Trail Diary 5

Hamrick's of California 1850

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"A Journal of our Travels across the
Mountains to California"

"Following is an account, copied word for word from notes made in pencil in his notebook, by my grandfather, George R. Hamerick, of travel by wagon train from Missouri to California in 1863. George M. Taylor"

Journal Homepage

August of 1863

"De Carcin Creek Saturday August the 1st Resumed our journey this morning and Traveled about 20 miles over some Bad Road and some good Road passed the junction of the Ft. Hall and Sublet Roads we Camped on a mountain Branch name unknown found plenty of Grass Wood and Water Weather Cloudy and with some appearance of Rain sick all mending

Mountain Branch Sunday August the 2nd Resumed our journey this morning and Traveled 12 miles over the Roughest Road I ever saw We camped on Goose Creek Which is about 15 feet wide and is verry good Water on this creek we found abundance of Grass and that of a good quality and plenty of Willow Brush for Wood this valley is verry good Soil and susceptible for Cultivation Sick all Better except John Wren and Smith Peterson

Goose Creek Monday Aug. the 3rd Remained in camp today for the purpose of resting ourselves and Teams this morning We had a frost

Goose Creek Tuesday August the 4th Resumed our journey this morning and Traveled 16 miles up Goose Creek Valley found plenty of Grass Water and Wood had good Roads and pleasant Weather to Day I have the misfortune to be verry complaining we Camped on Goose Creek had good Grass Wood and Water

Goose Creek Wednesday August the 5th Resumed our journey this morning and Traveled about 20 miles over some Good and some Rough Roads Camped on the lower end of Tousand Spring Valley had plenty of Wood but not verry good Grass nor Water Weather fine Considerable Sickness in Camp

Thousand Springs Valley Thursday August the 6th Resumed our journey this morning and traveled about 20 miles over good Roads found good grass But verry Poor Water and no Wood Camped in Thousnad Springs Valley Weather fine some of Sick Recovered

Thousand Springs Valley Friday August the 7th Resumed our journey this morning up the Valley Plenty of good Grass all the way up Traveled about 12 miles and camped at an exclent Spring in Thousand Springs Valley had good Grass and Water but very poor Wood Weather fine and Roads good Sick all better With one or two exceptions

Thousand Springs Valley Saturday August the 8th this morning Mr. Henry Ford had the misfortune to find that one of his Horses were stolen By an Indian it is supposed that a party of men in No 7 Started in persuit of the Thief But returned in the evening without having seen either the Horse or the Indian they followed the trail 17 or 18 miles Due East We drove 8 or 9 miles and stopped at a spring in the mountains had Water Wood and Grass only tolerable plenty Weather fine Roads good

Mountain Spring Sunday August the 9th Resuemed our journey this morning and Traveled 25 or 30 miles over good road and Camped on a small branch of the Jumbolt River 2 miles north of the high range of snowey Mountains had good Grass Wood and Water Weather fine still some sickness in Camp

Humbolt River Monday August the 10th Resumed our journey this morning and Traveled 18 or 20 miles down Humbolt Valley Which is covered with rich grass and is 5 to 15 miles wide the Water in the Humbolt River is not good this morning we were visited by 10 or 12 Indians they were a dirty half naked set of Human beings We Camped on the Bank of the River had plenty of Grass Wood and Water good Roads Weather fine sick all Better

Humbolt River Tuesday Aug. the 11th Remained in Cammp until noon for the purpose of going after a cow that was left where we nooned yesterday after noon we resumed our journey and Traveled about 10 miles over good Roads Camped on Humbolt had only tolerable Grass plenty of Wood and Water Weather fine sick all Better

Humbolt River Wednesday Aug. the 12th Resumed our journey this morning and Traveled 18 or 20 miles part of the time in the Valley and over Bench Land had good Roads Weather fine Camped 1/2 of mile below some boiling springs on the South Side of the River the Springs are a natural curiosity some of them come out in a Sand Bar and some in a Rock Bluff they are verry hot the Water leaves a sort of Cinder from Where it runs We had exolent Grass Wood and Water to Day we met 3 men going up the River a prospecting for Gold the Indians had found it in the snow mountains just above here

Humbolt River Thursday Aug. the 13th resumed our journey the morning and Traveled about 18 miles in the forenoon had good Roads in the afternoon passed through a Rough Canion 7 or 8 miles through this We left 2 head of stock dead where We Camped for the last few days We have been bothered with Indians begging us for food and Clothing Camped on the humbolt had plenty of Grass Wood and Water Weather fine sick all better

Humbolt River Friday Aug. the 14th Resumed our journey this morning and Traveled 4 miles over good Roads and then stopped to rest had good Wood Water and tolerable good Grass sick all Better Weather fine

Humbolt River Saturday August the 15th Resumed our journey this morning and Traveled 25 miles over the roughest Road we have had for some time to Day while passing through a canion Brother John's Waggon Broke Down we had plenty of Grass Wood and Water Weather fine to Day our teams john's and Martin's and Mr. Wren's Drove about 5 miles a past Camp it being dark when we Camped it was about 12 O'Clock when we got into Camp

Humbolt River Sunday Aug. the 16th Remained in camp until noon mending John's Waggon then Resumed our journey and Traveled 10 miles over verry good Roads had plenty of Grass Wood and Water Weather fine Sick all mending

Humbolt River Monday Aug. the 17th Resumed our journey this morning and Traveled 22 miles over verry good Roads Camped on Humbolt had plenty of Grass Wood and Water Weather fine Sick all recovering Father complaining

Humbolt River Tuesday Aug. the 18th Resumed our journey and Traveled 21 miles over good Roads in a northern direction Grass Wood and Water Weather fine Sick all Recovering with one or two exceptions

Humbolt River Wednesday Aug. the 19th Resumed our journey this morning and Traveled 18 miles in north west direction over good Roads this morning had a verry fatiguing hunt after a cow of Pather's Camped on Humbolt and had plenty Grass Wood and Water Weather fine Sick all Recovering slowly

Humbolt River Thursday Aug. the 20th Resumed our journey this morning and Traveled 18 miles in a north west course the most of the Day Had a good Road the most of the way 3 or 4 miles through a rough canion Camped of the Humbolt had plenty of Grass Wood and Water Weather fine Sick all Recovering

Humbolt River Friday August the 21st Resumed our journy this morning and traveled 19 miles over good Roads and in a South West course toDay we came to some sign of the abode of the white man one or two cabbins and men cutting Hay Camped on the Humbolt had good Grass Wood and Water sick all Recovering Weather fine

Humbolt River Saturday August the 22nd Resumed our journey this morning and traveled 16 miles over sand Bluffs most of the time which made for verry hard Traveling Camped on the Humbolt had good Grass Wood and Water Weather fine Sick all Recovering

Humbolt River Sunday Aug. the 23rd Resumed our journey this morning and Traveled about 8 miles over some sandy and some good Road our course lay to the south west Camped on the Humbolt had good Grass Wood and Water Weather fine we are now in the neighborhood of the Rich Silver mines which in some places are very Rich Hay here is worth $40 to $50 per Ton Labor is worth $50 to $70 per month

Humbolt River Monday August the 24th Resumed our journey this morning and Traveled about 16 miles in a South West direction passing through Lancaster a small village situated on the North Bank of the Humbolt it has the prospect of being a considerable town if the mines in the Vicinity prove Rich we Camped on the Humbolt Water and Wood fine grass no so plenty as it had been Weather fine

Little Meadows Tuesday August the 25th Resumed our journey this morning and traveled 14 miles over a good Road and in a south west Course To Day our Train Divided Ten Waggons taking the Honey Lake Road and twenty taking the River Road Camped on the Humbolt had plenty of Grass Wood and Water Weather fine

Humbolt River Wednesday Aug. the 26th Resumed our journey this morning and Traveled 25 miles over some verry good and some Bad Road Course still South West Camped on the Humbolt plenty of Grass Wood and Water toDay after we stopped at noon we found a small Boy which had been left by his Father Who was a Canadian he did not want to take the Boy But after some threats by us he took him

Humbolt River Thursday Aug. the 27th Resumed our journey this morning and Traveled 25 miles over verry good Roads Course South Wes Camped in the Big Meadows had fine Grass and plenty of Wood and Water had to pay Ten Dollars for the privilege of pasturage and cutting Grass to feed on while in the Desert Weather pleasant

Big Meadows Friday Aug, the 28th Remained in Camp today for the purpose of cutting Grass and getting water preparatory to crossing the great American Desert This morning one of Martin Peterson's mules followed a Frenchman by the name of Sharp they had tried to follow him to the sinks of the River

Big Meadows Saturday August the 29th Resumed our journey and Traveled 25 miles over very good road to Murphies at the Sinks to Day we had the great Pleasure of meeting Brother Jesse and W. Prothero and old neighbor who had been in California ever since 1850 we were verry glad to see them and to hear from many of our old friends and neighbors We Camped at the Murphies house had no wood and verry poor Water and had little Grass Weather verry pleasant"

~~~~~~~~~

This is the last entry in this Journal. Perhaps, in time, we will be able to have the rest of the story which is in a second Journal....somewhere. It is my hope to find it!

Respectfully submitted:

Margaret (Taylor) Loftus
Peg

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