SIERRA COUNTY HISTORY

Sierra County lies in the north-eastern part of the state of California, its entire area being 
included within the great range of the Sierra Nevadas. From its almost universal mountainous 
nature it has been appropriately termed Sierra, the lowest point within its confines being two 
thousand feet above the level of the sea. It is bounded on the north by Plumas and Lassen counties,
on the east by the state of Nevada, on the south by Nevada county, and on the west by Yuba 
and Plumas counties. The topography of the county, with the exception of Sierra valley, presents 
a continuous succession of lofty hills and deep canons, many of the former rising to dizzy heights, 
and hundreds of the latter sinking into bewildering depths, with precipitous walls of rock and 
earth. Most of the hills are covered with magnificent coniferous forests of red spruce, balsam fir, 
cedar, sugar and yellow pine ; while the valleys or canons furnish a rich growth of oak and all 
the varieties of trees found in the foot-hills of California. It is not uncommon to find vast pines 
towering up to a height of two hundred feet or more, situated at the base of hills, with soaring tops 
that seem ambitious to reach the highest altitudes surrounding them. Most of the mining towns 
in Sierra county are situated far above the snow-line, at elevations ranging from three to six thousand feet. 

Every part of the county enjoys a climate unrivaled for healthfulness and pleasure. Malarial 
disorders and fevers, so universal in other sections of the state, are totally unknown here. A 
physician moving here is obliged to reconstruct his system of practice on another basis entirely 
from that which obtains elsewhere. 

The water obtained from the numerous mountain streams is of the purest possible quality, 
being fed by the vast masses of snow melting from the summits. The crystal torrents on every 
side, dashing and foaming over the rocks, pursuing their serpentine ways through the wild yet 
always beautiful canons of the Sierras, rushing with mighty swiftness along their narrow channels, 
and singing the ever-sweet song of rushing waters, are laden with countless numbers of beautiful 
mountain trout, choice prizes for the eager angler : all of which attractions during the summer 
months draw many seekers for health and pleasure to these banquet-halls of nature. The county is 
traversed by the Middle Yuba river on the south, the North Yuba in the center, Slate creek and 
Canon creek on the north, together with numerous affluents pertaining to them all. Oregon creek, 
Kanaka creek, and Wolf creek flow from the north into the Middle Yuba; the North Yuba forks 
at Downieville, causing the south fork of the North Yuba, and the middle and north forks of the 
North Yuba. In addition to these streams are many small and lovely lakes scattered through the 
center and eastern parts of the county. Webber lake, in the south-eastern part of the county 
(spoken of elsewhere in this volume), is a beautiful sheet of water, remarkable for its many echoes. 
Gold lake, with its many lesser companions, occupies a place in the north, being reservoirs for 
myriads of the famous mountain trout. 

The isolated peaks of Sierra county are Table Rock, Saddle Back, Mount Fillmore, Fir Cap, 
Mount Lola, and the Sierra Buttes. Fir Cap attains an altitude of 6,500 feet, Sierra Buttes 8,950 
feet, and Mount Lola, the highest point in the county, about 9,200 feet. The Sierra Buttes mountain is
one of the landmarks of the state, visible from a large area of the valley of the Sacramento, 
and rendered prominently conspicuous by the sharply-defined, cone-shaped, serrated, basaltic lava 
in its formation. The snows in these high altitudes fall to a great depth, obstructing the roads over 
the ridges for weeks at times, the only means of communication being by travel on snow-shoes. 
Snow is frequently found on the ridges twenty feet in depth. 

Sierra county extends east and west in nearly the shape of a parallelogram. Its greatest 
length is sixty miles, and the greatest breadth thirty miles, embracing an area of eight hundred and 
thirty square miles. The primal cause of the settlement of Sierra county was the desire for gold, 
almost fabulous amounts of which have been found in many parts. The proportion of agricultural 
to mineral land is exceedingly small, not one acre in fifty being suitable for the plow. Mining has 
from the first been the principal occupation, and will continue to be so for hundreds of years, as the 
deposits of auriferous gravel and quartz seem to be inexhaustible. Nearly every hill and mountain 
is a vast treasure vault of nature, needing only the brain and the hand of man to unlock the care 
fully hidden combination. It was not always thus. The overflowing chests of nature dropped here 
and there with lavish waste enough of wealth to indicate the incomparable richness of that they 
kept from human gaze. Perhaps the millions dug from ancient river channel or picked from some 
chance crevice are but the chippings or the shavings from the rest.

MINING OF SIERRA COUNTY

Since 1849 Sierra county has never ceased to yield from year to year an abundant harvest of 
gold ; indeed, the precious metal has been almost the only harvest she could produce, so very little 
of her soil being suitable for agriculture. Thousands have made fortunes in all the mining districts, 
enriching the world by almost fabulous amounts; yet Sierra county to-day presents more inducements
for the investment of mining capital than any other county in the state. Drift and quartz 
mining are the most extensively carried on, though considerable ranges of auriferous gravel are 
being worked by the hydraulic process in the southern and western portions, and to some extent in 
every district. 

Sierra county has produced a large number of nuggets, several of them being perfect bonanzas in 
themselves. The first chunk of the large order was found at the mouth of Sailor ravine, two miles 
above Downieville, on the banks of the Yuba, in the summer of 1851, by Tom Hall, Jack Hinchman,
Red Dick, and several other sailors. It was in the shape of a foot, with a small quantity of 
quartz in the heel, and weighed twenty-six pounds and a half, avoirdupois, netting the lucky finders 
about eight thousand dollars. In 1853 another piece was found by the Frenchmen in French 
ravine, which is said to have weighed fifty-one pounds. But the most remarkable mass of ore 
produced by this county was that taken from the Monumental mine at Sierra City, in September, 
1869. The celebrated Monumental nugget, when taken out, weighed one hundred and six pounds, 
avoirdupois, or one hundred forty-one pounds, four ounces, Troy, being the fourth largest piece ever 
found in the world, and the second in size of the California nuggets. At the time this magnificent 
specimen was discovered the Monumental was being operated by W. A. Farish, A. Wood, Harry 
Warner, J. Winstead, and F. N. L. Creveling. The piece was exhibited as a curiosity for some 
time, at Woodward's Gardens, San Francisco; when smelted it brought the owners something like 
$30,000. On the same day of its discovery the hole from which it was taken yielded, in small 
pieces, several thousand dollars. 

The Bald Mountain mine at Forest City is the most extensive drift mine in the state. It was 
located in August, 1864, by Dibble & Spaulding, James A. Cowden, M. Redding, H. C. George, M. 
Burke, P. Rutledge, H. Rolling, C. Redding, J. F. Wenberg, H. Hilgerman, S. Granger, N. H. 
Meaney, C. Heintzen, F. H. Campbell, O. W. McDonald, and E. P. Meiley. Each had a frontage 
of two hundred feet. A tunnel was started to reach the pay channel, but after a time several 
became tired of paying assessments, and allowed their stock to be forfeited, while others gave it 
up; all of it eventually falling into the hands of M. Redding at the time the tunnel was in five 
hundred feet. In 1869 new stock to the amount of $90,000 was issued to the following parties, and 
work was begun immediately: Edwin and N. H. Stone, C. I), and C. B. Jillson, Milton O'Brien, 
D. H. Raymond, W. C. Killep, George Patterson, James McGregor, James McNaughton, Warner 
Forbes, James Brandenburgh, J. O. Jones, J. M. Lowell, A. C. Worthley, G. G. Clough, Reuben 
Stout, F. H. Miller, M. Redding, Abel McFarland, and W. F. Long. The old tunnel was abandoned,
a prospect shaft sunk, which paid well, and then another tunnel run, striking the shaft at 
two thousand feet. The main tunnel is now a mile and three-quarters into Bald Mountain, at one 
place being thirteen hundred feet below the surface. Side tunnels from one hundred and fifty to 
five hundred feet in length extend on either side, at an average of eighty feet apart, of which there 
are about two hundred and fifty, the intervening gravel of the channel being excavated as they 
proceed. The limit of the claim will be reached at a distance of two miles from the mouth, and 
the coming summer will see its completion, when all the pay gravel will be cleaned up, and the 
pillars taken out. Tracks are laid in all the tunnels being worked, over which an engine, christened 
"H. K. Wallis " in honor of the superintendent, makes hourly trips both day and night, carrying 
cars to and fro in the long interminable corridors. The main tunnel has a total raise of 207 feet 
from the mouth inward to the locomotive station, as it follows the course of the channel, creating 
a perfect system of drainage. Four hundred and forty-one acres of mining ground are owned by 
the company, four miles of creek, two flumes of half a mile each, a mile and a quarter of washing 
flume, and at the bottom of the latter flume tailing claims 8,000 feet in length. Two dumping 
yards, double-planked, with a capacity of 25,000 cubic yards each, receive during the summer, 
when water is scarce, the gravel to be washed. Enormous quantities of heavy timber are required in 
the tunnels to support the vast masses of loose gravel above. At present the number of men on 
the pay roll of the company is 140, the number having reached as high as 230. Nearly all the 
gold found in the great blue lead is very coarse, the largest piece ever taken from this mine weigh 
ing over seventy-five ounces. The yield of the mine for the last ten years has been about $2,000,000, 
of which $795,000 were paid in dividends. The board of directors consists of James McNaughton, 
James McGregor, and H. C. Perkins. James McNaughton is president of the company, and James 
McGregor secretary. The superintendent of the mine, H. K. Wallis, has held the position for ten 
years. His knowledge of mining ground in the vicinity is very extensive and accurate, and to his 
excellent judgment, it may be said, is due much of the success attained in this work. 

The Bald Mountain Extension claim was located in 1874. It embraces 1,600 acres of ground 
running along the center of the ridge; and the tunnel begun in the fall of 1878, at the east side of 
Forest City, now has a length of 4,000 feet, costing $35,000 for its construction. In June, 1881, it 
struck the old channel, since which time $30,000 have been taken out, the largest piece weighing 
twenty ounces when taken out. In the summer water for washing the gravel is obtained from the 
Pliocene shaft, on the upper end of the claim, 260 feet in depth. H. T. Briggs is president of the 
company ; H. W. Orear, secretary ; and Walter Lawry, superintendent of the mine. 

The North Fork mining land adjoins the Bald Mountain on the west, has a tunnel a mile in 
length, which was worked up to the past year, and is now the property of Charles Heintzen. In 
1877, from a hidden ledge discovered, twenty-five pounds of rock yielded $4,811. The Wisconsin 
company, on the north of Bald Mountain, is running a long tunnel, now in 2,000 feet. John L. 
Slatterly is superintending the work. The Euby claim, also on the north of Bald Mountain, is 
being worked by a tunnel 3,000 feet in length, that has just tapped the channel. The Arizona com 
pany on the east have very rich ground, frequent break-outs of the auriferous gravel occurring 
on the side of the hill. Their tunnel has penetrated the earth 1,000 feet. The South Fork, south 
of the Extension, has run a tunnel 1,800 feet long. The Mammoth force is striking very rich 
prospects, while the Seventy-Six has a short tunnel south of the Extension. Passing eastward from 
Forest City, we find the Wallis Consolidated claim not yet opened, which covers 1,500 acres and 
beyond that the celebrated Monte Christo mine. Diggings were started at Monte Christo hill in 
1854, the extraordinary richness of which caused a large settlement to spring up. At one time 
Monte Christo was as large as Downieville, but the flight of time scattered the inhabitants to the 
four corners of the earth, and the town is no more. The Monte Christo tunnel reaches 3,000 feet 
into the hill. A great deal of money was taken out here. The claim is now being worked by 
hydraulic means. In the Eldorado claim a tunnel is being run by the Woolsey brothers. The 
Savage placer drift mine, seven miles south-west of Sierra City, is owned by the Savage Mining company,
composed of Virginia City men. The tunnel from the Middle Yuba, 1,400 feet through very 
hard granite rock, cost in the neighborhood of $50,000. N. H. Ball is superintendent. 

The Haskell Peak mine, nine miles north-west of Sierra City, is mostly owned by people of 
that town. The prospect tunnel cost $10,000, and is 1,200 feet in length. The Blue Gravel and 
the Eureka mining companies have claims six miles south-east of Sierra City, with lengthy prospect 
tunnels. The One Thousand and One drift claim of 600 acres, three miles east of Sierra City, has 
a tunnel 1,000 feet in length, with numerous side tunnels and cross-cuts. A ditch six miles long 
brings water from a small creek. Fifteen thousand dollars have been expended in prospecting. 
The mine is operated by a board of directors, consisting of J. J. Sawyer, Matt Arata, John Watts, 
Arthur McGregor, and J. M. Gorham. James T., A. C., and A. F. Smith have a hydraulic claim 
in Ladies' canon, near Butcher ranch. Water is obtained from the head of Gold Run creek through 
a ditch two miles and a quarter in length. The mine was opened in the summer of 1880, and pays 
well. The Lewis Brothers' mine, below the Smith mine, owned by Robert and Samuel Lewis, has 
been worked by hydraulic means for twelve years. Hutchinson & Mooney have a hydraulic claim 
on the other side of the ridge, which was opened in 1879. 

The Gold Lake mining district was first prospected by Philo Haven, in 1858, and was organized
by him and his brother, J. M. Haven. They prospected for quartz until 1863, when the 
placer claims were discovered. Around and near the lake are a large number of quartz and gravel 
claims. The Pennsylvania claim is operating an extensive system of tunnels, trying to reach the 
blue lead. Above it is the Wilhelm Consolidated, a drift claim on which a great deal has been 
spent in sinking shafts and running tunnels. The New York hydraulic, the Wilson & Davis 
hydraulic, and the Limperich & Haven hydraulic claims are all on Howard creek. They have 
about nine miles of ditch. The Gold Lake placer and drift claim was located by Limperich & 
Haven in 1862, since which time it has been worked. A tunnel 500 feet in length has just been 
opened. The Woodchuck is a very valuable claim, owned by Lemuel Foss. Below this, Foss & 
Densmire have two claims, while many others are being prospected. An eight-stamp quartz-mill 
was erected near the outlet of the lake by Limperich & Haven in 1860. 

At Downieville considerable hydraulicking has been done in the past. At present S. D. Hill is 
running one chief on his claim, and another is being run by W. S. Watson, two miles below the 
town. The leading hydraulic mine at Rowland flat is the Union Hill, owned McChesney & Boyce. 
In 1857 the Bright Star company began work on this claim, but failed in 1859, and was succeeded 
by the Union company. The total yield to 1869 was 1900,000; at that time eighty men were 
employed, and Howland flat was the most thrifty camp in the country, shipping during a number 
of years an average of $600,000 per year. The Fair Play hydraulic mine, owned by the Boyce 
Brothers, has a bank of auriferous gravel from one to four hundred feet in depth. It has been 
worked twenty-three years. Sections of petrified trees are often rolled out by the powerful stream 
of water. The Cleveland and Sierra is the property of a Cleveland company. Chittenden & Co.'s 
hydraulic claim is at Howland flat, above which are several large drift mines, such as the Union, 
Hawkeye, Pittsburgh, Monumental, Bonanza, and the Empire. The last-named mine has enriched 
its stockholders in an amount exceeding half a million dollars. Near Little Grizzly is the Bunker 
Hill claim, which comprises 800 acres of mining ground, and has a pay channel 7,000 feet in length 
by 500 in width. At Brandy City many large hydraulic enterprises have been carried on in the 
past, the number being too great for enumeration here. On St. Charles hill, near Goodyear's bar, 
are several gravel companies, with tunnels varying in length. 

The quartz-ledges of Sierra county that have been worked and are now in process of working 
are legion. Locations are made somewhere every day, much more attention being now paid to this 
branch of mining than at any time previous. The oldest and by far the most extensive quartz-mine 
in Sierra County is that owned and operated by the Sierra Buttes Gold Mining company, of 
London. The ledge was located in the summer or fall of 1850, and was being worked by arrastras 
in 1851, since which time there has been no cessation in the taking out and crushing of ore. The 
first locators were Italians, whose names are unknown. A few years after Ferdinand and Gustavus 
Eeis became interested in the ledge, together with a large number of others, among them W. A. 
Parish and Elkan Said. In 1864 a ditch costing $20,000 was built around the Buttes to the mine, 
a distance of seven miles. In 1870 the present company bought the entire property of the Reis 
brothers, paying them something over a million dollars. At that time there were five tunnels in 
the solid rock on what are now the upper levels, which are entirely exhausted ; at present there 
are nine. Tunnel No. 1 runs entirely through the hill ; tunnels No. 1 to 5 are from 700 to 2,500 
feet in length ; No. 6, 4,500 feet ; No. 7, 5,000 feet ; No. 8, 3,000 feet ; No. 9, 700 feet. The last 
tunnel is on a level with Sierra City, and will eventually be run 9,000 feet through the rock. At 
6,000 feet it is expected the pay ledge will be struck, which is now being worked one thousand feet 
below the upper tunnel. The diamond drill is used in boring, being impelled by compressed air 
forced through pipes into the tunnel. Ninety-six stamps were in operation in the three mills that 
were running prior to March, 1882; but on the sixteenth of March a snow-slide carried away the 
30-stamd mill on the level of No. 6, involving a loss to the company of $40,000. The old Reis mill 
of sixteen stamps stands too high for ore, and will be removed below. The 50-stamp mill stands 
between the sixth and seventh tunnels, to which is hoisted, from five hundred feet below, the ore 
from the lower tunnels. A turbine wheel is run by the tremendous water pressure of six hundred 
and fifty feet. When all the stamps were running, 5,600 tons of rock were crushed monthly, but 
now it averages 3,000 tons. Before the snow-slide over two hundred men were employed at the 
mine, which number is at present reduced to one hundred and eighty. The rock averages from 
five to six dollars per ton, costing for mining and milling each ton $3.85, being fifteen cents less 
cost than formerly. The total yield of this mine for the thirty years it has been worked cannot be 
accurately determined, but it is estimated that no less than $7,000,000 have been taken from it ; 
having always paid dividends without levying a single assessment upon the stock. In the last ten 
years 800,000 feet of timber have been used in the tunnels, requiring on an average nearly 100,000 
feet per year. At the mine all of the employees reside, many of whom have private residences. 
The most spacious boarding-house in northern California is owned by the company, in which the 
men are furnished food and lodging. Near this building are a dry-house, with furnace and drying 
apparatus for wet clothing, wash and bath rooms, storehouse 80x20" feet, hose-house, and other 
buildings. Excellent provision is made against fire by the organization of a fire brigade. Thomas 
Preston has been superintendent of the mine for five years. Dr. J. J. Sawyer of Sierra City is the 
regular physician and surgeon. In 1876 this company purchased the Independence mine, situated 
on the same lode as the Sierra Buttes. The Independence was worked as early as 1851, by R. C. 
Beatie, James Phillips, and several others. For a long time prior to 1863 Wood & Beatie owned 
the mine; in that year Wood sold to Elkan Said, who was afterwards murdered in Mariposa 
county. Harry Warner of Sierra City was superintendent from 1861 to 1863, The first mill, 
erected in 1856, burned down. The second mill was injured twice by avalanches. The third mill, 
built in 1861, had twenty-four stamps, and was carried away in March, 1868, by an avalanche by 
which several persons were killed. A fourth one, containing twenty-four stamps, was put up in 
1869; and a fifth one, of twelve stamps, in 1875, by an English company, who were unable to make 
the mine pay. A rich lead has lately been struck, and the Sierra Buttes company will thoroughly 
work it. 

For many years the tailings from the Buttes mine have been worked by arrastras in the ravine. 
These tailings assay three dollars per ton. At present there are thirty arrastras run by water 
power, owned entirely by Italians, as follows : John Trombetta, seven ; John Fopiono, seven ; 
Mateo Arata, eight ; Isaac Martinetti and Ned Tartini, eleven ; J. Lavezzolo, four. The sight from 
the bottom of the ravine along which the thirty whirligigs are. ranged is indeed novel and interesting. 

Two miles below Sierra City, at Logansville, is the promising Marguarite mine, which was 
opened in the fall of 1881, and a ten-stamp mill erected. A Boston company owns the mine, and 
T. Berger is president. The yield for March, 1882, was $11,000. Forty men are employed. The 
Colombo quartz-ledge lies west of the Sierra Buttes mine, and is supposed to be a continuation of 
the same ledge. The rock assays ninety-four dollars to the ton. Italians own the claim. The 
Phenix ledge by the Beard brothers, the Mountain ledge by Harry Warner, and numerous other 
rich ledges, are being opened in the vicinity of Sierra City. 

The Gold Bluff mine is a mile and a quarter north-east of Downieville, on the west side of the 
North fork. This mine was discovered and located in 1854, receiving its name from the richness 
of the outcroppings in free gold. The ore was at that time packed in sacks upon the backs of 
mules from the summit of the ledge down the steep descent on a winding trail, to the mill one 
thousand feet below the croppings, where it was worked in a small two-stamp battery driven by 
water power. In 1856 an eight-stamp mill was built, at a cost of $20,000, and the mine proved 
profitable until 1859, when disagreements among the owners, and other things, caused its abandonment.
A new company reopened the mine in 1865, discovered a very rich vein, and put up a 
twelve-stamp mill, which they operated until August, 1871, making considerable money. Work 
was then discontinued for a few years, but renewed again subsequently, and the mine has since paid 
well. The .Oro quartz-ledge, 500 feet above Downieville, on the North fork, has yielded large 
returns in early days, but the vein " pinched out," and the mine lay dormant for a long time. 
Some years ago a lower tunnel on a level with the road was started, but as the ledge failed to 
appear, work was again discontinued. The Good Hope quartz-ledge, the most prosperous mine at 
Downieville, has been worked for a number of years. The ore is run down a long tramway several 
hundred feet, to the mill situated on the bank of the North fork. Several other rich ledges are 
being prospected near Downieville, with a view to their vigorous development. 

The Rainbow quartz-ledge near Chips' flat, one mile from Alleghany, was found in a gravel tunnel
2,000 feet from the mouth. From that an incline was run down the vein. In 1858 an eight- 
stamp mill was erected, and now the mine is yielding sufficient for a respectable dividend. The 
Golden Gate 21 mine has a quartz-mill in successful operation, as also the Bullion mine and the 
Docile. On the Plumbago lead at Minnesota, four locations were at first made, two of which are 
now owned by Charles Hazerty. Adjacent are the Bowles claim, the claim owned by Captain 
John & Sons, and two extensions of the Rainbow owned by W. A. Hawley & Co. At a former 
period the American Hill mine, four miles from Minnesota, was flourishing with an eight-stamp mill, 
built in 1858; and the Union mine in Wet Ravine, one mile from Allegheny, with an eight-stamp 
mill, put up in 1864. From the latter $15,000 were at first worked out with a hand mortar. On 
the Biber quartz-ledge, near Goodyear's bar, considerable prospecting has been done. It was 
located two years ago by Russ & Co., who sold it to an English company, and thorough developments
will be effected in the near future. In Hog canon, the Uncas Quartz mining company has 
taken hold of the old Prknrose mine, which yielded so much in years long past. Near the Uncas 
ledge another company is operating, Parley De Long having the management. 

In 1880 the various quartz-mills of Sierra county crushed 70,000 tons of quartz, and the length 
of mining ditches was 266 miles. In 1858 there were only seven quartz-mills in the county, valued 
at $56,000, which crushed 12,500 tons of quartz. The length of mining ditches at that time was 
183 miles, carrying 22,180 inches of water.

THE PRESS OF SIERRA COUNTY. 

It has been well said that the press of a country echoes the spirit and sentiment of its people, 
and is a reflection of the age in which it lives ; not generally creating public opinion, but being led 
by it. This being true of metropolitan journalism, in which the nation's and world's affairs are 
canvassed, how much more forcibly may it be said of the country press, so closely allied with 
narrow local interests. Sierra county has seen the rise and decline of a goodly number of papers, 
several of them in their day having been conducted with great ability. On the nineteenth of June, 
1852, the first number of the Mountain Echo appeared in Downieville, with William T. Giles as 
editor and proprietor. The paper was a small affair, a five-column folio, and under the management 
of Giles created but little stir in the busy settlement. The pioneer sheet of the county was sold out 
that fall or winter to Dr. Ball and his son Oscar, who carried it somewhat into politics, advocating 
democratic principles. George Barton frequently contributed editorial matter for its pages. 
About the first of February, 1854, Calvin B. McDonald, now of Oakland, began the publication of 
the Sierra Citizen, and in the summer of 1854, purchased the material of the Mountain Echo. The 
Citizen became a paying institution, and flourished for nearly ten years afterwards. It was owned 
in 1855-56 by H. D. Hickok, J. F. Whittaker, and E. R. Campbell, having passed through several 
different hands. Campbell officiated in the capacity of editor, the office being located in Fraternity 
hall building, Jersey flat. Subsequently Judge R. Galloway became editor and proprietor, but sold 
the paper in March, 1862, to George E. Tallmadge, who conducted it until its dissolution a short 
time after. A temperance sheet, called the Old Oaken Bucket, was published a few months at 
Downieville, in the year 1854, but soon perished for want of patronage, its principles obtaining but 
little recognition or indorsement from the mining population. 

The Gibsonville Herald first made its appearance at Gibsonville in the winter of 1853-54, the 
exact date being impossible to obtain because of the destruction by fire of the earliest files. Heade, 
the editor and proprietor, was succeeded by Alfred Helm in 1854, who issued a supplementary 
edition, calling it the Gibsonville Herald and St. Louis News, which was delivered by special 
messenger in St. Louis. In the fall of 1855 the paper was sold and taken to La Porte, where the 
title of Mountain Messenger was given it. In 1858 A. T. Dewey became the proprietor, and the 
year following William S. Byrnes became associated with him in its publication. Prior to 1860 the 
Messenger was a strong whig organ, consistently adopting republican principles at that time, which 
it has advocated ever since. In the La Porte fire of 1861 the office was totally destroyed, but 
revived immediately. Dewey purchased Byrnes' interest in 1862, continuing the business alone 
until November, 1863, when J A. Vaughn bought a half-interest. In January, 1864, E. M. Dewey 
purchased the remaining half of A. T. Dewey, who retired from the paper, and in February it was 
removed to Downieville, and published there by Dewey & Vaughn for four years. In 1868 Mr. 
Dewey sold his interest to E. K. Downer and D. Whitney. Whitney soon severed his connection, 
and from that time to the present the Messenger has been under the control of Vaughn & Downer. 
It is a newsy, enterprising sheet, thoroughly devoted to the interests of the county, and enjoys a 
large patronage. The Messenger office occupies the three floors of a building on Durgan flat owned 
by the editors, and is well supplied with material for doing all kinds of country work. The ground 
on which the building stands is very rich in gold, which gives the Messenger an advantage not often 
had by newspapers, of having a solid basis upon which to do business. 

John Platt, Jr., inaugurated the Sierra Democrat at Forest City, June 21, 1856, with William 
Campbell as editor. It was strongly democratic in its views, and unquestionably an able exponent 
of the party tenets. In one year it was removed to Downieville, and in September, 1857, Campbell 
gave up his literary labors for the law, W. J. Forbes taking his place, at the same time becoming a 
partner of Platt. In June, 1863, John B. Reed became associated with Platt in the management, 
and in October of that year J. O'Sullivan took the editorial chair. The paper became a semi-weekly 
in January, 1864, and was burned in the fire of February 21, 1864, the small amount of material 
saved being purchased by Dewey & Vaughn. 

The Weekly Standard, a five-column folio, was moved from Quincy to Downieville, April 6, 
1864, by Mat Lynch, and labored in the democratic ranks. April 27, 1864, it became a semi-weekly, 
resumed the weekly form in August, and ended in October, Lynch leaving the country. The Sierra 
Age was started at Downieville, May 10, 1871, by Samuel E. Stephenson, as a democratic semi- 
weekly, to support James A. Johnson for governor. The principal member of the institution was 
Samuel J. Garrison. In the latter part of the year the office and material were disposed of on a 
forced sale by Judge Van Clief, under an order of the court, to Vaughn & Co., proprietors of the 
Messenger. W. F. Edwards began the issue of the Sierra Free Press at Forest City, August 6, 
1880. The paper was republican, and after a brief existence ended in December, 1880. 

The Sierra. County Tribune was instituted at Forest City, December 8, 1881, by H. M. and 
T. D. Calkins. The paper is independent in politics, with a leaning towards republicanism, and is 
a neatly printed, attractive sheet, alive to the interests of the county, and is receiving an excellent 
support.