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Dewitt Clinton Rumsey

Captain DeWitt Clinton Rumsey
Born	(1831-03-04)March 4, 1831 Piqua, Ohio
Died	February 8, 1911(1911-02-08) (aged 79) Sebastopol, California
Occupation(s)	Farmer, Civil War era Captain
Military career
Allegiance	United States of America Union Militia
Service / branch	Civil War era Suisun Cavalry (later renamed Suisun Light Dragoons)
Years of service	1863–1868
Rank	Captain
Website	www.geneandsue.com/genealogy/fam183.html

Captain Dewitt Clinton Rumsey (March 4, 1831 - February 8, 1911) was born in Piqua, Ohio, and died in Sebastopol, California.

He is known for the town named after him - Rumsey in Yolo County, California, and for the Rumsey Gauge which records the level of Clear Lake in Lake County, California.

The Lake County Record-Bee reports that :

"In 1852, he [Rumsey] was the trail boss on cattle drives in the West. From what I have researched that's where he received the title of 'Captain.' In those days it was common to call the trail boss Captain. Rumsey was an important part of the history of Lake County.  ... He also bought property in Lakeport, and Rumsey Bay on Clear Lake is named after him. He started the Rumsey Gauge in 1872. The actual location of the Rumsey Gauge is on Esplanade Avenue in Lakeport.

An obituary posted on a geneology site says that

"Dewitt Rumsey left Miami County, Ohio for California in 1852 working his passage by driving sheep across the plains. He engaged in gold mining around Placerville for about a year and then moved to San Jose, California. After four years in San Jose, he moved to Solano County where he served three years in a company of light dragoons, commencing as orderly sergeant in 1862 and filling successively every office until he became Captain. In 1870 Captain Rumsey settled on land at the head of Capay Valley and was instrumental in laying out the town of Rumsey, named in his honor."

His Title - Captain : Suisun Cavalry (or Light Dragoons)

As indicated above, a previous researcher believed he was a "trail boss" captain, and the quoted obituary believes he herded sheep, not cattle.

In the introduction to "California Trail Herd The 1850 Missouri-to-California Journal of Cyrus C. Loveland" we find a reference:

"Thus, Captain D. C. Rumsey, for whom Rumsey, Yolo County, was named, reported that when he drove stock west in 1852--only two years after the Crow-Loveland effort--the owner of strayed stock had to take an option on his animals.  That is, if he wanted them back, he had to pay $10 a head for them to those who found them.  This contrasts markedly with the technique of the Crow boys as described by Loveland in his narrative.  When they sought to reclaim their lost stock, they just loosened their Colts in their holsters and gave a hitch to their gunbelts to make their point." 

Another site opines that he was "of the Army Corps of Engineers".

Dewitt Rumsey was in fact a Civil War army Captain (and Commanding Officer) of the Suisun Cavalry (later renamed Suisun Light Dragoons), formed in Suisun on May 11, 1863 and mustered out on June 9, 1868 . A muster role shows that he joined the Suisin Cavalry at its formation, and identifies him as Jr. 2nd Lieut. Curiously, an 1867 muster role for the Suisin City Guard lists him as 1st Sgt. A history of the unit shows that he was Captain (and commanding officer) in 1865, and was re-elected commanding officer in 1868. The history concludes:

From a note on the Muster Out Roll by John Hill (Major and Inspector) it is evident Captain Rumsey resented the disbandment notice. When the disbandment order was received,the Captain immediately left the city without reporting to his company the contents of the order relative to the necessity of the unit being present at the armory for final inspection by the Mustering out Officer. It was only through Lieutenant Wright's efforts and co-operation that the men and equipment were finally brought together for disbandment inspection.

The Suisin Cavalry's only apparent engagement was in a squatter war relating to General Vallejo's Rancho Suscol Grant, which was declared invalid, resulting in disputes between settlers and squatters. One settler, Manuel Vera, was accused of shooting and wounding a squatter:

Squatters to the number of one hundred or more had assembled on the outskirts of town, determined to kill Vera. ...  The unfortunate Vera was found beneath a bed where he had tried to conceal himself and was murdered in cold blood. Seventeen shots were found in his body although he lived for a few hours. ... The grand jury met and indicted seventeen persons for complicity in the murder, but it was feared that an attempt to arrest them would lead to more bloodshed as the squatters had many friends in town, hideous as the outrage of their leaders had been. The services of a Suisun cavalry company were secured and the sheriff rode into Vallejo and quietly took the seventeen men into custody. Separate trials for each were determined upon but at the first of these the jury brought in a verdict of "not guilty," and as a result it was thought impossible to secure any convictions and the remaining cases were dismissed.

The Rumsey Gauge

Captain Rumsey kept records of rainfall at Rumsey (from 1878 to 1887), and at Lakeport (from 1888 to 1899).

From Lake County Vector Control:

Clear Lake  is the largest, natural freshwater lake in California and perhaps the oldest lake in North America. It has a surface area of 43,790 acres (about 68 square miles) and contains 1,115,000 acre-feet of water when full. Clear Lake stretches diagonally across the landscape from northwest to southeast and is composed of three "arms" (Upper, Lower, and Oaks) joined by a narrows.

The lake level is measured in reference to the Rumsey Gauge which was established by Captain Rumsey at Lakeport in 1873. Zero Rumsey is equal to 1318.256 feet above mean sea level and is considered to be the natural low water level of Clear Lake. By definition, a "full lake" is one that measures 7.56 feet (1,325.816 feet above mean sea level) on the Rumsey Gauge.

Prior to the building of the Cache Creek dam in 1914, outflow from Clear Lake into Cache Creek was controlled by a rock ledge called the Grigsby Riffle. The riffle is a rock located at the confluence of Cache and Seigler Creeks, about three miles from Clear Lake. Before the dam was built, water would normally cease to flow over the riffle during the summer months.

Captain Rumsey decided to register the lake level. He decided that when water ceased to flow over the riffle it would be called zero Rumsey. When water was above the riffle it would be called plus Rumsey. Below the riffle, the lake level would be measured as minus Rumsey. He also installed an actual gauge in Lakeport and it's used as a reference to the actual depth at the riffle, not the depth at Lakeport. The location of the Rumsey Gauge is on the pier, at the offices of the Lake County Vector Control District. 

While considering the building of a dam on Cache Creek the US Geologic Survey reported :

In considering the project of using Clear Lake for a reservoir the effort was made to plan the works so as to avoid large damages to property. Records of the lake's levels from 1874 to 1888, inclusive, have been kept Captain Floyd, of Kono Tayee, who has kindly furnished them to the Geologic Survey. Mr F. H. Porter, of Kono Tayee, and Captain Rumsey and Captain Atherton, of Lakeport, have furnished records for the period from 1888 to 1900, inclusive. These records are of very great value, and were used as the basis of the available supply from the lake, checked by computations of run-off and other data.

Details of his life

DeWitt Clinton Rumsey is named after DeWitt Clinton, U.S. Senator, Mayor of New York and Governor of the state of New York.

He was born on March 4, 1831 in Piqua, Ohio, and lived there until at least 1850, when Census data shows that he was a carpenter.

In 1852 he drove cattle to California.

In 1860 the census shows that he was a farmer, living in Suisun, Solano County, California. Between 1863 and 1868 he was a captain in the Suisun Cavalry, but left Suisun when the unit was disbanded.

The 1870 census shows that he was in Cottonwood Township, on Cache Creek near Madison, California,Yolo County (and his name is incorrectly listed as "Daniel"). However, the 1870 Western Shore Gazetteer lists (what must be him) as : Rumsey, Clinton, Ohio ; farmer , residence in Capay Valley, 13 miles N from Capay Post office ; twelve hundred acres of land, Divisions 3 and 4 ; value , nine thousand dollars; West Cottonwood Precinct, Cottonwood Township ; Post-office, Capay. (13 miles north of Capay would be near Guinda - present-day Rumsey is 18 miles on Route 16.)

He married Katie C Roberts in Santa Clara, California on August 12, 1873, but there is no record of any children.

Between 1887 and 1900 he lived in Lake County

In the 1910 census he is in Sebastopol, California (listed on ancestry.com as "Pumsey") and died there in 1911. (Note: but can't find him in the California death records : his wife's death in 1914 is recorded).

Clear Lake

Water levels and water rights

Dewitt C. Rumsey, a cattle drive "Captain" who founded the town of Rumsey in Yolo County, was one of the first to record the water levels of Clear Lake. Its level was controlled by a rocky ledge in its outlet to Cache Creek, called the "Grigsby Riffle". Rumsey defined the level when the lake ceased to flow over this ledge as "Zero feet Rumsey", which corresponds to an elevation of 1,318.26 feet. In 1872 he installed a gauge in Lakeport and recorded the water level, which can fall below zero due to evaporation and pumping of water. The reading is called "Rumsey Guage" or "Feet Rumsey". His recordings were incorporated in a report to the US Senate in 1902.

At one time the riffle was cut in order to drain more water from the lake, but in 1914 a dam was built, which now controls the level. The highest recorded level is 13.66 feet in 1890, and the lowest is -3.50 feet in 1920. The maximum flow from the lake is determined by the narrow canyon of Cache Creek, not by the dam.

The drainage basin is 458 square miles (526 including the lake), which is large compared to the lake's 68 square miles. Seventy percent of the terrain has very shallow top soil, which saturates after a rainfall of 3 to 4 inches, and runoff flows quickly into the lake. This results in rapid flooding of low elevation areas such as downtown Clearlake and Lakeport.

Yolo County acquired riparian rights to Cache Creek's water in 1855, and with the building of the dam they gained water storage rights. Water companies which rely on the lake have to pay Yolo county for their water. The Gopcevic Decree (1920) and Solano Decree (1978) limited the amount of water Yolo could draw : if the lake is "full" on May 1st -- at 7.56 feet Rumsey -- then they can draw a defined allowance equivalent to 3.5 feet. If the level is below 3.22 feet they can draw none, with a proportional amount for other levels. In compensation, the Indian Valley dam, also entirely in Lake County, was constructed in 1978, and is under the full control of Yolo county.

The management of the lake level is now designed to avoid flooding, to provide water to Yolo county, and to maintain enough water for recreational use.

Sewage from many Lake County towns no longer flows into the lake : instead, it is pumped to The Geysers geothermal plant.

Energy Catalyzer

Featherstone Popular Science Article

DO NOT EDIT this version

In October 2012 Steve Featherstone wrote a long article in Popular Science.

He first reviewed the history of Rossi's eCat and of Cold Fusion as a whole, noting that "As late as this summer, when Rossi's story seemed thoroughly debunked, he continued to make outlandish claims about his E-Cat. He looked like a con man clinging to his story to the bitter end. Maybe he'd even conned himself."

However, when Featherstone attended a LENR conference at the College of William and Mary in Virginia and talked to researchers from prominent laboratories such as NASA's Langley and the Navy's SPAWAR he discovered: "To my astonishment, after three days of asking every cold-fusion researcher in the house, I couldn't find a single person willing to call Rossi a con man. The consensus was that he had something, even if he didn't understand why it worked or how to control it."

He then visited Rossi, and was given a demonstration of an eCat which ran for an hour in "self-sustaining" mode, though he notes that wasn't long enough to verify it. He was surprised when Rossi left him alone to "poke around his warehouse for hours ... [crawling] around every inch of a big blue shipping container that housed 106 linked E-Cat modules—one of Rossi's 1mW plants." Rossi showed him an internal report on a "Hot Cat" evaluation, which was subsequently leaked by one of the testers. Featherstone sent a copy to an expert at NASA, who "didn't entirely refute the report's findings", but concluded that "the test protocols and conclusions didn't meet the standards of a credible third-party evaluation."

Rossi also told him that the University of Bologna would conduct a new independent test of the Hot Cat and publish the results in October, though the University denied this. Featherstone concluded that "If history is any guide, no such report would be issued. Rossi will reset the goalposts—the only thing he does with any consistency—and forestall his day of reckoning for another few months, and then another few months after that, until finally he disappears from the stage in a puff of smoke, taking his black box with him."

Comment: I left out the sections where he visits other people, such as Bardi and Celani.

EDIT : Featherstone Popular Science Article

OK to EDIT this version

In October 2012 Steve Featherstone wrote a long article in Popular Science.

He first reviewed the history of Rossi's eCat and of Cold Fusion as a whole, noting that "As late as this summer, when Rossi's story seemed thoroughly debunked, he continued to make outlandish claims about his E-Cat. He looked like a con man clinging to his story to the bitter end. Maybe he'd even conned himself."

However, when Featherstone visited a LENR conference at the College of William and Mary in Virginia and talked to researchers from prominent laboratories such as NASA's Langley and the Navy's SPAWAR: "To my astonishment, after three days of asking every cold-fusion researcher in the house, I couldn't find a single person willing to call Rossi a con man. The consensus was that he had something, even if he didn't understand why it worked or how to control it."

He then visited Rossi, and was given a demonstration of an eCat which ran for an hour in "self-sustaining" mode, though he notes that wasn't wasn't long enough to verify it. He was surprised when Rossi left him alone to "poke around his warehouse for hours ... [crawling] around every inch of a big blue shipping container that housed 106 linked E-Cat modules—one of Rossi's 1mW plants." Rossi showed him an internal report on a "Hot Cat" evaluation, which was subsequently leaked by one of the testers. Featherstone sent a copy to an expert at NASA, who "didn't entirely refute the report's findings", but concluded that "the test protocols and conclusions didn't meet the standards of a credible third-party evaluation."

Rossi also told him that the University of Bologna would conduct a new independent test of the Hot Cat and publish the results in October, though the University denied this. Featherstone concluded that "If history is any guide, no such report would be issued. Rossi will reset the goalposts—the only thing he does with any consistency—and forestall his day of reckoning for another few months, and then another few months after that, until finally he disappears from the stage in a puff of smoke, taking his black box with him."

Comments on Featherstone

I left out the sections where he visits other people, such as Bardi and Celani.

Draft of new Hotcat Test

In Oct 2014 a new report was issued by the same team, which claimed a COP of 3.2 to 3.6 over 32 days, and presented some evidence of transmutation of Lithium and Nickel. Four professors at Uppsala and Lunds universities responded to the announcement, stating that the transmutation results were impossible, and that since Rossi was involved in part of the test he must have (probably? may have?) substituted fake "ash".