In May 10, 1856 R.J. “Bob” Scott settled on what would become Milford. Two months later, Scott with several others participated on the first recorded boating on Honey Lake that claimed two lives.
The following year, Scott sold his claim to Peter Lassen, and took up another claim adjoining it. This transaction would cause confusion in 1859 after Lassen’s death. Thomas Fairchild and Fred Washburn mistakenly purchased it from Lassen’s Estate, which they thought they were buying Lassen’s original ranch, south of Susanville.
Just as the discovery of gold brought an influx of prospectors to the Honey Lake Valley, discoveries elsewhere, like a pendulum swings, created an exodus when gold was found elsewhere. In July 1858, Scott and with a number of Honey Lakers rushed to the gold mines of Fraser River in British Columbia. Scott never made it there. According to Fairfield’s History (1916) he states that fellow Honey Laker Matthew Craft killed Scott enroute. Fairfield does not elaborate. An examination of the Marysville Daily Appeal, which provided good coverage of Honey Lake news did not report it, or I could have missed it. One never knows when new material surfaces.
It should be noted that a majority of the Honey Lakers returned from Fraser River, no richer than when they left. It is interesting to note one of the big mines discovered there in 1859 was named the Neversweat.