[H. L. Wells, The Sage-Brush Rebellion, The Overland Monthly, March 1889]

 

1889.] The Sage-brush Rebellion. 253

 

THE SAGE-BRUSH REBELLION.

 

            CIVIL war and rebellion against constituted authorities have not been confined to any age, race, nor particular political division of the terrestrial ball. Since Lucifer raised the standard of revolt against the throne of the Almighty, and with his legion of rebellious angels was

                                Hurled headlong flaming from th' ethereal sky,

                                With hideous ruin and combustion, down

                                To bottomless perdition,

the Prince of Darkness has not failed of many imitators. Gods have warred against gods, and demi-gods against demi-gods, while we poor mortals have imitated them in their belligerent ways in all their dips, spurs, angles, and sinuosities, from the family row to onset of the embattled hosts of nations. Man is a pugnacious animal. His ears are entrenched with bumps of combativeness, and love of self gives the extreme northwest corner of his cranium an amplitude and prominence which are the despair of the hatter. Happily, his combativeness is one of repulsion rather than aggression. If let alone, either in his individual or collective relations, he is peaceable and harmless ; but infringe his rights, insult his dignity, or endeavor to assume obnoxious and disputed authority over him, and his latent pugnacity comes to the surface as promptly as the odor of a stirred pool. It is when he is on his native heath repelling the ruthless invader that he is at his best, and it is in this character I desire to introduce him to the reader, in the person of the valiant Sage-brusher, striking stalwart blows in defense of what he deemed his rights, and making a castle of his log cabin.

            It will surprise many to learn that there was once open rebellion against the authority, peace, and dignity of the great State of California, and that the residents of that fair land of sage which rolls away in gray vistas from the marshy banks of Honey Lake, were once in arms against the lawful authorities of the State as represented in the persons of the sheriff of Plumas County and that most dreadfully sounding thing, a posse comitatus. Yet such was the case ; and for fear that some zealous Saul might be stirred up by this intelligence to persecute these contumacious rebels, I hasten to add that the "unpleasantness" occurred nearly thirty years ago, and that the rebels are now and for many years have been most excellent and worthy citizens, such, at least, as have not crossed the dark flood, full of years and honors.

            Honey Lake valley, because it lay north of the Carson and Truckee routes, and south of the ill-fated Lassen road, escaped the attention of the Argonauts of 1849 and 1850. It is generally believed that the first party of white men to penetrate that region was a company of prospectors led by a man named Noble, in the spring of 1851. They crossed the mountains to Honey Lake by the way of Noble's Pass, and then returned to the Sacramento valley. Noble was strongly impressed with the value of the pass as an immigrant route to the head of the Sacramento valley. He went to Shasta, then the chief town in northern California, and impressed his views upon the business men of that lively place, showing them what a benefit to them commercially would be a new route across the Sierras, terminating in Shasta, then the base of supplies for the Trinity and Siskiyou mines. They saw the point, raided a subscription, and hired Noble and a party of men

254 The Sage-brush Rebellion. [Mar.

to go to the Humboldt, and divert as many immigrants as possible from the Carson trail to the new route by Noble's Pass.

            They reached the Humboldt in August, 1852, and soon encountered a long train of immigrants, among whom were several "49ers " who had gone back the previous year and were now returning. These men were familiar with the sufferings of immigrants in previous years, who had left the regular trail to try some new " cut off," at the solicitation of interested parties ; and no sooner did Noble broach the subject of a new route, than they became highly indignant. They not only refused to try the new route themselves, but threatened violence to the Shasta men if they persisted in their efforts to prevail upon the unsophisticated immigrants to do so. Nevertheless, a few wagons left the train, and were quickly and safely piloted through Honey Lake valley and Noble's Pass to Shasta. For several years thereafter agents were stationed at the junction of this route with the old overland trail, and succeeded in sending many immigrants over this road and into the northern mines.

            In 1853 Isaac N. Roop, then postmaster at Shasta, went out with a few companions, for the purpose of opening trade with immigrants. Roop located a land claim, one mile square, at the head of Honey Lake valley, and posted a notice on the property. No actual settlement was made, but in the summer of 1854 Isaac N. Roop, Ephraim Roop, William McNall, Captain William Weatherwax [Weatherlow], and several others went into the valley with a load of merchandise and supplies, and built a rough, one-story log cabin, 20x20 feet in size, and roofed it with shakes.

            It is unnecessary for the purposes of this narrative to follow the steps by which the valley became settled. Suffice it to say, that by the spring of 1856 there were a sufficient number of people living in the valley to render some kind of government a necessity.

            The exact location of Honey Lake valley was a matter of doubt. A majority of the settlers believed it to lie without the limits of California, and consequently under the jurisdiction of Utah, which then included that portion of the "Great American Desert" now constituting the State of Nevada, as fertile a land as the sun shines upon when provided with life-giving water. They knew that the eastern boundary line of California was 120 of west longitude, but having no means at hand for ascertaining the exact location of the line, they guessed at it and guessed wrong. The summit ridge of the mountains to the west of them formed a natural barrier between Honey Lake valley and the rest of California, and they conceived the idea that what seemed to be designated by nature as the boundary line was so in fact, and that the valley lay beyond the limits of California, and without the jurisdiction of Plumas County, of which it would otherwise have formed a part. They were east of the Sierra summits, which with their drifts of snow cut them off for months at a time from all communication with the people living on the other side ; and they naturally felt that they were a community separate and apart from those in California. These considerations moved them to meet in convocation, on the twenty-sixth of April, 1856, and create a new Territory, wherein they might have a seat of government accessible at all seasons of the year.

            The people assembled at the Roop house to the number of twenty, and elected Mr. Roop secretary, and Peter Lassen president. Lassen's name is familiar to all old Californians. He was the pioneer settler of the Upper Sacramento valley long before gold was discovered, and Lassen's ranch was a land-mark in that region. His name is perpetuated in that of the snow-crowned volcanic peak which overlooks his old

1889.] The Sage-brush Rebellion. 255

settlement, as well as the county which these Honey Lakers finally succeeded in establishing.

            This convention declared a Territory, with boundaries extending from longitude 117° to 120°, and latitude 38 1/2° to 42°, which they christened "Natauqua," (the Pah-ute for " woman "). They adopted a meager code of laws, chiefly for the regulation of land claims, water rights, and public roads, and designated Isaac Roop recorder and Peter Lassen surveyor, the only officials chosen. The new territory embraced an area of 50,000 square miles, including all of the present Nevada counties of Roop, Washoe, Storey, Ormsby, Lyon, Douglas, Churchill, and Humboldt, and portions of Esmeralda, Nye, and Lander, as well as a portion of El Dorado, Alpine, and Mono, in California. It is amusing now to think of those twenty men meeting in that little, out-of-the-way nook of civilization, and forming a Territory of such vast dimensions ; the more so when we call to mind the fact that there were then living in Washoe, Eagle, and Carson valleys and Gold Caņon, enough people to outnumber them twenty to one, who were not consulted in this disposition of themselves ; and the further fact that not one of this score of law-makers lived within the boundaries they themselves set for the new territory, since the 120th meridian runs to the east of Honey Lake. Of course, these paradoxical circumstances arose from the prevailing ignorance of the geography of the country lying east of the Sierra Nevadas, and the founders of Natauqua neither intended to include those unknown settlers so far to the southward, nor to exclude themselves. They were simply forming a government for their own protection, and made the boundaries sufficiently wide to give ample elbow room.

            Natauqua had a brief existence of about one year. Before the year 1857 drew to its close, the grand territorial scheme of the Natauquans had vanished. The rapid settlement of the valley had attracted the attention of the Plumas authorities, and they began to take official notice of it. So long as it was merely a matter of a few people more or less no attention was paid to them, but as soon as they had property to be taxed things wore a different aspect. On the fourth of August the Board of Supervisors of Plumas County extended its jurisdiction over that region by creating it Honey Lake township, and appointed justices and constables. An indignation meeting was at once called, which was held on the twenty-ninth of August, and was attended by thirty-two men, a majority of the actual settlers of the valley. Several " whereas-es " and resolutions were passed, the gist of which was that they considered the action of the Plumas authorities an " unwarrantable assumption of power," as they did not consider the "valley in the State of California" ; that they would " resist the action " of the authorities of Plumas County, and pledged themselves " by all we hold sacred to assist and aid each other in resisting any infringement of our rights."

            Three committees were appointed : one to " correspond with the authorities of Plumas County," and "to hold meetings when necessary," one to confer with the people of Carson valley on the subject of a new Territory, and one to wait upon Doctor Fredonger [Fredonyer], one of the justices that had been appointed, and "politely inform him that the people of the valley can dispense with his services." A committee of the whole was invested with the delicate duty of visiting " the place of voting on election day," to " prevent the polls being opened."

            At this time representatives of the valley were at Genoa, in Carson valley, where a mass meeting was held on the eighth of August, of which Isaac N. Roop, the leading citizen of Honey Lake, was one of the vice presidents.

            There was no question as to the geo-

256 The Sage-brush Rebellion. [Mar.

graphical location of Carson and Washoe valleys. They were beyond the limits of California, and under the jurisdiction of the Mormon government of Utah. They were separated from the seat of authority at Salt Lake City by miles of alkali desert and barren mountains, and what little governmental action reached them came from a Mormon fountain, and was distasteful to them. As early as November 12, 1851, the citizens met and adopted a code of laws, and framed a petition to Congress for a territorial government. But little attention was paid to them by the Utah authorities until the spring of 1855, when, having created the county of Carson, the legislature appointed Orson Hyde, a Mormon elder, probate judge, and sent him out to organize the county. A great many Mormons had settled in Washoe, Eagle, and Carson valleys, and enough more came that year to give them a majority at the election in September. They obtained full control of the county government, greatly to the displeasure of the other settlers. This was the situation of affairs when they were generously incorporated into the ambitious territory of Natauqua by a little handful of settlers in Honey Lake valley.

            Early in 1857, owing to the trouble then existing between the Mormons and the United States government, Brigham Young called the faithful back to Utah, to resist the invasion by the United States forces under Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston. So many responded to the summons that the Gentiles were left in the majority, and so continue to the present day.

            It was after the hegira of the faithful to the Vale of Deseret, that the mass meeting referred to was held at Genoa. Resolutions were passed, appointing Judge James M. Crane delegate to Washington, to present a memorial to Congress for the creation of a new Territory in the Nevada basin. Of the executive committee of twenty-eight then appointed five were from Honey Lake, including Major Roop and Peter Lassen. In the memorial were some very absurd and exaggerated statements, among others that " the valleys numbered from two hundred to two hundred and fifty, and range in size from ten to one hundred miles in length. They are all alluvial, and are the best grazing and agricultural lands on this continent." This was quite a claim to make for the Great American Desert, and no doubt quite took away the breath of the ignorant Congressman. The peculiar situation of Honey Lake valley was stated in the following language :

                There are some portions of the Great Basin of this continent claimed by the State of California, in which reside a considerable number of people who, in the winter time, can have no connection with it. This is the case with those who reside in Honey Lake valley. That valley lies east of the Sierra Nevadas, and within the Great Basin, and from this cause the people living in it have no intercourse with other parts of the State during the rainy season for nearly four months every year. They therefore naturally belong to the eastern side of the Sierra Nevadas, and on this account they desire to join us in this movement. If they are forced to remain with California they can never know anything about the affairs of that State during the whole time its legislature may be in session. It is therefore folly, and worse than folly, to attach the people of this valley to a State about which they know nothing, and care nothing for one-third of the year, and that third the most important part of it to them.

            Judge Crane's labors in Washington, unremitting and indefatigable as they were, utterly failed, and he returned empty-handed to his constituents.

            To tide over the expected delay in organizing a new Territory, the citizens of Honey Lake met in mass meeting, February 13, 1858, and adopted a brief code of laws for the regulation of titles to land, water rights, and legal disputes of all kinds, to take the place of the obsolete laws of Natauqua. Thus matters progressed for nearly two years. On the eighteenth of July, 1859, a convention assembled at Genoa, for the purpose of framing a constitution and establish-

1889.] The Sage-brush Rebellion. 257

ing a provisional territorial government. Twelve delegates were present from Honey Lake, with proxies enough to raise their total vote to sixteen. A constitution was adopted for a territory practically the same as the present State of Nevada, including however Honey Lake valley and all other portions of California east of the summit of the Sierras. An election for delegates had been held six days before, at which Honey Lake valley cast 84 votes in a total of 817. Another election was held on the seventh of November, at which the constitution was ratified by the people, and territorial officers were elected. The leading office fell to this section by the election of Isaac N. Roop as Governor " by a large majority," as his certificate says.

            Governor Roop qualified on the thirteenth of December, being the only officer who did so. The territorial assembly met at Genoa on the same day, and the members were advised by the Governor to await the action of Congress before doing anything. They passed some spirited resolutions, and adjourned until the next July, at which time they failed to reassemble.

            It was two years before Congress finally created Nevada Territory, by act of March 2, 1861, and by that time the great rush to the Comstock mines had given that section a population which completely overshadowed the little settlement around Honey Lake. The limits of the territory, as defined in the act, embraced Honey Lake valley ; but by a special clause there was excepted any portion of California which might be included, until that State should give its assent. Thus was Honey Lake valley placed in the anomalous position of being included in a new territory while yet a portion of an old commonwealth. Nevertheless, the people sent representatives to the territorial legislature, but failed to elect county officers until the fall of 1862.

            All efforts to have California relinquish her right to this region failed. The Nevada legislature employed John F. Kidder and Butler Ives to survey the boundary line, but this survey was ignored by the California authorities. There was a complication farther south which did much to induce the California people to hold on to Honey Lake. The town of Aurora was claimed by both California and Nevada, and was the county seat of two counties, Esmeralda and Mono. At the last election a double set of officers were elected, the rival polls being on opposite sides of the street. The Kidder survey placed Aurora in Nevada, as it afterwards proved to be by a more official survey of the boundary line.

            In December, 1862, for the purpose of forcing the issue, the Nevada legislature reorganized Lake County, creating the county of Roop. Governor James W. Nye commissioned the officers who had been elected in September, and appointed John S. Ward probate judge. District Judge Gordon N. Mott went to Susanville, and held a term of court. For several years justices of the peace had held office in Honey Lake valley, their official bonds being filed in the office of the clerk of Plumas County, in Quincy. The action of the Nevada authorities soon precipitated a conflict of authority, and resulted in a state of hostility known in Plumas County as the "Sage-brush Rebellion."

            Among the justices of the peace for Plumas County in the Honey Lake district was William J. Young ; and the probate judge elected for Roop County, Hon. John S. Ward, issued an injunction restraining him from performing any official act. Young failed to respect this mandate, and Ward fined him one hundred dollars for contempt of court. An injunction was then issued by Hon. E. T. Hogan, the county judge of Plumas, directing Judge Ward and William H. Naileigh, the sheriff of Roop County, to

258 The Sage-brush Rebellion. [Mar.

refrain from exercising the functions of their offices in Honey Lake valley. This brought matters to a head with a rush, for the enjoined officials paid no heed to Judge Hogan's mandate, and the outraged court issued a warrant for their arrest for contempt.

            Armed with the warrant, on the fifth of February, 1863, Sheriff E. D. Pierce and his deputy, James Byers, proceeded from Quincy to Susanville, where they were met with an injunction from Judge Ward's court, which they declined to obey. On the contrary, Pierce arrested Naileigh, and started with his prisoner for Quincy. Byers followed a few hours later with Judge Ward, but was met by Governor Roop and seven others, all armed, and compelled to turn back.

            Byers sent a messenger to overtake Pierce and inform him of the rescue, and the latter having found it impracticable to take his prisoner across the mountains, owing to the deep snow which had fallen, paroled him and returned to the ranch where Byers and the others were. Here he became convinced that the Honey Lakers were determined to resist his authority, and that he would require a larger posse to enforce it. He determined to cross the mountains at all hazards, and summon assistance. The perilous trip was made in safety, and ninety men responded to his call for aid, who floundered through the deep snow, and reached Susanville on the thirteenth.

            Meanwhile, the rebellious subjects of Plumas had not been idle. They fortified Roop's old log house, which has since been known as " Fort Defiance," and still stands in an orchard on the borders of Susanville. Seventy-five men, fully armed for defense, occupied the fort and awaited the coming of the enemy, having been assembled by Naileigh, who issued a proclamation calling upon all good citizens to aid him in executing the law, and putting down insurrection, as he officially called the effort of Pierce to arrest himself and Ward. Both parties were determined. When Pierce approached with his posse, the garrison in the log fort sent out a flag of truce, and laid off lines, beyond which they warned him not to advance. A whole day was spent in useless negotiation, and then on Sunday, the fifteenth, Pierce and forty men took possession of an old barn about two hundred yards from the fort.

            This was a hostile movement, and the men in the fort warned him to vacate on pain of being fired upon. Pierce had not gone there with the intention of vacating. On the contrary, he began to fortify the place by using the floor and sleepers for barricades and defenses. A huge stick of hewn timber lay about a hundred feet from the barn, and W. W. Kellogg took five men and endeavored to haul it into the barn with a rope. They were greeted with a volley from the fort, William Bradford falling with a shattered thigh. The others drew the stick into the barn, and then Kellogg returned for Bradford, bravely carrying him in while serving as a target for the bullets of the Honey Lakers. For about four hours the opposing parties maintained a sharpshooters' battle, during which Judge Ward and one other of the Honey Lake party were slightly wounded.

            Active hostilities were terminated by the interference of citizens of Susanville, who were not taking an active part on either side. A deputation of these peaceably inclined citizens visited both the barn and the log fort, under cover of a flag of truce, and arranged a cessation of hostilities until five o'clock, which was subsequently extended until nine the next morning.

            During the continuance of the armistice, reinforcements continued to arrive at the fort, and a messenger reached Sheriff Pierce with the intelligence that another posse of one hundred men would reach him in a few days.

            The prospects for a bloody battle were good, but before morning a truce

1889.] The Sage-brush Rebellion. 259

was arranged, and the next day the opposing parties met in Susanville to arrange definite terms of peace. Sheriff Pierce proposed that a committee of four, two from each party, be selected to draw up a statement of the difficulty and present it to the governors of Nevada and California, urging them to a speedy settlement of the boundary question ; and that the two hostile sheriffs disband their posses and return to their homes to await the decision of the State authorities, neither party exercising jurisdiction in the valley. This proposal was unanimously agreed to, the committee was appointed, and the Plumas invaders again made the dangerous passage of the mountains to their homes in Indian and American valleys. News of the treaty of peace reached the party on the way to reinforce Pierce, while they were with great difficulty and labor slowly dragging through the snow a small cannon, to be used in the reduction of Fort Defiance. They returned with their artillery to Quincy, where a few months later in more joyous mood it opened its metal lips in celebration of the fall of Vicksburg.

            The committee drew up an impartial statement of the difficulty and hostilities, which they forwarded to Governor Clemens (brother of Mark Twain), of Nevada, and Governor Stanford, of California. These two officials promptly came to an agreement, to the effect that the boundary should be jointly surveyed by both States ; that until this survey was made Plumas County should exercise jurisdiction in Honey Lake valley ; and that the respective legislatures should pass laws for the transfer of judgments and to sustain all acquired rights whenever it was found that the proposed survey had removed any man from one jurisdiction to another. The California legislature passed an act directing the surveyor-general to run the boundary line, and John F. Kidder was deputed to perform the work. Governor Clemens appointed Butler Ives to represent Nevada in the survey.

            Commencing at the intersection of the 120th meridian with the 39th parallel, the only definite point in the eastern boundary of California, they surveyed the line northward to the Oregon line, passing east of Honey Lake, conclusively settling the fact that the contumacious Honey Lakers were by right citizens of Plumas County. They accepted the situation, and continued to discharge their obligations locally, until in the fullness of time the county of Lassen was created, with Susanville as the county seat, and they enjoyed the benefits of "home rule" on their own side of the mountains.

            The remainder of Roop County, having but a small and scattered population of stockmen, has remained a sort of "no man's land" ever since, having no county government, but receiving annually the friendly visits of the assessor and tax collector of Washoe County.

H. L. Wells.