GenChat-L Archives

Archiver > GenChat > 1997-12 > 0883466696


From: Wtynf <>
Subject: [GenChat-L] Fwd: aunt charlotte's book (Gold Fever) part I
Date: Tue, 30 Dec 1997 02:24:56 EST


This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

--part0_883466696_boundary
Content-ID: <>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

--part0_883466696_boundary
Content-ID: <>
Content-type: message/rfc822
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit
Content-disposition: inline

Return-Path: <>
Received: from relay12.mail.aol.com (relay12.mail.aol.com [172.31.109.12]) by
air07.mail.aol.com (v37.8) with SMTP; Sun, 28 Dec 1997 14:00:36 -0500
Received: from lion.state.or.us (lion.state.or.us [159.121.88.21])
by relay12.mail.aol.com (8.8.5/8.8.5/AOL-4.0.0)
with SMTP id NAA07907;
Sun, 28 Dec 1997 13:59:06 -0500 (EST)
Received: from archive14.sos.state.or.us by lion.state.or.us; Sun, 28 Dec 1997
10:56:22 -0800
Date: Sun, 28 Dec 1997 13:56:13 EST
Message-Id: <>
From: "or-roots" <>
Sender: Walt 55 <>
Subject: aunt charlotte's book (Gold Fever) part I
To: ,
Precedence: Bulk
X-Listserver: ListSTAR v1.1 by StarNine Technologies, a Quarterdeck Company
Reply-To:
Errors-To:
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit

The new western world went wild when news came "that gold had been
discovered in California."

Five years had brought many changes to our country and little settlements
had sprung up everywhere. Emigration after emigration had come to stake out
land claims and build there one or two room cabins. The whole Willamette
Valley was rapidly settling up.
We were the only ferry between Oregon City , the Hudson Bay Co. Post and
the headwaters of the river, so most of the people who went to the mines,
crossed at our place. We saw the wildest excitement. Every hour of the day and
night they were being set over the river. Most of them were on horseback. Some
were walking with a lead pack animal, some even were walking with huge packs
on their backs. Dozens passed in a day. Few of them loitered a moment beyond
their turn at the ferry.

A poem, written at the time, describes it perfectly. I remember only a few
verses.

"The boatman, too, forsook his crew
let fall his oar and paddle.
He stole his neighbor's iron gray
and left without a saddle.

The old cordwainer heard the news
although not much elated.
He left his pile of boots and shoes
and just absquatulated"

One of these verses had a real truth and underlying, we new this boatman very
well. He really did let fall his oar and paddle and really did steal his
neighbor's iron gray. and leave without a saddle.

All of our men went at once. Only Jasper and the Indian boys were left to
tend the ferry.Within a few weeks the trail to California was well worn and
dusty. Many a tragedy marked its length. Many a man, who crossed at our ferry
never reached his destination or reached only to drop completely out of sight,
out of existence probably. Greed of gold made men suspicious of their
neighbors. When they found a place where the "diggings" were rich, they
preferred to work it alone and tried, of course, to keep it to themselves. The
Indians and riffraff, knowing this, found them easy prey. Many of our friends
and neighbors were never heard of again. Camp fever, too, broke out among them
and they died like sheep.

Walt Davies
Monmouth, OR

--part0_883466696_boundary--

This thread: