Plumas County, CA History

Transcribed by Sally Kaleta Jul 2009

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format 
for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or 
organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial 
purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, 
OR the legal representative of the submitter. All persons donating 
to this site retain the rights to their own work.


Illustrated History of PLUMAS, LASSEN & SIERRA Counties
with CALIFORNIA from 1513 to 1850, Farriss & Smith , 1882, San Francisco.



OROVILLE AND VIRGINIA-CITY RAILROAD 
 
  
          The articles of incorporation of the above company were filed in the 
office of the secretary of state, at Sacramento, April 2, 1867. The object 
stated was to construct a railroad from Oroville up the north fork of Feather 
river to Junction bar; thence up the east branch to the mouth of Spanish creek; 
thence up that stream and through American valley; thence across the ridge by 
Spring Garden ranch, to the middle fork of Feather; thence up that stream and 
through Beckwourth pass to the state line. A. W. Keddie was employed to make a 
survey, and after doing so prepared a fine map of the route. This is the route 
that the people of this section had in vain sought to induce the managers of the 
Central Pacific road to adopt for their line. It is the general opinion in 
Plumas county that this route is the least troubled with snow, the easiest 
grade, and in all ways the most desirable; and that the heavy expense of 
main-taining the Truckee line in working condition will yet compel the Central 
Pacific to change to the Beckwourth pass and Feather river route. As to the 
above project, however, there was but little discussion among the citizens 
generally, it being considered a speculative scheme, which it proved to be, 
affecting but little the interests of the county, which latter proved decidedly 
not to be the case. 
           On the eighteenth of March, 1868, twelve days before the session of 
the legislature terminated, John R. Buckbee, member of the assembly representing 
Plumas and Lassen counties introduced a bill entitled, "An Act Authorizing the 
Board of Supervisors of Plumas County to Take and Subscribe to the Capital Stock 
of the Oroville and Virginia City Railroad Company, and to Provide For the 
Payment Thereof." The bill was 'railroaded" through in the following manner: On 
the eighteenth it was read the first and second times, and placed on the file; 
on the twenty-third it was taken up, engrossed, read a third time, and passed 
under a suspension of the rules; on the twenty-seventh it was read the first and 
second times in the senate, and referred to the Plumas delegation; the same day 
John Conly, senator from Plumas, reported back the bill, moved and obtained a 
suspension of the rules, when the bill was again read and passed. The governor 
signed it on the thirtieth. The people of Plumas county now discovered that this 
railroad scheme began to affect their interests materially. The full text of the 
bill can be found in the statues of 1867-68, page 630.  The substance was that 
the supervisors of Plumas county should meet in special session, and issue bonds 
to the amount of $230,000, for which they were to receive in return the same 
amount of stock of the company. County officers refusing to carry out the 
provisions of the Act were subjected to a fine of $500, removal from office, and 
liability for all damages. No measures had been taken by the legislature to 
ascertain the will of the people on the question; no opportunity was given them 
to express their desires at the polls or in any way whatever; but arbitrarily, 
and without equity or show of right, this debt was to be fastened upon the 
county, from which there was no appeal, and apparently no escape. 
         As soon as the fact became known that such a law had been passed, 
indignation unbounded took possession of the breasts of the people. Petitions 
were circulated throughout the county, and universally signed, protesting 
strongly against the legislative outrage. These were presented to the board of 
supervisors at their first meeting. The text of the protest was as follows: "We, 
the undersigned, residents and tax payers of Plumas county, do hereby express 
our disapprobation and indignation at the terms and provisions of the Act of the 
legislature, approved March 30, 1868, by which it is attempted to force upon the 
people of this county, without submission to their voice, as overwhelming burden 
of taxation for the purpose of issuing, without a shadow of guaranty or 
security, to the Oroville and Virginia City Railroad Company, bonds in the sum 
of two hundred and thirty thousand dollars, and which, when paid, will amount, 
for principal and interest, to the enormous sum of six hundred and ninety 
thousand dollars; and we do emphatically protest against the same, and denounce 
it as the most outrageous and barefaced swindle ever attempted to be forced upon 
a free people; and believing that the provisions of said bill are not only 
wholly impolite but grossly inequitable and unjust, we do earnestly petition the 
honorable board of supervisors of said county, as our representatives, and the 
guardians of our interests, either to resign, or to adopt some other adequate 
means by which to prevent the issuance of said bonds." 
          The board did not meet in special session, as provided by the statue, 
but came together at their regular May term. The board at that time was composed 
of T. J. True, chairman; Charles E. Smith and M. D. Smith. On the fifth of May 
they entered the following on their record: "Ordered, that the district attorney 
be instructed on behalf of the board to investigate the books and records of the 
Oroville and Virginia City Railroad Company, and report to this board as soon as 
possible as to whether said company are entitled to demand,  and what persons if 
any, as officers of said company, are entitled to receive the subscription of 
stock authorized to be made to said company to endeavor to avoid issuing the 
bonds to the Oroville and Virginia City Railroad Company, be received and placed 
on file. Ordered, that agreement of the tax payers of Plumas county to indemnify 
this board for any damage they may sustain by refusal to issue the bonds of this 
county to the Oroville and Virginia City Railroad Company, be received and 
placed on file." The next day H. L. Gear, district attorney, reported upon the 
question, advising the board to have quo warranto proceedings commenced by the 
attorney-general of the state. The report was adopted, and the district attorney 
was given full power to represent the board and employ associate counsel, the 
latter part of which he attended to by engaging his father-in-law, Hon. Peter 
Van Clief, the bill of the two attorneys amounting to only $6,344. On the 
seventh the board adjourned till the twenty-second. 
          In order to avoid issuing the bonds on the twenty-second, the three 
members of the board resigned, thus leaving the county without any 
representatives empowered to issue the bonds as provided by the statue. Thus the 
danger was averted for a time. A board of supervisors, however, is an 
indespensable portion of the county government, and consequently John B. 
Overton, county clerk, issued a proclamation July 11, 1868, calling a special 
election for supervisors to be held August 25, 1868, as he was by law empowered 
to. This election resulted in the choice of the members of the old board by 
large majorities. 
         In the mean time, on the twentieth of June, Van Clief and Gear had 
commenced proceedings against the company in the district court, before judge 
Warren T. Sexton, the company being represented by Creed Haymond and Joseph E. 
N. Lewis. Judgment was rendered for the defendant October 31, 1868, and the case 
was appealed by the county to the supreme court. On the twenty-first of the 
following December the company applied to the supreme court for a writ of 
mandamus, directing the board to make the subscription and issue the bonds. The 
effort was unsuccessful. Subsequently the supreme court decided the case, that 
had been taken up on appeal, in favor of the county. This was followed at the 
next session of the legislature by the Act of February 26, 1870, repealing the 
obnoxious statue; and thus, after a hard and expensive contest, this incubus of 
fraud was shaken off, and the county relieved from an overwhelming load of debt, 
for which they would have received no benefit whatever, as it was well 
understood that the railroad was but a speculative venture - a two-edged sword 
to force money from the county on the one hand and the opposing railroad 
interests on the other. The leading items of expense to the county in the 
contest were: Fees of county officers, $486.50; Legal expenses, $6,544; 
commissioners to Sacramento, $750. The total expense was $8,621.50.