The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-02-21
SAVED A POETS LIFE.
What a Port Gamble Man Did
for Joaquin Miller.
THE BATTLE OF CASTLE ROCK.
fighe With Renegade Indians in North
ern California in Is55-A Shower
Of Arrows.
ollowing paragraph has been going the

me Following paragraph has been going the
rounds OF the press:
1oaquin Miller, two or three years ago, was
msslAing with Ex-Governor semple in Tacoma
, wnen curious thing took place. A man
MaAea up, and placing his finger on the left
soc Oh miller's face, said: "Yes, you are the
Doy. It turned out that this man had saved
t tne poets lie at the battle OF Cestle Rocks,
an az arrow from Millers neck when he was pretty
,ar gone. And now the poet is very anxious to
teain where the man can be found for he forgot
ootn the address and the name soon afterward.
The man for whom joaquin Miller is looking
- no other than w. S. Jameson, of Port Gamble.
Mr. Jameson, who has been logging and milling
on Puget sound for thirty years, is well known
not only in Seattle but in all Western Washing
ton. Scarcely week passes that he does not
spend several days here on business.
yesterday he was at the Arlington hotel and
told the story of the occurrences referred to
above. at was in 1851" said Mr. Jameson,
that came to California by way OF the 18TH
mus. With quite party 1 went prospecting
for gold, and finally in the summer of 1855 we
struck 1t at Hazel creek in the headwaters Of
the Sacramento This was the first discovery
OF gold in that part of the country; but we were
not allowed to enjoy in peace the fruits OF our
perseverance,, for the Indians began to give US
trouble. The hostiles were Modocs and other
renegades who robbed the miners and destroyed
our property whenever they got a chance
When the Rogue river war broke out across the
state line IN Oregon the renegades in Northern
California became more confident and agrees
awe, and at last killed q man not far from our
camp.
ave thought the time had come for US to take
decisive action, and accordingly we raised q
company of twenty whites and fourteen
friendly Indians to capture the bsnd of hostiles
and protect ourselves. Captain Gibson, who, 1
believe, is still living on the Sacramento river,
was in command, and one Of our number was
Joaquin Miller. He was then a boy apparently
not over &c. but he had taken claim on one of
the foothills of Shasta, where the Soda springs
now are.
at was in July, 1856, that we set out after the
Indians, and we followed them west between
the headwaters of the Sacramento and the
Trinity. The first night We stopped at a hill
aide that was fairly alive with rattlesnakes. I
have never before nor since seen SO many of the
reptiles. We were actually SO afraid for our
lives that We climbed up into the scrub
what little sleep we could. After
day or two of extremely hard climbing and
marching we came to q table land of scrub oak
near Castle Rock. There was every indication
that the Indians were near, and Captain Gibson
called for scouts to volunteer Two OF the In
dams and one white man and then started out
cautiously to locate our enemy. We suddenly
SaAAiS Opon SnO sITdLRo
they were enemies. was about to shoot. But one
OF the Indians with me held my hand and told
me the strangers were friendly. So it proved,
for they led us to point, where we saw the OBJ
1ects OF our search camping in o little open
space.
ave brought back our report and then the
whole company moved forward. When we came
upon them they tried at first to use guns they
had picked up at one place and another, but the
firearms were soon thrown away for the bows
and arrows, with which they were much more
familiar. The savages sent perfect shower Of
arrows that drove us back for little.
81 remember at the beginning of the skirmish
when We closed in on them pretty we'll, that one
Of the Indians had his rifle aimed at big man
in our regiment named Budd. The Indian was
working the triggers, but the rife wouldn't go.
Budd saw the mans purpose, and shot him dead
before he could get his bow and arrow. This
Indian, as we afterward learned, was one of the
worst in the whole country.
SPY and by the Indians retreated q little way,
and four OF us, Lane, Whitney, joaquin Miller
and myself made q circuit OF the chapparel to
find way of surrounding them We ran into a
little band of them, and Lane had one of his
eyes shot out by an arrow, and Whit
ney had his gun-stock split in two.
Then Miller suddenly fell, for one
arrow struck him on the left side of his chin,
went through the flesh and the flint head came
out of the back of his neck. The wound was
painful, but he knelt down on his hands and
knees and cutting OF the head of the arrow
with my knife pulled it back. He bled pro-