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          Grizzly Adams   Bret Hart   Major Savage   Black Bart  Joaquin Murrieta   Prentice Mulford 

Major James Savage-Four Years of His Life                                     

In the summer of 1848 shortly after the discovery of gold in Coloma, rich placer deposits were found just outside of Jamestown at "Wood's Diggings." The site was so popular and productive that miners referred to it as the "Plymouth Rock of Tuolumne County." A 150 pound quartz lump was found by William Gulnac in 1848, seventy-five pounds was pure gold!  In Lewis Price's Journey to California in 1849 he gives a gloomy picture of Wood's Diggins except for the abundance of wine and champagne, but miners, gamblers and opportunists continued to stream into the area including one James Savage.

 Savage was born in Illinois in 1823 and left Independence, Missouri in 1846 with his wife, infant and brother for California. His wife and daughter died during the Plains crossing and his brother went to Oregon. Savage joined Fremont's California Battalion and was considered ignorant, a malcontent; he was rather small with long brown hair, dark tanned skin and blue eyes. He worked in a sawmill at Sutter's Fort on the American River and commenced gold mining operations using Indian labor. He set up trading posts here and there and was at Wood's Diggings near Jamestown selling supplies to the miners and trading with local Indians.

His command of various Indian languages helped him to gain the confidence of various tribes and he was named "Chief" of a few tribes due to his organizational skills bringing food, jobs, clothes and protection to the Indians. Some referred to Savage as the "White Chief of the Foothills."

Savage was shrewd and had a way with the daughters of Indian chiefs. At one point, he was estimated to have 33 wives from 10 to 22 years of age; his marrying ways made it easier to befriend the Indians and set up his profitable trading posts. We can presume his father-in-laws' found this enterprising white man a curiosity, the originator of chain location trading....

George H. Tinkham in California Men and Events writes of James Savage at Jamestown in May of 1849:

"Under a brushwood tent, supported by upright poles, sat James D. Savage, measuring and pouring gold dust into the candle boxes by his side. Five hundred or more naked Indians, with belts of cloth bound around their waists or suspended from their heads brought the dust to Savage, and in return for it received a bright piece of cloth or some beads."

After leaving Wood's Diggins Savage set up trading posts on the Fresno River and Mariposa Creek. He built up an even more prosperous business by stocking his stores with food and merchandise from San Francisco and exchanging them for gold with the Indians. An ounce of gold brought an Indian a can of oysters, five pounds of flour or a pound of bacon. A new shirt required five ounces and a new pair of shoes or a nice hat required a pound of gold in exchange. His customers included white men as well as Indians for his trading posts were about the only game around.....

Near by rich deposits of gold were found on Col. John Fremont's  Rancho Las Mariposas, a mammoth track of 45,000 acres. The usual claim jumping, robberies, mayhem and Indian squabbles ensued frustrating Col. Fremont; Savage underestimated the Indians' resentment of the white miners, and he could not control the Indians who sacked even his precious trading posts.

The Governor of California had to call for a volunteer militia to restore order on Fremont's lands.  Major John D. Savage was put in charge of the famous Mariposa Battalion. Savage's Mariposa Battalion rounded up the Indians and restored order, and during these military operations discovered Yosemite Valley. After the war Savage continued to trade with the Indians, and his diplomacy skills were a major factor in maintaining peace with the races; however, in 1852, after being instrumental in establishing Tulare County, Major Savage was killed by a newly elected county judge in a fight.  

Major Savage accumulated a sizable fortune and some miners estimated he had barrels full of gold dust. What ever became of his gold and possessions after his untimely death is a mystery. Perhaps, some of those gold dust filled barrels are still out there awaiting, awaiting....             

Bret Harte Goes to the Mines by Deena L. Noonan                                               TOP

Few of Bret Harte's biographers would disagree that the spent three years of his life in California Gold Country, and that much of his later work drew upon his experiences in the southern mines of the Mother Lode. But the exact course of his travels between 1854 and 1857 is still in doubt, and Harte himself left few factual clues in his autobiographical sketch, "How I Went to the Mines," which he wrote more than forty years later.

From the evidence available, Harte taught school for several months in La Grange until the school was forced to close. Three of his later short stories, M'liss, Cressy, and The Tale of Three Truants seem to draw upon Harte's experiences as a school teacher. Describing himself as "broke" and "abandoning a peaceful vocation for one of greed and adventure," he left La Grange in approximately May of 1855 and set out on foot for Robinson's Ferry on the Stanislaus River and located forty miles due north of La Grange. Demoralized and with badly blistered feet, he reached his destination two days later. The friend with whom Harte had hoped to stay had already moved on, but his friend's former partners took the greenhorn in. From May to August, Harte apparently worked claims along the Stanislaus with his new aquaintenances. Then, in December, he showed up at the Gillis brothers' cabin on Jackass Hill. Taking pity on him, Jim Gillis loaned Harte his overcoat and a twenty-dollar gold piece. From there, Harte hoped to make his way to Sonora and eventually to San Francisco.

It is possible that Bret Harte spent time in or near Jamestown during 1855. In her book, Sierra Railway, Dorothy Newell Deane states that Stent was the "Poverty Hill of Bret Harte's stories" and that George Chamberlain, who was "immortalized as Bret Harte's Tennessee Partner" is buried in the Jamestown cemetery. But because so little is known of Harte's exact whereabouts in 1855, there are few guidelines to help us separate fact from fiction.

Note: When Bret Harte left for San Francisco he became the dandy of the Bohemian set and associated with Prentice Mulford, Joaquin Miller and Mark Twain. Prentice Mulford spent time in Jamestown as a teacher, lecturer and miner and wrote humorous short stories about Jamestown. Perhaps, at times, Mulford and Harte swapped stories and laughed about their times in "Jimtown." Twain was a newspaper reporter who Harte encouraged  to become a writer....remember that story about a "jumping frog." 

Jackass Hill was a lively place during the gold rush days with as many as 200 mules tethered at any one time. Rumor has it that a large cache of gold was buried under one of the cabins...never been found. Mark Twain lived in a cabin on Jackass Hill for a few months, and a replica of this cabin is available for tourists to visit just off Highway 49.

Bret Harte was not known for graciously repaying his many debts. Jim Gillis who lent Harte $20.00 at Jackass Hill was repaid in a most "direct" way. Gillis, on a trip to San Francisco ,dropped in on Harte at the opulent Palace Hotel interrupting a conversation with his "upper crust" friends and embarrassing Harte into repaying his debt... Harte was the highest paid American author, but he was constantly in debt requiring both male and female patrons to sustain his lifestyle.

Black Bart-Prince of Thieves                                                      TOP

Charles Bolton was probably born in Jefferson County, New York in 1830 and came to California at age 20. He was a very private man and little documentation is available to fill in the gaps in his life between life in San Francisco, stagecoach robberies, his release from prison till the time of his obituary in a 1917 New York City newspaper.

There is even disagreement when he committed his first stagecoach robbery. Reportedly, as a child he held up a stagecoach with a stick as his weapon; he was amazed at how easy it was to rob a stagecoach, and later in life returned to robbing stages-some say 28 stagecoaches were robbed by Black Bart and others estimate well over 30 robberies during a period of 6-8 years.

Black Bart was under 5 feet, 8 inches, in height, light complected with heavy eyebrows and mustache. He claimed to be a military officer during the Civil War; however, this has not been confirmed. At two of his stagecoach robberies he left poems:

Here I lay me down to sleep

To wait the coming morrow

Perhaps success perhaps defeat

An everlasting sorrow

I've labored long and hard for bread

For honor and for riches

But on my corns too long you've tread

You fine-haired son of b____es.

Let come what may I'll try it on

My condition cant be worse

and if there's money in that Box

Tis munny in my purse.

                                                                                                       -Black Bart the P-o-8

Of course, there were copycat stagecoach robberies and even some poetry too:

This is my way to get money and bread;

When I have a chance, why should I refuse it?

I'll not need either when I'm dead,

And I only tax those who are able to lose it.

So blame me not for what I've done,

And I don't deserve your curses.

And if for some cause I must be hung,

Let it be for my verses.

Wells Fargo Bank's web site has an excellent account of Black Bart's career. Clues from a  robbery of the  Copperopolis stage, a few miles from Jamestown, led to the capture of the demure 48 year old bandit.

Let us not dwell on his failings or demise but his unorthodox methods: he worked alone, carefully researched his work, always kept an empty shotgun, feared horses, gentle and kind to stagecoach passengers, respected the United States Government, for he never robbed the U.S. mail, a flour sack for his mask, the dummies he used as his "gang" along the trails of his robberies.

When he was released from prison the warden asked, "Well, Charley, are you going straight now?" Black Bart reportedly answered, "Yes, Warden, I shall never commit another crime." Then the warden asked about writing more poetry and Black Bart replied, "I've just told you, Warden, I promise to commit no more crimes."                                                                                                                                           

The Story of Grizzly Adams-As Told by Carlo de Ferrari                                            TOP

Near Jamestown on the east bank of Wood's Creek, was located the trading post and tavern of J.C. Adams who also had similar establishments at two nearby mining camps. He was then considered to be one of the camp's most influential residents; however, Adams seemed to be a constant loser in the race against bad luck. As soon as he was able to accumulate a little property, it would be taken from him by some unforeseen circumstances. Before coming to the mines, he had acquired a valuable ranch and a herd of cattle in the San Joaquin Valley. Again fate intervened, and in a single night he lost all his stock to cattle thieves.

 Adams himself may have been the author of much of his misfortune, for he was a reckless speculator who invested his capital in risky mining schemes such as damming the Tuolumne River to expose its bed for mining operations. He was also apparently careless about business affairs and sometimes gambled.

Among his varied interests was one which may have greatly influenced the later direction of his life. He was also in partnership with a man named W.S. Jarboe who trapped grizzly bears alive for use in bull and bear fights staged in surrounding camps for the amusement of miners.

Within a short time fate again interfered in Adam's life. His extensive investments in the river damming projects were lost in a few hours when a sudden, unseasonable rise in the water washed out the dams. As a result, by mid-1852 his total assets were reduced to an old wagon, a yoke of oxen, some firearms and miscellaneous tools.

Penniless and embittered against mankind, whom he blamed for his financial problems, Adams left the mines to start life anew as a hunter and wild animal trapper in the Sierra Nevada mountains to the east. He became obsessed with hunting grizzly bears, some of whom he captured as cubs and raised as personal pets. Because of this he became known as "Grizzly Adams," and eventually his life became the subject of several books and numerous articles, and also furnished the plot for a popular television series.

NOTE: Grizzly Adams trained his bears and paraded them in San Francisco streets to the astonishment of local citizens. He traveled with the P.T. Barnum circus across the United States. He moved to New England, worn out physically, dying in his sleep at approximately 45 years of age.

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