Page:The Indian History of the Modoc War.djvu/38

Rh country and he and his people would not be bothered. Jack was a happy man when he and his men left Yreka. Jack traded a pony for a lot of steel traps and it was not long till he was a very good trapper. His people went to Yreka every few days. After Jack's second trip to Yreka, along about the year of 1859, the whites began to settle in Capt. Jack's country. Jack and his people lived near the Natural Bridge, on Lost River, on both sides of the river. They welcomed the settlers. They got along fine; the settlers gave the Indians work, making juniper posts and rails, etc. Among the first settlers were Abe Ball, Brotherington, Miller, Boddys, George Nurse, Caldwell, Bibus and Overtoils. The most of these people settled on the north side of the Tule Lake, from Frank Adams' horse ranch around the lake east. They all had horses and cattle. The Indians never bothered the settlers, and were not bothered in return.

Abe Ball had a cabin near where the Clint Vanbrimer ranch is now. Ball and one Indian named Skukum Horse were chums. Skukum Horse would go and stay over night with Ball any time he felt like it. Ball always was glad to have him around. One evening Skukum Horse went to Ball's, tied his pony and gave him hay the same as usual, and went to the cabin and knocked. Ball opened the door, but refused to admit the Indian. They had some hot words. Ball sent Skukum Horse away from his cabin door on a trot by the point of a gun. Ball had a visitor that evening. He did not want Skukum Horse to see who his visitor was. The visitor happened to be one of the Modoc's opposite sex. Ball and Skukum Horse met in a few days after they had the hot words. Ball wanted to explain things to his Indian friend. The Indian told him he could have told him who was with him that evening without getting so mad or threatening to shoot. One word brought on another. They had another falling out. They became hated enemies as the time rolled by. Ball and Skukum Horse never showed friendship towards one another again. The settlers kept coming into the Lost River country and made homes. The first man that settled in Langells Valley, Oregon, was a man by the name of Lan-