserved man in our company. Therefore, f ol- 
 
68 A California Pioneer 
 
 lowing this suggestion of the doctor's, he and 
 I rummaged around in one of those abandoned 
 wagons, and there found a ten-gallon can, with 
 a cover and a light tent pole. With these we 
 set out for water, the doctor warning us not 
 to speak to each other until we reached the 
 river, as conversation would aggravate our 
 thirst. 
 
 A few yards south of the Flat there was a 
 roll of sand some fifteen or twenty feet high, 
 and here Redington and I stopped to take a last 
 look at Destruction Flat. There was our little 
 company, lying in the shade of a wagon at the 
 farther end of the Flat, and their woe-begone 
 appearance, together with the surroundings that 
 I have heretofore mentioned, made the most 
 distressing scene man ever looked upon. After 
 briefly contemplating this picture, Redington 
 and I turned away in silence toward the river, 
 our shoes at each step sinking to their tops 
 in the sand. 
 
 At a point about four miles on our way we 
 came upon a stake by the side of a road, with a 
 finger-board nailed to it, pointing eastwardly, 
 along a dim trail, and bearing the single word 
 '* Water.'' 
 
 Eedington, following the injunction of the 
 doctor not to converse, wrote upon his memo- 
 randum book: 
 
 ''Let's take the trail." 
 
 In answer I wrote: ''Let's keep the road. 
 
The Desert 69 
 
 If we take the trail, get lost and perish, some 
 of our party will also die for want of water.*' 
 
 Whereupon Redington wrote in answer: 
 
 *^The trail crosses that high ridge, and if we 
 see no signs of water when we get there, we 
 will strike the road one mile farther south, 
 which will still be in sight.'' 
 
 We took this trail, and reaching the ridge, 
 found below it a depression about two acres in 
 extent and about one hundred feet below us, 
 which was filled with water as black as ink, 
 caused probably by some mineral substance 
 in its composition. At the north end of this 
 lake there was a perpendicular clitf of sand 
 rock, and the trail zigzagged down a very steep 
 bank. We stopped and rested here, of course 
 knowing that if we drank any of that water we 
 would probably remain there. As we were get- 
 ting up to start again Redington shouted: 
 
 * * I can see clear water ! ' ' 
 
 I patted my mouth to indicate **keep your's 
 shut"; but he shouted: 
 
 ** Never mind! Do you see that streak of 
 white from the sand cliff running out into the 
 lake? That is clear water sure." 
 
 We quickly made our way down the trail and 
 here observed many footprints, both going and 
 coming, along the narrow beach at the edge of 
 the lake, and at the foot of this sand cliff was 
 a stream of clear, cool water that would fill a 
 four inch pipe. We first dipped water with the 
 
70 A California Pioneer 
 
 can cover and poured it on our wrists, and it 
 was like electricity, for we could feel it to our 
 very toes ; tlien we washed our hands and faces, 
 rinsed out our mouths, and swallowed a few 
 drops, after which we washed out the can, put 
 about a quart of water in it, and set it out in the 
 sun to take the chill off. From this we took a 
 few drops at a time until we were able to drink 
 half a teacup full, which took us about an hour. 
 We then filled the can and ran the tent pole 
 through the handle and started back for the 
 Flat. Redington, being taller than I, followed 
 behind, with the pole on his shoulder, while I 
 went ahead with the other end in my hand, 
 the weight we were carrying about ninety 
 pounds; but the forty-five pounds on my end 
 was the heaviest forty-five pounds I ever 
 tackled. It is not to be wondered at that this 
 load seemed heavy when it is considered that 
 we had been sixteen days on gruel, had been 
 famished for thirty-six hours, and were a hun- 
 dred feet below the general level of the coun- 
 try, with not a breath of air stirring, and en- 
 veloped in a fierce desert heat. On reaching 
 the top of the ridge we found a slight breeze 
 blowing, and here we sat down to rest, while 
 Redington turned a liberal drink into the can 
 cover and proposed: 
 
 ^'Here's to the boys on Destruction Flat!'' 
 This I followed with a less copious draught 
 and the proposal : 
 
The Desert 71 
 
 ^^Here^s to your wife and my best girl back 
 in Wisconsin!'' 
 
 We were now ready to start back for the Flat, 
 which was only five miles through the sand, in- 
 stead of ten miles as would have been the dis- 
 tance had we gone direct to the Carson River 
 for water. I hasten to get away from this in- 
 fernal desert and those sad memories of the 
 past, and will now only observe that after many 
 rests we reached the Flat about half an hour 
 before sundown, and the surprise and joy on 
 the faces of our little company will remain with 
 me as long as I remain an inhabitant of this 
 terrestrial sphere. 
 
 We were assailed Avith questions: ^* Where 
 did you get itT' **Have you been to the river 
 and back in this timeT' To which Redington 
 replied ; 
 
 ^*I'll tell you to-morrow.'* 
 
 The doctor now treated the other men as we 
 had treated ourselves at the spring, and after 
 filling our canteens we had about one and a 
 half gallons left for each of the horses, which 
 saved their lives. Shortly after dark we were 
 again ready to start on our journey. Alvin, 
 who was not yet completely restored to health, 
 was placed on Bob, and we soon left behind us 
 Destruction Flat with its horrors, and were on 
 our way to the Carson. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 AT THE CAESON EIVER 
 
 About every mile we stopped and rested our- 
 selves by lying flat on the sand, and the next 
 morning, just as old Sol was ^* firing the tops 
 of the eastern pines," we reached the river, — 
 nearly forty-eight hours after we had eaten our 
 last gruel. 
 
 We here found the little hamlet or burg of 
 Ragtown, — so named no doubt by reason of the 
 fact that it was built entirely of abandoned 
 tents and wagon covers. There were traders 
 here who sold supplies, or exchanged them for 
 jewelry or worn-out stock that could go no 
 farther, — stealing quite as much as they re- 
 ceived in exchange. Supplies were charged for 
 at the rate of one dollar a pound, and the trad- 
 ers allowed about one-fourth of the value on 
 any jewelry taken in exchange. 
 
 We had an understanding that any food pro- 
 cured by any member of our company should 
 be considered *^ joint stock,'' and that when we 
 reached the mines he should be reimbursed to 
 the extent of the value of the property ex- 
 changed; but this compact was lost sight of, 
 
 72 
 
At the Carson River 73 
 
 for upon reacMng the mines each man went his 
 own way, not to meet again except upon the 
 other side of the Great Divide. 
 
 Our horse Bob was now about ready to 
 'Hhrow up the sponge/' so we traded him for 
 sixteen pounds of chipped beef and sea biscuits, 
 and we then all sat down to the most enjoyable 
 feast in all the tides of time, for we were as. 
 lank as greyhounds, as hungry as wolves, and, 
 in addition, possessed the dilating powers of an 
 anaconda. 
 
 There was not a spear of grass here, for the 
 narrow strip of fertile land along the river had 
 been tramped like a corral, so we moved on up 
 the river about six miles, where we found an 
 abundance of feed for our three remaining 
 horses. Other members of our company had 
 made some purchases, so we were now fairly 
 well off for a few days; but the doctor put 
 us on a regular ration, saying we must eat 
 lightly or we would get sick, and we could not 
 afford to have a sick man on our hands. He 
 said that at the end of a week we would not 
 have to ration out our food because we would 
 not then have any. 
 
 Along the Carson Eiver, and over the Sierra 
 Nevada Mountains to Hangtown (now Placer- 
 ville), there were relief stations, about every 
 twenty miles, which were financed by charitably 
 disposed business men in San Francisco and 
 Sacramento. Here were kept flour and com 
 
74 A California Pioneer 
 
 meal only ; and to a man who was entirely desti- 
 tute would be given a pint of flour and a pint 
 of corn meal, which, it was calculated, would be 
 sufficient to enable him to reach the next sta- 
 tion. 
 
 Upon approaching one of these stations it 
 was proposed that all the horses and jewelry in 
 our party should be turned over to Alvin in fee 
 simple. This would reduce the remaining mem- 
 bers of our party to the ^^ destitute condition'' 
 that was a necessary prerequisite to our each 
 getting a pint of flour and meal. Most of the 
 men said that they were hungry enough to 
 steal, but not hungry enough to beg. Then 
 Phillips said to his partner : 
 
 ** John, you can have my half of our horse." 
 • And to my brother I said : 
 
 ^^Al, old Pomp is yours." 
 
 These ^^ property" transfers reduced Phillips 
 and me to a destitute condition, and as we were 
 now opposite one of the relief stations on the 
 bank of the river, Phillips and I started for it, 
 Phillips insisting that I should do all the talk- 
 ing. 
 
 Entering the tent, we noticed a pile of sacked 
 flour and meal at the far end, and next to it was 
 a box about three feet square which served as 
 a counter. I inquired of the man in charge if 
 this was a station where they gave flour and 
 meal to those who were entirely destitute. He 
 replied in a rough manner: 
 
At the Carson River 75 
 
 *^Yes, it is, but have you no money, jewelry, 
 or interest in the teams to barter T^ 
 
 **No,*^ I replied. *'Our teams died on the 
 desert, and our sole possessions consist of what 
 we have on our backs and a pair of blankets 
 each/* 
 
 He reached for the empty flour sack I carried 
 and put into it two pint cups of flour and the 
 same quantity of meal. This I took, with 
 thanks, and turned to leave. 
 
 ^'Hold on a minute, '* said he; and from a 
 shelf in his box-counter he took out a book, 
 ink, and pen, adding : * ^ Your name and former 
 place of residence, please.'' 
 
 It immediately occurred to me that his ob- 
 ject in getting the names of those who had been 
 assisted on this last lap of the journey was in 
 order that they might be published in the east- 
 ern papers. Not desiring this kind of publicity, 
 I determined to prevaricate, and replied: 
 
 **My name is John Simmons, of De Kalb 
 County, Pennsylvania." 
 
 Turning to Phillips, the agent asked: 
 
 **Your name, sir?" 
 
 Seeing that I had wandered from the truth, 
 Phillips concluded to do likewise, and replied: 
 
 ^'My name is Peter Lewis, of the same place." 
 
 But he draw^led this out so long and so 
 solemnly that I could not restrain a hearty 
 laugh ; whereupon the man threw down his pen 
 and shouted: 
 
76 A California Pioneer 
 
 **You fellows are liars I'' 
 
 **Yes,'' I admitted; *^we lied like pickpockets 
 about our names, but about nothing else; and 
 as we have the flour and meal, good-by." 
 
 And with this parting shot we retreated. A 
 few miles farther on we camped, and here had 
 another banquet. 
 
 On the following day Phillips's partner 
 traded his horse for a supply of grub, and that 
 night we reached what was called Mormon Sta- 
 tion (now Carson City), at the east foot of the 
 Sierra Nevada Mountains. Here we stopped 
 for two days in order to give our last two horses 
 a good rest before starting over the mountains. 
 
 Mormon Station was a village of tents, and 
 there were five or six traders here ready to ex- 
 change grub for jewelry or other property. Be- 
 fore leaving Beloit, Alvin had purchased a 
 watch, for which he paid twenty dollars, and he 
 had kept this in reserve, to dispose of when our 
 company got down to ** bed-rock '^ food condi- 
 tions. He was now dickering with one of the 
 traders, who finally gave him four pounds of 
 hard-tack and two pounds of chipped beef in ex- 
 change for the timepiece. This hard-driven 
 bargain, aside from the fact that no weapons 
 were displayed, very much resembled plain, 
 common, everyday robbery, and, as I thought, 
 merited retaliation. 
 
 This trader's tent was about twenty feet long 
 and ten feet wide, and all along the ridgepole 
 
At the Carson River 77 
 
 relishing sides of bacon were suspended. The 
 bed of a wagon, lying upon its side with the 
 open or top toward the front of the tent, served 
 as a counter, and evidently at the same time as 
 a place for the storage of provisions ; for it was 
 filled with cans of soda crackers, chipped beef, 
 and other supplies. 
 
 Alvin and I stood together in front of this 
 counter while the dickering was going on, and 
 I noticed that the centerboard extending the 
 length of this wagon bed had broken loose from 
 its fastenings, and one end had dropped down, 
 leaving a crack about six inches wide at that 
 end, and tapering to a point at the other. I 
 gave Al a nudge and pointed at this crack, and, 
 in order to get the trader's attention away from 
 that particular crack, I entered the tent and 
 told him that my partners had watches and 
 jewelry they would have to exchange before we 
 started over the mountain, but that I first 
 wanted to see what he had in the way of goods, 
 so I could report to my partners and have them 
 come up for a trade. 
 
 While in the tent I did not fail to observe 
 that, at the far end, a side of bacon had dropped 
 from the ridgepole and lay upon the ground. 
 
 Meantime Al had reached through this crack 
 in the wagon bed and had appropriated as much 
 hard-tack and chipped beef as he had received in 
 exchange for his watch. Upon coming out of 
 the tent, I contrived to get near Al again, and 
 
78 A California Pioneer 
 
 giving him another nudge, told him I was going 
 to our camp to get the Baker boys to come and 
 buy something. Then I started off. Al quickly 
 surmised that I was up to some deviltry, and 
 while he entertained the trader I passed around 
 the tent, reached under, and appropriated the 
 side of bacon. During my long life this is the 
 only theft in which I ever engaged, and while 
 the act was doubtless legally wrong, I felt at 
 the time that it was morally justified ; nor have 
 I repented it up to this time, for if all the grub 
 that we purchased from him and that we stole 
 from him was worth a dollar a pound, he did 
 not pay too much for the watch. 
 
 Instead of following the wagon road south 
 for several miles, and then through a long 
 canyon up the Carson River to Hangtown, we 
 took a bridle trail across the mountains to 
 Georgetown, said to be fifty miles shorter. We 
 had been informed that pack trains had made 
 this trip in five days, but we soon learned that 
 ^^ racks of bones'' like our horses, could not 
 make the trip in double the time a fat Cali- 
 fornia horse could. 
 
 After making a few trades with the Mormon 
 traders at this place we had a larder that al- 
 lowed one ounce of dried beef, one heaping 
 tablespoonful of flour, and one of meal, for each 
 member of our company three times a day for 
 five days, calculating that we could make the 
 journey in six or seven days at the outside; and. 
 
At the Carson River 79 
 
 too, it was possible that we might kill a deer, 
 as Bemis had retained his rifle, — the only fire- 
 arm we now had. 
 
 On the night of the fifth day we divided our 
 rations so as to have half a ration on the sixth 
 morning from Carson, and of course on that 
 morning the last of our grub vanished. 
 
 On this day we met two packers, with a train 
 of ten mules loaded with food of all kinds. 
 They said they had sufficient food to take eighty 
 men into the mines from Carson, whither they 
 were bound, and each of these men was expected 
 to work twenty days in the mines to pay for 
 this assistance. They said they did not care 
 to bother with us, as there were not enough of 
 us; besides, we were so near through that it 
 would not pay them to deal with us. Inci- 
 dentally, they lied about the distance to the 
 nearest trading post at the mines, saying that it 
 was only ten miles, while it must have been 
 twenty-five. 
 
 The doctor then suggested to them that if we 
 were that near the mines, and they would let us 
 have half a pound of soda crackers each, we 
 could *^make it,'' and the first time they met 
 any member of our company he would pay them 
 two dollars a pound for it all. They seemed to 
 hesitate, whereupon Job Strange stopped the 
 mules, and Bemis, — who had not shaved since 
 he left Wisconsin, whose beard now stood out 
 nearly straight from his face, whose hair hung 
 
80 A California Pioneer 
 
 down to where his coat collar should have been, 
 and whose head as a consequence appeared to be 
 as large as a three-gallon bucket, — stood lean- 
 ing against a pine tree close to the trail, his 
 eyes ablaze with wrath and hunger, and with 
 **01d Betsy," as he fondly called his rifle, rest- 
 ing across the hollow of his left arm, the breech 
 in his right hand, finger on the trigger, said in 
 a very slow and solemn voice: 
 
 ** Gentlemen, you had better take the doctor's 
 proposition and weigh out half a pound to each 
 of us." 
 
 While he made no direct threat, his look and 
 tone spoke volumes, and the crackers were 
 speedily weighed out, whereupon each man 
 stowed his half pound away in his pockets. Ben 
 Baker now confessed that before reaching the 
 desert he had stolen a little tea from the outfit 
 for use in case of sickness, and he now proposed 
 that we go on to the next water, which these 
 drivers had told us about, and have tea and 
 crackers for lunch. We did have tea for lunch, 
 but there was not in the whole crowd a piece of 
 cracker as large as my thumb nail, for with the 
 aid of a little warm water from our canteens 
 all of the crackers had been eaten as we trudged 
 along. 
 
 After **tea," with a cane in each hand, we 
 plodded along far enough to know that the pack- 
 ers had lied about the distance to the mines. As 
 a matter of fact, we had taken a wrong trail 
 
At the Carson River 81 
 
 at the fork, and finally came out on the middle 
 fork of the American River, at a point about 
 twenty-five miles north of Georgetown. 
 
 The day following our feast of crackers we 
 came upon a clump of low chokecherry bushes, 
 fairly well loaded with fruit. These cherries 
 held a large stone which was surrounded by 
 a thin, bitter pulp. The doctor warned us not 
 to eat them, but said we might crack the stones, 
 which contained a little nutriment. However, 
 I did not stop at this suggestion, and it is now 
 quite clear to me that I ate too many cherries. 
 The trail here followed along the north side of 
 a very steep mountain, and I began to get dizzy. 
 I had started out in the lead, but one after the 
 other of our company passed me, until I finally 
 brought up in the rear, when, in stepping over a 
 pine tree that had fallen across the trail, I 
 stumbled and fell in the red dust ; and I firmly 
 believe that I was asleep before my head 
 touched the ground. 
 
 I have observed that whatever absorbs one's 
 attention in his waking hours is very apt to be 
 present in his dreams, and as our whole com- 
 pany had simply talked *^eat'' for several 
 weeks, it was quite natural that, as I lay here 
 dreaming, the subject of eating should not be 
 far away. 
 
 I was sitting down to the finest banquet ever 
 placed before a hungry man. The tables of 
 the rich, set with beautiful silver and sweet- 
 scented flowers, might be more attractive to 
 
82 A California Pioneer 
 
 the fastidious, but as a display of the sub- 
 stantials, — for ** larruping good truck *' in abun- 
 dance, — this spread beat them all. Here were 
 big tin pans filled with roasted chickens, a roast 
 goose almost floating around in his rich gravy, 
 a roast pig with an apple in his mouth, and a 
 pudding in his belly, apple pies and pumpkin 
 pies, and mince pies, and white cake, and yellow 
 cake, and jelly cake and cranberry sauce, and 
 doughnuts galore. But of this bountiful 
 spread, it was the last dish that attracted my 
 attention. 
 
 The table, which was about sixteen feet long 
 and four feet wide, was surrounded by gentle- 
 men who were all strangers to me. My place 
 was about a foot from one end of the table, 
 and there was a stack of these doughnuts in 
 front of me, each one of which reached clear 
 across the table. Each strand of these dough- 
 nuts was three inches in diameter, so that, when 
 doubled, the doughnut was six inches through 
 and four feet long. I broke off a great hunk 
 from one of these and was industriously boring 
 my way through and around it when there came 
 a tap on my ribs (now quite close to the sur- 
 face), and I woke up to behold Alvin, who in- 
 quired : 
 
 *^What the are you lying here forT' 
 
 I told him of my banquet and that he should 
 not have disturbed me until I had finished that 
 doughnut. 
 
At the Carson River 83 
 
 We soon overtook the other men, who had 
 waited for us; and a little farther on, it being 
 now sundown, we scraped together the leaves 
 under the spreading branches of a large oak 
 tree, and all laid down in a row for the night. 
 
 As there was now nothing to eat, and conse- 
 quently no necessity for devoting time to the 
 fool job of cooking or washing dishes, we could 
 put in our whole time romancing and telling 
 stories, in an endeavor to keep up our courage. 
 
 The doctor, who was generally of a very jolly 
 disposition, here had a heavy dose of the blues, 
 and predicted serious trouble if we did not soon 
 get relief from our present condition. To this 
 observation Bemis replied: 
 
 ^^ Nothing of the kind. Doc. We have got 
 along fine so far, and in two days we will be in 
 the mines, and there have a banquet which will 
 beat Carr Abbott's all holler.'' Continuing, he 
 said to me: '^Carr, I will draw straws with 
 you to determine whose horse shall be killed for 
 food when we reach water." 
 
 I agreed to this, with the proviso that if my 
 horse must be slaughtered, Alvin, who was not 
 yet able to travel on foot, should be permitted 
 to ride Bemis' horse. The doctor prepared 
 the straws and I drew the short one. Old 
 Pomp must die. Poor old Pomp, who had 
 swum every stream that had to be swum since 
 we left Wisconsin, with me on his back or hang- 
 ing on his tail ; who had hauled my sick brother 
 
84 A California Pioneer 
 
 in a cart on alternate days down the Humboldt 
 River and to Destruction Flat, and liad car- 
 ried him on his back since we first reached the 
 Carson, must now die, that we might suck the 
 marrow from his fleshless bones, and boil for 
 food the hide that covered them ! This gave me 
 the blues, and that night I could not sleep. 
 
 Pomp and the other horse were staked out 
 together, munching the twigs of a clump of 
 lilac bushes not far from where I lay; and as 
 the other nine men were fast asleep I deter- 
 mined to go out and see old Pomp and ^Halk^' 
 to him. But when I was within ten or fifteen 
 yards of where he stood, he turned his head in 
 my direction and whinnied. I could go no far- 
 ther, but returned to my bed of leaves and lay 
 down. And, although I was then twenty-two 
 years of age, I am not ashamed to say that I 
 wept myself to sleep. 
 
 Not having to eat, cook, or wash dishes, we 
 were on our way the next morning as soon as 
 it was fairly light. Our trail was now nearing 
 the bottom of the canyon, and here Job Strange, 
 who was in the lead, caught sight of a deer 
 across the canyon, gazing at us apparently in 
 great astonishment. Strange stopped and 
 pointed in the direction of the deer, still not say- 
 ing a word, while Bemis got in range of a big 
 pine tree and, amid the breathless excitement 
 of all, worked his way quietly down to it, quickly 
 stepped to one side, and fired. The deer 
 
At the Carson River 85 
 
 dropped to his knees, then sprang to his feet 
 and bounded up the steep mountain side three 
 or four times, while the whole crowd yelled to 
 Bemis ; 
 
 *'We'll kill your horse instead of Abbott's, if 
 you do not get that deer!" 
 
 The wound was fatal, for the deer now turned 
 a complete somersault and rolled down to the 
 bottom of the canyon. And we were all so 
 weak that it took our combined strength to get 
 it up to the trail. We tied the deer on Bemis' 
 horse and at about eleven o'clock in the day, 
 at the junction of this canyon with another one, 
 we came upon a small stream. Here we camped 
 until noon; and by the next day, it is needless 
 perhaps to say, there was nothing left of that 
 deer but the horns, the hide, and the bones. 
 By sundown we reached a broad trail used by 
 the packers in carrying supplies to the middle 
 fork of the American River, from which a 
 branch trail led down to Volcano Bar, on the 
 river, while another branch led to Missouri 
 Canyon, a mile and a half to the south. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 AT THE MINES 
 
 At the junction of these trails there was 
 a trading post conducted by a man called 
 *^Longy/' and familiarly referred to as ^*old 
 Jjongy.^^ As he was very tall, the name 
 ^^Longy*' was appropriate enough; but not so 
 the word **old/' for he was not an old man; in 
 fact, there was not then a gray hair in that 
 country, as no one but the young and strong 
 went to California in those days. 
 
 We were now at the mines and must part with 
 Old Pomp, and Alvin and I had quite a discus- 
 sion as to what disposition should be made of 
 the faithful old brute. Alvin proposed to turn 
 him out and let him pick for himself and thus 
 spend his remaining years in ease ; but I knew 
 that some packer would take him up and put 
 him at hard work, and I therefore advised shoot- 
 ing him and thereby saving him from further 
 toil; for the idea of having him used for pack- 
 ing into the mines, under the lash, was quite 
 out of the question with both of us. Al ve- 
 hemently declared that he would not be a party 
 to the murder of Old Pomp, and I declared that 
 
At the Mines 87 
 
 I would under no circumstances pull the trig- 
 ger. We, however, found a man who promised 
 to take good care of our old companion, for 
 whom he paid us twenty-five dollars ; and with 
 this sum we immediately purchased a pick, a 
 shovel, and a pan. 
 
 Eight of our company started for Volcano 
 Bar and the river, while Al and I determined 
 to try our luck, on our own account, in Missouri 
 Canyon. I likewise determined that by some 
 means I was going to get something to eat, so 
 we went to see Old Longy, only a few yards 
 away. 
 
 His was a typical California building of the 
 time, and consisted of pine poles set in the 
 ground, with canvas sides and top. I told him 
 we were going to Missouri Canyon to try our 
 luck, and asked him if he would trust us for a 
 few days' grub. 
 
 ^ ^ Trust you T * he repeated. * ' Yes ; of course 
 I will trust you. One condition only will I im- 
 pose, — that you work; for I know that if you 
 work you will get the dust, and even if you 
 should not strike it in six months, if you work, 
 you can eat; but if you don't work you can 
 starve. ' * 
 
 He thereupon weighed out a good and sub- 
 stantial ration for a week, then gave us mining 
 tools, together with tools with which to make a 
 rocker, and a piece of perforated iron to use 
 
88 A California Pioneer 
 
 in making the rocker. Then, after looking us 
 over, he continued: 
 
 **Look here, young fellows ; you are dirty and 
 ragged ; toes sticking out of your boots [we had 
 had no change of clothes since leaving Destruc- 
 tion Flat] ; go in there'' — pointing to a pile of 
 clothing — ^*and pick out a suit of miner's 
 clothes, two suits of underclothes, and two pairs 
 of blankets each. Then take the trail to the 
 left of the house, and in about a hundred yards 
 you will find a spring, and just below that a 
 big hole for bathing. Then burn those rags.'' 
 
 We thought the man must be crazy, but never- 
 theless did as he directed, — and found we had 
 run up a bill amounting to two hundred and 
 twenty-five dollars. 
 
 *^01d Longy" was long since gathered to his 
 fathers, and I doubt not that in the making up 
 of his account the Recording Angel gave him 
 a full meed of credit for the generous assistance 
 he then rendered to two needy boys, — assist- 
 ance that, in our destitute condition, fell upon 
 us like a benediction. 
 
 The next morning our outfit was loaded on a 
 mule, and we followed to Missouri Canyon and 
 stopped at the upper end of where the ground 
 had been worked. Here, with pine boughs we 
 built a cabin about eight feet wide and ten feet 
 long, in which we made a floor of pine needles. 
 After our first meal here we went downstream 
 to observe the methods of the miners, — how 
 
At the Mines 89 
 
 they found gold, how they saved it, and how 
 deep it was to bedrock, — and also to learn how 
 much ground we had a right to claim; after 
 which we returned and measured off a hundred- 
 foot claim and posted notices at each end, which 
 constituted as good a title as a United States 
 Patent, so long as the claim was worked. Al- 
 vin found a hollow tree, and, with a part of this, 
 put in the rest of the week making an old-fash- 
 ioned rocker, this being of course before sluice 
 boxes came into use. Meantime I had dug a 
 ditch the entire length of our claim and had 
 turned the stream into it. 
 
 It was about four feet to bedrock but not a 
 * ^ color ^' of gold showed up, and I was both dis- 
 appointed and discouraged, because the miners 
 below us were finding gold on the bedrock and 
 in the gravel next to it. I worked until Satur- 
 day afternoon, making an excavation about five 
 feet wide and twenty feet long, and was still at 
 work when a miner from downstream came 
 along. He complimented me on the amount of 
 ground I had removed during the week, but 
 when I told him I had not found a speck of gold 
 he examined my work more closely and then 
 said: 
 
 ** Don't you see the bedrock pitches upstream? 
 and where the bedrock pitches upstream, or is 
 level, there is no gold, because the sand hardens 
 and makes a smooth surface and the gold passes 
 over it. But it stops and settles in the gravel 
 
90 A California Pioneer 
 
 where it is rough. Go upstream ten or fifteen 
 feet and dig a shaft, and if you find the same 
 conditions as you have here, go up a little far- 
 ther ; and when the bedrock raises you will find 
 gold.'' 
 
 I thanked him and he passed on to Old 
 Longy's. 
 
 I now made a narrow cut in the center of my 
 pit, — just wide enough to work in, — and just at 
 sundown came to a raise in the bedrock, where I 
 picked up a sliver of gold worth about twenty- 
 five cents. This ended our first week in the 
 mines. 
 
 Our luck had been so poor that we were afraid 
 Longy would go back on his agreement to fur- 
 nish supplies, but there was nothing to do but 
 to go and find out. So on Sunday we went to 
 the trading post, and I showed Longy the re- 
 sult of our week's work. He laughed and said : 
 
 * * The agreement is good, for my packer says 
 you have worked like a dog digging out a wood- 
 chuck." And he immediately weighed out an- 
 other week's supplies. 
 
 During the following week Alvin ran the 
 rocker and I did the digging. We were now 
 *^old miners'' and were taking out the dust; 
 and on the following Sunday we paid our en- 
 tire debt to Longy, paid for two weeks' more 
 supplies, were well supplied with clothes, blank- 
 ets, and mining tools and had ten ounces of 
 dust,— worth $160.00,— left. 
 
At the Mines 91 
 
 At the end of three more weeks our claim was 
 worked out and the canyon above had all been 
 taken up by what we called ^^tenderfeet,'^ who 
 came to us **old miners'* for information. Our 
 rocker was now rough and full of cracks, into 
 which fine gold had worked; so we burned it, 
 and from the ashes reclaimed three quarters 
 of an ounce of dust. ^ 
 
 From here we went to Volcano Bar, where we 
 found four of our old partners of the plains, — 
 Bennett, Casey, Baker and Bemis, — who were 
 now in a company with a Dr. Taylor. The 
 scurvy, which was so prevalent in all the min- 
 ing country, had not attacked any man of this 
 company, because Dr. Taylor had kept them all 
 liberally doped with a concoction made of vine- 
 gar and sliced raw potatoes and raw onions. 
 They desired to have Alvin and myself join 
 their company, as they had heard glowing ac- 
 counts of gold discoveries in the Mud Springs 
 Country, about six miles from Hangtown, and 
 they wanted some one to go there in behalf of 
 the company and investigate the situation. 
 
 We joined them, and two days later I started 
 on this trip of sixty miles over a rough coun- 
 try. I stopped at the different mines on the 
 way and studied the earth formations and the 
 manner of working, reaching my destination at 
 the end of three days. 
 
 Mud Spring at that time had a population of 
 
92 A California Pioneer 
 
 about two hundred, and boasted one hotel, three 
 stores and the usual number of saloons. 
 
 The next day I started out to locate a camping 
 place, and at length selected one at a point 
 about a mile west of the town, near a spring 
 of water. There was a roadside **Dive'' here, 
 at which the proprietor peddled squirrel 
 whiskey, and at the same time stole gold dust 
 by means of false weights; but he did not re- 
 main long, for there was a well-defined rumor 
 that he was to be ^'lynched,'' and he quickly 
 left the country. 
 
 I made a brush tent, bought some supplies 
 and tools, and began prospecting the gulches in 
 the vicinity, in many instances carrying the 
 dirt and gravel two miles to the spring to wash 
 and test it. At the end of about ten days I lo- 
 cated a claim that promised to pay ten or twelve 
 dollars a day, providing there was sufficient 
 rainfall to run a rocker. 
 
 There was, of course, no United States Mail 
 Service into the mines, though there were pri- 
 vate mail routes, upon which a charge of five 
 dollars was made for carrying a letter to Sacra- 
 mento, and the same charge for bringing one 
 back. This was a monthly service, and was 
 carried on by means of mules. One man would 
 select for the field of his operations a section 
 of the mining country embracing a number of 
 mines, and he would go to these various mines 
 and take up the mail for Sacramento, distribut- 
 
At the Mines 93 
 
 ing the returning mail in the same manner. 
 The service was not altogether satisfactory, but 
 was far better than none at all. 
 
 The main item that entered into the cost of 
 supplies in the mines was that of freight, and, 
 as a result, potatoes, tea, crackers, bacon, beans, 
 flour, meal, soap, salt, sugar, and all kinds of 
 provisions sold at exactly the same price, — one 
 dollar a pound. Indeed, the dollar was the unit 
 of value in everything except the purchase of 
 drinks at the bar, which were quoted at fifty 
 cents each. 
 
 Four dollars a day was the estimated cost 
 of a man's keep, which was not a high estimate, 
 when the amount of grub the ordinary miner 
 disposes of in twenty-four hours is considered. 
 
 There was, of course, no coin whatever in 
 the mines at that time, gold dust being the sole 
 medium of exchange and payment. Every 
 trading post, saloon, or other place of business 
 had scales upon the counter into which the pur- 
 chaser's dust was placed, and there was a wide 
 difference in the values of the dust from the 
 various diggings, — such value varying from 
 eight to sixteen dollars an ounce. These trad- 
 ers became so familiar with the various quali- 
 ties of dust that, upon weighing it out, they 
 could tell with unerring accuracy whether it 
 came from Lousy Bar, Yankee Slide, Volcano 
 Bar, or Jackass Gulch. 
 
 It was now about time for our company to ar- 
 
94 A California Pioneer 
 
 rive, so I set about building a house fourteen 
 feet wide and sixteen feet long. From a pine 
 thicket nearby I cut the logs, which were from 
 twelve to fifteen inches in diameter, rolled them 
 to the place where the house was to be built, and 
 by means of skids got them set up. I then 
 moved my bed into one corner and began to fill 
 up the cracks. A scorching fever here seized 
 me and abruptly stopped my work. I managed 
 to reach the trail leading from Mud Springs to 
 Hangtown, and there lay down until a mule 
 train came by headed for Hangtown. By this 
 means I sent word to Mud Springs for a doc- 
 tor, who came in about an hour. He was a 
 young man, and after looking at the cracks be- 
 tween the logs and examining the open spaces 
 cut out for the door and windows, he looked at 
 the blue sky overhead and remarked: 
 
 **Well, young man, if there is anything in 
 the fresh air treatment, you ought to get along 
 without a doctor. '^ 
 
 He then asked what was the matter with me, 
 and I told him that I didn 't know, and that was 
 why I had sent for him. He then examined me 
 and pronounced it a case of mountain fever, 
 gave me some medicine, and then brought some 
 cold water from the spring. He told me I 
 should be in town, but there was no spare room, 
 and a tent would be too hot in the daytime and 
 too cold at night. Finally he pulled off his 
 coat, vest, and necktie, took the ax, and went 
 
At the Mines 95 
 
 out; and presently I heard him chopping. 
 After a while he returned, bringing in pine 
 twigs, with which he filled all the cracks about 
 the corner where I lay ; then he cut a number of 
 long poles and made a lean-to over my bed, cov- 
 ering this shelter with pine brush, the long 
 leaves of which he pointed downward, in order 
 to shed any rain that might fall. After making 
 me some corn-meal gruel and placing some 
 water and medicine within reach, he left, say- 
 ing he would return about nine o 'clock the next 
 morning. 
 
 This doctor made eleven trips in all, charging 
 half an ounce of dust for each trip, — which was 
 cheap enough; for he either cooked something 
 or brought something for me from town each 
 time he came. On the fourth day after his last 
 visit, while I was sitting out in the sunshine, 
 my brother Alvin came. He reported that the 
 company had struck good diggings in a canyon 
 near Volcano Bar, which would last until we 
 could get back to the river bars; but after I 
 had shown him fifteen little packages of dust 
 that I had obtained from the same number of 
 pans of dirt, he advocated our leaving the com- 
 pany and spending the winter here. However, 
 as we would lose our river claims if we did this, 
 we concluded to return. All of my work on 
 this house was wasted, for none of our com- 
 pany ever went back to the Mud Springs coun- 
 try. 
 
96 A California Pioneer 
 
 Alvin and I were four days making the trip, 
 and, in my enfeebled condition, it was a tongh 
 journey. We found the members of our com- 
 pany all busy making a ditch to carry the water 
 past their claims. It was about six feet to bed- 
 rock, and there were from six to twelve inches 
 of pay gravel on the bottom, from which it was 
 necessary to remove a mass of bowlders from 
 six inches to two feet in diameter. There was 
 one rock, however, about ten feet in diameter, 
 which was resting upon about fifteen inches of 
 pay gravel, and Casey declared he was going 
 to get that gravel. 
 
 As we had neither powder nor drills, we 
 worked under the lower side of this big bowlder, 
 and Casey finally had to lie on his side in about 
 an inch of water in order to work under it, 
 while we shored it up so as to keep it from set- 
 tling. Casey worked with a light pick, and, as 
 he loosened the gravel, he would poke it behind 
 him with a short-handled shovel, while Baker 
 raked it out with a hoe. 
 
 Very soon Casey began to use some language 
 that was as strong as it was copious, and, upon 
 being asked what was the matter, said that some 
 
 thing was on the point of his pick, and 
 
 in the position he lay he could not get it off, 
 so he threw the pick out to the others, — and the 
 point of it was found embedded in a chunk of 
 gold worth nearly three hundred and fifty dol- 
 lars. 
 
At the Mines 97 
 
 In the spring of 1851, when the river had 
 fallen so that we could work there, — while work 
 conld not be carried on in the canyons, because 
 of the lack of water, — we moved to a low bar be- 
 low Volcano. There were about seventy-five 
 men working here, and one day one of the 
 miners, with his big hammer poised in air, 
 stopped and yelled: 
 
 *^Look, look, for God's sake look!'' 
 
 Every eye was instantly directed toward the 
 trail, and then some one yelled : 
 
 '^ Three cheers for the lady!" 
 
 At the call every hat went off and every man 
 yelled with all the lung power he possessed. A 
 lady and a gentleman were walking along the 
 trail. The sight of a woman in the mines at 
 this time was extraordinary. They stopped, 
 bowed to us, and went on their way. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 JUDGE LYNCH AND YANKEE SLIDE 
 
 In the mountain sections of California in the 
 early days there were, of course, all kinds and 
 conditions of men. The great majority were 
 of good character, but there was also a liberal 
 sprinkling of bad and desperate men; and as 
 there were no courts accessible, the miners made 
 and executed their own decrees, there seeming 
 to be a general agreement that, in order to keep 
 in restraint those who were evilly disposed, it 
 was absolutely essential that there should be an 
 occasional object lesson, and as there were no 
 jails, this always took the form of hanging. 
 
 Even though the proof might not be alto- 
 gether satisfactory, the example remained, and 
 the lesson taught would be valuable to others. 
 I have heard it said that it was not an unusual 
 thing in those days for a miner to leave his gold 
 dust in an exposed condition in his cabin dur- 
 ing his absence, feeling sure that it would not be 
 molested. I do not know, yet I am inclined 
 to think there is more or less romance in this 
 statement. Nevertheless, it is true that swift 
 and certain death was the portion of one caught 
 
 98 
 
Judge Lynch and Yankee Slide 99 
 
 stealing, and this fate befell some who were 
 merely suspected of it. 
 
 I here digress to mention a story I once heard 
 of some miners having lynched a man supposed 
 to have been guilty of stealing a horse. After 
 the *^ ceremonies*' were over, and John was 
 thoroughly ** lynched" it was discovered that a 
 mistake had been made and that the wrong man 
 had been put to death. John, it seems, had left 
 a widow, and one of the '* lynching party** was 
 sent to the widow to explain the mistake and to 
 make such apologies as the situation permitted. 
 He tapped gently at the open door, and, upon 
 the widow's appearing, our apologist said: 
 
 *^Mrs. , we took John out about an hour 
 
 ago and hung him for stealing a horse, and we 
 have just found out that we got the wrong 
 man; so the joke is on us/^ 
 
 I do not vouch for the truth of this story, but 
 I think it does give a fair illustration of the 
 value that the early California pioneers put 
 upon the life of a man even suspected of theft. 
 
 Yankee Slide was situated on the east side of 
 the middle fork of the American Eiver about 
 three miles above Volcano Bar. At some re- 
 mote period this slide had come down from the 
 mountain and filled the old river channel to a 
 depth of three hundred feet and for a distance 
 of a mile, making thereby a lake three hundred 
 feet deep, the river forming a new channel on 
 the west. 
 
100 A California Pioneer 
 
 In tlie lapse of the centuries the river had 
 worn its way back to within about sixty feet of 
 the old channel and to a depth of twenty feet 
 below it. 
 
 The discovery here was made by five New 
 Englanders, hence the name Yankee Slide. I 
 happened along at the time of the discovery, 
 carrying a hundred-pound sack of chili flour on 
 my back (for which, by the way, I had just paid 
 one hundred dollars), and found great excite- 
 ment, — ^miners coming from all directions and 
 staking off claims. 
 
 It was the privilege of the discoverers of a 
 new mining ground to fix the size of locations, 
 which varied with the extent of the diggings and 
 the number of applicants. At Yankee Slide it 
 was determined that each man^s claim should 
 be limited to fifteen feet frontage on the river, — 
 the location of course extending away from the 
 river indefinitely. 
 
 I dropped my sack of flour and immediately 
 stuck up notices claiming fifteen feet for each 
 man of our company, but the discoverers cut 
 me down to sixty feet in all. In connection with 
 the posting of notices, it was necessary that 
 actual work be done in order to perfect title to 
 a claim. So I borrowed a pick and shovel and 
 went to work, and when night came I placed my 
 sack of flour in the hole I had dug and sat down 
 on it. I had no supper; but why should I eat 
 
Judge Lynch and Yanlcee Slide 101 
 
 when I had the world by the tail and a down- 
 hill puU? 
 
 I sent word to onr company to be at Yankee 
 Slide before sunrise the next morning, and they 
 were all promptly on hand. 
 
 At the end of two days the excitement was 
 over, and everybody was busy starting tunnels, 
 pitching tents, or building log huts. At a depth 
 of three feet the gravel was yielding five dol- 
 lars to the bucketful. 
 
 Sandy Bar adjoined Yankee Slide, on the 
 river just above. This bar was about sixty 
 yards wide and about four hundred yards long, 
 and as there was fair mining on it, a small town 
 sprung up as if by magic, and there were stores, 
 gambling houses, and of course saloons, which 
 are always present where gold is plentiful. 
 
 At the end of the second week we were all 
 running our main tunnels back across to the 
 old channel, which proved to be about seventy 
 feet wide, meantime throwing our loose rocks 
 into the river, while, with our rockers at the 
 edge, the tailings were being run into the 
 stream. 
 
 There was one company owning the river bed, 
 which they intended to work as soon as the 
 river got low enough to be turned into a flume, 
 which this company then had in course of con- 
 struction, and they would of course, in order 
 to work their claim, be compelled to remove all 
 
102 A California Pioneer 
 
 of the tailings and rubbish that we were put- 
 ting in. 
 
 A Doctor Woodward, rather an arbitrary 
 man when in liquor, was the captain, or presi- 
 dent, of this company. 
 
 In our company there were two brothers 
 named Balch, — Arad and Confucius, the latter 
 of whom we called *'Fuche,'' for short. He 
 weighed about two hundred pounds, and when 
 not imposed upon was as good-natured as he 
 was big and strong. He was, however, very 
 deaf, and, as will be seen, this drawback almost 
 got him into trouble. 
 
 One day Dr. Woodward, evidently in liquor, 
 was going up and down the river, calling the 
 attention of the miners to the running of their 
 rubbish into the river and asking them to de- 
 sist. When he reached our claim, Fuche was 
 running the rocker, the tailings from which 
 were going into the stream, and I was handling 
 the wheelbarrow, wheeling out material from 
 our tunnel. 
 
 Dr. Woodward ordered Fuche to stop run- 
 ning the tailings into the river, but the latter, 
 unable to hear what the doctor had said, stepped 
 up close to him and asked : 
 
 ^^Wliat didyou say!'' 
 
 At this the doctor shook his fist in Fuche 's 
 face, shouting: 
 
 ^'Stop running the tailings into the river.'' 
 
 Fuche, apparently yet unable to hear what 
 
Judge Lynch and Yankee Slide 103 
 
 had been said, taking the shaking of the doctor's 
 fist to be a threatening demonstration, im- 
 mediately swung a short-handled shovel and 
 struck Dr. Woodward on the side of the head, 
 the blow knocking him unconscious into the 
 river. 
 
 I reached the mouth of our tunnel in time to 
 see the blow, and immediately dropped my 
 wheelbarrow, and, rushing to Fuche, said : 
 
 *^Pull that man out of the river, or you will 
 be hanged within two hours." 
 
 Fuche did not hesitate, but plunged into the 
 river. The water was about three feet deep and 
 was moving swiftly, and Dr. Woodward was 
 merrily sailing along on the bottom. Fuche 
 soon reached the unconscious man and drew him 
 out at a point where there was a rock about 
 three feet high (evidently placed there for the 
 occasion), upon which Fuche placed the doctor. 
 The top of this rock had its low side toward the 
 river, and the doctor was placed upon it so that 
 his head was doT\Ti, while his feet and legs were 
 hooked over the upper edge to hold him in posi- 
 tion. Fuche put his knees upon the doctor's 
 breast and then, by alternately pressing and 
 letting go, finally got the water all pumped out 
 of the doctor's lungs, and likewise the whiskey 
 out of his stomach. The doctor came around 
 all right. 
 
 Two hours later there were about three hun- 
 dred men assembled on Sandy Bar, and they 
 
104 A California Pioneer 
 
 accused Fuche of attempting to drown Dr. 
 Woodward. The usual way of trying an ac- 
 cused was to appoint a judge and twelve jurors, 
 and this was now proposed. But some of the 
 crowd said it would take too long, for, in addi- 
 tion to disposing of this case, it was necessary 
 for the meeting to take up for discussion the 
 question of dumping rubbish in the river. The 
 spokesman of the crowd proposed to draw a 
 small log across the bar, making a mark, and 
 those in favor of hanging Fuche were to stand 
 on the west side, and those opposed to his hang- 
 ing were to stand on the east side. 
 
 The mark was drawn and witnesses were 
 called. I testified that I saw Dr. Woodward 
 shake his fist in Fuche 's face and that Fuche 
 had knocked him into the river, and had then 
 pulled him out, placed him upon a rock head 
 down, and had pumped the water and whiskey 
 out of him. 
 
 Another witness testified to the same facts 
 and the case appeared clear enough; but this 
 crowd, some of them half drunk, did not want 
 to leave their work to attend this meeting with- 
 out hanging some one. We now **cast our bal- 
 lots'' by taking our places on the respective 
 sides of the mark, and we saved Fuche by eight 
 votes, I, of course, favoring his acquittal. 
 
 This matter disposed of, we then took up the 
 question of depositing rubbish in the river, and 
 the meeting determined that the rockers could 
 
Judge Lynch and Yankee Slide 103 
 
 be run on the river and the tailings run into 
 the stream; but the rocks must be disposed of 
 in some other way. The decision was hard on 
 both sides, yet its justice was recognized by all, 
 for it was the only solution of the question that 
 would permit work by all. If all the rubbish 
 were dumped in, the river bottom would not be 
 worth working, and if we on the Slide could not 
 wash our gold out at the river, we would have 
 to abandon our work until the river bottom was 
 worked out, — which would probably take six 
 months. 
 
 After three weeks' operations under the new 
 method, there was a bench of rocks between the 
 tunnels, — a mass from four feet to six feet high, 
 and extending the whole length of the Slide. 
 Our main tunnels were now completed and we 
 were stoping out the gravel on each side and 
 piling the rocks behind us. 
 
 Alvin and I leveled off the rocks between the 
 tunnel and that of our next neighbor, covered 
 them with pine twigs, pitched our tent, and ar- 
 ranged our beds. The open end of the tent was 
 toward the bank, and lying upon my bunk, I 
 could see into the mouth of our own tunnel as 
 well as into that of our neighbor. There was 
 a large oak tree between our claims, some of 
 the branches of which spread out over our tent. 
 The mountain side above the tunnels was very 
 steep, and we had cut into this and leveled off 
 a space about ten feet wide and thirty feet long, 
 
106 A California Pioneer 
 
 upon which we had placed our provision tent 
 and cooking outfit. 
 
 It was my custom after lunch to go to our 
 tent and lie upon my bunk reading until it was 
 time to again go to work. The tunnel of our 
 neighbor originally belonged to three men, but 
 they had recently sold a quarter interest to a 
 stranger who lived at the hotel at Sandy Bar, 
 and whom I will call John Schang (which was 
 not his name). 
 
 It was the custom of most of the miners to 
 bury their gold dust, while others kept it in a 
 belt around them when not at work, and while 
 working they would leave it upon some over- 
 head timber in the mine. 
 
 One of these partners had a belt that held 
 about three thousand dollars ' worth of dust, and 
 upon one occasion when going to work he placed 
 this belt on the first bent of timbers at the mouth 
 of the tunnel, forgot to take it with him when 
 he went to lunch, and when he returned from 
 lunch his belt of dust had disappeared. 
 
 On this very day during the noon hour as I 
 lay on my bunk, I had casually turned my eyes 
 from my reading in the direction of this tunnel, 
 when I saw Schang entering it. From where I 
 lay it was not more than thirty feet to the mouth 
 of the tunnel where the dust had been left, and 
 had I known where it was, and had I been of a 
 disposition to take it, I could have easily done 
 
Judge Lynch and Yankee Slide 107 
 
 so and hid it away among the rocks and recov- 
 ered it weeks or months later. 
 
 Abont three o'clock in the afternoon, while I 
 was at work in one of the stopes, I was sent 
 for, and came out to find a mob of about two 
 hundred miners, by whom I was immediately 
 accused of stealing the belt of dust. Of course 
 I denied having any knowledge of the affair, but 
 I did remember having seen Schang go into the 
 mine about five minutes ahead of his partners, 
 and I felt satisfied that, if the gold had been 
 stolen, Schang was the guilty party. I there- 
 fore accused him of it; but my accusation was 
 laughed at. 
 
 Preparations for my hanging now went for- 
 ward rapidly. Our tent was quickly torn down, 
 a rope was thrown over a limb of the oak tree, 
 and the noose was being prepared. 
 
 The Balches each had a rifle, and Casey, Ben- 
 nett, and my brother Alvin each had a six- 
 shooter; and while I was protesting my inno- 
 cence, Fuche determined to save my life at any 
 cost and at all hazards. The mountain side of 
 the level space occupied by our cooking outfit 
 had been cut down so that it presented a per- 
 pendicular wall about six feet high, and against 
 this wall my five partners stood, with their 
 weapons ready for action, and with their faces 
 toward the mob. Suddenly, above the tumult 
 of voices, Fuche shouted: 
 
 * * Carr Abbott did not steal that gold, and the 
 
108 A California Pioneer 
 
 man that puts a rope over Ms head I will drop 
 in Ms tracks." 
 
 I can understand the feelings of the sMp- 
 wrecked sailor as he first gets his hand upon a 
 life-saving plank; of the desert wanderer, fam- 
 ished with thirst, coming unexpectedly upon a 
 spring of sparkling water ; of the man trapped 
 in the flames of a burning building, as he sets 
 Ms foot upon the ladder that will lead Mm to 
 the ground. All these situations are thrilling 
 enough, but, as I stood there in the shadow of 
 that oak-tree gallows, confronted by that mob 
 of stern-visaged miners who had already con- 
 victed me without a trial, and who had even 
 laughed at my defense, — as I stood there com- 
 pletely dazed, with my last hope ebbing away, 
 tMs clear, ringing defiance from dear old Fuche 
 was the sweetest sound which ever touched my 
 ear. 
 
 Yet this threat, which everybody knew would 
 be carried into execution, if necessary to save 
 my life, did not end matters, nor did it even dis- 
 concert the men to whom it was addressed. Im- 
 mediately came the challenge : 
 
 **0h, you will, will you I Well, if we must 
 hang the whole bunch of you in order to get him, 
 we will hang all of you. ' ' 
 
 **A11 right, '^ said Fuche. ^*But we can kill 
 five or six before you reach us, and we are go- 
 ing to die, or save that innocent man.'' 
 
 The mob could not approach my brave com- 
 
Judge Lynch and Yankee Slide 109 
 
 panions but from one side, and dared not make 
 the attempt. It was not yet smidown, and yet, 
 as though ashamed of the scene. Old Sol had 
 hid his face behind a lofty peak. Finally, after 
 much wrangling, Fuche proposed that they send 
 me and Schang into the mine with candles, and 
 that we be kept there until one or the other 
 produced the gold. This was finally agreed to, 
 after much grumbling, whereupon Fuche and 
 several others rushed up to where I was and 
 spoke to me encouragingly, patted me on the 
 back, and told me to keep a stiff upper lip. 
 And while this was going on Fuche, whose life 
 I had helped to save at Sandy Bar, slipped a 
 six-shooter under my blue jumper. Schang 's 
 candle and mine were lighted, and we were now 
 ready to go into the tunnel. 
 
 Schang wanted me to go ahead, but I told him 
 that I was not familiar with the inside of the 
 mine, and as he was, he should lead. This was 
 at length agreed upon, and we started. I fol- 
 lowed him into the tunnel to a point nearly 
 across the old channel of the river and was 
 meantime revolving in my mind what could be 
 done to force Schang to a truthful disclosure; 
 for I was absolutely certain he was the thief. 
 Having determined upon a plan of action, I 
 now said to him : 
 
 **Hold on! We have gone far enough." 
 He stopped and turned around, facing me, 
 with his candle in his right hand, while I now 
 
110 A California Pioneer 
 
 had mine in the left. This brought our candles 
 within a foot of each other, but it also brought 
 my six-shooter within six inches of Schang's 
 nose, and I said to him : 
 
 ^^You stole that gold and would see an inno- 
 cent man hanged for your crime. I am not 
 going to be hanged for stealing; and if I am 
 hanged at all it will be for blowing the top of 
 your head off, and if you do not dig that gold 
 up immediately and deliver it to your partners, 
 you will not get out of this hole alive.'' 
 
 He stammered and replied: 
 
 **I want to speak to my partners." 
 
 **Well," came the answer, *^we are here. 
 What do you want to say?" 
 
 The partners, without the knowledge of 
 Schang or myself, had quietly slipped off their 
 shoes, and, without taking candles, had noise- 
 lessly followed us into the mine, in order to 
 overhear what passed between us. Having 
 heard what I had said to Schang, they later in 
 the day told me that they knew immediately 
 that Schang, and not I, had stolen the 
 gold. 
 
 **This young fellow will kill me sure if you 
 do not interfere." 
 
 ^*Is that all you have to say?" said one of 
 the partners. 
 
 *'Yes," answered Schang, ** except that you 
 know I did not take the gold, and I will be killed 
 sure if you do not interfere." 
 
Judge Lynch and Yankee Slide 111 
 
 *'A11 right,'' said one of them; ^*but before 
 he kills you I would like to have you dig up 
 that gold. ' * And with this they started back. 
 
 *'Hold on,'' cried Schang, ^'I want to make 
 a proposal. If you will keep that crowd from 
 hanging me I will produce the gold." 
 
 Until that moment my nerves had been per- 
 fectly steady, but with this statement my whole 
 being relaxed, and my frame shook and trem- 
 bled like a poplar leaf in the breeze. I now 
 lowered my pistol while Schang 's partners told 
 him that they would do the best they could, but 
 that they could not promise anything. * * Well, ' ' 
 said Schang, ^^go back towards the front." 
 
 We went to a point about twenty-five or thirty 
 feet from the entrance, and here Schang went 
 into one of those low stopes about eight feet 
 from the main tunnel, got down on his knees, 
 rolled over a rock, and there lay the belt of 
 gold. He threw it out to his partners, and then 
 made a dive in among the loose rocks that had 
 been piled back as the miners worked forward, 
 and that, in some places, filled the space to the 
 overhead timbers, leaving ghastly holes. 
 
 When we came out of the tunnel, and the mob 
 was informed of what had taken place, they 
 were the maddest lot of men I ever saw, be- 
 cause we had not brought Schang out. 
 
 Immediately from a box of candles at the 
 mouth of the tunnel each man supplied himself, 
 and into the mine they all went in quest of 
 
112 A California Pioneer 
 
 Schang; but their search was in vain, for they 
 did not succeed in finding him. It was sur- 
 mised that he had stowed himself away in some 
 dark hole where he had remained until the 
 shadows of night made it possible for him to 
 escape unobserved. However this may be, he 
 was never found, and, so far as I know, was 
 never heard of afterward. 
 
 I went to our little flat for supper, but my 
 appetite was gone, and for weeks afterwards, 
 as I closed my eyes in sleep, I could see that ac- 
 cursed rope dangling above my head. 
 
 It is not difficult to write of swimming the 
 ice-cold streams upon the plains leading a band 
 of horses ; nor of standing half a night upon a 
 rock, stamping my feet to keep from freezing 
 while menaced by a pack of hungry wolves 
 that were leaping to within two feet of the spot 
 upon which I stood ; nor of crossing the barren 
 sands of the desert, without food or water; nor 
 of hobbling along for six days, with a cane in 
 each hand and without a particle of food; nor 
 of lying for eleven days under a brush cover- 
 ing, consumed by a scorching fever, but tongue 
 cannot tell, nor pen write, nor brush paint the 
 horrors that passed through my mind during 
 the three hours of that ever-to-be-remembered 
 day when an unreasoning and bloodthirsty mob 
 of miners almost took my life by violence. And 
 I quite agree with the author of *'The Cardi- 
 naPs Snuff-Box" in his statement that the only 
 
Judge Lynch and Yankee Slide 113 
 
 things that are worth writing are inexpressible 
 and cannot be written. 
 
 Late in the summer of 1851 the saying, **A11 
 is qniet along Yankee Slide and Sandy Bar,'* 
 became as common as ^*A11 quiet along the Po- 
 tomac'' was in the days of the Great Rebel- 
 lion, or as ** Villa is dead'' is common now. So, 
 except for the following incident, there is little 
 to record. 
 
 A short distance above Sandy Bar there was 
 a small bar upon which about fifty men were 
 mining, and they obtained their gold, at a depth 
 of from ten to twelve feet, by sinking pits five 
 feet wide and ten feet long. In one of these 
 pits two partners got into a quarrel, and one 
 was killed by the other; whereupon the miners 
 collected to investigate. The surviving partner 
 declared that he had been attacked, and that he 
 had fought only in self-defense and without any 
 intention to kill ; but, as it had been some time 
 since anybody had been hanged, the miners de- 
 tached the rope from the hoisting tub, adjusted 
 one end of it about the man's neck, and pushed 
 him off into the pit, then turned the windlass 
 until his feet were raised from the ground, made 
 the rope fast, and went back to their work. 
 After supper both bodies were buried in a single 
 grave on the mountain side. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 DIVERSIONS AND AMUSEMENTS 
 
 There were few of the miners who were re- 
 ligiously inclined, yet they nearly all rested on 
 the Sabbath, and the time was passed in wrest- 
 ling, jumping, pitching horseshoes, playing 
 cards, gambling, drinking whiskey, and so on. 
 
 One Sunday a ventriloquist made his appear- 
 ance at Sanely Bar and secured the use of a 
 store, which had just been completed (pine poles 
 and canvas-covered top and sides), for an eve- 
 ning performance. The merchant's stock of 
 goods had just arrived, and there was a great 
 pile of sacks, boxes, and bales piled in the back 
 end of the building, while at the other end the 
 ventriloquist stationed himself behind a curtain. 
 The big room was literally packed with miners, 
 all standing, while the pile of goods in the rear 
 was covered with men, among whom was our 
 old friend Doctor Woodward, sitting upon a 
 sack of Sandwich Island potatoes. 
 
 The performance was a Punch and Judy af- 
 fair, and wound up with a production of the 
 Devil, horns and all, who looked terrifying 
 enough. The head and shoulders of his Satanic 
 
 114 
 
Diversions and Amusements 115 
 
 Majesty appeared just above the curtain, and 
 by means of some wire attachment he was made 
 to move his lips and chin as in talking. He 
 made quite a speech, saying, among other 
 things, that in this wild region where there were 
 no infernal laws to bother, no society, no ladies, 
 and no churches to make a great fuss about 
 nothing, it was perfectly proper and commend- 
 able to get drunk on Sunday and have a good 
 time. Meantime Dr. Woodward, with a few 
 jolts under his belt, had been busy cutting open 
 a sack of potatoes, from which he selected a 
 large one (worth a dollar, by the way), and 
 threw it over the heads of the crowd below him, 
 striking the Devil squarely in the face. The 
 Devil dropped behind the curtain and remained 
 out of sight until the yells and swinging of hats 
 had ceased; then he came cautiously into view 
 above the curtain and, with a long, bony finger 
 pointed at Dr. Woodward, solemnly said: 
 **Doc, Doc Woodward, I have a lien on you.'' 
 The summer months were now nearly gone, 
 Yankee Slide was almost worked out, and the 
 River Company was broke, and it was a sad 
 and a touching sight as those miners packed 
 their blankets and struck out for other dig- 
 gings, — without an ounce of dust and heavily 
 in debt to the merchants, when they had, in 
 fact, expected to be carrying fortunes back to 
 the loved ones far away. But such was the fate 
 of a large majority of the miners of those days. 
 
116 A California Pioneer 
 
 A few weeks later our claim was exhausted, 
 and in tlie last stope it was necessary for one 
 man to bail out water wMle two men worked on 
 their padded knees in water five or six inches 
 deep, while from the springy ground overhead 
 saffron-colored water dripped down their backs. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 JUST AN INCIDENT 
 
 The face of Yankee Slide toward the river 
 side had an angle of about forty-five degrees, 
 while the top, which was about four hundred 
 feet wide and nearly level, was well covered 
 with pine and spruce trees, many of them being 
 five and six feet in diameter ; and it was here we 
 obtained our supply of lagging for timbering 
 the mines below. The trees were sawed into 
 four-foot lengths and then split into boards six 
 inches wide and one and a half inches thick, 
 and were either carried down to the entrance 
 to the tunnels or bound in bundles and hauled 
 down by hand with a rope. 
 
 About one hundred feet below the mouth of 
 our tunnel there was a bench of land about fifty 
 feet wide and seventy-five feet long, upon which 
 a man by the name of Holmes had put up a 
 building, and in which he was conducting a 
 store. It was a house typical of the time, with 
 poles set in the ground, and top and sides cov- 
 ered with canvas. The structure was about 
 thirty feet wide and fifty feet long, and there 
 was an open space between it and this steep 
 
 117 
 
118 A California Pioneer 
 
 hillside, — a space just wide enough for a pack 
 train to pass along. At the north, or up-river 
 end, of this building there was a bar built of 
 split boards, while along the east side there was 
 a row of tables made of the same material. 
 The remainder of the floor space was filled with 
 all kinds of groceries, provisions, and miners' 
 supplies. 
 
 About three hundred yards above this store 
 there was a mine that was being worked by 
 three men, one of whom had been injured some 
 time before in hauling lagging timber down 
 this steep mountain side; and these partners 
 made up their minds to avoid the further chance 
 of injury, by rolling a big log down and then 
 cutting it up at the mouth of their tunnel. 
 
 Proceeding to a point on the top of the Slide 
 close to the edge of the fall toward the river, 
 and about equidistant from their mine and from 
 the store, they cut down a tree, — about thirty- 
 six feet long and more than five feet in diameter 
 at the larger end and tapering to about three 
 feet at the smaller end, — and after making due 
 allowance for this difference in diameter, they 
 had calculated to the nicety of a gnat's heel that, 
 by starting the log on its journey at a particu- 
 lar angle, it was absolutely certain that it would 
 land just exactly at the place they wanted it at 
 the mouth of their tunnel. 
 
 Everything was now in readiness, and the log 
 was started on its dash for the bottom, but **the 
 
Just an Incident 119 
 
 best laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley/' 
 and while the log went all right for part of the 
 way, it soon struck against an oak tree, which 
 reversed the log and turned the big end up- 
 stream, and away it went, hellbent for Holmes* 
 store. 
 
 There were fifteen or twenty men inside the 
 store, — drinking, playing cards, or trading, — 
 and they were now in imminent danger ; but, for- 
 tunately, the cook, happening to glance up from 
 his pots and kettles, saw the log coming and 
 shouted to the men, who ** streaked it" out of 
 the building, the last man emerging just as the 
 log struck the building at a point about four 
 feet above the ground, and went through it as 
 if it had been thistledown. The building was 
 literally sheared off; and flour, pickles, meal, 
 sugar, beans, soap, crackers. New Orleans mo- 
 lasses, vinegar, whiskey, bar fixtures, tables, 
 and so on were strewn and scattered over the 
 rocks all the way between the store and the 
 river, fifty feet away. 
 
 A big crowd of men gathered, and Holmes 
 stood apart from them, hatless and forlorn, 
 contemplating the devastation. While he stood 
 thus in reverie, the three miners responsible for 
 the trouble appeared and asked him if his name 
 was Holmes, to which he replied that that had 
 been his name five minutes before, but that he 
 did not know what his name was now. 
 
 They proposed to Holmes to set about at once 
 
120 A California Pioneer 
 
 rebuilding the store, and as soon as the amount 
 of damage was ascertained they would imme- 
 diately pay it. 
 
 Dozens of men now went to work cleaning up 
 the rubbish, getting posts, cutting poles, sew- 
 ing canvas for covering, and gathering up the 
 scattered merchandise, and by sundown they 
 had a better looking building than the one that 
 had been destroyed; for, instead of presenting 
 to the beholder a vision of plain walls, it was 
 now liberally sprinkled with great patches of 
 color made by molasses, whiskey, vinegar, and 
 canned goods. 
 
 Just here I will call attention to a book of 
 travels that I once read called ** Sights in Cali- 
 fornia and Scenes by the Way,*' — a book of 
 which I believed every word, because in its last 
 chapter I found related two incidents that were 
 within my personal knowledge. One of these 
 was this ; 
 
 Eagle City, situated three miles up the river 
 from Volcano, had about five hundred voters, 
 and the wise men there set themselves to the 
 task of electing a justice of the peace, saying 
 that Volcano could dig gold on election day. 
 Across the river from Volcano there were seven 
 men working a claim, who were all relatives, 
 and one of whom was a fool ; but he could shovel 
 as well as a wise man, and it was understood 
 that he was to be made use of until the claim 
 was worked out, and then was to be abandoned 
 
Just an Incident 121 
 
 to shift for himself. Volcano could not endure 
 this snub offered it by Eagle City, and a caucus 
 was held the night before election, and this fool 
 was nominated for justice of the peace. Al- 
 though it was a state election, the rest of the 
 ticket was ignored as of no importance. With 
 the votes of the miners at Volcano, aided by 
 those of the roughs and gamblers at Eagle 
 City, the fool was elected by a handsome ma- 
 jority. This ended that day's sport, but the 
 night was one of peril. 
 
 In 1849 a dam constructed of logs, rocks and 
 brush had been thrown across the river at the 
 upper end of Volcano Bar. It still remained 
 and a sheet of water about four feet deep, 
 caused by a cloudburst, was now pouring over 
 it. At the center of this dam stood a post, — 
 a log, — which extended about five feet above the 
 water, while below the dam the river was white 
 with foam, and the waters swirled and beat 
 against the rocks and bowlders so that no land 
 animal could have gone over this dam and sur- 
 vived. 
 
 The seven men to whom I have referred had 
 attended the election at Volcano, and at sun- 
 down started back. They had a small log boat 
 capable of carrying two men, and, with the fool 
 at the bow of the boat and one of the other men 
 in the stern with the paddle, the boat was 
 started across. Upon reaching the middle of 
 the river it became apparent to the man in the 
 
122 A California Pioneer 
 
 stern that lie would be unable to reach either 
 shore, as the boat was being carried rapidly 
 downstream ; and just as it was about to go over 
 the dam he jumped for this post and succeeded 
 in holding fast to it, his feet resting on the top 
 of the dam and his head and shoulders just 
 above the water. The boat and the ^'Justice'* 
 went over the dam, and neither was seen again. 
 
 The post was about seventy-five feet from 
 either shore, and in a few moments the entire 
 population of the town was at the river, dis- 
 cussing plans for a rescue. There was a big 
 skiff used as a ferry at Eagle City, and it being 
 known that it could not be bought nor borrowed, 
 three of our men went up in the dark and stole 
 it, then brought it down to where we were. 
 
 By this time it was so dark that we could not 
 see the man clinging to the post, except by the 
 light of a big log fire that we had built. There 
 was a rope extended across the river above the 
 dam, which was held up by numerous empty 
 tin cans, and to the center of this rope we tied 
 another rope about seventy-five feet long, and 
 to the lower end of it was attached a block of 
 light wood. We then untied the ends of the 
 cross-river rope and moved it downstream un- 
 til the block was within reach of the clinging 
 man; but the roughness of the water, as it beat 
 against the post, deflected the block to right and 
 left, and it was some time before he was able to 
 get hold of it. We then yelled to him not to 
 
Just an Incident 123 
 
 let loose of the post but to cling to it with all 
 his might, and we would pull him off; because 
 it was apparent that if he should let go and 
 there should be the least slack in the rope, he 
 would go over the dam. 
 
 We now pulled the rope taut, and, when he 
 did let go of the post, he shot up the river eight 
 or ten feet, as though hurled from a catapult. 
 We drew him unconscious to the shore, but hot 
 blankets, vigorous rubbing, and liberal pota- 
 tions of hot whiskey revived him and brought 
 him around all right, and at three o'clock in 
 the morning we all went to bed. 
 
CHAPTER Xin 
 
 RIGHT PLACE — WEONG TIME 
 
 About the 20th of October our claim on Yan- 
 kee Slide was completely worked out. Al- 
 vin and I intended to leave for San Francisco, 
 on our way to Wisconsin, on the first day of 
 November; but as there were eight others who 
 were going to leave on the fifteenth, we con- 
 cluded to go all together. I was now quite ill 
 from my last siege underground, and needed 
 sunshine; and as the sun did not reach down 
 into this canyon until half -past ten in the morn- 
 ing and disappeared at three o'clock in the 
 afternoon, the doctor advised me to go to Co- 
 loma, where there was plenty of sunshine, and 
 to wait there for the remainder of our party. 
 
 I started on this trip afoot, wearing a long 
 blouse, which covered a belt containing about 
 twenty-five pounds of gold dust worth about five 
 thousand dollars. I carried a six-shooter in an- 
 other belt on the outside. I followed a zigzag 
 trail up to Old Longy's, where I stopped over- 
 night, and the next morning set out for George- 
 town over a good, broad trail that had been 
 well brushed out, in order to accommodate the 
 
 124 
 
Right Place — Wrong Time 125 
 
 pack mule trains carrying supplies to the mines 
 along the river and its tributaries. 
 
 When about eight miles from Georgetown my 
 trail led through a belt of very thick brush 
 about eight or ten feet high. Suddenly I heard 
 a rustling in the brush on my right, and upon 
 looking in that direction, observed the topmost 
 twigs moving in such a way as to indicate that 
 whatever was causing the twigs to move was 
 headed toward the trail at a point ahead of me. 
 I thought it was probably a coyote or wild cat, 
 and I drew my pistol, and pointing it ahead of 
 me along the trail, mentally remarked : 
 
 **I will break you of killing chickens.'' 
 
 As I held my pistol thus pointing, out stepped 
 a man holding a cocked pistol by his side, but, 
 fortunately, his pistol was down and mine was 
 up. We eyed each other for a few seconds, 
 whereupon he said : 
 
 ** Are you going to Georgetown? If so, there 
 is plenty of room to pass.'' 
 
 I replied that I was going to Georgetown, but 
 that I did not propose to go ahead of a man 
 who would sneak into a trail with a pistol in 
 his hand, and I said to him: 
 
 **Drop it quick." 
 
 He did so ; and as the weapon was cocked the 
 jar discharged it, and the bullet buried itself 
 in the ground. I asked him if he had any more 
 firearms about him, and he shook his head. I 
 
126 ' A California Pioneer 
 
 then said to liim that a highwayman might 
 easily be a liar, and for him to turn around and 
 walk slowly down the trail ahead of me ; which 
 he did. 
 
 When I reached the place where his pistol 
 had dropped, I picked it up and threw it as 
 far as I could into the brush. Of course I knew 
 that if I took him into Georgetown he would be 
 hanged within two hours, — and perhaps I ought 
 to have driven him in, but I had never been in 
 favor of ** lynch law,'' and I also now knew 
 from experience just how a man feels when he 
 is about to be hanged ; so I simply could not do 
 it. When we had gone about two miles and 
 were out in the open country, I pointed to a 
 large pine tree about fifty yards to the right 
 and told him to go there and to stay there un- 
 til I got out of sight. And this he did. 
 
 When I arrived at the hotel in Georgetown 
 I told of this experience, and the proprietor 
 was wild because I had not brought the high- 
 wayman into town, saying there had been sev- 
 eral miners robbed in that same belt of brush 
 during the summer, and he wanted me to stay 
 over a day and he would get up a crowd and 
 burn the brush and drive the highwayman out, 
 so that I could identify him-; but this idea was 
 abandoned, as a fire would involve the probable 
 destruction of several miners ' cabins. 
 
 The next morning, however, a posse was sent 
 
Right Place — Wrong Time 127 
 
 out. But I never learned whether the man was 
 apprehended, as on that day I went on to Co- 
 loma, where I remained until my brother and 
 the rest of our party came along. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 HOMEWAED BOUND 
 
 We traveled by stage from Coloma to Sacra- 
 mento, and then by steamer to San Francisco, — 
 the steamer trip costing an ounce of dust. 
 
 In 1849 the good ship Niantic, having been de- 
 serted by her crew, at high tide floated to the 
 southwest corner of Washington and Mont- 
 gomery Streets, where it lodged; and it had 
 been fitted up and was now doing duty as the 
 Niantic Hotel. Here we remained until ready 
 to sail for the Isthmus. 
 
 Unable to get berths on the steamer, we were 
 booked in the steerage at three hundred dol- 
 lars each, paying for our passage in gold dust 
 at sixteen dollars an ounce, — dust that was 
 worth nineteen dollars at the Philadelphia mint. 
 
 The site of the Palace Hotel was then nothing 
 but sand dunes, while west of Dupont Street 
 there was a mass of brush. We went to an 
 elevation from which we could see the Golden 
 Gate, the islands in the bay, and the Oakland 
 and Alameda shores, with the green hills be- 
 yond, upon which wild cattle then roamed. We 
 then went aboard our ship and selected our 
 
 128 
 
Homeward Bound 129 
 
 bunks in the steerage, but, upon examining the 
 mattresses, beat a retreat, as we here found 
 denizens whom we feared, if they got mad, 
 might pull the mattresses from under us. We 
 never went into that hole again, but slept on 
 deck. Fortunately, too, we had taken the pre- 
 caution of carrying with us a good supply of 
 grub. 
 
 The steamer was overloaded with passengers, 
 and the living conditions were such that I shall 
 not even attempt to describe them. 
 
 We arrived at Panama seventeen days out 
 from San Francisco, and anchored a mile from 
 shore. Here the passengers were taken in the 
 ship's boats, but they could not get nearer than 
 about one hundred feet from the shore, and 
 from there the passengers were carried upon 
 the backs of the natives. We had expected to 
 go on horseback across the Isthmus, but the 
 travel had been so great that there was not a 
 horse, mule, or jackass to be had; so we started 
 on foot for Cruces on the Chagres River, from 
 which point boats would take us to Chagres Bay, 
 where we could board a steamer for New York. 
 
 At San Francisco I had bought a pair of 
 patent leather shoes, thinking they would be 
 nice to wear on board ship, and not expecting 
 that I would have to do any walkiQg on the 
 Isthmus. 
 
 We started across the Isthmus on foot, and as 
 there had been a recent heavy rainfall, which 
 
130 A California Pioneer 
 
 compelled us to walk at times through mud and 
 water, my shoes fell to pieces at a point about 
 seven miles from Panama, and I was able to 
 bind the soles to my feet only by tearing a pair 
 of drawers and an undershirt into strips and 
 tying them around. 
 
 About eight miles from Cruces we came upon 
 a saloon, which was a building covered with 
 bamboo poles from the eaves down to a point 
 about two feet from the ground, leaving an open 
 space for light and ventilation. Alvin caught 
 sight of a pair of shoes upon the floor of this 
 building, which could be reached from the out- 
 side through this open space, and at his sugges- 
 tion I called the dozen tall black fellows sitting 
 about to come to the bar for drinks, while Alvin 
 quietly slipped out, reached in and stole this 
 pair of shoes, then started down the trail. If 
 I am to be regarded as a particeps criminis in 
 this transaction, I justify it upon the ground of 
 necessity, which knows no law, and upon the 
 further consideration that there was no evi- 
 dence that these shoes had any owner, and if 
 they did have an owner, he evidently had two 
 pairs of shoes, while I had none, and in that 
 country one pair of shoes would seem to be suf- 
 ficient for any man of ordinary means. 
 
 We soon overtook Alvin, and I found that, 
 by putting on two pair of socks and stuffing in 
 a couple of handkerchiefs, I could wear these 
 brogans, but fearing that they might be missed 
 
Homeward Bound 131 
 
 and that I would be pursued, I took the lead and 
 ran nearly all the way to Cruces ; but just be- 
 fore reaching there I threw them away and went 
 in my stocking feet into town, where I bought 
 another pair of shoes. 
 
 At this point we hired a boat and boatmen 
 and started down the river, but it soon became 
 so dark that we were compelled to make camp 
 for the night. We got started on our way the 
 next morning at sunrise, and reached Chagres 
 about noon, where we expected to take the 
 steamer for New York, but because of head 
 winds and rough weather our steamer had gone 
 to Navy Bay, now Colon. The railroad then in 
 course of construction had reached the Chagres 
 Eiver at a point about ten miles above Chagres, 
 whither we were taken in a small stern wheel 
 steamer, and here we boarded a train made up 
 of construction cars. As the road had not yet 
 been ballasted we bumped along at about four 
 miles an hour to Navy Bay, and here in the good 
 ship Georgia, — a great, high, round-nosed, 
 side-wheeled old tub, — took passage for New 
 York. 
 
 We stopped at Havana about five hours to 
 take on coal. A rebellion had just been sup- 
 pressed, and the leader, Lopez, was to be ex- 
 ecuted that very day. I did not attend the 
 execution, but some of our party did ; and they 
 reported the execution to have taken place as 
 follows : 
 
132 'A California Pioneer 
 
 There was a great castiron box with an open- 
 ing in it just large enough for a man to sit down 
 in. The victim was put in this box, and the box 
 was then closed and fitted closely around his 
 neck, leaving his head outside at the top. With 
 a machine something like a derrick they low- 
 ered a great iron clamp, which, as it reached 
 the victim's head, opened and took in his head, 
 whereupon the clamp was drawn upward, pull- 
 ing off the head of the victim, while the blood 
 from the broken arteries of his neck ran, like 
 water from a garden hose, over the iron block 
 to the ground. The execution took place in the 
 beautiful Plaza, and was witnessed by thou- 
 sands; the barbarous method of execution em- 
 ployed being adopted to strike terror to the 
 soul of those that dared rebel against Spanish 
 rule, but, as might be expected, it had just the 
 opposite effect, and the plotting of treason still 
 went on. 
 
 On Christmas day we reached New York, and 
 by one o 'clock that afternoon the barbers, bath 
 houses, and clothing stores had so changed our 
 appearance that we hardly knew one another 
 when we met for lunch. To see a white-haired 
 man was a curiosity to us, for there was none 
 such in California, and here in New York we 
 fairly gaped at them as we met them on the 
 streets. We spept two days in seeing the 
 sights, and then came our parting, and it was 
 indeed hard to separate from those who had 
 
Homeward Bowfid 133 
 
 been friends in the exciting scenes and incidents 
 through which we had passed. We put on bold 
 faces, however, shook hands, and started in dif- 
 ferent directions for the loved ones at home. 
 
 Alvin and I arrived at Beloit, Wisconsin, 
 January 20, 1852, having been detained on the 
 way two weeks, when Alvin was attacked with 
 Panama fever. 
 
 We were now home again, and as during my 
 absence Elizabeth had not found a fellow she 
 thought would make a better husband than I, 
 we were married on the 19th of the following 
 month. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE SECOND TRIP ACROSS 
 
 Before leaving California I had determined 
 to get back there just as quickly as I could, so 
 I immediately set about preparing for my sec- 
 ond trip *Hhe plains across.'' 
 
 The experience I had gained on my first trip 
 convinced me that ox teams would be prefer- 
 able to horse teams, and, as I was fitting out for 
 the second journey, not a little fun was made of 
 me by my friends on this account ; yet I knew 
 that, there being no railroad, the dull ox was 
 the next fastest means of travel. The explana- 
 tion of which is this : 
 
 The horse was constructed by nature as a 
 faster animal than the ox, and his paunch is 
 but a few inches in diameter and lays length- 
 wise of his body so as not to interfere with his 
 movements, and he requires more condensed 
 and richer food, which must be masticated be- 
 fore it is swallowed. Therefore, if you put him 
 on a grass diet alone, he spends the whole night 
 selecting the choicest and richest tufts of grass, 
 and when sunrise comes he goes into the har- 
 ness without sleep, — and no animal can live 
 
 134 
 
The Second Trip Across 135 
 
 without sleep. Of course he occasionally shuts 
 his eyes while leaning against the collar, but 
 the crack of the whip soon reminds him that 
 he is the servant of the two-legged beast on 
 the box, and the result is that within four weeks 
 after crossing the Missouri his ribs show as 
 plainly as black hoops on a white barrel, and 
 then between Fort Laramie and the summit of 
 the Rocky Mountains, — at some camp ground 
 out of the way of the emigrant travel, — two or 
 three weeks are lost in resting and feeding. 
 Experience showed that about thirty per cent 
 of the horses never reached the Sierra Nevada 
 Mountains. 
 
 Upon the other hand, the slow ox has a bread 
 basket that holds about a bushel ; with his rough 
 tongue, a foot long, he reaches out and sweeps 
 in whatever comes in its way, and in two hours 
 he has his fill, then lies down and puts in the 
 whole night in sleep, raising a cud of food from 
 one side of the basket, chewing and then de- 
 positing it on the other side, until the whole 
 has been masticated. He has, moreover, slept 
 through the entire operation, and at sunrise he 
 is ready for the yoke, and, if not driven more 
 than twenty miles a day, he reaches the summit 
 of the South Pass of the Rockies fit for the 
 shambles, and has already commenced to over- 
 take the horse trains that crossed the Missouri 
 at the same time. 
 
 I fitted out four teams of five yoke each, and 
 
136 A California Pioneer 
 
 took along also sixteen extra oxen and fifty 
 cows. Alvin was again a member of our com- 
 pany, as was also brother John, with his wife 
 and three children. I took also twenty-one pas- 
 sengers, who paid one hundred and twenty-five 
 dollars each, and who agreed to do their equal 
 share of the work on the way over. 
 
 We left Beloit March 2, 1852, and crossed 
 the Mississippi at Dubuque, and later crossed 
 the Missouri at Council Bluffs. At that time 
 Iowa was inhabited only along the streams 
 and belts of timber, and the broad prairies were 
 well covered with last year's growth of grass. 
 
 There was an occasional belt of wet land, 
 from fifty to seventy-five feet wide, with tus- 
 socks and tall blade grass, which we were able 
 to cross by lengthening our ox teams so that 
 there would be two or three pairs of oxen on 
 the firm ground ahead. 
 
 Our wagons were taken across the Missouri 
 one at a time in a scow, — at five dollars a trip, — 
 but my own men had to do all the rowing, and 
 as the river was raging we had to start in the 
 water about half a mile above the come-out on 
 the other side. We got the oxen across this 
 stream by leading two of them behind a boat, 
 and driving the others in to follow them, two 
 men following in a skiff to keep the loose cattle 
 from turning back. Our crossing was made 
 without any mishap, and we stopped for the 
 
The Second Trip 'Across 137 
 
 night at the site of the present city of Omaha. 
 Old Sarpie was still trading there, and he in- 
 formed ns that the Pawnees were hostile and 
 giving much trouble because the emigrants were 
 slaughtering ten times as much game as they 
 had any use for, — leaving much of it to rot, 
 while the Pawnee women and children were 
 starving. He said we should have at least fifty 
 men, and that one hundred would be better, un- 
 til we reached the Sioux nation, which was 
 friendly. 
 
 We, of course, had not molested the Pawnees 
 nor their game, but were well aware that for 
 the violation of his laws the Indian holds re- 
 sponsible not only the individual but the tribe 
 to which he may belong. 
 
 We here joined a company of sixteen men, 
 with four wagons and fifty oxen ; and now, with 
 forty men in all, we moved westward March 
 19th. At the Loup we rested for a day, and 
 here were joined by a company in charge of two 
 men named Beam and Pugh, with forty men and 
 five hundred head of cattle. We agreed to 
 travel separately, but for safety were to camp 
 together each night until we reached the Sioux 
 nation. 
 
 I here digress to remark that when our com- 
 pany had reached a point about two hundred 
 miles west of the Missouri we were overtaken 
 by a train of horse teams, made up of five 
 
138 A California Pioneer 
 
 wagons, with four horses each. Upon the side 
 of each wagon was lettered in bold type 
 
 ^^ SACRAMENTO OR BUST.'' 
 
 As they gayly passed us by, one of the drivers 
 asked if we had any word to send to friends in 
 Sacramento, but having made the trip with 
 horse teams myself, I felt quite safe of my 
 ground in answering that we would be in Sacra- 
 mento thirty days before he reached that town, 
 and sure enough we overtook and passed this 
 company at a point about fifty miles before we 
 reached the desert, where they had been com- 
 pelled to stop for days, in order to rest their 
 worn-out teams. 
 
 We were now in the buffalo country, yet not 
 a rifle was permitted to be fired by any of our 
 company. The buffalo had all been frightened 
 away from the river bottom by the continual 
 firing of the emigrants, but they could be seen 
 on the low hills to the north of the Platte bot- 
 tom. 
 
 One evening two Indians came to our camp, — 
 and after I had exchanged some sugar, corn 
 meal, a loaf of bread, and a chunk of boiled beef 
 for a pair of leggins, a buckskin purse, and a 
 belt, for which I had no use, — I told them to tell 
 their Chief that I would give him two plugs of 
 tobacco and five pounds of sugar for a buffalo, 
 if he would send men to help kill it. I thought 
 
The Second Trip Across 139 
 
 my having him send his own men a wise pre- 
 caution to avoid any misunderstanding. 
 
 The next morning they arrived, and I sent 
 two men with them. They soon came upon a 
 big buffalo in a low swag in the plain, and as 
 our men were not accustomed to shooting big 
 game, they shot him in every place but the right 
 one, and he stampeded and came on the dead 
 run headed straight for our train. It is a mat- 
 ter of common knowledge that a wounded or 
 stampeded buffalo is utterly oblivious of ob- 
 structions in his way, and as we saw him com- 
 ing we plied our whips in order to get out of 
 the way, but he struck squarely against one of 
 the front wheels of our hind wagon, and fell 
 dead in his tracks. It took us a day and a half 
 to repair that wheel with wood taken from a 
 cotton wood log, — the only material we could 
 find, — and meantime Beam and Pugh were far 
 alaead of us; as we were in a hostile country 
 this boded us no good. The Big Chief of the 
 Pawnees lived on the Missouri ; but every thirty 
 or forty miles we found a sub-chief. 
 
 On the second day after this occurrence our 
 forward scouts came on the run, and reported 
 that about one hundred Indians were coming to 
 meet us on the road ahead. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 MENACED BY THE PAWNEES 
 
 As soon as the Pawnees came in sight I no- 
 ticed that the Chief was about forty feet in the 
 lead, and the Indians were divided into the same 
 number of groups as there were wagons in our 
 train. I thought that I knew exactly what this 
 meant, for when they stopped it would bring a 
 group right opposite each one of our wagons. 
 Brother John was driving the hind wagon, and 
 I was sitting on the forward end of it with my 
 feet on the tongue hounds. I signaled to the 
 men in the rear to drive the loose stock along- 
 side of our wagons, and for all of them to arm 
 for defense. Each man had a rifle and a pistol, 
 and there were three men to each wagon who 
 took turns in driving, and these were all quickly 
 out of their wagons and on the side of the 
 wagons opposite the ones upon which the In- 
 dians were coming. 
 
 When the Chief reached a point opposite our 
 wagon I was standing up on the hounds. He 
 stopped and whirled around to throw his spear 
 at John, but I had meantime made a jump to 
 the ground, and stood before him with the muz- 
 
 140 
 
Menaced hy the Pawnees 141 
 
 zle of my rifle almost against his breast. His 
 spear was poised ready to throw, for what 
 seemed to me to be a long time, but it perhaps 
 did not exceed fifteen seconds. Meantime, all 
 the teams had stopped, and both sides were 
 ready for the signal from the Chief, bnt it did 
 not come; for he lowered his spear and rested 
 the end of the shaft on the ground, then turned 
 half around, without moving his head but keep- 
 ing his eyes on the muzzle of my rifle, then 
 broke and ran for the river, while the balance 
 of his warriors followed. 
 
 I sent two men to ride down a low swale which 
 here came down from the north, to watch the In- 
 dians, while another man was sent on ahead to 
 overtake Beam and Pugh and ask them to wait 
 until we came up. The scouts reported that the 
 Indians had forded the Platte to an Indian vil- 
 lage, and at least two hundred of them had gone 
 up the river and crossed back to the north side 
 at a belt of timber about five miles ahead of us, 
 where they no doubt expected we would camp 
 for the night, and they would fall upon us when 
 most of us were asleep. The man who had 
 been sent on ahead reported that he had gone 
 at least ten miles and had seen no sign of Beam 
 or Pugh, so we concluded to go into camp at 
 once. We placed the wagons in a circle and 
 lashed the tongue of each wagon to the inside 
 hind wheel of the one ahead. We then dug 
 rifle pits around this corral of wagons and piled 
 
142 A California Pioneer^ 
 
 up a sod fence, to prevent spears and arrows 
 striking the women or children. 
 
 Our camp was in a belt of resin weed, and the 
 old last year 's stocks were from four to five feet 
 high and quite thick. We made no fire to guide 
 the Indians to our camp, but suppered on hard- 
 tack, cold buffalo meat, and Platte River water. 
 Our firearms were now examined, cleaned and 
 loaded, and at sundown the stock was all put in 
 the corral and tied to the wagons and to the big 
 ropes, about sixty feet long, which we had 
 stretched across the corral and made fast to the 
 tops of the wheels, after which each man took 
 his rifle pit, laid his revolver on the top of the 
 sod fence, and we were ready for the night's 
 vigil. 
 
 We had with us four dogs, one of them a 
 large Newfoundland. He was led around on 
 the outside of the corral two or three times, the 
 other dogs following, and the rope was then 
 taken off and they were told to watch. These 
 dogs seemed to understand the situation as well 
 as we did, and I do not believe they lay down or 
 stopped walking around that camp until they 
 were all dead the next morning. 
 
 A few minutes before the first streak of day- 
 light showed, they all set up a terrific howling, 
 and would run off into the tall weeds, growling 
 and snarling, then run back to camp, apparently 
 to learn if we too were on the watch. Oc- 
 casionally there would be a mournful yelp, as 
 
Menaced hy the Panmees 143 
 
 a dog received a deadly thrust from a spear, 
 and within five minutes they were all killed. 
 
 Then followed a profound and oppressive si- 
 lence, then the breaking of the dried resin weed 
 as some moccasined foot pressed it. A little 
 more light, and we could see over this resin- 
 weed thicket an Indian head appear here and 
 there for an instant, then disappear, only to 
 come in view again, — still nearer. 
 
 In a few moments the leaders were within 
 twenty-five yards of our camp, waiting for the 
 war whoop of their Chief, while we were watch- 
 ing for the same signal. But the whoop did not 
 come, for the sight of those forty rifles and the 
 pistols lying on the breast-work evidently made 
 those savages realize that an attack meant the 
 loss of half their men. 
 
 A peculiar yell was now given by their Chief, 
 and the Indians beat a hasty retreat, going 
 straight over the resin weeds. Some of our 
 men wanted to shoot them as they retreated, 
 but, as this would only have increased our 
 danger of attack later on by larger numbers, 
 not a shot was fired. 
 
 We immediately broke camp and were soon 
 on our way, keeping a scout one mile in front 
 and another one mile to the rear to watch the 
 Indians. I sent another man ahead to overtake 
 Beam and Pugh, which he did near the west 
 line of the Pawnee Nation, and they imme- 
 diately went into camp to wait for us, who, by 
 
144 A California Pioneer 
 
 continuous driving, reached them at eight 
 o'clock in the evening, having made a forty- 
 five mile journey in approximately fifteen hours. 
 Incidentally, it was forty hours since we had 
 cooked a meal. They kindly took our stock to 
 the river and guarded them all night, and soon 
 had ready for us barbecued buffalo steak, big 
 cans of hot coffee, and Dutch ovens full of hot 
 biscuits. 
 
 Beam and Pugh started early the next morn- 
 ing while we did not leave until after lunch. 
 We went about five miles, which took us out of 
 the Pawnee country, and here we remained for 
 that day and the following day, to rest our 
 stock. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 AT SACEAMENTO — ^FLOOD AND FIEE 
 
 Beam and Pugh passed us, and we passed 
 them, several times before reacKing California, 
 and the last time I saw them was at a point 
 about three miles east of the summit of the 
 Sierra Nevadas. I shall never forget their 
 kindness in delaying their own journey in order 
 to protect our company from a hostile tribe of 
 Indians. 
 
 There is little worth recording from here un- 
 til we reached the meadows on the Humboldt 
 River, which were about twenty-five miles above 
 the Sink. Here my wife, brother John, and 
 two other men were sick with fever, and thirteen 
 of my passengers deserted me, taking their 
 blankets and leaving during the night. At this 
 point I abandoned the wagon with the cotton- 
 wood wheel, and put six pair of oxen to each 
 of the three remaining wagons, in one of which 
 we carried twelve tin cans, with which I pro- 
 posed to carry water on the desert. They had 
 been filled with supplies of various kinds, but 
 were now empty. Two of these cans would 
 reach across the wagon bed. We filled them 
 
 145 
 
146 A California Pioneer 
 
 with water and started for the Sink, which we 
 reached the next day. 
 
 Before daylight the next morning we were 
 well out on the desert, and before sundown 
 reached the edge of the fifteen miles of soft 
 sand. Here we watered the stock and rested 
 for a few hours, and at eleven o'clock at night 
 started over the fifteen mile strip. There was 
 a slight breeze blowing from the south, and 
 when we got within ten miles of the Carson, the 
 stock all smelled the water, and the teams 
 walked as fast as they could and without being 
 urged, while the loose stock passed the wagons 
 on their way to water, which we reached at 
 about half-past three in the morning. We 
 crossed the mountains without mishap, and 
 camped temporarily where a tributary of the 
 Sacramento River reaches the plain. 
 
 Uncle Ira went to the mines, brother Alvin 
 into the hotel business, while John and I leased 
 a ranch on the west side of the Sacramento 
 River, about two miles below the city. 
 
 Our house stood on posts three feet high, 
 and this looked suspicious to me, but as we 
 knew nothing about floods we thought no more 
 of it. I bought two sows at fifty dollars each, 
 and twelve chickens at four dollars each, and 
 went to farming. 
 
 Our crops were getting along nicely, and 
 then it began to rain ; and it kept on raining for 
 a month. The river was rising rapidly, and 
 
At Sacramento — Flood and Fire 147 
 
 our neighbors were collecting their stock and 
 taking it across the river to Sacramento and 
 then to the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. We 
 got our stock, — consisting of eighty head of 
 cattle and horses, — gathered, intending to take 
 them across the river the next day; but about 
 two 'clock in the morning we heard water run- 
 ning under the house, and upon investigation 
 found that it was up to the sills and sweeping 
 off toward the big tule swamp to the west. 
 Very soon all of our stock, including cattle, 
 horses, hogs and chickens, had been swept into 
 that tule lake and drowned, with the single ex- 
 ception of one horse that had climbed on top 
 of the woodpile. 
 
 The course of the river banks was marked 
 only by a belt of oaks that stood up in the vast 
 waste of water. We had wood enough in the 
 house to last two days, and knowing that the 
 supply would be exhausted before we would 
 likely be rescued, we waded in water up to our 
 necks to a clump of small oaks about fifty yards 
 from the house, and against which the hen 
 house had lodged, and we chopped this up and 
 floated the pieces to the house, piling them on 
 the porch. The posts at each end of the house 
 stood the flood all right, but those in the center 
 gave way, whereupon the floor settled in the 
 center and parted, and water to the depth of 
 a foot rushed in, although the floor was dry at 
 each end. 
 
148 A California Pioneer 
 
 We existed nnder these difficulties for eight 
 days, and on the fourth day, to add to the gay- 
 ety of our situation, a young lady called upon 
 us. She should have been ashamed of the way 
 she was dressed, and probably she was ; for she 
 was as red as a Pajaro apple, and weighed nine 
 and three-quarter pounds. 
 
 Phillips, a French fisherman, to whom we had 
 given the privilege of pitching his tent and 
 stretching his net on the river bank, hearing an 
 unusual squall from the house, asked John : 
 
 ^^For God's sake what is thatr' 
 
 **That is a sea nymph that Carres wife caught 
 during the flood," answered John. *^It came 
 up through that hole in the floor." 
 
 And our young lady visitor was called 
 *^ Nymph," until she went to school. 
 
 After the flood waters had receded, we hired 
 two men to chop wood, which we sold in Sacra- 
 mento at twenty-five dollars a cord. John 
 made two boats, one of which would carry a 
 cord and a half, — which was used to take the 
 wood to Sacramento, — while the other would 
 carry about half a cord, and was used for de- 
 livering the wood to purchasers. The water 
 had been from three to five feet deep in the 
 streets, but was now drained off and the soft 
 mud was from three inches to two feet deep. 
 For motive power I had a pair of oxen, and 
 walked in my long gum boots when the mud was 
 shallow, and rode in the boat when the mud was 
 
'At Sacramento— Flood and Fire 149 
 
 too deep. Later on we hauled wood with a 
 horse team, and were engaged in this work 
 when the great fire broke out in Sacramento. 
 I assisted in moving merchandise threatened by 
 this fire, and for this I was paid ten dollars a 
 load. 
 
 On reaching the southwest corner of the plaza 
 with a load of cooking stoves, I noticed a big 
 barrel in the street, with the head knocked in. 
 It apparently contained some kind of liquor, 
 for a lot of men were standing around drinking 
 from long beer glasses, and considering the size 
 of these glasses I concluded the liquor must be 
 light wine of some kind, and I asked for a drink, 
 and some one passed up a big glass full. After 
 I had drank about half of it I mistrusted that 
 it was something stronger, and I asked the men 
 what it was. 
 
 ** Brandy, you chump!'' they replied. 
 
 I had never tasted brandy before, and I be- 
 came very much intoxicated, for the first and 
 only time in my life. I had heard that vinegar 
 would check the effect of strong drink, so I 
 quickly bought a bottle of pickles, drank the 
 vinegar and ate the pickles ; but all to no pur- 
 pose, for I was thoroughly soused, and I remem- 
 ber that I unloaded these stoves as if they had 
 been cord wood, for I was now feeling rich and 
 cared nothing for expense. 
 
 Then a Hebrew tobacconist piled his goods on 
 my wagon, and his wife, with a large mirror, 
 
150 A California Pioneer 
 
 got on the seat beside me. I demanded my ten 
 dollars, but lie replied : 
 
 ^ * I pay no bills to-day. ' * 
 
 I stopped my team and began to unload his 
 loose boxes of cigars among the crowd, to which 
 they helped themselves, whereupon my ten dol- 
 lars was paid. This load was to be delivered 
 north of J Street among a lot of gigantic syca- 
 mores, and in passing under one of them, a 
 branch shoved its way clear through the big 
 mirror, and my lady passenger immediately ac- 
 cused me of being as drunk as a fool, which I 
 presume was approximately true. 
 
 By the time I got back, the fire was in full 
 swing, the Court House was in flames, and 
 Sacramento was soon in ashes. 
 
 During the following fall, — John having gone 
 to Nevada City, — I took off the crop, and with 
 a span of horses and a wagon, my wife and the 
 sea nymph, and with one cow tied behind, and 
 five hundred dollars in my pocket, I went to 
 Nevada City and engaged in the milk business, 
 purchasing ten cows, for which I paid forty dol- 
 lars a head. 
 
 Soon thereafter a destructive fire swept 
 Nevada City, and as all my best customers had 
 been burned out, and it would be months be- 
 fore it would be normal there again, I deter- 
 mined to move to Marin County. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 THE WRECKS OF THE SEA NYMPH AND LONG ISLAND 
 
 I LOCATED at Point Reyes in Marin County, 
 probably the best dairy county in the state. 
 This was in 1858. This whole country, from 
 Point Reyes to Point Tomales, was stocked with 
 Spanish cattle, many of them very wild, and the 
 grizzly and cinnamon bears were very plentiful, 
 doing great damage to the stock. I here en- 
 gaged in dairying, — shipping produce to San 
 Francisco. 
 
 While living at this place I witnessed the 
 wreck of the Sea Nymph about two miles north 
 of Point Reyes. During the night we were 
 awakened by the shooting of a cannon, and upon 
 going to the beach, found this ship stranded. 
 Soon there were about thirty men gathered on 
 the beach, and by means of a kite a small rope 
 was sent to shore, and to this was attached a 
 hawser, which was made fast on the shore and 
 then drawn taut with a capstan. In this way 
 all those aboard ship, except one man, were 
 saved. 
 
 On the day before Christmas, 1862, I loaded 
 eight boxes of butter and seventy head of hogs 
 
 151 
 
152 A California Pioneer 
 
 aboard tlie schooner Long Island, wMcli plied 
 between Tomales Bay and San Francisco. 
 Captain Sid Nelson asked me to make the trip 
 with him, to take charge of the hogs and the 
 unloading of them when they reached San Fran- 
 cisco; and he urged me to hurry home and 
 change my clothes as quickly as I could, because 
 he had to get out of Tomales Bay on the turn 
 of the tide, — now almost due. He informed me 
 also that he was to be married that night at 
 ten o'clock. I hurried home and changed my 
 clothes, but my wife had a presentiment of 
 danger, caused by the white caps that were then 
 breaking as far as the eye could reach, and she 
 begged me not to go on the schooner, but to go 
 on horseback by way of San Rafael. To please 
 her I agreed, and more than once on that night's 
 trip, when it was so dark I could not even see 
 my horse's head, I mentally remarked that if 
 it had not been for my wife's unreasonable 
 fright of a few white caps I would now be in 
 the little cabin on the Long Island fast asleep. 
 
 I reached San Rafael at midnight, and in the 
 morning crossed the bay, and on reaching San 
 Francisco went to the wharf where Nelson was 
 to discharge cargo ; but he was not there. 
 
 We could see great billows rolling in and 
 breaking on the bar at the Golden Gate, and I 
 noticed an elderly gentleman and a young lady 
 walking back and forth on the wharf, gazing 
 anxiously out at these great billows, and from 
 
Wrecks of Sea Nymph and Long Island 153 
 
 the apparent anxiety shown by this young lady 
 I concluded that she must be the Captain's 
 fiancee, so I asked if they were looking for the 
 Long Island. The young lady replied : 
 
 * * Yes. Do you know anything about that ves- 
 sel?'' 
 
 I answered that I had put freight on board 
 of the Long Island yesterday in Tomales Bay. 
 She then inquired whether I thought Nelson 
 could have got out of that bay against the head 
 wind of yesterday. I told her that I thought 
 he got out all right ; whereupon she turned white 
 as a sheet, and seeing that I had frightened 
 her, I made haste to explain (I did not then 
 think the vessel was lost), telling her not to be 
 alarmed about Captain Nelson, that he was a 
 good sailor and a careful man, that I had made 
 several trips with him from Tomales to San 
 Francisco, and that when he came in sight of 
 the breakers he would probably run back un- 
 der Point Reyes to shelter, coming in when the 
 bar should be smooth again. She replied: 
 
 **I know Nelson better than you. He had an 
 appointment at our house last night with a lot 
 of friends, and if he got out of Tomales yester- 
 day, he is lost." 
 
 The old gentleman, noticing the girl's agita- 
 tion, gently slipped his arm around her, say- 
 ing: 
 
 **Come, let's go home." 
 
 It was now near noon, and when I went to 
 
154 A California Pioneer 
 
 the Russ House for lunch I learned that the 
 Long Island had gone to the bottom, taking 
 with her Captain Nelson, two passengers, and 
 three sailors, and that her freight was scat- 
 tered from the North Head to Sausalito. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 SALINAS VALLEY — A BULL AND BEAR FIGHT 
 
 In 1865 I moved to the Salinas Valley, in 
 Monterey County, and here I leased from David 
 Spence two leagues of land (eight thousand 
 eight hundred and eighty acres) for a term of 
 five years, at the annual rental of five hundred 
 dollars, with the privilege of purchasing the 
 west half of this ranch for the sum of fifteen 
 thousand dollars; and here for some years I 
 engaged in the dairying business, milking fifteen 
 hundred cows. 
 
 That part of the Salinas Valley west of Sa- 
 linas was then covered with great tall mustard, 
 while in the easterly direction it was a good 
 grazing country. There was then a small stage 
 station consisting of a cabin and bam at the 
 present site of Salinas. 
 
 I had lumber hauled from Watsonville, and 
 built a residence and out-buildings at the pres- 
 ent site of the Spreckels Sugar Company's big 
 factory. In those years there were only two 
 other buildings between my residence and the 
 Oak Grove House below Soledad, — one of which 
 was at the Deep Well stage station, and the 
 
 155 
 
156 A California Pioneer 
 
 other, a cabin occupied by David Spence on 
 the river road. 
 
 R. T. Buell was then occupying the Buena 
 Vista Rancho, across the Salinas River, and 
 the mountain country there was infested with 
 bears that proved very destructive to our stock, 
 and some of our vaqueros proposed to stage an 
 old-fashioned bull and bear fight. They built 
 a six-by-eight-foot pen, the floor and all made 
 of logs about one foot in diameter, with a heavy 
 plank sliding door held up by a figure 4, hav- 
 ing a spindle five feet long extending into the 
 trap. In this pen they tied a young calf, — 
 which set up a lively bawling for its mother, — 
 and one of the largest cinnamon bears I have 
 ever seen walked into the pen, the door closed 
 behind him, and he was a prisoner. He was 
 transferred to an iron cage and taken to the 
 Davis place at the Hilltown crossing of the 
 Salinas River, where cage and all were placed 
 in a big corral. 
 
 A wild bull was now put into the corral, and 
 notices stuck up in Castroville, Monterey, Wat- 
 sonville, and around the country, announcing 
 that there would be an old-fashioned bull and 
 bear fight the following Sunday at twelve 
 o'clock at the Davis place; and hundreds of 
 people came. 
 
 The bull's horns had been filed until they were 
 very sharp ; and when everything was in readi- 
 
Salinas Valley — A Bull and Bear Fight 157 
 
 ness the vaqueros lassoed and threw the bull 
 and tied to one of his front feet the end of a 
 chain about seventy-five feet long, after which 
 the bear was let out of his cage, lassoed, and 
 thrown, and the other end of the chain tied to 
 one of his front feet. This was to prevent 
 either from running away from the other, and 
 to insure a fight. But for this chain both ani- 
 mals were now loose in the big corral. Nor was 
 there a lack of music, for a white-haired Mexi- 
 can from Castroville, — sitting astride of a pinto 
 pony as old as its rider, — had brought with him 
 a cracked fiddle, and he started a lively tune, 
 making that old fiddle fairly squeal. 
 
 The betting was two to one in favor of the 
 bear when the fight started. There was a bam 
 with a hay loft in it on one side of the corral, 
 which was open from the eaves to a point about 
 six feet from the ground, and this was full of 
 hay and constituted the reserved section, which 
 was occupied by the women and children, who 
 laughed and cheered when the bull was getting 
 the best of it, and who would cry when the bear 
 was having the advantage. 
 
 There were salvos of ** Bravo Torol'* when 
 the bull had the best of it, and ** Bravo Oso!'' 
 when Bruin had things his way; and the fight 
 certainly was fierce enough. Finally, when the 
 bear, standing on his hind legs, got his *^arms" 
 around the bulPs neck, and a vicious hold with 
 
158 A California Pioneer 
 
 his teeth, the bull, by a mighty effort, got one 
 of his pointed horns between the bear's ribs, 
 and tossed him three or four feet into the air, 
 which finished the fight ; for the bear had been 
 gored in a vital spot, and died in a short time. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 EAKLY SALINAS VALLEY POLITICS 
 
 I COMPLETED the purchase of the 4,440 acre 
 tract from Spence (now worth four hundred 
 dollars per acre), and subsequently bought 
 12,000 acres of the San Lorenzo Rancho, in the 
 southern end of the Salinas Valley; and for 
 some years prosperity smiled upon all my un- 
 dertakings. 
 
 In 1872 I was honored by being made one of 
 California's delegates to the National Republi- 
 can Convention that nominated President Grant 
 for his second term. 
 
 In 1875 I was elected a member of the Cali- 
 fornia Assembly, and was reelected in 1877. 
 
 San Antonio precinct was in the southern 
 part of the county, and its voting population 
 was made up largely of native Calif omians, and 
 it was overwhelmingly Democratic, and as I 
 did not speak their language I employed Jacob 
 R. Leese, a member of the well-known pioneer 
 family of that name, to go with me to that pre- 
 cinct. A Mexican, whom I shall call Carranza 
 (that was not his name), was the Democratic 
 oracle and leader of the San Antonio precinct, 
 
 169 
 
160 A California Pioneer 
 
 and I did not intend to waste any time in solic- 
 iting Carranza's support, for I thought it use- 
 less to do so ; but as we were passing his resi- 
 dence, Leese insisted that we should at least call 
 and shake hands with him. This we did, and 
 while Carranza was affable enough, I saw no 
 prospects of enlisting his aid in my fight. 
 Leese, however, engaged Carranza in a private 
 conversation in Spanish, and when we were 
 about to leave, Carranza extended his hand to 
 me and wished me good luck. I could not un- 
 derstand why he should wish me good luck, and 
 when we got out on the road I said to Leese : 
 
 **You don't mean to say that Carranza in- 
 tends to support me at the election. ' ' 
 
 **Yes,'' replied Leese; ** that's just what he 
 is going to do. ' ' 
 
 **Jake,'' said I, ^*you have compromised me 
 in some way, in order to obtain Carranza 's sup- 
 port, and I do not want you to agree that I 
 shall do anything that can not be done, or that 
 is not proper for me to do.'' 
 
 Leese replied that if I was elected I would 
 find out, and if not, I would never know; but 
 said that there was nothing wrong about it. 
 
 There was no telegraphic communication with 
 the San Antonio precinct, and the returns from 
 there were the last to be received, but they 
 showed that Carranza had turned things upside 
 down; and I was elected by a majority of six 
 votes. 
 
Early Salinas Valley Politics 161 
 
 When I first met Leese after my election I 
 asked him what he had promised Carranza that 
 I would do if elected, and Leese replied that 
 Carranza had a son in State's Prison for horse 
 stealing, and that I was to get him out. I in- 
 vestigated the facts of the case and became con- 
 vinced that the stealing of the horse, for which 
 young Carranza had been sent to jail, was more 
 of a boyish frolic or escapade than it was really 
 criminal in design. C. P. Berry was chosen 
 Speaker, and as I had been his opponent and 
 w^e were friendly, I induced him to appoint me 
 a member of the Committee on State Prisons, 
 and this committee, after a full investigation, 
 recommended to the Governor that young Car- 
 ranza be pardoned, which recommendation was 
 approved by the Governor, and young Carranza 
 was liberated. 
 
 I am not altogether satisfied whether my con- 
 nection with this transaction may be said to 
 have been altogether commendable, but I do 
 not think it was ^^facinorous,'' and with this I 
 dismiss it from further consideration. 
 
 In 1876, which was, of course, a few years 
 after the close of the Civil War, politics were 
 considerably ^^ warmer'' than they are in these 
 days of non-partisanship, and when the Elec- 
 toral Commission decided that Hayes had been 
 chosen over Tilden, the storm broke out, and 
 Salinas, not to be behind in the procession, 
 staged the following tragedy. 
 
162 A California Pioneer 
 
 There was a very portly gentleman living at 
 Salinas at that time, whom I shall call Quirk 
 (which was not his name). He was a Pennsyl- 
 vania Democrat (asserted by some narrow Re- 
 publicans to be a very bad specimen of Demo- 
 crat), and he waxed very angry over the de- 
 cision of the Electoral Commission, and loudly 
 proclaimed that under no circumstances would 
 Hayes remain seated in the Presidential chair, 
 and that he, Quirk, proposed to prevent it by 
 force of arms. He thereupon undertook to or- 
 ganize a regiment to go back to Washington 
 and remove Hayes and seat Tilden. 
 
 Of course, the organization of this armed 
 force and the carrying out of this venture re- 
 quired the consumption of a reasonable quantity 
 of stimulant, and Quirk started down Main 
 Street and entered one barroom after another, 
 proclaiming his purpose and soliciting enlist- 
 ments. At each place he stopped, one or more 
 sympathizers would join the colors, and by the 
 time Quirk had reached the Abbott House he 
 had ** sharked up a list of landless resolutes" 
 to the number of thirty or forty, who came 
 noisily trooping at his heels. 
 
 In the lobby of the Abbott House near the 
 stove sat Press Woodside, a lawyer and a 
 Southern Democrat, and Quirk now addressed 
 himself to this expected recruit to his force. 
 After listening patiently to Quirk's vivid ac- 
 count of the wrongs that were being heaped 
 
Early Salinas Valley Politics 163 
 
 upon the grand old Democratic party by the 
 * thieving Black Republicans,'' and after being 
 fully advised of Quirk's proposed warlike ad- 
 vance upon Washington, Woodside replied as 
 follows : 
 
 ** Quirk, you certainly will not question my 
 fealty to the Democratic party nor believe that 
 I would falter in my support of its time-honored 
 principles. I fully agree with you that Tilden 
 was elected, and that we have been ignomini- 
 ously robbed of the presidency, yet at my years 
 I feel little disposed to again take up arms 
 against the constituted authorities. As you are 
 aware, I saw several years' service in the late 
 war, fighting for Dixie, and it was by the merest 
 chance that my bones are not now bleaching 
 on the banks of the Chickahominy. In that 
 great contest I saw amputated legs and arms 
 piled up like cord wood, and I saw numberless 
 men shot so full of holes that they * would not 
 hold their ^Wittles." ' I wish you all success in 
 your venture, and fortified by your virility and 
 energy, there can be no such thing as failure; 
 but so far as I am personally concerned, I de- 
 sire to say to you that I have given this entire 
 matter the most respectful and prayerful con- 
 sideration and reflection, and am now convinced 
 to my own satisfaction that, whatever political 
 party is successful, the country will last as long 
 as I will, and after that it can *gotohell.' " 
 
CHAPTEE XXI 
 
 BUSINESS VENTUEES 
 
 No one is very mucli interested in a hard- 
 Inck story, and I hastily pass over the follow- 
 ing: 
 
 In those halcyon days of yore it was pretty 
 generally conceded that our great transporta- 
 tion company had not been incorporated for 
 charitable purposes, and the farmers of the 
 Salinas Valley complained very loudly of the 
 freight rates charged upon their shipments, and 
 in response to what appeared to be a very 
 strong public sentiment I fathered, or promoted, 
 the organization of the Monterey and Salinas 
 Valley Railroad Company, which built a nar- 
 row-gauge railroad from Salinas to Monterey, 
 a distance of twenty miles. This enabled the 
 farmers to ship their grain to tide water, and 
 resulted in a great saving in freight. 
 
 For a short time this little railroad pros- 
 pered, and then our big competitor, in order to 
 recover its lost business, made a horizontal re- 
 duction in its freight charges, whereupon many 
 of the farmers of the Salinas Valley im- 
 paediately withdrew their patronage from the 
 
 164 
 
Business Ventures 165 
 
 little railroad and went back to their ancient 
 enemy. 
 
 In order completely and fully to equip this 
 little railroad, we had to go in debt to the ex- 
 tent of about $120,000.00, and this withdrawal 
 of patronage made it inevitable that there would 
 ultimately be foreclosure proceedings. 
 
 I pledged my own credit, and thereby suc- 
 ceeded in keeping this railroad in operation for 
 about two years, saving to the shippers of the 
 Salinas Valley a very considerable amount of 
 money. 
 
 In 1874 I had built the Abbott House, still a 
 popular hostelry at Salinas, and in 1876-7 
 California experienced the dryest season since 
 the American occupation, the rainfall in the Sa- 
 linas Valley being less than five inches. 
 
 In 1877-8 there were prospects of an enor- 
 mous yield, and in the month of April, when I 
 returned from the Legislature, I had 6,000 acres 
 of wheat standing level with the tops of the 
 fences ; but during one night in June, when the 
 wheat was in the milk, an unseasonable rain 
 fell, followed by a bright sunshine the next day, 
 which brought on rust; and my entire 6,000 
 acres of wheat did not yield a single sack of 
 grain. 
 
 *^ Misfortunes come not single spies, but in 
 battalions," and it now developed that a com- 
 mission house in San Francisco, to which I had 
 
166 A California Pioneer 
 
 been shipping my produce, had appropriated 
 about $45,000.00 of my money. 
 
 The dry year, followed by the rusty year, 
 necessarily caused a shrinkage in the value of 
 real property, and creditors, becoming alarmed 
 for the safety of their investments, very gen- 
 erally either demanded additional securities, or 
 pressed collection of their claims. I was caught 
 in the general cataclysm, and although I had 
 property that in ordinary times was worth a 
 great deal more than I owed, it was now sacri- 
 ficed because of the shrinkage in values, and I 
 was broke, yet undismayed. 
 
 I think I may here with propriety mention 
 two incidents in connection with the Monterey 
 and Salinas Valley Railroad Company, of which 
 I was President. 
 
 Wishing to avoid the importunities of people 
 who I knew would be clamoring for free trans- 
 portation, I procured the board of directors to 
 pass a resolution forbidding the President is- 
 suing such transportation. 
 
 While this resolution was in force, a Rev. Mr. 
 McGowan, an Episcopal clergyman then re- 
 siding at Salinas, supported by a large delega- 
 tion of the women of the congregation, solicited 
 from me a pass from Salinas to Monterey and 
 return, and while I was desirous of advancing 
 religious affairs, at least to the small extent 
 that would be accomplished by the issuance of 
 free transportation to this gentleman, I was at 
 
Business Ventures 167 
 
 a loss for a method of getting around the resolu- 
 tion ahove referred to. 
 
 It occurred to me that if the Rev. Mr. Mc- 
 Gowan could by some means be classed as an 
 employee of the company, the way would be 
 open for my complying with his resquest, and 
 after a little reflection it occurred to me that 
 above all things else our little railroad needed 
 a chaplain, whereupon I had the secretary enter 
 upon his books an order appointing the Rev. 
 Mr. McGowan as chaplain of the Monterey and 
 Salinas Valley Railroad Company, and I then 
 handed him his pass. 
 
 I here mention the dirtiest political trick 
 with which I was ever connected. There was to 
 be a Democratic rally at the old town of Monte- 
 rey, which was to be addressed by some celeb- 
 rity from San Francisco, and the chairman of 
 the Democratic Central Committee came to me 
 and asked me what the lowest rate would be 
 for running an excurison on the night of this 
 meeting. I told him that it was not a ques- 
 tion of rates, that I was going to run a free 
 train on that night. 
 
 I then telegraphed to the Republican State 
 Central Committee to send the best speaker 
 they had to Salinas for the same night the 
 meeting was to be held in Monterey, and I then 
 set some men at work putting temporary sides 
 on a train of forty flat cars, and placed benches 
 to seat the passengers. On the day the speak- 
 
168 A California Pioneer 
 
 ing was to take place I had notices posted an- 
 nouncing a free excursion from Monterey to 
 Salinas; and practically the entire population 
 of Monterey came over to our Republican meet- 
 ing at Salinas, while the Democratic orator and 
 a few of his friends, who refused to desert him, 
 remained at the old capital. 
 
 Conditions at that time were not what they 
 are now, and then pretty nearly anything, ex- 
 cept scuttling a ship or cutting a throat, was 
 considered perfectly proper in matters political ; 
 yet, at the same time, as I look back upon this 
 incident, I do not think it very creditable, and 
 make this confession to show that I am re- 
 pentant. 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 IN ARIZONA 
 
 In the latter part of 1879 I moved to Arizona, 
 in an effort to recoup my fortune. I located at 
 Tombstone, and engaged in the milk business, 
 with fair success; and I mention the following 
 circumstance merely to illustrate the ingenuity 
 of the paleface in his pursuit of the nimble 
 shilling. 
 
 I was supplying six cans of milk a day to one 
 big hotel, and three cans a day to another; but 
 the same amount was being furnished by a com- 
 petitor. The landlord of one of these hotels 
 complained of my milk's souring. He was 
 about to stop the supply, but I induced him not 
 to do so until I had an opportunity to find out 
 what caused my milk to sour, — I agreeing to 
 continue furnishing the milk free of charge un^ 
 til the difficulty should be located. I hired a 
 man to act as a detective, and he quickly caught 
 the second cook squeezing a pickle into the cans 
 of milk I had delivered at the hotel. My com- 
 petitor had paid the second cook ten dollars 
 for this service. The landlord immediately 
 discharged this cook and also stopped the sup- 
 
 169 
 
170 A California Pioneer 
 
 ply from my competitor, giving all the busi- 
 ness to me, which was not so bad after all. 
 
 Geronimo, the Apache chief, was now again 
 on a raid. He was on the Mexican side in the 
 Sierra Madre Mountains, with about three 
 hundred warriors, and was occasionally sending 
 parties of from twenty to thirty of his men 
 back to the reservation to get supplies that his 
 friends would collect, and to steal stock and 
 commit murder and torture the palefaces on the 
 way. I could mention many of his outrages, 
 but will refer to but one. 
 
 His men had made a raid into New Mexico 
 just east of the Arizona line, and three vaqueros 
 riding the range, looking after stock, came in 
 sight of a house at the edge of the timber. 
 There was no smoke from the chimney, and 
 there was no person in sight, but as they saw a 
 number of cattle at the water troughs, they con- 
 cluded that the troughs were probably empty, 
 for otherwise the cattle would not gather there 
 at that time of day, so they rode up to investi- 
 gate. They found several children lying dead 
 around a wagon. Their heads had been 
 smashed against the hubs of the wheels. Upon 
 entering the house, they found the father and 
 mother dead, and as one of the party happened 
 to be acquainted with the family, he exclaimed : 
 
 *'For God's sake, where is Maud [a girl of 
 nineteen]? I wonder if they took her with 
 them.'' 
 
In Arizona 171 
 
 The house was thoroughly searched, and then 
 the back yard, and here they found Maud, still 
 alive but unconscious, her feet and hands tied, 
 hanging to a meat hook that had been driven 
 into a tree, and the point thrust through the 
 back of her neck. She was quickly taken down, 
 and one of the vaqueros started for a doctor 
 twenty-five miles away, while the other two did 
 what they could to revive her. But she was 
 dead when the doctor arrived. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 AND A FOOL BAEGAIN 
 
 The Government had advertised for bids to 
 furnish beef cattle (about 4,000 head, more or 
 less), to supply the San Carlos Indian Reserva- 
 tion for the ensuing year. Two other men and 
 I prepared a bid, but when our papers were 
 ready we ascertained that it was too late to get 
 them to San Carlos by mail in time for the 
 opening of bids, and the only alternative was to 
 carry our bid there on horseback. In order to 
 do this it would be necessary to go through the 
 Dragoon Mountains and the Pass north of the 
 Graham Mountains, where, ten days before, a 
 Government pack train had been robbed and 
 six men killed. My partners said they would 
 
 not make the trip for *^all the d cattle in 
 
 Arizona,'' so I determined to go myself. 
 
 I was well on my way before daylight the 
 next morning, expecting to reach Fort Thomas 
 on the Gila, seventy-five miles away, that night, 
 and thought that by starting at three o'clock 
 the next morning I would be able to reach San 
 Carlos by noon, at which time the bids were to 
 be opened. I traveled along the west foot of 
 
 172 
 
An Awful Journey, and a Fool Bargain 173 
 
 the Dragoons, and around the north end into 
 the Sulphur Spring Valley, taking care when- 
 ever I sighted a clump of brush on the line of 
 my trail to give it a wide berth, but I was now 
 in an open plain where I could see for miles in 
 all directions. The Sulphur Spring Valley is 
 about one hundred miles long and about twenty- 
 five miles wide, the south end of it being in 
 Mexico, and the north end, where I was travel- 
 ing, being completely surrounded by mountains. 
 
 On reaching a point about five miles from 
 the end of the valley where the road turns ab- 
 ruptly east to the Pass heretofore mentioned, I 
 met a stockman who lived in the northwestern 
 part of the valley, who informed me that, by 
 going through a certain box canyon I would 
 save at least twelve miles' distance. Carr Ab- 
 bott fashion, I took this short route. At the 
 start the canyon was about sixty yards wide 
 with high bluffs on each side, and a mile farther 
 was from sixteen feet to sixty yards wide with 
 perpendicular walls from 2,000 to 3,000 feet 
 high. There was a small stream of water 
 through this canyon three to four inches deep 
 as it passed over the sand bars, but there were 
 many deep pools where the water covered my 
 saddle. The trail in many places was indis- 
 tinct and overgrown with briers and berries, 
 and my progress was very slow. 
 
 Night overtook me, and in looking up I could 
 see only the stars, while, looking downward, 
 
174 A California Pioneer 
 
 I could not even see my horse. I rode into 
 one of these deep pools where the water cov- 
 ered the saddle, and with a stick that I had cut 
 for that purpose, was able to make my way to 
 a point where the water was but two feet deep, 
 by means of keeping one end of this stick on 
 the bank. 
 
 I was finally able to crawl off onto a low 
 bank, and after several trials got my horse up 
 also. Here was a comparatively level patch 
 of sediment land, about forty feet wide and one 
 hundred feet long, overgrown with blackberry 
 bushes. After some difficulty I succeeded in col- 
 lecting a lot of dry sycamore limbs and got a 
 fire started. My horse was looking at me with 
 wonder in his eyes. I removed the saddle and 
 spread the blanket over him, and told him to 
 help himself to blackberries, as it was all either 
 of us would have for supper. Then I took off 
 my clothes and hung them before the fire. The 
 owls that were nesting on little shelves of the 
 overhanging rocks above me were shouting 
 **Who, whor' 
 
 * ^ Who, who ! ' ^ I replied. * * If you knew half 
 as much as an owl is supposed to know, you 
 would know that there was not a man in Ari- 
 zona except Carr Abbott who would be fool 
 enough to be caught in such a hole as this. ^ ' 
 
 Nevertheless they were not satisfied with this 
 answer and kept putting the question all 
 through the long night. When my clothes got 
 
An Awful Journey, and a Fool Bargain 175 
 
 dry I dressed, and sat down and leaned against 
 a sycamore stump. Having nothing else to do, 
 I tried to figure out how long it must have been 
 since Sulphur Spring Valley was a lake, and its 
 outlet a h\g river wending its way to the sea, 
 3,000 feet above my head ; but I became so con- 
 fused in the mass of figures as they multiplied 
 that I fell asleep, and when I awoke the stars 
 had gone and **01d SoP' was shining on the 
 top of the cliff. 
 
 I started on my journey, and in about a mile 
 came to the open country, a fertile little valley 
 about two miles wide and about three miles 
 long, at least one-half of which was covered 
 with blackberry bushes, clumps of sycamore 
 and willow, the open glades well grassed. I 
 was riding across one of these grassy spots, 
 and my trail turned abruptly to the left into a 
 belt of tall blackberry bushes, and there not 
 more than thirty yards distant I saw seven 
 black heads, that I supposed belonged to Ger- 
 onimo Apaches; and as it was now up to me 
 either to return through that infernal canyon 
 or fight, I determined to try a bluff. So I lev- 
 eled my rifle on them and yelled to them to 
 throw up their hands; and up went seven pair 
 of hands accompanied by the exclamation : 
 **Good Indian me, me Escamarine Indian.'* 
 I told them to come up where I was in the 
 open and to keep their hands up; which they 
 did. There were three men, two squaws and 
 
176 A California Pioneer 
 
 two girls, one about twelve years of age, and 
 the other about sixteen or seventeen. Escama- 
 rine had been an Apache chief, but because of 
 his friendship for the whites, he had been de- 
 posed in favor of Geronimo, and the Govern- 
 ment had given him this little valley, to which 
 he had moved with his cousins, his uncles, and 
 his aunts, and quite a number of friends, who 
 knew there was no use to fight the whites. The 
 men begged for tobacco, and I gave them all 
 I had. 
 
 One of the squaws (the mother of the girls) 
 took a fancy to my horse, and she wanted me 
 to go to their village to see her ponies, offering 
 me in exchange two of them for my horse ; but 
 I told her I must reach San Carlos before noon, 
 and then by way of complimenting the oldest 
 girl I offered to give my horse for her. 
 
 But, quick as a flash, I realized that I had 
 made a grave mistake, as Indians know nothing 
 about compliments and never engage in jok- 
 ing, and where a man offers to buy a girl, they 
 believe he wants her, whereupon the only thing 
 to settle is the price to be paid. The mother 
 replied : 
 
 '^Oh, no, that girl heap good girl, heap catch 
 um fish, heap work in garden, that girl worth 
 ten ponies." 
 
 I told them I was in a hurry, and bid them 
 good-by; but as I turned my horse to the trail 
 I caught sight of that girPs face, and never 
 
An Awful Journey, and a Fool Bargain 177 
 
 before did I see so much wrath and scorn in a 
 human countenance ; for the idea that she was 
 not worth ten ponies was unbearable. As the 
 whole crowd now looked mad, and I seemed to 
 be in for a row with these friendly Indians, I 
 was in a quandary, and did not know what to 
 do or say. At length, believing that it was not 
 likely I would see them again, and as it was 
 also probable that this girPs heart would not 
 thereby be broken, and as I was closely sur- 
 rounded on all sides, I asked the mother how 
 old the girl was. She replied that the last notch 
 on her age rod was seventeen, and in two 
 months more there would be another notch. 
 
 *^A11 right," I said, ''in two weeks I will 
 come with the ponies." 
 
 At these words the girPs face fairly beamed, 
 and she asked me where my wigwam was, to 
 which I replied that it was just across the moun- 
 tains in the big valley (a lie of course). 
 
 '*Aw," she said, ''there is a trail over the 
 mountain, and I can go from your wigwam to 
 the Escamarine village in four hours and carry 
 a papoose, and when you come with the ponies 
 come that way, because Geronimo Indians are 
 sometimes in the Black Canyon, and they kill 
 you and take the ponies." 
 
 ' ' All right, ' ' I said ; ' ' good-by. ' ' 
 
 This girl was a beauty. She was without 
 paint or whitewash, above medium height, 
 weighed about one hundred and sixty pounds, 
 
178 A California Pioneer 
 
 and her hair, which was cut in front about half 
 an inch above the eyebrows, fell to her waist at 
 the back. She had round features, a mouth 
 like a slit in a Lodi watermelon, and was ele- 
 gantly attired in raw-hide sandals and a white 
 man's overshirt. I never saw her afterward, 
 but I heard from her, as I will hereafter relate. 
 
 I reached San Carlos at half past eleven in 
 the morning, but as our bid was not the lowest 
 we did not get the contract. 
 
 On my return I did not go by the Escama- 
 rine village, but, giving it a wide berth, went up 
 the Gila to Fort Thomas, and through the Pass 
 north of the Graham Mountains, where the Gov- 
 ernment train, to which I have heretofore re- 
 ferred, had been destroyed. There was at least 
 an acre that was white with flour, sugar, rice, 
 and so on, while the Indians on the Eeservation 
 were grumbling and growling because their ra- 
 tions were shortened by this pillage. 
 
 A few hours later I met an Indian, and I 
 stopped and prepared for business ; but he took 
 a paper out of his pocket, waved it, and kept 
 coming. When he reached me he handed the 
 paper to me. It stated that he was a friendly 
 Indian, in the employ of the Government, that 
 he should be allowed to pass, and it was signed 
 by the commander at Fort Thomas. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 UNCLE ben's escape 
 
 I SPENT the last night of this trip in a little 
 mining town on the eastern side of Sulphur 
 Spring Valley called Dos Cabezos (Two 
 Heads), so named from two lofty peaks just 
 back of the town. About three hundred miners 
 lived here together, as a protection against 
 raids of the Indians. 
 
 There was a large adobe hotel at this place 
 having a barroom about eighteen by twenty- 
 four feet, near the center of which was a great 
 box stove with an iron railing around it. In 
 the evening after supper this big barroom was 
 filled with miners, and they began telling In- 
 dian stories, the story-telling being started by 
 a blacksmith who had had one heel amputated, 
 because of a bullet that had been shot into it by 
 an Apache. 
 
 He told about having been driving along the 
 road with his partner and being ambushed by 
 the Indians, who were concealed in mesquite 
 brush on higher ground at their left. The 
 horses of the blacksmith and his partner were 
 killed by the Indians, and were then used as 
 
 179 
 
180 A California Pioneer 
 
 breastworks while the Indians were f onght back, 
 and in retreating down the road on the run, the 
 bullet had struck the blacksmith's heel. The 
 blacksmith and his partner reached a small 
 knob, close up to the mountain, which was cov- 
 ered with big bowlders, and they hastily built 
 a pen of these and got inside, while the In- 
 dians surrounded them and remained just out 
 of gunshot. After it got dark the partner had 
 crawled through the ring of Indians and 
 reached the village about six miles away, re- 
 turning at the break of day with about seventy- 
 five men. Several of the Indians were killed, 
 and the blacksmith and his partner had killed 
 three of them in the skirmish the day before. 
 This story was followed by others, which grew 
 in size until none were believed. 
 
 An elderly man, called ^^ Uncle Ben,'' sat near 
 the stove with his feet on the railing, smoking 
 a corncob pipe; and as he had been in that 
 country before the American occupation, he 
 was asked several times to tell of his experi- 
 ences with the Indians. To this request he al- 
 ways replied that he had never had any scraps 
 with the Indians worth telling; but the crowd 
 was insistent, so finally Uncle Ben related the 
 following story. 
 
 Once he and four other men were on a pros- 
 pecting trip in the Dragoon Mountains, and they 
 were going up a canyon across a little flat, about 
 sixty feet wide. In the rainy season a small 
 
Uncle Ben's Escape 181 
 
 stream ran down this canyon, but at the time 
 to which he was referring the bed of the stream 
 was dry sand and gravel, and about ten feet 
 below the flat. On both sides the mountains 
 were very steep, and well covered with timber. 
 Without warning, he said, * ' there came a storm 
 of arrows from our front, and there were so 
 many of them we thought it best to retreat, 
 but on turning back we discovered more In- 
 dians behind us than there were in front, and 
 behind the trees in all directions black heads 
 would appear, and *zip' came the arrows. We 
 got behind trees and rocks ourselves, and fired 
 until our ammunition was exhausted, then got 
 down on the sandy bed of the creek and, using 
 our rifles as war-clubs, fought these black devils 
 with desperation. '^ 
 
 Proceeding, he told of the death of each of 
 his companions, describing them separately and 
 winding up with poor old Bill Jones, his part- 
 ner, who got locked with a big Indian, and over 
 and down they went, with Bill on top ; but three 
 or four hatchets quickly cut him to pieces. 
 
 **At that moment,'' said Uncle Ben, **I was 
 striking an Indian over his head with my war- 
 club, when another one made a lunge at me with 
 his one-tined spear, which hit me in my left 
 shoulder just under the collarbone, and came 
 out of my back. I hit my heels against the brute 
 I had brained with a blow from my war-club, 
 and went over on my back. Half a dozen of 
 
182 A California Pioneer 
 
 these black devils then pounced upon me and 
 stretched my hands and feet out and ran their 
 spears down through them into the sand." 
 
 By this time Uncle Ben's pipe had gone out, 
 and he scratched match after match, until he 
 finally got it going again. All the while there 
 was perfect silence, for everybody was waiting 
 for the finish of the yarn. Yet none came. 
 Uncle Ben just smoked and smoked. At length 
 some one sitting behind him said : 
 
 *^Well, Uncle Ben, how did you get awayf 
 Uncle Ben turned to him and answered : 
 
 ** Young man, you must have gone crazy. I 
 did not get away — the killed me. ' ' 
 
CHAPTER XXV 
 
 AN APACHE WAR DANCE 
 
 I MADE a trip to the valley of the Little Col- 
 orado in the early 80 ^s, for the purpose of buy- 
 ing stock cattle for my Sulphur Spring Valley 
 ranch. It was a journey of two hundred miles, 
 and Geronimo was again in the Sierra Madre 
 Mountains, while his scouts were on the route 
 between that point and San Carlos, stealing and 
 murdering. 
 
 I traveled from Tombstone to the Sulphur 
 Spring Valley on the road that passes between 
 the Dragoon Mountains and the Whetstone 
 Mountains, — as that pass was three miles broad 
 and mostly clear of brush, — reaching the 
 Hooker ranch, opposite Fort Grant, where I 
 spent the night.- 
 
 The next day I reached Fort Thomas, at the 
 Gila. San Carlos is down the river about forty 
 miles from Fort Thomas in a northwesterly 
 direction, and the land along the river at this 
 point is level and fertile, and about a mile and 
 a half wide, — the road running along the south- 
 ern edge of the level land, close to a range of 
 bluffs about sixty feet high. 
 
 183 
 
184 A California Pioneer 
 
 On going down this road the next day, when 
 about ten miles from San Carlos I came to an 
 old river channel, about one hundred feet wide 
 and twenty feet deep, the banks of which were 
 worn down so that one could ride in and out 
 at any point, as far as I could see. Great syca- 
 more and Cottonwood trees along this channel 
 shut off a view of the country beyond, but upon 
 reaching this channel I heard the strangest 
 noise I had ever heard. I stopped and lis- 
 tened, then I concluded to ride across the chan- 
 nel and see what caused this sound. And let 
 me observe just here that this is not the first 
 time a man has got himself into trouble by 
 sticking his nose into other men's business; for, 
 upon reaching the level land beyond the chan- 
 nel, I found myself within thirty yards of an 
 Indian war dance. 
 
 Two logs, about two and a half feet apart, 
 held between them a fire, which had been well 
 burned down, and scraps of iron, wagon-tires, 
 and axles had been laid across these logs, on 
 top of which the carcass of a mule was being 
 roasted, and there were about forty men, with 
 alternate stripes of red and black in perpendicu- 
 lar lines on their faces, marching around the fire 
 and chanting, — not in unison, for every one 
 yelled as he pleased, leaping into the air and 
 brandishing weapons in illustration of how they 
 would cut the white men's heads off. These 
 were the recruits for Geronimo's army. Out- 
 
An Apache War Dance 185 
 
 side this dance ring was another ring of about 
 five hundred Indians, — including men, women 
 and children, — who sat on the ground, and just 
 back of this second ring across from where I 
 was, two posts had been set in the ground, and 
 a pole lashed between them, against which rifles 
 by the dozen were leaning. 
 
 My gaze at this scene lasted but a few sec- 
 onds, for about twenty of these warriors im- 
 mediately caught sight of me ; and knowing that, 
 whether I was a Government scout or a rancher, 
 I would notify the army officers, they broke for 
 their rifles. I jerked one line of my bridle 
 reins and poked my spur into the flank on the 
 opposite side of my horse. The animal turned 
 a square corner on his hind feet, and down we 
 went on a dead run through that old channel. 
 
 Upon reaching the road, I leaned forward 
 and plied the quirt, and was well down the road 
 when bullets from their rifles began kicking up 
 the dust not twenty yards behind me. At least 
 fifteen or twenty of those Indians were stand- 
 ing in the road opposite the war-dance shooting 
 at me. Notwithstanding my hurried glance at 
 the war dance, I had observed a large number 
 of horses hitched at the edge of the timber along 
 the old channel where it meandered to the north, 
 and I feared trouble from that quarter; so I 
 kept my eyes in that direction, and very soon at 
 least twenty-five of these Indians were on their 
 horses, giving chase. They must have known 
 
186 A California Pioneer 
 
 that unless I was overtaken I would report 
 what I had seen to the army officers, and as a 
 result every one of these recruits would be 
 killed before they reached the Mexican line; 
 because every military post on the way would 
 be watching for them. 
 
 I was not alarmed at the Indians on horse- 
 back, for they were now north, — a mile away. 
 My horse weighed about 1,100 pounds, was 
 only five years old and fast, and, while I kept 
 up a lively lope, I saved his wind for the last 
 lap. 
 
 When the Indians came out of the timber they 
 were in a bunch, but by the time we had run a 
 mile, all but four of them had given up the 
 chase and stopped. These four, however, were 
 getting a little too close. I now let my horse 
 out at his top speed, and had no difficulty in 
 leaving them, because their horses had run at 
 top speed from the start, and at least a half- 
 mile of that run had been on rough ground 
 before they reached the road; so they now all 
 gave up the chase. 
 
 It was five miles now to San Carlos, which I 
 reached in safety ; but my horse was still white 
 with foam. Here I found what you might call 
 a corral of about two acres fenced in with an 
 adobe wall, four feet thick and sixteen feet high. 
 The Government buildings were inside, while a 
 door twenty inches wide afforded the only en- 
 trance. Upon informing the guard at the door 
 
An Apache War Dance 187 
 
 that I wanted to see the commander, he replied : 
 
 *'0h, another scared rancher. He will not 
 see you. ' ' 
 
 I asked the guard to inform the commander 
 that I had a letter to be shown at any of the 
 military posts, entitling me to pass on my way. 
 He did this, and this gained me admission. 
 
 The General, a fine-looking man with iron 
 gray hair, was sitting at his desk, and looking 
 up with a smile, said : 
 
 ^^I suppose you have seen a band of burros 
 in the mirage and thought they were Indians; 
 the ranchers keep us sending soldiers out on 
 some such bugaboo stories." 
 
 I simply handed him the letter, and upon ob- 
 serving that it was from Hooker of Sulphur 
 Spring Valley, he remarked that he was an old 
 friend of his, and he asked me what I had to re- 
 port. I then told him what I have just related. 
 
 Without a word to me, he turned to his tele- 
 graph operator and dictated a telegram to the 
 commander at Fort Grant, ordering him to 
 watch the Pass north of the Graham Moun- 
 tains, and another to the commander at Fort 
 Thomas to watch the river bottom and the 
 rolling hills to the north. 
 
 The General was very angry, and striking 
 his desk with his fist, declared that his scouts, 
 whose duty it was to watch that section of the 
 country, had probably been asleep in the shade, 
 
188 A California Pioneer 
 
 and lie would see that they were given some 
 shade in the gnard house. 
 
 As darkness came, the commander at Fort 
 Thomas sent out a hundred soldiers, fifty of 
 whom went into the hills to the north, and fifty 
 to the river bottom. This fertile river bottom 
 was covered with tall blade grass, weeds and 
 mesquite brush from three to four feet high, 
 and there was a broad trail through it, which 
 two scouts were sent down the river to watch, 
 and when they heard the Indians coming they 
 returned and reported, whereupon the fifty men 
 concealed themselves in the weeds about ten 
 feet from the trail, and when the Indians came 
 along, these soldiers sprang to their feet and 
 killed them all, with the exception of one who 
 was at the rear and out of reach of the bullets. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 SEEING THE COUNTRY 
 
 There was a good military wagon road from 
 San Carlos to Fort Apache and Verde in the 
 White Mountains, but at Globe City, thirty- 
 five miles to the north, there was a man I 
 wanted to see, and I went there expecting to 
 return to San Carlos ; but I did not. 
 
 Here I made the acquaintance of some butch- 
 ers, two of whom were going on a cattle- 
 buying expedition, and as I was looking for 
 stock cattle, we concluded to travel together 
 by a trail that would save about thirty-five 
 miles, instead of going back out of our way to 
 get to the wagon road. The trail from Globe 
 City ran nearly east for many miles over a 
 rough country, with narrow grassy mesas and 
 deep brushy canyons, to the foot of a high 
 mountain lying west of the Black River, which 
 stream ran nearly north at that point. Upon 
 reaching the summit of this mountain we came 
 to an Indian *^book^' which must have been 
 hundreds of years old, for it was now thirty 
 feet in diameter and nearly five feet high in 
 the center. These ' * books ' ^ are found at promi- 
 
 189 
 
190 A California Pioneer 
 
 nent points along Indian trails, and if a pass- 
 ing Indian wants to let his friends know when 
 he passed, when he will return, or, — ^in war 
 time, — if he has seen the enemy, he secures a 
 lot of little sticks, or heavy spears of grass, 
 and places them on this **book'' in such a man- 
 ner as to be intelligible to the others; then he 
 places little stones about the size of a walnut, 
 or a hen's eggy upon these sticks, or spears of 
 grass, to keep them from being displaced by 
 the wind; and, as generations pass, the *'book'' 
 continues to grow. 
 
 The eastern slope of the mountain was very 
 steep, heavily timbered, and the trail zigzagged 
 through rough canyons. We therefore did not 
 reach the river until after sundown, and here 
 we went into camp. 
 
 The next morning we had to cross the river, 
 which on our side had a long sandy beach, the 
 depth of the water increasing gradually, while 
 the bank on the other side was perpendicular 
 and about ten feet high, with a place cut down 
 to the water's edge, of sufficient width for 
 a horseman to pass. About seventy-five yards 
 below this ** outcome,'' on the other side, was 
 a fall of at least one foot in three, filled with 
 bowlders from ten to twenty feet in diameter, 
 around which the water swirled in milky foam 
 that sparkled in the sunlight. 
 
 We started into the river well above the out- 
 come, — ^my companions in the lead, — and when 
 
Seeing the Country 191 
 
 about twenty-five yards from the outcome the 
 bottom fell out, and while my companions got 
 through all right, my horse went down like a 
 rock, taking me with him. "When we came to 
 the surface I slipped off his back and caught 
 hold of his tail, and got him headed for the 
 east bank. Along this bank there was a belt of 
 willows which came close to the edge of the 
 water, and while my horse got his front feet 
 in among these willows, the water was so deep 
 that his hind feet did not touch the bottom, and 
 there he stood up as straight as a man. I 
 caught hold of the horn of the saddle with one 
 hand and the willows with the other, and took a 
 rest; and I was now surprised to see that we 
 were only about sixty feet above a cataract. 
 My companions came with their picket ropes, 
 which they tied together, and they then put a 
 loop over my horse's head, fixing it so that it 
 would not choke him. Then, as I pushed my 
 horse away from the bank, my companions 
 pulled both horse and me through the deep 
 water, I clinging to the pommel of the saddle, 
 and we were finally landed safely at the out- 
 come. 
 
 After drying my clothes and reloading my 
 rifle and pistol, we started on up the stream. 
 My companions had had a little drawing made 
 by a man who had been over the trail, but he 
 had failed to delineate a small stream that en- 
 tered the Black River, about five miles above 
 
192 A California Pioneer 
 
 this crossing, and by mistake we followed tMs 
 small stream. 
 
 On our right, to the sonth, there was a high 
 ridge heavily timbered, which was fairly alive 
 with wild turkeys, while on our left were low 
 rolling hills heavily grassed. The stream up 
 which we were traveling kept getting smaller, 
 and we began to think our drawing must be 
 wrong, but we continued on, and shortly after 
 sundown came to the head of this stream, which 
 was in a broad flat of about one hundred acres. 
 
 At the upper end of this flat we observed 
 some smoke, and we immediately concluded that 
 it was an Apache camp fire. But by slipping 
 around on the north side of the flat and taking 
 observations, we discovered no Indians in sight ; 
 and we then ascertained that, while it was an 
 Indian fire, it had been recently deserted. 
 There were two green poles about five inches 
 apart, with a smoldering fire between them, and 
 a row of rocks about six inches in diameter, 
 hot and ready for use. The Indians make 
 water-tight baskets, into which they put their 
 food to cook, — whether it be beef, turkeys, or 
 manzanita berries and grasshoppers. Into the 
 basket they then put a hot rock, and when the 
 heat gets low they put this rock back over the 
 fire and replace it with a hot one. We had a 
 very light supper, as we had expected by this 
 time to reach Fort Apache, and after picketing 
 our horses two of our company slept while the 
 
Seeing the Comitry 193 
 
 third watched, taking turns. But we were not 
 disturbed. 
 
 The next day we reached Fort Apache, where 
 I handed my letter to the commander, and told 
 him of the business of myself and companions. 
 He gave us necessary directions and said that 
 it would be perfectly safe to where we were go- 
 ing, but that on our way back we should not 
 fail to call on him, as it might not then be safe 
 to travel south. 
 
 The next day we crossed the White Moun- 
 tains. It was the second day of May, and the 
 snow was ten feet deep at the summit. On the 
 northern slopes at that point the timber con- 
 sisted of poplar, ash and tamarack, the alti- 
 tude being too high for pine or oak, while on 
 the eastern slope toward the valley there were 
 long, smooth spurs, with grass on the south and 
 timber on the north. The valley is about eighty 
 miles long and forty-five miles wide, and the 
 soil from the foot of the mountain to the little 
 Colorado River is thin and gravelly and grow- 
 ing short gramma grass fit only for sheep pas- 
 ture. It is sparsely inhabited by a population 
 of which nine-tenths are Mormons, and ten- 
 tenths as poor as the soil. 
 
 We reached St. Johns, the county seat of 
 Apache County, at sundown. St. Johns was 
 composed exclusively of adobe buildings, — 
 some of them covered with earth, and others 
 with shingles, and at that time boasted a popu- 
 
194 A California Pioneer 
 
 lation of about 1,200. At each ranch there were 
 several houses, in each of which was a wife 
 with a flock of babies, and all getting ready for 
 the war to maintain polygamy. 
 
 The next morning my companions and I 
 started, — they going to the northeast while I 
 went to the northwestern part of the valley. I 
 went to the foot of a high ridge (a spur of the 
 White Mountains), from which elevation I could 
 see the entire valley, which appeared to be 
 surrounded by mountains ; and I wondered how 
 the river got out. The owner of the ranch at 
 this point was a Mormon, — who had four 
 houses, four wives, and children enough to make 
 a full company, officers and all, in case of war, — 
 and he informed me that there was a box can- 
 yon, only a mile away, through which the water 
 passed to the main Colorado River, thirty-five 
 miles away. I wanted to go up and see this 
 canyon, but he told me it was dangerous to go 
 near it, as a little slide of earth might come and 
 carry me down three or four thousand feet, and 
 that he had been compelled to build a fence to 
 keep his cattle from falling in when they were 
 grazing in that part of the country. I was 
 eager, however, to go, and he pointed out the 
 trail. 
 
 Upon arriving at the fence he had referred 
 to, I tied one end of my picket rope around one 
 of my ankles, and then carried the other end 
 around one of the fence posts, and, holding the 
 
Seeing the Cowntry 195 
 
 rope in my hands, crawled towards the edge of 
 the abyss, paying out the rope as I went. I 
 could make but a poor guess as to the distance 
 to the bottom, but I presume this Mormon was 
 correct. The roar of the water, as it leaped 
 over perpendicular falls and impinged against 
 huge bowlders, was deafening. I carefully 
 crawled back to the fence, keeping the rope 
 taut as I went, and, as it was now noon, I sat 
 down under a big oak. While eating my lunch 
 I endeavored to figure out how the Powers that 
 Be had made such a country as this, and my 
 conclusion was this: 
 
 Away back in the dim twilight of the past, the 
 Colorado ran along the surface of the country, 
 and this valley constituted a lake about one 
 hundred miles long and sixty miles wide, cov- 
 ering the high benches. Then a large river had 
 passed over this saddle in the mountain and 
 joined the Colorado River, and as that stream 
 cut its way down into the bedrock formation, 
 its tributaries did the same. During the centur- 
 ies that this lake was in existence, little 
 streams, pouring into it from all sides, car- 
 ried decayed vegetation and silt till there prob- 
 ably must have been a deposit twenty-five feet 
 in depth at the bottom. But, as the Little Col- 
 orado cut its way toward bedrock to meet simi- 
 lar action on the part of the large river, the 
 lake had been drained, and as every raindrop 
 moved a particle of this fertile deposit toward 
 
196 'A California Pioneer 
 
 the center, it had all been carried away to the 
 Gulf of California, leaving nothing but the poor 
 gravelly soil, now tilled by the Mormons. It 
 was easy to believe that this must have taken 
 untold thousands of years, for a huge job was 
 involved, and all those little streams, as they 
 came down from the mountains on all sides, had 
 cut channels across the mesas in solid bedrock, 
 from the foot of the mountain to the river, and 
 from two hundred to four hundred feet deep. 
 
 I reached my hotel at eight o^clock that eve- 
 ning, and here again joined my former com- 
 panions, and the next day we traveled to the 
 southeastern part of the valley. We came to 
 a canyon, which for a distance of twelve miles 
 was approximately four hundred feet deep, and 
 at one place as this canyon had been worn down, 
 and at a point about two hundred feet from the 
 upper surface, there was a stratum of soft rock 
 about twenty feet thick, in which we found a 
 cave about twenty feet high, two hundred feet 
 deep and three-quarters of a mile long. It 
 seemed probable that a jam of logs or other 
 construction had blocked the far end of the 
 cave, and the water had then been turned back 
 into its old channel, and had worn its way down 
 two hundred feet more to the present bottom 
 of the canyon. 
 
 About twenty feet back from the front, there 
 was a wall four feet thick, composed of slate 
 rock, each piece of which was not too large for 
 
Seeing the Country 197 
 
 a man to handle, and there was no ledge of 
 slate rock nearer than twelve miles from this 
 cave. This wall extended the entire length of 
 the front of the cave (three-quarters of a mile), 
 and every hundred feet there was an entrance 
 four feet wide and four feet high, arched over 
 at the top. Having no lanterns and no shields 
 to protect our faces from being struck by the 
 swarm of bats flying about this cave, we did not 
 enter to investigate ; but as I stood contemplat- 
 ing this former abode of man I reflected that 
 millions of years ago inhabitants of just such 
 caves as this built canals which, though they 
 can now be followed with difficulty, are distinct 
 enough to show that the grades were as perfect 
 as they could be made by the engineers of the 
 present day. The tooth of time has mutilated 
 or destroyed most of those things that exhibit 
 the skill and resources of the Cliff Dwellers, but 
 enough remains to prove that the present day 
 has no monopoly upon either human ingenuity 
 or intelligence, for these ancient artisans 
 planned and built, cultivated the soil, and loved, 
 hated, and fought precisely as we do. 
 
 At a settlement, in an extension of the main 
 valley, we mentioned this big cave to a gentle- 
 man, and he informed us concerning its interior. 
 He told us that midway between the entrances 
 in the front wall there were walls two feet thick 
 extending to the back end of the cave, and that 
 each one of these walls or partitions had a door 
 
198 A California Pioneer 
 
 in it, or an entrance similar to the ones in the 
 front wall; that in the lapse of centuries the 
 accumulations of the droppings from the bats 
 was a foot deep on the floors, and that in each 
 of the separate compartments there was a 
 mound about a foot above the level, which, 
 when opened, was found to contain coal ashes, 
 stones axes, and hammers, pottery, arrow- 
 heads, and petrified human bones. 
 
 We attended a dance at this settlement the 
 night we were there. It was held in an adobe 
 building about sixty feet long and about twenty 
 feet wide, with a partition in the center, the 
 floor being made of puncheon (boards four feet 
 long, — split instead of being sawed). Not hav- 
 ing been yet introduced to any of the ladies, I 
 had not joined in the dance, and gave this as a 
 reason when asked by one of the promoters why 
 I had not danced. He informed me that it was 
 not customary there to introduce anybody, but 
 just to get your eye on some lady and ask her 
 to dance, and it would be all right. I told him 
 I did not have sufficient ' * cheek ' ' to do this. He 
 asked me who I cared to dance with, and I an- 
 swered : 
 
 **That brunette near the farther end of the 
 row.'' 
 
 ' ' Brunette 1 brunette r ' he repeated. * ' There 
 is no lady here by that name. ' ' 
 
 Then I pointed at the lady with long black 
 curls, and we were introduced and danced to- 
 
Seeing the Country 199 
 
 gether. She wore a cheap Dolly Varden, with 
 print flowers as large as a man's hand while 
 about her neck was a red ribbon, on which was 
 suspended a looking-glass about the size of a 
 half-dollar, and as she wore men 's brogan shoes 
 it is needless to say that we made the puncheon 
 rattle. 
 
CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 PRESENTIMENTS 
 
 The following day I went back to Fort 
 Apache, on my way to Tombstone, and here I 
 called on the General to inquire whether it 
 would be safe for me to travel south. He re- 
 plied that he considered it safe as far as Camp 
 Cramer on Ash Creek plain, and he gave me 
 a letter to Captain Cramer, telling him to di- 
 rect me, if it were safe to travel, and if not, 
 to hold me there until it was. 
 
 It was forty miles to Camp Cramer, but there 
 was a good military wagon road, with a light 
 grade for five miles through heavy timber to a 
 high undulating grassy mesa which extended 
 for many miles. Approaching the Ash Creek 
 plains, I went down a long canyon, through 
 which trickled a small stream of water, that 
 ultimately passed through Camp Cramer at the 
 northern edge of the plain, which is about forty 
 miles long and ten miles wide, and which is lo- 
 cated at the head waters of the San Carlos 
 River. 
 
 Camp Cramer is an ideal place for a camp, 
 and as you approach it, it very much resembles 
 
 200 
 
Presentiments 201 
 
 an old orchard; but the trees are white oak, 
 about two feet in diameter and twenty to fifty- 
 feet apart, with no underbrush. The little 
 stream running through it sinks in the plain, ex- 
 cept in the winter season, when there is suf- 
 ficient rainfall to carry the water to the San 
 Carlos River. The plain is well grassed and 
 has high mountains on both sides, with numer- 
 ous springs at their feet. I presented my letter 
 to Captain Cramer, and after reading it care- 
 fully, he arranged for me to remain there over- 
 night, telling me not to leave in the morning 
 without seeing him. 
 
 The next morning I called on him and again 
 asked him if he thought it safe for me to pur- 
 sue my journey. He replied that **no news was 
 good news,'' and he had not heard from his 
 scouts in the mountains, who could look across 
 the plain into the canyons on the opposite side. 
 He told me it was forty miles to San Carlos in 
 a southwesterly direction, and then it would be 
 forty miles up the Gila in a southeasterly di- 
 rection, to Fort Thomas. The latter place, 
 however, he informed me, was less than forty 
 miles from Camp Cramer, and that, by going by 
 the trail over the mountain, half of the distance 
 could be saved. He also said that the trail 
 across the plain was not very distinct, and that 
 I might lose it, but that I would pick it up on 
 the east side of *^that knob with timber on it" 
 (pointing diagonally across the plain), which 
 
202 A California Pioneer 
 
 was eighteen or nineteen miles away. He 
 added that when I got there, I should go around 
 the knob to the west, and there I would find 
 Antelope Spring, with plenty of grass for my 
 horse to graze on while I ate my lunch. 
 
 I reached this spring just before noon, and as 
 I was not hungry I concluded to lie down and 
 take a rest and to allow my horse to graze for a 
 little while, and then to eat my lunch on the 
 way and drink from my canteen. I gave the 
 horse the length of the picket rope and lay 
 down, but I had a presentiment of danger, and 
 was impressed with the idea that I should not 
 remain there. Because of this knob, I could 
 not see along the foothills to the east; but I 
 climbed to the top, and there were no Indians 
 in sight. After doing this I climbed another 
 spur that came down into the plain just be- 
 low the spring, and there were no Indians to 
 be seen there. I then returned to the spring 
 and again lay down, but I could not dismiss the 
 idea that danger was near; so I filled my can- 
 teen, mounted my horse, and was away on the 
 lope. 
 
 After going about half a mile I met two 
 miners, — ^both young men from Michigan, — on 
 horseback, with two mules packed with a regu- 
 lar miner's outfit, grub, and tools. They in- 
 quired of me the distance to Camp Cramer, 
 and also asked if there was any water on the 
 way, saying that, in coming up the steep south 
 
Presentiments 203 
 
 side of the mountains, it had been terrible hot, 
 that their stock wanted water, that their can- 
 teens were empty and they very thirsty. Still 
 oppressed with the idea of danger at Antelope 
 Spring, I told them that there was no water 
 along the trail, but that they could get water 
 at Camp Cramer ; whereupon they asked me if 
 I could not spare them a drink out of my can- 
 teen. I handed my canteen to them, asking 
 them to leave just enough for a drink when I 
 reached the top of the mountain. Upon putting 
 the canteen to his lips the first one took a good 
 look at me and said: 
 
 ''This water did not come from Camp Cramer 
 this hot day, for it is cold, and the can is full ; 
 what is the reason you do not tell us where we 
 can get water T' 
 
 The fact is that I was fearful of danger at 
 Antelope Spring, and knowing that these men 
 would stop there if I informed them where it 
 was, I had determined to deceive them. I now 
 said to them that it was for their sake that I 
 had not informed them about the spring, but I 
 finally told them that, if they would do as I 
 directed, I would tell them where the spring 
 was. To this they agreed. I then told them 
 why I had left the spring, and as I had antici- 
 pated, they had a good laugh over it, calling me 
 an old fogy. I then directed them to where the 
 spring was, and cautioned them not to remain 
 there but to leave as soon as they had watered 
 
204 A California Pioneer 
 
 their stock, and to get out at least a mile on 
 the plain, where they could see around them, 
 and rest and graze their stock there. 
 
 We now parted, — I going on up the canyon, 
 and the two men down toward Antelope 
 Spring, singing, **The Old Oaken Bucket." 
 The very next day I learned that, within fifteen 
 minutes after we separated, both of these men 
 had been shot to death by Indians at Antelope 
 Spring. 
 
 It appears that soon after I left Camp 
 Cramer a Government scout had reported there 
 that about forty Apache warriors had been dis- 
 covered sneaking along the ridge between the 
 Gila Eiver and the Ash Creek plain, and going 
 in the direction of Antelope Spring, and this 
 gang of cutthroats had evidently reached Ante- 
 lope Spring within a very few minutes after 
 I had left there. 
 
 Some years afterwards, in relating this inci- 
 dent to a friend of mine, I referred to my con- 
 duct as simply extra caution; but he said he 
 would call it an extraordinary hunch. 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 ABIZONA POLITICS 
 
 Living at Tombstone was a certain gentle- 
 man, whom I will call Brown (that was not his 
 name), who had been Police Judge of Tomb- 
 stone for two years, and an election was at 
 hand, in which Brown was a candidate to suc- 
 ceed himself. There was being published at 
 that time in Tombstone a daily paper called the 
 Tombstone Clarion, and on the very day before 
 election it came out with a big headliner stating 
 that Colonel Brown was a patron of the ^*Bird 
 Cage,'' a very notorious and, — as I am reliably 
 informed, — an exceedingly questionable resort. 
 
 Very much like the miner who was struck in 
 the belly with a sandstone specimen. Colonel 
 Brown was doubled up like a jackknife by this 
 editorial blast, and gave up the fight, say- 
 ing that such an article would kill anybody's 
 chances, if there were no reply, and that there 
 was not sufficient time within which to make a 
 reply. 
 
 It happened that that very night a big Re- 
 publican rally was to be held, and the meeting 
 was to be addressed by the candidate for Terri- 
 
 205 
 
206 A California Pioneer 
 
 torial Delegate to Congress as well as the local 
 candidates for other offices. 
 
 Colonel Brown though a Republican candi- 
 date positively refused to attend this meet- 
 ing, but about a dozen of his friends went 
 to his office and practically forced him to put 
 on his hat and overcoat. Then they hustled 
 him downstairs and over to the theater and out 
 on the stage, upon which all of the candidates 
 for office, to be voted for the next day, were 
 seated. After all the other candidates had 
 finished their speeches, there were loud and 
 persistent calls from all parts of the audience 
 for Colonel Brown, and they were kept up and 
 increased in violence, until they could not be 
 ignored ; whereupon the Colonel stepped before 
 the footlights. 
 
 He was very tall, a little stooped, and had a 
 head as bare as a doorknob. After walking 
 nervously back and forth across the front of 
 the stage two or three times, running his fingers 
 over his bald head, as if in search for a stray 
 hair, he began : 
 
 * * Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen : I am 
 not here for the purpose of charging that my 
 distinguished opponent for the office of Police 
 Judge is the butt-cut of original sin, nor that 
 he is a dirty, mangy, lousy dog, and a disgrace 
 to his own fleas, nor do I assert that he is a 
 squint-eyed, consumptive liar, with a breath like 
 a buzzard, and a record like a convict, for I re- 
 
Arizona Politics 207 
 
 gard him as a highly estimable gentleman, but 
 in this morning *s issue of the Tombstone Clar- 
 ion I am directly accused of being a patron of 
 the ^Bird Cage.* I here and now repudiate 
 and deny the infamous inference which this 
 editorial seeks to convey ; but far be it from me 
 to engage in any endeavor to mislead or de- 
 ceive the good people of this city. I am frank 
 to admit that at one time I did visit the ^Bird 
 Cage/ but I want it distinctly understood that 
 on that particular occasion mi/ wife was in 
 Texas/' 
 
 The walls and rafters of that big building 
 shook with the tumult caused by this naive 
 declaration on the part of the Colonel, and when 
 order had been restored, and after the Colonel 
 had again walked three or four times across 
 the stage, still running his fingers over his 
 dome of thought, he continued : 
 
 **When my wife was at home, it was always 
 my custom to leave my office at about six o 'clock 
 in the evening, and to either entertain my 
 friends at my home or call upon them at their 
 home; but after my wife went to visit her 
 friends in Texas, I found it so lonesome at the 
 house that I generally spent my evenings at the 
 office and entertained my friends there. Upon 
 the evening to which the Morning Bladder, 
 otherwise known as the Tombstone Clarion, re- 
 fers, at about ten o'clock I was passing the 
 *Bird Cage,' and as I had had so many cases 
 
208 A California Pioneer 
 
 brought before me, involving crimes committed 
 in that den of iniquity, I thought I would drop 
 in and see just what kind of a place it was. So 
 I forthwith procured a ticket and entered. 
 
 ** Directly in front sat the audience, and be- 
 yond I saw the stage, while to my left there was 
 a bar from which about a half dozen bar-maids, 
 carrying little trays, were filling orders and de- 
 livering drinks to the patrons. From this bar, 
 and extending to the stage, there was a row 
 of boxes, while, on the opposite side, a similar 
 row of boxes extended the entire length of the 
 room. In front of these boxes, and for the ob- 
 vious purpose of concealing the inmates, cur- 
 tains were hung, and if the occupants had even 
 a little pride left they of course did not wish to 
 be seen, and the curtain would be down. If the 
 man had still a small spark of self-respect left, 
 he might draw back the edge of the curtain 
 nearest the stage, so that he could witness the 
 performance, while at the same time running 
 the risk of being seen himself; but if he did 
 not care for his reputation, or had none to care 
 for, and had lost all self-respect, the curtain 
 was drawn entirely back. And behold ! In one 
 of those wide open boxes, and to my utter 
 amazement, I observed the editor of the Tomb- 
 stone Clarion, while upon his knee sat the no- 
 torious female character known as * Brick Top,' 
 whom I have been compelled to send to jail no 
 less than eight times for being drunk and dis- 
 
Arizona Politics 209 
 
 orderly ; and, to make matters still more abomi- 
 nable and nauseating, my distinguished friend, 
 the editor and bis boon companion * Brick Top,' 
 were swilling stale beer.'' 
 
 The next day Colonel Brown buried his op- 
 ponent beneath an avalanche of votes. 
 
CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 A EEMINDEB OF A FOOL BABGAIN 
 
 It will be remembered that, on my way to 
 San Carlos to bid for tbe supplying of beef 
 cattle, I bad made a proposition to some Es- 
 camarine Indians to exchange ten ponies for a 
 young Indian girl. 
 
 I was now running a dairy of one hundred 
 cows at the foot of the Dragoon Mountains, 
 about twelve miles from Tombstone, and about 
 a quarter of a mile away from the road that 
 led across the Sulphur Spring Valley to the 
 timber country in the mountains to the east. 
 
 One morning about ten o'clock we found a 
 wagon loaded with lumber, standing in this road 
 near the point where it made the turn toward 
 our house. The teamster lay on the ground 
 dead, but still warm, and the harness was scat- 
 tered all about. Footprints indicated that 
 this butchery had been caused by Indians con- 
 cealed behind clumps of mesquite brush near 
 the road. The Indians in that country would 
 at times remain quiet for months, and then, 
 without warning, they would suddenly swoop 
 down upon the unprepared ranchers or f reight- 
 
 210 
 
A Reminder of a Fool Bargain 211 
 
 ers. By agreement among the ranchers the 
 mayor was to be informed of the presence of 
 Indians when discovered, and he in turn would 
 send word to the nearest military post and the 
 citizens generally, whereupon horsemen would 
 be sent out in a hurry to inform white people 
 living out in the country. 
 
 I had with me at this dairy, besides my son 
 Frank, one Mexican and two Swiss. I sent the 
 Mexican with a note to the Mayor, and sent 
 the Swiss boys to bring in the cows ; but these 
 men were so alarmed that as soon as they got 
 out of sight they fled for town, and as a result 
 Frank and I had to do the milking. We were 
 able to bring in ninety-nine of the cows (one of 
 them being missing), and, with a rifle lying 
 down at our side, completed the milking of these 
 ninety-nine cows at nine o'clock that night, 
 when Frank started for town with the milk. 
 
 Knowing that if another band of Indians 
 came along in the night they would probably 
 burn down the house and shoot me as I en- 
 deavored to escape, I took a pair of blankets and 
 my rifle and went out on the plain, where I 
 crawled into a clump of mesquite brush and re- 
 mained until Frank's return, about ten o'clock 
 the next morning, — the three hired men com- 
 ing with him. 
 
 My missing cow had been purchased by me on 
 the opposite side of the valley, and thinking 
 
212 A California Pioneer 
 
 that perhaps she had started for her old home 
 and might stop at some water hole in the center 
 of the valley, I saddled the best horse I had, 
 taking my rifle with me, and started out to 
 search for her. 
 
 On the way I avoided patches of brush or 
 low swags in the plain, and just before reaching 
 some low land I passed down a small ravine 
 about forty yards long. Being unable to see 
 but a short distance ahead, I took my rifle from 
 its scabbard, which hung to the pommel of the 
 saddle, and held it pointed along the trail in 
 front of me. In rounding a short turn, I met 
 an Indian in precisely the same condition of 
 preparedness. He had a red handkerchief tied 
 around his head, and in smiling showed a set 
 of teeth each one of which was nearly as broad 
 as my thumbnail. He rode a big black horse, — 
 which I afterwards learned had been stolen 
 from one of my neighbors, — was riding without 
 a saddle, and had a piece of rawhide for a 
 bridle. 
 
 The trail was so narrow that only friends 
 could pass, and as our horses came to a stop 
 their heads were not more than five feet apart. 
 These Indians can understand and make them- 
 selves understood. 
 
 **How do you do?" I said. 
 
 '^HowT' he replied. 
 
 I asked him if he had seen a big brown cow. 
 
A Reminder of a Fool Bargam 213 
 
 **No see him,'' he replied. In speaking, the 
 Indian never uses the feminine gender. 
 
 By way of keeping up the conversation I 
 asked him where he was going, and was all the 
 time hoping that by some movement of his horse 
 the muzzle of his rifle might be turned aside 
 for an instant, affording me an opportunity to 
 draw mine, but I quickly appreciated that he 
 was on the watch for an opportunity of doing 
 precisely the same thing. In answer to my 
 question he replied: 
 
 **Go see my friends." I told him I could tell 
 him where they were: they were at Willow 
 Springs in the Whetstone Mountains, and had 
 gone there yesterday morning. He then en- 
 deavored to get me to look in some other di- 
 rection, asking: 
 
 ** Where water?" I looked him straight in 
 the eye, and I told him to go back to the low 
 ground, turn to the right, and, by following the 
 edge of the low ground about four hundred 
 yards, he would come to a big spring. The 
 *'game," however, did not work, for he simply 
 grinned and showed his big teeth. 
 
 Then, with ferocity darting from his eyes, he 
 said: 
 
 * * I think I know you. ' ' 
 
 **No!" I replied, **you never saw me be- 
 fore." 
 
 To this he said : 
 
214 A California Pioneer 
 
 **No; me no see you. My niece lie tell me. 
 He say you go the Black canyon. You buy him 
 ten ponies. You no go git.'' 
 
 I laughed and denied knowing where the 
 Black canyon was, and said that I had never 
 seen his niece (I now fervently wished I never 
 had encountered that charmer), and that it 
 must have been some other man, but he per- 
 sisted : 
 
 **Me think yes. My niece he say how big 
 you. He say hair little gray, eye heap sharp, 
 all same eagle." 
 
 I answered that he was mistaken and added : 
 
 *^Good-by.'' 
 
 **Good-by," he returned. 
 
 But neither of us moved an inch, whereupon 
 I pulled on the lines with my left hand and made 
 my horse move one step back, saying again : 
 
 ^*Good-by.'' 
 
 He did the same thing, for he was as anxious 
 to get rid of me as I was to get rid of him, and 
 when we had backed our horses about twenty 
 feet each, we were out of sight of each other. 
 
 There was a little higher ground on my right, 
 which I had to pass in returning, and I thought 
 the Indian would make a break for it in order to 
 get the advantage of the first shot, if I kept up 
 the trail. In a few quick jumps I reached this 
 high ground, and springing from my horse, 
 waited for a black head to show itself above this 
 little mesa; but it did not appear. After a 
 
A Reminder of a Fool Bar gam 215 
 
 short wait I heard a whoop, and looking across 
 the low ground in the direction from which the 
 sound came, I saw the old rascal waving his 
 red handkerchief and defying me with his 
 *^Whoo! Whoo!'' 
 
CHAPTER XXX 
 
 THE APACHE INDIAN AND HIS ATKOOITIES 
 
 John Noonan lived at the mouth of a long 
 canyon that came down from the Dragoon 
 Mountains on the Sulphur Valley side, about 
 ten miles from where I was then living. 
 
 During the rainy season an abundance of 
 water for stock purposes came down this can- 
 yon, and about six feet below the surface there 
 was plenty of water to be found at all seasons 
 of the year. 
 
 Noonan was a stock rancher, and he had dug 
 a well and put in a low row of watering troughs 
 at a point about one hundred feet from the foot 
 of a spur of the mountain, which jutted out 
 into the valley and which was about fifty feet 
 high and covered with bowlders. At the foot 
 of this spur Noonan had built his cabin, and 
 as there was no other water to be had within 
 ten miles, his stock, consisting of about a hun- 
 dred head, came home at noon to drink. 
 
 One day at noon, while the stock was at the 
 troughs, Noonan observed about sixty Apache 
 warriors on the plain, headed for his place. 
 He quickly grabbed his rifle and hid up among 
 
 216 
 
The Apache Indian am^d His Atrocities 217 
 
 these big bowlders. When about half a mile 
 distant the main body of the Indians stopped, 
 while ten of their number came on to Noonan^s 
 cabin, each of them armed with a rifle, carried 
 cocked and ready for use. 
 
 Upon reaching the cabin, Noonan observed 
 one of them knock on the door, while the other 
 nine stood ready for action, with their rifles 
 pointing at the door. Finding no one at home, 
 the entire band of Indians now came up and 
 camped. They started a fire and then began 
 to kill Noonan 's cattle, roast the meat on sticks, 
 and skin the sides of the heads for sandals. 
 They then packed upon their horses the hind 
 quarters of the cattle they had killed, and left 
 the remainder of the carcasses to rot. They 
 then shot all the balance of Noonan 's cattle 
 just to see them fall, and, incidentally, to show 
 the whites their contempt for the race. 
 
 The Indians remained at Noonan ^s place un- 
 til about four o'clock in the afternoon, and then, 
 with the exception of one ^^buck,'' who had 
 eaten more than he could carry away, they left. 
 This straggler went to sleep, and in about an 
 hour got up and went to the water trough and 
 leaned over to drink with his rear pointed in 
 Noonan 's direction. The others of the gang 
 were by this time too far away to hear a rifle 
 shot, so Noonan drew a bead on this **buck,'' 
 and the bullet went clear through, coming out 
 at the neck below the chin. Noonan afterwards 
 
218 A California Pioneer 
 
 told me he did not think the bullet struck a 
 single bone. Noonan was advised not to re- 
 main at his place, but he disregarded this ad- 
 vice and re-stocked the place. 
 
 While it is said the Indian never forgets a 
 favor, it is certain he never forgets nor for- 
 gives an injury; and two years later sixteen 
 Indians from San Carlos killed Noonan ; and I 
 happened to be along at the time his body was 
 found. It was riddled with bullets, unspeak- 
 ably mutilated, and was lying on the floor, while 
 upon and over it, probably to the depth of a 
 foot, had been scattered flour, rice, ashes, 
 pickles, syrup, sugar, beans, and other supplies, 
 while his bunks, table, and dishes had been all 
 smashed to pieces. 
 
CHAPTER XXXI 
 
 THE PECK FAMILY 
 
 Mb. and Mrs. Peck and a niece of the lat- 
 ter,— aged about twelve years,— lived six miles 
 east of Nogales on the Arizona side of the line. 
 Peck was a stock rancher, and one day while 
 absent from home looking after his stock, an 
 old Apache chief named Whoo, with his band 
 of seventy-five cutthroats, came to Peck's 
 house, and killed Mrs. Peck, and putting the 
 girl on a horse behind an Indian, took her away 
 with them. 
 
 Upon reaching a point about two miles from 
 the ranch, they met Peck driving about ten 
 head of cattle, which they took from him. They 
 then bound him and lashed him to a tree, leav- 
 ing his feet about two feet above the ground, 
 piled dry wood around him, and were about to 
 start a fire, when two Indians and a Mexican, 
 who had lagged behind the band, came up. 
 This Mexican was a bad character, and after 
 committing some crime he had joined this In- 
 dian band in order to evade the law officers; 
 but at one time he had been in Peck's employ. 
 He now interceded for Peck, telling the Indians 
 
 219 
 
220 A California Pioneer 
 
 that Peck was a good man, never bothered the 
 Indians, and always took their part in any dis- 
 cussion in reference to them. The last part of 
 this statement was a pure invention, but it had 
 its effect; for Peck was immediately released. 
 
 The niece was still sitting on the horse be- 
 hind the Indian, of course crying as though her 
 heart would break, and the Mexican now began 
 to plead for her release ; but the Indians would 
 not listen to such a proposition, as they wanted 
 to keep her to be a wife for one of their young 
 chiefs. 
 
 From this point the band went over the line 
 into Mexico, and camped in a long canyon ; and 
 here, having been located by the Mexican scouts, 
 two hundred Mexican soldiers were sent after 
 them, and at a given signal one hundred of 
 these soldiers attacked from the east side and 
 the other hundred from the west. 
 
 The Indians were taken by surprise, and a 
 large number of them were killed, but some of 
 them on horses escaped into the timber, and 
 among those escaping was the one who had the 
 girl behind him. 
 
 In passing at breakneck speed over a smooth 
 place, where the bedrock was on the surface of 
 the ground, his horse fell, which resulted in 
 dismounting both the Indian and the panic- 
 stricken girl. She had sense enough left, how- 
 ever, to lie down behind a rock until the shoot- 
 ing at the Indian, as he continued on foot up 
 
The Peck Family 221 
 
 the slope, ceased; whereupon she ran down to 
 the soldiers, who took her to Hermosillo, and 
 sent her from there to Nogales. But as soon 
 as she reached the ground she started on foot 
 back for the home of her lonely uncle. 
 
- CHAPTEE XXXII 
 
 AN AEIZONA EOMANCE 
 
 Theee is no fictitious nonsense about the love 
 story I am now to relate. 
 
 Here were no purling brooks beneath am- 
 brosial shades, no waving pines to furnish 
 ^olian music for the weary, no laughing wave- 
 lets along a sandy beach, where lovesick swains 
 wander when the moon is full; for there was 
 no running water there, no timber larger than 
 greasewood and wild sage, and no beach nearer 
 than the Gulf of California, — ^two hundred and 
 fifty miles away. 
 
 A man, whom I will call Davenport, was fore- 
 man of a gang of men in the Grand Central 
 Mine, and he lived, with an invalid wife and 
 daughter Agnes, in a modest white cottage on 
 Third Street, south of Allen. Davenport was 
 a blond, while his wife was a curly haired bru- 
 nette, and Agnes, partaking of the type of both, 
 had a profusion of long brown curls hung over 
 her shoulders. She was not only a very attrac- 
 tive young woman, but was, as well, really a 
 wonderful player of the piano. 
 
 One day the father fell down a three hundred 
 
 222 
 
An Arizona Romamce 223 
 
 foot shaft, and was instantly killed on tlie bed- 
 rock at the bottom. At one time he had had 
 a bank account amounting to a few hundred dol- 
 lars, but the protracted illness of his wife had 
 steadily reduced this ^^nest egg^^^ and the ex- 
 penses attending his funeral used up the bal- 
 ance; and so, with the bread-winner of the 
 family gone, Agnes was in almost hopeless de- 
 spair. 
 
 She sought employment among the mer- 
 chants, but girls were not then employed in the 
 stores at Tombstone. Then she endeavored to 
 organize a class in music, but the population of 
 Tombstone had not gone to that sage-brush 
 country to learn music but to get rich and then 
 go back to their homes; therefore failure also 
 met this attempt. 
 
 At that time there lived at Tombstone a man 
 by the name of Johnson who conducted the larg- 
 est gambling house in town, and while his mor- 
 als may not have pleased everybody, he was 
 widely known for his charity. No unfortunate 
 miner ever asked Johnson for help without get- 
 ting it, nor did any deserving cause fail to en- 
 list his financial assistance. As a consequence, 
 Johnson was known, at least by sight, to every 
 inhabitant of Tombstone. He was tall, straight 
 as a candle, and had dark brown hair, and when 
 he was observed hurrying along the street, men, 
 who would not speak to him because of his oc- 
 cupation, would remark : 
 
224 A California Pioneer 
 
 ** There goes Johnson. Some one must be 
 sick or hurt. ' * 
 
 Johnson's place of business was at the comer 
 of Allen and Fourth Street, the entrance be- 
 ing on Fourth Street near the comer. The 
 room was a large one, and at the rear end there 
 was a bar, beside which was a lunch counter, 
 where patrons were accommodated with short 
 orders. Farther along, across the end of the 
 room, was a music loft, — elevated about four 
 or five feet above the floor, — ^which accom- 
 modated a piano, while on the east side of the 
 room there was a row of sofas and easy chairs. 
 The center of the room was occupied by tables, 
 which Johnson rented to men who were con- 
 ducting banking games, monte, roulette, etc. 
 There was no charge made for the poker tables, 
 and the players came and went away as they 
 got broke. 
 
 Johnson himself seldom gambled, and his in- 
 come came almost altogether from the bar, the 
 lunch counter, and the rent of the tables. 
 
 At the Davenport cottage the last meal had 
 been eaten, and Agnes had again started up- 
 town in search of employment, when, after go- 
 ing about a block, she met Johnson, whom she 
 knew by sight. Agnes had determined upon 
 two things. One of these was that she would 
 not beg, and the other that she would have em- 
 ployment of some kind. 
 
 Upon meeting Johnson, she addressed him. 
 
An Arizona Romance 225 
 
 * * This is Mr. Johnson, I believe, ' ' she began. 
 
 *'Yes,'* he replied; *Hhat is my name." 
 
 *'My name is Agnes Davenport," she added. 
 
 At this Johnson asked her if she was the 
 daughter of John Davenport, who had been 
 killed in the Grand Central Mine. Agnes re- 
 plied that she was, and went on to say that she 
 and her mother had just eaten the last meal in 
 the house. Johnson immediately put his hand 
 in his pocket, but Agnes checked him by say- 
 ing; 
 
 **Hold on. I am not begging, — I would 
 rather starve than beg, — ^but I do want work. ' ' 
 
 Then she proceeded to tell Johnson that she 
 had tried to sell their house and lot for enough 
 money to take her and her invalid mother back 
 East to their friends, but because of the bill 
 which was then pending in Congress to repeal 
 the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, a buyer for 
 the cottage could not be found at any price; 
 that she had tried to get employment in the 
 stores, and had then tried to get up a music 
 class, but she had only met with failure. 
 
 Johnson told her that the very reasons which 
 had made it impossible for her to get employ- 
 ment would make it impbssible for him to ob- 
 tain employment for her, to which Agnes re- 
 plied : 
 
 *'I know of a place I can fill, and you can give 
 it to me." 
 
226 A California Pioneer 
 
 **What is itr' asked Johnson. **I should 
 certainly like to know. ' * 
 
 **I want to play the piano in your place of 
 business,'' replied Agnes. 
 
 **0h, no!'' said Johnson. **That would not 
 do at all. Think of your reputation. ' ' 
 
 **I have thought of it, and dreamed about it; 
 but we can not eat reputation, and we must 
 eat," replied Agnes. 
 
 **But," said Johnson, **you will hear pro- 
 fanity, perhaps vulgarity, and possibly now and 
 then the crack of a pistol. ' ' 
 
 To this Agnes answered that she could make 
 music that would drown any racket of that kind. 
 
 Johnson gazed at the ground reflectively for 
 a few seconds before saying : 
 
 **Very well, if you want to try the place, you 
 may consider yourself engaged, and your wages 
 will be eight dollars per night. You must be 
 there at eight o'clock in the evening, and re- 
 main until the place is closed, which may be 
 at any time from midnight until sunrise; but 
 your wages will be the same whether the time 
 is long or short, and they will be paid to you 
 every night at closing time. ' ' 
 
 Agnes thanked him profusely, and then said 
 to him that now that she had employment she 
 wished to borrow the amount of one night's 
 wages. Whereupon Johnson handed her a ten 
 dollar gold piece on account. He then told her 
 that he wanted her to go now to his place of 
 
'An Arizona Romance 227 
 
 business, so that he could hear some of the 
 music she had told him about, — music that 
 would drown the crack of a pistol. 
 
 They entered the barroom, and Johnson, with 
 Agnes following him, elbowed his way among 
 the tables and gamblers, with which the place 
 was well filled, and on up to the music loft. 
 Agnes ran her fingers lightly over the keys, and 
 then struck up a piece called ''A Storm at Sea," 
 — a good representation of the thunder made by 
 great rollers breaking upon a rockbound coast. 
 
 The loungers on the sofas and easy chairs 
 leaned forward, holding their cigars between 
 their fingers, and listened ; the man behind the 
 bar spilled the liquor he was serving; while the 
 cook behind the lunch counter let the beefsteak 
 burn, and the gamblers about the tables, with 
 their money piled up and their cards in their 
 hands, sat spellbound as they gazed in the di- 
 rection of the music loft. 
 
 After Agnes had finished the piece, Johnson 
 told her that that would do very well, where- 
 upon Agnes said to him, as the music loft 
 was wide open, that during her rest moments 
 some of these objectionable men would very 
 likely be coming up to the loft, and unless some 
 friend of hers should call, she very much pre- 
 ferred to be alone. It was therefore arranged 
 that if any undesirable person obtruded himself, 
 Agnes was to strike certain notes as a signal, 
 whereupon either Johnson or the barkeeper, if 
 
228 ji California Pioneer 
 
 Johnson should be absent, would remove the ob- 
 jectionable person from the music loft. Agnes 
 also made the request that no man who drank 
 or played cards should be introduced to 
 her, as they would also likely be coming to the 
 loft. This was agreed to, whereupon Johnson 
 led the way to the door, and bid Agnes good- 
 day. 
 
 He then turned to the crowd around the 
 tables, who had not returned to their play but 
 were waiting to hear from Johnson as to who 
 she was and where he found her. Johnson in- 
 formed them that she was a lady, and that any 
 man who spoke to her without an introduction 
 would be ejected from the place, and that who- 
 ever spoke an improper word to her would not 
 live to get out. He then told them that she was 
 poor, and was working to earn sufficient money 
 to take her invalid mother back east to their 
 friends; that she was to be treated with re- 
 spect, and when she was going in or out of the 
 room they were to stand aside and permit her 
 to pass. 
 
 Agnes ' playing proved a great drawing card 
 for Johnson's gambling place, and there were 
 many men who had never entered such a place 
 before who now called to listen to the music; 
 and, as they did not drink, they either bought 
 cigars or patronized the lunch counter. 
 
 Agnes had a few male friends who used fre- 
 quently to call and chat with her during her 
 
An Arizona Romance 229 
 
 rest moments, but her friends among the 
 women were not so charitable, and had de- 
 serted her completely, and in meeting her upon 
 the street they would turn their faces heaven- 
 ward and gaze into the clouds or at the stars. 
 Agnes had been a great favorite, especially with 
 the churches, which wanted her in their choirs, 
 and hitherto no social gathering had been com- 
 plete without her presence, due to her singing 
 and her playing. At all the picnics in the grove 
 at the foot of the Dragoon Mountains it had 
 been the same. Now, however, she was pointed 
 out on the streets as **the girl who plays the 
 piano at Johnson's gambling place.'' 
 
 Regardless of all criticism, the big gambling 
 house continued to prosper and flourish, and 
 the *^ wicked" Johnson still kept up in his work 
 of charity. 
 
 Many were the applicants, among Johnson's 
 regular patrons, for an introduction to Agnes ; 
 but they all knew that the drinker and the gam- 
 bler were barred, and all Johnson needed to re- 
 ply was : *^No. I saw you playing for money," 
 or, **I saw you at the bar a little while ago." 
 
 There was a blacksmith by the name of John 
 Gibson, who conducted a shop on Fremont 
 Street. He was about twenty-five years old, a 
 little below medium height, had dark brown 
 hair, and a right arm made hard as steel by 
 his work upon the anvil. 
 
 Attracted by the music, Gibson dropped into 
 
230 A California Pioneer 
 
 Johnson's place one evening, and he was so 
 taken with either the music or the musician that 
 he became a regular attendant. He at length 
 asked Johnson for an introduction to Agnes, 
 and as his greatest sin consisted of smoking, 
 his request was granted, and he chatted with 
 her a few moments during her rest time, and 
 had the good sense to leave when it was time 
 for the music to begin again. 
 
 He now became not only a regular attendant 
 at Johnson's but a frequent caller upon Agnes, 
 and in time began to escort her home after the 
 night's work was over. As this sometimes did 
 not happen until daylight, Gibson found that 
 his late hours very much interfered with his 
 work in the shop the next day. He was now 
 becoming really very much interested in Agnes, 
 and he contrived to go to bed very early, and 
 to get up at midnight, when he would repair to 
 Johnson's and wait for Agnes until the place 
 closed up, when he would escort her safely 
 home. 
 
 William Billings was a patron of Johnson's 
 bar, and he gambled in a small way. He was 
 not, I think, a heavy drinker, but with a few 
 drinks he seemed to be irresistibly attracted to 
 the music loft ; and there he went on more than 
 one occasion. Each time Agnes gave the 
 agreed signal, whereupon either Johnson or the 
 barkeeper came to the loft and removed the 
 objectionable Billings. 
 
An Arizona Romance 231 
 
 On the particular night to which I am about 
 to refer, Johnson's place closed a few minutes 
 before midnight, and Billings, somewhat in 
 liquor, was on the sidewalk when Agnes came 
 out on her way home. He accosted her and in- 
 vited her to go across the street with him to a 
 restaurant to have a cup of coffee before she 
 went home. She made no reply but started 
 walking rapidly down the street; whereupon 
 Billings caught her by the arm and pulled her 
 from the sidewalk, as he again invited her to 
 go to the restaurant. 
 
 At this psychological moment John Gibson 
 came around the corner, and immediately 
 realized the situation. He hurried to Agnes' 
 side, and instantly that strong right arm shot 
 out with the impulse of a trip-hammer, struck 
 Billings on the temple, and felled him like an 
 ox. 
 
 On the way to Agnes' home hardly a word 
 had been said by either her or Gibson, but as 
 she bid him good-night, at the door, John 
 finally discovered that he had a tongue, and his 
 reply was : 
 
 **Not yet. I want to talk to you a few min- 
 utes.'' 
 
 Proceeding, he told her that she had worked 
 in that place long enough, and that some night, 
 when he did not happen to be around, she would 
 get into some serious trouble. Agnes replied 
 that she had not worked there quite long enough, 
 
232 A California Pioneer 
 
 but that in ten days more she would have 
 enough money to take her mother back East in 
 a palace car. 
 
 **But,'' said John, **I have a proposition to 
 make to you." 
 
 "Is it better than eight dollars a night T' she 
 asked. 
 
 After a laugh, John answered : 
 
 **I do not think you would get eight dollars 
 every night, but it would be better than that in 
 the long run. I propose right now to go to 
 the residence of the County Clerk and get a mar- 
 riage license. Then I will come back for you, 
 and we will go to the Magistrate and get mar- 
 ried." 
 
 To this Agnes replied that she did not be- 
 lieve in pulling people out of bed at that time 
 of night, but that if he would come around at 
 ten o'clock in the morning she would be ready. 
 Agreed ! 
 
 At ten 'clock the next morning John Gibson 
 was in jail, and Agnes was being subpoenaed 
 as a witness at the inquest to be held by the 
 coroner upon the body of Billings. 
 
 As Billings had dropped to the ground, the 
 back of his neck struck on the corner of the 
 plank sidewalk curbing, his neck was broken, 
 and he died almost instantly. 
 
 At the coroner's inquest Agnes gave her testi- 
 mony, as did also three other eyewitnesses, and 
 
An Arizona Roma/nce 233 
 
 the following verdict was returned by the cor- 
 oner's jury: 
 
 **We, the jury impaneled and sworn in this 
 case, do find that the name of the deceased was 
 Willing Billings, that he was a miner by occupa- 
 tion, and residing at Tombstone, Arizona. We 
 further find that he came to his death by a fall," 
 
 Gibson was liberated, he and Agnes were mar- 
 ried that afternoon, and within a few days they, 
 with Agnes' invalid mother, left for the north- 
 west. 
 
 Three years later I met a gentleman who 
 knew them in their new home. Gibson was still 
 pounding iron, while Agnes was looking after 
 the house and playing the organ in the Episco- 
 pal church. A little black-eyed Agnes was 
 keeping them company. 
 
EPILOGUE 
 
 The repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase 
 Act put a crimp in silver mining in Arizona as 
 well as elsewhere, and the busiest day that ever 
 dawned upon Tombstone was now at hand. 
 From mines that had been employing thousands 
 of men the pumping plants were being hoisted 
 to the surface to be cleaned, greased, and either 
 stored away or shipped to other sections, where 
 they could be used in the gold mines. The six- 
 teen-mule teams, which had been taxed to the 
 utmost in hauling silver ore to the mills, were 
 now started on their last trip, while the drivers 
 were wondering where they could get new em- 
 ployment. The merchants were repacking their 
 stocks of merchandise for shipment to other 
 places, while in the residential section of the 
 city there was an incessant din of hammers as 
 the furniture and household effects were being 
 boxed and crated for removal. The doors and 
 windows were now the most valuable parts of 
 a house, because they could be carried away for 
 use elsewhere. In fine, what had been the 
 thriving city of Tombstone took on the re- 
 semblance of an army breaking camp, and 
 everybody seemed anxious to get away. 
 
 234 
 
Epilogue 235 
 
 With many others I trekked northward, and 
 ultimately again reached the Salinas Valley, 
 where I have since resided. Events have 
 proved that all of my experiences worth noting 
 were to end in Arizona, for since I left there not 
 an incident in my life has been worth setting 
 down. 
 
 In this retrospect of a life now far exceeding 
 the allotted span of three score years and ten, 
 I am fortunate in the possession of a memory 
 that, with astonishing clearness, brings before 
 me the varying incidents, both pleasant and un- 
 pleasant, of all those bygone days. 
 
 In common with the great generality of man- 
 kind, the sun has often brightened, and clouds 
 have at times obscured and darkened, my path- 
 way toward the setting sun. 
 
 Some of my experiences were not altogether 
 pleasant, and others of them I would avoid if 
 I were to go over the route a second time. But 
 now I am approaching the end of the long trail, 
 with neither misgiving nor discontent, feeling 
 quite well assured that, everything considered, 
 I have had a pretty good time after all. 
 
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