Sierra
County
Biographies
ERNEST M. INNES
Ernest M. Innes is well known as the
proprietor of the Sierra Buttes Inn, in Sierra County, one of the old
hostelries of this section of the state, having been built sixty years ago, in
the heart of the high Sierras. The lofty
Sierra buttes are near-by. It is a
picturesque and beautiful location.
Sierra City, in which place the Inn is located, is an old gold mining
town. During its palmy days it had about
twenty-five hundred inhabitants, but its present population is about five
hundred. Mr. Innes is the principal
owner of the place, including the water rights and waterpower, as well as of a
neighboring town. He was born in
Melbourne, Australia, August 19, 1880, and is a son of William and Emma (Richards)
Innes. The father, who was born in Fifeshire, Scotland, learned the carpenter trade in his
native land and became a building contractor.
He did a great deal of building in Johannesburg and Kimberley, South
Africa, and after locating in Melbourne erected many theaters, large halls,
stock exchanges and clubs. He died in
Melbourne, at the age of seventy-eight years.
His wife was a native of Melbourne, and was of English stock, the family
having originated in Somersetshire. She
is still living, at the age of nearly eighty years.
Ernest M. Innes is the fifth in
order of birth of the nine children born to this worthy couple, and all are
living. All of the sons, five in number,
learned trades, and Ernest M. was apprenticed to the plumbing trade, under Robert
Nairn, of Nairn,
Scotland. After his five-year
apprenticeship, he worked as a journeyman plumber for various contractors,
including Mr. Nairn.
Later he decided to come to California and embarked on the Sonoma at
Melbourne. The vessel was still in the
harbor when news came of the great earthquake and fire in San Francisco, and
Mr. Innes deferred his voyage until later.
He landed at San Francisco on December 22, 1906, and at once went to
work in his trade, which he followed there for about six months. He then started in business as a plumbing
contractor, which work engaged his attention until 1910. One of his patrons, Paul Buckley, owner of
the Kane & Buckley mine (the old Phoenix mine), came to him during a lull
in the building business, and hired him to go to the mine and work on the
machinery, plumbing and other equipment. Mr. Innes liked Sierra City so well
that he decided to locate here, and he continued to work in the mine as a
mechanic from that time until 1917. On
May 17th of that year he enlisted in the medical department of the
Eighth Division and was assigned to service in the surgeon-general’s office in
Washington, D. C., where his duties were mostly administrative. He received his honorable discharge in
Washington on January 6, 1920, in order to accept a position in the
administrative department of the treasury department at the national
capital. He went into the service as a
sergeant and was finally discharged with the rank of hospital sergeant. He still holds a commission as a lieutenant
in the Medical Enlisted Reserve. His
discharge was from the public health service of the treasury department and was
dated March 22, 1922. On leaving the
government service, Mr. Innes returned to Sierra City and bought the Sierra
Buttes Inn. He also bought a
two-hundred-acre farm in Sierra City and is financially interested in the old
Keystone gold mine in partnership with James Davis, of Grass Valley. He is also the owner of the I. O. O. F.
building and the Service Garage and is the principal owner of thirteen other
pieces of property, including the farm referred to.
On December 15, 1913, in Alameda,
California, Mr. Innes was united in marriage to Miss Frances Cook, a daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Cook, of Sierra City.
To this union was born a daughter, Jean, who graduated from the Fremont
high school in Oakland, in December, 1930.
Mr. Innes was raised in the United
Grand Lodge of Masons, at Victoria, Australia, on December 22, 1905, and is a
member of Harmony Lodge, No. 164, F. & A. M., of which he was master for
six years. This is one of the earliest
Masonic lodges in California, having been erected in 1862, and its original
records are still intact. Mr. Innes has
attained the fourteenth degree in Masonry.
He was a delegate to the Masonic grand lodge which met in San Francisco
on October 14, 1930. He is also a member
of the Elks in Washington, D. C. He was
made an American citizen at Camp Fremont in 1918, and has since given his
political support to the Republican Party.
He is a member of the Republican county central committee and is now
serving as justice of the peace in Butte Township. He is a man of sound judgment and
unquestioned integrity, is prominent and influential in his section of the
county, and is uniformly respected by all who know him.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 3 Pages 381-383. Pioneer Historical
Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010 Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Sierra County Biographies