Nodaway County, Missouri - Chapter 25: California Gold Excitement, 1882

Chapter 25: California Gold Excitement

FLATTERING ACCOUNTS-NAMES OF MEN WHO WENT FROM NODAWAY COUNTY-CALIFORNIA ENTERPRISE COMPANY-ADDRESS OF COLONEL BLACK-LE TIERS-CALL FORNIA EMIGRANT SONG-CHOLERA-NUMBER OF EMIGRANTS.

No doubt the desire for gold has been the mainspring of all progress and enterprise in the county from the beginning till the present time, and will so continue till remote ages. Generally, however, this desire has been manifested in the usual avenues of thrift, industry and enterprise. On one occasion it passed the bounds of reason and assumed the character of a mania.

The gold mania first broke out in the fall of 1848, when stories began to be first spread abroad of the wonderful richness of the placer mines of California. The excitement grew daily, feeding on the marvelous reports that came from the Pacific Slope, and nothing was talked of but the achievements of gold diggers. The papers were replete with the most extravagant stories, and yet the excitement was so great that the gravest and most incredulous men were smitten with the contagion, and hurriedly left their homes and all that was dear to them on earth, to try the dangers, difficulties, and uncertainties of hunting gold.

"An immense bed of gold, one hundred miles in extent, has been discovered in California, on American Fork and Feather Rivers, tributaries of the Sacramento and Monterey. Mr. Colton, the Alcalde of Monterey, states that the gold is found in the sands in grains resembling squirrel shot flattened out. Some grains weigh one ounce each. It is got by washing out the sand in any vessel, from a tea saucer to a warming-pan. A single person can gather an ounce or two a day ; some even a hundred dollars worth. Two thousand whites and as many

Indians are on the grounds. All the American settlements are deserted, and farming nearly suspended. The women only remain in the settlements. Sailors and captains desert the ships, to go to the gold region, and laborers refuse ten dollars a day to work on the farms. Mr. Colton says: 'One man, who resides next door to me, gathered five hundred dollars worth in six days. He has one lump which weighs over one ounce. A trough, such as you feed pigs in, will bring in the gold region fifty dollars. Put a piece of sheet iron, punched with holes on it, and it will bring a hundred. My friend, J. R., paid sixteen dollars for a little basket, and his companion gave twenty dollars for a teapot, all to wash out gold in.' More than twenty-eight thousand dollars worth had been collected. Governor Mason and his aid had gone to the district, which is five days journey from Monterey.

" The sailors had gone for gold from the ships, and the soldiers from their camps, for the same purpose. The last vessel that left the coast was obliged to ship an entire new crew, and pay each fifty dollars per month. No one can be hired to dig gold short of sixteen to twenty dollars per day. Every man prefers to work on his own hook ; he may make less than the wages offered, but he has a chance of making much more. There flour is worth thirty-two dollars per barrel ; fifteen pounds of Boston crackers in tin boxes, ten dollars a box ; a cotton shirt, ten dollars ; boards, five hundred dollars per one hundred feet. A carpenter can get one hundred dollars a day. Mr. L. paid for a common cradle trough, twelve feet by three wide, to wash gold earth in, one hundred and fifty dollars ; less than a day's work to make it."

Instead of dying out, the fever mounted higher and higher. It was too late to cross the plains, but thousands ot people throughout the state began their preparations for starting the following spring, and among the number were many in Nodaway County. The one great subject of discussion about the firesides and in the log cabins that winter, was the gold of California. It is said that at one time the majority of the ablebodied men of the county were unsettled in mind and were considering the project of starting to California. Even the most thoughtful and sober-minded found it difficult to resist the infection.

Wonderful sights were seen when this great emigration passed through - sights that may never be again seen in the count)-, perhaps. Some of the wagons were drawn by cows ; other gold hunters went on foot and hauled their worldly goods in hand-carts. The gold hunters generally had left the moralities of life behind them, and were infested with a spirit of disorder and demoralization. The settlers breathed easier when they had passed.

Early in the spring of 1849 the rush began. It must have been a scene to beggar all description. There was one continuous line of wagons from east to west as far as the eye could reach, moving steadily westward, and, like a cyclone, drawing into its course on the right and left many of those along its pathway. The gold-hunters from Nodaway County crowded eagerly into the gaps in the wagon-trains, bidding farewell to their nearest and dearest friends, and many of them never to be seen again on earth. Sadder farewells were never spoken. Many of the gold-hunters left their quiet, peaceful homes, only to find in the "Far West" utter disappointment and death. Very, very few of them ever gained anything, and the great majority lost everything, including even their lives," their fortunes, and their sacred honor." The persons who really gained by the gold excitement were those who remained at home and sold their produce to the gold crazy emigrants. The rush continued until about the first of June, 1850, when the great surging tide began to abate, although belated gold seekers continued to pass through the country for some time. But the excitement began to die away, and those citizens who had judgment enough to resist the contagion, now settled down in quiet, to pursue the even tenor of their way.

Thousands of these California emigrants crossed at St. Joseph, White Cloud, and other points on the Missouri River, some of them going as far up as Nebraska City. The Missouri was crossed in ferry boats, but, after leaving this river, these companies were compelled to either ford or swim all streams on their road to California. One of the largest companies that passed through this section of country was the composed of several hundred men from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Of course the departure of so many men, from their homes to the distant gold fields, was quite an event, and it often happened that the friends and neighbors of those who were to embark, met, en masse to express their regrets and good wishes in a public address. We present a portion of the speech of Colonel S. W. Black, of Pittsburg, made to the above named company, on the eve of their departure from that city, to show the friendly and pleasant custom of those days :

" My Friends: - I have but a few words to say at parting. What I do say will come from the heart. I trust that whatever of good and truth I may deliver, may reach your hearts. Before your return you will have seen no little of the world ; what you see will be so much learned beyond what you now know. Hence, at the very out-going of your enterprise, you have a good object in view. Some persons complain of these expeditions as being sordid and unworthy; to go and dig for gold, they say, is not meritorious, but culpable. I, for one, do not think so. All the world is a gold digger - rather, indeed, a gold scratcher - and it often happens, that, in scratching too greedily, we bring away the skin of one anothers' faces - betimes the flesh of one anothers' bones.

"The farmer in the field, the mechanic in the shop, the merchant in the store, and the lawyer in his pursuit, choose their daily business for gold. Even the preacher does not work unpaid. This is all right, and according to the purpose of our creation. Our Father has planted gold in the earth for the benefit of His children. To make it by merit is noble and deserving of praise. To accumulate it with proper motives is meritorious. To lose it is mean and condemned of God. * . * You are starting upon a long and perilous journey. Allow me, then, to make a few suggestions, which may not in the end be worthless. You leave without a flag. Make a banner for yourselves and cling to it. Inscribe upon its folds Fraternity and Friendship. Let the same devotion inspire you that actuates the soldier for the standard of his country. In all things be one. A perfect unity of interest and affection will make you prosperous and invincible. Organize yourselves into companies - elect judicious and skillful officers - men of intelligence and nerve. When you give them the power of direction always sustain them in its lawful

-exercise. Discipline is essential to your safety and success. Each day start early on your marches ; you will then escape the injurious effect of to the sun, and find yourselves early in camp. It is probable you will encounter danger. To meet it successfully you must be accustomed to act together. Americans vanquished Mexicans and Indians by a union of discipline with courage.

41 1 know that your messes have ardent spirits among their stores. These may be useful or pernicious in proportion to the judgment with which they are used. In the life in which you are acting you will find -occasional necessity for the use of stimulants. They are serviceable only when the system is prostrated by disease or exposure.

"A kind hearted friend has just requested me to say that if there are any of the expedition without Bibles, he will be happy now to furnish them. It does not become me, perhaps, to speak of a subject so grave and serious, yet I can say that this, the ' Book of Books,' is the best companion you can take with you ; it is a never-failing reliance.

" In the center of our city, or around the circle of our continent ; among the busy scenes of active life, or on the prairie, where the pilgrim sees no mark but the foot-prints of wild beast or the savage - it is a perpetual adaptation to every exigency of man's career.

" To-day I saw in a paper the declaration of one of you, that ' in all Ihis wanderings he would carry his Bible in the bottom of his trunk.' Let rne suggest an improvement. Deposit it on the top, that every time the trunk is opened it may remind you that you have not looked into it that -day for wisdom and counsel. You are surrounded by a thousand anxious beating hearts, every one of which swell with aspiration for your success and safe return. The general prayer is, and will be, 'that no evil will befall you, nor any plague come near your dwelling.' Come back enriched, and make your riches a blessing to the destitute at home. The hour of grief hangs heavy in the hearts of many. Let them have no other cause -of sorrow than this separation. Your incoming will be a day of bright and thrilling joy. The tear that stands still in the eye, or follows its fellows across the feverish and scalded cheek, will be replaced with diamonds. The red autumn of present sadness will pass away, and in due season the glorious summer will succeed, bringing its golden harvest."

Many letters were received from these gold seekers shortly after their arrival in California. From some of these letters we have made the following extracts :

" I have concluded to write you and let you know that all are well -who started in the pack-mule company, up to date. We arrived in this -country on the first of August ; had many upsand downs on the road, but lost none of©ur stock by the Indians. And now a little about California and the prospects for making money. Lewis, Love and myself bought a small gnocery in Sacramento City, for which we paid $1,800 - on a short credit - three week's time. We kept it a short time, made $250 each,, and sold it out. Brother David went to the mines, and up to this timehas made $1,600. I went and worked eight days. The spot of ground F had was about large enough to lay down on. The first day I made $200; the second day $220, and in eight days $900. The St. Joseph boys are doing well. The most of them are making from half an ounce to three ounces per day. David and myself will go into the cattle trade or sell groceries. We can buy cattle from $30 to $50 per yoke - fat cattle are worth from $75 to $150, and in the mines 75 cents per pound. There is an abundance of Spanish cattle here, but they are hard to drive in the mines, it requiring six or eight Spaniards to drive a small herd of twenty,, and that at a cost of an ounce per day. There is an abundance of provision here. If you had the potatoes, alone, in California, which will be sold in a town like St. Joseph to-day, you might rest contented the balance of your days. I have been up the Sacramento River too miles and up Feather River 50 miles, and I have seen but a few spots of land worth cultivating. I have seen a great many of our old friends from Upper Missouri, the most of whom are rich and doing well. I saw Charley Covaloe and Nigh ; they are both rich. While many men who crossed the plains this summer are making money, others are here who are not making their salt, and are very much dissatisfied and are going home every day. The gold here is very hard to get, and if a person makes a fortune by gold digging he must expect to endure a great deal of fatigue. Men with families are making fortunes by washing and boarding. Girls are in great demand here ; all they have to do, is to name their pile of gold-dust, and a husband is at their command immediately."

"I arrived here from the mines on Bear River about a week since. D. D. Williams is going into business in the dry diggings, about sixty miles from this place. 'Old man Williams' and myself are going 200 miles up the Sacramento to mine. We are all partners, and carry on mining and merchandising or trading. We have made about $2,000, in cash, since we came, which we have invested, and will make thousandsor lose. Samuel Love, Ryan and Andrews are here and have done well. Any person that will work can make money. You: recollect Cornwall, that stayed at Dawson's. He is here, and is worth, I suppose, a quarter of a million. Stratton was burned on a pile or stake by the Indians, a short time since. William Nicholson died night before last."

" I have lived here about one year ; have been engaged in the mines; since last spring, and by being prudent and industrious, have realized something for my trouble. I cannot say when I will return ; perhaps in two or three years, perhaps never, although L will come as soon as I cart to see my mother, and prevent her from crossing the Rocky Mountains, for I think such a trip dangerous and unnecessary. I would advise my friends and relations to remain where they are."

California Emigrant Song

In order to give some estimate of the number of emigrants that passed through this western country during the California gold excitement, we will give the number that crossed the river at St. Joseph to June 15, 1849, two months and a half, beginning from April 1st :

The number of wagons that had crossed at St. Joseph at that time was 1,508, which would average about four men to the wagon, making 6,032. At Duncan's ferry, four miles above St. Joseph, 685 wagons had crossed, and at Bontown, Savannah, and the ferries as far up as the Bluffs, 2,000^ making the number of wagons 4, 193. 10,000 persons had crossed at Independence, making a total of 27,000 persons. There were about eight mules or oxen to each wagon, making the number 37,544 of mules and oxen.

At the time of the treaty of Gaudaloupe Hidalgo, the population of California did not exceed thirty thousand, while at the time of which we are writing, (1850,) there were more than one hundred and fifty thousand people who had found their way thither, of which number, at least one hundred thousand were gold hunters from the states. The evil effects of this gold mania upon the moral status of the United States are still seen and felt, and among all classes of society. It has popularized the worship of Mammon to an alarming extent, and to this worship, in a great measure, is attributed the moral declension of to-day.