Manuscripts

Narrative of a Forty-Niner

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Description: This manuscript, which is a typescript from the original, documents Smith's journey from New York to San Francisco between the dates January 15, 1849 and January 24, 1851. Included are voyages by sea and by horseback, across Mexico and California.
Type: Manuscripts(Opens in new tab)
Production date: 1849-1851.
Call number: mssHM 30493
Creator: Smith, William C. S (1823-)(Opens in new tab)
Provenance: Purchased from Robert G. Cleland, 1950, June 2.
Dimensions: 28 cm :

[Impedimenta of a Forty-Niner]

Manuscripts

The collection contains J. Goldsborough Bruff's oversize revised version of his journal (c. 1853) which documents his journey across the American plains in 1849 by way of Lassen's Trail. Also included in the collection are 264 drawings of scenes from his overland journey, of various places he visited in California, and of his sea voyage to the Eastern United States via Mexico and Panama. Many of Bruff's drawings are in pencil, but thirty-eight of them were drawn with pastels and are in color.

HM 8044 (200)

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[Forty-niner and his horse]

Manuscripts

HM 8044 (199)

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Reminiscences of John Wesley Hillman, Famous Forty-Niner and Discoverer of Crater Lake as dictated to Bentley B. Mackay

Manuscripts

In this 33 page document, John Wesley Hillman relates his travels and colorfully details life mostly in California and Oregon from 1849-1854. Beginning with the journey from Louisiana to St. Joseph, Missouri over the Oregon Trail to Oregon City, by ship to San Francisco and then to the mines in Mariposa County. Hillman returned to San Francisco after his father returned home to Louisiana. He describes the San Francisco fire of 1851, a trip to Mt. Shasta and Yreka and environs and then to his home base for many years in Jacksonville, Oregon. After driving pack and wagon trains, Hillman signed on to be a member of a party contracted to search for a shorter route to the gold fields in Florence Basin and the Salmon River in Idaho. After engaging in their own prosperous mining, the contact was fulfilled. Back in Jacksonville, he learned that a party of Californians were going on a search for the Lost Cabin Mine and decided to follow them. It was on this journey that he expectantly stumbled upon Crater Lake, a place that he said cannot be described in mere words, but one of the six wonders of the American continent that must been seen to be fully appreciated.

mssHM 19977

Tracks of H.M.S. Asia from England to Valparaiso and from Valparaiso to England, 1848 - 1851 [cartographic material] / W. Denison January 10th 1856 from a map by Mr. Jones Secretary to H.M.S. Asia

Manuscripts

One of four manuscript maps showing the voyages of the H.M.S. Asia, 1848-1851. This map shows the course of the voyage from England to Valparaíso from January to April 1848 and the return trip made from February to May 1851. The western coastlines of England, Ireland, France, Spain, and Africa and the east and west coastlines of South America are shown.

mssHM 15468 map 1

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J.H. (John Holmes) Magruder letters to his family

Manuscripts

This series of six letters are written by John Holmes Magruder during his journey from New York to California in hopes of finding gold. In HM 16723, dated 1849, January 1 and written to his brother Thomas and his sister Olivia, John is restless, eager to get his sailing journey underway, and is excited by the prospects of finding gold in California. HM 16724 (1849, March 9) describes John's voyage over sea to Santa Catarina Island, and reports from California continue to be encouraging. In his next letter (HM 16725, 1849, June 27), John writes while on board the whaling vessel Tahmaroo, bound for California. He describes in detail what he saw of Brazil and Santa Catarina, and says that there are still positive reports of gold being found in California, but that Sacramento and San Francisco are "infested with gamblers, robbers and black legs from every nation." HM 16726, dated 1849, September 11, and written to his brother Ogden, finds John in Sacramento, where he has begun his search for gold, despite having been stricken with fever. He does not expect to be back for a few years. In HM 16727, to Thomas, and dated 1849, September 17, John is still recovering from fever, but hopes to be back to his search in a few weeks. The next letter (HM 16728) is addressed to Thomas, and dated 1851, October 7. John believes he will settle in California permanently, and has become interested in local politics. He is in business with his brother Lloyd, but aside from reporting that things are well, he gives no further details.

mssHM 16723-16728

Diaries of William Farrer [microform] : 1849-1854

Manuscripts

Microfilm of six diaries kept by William Farrer from 1849-1854. The first volume, dated 1849, recalls Farrer's travels from Utah to California with Charles Coulson Rich. The 1850-1851 diary begins when Farrer was preparing to depart California for Hawaii, and recounts his sea voyage and missionary work through 1851. The remaining four diaries were kept while Farrer was serving on his Hawaiian mission, and are dated 1851-1852, 1852-1853, 1853, and 1854. Also included on the reel is "A Short Account of My Mission to the Sandwich Islands," sent by Farrer to "Pres. Clawson and Tibbetts" in 1855, and a brief excerpt on Farrer from the Deseret News, dated 1897 and written by Ramona Farrer Cottam.

MSS MFilm 00250

Narrative of a Forty-Niner

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[Impedimenta of a Forty-Niner]

[Forty-niner and his horse]

Reminiscences of John Wesley Hillman, Famous Forty-Niner and Discoverer of Crater Lake as dictated to Bentley B. Mackay

Tracks of H.M.S. Asia from England to Valparaiso and from Valparaiso to England, 1848 - 1851 [cartographic material] / W. Denison January 10th 1856 from a map by Mr. Jones Secretary to H.M.S. Asia

J.H. (John Holmes) Magruder letters to his family

Diaries of William Farrer [microform] : 1849-1854