Sacramento
County
Biographies
William H.
Luther, a prominent fruit-grower who resides in Sacramento, was born in Salina,
now a part of Syracuse, New York, April 4, 1827. His parents. Constant and Aurilla (Williams) Luther, were natives
of Rhode Island. His father emigrated
from that State to New York in early day and engaged in the manufacture of salt
and in farming, and died when our subject was a lad. The latter graduated at the Monroe Institute at Elbridge,
Onondaga County, New York, in 1839. For
four years he was clerk in the store of Noah Wood, in his native town; next he
spent a year with Alfred Haydin, learning the carpenter’s trade; then for two
year he had charge of the grain department of the mercantile house of Daniel
Dana; and thence until 1849 he was in the service of Kingsley & Hollister,
wholesale grocers. February 14, 1849,
in company with an elder brother, he left New York city on the ship Elizabeth
Ellen, Captain Truman, and came by way of Cape Horn to California, arriving at
San Francisco September 18. Here his
first venture in a business way was to secure passengers for arriving ships
which were bound for Sacramento and the mining districts. In this capacity he operated for Captain
Vale, of the schooner Valasco, and was quite successful, as he secured 400
passengers, in addition to a cargo of freight.
On arriving at Sacramento he and his brother had but little cash on
hand; nevertheless, they pushed on to Placerville, then called “Hangtown,” and
camped out at the diggings near by their friend James Alvord, who had
previously located there. Not being
successful, they became discouraged and were about to return to Sacramento,
when one day William took a stroll over to Cedar Ravine and found a vein of
gold, or rather of slate laden with gold.
From the first panful he obtained about $50 worth of the shining
metal. Communicating the all-important
discovery to his brother, they went to work together and at the expiration of
the first month they had “a large pickle-jar full of gold!” A fitting illustration of the ups and downs
of mining fortune may here be given in Mr. Luther’s own words: “It was growing
late in the season, and near by our claim was the cabin of two miners who had
been uniformly unsuccessful. Having no
provisions, we bought their supply at an outlay of about $600. This afterward proved a valuable find; for
the roads were well-nigh impassable, provisions advanced in price, and at times
were not to be had at any price. Here
we remained until spring, when, lured by stories of opportunities in El Dorado
Canon, we sold our claim and went there in April, locating between the North
and the Middle Fork of the American River.
The snow was very deep and we remained there until July, but never
‘struck the color,’ and we then learned that the parties to whom we had sold
our claim for $600 had in the meantime cleared $15,000. In 1851 we put in a flume above Spanish Bar,
on the Middle Fork of the American. We
called it the Indiana Ripple. After
weeks of toil we found that is was useless, because of another flume below
us. We then stacked our flume and
material on the river bank; but before it could be transferred to another
location it was all swept away by the floods.
Nothing daunted, however, we secured 300 feet below the other flume and
went to work. Here we found a crevice
which panned out $100 to the foot. In
the spring of 1852 we formed the Empire Company, and by uniting our forces
succeeded in turning the river from its channel. On Monday morning, after this work had been going on for some
time, I arose very early and found that Indiana Ripple had gone dry in the
night, and, unaided, I took out over fifty pounds of gold during that morning,
and the company realized over $165,000 during the following six weeks.” In October, that year, Mr. Luther went to
his New York home on a visit. Returning
the next April, by way of the Isthmus, he joined his brother in this State, who
in the meantime had bought a ranch in Amador County. Here he remained until 1857, when he made another trip to New
York State and married Miss Sarah J., daughter of D. Alvord, and a native of
Farmington, Connecticut. Returning
almost immediately with his bride, he settled on his ranch in Ione Valley,
where he made a specialty of vegetables and fruit. In 1879 he came to Sacramento to reside. In 1863 he joined the Pioneer Association,
in which society he has been a director for ten years. His family comprises a wife and three
daughters.
Transcribed
by Karen Pratt.
Davis, Hon. Win. J., An Illustrated History of
Sacramento County, California. Page 497-498. Lewis Publishing Company.
1890.
©
2005 Karen Pratt.