In the early summer of 1863, five Indians were hanged at Helltown, on suspicion of their having committed depredations whereby considerable property was destroyed or carried away. Bloody reprisals have always been freely indulged in by the aborigines, when any real or fancied wrong has been done them, and a few retaliated with fearful effect on their white neighbors when they got an opportunity. The outbreak occurred in the latter part of July, and several men, women and children were inhumanly massacred. Among them may be mentioned Richard Morrison, Mrs. Blüm, and the children of the Lewis family, all of which murders occurred near Pence's ranch. The killing of the Lewis children was a sad affair. They consisted of two small boys and a little girl, and resided three miles northwest of Pence's. As they were returning from school, on the afternoon of the twenty-first, they passed a spring of cool water, and the oldest boy knelt down on his hands and knees to slake his thirst. While in this position a band of Indians approached from behind unnoticed, and a rifle-ball was sent into the stooping body of the youth. Leaving him lying by the water, in the agonies of death, the savages took the two remaining children with them and started for the foothills. The boy was only five years old and the girl nine, yet they were forced to walk along as fast as they could without resting. As the shades of evening were falling, the boy's slight strength began to fail, and he lagged behind. As he retarded their progress, the Indians decided to kill him, and hastened the girl on ahead that she might not witness the murder. Her brother begged her not to leave him, but their captors were inexorable. While some distance ahead she might have escaped easily, but would not go without her brother. While he was out of her sight the helpless child was murdered, and his body thrown on a manzanita bush. and perceiving her brother's absence, knew that they had killed him. they were making preparations for a meal, she ran behind one of the bushes with which the ground was covered, and though a vigorous pursuit was made, she managed to elude them and make good her escape from their clutches. Thinking she would go towards her home, they followed that trail, while she went in a different direction, and finally reached a house that was occupied. She had only some underclothing on, most of her garments having been appropriated by her captors. The bodies of the two who were murdered were found the next day. The girl who so narrowly escaped death is now Mrs. Winters, and lives near Chico.

She was taken to their camp, Watching her opportunity, while

The people in that vicinity became greatly alarmed for the safety of their lives and property, and a company of fifty men was organized to hunt red men. The excitement was so intense that it was determined to make an indiscriminate slaughter of Indians without regard to whether they were concerned in the murders or not. There was no doubt in the minds of those who could reason coolly on the matter, that a large majority of the Indians were innocent entirely of the horrible outrages and murders that had been perpetrated, and that punishment should not be meted out to them alike. Many were tame Indians who entertained only friendly feelings towards their white brethren. Yet the difficulty of making a just and proper discrimination between the innocent and the guilty, and the intense desire for revenge which filled the breasts of so many white men, rendered the condition of all the Indians precarious and unsafe. A war of extermination was evidently about to be commenced, and the blood of the savages would soon flow freely if some measures were not adopted to have the whole of them removed from the county.

The question of removing the Indians from Butte county to reservations began to be agitated, and a meeting was called for the twenty-seventh of July, to be held at Pence's ranch, for the purpose of taking effective measures for their removal. Before the meeting occurred, Mr. M. H. Wells, of Yankee Hill, on his own responsibility collected a large number of Indians, three hundred and fifty in all, and disarmed them, preparatory to taking them out of the county. While they were encamped at Yankee Hill, the company of citizens who were in pursuit of Indians came up, and it was with great difficulty

that Mr. Wells could keep them from butchering the whole band. However, they demanded four of them, who they said had taken part in the recent tragedies near Pence's, and to save the rest (who were principally tame Indians) the four were given up. These were given a chance for their lives by being loose while they were fired at, and two of them got away without much injury. The band was then taken to Chico and delivered over to the parties authorized to receive them, and from there conveyed to the reservation in Humboldt county. The Oroville Guards made an expedition at this time up through Concow and Oregon townships, and though they were not called upon to do any fighting, their presence in the neighborhood contributed to allay the fears of the people to a large extent and quieted much of the excitement that had been aroused by the disturbances. One little escapade committed by a part of the guards deserves severe censure. Upon leaving Yankee Hill they disagreed among themselves, and one party, headed by John J. Smith, of Oroville, went off by themselves. They comprised the more respectable part of the company. Captain H. B. Hunt headed the remainder, who went to Dogtown. Some people there pointed out three Indians who they said were bad; whereupon the brave militia bound the frightened creatures, took them to a spot near by, and shot them down.

On the first of August, forty men of company F, second cavalry volunteers, were sent to this county to assist in quelling the Indian disturbances. Their headquarters were made at Chico. During the following week, company A, of the same regiment, was also sent to Chico.

The meeting at Pence's ranch, July 27, was very largely attended, and resolutions were adopted to collect and remove all Indians from the county. The committee appointed to collect and notify the Indians was M. H. Wells, Yankee Hill; W. Schmidt, Forks of Butte; Capt. H. B. Hunt, Oroville ; W. Nesbit, Helltown; Thomas McDanel, Cherokee; Jas. Lynch, Lynch's ranch; R. C. Rose, Johnson's ranch; W. Hasty, Dogtown; Joseph Pierce, Stringtown; Thomas Rogers, Rock creek; L. A. Snow, Kimshew. A committee of twenty-six persons was also appointed to collect funds to defray the expenses of collecting and removing the Indians to Chico landing. Hon. Thomas Wells was delegated with the commission of waiting on General Wright, of the department of the Pacific, to make arrangements about the disposal of the nation's wards. In his report of September 19, Mr. Wells stated that the following plan had been decided upon :-

"The citizens are to collect all the Indians of this county together at Chico; the soldiers there, under Major Hooker, are to receive and forward them to the reservation, and Major Hanson's receivers are to receive them there. If, in the places where Indians are harbored by bad white men, the citizens meet with their resistance, they are to capture and deliver them, with the Indians, to Major Hooker, at Chico, to be held and dealt with as 'prisoners of war.'"

By the arragements made, the executive committee appointed at Pence's ranch were authorized to raise a sufficient force of men to carry out the measures agreed upon.

In accordance with these arrangements, the committee proceeded to gather together all the Indians that could be found. Scarcely one was allowed to remain. Even the mahalas living with white men were compelled to join the caravan, and go to the reservation. Mr. Wells, of Yankee Hill, took the most active part in the removal of these people. He was indefatigable in his efforts to free the county of them, and thus put a stop, in this region, to further contention between the white and red races, which must inevitably occur while any of the latter were allowed to remain. In this work he was energetically assisted by G. G. Marquis, of Concow valley, and William Ramsey, of Yankee Hill. The last band taken to Chico was composed principally of mahalas, children, and old and decrepit bucks.

A miner, named Hugh Harvey, was shot and killed by the Indians near Forbestown on the twentythird of September, 1863. Twenty men started out to corral and kill all the red men they could find. As the removal of Indians was then in progress, no bloody encounter followed.

portable property. At the same time on

In March, 1864, a large number of Indians returned from the reservation to Butte county. On the first of March, five armed Indians took possession of the cabin of James McBride, near Dogtown, and intimidated the proprietor, while they carried off all his the Dogtown road a teamster was badly wounded by Indians. The agent at the reservation sent word to look out for the Indians, as they were coming back. Hon. A. C. Buffum, in the legislature, was petitioned by many citizens to lay the matter before the proper authorities. Gen. Wright ordered the company stationed at Chico to protect the people against further Indian depredations. On the fourth of June, 1864, several Indians made a raid on the house of Thomas Morgan, one mile from Pence's, while he was absent. Mrs. Morgan and children barely escaped with their lives from the clutches of the savages. On the eighth the body of a Frenchman was found in Potter's ravine, below Cherokee flat, pierced by four arrows. He was called "Old Bartholomy."

Indian troubles began to get frequent again in the summer of 1865. mitted in adjoining counties during the spring.

Several murders were com

On the twenty-second of June, eight Indians visited Fairfield bar on the middle Feather river, and representing themselves as Chinese tax-collectors, tried to extort money from the Chinamen, from which several rows resulted. On the seventh of August, another murder occurred at the house of Robert Workman, in Concow valley, while Mr. Workman was absent. Mr. Workman and Miss Rosanna Smith were in the house with the doors closed. A knock was heard, and Mrs. Workman, going to the door, was confronted with a gun in the hands of an Indian. She screamed, and Miss Smith tried to escape, but her body was afterwards found behind the barn, with her throat cut from ear to ear. John Banks, "Scotch John," as he was called, the hired man, was shot while at work in an adjoining field. Mrs. Workman was frightfully beaten and left for dead by the inhuman fiends. She recovered, and managed to reach a neighbor's house near by, when the alarm was given and a party of men started out, fired with the determination to spare neither Indian nor mahala-white man. The injuries received by Mrs. Workman at this time, and the severe shock to her nerves, resulted in her death two years afterward. The band who were searching for the perpetrators of the Concow tragedy, invited H. A. Goode, an old Indian-fighter, to be their captain. They comprised seventeen men, all of Butte county except Sandy Young, who lived in Tehama. On the fifteenth of August they found the trail of the savages, and came up with them at night on Mill creek, sixteen miles east of Tehama. The company surrounded the Indian camp, which contained about twenty-five, and succeeded in slaughtering nine of them and wounding many more.

All the raids, for a number of years, had been led by an Indian who could boast the possession of a ponderous pedal extremity. So large was this member that he received the title of Big Foot. His presence at any affair of crime was always indicated by the extraordinary mark he left on the ground. He was very skillful in eluding pursuit, and had never been captured. After this fight, Big Foot's trail was never found, and it was generally believed that he had there received a mortal wound.

The subsequent fate of two who engaged in this fight may be a matter of interest here. Sandy Young, a year or two afterwards, was found dead in Trinity county, and his death was supposed to have been caused by Indians. Some years subsequently, Captain Goode met a similar fate at the hands of a young Indian boy, not more than eight years of age, whom he had adopted and raised. Goode had come home from a day's hunt after game, and, before alighting from his horse, gave his rifle to the boy. The treacherous young rascal immediately shot his friend and benefactor dead, and concealed his body under a pile of rocks and rubbish, where it was found by some of Goode's friends, who were searching for him. The captain's watch, jewelry and money being found on the person of the Indian boy, he confessed having committed the crime and hidden the body. The precocious fiend met a deserved fate for his hideous crime.

Since these occurrences, Indian troubles have ceased to agitate the citizens of Butte county, and but few natives are now within her limits. On the ranch of General Bidwell is a small rancheria of Indians

who work about the premises, being both docile and harmless. found one or two, but none collected in bands or rancherias.

Here and there about the county can be

CHICO CITY.

Chico, the largest and most important town in Butte county, is situated in the fairest portion of her territory. The city is surrounded by magnificent farms, brought to a high stage of development. An immense tract of ground, unsurpassed by any in the world for productiveness and beauty, stretches out on every side, while within, the place presents many attractions not often found in cities of its size. The population of Chico is in the neighborhood of four thousand five hundred, most of it having been acquired within the last decade.

The history of Chico, its primal settlement and occupation, begins as far back as 1843, more than six years prior to the organization of the state government, and more than seven years prior to the organization of the county. It was at that period that Edward A. Farwell and William Dickey, who were desirous of obtaining grants of land, together with three or four others, came to this vicinity on a hunting expedition and to look over the land. The Sacramento and Feather rivers, with their hundreds of tributaries, were running with bright crystal waters, undisturbed by the primitive rocker of the miner, inhabited by the finny tribes, and covered with myriads of wild fowl. Farwell chose for his grant the land on the south side of the creek, and Dickey that on the north side. A full record of the various grants in the county, together with their location and boundaries, may be found in another chapter. Mr. Dickey named the creek Arroyo Chico; Arroyo signifying creek, and Chico, small. Having selected their land and finished their hunt, they returned to Sutter's fort (Sacramento) in March. It was about this time that General Bidwell first visited this section of the state, passing through here on his way to the present site of Red Bluff.

Although the grant of land owned by General Bidwell was occupied as early as 1845, and the Farwell grant, upon which Chico is situated, was settled in 1844, the town-site was not laid out till 1860. Prior to that event, however, the settlement of the country by Americans had made the Rancho Chico a place of considerable importance. The first house thereon was erected by General Bidwell in 1849. It was destroyed by fire in 1852, and was succeeded by the adobe building which stood, for many years, an interesting relic of the past. The first postmaster of Chico was A. H. Barber, being appointed to the position in 1851, when the first United States mail arrived at the ranch.

In the organic Act of Butte county, the seat of justice was fixed either at Butte City or Chico, whichever place should be selected by the voters at the first election. Though neither was selected when the vote was taken, yet Chico may claim the prestige of being the first capital city of Old Butte. The district court was held here in 1850, and the county court had a brief term in Chico at the same time. The board of inspectors of the first election also held its convocation at the Rancho Chico, and decided who were elected to the county offices. In the fall of 1852, Chico became a voting precinct. During this year, Hall & Crandall began running stages from Marysville to Shasta. They passed through Hamilton, then the county-seat, Neal's ranch and Chico. His place becoming a station on the stage-route, where hungry men and exhausted animals needed refreshment and rest, Mr. Bidwell opened a hotel at this period, which was conducted for a number of years under his auspices. At this time he commenced to farm, in addition to stock-raising. He set out fruit trees, planted wheat and other grains, and laid

the foundation of the grand success attained by him in the Rancho Chico. From 1849 to 1860 there were no houses south of Chico creek, all of the improvements being confined to Mr. Bidwell's premises.

Some interesting horse-races were had at Chico in 1854. Thomas Wright, an early settler of that region, was a great lover of horses, and given considerably to horse-racing. He had the name of possessing some of the finest pieces of horseflesh in the country at that time. On the eighth of July, 1854, a race of only a quarter of a mile was run, between a horse of Wright's and one belonging to a Mr. Brown, the winning horse to win for his master the other animal. Wright's horse came off best and added to his stock. On the twenty-ninth of July, 1854, Wright's gray mare, Pocahontas, ran a halfmile against Williamson's bay stallion Belmont, from Colusa, Five thousand dollars were put up on each side and a large number of people witnessed the contest.

Pocahontas came off winner.

over which they ran extended from below the depot to where the Fashion stable now stands. tas ran again at Neal's ranch some time after, and made a good deal of money for her owner. sold to Sam. Neal, and by him to C. F. Lott, who now drives one of her colts.

The track
Pocahon-

She was

On the fourth of July, 1855, a grand celebration was held at Chico, connected with which were a barbecue, and a ball in the evening. People were patriotic in those days and came from far and near to take part in the affair.

In the fall of 1860, the town-plat of Chico was laid out by J. S. Henning, county surveyor. The location was selected by General Bidwell, on whose land it lay. Richard Breese immediately put up a house in the town, and several others were soon built. E. B. Pond erected the first brick store, and opened it in due form on the eighth of February, 1861. On Thanksgiving day of the same year he joined his fortunes with those of Miss C. S. McNeal, the ceremony being performed while a heavy rainstorm was in progress. Though this was the first marriage at Chico, the first birth had occurred more than a year before, Emma M. White being the pioneer baby of Chico. The building erected by Mr. Pond stood on the corner of First and Main streets, and was successively occupied by George F. Jones, Sanderson, Harris & Co., and by Tickner, Burnham & Co. In the summer of 1862, a private school was opened in Chico by Mrs. C. J. Doty. A year afterward the Chico school district required a public school, and Mrs. Jane H. Voorhees was the first teacher.

The rich productiveness of Chico township began to operate favorably towards its settlement, and many left the mountains and the foothills, with their uncertain crop of gold-dust, to seek comfort and a surer prosperity in the Sacramento valley. Wheat became the staple product, and the acreage from year to year rapidly increased. Chico was the principal market for the grain, and of course furnished supplies to the country. A good trade was thus established, which steadily built up the town, without subjecting it to the vicissitudes of a mining village.

The prosperity of Chico and the surrounding country raised hopes, which in the end proved fallacious, that she could secure the county-seat of Butte; but the way not being clear for a decision by suffrage, it was thought best to get the county divided by an Act of the legislature, Butte to be wholly a mining county, and the new one-Alturas-to be entirely agricultural in its nature. This scheme failed,

as will be seen by reference to the chapter on Official History. In 1864, Chico had a population of five hundred, and John Bidwell was postmaster. The resident physicians were Drs. P. W. Sproul and N. Watts, though the latter was at that time claimed as a citizen by Dayton. Long prior to 1864, Dr. J. Smith had practiced in the Chico neighborhood, his first settlement there being in 1853. J. A. Clark was the first resident lawyer. Mr. Hallet and A. M. Barnes were the justices of the peace who adjudicated matters in controversy and punished small offenders, while H. Sunderlin and A. S. Warner summoned the reluctant witness to appear in court, and dragged the busy merchant from his store to sit on juries. At that time Pond & Hudson were engaged in the dry-goods trade, and Thomas McFadden had