CASISKIY-L Archives

From: Our Family <>
Subject: Modoc County - 1874
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004 02:40:54 -0700

Modoc County Record
Centennial Edition
1874 ~ 1974

The land now embraced by the Modoc county lines under went more
government changes in its day that possibly any other county in the
state.
First of all it was part of Utah Territory then when Nevada Territory was
created from that cast acreage it became part of Nevada. When Nevada
became a state, and its boundaries fixed, this part was placed in
California and considered a part of Shasta County.
Shasta County then embraced what is now Siskiyou, Shasta, Tehama, Lassen
and Modoc Counties. In March 1852 this was considered too cumbersome and
was divided up with Siskiyou County taking in what is now Modoc with the
county seat at Yreka.
This still represented a hardship to the residents of this area,
especially those who lived west of the Warner Range. There was only one
road over the mountains and a trip to the county seat took some days.
In 1872 an effort was made to found another county but bogged over
ownership of a stretch of land three miles wide and of another part of
the county to the south. The politicians haggled over this until 1874
when they agreed to give the strip to Siskiyou County and the southern
portion, Big Valley, to Lassen County.
This same year William I. Cressler, an independent candidate, was elected
to the assembly and offered a bill to create a new county to be known as
Canby County. Opponents of the bill hoping to kill it, tacked on an
amendment to call it Modoc County. At this time there was a lot of
trouble with the Indians and it was thought that the name could be
rejected. However Cressler, showing considerable political wisdom,
accepted the amendment and the bill passed. On February 17, 1974
Governor Newton Booth signed the act authorizing the new county.
William B. Swearinger, William McCormick Sr., Columbus Dorris, George
Townsend and William McCleur were appointed as the firs board of
commissioners and Dorris Bridge, now Alturas, was named the temporary
county seat.
On May 5th, 1874 an election was held to elect county officials and also
to select the county seat. The voting for the later ran follows:
Lake City, 274 votes;
Parker Creek, 128;
Adin, 117;
Dorris Bridge, 65;
Joseph Creek, 57;
Cedarville, 2;
And Hot Springs, 1 vote.
Although Lake City was top town on the totem pole it did not have a
majority and instead of holding another election the county fathers left
the county seat in Dorris Bridge. This was indeed an unusual occasion in
western history, not because of the decision itself, but because the
citizens of the other towns did not take action. In those days the
county seat was a prized plum. It meant a strong and steady flow of
prosperous business to the town so selected. The annals of the west
report all sorts of skull-duggery to obtain or retain this distinction.
During elections populations of grave-yards were voted; passengers taken
off trains and stagecoaches to cast their ballots. There have been
instances of citizens of one town raiding another town in the dead of
night to seize the records and bring the county seat to their fair city.
When Amador County was part of Calaveras County some people from Jackson
went to Double Springs and succeeded in getting the County Clerk drunk.
While he was passed out they packed up the official documents and brought
them back to Jackson.
As actions such as these were common rather than rare in the west, and
considering the difference in votes in he balloting, t is indeed
surprising that nothing more was said or done when it was announced that
Dorris Bridge would remain the county seat. For some reason the citizens
of the opposing towns did not care. This was demonstrated even more
clearly when Cedarville, then one of the larger towns of the county, cast
only 2 votes in its claim for the honor.
In the first election Joseph Mark was elected Sheriff and Tax Collector;
N. Fitzgerald, clerk, Auditor and Recorder; Gamilie Harris, District
Attorney; Nathaniel R. Rine, Treasurer; L. W. Harris, Assessor; H. G.
Hill, Superintendent of Schools; Jes. W. Howard, Surveyor and John J.
Lane as Coroner and Public Administrator.
Three supervisors were chosen: J. M. Hornback, Daniel P. Barnes and
Emanuel Lauer. At first there were only three supervisors districts,
later there were five.
County officials in those days were not paid princely salaries. A
Supervisor received $4.99 per day plus 25 cents per mile for travel, but
not more than $200.00 per year total for room, board and mileage.
The Treasurer and the Assessor got $600 per year while the District
Attorney got $500. The Superintendent of Schools got $300, the County
Clerk got $150.; the sheriff was to get the same as the Sheriff of
Siskiyou County, whatever that was, and the of the officials got nothing
at all. It was also agreed that the county could not spend over $20,000
per year oh, what happy days those years must have been.
After 1891 the offices of county clerk, auditor and recorder were
separated and the assembly and senatorial districts were reorganized.
While the new county had a sheriff it was apparently the custom of the
people to save him as much work as possible.
In the fall of 1877 the chief herder for Charley Worling dropped in at
Roseberry and Knights sore at Adin and asked to look as some pipes.
While he was making a selection a gentleman named John McCoy entered the
store and it was soon evident the McCoy had something against pipes. He
brushed past the customer and, taking the pipes out of the case one by
one, began throwing them over his shoulder. The clerk, Oliver D.
McDowell, politely asked him to desist while the bewildered herder
stopped to pick up the merchandise. This enraged McCoy who drew a knife
exclaiming You will, will you promptly plunged the blade into the
sheepmans chest. He then walked out of the store crossed over to a
saloon and went into the back room where he laid down. There he was
found and tied up by a group of citizens. They were all for hanging him
then and there when Adin McDowell remonstrated and stated the herder
wasnt dead yet. When he died there was more talk about the lynching but
cooler heads prevailed and the sheriff was summoned. It took him three
days to get there and on the way back he was stopped by a party of masked
men and McCoy hanged to a tree. Whether he lynch party was a friend of
the sheepherder or just pipe smokers has never been determined.
There were other hangings in the county, including the Hall lynching at
Lookout, but all seemed based on more mundane reasoning.

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Please Reply To: Billie Reynolds



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