stable. George H. Norman is justice of the peace, and R. C. Long the resident attorney. Mr. Norman is also engaged in the profession of dentistry.

Among the old settlers of the Gridley neighborhood, we wish to mention the names of Robert Turner, V. P. Richards, C. A. Richards, Samuel Plymeir, Jacob Shaw, Charles Cliffman, George W. Gridley, Joseph Slager, F. Shaffer, W. K. Brown, J. S. Crane, John Schoffenberg, Edward Taylor, John Boyles, Charles Myers and John Durley.

NORTH BUTTE LODGE, No. 230, F. & A. M., at Gridley, was organized under dispensation November 8, 1872, and was chartered October 18, 1873. J. Stafford was the first master chosen, but did not act. The first active officers were, M. L. Tesher, W.M.; John M. Pugh, S.W.; J. M. Clanton, J.W.; L. C. Stone, Treas.; J. C. Young, Sec.; A. Pugh, S.D.; H. Will, J.D.; W. T. Woods, Tyler.

An Eastern Star Lodge was established at Gridley June 4, 1878, called the VERNON CHAPTER, with thirty-one charter members. Miss Clara Fleming was the first Worthy Matron. The remaining officers were, Joshua Stafford, P.; Annie Baylis, A.M.; H. C. Wharton, S.; W. D. Peck, T.; Julia Crain, C.; Alvina Sliger, A.C.

BUENA VISTA LODGE, NO. 268, I. O. O. F., was organized December 27, 1877. The charter members were A. Bertelsen, J. T. Evans, S. H. Herron, George W. Herron, George M. Lewis, William Oustott, S. C. Schoonover, Thomas Sooy, J. Schow and W. H. Turner.

A Rebekah Lodge, called J. L. RIDGELY, No. 65, was established January 6, 1882.

A lodge of the Order of Chosen Friends was organized here September 11, 1880, which has forty members, and is a live organization.

GRIDLEY LODGE, No. 67, A. O. U. W., was instituted on the twenty-ninth of November, 1878, with the following charter members: J. M. Tibbetts, P.M.W.; B. H. McNeil, M.W.; Eli Sala, F.; Robert Stiles, O.; C. P. Furst, R.; William James, F.; L. C. Stone, Receiver; W. McBain, G.; Daniel Walker, I.W.; L. P. Denny, O.W. The lodge has forty members, and holds its meetings in the hall of the Odd Fellows.

NELSON.

Nelson was laid out by the California and Oregon Railroad Company in 1873, being situated on railroad land. It lies in Oregon township, thirteen miles south of Chico. It derives its name from A. D. Nelson, who was one of the first who located in this section. Most of the buildings were erected by R. F. Dockery. Some years since he built a large brick store, with a hall in the second story, used by the Good Templars. The two-story hotel at this place has been run by the Harding brothers since 1876. Nelson has two large warehouses, a store, blacksmith-shop and a saloon. It is surrounded by as fine wheat-producing land as can be found in the state, and is one of the great shipping points of the county for this cereal.

DURHAM.

Seven miles south of Chico, on the C. & O. railroad, is the town of Durham. Its existence dates from 1870, when the iron horse invaded the fair regions of Dayton and Chico townships. It is one of the most extensive shipping points for grain in the county, and boasts of two very large warehouses. The first was put up by Judge W. B. Pratt and the other by an association of farmers. W. W. Durham, whose name is given to the village, represented Butte county in the legislature of 1879–80. The Durham flouring-mills are a valuable property, now belonging to the estate of W. B. Pratt. They are

leased by William Taylor, who is making great quantities of excellent flour from Butte-county wheat. The Durham farm, in the vicinity, is one of the oldest and best in the county.

DAYTON.

The place was first settled by Joseph Wiggins and Samuel Van Ness in 1859, who engaged in merchandising. The rich agricultural region of Dayton township made a village necessary, when supplies could be obtained and a market had for the produce of that period. Dayton never grew metropolitan, but was always a good trading point. George Perrigo started a hotel there in 1860, and it is now run by Bradley Spencer. Lafayette Zumalt was the pioneer village blacksmith and Dr. N. Watts the first physician, who resided there many years before removing to Chico.

Dayton is a considerable shipping point for grain, her landing on the Sacramento river being five miles distant. Freights for the town are hauled from Chico. The town has one store, two blacksmithshops, one carriage-manufactory, and two saloons. The Dayton school was started prior to 1860, and has two efficient teachers. On the seventeenth of January, 1875, Peter Carton, familiarly known as "Chips," was fatally stabbed by Jack Hayes, in the village of Dayton. In Dayton township are two large Spanish grants. The rancho Llano Seco is owned by John Parrott, and the rancho Agua Frias by O. C. Pratt. A two-story building has been built by the Odd Fellows and the Campbellites together, the upper part being used as a lodge-room, and the lower for church purposes. The Dayton lodge No. 175, I. O. O. F., was organized August 6, 1870. The name of Grainland is applied to the postoffice here, and frequently to the town itself. Judge J. O. March is the present postmaster.

men.

OREGON CITY.

This now almost extinct mining camp is situated in Oregon gulch. The camp was originally started in 1849, by a number of Oregon men, who made a good deal of money at placer mining, which was very rich in that locality. The ravine received its name of Oregon from the settlement of these In 1850, placer mining was very extensively engaged in, and the population of the neighborhood was considerable. A store was opened in October by Wilmot & Simmons, who did a large business. At this time the rich quartz ledges were discovered. A man named Smith opened the first quartz ledge and put up a mill in 1851. His mine was called the Smith ledge. Other ledges were called the Ryder ledge, the Buffalo ledge, opened by John Nesbit, the Rock River ledge, and the White and Nutter ledge. At all of these mines there were quartz-mills or arastras. The White and Nutter mills were the first of importance; they were erected in 1854. In January, 1851, J. McKinstry Smith sold a lot of goods at auction some distance below the camp. It was in '51 that the Banner ledge was located by Smith and Sparks, a full account of which mine is given in the chapter on mining. In 1854-55, Oregon City was a very lively place and had three stores. In 1856, it was laid out into town lots by Colonel Derrick and others. Camps in the vicinity received their supplies from Oregon City. In 1857, the town began to decline, and since 1860 there has been but very little done in the place. In 1860, E. A. Halstead became interested in the Buffalo mine. Colonel Derrick is the only quartz-miner living there, though a short distance above several quartz claims are being worked and much prospecting is done.

CHEROKEE.

The mining town of Cherokee has its history so closely interwoven with that of the great mine in which it is located, that having described the mine in the chapter on mining, but little more remains to

man.

be said of a local nature. In 1853, very rich deposits of gold were found on the flat, and worked by the Cherokee Indians. Later in the year the news spread about and a great many whites came in to reap some of the golden harvest that had hitherto benefited only the children of the forest. The camp took the name of Cherokee from the original occupants. Small claims a hundred feet square were taken up, so that a great many could be accommodated with mining ground, and the population swelled rapidly in consequence. The usual amount taken out at the time was from twenty to fifty dollars daily per Stores were started at the place in 1853, by E. A. Pearson, Thomas McDanel and Mr. Moore. The history of Cherokee has been that of all mining camps. Its ups and downs have followed the fluctuations of mining in the vicinity. Since the hydraulic operations were commenced a few years ago on so grand a scale, it has become quite a populous and thriving settlement, the majority of the population being in the employ of the company. A large store, kept by the company, supplies all the necessaries of life, while several hotels and boarding-houses accommodate a large share of the population. A lodge of Masons exists here, that was removed from Oroville some years ago. [See History of Oroville.] An excellent school is one of the advantages possessed by the town. The future prosperity of Cherokee as a mining town is assured by the mammoth hydraulic workings now being carried on.

PENCE'S RANCH AND PENTZ P. O.

In 1850, Mr. M. Pence, in company with William Lyon, Robert Bounds, Alfred Kagy, and John Slocum, located what was then known as the Lyon ranch, in the Messila valley (an arm of the Sacramento valley), so named by Mrs. Burnham. Here they opened a store and eating-place in a tent. The bar was kept on a small board taken from the broken wagon-box. The interests of his partners changed hands frequently, but Mr. Pence retained his, and in 1866 bought out Thomas Harrison and became sole owner of the property. A blacksmith-shop and post-office are kept by Mr. Pence. kept by Mr. Pence. The latter was established in 1864, with M. Pence as post-master. The department spells it Pentz. At first the mail brought to the office could be placed in a cigar-box; now the different publications taken at the office number a hundred. It is on the old emigrant road, twelve miles from Oroville, and has a daily mail.

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The ranch consists of four hundred acres, and is one of the most valuable as well as beautifullylocated ranches in the county. All kinds of fruit trees and shrubs grow and bear abundantly. The vineyard contains about 12,000 vines. In the orchard are about sixty orange and lemon-trees, together with a good collection of peaches, apples, pears, nectarines, apricots, and both black and California walThe grapes are grown without irrigation, and command the highest price in the market. Manoah Pence, the proprietor of the ranch, was born in Perry county, Ohio, on the sixth day of April, 1819. He was the son of Isaac and Catherine (Heck) Pence. Manoah was the second son of seven children. His boyhood days were spent in labor on the farm, mingled with a limited attendance at public school, so that his facilities for an education were not large. When twenty-one years of age he left the parental roof, and for eight years resided in Illinois, Iowa and Missouri. On the second day of April, 1849, he started for California, and came overland via the Sublette cut-off, landing on the Lassen ranch October 2, 1849. His party being out of supplies, Mr. Pence and Dr. Chandler were selected to go to Sacramento for them. On their return, while at a point near Hamilton, the storms set in, and they could proceed no further. The other members of the party were sent for, and they all began mining on the river. Mr. Pence took out with pick and pan thirty-seven dollars daily. He afterwards mined on the west branch at Ohio bar, and at Rich gulch, near Yankee Hill. In 1850, he abandoned mining and settled on his ranch. On December 16, 1857, Mr. Pence was married to Mrs. Sophia (Chase) Finn, a native of Maine, and widow of the late Nemiah Finn. By her first marriage she had

two children: Laura Helen, born September 20, 1848, and died April 11, 1849; Charles E., born September 20, 1850, and died August 12, 1851. Mr. and Mrs. Pence have also had two children: Watt M., born September 10, 1858; Layton, born October 16, 1860, and died January 5, 1863. Mr. Pence is a member of Table Mountain Lodge, F. & A. M., at Cherokee. He is widely known throughout Butte county, and highly esteemed by all.

Near Pence's ranch is the lumber-dump of the Oroville Lumber Company's flume. The Sugar Pine Lumber, Flume and Mining Company was incorporated in 1874. In 1875-6 the flume was built. It heads in Concow township at Flea valley, where are two large saw mills. Two thousand inches of water are conveyed in the flume a distance of twenty-five miles to the dump, in the course of which there is a fall of 3,500 feet. On the nineteenth of February, 1879, a new company, called the Oroville Lumber Company, was formed, with a capital stock of $200,000. Mr. Daniel Hilton was the first superintendent, and still holds the position. At the dump there is a large planing-mill, where lumber is made to suit the trade. Three million feet of lumber are cut annually by this company, and the amount will be greatly increased hereafter, because of projected improvements to be made the coming year. Near the dump is a good store, kept by J. R. Buffington.

MAGALIA, OR DOGTOWN.

In the spring of 1850, Abraham Decker, Sam McClellan, Sr., and Sam McClellan, Jr., came to the ridge where Dogtown is located, and so far as is known, were the first white men ever at that spot. In the fall of 1850, a man named Bassett built a cabin on the ridge, and others soon settled in the vicinity. E. B. Kinson, one of the first settlers, built a saw-mill here in 1852. The origin of the peculiar name which still clings to the place, is ascribed to the fact that Mrs. Bassett raised a great many dogs to sell, finding it a very profitable business to supply the miners with a good breed of man's faithful friend. Prior to this nomenclature it bore the name of Mountain View. In early days letters for this point cost a dollar apiece to be brought from Marysville. The first store was opened by Abe Folk in the fall of 1851, and it soon became a lively camp. A year afterwards there were five hundred miners in and around the place.

The first mining done in the Dogtown neighborhood was by Tom Neal, in 1851, who delved for the yellow ore four miles above. The Willard claim, one mile northeast of town, was located and worked in 1852. In 1854, a piece of pure gold was taken out of it, weighing ninety-six ounces. In 1859, the great fifty-four-pound chunk was found [see chapter on mining], and the same week this claim yielded $30,000. Two weeks' mining on this claim resulted in the finding of seven pieces, the smallest of which was worth over $2,000.

Dogtown in 1855-56 became one of the most important towns in the county. A postoffice was established here in 1857, called the Butte Mills, but was changed to Magalia in 1861. In 1859, a man by the name of Jake Greer stabbed and killed a man known as Dutch Fred, in a quarrel caused by the Dutchman refusing to drink with him. Greer was tried by the district court and sentenced to be hung, but the sentence was commuted by the governor to imprisonment for life.

On the nineteenth of July, 1870, the village was all burned, with the exception of four houses. The loss aggregated about $40,000, of which $20,000 was insured, and were distributed principally as follows: Downer's hotel, $3,500 : Cohn & Bros., $15,000; Mark's store, $8,000; J. Chamberlain, $2,000; Charles Bader, $1,200; Fred. Stryker, $500. The fire had its origin in an unoccupied butcher-shop. In 1873, the store of Simon Marks was burned, destroying $10,000 worth of property; and on the sixth of March, 1880, a large new hotel belonging to John Hupp, costing $13,000, which was nearly ready to open, was