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Show 396 WESTERN WILDS. home of the Modocs, and soon after my visit this region became no torious for that tempest- in- a- teapot, the " Modoc War." These are the gentle savages with whom Walk- in Miller claims to have affiliated, at mention of which claim the old pioneers smile meaningly, with a closure of the left optic. Wyeka was the original Indian name ; for no Indian or Chinaman can pronounce the letter r. There is a tradition that a Dutch baker painted the present name on his sign by mistake, and it was noted that " YREK A BAKERY" spelt the same both ways, which struck the citizens as such a hap-py combi-nation that the name was retain-ed by gen-era 1 con-sent. Sim-ilarly, Sis-kiyou, name ofthe coun-ty first or-ganized, resulted from the attempts of miners to pronounce the French Six Cailloux (" six bowlders "), as the district was called, from six im-mense rocks in the river. As most of the early American settlers learned French and Indian by the aid of " sleeping dictionaries," the pronunciation may not be strictly academic. Like all old mining counties, this is heavily taxed. An unsettled population of twenty thousand often organized a California county, voted magnificent public works, and issued bonds to complete them ; in no long time the miners VIEW IN THE MODOC COUNTRY. |