The heroes of Battle Rock, or, The miners' reward. A short story of thrilling interest. How a small canon done its work. Port Orford, Oregon, the scene of the great tragedy. A desperate encounter of nine white men with three hundred Indians. Miraculous escape after untold hardships. Historically true. Savages subdued and rich gold mines discovered

P7KS

The Heroes of Battle Rock,

or

The Miners' Reward,

A Short Story of Tfiriffino Interest

How a Smaff Canon Done its Work.

Port Orford, Oregon, the Scene of the Great Tragedy.

A Desperate Encounter of Nine White Men with Three

Hundred Indians. Miraculous Escape After

Untold Hardships.

HISTORICALLY TRUE.

Savages Subdued and Rich Gold Mines Discovered.

Edited by Orvii, Dodge.

January, 1904.

Gift of C. A. Kofol*

p 8 ?

] he ^lero of Battle nock-

"I was working in Portland, Oregon, at tlie carpenter
•trade along in the latter part of May, 1851, when a friend by
the name of Palmer, introduced me to ("apt. Win. Tichenor,
who was at that time running an old steam propeller called
the Sea Gull, between Portland, Oregon, and San Francisco,
California, Before introducing uie to Oapt. Tichenor, my
friend told me that the Oapt. wanted eight or ten men to go
down on the steamer with him to a place called Port Orford
<on the southwest coast of Oregon, where be intended to
make a settlement, lay out a town, and build a road into the
gold diggings in Southern Oregon and that all who went
down with him should have a share in the town he and his
partners were going to build. His partners were Mr. Hub-
board, purser on the Sea Gull, and the Hon. Butler King,
then chief in the Custom House in San Francisco. After 1
made the acquaintance of Captain Tichenor he painted the
whole enterprise in such glowing colors that I was really
infatuated with the prospect. He told me that there was
not a particle of danger from the Indians, that he had been
ashore among them many times and they were perfectly
friendly, so I went to work to hunt up a party to go down
with us on the Sea Gull.

I gathered together eight young men who were willing to
go down on the trip. Their names were J. H. Eagan, John
T. Slater, George Ridoubs. T. D. Palmer, Joseph Hussey.
Cyrus W. Hedden, James Carigan, Erastus Summers and
myself, making nine in all. Captain Tichenor agreed to fur-
nish us arms, ammunition and supplies, and take us down
on his steamer. He told us all to get ready to go as he would
sail from Portland on the 4th of June, 1851.

We were ready and sailed from Portland on time. On the
5th we arrived in Astoria. I had been selected by the party
as the captain of the expedition so I went to Captain Tiche-

D

STift-l «vi rp;

ing badly ; Ridoubt was shot in the breast, the arrow stick-
ing into the breast bone, making a painful wound, and
Slater ran and laid down in a hole behind the tent. This
left six of us to fight it out with the Indians who still kept
coming. When they were crowded on the narrow ridge, the
red shirted fellow in the lead and not more than eight feet
from the muzzle of the gun, I applied the fiery end of the
rope to the priming. The execution was fearful, at least
twelve or thirteen men were killed outright and such a
tumbling of scared Indians I never saw before or since. The
gun was upset by the recoil; but we never stopped for that
but rushed out to them and soon cleared the rock of all the
live warriors. We counted seventeen dead Indians on the
rock and this was the bloody baptism that gave the name of
Battle Rock to our old camp at Port Orford on the 10th day
of June, 1851.

Some incidents that occurred during the battle are worth
relating. There were two warriors who passed the crowd
and were not hit by any of the slugs of lead fired from the
cannon. One of these, a big strong looking Indian, made
up his mind that he wanted my scalp; as soon as the can-
non was fired he rushed to me with a big knife. Carigan
shot him in the shoulder and Summers shot him through the
bowels and still he came on. He made a lick at me with his
knife, which I knocked out his hand with my left, when he
grabbed for his knife I pulled one of the deringers from my
pocket and shot him in the head, the ball going in at one
temple and out at the other. He turned then and ran
twenty feet and fell dead among the Indians that were
killed by the cannon. The other Indian went for Eagan
whose musket missed fire, as the Indian was in the act of
fixing an arrow in his bow, when Eagan hit him over the
head with the barrel of his musket bending it more than six
inches. The blow stunned the Indian and as quick as light-
ning Eagan jumped at him and took his bow away, he then
jumped back and turned his musket and gave him three
or four blows with the butt knocking him entirely off the
rock into the ocean.

After the fight was all over probably an hour, an Indian
chief came up the beach within hailing distance and laid
down his bow. quiver of arrows and knife and then stepped
forward and made signs that he wanted to come to our
camp. I went down to the beach and met him and brought

him up to the camp. He was by all odds the finest specimen
of physical manhood that I ever looked at. He made signs
to us that he wanted to carry away the dead Indians. I
made him understand that he could bring another Indian to
help him. He called out for one more to come up to the
camp. They would take the dead ones on their back, pack
them down from where they lay, across the narrow sandy
beach and up a steep trail toward the north and over a
ridge ;uid out of sight. They did this eight times, and where
they laid the dead was over three hundred yards from our
camp. Some of the Indians were quite large, several of them
weighing over two hundred pounds. As a feat of strength
and endurance it was simply wonderful. They carried away
all the dead except the fellow who wore the red shirt. I
tried to get the big chief to carry him off but he shook his
head and stooped down and tore his shirt in two and then
gave him a kick with his foot atid turned and walked away.
We had to drag the fellow afterwards and bury him in the
sand. We all remarked that he was very white for an In-
dian, he had yellow hair and a freckled face. I pronounced
him to be a white man. He turned out to be a white man
who had been among the Indians for many years, they hav-
ing saved him from the wreck of a Russian ship that was
lost on the Oregon coast many years ago.

Another incident of our day's battle was this : After the
Indian chief and his man had carried away all of the dead
warriors we went to work to make a breastwork on each side
of our gun, this was to make it a little more difficult for
the Indians to get into our camp, I was standing outside on
the narrow ridge in front of our gun watching some Indians
who were about three hundred yards away. I was leaning
on my rifle when Joe. Hussey came out of the camp and
laid his right hand on my left shoulder, I turned my head
to see what he wanted tvhen spat a bullet hit his thumb cut-
ting it about half off. This was the first rifle shot we had
heard from the Indians since the fight began. The Indian
with the gun had crawled down unnoticed by us, into a large
pile of rocks about sixty yards away from where I stood
when he shot. He was so sure that he had hit me that he
jumped out from the rocks and showed himself; then it was
my turn. I had a slug ball and five buck-shot in my rifle
and in an instant I drew a head on him and when my gun
cracked he jumped three feet into the air and fell dead.

Eagan said, "I am going after his gun.'' I told hini to hold
on until I had loaded my rifle for, says I, "There may be
other Indians in the rocks and I want to be ready." As
soon as my gun was loaded he ran down and picked up the
gun and seeing it was of no account he broke the stock and
came back bringing the Indians head dress with him. It
was made of sea shells of different colors and was quite
pretty. He said the bullet from my rifle had broken his
right arm and passed through his body and cut his left hand
entirely off. He never knew what hurt him. This was the
last Indian killed by us in our first day's battle. We could
only count twenty Indians that we had killed; but years
afterward we learned from the Indians that there were
twenty-three killed.

In our talk with the big chief we made him understand
that in fourteen days more the steamer would return and
take us away and for fourteen days we were not molested
by them, in fact we never saw an Indian ; but on the morn-
ing of the 15th they were there in force, some three of four
hundred of them in their war paint. They evidently meant
business now as we had lied to them, the steamer did not ar-
rive as we had promised them and we could not make them
understand why the vessel did not come. Two or three
hundred warriors were going through with a regular war
dance on the beach and every time they would turn around
so as to face us they would snap their bow strings at us
and make signs that they would soon have our scalps. The
big chief was now their leader. He had his warriors all
drawn up around him about two hundred and fifty yards
from us. He made a speech to them so loud that we could
hear every word he said above the roar of the surf and he
did some of the finest acting that I ever saw before or since.
When he stopped talking he drew a long knife and waved it
around his head, gave a terrible yell* and started for us fol-
lowed by not less than three hundred warriors. I had called
to my side James Carrigan who who was the best rifle shot
of any of my men. I told him to take a good rest, draw his
lungs full of air, keep cool and wait until they came near
enough so as to be sure and kill the leader, for it was either
the big chief or us who must go. When he got within about
one hundred yards of us I raised my rifle to my shoulder
and said, "Fire!" We both fired at the same time and down
he dropped, we had both hit him in the breast and one of

our bullets had gone through his heart, killing him instantly.
Had a hundred thunder bolts dropped among his warriors
they could not have stopped them as suddenly as killing
their big chief. They gathered around his body and
with a groan that was terrible, picked him up and
carried him away to the north out of sight. In about
an hour another great tall fellow wearing an old red
shirt, came up the teach and commenced calling the
Indians around him. Pie soon collected a couple of
hundred warriors about him and made a speech to them
about five minutets in length. We could see by his frantic
gestures and talk that he was urging the Indians to rush on
us and wipe us out. When he stopped talking he waved his
big knife over his head and started for us, pointing his knife
at us and motioning that our heads must be cut off. We
were ready for him and when he came close to where the
other chief was killed, we fired and he dropped dead. This
ended all efforts on the part of their chiefs to induce the In-
dians to rush on us. They had had enough of that kind of
business. They drew back to the edge of the woods, about
three hundred yards away from our camp, and had a big
talk, after which they commenced going down the beach to
a place a little over a mile from our camp, where there were
a number of fires burning. We could see a number of canoes
loaded with Indians coming up from the direction of the
mouth of Rogue River and landing near these fires. They
were evidently concentrating their forces for a night at-
tack on us. We had now taken note of our situation. We
we surrounded on one side by thousands of miles of water
and on the other side by at least four or five hundred hostile
Indians and one hundred and fifty miles or more from any
settlement of white men. We had also taken stock of our
ammunition and had little left. About six loads apiece for
our rifles. Something had to be done and that before night,
for if they made a night attack on us we could not possi-
bly stand them off, so I told the boys that if we could gain
the woods and they would stand by me I would take them all
through to the settlements. We made up our minds that it
was the only chance to save our scalps. We were still
watched by ten or twelve Indians not more than two hun-
dred yards away. To get rid of those fellows so that we
could gain the woods was the next question we had to solve.
"Now," said I, "If they contemplate a night attack on us we

8

must convince those fellows on watch that we have no notion
of going away." We all went to work as hard as we could
to strengthen our breastwork. We cut down one of the
pine trees that grew on Battle Rock, cut off the limbs and
piled them on top of our breastworks. As soon as the In-
dians, who were on watch, saw what we were doing
they were sure we were determined to stay. They then start-
ed down the beach to join the others. We counted them as
they got up out of the grass, and there were one hundred
and fourteen. I will say that I never, in all my experience
with Indians before or since, saw as fine a body of warriors
as those. We were now pretty sure that they had all left,
but Eagan climbed up to the top of one of the trees and
looked in every direction but could see no sign of any In-
dians except down the beach where they were having a grand
war dance. Now was our chance. We left everything we
had in camp; our two tents, our blankets and what little
provisions we had, and with nothing but our guns and an
ax and all the small ropes we had, with two or three sea
biscuits apiece, we bid farewell to our old camp on Battle
Rock, and startetd on our fearful retreat through an un-
known country. It was now about 4 o'clock in the after-
noon. We had determined to keep as near the beach as pos-
sible. We travelled with all our might to get as far as we
could before night overtook us. When we were about three
miles from Port Orford just as we were going around a
point of rocks on an old trail, we met about thirty Indian
wariors fully armed, going down to join the others. We
raised a yell and charged right at them. We never fired a
shot, but they ran like scared wolves. We kept' right on
and just between sunset and dark we came to quite a river
and, as good luck would have it, we struck this stream just
at the turn of the tide so that by wading out on the bar a
little way we were able to get across without any trouble.
Fifteen minutes later we would have had to build a raft
to cross on. This stream was not down on any map that I
had ever seen at that time. I think it is now called Elk
River. After crossing this stream we struck into the woods
and travelled all night, guiding our steps by the roar of the
surf breaking on the rocks. There was no time to lose. We
knew that the Indians would follow us so we traveled on as
hard as we could, wading streams of water, some of consid-
erable size, and making our way through a dense growth of

9

timber and brush. About 3 o'clock the next day we came to
the edge of what seemed to us a large plain. It looked to be
miles in extent and was covered with a heavy growth of high
grass and proved to be an immense swamp.

We now determined to try and cross this swamp and
reach the sea after dark and travel all night. We floundered
around in this swamp all night, sometimes in water up to
our armpits, until after dark when we found a little island
of about an aere of dry land and covered with a thick growth
of small fir bushes. Here we laid down and tried to rest
and sleep but encountered a new enemy in the shape of
clouds of mosquitoes. There was no escape from them and
they were the hungriest lot that I had ever seen. In the
morning, as soon as it was light enough for us to see our
way out, we struck for the beach again and in about an
hour we reached an Indian trail fully twenty feet wide
where hundreds of Indians had gone. They were now
ahead of us. AVe followed on their trail a few miles when
we came to a stream of water about four rods wide and two
feet deep. Here the trail turned up this stream and left the
beach. We at once came to the conclusion that the Indians
had followed us that far the first night and when daylight
came they had found that we had not traveled on the beach,
so they struck up. this stream, thinking of intercepting us
when we readied this stream on our way. We crossed on
the beach and were now ahead of the Indians. We now put
in our best time traveling as hard as we could. About five
o'clock we reached the mouth of the Coquille River where we
were confronted by a large stream of water and on the op-
posite side of the river were three or four hundred Indians
all drawn up in line of battle ready to prevent our crossing.
They were making signs that they would kill us if we at-
tempted to cross, so there was now no alternative but to
keep up on the south side of the river and do our best to pre-
vent coming into collision with these Indians that were so
numerous and hostile. We now came to the conclusion that
we had better try and cross the mountains and strike the
wagon road that led from the settlements in Oregon down
to California. About three or four miles from the mouth of
the Coquille River, on the south side, rises quite a high
mountain, so we determined to go to the top of this moun-
tain in order to study the surrounding country. Three or
four hundred Indians kept right opposite watching us, with

10

nothing but the river between them and us. Just as we
reached the foot of this mountain the Indians stopped a few
minutes and divided their forces. One party of over one
hundred turned off to the left and ran up a short ravine to-
ward the north. They soon disappeared over a low pass to
the left and went back toward their village at the mouth of
the river. Their object was to get their canoes, cross the
river, overtake us and kill or capture us. When we had
ascended this mountain some distance we could see the
Indians crossing the river in their canoes. We hurried on as
fast as we could travel and between sun down and dark
we reached the top of the mountain, tired, hungry and
nearly worn out. Here we determined to rest and get some
sleep. We worked our way into the thicket of brush where
we found a kind of sink hole, about twenty feet in diameter
and about three feet deep, covered on the bottom with a
rank growth of grass with thick brush all around it. Here
we all laid down and were soon fast asleep. Just as soon as
it began to be light in the morning, notwithstanding there
was a thick fog, we were up and off, traveling in a north-
easterly direction as hard as we could. In about an hour
we struck the river again at a point where the timber came
down close to the water. We found a lot of dry drift wood
and soon made a raft large enough to carry the three men who
could not swim and our guns and the bal lance of us swim-
ming and pushing the raft ahead of us. The river at this
point was about two hundred yards wide. When we reached
the opposite bank and landed we supposed that we had
crossed the river but we had only landed on an island and
did not know it until we had taken all our ropes off of the
raft and let the logs go. We had not gone more than three
hundred yards when, to our consternation, wo discovered
that we had another branch of the river to cross nearly as
wide as the one we had crossed. There was not a stick of
timber on the island to make a raft out of, and as the fog
was beginning to break away, there was no time to lose, so
one of the men, George Ridoubt, volunteered to swim across
with the ax and cut off a dry pine tree that projected out
over the water towards us. Our intention was to get the
three men, who could not swim, on to the tree, let them bold
our guns and the balance of us swim along and guide the
tree. Just as the tree fell into the water three Indians came
around the bend in a canoe. They were busy watching the

11

man that was chopping and did not see us until they were
close to us. We hailed them and made signs that we wanted
them to land and take us over the river to where Ridoubt
was.

This they refused to do, but when they saw three or. four
rifles leveled on them they concluded to come to where we
were. We all piled into the canoe and they landed us on
the main land just as the sun broke through the fog. We
did not tarry long till we were on our weary tramp again.
We were now very weak, not having eaten anything for
three nights and four days. We saw plenty of game, but
did not dare to fire a shot, for it would have brought at
least three hundred Indians on to us in ten minutes, and
they would have made short work of us. The men who
were with me had no knowledge of woodcraft and but little
of Indian warfare. They were on an average as brave a
company of men as the same number that could be found.
There was not one among them who could have taken the
lead and kept a course without running around in a circle.
When I found this out I saw that their lives as well as my
own depended on my keeping in the lead. I had a good
knowledge of woodcraft and could take a course and keep
it as long as it was necessary. I had also some little knowl-
edge of the cunning and trickery of the Indians, having
crossed the Rocky Mountains in company with Kit Carson;
and I will here say that of all the men that I ever came in
contact with or associated with Christopher Carson knew
all the tricks and cunning of the Indians better than anj
man I ever saw. I hope you will not think me egotistical
when I say that I felt equal to the task of leading my party
through to a place of safety. After crossing this branch of
the river we struck out in a northwesterly direction, through
the timber, intending, if we could, to reach the beach by
night, and then travel as hard as we could all night if
necessary. We traveled on through the thick heavy timber
until it got so dark that we could not get along, so we all
laid down by the side of a big log and slept until daylight.
We then jumped up and were off in the same direction we
had been traveling the day before. In about an hour we
emerged from the timber and soon got down to the. beach.
We struck the sea at a point where a long reef of rocks ex-
tended quite a ways out into the ocean. These rocks, near
the shore, were covered with mussels which we broke from

12

the rocks and commenced eating them raw. They soon
made us sick, so we built up a fire and began roasting them
and that made them much better. We were eating our first
lot of roasted mussels when one of the Indians, who had
crossed us over the north branch of the Coquille river the
day before, came down to us. As soon as he got near to us,
he commenced talking Jargon. He said he had seen me in
Portland, that he had kept right behind us in the woods
after we left the river, and that he was afraid to come to
us in the woods believing we would kill him. He said that
the Indians were coming up on the beach from the mouth
of the Coquille, and we must hurry as fast as we could.
Each one of us took all the live mussels we could carry, but
did not stop to cook them as we intended to roast them when
we got to a place of safety. We now struck up the beach
as fast as we could go, the Indian in the lead. We traveled
on until about 3 o'clock in the afternoon when the Indian
called our attention to a white pole about eight inches in
diameter and twentyy feet high, standing in a great pile of
rocks at the edge of the beach. When we passed this pole
and monument, the Indian said we were now safe, as the
California Siwashes would not dare to come above that
pole, for the Coos Bay, Umpqua, Clickatats, and some other
tribes he mentioned, would make war on them and drive
them back. After resting a little while we traveled on for
about two hours and, turning into a little cove, we built up
a fire and roasted our mussels and ate them. We then took
up our line of march and traveled till it was dark and then
turned off to our right where we found some dry sand, in
another little cove, and all laid down and slept until morn-
ing. As soon as it was daylight we were up and away.
That afternoon we reached Coos Bay. The Indians met us
more than a mile from their camp and brought us dried
salmon, dried elk meat and salmon terries. They were ex-
tremely friendly and expressed themselves as being very
glad that we had not been killed by the California Siwashes.
We staid all night with these Indians who seemed to vie
with each other in doing everything they could for us. In
the morning they took us across the bay and landed us
about where Empire City now stands. They told us that
we would make the mouth of the Umpqua the -next day.
We bid our friends goodbye and struck across the sand hills
and through swamps, where sometimes the water was three

13

or four feet deep. We floundered around in these sand hills
and swamps until we were nearly tired out and struck for
the beach again. About an hour before dark we reached
the beach. The wind was blowing so hard from the west
that it made it difficult and unpleasant to travel against, so
we left the beach and sought shelter behind some sand hills
that raise to more than a hundred feet above the sea. We
found some dry pine logs near a thicket of brush and soon
had a big fire going. Here we laid down and slept until
morning, notwithstanding we were soaked with the mist
that had been driven across the sand hills by the gale in the
night. After we had dried ourselves a little by our fire we
struck out for the beach. The gale had subsided and the
beach, for more than one hundred yards in width and as far
as we could see up and down the beach, was literally covered
with fisli that had been driven ashore the night before by
the gale. "Luck at last," cried Eagan, "Here is fish enough
for a feast for the Gods;" and each one of us picked up two
apiece, weighing 5 or 6 pounds each, and back we went to
our old camp where we had left a big bed of coals, where we
roasted our fish, eating all we could of one and taking the
rest with us. That afternoon we reached the mouth of the
Umpqua River. The Indians on watch for us had notified
the white men on the other side of the river that the white
men, who had shot a keg of nails into the Indians at Port
Orford, killing many of them, were on the other side of the
river. We could see the white men launching their boats at
what was called Umpqua City; at that time it consisted of
one house built of sheet iron and one tent. In about an
hour they had reached us and taken us aboard. Having a
fair wind the}' hoisted sail and just as the sun wras setting
on the 2d day of July, 1851, we were landed and made wel-
come in white men's quarters, after having an experience
that not soon would we forget. Never did a set of poor,
weary, ragged, hungry white men receive a more royal wel-
come than we did at the hands of Dr. Joseph Drew and his
associates at their camp at the mouth of the Umpqua River.
We rested there one day and on the morning of the 4th they
took us in their boats and, having sailed up the river, they
left us at another new town called Scotsburg. Here we
landed about 1 o'clock and after I had eaten some dinner I
bade farewell to my comrades and struck out for Portland.
The rest were so worn out and footsore that they were com-

14

pel led to lay by and rest. I traveled as hard as I could and
on the night of the fourth I stayed with a man whose name
was Wells. I left his house before daylight and, after a hard
day's tramp, 1 reached the hospitable house of the grand old
pioneer Jesse Applegate. He had just received his mail
from Portland and was busy reading the account of our
fight with the Indians. The conclusion drawn from the ac-
count was that we were killed and burned up. I did not
interrupt him until he got through reading his paper. I
then asked him if I could get some supped and a place to
stay all night. "I can give you some supper but all my
beds and blankets are in use," he said. I told him I was
quite hungry and it made very little difference with me
whether I had a bed or not as I had been sleeping for some
time without a bed' or blanket. He then commenced talking
about those unfortunate young men that had been lured into
the jaws of death by misrepresentation. "Why," said he,
"those Indians down the coast, combined with their broth-
ers, the Rough River Indians, are the worst Indians on the
American continent, and the bravest. Every old settler in
Oregon knows that. The man or company that persuaded
them to go down with the view of making a settlement at
Port Orford was guilty of a great wrong." "Well," said I,
"Mr. Applegate, I am happy to inform you that the men
were not murdered but escaped, and eight of them I left at
Scotsburg yesterday and I am the ninth." I told him my
name and then I gave him an account of our retreat and his
remark was. after I got through, ''Wonderful, wonderful."

Here I must make an explanation. I had written a full
account of our first battle with the Indians on Battle Rock
and also an account of our last battle, fifteen days after-
ward, and closed the account with these words, "We are now
surrounded by three or four hundred Indians hungry for
our scalps, on one side; by thousands of miles of water on
the other; and at least 150 miles from any white man's
house. We have but little grub and are nearly out of am-
munition and if the Indians should make a night attack and
rush on us we certainly could not defend ourselves against
so many." This paper I folded up and placed in the back of
an old book, went to the stump of the pine tree that we had
just cut down, and buried the book in a hole about a foot
deep, then scraped off the bark on one side of the stump,

15

just over where the book was, and wrote with a piece of red
chalk these two words, "Look beneath."

When the steamer Sea Gull reached San Francisco, after
leaving us at Port Orford, she was embargoed for debt and
tied up, so it was impossible for Captain Tichenor to return
in fourteen days as lie had promised. Col. John B. Fergu-
son, then U. S. mail agent for California and Oregon, and a
friend of mine, learning from Captain Tichenor that he was
tied up for debt and could not return on time, and knowing
much more about the Indians on the coast than the captain
did, went to the captain of the steamer Columbia and dis-
patched him one day before her regular sailing time, with
strict orders to call at Port Orford and take us bitck to
Portland. The steamer stopped at Port Orford the day after
we left Battle Rock. The captain and a number of pas-
sengers went ashore and found the body of the fellow in the
red shirt that we had killed in the first fight and buried in
the sand, but the tide had washed him out and he was then
as white as could be. They made sure that it was one of us
when they went up on the rock where everything showed
evidence of a fight. In looking around their attention was
called to the words written on the stump and they soon dug
up the book and after reading it they were sure that the In-
dians had wiped us out. As no Indians were to be seen, they
concluded to search a little further for more evidence of our
fate. They finally found where the big fire had been built
and in some of the ashes they found some human teeth and
some charred pieces of human bones. This ended their
search as they were now sure that we had been killed and
burned. What they really found was where the Indians had
burned their dead after .the first battle with us. They then
returned to the steamer in the full belief that we had all been
killed and burned, all but the body they found on the beach.

The steamer sailed at once with the account of our trouble
up to the time we left Battle Rock. Thi-s was published in
the Oregonian as soon as possible, and this was the account
that Applegate was reading when I reached his house.
Nearly all my friends in Portland and all over Oregon really
believed that it was all up with me and all my party. Not
so with the old mountaineers, Joe Meek, Otway and Wilks.
They all said that we would turn up all right yet, and when
I reached Portland with the news that my party was all safe
they were as happy as men could be. I reached my old

16

quarters in Portland on the 11th day of July, 1851, strong
and rugged, having had enough of adventure to do me for
one time.

As to my comrades on this expedition, I never saw hut two
of them afterwards. Eagan settled in Portland, married,
raised a family. Palmer settled in Salem, had a saloon and
was quite well fixed. These two men I saw quite often. In
18(H) Slater was killed hy Indians, on Rogue River. In 1855
Cy. Hedden joined a company under Colonel TYault and
tried to reach Fort Orford by land. T? Vault's party consist-
ed of ten or twelve men and when they reached the Coquille
River, Hedden pointed out our trail to T' Vault and told him
he was on dangerous ground and must be cautious. He
paid no attention to Hedden's warning, but went into camp
on a grassy plat not far from where we crossed the river.
In the night the Indians sin-prised his camp, killing the most
of his men. Hedden escaped with a man by the name of
Williams, who had bees wounded with an arrow, and whe»
the shaft was pulled out the head was left in his body.
Hedden and Williams finally reached Scotsburg where Wil-
liams suffered for months but the arrow point finally worked
itself out. Hedden stayed and waited on him until he got
well.

When I look back over this whole affair I think you will
agree with me that, take it all in all, the history of. the Port
Orford expedition is worthy of a place in the history of the
early settlements. As to our fight, considering our inex-
perience and the arms we had, we certainly did well. There
is no other battle in Indian warfare that I know of, that
equals it, except that most glorious defense Mrs. Harris
made in 1855 on Rogue River in defending her house and
home containing the dead body of her husband and her living
child, when for more than ten hours she, all alone, stood
off at least one hundred of the bravest Indians that ever
lifted a white man's scalp, killing, according to the Indians'
own statement, fifteen. To this little woman we must all
give the praise of making the grandest fight, against fearful
odds, that was ever made on the continent of America.

It was the first time that the Indians of Port Orford had
ever been whipped, usually killing more of the white men
than'they themselves had had killed. Here they had lost 25
warriors and npt killed or captured a single white man.
It was the old cannon that did the work. It was an en-

17

tirely new thing to them as they really thought that we
were using thunder and lightning against them. The noise
and the fearful execution done by the gun demoralized them.
They were not only seared but they were terrified and the
killing of their two big chiefs taught them that we were
dangerous. I have often thought that our escape was due
as much to their fear of us as to our good luck. I can look
back over the long stretch of years and feel a generous
pride that none of my party were killed.

I know not if any of my old comrades are living now. I
was the youngest one in the party and I have passed my
three score and ten. If any of them are living, "God's bless-
ing on them;" if they have crossed the great Divide, then
"Farewell."

Nearly all of the old pioneers of Oregon are gone. No
braver, bigger-hearted, or truer set of pioneers ever blazed
the way for the march of civilization than they who,

"Belonged to the legion that never were listed,
They carried no banner nor crest;
But, split in a thousand detachments,
Were breaking the ground for the rest."

My task is done, and I claim no other merit for these recol-
lections than that of truth.

J. M. Kirkpatrick.

DISCOVERY OF RICH GOLD FIELDS.

After much delay Captain Tichenor returned to Port Or-
ford and found with dismay that there had been a battle
with the Indians, and that the men he had left in charge
were either killed or had escaped.

The Indians were finaly subdued, and it was discovered
that there was vast stretches of black sand on the beach,
reaching from Coos Bay southward to Crescent City. These
sands were permeated with fine particles of gold, and many
fortunes were made with the "TOM" process; but the
miners began to follow up the stream, believing that the gold
found on the beach came from a mineral belt that existed in
the mountains. Johnsons Creek, a stream heading at Sal-

18

raon Mountain, proved to be very rich, and coarse gold soon
found its way into the miners' sack. The stream being only
a few miles in length it was soon worked out, as the rush
to that new Eldorado was great. After taking out many
thousand dollars, the prospectors broke camp and started
for other fields of promise. Had these adventurers gone
three miles to the head of one of the branches of the stream
and examined the foothills for quartz, they would have
found mines that afterwards became noted for their vast
wealth. In after years, while working on the side of Sal-
mon Mountain in a placer mine. Mr. Dunbar uncovered ore
or quartz that yielded wonderful results. One piece that
weighed two hundred pounds yielded $2,700 and other an-
alysis showed a value as high at $600 per ton. The placer
mine thus worked yielded good results in coarse gold and
amalgam, and besides ore of different grades were uncov-
ered, but a forest fire sweeping over the mountain destroyed
their three miles of flume and all other improvements that
were of a nature susceptible to destruction.

The owners of this valuable property concluded to trans-
fer it to more energetic hands, hence a company was formed,
capitalizing at only $50,000, 25,000 shares being placed on
the market to enable the company to adopt improved
methods so that the gold might be secured rapidly and at
the least expense.

DESCRIPTION OF THE MINE.

The mine is known as Salmon Mountain Placer Mine and
owned by the Salmon Mountain Coarse Gold Mining Com-
pany, their principal place of business being at Myrtle
Point, Oregon, near Coos Bay. The company has 300 acres.
It lays on the north slope of Salmon Mountain, situated
near the county line dividing Coos and Curry counties in
southwest Oregon. The mine is 30 miles from Myrtle
Point, a thriving town situated at the head of navigation
on the Coquille River, a stream that joins the Pacific Ocean
25 miles north of Port Orford. There is a line of steamers
running between Coos Bay and San Francisco, and Myrtle
Point is connected by railroad with Coos Bay, and a wagon
road connects Mvrtle Point with the mine.

19

Report of the U. S. Geological Surveyor and Mineral-
ogist, Port Orford, Oregon, Folio No. 89, Published by
the Department of the Interior.

''The Salmon Mountain Mine on the north slope of Sal-
mon Mountain, at an elevation of 2,100 feet, is hydraulic,
using water with nearly 200 feet head, brought across the
divide from the upper part of Johnsons Creek. The cut is
about 50 feet deep, the same in width, and 500 feet long,
with a range of 200 feet in hight. It is in rather fragmen-
tal material of igneous origin, except at the lower end,
where Eocene shales and sandstone occur. Although closed
at the present time, it has been worked during the rainy
season at intervals for a number of years. When running
under a good head the mine paid $75 to $100 a day and the
gold is said to be rather uniformly distributed through the
whole mass."

These facts have been set forth so that those who wish to
make an investment in a very promising proposition can
do so. It is confidently believed that this is as good and
safe a field for such an enterprise as can be found and
those contemplating such an investment should apply ki
person or by letter addressed to the Secretary of the com-
pany, Mr. Orvil Dodge, Myrtle Point, Oregon, and proper
blanks will be furnished.

All of the stock offered is Treasury stock, and only so
much will be sold as will be sufficient to equip the mine.

If you have a hundred or a thousand to invest you are
face to face with an opportunity for rich returns that is
little likely to occur again in your lifetime. If you want to
act on this proposition, prompt, immediate subscription is
the only sure way to secure the stock.

Following is an extract from a letter written by Hon.
Binges Herman, ex-Commissioner of the General Land
Office, and now a Member of Congress :

"I have known the Salmon Mountain Mine forty years at
least, and have known of its great mineral wealth. I have
known of large quantities of coarse gold having been ex-
tracted. * * * I know all of the people who constitute
the ownership of this valuable property and know them to
be men of integrity and responsibility in the community in
which they reside. * * * I have confidence in the ex-
tent and richness of the Salmon Mountain Mine."

20

FIRST QUARTERLY REPORT TO THE STOCK-HOLDERS OF THE SAL-
MON MOUNTAIN COARSE GOLD MINING CO.

Principle place of business. Myrtle Point, Oreg.

(Incorporated under the laws of the State of Oregon.)
»

December 31, 1903.

The mine originally consisted of 8 placer claims, to whicii
4 more have been added. The company has recently
secured 4 quartz claims, which have been developed while
working the placer mine, they being on the same ground.

The assay of the quartz lodes thus found is officially re-
ported by Professor Monroe, of the Columbian University,
of Washington, I). (\, as able to produce the following
results :

Ore No. 1. . |268.88 per ton

Ore No. 2 243.50 per ton

Ore No. 3 600.80 per ton

Ore No. 4, 8.03 per ton

The samples thus analyzed were selected by persons not
interested, and an affidavit of two men set forth the fact
that they were fair and true samples of the mine.

The improvements on the mine now consist of 1 sawmill
(water power), 1 giant, a blacksmith shop (well equipped),
boarding house, large warehouse, 1 steam boiler and engine,
eraster, 3 miles of flume, about 400 yards of sluice-boxes,
picks, shovels, and other tools to work 10 men. There is
about 1,500 feet of tunneling, that proves the value and
extent of the mine to be excellent and a good investment.

During the last quarter the company have caused to be
expended on the mine, preparing for large improvements,
the sum of $1,000, so they will be ready to put in the
necessary machinery to equip the mine and have it in good
working order by the 1st of next July, when a surprising
dividend may be looked for, within the year.

As soon as shares are sold and a few thousand dollars are
realised, a stamp mill will be placed on the premises and
run night and day, in charge of an expert.

Several thousand more shares are being taken by persons

21

in Myrtle Point and vicinity, who personally know the
value of the property.

As soon as operations are under way you will receive
another report, which will he made quarterly thereafter.

OFFICERS, AND MEMBERS SALMON MOUNTAIN COARSE GOLD MIN-
ING COMPANY.

VI I//;. p. 0. ADDRESS.

B. Fentox, President, Myrtle Point, Oreg.

John J. Cubrbn, First lr ice- /'resident. Myrtle Point, Ores:.
0. C. Carter. Second Vice-President.
Orvil Dodge, Secretary,
M. P. Lee. Assistant Secretary,
\l. W. Ltndy, Treasurer,
T. M. Hermann, Corresponding Se&y,
Norman Dodge, Engineer,
Stephen Gallier, Sheriff of Coos Co.,

Myrtle Point, Oreg.
Myrtle Point, Oreg.
Myrtle Point, Oreg.
Myrtle Point, Oreg.
.Myrtle Point, Oreg.
Myrtle Point, Oreg.
Ooquille City, Oreg.

E. Gallier, Deputy sheriff of Coos Co., Ooquille City, Oreg.

©AYLORD BROS. Inc.

Syracuse, N. Y.

Stockton, C»lif.

M31.5165