A lot has been written about Atlas Fredonyer early activities in the region. Among other things he filed a land claim in what would later become Susanville, since that town’s founder neglected to do so.
In 1862, Fredonyer was found guilty and sent to prison of a sexual assault charge involving his fifteen year old step-daughter, Sally. Many were of the opinion that Fredonyer did not commit a crime. A petition was circulated and California Governor Stanford pardoned Fredonyer the following year.
After his pardon, Fredonyer seemed to have disappeared, as he never returned back to this region. A few years ago, I finally found out what became of him. He surfaced in a most unusual way in 1880 in San Francisco. Fredonyer it should be noted used the title of “Doctor” to what extent of medical training he had, is not clear. At this time he was suffering from bowel blockage. He attempted perform his own colonoscopy, which a bottle, which got lodged in the colon. The heavy set Fredonyer was finally taken to St. Mary’s hospital. A colostomy was performed to remove the bottle. He did not recover from the procedure and died in San Francisco on August 10, 1880.
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Thanks for this one, Tim. I confess that prior to yesterday I never knew who Fredonyer Pass was named for and never realized there was also a Fredonyer Peak with a lookout to the north of Eagle Lake. I visited that lookout yesterday and shot some photos up there and decided it was time to lookup who the Fredonyer was. Talk about a terrible way to go too!
Atlas Fredonyer was a physician who had an office where he saw patients.
I had read he was trying to give himself an enema using the bottle which became lodged in his colon. He underwent a colotomy that was successful, but the bottle had caused tissue damage. Atlas actually appeared to be improving after the surgery and was able to keep down some broth, but then began to complain of sharp stomach pains and then rapidly went downhill and died.