Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, IA [i.e. Ind.]) 1839-1854, 1849-10-31
CALIFORNIA LETTER,
~~e O( the Richmond Boys.
JoHNsoS's SETTLEMENT,

Po'n. .d;ons. toiisome, painful, doieful journey 1
:" az DAYS. shat ever fell to the lot Of man 10
accomplish. have at last arrived 3' - ..Id -
:. ,h- centre of the gold regions 1t would be
s.oI.t.ly impossible TO condrnse III one SINAI
L..e . mere outline of a complete history o.
an, travels to this point. You must ORA" ron
.on, own fancy a conception OF al 'he na'o '
-. .roubles and difficulties that Vt wouid D.
r;hi. Tor men 10 endure. to have even FAINT /
u. ~ = miserable overland journey to Caiiior-
ma In order to give slight picture OF The plea
amt ,astime on this route, VIII c-tai so cm
,;,,I. incidents which transpired and "h'ch M
"A ~. soui with abundant pleasure. Aitef we
r.u Fort Chiids, we had a miserable halu .us
,b,ough muddy roads, until we arrived '' VIC
6,.t crossing Of the Platte. This river IS a We
nv rapid stream, flowing through sanh-Da's
maintain hvh--the water dark and niuddy al"
drep-fhe ford mills and hall III "io'' an"
6,ied with sand ,.s continually changing PA
c~s Well. there was no Ferry mere, a"H
w.re compelled TO ford it with orr wagons a'
Whatever hazard. In we plunged a'lh VIZ"
coached the middle Of the channel, down went
,vagous mules aud all into the sand; hir inet'S
.,rnyyiinp pIunging and swimming anu the
wagons buoyed up by the beds twenty men
ulunprd into the water, ( InyseH h'c'""e"
.bovc our waists and the water as cold as zee,
aud after a GOOD deal Of rxertion, succeeded III |
Itbc-atinp wagons and mules from tniS quicn-
sand only TO deliver then, to others equaiiy as
bad and IN this manner one quickssrhs succeed
ed another until ye reached The opposite shore,
,vhich consumed a u hour ard half OF painful |
and iucessant labor, which exhausted Us 50 Hiuch
we could scarcely stand when we reach O Inc OPP
posite shore. Our wagons were stalled ltlty- !
three times between this point and ort Lara
mic Sometimes we had all the mules down IN
the mud at the same time and we're forced 10
take them out Of the harness and push The wa
CONS out by hand hitch on double teams 10
In. fifth chain. Some days We would trdVri
IS or 80 miles and others only or ~ Before
we reached Fort Laramie, we bad to cross
stream that was very rapid and boist-rous--'"c
raised our hard bread mp high as the wagon
bows and myself and another person jumped on
the backs Of the lead mules and rode them over
the mules swan aud the wagon n0ated over.
We found Fort Laramie to be a poor, misera-
bic, old, dilapidated. mud fort, tenanted by lot
Of lazy. tounging, loafng, renegade tndiin-
French drunken and swollen. IL gave us al
the dolrful. TO look at them. We found at this
fort about fifty wagons left broken - pieces ani
cast aside as useless, account OF the weight.
The Cincinnati company Eurstrd up at this
place. Some of them packed and Others left
new wagons which cost ,han $3.50 piece an!
bought old hight wagons at enormous prices IN
order TO travel ns ftSt as teams. Bacon, salt
hard bread, drlei beef, Bologna sausrge, aud
other provisions. were strrwed all around the
fort. Over 10000 lbs. of iine bacon was cast
out on the road sidc here Bar IRON, chait.s
bolts, whole sets Of harness, b"ps, boxes, trunks
nails, &c, were 10 be found scattered around
The gold fever hal infatuated some persons 10
such u pitch that tiiry were almost crazed-eve-
nv man striving to lead Oil to the lad OF golden
tronrse expecting TO realize princeiy fortune
in a short space Of time Poor. deluded crea-
lures. Many Of Them have already suffered
and are now suffering for bread TO satisfy the
cravings Of nature.
But 10 continur--aftrr foHT aud deplorab'y
hard travel up he south Platte. through sand
often ~ inches deep, we reached the crossing
This branci, was also swift aud deep and we we're
Obliged TO ferry It. The ferry owned BY
,hr,-c Mormona The throuG of wagons wa~
80 great her", tl.st were forced to wait two
days ami Il halt until our tara cifnc. ThcN had
hut two boats running, ana such NUTS b"y
were made by flashing thee canoes together, and
could carry but one wagon AT ii time. The EN-
pCrants pulled the boats up stream near half
mile. assisted to load, push their wagons on the
boat, take them oif. aud then had to pay the in
fernel Mor,nons $500 per wagon. One man
svas Grow ned at the crossing while we lay there.
After we crossed this stream entered upon
IL road called Sublate Cutoff, Of the most
dsiicult routes that ever was passed by wagons
Dniy think Of travelling through sand half hub
derp-throrgh mud holes hub deep--up and
dow long bills or mounttuus almost perpenGic-
uiar, and along hill sides where three persons
would have TO hold the wagon from upsriiing
IN one place went down mountain one
nile and u hall high, and near the foot found
- prrpe ndicu!ar OF thirty yards, where we had
take off the mules aud let down the wagons
with ropes. Another mountain pissed over.
We had 10 place two men to the wheel mule 5
heads while four men held on to rope attach
ed to the hind part of the wagons. lou must
recoIiect that we were travelling all this time
with large trains. The first mountains which
we struck were the Black Hills, few miles be
yond Fort Laramie. Very soon after we eute r
ut them, we came in sight Of the first snow
capped mountain called Lararnie's Peak tall
majestic one. that looked grand and lofty. Blu
l have now become so accustomed 10 such sights
that they fill my mind no With or won.
der. In fact. have had such awful time
anon. them that I detest the sight. We APP
preached the South Pass in the Rocky Noun
tnins on gradual elevation, and descend on the
same scale over II very handsome road. that il
impossible for to know when We were on
the highest point OF elevation. in the Rock '
Mountains We first found beds Of salerrtus and
alkaline water. The first spring reached o.
this character. was one cal led the w How Sprn y
which was strongly iInpregnated with alkali
tasted like I've water and created burning tirS Il
We were foolish enough to allow our mules 10
drink OF IL. ord il sweiled them up prodiglously
We cured them with lard and powder.
AT this point commenced our suf'c rings on
account Of bad water and TIE want Of water
One man who drank of the alkaline water was
sick for three days After incredible hardship s
and u good deal Of heavy bone labor we reached
Green river. At this point waited two day.
for the ferry Three emigrants were drowned
in attempting TO cross this stream in boa: con-
structcd by themselves. But before we reach
cd Green river. we had to a desert desti-
tute of grass and water, distance of 4 miles
We started through this desc ri on one Sur8a
at 4 o'clock 7. NJ. and reached Green river al
~ OIL the day following. men and animals com
pletcy used up. From, Green river 10 Fort Hal
we had the usual trials, hardships and labor 10
undergo; IN many places our mules suffered aw-
fully for grass and water. Just before s, . reach
ed Fort Hall, we had some bad streams TO cross
which II was barely possible for our ladrd mules
10 pull over, and mud holes where they were all
down at the same time. had forgotten to me II.
lion that we left one OF our wagons at the Sw &c
w alter Creek. because mules were unab!,
10 haul IL, being Jagged out; SO put the loat
into the other wagon and put in six mules whicl
pulled the other wagon to Fort Hall. We reach
ed the Fort Oh the 18th of July at 3 o'clock.
NJ.
When VIC reached Fort Hall. having bu, on
wagon and that being heavily loaded with III,
PROVISIONS and baggage, and The most arduou
part Of the journey yet to be undertaken aud
number of the members of company per
sisting in hauling the whole load through. on
whole company commenced wranvliup an.