Butts Canyon Road, Middletown, Lake county, California namesake of Alexander H Butts

GLOBALISM=AGENDA 21=SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT=WORLD GOVERNMENT=LOSS OF SOVEREIGNTY=NO CONSTITUTION=LOSS OF FREEDOM=NO AMERICA

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On the opposite side of the rode from the entrance to Guenoc Ranch, at 22000 Butts Canyon Road, sits a large rock. Secured to that rock are two Lake county historical markers.

One recognizes A. H. Butts as an early settler and who the road is named after.

The other identifes where the first road into Lake county entered the area.

Here is some historical information regarding the two subjects.

ALEXANDER HOUSTON BUTTS

Butts Canyon Road

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ALEXANDER HOUSTON BUTTS (Butts Canyon Road)

Was born in Henry County, Tennessee on November 25^th, 1827. He moved to Missouri where he met and married Elizabeth Ann Hawkins on December 20^th, 1849.

In the 1850 Census Alexander and Elizabeth were counted as living in Cass county, Missouri. She was 20 he was 23. In 1851, still in Missouri, they had a baby girl they named Anna Elizabeth. By 1854 they had moved to Bear Valley, Mariposa County, California where their second child, a son, was born on February 22^nd. In 1855 they had another son.

In 1857 they were living in the Clear Lake township of Napa county. They were one of the first families to reside in the Loconoma valley. They soon squatted on land that was part of the Guenoc land grant near the eastern border. They were forced to move so they moved south and east down the canyon that now bears their name.

In her book, “Join me in Paradise” subtitled “The History Of Guenoc Valley” © 1982, published by Guenoc Winery, on page 3, the author, Suzanne Case, stated that “They built a home at the mouth of what came to be called Butts creek in Snell Valley.”

In the agricultural census taken June 1^st, 1860, A. H. Butts claims to have owned 200 acres of land valued at $1,000 with furnishings and equipment valued at $100. To also own 40 head or horses, 8 milk cows, 6 oxen, 100 head of cattle, 200 pigs with a total value of $3,560. They also had 2 more children.

In the “History of Napa and Lake Counties by Slocum, Bowen & Co. Publishers, 1881” on page 161 it says; on November 15^th, 1861, A. H. Butts along with others organized the first quicksilver mining company in Napa county, the Phoenix Mining Company.

By 1864 the family had moved to central California.

Mrs. A. H. Butts, Elizabeth Ann, passed June 4^th, 1889 in Cathey Valley, Mariposa, California.

In 1900, at the age of 73, A. H. Butts was living with his daughter and son-in-law in Fresno, California.

HANFORD SENTINAL 6/25/1903

A. H. Butts, a man in charge of a pumping station, at Fomosa, was found dead at that place in Kern county yesterday. The coroner was called to investigate the case.

Alexander Houston Butts died June 24^th, 1903. His remains are buried in the Union Cemetery, Bakersfield, Kern County, California.

OLD SOLDIER ROAD

Built by the U.S. Army 1850

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FIRST ROAD INTO LAKE COUNTY 1850

The first road into Lake county was built by the United States Army in 1850. “Road” meaning it would accommodate a wheeled utility vehicle such as a wagon. The Army built the road as they needed to bring wagons and cannon into Lake county to respond to the murder of Andy Kelsey and Charlie Stone by the local natives. The murders happened in the Big Valley (Kelseyville) area near Clear Lake.

The Army first traveled from Benicia to the Napa Valley. Then they went over Howell Mountain and down into Pope Valley. They travelled through the valley to where the modern day Aetna Springs area is, then west over the mountains. Next dropping down into the valley that accommodated Wennok lake, the namesake of the Guenoc land grant. This area is the modern day Guenoc Ranch. Moving on, the Army passed to the east of Wennok lake, over some small hills and into Coyote Valley. From there, on to Clear Lake.

The need for the wagons was to haul whaling boats that were needed as the natives had taken refuge on an island at the northwest end of the lake.

Ultimately this exercise would be remembered for its horrific massacre not for building the first road into Lake county. The Army’s action is remembered as: “The Bloody Island Massacre.”

THE STORY OF

“THE BLOODY ISLAND MASSACRE”

In the “History of Napa and Lake Counties, California”, by Slocum, Bowen & Co. Publishers, 1881, they relay the story of Kelsey and Stone, their deaths and the following result. They give two accounts. One is the white man’s version and one from the Indian Chief, Augustine.

I think the main point everyone agrees on is; Kelsey and Stone brought their deaths to their own door-step.

I quote from the recorded story: “the death of these two men was the result of their own folly and indifference to the simplest laws of justice and mercy."

Unfortunately, their righteous deaths brought an act of retribution that lives in infamy and makes today’s society struggle trying to comprehend such a brutal act of vengeance.

It was due to the following historical episode that the first “road” into Lake county was built.

Here is a synopsis.

In the fall of 1847 some frontiersmen named Shirland, Charles Stone and the brothers Andy and Ben Kelsey purchased from Salvador Vallejo all of his stock he was running at Clear Lake. They also secured the right to use the land which he claimed as a pasture.

The Indians had worked for the Spaniards and Mexicans and were inclined to work for the white men, Kelsey and Stone, expecting the same treatment they had received from the previous patrons.

Instead, Kelsey and Stone treated the native Indians as slaves, paying them with trinkets and very little food. At one point they even secured Chief Augustine’s wife, took her for their own and refused to allow her any type of relationship with her legal husband.

There is a lot to this story and many others have already told it, but suffice it to say, Kelsey and Stone got their just deserts.

Andy Kelsey died as the result of an arrow piercing his body. Stone had his head caved in by a rock. Both men were buried in the sand of a caved in creek bank.

At first the Indians expected retaliation but when it didn’t come immediately they grew less wary. But before long, death was on the march headed for Clear Lake.

The Army was sent to wipe out those they thought responsible for the murder of two white men. Never mind that these two white men supposedly whipped and shot Indians for sport to entertain their guests.

In early 1850 the army headed for Clear Lake but upon arriving, found the Indians had taken refuge on an island in the lake.

The regiment sent a detachment back to secure two whaling boats so they could access the island.

Upon the detachments return with the boats, the forces now including civilians, split up. One group with the cannon stayed on the south side of the lake while the others took the boats and traveled to the north side.

In the morning, the soldiers on the southside raised a raucous. The Indians, curious, came to the water’s edge to see what was going on. The soldiers fired their weapons, the projectiles falling way short of their targets. The Indians began to laugh and jeer the soldiers only to have the response be the boom of the field cannons. Those projectiles mowed down several Indians as they cut swaths through their ranks.

Frightened and in disarray the Indians fled to the other side of the island only to meet soldiers rising out of the tules who killed men, women, children and the elderly.

As those trying to escape were dispatched, “the Bloody Island Massacre” was completed.

No one knows exactly how many Indians were murdered during the attack on the island but a fair estimate is 75. However, this action was just their first attack. The soldiers traveled on into Mendocino county slaughtering several more Natives.

HEALDSBURG TRIBUNE 9/15/1932:

“Last Survivor of Bloody Island Dies At Age of 103

LAKEPORT, Sept. 15.—Jennie Marshall, aged Indian woman of the Upper Lake district, who is reported to have been 103 years of age, died at the Elliott rancheria Thursday of last week. Funeral services were held Saturday from Upper Lake. The aged woman, who was the mother-in-law of Bill Snow of Upper Lake, was stated to have been a survivor of the historic massacre of Bloody Island. The incident occurred in the early days of this county following the murdering of Stone and Kelsey by the Indians. The United States cavalry was sent in here and the only Indians that escaped the wrath of the soldiers when guns were turned on the island were those who managed to hide in thickets and were unseen. Mrs. Marshall told her relatives she was about 16 years of age at the time.”

Sources

History of Lake and Napa counties 1881

Ancestory.com

Napa county

University of California

Suzanne Case