What would you do if if you found a can containing gold coins in a field? That was dilemma for Charles E. Spoon in January 1906 when he found a can containing $280 in gold coins. Spoon was renting the H.J. Martin place near Buntingville where he made the find. It was speculated that some one had buried it a long time ago, and that the previous occupant, G.W. Reynolds* unearthed it when digging a post hole, but never examined it. It remained undisturbed until it was found by Spoon. In attempt to find the owner, Spoon placed a legal notice in the Lassen Advocate, though no one ever came forward.

*Reynolds was a cousin to Claude Heard, the founder of Heards Market.

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In 1869, for some strange unknown reason, a stray Cornishman, Robert Miles Smith settled on 160 acres which is now a part of the Fleming Wildlife Unit, in the Honey Lake Valley.  In many cases, usually immigrants locate where fellow countrymen have settled. This, of course, was especially true of the Swiss Italians of Honey Lake and Sierra Valleys.  In Smith’s case, the only other person from Cornwall, was Mary Bass of Elysian Valley. In 1870, his aged mother, Mary, brother John P.M. Smith and sister Jane joined him.

Robert died unexpectedly in 1873, and his brother took over the property. In the meantime, Jane married Honey Laker, William Martin Tanner, my great grandparents. In 1891, John P.M. Smith sold his 160 acres to L.W. Brubeck for $2,500 and returned to Polgooth, Cornwall, England with his mother.

So, sometimes people settled wherever with no particular reason.

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What is common throughout the American West is how one person locates. That person then writes to family and friends to come to the new territory and the land of opportunity. Some times there is a unique twist, which John Kelley is a perfect example.

In 1859, Kelley of Missouri settled at the lower end of the Susan River. There he found an abundant water supply along with natural meadow lands. All was fine until 1863 when the United States Government surveyed the region. Under federal law, the most a person could file was 160 acres. Kelley had already claimed nearly 1,000 acres. Kelley concerned that he could lose his holdings wrote back home and encouraged fellow southerners to come out to join and settle on property he had claimed. With the ravages of the Civil War it did not require Kelley to convince family and friends to join him out west. Those who initially did were William Brashear, Robert Briggs, Chappell Kelley and John Saling.  In 1864, when Lassen County Surveyor E.R. Nichols who was doing work in the region, noted a number of residents had served in the Confederate Army , he dubbed the district the Tule Confederacy. Over time the area became known as the Tules and these days its just part of the Standish-Litchfield region.

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