Experiences and reminiscences of Raymond William Milnor

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  William Hickman Dolman reminiscences

  Manuscripts

  In his reminiscences, William Hickman Dolman recounts his childhood in Roseville, Ohio (he also spends several pages on the history of his family). Dolman describes years of moving around looking for full-time work and his decision to go to California to mine for gold. Dolman details his overland journey to California including the bad weather, deaths along the way, and a group from his wagon train deciding to turn around and go back east. While in California and Nevada, Dolman talks about his constant struggle to make money from the mines. Dolman moves around a lot, but spends most of his time in Carson City and Gold Hill, Nevada. Dolman also discusses his disappointment with his loss of money in the Comstock Lode, vigilance activity in Carson City, as well as the Battle of Pyramid Lake where Major William M. Ormsby was killed by Paiute Indians. Part of Dolman's reminiscences have been published: New Mexico historical review, July 1947, and Before the Comstock, 1857-1858: memoirs of William Hickman Dolman, also in 1947. This version of his reminiscences is not the same as the two published versions.

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  Reminiscences of a gold miner

  Manuscripts

  Fisk starts his reminiscences in 1850 when he left Illinois for California. He describes his overland journey in a party of 20 wagons. He mentions the Native Americans they passed (specifically the Utes and Otos), Fort Laramie, and how the group had to leave items behind to speed their pace. He also talks about Salt Lake City, buffalo herds, and the group's constant search for water. Fisk then describes arriving in Hangtown (Placerville), his experience mining on the American River and leaving California to mine in Colorado. He writes briefly about his time with the 2nd Iowa Regiment. He also discusses his decision to travel to Alaska to try his hand at gold mining one more time. Following the reminiscences are typescripts of several letters from Fisk to his sister written while on his journey to Alaska.

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  William Raymond letter to Mrs. J.M. Raymond

  Manuscripts

  Letter from William Raymond to his mother and sister, written from San Pedro, California, shortly after Raymond had returned from an oceanography research trip on Catalina Island. Raymond was in charge of hydrographic work for the expedition, as well as lending his expertise in conchiferous mollusca. He accompanied William E. Ritter, a professor of zoology at U.C. Berkeley who in 1903 secured funding from Ellen Browning Scripps and E.W. Scripps to found the Marine Biological Association of San Diego, which later became the Scripps Institute of Oceanography at UC San Diego. Raymond's fellow researchers included zoologists Charles A. Kofoid and Calvin O. Esterly, as well as men named Cady, Bancroft, and Jorrey. The letter also mentions work being done by geologist Ida Shepard Oldroyd and zoologist Alice Robertson. Raymond writes of dredging work near Silver Canyon, in the harbor at Avalon near the Isthmus, at Little Harbor, and at Long Point. He describes the topography of the ocean floor and of "small but good" harvesting results. Raymond writes of the types of conch shells collected, some of which were "new to the trip, if not undescribed." They later discovered a few "extremely rare species...so rare that Mrs. Oldroyd says that have not even at Washington a good one." Raymond writes extensively of the sorting and preserving process, as well as answering his mother's questions about his cooking and camping conditions. He mentions sailing to the island on the Banning brothers' steamer Hermosa, and notes that "the Bannings are trying to start a new town at the Isthmus," although in Raymond's opinion "better places for a town might be imagined." Back in San Pedro he reflected on the future of such expeditions, noting that "Ritter is in a quandary about how to keep the work going." He was optimistic that "L.A. people seem enthusiastic about our work" and that a donor had given $25 at a recent lecture. Raymond hoped that "there will be something for our expenses" and thought he might not make further research trips. Includes envelope.

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  James Franklin Burns reminiscences

  Manuscripts

  Burns details his move from Michigan to California in 1853. He also discusses his time as L.A. Chief of Police and County Sheriff including crimes that were committed while he held these positions and criminals he helped prosecute. Burns also talks about his actions during the 1871 Chinese Massacre in Chinatown and politics in California and Los Angeles.

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  Reminiscences of old Calico

  Manuscripts

  Mellen wrote his reminiscences in 1941. In it he talks about his years that he and his father spent building chutes and bins for various mines in Calico and Daggett, California, including King, Odessa, Occidental, Gobbler, and Garfield. They also helped construct building for the mining towns. Mellen discusses the problems they encountered in mining including a flood in the winter of 1883 and lack of money. He also talks about a murder that took place and the eventual hanging of the suspected murderer, as well as the miners' reactions to and treatment of Yung Hen, a Chinese man who owned a restaurant and several boarding houses in the Calico area. Included in the typescript are photographs of the author and the mines, most of which were taken in 1941; there is one photograph of the King Mine from 1883, and one of Calico in 1890.

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  Washington territory in the eighties: reminiscences

  Manuscripts

  In his reminiscences about his life in the Seattle area in the 1880s, Broomall talks in detail about his work at a sawmill, a barrel factory, mining in the Cascade mountains, an encounter with a bear, working as an axeman for the Northern Pacific Railway, the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, and several fellow miners, trackers, and railway men that became his close friends.

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