CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Midland Friends OF Cornell Endowment fcfjibrary ^jf =: DUE m^a J^§l& f*«'OIJ» J 1 CAVLORD PRINTED IN U 5 A Cornell University Library F 868.E3U71 Pioneers of El Dorado, 3 1924 006 095 750 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924006095750 < o 1-) o o m H 5* Si 1^4 V ) it Pioneers^ of CI ^ovaho By CHARLES ELMER UPTON Author of "The Life and Work of the Rev. C. C. Peirce," etc. 31 tiabe no iuottii to sipeak t^etr praisie. 'Ctetrsi toa^ tije beeb; tfie guerton ouri^. 'Ctje tDilbernegjS anb toear? bapg ?©ere ttjeirsf alone; for us tfje flotDers. [A. J. Waterhouse] Placerville, California _^ Charles Elmkr Upton, Publisher"- 1906. Copyriifht, 1906 By CHA3tr.ES Elmer Upton . All rights reserved. The Nugget Press PlacerTiUe, Califoraia A FOREWORD. It has not been my intention to sketcti the 4ives of all of El Dorado county's pioneers; but rather to give, in the form of a few representa- tive biographies, those events in our county's annals which are most worthy of being pre- served as history, together with such anecdotes, both comic and pathetic, which would best serve to indicate what manner of people the early Cal- ifornians were. Necessarily, in a book of this description, much has been written that may shock the over-fastidious. But history is a chronicle of vital events, and as such must de- pict both the evil and the good. It must be re- membered that the early settlers of California were a most conglomerate mass of humanity, representing every grade of refinement and of vulgarity; and the true narrative of such a peo- ple, or, in fact, of any real life, cannot be ex- pected to resemble an Elsie Dinsmore Sunday- school story. For aid in the compilation of tiiis book, I am- indebted, first of all, to many of the living pio- neers, and to the relatives and friends of other- pioneers whose earthly careers are at an end. I have likewise obtained much valuable assistance from the files of the Placerville and Georgetown newspapers, and from the pages of Haskins' "Argonauts of California/' Parsons' "Life of J. W. Marshall," Sioli's "History of El Dorado County," Hall's "Around the Horn in H9," Leeper's "Argonauts of Forty-Nine," Ridge's "Life of Joaquin Murieta" and Theodore H. Hit- tell's scholarly "History of California/' I fully realize the many deficiencies of this little book; but if I have succeeded in compiling an interesting history of the old "Empire County," suited in price to the purse of the aver- age reader, and at the same time have added something, however small, to the annals of Cali- fornia, 1 am content. Charles Elmer Upton, Placerville, Cal., September 30, 1906. To my dear friends and former pupils, Mabel, Stella, Ralph and Edgar Berry, grandchildren of one of the worthiest of El Dorado county's pioneers, this book is dedicated. CONTENTS. Page I. James W. Marshall, the Founder of a Com- monwealth ^ 11. Mathias Lauber, With General Kearney in '46 : 36. III. Samuel Kyburz, Who Led a Sutter Expe- dition 52 IV. William B. House, Around the Horn in '49 64- V. Alexander Connell of the Famous Mamaluke Hill 80 VI. Reuben K. Berry, First Alcalde of Salmon Falls 89 VII. Robert C. Fugate, the Miner of a Half-Cen- tury 100 VIII. '"^ George W. Henry, Merchant, Scout and Miner 108 IX. Gel wicks and January, the Pioneer^ Editors 121 X. George C. Ranney, Special Deputy-Sheriff at Bullion Bend 128 XI. James B. Hume, the Noted Wells-Fargo De- tective 142 XII. James W. Summerfield, of the "Gold Lake'' Party 150 XIII.