Page:The Indian History of the Modoc War.djvu/268

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ormed

a law partnership with A. M. Roseborough. and J. Berry. In

1856 he sold the ranch and invested in mortgages on Scott's River Ditch and lost it all. He then went to Yreka to practice his profession. He associated himself with John D. Cosby from 1857 to 1859, and afterwards partner with F. E. Ensign, and then practiced alone. In 1867 he was elected to the As- sembly. In 1879 he was chosen Judge of the Superior Court, Siskiyou County. In 1843 he married Miss Lucia M. Hart, of Oswego, New York, by whom he had four children: In

1857 he married Louisa P. Hamblin of Yreka, who died in January, 1866. He was afterwards married to Louisa E. Lanz at Yreka, by whom he had three boys. The Shastas named him Jo Lane's Brother. Steele was a favorite among the Shastas. He was Superintendent of the Northern Cali- fornia Indians, 1863. He died in Yreka, California, June 27th, 1883.

There are also two younger sons of the late Judge Steele, both born in Yreka, Cal.: Charles Darwin Steele, the fourth son, born February 22, 1882, and Elmer Steele, the fifth son, born Nov. 11, 1883.

LETTERS FROM JUDGE E. STEELE TO HIS BROTHER,

I. STEELE.

Dear Brother:

At your request, I subjoin a brief statement of my recollec- tion, knowledge, and intercourse with the Indians since my leaving the East in the spring of 1850. Crossing the plains that summer, while suffering much, with other emigrants, by short feed for my stock and loss of supplies in our train, I had no trouble with the Indians. Others did, but I saw or thought a cause with themselves, or with some that had shortly preceded them for it.

On the south fork of the Humboldt, I, with a Mr. Smith, since dead, went into a large village of Shoshones, to look for a mule belonging to a sick man, lying upon the plains. After considerable parley they allowed us to examine their stock, but we found none to answer the description of the one wanted. We found stolen cattle, taken from a train ten days before,