by Susan Couso
When Sheriff Byers walked into a room people took note. He was tall and fit and had a spark in his blue-gray eyes, and undisputed nerve. He was well-liked and respected by those who knew him and feared by many who might lurk on the fringes of goodness.
By 1864, when he was assigned the job as Lassen County’s first sheriff, he was a man to reckon with.
Byers had, after many years of experience, become one of the leading citizens of the Honey Lake Valley, but it had not always been an easy road to follow.
It all started in Pennsylvania in 1825, when James Davis Byers was born. In 1832, his father, Samuel, died, leaving the young family in a difficult position. ‘Schooling’ was not a priority, and by the time he was 13 years old, James was working in a local store.
Byers claimed to have a total of two years of ‘formal’ education. In 1842, his mother, Elizabeth Oglesby Byers, moved to Licking County, Ohio, with her two daughters; Mary and Martha, and her three sons; Joseph, John Hunter and James.
James, the baby of the family, soon began working again in a local mercantile. He was already becoming someone with good character and someone who could be relied on.
In 1848, James was elected constable and acting deputy sheriff of Licking County. This was a job which would have a huge impact on his future in the west. Then, in 1850, seeking to make their fortunes, James and J. Hunter emigrated to the wilds of California, arriving in Sutter’s Fort after a three-month-long trip across the plains.
The brothers soon opened a store in Rough and Ready, Nevada County and mined a little ‘on the side’. But by 1851, they had been bitten by the ‘gold bug’. The store was sold, and they followed the gold trail to Plumas County.
Plumas County was good to the Byers brothers. They managed to find enough gold to begin a new venture. In 1854, James and two other men opened a hotel in Jamison City, and then he and J. Hunter opened the first butcher shop there.
Jamison City was booming with the opening of the Washington Mine on Eureka Mountain.
Needing beef for their butcher shop, the brothers went into the cattle business, acquiring land as they could, but mostly utilizing the open range at first.
James, being more of the ‘outdoor type’, looked after the cattle while his brother tended the shop. This new assignment caused James to travel throughout the area.
Roaming into the Honey Lake Valley, Byers was well pleased with the country, and began acquiring land. In the Fall of 1858, he purchased a piece of land from Dr. John Slater on Baxter Creek, northeast of Janesville.
This property eventually became his home, the Byers Ranch, but he didn’t move onto the land for a few years. Here, at his Baxter Creek Ranch, he started his cattle business, and in 1861, Byers lost his property, in Quincy, to a fire.
In late 1862, all ‘heck’ broke loose as the hostilities over Plumas County’s legal control of Honey Lake Valley took a turn for the worse. About half of the Honey-Lakers refused to pay taxes or attention to Plumas County, insisting that the valley was in Nevada.
Plumas County, on the other hand, was adamant. Byers was sent, as Special Deputy to Sheriff Pierce, to collect taxes and to serve warrants. He was, as I’ve said, well respected, but his attempts were occasionally met with such unwillingness that ‘strong-arm’ tactics were needed, particularly when he attempted to confiscate property in lieu of taxes.
Byers usually got the job done, but his attempt to arrest a Honey Laker, Judge Ward, was met with more than usual resistance. Byers had the man in tow but was met by Isaac Roop and a group of men intent upon preventing their return to Plumas County.
The Honey Lakers arrested Byers and released his prisoner, though Byers said that the man was, ‘released on parole’. As there was no jail in Susanville at that time, Byers was put into the charge of Susan Roop, who let him wander the town and visit friends.
This was February of 1863, and Miss Roop had just arrived in her new home from the East.
Because of this episode of disrespect for and from Plumas County, and many volatile tempers, a group of men from Plumas came to Susanville, fully armed, to state their case.
The result was the Sagebrush War, a one-and-a-half-day-long squabble which caused no deaths, little injury, and the decision by both sides to investigate the question further.
Both Nevada and California surveyed the boundary lines, and, yes, Honey Lake Valley was in California, and in Plumas County. From this new discovery, Lassen County was formed in 1864.
Byers, well thought of and trusted, was sent to Sacramento with the necessary papers to create the new county, and in May of 1864, was elected as its first sheriff.
When Byers was replaced by Frank Drake as sheriff in 1867, he began a long second career serving in various capacities of public office. In 1868, he was elected to Lassen County’s 2nd Supervisorial District. He was elected to the California State Assembly (1873-75), chosen as Alternate to the Republican National Convention in 1884, and was a Presidential Elector for California in 1884.
In 1890, Byers was appointed by California’s governor to be the Director of the 11th Agricultural District Board. In 1866, Byers was appointed general superintendent of the newly formed California and Idaho Fast Freight Company.
Byers and two partners built a gristmill in Janesville in late 1882 or early 1883, and he owned a store in Janesville. Clearly, he was one of the area’s leading citizens, but his cattle business remained his main concern.
When the Lassen County Pioneer Society was created in 1882, James Byers was appointed Chairman, and was, of course, one of the founding members. He was also struck by a bolt of lightning that year, which knocked him to the ground, but Byers, tough as ever, jumped up and shook it off.
Byers was a man of many talents and many friends. His numerous successful business ventures proved his initiative and intelligence, but his likability proved his worth. When Byers died, in 1902, his estate was left to his family members, who had remained by his side during his declining years. James Davis Byers is buried in Janesville.
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