0
MEDFORD MAIL THIBUNt. MEDFORD. OREGON
SUNDAY. JULY 22, 1962
ranite Slab Marks Grave of Father, Sons
By DOROTHY STrwioT
Mail Tribune Correspondent
Yreka - Moris a lonesome
read south of Yreka. Calif.,
Hands a slab of dirty gray
Kranite inscribed with the
names of a father and three
sons.
Hiram Page, the father, and
his two oldest sons, Salathiel
and Balphor, died Sept. 6,
1863. The third son, Julian,
died nearly a year later, July
14, 1864. There is no other
evidence of life near the
tombstone site.
The headstone is not tend
led. What the four died from,
and why they died so close in
time to each other, remains a
1 mystery. The two older sons
I were 14 and 13 years old, and
(Julian was either six or nine
years old.
Rich In History
rorthern California is rich
in the history of the gold
seekers. Gold was discovered
in 1851 on the site of the pres
ent city of Yreka. In 1852, the
California state legislature
passed a bill making a county
by the name of Siskiyou.
They named Yrcka as the
county seat.
There is a main road near
the trail where the grave is.
called Greenhorn rd. This the
thoroughfare was named be
cause one day many years ago
a young well-dressed English
man came along the creek bed
where all the old miners were
panning and working the
streams for gold. He asked if
he might try his hand at it,
and immediately struck it
rich. This traditional "green
horn luck" gave the road its claims of Lorenzo Ladd and came from some other part of
his brother. Records of this!1"'' country, and settled in
Unusual Camping Trip Planned
name.
The buttes of this area are
an east and west spur of the
Greenhorn mountains, and on
the side of one of these is the
area that evidently belonged
to Hiram Page.
On Aug. 28, 18H2, a deed
was made over to Page by
George P. Furber and his wife
for a parcel of land bounded
on the east by Main rd. (High
way 99) and on the south by
Greenhorn rd. On the west,
the land was bounded by the
range of Greenhorn hills, and
on the north by the land
deed have been found in the
Siskiyou County Recorder's
office.
Further back in the records
can be found evidence of
deeds held by Page. In 1853,
Page s old land to Charles
Jacquith and Oliver Randall,
as well as to John Cook. The
land was located on Miner st., j It is not known who buried
the main east-west street in ; them or even if they died all
Yreka where all the gaming j together.
houses and trading places ; A possibility is that the
were located. I family were victims of an lu
ll would appear from this i dian attack. There is evidence
evidence that Hiram Page I of an uprising of I lie Klamath
Yreka with a wife and two
sons.
Records Not Available
Past this point no records
are available to tell what hap
pened to the Page family.
There is no death certificate
to be found since county rec
ords go back only to 1873.
Indians about this time, but
it was down the Klamath riv
er and probably did not reach
as far east as Yreka.
; Another possibility is that
they were the victims of a
i grudge fight for the property,
.which perhaps was rich in
gold. If Hiram Page and his
j two older sons were inur-
dered, it is possible that the
i murderers kept after Julian
until they found and murder
ed him also. However, this
does not explain the lack of
mention of Mrs. Page.
Another Reason Noted
Still another reason might
have been an epidemic. There
is knowledge of a diphtheria
epidemic in Scott Valley dur
ing the fall of 1863.
There must have been
B 3
someone In the community j will be discovered. It is in
who cared about the Page deed strange that a family
family, since they were bur- could be born, live, and die
ried on their own land, and with no other tangible evi
a headstone was erected. ! dence of their lives than 1
It is probable that what few paper deeds and a gran
killed the Page family never i ite tombstone.
VALLEY LOCKERS & MEATS
Talent, Oregon Phone S3S-1382
BUDDY CARR GRANVIL BRITTSAN
Custom Cutting and Wrapping
Alio Pickup and Butchering Service
WE DELIVER
Grain-Fed Beef,
Pork and Lamb
By BOB VROMAN
Mail Tribune Staff Writer
An unusual camping trip is
In store for a group of some
20 outdoor-minded Oregon
lans this August. '
There will be no hot dogs,
no flapjacks or bacon and
eggs cooked over the camp
fire. In fact, there will be no
food at all in the hikers' ruck
f acks.
The party intends to "live
off the land" in the remote
Three Sisters wilderness area
in central Oregon for a period
of 10 days, eating only what
they can scrounge off moth
er nature.
Headed by experienced na
turalist Odd Bjerke, the
group will partake of such
wild foods as boiled skunk
cabbage, various roots and
M 'fl fe
't
-ft
11
TO LEAD GROUP Naturalist Odd Bjerke, above, will lead
a group of 20 campers into the Three Sisters wilderness area
in August on an unusual "outing." The party will live off
the land for a period of 10 days. Wild plants, fish, frogs and
berries will be on the menu for members of the wilderness
survival course.
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herbs, berries, trout or per
haps an occasional water
snake or frog legs.
A Training Course
"This excursion is not an
experiment. Rather it is a
training course in wilderness
survival," Bjerke explained.
"It will involve the physio
logical and psychological as
pects of survival training and
members of the party will
learn first hand how to pro
cure and prepare wilderness
foods," Bjerke added.
Bjerke himself has lived
under such conditions, eating
porcupine, roasted grasshop
pers, squirrel and wild grass
es. Cat tail and water lily
roots and fir needle tea have
served as fare around his eve
ning campfire. He claims that
it is no problem at all to get
one's 1,500 calorics daily from
nature's stpre.
The trek will begin with a
two-day indoctrination ses
sion at Diamond lake YMCA
camp, where Bjerke is camp
director this year, and the
group will proceed to Scott
lake on the fringe of the wil
derness area by bus. Here
they will see the last of civil
ization for the 10-day period
. . . with one exception.
Load of 'Goodies'
On the fifth day out, an
airplane will drop a load of
''goodies'' by parachute.
There will be fresh meat,
bread, vegetables and perhaps
even ice cream . . . enough
for a good meal for every
one. Then the group will be
back on its own resources for
the rest of the period.
The party will consist of
boys 14 years of age and over,
as well as adults. A south
ern Oregon physician and a
minister will be among those
making the trip.
Bjerke said there are still
a few openings to round out
the roster and that he would
welcome young men with
camping experience (and an
unfussy appetite) to join them
on the venture. Inquiries may
be sent directly to the Dia
mond lake YMCA camp, he
said.
One of Best Qualified
Bjerke, who is well known
for his ouidocr adventure
films, and who was one of the
' leaders of the Geophysical
Year expedition to the Green
land ice cap, is probably one
of the best qualified men in
i the field of wilderness s'lr
vival in the world today.
"Being able to recognize
and prepare wild foods will
be only one of the phases of
survival technique stressed
on this trip," Bjerke said.
Building comfortable shelters,
wilderness safety, health prac
tice and mental attitude will
jail enter into the total pic
ture, he added.
Although survival was sec-
' ond nature to many of our
forebcarers, Bjerke feels
! there is a great need to re
introduce this knowledge to
our younger generation, and
that there are far too few
j teachers in this field.
You'll be the envy of your neighborhood with Multi-Bark. It will
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and help control weeds. Because of Multi-Bark's slow decomposition
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sirable crumbly structure, making it easy to spade, allowing water to
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Pleaw order a diy
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o wi can mikt th
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don't forget !
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men and equip
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Inxd vW pickup
or trjileri from 6
to 4:30 every dv
eieept Sundv and
holiday.
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Extension 46 v
Our Goal It Full Utilization of
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S i lltrt 12 il slreM Il
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LAKE
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