We herewith introduce to our patrons and the
public the Illustrated History of Placer County. Since the occupation of the
country by Americans, following the discovery of Gold, Placer has borne such
an important part in the affairs, development and progress of the State that
she may be classed as the most distinctive representative county. By her
position, midway in the tier of counties, rising like a grand wall into the
snowy regions of the sky along our eastern border, she presents the
configuration of the keystone to an arch reared by the Almighty, binding the
mountain to the plain, the lowlands of the Sacramento Valley to the plateau
of Nevada, the only county of the series having such connection and
embracing so many features. Placer County is a representative from the
extended section of territory occupied, including many soils, climates, and
productions; from the wealth and different character of her mines; from
being the home of many pioneers, who, in lofty spirit, enterprise,
statesmanship, and progress, have moulded the policy, advanced the
prosperity, and made the most indellible impress upon all matters of the
State; from her fruits of every zone; from her geology, mineralogy, and
topography; from her broad semi-tropic plains and her snow -crowned peaks;
from her forest-covered ridges and deep canons; from her lovely lakes and
gold-bedded rivers; from her hundreds of miles of mining canals her deep
explorations of the ancient glacial channels; her bold system of wagon
roads; and from her long lines of railroads, she stands as the most observed
of the counties of California; the one presenting the most salient features
for delineation; the one whose history is the most comprehensive and
important.
Her history could not be written without
including many acts, incidents and descriptions belonging to other sections
of or pertaining to the State, either having a distant or close connection,
or constituting a basis upon which to build. In the following pages such
divergence from the direct history of Placer will be observed, but adding to
its completeness. Preceding page sixty-five is reference to the pre-American
history of California, to the gold discovery, to immigration, routes of
travel, and physical features of a general character, applicable to the
State; and in the political history, the affairs and politicians of the
State and Nation are introduced, all forming so close a connection as with
difficulty to segregate. The aim and design of the publishers and writers
have been to make a concise, comprehensive, exact, and complete history of
Placer County, with her connection with the State, setting forth the varied
and unparalleled resources; the progress and prosperity; and such sketches
of the people and of individual property as will record for future thought
and observation the occupation, social condition, manners, and life of the
past and present. We have studied to present the dry facts of history in an
attractive manner, with biographical sketches and portraits of many
prominent men, views of many of the pretty homes throughout the county,
illustrating the refinement of the people, the scenery and resources. We
hope we have been successful in accomplishing these designs.
The literary work has been under the
charge of Myron Angel, assisted by M. D. Fairchild; both pioneers of 1849;
both early residents of Placer County; both connected with the press through
many years of editorial life, and familiar with the region and the subjects
of which they have written. Mr. Fairchild was one of the settlers of
Illinoistown in 1849, and there passed that eventful and stormy winter,
fighting the predatory savages and seeking out and rescuing people caught in
the unexpected snows, instances of which he has impersonally related. For
several years he was a resident of the county; the discoverer of Rich Bar on
the North Fork of the American, where he washed out tens of thousands of
dollars of the beautiful golden flakes, and with the exception of a very few
years spent in other parts of the country, Placer, Nevada, and El Dorado
Counties have been his home. He is at present editor of the Oroville
Mercury, in Butte County.
The writings of others are credited in
their places in the book. Many references to the Placer Herald will
be observed. We have been fortunate in obtaining complete files of that
paper, the oldest in the county and one of the oldest on the Pacific Coast,
always an able journal and comprising in its thirty volumes through thirty
years of publication, a contemporaneous history of the State in general and
of Placer County in particular. For these files we are indebted to the
courtesy of W. Dana Perkins, Esq., of Rocklin; Isaac Stone-cipher, Esq., of
Lincoln; and J. A. Filcher, Esq., the publisher. To Mr. Stonecipher the
public are under no obligations for the care he has taken in the
preservation of the first three volumes of the Herald, being, we
believe, the only complete ones in existence; and to Mr. Perkins for his
foresight and care in preserving the twenty-seven later volumes in full, and
parts of the first three. The value of such a continuous series of papers
can be scarcely estimated, and their value increases as the years pass by. A
newspaper gives the facts of the day and the history of time, an
indisputable diary is very interesting while fresh, is regarded as useless
rubbish in a week or a month, but a sacred relic when years have dimmed its
color and mark its date in the faint memories of the past. Men's important
questions, but with the files of the old newspapers for reference, an umpire
is found which fairly and correctly settles all disputes.
To Mr. H. W. Hulbert, of Georgetown, El
Dorado County, we are indebted for files of the Advance and other
papers of Placer County; to Henry W. Fenton, Esq., editor and publisher of
the Argus, for papers and courtesies; to O. F. Seavey, Esq., for a
comprehensive article on the schools of the county; to Claude Chana, of
Wheatland, Yuba County, for his account of the gold discovery in Auburn
Ravine, and his first efforts in horticulture; to Charles A. Tuttle, Esq.,
of Oakland, for information on the bench and bar and other subjects; to John
B. Hobson, M. E., of Iowa Hill, for his notes and the use of his map of the
Iowa Hill Divide; and to all who have rendered assistance we return our
thanks.
To our patrons we express our sense of
obligation for their liberal support of the work and the interest they have
taken in having prepared a history and exposition of the beauties and
resources of their county. Without their generous aid, no such book could
have been published. In compliance with their desire we have made a book
that will be both useful and ornamental. Every effort has been made to
gather from every source of information obtainable all the facts of history
and statistics of production and progress. These are now collated and
preserved, and will stand forever the basis of any future history that may
be written. In this volume are preserved the records of events, of pioneers,
of elections, of candidates and office-holders, of road and railroad
building, and of all the material subjects that have agitated the public
mind during the eventful period of the discovery of gold, the formation of
the Government, and to the present time. In this we have endeavored to do
absolute justice, unbiased by politics, self-interest or pre-conceived
opinions. That we have extolled the wealth and resources of the county is
because we have investigated them, and while some opinions and selections
appear exaggerated to the pessimist and the casual observer, we believe in
all we have said. In our remarks on the Central Pacific Railroad Company and
its controversy with the people we express no opinion but that founded on
facts and a clear sense of right. The facts are given and are
in-controvertible.
Undoubtedly there are many imperfections
in the work. Much more could be written of Placer, more events narrated,
comments extended, men and localities noted which have been omitted, some
through lack of space and time, some through accident, neglect, or want of
information, and perhaps something is published that were better left out.
But we believe our book to be valuable as a history, attractive as an
ornament, and fulfilling the purpose of our promise.
In conclusion, we wish to refer with
gratitude to the excellent work displayed in the publication, to the Pacific
Press Publishing Company, of Oakland; to Louis H. Evarts, of Philadelphia,
for wood engravings, and to J. L. Laplace, lithographer, of San Francisco.
Among the publications of value which
have rendered aid are the Directories of Placer County; one published in
1861 by Messrs. Steele, Bull, and Houston, and the other by the Argus
Publishing Company, in 1875.
Transcribed by Sally Kaleta