OVERLAND TO LOS ANGELES,

BY THE SALT LAKE ROUTE IN 1849.

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BY JUDGE WALTER VAN DYKE.

 

            I have been requested many times by members of your Society to furnish a sketch of my trip overland and some pioneer experiences. My time, however, is so fully occupied that I have very little to devote to outside matters; besides, I have hesitated to repeat the events of pioneer days, as they have been so often told that there can be at this time very little interest in their repetition. I say repetition, because the experience of one was pretty much the same as that of the thousands who flocked to this State at that time by the overland route. The wise Ulysses was made to say to Achilles, while sulking in his tent, that "to have been, is to hang quite out of fashion, like a rusty mail in monumental mockery." The world cares very little for the past or those who figured in it further than the recital of the events may either instruct or amuse those of the present.

            About the time I was admitted to the bar in Cleveland. Ohio, the whole country was electrified, as it were, by the accounts of rich gold discoveries in California, a portion of the country then recently acquired from Mexico. A company of young men, including some of my friends and acquaintances, was organized in Cleveland in the spring of 1849 to come overland to California; and being in the right frame of; mind for a little adventure, it did not require much urging to induce me to join it, which I did.

            We left Cleveland on the last of May, by steamer for Chicago, where we organized an outfit for the plains. That city at that time was one of the dirtiest and muddiest imaginable: streets unpaved, excepting a few where plank were used; and the ordinary roads leading from it nearly bottomless in mud. The place gave very little evidence then of becoming the leading city in America during the lifetime of many of the Argonauts.  

            We left Chicago June the 6^th, taking a direction to strike the Mississippi River opposite Burlington, Iowa, at which point we crossed June 18th, being twelve days making this distance, owing to the condition of the roads, the inexperience of the men with that kind of traveling, and the wild unbroken stock we had secured for the trip.

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            From Burlington we went by the way of Oskaloosa, Iowa, at which place we were obliged to halt and have an overhauling of our outfit by the abandonment of some of our heavy wagons and the substitution of lighter vehicles; and here we spent the 4th of July.

            Between the Des Moines and the Missouri we saw no settlements. We followed the old Mormon trail to Council Bluffs, where we arrived July 16th. There was a little trading place at or near Council Bluffs called Kanesville, established by the Mormons after being driven out of the Indian Territory, on the opposite side of the river. At this place three of our party concluded to abandon the trip, and the company was dissolved or reorganized and the men thereafter traveled independently, but remained together. The late Judge O. A. Munn. of San Jacinto (then a young lawyer from Cleveland, like myself), was my especial companion thereafter during the trip.

            We were ferried across the Missouri River above Council Bluffs opposite the old abandoned Mormon village called by them Winter Quarters, from which they had been driven by the authorities of the government, as already mentioned. We left the Missouri River July 24th and crossed the Elk Horn July 26th about where the Union Pacific crosses it; thence following up the Platte Valley on the north side of the river about on the line of said road; and on August 1st came up to a train of Mormon emigrants.

            We were late in the season compared with the great rush of overland gold seekers that year; in fact, I think one of the last parties. The great body of the emigration went up the Missouri by boat; and most of them outfitted and left the frontier from the town of St. Joseph, Missouri, striking the Platte near Fort Kearney. The route we look, therefore, was not so much traveled and the feed was quite good until we reached that point where the main road came in; after which our progress was very slow, inasmuch as the whole country near the road was eaten off by the stock of the vast numbers which had preceded us. As a general thing, our progress was not much more rapid than the Mormon emigrants, and we frequently traveled along with them, and from one train to another, the rest of the way to Salt Lake. And for the reason stated we saw very few buffalo along the route; and saw no Indians till we crossed the north fork of the Platte about twenty miles below Fort Laramie. This was the last day of August. About five miles above the crossing we found quite a large encampment of Sioux and Cheyenne Indians. The trains encamped on the river just above their lodges.

            Another member of the party and myself rode on in advance to the fort. The road all along above Kearney was like a highway of nations — so trodden and worn by the immense number that had traveled over it. As we rounded a point on the road we caught a glimpse, to the west of

78 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.

us, of the American Flag fluttering over the fort. After two months' journey across the plains from the frontier settlements this sight was a joyous one to us, as emblematic of the presence of the power and glory of our country even here in the midst of this vast wilderness. My companion returned to camp, but I remained over as the guest of Major Sanderson, commandant of the fort, until next day, when the rest of the train came up.

            Beyond this point the main road passes over the Black Hills and strikes the north fork of the Platte near the mouth of the Sweetwater, the river between these points making quite a bend to the north. Inasmuch as the feed along the main road was all eaten off, our party, as well as the later Mormons, were obliged to follow up the river, which lengthened the distance and caused further delay.

            When we arrived at Rock Independence, a Mormon Elder was dispatched to Salt Lake City, as a sort of messenger to report the progress of their trains. At his request Munn and myself started with him, but Munn's horse soon gave out and he fell in with another company of Mormons we overtook on the Sweetwater. Prom there the Mormon elder and myself traveled alone. We were twelve days coming into Salt Lake City, and on the way passed at large number of Mormon trains, camping with one nearly every night The night we reached Fort Bridger it commenced snowing, and continued the following day, so we remained over at the fort. The altitude there is so high that snow commences to fall early in the season.

            We arrived in Salt Lake City on the 8th of October. In about ten days or two weeks the remainder of our party came in. I kept notes of our trip and corresponded with a Cleveland paper, sending back letters whenever an opportunity offered. While at Salt Lake I sent back two letters descriptive of the country and these peculiar people who had located there, then a thousand miles or more from the frontier.

            Owing to the lateness of the season and from accounts of some Mormons returned from the gold mines on the American River, it was evident that before we could reach the foot of the Sierra Nevada it would be impossible to cross with any degree of safety. The fate of the Donner party was a warning against any such foolhardy attempt in the winter season. The great body of the overland emigrants by the South Pass route preceded us, going either by the Humboldt or Fort Hall, and most of them had already reached their destination in the Land of Gold. While we were thus delayed at Salt Lake, undetermined whether to remain over winter or attempt a southern route, some Missouri traders — Pomeroy Brothers — having sold out their merchandise, brought into the Valley early in the summer, were preparing to take their live stock and freight wagons to Southern California. We concluded to join them. A

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Mormon. Captain Jefferson Hunt, who had just returned from San Bernardino, where they had located a colony, was engaged as a guide. We left Salt Lake the 3rd of November, 1849, pursuing a southerly and south westerly direction along the foot of the Wasatch Mountains. The route is through a series of fertile valleys to the point where the road crosses the southern rim of the great Utah basin.

            The first and largest valley south of Salt Lake is the Utah Valley. At the southern end of the Utah Lake we struck the old Spanish trail, the northern route traveled by the Spaniards between the pueblo of Los Angeles and Santa Fe. A number of fine streams put down from this range of mountains, flowing into the desert, timbered along their banks, the largest being the Spanish Fork and Sevier River. Where the range turns westerly there is a low depression called the Mountain Meadows. It was a famous camping place on the line of the old Spanish trail. The camp ground is near a spring at the foot of the mountain on the west side of the valley or meadow, with timber on the slope of the mountain. The night we camped there, it commenced snowing and we were obliged to corral the cattle and other stock and guard them; and build fires of the dry cedar hauled down from the side of the mountain to keep ourselves warm. The storm continued the next day with considerable violence and the stock were guarded to keep them from straying off. Owing to the snow there was no chance for feed here, so we were obliged to move on without delay. It was at this same camp ground, some years later, that a party of emigrants from Arkansas and Missouri were attacked by Indians and some Mormons as allies; and, after being given assurance of protection if they would surrender, were brutally massacred — men women and children. Soon after we commenced descending the southern slope of the divide the weather became warmer, and from that on we had no difficulty as far as the climate was concerned.

            We reached the Santa Clara, a tributary of the Rio Virgin, December the 11th. The Virgin River is a considerable stream, coming down from the Wasatch range of mountains that we had crossed, and flows southeasterly into the Colorado. Along the Santa Clara and Rio Virgin we found considerable feed; but being without so long, already the stock were nearly starving; and many cattle gave out and were left along the road. I noticed along these river bottoms cornstalks and some squash or pumpkins still remaining on the ground, and also indications of irrigation, the work of Indians, of course, as no white people were then in this region of country. These Indians are the Piutes, described by Fremont in his report of explorations of 1843-4 as causing him considerable trouble on his return by this same route. They are a marauding and savage tribe of Indians and seek every opportunity to waylay and massacre small

80 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.

parties or stragglers from larger ones. Our company was so large, however, that we were not troubled with them except in the stealing and killing of stock that wandered from camp.

            Las Vegas, further on this way, is another famous camping ground. It is a large meadow with several springs at the head which, uniting, form quite a stream flowing through it. One of these springs is so large as to make a good bathing pool, and the water is warm and boils up with such force as to buoy the swimmer like a cork.

            We were at a point about where the state line crosses this trail at the close of the year 1849 and the beginning of that of 1850; as to which side there is some doubt. However, in after years, the Society of California Pioneers gave me the benefit of the doubt by admitting me as a member of its body ; its constitution requires the applicant to have been  within the state prior to January 1st, 1850

            So many of the cattle had died or been abandoned that the remainder were not able to move the trains except very slowly; and in consequence we had already exceeded the time anticipated in getting into the settlements, and our provisions were nearly exhausted. It was proposed therefore that some one should go ahead and send back some relief, and about a dozen of us volunteered for that purpose. We reached the Mojave River the second day after leaving the camp, at a point not far below Barstow, as near as I can judge. We continued along the same old Spanish trail that we had been following up that river and across to the northern end of the Cajon Pass, where we arrived quite late the last day of January. Our provisions being exhausted and there being a moon, we concluded to venture through the pass that night instead of remaining over till morning. From my notes I quote: "I never shall forget this night's adventure in this wild mountain pass. We issued from the pass into the valley about four o'clock the morning of February the 1st. We halted at the mouth of the cañon until daylight, and then renewed our walk. If we hadn't been in a famished and exhausted condition we might have appreciated with pleasure the agreeable change in the country. Even yesterday we were traveling in a dry and barren desert; today we are treading on beds of beautiful flowers and wild clover, and the morning breeze is laden with perfume."

            We reached the Cucamonga Rancho about ten o'clock, February 1st. We found an .American family here and were supplied with an abundance, including milk and butter — a rare treat, indeed, and a great change in the fare we had been accustomed to during the many months of our trip. A few days later we passed over to the Chino Ranch, better known among the immigrants of that period as Williams's Ranch.  Colonel Williams, the owner, had, during that season, sent out many parties for the relief of the immigrants. The next morning Colonel

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Williams, furnished me a horse and a guide to come into Los Angeles, as I had some letters and packages to deliver to parties here. On the way we stopped at Rowlands on the Puente and were treated in the same hospitable manner characteristic of all the ranch owners here.

            In a week or ten days the other members of our Cleveland party came in with the train, and we had thus crossed, the continent. We had consumed eight months on the trip — much longer than was anticipated when starting— still all arrived well and no one had been seriously sick on the way, though subjected to many hardships. This could not be said in regard to most of the overland companies of that year. The numerous graves along the road up the Platte and through the Black Hills were sad evidences that many a poor fellow had dropped by the way.

            The year 1849-50 is memorable as one of early and heavy rains, as well as for deep snows in the Sierra Nevada. At the time our large party came from Salt Lake to this place, encumbered with ox teams and heavy wagons, and without any further inconvenience than the delay caused by the poor condition of the stock, nothing but a bird or an expert on snow shoes could have scaled the wall of ice and snow over the Sierra Nevada range. This fact of itself shows that this is the natural route for a railroad from Salt Lake to the Pacific. The grades are much lighter and trains could be run over it all seasons of the year without the necessity of forty miles of expensive snow sheds.

            When we arrived here the season was at its best and the country charming in appearance. There was very little business carried on, however, aside from stock raising and matters incident thereto. The great body of immigrants, both by land and water entered California in the central part of the State. Even of those who came this way overland very few remained here; the upper portion of the State, where the mines were located, was the point of attraction.

            While waiting for an opportunity to go north, I formed the acquaintance of several of the English-speaking residents of Los Angeles. Among those I particularly remember was Don Abel Stearns, as he was called, who was one of the leading men here. He had acquired large landed interests and married in one of the prominent Spanish families; had been alcalde and held other offices under the old regime, and was a member of the first constitutional convention. B. D. Wilson was another; he afterwards represented this county in the Senate. Benjamin Hayes, a lawyer from Missouri had just arrived here by the Gila route; had opened a law office already, and wished me to remain and go into practice with him. He was subsequently District Judge of this judicial district. This place at the time was still a small Spanish pueblo and gave no promise of much growth in the immediate future.

82 HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.

            The great body of population drawn here by the discovery of gold settled in the central and northern portions of the State. The upper portion of the State was thoroughly explored, towns founded and cities built. Every branch of enterprise was developed —mining, commerce and agriculture — while these southern counties remained in nearly the same condition as before the acquisition of the State. Cattle and horses covered the plains, but the great resources of this section, in other respects, were undeveloped, and in fact its capabilities were not then realized. Nearly everything, aside from live stock, was shipped here from San Francisco. Owing to their meager population, these counties were hardly taken into account in the political conventions and other matters concerning the State. They were referred to as the "cow counties," not so much by way of derision as expressive of the pastoral pursuits of the people. This condition of things continued so long that it is difficult, even at this late day, for the old-timers of the upper portion of the State to realize that a change has taken place down here. However, it is beginning to dawn on them that this section has taken on a new life and is forging ahead in population, wealth and enterprise at a rate that threatens to catch up with them, and if they do not bestir themselves may outstrip them in the race.

            One word in reference to the pioneers and this paper closes. So much of the Bret Harte style of flashy literature has been written concerning the early Californians that their true character has been misunderstood by those not acquainted with the real facts. It is true there were many adventurers and lawless characters as in other new states and territories, but in no greater proportion. The mass of the early population was composed of law-abiding and enterprising people. Most of them were well-educated and possessed all the elements that go to make up good citizenship. As is well known Congress failed to establish a territorial government here or even to pass an enabling act for the creation of a state government. The people were left, as it were, without any laws, and still, not only in towns but throughout the mining regions, life and property were as safe as in most older states. Of their own motion a constitution for a state government was framed and adopted, which in many respects was a model. State officers and a legislature were elected, laws passed and judges and other officers appointed and elected to enforce them. In fact, the whole machinery of a state government was put in operation before Congress came to our relief by admitting the state, which was not till the 9th of September, 1859. The land grants Congress had made to the newer states for the purpose of internal improvements was, by a provision in our constitution, diverted to the cause of education, which was ratified by the admission of the State into the Union. Provision was also made for the early founding of a State Uni-

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versity. The laws of our early legislatures were, in many respects, far in advance of those of the other States, and have been since followed by many of them, for instance, laws in reference to the rights of married women, reform in judicial procedure, and many other questions. In learning and ability the early bench and bar ranked high. Many new and important questions arose in this State growing out of the mining industries and the Mexican and Spanish grants, and the decisions of our early courts in solving these and other questions compare favorably with those of the higher courts of the rest of the country. As merchants, business men, and in all the various walks of life, the early pioneers were not behind their brethren in other States. But their work in founding this State and shaping its institutions is their best eulogy ; they need no other.