In the 1850's, tension and turmoil marked relations between early settlers and the native peoples of Fall River Valley. Richard Pugh, a native of Wales, was chosen by Lt. George Crook as his guide when Crook and his company were sent to Fall River Valley in 1857. When Lt. Crook was transferred to the Klamath Area in Northern California in October 1857, he asked Dick Pugh to remain in Fall River Valley and help complete the building of Fort Crook. Richard Pugh stayed in the valley for the rest of his life. He and his wife adopted and reared an Indian boy who, at age 16, became known as Captain Dick and became the leader of the Achumawis. Under Captain Dick's leadership, peace was maintained in Fall River Valley, and he declined requests for assistance from other tribes, including the Modocs, in their long war. Captain Dick died at age 34, and three hundred persons attended his funeral. Richard Pugh died at Ft. Crook and was buried there in the year the fort was abandoned; when graves were later transferred to other places, fewer than half had markers, and he became one of the unknowns.