It was
September, 1849, when more than one hundred wagons gathered
west of Salt Lake City to decide which route would be the
best to take to California. Nineteen year old Pleasant
Arthur Chalfant originally from Highland County, Ohio and
more recently from Iowa, listened as the routes and the
dangers ahead were described. He, like most of the others,
had heard the cry of gold and was hoping to seek his
fortune.
The
wagons broke off into three parties, The Jefferson Party
which traveled safely into Southern California via Cajon
Pass, the Jayhawkers who met tragedy in Death Valley on
their way to the Sierras through Walker’s Pass, and the San
Francisco Party who chose to travel slightly southwest
across Nevada to enter California from
Beckwourth Pass, northwest of Reno. Pleasant was part of
the San Francisco Party.
Pleasant
tried his hand at digging at Bidwell Bar near Oroville,
California. He also spent time in Trinity County
store-keeping and doing other work until mining excitement
in Florence, Idaho, called him northward. Here, in hostile
Indian country along Indian Creek, he ran a sawmill. By
March of 1867 he was in Boise City, Idaho married to Adaline
Slater.
Virginia
City, Nevada became the home of Mr. and Mrs. Pleasant
Chalfant not long after their marriage and in 1868 the first
of their eight children, William Arthur Chalfant was born.
They moved briefly to Suisun, California along the
California coast, then to Owens Valley on the Eastern side
of the Sierra Nevadas where they settled in the town of
Independence, the county seat of young Inyo County.
In 1870,
Pleasant saw the need for a newspaper and joined forces with
his half brother J. E. Parker to form the Inyo
Independent newspaper. A printing press was acquired
from the Esmeralda Union in Aurora. The pressroom
itself was in the upstairs of the Chalfant house. Eldest son
Willie was enlisted to help with the printing, and together
father and son shared interests in the newspaper business
throughout their lives.
 |
Inyo
Independent flag and masthead.
Courtesy Laws Museum |
The
settlers of Inyo County came to mine the rich minerals and
to work the soil, competing with Native Americans for rights
to the land which also was rich in fish and game. The
stories of the communities and their day to day struggles
became the headlines of the Chalfant newspapers. The great
Cerro Gordo silver mining town in the mountains towering
east of Lone Pine was of prime interest in the headlines and
proved a boon to the newspaper business, with constant tales
of ore production and the society of respectability and
lawlessness that grew around it.
Pleasant
continued to write and publish the Inyo Independent
until 1881, when he sold his interest and decided to try his
own hand at mining ventures once again in his Inyo County
and on to Arizona. His efforts were mostly unsuccessful, and
he returned to launch a new paper in April, 1885, the
Inyo Register. The Register was a family effort,
operated out of Bishop, north of Independence, with Willie
as full partner, and younger Chalfant members typesetting
and helping wherever needed.
The
election of 1886 showed Pleasant Arthur Chalfant in the
running for Inyo County Assessor. Son, Willie, took over as
editor of the Inyo Register, and a twelve year career
of public office was pursued. At one point, Pleasant was
selected Receiver of the Land Office, also, but he was quick
to resign upon learning that the appointment was brought on
by a dishonest faction.
In
addition to politics, newspaper publishing and printing,
Pleasant also showed great mechanical ingenuity. He devised
and patented machines for addressing and wrapping
newspapers. He refused offers to sell them until they were
improved. The newspaper wrapping machine was perfected, but
burned in a fire that consumed the Chalfant home in the
later years of his life.
Pleasant
Arthur Chalfant was said to have been a man with a heart so
full it kept his pocketbooks empty. Much of his salary went
towards taxes of unfortunate friends. He was considered an
honest, independent, and courageous man of convictions.
Pioneer hospitality and generosity made up his spirit, with
good works and progress receiving his support throughout his
years. Money was for those who depended on him, the comfort
and happiness of his family and home of utmost importance to
him.
In early
February of 1901, following a life of untiring and unselfish
service to family, friends, and community, Pleasant Arthur
Chalfant succumbed to a two week illness. His legacy was
carried on in the Inyo Register newspaper run by his
son until the 1940’s and still in print well into the 21st
century. Archives of both Chalfant newspapers can be found
at the Eastern Sierra Museum in Independence, and Laws
Railroad Museum in Bishop, serving as great resources for
modern historians.