| Title: | Bill Williamson, California to Jack Williamson of Armagh. |
|---|---|
| ID | 3364 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | Williamson, William/30 |
| Year | 1856 |
| Sender | Williamson, William |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | unknown |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | California, USA |
| Destination | Richhill, Co. Armagh, N.Ireland |
| Recipient | Williamson, John |
| Recipient Gender | male |
| Relationship | brothers |
| Source | Donated by A. Williamson, 180 Mountsandel Road, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry. |
| Archive | The Ulster American Folk Park. |
| Doc. No. | 9311092 |
| Date | 26/11/1856 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | Action By Date Document added by C. McK. 05:11:199 |
| Word Count | 3015 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | Copies of original Letters from Williamson Family of Armagh and California. Donated by A. Williamson, 180 Mountsandel Road Coleraine Co. Londonderry. SAN JUAN MONTEREY, COUNTY CALIFORNIA, NOVEMBER 26th. 1856. Dear John, The long promised letter is at last commemced, and I have got poor Pen, poor Ink and poor Paper, so you must not expect anything of a flourish, but I intend to give you the best I have got and just as it comes in my head. I believe I promised in my last short letter that I would give you a History of my ups and downs since I left Bonus 1850, therefore I will commence by saying that George Sands, Oliver May and I left Bonus on the 19th. March 1850 for California. Our fitout consisted of 5 good Horses, one Wagon, one Tent, plenty of Bedding, 350 lbs. of Hard Bread, 180 lbs. Ham, 14 lbs.Tea, 14 lbs. Tobacco, 100 lbs. Flour, some Sugar, 50 lbs. Dried Beef, some Dried Apples and a few other traps. We arrived at the Missouri River and crossed it on the 21st of April at a place called Saint Joseph. This was the last White Settlement, so we bought some few things which we stood in need of, and started on the Plains the 22nd April. There were in our Company 10 Wagons, about 42 Horses and 31 men. We travelled along for 4 or 5 days without seeing any Indians or anything of consequence. The country so far was what might be called a Hilly Prairie. The food was poor, but as we had taken on 50 bushels of Oats at Saint Joseph our Horses faired [fared?] well. We drove 4 horses in the Wagon, and rode the other one alternatively. On the evening of the 5th day we overtook a large Company from Ohio, commanded by a Mr. Garritt who had been across the Plains the year previous. We proposed joining his train as we supposed his experience would assist us. We were accepted and the next morning we all started in company, making in all 44 Wagons and about 130 or 140 men. We all felt first rate about this move, as there were so many of us that we did not fear of being much disturbed by the Indians. At night the wagons were formed in a large circle, the horses were tethered (aint that Irish) outside of this circle until dark and then driven into it, and a guard of 4 men placed over them, when we all turned in and went to sleep and dreaming of the big chunk we would take #PAGE 2 out when we got to California. At sunrise in the morning we would have breakfast, consisting of Hard Bread, Tea and Ham. We would then harness up and start. We found Captain Garritts company were principally Lawyers, Doctors, ShopKeepers, Tailors, Shoemakers and Carpenters, and that they were very poorly calculated to drive or take care of Teams. In places for instance, where it was prudent to drive a Team slow they would trot them through and then again they would drive slow where it was not necessary. This kind of driving did not suit us at all, our Team was our main dependence and we were bound to see it get good treatment and good driving. Another serious objection, when we would come to a place where it was necessary to lock the Wagon, it took too long for us, for those who were on the last section of the train would be detained 20 or 30 minutes longer than they should be. Finally we arrived at Fort Kearny about 320 miles from the Frontier, and all hands concluded to stop and rest their Teams. We washed our Shirts, shaved and wrote home to our Wives and then held a consultation as to the propriety of dividing up the train. This appeared to be the unanimous consent of all, to [so?] our old party of 10 Wagons and 31 men started afresh from Fort Kearny on the 3rd. of May We travelled along up the South side of the River Platte, which is a wide muddy river with a Quick sand bottom about half a mile wide, and at this season of the year very shallow. We crossed the Platte about 120 miles about [above?] Fort Kearny. It was gullied out in deep holes here and there caused by the current. The only danger there is in crossing this stream is this, if your Wagon is loaded very heavy you have to drive on, for if you stop the current will keep washing the sand away from the Wagon wheels and the Wagon would sink perhaps an inch every minute. We drove on about 15 miles and camped on the north fork of the Platte. Here we found a party of about 500 Indians. They were of the Sioux Tribe, and very friendly. They are the largest set of men I have ever seen, they will average as large as Billy Anderson or Big Jemmy. The boys made them some presents of Tobacco, Hard Bread and such things, and we left in the morning. We now began to see some Buffaloes, but did not succeed in killing any for some time. We kept a very strict guard on our Horses at night, for we could hear of horses being stolen almost every night. There was nothing transpired of any consequence for some time. We all had good health and felt first rate. We finally arrived at Fort Laramie, another Fort belonging to the United States, with perhaps 200 Soldiers. We camped about a mile from the Fort and rested a day and a half. The second morning, just as day #PAGE 3 was breaking, our horses gave a snort and started towards the fort. There were 2 men on guard at the time, and they declared they could not see anything. We all hurried out of our Tents, each one with his gun in his hand. Our first thought was that the Indians were coming, but as we could not see any Indians we started after our horses. We found them at the Fort, and then for the first time learned that it was no unusual thing for horses and oxen to run away on the Plains, and that they get frightened in some way that no one can account for. I have conversed with men in California who say that their Oxen have run some 18 miles in one night, and at a time when they were very poor and apparently jaded out. Others have had their Teams start in the day time and the only way to stop them was to lock the hind wheels and tie them down the best way they could. Well we left Fort Laramie on the 21st. May, and our Teams were in very good order and appeared to stand the trip first rate. We travelled up the North Fork of the Platte in 9 days and paid 5 dollars for being ferried across it. The stream was about 20 yards wide. We went on about 2 days, and struck a stream called Sweet Water. The water was not so sweet as we expected for there was a good deal of Alkali mixed with it, and here we began to see some of the effects of it, for we could find a dead horse or ox almost every half hour, which had died in 1849. Our ham was about given out, or rather we had eaten it up, and we got an opportunity of buying some for 22 cents per lb. We thought that was very dear, but we were determined not to starve as long as we could buy. We were obliged to keep a very strict watch on our horses for fear they would get alkalied. On leaving the Sweet Water we commenced the ascent of the last side of the Rocky Mountains, and had it not been for information we received from those who had travelled the road in 1849 we would not have known when we got to the summit. We crossed through the South Pass, or summit on the 3rd June. That day we travelled over a Bank of snow perhaps a mile long and from one to twelve feet deep, and in going a mile I counted the carcasses of 84 dead oxen, horses and mules, and all along the road from here until we got to California. We were scarce out of sight of the carcass of some animal which had either died in 49 or 50, and the smell arising from them made travelling disagreeable sometimes. On the 4th of June we arrived at the Junction of the Salt Lake road. Some of our Company wished to go to Salt Lake for the purpose of swapping their horses to the Mormons for mules and oxen, and we and some others took the North Road or, what is called Sublitts cut off. There were now 5 wagons and 15 or 16 men, and we started again and on the 5th June crossed a #PAGE 4 Desert of 45 miles. We started on the Desert about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and travelled all night and came to a River called Green River about 9 o'clock the next morning. We rested our horses here until 3 o'clock in the afternoon. We noticed that the river was rising very fast and we saw some Trappers and Hunters who said there had been a very heavy rain storm the day before up North, and that we had better get across as soon as we could. Well we raised our Wagon Boxes up as high as the stakes and tied them there and started. The stream was deep, so as to swim a common sized horse and it ran rapid and was very dangerous. Our lead horses were tall and it was well for us they were, for they could just manage to get across and haul the others and the Wagon after them. This was the worst place we had on the Plains and I would not cross it again for a good deal. There were 5 men got drowned the day before we crossed and 2 the day afterwards. We pushed along 2 or 3 days and some of our Company quarrelled about some trifling thing, and some split up one Wagon coming with us and the rest stopped behind. We now had 2 wagons and 6 men and we got along first rate, only it was hard standing guard over our horses with so few men. We kept together for six weeks and during that time I stood guard every second night from 12 o'clock until sunrise, and if there is anything that will wear a man down it is standing guard at nights and walking 23 or 30 miles a day and then cooking his supper, breakfast and dinner to boot. We passed a good many warm springs, sulphuric springs and soda springs, and every day we would see where some had left their wagons and made pack saddles and packed from there to California or as far as their horses could go. Others would quarrel and cut up their wagons and make carts of them. They would drive so fast after they got their carts that they would run their horses down in a week or 10 days, and they would leave their carts and pack. In this way Captain Garritts Company acted, and out of upwards of 30 wagons that left the Missouri river only 3 got into California. At length we struck the Humboldt River and here we expected to find good grass and good water, but were sorely disappointed for there never was a worse stream in the world. We travelled down the Humboldt about 300 miles and came to where it sinks into the earth. It is quite a large stream as big as the Kiskwaukie, and is about 350 miles long, and runs down into a big sandy desert, and sinks into the earth. The Humboldt was very high, the feed very poor, and I have swam across it 14 times in one evening getting grass for our horses. We usually took off our Wagon box which was water tight and used it as a boat at times when it was necessary to cross for food, but I tell you #PAGE 5 Jack I promised the Lord that if he would see me safe into California that I would never trouble him on the Humboldt River again and I don't think I will. When we got to the Sink we found a first rate meadow, plenty of grass and as we had the long dreaded Desert to cross we stopped and cut a lot of hay with our butcher knives, for we had no scythe and gave our horses a good feed and rest and took about 200 lbs of hay on our wagon and a 10 gallon keg of water and started on the Desert at 5 o'clock in the morning of the 9th July. We found the first 30 miles of the Desert a first rate road and the other 10 miles just as mean as heavy sandy a road as I ever want to travel. The dead animals on the road were awful. It was said that in the fall of that year there was enough of dead animals on the desert so that were they laid side by side a person could walk across and not touch ground. I got along first rate, some of our Company were tired and thirsty when they got across, but we found first rate water and grass for our horses and that was the main thing. We found a very small wagon on the Desert which had been deserted and as our load was very light we left ours and took it. This helped us a good deal. We had not 300 lbs. in all, and it was folly to dray a heavy Wagon for nothing. Our provisions were getting pretty scarce and there was an awful deal of suffering on the road for the want of provisions. I have seen men go up to a dead horse or mule and cut a piece out of his ham, roast it and eat it with as much relish as ever I did eat Dave Barn's pork. I have seen 5 dollars offered for a small load of bread and men going along crying for something to eat and it was no uncommon thing for us to drive by where a party had camped the night before and find a horse or mules bones scraped clean and very often a party of these hungry men would come up to a wagon and force the owner to give them some bread. The suffering in 1850 was truly awful, and it is useless for me to try to write half of it, but if I was by your side and had a good hearty smoke I could spin you a long yarn about crossing the Plains. We finally got into Hangtown in California on the 20th. July. Our horses were rather thin in flesh and so were we, but we had made the trip in 88 days and out of that time had rested about 15 days during the time which would make our average travelling 29 miles a day, for the distance from the Missouri river to California is about 2150 miles, so you must call that pretty good travelling, and also recollect the last 1500 miles our horses did not have any oats or feed of any kind only what they could pick up and often very often that was poor, but they faired [fared?] much better than they would if they had belonged to some Doctor or Lawyer or any other #PAGE 6 Town Pups, for there was no time but what we were all willing to turn out and get our horses something if we had to go without ourselves. We brought them into Hangtown and bought 100 lbs. of hay at 10 cents per lb. and sold them the same day 2 for 100 dollars each, one for 50 dollars and the others we gave away. That night I slept sound. I was in California. I had seen some Gold, I had seen the mines, and I felt that in one year or two I would have enough to keep me and my family comfortable for life. How I made it I will tell you in another letter, for be it known to you if I live I intend to write you again and tell you a part of what I have seen and done in California, but John, I am doing wrong to promise for there is nothing I hate so bad as to sit down and write a letter. Its so long since I have written any to speak of, and I have been working with the pick and shovel that my hands have got out of way of writing. I have scratched this down without any pains. I know you can read it, and that enough. James has got part of a letter written to you which will explain to you where we are and what we are doing. I received a letter from you last week. Jim got one same time and a Paper. I also got one from my dear Mother. This is something I did not look for. I had looked for one for a year and finally concluded she would not write, but John I am glad to say that I have a Mother yet, and I hope God will bless her as long as she lives and when she dies I hope she will find a resting place in Heaven, for I think if there is a good Woman in the world my Mother is that Woman. I am glad to learn you are all well and its the same here. Artemisia and Jim join me in kind love to you and your wife and believe me, Your affectionate Brother, (Signed) Bill Williamson. December 30th 1856. To be continued sometime Jack. I am going to take a smoke in peace. "Good-night." |
