The Sunday Oregonian., September 21, 1902, PART FOUR, Image 25

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PART FOUR
PAGES 25 TO 32
VOL. XXI.
PORTLAND, OBEGON, SUNDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 21, 1902.
NO. 38.
WHE-RE GOLD WAS F1"RST "PI SCO V EKED lN Q-REGOTN -
EARLY HISTORY OF
-j
KERBYVILLE
JOSEPHINE COUNTY.
PIONEER
MINING CAMP
How a Wrecked Billiard
Table Figared in the
Founding of a County
Seat
FIRST HOUSE BUILT IX KERBY.
Pioneer hotel, built in 1858.
j-ESTLING cosily at the foot of the
i!nc-clad hills, with Its one long
street, and overlooking the valley
and the winding river, Is- Kerby, the first
County seat of Josephine and one of the
oldest mining camps of Oregon. Kerby
today is as quiet an old country town
as one would care to see. But Kerby was
not always such. There was a time when
Kerby. then known as Kerbjvllle, was
the gayest and thriftiest and exchanged
more "dust" than any other mining town,
north of San Francisco. That was during
the palmy and gold-fevered days of 50
years ago. Then the .streets of Kerby
ville seethed with the stampede of 2000
excited goldhunters. From a" half dozen
saloons Issued day and night the boister
ous merriment of reveling dancers, the
clink of glasses and the monotonous hub
lub of the faro tables.
Kerbyvlllc was in reality during those
days but a California mining, camp moved
over the cisklyous, as it was composed of
the same stampede that swept across the
plains during the excitement of '49. But
a few miles below Kerbyville. on the
Illinois, Josephine Creek emptied its
waters into the larger stream and it was
Ihcre that gold was first discovered in the
Oregon Territory. It was the news of
this discovers' that brought the living
stream over the narrow trail of the Sls"
klyous and started swarms of men up
every gulch and stream in Southern Ore
gon. Along every creek gold was discov
ered and miners flocked in by the hun
dreds. With rocker and pan millions of
dollars in nuggets and dust were cradled
from the gravel of the creek beds.
Today in passing along the one street
cf the old town the traveler will find
but a few scattered remains of the gay
Kerbyville of 50 years ago. The old court
Ihouse is gone, but the town hall re
mains. On up the street is the old jail.
It still stands just as it stood 40 years
ago a two-story, dark, gloomy structure,
beneath the spreading branches of the
entwining maple, whose limbs served as
on ever-ready gallows for the popular
"hangin's" of the rough and ready days.
Along the street, and some of them
moved back to give way for modern Im
provements, are found the crumbling
remains of the old dancehalls and stores.
The wind and the weather, the worms
nnd the decay of a half century have
done their work, and long since put many
cf these out of business. The walls all
lean toward the center, the windows and
doors are boarded up and a few scattered
beer signs, punctured with the bullet
mark3 of the old-timers' six-bhooters, still
cling desperately to the decaying walls.
Many of the older buildings have crum
bled away and no vestige of them re
mains. The old (pioneers, the older once
of the early 'SOs, have too passed away.
Among the many who aided in the found
ing of Kerby, but five remain.
Billiard Table Founds a Totto.
As to the beginning of Kerby there are
conflicting stories. One of the most Inter
esting of these is to the effect that a
billiard table was responelble for the
establishment of the old camp. Among
the remaining pioneers, some-say this is
. true, while others doubt it However -tfcrs
bring the billiard table over the moun- j
tainous and narrow trail from Creecent
City to Althouse, a distance of' 5 miles.
But the old mule gave way under her
big load before she reached Althouse.
Within eight miles of Althouse the old
mule sank down dead beneath the billiard
table and nearly broke the heart of her
master. The saloon-keeper wouldn't pay
Martinez because he had not delivered the
table, so Martinez let It rest where Anita
fell with it. In his thirst for revenge
an enterprising thought came Into the
mind of the Spanish packer and he re
solved to carry it out. He built a saloon
around the billiard table and advertised
a "grand opening." With the only bil-
camo to Southern Oregon with her father
In ISoL At' the time of the designation
of Josepiiine there were several thriving
mining camps in the Illinois Valley, In
which section nearly the whole of the
population of Southern Oregon was cen
tered at that time. There were Waldo,
Althouse, Browntown and Kerbyville. In
these several camps and the surrounding
districts there was a floating population
of several thousand. An election was held
to decide the all-Important question, and
Kerbyville was found to be the choice.
Kerbyville was the county seat of Jo
sephine for 2S years, and those 2S years
covered the palmy days of the old mining
town. If. was in the early' part of the
Rogue River tribe, and were noted for
their acts of thievery and begging. It
was unfortunate, . however, that the min
ers attacked them at the time they did,
as the party was largely - composed of
squaws, children and old men.
The outbreak that followed the unwise
and hasty, proceedings of, the band of min
ers was the bloodiest In the early history
of Southern Oregon. The results that
followed were as horrible as they were
startling and sudden. The settlers living
in peace along the Applegate, the Rogue
and the Illinois werc given no warning
of the Table Rock affair, and so had to
suffer the storm of barbaric vengeance
that followed. Many miners working
dued In Juno of 1S56. The miners re
turned to their sluices, the farmers to
their ranches and the merchants to their
stores. Kerbyville became Its old self
again. The town grew and prospered
with each pasBing season. In 1S58 a mag
nificent bridge magnificent, at least, for
those days was built acros.the Illinois
at Kerbyville. The structure cost several
thousand dollars, but It was long since
swept away by flood.
It was In 185D that Kerbyville reached
Its height. It was In this year that Dr.
E. C. Holton, one of the founders of Ker
byville, and a prominent figure In the early
Indian wars, was sent as a representative
to the Legislature, and, by the way. Dr.
KERRY'S MAIN STREET EIGHT-DOLLAR,' MOUNTAIN ITT DISTANCE, WHERE GOLD "WAS FIRST DISCOVERED
may be. the story is an interesting one.
The 6tory goes that an old Spanish packer
named Martinez was under contract to
deliver a billiard table to the owner and
proprietor of a saloon at Althouse "a camp
In the Illinois Valley, that" had already
been established. Martinez owned a pack
mulo known over all the Coast for her
remarkable perseverence and strength.
Anita was her name and Anita was the
pride of Martinez. It was on the back
of Anita that the old packer was to
Hard table north of San Francisco as a
drawing card, Martinez had the whole
regiment headed his way, and a thrifty
mining camp sprang up as a consequence.
That mining camp was Kerbyville.
Chosen the County Sent.
In 1E52 Kerbyville was made the county
seat of Josephine. It was during this
year that the Legislature of the Oregon
Territory created an act designating the
County of Josephine. The county was
named in honor of Josephine Rawlins who
THE OLD JAIL CLERK'S OFFICE XX BACKGROUND.
'50s, however, that Kerbyville was "at. Its
height. This was the period that the
brush was on for the surrounding placer
beds of the Illnois Valley streams. Dur
ing those years several million dollars' In
gold was gathered up from the gravel bars
of the Southern Oregon rivers and streams,
and the greater part of It was exchanged
in Kerbyville. She was the acknowledged
center of the whole mining district for
miles about, and she gloried in the fact.
Of course, the matter of being the county
seat added much to the popularity of Ker
byville. . This was -embodied In being the
possessor of the Courthouse and the jail,
for the trials and the "hangin's" never
failed to draw big crowds. In 1838 six men
were hanged at ona time, all for commit
ting what was considered in those days to
be the most abominable of crimes stealing
gold fom the sluice-boxes of the placers.
Indian Wars.
In 1855 the Rogue River Indian War
broke out and continued till June of the
following year. The Rogue River Indians
were a hostile band of savages whose
haunts were In the several districts of
Southern Oregon along the Rogue. There
were several tribes of them, though all
went by the general name, "Rogue Riv
ers." The various tribes were led by Chiefs
John, Joe, Sam. Queen Mary and TIpsu
Tyee. John was the acknowledged chief
of all. While his own band of braves
never numbered more than 60, It was he
who planned and led the numerous out
breaks that occurred ever all parts of
Southern Oregon. During this war the
Inhabitants of Kerbyville, the. women and
children, at least, were "fbrted up," as It
was called, while the men organized them
selves into volunteer companies and went
forth to battle.
It was in the Fall of 1S55 that the Rogue
River Indians became alarmed at the in
creasing number of whites and secretly
planned an outbreak. During August and
September of this memorable year reports
were being continually brought In to the
several mining camps of the murders of
lone miners or packers who had wandered
too far away .from the settlements and
suffered the treachery of the murdferous,
red men.
Maddened by these acts of barbarity, a
party of 40 miners, led by Major Jame3 A.
Lupton, was organized, and on the 7th of
October proceeded to attack a .band of
Indians, encountered at the mouth of
Little Butte Creek, near Table Rock.' This
particular band of Indians belonged to the
along the streams were treacherously
slain, and the cabins and homes of many
along Sucker Creek and the Illinois, In
the vicinity of Kerbyville, burned by the
savages. The women and children of Ker
byville were huddled for safety within a
small log fort erected at Brlggs, on Lower
Sucker Creek. .The remains of the old
fort stand today a crumbling mass of logs,
a fitting reminder of the pioneer days.
Yenrs of Prosperity
As before stated, the Indians were sub-
Holton Is one of the five living pioneers
who remain to tell the story of the early
days of the noted mining camp. Through
his efforts at that session of the Legisla
ture the name of Kerbyville was changed
to Napoleon. The name "didn't take,"
however, and It scarcely gained recogni
tion outside of the legislative halls In
which it was proposed; The old name still
clung to It, the only change being made
was the dropping of the last syllable,
making It plain Kerby.
Kerby was Its name in the '60s, when the
miners begun to leave in swarms forother
newly-discovered bonanzas In Br'lsh Co
lumbia and in Idaho. Kerby it is today,
and Kerby It will remain for many years
to come; a pretty old town, amply shaded
with majestic maples and great spreading
oaks and situated at the foot of the hills
that slope gently down to the Illinois,
to spreading valley and the mountains be
yond. Kerby Isn't dead. but It has been enjoy
ing a long and peaceful nap. The old
town Is assuming new life, and no doubt
may become a city of as much importance
In the future as It has been In the past.
It will bo one of the principal points
touched by the railroad that Is being sur
veyed from Grant's Pass to Crescent City.
With the opening up of the vast moun
tains of mineral about It; with the work
ing of the great ledges of copper and gold,
and with the proper working of the sur
rounding and fertile fields, Kerby Is sure
to share In the prosperity and business
that will result.
DENNIS H. STOVALI-
Snlllnp: Beyond Sens.
Methought the stars were blinking bright.
And the old brig's sails unfurl'd;
I said, "I will sail to my love this night
At the other side of the world."
I etepp'd aboard we sall'd so fast
The sun shot up from the bourn;
But a dove that perch'd upon the mast
Did mourn, and mourn, and mourn.
O fair dove! O fond dove!
And dove with the white breast.
Let, me alone, the dream 13 my own.
And my heart Is full of rest.
My true love fares on this great hill,
Feeding his sheep for aye;
I look'd In his hut. but all was still,
My love was gone away.
I went to gaze in the forest creek.
And the dove mourn'd on apace;
No flame did flash, nor fair blue reek
Rcse up to show me his place.
O last love! O first love!
My love with the true heart.
To think I have come to this your horns.
And yet wo are apart!
My love! He stood at my right hand.
His eyes were grave and sweet.
Methought he said, "In this far land.
Oh! 13 it thus we meet?
Ah, maid most dear, I am not here;
I have no place no part
No dwelling more by sea or shore.
But only In thy heart."
O fair dove! O fond dove!
Till night rose over the bourn.
The dove on the mast., as we sall'd fast,
Did mourn, and mourn, and mourn.
Jean Ingclow.
W- -:tM$$$$i&t .iM'J,-$&&VltS?!W
THE OLD TOWN HALL.