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History of Placer County (Excerpt from)(1882) (6 pages)
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Page: of 6
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_ Myron Angel, Ch. XLIV, “Reminiscences of Illinoistown, pp. 355-360, in History of Placer County ire
\Y“' California (Oakland, Cal, thompson and West, 1882)
age Naa p. 44: the “stalwart” Blades “made several marches against the Indians, killed and laid waste,
ru
and after the manner of larger armies, struck such terror to the foe that lasting peace followed
their victory. No outrages were committed against the savages not justified by the occasions,
and as soon as the Indians ceased their depredations hostilities ended, and from that day they
were kindly treated.”
Use this quote alongside the one from Agent Johnson(?)
“These men invaded the fastnesses of the Sierra with a rush, stopping not to ask permission of
the Indian nor offering beads, trinkets, and tobacco for a treaty of cession of the territory; but
always doing that justice to the native occupant that men should.” !!
Angel's account is the oldest and fullest account, unless Fairchild’s is an independent report.
355 ALDER Grove was the first name of Illinoistown where a fine spring flowed above the
surface, which created a flat, boggy ground meadow. Early in 1849, miners thronged the North
Fork of the American, mainly by Oregonians (HBC), who also founded AG. Pierson's was at the
springs at the narrow and Mr. Neall on the astern side of the valley and Sears and Miller at the
extreme lower end. Water too high to work bars in April and May, so men left for other diggings.
Traders, who had come to supply no. fork disappointed by exodus. Sears and Co. stocked with
Indian goods only, immediately hired 50 Indian men a day from July 1 ‘to mid-September to pan
river on bars and thereby acquired much gold. Enos Mendenhall was an Oregonian. 356 On
North Fork to the forks above Green Valley, mountaineers worked, (Atwood and McLeod) saw
“impudent and saucy Indians at Cold Springs coming up and were wary of prospecting further
as they estimated 1000 or more Indians along streams above the forks. 357 As winter weather
set in, men returned to the Ridge settlements, and Alder Grove became populous. Mendenhall
had completed a hotel; the Egbert brothers were stocked and ready to supply miners. Pierson
had ox teams running to Sacramento carrying freight. S and M sold their store to David and ,
M.D. Fairchild. “As there were many beautiful valleys upon the divide between Auburn and
Illinoistown, and the locality reached the altitude where grew the sugar-pine, as well as being
the home of the black oak, and there being an abundance of game, it was a favorite abiding
place of the Indians, and scores of little knoll OVErlooking the small valleys spoken of were
covered with the circular-shaped huts, constructed mainly of bark. Cords of the long cones of
the sugar pine were stacked up near the villages, with the seed, or nut, still in them, which were
only shelled when required—their natural cell affording better protection from the effects of rain
by the closing up of the scales of the bur by dampness upon the outside, than any method the
Indians adopted for their preservation. Immense caches of manzanita were also made. Large
cribs were built of small-sized logs, filled with acorns and covered with bark. These were the
main winter stores of the aborigines and were then an adjunct to every cluster of wigwams, and
the quantities gathered and stored were astounding.” The Indians were more numerous than the
whites and by November became “saucy and impudent.” Dec. 15, 1849 when rain heavy that
day, the Fairchilds returned to find feasting pillagers inside their post. Fairchild shot at them, but
powder wet. 358 That night, all the mules were stolen. “Following them up their trail,” they
found one of mules butchered with all the parts carried away except the offal. Returning to the
town, a group volunteered to pursue and recover the other mules. Upon nearing the strongholds
of the Indians, they found many tracks, including those of Pierson’s oxen, signs of butchering,