5 minute read
Hale Tharp – Pioneer of Three Rivers Country
Hale Tharp – Pioneer of Three Rivers Country
Words and Photos provided by Terry Ommen
Tulare County’s rich history is filled with responsible civic leaders, interesting people, ruthless outlaws, plus a good number of ordinary folks. Many have names we recognize, like George Stewart, Ben Maddox, Porter Putnam, and Christopher Evans; but many others whose names are less recognizable still contributed much. Take Hale Dixon Tharp—a man who experienced firsthand the emotional highs and lows of life in our young county. His keen observations and documentations give insight into the area’s history.
Tharp was born in Michigan Territory around 1830. In 1851, a widow named Chloe Ann Swanson hired him to take her and her four young sons to California by wagon. He safely delivered them to Placerville and ended up marrying her on Christmas Day in 1853. Tharp mined for a time in El Dorado County with some success, but discovered that the miner’s life was not for him.
In 1856, he left his family behind and ventured south to Tulare County, where he explored the open spaces in the Sierra foothills near the Kaweah River. He liked what he saw: plenty of fish and game, water and grass, and friendly native people. He concluded it was an ideal place to start a cattle business. So he settled near the confluence of Horse Creek and the Kaweah River, where his family later joined him.
Even though he had found his new home, Tharp was consumed by wanderlust. In the summer of 1858, Chief Chappo, called Ho-nush by the local native people he led, invited the newcomer to his tribal headquarters further up the Kaweah Canyon. Tharp accepted the invitation. When Tharp arrived, he saw the camp was centered around a massive rock with a large cave-like chamber under it. He learned that the space served as a warehouse, meeting hall, and even as an infirmary for the sick and injured. This huge granite boulder would eventually take the name Hospital Rock.
Tharp’s arrival to the camp caused considerable interest among the native people, as he was the first white man they had ever seen. The chief introduced him to the members of the tribe, all dressed in deer skins. They could not take their eyes off of the white man, finding his clothing, weapons, horse, and saddle to be especially curious. Tharp became friends with the native people, especially the chief, and provided them with plenty of deer meat.
That same summer, he accepted an invitation to go with them deeper into the mountains to see the big trees. They took him to a stand of giant redwoods—he was amazed by their size. This excursion earned him bragging rights as the first white man to see these remarkable giant sequoias—a grove that John Muir would later call the “Giant Forest.”
While there, Tharp saw a fallen hollowed-out sequoia tree. To document his visit, he carved his name and the year 1858 into it. According to him, from 1861 to 1890, he and his family used the grove and nearby meadows as summer pasture for his livestock. He used the hollow log as shelter. Today it’s called Tharp’s Log and can be seen in Crescent Meadow within Sequoia National Park.
In the spring of 1861, Tharp made another trip into the mountains, this time to climb the large rock outcropping he had seen on an earlier trip. Tharp and his relatives George and John Swanson successfully made the perilous climb. It is believed that they were the first non-natives to climb to the top of what became Moro Rock.
By the spring of 1862, Tharp noticed that “quite a number of whites had settled in the Three Rivers section.” He also saw that the natives were contracting contagious diseases like measles, scarlet fever, and smallpox, and were dying by the hundreds. Sadly he recalled, “I helped to bury 27 in one day…”
During this same period, Tharp also recalled a visit he received from the chief and some of his men. “They came to see me and asked me to try and stop the whites from coming…” The chief explained that they “loved this country, and did not want to leave it.” When Tharp
told them that halting white settlement was impossible, the chief and his men “all sat down and cried.” A few days later, the chief returned and “with tears in his eyes told me that they decided not to fight the whites, but would leave the country.” By about the summer of 1865, they all had left. The headquarters camp at Hospital Rock was last to be vacated.
We are fortunate that Hale Tharp had a front row seat to so much of our early county's settlement history. We are equally grateful that he was willing to document what he had experienced. Walter Fry, long-time park naturalist who eventually became U.S. Commissioner of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, personally talked with Tharp and documented many of his conversations.
Hale Tharp passed away on November 5, 1912, and is interred next to his wife in the Hamilton Cemetery near Exeter. The octogenarian had witnessed so much history—some astonishing and breathtaking, and some tragic and heart-wrenching.
Acknowledgements: Sophie Britten and her Three Rivers history book “Pioneers in Paradise” helped with this article—grab a copy to learn more about Tharp and Three Rivers history. It’s an excellent read.
