Sierra County
Biographies
N. B. Fish,
the present sheriff of Sierra county, was born in Waldo county, Maine, December 28, 1830. In 1850 he went to work at ship-carpentering at Damariscotta, and stayed there three years. In 1854 he came to California, arrived at La Porte in June, and went to mining at Secret diggings. He followed mining there and in the northern part of the county until 1874, when he was appointed under-sheriff. . In 1877 he was elected sheriff, and re-elected in 1879. He is a very efficient officer, and a man highly honored and esteemed.
Illustrated History of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties, with California from 1513 to 1850. - Fariss and Smith, San Francisco, 1882. p 488
Transcribed by Craig Hahn, Nov. 2004
Peter Goff
is of Irish nativity, and was born in Dublin, April 8, 1830. He went to the sea for a living in 1846, and followed the life of a sailor for seven years. He came to San Francisco in November, 1851, soon after located in El Dorado county where he mined until May, 1852, when he came to Sierra county, and mined on the north and south forks for seven years. In December, 1860, he came to Sierra City, where has since resided, being engaged in mining until 1867, when he opened a boarding-house and started a livery stable. At present he is engaged in the livery business. He was married in 1866 to Miss M. Murphy of San Francisco, and to them have been born three children.
Illustrated History of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties, with California from 1513 to 1850. - Fariss and Smith, San Francisco, 1882. p 489
Transcribed by Craig Hahn, Nov. 2004
Philo A. Haven
is a native of Chatauqua county, New York, where he was born in the year 1818. In 1834 Mr. Haven moved to Joliet, Illinois, then in Cook county. Here he remained until he followed the eager tide of gold-seekers westward, in 1849. He journeyed overland in a train of seventy-four men, but left them at Salt Lake, and with six others came on in advance. They came through the Henness pass, and camped on Bear river on the tenth of August. On the sixteenth he was mining at Slate range, on the Yuba river, but a few days later came three miles farther up the stream, and bought a claim of Cut-Eye Foster, which he also worked a few days. With his cousin Carlos Haven, Warren Goodall, and Thomas Angus, he came up to Little Rich bar, a half-mile below Downieville, which he and an Indian had located on the twenty-fourth of August. They worked there that fall, and went out with one hundred and twenty pounds of gold, going down the Sacramento river to San Francisco. Mr. Haven carried his portion, thirty pounds, in a shot-bag that was tied up in a gunny sack. While there he bought at Geary’s auction sale five lots in the hills, for $2,900. He loaned three thousand dollars to the Bowers brothers, who were mining at Deer creek, now site of Nevada City. He soon went up to see them, and they offered him a claim that would pay fifty dollars a day, but he refused it, as he could make much more at the forks of the North Yuba, where he had been in the fall. Seven men started with him December 31,1849, for his old diggings, but they all left him during a big snow-storm on the Middle Yuba. Three others, the Lewis brothers and Chamberlain, however joined him, and they proceeded onwards to Forest City, camping that night in a heavy snow-storm. They arrived at Goodyear’s bar January 10, 1850, where they obtained forty pounds of flour, paying four dollars a pound for it. The article was not very savory, as there were grubs in it an inch and a half long. They found the ground at Little Rich bar all claimed by other parties. Mr. Haven’s party then located two and one-half miles up the north fork, and camped where Thomas Steele’s residence now stands. Our subject’s brother, James M. Haven, came there in the spring, and the old company divided, Mr. Haven having the choice of the claims and the Lewis brothers taking the specimen purse of $5,000. He then prospected at Howland flat, and was exploring the head of Nelson creek when the Stoddard party came along in search of the fabulous Gold Lake, and he went with them until they disbanded at Humbug valley. He then found rich diggings on the north fork of Feather river, and spent part of the winter of 1851 at Big Rich bar. During a terrible snow-storm, in which he and his companions nearly lost their lives, he went to Bidwell’s bar being en route to the states. In the summer of 1852 he returned to Downieville, and worked on Sailor flat one hundred days, taking out $4,000. In the fall Harrison Wheeler, Joseph Limperich, Frank Fellows, and Mr. Haven built the saw-mill above Downieville. Mr. Haven cut the first tree himself, which furnished 10,000 feet of lumber and brought $500. It was built for the purpose of defraying the expenses of prospecting. He found the Excelsior diggings four miles north-west of Downieville, which he worked until 1858, and then commenced prospecting quartz at Gold Lake, and built the dam at the foot of the lake in 1859. At that time there was a hotel at the head of the lake, built by Mr. Church. Mr. Haven organized the Gold Lake mining district, and with his brother built a mill to prospect quartz, together with a saw-mill and residence. In 1862 he discovered the placer claims, and has since been actively engaged in working them by hydraulic means.
Illustrated History of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra Counties, with California from 1513 to 1850. - Fariss and Smith, San Francisco, 1882. p 489-490
Transcribed by Craig Hahn, Nov. 2004