Paragould soliphone., 1922-01-02
CE 'I|IllC {
 EIEL DS IN

asss SA 4 aaS5*S "A lew evenings ago IT M < | portunity to read te Gdf EC. Anderson Of 5xe Ceht1nH SXs<s Inue, Sswickley, Pa, tho fi1Il icontributed to your papsr Dss| |cember and March by Hobel BFieS freearding the survivors o1 loneef'' days who drove freight rom |in the Far West before the ys of |the railroads. MT. Anderso4 jIstsn I'd intently, and when 1 fin- tished he chuckled and renny 4@l
 "Weil, my boy. that's Yefy in- Iteresting and those old fell4 aRe Iall right, but ! san beat n q Imile. iSs ! asked him to tell me atofy Iffom the beginning, and tholtI Ihesitating for second t recall Hates and facts he did so,s Soi- | lows: s 1T was born on JanusFy III, I1828, at Sewickley Bottom, now ! ILeetsdale, Pa, about two miles down the Ohio river from t1iG pres- | ent town of sewickley, Pa. Just about the time became of 6ee re- ports were reaching us ree&rding the discovery of gold in CdaIf0rnlas i Like a lot of other felloWe then and since, got the gold feSer and l decided l would go to the gold fields. make my pile, incidentally see the world and have little ad- |venture.
 With party of 30O,: of whom I am the sole survivor IS far as [ cafl learn, left Pittsburgh on the steamer Consignee on M4rch 16,. [1849 We went down the Ohio to the Miaaiasippi, np the Miseikaippi to the Missouri, and up the MiasouriS ] to St. Joseph, Mo, where we arrived 1 the first day of April. 1848 We stayed there month getting ready 1 to start across the plains, and on May 1, 1S49, we crossed the Mts- souri and atarted on our tourney toward the setting sun, ojlr party consisting Of 300 men with aixty wagons, with six mules to " wAgon, land was proud Of the fact that l | was selected as one of tho regNlar drivers.
 "On account of the necessity Of i finding sufficient forage for our mules, and because we did nat Wish 1 to make ourselves too copspienous 1 to hostile redskins. we split m our party into six companies Of fi3ty
 men and ton wagons each. We went by way Of the Pl6{te Yallsy. pAssins close to what ia now chey- enne. Wyo., following practiealay |the route long afterward adoptsd | by the Union Pacific railFoad. 2
 At this point in his recital ask- l ed him if they were bothered hy the Indians. and he answered
 We xere pretty lucky ~ far aa Indians here concerned. You aee, |the Sioux were off their usual etaizlpT l ing grounds engaged in one o1 | their frequent wars with the FAW- nees. One day when driving alon6 ! the Platte valley we noticed ahead Iof us an immense cloud Of duat and | thought it was herd of huffaloesy fAll of sudden it dawned on ne that 1t was large party of Indians Two hurriedly corralled our waeones with men and mules in the center. Az the Indians drew closer xe Ivaw that there were about 2,0QA lSionx warriors in full battle re* kalia. They circled around Ns . flew times. trying to scare US With their blood curdlinE war whoopsi ! but as they were armed only with bows. and arrows they Kept thetf l iistance as soon as they found that we had muzale loadins rifles, army muskets and pistols. They finally ] decided that the odds were to9 Imuch in our favor and thsy went | on their way. x, I've arrived in HanEtown, Cat', about forty-five miles from Sacta~ lmento, on August 20, lB19. whS4 our party split up. worked fpy 1 six weeks in the gold mines o Weavers creek, q tributary Of thS Isouth fork of the American river: About October 1 I went qn to Sacress lmento. which at that time wat . Lefty of tents, with 2 very feW wooden shacks. and was thsFe when 1t was first laid out as 2 town. IT spent some time hauling goolt from sacramento to the mtnfAG camps. 's # II staked out 2 claim on t6S Sacramento river about kWslye mllSe from Sacramento. ana ttSyed thef1 until the early part ofg 1362. NIL 1 [ decided to return to K stAtes.
 1T took tue etAaind RaHama Panama and stertA1 ecn6 iathmus on mule baek dtng M ty.seveu mtiea, to Gof1dH& md thS1
 down th0 Chegrea fiyS III Iaarl
 tXx f11A FshS S1xGS ' KIT " " A6ni62