The herald., 1897-12-26
A PIONEER WOMAN
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
written for The Herald.)

written for The Herald.)
On the January morning in 1S4S, when
the camp at Suffers mill was excitedly
discussing the lump of shining mineral
Mrs. WINNER had taken from her soap
kettle, another pioneer woman was do
ing her daily round of homely duties in
a log cabin at Campo de les Franceses.
| or French Camp.
Though she was but twentythree
years old her life had been a series of
stirring events since she left her home
on the Western reserve of Ohio four
years previous, bride of nineteen. to
make a home with her husband on the
prairies of Western Illinois.
on October 1st, 1916, DR.. I. c. and Mrs.
Olive NJ. Isbell reached Johnson's ranch
in the company of emigrants command
ed by Captain John Aram, after jour
ney of six months over desert and noun
tain, blazing their way as they went,
for but few had ventured before them.
So limited was their knowledge of the
geography of the country. the first ques
ton they asked after arriving at john
sons was, How much farther must we
travel to reach Californian and were
| agreeably surprised to learn that they
were already there.
| Under the personal escort of General
Fremont they were taken to Suffers
Fort and after a weeks rest, to Santa
| Clara mission. The able-bodied men
Joined Fremont's army, setting out for
| Southern California while the women
and children, and those not able, re-
mained at the mission to endure a
winter of indescribable hardship Olive
l +la -ia1y ,ietea ~
the dying, run bullets at night to de-
fend themselves in case of an open at
tack by the Mexicans, watched the bat
tie of Santa Clara from the mission
walls. dressed the wounds of the two
men who We're shot and then assisted
in preparing dinner for the weary SOL
diers.
In December she gathered up the chill
dren in the mission to relieve overtaxed
mothers, and with a few textbooks of
various grades and two states, opened
the first American school in California.
The little school continued until spring
when the teacher and her husband with
five other families went to Monterey on
mules the men to assist Captain Chas.
NJ. Webber in throwing up fortifications,
for the defense of the city.
The teacher was induced to teach an
other school there and, the war being
practically over, DR.. and Mrs. Isbell
opened the first American tavern in that
quaint old town and entertained within
it's walls ali the noted military and rural
officers from Yerba Buena to San Diego,
as well as Kit Carson, Fremont's In
dian scout.
In August 1S47 Captain Weber laid
out the town of Stockton, on the site of
which Joseph Bussell built the first log
house. DR.. Isbell obtained of Captain
Weber three square leagues of land
eight miles above the embryo city, and
built log house with puncheon floor
and a large porch across the front, into
which they moved in October. The doc
tor had gone extensively into stock rails
| ing, was practicing his profession in the
sparsely-settled country and ncidently
| furthering Captain Weber's efforts in
| attracting settlers to French Camp
when Marshall tried the soft-soap test
on the historic nugget.
1t will be remembered by students of
state history, that Mrs. WINNER went
to the camp on American river to board
| the men while they We're building the
mill and her husband to act as overseer
| of the work She was a Georgian by
birth and familiar with gold mining in
that state. From their first settling at
the camp she had observed particles of
| mineral glittering in the water used
| in the house and repeatedly called the
attention of the men to it, insisting that
| it was gold. At first she was laughed at.
with the superior wisdom of the stronger
sex, then some of the men espoused her
cause and heated discussions on the
subject became of daily occurrence dur
| ing meals. Her little son George had
| found small pieces of mineral in the
gravel and this confirmed the mother in
her opinion.
When Marshall picked up his shining
| bit in the mill race, at her suggestion, it
was put in the kettle in which she had
been boiling soap and when found the
next morning untarnished her judgment
concerning gold was triumphantly sus-
tained but, to the regret of Mrs. VIM
mer's old friend and neighbor the monu-
ment at Coloma was erected to the
memory of Marshall.
The soap kettle that settled the con-
troVersy, unsettled the plans of Captain
| Sutter and everybody else, and the
| country soon rang with the cry Of gold,
gold! gold.
Office, workshop, ranch and store We're
deserted for the "diggings," as they We're
called. Mrs. Isbell with a hired boy,
nine years old, was left with the care
of 600 head of stock The ranch be-
ing on the main travelled road between