| Title: | John K. Orr, Sacramento, USA, to His Parents, Co.Down |
|---|---|
| ID | 2029 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | Orr, John M/153 |
| Year | 1840 (prob. 1850) |
| Sender | Orr, John Malcolm |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | unknown |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Sacramento, California, USA |
| Destination | Portaferry, Co. Down, USA |
| Recipient | Rev John Orr |
| Recipient Gender | male |
| Relationship | son-father |
| Source | T3103/7: Presented by Mrs Margaret Orr Herriott, Portaferry, Co Down. |
| Archive | The Public Record Office, Northern Ireland |
| Doc. No. | 9501227 |
| Date | 01/11/1840 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | Document added by LT, 20:01:1995. |
| Word Count | 2209 |
| Genre | |
| Note | N.B. John Malcolm died in 1851 (Did various jobs and decided to go west where he expected to do some kind of business) |
| Transcript | Sacrimento [Sacramento?] City, Cal.,1st Nov. 1840 My dear Father and Mother, It is now so long since I have had an opportunity of writing to you or of hearing from you, that I scarce know how to commence my letter, this is the third that I have attempted I commenced the others with a description of the rout [route?] from the States here, but found that it would require a quire of paper to hold it, it will suffice to say that I arrived in the Northern part of the Sacrimento [Sacramento?] Valley on the 3rd ult.,[?] after a long, tiresome and disagreeable journey, safe and well. having had no sickness of any account,except one attack of desentry [disentry?] which lasted about a week, I would not go back the overland rout [route?] to the States for less than 100 a year for life, there has been a great deal of sickness on the way, the latter part of the emigration suffered severely from cholera on the Platte afterwards from fevers and dissentery [disentry?], and on the latter end of the rout [route?] hundreds died of scurvy, our mess did not agree very well so Mittleberger the Canadian left us at South Pass of the Rocky Mountains, Griggs my other partner was attacked with scurvy, but has got better, on the latter end of the rout [route?], one oxen stood the journey well, we only lost one out of six, but picked up another that supplied his place, of the whole journey of 2400 miles by our rout [route?] it is as I have said impossible to give a description in a single letter, but I can give you some idea of it by taking it in parts, the first part is from the Missouri river to the Black or Laramie Hills, we left the Missouri at old Fort Kearing travelled over 100 miles of country resembling your neighbourhood in appearance but rather little water, and then struck the Platte River good grass and water, for 150 miles to New Fort Kearing the road is very good and level, at this place the roads from the different starting points came in here, and here we saw for the first time the great tide of the emigration nothing to be seen but wagons pouring in from all directions with there long teams of four and six. Yoke of oxen, some 2500 wagons were ahead of us here on the 30th May, from this to Fort Laramie some 300 miles the roads still continue along the valley of the Platte, this river I may say is from one to two miles wide in many places very rapid and muddy coloured and in most seasons fordable, but this year there was too much snow and rain. for that, the valley on the south side is from one to five miles wide this is the way most of the emigration came the north valley is from three to ten miles wide, plenty of excellent grass on either side, it was there at night you could see camp fires as far as the eye could reach,and during the day wagon following wagon for miles without a break in the line, there was generally three or four men with each wagon, had any stranger seen us and not known what we were it would have put his wits to the test to tell what we were, not more than one out of six ever had a razor on his face from the time of starting and each man generally travelled with his rifle on his shoulder pistols and knife in his belt, a red or blue flannel shirt and an old pair of pantaloons was generally the prevailing fashion of dress, some few sported a check shirt outside the flannel, and about one fourth of this motley crowd was mounted on horses or mules and I forgot to say every man with long boots outside his pants, when the emigrants got to New Fort Kearing they began to see that they had loaded their wagons too heavily so commenced lightning up, from here to Laramie seldom a day passed that we did not pass tons of Flour, Bacon, Hardbread, Beans sometimes Sugar and Molasses Trunks Boxes of all kinds and in fact everything that a man was likely to take with him, strewn by the side of the road, on this part of the Platte we generally had a thunder storm every evening, from Laramie we crossed the Black hills, 80 miles over a very hilly road, water good, but very little grass, it is here that the plant Artemesia Tridentate takes the place of grass, for miles there is nothing else except on the narrow valley of a river or a stream, this plant resembles lavender in appearance smells strongly of Turpentine, and is only fit to burn, oxen wont eat it from here we ascend up a gradual ascent to the summit of the Southern Pass of Rocky Mountains, 230 miles, Artemesia continues plenty, roads hilly, salacratus is abundant [and?] in some places impregnants [impregnates?] the water so much that cattle die after drinking it, we had to give our oxen occasional doces [doses?] of fat Pork on this part of the rout [route?] to neutralize the acid not a day passed us without seeing from twenty to forty and sometimes more, lying dying in and near the road, from the Pass to Big Sandy river some 50 miles the country does not improve much from this to Green River, the head of the Colorado, 52 [1/2?] miles there is not a drop of water, we went through without stopping in twenty hours from this place to Hambolt river there is good feed along the river but the whole extent of country from the Rocky Mountains to the Sierra Nevada is a barren desert unfit for cultivation and which will never be peopled except by the few indians who now reside there and find a living by hunting the Antelope and eating roots, the largest valley in this region is that of the Great Salt and Utah lakes here the Mormons or latter day saints, a queer kind of saints they are, have settled, there are some doubts whether they will be able to remain this whole region is from 5000 feet to 7000 feet above the level of the sea. from the time we left the Platte till [until?] we got to California a distance of nearly 1800 miles we had not a shower of rain that would wet a [----ne?], the atmosphere is very dry the days are hot and the nights cold without dew, yet there was snow all the time in sight sometimes within a few feet of the road would be some ravines full, not yet melted, it keeps long here, freezing so hard at night that the sun scarcely melts the crust of ice during the day, we had a good deal of fresh meat along the road, Antelope Black tailed [deer?] Grouse of different kinds, ducks to., I had not the good fortune to kill a Buffalo, I only saw two or three live ones on the road, this last part of the road mentioned is about six hundred miles long, by the usual rout [route?], the road is along the Humbolt river its whole length 300 miles this is the principal river of the Great Interior Basin of America, whose waters sink instead of running into the sea,as they cannot get through the Sierra Nevada range of Mountains except in two places, the River Colarado at the Gulf of California and the Columbia river in oregan [Oregan?], the head waters of both, which rise in the Wind River chain of the Rocky mountains, the Humbolt is generally said to have good grass its whole lenght but this year was an exception, grass was good for 80 miles, the next 120 it was tolerable in places and from that on there was none, we left the river 50 miles from the sink and took the southern origon [Oregan?] road said to be better, here we had a desert of 50 miles to cross before we could find any grass. and water only once on the way hundreds of oxen died here, the heat, the dust and the fatigue of travelling together with an empty stomach was too much for numbers that were already worn out by travelling 50 miles on the Humbolt, and nothing to eat but willows and rushes, this has to be made in one stretch, we started about 5 o'clock in the afternoon travelled all night next day about noon we got to the water, there was a very scanty supply in some half dozen wells, it took about two hours to get enough for the cattle to drink next morning about 4 o'c. [4 o'clock?] we got to hot spring valley, water bad and for a long distance we had nothing but boiling water, in the springs, it was hot enough to cook Beef Pork, make Tea or do anything with, if a washwoman could only get one of these springs in the States she would make a fortune in no time, some of the largest are 16 feet in diameter and about as deep quite a curiosity from this to the summit of the Sierra is about 350 miles a good deal of hot water all the way, little alteration on the face of the County Hills covered with Artemesia, I do hate the very name of it and hope I will never see much more of it, and some scanty grass by the bank of the streams, from the summit to the Sacremento Valley is over 300 miles more and the road would surprise you, I could not have supposed it possible for a wagon to have travelled on such a road, some places it is about straight up and down, we lock all four wheels at such places, keep only one yoke of oxen on to steer it down,then there is at least 200 miles covered with rocks from the size of a mans head to six feet through, this is the place that broke the wagons and use up the oxen, thousands were left on this rout [route?] unable to come any further. Sacramento City is the first town of California I have seen, three months ago there was not 50 persons here now it has at least 3000 inhabitants, the houses or rather tents are mostly canvas in shape of a house some are covered with Tin Zinc,sheet iron &c., lumber is worth $500 per 1000 feet, there are a few houses of adobies or sun dried brick, a heavy business is done here the Sacramento is full of vessels, a propeller [propellor?] has arrived a few days ago and is now playing between this and San Francisca [San Fransisco?] provisions are high flour $15 to $17 per 100lbs. Potatoes 40 cents a pound dried fruit 60 cents, onions $100 a pound,[sic] Boarding $25 a week, wages for common working men $8 to $10 per day - sugar is worth from 18 cents to 30 cents. I am for the mines immediately we have laid our winter provisions and hope to get as much gold dust as will pay our coming herem [here?] writs to Sacramento City, I have not heard from you since I left the States, I expect your letter are not lying somewhere here for me. Of California I cannot say much this is the worst part of it and the worst season to see it in just the end of the dry season when everything is parched and the grass eaten up by the large herds of wild cattle that are here. Wishing that this may find you all in as good health as it leaves me I must conclude sending my love to you all, Jane, Ellen, Margaret and Eliza I want to have a long letter or letters from you giving all the news of the last eight months, William Henry I expect has grown a big fellow by this, I must have a gold breast pin for him, as I heard he is fond of jewellery when I see him, and I hope it will not be long before I do. My best respects to all my friends I hope James Warnock has got better of his rheumatism, give my respects to the family Mrs Walsh would not I think be pleased if I did not enquire for her, her stockings wear well. remember me to Mrs M'Kibben and Mrs & Miss Donnan, Mr M'Cleery's family, I must not forget to enquire for, I hope they ar [are?] all well. I often wonder what changes will be in Portaferry if I ever live to see it, you will not find much change in me only a little darker coloured and thinner, I only weigh 147lbs. I used to be 156lbs. Ballybun and Bootan folks and Uncle Malcoms family will no doubt be glad to hear I am well and almost any person here can do well who wishes and who goes to work in earnest here. I am dear Parents, Your son, John M. Orr. |
