Volume 035-3 - July 1981 (8 pages)

shall teach our new citizens to regard with reverent respect the early pioneers who laid the foundations of the glory, propsperity and beauty of California of to-day, I shall have done all I hope to, and the historian of another half century may do them justice, and give to them their full meed of praise. POSTSCRIPT TO MR. REIDT'S ARTICLE As is so often the case, various authors present different stories about the origin and earliest settlement of Moore’s Flat. The article of Mr. Reidt presents the following variants: 1. The early directories and Thompson and West state that the area was first occupied (in 1851 or 1852) by H. M. Moore who arrived with his cattle and perhaps with his family. 2. In Walsh’s book: Hallowed were the Gold Dust Trails it is stated at the area was first occupied by a group, consisting of Judge Caldwell, L.J. Hanchett, M. Dooling and his brother and Patrick Manogue. Unfortunately, no date is given. 3. Finally, W.L. Manly states in his autobiography that he arrived at Moore’s Flat, with his friends R. McCloud and John Briggs in the fall of 1853 and found two men, Fernay and Bloat at work there. It occurred to me that, if biographies of the persons, mentioned in Mr. Reidt’s article could be found, perhaps one of these conflicting stories could be confirmed. The result of this inquiry is presented below. JOHN CALDWELL The “Judge Caldwell’, mentioned by H.L. Walsh in his book Hallowed were the Gold Dust Trails as an early miner at Moore’s Flat, can be no other than John Caldwell. His biography is found in H.L. Wells’ History of Nevada County (1880), p. 213. The following notes are based on this biography. He was born in Nova Scotia on January 24, 1825. In 1832 his parents moved to Shelby County, Ohio, where his father, and hence John also, obtained American citizenship in 1842. In 1850, John came to California; he arrived in Nevada City on September 17, 1850. With an exception of about six months in 1851-52, when he lived in Sierra County, he always lived in Nevada City. He was engaged in mining until 1857, after which year his career took an abrupt change; he adopted the legal profession. Already in the years 1854 and 1856 he served as Justice of the Peace in Eureka Township. In 1857-59 he was a member of the State Assembly for Nevada County. Thereafter he was not in public service for several years; he probably “read law” in some attorney’s office. During the years 1865-68 he acted as District Attorney for Nevada County. After his term expired on March 4, 1868, he became Justice of the Peace for Nevada Township and served until 1870. In that year, he became County Judge for Nevada County and, when the second State Constitution (July 4, 1879) created a Superior Court for each County, Caldwell became the first Superior Judge of Nevada County. He was still listed as Superior Jude in J.E. Poingdestre’s Nevada County Mining and Business Directory, which was published in 1895. Caldwell married Lucy Michell (according to Dave Comstock) on February 17, 1870. Not having children of their own, the couple adopted two children of which one died at a tender age. To this biography, one remark should be made. it is stated that, with the exception of six months in the years 1851-52, Caldwell lived continuously in Nevada City. However, it is also stated that he was Justice of the Peace for Eureka Township (where Moore’s Flat was located) in the years 1854 and 1856. One would expect that a Justice of the Peace had to live in the township he served, hence the statement that he lived in Nevada City in those years is probably in error. This is underlined by the fact that he is not mentioned as living in Nevada City in Brown and Dallison’s Directory (1856), although he must have been sufficiently prominent to be included. LEWIS J. HANCHETT H.L. Walsh, in his already mentioned book, called Hanchett “the well-known mining expert of later years’’. In spite of this notoriety, not much could be found about him in the readily available literature. However, C.L. Canfield’s The Diary of a Forty-Niner sheds some light on him. This diary covers the time span of May 1850 to June 1852 and has its setting in the area around Nevada City. Canfield claims that the diary is based on an actual manuscript diary of Alfred T. Jackson, but some authors believe that the diary is fictional. The first edition of the Diary was destroyed inthe fire of the San Francisco earthquake (1906); a second edition was published in New York in the same year. The book was reprinted in Boston and New York in 1920 and again in Stanford, California in 1947, It is the last of these editions which interests us. The 1947 edition has a preface by Oscar Lewis who presents a different story about the origin of the Diary. He states that Canfield, who was an agent for the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad, had his office at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco at the beginning of this century and that the office next to him was occupied by Lewis Hanchett. The material for the Diary would have been supplied to Canfield by Hanchett. It is not here the proper place to discuss whether Canfield’s “leather bound, 300 page manuscript diary” actually existed and was used for the book; we will only point out that Oscar Lewis mentions among his informants a Lewis E. Hanchett who must have been a son or a grandson of Hanchett, the mining expert. ; Oscar Lewis says the following about Lewis Hanchett: “This colorful early California figure was born near Joliet, Illiniois, had come west during the Gold Rush, had worked various placer claims in the Grass ValleyNevada City area, then had gone into quartz mining, supervising large scale operations in Nevada, Colorado and elsewhere”. Manly mentioned that Hanchett worked for him in 1857. The Diary mentions Hanchett only once. It states that the “boss miner on the ridge” (that is Harmony Ridge) married “a pretty girl from Selby Flat” in April 1852. To this, Canfield adds the following footnote: “Hanchett and wife settled at the camp afterward known as Moore’s Flat, where he discovered and opened on of the richest mines in the State. A girl baby was born to them in 1853, who passed her girlhood in that pretty mountain town. She married George Crocker, son of Charles Crocker, one of the original projectors and builders of the Central Pacific Railroad, and died in Paris two years ago (1904). Lew Hanchett and wife still survive and are living in San Francisco at the present time (1906)”’. MAURICE DOOLING AND HIS BROTHER. The name of the brother was Daniel. Both Maurice and Daniel were still listed as miners, living at Moore’s Flat, in Bean’s Directory of 1867. No biographical data about Maurice were found, but on Daniel, some information is found in Borrow’s and Ingersoll’s A Memorial and Biographical History of the Coast Counties of Central California (1893). Daniel Dooling was born in County Kerry, Ireland, on Christmasday, 1828. In 1846, the Dooling family emigrated to the United States and settled in Stockton, Massachusetts. Daniel found work in Bridgeport, Connecticut, loading coal in ships and later on the construction of the Atlantic and Macon Railroad in Georgia. He followed the call to the gold fields and arrived in San Francisco in 1851. After a short stay in that city and Sacramento, he went to the mines, where he labored for fifteen years. He must have left the mines (Moore’s Flat) shortly after Bean’s Directory was published. In 1869 he came to Hollister, where he bought a dairy farm, which he called Fair View, and where he probably spent the remainder of his ife. 21

shall teach our new citizens to regard with reverent respect the early pioneers who laid the foundations of the glory, propsperity and beauty of California of to-day, I shall have done all I hope to, and the historian of another half century may do them justice, and give to them their full meed of praise. POSTSCRIPT TO MR. REIDT'S ARTICLE As is so often the case, various authors present different stories about the origin and earliest settlement of Moore’s Flat. The article of Mr. Reidt presents the following variants: 1. The early directories and Thompson and West state that the area was first occupied (in 1851 or 1852) by H. M. Moore who arrived with his cattle and perhaps with his family. 2. In Walsh’s book: Hallowed were the Gold Dust Trails it is stated at the area was first occupied by a group, consisting of Judge Caldwell, L.J. Hanchett, M. Dooling and his brother and Patrick Manogue. Unfortunately, no date is given. 3. Finally, W.L. Manly states in his autobiography that he arrived at Moore’s Flat, with his friends R. McCloud and John Briggs in the fall of 1853 and found two men, Fernay and Bloat at work there. It occurred to me that, if biographies of the persons, mentioned in Mr. Reidt’s article could be found, perhaps one of these conflicting stories could be confirmed. The result of this inquiry is presented below. JOHN CALDWELL The “Judge Caldwell’, mentioned by H.L. Walsh in his book Hallowed were the Gold Dust Trails as an early miner at Moore’s Flat, can be no other than John Caldwell. His biography is found in H.L. Wells’ History of Nevada County (1880), p. 213. The following notes are based on this biography. He was born in Nova Scotia on January 24, 1825. In 1832 his parents moved to Shelby County, Ohio, where his father, and hence John also, obtained American citizenship in 1842. In 1850, John came to California; he arrived in Nevada City on September 17, 1850. With an exception of about six months in 1851-52, when he lived in Sierra County, he always lived in Nevada City. He was engaged in mining until 1857, after which year his career took an abrupt change; he adopted the legal profession. Already in the years 1854 and 1856 he served as Justice of the Peace in Eureka Township. In 1857-59 he was a member of the State Assembly for Nevada County. Thereafter he was not in public service for several years; he probably “read law” in some attorney’s office. During the years 1865-68 he acted as District Attorney for Nevada County. After his term expired on March 4, 1868, he became Justice of the Peace for Nevada Township and served until 1870. In that year, he became County Judge for Nevada County and, when the second State Constitution (July 4, 1879) created a Superior Court for each County, Caldwell became the first Superior Judge of Nevada County. He was still listed as Superior Jude in J.E. Poingdestre’s Nevada County Mining and Business Directory, which was published in 1895. Caldwell married Lucy Michell (according to Dave Comstock) on February 17, 1870. Not having children of their own, the couple adopted two children of which one died at a tender age. To this biography, one remark should be made. it is stated that, with the exception of six months in the years 1851-52, Caldwell lived continuously in Nevada City. However, it is also stated that he was Justice of the Peace for Eureka Township (where Moore’s Flat was located) in the years 1854 and 1856. One would expect that a Justice of the Peace had to live in the township he served, hence the statement that he lived in Nevada City in those years is probably in error. This is underlined by the fact that he is not mentioned as living in Nevada City in Brown and Dallison’s Directory (1856), although he must have been sufficiently prominent to be included. LEWIS J. HANCHETT

H.L. Walsh, in his already mentioned book, called Hanchett “the well-known mining expert of later years’’. In spite of this notoriety, not much could be found about him in the readily available literature. However, C.L. Canfield’s The Diary of a Forty-Niner sheds some light on him. This diary covers the time span of May 1850 to June 1852 and has its setting in the area around Nevada City. Canfield claims that the diary is based on an actual manuscript diary of Alfred T. Jackson, but some authors believe that the diary is fictional. The first edition of the Diary was destroyed inthe fire of the San Francisco earthquake (1906); a second edition was published in New York in the same year. The book was reprinted in Boston and New York in 1920 and again in Stanford, California in 1947, It is the last of these editions which interests us. The 1947 edition has a preface by Oscar Lewis who presents a different story about the origin of the Diary. He states that Canfield, who was an agent for the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad, had his office at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco at the beginning of this century and that the office next to him was occupied by Lewis Hanchett. The material for the Diary would have been supplied to Canfield by Hanchett. It is not here the proper place to discuss whether Canfield’s “leather bound, 300 page manuscript diary” actually existed and was used for the book; we will only point out that Oscar Lewis mentions among his informants a Lewis E. Hanchett who must have been a son or a grandson of Hanchett, the mining expert. ; Oscar Lewis says the following about Lewis Hanchett: “This colorful early California figure was born near Joliet, Illiniois, had come west during the Gold Rush, had worked various placer claims in the Grass ValleyNevada City area, then had gone into quartz mining, supervising large scale operations in Nevada, Colorado and elsewhere”. Manly mentioned that Hanchett worked for him in 1857. The Diary mentions Hanchett only once. It states that the “boss miner on the ridge” (that is Harmony Ridge) married “a pretty girl from Selby Flat” in April 1852. To this, Canfield adds the following footnote: “Hanchett and wife settled at the camp afterward known as Moore’s Flat, where he discovered and opened on of the richest mines in the State. A girl baby was born to them in 1853, who passed her girlhood in that pretty mountain town. She married George Crocker, son of Charles Crocker, one of the original projectors and builders of the Central Pacific Railroad, and died in Paris two years ago (1904). Lew Hanchett and wife still survive and are living in San Francisco at the present time (1906)”’. MAURICE DOOLING AND HIS BROTHER. The name of the brother was Daniel. Both Maurice and Daniel were still listed as miners, living at Moore’s Flat, in Bean’s Directory of 1867. No biographical data about Maurice were found, but on Daniel, some information is found in Borrow’s and Ingersoll’s A Memorial and Biographical History of the Coast Counties of Central California (1893). Daniel Dooling was born in County Kerry, Ireland, on Christmasday, 1828. In 1846, the Dooling family emigrated to the United States and settled in Stockton, Massachusetts. Daniel found work in Bridgeport, Connecticut, loading coal in ships and later on the construction of the Atlantic and Macon Railroad in Georgia. He followed the call to the gold fields and arrived in San Francisco in 1851. After a short stay in that city and Sacramento, he went to the mines, where he labored for fifteen years. He must have left the mines (Moore’s Flat) shortly after Bean’s Directory was published. In 1869 he came to Hollister, where he bought a dairy farm, which he called Fair View, and where he probably spent the remainder of his ife. 21