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Transcriber's note:
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
Errors listed in the Errata have been corrected.
The original spelling and inconsistencies have been retained
except as listed at the end of the book.
The table of contents was generated for the reader's
convenience. The original does not contain a table of contents.
CONTENTS
Brief Biography Of The Author
CHAPTER I, Uncle Joshua's Visit And Our Preparations
For The West
CHAPTER II, On The Western Plains--Some Of Our Experiences
CHAPTER III, Among The Foot Hills And Troublesome Indians
CHAPTER IV, Over The Mountains Into California
CHAPTER V, Prospecting For Gold--Some Hard Experiences
ERRATA
APPENDIX
[Illustration: WASHINGTON BAILEY]
A TRIP TO CALIFORNIA IN 1853
by
WASHINGTON BAILEY
Recollections of a gold seeking trip
by ox train across the plains and
mountains by an old Illinois pioneer
LeRoy Journal Printing Company
1915
_Mr. Bailey was induced by some of his friends to put in writing his
recollections of an overland trip made by "prairie schooner" to
California, over sixty years ago. These recollections were published in
the LeRoy Journal in series, and later collected and reprinted herewith
in book form on the solicitation of his friends who desired a permanent
record._
BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Washington Bailey, the author of this narrative of a trip to California
in 1853, was born October, 1831, in Adams County, Ohio. Afterwards he,
with his parents, came to Fountain County, Indiana, from which place he
went to California, returning in 1856 to Cheney's Grove, now Saybrook,
Illinois.
While in California, he sent money back to his father, who bought for
him, fifty acres of land, where Bellflower village now stands, paying
$5.00 per acre. This he sold in 1856, getting $6.00 per acre. He then
bought 85 acres north of Saybrook, adding to it later 40 acres, at a
total cost of $1,400. This was sold in 1864 for $1,875. The next year he
purchased 141 acres in DeWitt County, Ill., where Mike Walden now lives,
paying $22.00 per acre. He purchased more land bordering this farm until
1891, when he moved to LeRoy, where he has since resided in a commodious
home south of the city park.
This farm of 261 acres was divided up among his children and afterwards
sold. Mr. Bailey later invested in 160 acres in DeWitt County, which he
now owns conjointly with his wife, having deeded 80 acres to her.
Besides his residence, he owns another residence property in LeRoy.
Mr. Bailey was married to Julian Brittin, March 19, 1857, and they are
parents of three boys and three girls, all living. They are: A. G.
Bailey, who was serving his second term as mayor of LeRoy, when this
volume was published; Henry Bailey, of Normal; Lincoln Bailey and Mrs.
Nancy Van Deventer, of LeRoy; Mrs. Sarah Brown, of Maroa, and Mrs. Emma
Vance, of Farmer City.
Mr. Bailey has served several terms as justice of the peace and school
director. He has been a loyal member of the Methodist church since
boyhood. He has a remarkable memory and has always took a lively
interest in politics. His mind is a store-house of dates and facts
concerning political affairs. He is a staunch foe of the liquor traffic,
and holds to the Republican doctrine of McKinley and Roosevelt. He is a
man of deep convictions and is always ready to advocate them on all
occasions.
Although about 84 years of age as this book goes to press, Mr. Bailey is
enjoying good health and goes up town every day to greet old friends and
acquaintances. Loved by all his children, respected by the whole
community, still enjoying the companionship of his good wife, there are
no clouds in the western horizon, and the sundown of his life is radiant
with worthy motives and deeds of a three-quarters of a century.
CHAPTER I
UNCLE JOSHUA'S VISIT AND OUR PREPARATIONS FOR THE WEST
In the spring of 1853, my uncle, Joshua Bailey, came from California to
Ohio to see his mother and his brothers, uncle John Bailey, and my
father, Eben Bailey. But my father had moved to Fountain County,
Indiana, so uncle Joshua came through Indiana to see us.
Joshua Bailey had gone to California in 1849, across the plains and had
made over one hundred thousand dollars in gold. He hired my
brother-in-law, William Reighley, to come out with him from Adams
County, Ohio, to Indiana, to buy stock to take across the plains to
California. My uncle had bought a span of mules in Ohio. Three of my
cousins, William McNeal, Joel Bailey, George Bailey, and a man by the
name of Bart Robins, brought the mules and some harness through to
Indiana, so William Reighley, uncle Joshua and my cousins, were all
together at my father's. My brother, Crawford Bailey, and my self,
concluded to go along with them.
Uncle Joshua Bailey had gone to the lead mines when he was a young man,
had married and raised his family there. It was from there he had gone
to the gold mines. I was twenty-one year old at the time of uncle's
visit to our house in Indiana, and it was the first time I had ever seen
him.
My uncle poured out a pile of gold coins from a carpet sachel that was
lined inside with buck skin and counted out several thousand dollars,
enough to buy 250 head of cattle, 1,500 head of sheep and some horses
and gave it to William Reighley, to go to Illinois to buy this stock and
it did not look like you could hardly miss it out of the pile of gold
coins on the table. He gave him more money than would be necessary to
buy the stock and my brother, Crawford Bailey and cousin, William McNeal
were to take what was left and pay the expense of feeding the stock and
their lodging through to Indian Territory, where we were to start across
the plains, and what was left, turn it over to uncle.
Wm. Reighley, for his labor buying the cattle and covering his expenses,
kept out $50. He had traveled over 800 miles in coming to Illinois and
traveling over Piatt, Macon, DeWitt, Logan, Tazwell and Peoria counties,
picking up the stock. When the stock was finally delivered to uncle
Joshua, he was well pleased with the judgment William used in the
buying.
After uncle had made arrangements for the purchase of the stock, he went
back to Wisconsin to his family and made preparations to move to
California to make his home. After William Reighley had bought the stock
in Illinois, he went with the boys as far as the Illinois River and then
returned to Ohio. While the stock was being bought, I, with two other
young men, were making preparations to go and overtake them. We had
rented some land and had to dispose of that and sell some grain and some
horses before starting.
We were to meet the advance party at Independence, Mo., but when we were
ready to start, heavy rains had set in and we were much delayed by
swollen streams. At many places we had to swim our horses as there were
but few bridges. We had to go out of the way ten miles at Danville, in
order to get across the Vermillion River. When we got to Peoria, we
learned that the roads were so bad that we took passage on a steam boat
down the Illinois River to St. Louis. There we took passage up the
Missouri River to Independence, Mo., where we expected to find the men
with the stock.
After reaching Independence and waiting several days, we were not able
to hear anything of uncle or of the drove which he was driving through
from Wisconsin. We learned that there were other places from which the
overland trains started for the West. One was St. Joe, about eighty
miles up the river, and two of my party went to St. Joe, while I
remained at Independence. By watching at St. Joe and Independence, we
expected to meet the train as we knew that we must be ahead of them. The
men at St. Joe happened to run across uncle, who had been in St. Louis
to buy supplies for the trip. They wrote me and I left for St. Joe.
We told uncle that he had instructed the men who were driving stock
through from Illinois, to go to Independence, but he did not understand
it that way. He had instructed his family and the men who were bringing
the stock from Wisconsin, to go to Cainsville, Iowa, which was
twenty-five miles above Council Bluffs on the Missouri River, and about
150 miles from St. Joe. Uncle bought a yoke of oxen and a wagon at St.
Joe and he and I started for Cainsville.
After we were in Cainsville for several days, the family and party, with
the horses, wagons and cattle, came from Wisconsin. In the party, were
Peter House, his brother-in-law and family, William Nailer, Thomas
Roberts, John Feril, Allen Gilber, Horace Failling, Thomas Brooks, John
Brooks and James Creek.
We remained there for two or three weeks, hoping to hear from the drove
from Illinois. Uncle finally came to the conclusion that he had told
them to go to Independence, Mo., and he sent Jobe Spray to St. Joe to
see if he could find trace of them. He was given money to buy a horse
and saddle, and in case they had crossed the river at St. Joe, he was to
follow and overtake them, in order to get the two parties together. When
he reached St. Joe, he found that they had crossed there and later
learned that when crossing the Missouri, that they had stopped to shear
the sheep, and on finding that Independence was south of the direct
line, they had made directly for St. Joe and had crossed the river
before Jobe had arrived. On account of the misunderstanding, uncle, with
his party, was above Council Bluff on the east side of the Missouri, and
the Illinois party was somewhere on the west side of the river in what
is now Kansas.
I was with the party at Cainsville, when an incident happened which I
never will forget. We were waiting for word from Jobe Spray, and uncle
and all the party except one other man and myself had left the camp and
gone to Cainsville. We were left to herd the cattle. While in the town,
uncle met a man who owned a farm near the camp. They rode out as far as
the camp together, and as uncle's horse was a little thin, having been
ridden through from Wisconsin, and the farm was but a short distance
away, he picketed out the horse, took off the saddle and threw it away
far enough so that the horse could not reach it. He proceeded on foot to
the man's farm.
From where I was herding, I could see the horse and went down, thinking
that some of the party had come back from Cainsville, and that I would
be able to get something to eat as I was very hungry. When I got to the
camp, I saw that it was uncle's horse, but could not see anything of
uncle. I started back to the cattle when I discovered the saddle in the
grass with a two-bushel sack tied to the horn of the saddle. I was
interested to know what was in the sack, thinking it might be crackers,
so I gave the sack a kick with the toe of my boot. There was a jingling
sound as if there were ox shoes and nails in it. So to satisfy my
curiosity, I untied the sack from the saddle, ran my hand into it and
took out, to my great surprise, a handful of gold. Tying up the sack, I
looked in all directions for uncle, but could not see him. I called out
for him as loud as I could, three or four time, but received no answer.
After waiting for quite awhile, I took the sack and hid it under some
clothing and bedding in the bottom of one of the covered wagons. I then
went to a high point near the cattle where I could watch both, the
cattle and the wagon.
Along in the afternoon, the folks returned from Cainsville, and my mind
was relieved, as I knew there was no further danger of prowlers. My
helper and myself, gathered up the stock, and when we got into camp,
it was dark and I was hungrier than I had ever been before in my life.
"Come to supper," was a welcome shout and the thought of the gold had
vanished. While eating, I heard uncle call out to some of the men:
"Did you see anything of a sack on my saddle horn?"
Several of the men answered, "No," before I could get my mouth emptied
and when my vocal canal was free from congestion, I holloed,
"I saw a sack on the horn of your saddle," and he answered back,
"All right Wash," and I told him to wait until I had my supper and I
would be over and get it for him.
I went to the camp fire where the men were huddled and asked uncle where
he had been and he said that he had walked to the farm across the
fields. I asked him how much was in the sack and replied, "Thirty-six
thousand Dollars."
I went to the wagon and got the sack. Uncle was badly scared and
remarked that it was the most careless trick that he had ever done.
There were some Mormons camped a short distance away and he said that if
they had found the sack, that he would have been ruined.
While waiting at Cainsville, we finally received word from Jobe Spray
that the Illinois party had crossed the river at St. Joe and had
proceeded on west and that he would follow them, they having crossed the
river two weeks before he got there. He had followed day and night and
overtaken them about half way between St. Joe and Fort Kearney, which
would be about 150 miles from St. Joe. After receiving the letter, we
began to make arrangements to cross the Missouri River. The steam ferry
boat had gone up the river after furs, so we had no way to get our stock
and wagons across.
While waiting, a fur boat came down the river with three men. This boat
was strictly a home made affair. It was built of rough sawed lumber and
the bottom and sides were nailed onto the frame with several thicknesses
of boards and caulked up with buffalo tallow to keep it from leaking too
badly. We secured this boat to get us across.
The process of getting that old boat across the river was a difficult
one and as it only could take sixteen cattle at a time, many trips had
to be made. A round trip across the river, meant much labor, and was as
follows:
After the cargo was put in the boat, it had to be hauled by ropes and
pushed by pike poles up the river along the bank, until we were above an
island which was in the middle of the river. Then we would cast off from
the shore and by means of the oars, pulled for the opposite shore. The
current, however, would take the boat in a diagonal direction so we
would strike the lower end of the island. Then we would pull and push
the old ark to the upper end of the island and again cast loose and
finally reach the shore at a point much lower, being carried along with
the current. In order to get back, we would drag the boat along the west
shore to above the island again and cast off, reaching the lower end of
the island. Dragging the boat along the shore to the upper end of the
island and crossing, finally reach the east side below the camp. After
two weeks of hard work, we managed to ferry all the stock and camp
outfit across without serious accident.