Places: CA-Sontag Point

Sontag Point-4,252' (Verplank Ridge) (36.7521696, -119.0817790)
Legal: T13S, R26E, Sec25NW

	Deg	Min	Vertical Deg	Min	Distance	Visible
Delilah	150	2	-2	37	4.2	Yes
Park Ridge	284	5	-4	30	7.9
Buck Rock	274	53	-3	16	12.3	No

Description : Trips : References : Pictures 

Description:

Once there was a shack belonging to  Jim Young. Sontag and Evans were known to be here as well as the place now called Sontag Point made a good lookout base. The cabin is close to the present day Armenian Camp.  From Oak to Pine to Timberline by Helen and Forest Clingman

This is the story of Sontag and Evans:

• Christopher Evans. A Canadian who served on the Union side during the Civil War. Later was an Indian fighter until 1874 when he settled down, getting married and moving to Aukland. He worked for Sother Pacific Railroad as a laborer. His sister and her husband lost land in the Mussel Slough episode-no supporting evidence. He quit the railroad, and started robbing trains. Then settled down in Modesto. The stable he bought burnt down and he returned to Visalia.
• John SOntag was from Minnesota. He was a railroad man, working as a brakeman. His foot was crushed in Fresno. He was sent back to work before the foot was healed He was then fired because he could not work on an injured foot.He too started robbing trains.

It is said that a sheriff and detective came to question Sontag and Evans while they were trget practicing. The detective cursed at Evan's daughter. A shooting started, narrowly missing Evan's daughter, but leaving the two lawmen wonded. Sontag and Evans fled. They came back for food and clothing, but a posse was waiting for them. A sheriff was killed and Sontag and Evans fled to the mountains with a $10,000 bounty on them.

They came up t Squaw Valley and Dunlap, ending up at a claim Evans had at Sampson Flat. The folks around that parts were for the most part willing to help them since they had lost land to SP during the Mussel Slough episode.  But a posse was after them, with a couple of Apache trackers.

Jim Young saw that the posse was after them, but arrived only in time to see the gunfight at Sampson Flat. Sontag and Evans were wounded. But two of the posse were killed, along with another being wounded. They escaped. They fled to Eshom Valley, then wintered in Squaw Valley. This was 1892-93. 

In the Spring of 1893, the posse caught up with Sontag and Evans at the Stone Coral, close to Yettem.  Sontag was killed and buried in Fresno's Calvary Cemetery. Evans was wounded, losing an arm and an eye. Even though captured, he escaped to Pine Flat and then to his old haunting grounds Squaw Valley, Sampson Flat, and Camp Badger. He surrendered in Visalia. He served 17 years in Folsom, dying in poverty six years after release.

From Oak to Pine to Timberline by Helen and Forest Clingman

From GNIS:

• 4 km (2.5 mi) south of Sampson Flat and 4 km (2.5 mi) northeast of Dunlap. (US-T121) Located in sec 31,T13S,R27E, Mount Diablo Meridian
• The Verplank Ridge location is said to be named for a unoccupied "Rifle Pit" or "Minature Fortress" found by the posse after the confrontation at the cabin. The rifle pit was probably located at the foot of one of the bare rock slopes on the south-west slope of the Verplank Ridge location and east of the old trail shown on the 1879 land office plat. The 1919 "History of Fresno County"by Vandor and the 1929 "Bandits and the Southern Pacific" by Glasscock indicate that Sontag Point was named because of the "Fortress".  Excerpted from an April 6, 1989 letter from Forest Clingan
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Trips:

•  Wikipedia - The Battle of Stone Corral (Sampson Flat)
• Eshom Valley, tale of Evans and Sontag

References:

• Eshom Valley web site
• Also there is a bookOak to Pine to Timberline by  Helen Clingan  and Forest Clingan which I understand has information on this.

Pictures:

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