The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1893-08-02
"reminiscences OF a FOrtyniner.

Francisco, having on board quite a number
of Vermonters as passengers, many of whom,
alas! have passed away. OF the few now
living, two reside in Vermont Crank n.
Billings of Woodstock and Joseph Atherton
of Cavendish), three in California Is. Nj.
Collins of Montpelier, Edwin Porter of
Northield and Jason b. Pierce of Wood
stock), one in Wisconsin &c. n Carpenter
of Northfeld), one in Illinois On. l.. Jackson
OF Bartonsville), and one in Massachusetts,,
whose initials appear appended to the fol-
lowing sketch, entitled " A Trip to the
Gold Diggings of California in 1840."
1t might perhaps, be well to commence
this paper of incidents in my experience of
going to the mines with some account of
how happened to be in California at that
early day, and how / got there. 1t came
about in this way " Father" said a
younger brother, casually one evening in
January, 1S49, would you let G. go to
California If he wanted to?" Eyes," was
81 do" he replied. On this, fastened up
street to see some of my mates who had the
fever " and were going, and it was not
long before | had IL also, that is, the 90
fever. 1t was not certain at that time that
the gold stories were true; nevertheless,
thousands were on their way there in
short time. Our little party Of six came
down from the snow-clad hills of Vermont,
purchased our tent and supplies in Boston,
and went on to New Bedford to take ship.
We had to wait there week before the
ship was ready to SAIL which sorely tried
our patience. Smart business" says one
of my letters home, referring to this delay
and further on the letter says, " they have
fitted up some staterooms on deck, and /
have got to take one of them or not go.
Now in case we ship sea, it will fill my
room with water, and perhaps wash me
overheard, but | shall go, washed
overheard or not" And go did, and we
were two hundred and two days in going
before we got there,
1t was the good ship Magnolia" Captain
b. f. Simmons, that | went on. We had
goodly number of passengers, amongst
them the late ex-Mayor Selby of San Fran
CISCO Time would fail me to tell of all we
experienced of pleasure and hardships on
the voyage. We spent a delightful week in
Rio Janeiro, reveling i'll tropical fruits,
kindly treated by the emperor-good Dom
Pedro-the nobility, and people of all
classes, after their fears were allayed as to
why so many thousand Yankees should so
suddenly appear in their midst. Another
week in TalCahuana, Chilli and the balance
of the two hundred and two days in plow-
ing zig-zag furrow some twenty feet deep
and twenty thousand miles in length
through the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
We got to know one another well during
the time, and to well know that we had
hard time of it, on short allowance of food
and water. But we reached the " Golden
Gate" at last; and one of the things we did
before separating was to chip in" and
raise quite a sum to pay for inserting in the
Alta Californian a vote of thanks to Captain
Gordon of the famous ship Memnon," for
a cask of CrotOn water, clear and sweet,
that he gave us week before we got into
port He reported that he was hundred
and twenty days from New York, and had
not reefed top-sails during the time. AS
luck would have it, we arrived in San Fran
cisco first, showing that the race is not al
ways to the swift. We had a wonderful col.
lection of inventions in the way of gold
washing machines when we arrived in port,
many of them manufactured on board the
ship. They would make an interesting
museum at the present day.
A few days in San Francisco sutficed. We
must do as all others did, go to the mines
and try our luck" So we soon found our
way up the bay and the river, on the
crowded schooner, " Pawtuxent," Captain
Mitchell (brother of the lady astronomer of
that name) to the then village of Sacra-
mento City, where we engaged man with
two-horSe team to transport our traps to
the forks of the Uber some sixty miles
away, at the rate of twenty-five cents per
pound, /, 494 pounds in all. We decided on
that locality, how or why do not know, all
being vague and visionary as to facts there
and then. 1t might have been on the recon-
mendation of the twenty. fve-cents-per-
pound freiqtter whom we engaged; but be
this as it may, all that we knew with any
degree of certainty was that our map of the
country chronicled, Gold on all these
streams, referring to all the streams flow
ing from the Sierra Nevada mountains into
the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers; so
that we felt that we were on the safe side.
go where we would.
Where the Forks of the Uber " were,
we did not know. We were at the mercy
and under the guidance of our teamster,
who led the way, with his loaded wagon,
out of the city and across the American
River, on the banks of which we camped
for the night. The next morning we were
under way, bright and early, for Nichols
Ranch on the Feather River, thirty-fve
miles away, over a treeless, waterless,
and / was about to say, trackless, plain,
as it was but "trail - that we followed
over the hard-baked ground. The sky be-
ing cloudless, the sun shone down hot upon
us. Our stock of water-I will not say
supply, for it was motive carried in long
rubber boots and bags suspended from the
tail-board of the wagon 1t was trying
first days tramp for our inexperienced sea-
legs. All hands started in bravely; but as
the day wore on, one after another added
his weight to the freight on the wagon, yet
the majority went on through afoot, ar
irving at the ranch after shutdown, too tired,
though, to do aught else than make for the
river and drink, and then lie down on the
tent spread upon the ground, and, supper
ItSS, pass uHe Hlpnu az DeSu he cOulu, dCulnR
and shivering. Our next days tramp was
fourteen miles to Johnson's Ranch, on Bear
River, over the same kind of a road or trail
as the day before, and the next day we got
through to the bluff overhanging the forks
of the Uber, where we pitched our tent,
paid off our teamster-which left us, as to
cash, in need of being near gold mine that
would pay us for working
The balance of my means was invested,
jointly with my companions, in provisions
pork, flour, hard bread, the price of which
at that place ranged from seventy-fve cents
to dollar or a dollar and a half pound,
according to the conscience of the seller
and the willingness and ability of the pur-
chaser to pay. My cash account there is
summed up and recorded as follows, and is
perhaps fitting finale to this narrative,
and all need say financially of my stay at
| the Forks -
| SeptembHr 81, 1S49. Cash on hand
when / arrived at the mines on
Uoer river: .,...:..''.,..... S22 90
| October y. Received for my share
| of gold dug and provisions sold
(mostly for provisions Sold. ...... 95 90
@. b, r..
BOSTON August l. 1893,