David S. Maynard diary of an overland journey from Ohio to Puget Sound

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  Journey of an overland trip from Missouri to California

  Manuscripts

  This volume is Gorgas' diary of his journey from St. Joseph, Missouri to Placerville, CA, and his return trip to New York via the Panama Canal as part of the California Gold Rush of the mid-19th century. Much of the early entries are concerned with weather conditions and landscape and route details. Gorgas and his party finally reach Placerville on July 26, the ninetieth day of their journey, and begin digging for gold outside Sacramento in August. On February 1, 1851, Gorgas boarded a ship, the Olive Branch, bound for New York by way of the Panama Canal, intending to return home to his much-missed family. He lands at Jamaica on April 1, and arrives at New York on April 8. Dated 1850, April 28 through 1851, April 8. Notes include price charts and signatures of people Gorgas may have met during his travels. Includes newspaper clipping with picture of Placerville, CA, circa 1850, and a four-page handwritten timeline of Gorgas' journey (not in his hand).

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  Elias S. Ketcham diary

  Manuscripts

  Elias S. Ketcham of Rondout (Kingston), New York, kept this diary while living and working in the gold fields of California in 1853-54. He prospects for gold in Murphy's Camp, CA, but is not particularly successful in the mines. Ketcham often discusses his desire to return home to NY, his experiences as a miner, and his religious beliefs. The diary provides a colorful description of life in the mining camps: he describes his impressions of Indians, Mexicans, and Chinese and also discusses violent incidents in the mining communities

  mssHM 58269

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  Elias S. Ketcham diary

  Manuscripts

  Diary kept by Elias S. Ketcham of Rondout (Kingston), New York and covers the first half of 1851. Most entries are summaries of his daily activities such as work, church meetings and visits with friends in and around Rondout. Ketcham was a very religious man and the majority of his diary is about what he needs to do to become a better Christian. There is some discussion regarding his decision to leave New York and join his brothers in California. In his last entry, June 12, Ketcham writes about the preparations he has made for his trip, and his feelings of uncertainty regarding leaving his friends and family to head West to search for gold. There are several entries dated 1861, 1862 and 1868 regarding Ketcham's boarding situation

  mssHM 59423

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  Diaries and correspondence of David Woosley

  Manuscripts

  The small group of items includes two diaries kept by David Woosley while he was a Moravian missionary to the Cahuilla, Cupeño, and Luiseño Indians of southern California. Woosley would travel to the Pala Indian Reservation, the Pechanga Reservation, the Potrero Indian Reservation, and the Fort Yuma Reservation, as well as La Jolla, Rincon, Temecula, and Banning, California, to teach Sabbath School and conduct church services. In his diaries, Woosley includes details regarding his interaction with other missionaries, including William H. Weinland, his experiences with the Indians, their attitude towards Christianity, and their attendance at his church services. One of the diaries contains lists of children that attended Sabbath School at La Jolla and Pechanga from 1908-1911. The other items in the group are several letters, from 1940, written by various missionaries regarding the 50th anniversary of the Moravian's mission work in southern California; an incomplete booklet entitled "Proceedings of the Society for Propagating the Gospel Among the Heathen" for the year 1914 (Woosley is author of one of the entries); and a photograph of the faculty and staff of the Moravian Theological Seminary taken in 1896

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  Mary Ann Storrs McCarty diary of an overland journey from Omaha to Carson City

  Manuscripts

  Portion of a diary kept by Mary Ann Storrs McCarty as she traveled overland from Nebraska to Nevada. The diary opens with the McCartys' departure from Omaha on May 6, traveling with a company that would eventually come under the leadership of J. Marvin. They forded the Loup Fork at Council Bluffs, and Mary Ann describes the difficulty of getting wagons and supplies over the various bluffs and hills they had to climb. While in Nebraska on May 14, Mary Ann observed "a very singular phenomenon" above the evening horizon, which first had the shape of a "rod" before taking on a "snaky appearance, [which] appeared to crawl up from the horizon...[and] lasted about half an hour." By the end of May they had reached Chimney Rock, and shortly after had the first of two broken wagons that had to be left behind, both ultimately replaced by "a Mormon...who was going after emigrants." Mary Ann writes of Pawnee Indians visiting the wagon camp, and although they were peaceful the emigrants were "all frightened" about their presence. In early June the party arrived at Fort Laramie and camped near La Bonte Creek and Deer Creek, usually close to outpost stations of soldiers. On June 12 the McCartys' were left behind when their wagon broke, and when P.V. went to look for the rest of the party Mary Ann stayed behind. It was dark and she wrote that "[there is] no person near me for miles...all around is hills and rocks. Where will the end be?" (June 12). Two days later they had rejoined the wagon train and camped near Devil's Gate, where Mary Ann described the scenery as "strangely, wildly beautiful." While camped near the Sweetwater River on June 18, Mary Ann wrote of her exasperation with her traveling companions, stating that "I am so very tired of the company, they are all so dreadfully profane...My heart years for quietude and the society of Christians." Mary Ann got her wish to be separated from the party when the McCartys' wagon was irreparably broken near the Sweetwater Station and they were left behind to find a new one. After being aided to the Green River Crossing, the McCartys joined a new emigrant train from Missouri. They passed through Echo Canyon and came within sight of Salt Lake City on July 1. Mary Ann described with some admiration the homes, agriculture, and irrigation systems of the Mormon homesteads she could see. She often walked on alone without the rest of the company, occasionally causing a panic when they thought she had been lost. By July 4 they reached Camp Floyd, and in mid-July crossed 23 miles of desert to the Nevada border. After passing the Diamond Station the McCartys left the wagon train to take a cut-off, which turned out to be a "terrible road." In Nevada they traveled through Clifton, along the Carson River, Fort Churchill, and Dayton before arriving in Carson City on August 12. Mary Ann's diary ends with an account of a fire that broke out shortly after their arrival. Also includes a typed transcript of the diary made by Mary Louise Warren, a letter to Mary Ann from Helen L. Taylor (1899), and photographs of P.V. McCarty and an unidentified daughter.

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  William S. McBride diary

  Manuscripts

  Diary kept by William S. McBride as he traveled overland from Indiana to Utah in 1850. He departed from Goshen, Indiana, on March 31 in company with Eli W. Summey, Fred Summey, Enoch Willett, and Louis Mitchel, who were already calling themselves "Californians." On April 7 they took the steamer Falcon to St. Louis (which McBride called a "second Babel"), and immediately departed on the steamer Globe. Their steamer was delayed several times and it took ten days to reach Jefferson City, and another five to arrive in St. Joseph. While they camped nearby for several days, McBride took the opportunity to observe his fellow emigrants, and although he was impressed by their appearance ("All seemed jovial and full of life...the horses too...pranced along like gay studs on a celebration day," he noted), he was not entirely caught up in the moment. "This is the going out upon the plains," he wrote. "We will see by & bye how it contrasts with the 'coming in from the plains.'"His group departed in a company of 14 wagons on May 2. He writes often of hunting buffalo and antelope (which "made excellent soups"), and that while he himself had cut out a buffalo tongue (which "would be considered a delicate morsel...at St. Louis"), he "felt a deep sympathy" for buffalo approaching the pioneer guns, as they seemed to be "running the gauntlet." He writes extensively of his surroundings, including a mirage, a "very singular but...common occurrence" which made "men...[look] like giants 14 or 15 feet high...horses double their natural size, and...rivers of water when there was no water." McBride also records the initial high morale in camp, as "we often had music and singing." But about a week after their arrival at Fort Kearney on May 16, McBride began to worry about his party's progress, noting that they had fallen behind and were being passed by emigrants who left St. Joseph several days after they did. Blaming the large size of the wagon train for delays, McBride and his companions went on ahead of the rest of the company. They quickly traversed a Sioux village (McBride formed a favorable opinion of the Sioux people), climbed a rock in the area of Chimney Rock (at "no little danger to life & limb"), passed Scott's Bluffs, caught their first glimpse of the Rocky Mountains, crossed the Laramie River, and arrived at Fort Laramie on May 31. He noted the diminished morale of emigrants at Fort Laramie, and noted that many of them were forced to leave their wagons and horses behind, "in some instances sold for little or nothing, or abandoned." By June 1 he reached the Black Hills, and soon crossed the Platte River, observed Independence Rock (which he recognized from a picture he had seen in his "school boy days"), passed Devil's Gate, and reached the Big Sandy on June 16 ("I believe we are in Mexican Territory," McBride guessed on June 17). On June 18 he crossed the Green River with the aid of a "half breed" mountaineer who was "gifted with no ordinary degree of intelligence & energy." He subsequently passed Fort Hall and the Oregon Trail and crossed the Red Fork (on a "very inferior ferry, constructed out of logs pinned together" and attached to "a heavy cable"). On the other side of the river he observed a "very white human skull set up on a stick" which had been "very much used of late as a kind of tablet on which memoranda were written." On June 25 he had his first view of the Utah Valley, and arrived in Salt Lake City on June 26. McBride gives an extensive description of the Salt Lake Valley, and praises the Mormons for having done "a great deal in a short time." But his overall opinion of the Mormons was "very poor," and he described them as "poor silly fanatics, reckless renegades, and blood seekers [with]...no moral honesty." Guided by "artful...dishonest leaders," McBride thought they were prone to excess drinking, "concubinage," lying, cheating, and extortion. The diary ends in Salt Lake City on June 26. The entire diary appears to have been copied over by McBride from his original notes. Also includes a photograph of McBride.

  mssHM 16956