From the Kern Valley Sun:

Historic gravestone replaced 30 years later

Renee Umstadter

Kern River Valley Historical Society

A new bronze plaque encased in cement and donated anonymously has been placed at Johnny Powers' grave at the historic Cottage Grove Cemetery in Onyx. It reads: "John L. Powers, July 3, 1891, 27 yrs. 9 mos., 6 days."

The original gravestone had been missing for about 30 years.

Johnny Powers was the constable of Onyx in the late 1800s and a grandson of Tommy and Sophia Maria Smith, owners of the Smith Ranch. Sophia Maria Smith was the first white woman to live in the South Fork of the Kern Valley.

The story of Johnny Powers' passing is one of the legends of the Kern River Valley. Wampei Jiggens, an employee of the ranch, and Tommy Smith had a disagreement because Jiggens had broken the handle of a pitchfork. Smith felt the cost should come out of Jiggens' pay.

After the argument, Jiggens started drinking heavily and ultimately burned down three haystacks on the ranch. Constable Johnny Powers and two others set out for the Indian camp with a warrant for Jiggens' arrest. Powers was killed in the ensuing gunfight and it is said that Jiggens further mutilated Powers' body. Eventually, he was captured wearing Powers' badge pinned to his hat.

Powers was buried at Cottage Grove Cemetery. About 30 years ago someone broke off the headstone at its base and removed it from the cemetery. The Kern River Valley Historical Society placed an ad in the paper offering a reward for its return. The original stone was eventually returned, reassembled and placed in the rear yard display area of the museum in Kernville, where it remains today.

A visitor to the Kern Valley Museum recently inquired if there was a gravestone at Powers' grave at the Cottage Grove Cemetery. Learning there wasn't, he anonymously donated a plaque cast in bronze with the exact verbiage of the original stone marker.

Part 2 -- Shoot-out in Sage Canyon

Sage Canyon is one of the several mountain canyons which open up into the Indian Wells Valley on the west. It is the second canyon south of Walker's Pass, bordered by Cow Heaven Canyon on its north side and Horse Spring Canyon on the south. It is a very picturesque canyon, with a seasonal stream and, prior to the advent of ORVs, an abundant population of valley quail in the bottoms, with mountain quail and chukar partridges in its upper reaches. In 1891 this canyon was the site of a bloody gun fight.

The trouble started in the summer when Wampei Jiggens, an Indian ranch hand at the Smith Ranch on the south fork of the Kern River, broke the handle of a pitch fork. Young Tommy Smith believed that Wampei, who had a reputation for surly disposition, had done this on purpose and informed him that the price of the handle would be deducted from his wages. Harsh words followed. Wampei, who was a member of a Shoshone tribe led by Chief Kiowa which was living in a small rancheria in Sage Canyon, drew his pay and started back to camp. On the way, he stopped at Scodie's store where he illicitly obtained a supply of whiskey. Resuming his journey, he passed by the Smith Ranch on which loomed a number of haystacks, three of which soon became blazing torches lighting up the night sky.

Young Johnny Powers, a native of the South Fork area and a popular member of the extended Smith-Powers pioneer family, was constable at Onyx at the time. On July 2, 1891, Powers drew out a warrant for Wampei and left for Sage Canyon accompanied by Sam Gann, constable at Kernville. They stopped at Freeman's Station (Coyote Holes) for the night. Early in the morning they started for Sage Canyon. On the way they passed a camp of coyote trappers, where one of the trappers, Oliver McCoy, rode with them after being deputized by Constable Powers.

On arrival at the rancheria they were met by Chief Kiowa. After a few words, Kiowa turned, signaled to a son in the doorway of one of the shacks, who opened fire with a rifle. Kiowa, himself, pulled a pistol and also fired on the constables. The officers returned fire in the fierce shoot-out which followed. Powers lay dead, McCoy mortally wounded, Kiowa and his two sons dead. Gann, out of ammunition and seeing the situation as hopeless, caught McCoy's horse in the melee and escaped.

Gann made his way back to Coyote Holes in record time, Raymond Freeman hid Gann's horse in the barn, covered Gann under a canvas atop a wagon load of wood and started for the South Fork Valley and successfully misdirected a band of mounted Indians. Gann's safe arrival in Onyx caused an uproar. A posse of ten was organized and departed with Gann for the scene of the tragedy late in the afternoon, followed by an additional twelve in the evening. The entire posse reached Sage Canyon at daybreak. There they found the bodies of Powers and McCoy. The three dead Indians had been buried in shallow graves. The rancheria was deserted; the posse set fire to the buildings and other appurtenances.

The Indians, when leaving camp, had split up into two groups; the one consisting mostly of women and children fled directly west into the mountains and successfully evaded capture by hiding in caves and rocks. The posse, consisting of twenty horsemen led by Deputy Sheriff Jim Powers, brother of Johnny Powers, followed after the second group. The Indians of this group also headed into the mountains, but turned north and passed to the west of Walker's Pass. When north of the pass, they turned east and dropped down into Indian Wells Valley via Indian Wells Canyon. The posse remained on their trail for fully two weeks, headed north past Little Lake, thence into the Coso Mountains and beyond. The rough terrain made tracking increasingly difficult until Wampei and a few of the remaining Indians evaded the posse altogether.

Some three months later, Wampei showed up in Lone Pine wearing a hat that had Johnny Powers' constable badge pinned to it. He was quickly arrested by the authorities, taken to Bakersfield and tried in Superior Court. On December 11, 1891, Wampei Jiggens was sentenced to life imprisonment in the State Penitentiary.

(References: SOUTH FORK COUNTRY, Bob Powers, 1971; CANYON COUNTRY, Bob Powers, 2002) John Di Pol

Subject: Re: [MOSTONE-L] Headstone hunter
Date: Sun, 10 Sep 2000 08:47:37 -0700
References:

Just for special interest, I was reading in the October 2000 WildWest
Magazine an article on Gunfighters. In this particular article they were
discussing the death of California Constable Johnny Powers . Although he
wasn't from our area of research ... the story about the mysterious
disappearance of the headstone was rather interesting, and I wonder how many
of our family headstones have ended up lost under similar circumstances.
Constable Powers body was buried in a tree-shaded Cottage Grove
Cemetery. A small white marble headstone was put up . It was ornamented
with clasped hands and in the shape of a law officer's badge, it read:

In memory of John L. Powers. Died July 3, 1891. Aged 27 yrs 9 mos 6 d's."

He was the first lawman killed in Kern County in the line of duty and his
name was inscribed on monuments to slain police officers in Bakersfield and
in Washington D.C.

However the story I wanted to get to was this .... 80 years after he was
buried, and after South Fork County (a book) was published several Cottage
Grove headstones turned up missing, including Johnny Power's stone. Bob
Powers, who was a resident of Kern Valley was very shocked and very angry at
what had happened and in the 1990's (through the Kern Valley Historical
Society he posted a $1,000 reward for information to Constable Powers
headstone whereabouts'. No questions asked.

Luckily the very next day a woman called him and the headstone was found.
She was met by Bob Powers and a friend, Al Landry, in Twin Oaks and she led
them to a shed on her property. Twenty two years had gone by when some
vandals had broken the headstone in two near the cement base, and the base
was being used as a step into the shed, which was about 40 ft. from the road
Bob Powers had driven past a hundred time. The remainder of the stone had
been shoved into a space beneath.

So the lost headstone was found twenty two years later, mystery was solved.
It is now back in the family, and Bob Powers has his peace of mind, finding
his lost relation.

I guess I wanted to share this, to encourage each of you to not give up
..... sometimes there are happy endings!

1870 US Census
Name: John Lee Powers
Age in 1870: 6
Birth Year: abt 1864
Birthplace: California
Dwelling Number: 16
Home in 1870: Calpella, Mendocino, California
Race: White
Gender: Male
Father of Foreign Birth: Y
Inferred Father: J W Powers
Inferred Mother: Eveline Powers
Household Members:
Name Age
J W Powers 38
Eveline Powers 35
William F Powers 16
Martha Powers 14
George W Powers 12
James H Powers 10
Artilla E Powers 8
John Lee Powers 6
Charles P Powers 3
Mary J Powers 1

United States, Officer Down Memorials, 1791-2014
Name: Constable John L. Powers
Date of Incident: 3 Jul 1891
Death Location: California
Department: Kern County Sheriff's Department
Department State: California
End of Watch Date: 3 Jul 1891
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Weapon: Gun; Unknown type
Suspect: Two shot and killed
Notes: Constable John Powers and Deputized Civilian Oliver McCoy were shot and killed when they went into the Mojave Desert to arrest some Indians who were accused of setting haystacks on fire. A gun battle ensued in which both were killed and two Indians were killed. A third man with the officers was able to escape and summon help. Another Indian, known to be a desperate and evil character, was later captured at Coyote Hole. With much evidence and by his own admission he was found to be the one who killed the two officers.
Memorial Page