Cumulous clouds gathering on the horizon lend an appropriately ominous air to this view from the site of Fort Miner, where about 130 miners, settlers and friendly Indians took refuge during the Indian uprising of 1856. On Feb. 22, while most of the area's white population was celebrating George Washington’s Birthday in Ellensburg (now Gold Beach), the coastal Tututnis rampaged down the lower Rogue, burning cabins and killing more than 20 on their way to the town. When the partiers heard the news, they gathered what they could and hurriedly crossed the mouth of the river to a partially completed earthen fort constructed weeks earlier in anticipation of trouble. There they held out for 27 days while the Tututnis, who were incited by news of fighting in the inner valleys, laid siege to the makeshift fort. Running short of food and ammunition, they were finally rescued by troops and volunteers who marched up the coast from Crescent City.