by Terry Grosz
The wagon train crept along on the trail heading west until late afternoon. Then Jim Beckwourth moved the train out into a large meadow to the south where a stone walled, artesian well was spewing clear, cold water high into the air for all to see. Circling the stoned-in well site, the wagons made ready for the evening.
“Jim, what a great place to stop,” said Jacob.
“I know,” Jim replied, beaming. “We now are at the edge of my ranch, and soon we will view a small, wooded mountain range where we will stop and see if your people are interested in settling down in the area just passed or if they wish to move on into the Sacramento Valley to a town called Marysville. That is at the end of the Beckwourth Trail, one that I blazed many years ago as a fur trapper.”
A pleasant evening was had by all, but they could tell that winter’s nip was in the air. Around the campfire after supper the five mountain men talked far into the night. Jacob had decided that he would continue with those in the wagon train who wanted to move into the Sacramento Valley, farther west. Martin, Dave, and Jerry would remain behind to help those who wanted to take Jim up on his offer and make a new life in Sierra Valley. Jacob would return after helping the other group reach its destination and make his new life on Jim’s ranch as well. From what he had seen, the area was perfect for farming and raising cattle.
Jacob thought he would like to make his new home here with his brother, and he hoped Rich Grosz and Martin Jones would do the same, for obvious reasons...
During the next day of travel in Sierra Valley, the men often walked alongside the wagons, gathering handfuls of soil and slowly letting it flow through their fingers as they evaluated its quality. Others rode short distances from the wagon train, looking over the abundant water supplies and grazing prospects for future cattle operations. They were amazed at the quantity of pronghorn antelope, elk, mule deer, sage grouse, black-tailed jackrabbits, and golden eagles that they saw as they moved along the dusty trail.
On the second day of easy traveling through the valley, the wagon train came to a range of pine-forested hills at the west end of Sierra Valley. Since it was well into the afternoon, travel was called to a halt by a small creek coming from the mountains to the north named Grizzly Creek. On the northeast side of Grizzly Creek and the north side of the Middle Fork of the Feather River, most of the wagons circled for their last time together.
Wood was hurriedly gathered from the forest floor, and soon many cooking fires were ablaze. They filled the cool evening air with the smell of pine smoke and hearty meals cooking.
“We will rest tomorrow and let the stock graze and the women wash and cook,” said Jacob as he helped load a pack horse for Jim to take to his home cabin several miles from where the wagons now stood.
“Thank you for the supplies, Jacob, and I will see you tomorrow morning. Maybe your folks can talk about staying or moving on this evening,” said Beckwourth.
“We will have the coffee pot on, partner,” said Martin as he slapped Jim’s pack horse on the rump to get him started. Jim rode off into the rapidly settling dusk toward his nearby cabin and his Crow Indian wife.
Around ten the next morning the men gathered near a central campfire, sitting on several logs. Their wives and children stood close behind so they could hear the discussion on whether to settle in Sierra Valley or move farther west into the Sacramento Valley.
You could cut the tension in the air with a knife, thought Jacob as he surveyed the scene.
Serious looks were on all the men’s faces as Jerry, Dave, Jim, Martin, and Jacob took center stage.
“You all know why we’re here this morning,” began Jacob. “We have had a chance to look over the valley as we crossed it to see if it would suit us for our future homes. There appears to be much here to satisfy anyone who wants to farm or ranch cattle. There is good grass, the soil appears to be tillable and fertile, there’s game galore, there’s timber for the taking to build our homes and barns, and water doesn’t appear to be an issue. Jim has made what I consider to be a fair offer, and he has a small working sawmill on Grizzly Creek that can turn out any amount of lumber we might need if we stay here. The only thing I can see that remains is to make a decision to go or stay. And if you stay, what part of Jim’s ranch you wish to buy. For those who wish to move on and see what is on the other side, Jim and I will lead you to a town in the Sacramento Valley called Marysville. There you will no longer have to travel in a wagon train but move among your own because that is as civilized as it gets. So that is about it.
“Now what I would like to do is go around to each of you men in the group and see just what you want to do. For those who want to move on, we will leave tomorrow because winter is coming and we need to get you across the remaining mountains to lower elevations. For those who wish to stay, we have to get cracking and get our winter homes built and prepare for what Old Man Winter will throw our way. I would like to start with Daniel and his clan.”
Without hesitation, Daniel said, “I have talked to all my clan. We wish to stay in this valley and begin anew. It appears to hold everything we would ever want and then some.”
Looking over at Martin Jones, Jacob said, “What say you, Martin?”
Martin, like his grandson, was a man of few words. “We all wish to stay as long as the payment timetable for the lands is reasonable,” he said.
“Doc, what are your wishes?” asked Jacob.
“Well, I am not a farmer or cattleman and must make my living taking care of sick people. This group is healthy as a bunch of horses unless we run into a band of Indians, it seems. My wife and I would like to move on to the town called American Valley, which, according to Jim, is just a few more days’ travel on the Beckwourth Trail to the west,” Howard said, referring to the present-day town of Quincy. “That way I would have enough patients to make a living and eventually raise my family.”
“Okay, Otis, where do your interests lie?” asked Jacob.
“I think I would like to explore Clover Valley and Squaw Valley to the north and see what they be like. If they are half as good as this ground, me and my family would like to settle there. Thataway, we won’t be crowding these good folks wishing to settle here,” he replied.
“Marvin,” Jacob asked, “what are your druthers?”
“Jacob, I am inclined to look at the other two valleys to the north with my cousin Otis. If they be good lands, me and my family will settle there as well.”
“Chris,” asked Jacob, “how about you?”
“’Pears to me this valley and the nearby town of Mormon Junction could use a good blacksmith and gunsmith. Me and my family will settle here somewhere along Grizzly Creek if those lands be available,” Chris replied with his usual big grin.
“Rich, what about you and your family?” asked Jacob, scarcely daring to hear his response.
“I plan on settling along Grizzly Creek as well. Someone needs to keep an eye on my younger brother,” Rich said with a smile directed toward Chris.
Jacob’s heart sang with those words. Now maybe he would have a chance to court Miss Amanda properly if he could somehow win over her stem father.
“Mark, what are your druthers when it comes to settling here or moving on?” asked Jacob.
“We plan on settling here in this valley. The soil looks good to me, and the grass will help me raise some cattle. Plus, the hunting looks good here in the valley and thereabouts, so here is where we will make our new home.”
“Well, that leaves you, Jerry, and your brother, Dave,” said Jacob turning to face the two old mountain men.
The brothers looked at each other, and then Jerry rose and said, “As long as you and Martin will put up with two old men waiting to die, we would like to stay with you two and live out our lives wherever you decide to light down.”
“That settles it, then. Otis and Marvin, you two need to ride to Squaw and Clover Valleys as soon as possible and see what you think. I will escort Howard and his family to American Valley so they can settle in at
their home. As for the rest, you need to pick out your new homesites and settle up with Jim. Then everyone will fall to cutting down some of this fine pine and fir timber so we can all pitch in and build our winter homes before the snow flies,” said Jacob, still mindful of his responsibilities as wagon master.
Turning to Martin, he said, “And you, my brother, can wipe that goofy smile off your face. You will be doubly tasked in helping Martin Jones and his clan get settled in and ready for winter.”
Martin continued to smile knowingly.
The following morning, Howard Larson and his wife said their good-byes to the people of the wagon train, and Jim and Jacob took them to American Valley. Once there, Howard rounded up some carpenters and began building his family’s new home on some recently acquired property on the American Valley Ranch homesite. The next day, Otis Barnes and Marvin Clary saddled up two horses and a pack animal. With a wave of their hands, they headed over the mountains toward where Jim had directed them to Squaw and Clover Valleys.
When Jacob and Jim returned from getting the Larson’s settled in American Valley, they learned that Otis and Marvin would settle in Squaw Valley and begin their lives anew. However, for the coming winter, they chose to live close to everyone else and planned to wait until spring to build their homes and livestock barns in Squaw Valley.
For the next three weeks, Sierra Valley hummed with the sounds of its new inhabitants. The sounds of double bucksaws and axes rang throughout the hills adjacent to Grizzly Creek. Whips cracked as the settlers urged their mules and oxen to lean into their traces as they pulled cut and limbed logs down to a central log deck. Women and children cut mounds of hay from the meadows to be used in the caulking of the cabins and for winter livestock feed. Jim’s sawmill, operated by Maidu Indians, with its water-powered circular saw whined sixteen hours a day, cutting green Ponderosa pine and Douglas fir lumber for roofs, doors, and windowsills. Soon the men gathered at each homesite and began cutting and notching logs to length for the cabins and barns. With as many willing hands as they had, they discovered they could build a large family cabin and modest barn in two and a half to three days! Soon everyone had a new, freshly caulked cabin in which to live through the oncoming winter. Then they moved the wagons and livestock into the new barns and corrals and all the dry goods and staples into the cabins from the covered wagons for safekeeping from the weather and animals.
Then the woods rang once again with the sound of axes and double bucksaws as the men began cutting and hauling dead, dry timber so each family would have a winter’s supply of firewood. Once finished with that chore, into the hay meadows went the men with their wagons to cut more hay for winter storage in the lofts of their new barns. There they discovered rich mountain hay belly-deep to their draft animals. Last but not least, hunting parties led by Mark and Rich went into the valley and forests, and soon many deer, elk, and pronghorn were harvested and carried back to their settlement for processing into jerky and other smoked and brined meats. Jacob and Martin, with their new Sharps rifles in tow, hunted the length of Grizzly Creek and into Clover Valley for any black and grizzly bears not yet in hibernation. Seventeen fat bears fell to the men’s new rifles, and the guns were deemed superior even to Larry Davis’s fitting description.
Jerry and Dave Hall hauled the bears back to the homesites in wagons, and the women rendered the fat out into some fine cooking oil while the hams were smoked for winter and the hides dried and tanned for trade at nearby Mormon Junction. They finished all their hurried activities on a Saturday, and a celebration was planned for the next day. After a church service led by Daniel giving thanks, the cooking, feasting, and celebration of the travelers’ good fortune on their new lives began.
After everyone had eaten more than they should, Otis and Marvin broke out the fiddle and banjo, and the festivities got lively as everyone danced far into the night. Martin and Jacob were even able to dance with Kim and Amanda, although only two dances each. It seemed that many of the other younger single men wanted to dance with the two pretty girls, so Jacob and Martin had to wait their turns. Finally the fires burned low, and everyone, exhausted from many days of hard labor, retired to their cabins. The next day, they awoke to a foot of freshly fallen snow and temperatures in the upper teens.
Walking out to feed his horses, Jacob was pleased. They had beaten the dreaded winter snows in the Sierras by one day!
Chapter Twenty-Five
The Sacramento Valley, the Pacific Ocean, and San Francisco
Winter passed quickly that first year in the valley, with everyone using their time to make new clothes, shoe livestock, repair weapons, prepare equipment for the spring plowing, hunt game, trap, and break the ice on Grizzly Creek each morning so everyone could have fresh water.
Finally enough grass pushed through the cold spring soil in 1858 that anyone traveling would have good horse feed along the way. With its arrival signaling the end of winter, Jacob sat down with Martin, Jerry, and Dave one morning after a breakfast of biscuits, honey, and bacon.
“I think we need to make ready and push on down to Sutter’s Fort in the Sacramento Valley, as Jim suggested last year. While there, we need to purchase some bulls, cows, and hog brood stock for our ranches. That way we can support our farming with the addition of livestock and have lard on the hoof instead of hoping the bear population holds out in the fall so we can render their fat,” said Jacob. “We also need to talk to our neighbors and see what they might need from civilization since what Mormon Junction has to offer is really very little and very high priced due to all the mining activity in the area. Unless you guys think differently, we could also make a trip to the ocean so Martin can realize a dream he has had all his life. Then we can travel back to Sutter’s Fort, pick up our stock, and, according to Jim, go on to the hog farm near the town of Marysville to purchase some brood sows and a few boars. By then things will be blooming all over the place, and we can trail our critters back over the mountains to our valley.” Jacob looked at his companions for their thoughts as he sipped his second cup of scalding coffee.
“Fer certain, Jacob? We going to see the ocean?” asked Martin, very excited.
“Well, what the damn hell did you think when we started moving West? That we was coming way out here to go to a church social?” Jacob replied with a grin.
Martin smiled, but immediately followed it with a frown. “How long we going to be gone?” he asked.
“Reckon it will take us about two months of hard riding, looking, and dickering about prices for our cattle and hogs. Then we have to purchase wagons and our next year’s supplies plus hire some extra hands to help move our stock back here to our valley. Suppose it will then take about another two to three weeks to wind ourselves back to here over the Sierra Mountains on the Beckwourth Trail,” Jacob answered.
Before Martin could chime in again with his thoughts, Jerry spoke up. “Jacob, if’n you two don’t mind or need us, we would like to stay here in the valley and get ready for your return. The both of us are so stove up after the long ride out here and our creeping age that we would only slow you down if n we went with you. Besides, that will give us a chance to build more corrals, fix up our barns proper-like, and work on our cabins.”
Jacob thought for a moment and then said, “That will be all right. It will be a long ride to all the places we want to go anyway. We can hire some cowhands to help bring the herds of cattle back. Then we will hire some Mexicans to drive our new high-walled wagons full of pigs once they are purchased at Sutter’s Hock Farm.”
The relief was as evident on Jerry’s and Dave’s faces as was the concern still on Martin’s. Still mindful of the dance before the winter’s snow and the hard time he’d had in getting to dance with Kim, he said, “Will we have a few days before we go, Jacob?”
“I would like to leave in a day or two, if possible. That should give the two of us time to visit the ladies and let them know we will be back shortly. And ask them to hold good thoughts for us and our travels,
” Jacob replied, mindful of his feelings for Amanda as well.
The next two days flew by like the wind. Every chance Jacob and Martin had outside the preparation for the trip, they were at the sides of Kim and Amanda, promising a quick return. Even Rich Grosz and Martin Jones seemed to realize the situation and gave the two mountain men the opportunity to visit their daughters as much as possible.
The evening before Jacob and Martin left, the four mountain men dug up some of the pokes of gold nuggets that had been cached in the floor of their cabin. Once they had a supply for their trip, the wooden box still held at least five hundred pounds of nuggets and all of the golden ingots their parents had left them. It is a fortune to anyone s way of thinking, thought Jacob as they shoveled dirt back over the box containing the golden metal that made men mad.
The next morning, Jacob and Martin had breakfast with their two ladies. The women were trying hard not to show any concern, but the tears in their eyes betrayed their feelings. It was obvious that during the long trip from Fort Bridger to Sierra Valley, the men had won the hearts of the girls as well as those of their parents.
Mounting up, both men shook the hands of Rich, Martin Jones, Dave, and Jerry and then hurriedly turned their horses and pack animals away as they headed for the town of American Valley some thirty miles away. But not before hugging two very concerned young ladies.
Pulling into American Valley later that evening, the two men stabled their riding horses and pack mules in the local livery. Then, shouldering their rifles and pokes full of gold nuggets, they headed over to Doc Larson’s house. They spent the evening getting reacquainted and enjoying a wonderful meal provided by his wife Mary Ann.