Colusa Biographical Sketches.
CHAPTER XII.
R.G. BURROWS.
Rufus G. Burrows, an early pioneer of the State and county, was born in La Porte, Indiana, April 8, 1834. In his infancy his parents immigrated to Atchison County, Missouri, where he remained till the spring of 1848, when he set out with his parents to cross the plains to California. They came by the Truckee route and it was while resting in camp between Truckee and the sink of the Humboldt that they first heard from some Mormons returning to Salt Lake of the discovery of gold in California. This news was received with intense excitement by the emigrants. Mr. Burrows relates an incident that conveys some idea of the eagerness of the emigrants to stumble on a fortune. Three or four days after the news of the finding of gold had been imparted to the train, they came to a very steep hill where it became necessary for several men to pilot each wagon to its base. At the foot of this hill was a clear running brook in which some women, who had gone ahead of the train, were busy picking up from its bed bright, shining particles which they pronounced to be gold. Word was soon carried the entire length of the train that gold had been found, in fact, was only a few yards ahead of them, when everyone went wild with excitement and a general stampede was made to get down the hill, resulting in the upsetting of several wagons and a fight among the teamsters. Arriving at the creek, breathless, panting and in an ecstasy of expectation, they soon filled several of their tin camp plates with sand, which glittered temptingly with anything but the precious metal, for it was soon pronounced to be mica, thee "fool gold" of the placers, as pyrites of iron is the "fool gold" to the tyro in quartz mining. The train again wended on and in a few days came to the camp of the ill-fated Donner party, and here they had the mournful satisfaction of interring the remaining skeletons of those who had perished there.
The party next arrived at Sutter's Fort, on September 10, where Mr. Hitchcock, the step-father of Mr. Burrows, rented the old adobe building (which the society of California Pioneers is now seeking to preserve) and kept a hotel there till the spring of 1849, when they moved to Green Springs, El Dorado County. The step-father and mother of Mr. Burrows died at this place, in 1853. Mr. Burrows went to Oregon, and on May 24, 1854, was married to Miss Charlotte T. Hull, who was a native of Illinois. One son, Orlando A., was born during his parents' residence in Oregon. Mr. Burrows returned to California and settled down on his present place, known as Burrows Hollow, five miles southeast of Newville, in July, 1857. He owns here over two thousand acres of land and is engaged in mixed farming and stock-raising. He possesses a fine orchard of choice fruits. In this is a fig-tree, one of the largest in the State, being forty-five inches through at the butt.
Mr. Burrows is the father of nine children, of whom seven are living. They are: Orlando A.; Mary C., wife of Wm. Millsaps; Elo E., wife of J.W. Millsaps; Annie, wife of Wm. H. Markham; Ida, wife of James F. Ellis; and Ira A. and Aura C. Burrows.
COLUSA COUNTY
ITS
HISTORY TRACED FROM A STATE OF NATURE
THROUGH THE EARLY PERIOD OF SET-
TLEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT,
TO THE PRESENT DAY
WITH A
DESCRIPTION OF ITS RESOURCES, STATISTICAL
TABLES, ETC.
ALSO
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PIONEERS AND
PROMINENT RESIDENTS
by Justus H. Rogers
Orland, California
1891
Page 343-465
Transcribed by: Linda Diane Jackson 6/28/2009
Colusa County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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