Chapter I: Front Matter

The Gold Seekers of ’49

A PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF THE OVERLAND TRAIL AND
ADVENTURES IN CALIFORNIA AND OREGON
FROM 1849 TO 1854.

BY KIMBALL WEBSTER
A NEW ENGLAND FORTY-NINER

_With an Introduction and Biographical Sketch_
BY GEORGE WALDO BROWNE

_Illustrated_
BY FRANK HOLLAND AND OTHERS

MANCHESTER, N. H.
STANDARD BOOK COMPANY
1917

Copyrighted 1917

GEORGE W. BROWNE

DEDICATION.

TO MY FIVE DAUGHTERS, MRS. LIZZIE JANE MARTIN, MRS. ELIZA BALL
LESLIE, MRS. JULIA ANNA ROBINSON, MRS. MARY NEWTON ABBOTT, ALL OF
HUDSON, N. H., AND MRS. ELLA FRANCES WALCH, OF NASHUA; AND TO THE
SWEET MEMORY OF THAT LOVED DECEASED DAUGHTER, LATINA RAY WEBSTER,
WHO QUIETLY PASSED TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE “GREAT DIVIDE,”
NOVEMBER 12, 1887, THIS NARRATIVE IS MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY
THE

AUTHOR KIMBALL WEBSTER

HON. KIMBALL WEBSTER.

It is with keen regret and sorrow that we are called upon to record the going out of the life of the author of the following pages, who has died since work was begun upon the book. Mr. Webster was born in Pelham, N. H., November 2, 1828, the seventh child and third son of John and Hannah (Cummings) Webster. His education was acquired in the schools of his native town and Hudson, N. H. He grew up inured to the hard work upon a New England farm, besides working in granite quarries in his 19th and 20th years. In April, 1849, a little over six months before he was twenty-one, with others scattered all over the country, he caught the gold fever. Characteristic of his methodical ways, he kept a journal of his journey across the country and of his experiences as a miner in California and land surveyor in Oregon. His experiences in the Land of Gold are told in his own vivid language in the following pages, and form one of the most interesting narratives of the days of the gold-seekers of the Pacific Slope.

In 1855, after leaving Oregon, he was employed as a surveyor and land examiner by the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad Company in the western part of Missouri. In 1858 he lived in Vinal Haven, Me., working in a granite quarry, but the following year took up his permanent residence in Hudson, N. H., where he lived the remainder of his long and useful life. Following his leading occupation as surveyor and engineer, always active and capable in his duties as a citizen, Mr. Webster became a valuable and respected leader in public affairs, at one time or another holding all of the offices in the gift of his townsmen, while there were few important committees in which he did not figure prominently. Possessing an observing mind, a good memory and a logical discernment and summing up of local and general matters, he early began to compile a history of his town, and after fifty years of painstaking work he had collected the data for one of the most comprehensive town histories ever written. He was then past eighty, and it was the pleasure of the undersigned to be associated with him in the preparation of the manuscript for the printer and its publication. During work upon that, his “journal” of the days of ’49 were examined, and finally he consented to have it published.

He was a Justice of the Peace and had an extensive probate practice for nearly sixty years. He was a Mason and active in the order of Patrons of Husbandry. Mr. Webster retained his mental and physical powers, owing largely no doubt to a perfectly abstemious life, until within a short time of his decease, which occurred June 29, 1916, being 87 years, 7 months and 27 days of age. Noted for his sterling qualities, and having a wide acquaintance, he was mourned by a large circle of friends.

Mr. Webster married, January 29, 1857, Abiah, daughter of Seth and Deborah (Gage) Butler Cutter, of Pelham, N. H., who survives him, as well as five of their ten children, who have married and lived in Hudson.

RIGHT G. W. B.

CONTENTS.

Chapter Page

Biographical Sketch of the Author 9

Pioneers of California 15

I. Tidings of a New Eldorado 17

II. Across the Continent 23

III. The Overland Trail 33

IV. The Humboldt River Trail 83

V. The Land of Gold 100

VI. Adventures by Flood 122

VII. Life in the Mines 137

VIII. The Illusion of “Gold Lake” 156

IX. Mining on the Yuba River 168

X. With Compass and Chain in Oregon 182

XI. Homeward Bound 227

Story of the Discovery of Gold 237

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page

Portrait of Kimball Webster in ’49 Frontispiece

Kimball Webster in His 85th year Opp. p. 9

Placer Mining in ’49. By Frank Holland (from an
old drawing) 17

Overland Trail. By Frank Holland 33

Bay of San Francisco 49

The Golden Gate 65

San Francisco in 1849 81

Sutter’s Mill 97

Mining Scene 113

Sacramento City in 1850 129

Postoffice in ’49 145

Custom House on the Plaza 161

Vigilantes in ’49 177

Miners Starting for Home 193

Great Seal of California 209

Warship Portsmouth. By Frank Holland 225

ERRATA

Line 16, insert George W. Houston, Joseph B. Gage,
and Calvin S. Fifield 20

9, read Moore, not moon 39

9, read formed, not found 45

19, erase of, and insert on, after mountains 63

19, erase s at end of line, and insert r (Fort
Bridger) 65

10, read service berries, not summer berries 74

Top, Chapter IV 83

18, spell Winnemucca 83

19, correct spelling of principal 96

15, read miners, not winers 101

18, read weighed, not wished 102

17, After promised, insert “to release to” 127

Top, also line 8, spell protractor 151

27 and 28, read the Pelham camp 166

2, after “The” erase following, and after
morning insert before starting 167

3, erase leaving and insert learning 177

8, at end of line add ship, “Columbia” 189

Top, erase “the” between “to” and “commence” 190

4 and 7, erase measured and insert meandered 207

7, erase compassman and insert campman 207

22 and 23, name of river, “Callapooya” 210

16, erase “have” and insert “had” 216

THE PIONEERS OF CALIFORNIA.

The story of the pioneers of all times and all countries is one of great interest. In it is embodied the combined elements of adventure and patriotism; the certain forerunner of the coming greatness of the land quickened by the inspiring efforts of the newcomers, usually men of sterling qualities and unswerving purpose. The history of none of these adventurers is fraught with keener interest or more momentous results than that of the “Gold Seekers of ’49.”

* * * * *

The story of the men who dared and did so much in the early days of the discovery of GOLD on the Pacific Slope has never been fully told. In the pages of this remarkable book we are given in plain straightforward language without any attempt at embellishment, by one who participated in them, the trying experiences that comprised the adventures and achievements of the hardy volunteers forming the little army of gold seekers who crossed the plains immediately following the cry that awoke the land from ocean to ocean as no other word could have done.

With no Jason to lead them, no seer to prophesy success, no wizard to avert danger, these brave Argonauts pushed resolutely forward across a continent, traversing thousands of miles where the Greek heroes traveled hundreds, passing over long, weary stretches of pathless plains, under beetling crags, along frowning chasms and over alkaline deserts, where the barest sustenance of life was denied them, constantly menaced by the Arabs of prairie and mountain flitting hither and thither across their way, enduring sickness and privations sufficient to have discouraged a less determined body, comrade after comrade falling from the ranks, the ever-decreasing band still resolutely marching onward into the Land of Gold, to become the creators of a mighty commonwealth, the builders of states. Through the flood of circulating coin that their pickaxes unloosened was advanced the prosperity of a nation whose progress since has been the wonder of the world.

In the midst of all of this, and much more that a glance at the scenes cannot even suggest, Mr. Webster bore a prominent part as pioneer, miner, prospector, and surveyor of the new country. With over half a century intervening since that far-away day his vivid narrative comes to the few now living who participated in the scenes like a voice in a dream, while imparting to others the inner story of an era in our country’s history that forms one of its most important chapters.

With nearly two-thirds of a century intervening since the days when the “gold fever” swept over the country, awakening steady-going New England as nothing else could have done, it is not strange we seldom meet now one of the veterans who answered the call and crossed a continent in a march as beset with dangers as many of a more warlike purpose, or rounded a world to pursue the phantom of fortune in a strange land. Very few of the Gold Seekers of ’49 are living to enjoy the halcyon days of a long and useful life.

RIGHT G. W. B.

PLACER MINING SCENE IN ’49.]

THE GOLD SEEKERS OF ’49