[W. A. Chalfant, The Owens River Indian Wars part 1, from The Story of Inyo (1922)]

 

CHAPTER XIV

CONTINUATION OF THE WAR

SETTLERS ON DEFENSIVE — MORE TROOPS ARRIVE — A SUCCESSFUL MUTINY — FIGHTING ON BIG PINE CREEK — WARRIORS FOLLOWED BY CITIZENS TO BATTLEGROUND ON WEST SHORE OF OWENS LAKE — INDIAN BAND ALMOST EXTERMINATED.

            Assayer Hanks, reporting to the president of the San Carlos company in San Francisco on March 8th, wrote that Capt. (Chas.) Anderson and himself had taken six carbines and a lot of cartridges to the Union mill, probably eight miles south of San Carlos. "I look on the magnificent landscape," he writes, "and thought that such a valley was well worth fighting for." At Rodebank's (an error for Coburn's, according to some old residents) on George's Creek, everybody was armed and expecting an attack. Putnam's stone cabin on Little Pine Creek sheltered a number of men, prepared to defy any Indian force. Lone Pine had two camps wherein citizens had gathered for defense. Four men were fortified at Clayton's house (locality not stated). Everywhere all hands were burning off brush, moving bay, cleaning guns, cutting portholes in cabin walls, and otherwise preparing for battle. Two nights earlier Indians had fired the haystack near the Union mill, and the camp was burned at the

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same time. Hanks remained to help defend the Union mill; he notes that he considered the preservation of the mill to be of great importance.

            Troopers Johnson and Potter had left Camp Independence early in March for Aurora, for a purpose not explained but probably to warn intending travelers. When they reached Black Rocks, March 12th, on their return trip, they found 300 Indians along the road, with 50 guns. Chief George gave them a pressing invitation to come to his camp, but they preferred not to be the central figures in an Indian holiday. Riding close to him, they put spurs to their horses and dashed through the line, escaping with nothing more serious than a wound in Johnson's hand and a bullet crease across the neck of his horse.

            Hanks' manuscript, March 10th:

            "Today 14 soldiers under Lieut. Doty (Doughty) crossed at the ferry and went up to the ford to put up a notice of warning to any party who may be on the way down, to come down and cross at San Carlos. Last night Indians were all around the mill, as we could see their tracks this morning."

            March 11. — "Today Mr. Summers, one of the men who escaped from the Indians, came down to the mill. He tells a thrilling story. He says the Indians did not go up the river yesterday. They found the ferry boat had been cut loose. Party left the Union mill this morning and went up as far as San Carlos. Found the rope cut and boat gone, and window and door smashed at the house. No other damage was done."

            Hanks' notes of March 12th relate the Johnson-Potter incident, with the remark that a large party of soldiers had gone to see if they could find the Indians.

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            No record of events of the latter half of March is available, though it was in the middle of the busiest season of trouble. On the 4th of April the military force at Camp Independence was augmented by the arrival of Company E, Second California Cavalry, under Captain Herman Noble — the same who as Lieutenant of Company A had accompanied Wasson in his wasted peace mission the year before.

            Company E had the unique record of being the only successful mutineers in the United States army. While the incident is aside from the purpose of this history, it is worth preservation as well as being a temporary change from the narration of the guerrilla warfare then prevailing. It was told by Chauncey L. Canfield, a private in the company : Company E was made up of Tuolumne County volunteers, and was allowed to choose its own officers. The choice for captain fell upon D. B. Akey, a Mexican War veteran, hard-working miner and good citizen. Like other California volunteers, the members expected to be sent to the battlefields of the Civil War; and like others, the company was held in the West. This started the discontent; a march to Fort Humboldt during a hard winter increased it ; and the climax was reached in Akey's proving to be a veritable tyrant. The company fought Indians in northern California until midsummer of 1862. It was then agreed among the men that on a specified date no man should obey any order given by Akey, though expressing a willingness to act under any other officer. Though under the Articles of War each was

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liable to death for mutiny, it was felt that the circumstances justified desperate measures. Akey got wind of the situation, and went to San Francisco. During his absence the company was moved to Red Bluff, but any hope that some other officer would be sent in his place was shattered by his arrival there. At Akey's direction the orderly sergeant had the company drawn up in line. He then said : "All those who intend to refuse to obey my commands as their superior officer step two paces to the front." That command, at least, they obeyed, for every man, except two who had joined subsequent to the compact, took the two steps forward. The captain glanced up and down the line, said nothing, and turned and walked to the ferry, passing from his company forever. The company remained there four months, while the War Department was considering its case. The decision was to muster it out of service, without pay, and it was marched to Benicia Barracks for that purpose; but through the intervention of Governor Stanford the sentence was revoked. Noble was appointed its captain November 21, 1862, and in December the march for Owens Valley began. Akey was transferred to Noble's former company, A, and resigned eleven days later. He went to Nevada, and in after years visited Inyo.

            The two companies at Camp Independence left there April 9, Ropes in command. A soldier of the expedition, writing to the author from Massachusetts, stated that the white force included 120 soldiers and 35 citizens. The following day a band of 200 Indians was found strongly posted on a

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spur of the Sierras north of Big Pine creek. Firing lasted all afternoon, and toward evening the Indians withdrew into the mountains. A number (not definitely stated) of Indians were killed or wounded; white casualties, Private Thomas Spratt, of G Company, dangerously shot in the head, and Private John Burden, of E Company, slightly wounded. Spratt was sent back to the fort for attention, with J. S. Broder as one of the attendants. A large band of Indians pursued them among the Black Rocks, but they made a successful escape.

            Sergeant Huntington, of Company G, and half a dozen men had a running fight with Chief George and a large body of Indians in the Black Rocks, and reached the fort safely, after killing several of their pursuers.

            The chief Indian headquarters of the mid-southern part of the valley was at Chief George's rancheria on the creek which still bears his name, and west of the present Manzanar townsite. On the night of April 18 the natives had a feast there, having slain a work ox belonging to the whites. The next morning J. L. Bodle saw them leaving in a southerly direction, and with his companions counted thirty-seven of them strung out in single file. Word was sent to Camp Independence, and thirty or forty soldiers and citizens took their trail. It was followed west of the Alabama hills to a point two miles or so north of Cottonwood Creek, where a bullet through a man's hat gave notice of the nearness of the foe. A running fight ensued, the Indians being driven from one point

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to another until they made a last stand on the west shore of Owens Lake, not far from the mouth of the creek. Their guns were so foul that they could ram bullets into the barrels only by pounding the ramrods with stones. Lieut. Doughty was dismounted by accidentally shooting his own horse through the head. It is also said that the only casualty to the white forces resulted from a misdirected shot from one of their own pistols. When this wounded man fell, an Indian known as Chief Butcherknife dashed up to finish him, but was slain. Completely beaten, the Piutes sought refuge in the lake. A strong wind was blowing from the east and interfered with their making much progress in swimming, and one after another was killed in the light of a full moon just rising over the eastern mountains. The whites established a long line along the lake shore, and remained until the bodies began to wash ashore. A pioneer participant alleged that the next morning a pair of water-soaked moccasins was found near the lake, presumably indicating that an Indian had survived the rain of lead and had emerged when opportunity offered. One Indian fled westward during the fight ; he headed up the mountain, with derisive signs, and thereafter lived with the Kern Indians. Taking the count made at George's Creek, thirty-five or thirty-six Indians were killed in that affair. Milo Page, a pioneer, asserted that he passed the spot soon afterward and saw thirty-three skulls, from which coyotes had stripped the flesh, piled up in one place. Bancroft's Handbook, 1864, said sixteen Indians were killed in the fight; all evidence is that this was much understated.

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            The George's Creek white residents joined the soldiers on their way down, leaving only J. L. Bodle and one other man as guards for the property at that settlement. A. L. McGee, John Kispert, AV. A. Greenly, Meyer and others well known in later Inyo affairs were among the citizen combatants.

            From the body of one of the dead Indians was taken the Colt's powder and ball pistol which Negro Charley had carried, and this weapon was still in the possession of Mr. McGee at the time of his death a few years ago. Contrary to oft-repeated report, Mr. McGee stated that it was the only bit of property of the Summers-McGee party recovered from the marauding Indians.

 

CHAPTER XV

RUTHLESS SLAUGHTERINGS

SOLDIERS MASSACRE INOFFENDING INDIANS ON KERN RIVER — PRISONERS TAKEN BY TROOPS — DESTRUCTION OF INDIAN STORES — POWWOW WITH CHIEF GEORGE — MANY INDIANS SURRENDER — MURDERS BY WHITES —MERRIAM 'S THRILLING ESCAPE.

            Company L, Second California Cavalry, Captain Albert Brown commanding, arrived at Bishop Creek in April, 1863, and remained for a few weeks before going on to Camp Independence. It returned to Fort Churchill, Nevada, in June.

            Company D of the same regiment became more prominent in Owens Valley affairs. With Captain Moses A. McLaughlin in command, it left Camp Babbitt April 12, and reached Keysville, Kern County, six days later. The official report says :

            "Heard that a large party of Indians were camped a few miles above, and at 2 o'clock in the morning of the next day surrounded their camp and killed 35 of them. Not a soldier injured."

            Pioneers of both Inyo and Kern Counties speak of this affair as a cold-blooded massacre. The Kern Indians were at peace with the whites. Hearing that troops were approaching, they were much alarmed, but were advised by white acquaintances to give up their arms and stay close to the

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settlements. They delivered eighteen guns to the white settlers, and camped near Kernville (then called Whisky Flat) eight miles from Keysville. The soldiers surrounded the camp and told two Kern petty chiefs to pick out the chiefs of their bands. The thirty-five remaining Indians were herded to one side and ruthlessly shot down. This was the account given by J. W. Sumner, a resident there at the time. He said further that no evidence existed to implicate the victims in the Owens Valley troubles a hundred miles away. The superintendent of Tule River Reservation, the nearest, mentions in a report that year that the Indians under his charge had frequently given information in regard to the movements of their more hostile neighbors of Owens Valley, and when solicited to join against the whites had absolutely refused. There were renegades among them, however, who had engineered the Kern River war council the preceding fall.

            McLaughlin's command reached Camp Independence April 24, and McLaughlin, as senior captain, became ranking officer at the post. The following day his company started on an unsuccessful two-day scout after Indians. On the arrival of this reinforcement the Summers-McGee party asked for a military escort through the valley on their way to Aurora, but the request was refused. In May enough citizens to form a strong party left for Aurora, and the refugees went with them. On the way out Alney McGee and H. Hurley encountered and killed three Indians on Owens River.

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            During May the cavalrymen were active. Lieut. George D. French, of McLaughlin's company, and twenty men made a scouting trip, during which French and seven of his men attacked an Indian band, killing one and mortally wounding three. About the 10th or 12th twenty-five or thirty Indian prisoners were taken at Big Pine and sent to the fort, by a detachment of Company E. Four men of Company L, under Sergeant Henry C. Church, came on a party of fourteen Indians on the headwaters of Owens River and killed four, the rest retreating into the rocks. This company was out almost continuously and by its destruction of many caches of Indian stores inflicted more serious punishment on the natives than the killing of a few of their braves would have been. During May it destroyed about 300 bushels of "seed" (pine nuts and taboose) found cached in the vicinity of Bishop Creek. Captain McLaughlin himself was in the field with a detachment, seeking Joaquin Jim, leader of the southern Mono Indians. Jim's camp was found and destroyed, its residents escaping.

            Sergeant McLaughlin (not the captain) succeeded in getting a conference with Captain George, and induced him to visit the fort in peace, arriving there May 22. Subchief Dick also came. The Indians were fed and treated well, and said they had no further wish to fight the white man. Other Indians began coming in, "clad in native costume, a head of hair," remarks an unidentified correspondent of a San Francisco paper of that year. Captain George is described as second to

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Joaquin Jim alone in influence over his people. He was about thirty-six years old, of medium height, wily and shrewd, and manly in bearing. His face, normally round and full, was wan and pinched from privation when he was brought to the post. Getting enough to eat was an ever-present problem with the Owens Valley Piutes, and was aggravated for some of them by the rigid enforcement of strict subtribal boundaries on hunting grounds. The most effective campaigning of the troops was in destruction of the scanty native stores of food. At this time, through constant flight and loss of supplies, the Indians were in dire want.

            The soldiers themselves were ready for a rest. Company D's report for May says:

            "The company during the month has performed several severe marches in the mountains, suffering much for want of water and rations. These marches have been performed on foot, it being impossible to use horses; but their labors, combined with that of other troops in the valley, have been crowned with success, resulting as they have in the subjugation of the Indians, and terminating thus speedily a war which promised to be of much longer duration."

            While such congratulatory reflections seemed justified at the moment, they proved to be premature.

            Four hundred Indians surrendered at Camp Independence June 4. Runners to outlying bands met with fair success, but their work was largely nullified by that of a few white men. Captain Ropes, in a letter published in the Esmeralda Star, of Aurora, July 30, bitterly criticized citizens who had lacked the courage to bear their share of fighting and danger.

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            "As soon as a cessation of hostilities was proclaimed by the commanding officer these stay-at-home fellows grew wondrous brave, and boldly declared their animosity to the whole red race. Two Indian messengers that were sent from the post to the White Mountain district to gather these Indians were fired upon by some chivalrous miners, though the messengers were unarmed and bore a white flag. Of course they never returned, and today prospectors are in danger of their lives. Then, again, a Tehachapi Indian who had been for three months in irons was released and sent home to induce his tribe to cease hostilities and come in. With what would have been considered astonishing good faith in even a white man, he seems to have worked faithfully to accomplish his mission, and was returning with a number of his people, men, women and children, when they were fired upon in a most cowardly way while they were sitting in their camp only 15 miles from the post. Two men and one little girl were killed, and all were scalped by these brave and chivalrous gentlemen, who rode off and exhibited their bloody trophies of the war. At the Big Lake the recollection of their glorious deeds so stirred their noble souls that they became slightly oblivious, and in that state one of the noble trio, Frank Whitson, was arrested by Lieutenant French, who had been sent for him. The gentleman is now in our guard house in irons, and awaits an order for trial. Of the Indians who escaped from this attack, most of them made their way to the mountains, where they now are and where they will remain for all that anyone can do to drive them out. Never again can any of them be induced to place any faith in the promises of white men, and if another outbreak occurs it will be far the most desperate we have ever seen.

            "I should have mentioned that the last party of Indians mentioned also bore a white flag, traveled openly in the road in daylight, and that their purpose was known to everyone. But for such ruffians as those who fired upon them, unarmed as they were, there would not today be a hostile Indian in the entire country; and those who may hereafter suffer will have Mr. Whitson and others of like ilk to thank for it."

            Milo Page, writing many years later, gave a

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version of this affair quite different in details, but not changing the appearance of murderous treachery. His statement was that an Indian known as Thieving Charley was given a white flag by Captain McLaughlin, with a note stating to whoever read it that Charley was on his way to bring the Panamint Indians to Camp Independence to surrender. This note fell into the hands of W. T. Henderson, in the Panamint region. Charley rounded up eleven Indians, and on his return to Owens Valley he was followed by Henderson, Lyman Martin, John Shipe, Frank Whitson and — Ringgold. At Charley Johnson's, at Lone Pine, Ringgold got drunk and was not in the subsequent affair — a procedure which Henderson claimed resulted from cowardice and intention. The Indians camped near the Alabama hills. Henderson and fellow murderers attacked them early the next morning and killed nine of the twelve. The two survivors went on to Camp Independence and reported to Captain McLaughlin. A detachment of soldiers was sent to bring in the culprits. At Olancha the commander asked loudly if anyone there had been killing Indians. Answered in the negative, he told his men they could go in and get a drink. Henderson, Martin and Shipe were visible as they crawled into their brush from their blankets. Whitson ran to catch his mule, and a corporal went, under instructions, to ask if he had been killing Indians. If Whitson had said no (says Page's story) there would have been a report that no guilty men could be found; instead, Whitson said, "Yes ; what are you going

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to do about it'?" He was arrested and taken to Camp Independence, where he was kept under guard. Finally word was sent by Page that they were tired of guarding him, and if he would try to escape the boys would shoot at him, but not to hit. Still Whitson refused to escape, and was taken to Fort Tejon, where he was kept for a few months and finally released.

            With such happenings as this and the Kern River massacre in mind, it was not surprising that many of the Indians remained utterly unreconciled, and that as opportunity offered they resorted to every primitive method of revenge and reprisal. They could not be more vicious than some whites had proved to be. However, at that time they were completely beaten in the valley of which they had been so recently the complete masters. Chiefs George and Dick knew that resuming the warpath meant hunger, if not starvation, for their families and people. At the post they were safe and were being fed.

            Indian Agent Wentworth was requested by General Wright to receive the Owens Valley Indians at San Sebastian Reservation, near Fort Tejon. In a report dated September 1, 1863, he again referred to the $30,000 appropriation for which he had asked with which to care for the Inyo natives. Had Congress granted it, he said,

            "No Indian war would have been waged, and the country would have been saved more than $250,000 in its treasury, the lives of many of its valuable citizens, and many of the poor misguided Indians, to whom the Government has promised protection, would today, instead of being dead, be

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living and tilling the soil of their native valley, and through their own willing hands obtaining an honest and well-earned livelihood  Owing to recent and extensive mines discovered in the Owens River Valley, and the consequent rush of miners and settlers there, I deem that locality for an Indian reserve entirely impracticable, and the present war fully demonstrates that the Indian and white race can never live peacefully in close proximity to each other. I have therefore to recommend the abandonment of that valley, for an Indian reservation. The mines, which are of unsurpassed riches, will cause thousands to permanently settle there during the coming year, and as heretofore throughout all California, the rights of the Indian will be disregarded, and constant turmoil and war will be a natural result."

            Pursuant to instructions, Captain McLaughlin left Camp Independence July 11, 1863, with 906 Indian men, women and children. The escort comprised seventy men of companies D, E and G, and twenty-two men of the Fourth California Infantry, of whose presence at the post there is no other record.

            At Hot Springs Valley, near Keyesville, orders were received to abandon Camp Independence, and McLaughlin and Company D returned to make the necessary preparations. McLaughlin sold the Government's property at the post to Warren Matthews. Having no instructions or authority for this proceeding, he was court martialed and dismissed from the service the following year. President Johnson removed part of his disabilities three years later.

            The band of Piute captives went on to Tejon, arriving there July 22. While it was certain that a large number of Indians had escaped along the way, to return to their native valley, Wentworth

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reported the delivery of 850 at the reservation, and said that twice as many were yet in Owens Valley. When the settlers learned that stragglers were returning from the reservation journey, they made a virtue of necessity and sent an invitation to the exiles to return and live in peace.

            Even while McLaughlin was convoying his captives to Tejon, the valley north of Big Pine Creek was as dangerous as ever to isolated men. While Joaquin Jim's chief stronghold was in Long Valley, he constituted himself the overlord of northern Owens Valley as well. Two of his warriors were killed in the White Mountains by prospectors, who after this amicable preliminary left a white flag as a bid for peace. Jim himself gave the answer, as the next visit of the whites to that locality disclosed, by carrying away the flag, and putting in its place his own war banner, a scarlet cloth bordered with raven feathers—said to have been a handsome piece of work.

            About the first of August nine prospectors ventured into Little Round Valley, at the threshold of Jim's stronghold. Part of them warily prospected while the others remained as a camp guard. No Indians were seen until the following evening, when the camp was attacked in force. Two Indians were killed. The whites were unhurt, but made their way to Fish Slough that night, and to Owens River the next morning.

            W. L. Moore and Mark Cornish, coming from Aurora, battled with Indians, killing two near Adobe Meadows.

            In the early part of July there came to the

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valley a company known as the Church party. Its members, named Parker, Long, Ericson, Chase, Evans, Miller and one more, were from San Francisco. They believed that Indian friendship would result from an attitude of generosity and good will. This party made its camp near where Laws now is. Nothing is narrated of the doings of these men prior to the arrival, late in August, of Ezra D. Merriam, a young man who brought letters of introduction from mutual friends in San Francisco. During the weeks reports and warnings of Indian dangers had come to their camp, but nothing of those facts was told to Merriam ; it would appear that he did not take strongly to the olive-branch idea.

            On the invitation of Silas Parker, Edmund Long and Edward Ericson, Merriam started with them to locate timber on the mountains northwest of the valley. This trip resulted in the deaths of the first three, and gave Merriam an experience that ranks among the notable incidents of the period. We narrate it in his own words, as found in the Hanks collection of manuscripts :

            "We left camp in the Keyes district, Owens River Valley, September 2d, to locate some timber on the headwaters of Owens River. We camped at night twenty miles from the starting point, being unable to reach water. Resumed our journey at daylight on the third. Saw signs of Indians five miles further on. Five miles more brought us to the timber, where the Indians had been gathering pine nuts. We were unable to get a road and concluded to cross the river. We found an Indian trail to the river, half a mile from the top of the bank down the trail, and 600 feet perpendicular. Breakfasted at the river at noon — the first water we had for

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twenty-three hours. We saddled our horses and started up the other bank, after one and one-half hours rest, with Parker in lead, Long second, Ericson third and myself last.

            "When we were twenty-five yards from the top, which was covered with large rocks, eight rifle shots were fired. Parker fell, pierced by two balls through the breast, exclaiming 'My God, I'm shot!'

            "Long and Ericson left their horses and jumped behind rocks, rifles in hand. Not seeing an enemy I took refuge behind a rock ten feet from Ericson, who had laid down his rifle and was exposing himself, calling to Parker. I saw the crumbling of a rock from the top of the hill, and dodged my head down as a ball whizzed past, a few inches above.

            "The Indians were in front and on both flanks. About the same time a shot was fired from the right. I asked Ericson if he was hit. He said he was. He was clasping his thigh, and raised his hand, from which blood was streaming. I saw nothing of Long after he went behind his rock.

            "I then attempted to get to another rock, but missed my footing and slid down the bank for twenty feet. Indians on the left started down the trail. I reached the bank at a different point from the trail, could not cross, and hid in the chaparral. Heard two more rifle shots, but saw no Indians for two hours; then I saw seven Indians on the opposite bank, motioning to others on my side of the river and pointing to where I was concealed. I worked through the chaparral, and saw ten Indians coming there, so I arose and ran down the canyon. They whooped and gave chase.

            "I outran them for a time, then found that they were gaining on me. I jumped into the river, but found that I could not cross it on account of the rapid current. Half a mile below I came to a fall fifteen feet high. Tried to reach the bank but could not, and was carried over. The current had carried me faster than the Indians could pursue. I struck bottom and caught between two rocks, and had almost lost breath when a final struggle extricated me. Came to the surface, caught my breath, then dove and came up under chaparral on the bank, hiding me from view. A small rock projected twelve inches from the bank and three inches above the water. I sank my body and raised my nose under the rock.

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            "In a few minutes I heard Indians on the bank and just above my head, and saw two on the opposite bank with rifles, scanning the bank under which I was. Some of the Indians on my side moved part of the chaparral that covered me. My hat had washed ashore, and an Indian took it. I remained there three hours before the Indians left. Half an hour later all was silent; and I floated down stream until I struck a large rock on which I climbed. Jumped for shore, caught a bush, and finally got out. I hid in a canebrake until dark, completely chilled and scarcely able to move. Could see no signs of Indians. Finally I managed to get up motion, reached the top of the bill and ran through the timber. I went to the camp we had left on the 2d, traveling all night and until 10:00 the next morning without water, until I reached the valley. On my way down I saw several Indian camp-fires."

            Word was sent to San Carlos, Bend City and the Union mill, and from each came men to take a hand in punishing the Indians. George K. Phillips was elected captain of the company of thirty well armed men. A letter of the time comments that it was a strangely assorted band, though a determined one. There were Texas rangers and frontiersmen, and there were those but recently from clerkships or to whom for other reasons outdoor life was a novelty and who were scarcely browned by exposure. The party rode up Bishop Creek to the foothills, and along the latter to "Greenly's Valley," (Round Valley). Camp was made, and to insure intent alertness pickets were changed hourly. One of the pickets created an alarm by firing, harmlessly, at one of his fellows. The next morning Merriam guided the party to the scene of the ambush. Long's body was found, pierced by nine bullets. Ericson had been shot

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through the head. Both bodies had been dragged along the trail, that of Ericson by a willow withe around his neck. The body of Parker was not found, nor was it accounted for, except by the supposition that he had been captured alive. The following paragraphs are from a letter written by one of the men of the expedition :

            "On finding the bodies of Ericson and Long, we dug graves, covered the bodies with pine branches, piled in rocks and earth. One man said: 'Come, boys, let's go; we can do no more for the poor fellows;' then in a lower and tremulous voice he added: 'God give his soul a better show than this.' I have listened to long prayers in grand cathedrals, where the sunlight poured in through stained glass windows and fell on pews of carved oak, but I never beard so fervent, so touching a prayer as this, far away in this mountain land, among the pines, under the shadow of the giant Sierras, where the river, deep in the wild and rocky canyon below, murmured the requiem of the dead; where the blue sky, widespread, extends from mountain range to mountain range, over mile upon mile of valley land and wooded hills. We left them, sadly and silently, and went up to our comrades on the hill.

            "We examined where the men fell, and saw where the rocks were drenched with their blood. We saw where Mr. Merriam ran down the hill, and wondered how it was possible for a man to accomplish so much. We came to the conclusion that this was not a war party, although we think Joaquin Jim was among them.  Joaquin Jim has never been conquered. He has said frequently that he would not let the whites occupy his domain.

            "After we had buried the dead and returned to our horses we commenced a search about the Indian camp. We found baskets, great quantities of piñons cached, the bridle of Mr. Merriam's horse, a pair of shoes which belonged to Mr. Ericson, and his hat with a bullet hole through it, covered with blood. We each took as many piñons as we could early. One or two stayed behind and destroyed all that remained by burning them.

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            "Unless something is done for us we shall have much trouble. We cannot prospect and watch Indians at the same time. We cannot prospect with a rifle. There is no need of a military force near San Carlos — we can defend it ourselves; but we want stations along the valley so that people may safely pass, and prospectors find a refuge from the savage, who is peaceful today and warlike tomorrow."

            The chase seeming to be hopeless, return was made to San Carlos. On the way down, the party met two men named Bell and Slocum at Big Pine, where they had gone with the idea of starting a sawmill. Indians had warned them to leave, and after talking with the Phillips company they concluded that it would be wise to comply.

            Henderson and associates, mining in the southeastern Inyo ranges, had been driven out in March by Indian dangers. They went back after an absence of not more than a month. On reaching the Josephine mill they learned that Chief Bigfoot had the better of a fight with the miners the day before and had gone across to the Panamint Mountains. Henderson waited until the arrival of Ringgold from Owens Lake, and the two followed the trail of White and others to their mines in the Panamints. After traveling seventy miles the camp of White was found at Mesquite Springs. Going on, Indians were seen in pursuit. Henderson and Ringgold waited until they came near enough to parley. The Indian spokesman said in Spanish that White and his men were up in the mountains. The whites, seeing that a battle was intended, opened fire and killed two of the leaders. A fifteen-mile running fight ensued ; its casualties were the killing of three Indians and Ringgold's being left

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afoot by the killing of his horse. Henderson visited the neighborhood in 1870, and found parts of the skeletons of three men and some bones of a woman in the ruins of a cabin which had been burned at Combination Camp. He gives the date of the killing of his companions as April 13, 1863.

            Work had begun at the Josephine two years earlier. Machinery for its ten-stamp mill was the first freight brought into Inyo, as freight; this was hauled by T. F. A. Connelly in 1862 via Walker's Pass. J. W. Wadleigh was superintendent of the Josephine venture at that time. The mill was built at Granite Springs. It was a crude affair, as would be expected in a remote country where the delivery of each pound of freight involved a cost of twenty-five cents for transportation; while the shoes and dies of its batteries were iron, wood served for the sterns and wherever else possible. Primitive though the plant was, its owners later put a valuation of $250,000 on it when they tried to collect from the Government for its loss as an Indian depredation. It was burned during this year. Its destruction was attributed to Indians, by the owners. Not all the pioneers in the country agreed in this conclusion, however; some of them said the mill was never profitable, and that its loss was to the advantage of those interested. Certainly they tried to secure ample reimbursement from the nation — an attempt which freighter Connelly's evidence helped to block.

            Slate Range mines had been discovered by Dennis and John Searles and others in 1861, and they had a mill built in time to be burned during

RUTHLESS SLAUGHTERINGS       161

the troubles; this was unquestionably done by the Indians.

            Ten or twelve skulls of white men, and other human bones, were found under a shelving pile of rocks near Anvil Springs in 1874. Nothing was known of the identity of the victims or of the time of their deaths. The supposition was that they had there taken refuge from Indians and had all been killed. For this discovery there has been found but one authority. It is certain, however, that an unknown number perished on the lonesome trails of that region.

 

CHAPTER XVI

PIONEER SETTLEMENTS

MILLS AND HOUSES PUT UP — SAN CARLOS, BEND CITY, OWENSVILLE —PLACES THE SITES OF WHICH ARE UNKNOWN — A FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION IN 1864 — A SMELTER THAT SMELTED ITSELF — SAWMILL BUILT — FARMING IN ROUND VALLEY — OTHER PLACES.

            There were no further encounters of consequence in Owens Valley during the later months of 1863. In the belief that Indian warfare was at an end, settlers began coming in a steadily increasing stream to the little settlements, and new places sprang up. A letter to the Alta California, dated at San Carlos September 4, 1863, reviews a number of "rushes" to different localities — White Mountains, Slate Mountain, Keyes District, Head of the Lake, and the Sierra foothills.

            "Mills are going up and houses are being built at San Carlos and elsewhere. The San Carlos company have finished 2,700 feet of their ditch and are rapidly progressing with their mill. The Center company are running three tunnels. The Nelson mining company are about to commence work, their teams, with provisions, tools, etc., having arrived. The Monster Hill Tunnel company, Regina Tunnel company, and Clara company are about to commence. The Inyo G. & S. M. company have commenced running a tunnel on the Lucerne and Granada. From Chrysopolis the most flattering accounts and rock full of gold are sent down. In Russ district several companies are at work. The Eclipse is turning out very rich ore and is of great extent. If it is not the richest mine

162

PIONEER SETTLEMENTS   163

in all California we are all mistaken. . . . It would be impossible to name or notice the numerous leads which have been recorded in the various districts. . . .  Our miners, who are generally men of education, vie with each other in selecting refined names for their mines. Silver Cloud, Norma, Olympic, Golden Era, Welcome, Chrysopolis, Gem, Green Monster, Blue Bird, Red Bird, Evadne, Fleta, Bonnie Blossom, Calliope, Romelia, Lucerne, Pluto's Pet, Birousa, Proserpine, Atahualpa, and Ida are among the mines here.

            "San Carlos is progressing rapidly. It now boasts of two stores, two butcher shops, two assay offices, an express office, a saloon, and mechanics of all kinds.

            "Our population is about 200. Yesterday we polled 106 votes, 53 of which were Union. Many of our citizens went down to the Union mill to vote, as it was feared there might be a dispute, it not being certain yet whether we are in Mono or Tulare county. Others who claim a residence in Mono went up to Van Fleet's to vote.

            "There is a new express started from San Carlos via Aurora. Perhaps when we grow a little, Messrs. Wells, Fargo & Co. will honor us with an office. We are quite as worthy of it as Fresno City, yet I saw their sign on a house there, which was, at the time, deserted."

            A letter to the Alta from Bend City, December 17, 1863: .

            "The Coso company is running its plant, eight-stamp mill, five amalgamating pans, sawmill and blacksmith shop, at the foot of Big (Owens) Lake. The rock is hauled from the mines, sixteen miles away. J. S. Allen is superintendent.

            "At Owens River, the Union mill is at work; eight-stamp; steam used here and at Ida mill, a mile above.

            "At Bend City, now about thirty houses; adobes. This city has been regularly surveyed. A grand ball is on the tapis for Christmas Eve. The most work has been done by the Clara company. Mt. St. George, in the first range of hills at the foot of the Inyo Range adjoining town, appears to be a complete network of leads of the richest mineral. The Clara company has fourteen claims. With regard to the In-

164      THE STORY OF INYO

dians, all has been quiet on Owens River for months past, and there is no prospect of a renewal of hostilities."

            A San Carlos correspondent mentions the first death in the camp, except those from Indian warfare, as that of a man named Warner, February 11, 1864, his demise resulting from an accidental wound in the arm. The marriage of Mr. Woolsey to Miss Warner (no relative of the deceased) is mentioned in the same epistle — doubtless the first marriage in the valley. This letter predicts great things for Keyes District and the Rubicon mine, somewhere in the later Poleta neighborhood.

            Owensville was for a few years the chief point in the northern part of the valley. A letter from there to the San Francisco Alta California, and published in December, contained the following :

            "I have just arrived with a party of fifty-six men, one family, eighty-two yoke of oxen and saddle horses innumerable. The valley contains fifty-two claims of 160 acres each, and Wm. McBride and the Hutchison boys have surveyed the Bishop Creek Valley at the risk of their lives. Just heard of forty men, all farmers, and twelve ox teams, who have arrived."

            Most detailed maps of the time designated as "Bishop Creek Valley" that part of Owens Valley north of Big Pine Creek.

            Another letter, in a later issue of the Alta, said:

            "A few months ago scarce a house could be seen throughout the extent of this valley, but now animation, life and activity greet the eye wherever you look. A fine settlement has been formed at Lone Pine, near the mouth of Owens River. Bend City is a town of sixty or seventy houses. San Carlos is about the same size, and both rapidly improving;

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while further up the river Chrysopolis, Galena, Riverside (alias Graham City) and Owensville are raising their voices for recognition."

            Other ambitious camps mentioned in notes of the period were Benton, Partzwick, Yellow Jacket, Camp Enterprise and Montgomery, all in what is now southern Mono County.

            Galena and Riverside, or Graham City, as well as Camp Enterprise, are now so completely buried in oblivion that even their sites cannot be learned by the inquirer.

            Owensville was on the east bank of Owens River, near the present Laws. A circular corral, standing within its townsite, is built of stones that once served as foundations for Owensville buildings. A little to the northeast, a rough slab of stone marks the grave of Mrs. T. H. Soper, who died there. No other trace of pioneer habitation remains ; the old-time streets are part of the river bottom's level and unbroken meadow.

            John Soper, a resident of the place when his mother died, later went to Hawaii and was commander in chief of the military forces of the provisional government of Hawaii, which forces dethroned Queen Liluokalani preceding the islands becoming American. In correspondence Gen. Soper narrated the shooting of two members of a gang of ruffians from Montana, by "Pap" Russell; also the unsuccessful attempt of a disreputable resident to organize a punitive expedition against the Indians because two old squaws had given him a thrashing, doubtless deservedly.

            John E. and Thomas E. Jones, pioneer settlers

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in Round Valley, came to Owensville in 1864. Notes by T. E. Jones enumerate many of its residents, among them the father and mother of Rev. Andrew Clark, the valley's pioneer minister; their son Thomas ; the Soper, Gill and Hightower families ; J. L. Garretson, H. Caleff, J. F. and Thomas K. Hutchison, A. Thomson, W. P. George, William Horton, W. S. Bailey, Reuben Merriman, Frank Powers, William and John McBride, nearly all of whom were well known in Inyo in later years, and most of whom ended their days here. George Hightower and wife were residents, and their daughter Ada was the first white child born in this part of Owens Valley. John B. White, who was murdered at Big Pine twenty-odd years later, had a saloon. John W. McMurry was storekeeper, restaurant man and postmaster. He chanced to become the victim of an accidental shot, getting a bullet from a burning house from which lie was saving property. He recovered, to become a leading citizen of Big Pine. Andy Ault and Jesse Spray and their wives were among the arrivals from Bridgeport. Ault took the liberty, at Adobe Meadows on the way down, to kill an Indian whom he suspected of having stolen his pistol. Whether or not he felt mortified over his act when he later found the gun hanging on the wall under a garment is not recorded.

            Milo Page, a participant in many of the happenings of the period, told of a Fourth of July celebration in Owensville in 1864. Will. Hicks Graham, a capable lawyer who was said to have been Pat Reddy's instructor, was master of cere-

PIONEER SETTLEMENTS   167

monies and reader of the declaration ; John Evans, superintendent of the Great Eastern mining company, chaplain ; W. P. George, orator. Music and singing by the seven ladies present was much appreciated by the 150 men who attended. The instrument used was a portable melodeon, belonging to and played by Thomas Soper. There were many Southerners among the men, but all joined in the commemoration regardless of the great war then waging between the States. Still earlier than this, on May 1, had occurred probably the first social event of any kind in the northern part of the valley, a dance in a ten by twelve adobe cabin. One of the institutions of the place was a lodge of the Sons of Temperance, of which C. C. Scott was the head.

            Aurora was the nearest source of supplies. Communication was difficult, and stores ran low at times. During such a period, McMurry refused an offer of $20 for a sack of flour, saying that he would not sell it for $40, as he would need it for his family. A pony mail service was started by Daniel Wellington, and W. J. Gill was the rider. This service connected at Benton and Partzwick with a semi-weekly pony express to Aurora. Each letter had to bear the proper postage and to be accompanied by a twenty-five cent payment as recompense to the mail carrier.

            Owensville looked to mines in the White Mountains for its upbuilding. The Golden Wedge mine, at last accounts still bearing that same name and now included in a group known as the Southern Belle, was the first find; its discoverers were

168      THE STORY OF INYO

Charles Nunn and Robert Morrison, who was later killed at Convict Lake. Another mine not wholly forgotten was the Yellow Jacket, belonging to a company organized in Gilroy, California. A reduction plant was built on Swansea Flat (Fish Slough) by an Owensville company with T. H. Soper, president ; H. Caleff, metallurgist ; John Soper, H. Chambers, G. Thomas, Dawson, Snooks, the Round Valley Jones brothers and another Jones as members. An arrastra was built to pulverize supposedly fireproof material transported to the scene by horse and ox-teams. Even barren quartz was crushed and brick molded from it. Alleged fireproof stone was hauled from Aurora. Almost daily specimens were brought in by prospectors, and Tom Jones records that Judge Caleff usually pronounced them "very fine conglomerations of argentiferous galena." The furnace was completed, and melted down as quickly as the ore with which it had been charged. Undaunted, the amateur smelters obtained different materials and built another plant. It was crammed full of wood, charcoal, ore and flux, and fired — and in a few hours was, like its predecessor, a seething, plastic pile of ruins. It may be noted that a precisely similar experience befell a furnace undertaking by Greenly, Edwards and others that same year at a site a little east of the present court house at Independence.

            Demands for lumber were met by the erection of a sawmill in the Sierras near Bishop, by John Pugh and Joe Spear, with T. D. Lewis as its manager either from the first or soon after. Machinery

PIONEER SETTLEMENTS   169

for it was hauled by wagon from Stockton by John Clarke, at a freight rate of twenty-five cents a pound. After the decline of Owensville this lumber was taken from its buildings and rafted down the river by A. A. Riddle, to be used in Independence and Lone Pine, and to a less extent in Big Pine. The latter settlement, when it started, had a mill nearer, Bell and Slocum having returned in 1864 to the project they had abandoned under protest the year before.

            Owensville's career was brief. Its corner lots were held at $1,000 and even $1,500 each for a short time, but before the end of 1864 some of its buildings were torn down. One of them, the blacksmith shop of the Consort mining company, was bought by Clarke and moved, becoming the first structure of any kind on the present Bishop townsite. It stood a little distance to the south of West Line street and near Main. It was put up late in 1864.

            During the quieter portion of 1863 a beginning on farm work was made not far from Bishop. W. P. George and associates put in a truck patch a little to the west. Andrew Thomson broke ground in West Bishop, and also established G. W. Norton on a place a mile north of the present townsite. Tom Evans located in Pleasant Valley. It is probable that similar undertakings were begun at Lone Pine that year, though no confirmation of that is available. A little patch of corn was planted at Independence.

            One of the companies operating in the White Mountains bore the name of the San Francisco.

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A "town," called Graham City, after D. S. Graham, the superintendent, was started "at the foot of Keyes District, opposite Bishop Creek Valley," says a letter of the time. No other identification is obtainable, though its prospects were supposed to be so promising that a correspondent of the Alta wrote : "Should the mines (and of this there appears to be no doubt) turn out all right, this town will rival Aurora or Virginia itself for population." If there were other aspiring settlements, not herein named, north of Chrysopolis at that time no record of them has been left.

            John E. and Thomas E. Jones decided to undertake ranching in Round Valley, and sowed the first wheat there in the spring of 1865. They had been preceded by a man named William Frank, who had built a small stone cabin. The ranching experiment did not do well the first year, for in June the tilled acres were invaded by some of the many hundreds of cattle that were being ranged in that neighborhood, and no crop was grown and harvested until the following season.

            San Carlos miners had provided a free ferry across the river at their camp, a little north of east of Independence. The equipment was rafts, hauled back and forth by rawhide ropes. Bend City, a few miles farther south, was the center of population of the middle part of the valley during the latter part of 1864. There was also a primitive ferry, but for its use a toll was collected. The Bend Cityites, noting the free ferry at San Carlos, tired of paying tolls, especially as circulating medium of any kind was scarce. To escape this con-

PIONEER SETTLEMENTS   171

dition, it was decided to build a bridge across the river. An election to settle its location was held in December, and sixty votes were cast, according to the report of Will Hicks Graham, clerk.

            Mining was in progress for miles up and down that part of the range. The principal mines, from the Chrysopolis on the north to the Union, Ida and New York on the south, were the Green Monster, Clara, Rothschild, Owens River, Gray Eagle, Maid of Erin, White Rover, Drummer Boy, Center, Concordia and Santa Rita.

            Nearly all of the sixty or more houses at Bend City were adobe. Among them were two hotels, of which the Morrow House was the "swell" place. Five stores sold goods ; number of saloons not recorded, but unquestionably ample. A circulating library was a public convenience in that period of scarce reading matter. Even a stock exchange was among the institutions, though a notation of a trade in which a burro was paid for a block of stock does not indicate brisk transactions.

            I. N. Buckwalter and A. C. Robinson, running a tunnel not far from the mouth of Mazourka Canyon, twice lost their stores of provisions through Indian raids, but escaped personal harm. Mr. Buckwalter tells of paying $2.50 to a cobbler for nailing on a boot-heel, using three sixpenny nails and three minutes of time. He made a trip to the valley in August, 1915, revisited those scenes, and unearthed a number of mining tools which he had cached when leaving, decades ago.

            Bend City was stirred by news that a man named William Graves had shot his partner dur-

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ing a row beside their campfire, in Deep Spring Valley. A vigilance committee was formed, but did nothing. Up to that time there was no peace officer of any kind in the valley; the Tulare County officials then concluded to appoint a Justice of the Peace. They selected John Beveridge, whose name was later given in a mining district easterly from Lone Pine, as Justice, and a man named Kendall as Constable.

            In September, 1863, a second killing nearer home gave the vigilantes occasion to act. Men named Mitchell and Cuddy had disputed, and Cuddy had vowed to kill the other. Knife in hand he crossed the street of San Carlos and was shot and instantly killed by Mitchell, who fired from within John Lentell's store. Mitchell was taken into custody. T. F. A. Connelly acted as prosecutor, and the Alta's correspondent, Campbell, served as attorney for the accused. A delegation of the vigilantes appeared and demanded to be allowed to remain during the hearing ; otherwise they would take Mitchell and themselves dispose of the case. Consent being given, they remained, and at its close took a vote among themselves. They were unanimous in declaring it to have been a case of self-defense. The court did not hold the same opinion, however, for he held Mitchell for trial in Visalia. Constable Kendall proposed to make his prisoner walk the whole distance, he himself riding on horseback. Members of the committee found it necessary to compel more humane treatment. Mitchell was discharged, after remaining in the Visalia jail for a few months.

PIONEER SETTLEMENTS   173

            White Mountain City and Roachville were settlements just over the White Mountain summit from Owens Valley, in that White Mountain District which had been used for fraudulent election purposes in 1861. A writer visiting there early in 1864 tells all that we know of these would-be mining centers; the "city" from which he wrote was on Wyman Creek, on the Deep Spring slope ; its rival, Roachville, was on Cottonwood Creek, and was named by its proprietor, William Roach, hailing from Santa Cruz. Both places had regularly surveyed town plats. S. (no doubt Scott) Broder was the District Recorder.

 

CHAPTER XVII

MORE INDIAN TROUBLES

COSO COUNTY AUTHORIZED — POLITICAL CONVENTION — PIUTES START DEPREDATIONS — AFFAIR AT CINDERELLA MINE — MRS. M 'GUIRE AND SON KILLED AT - VENGEANCE OF CITIZENS AT OWENS LAKE — END OF THE INDIAN WAR.

            Formation of new counties in California is now dependent on a comparatively large population, the idea apparently being that all sections of the State are fairly well supplied with local government. Railroads, telegraphs and automobiles have annihilated distance. It was very different in the '60's. The sparse and widely separated communities were days apart in communication; the latter was limited to horse-flesh as a means of travel; there were no telegraphs in the outlying regions; and the whole west was lawless enough at the best. Only a liberal policy of county creation could provide any civil control over tens of thousands of square miles of territory. Maps of that period show counties duly outlined, but without a single place prominent enough to be noted.

            Mono had been officially created in 1861. It was presumed to include the booming camp of Aurora ; but when a corrected survey proved that Aurora was outside of its borders the county's

174

MORE INDIAN TROUBLES                        175

population was so small that the first census thereafter gave it a total of but 430, Indians included. With this and other examples before them, Owens Valleyans did not hesitate to petition the Legislature, in February, 1864, to create a county on this slope south of Mono. It was proposed to name the county Monadic, to make San Carlos its county seat, and to establish the northern boundary near Mono Lake. But when the petition reached the Legislature and in accordance with it a bill was introduced, the name given was Coso, Big Pine Creek was designated as the northern line, and Bend City was selected as the seat of government until such time as an election might decide differently. This was to be determined by an election set for June 6, 1864, at which time a full corps of county officers was to be chosen. E. S. Sayles, G. J. Slocum, D. C. Owen, John R. Hughes and John Lentell were named as commissioners to designate precincts, name election officers, canvass returns, and do other things necessary to start the new machinery, they to cooperate with a county judge to be appointed by Governor Low. The Governor offered the position to Dr. S. G. George, but he declined it. Owens Valleyans favored O. L. Matthews, but no appointment was made.

            The population of the proposed county was overwhelmingly Republican. A convention of that political faith was called, and met in San Carlos about May 24th. Any one who stated himself to be a Republican was admitted and allowed full voice in proceedings. The result of an orderly

176      THE STORY OF INYO

and harmonious session was the nomination of W. A. Greenly for Sheriff, John Thorn for Clerk, Abraham Parker for Treasurer and W. S. Morrow for Attorney.

            Whether because of neglect or some other reason not now known, the election was not held June 6th. As the law gave no authority for holding it at any other time the whole organization went by default.

            Another law passed at the legislative session that sought to establish Coso County chartered a corporation under the name of the Owens River Canal Company, for constructing canals for transportation of passengers and freight and for using Owens River for irrigation and water power. The company was granted the right to improve the river canyon and to collect tolls for a period of fifteen years. Its rates were to be fixed by the Supervisors of Mono County, but were to be such that the estimated revenues would yield 2 per cent per month on the investment. Mono was to have the right to take up the investment after ten years if the county so desired. R. S. Whigham, Speer Riddle, William Fleming, William P. Pratt and Isaac Swain were named as trustees of the company. No more was ever heard of the project.

            These gropings toward local self-government and permanency were broken into by further threats of Indian troubles. The abandonment of Camp Independence the year before had been highly unwelcome to the settlers. Particularly after the Merriam affair the white people avoided

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the neighborhoods which Joaquin Jim, most dreaded among the Indian leaders, claimed as his own. During the latter part of 1864 depredations began once more, and lone white men were picked off when it could be done safely. One such instance was in the Black Rocks. A Visalian named Watkins brought a band of horses into the valley and located not far from Black Rock Spring. His position was isolated, and he fell an easy prey. This event and others pointing to a fresh outbreak led to the sending of petitions to General McDowell, then commanding at the Presidio. McDowell could not, or at least did not, spare any troops for Owens Valley. Learning this, many residents struck out for safer climes ; the remaining inhabitants determined to fight the issue to a finish. They, and not the soldiers, ended the Indian war. The return of a military force after the last killing of natives at Owens Lake, and the maintenance of that force for a dozen years afterward, doubtless had a useful part in preventing subsequent outbreaks.

            The citizens of Owensville organized with Will Hicks Graham as captain, and at Bend City W. L. ("Dad") Moore and W. A. Greenly were selected to lead the volunteer forces.

            Among the miners who ventured into the mountains believing that hostilities were over were three named Crow, Mathews and Byrnes. They located a claim which they called the Cinderella, at a point about four miles from the Gilbert ranch, east of the White Mountains. On November 21st, 1864, Mathews was cooking din-

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ner while his partners were at the claim. An Indian and squaw came to the camp and asked for something to eat. As Mathews turned to get them something, the Indian shot him through the jaw. About the same time a shot ended the life of Crow, working at the mine windlass. His body either fell into the shaft or was thrown in by the Indians. Byrnes, 60 or 70 feet below, was kept busy dodging rocks with which the attackers tried to kill him, but by dextrous use of his shovel he managed to fend off the missiles. Believing their purpose accomplished the Indians left.

            Mathews had been wounded, but not enough to prevent his fighting. When he opened fire the two who had attacked him ran away. He was sure his partners had been killed, and determined to strike out for Owens Valley. He had a rifle, a shotgun and a revolver, but soon threw away both of the large weapons. It took him two agonizing days to get over the mountains, his sufferings being intensified by lack of water. Reaching Owens River, he fell into shallow water while trying to get a drink. This loosened the clotted blood in his mouth and throat — a relief on which he dwelt in narrating the circumstances. The attention of a horseman was attracted, and Mathews was taken to a ranch where Big Pine now is. For many days he was fed through a cowhorn, and at last he recovered his general health. He was never afterward free from some effects of his wound, however; to the day of his death, in Round Valley twenty-four years later, his speech was

MORE INDIAN TROUBLES                        179

intelligible to only a few. He had been in California since 1831.

            While Mathews was escaping, Byrnes was prisoned in the shaft with the body of Crow for company. The Indians had taken away the windlass rope. Joe Bowers, Indian chieftain, came to the place soon afterward and found means of lowering water to Byrnes, then came across the mountains and told the whites what had occurred. S. G. Gregg went as far as Lone Pine and gathered a party of thirty men to rescue Byrnes. The latter had been in the shaft five days when he was hauled out. The body of Crow was buried there.

            Now mark the ingratitude of the man whose life Joe had saved. The Piute leader had his home camp at a place called Antelope Springs. A few years subsequently Byrnes decided that he needed the land and water more than Joe Bowers did, so he drove the latter away. Joe went to Independence and told his loyal white friends, who formed a posse and forced Byrnes to vacate. Fourteen also joined in an agreement to support Joe, as a reward for his friendship and services during the Indian troubles, and thenceforward he was quarterly supplied with provisions and clothing. Capt. MacGowan, a later commandant at Camp Independence, employed him as a scout. The departure of the soldiers from Owens Valley, when the post was finally abandoned, dropped Joe from the payroll, but left him with a claim to a six dollar pension. This was regularly collected by S. G. Gregg and used for the old Piute's welfare. Signing the receipt for this (with an X)

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was an important ceremony for the beneficiary. He was taken to San Francisco in 1871 to see the wondrous achievements of the white man, and attracted no little attention. During the early '70's, a reception given to a land officer who had engineered a land steal caused a burlesque of the affair to be given in Joe's honor, at which he was presented with a hat, a pipe and tobacco, and made a speech admitting his own merits. He died early in this century in Deep Spring Valley.

            It is not to be inferred that Joe was a second Uncas in virtues. He had many of the failings of his people, and one of the chief cares of his white friends was to see that he did not gamble away what they provided for his welfare. He took a moral view of things, and his condemnations of intemperance and other vices were more picturesque and forcible than adapted for polite ears. He had foreseen more clearly than his fellows the ultimate success of the whites, and appreciated the advantages they possessed. He was always their friend, sometimes at his own peril, and was respected by his own people as well.

            The murder of Mrs. McGuire and her little son at Haiwai, and the settlers' retribution in Indian lives, were with one exception the last items of Indian warfare.

            The waters of Haiwee reservoir of the Los Angeles aqueduct system now cover lands known in pioneer days, and for years later, as Haiwai Meadows. (Haiwai is the Indian word for dove.) To those meadows, 25 miles south of Owens Lake, came in 1864 a man named McGuire, with his

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wife and six-year-old son. They established a little way station, which received the patronage of the scant travel between Visalia and Owens Valley. The hostess endeared herself to all who came, and her bright little son was a favorite.

            On the last day of 1864 two men were at the place. Their names as given by H. T. Reed, whose letter written a few days later is principally followed in the details of which he professed to be well informed, were Newman and Flanigan. Another account calls them O'Dale and Kittridge — which may be remarked to somewhat resemble the names Coverdale and Ethridge, of earlier Inyo record. McGuire had occasion to go to Big Pine for a plow, and asked them to remain until he returned. Before daylight of the following morning, January 1, 1865, the occupants of the house were awakened by fire, and found that the roof was blazing. The men ran out, but on being fired on ran back into the house. They commenced knocking off shingles from the inside, and by using what water was at hand and the brine from several barrels of corned beef had nearly extinguished the fire when the attack was renewed with firebrands, stones and shots. The heat became so intense that to remain inside was impossible. The men urged Mrs. McGuire to run with them and endeavor to escape ; she refused, saying that nothing could save them and it would be no use. Flanigan and Newman, unwilling to share her peril, ran, escaping with a wound in the forehead of one and a shot through the hat of the other. Says Reed's letter : "They arrived

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here (at Little Lake, 17 miles) at 11 a. m., Newman weak from loss of blood and both nearly exhausted."

            Walter James and John Harmon, southbound, reached Haiwai that forenoon. Smoke was still rising from the burned dwelling. A hundred feet or more from it was Mrs. McGuire, with fourteen arrows in her body, mercifully insensible and with but a little span of life remaining. The little boy was dead. His tiny hand clasped a stone, indicating a spirit of defense to the last. Six arrows had pierced his body, and had been pulled out by his mother. Quoting Reed again, "Both Mr. and Mrs. McGuire had done more for the Indians than they were able, often denying themselves to feed them. her loss is deeply felt by all, and no one who ever stopped there will fail to remember the hearty welcome and the happy face of bright little Johnny and his noble mother."

            The bodies of the victims were placed in a wagon box and James remained to guard them while Harmon hurried back to Owens Lake. A messenger was sent to Lone Pine, where the bodies were brought that day for burial.

            Some pioneers who were implacable foes of the Indians acquitted the latter of guilt for this atrocity, maintaining that it was the deed of the two white men. Reed's letter indicates no such doubt, however, nor does any other account or reference at the time nor the later story of it written in a letter by W. L. Moore. The arrows found and the trail followed by the avengers supported the white fugitives' story. The unmanly

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and selfish cowardice of those men received ample comment in the accounts at that time.

            A dozen or more men, headed by W. L. Moore and W. A. Greenly, immediately started for Haiwai, camping near Olancha that night. The next day they went to Haiwai and took up the trail of a party of fifteen or sixteen Indians until it divided among the sand hills east of the meadows. Some of the natives had started southerly to the Kern River trail, the rest going northerly and east of Owens Lake. From the dividing point the citizens returned to Haiwai, and Moore and Thos. Passmore (each of whom later became Sheriff and each of whom was killed in the discharge of official duty) took up the trail of Newman and Flanigan. On the way they picked up a loaded rifle, a little further on a loaded pistol, and still further along a shotgun with one barrel loaded. The trail was followed to Little Lake, where the two men were found. They told the story as here written. They were told to leave the country at once and not to return, under penalty of death.

            When Moore and Passmore returned to Haiwai the party went to Coso, reaching that settlement January 3d. The Mexican miners who composed its population showed no disposition to aid in any way or to accommodate the Americans. The latter wasted scant ceremony in supplying the needs of themselves and their animals. Returning toward the valley, the Indian trail was again picked up, and followed directly to an Indian camp near the lake shore east of the river's mouth. The party rode on past the camp to Lone Pine.

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            Four Piute prisoners were being held in that settlement. Some of the citizens advocated slaughtering them forthwith; others objected. Subsequent proceedings are narrated by a pioneer:

            "During the discussion one of the Indians saw a chance to run, and did so, escaping at least a score of shots until Dick Mead jumped on a horse and overtook and killed the fugitive. Thos. May and John Tilly took the remaining prisoners to Tilly's house for safe keeping during the night. One, outside with May, made a break for liberty and was shot. Those in the house, hearing the shot, also undertook to escape, when Tilly killed one with a blow from a six-shooter and May shot the other."

            A general council of whites was held at Lone Pine, and it was determined to inflict a crushing blow on the natives by destroying their settlement near the mouth of Owens River. A day or two was spent in gathering a force, which left Lone Pine during the night of January 5th to reach the lake camp by daylight of the 6th. Greenly and Moore were selected as commanders ; with them were Passmore, Tilly, Chas. D. Begole, Thos. May, T. F. A. Connelly, Dick Mead, R. M. Shuey, H. Meyer, John Kispert, F. W. Fickert (later a prominent rancher of the Tehachipi region), James Heffner, Haslem, McGuire (husband of the murdered woman), Rogers (whose shocking ending will be presently recorded), Green Hitchcock and three or four of his brothers, Charles Robinson, and others to a total strength of thirty-two.

            The plan was for Greenly's detachment to cross

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the river and guard against escape to the eastward, while Moore's party was to attack the camp. Snow covered the ground. The Indians, unsuspicious of danger, had no sentries, and were asleep in their camp when the attack began. Greenly's three-mile detour was not allowed for, and Moore and his men had practically concluded the bloody work before Greenly appeared.

            According to the judgment of those who had trailed the Indians from Haiwai, eight or ten of the perpetrators of that atrocity were in the lake camp. For their guilt the whole village population, of whom at least three-fourths were innocent of any possible participation in the Haiwai deed, were ruthlessly slaughtered — as the whites would have been had circumstances been reversed. Neither age nor sex were spared among the forty-one who died there. Six Indians had taken to the icy waters of the lake. The account by Fickert said that two squaws and two little boys were permitted to come out alive ; that of T. F. A. Connelly said that three, a boy and his two sisters, were spared. McGuire shot two bucks in the water. The boy, aged about fourteen, was shot at, and asked in English why they wanted to kill him. He said he had not hurt any one. Heffner told him that if he would come out he would not be hurt. The boy also said his two sisters were in the lake, and was bidden to tell them to come out.

            By this time the Greenly subdivision had come up. Some in each party were anxious to do away with the young captives. Heffner asked how many

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would stand with him in protecting them, and about half declared in his favor. The wrangle threatened to result in bloodshed among the citizens, when Mead requested all who favored sparing the children to stand with him. Two-thirds of the company moved to his side, after which there was no further argument. The girls were taken as far as the foot of the lake and there released. Heffner adopted the boy.

            This version faithfully follows accounts given to the author, personally or by letter, by several of the men who were present, and narratives written by others within a few years of the occurrence. This fact is mentioned because this affair, more than any other occurrence of the Indian war, was distorted and garbled in California papers at the time. Some of the reports then published contradict themselves, when read by any one who knows the country. Some other statements they contain may or may not have been true, no other light having been obtained. One was that an Indian had Mrs. McGuire's purse, with a few dollars in money; this is probably false, as the McGuire house was not raided. Another was that one of the slain Indians had a rifle which had belonged to William Jones, a miner, said to have been killed in the White Mountains two weeks before. Large quantities of freshly painted arrows were said to have been found in the camp ; no account given to the writer mentioned such a find, though it may have been made.

            Apparently a little earlier than the Owens Lake affair, a sortie by a white expedition resulted in

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the killing of seventeen Indians near the stream now known as Division Creek, north of Independence. Two prisoners at Camp Independence were shot by a man named McVickers, who said they were attempting to escape.

            January 3d a white force of seventeen men went to the Black Rocks and found that the Piutes had burned the camps and fled to the mountains, killing cattle as they went.

            A little earlier than this, probably in the fall of 1864, an Indian Agent had visited the valley, accompanied by a Lieutenant Daley, who reported :

            "The Indian supplies are not good, and most of the Indians have left for the mountains. The Indian Agent invited them to come in; sixteen came, who said they had been maltreated. Said the whites would not pay the Indians who worked for them. I learned from Mr. Maloney, one of the present proprietors of Camp Independence, that settlers would go to Tule River reservation for Indians to come and work, and when they got through would decline paying them and drive them away. The Indians said they would retaliate and drive the whites out."

            Reed, heretofore quoted, wrote that Daley's report was not founded on fact, and that he knew of no single instance where the Indians had been treated wrongfully. Nor does it look reasonable, in view of all the trouble that had occurred, that any settler would go as far off as Tule River in order to bring back more Indians with whom he planned to have further difficulty. The migration to the mountains was probably for pine-nut gathering.

            The Union mill was burned during that winter,

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but whether by Indians is not clear. Out in the desert conditions still remained dangerous. While it is possible that a lone prospector now and then paid the penalty of being too venturesome, only one other item of warlike action has been recorded. It was two years later; though out of chronological order it is here included to complete the story of warfare.

            A raid was made by Indians on the "Spanish mines," (probably Cerro Gordo, then inhabited by a few Mexicans), on March 4, 1867. One of the miners was killed, and everything portable was taken away. Cattle and horses had been killed at the lake just before. On March 7th a detachment of twelve cavalrymen, under Sergeant F. R. Neil, was sent from Camp Independence, to pursue and if possible chastise the offenders. Owing to the immense amount of snow on the eastern mountains the pursuit to the desert, when the Indians had come, could not be made, and the soldiers returned to Thomas Franklin's ranch near Owens Lake. Franklin offered to guide the party, and at 3 o'clock on the morning of March 12th the start was made. It was expected that the Indians would be found at Coso Hot Springs, but they were not there. The route was then to "Rainy Springs Canyon," twenty miles distant, where "sign" was found. About 4:30 in the afternoon the rancheria was reached, on a slope surrounded by large pine trees. The troopers dismounted and took a trail made by squaws in carrying water to their camp. As the party reached the summit of the slope each party saw the other, and firing

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began. The white men charged while the reds fled to positions behind rocks. The chief, Captain Barbe, handled his men skillfully, and exposed himself too bravely, for he was shot and killed. The troopers were formerly of Sheridan's army, veterans in war, and they drove the enemy from rock to rock, killing four warriors besides the chief, and wounding others. Returning to the rancheria, which was the best appointed and provisioned the men had seen, the soldiers found many articles known to have been stolen from whites; among them was a pistol known to have been taken the preceding fall when an attack was made on a mine. After destroying the camp, the expedition started for Owens Lake, where it arrived after a continuous ride of 90 miles. Thomas Franklin, whose account is here given, wrote that although he was a heavy loser from Indian depredations, he felt that he had satisfaction.

            During January, 1865, Company C, commanded by Captain Kelly (who was alleged to have won his commission from Nevada's Governor in a poker game), reached the vicinity of the present town of Bishop and remained until April, when on peremptory orders the company went on to Camp Independence. That post was then continuously garrisoned until its abandonment in 1877. The soldiers were sent out against the Piutes but once more, in 1870. A company went to Round Valley; its presence sufficed, and there was no fighting. The Indian attitude was defiant and sullen for some years. The conflict of tribal customs and of white opinions regarding the kill-

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ing of Indian doctors threatened trouble as late as 1877, when the dominant race undertook to punish murders of condemned medicine men.

            It has been noted that one Indian leader never did submit to white rule. Joaquin Jim, while he ceased marauding, remained aloof to the end of his days. The Indian story was he came to his death, some years after the war, from overeating some special tribal delicacy; the white version was that he was killed by one of his own warriors. Another so-called Joaquin Jim appeared at Tule River reservation in 1863 to be treated for wounds received in Owens Valley. A squad of soldiers from Camp Babbitt went to arrest him, but he saw them coming, fled, and was pursued and killed. "The body was found with a number of fresh wounds and many scars. Joaquin Jim was known to have murdered two white men in cold blood, and had fought desperately in several battles," said a published report. Nevertheless, that Indian was not the noted leader of the southern Monos.

            Perhaps it is not the business of a record of this character to philosophize on the Indian war subject. The facts as nearly as they can be had have been set down ; the comments of men writing at the time, some for, some against, the natives, have been impartially given. Probably it will lead to a conclusion that the whites were not all free from wrong; that the Indian's resistance to trespassing on the domain that had always been his was but natural; that however pathetic the native's displacement as overlord, the white dom-

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ination, here as elsewhere, and its making use of resources which to the Indian meant much less than the comfortable living the conquerors have brought him, were inevitable and necessary.

            Residents of Owensville estimated the total death list of the war, so far as they knew it, to be 60 whites and about 250 Indians.