The chronicle=news., 1913-05-12
4 jAYHAWKERS LIVE.
Survivors Of Death Valley Hold
Reunion In California.
Col. John ceitea Of oaissburv. hl..
Tells How the Party Of oe'9 sssk'
srs Ignored the Advles es
Mormon ovIoo0.

S0bW5OV ~VsUODs
Salt Lake City. Utah.-Oniy four ee
the "Jayhawkers Of 'ts." large party
Of gold seekers whose su6srings on
the trail To California thrilled the
country In the days Of the great gold
rush, arc living today. These four
held . reunion Ia California the other
day. not far from the scene Of their
rescue when they staggered out OF
Death Valley. mere shadows OF the
party that had entered that track'ess
desert three months before.
Col John u. Cotton. whose home 70
In Oalssburs. ILL.,. but who has extern
sivs property interests In tho wess'
and who always attends the reunions
Of tho "Jayhawkers OF 49," rave some
interesting facts concerning this most
disastrous Of western pilErimagcs the
other day.
The members OF tho party were
iljed JayhawksFs because 20 many
81 tAan were from Kansas. Colonel
Coltoa and the Illinois delegation
started from 0ajesburx on the lst Of
April, ists. beaded for tho California
gnsd nalds-
The party made tho Journey to
Omaha and vestxsrd along tho main
highway OF tho gold ssskers. tho
Platte river. On reaching Salt Lake
tho JawhAvkass wsso warned against
taking tho northern route to the
coast, a. the news Of the terrible
sats OF the Donner party. which had
become lost in the deep sno~a. and
some OF whose members had lived
upoa the bodies Of their companions
was then the chief topic OF convcr
sation at all western posta.
On the advice Of the celebrated
trappcr. jim Bridser. the party LEFT
Salt Lake and travelled due south tt
what was known a. l.ittlo Salt Lake
whers other largo parties wore met
Il was decided TO depart from thsS
Travelled trail and strike due west &c ,
the head Of the San Joaquin river. In |
stead Of going the roundabout way |
via Los Angeles. This move wus
made In the face Of the protests oi
the Mormon guides.
A larger part OF the party agreed !
to take tho short cut. and 40 wagons
started westward from Little Sal, |
Lake. Afrsr q few days Of travel the
pusty came to . seemingly endlcss
soeEe about 5000 feet deep. whose
walls wese almost perpendicular.
From this point. the party entered
. trackless waste. Few. II any |
white maa had penetrated Dcath Val
ley at that time. Soon the Jayhawk |
srs came face to face with horrors oi
which they had never dreamed. Day,
and nights Of toilink across the dax
liinE sands brought no relief In the
Form Of water. For hfty.two days the
party lived without food save the few
cattle that were killed.
The horror Of those days and
nishts In Death Valley will never b.
forgotten by any OF those who went
through It all" said Colonel Cotton
7 weighed over $50 pounds when
baGan that trip. and weighed 6t
pounds when I was rescued. The
There was \ woman with ua. and
she bore up batter than most Of tha
men. We called her the little WON
an apd We call her 20 today. for shs
In still living. She IL Mrs. Julietts
Brier Of San Jose. Cal.
"on February 4. Tom Shannon and
myself. who were aiishtly In the lead.
came upon a fertile valley. where
OF cattle werc grasinE. un.
dor the caro- Of vanqueros. We saw
a gieam Of red through trees. which
proved to be the roof OF ranch
house. We had come upon the magnin.
cent estate Of Senior del valle. known
as the Ranch San Francisquito. a cat.
tie ranch some eleven leagues square.
"For two weeks We remained here
until we gained sufncient strength to
proceed onward"
Colonel Cotton. though we'll in his
eighties. is strong and vigorous. He
remained In the west and won q for.
tune there.
The frst reunion Of the "Jayhawk-
ers Of 40" was held in 1872 at the
home Of Colonel Cotton in Galesburs.
Th8 last one was held at the home
Of Mrs. Brier in San Jose. The other
living members Of the "Jayhawkers"
Of the gold trail arc l.. Dow Stephens
Of San Jose and John Groscup. who
lives about forty. miles from that
place.