- Kathleen Scavone
- Posted On
Lake County Time Capsule: The story behind Tom Dye Rock
“If you want to understand today you have to search yesterday.” – Pearl Buck
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Tom Dye Rock is located in southern Lake County, in the foothills of the Mayacamas Mountains.
It rises like a pillar, at 3,100 feet, above Sacre Gap.
According to Lake County historian past, Henry Mauldin, and Napa Valley writer Ken Stanton, there are several tales about the infamous Tom Dye.
The facts are, however, that a Middletown resident named Charles Bates was killed on Oct. 1, 1878.
Bates, who worked for the Napa consolidated Quicksilver Mine, was said to have met up with Dye in a Middletown bar, where a quarrel ensued and Dye pulled a pistol and killed him.
Bates was a newlywed who worked at one of the many mines dotting southern Lake County, the Oat Hill Mine.
Most of the mining in Lake County was for quicksilver, or mercury, in those days; however, gold, silver, borax and sulfur were also found.
An occupational hazard in mining quicksilver was breathing mercury vapor. This job was typically delegated to Chinese workers, as there was much in the way of prejudice back in the “good old days.”
After breathing mercury vapors a person would typically have problems with their gums. Bates was suffering with bad gums and went to the bar to self-medicate.
Nobody seemed to recollect what the altercation arose from, but it ended with Bates being shot to death.
Dye was arrested and sent to the Lakeport jail. The October 9, 1878, issue of the “Weekly Calistogan” newspaper printed the following: “If he escapes the hangman's noose, we shall wonder.”
Because the grand jury knew of another man named W.A. Barnes who was egging Dye to shoot Bates, both Barnes and Dye were indicted for the murder.
Next, on Nov. 27 of the same year, the indictment was tossed out due to “illegal and improper evidence,” but Dye had to wait out his time in jail for the subsequent grand jury, while Barnes was acquitted for accessory to murder.
It appears that Dye, tired of waiting for his second trial, escaped from jail on March 7, 1879, via a complicated and intricate means.
His escape involved a stove wood ladder, the removal of brick with an iron spike and slicing a hole in the roof with a knife of unknown origins.
Dye slipped away, and was not seen for more than a year.
Legend has it that he hid up at what is now known as Tom Dye Rock for several of those months, wanting, no doubt, to be near his family.
In letters received by his family, Dye stated that Bates intended harm him, and that he shot Bates in self defense.
In August of 1880 Dye was apprehended in Reno and after a nearly two-week trial Dye was convicted of second-degree murder and sent to San Quentin State Prison for 15 years.
He was discharged from San Quentin on August 19, 1886, after around five years in prison and went to work in Napa County.
Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is an educator, potter, writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.” She also writes for NASA and JPL as one of their “Solar System Ambassadors.” She was selected “Lake County Teacher of the Year, 1998-99” by the Lake County Office of Education, and chosen as one of 10 state finalists the same year by the California Department of Education.