Manuscripts

Lundy B. Hogue diary of a trip from Ohio to California

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Description: Hogue began his trip to California in July 1875 from Belmont, Ohio. He traveled through Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Nevada by railroad. He talks about the Missouri River, Cheyenne, Mormon villages, Fort Bridger, the Humboldt River Valley, and hundreds of Chinese workers he sees along the way. Hogue arrived in Sacramento and then he proceeded to travel to San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, and Ventura. While in California, Hogue purchased land. He returned to Ohio in January 1876. The volume also contains several entries from another trip Hogue took in 1882.
Type: Manuscripts(Opens in new tab)
Production date: 1875-1882.
Call number: mssHM 82444
Creator: Hogue, Lundy B (1844-)(Opens in new tab)

Sheldon Young diaries of his trip to California

Manuscripts

Two diaries kept by Sheldon Young as he traveled from Illinois to California in 1849. The first, brief diary covers March 19-28 and begins with Young's departure from Joliet, Illinois, with Hiram White and Pears G. Pearson. It records their travels as far as Galesburg, Illinois. The second diary picks up on May 19 (the pages for March 29-May 18, June 21-July 1, and October 14-November 8 are missing). The near daily entries record miles traveled, buffalo hunting, deaths from cholera, and the lack of food and water. The diary specifically mentions stopping at Fort Kearney, seeing Castle Rock, crossing the Platte River on a raft, following the Green River, stopping at Fort Bridger, encountering Snake and Piute Indians, traveling through Little Salt Lake City, the departure of the Bug Smashers, the abandonment of wagons after Christmas 1849, arriving in the Mojave Desert, a cattle stampede, and the arrival in San Francisquito on February 4, 1850. The final few pages of the diary recount Young's arrival in San Francisco on February 26, 1850, reaching Sacramento in early March, and departing San Francisco on board the Swift on October 13, 1850. Young recounts the shipboard deaths of several passengers, including his traveling companion Wolfgang Tauber, who had also been with Young in Death Valley. He concludes with the Swift's arrival in Panama in December 1850.

mssHM 75663-75664

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John S. Southworth diary of Colorado River trip

Manuscripts

The first volume (HM 74297) is Southworth's diary that he kept while on the river trip. The diary begins in Green River, Wyoming on June 20th and ends near Boulder City, Nevada on August 22. Southworth talks about the trip: the conditions along the river; the weather; the scenery passed; the people, ranches and animals along the route; and injuries among the group. There are also two newspaper clippings in the diary. The photograph album (HM 74298) contains over 400 black and white photographs taken on the river trip. There are several photographs of Monument Valley and two photographs of Native Americans. The photograph album also contains a newspaper clipping about Southworth and the trip.

mssHM 74297-74298

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Diary of travels through California

Manuscripts

Diary details travels by train and driving excursions (by horse-drawn vehicles) around California from February to April 1898. The diarist first journeys along the Pacific coast to Santa Barbara, where he describes the weather and climate, the town, and a visit to a local mission. He takes excursions from Santa Barbara to nearby Montecito, Carpinteria, Ventura, Goleta, and Naples, observing the homes of wealthy Easterners, large grapevines, the oil industry, cattle ranches, and the drought. He then travels to Fresno, where he writes about the city, malaria, heat and drought, water supply, the fruit industry, and a visit to the city's Chinatown. From Fresno, the diarist travels to the Monterey Peninsula via Tracy, Livermore, and San Jose. He describes the weather, land prices, and the towns of Pacific Grove and Monterey, and visits a giant live oak tree. The traveler then moves on to Southern California, stopping in Pasadena and Santa Monica before spending several days in San Diego, where he stays at the Coronado Hotel and writes of the weather, and the houses, streets, and landscape of the city, which he dislikes; he also visits La Jolla and the "Ramona House" adobe (possibly the Casa de Estudillo in San Diego). After a brief side trip to Tijuana, the diarist travels to San Bernadino County and the towns of San Bernadino, Riverside, and Pomona, with an added excursion into the mountains. Entries discuss the area's landscape, citrus groves, and the challenges of the orange industry. He ends his California journey in Los Angeles, leaving on April 8 and arriving in New York 10 days later. Final entries discuss the weather and scenery enroute and include some detailed description of the Colorado Springs area. The Southern Pacific Railroad is mentioned several times in the journal. The diary is in pencil, written in a bound "Memoranda" notebook. Also present is a second, unbound journal by the same author detailing an October 1898 hunting trip, most likely to Maine, which primarily contains descriptions of the weather (17 pages). In addition, there are three unused postcards depicting Los Angeles area real estate subdivisions, the Pacific Grove bathing beach, and the Riverside Salt Lake Railroad viaduct.

mssHM 84034

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John Neff diary

Manuscripts

In this day-to-day diary of Neff's trip he talks in detail about the weather, landscape, cattle and horses being stolen, problems with Indians, hunting along the way, members of his group getting sick, and fights amongst members of his group. The diary only covers the trip from Ohio to Salt Lake City (1854, April 11 - August 9). It includes a forward by John L. Ford and map showing the route Neff took from Ohio to California.

mssHM 75111

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Diary of a trip to California

Manuscripts

The diary chronicles Margaret's travels from June 10 to August 27, 1911, primarily in Northern California. The first week of the journal details her trip alone by train from Niagara Falls to California, with descriptions of Niagara Falls and sites in Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona including Cripple Creek, Albuquerque, and the Grand Canyon; some entries include observations of local Native Americans. The rest of the journal consists of descriptions of travels by train and car in California. Locations visited in Southern California include Los Angeles, Pasadena, Venice Beach, Pomona, and Santa Barbara. After June 23, Margaret was based in the Bay Area town of San Rafael with multiple excursions to San Francisco and around Northern California. Her entries describe people met and interacted with, travel methods, homes and architecture, local landmarks and history, flora and landscape, missions and churches, and weather. There are frequent mentions of Aunt May and Uncle Will, who met her in Pasadena and possibly lived in San Rafael; Aunt May, and occasionally Uncle Will, usually accompanied her on her excursions to San Francisco and around California. Entries regarding San Francisco mention Ethel Barrymore plays, the Cliff House restaurant, Golden Gate Park and its zoo and Japanese Tea Garden, Chinatown, and the effects of the 1906 earthquake. She briefly describes attending a women's suffrage event (an Equality Tea) on August 4 and rally on August 25 and mentions a suffrage amendment on the ballot that year in California. Sites traveled to in Northern California include St. Helena and the Chabot estate vineyards; the Guerneville area and the Russian River; Santa Rosa, including a visit to Luther Burbank and his gardens; a fruit farm in Los Gatos; and Eureka and other areas in Humboldt County. The journal also includes a draft or copy of a letter from Margaret to her mother written in San Rafael and dated August 27. The final nine pages of the diary are additional notes on travels in Humboldt County, many of which are crossed out. There are also several pages of loose notes, two envelopes, and a receipt. The journal is unbound and is handwritten in ink on loose paper.

mssHM 84033

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B.C. Drey letter to "Dear Dode,"

Manuscripts

In this letter, written from New Orleans, Drey describes a trip he took to Yosemite National Park when he lived in California. He also comments on his social life in New Orleans as well as the African Americans he sees in town. Drey also describes a religious service he observed at an African American church in New Orleans.

mssHM 67918

Lundy B. Hogue diary of a trip from Ohio to California

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Sheldon Young diaries of his trip to California

John S. Southworth diary of Colorado River trip

Diary of travels through California

John Neff diary

Diary of a trip to California

B.C. Drey letter to "Dear Dode,"