Volume 035-2 - April 1981 (8 pages)

Many miners made their pile in California, only to lose it again. Manly decided to quit while the quitting was good and decided to return to Wisconsin. He walked to Sacramento, took the steamboat to San Francisco and embarked on the Northerner in November 1850. This ship brought him to Panama, from where he crossed the isthmus to Chagres from which place he traveled by ship to New Orleans. From there he soon reached Mineral Point, Wisconsin, the place where he had started his odyssee. That was on February, 1851. Homecoming proved to be somewhat disappointing: I was quite disappointed in regard to the looks and business appearance of the country. It looked thinly settled, people scarce, and business dull. I could not get a day’s work to do, and I could not go much farther on foot, for the snow was eight or ten inches deep, and I was still several hundred miles from my parents in Michigan. Manly never managed to see his parents in Michigan and the idle life in Mineral Point did not agree with him. He talked it over with his friend McCloud and: it seemed to us as if the good times were still far off: every day was like Sunday so far as anything going on; no money in circulation, many places abandoned, and, like myself, many had gone to California to seek gold instead of lead. (The mines at Mineral Point were mainly lead mines). Looking at matters at this light it did not need a great deal of McCloud’s persuation to induce me to go back with him to California, all the more soas my little pile seemed to look smaller every day, while three or four years ago it would have seemed quite large. He returned to California via the same route he had fol'owed leaving it and arrived in San Francisco on July 7, 1861, together with his friend McCloud. As soon as possible they boarded the steamer Antilope for Sacramento. At Sacramento we changed to another boat bound for Marysville, which place we reached without special incident. Here we invested in a four-ounce donkey, that is, we paid four ounces of gold for him, just an ounce apiece for each of us—W.L. Manly, Robert McCloud, Lyman Ross and John Briggs. We piled our blankets in a pack upon the gentle, four-ounce donkey, and added a little tea and coffee, dried beef and bread, then started for the Yuba River, ourselveson foot. We crossed the river at Park’s Bar, then went up the ridge by way of Nigger Tent, came down to the river again at Goodyear Bar, then up the stream to Downieville. We found this a lively mining town about . gixty miles above Marysville, on the north fork of the Yuba River, and only reached by pack trail, but everything was flush there, even four aces. The location was a veritable Hole-in-the-Ground, for the mountains around were very high, and some of them wore their caps of snow all summer, particularly those on the east. The gold dust we found there was coarser than it was where we worked before, down south on the Merced River. Before I came to California I always supposed that gold dust was really dust, and about as fine as flour. We went up the North Fork about a mile or two above the town and camped on Wisconsin Flat to begin our mining operations. Our luck was poor at first, and all except myself were out of money, and more or less in debt to me. We made expenses however, and a little more, and as soon as Mr. Ross got his small debt paid he said that he was discouraged mining, and with blankets on his shoulder started up the trail towards Galloway’s ranch, on the summit south of town. The rest of us kept on mining, Our luck was not very good, but we persevered, for there was nothing to be gained by fainting by the way. I went into an old abandoned shaft about ten feet deep and found the bottom filled with a big quartz boulder, and as Ihad been a lead miner in Wisconsin, I began drifting, and soon found bed rock, when I picked up a piece of pure gold that weighed four-ounces. This was what I called a pretty big find, and not exactly what I called goid dust. It was quite a surprise to me, for the gravel on the bed rock was only about three or four inches thick. We put in a flume between two falls on the Middle Fork, but made only wages, and I got my arm nearly broken, and had to work with one hand for nearly a month. One afternoon I went crevicing up the river, and found a crevice at the water’s edge about half an inch wide, and the next day we worked it out getting forty ounces, and many of the pieces were about an inch long and as large around as a pipe-stem. Winter was now near by, and we set to work to build a cabin and lay in a stock of grub, which cost quite a good deal, for the self-raising flour which we bought was worth twenty cents a pound, and all kinds of hog meat fifty cents, with other supplies in proportion. Our new claims now paid very well, Snow came down to the depth of about four feet around our cabin, but as our work was under ground, we had a comfortable place all winter. In the spring McCloud and I went to Sacramento and sold our chunks of gold (it was very coarse) to Page, Bacon & Co. who were themselves surprised at the coarseness of the whole lot. When our savings were weighed, we found that we had made halfan ounce a day, clear of all expenses, for the entire year. After a short trip to San Francisco and Santa Clara, Manly and McCloud returned to their claim near Downieville. They mined there until the autumn of 1853, not intimidated by the snow, for they had laid in ample provisions for winter. Manly’s account has several interesting historical facts about early Downieville. It was nearly fall when we found we had worked our claims out, and there were no new ones we could locate here, so we concluded to go prospecting for a new locality. I bought a donkey in town of a Mr. Hawley, a merchant, for which I paid sixty dollars, and gave the little fellow his master’s name. We now had two animals, and we packed on them our worldly goods, and started south up the mountain trail by way of the city of six, where some half dozen men had located claims, but the ground was dry and deep, so we went on. The City of Six Diggings was located on Slug Canyon, southwest of Downieville. Already in 1852 it was/f-—™ reported that this location yielded well! We still went south, down toward the middle Yuba River, and when about half way down the mountain side came to a sort of level bench where some miners were at work, but hardly any water could be had. They called this Minnesota. We stayed herea day or two, but as there seemed to be no possible futher development of water, concluded to go on further. Across the river we could see a little flat, very similar to the one we were on, and a little prospecting seemed to have been done on the side of the mountain. We had a terribly steep canyon to cross, and a river also, with no trail to follow, but our donkeys were as good climbers as any of us, so we started down the mountain in the morning, and arrived at the river about noon. Here we rested an hour or two and then began climbing the brushy mountain side. The hill was very steep, and the sun beat down on us with all his heat, so that with our hard labor and the absence of any wind we found it a pretty hot place. It was pretty risky traveling in some places, and we had to help the donkeys to keep them from rolling down the hill, pack and all. It took us four hours to make a mile and a half or two miles in that dense brush, and we were nearly choked when we reached the little flat. This was Orleans Flat. Here we found some water, but no one lived there. From here we could see a large Flat ry, across a deep canyon to the west, and mad up our minds to try to go to it. We went around the head of the canyon and worked through the brush and fallen timber, reaching our objective point just as night was coming on. This flat, like the one we had left, was quite level, and contained, perhaps, nearly one hundred acres. Here we found two men at work with a “long tom”—a Mr. Fernay and a Mr. Bloat. They had brought the water of a small spring to their claim and were making five or six dollars per day. This was Moore’s Flat. Manly and his friends arrived there in the autumn of 1853 and found only two persons working there. We now prospected around the edge of this flat, and getting pretty fair prospects concluded we would locate here if we could find water. We then began our search for water and found a spring about three quarters of a mile away, to which we laid claim, and with a triangle level began to survey.out a route for our ditch. The survey was satisfactory, and we found we could bring the water out high on the flat, so we set to work digging at it, and turned the water in. The ground was 80 very dry that all the water soaked up within two hundred yards of the spring. By this time we were out of grub, and some one must go for a new supply, and as we knew the trail to Downieville was terribly rough, I was chosen as the one to try to find ro 14

Many miners made their pile in California, only to lose it again. Manly decided to quit while the quitting was good and decided to return to Wisconsin. He walked to Sacramento, took the steamboat to San Francisco and embarked on the Northerner in November 1850. This ship brought him to Panama, from where he crossed the isthmus to Chagres from which place he traveled by ship to New Orleans. From there he soon reached Mineral Point, Wisconsin, the place where he had started his odyssee. That was on February, 1851. Homecoming proved to be somewhat disappointing: I was quite disappointed in regard to the looks and business appearance of the country. It looked thinly settled, people scarce, and business dull. I could not get a day’s work to do, and I could not go much farther on foot, for the snow was eight or ten inches deep, and I was still several hundred miles from my parents in Michigan. Manly never managed to see his parents in Michigan and the idle life in Mineral Point did not agree with him. He talked it over with his friend McCloud and: it seemed to us as if the good times were still far off: every day was like Sunday so far as anything going on; no money in circulation, many places abandoned, and, like myself, many had gone to California to seek gold instead of lead. (The mines at Mineral Point were mainly lead mines). Looking at matters at this light it did not need a great deal of McCloud’s persuation to induce me to go back with him to California, all the more soas my little pile seemed to look smaller every day, while three or four years ago it would have seemed quite large. He returned to California via the same route he had fol'owed leaving it and arrived in San Francisco on July 7, 1861, together with his friend McCloud. As soon as possible they boarded the steamer Antilope for Sacramento. At Sacramento we changed to another boat bound for Marysville, which place we reached without special incident. Here we invested in a four-ounce donkey, that is, we paid four ounces of gold for him, just an ounce apiece for each of us—W.L. Manly, Robert McCloud, Lyman Ross and John Briggs. We piled our blankets in a pack upon the gentle, four-ounce donkey, and added a little tea and coffee, dried beef and bread, then started for the Yuba River, ourselveson foot. We crossed the river at Park’s Bar, then went up the ridge by way of Nigger Tent, came down to the river again at Goodyear Bar, then up the stream to Downieville. We found this a lively mining town about . gixty miles above Marysville, on the north fork of the Yuba River, and only reached by pack trail, but everything was flush there, even four aces. The location was a veritable Hole-in-the-Ground, for the mountains around were very high, and some of them wore their caps of snow all summer, particularly those on the east. The gold dust we found there was coarser than it was where we worked before, down south on the Merced River. Before I came to California I always supposed that gold dust was really dust, and about as fine as flour. We went up the North Fork about a mile or two above the town and camped on Wisconsin Flat to begin our mining operations. Our luck was poor at first, and all except myself were out of money, and more or less in debt to me. We made expenses however, and a little more, and as soon as Mr. Ross got his small debt paid he said that he was discouraged mining, and with blankets on his shoulder started up the trail towards Galloway’s ranch, on the summit south of town. The rest of us kept on mining, Our luck was not very good, but we persevered, for there was nothing to be gained by fainting by the way. I went into an old abandoned shaft about ten feet deep and found the bottom filled with a big quartz boulder, and as Ihad been a lead miner in Wisconsin, I began drifting, and soon found bed rock, when I picked up a piece of pure gold that weighed four-ounces. This was what I called a pretty big find, and not exactly what I called goid dust. It was quite a surprise to me, for the gravel on the bed rock was only about three or four inches thick. We put in a flume between two falls on the Middle Fork, but made only wages, and I got my arm nearly broken, and had to work with one hand for nearly a month. One afternoon I went crevicing up the river, and found a crevice at the water’s edge about half an inch wide, and the next day we worked it out getting forty ounces, and many of the pieces were about an inch long and as large around as a pipe-stem. Winter was now near by, and we set to work to build a cabin and lay in a stock of

grub, which cost quite a good deal, for the self-raising flour which we bought was worth twenty cents a pound, and all kinds of hog meat fifty cents, with other supplies in proportion. Our new claims now paid very well, Snow came down to the depth of about four feet around our cabin, but as our work was under ground, we had a comfortable place all winter. In the spring McCloud and I went to Sacramento and sold our chunks of gold (it was very coarse) to Page, Bacon & Co. who were themselves surprised at the coarseness of the whole lot. When our savings were weighed, we found that we had made halfan ounce a day, clear of all expenses, for the entire year. After a short trip to San Francisco and Santa Clara, Manly and McCloud returned to their claim near Downieville. They mined there until the autumn of 1853, not intimidated by the snow, for they had laid in ample provisions for winter. Manly’s account has several interesting historical facts about early Downieville. It was nearly fall when we found we had worked our claims out, and there were no new ones we could locate here, so we concluded to go prospecting for a new locality. I bought a donkey in town of a Mr. Hawley, a merchant, for which I paid sixty dollars, and gave the little fellow his master’s name. We now had two animals, and we packed on them our worldly goods, and started south up the mountain trail by way of the city of six, where some half dozen men had located claims, but the ground was dry and deep, so we went on. The City of Six Diggings was located on Slug Canyon, southwest of Downieville. Already in 1852 it was/f-—™ reported that this location yielded well! We still went south, down toward the middle Yuba River, and when about half way down the mountain side came to a sort of level bench where some miners were at work, but hardly any water could be had. They called this Minnesota. We stayed herea day or two, but as there seemed to be no possible futher development of water, concluded to go on further. Across the river we could see a little flat, very similar to the one we were on, and a little prospecting seemed to have been done on the side of the mountain. We had a terribly steep canyon to cross, and a river also, with no trail to follow, but our donkeys were as good climbers as any of us, so we started down the mountain in the morning, and arrived at the river about noon. Here we rested an hour or two and then began climbing the brushy mountain side. The hill was very steep, and the sun beat down on us with all his heat, so that with our hard labor and the absence of any wind we found it a pretty hot place. It was pretty risky traveling in some places, and we had to help the donkeys to keep them from rolling down the hill, pack and all. It took us four hours to make a mile and a half or two miles in that dense brush, and we were nearly choked when we reached the little flat. This was Orleans Flat. Here we found some water, but no one lived there. From here we could see a large Flat ry, across a deep canyon to the west, and mad up our minds to try to go to it. We went around the head of the canyon and worked through the brush and fallen timber, reaching our objective point just as night was coming on. This flat, like the one we had left, was quite level, and contained, perhaps, nearly one hundred acres. Here we found two men at work with a “long tom”—a Mr. Fernay and a Mr. Bloat. They had brought the water of a small spring to their claim and were making five or six dollars per day. This was Moore’s Flat. Manly and his friends arrived there in the autumn of 1853 and found only two persons working there. We now prospected around the edge of this flat, and getting pretty fair prospects concluded we would locate here if we could find water. We then began our search for water and found a spring about three quarters of a mile away, to which we laid claim, and with a triangle level began to survey.out a route for our ditch. The survey was satisfactory, and we found we could bring the water out high on the flat, so we set to work digging at it, and turned the water in. The ground was 80 very dry that all the water soaked up within two hundred yards of the spring. By this time we were out of grub, and some one must go for a new supply, and as we knew the trail to Downieville was terribly rough, I was chosen as the one to try to find ro 14