Journal of a Mountain Man

by Win Blevins

  Beside these two greate chains of mountains there is still another chain running near and paralell with the coast this like all the others is in many places high and extremely ruged and its perpendicular cliffs in many places stay the Bosterous waves of the Pacific and if report be correct it [is] probably the most ruged Desolate coast yet known for som hundeds of [miles] north [of] the Bay of San Francisco

  “The Californians are a

  proud lazy indolent people”

  These three greate and lengthy chains of mountains are in many places connected by cross chains such as The Umpiqaw dividing th Willhamett from the umpiquaw River the Clamet dividing the waters of the umpiquaw and clamett Rivers the Siskiew dividing the waters of the Clamet and Chesty rivers and the still mor high and rugged range of the Snowy Bute [Mount Shasta] seperating the waters of the Clamet and sacremento with innumerable spurrs of mountains Jutting out in all directions from both and all the main chains and numbers of Isolated and detached hills Knobbs and mountains standing and running in all immaginable directions making the vallies generally small winding and narrow But generally Beautifull and picturesque and well clothed in native grasses

  The—Callifornians are a proud Lazy indolent people doing nothing but ride after herds or from place to place without any appearant object The Indians or aboriginees do all the drudgery and labour and are kept in a state of Slavery haveing no or Receeving no compensation for their labour except a scanty allowence of subsistance during the time they actually imployed and perhaps a cotton Shirt and wool sufficient to make a coarse Blanket which they spin and weave in their own way Their method of manufacturing is simple and curious They beat the wool with two sticks in place of cards and when it is beaten enough they spin it with a stick and lay the warp by driveing a number of small sticks in the ground it [is] raised by letting a stick run through sufficiently to pass a smal ball through and brought up with the sane stick of course their fabrick is coarse but they make it verry durable The californian Plough is a curosity in agraculture being made of a forked branch of a tree one prong of which answers for a handle the other for (the other for) a Land side mould Board Coulter & all haveing a small piece of Iron on the forward part about the size of a mans hand and half an inch thick Harrow no such thing known

  A small Quantity of wheat a patch of corn and Beans—with some garden vegetables constitute all the agracultural products of the main bulk of the californians not half sufficient for a supply and a greate portion of the inhabitants live exclusively on Beef and mutton both of which are remarkably fine and fat but want the fine flour and vegetables to make a good meal for an American Several kinds of red peppers are grown in greate abundance and enter largely in to the californian cookery so much so as to nearly strangle a Forigner and you find it necesary to have a good apatite to swallow a meal no such thing as a good flouring mill is to be found but every family have a small hand mill on which they mash their grain when they have any to mash and a coarse sive for a Bolt Their bread is made in thin wafer like cakes and baked slowly untill they are as hard as a sea buisket Thier sheep are small and produce a smll Quantity of coarse wool along the back and belly being entirely bare Their cattle are of a good size and handsomely built some farms or Ranches have from Five to Twenty thousand head of neat stock on them with large stocks of horses and sheep no such thing as a woolen Factory is known nor in fact a manufactory of any kind or discription and even a coarse woolen hat sells from five to eight dollars The trade of the country is carried on by some Eight or ten vessels fitted out from Boston with dry goods which they sell at from three to five hundred percent advance on prime cost and take Hides and Tallow in return The tallow is generally sold in the south american mining districts and the hides salted and carried home it usually takes about Three year to make a trading trip of this kind

  “no Taxes are imposed

  on any individual whatever”

  The govornment of this province has like all the spanish american govornments gone through several Revolutions and changes But I believe every change has been for the worse and all though it took a recent change about one year since no change is precieveable except that the revenue has fallen into the hands of other persons The revenue is small and wholey used up by the collectors not a cent going to the central government no such thing as a court of Justice is known higher than an Alcaldas court which is equivolent to a Justice of the peace in the United States and [the] alcalda is bound by no Law but his own oppinions which decides all differences

  In Fact the civil The Military and all parts of the Govenment are weak imbecile and poorly organized and still less respected and in fact but little needed as the inhabitants live so Isolated as to have but little intercourse with each other and therefore few difficulties to settle

  The Forigners which have found their way to this country are mostly a poor discontented set of inhabitants and but little education hunting for a place as they [want] to live easy only a few of them have obtained land and commenced farming and I do not hear of but one man that has gone to the trouble and Expence to get his title confirmed and fixed beyond altiration and dispute

  In speaking of the govornment of California I must say that (that) it is the most free and easy govornment Perhaps on the civilized globe no Taxes are imposed on any individual what ever I saw nor heard of no requrement for Roade labour no Military tax no civil department to support no Judiciary requiring pay and in every respect the people live free you may support Priest or not at your pleasure and if your life and property are not Quite so safe as in some other countries you have the pleasure of using all your earnings And strange as it may seem I never saw a spanish Californian that was a mechanic of any kind or discription and how they formerly made (made) out to cutivate any land is a mistery to me not yet solved nor do I recolect of seeing during my stay in the povince one single instance of a californian having a rail or stone fence all their fencing being made of Brush or willows woven in the form of a Basket and in some few Instances they had taken root and made a living fenc and ware they cut and set in the proper season most of them would live—

  Callifornia as a general is scarce of valuable timber the oak predominates and consists of Black oak two or three verieties white oak 5 or 6 kinds Live oak three or 4 varieties but all the oak tribe is short and shrubby and of but little use except for fire wood The Red Firr grow in considerable Quantities in some of the mountains but is likewise hard and gnarled The red wood is generally fine Straight and large but is only found plenty in some of the mountainous districts this is the timber spoken of by travelers as growing to such immence hight and size the appearance [of] this wood much resembles our red cedar it generally splits straight and easy and is certainly a noble tree but is never found on the plains and only on a few of the mountains except those near the coast whare it is found plentifully in places and is fine for building covering and finishing houses and is the only timber fit for making rail fences or in fact to split for any other purpose the mountains are generally all covered with impenetrable thickets of evergreen shrubery which is of no use to the farmer or mechanick it being too small and rough for any usefull purpose in some places neare the coast however it is burned into charcoal and some other Districts a certain kind is Burned for the ashes that it produces containing uncommon Quantities of Potash and perhaps soda or some other mineral which enters freely into the operation of soap making in fact the country produces a root that has all the Qualities of soap and requires nothing but smashing and mixing with the water to have good soap suds as the wash women call it

  “A Bear hunt”

  Dec 2d Started out on a Bear hunt crossed the Napa vally and a high rough high rugged mountain and encamped on the north side of the Kiota vally our company consisting of six and a boy and six Extra pack Horses—

  [Dec] 3 A Frosty night and a cool morning packed up and troted off north ward over a range of hills covered with Chimisall and other shrubery on the side of a steep bald hill we came to a large natural soda fo
untain which sparkled up in its own rock formed basin this fountain contains a large portion of soda but a small Quantity of gass saw several Bear at a distance which appered to be mostly poor and not worth the shooting saw a number of recently made tracks four of us parted two to the right and two to the left of our rout

  heard a fire commenced by (by) those to our left and soon saw two gray bears coming growling in a direction toward us my companion and me dismounted and as soon as they came in good rifle distance we fired and droped both at the first fire the old shee however did not die Quite so easy but at last gave up after recieving four balls through her vitals

  Encamped on the outlet of an Extensive large lake [Clear Lake] Lying noar the summit of a high range of mountains this lake is said to be 80 miles [!] in length from S. E. to N. W. its feeders however must be limited as there is no running water in the outlet only a few miles from the Lake or Lagoona is it is called Feasted Luxuriently on fat Bear ribs and liver— our leaders did not think the Bear plenty Enough to make a full hunt here so we packed up & moved on northward

  4 Crossed a low range of Black chimisal mountains and struck the North fork of cache creek hed consultation whither to go North further or change our course to the East finally took the Eeastern rout down Cache creek and encamped at the head of a verry long Rough Kenyon no Bear seen to day—

  5 Took down the Kenyon over immence piles of loose rocks that choked the streaam in its narrow channel our horses however made slow but sure progress down the Kenyon untill at length we found any further passage down the Kenyon impossible so we commenced the assent of a verry steep high mountain on the north side of the creek after greate toil and a profusion of kicks and stripes our animals gained the summit the ridge up which we came being so narrow as to bearly admit of one horse to pass at a time and the sides a nearly perpendicular desent for some thousand feet below The turn of this mountain proved to be a close thicket of Brush through which we forced ourselves to the vally below Encamped on cash creek

  6 continued down the vally and crossed near the main mountain here we stoped and Examenid the mountain But found no Bear but saw ennumerable Quantities of deer but as we ware not hunting deer we only killed deer Enough to make camp meat no Bear seen

  7 moved on again down the mountain near the greate Sacramento plain saw greate Quantities of deer but no bear and encamped [on] pooter [Putah] creek close under a Kenyon

  8 moved up through the Kenyon to near its uppermost verge here we had again to assend a tremendeous high steep mountain almost impracticable for a horse to climb and turn a narrow sharp ridge and desend again on the oposite side whare we reached a fine vally well stocked with cattle and hoses continued up the vally to the head of the same and Encamped on pooter creek again one man went home and Took all our Extra baggage and a heavy horse load of Bears grease—

  9 Moved up Pooter creek & through and around several steep rocky Kenyons in the afternoon arivedat an uneven rocky vally which in any other country might be called a mountain saw some indications of Bear and encamped for the purpose of hunting them several ware soon seen and a number of guns ware fired and one large old fat fellow lay dead the others all making their escape

  10 after some considerable hunting and fireing we made out to kill another

  11 Two men with pack horses returned home with the slaughtered animals which proved to be very fat

  12 Killed one more fine fat bear

  13 & 14 hunted hard without (out) sucess

  15 A man returned to camp with fresh horses

  16 and 17 Slaughtered two more noble animals and got them safe to camp concluded we had pork Enough to answer our purposes

  18 slaughtered 17 deer and made preperations for returning home

  19 Returned home heavily (heavily) laden with Bear meat and venison

  Remarks on Bear Hunting

  all the bear in this country are of grisled or grey species and are extremely dangerous when wounded and in fact frequently attact the hunter or other passenger without any provocation Except being interupted in their lair Therefore the hunter has to be verry cautious in his approach and scarcely ever attempts to drive him out of his fastness Their time of feeding being in the night the hunter watches him late in the Evening or Early in the morning when he is going to or returning from his feeding grounds Taking if possible the advantage of some inexcessable cliff of rocks Bank or Tree or is mounted on a good swift horse off of which he shoots never dismounting untill the bear is dead generally two or three men go in company and when the bear is discovered they all aproach in good rifle distance one firing one at a time in slow succession when if their balls take a good impression it so confuses the animal that he is kept continually fighting the ball holes which he never fails to do so that he has no time to attact the hunters untill it is to late— one which we had the Luck to kill was seen passing to his lair in the morning after sun rise two men attacted him and gave him five shots at a vital part of his body when he made his Escape to an allmost impenatrable thicket in an hour after three of us well mounted followed him more than a mile whare we found him badly wounded and in good disposition for a fight I however had the luck to get a shot at him takeing him close behind the shoulder when he broke back for a desperate thicket several guns ware fired at him on his retreat but he made his Lair and defied all our methods to draw him out again untill one man at the risk of himself and horse ventured in to the thicket cutting open a retreat with his butcher Knife at length the bear charged on him the other man standing on an Eminence shot at him as he passed an open aperture through the brush and had the luck to shoot him in the head on butchering him we found nine balls had taken good effect but owing to the greate thickness of the fat on his sides only one had passed in to his lungs he proved to be a noble animal yeelding more than three Hundred pounds of oil—

  The whole of our hunt amounting nine fin fat bear and about 30 Deer

  The whole of the country we passed over during our long hunting Excursion is rough and rocky beyond discription and all the rock and Eearth of a volcanic oregin mostly of a vitrious and red cast large Quantities of slag and other volcanic rocks standing universally in a nerly prependicular direction and Extremely rough and sharp the tops and sides covered with several kinds of hardy Evergreen shrubs nearly as sharp and hard as steel and growing generally from 4 to 10 Feet high and closely interwoven the sides of the mountains covered in addition with immence Quantities of loose rock which have fallen from time to time from the higher regions of the clifs and lay piled in the utmost confusion below—

  20 Fine and clear

  21 A hard stiff frosty morning in fact we have had Thirty Two regular successive frosty mornings all though the days have been Quite fine and warm

  22 It rained some during the night and morning—

  23 More rain during the night and thick fog all day with several rapid showers of rain

  24 A steady rapid rain fell during the whole of the day the first rain of consequence that has fallen since leaving the Willhamett vally on the Eighth of June last

  25 December 1845

  Chistmas it rained all night the morning thick and foggy with several short Rapid showers the grass and wild oats However is Quite green and good pastureage—

  26 Cloudy & warm

  27 Excessive rain

  28 Cloudy and warm

  29 Excessive rain all the country covered in water even the mountains send down their torrents of water—

  30 A Beautifull clear morning after about Thirty hours of the most Tremendous rain storm That perhaps has ever fallen in the present age which awakned all the frogs which had slept during the dry season and are now chirping in every puddle The season for sowing wheat now commences as Likewise for sowing Turnips, parsnips, cabbages, Onions, garden peas, Barley, and several other vegitables which cannot be produced in the dry hot season—

  Many of the californians scarcely ever taste Bread but live intirely on fresh Beef Beans and Red pepper which they cook all togather and all
ways cook their beef verry tender or so that it will scarcely hold togather

  31 Several Light showers or rain during the afternoon yesterday and each producing a Beautifull bow of Promis all though to look at the vallies you might think a second deluge had commenced—

  a dull cloudy day in the evening distant thunder was heard which is a rare thing and verry uncommon in this country several showers of rain fell during the night—

  “a slight Earth Quake was felt”

  January the first 1846 dull and foggy with a prospect of more rain It did not rain but distant Thunder was heard at intervals during the day a slight Earth Quake was felt in many parts of the Province some days since this is no uncommon circumstance as it is seldom that six months passes without a Quivering and trimbling of the Eearth in some portion of California allthough I have not heard of any that has done any considerable damage for some years past

  2 a dull cloudy day and it commenced raining in the Evening—

  3 It Rained moderately all night a dull cloudy morning with slight showers of rain—about noon it came on to rain rapidly and so continued most of the night—

  4 dull and Foggy I noticed the manseneto trees in full Bloom—This is an evergreen shrub growing in a thick gnarled clump with a smoothe red coloured bark and a deep green leaf and would make a beautifull shade for a door yard it prefers a dry gravelly soil and grows 10 or 12 feet high and has a sweet small pink white bloom and bears a sour berry of a dark red colour the size of a small plumb