Illinois Valley news., August 01, 2018, Page 3, Image 3

Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, August 1, 2018
Page A-3
Gold Rush from Alonzo Turner’s notes: by Greg Walter
Alonzo P. Turner, His
Record of Activity In The Illinois
Valley, Southern Josephine
County In The Oregon Gold
Rush 1852-1856.
Part 1 of 7
This landmark early history
of The Illinois Valley is assembled
by Greg Walter of Jefferson State
Financial with support from The
Kerbyville Museum and The
Josephine County Historical
Society. A very special thank
you to Michelle Binker for her
contribution that helped to bring
this story to the readership.
The article will be published
in consecutive fragments across
seven issues of the Illinois Valley
News, so make sure you pick up
a copy each week to get the full
account.
Gathering regional
information of our earliest miners
and settlers here in Southern
Oregon can be challenging because
so many of these people did not
stay long or settle, so these insights
into our historical record must be
found from sources outside our
region. Some recently discovered
letters give us a glimpse of Alonzo
P. Turner’s correspondence with
his wife and children he left
back in Wisconsin in 1852 so
that he could travel west and
make enough money to pay his
travel costs and cover expenses
back home. Travelling out to the
Oregon Territory in the 1850s
was an expensive endeavor with
costs exceeding $800 at that time.
If they were lucky and did not
succumb to the many ailments
and accidents that could kill them,
lose their possessions to fire, or
get victimized by robbers, they
could make excellent money out
west, but often had to settle debts
incurred by mortgaging the farm
and obviously they had the goal
of making the whole venture a
profitable one.
These new documents will
provide us with insights into
life in the new gold diggings in
southern Josephine County in the
early 1850s by a Donation Land
Claimant that was the first one in
the Illinois Valley and the second
one in Josephine County (see “First
There Was Twogood”). The other
note of significance in this was a
rare photograph of the ranch as
it stood in 1854. So please enjoy
the letters and images assembled
from the relatives of Alonzo Payne
Turner, early gold miner, rancher,
farmer, Indian War veteran,
schoolteacher, clerk and judge. He
would not stay long in Josephine
County. Rather, he would move on
to Idaho and establish himself there
in mining and legal affairs.
Turner was born in
Northampton, Ohio `Aug. 5,
1824 to Alexander and Betsy
French Turner, and then moved to
Wadsworth, where he lived until
adulthood. His childhood home
still stands today. He married
Clarissa Beckwith there in 1845
and soon after, moved to Wisconsin
and had three children- Zachary,
Helen and Maria. Turner would
leave his family and go out west
to engage in mining. Clarissa
died in December 1855 and the
children were then raised by their
grandparents.
Turner traveled out west with
the Bethel Company in 1852, and
was mentioned in the account
titled, “Crossing the Plains” by
Clarence Bagley. In 1852, the
Oregon Trail would see a record
number of 70,000 travelers going
westbound, landing first at Oregon
City, then traveling two hundred
miles south in October. Turner
found himself at first in the vicinity
of Jacksonville and then in what
was the western part of Jackson
County in December 1852, filing
on what would have been one of
the first Donation Land Claims
in the Illinois Valley, and the
second in what would later become
Josephine County in 1857. This
was located a few miles south of
Cave Junction in what was called
the “Turner Ranch”. He resided
there until June 1855, when out
on a scouting, Native Americans
would arrive at the Turner Ranch,
burn the buildings and kill the
clerk along with all of the cattle.
By December, he would learn
of his wife’s death back in Ohio
and May 1 would begin service
at Fort Hays under Colonel John
Kelsey, commanding the second
regiment of Oregon Volunteers
under brigadier General John
Lamerick. Turner would continue
in this service until he was
discharged June 20, 1856, having
been wounded in the leg by an
arrow.
After this incident, Turner
filed for a position (unsuccessfully)
in the newly formed county
government being formed at
Sailors Diggings. He stayed in the
area and lent a hand at teaching
as noted by a relative in a letter;
“Teaching as a last resort in the
business of making a living is
credited to A.P. Turner, first teacher
of the first school in Kerbyville”.
The early records reveal
that Turner lived with a Matilda
Stafford and children in Josephine
County around 1860, and by 1870
was living near Idaho City, Idaho
with their three children aged 11, 8
and 2. Soon thereafter, Turner met
and would marry Sara Luisa Smith,
who was born Oct. 28, 1849, and
was the daughter of John and
Elizabeth Smith.
Turner married Smith in 1881,
his third wife at this time, and lived
out the rest of his days involved in
mining in the Hailey, Idaho area
where he eventually became a
judge. Our focus here will be the
letters of correspondence with his
wife Clarissa in the time he spent
getting here and while he was
at the Turner Ranch in southern
Josephine County.
Waldo in the 1890s
Tall Trees Rendezvous celebrates life
of the mountain man in Smith River
Tristan Stocker
IVN Contributing Writer
With summer in full swing, 2018 marked the
40th annual Jed Smith Mountain Men Tall Trees
Rendezvous wherein men and women descended on
Smith River for a historical week of paying tribute to
the ways of the Old West.
From June 29 to July 6, muzzleloader and archery
enthusiasts as well as people drawn to the rich history
of our country’s rugged past convened at the Del Norte
Rod and Gun Club to participate in a slew of family-
friendly activities that included primitive camping,
black powder shooting, tomahawk throwing, archery
and more.
As spectators made their way through the grounds,
men and women dressed in traditional garb (pre-1840)
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were actively engaged in the myriad daily tasks they
confronted on the frontier.
“I’ve always been mesmerized with the past, you
know,” said Nancy Alex, a Jed Smith Mountain Men
club member and attendee of the rendezvous. “I was
born maybe 150 - 200 years too late.”
According to Alex, campers were awakened every
morning with cannon fire at 7 o’clock sharp, and
then at 8 o’clock, another blast signaled the Shooter’s
Meeting wherein the daily activities were discussed.
People armed with guns, knives, bows and
tomahawks (and scorecards) then took to the trails to
test their accuracy on a variety of targets. Prizes were
awarded to the top scorers.
A new event which went over quite well this year
- Survival Bow - allowed people to put together and
shoot their own bows with materials supplied by the
from
Taylor’s
Country Store
Saturday
Pool Tourney
8 p.m.
Every Wednesday
Open MIC Night
6 - 9 p.m.
J. Barley
Friday night @ 6
Sunday Funday
free pool
Sportsman
Tavern
event organizers.
“They fully expected some of them to break or
who knew what would happen,” Alex said. “But it
was an utter blast. Next year, I think they’ll add an
instruction class before we go off to widdle on our
bows since there were so many interested participants.”
The public was also invited to peruse the Trader’s
Row - an encampment of sorts set up to resemble an
old-fashioned trading post wherein gunsmiths, bead
crafters and bowyers bartered their wares.
And to much delight from the residents, costumed
campers also walked in Crescent City’s Fourth of July
parade, shooting off their guns at intervals.
For information regarding next year’s rendezvous,
please contact Brian Scott 707-954-6032; Trapper John
707-722-4259; or Joyce Lockhart 707-458-3585.
Art’s Red
Garter
Pool tables
with late
night
food menu
541-592-4222
Brian Risling
& Airtight
Alibi
Fri July 27 7PM
Outdoor Stage $5
(air quality permiting)
@
McGrew’s