Some Reminiscences of Early Trinity [pp. 17-32]

Some Reminiscences of Early Trinity.
partly through their counsels that the route
finally taken by the prospectors was selected.
The party left the Major's ranch, taking
a nearly due western course, crossing the
Trinity mountains near the point where the
flourishing quartz camp of Bullychoop is now
located, and following in their journey to
the river the course of that creek which has
since borne the Major's name. A short dis tance below the mouth of the creek, but on
the opposite side of the river, was a red bar,
running down from a long, narrow point,
around which the river swept in the form of
a half moon. Of course this also was named
after the Major-a name it still retains, al though the last square foot of bed rock un der its original soil has been scraped and
cleaned, and the bar deserted by every one,
including even the Chinese, for a quarter of
a century.
Here the party pitched their camp, and
richly were their labors rewarded. The gold
was of the character known as "river dust,"
fine, and of high quality, and the ground
paid from the grass roots down to bed rock.
So late as i850, a pioneer working there
told me that in one part of the bar where he
worked, the top earth paid regularly a dollar
to each bucket, and when he had worked
fifty buckets, which was considered a day's
work by him, his dust when cleaned, always
pulled down the scale at three ounces.
The "help" the Major brought along was
mostly composed of his Indian friends from
the Valley, supplemented to some extent by
the Indians living near the Bar. There
were many Indians in Trinity County at that
day, and they were very friendly toward the
intruders, probably because of the course
taken by the Major upon his arrival. He
had brought along a supply of red blankets,
beads, looking-glasses, and other things
pleasing to the eyes of the untutored savage,
which were distributed as presents, or given
in payment for labor. And a more potent
factor, perhaps, in establishing friendly relations was the drove of fat cattle which the
Major's retainers brought along, and which
were slaughtered as occasion required, to
satisfy the wants of the Major and party, but
of these newly found friends as well. When
one of the beeves was slaughtered, all were
bidden to the feast; and as some cynical
woman has said "the only way to a man's
heart is through his stomach," so the Major
found his way to the Indians' friendship in
the same manner.
Report says the Major had the gold dust
poured into buckets, which stood just inside
the opening of the tent, and the party pur sued their work without fear of pilfering,
leaving the dust there as unconcernedly
when they went away as though it had been
placed on deposit in a bank of well known
solvency. But this happy state of affairs
was not long destined to last. News of the
discoveries of Marshall had been conveyed
to Oregon, and parties from the Webfoot
State (or Territory I should perhaps say)
were making their way by both sea and land
toward the modern E1 Dorado. One of
these parties, hearing of the location of the
Major, immediately set out for Reading's
Bar and easily made their way there. Then,
though there were miles upon miles of river
bars untouched, the party began raising a
disturbance because of his Indian help; and
knowing the half savage character of the men
he had to deal with,and thatan encounterwith
them would cause great loss of life to his Indian friends, the Major withdrew and left
the Oregonians masters of the situation.
Had the later comers treated the Indians
with-the same kindness that was shown by
Reading and his party, or even had they
shown any respect whatever for the natural
rights of those whose country they had entered unbidden, it would have been better
for both races, and many a bloody page in
the history of the early days of the county
would not have to be written. For many
years afterward the Indians remembered and
spoke of "Chakins" (the name they had
given him from his flowing beard) with love,
/
18'
[Jan.