JOURNAL OF TRAVELS
FROM
ST. JOSEPHS TO OREGON,
WITH
OBSERVATIONS OF THAT COUNTRY,
TOGETHER WITH
_SOME DESCRIPTION OF CALIFORNIA_,
ITS AGRICULTURAL INTERESTS,
AND
A Full Description
OF
ITS GOLD MINES.
BY RILEY ROOT.
GALESBURG:
GAZETTEER AND INTELLIGENCER PRINTS.
1850.
EXPLANATORY NOTE.
The Author of the present work has adopted a new method of punctuation,
and, in certain cases, of spelling. He discards entirely the colon and
the semi-colon. Modern readers passing along with great rapidity, and
the principal use of these points being to mark the length of time the
voice is to be suspended, the Author is of opinion that they may with
propriety disappear from our language. Accordingly he has adjusted the
following work to suit those views, and as the reader advances, his
attention will naturally be directed to that subject, by which means he
will be enabled to judge of the propriety or impropriety of this
adjustment of the pauses in the language.
THE PRINTER
ADVERTISEMENT.
As the advantages for knowing the pronunciation of some of the words
that occur in the following work are limited amongst most eastern
readers, it may not be improper here to give some explanation by way of
change in their orthography.
The name of the Willamette, a river in the west valley of Oregon, is
changd to Will-am-et, with the accent on the second syllable. A
tributary of the Willamet river, with the several names of Quality,
Tualiton, and Troliton, is more familiarly calld Twality. Also another,
which flows from Mt. Jefferson, by some calld Santa Anna, is more
properly calld San-ty-am.
San or Saint Joaquin in California, is pronouncd Saint Wau-keen, with
the accent on the second syllable. Stanislaus, a tributary of the St.
Wau-keen, is often improperly calld Spanish Slough. Juba river, a
tributary of the Sacramento, is now calld Yu-bar river. The old name of
Rio de Plumas, is familiarly known by the name of Feather river.
Mereposa is divided into four syllables, with the half accent on Mer,
and the full accent on Po. The above definitions may in some degree,
help the reader to the proper pronunciation of some words as used in
California.
JOURNAL.
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CHAPTER I.
Journey from home—Trip down the Mississippi and up the Missouri River to
St. Josephs.
I left home in Knox county, Illinois, the 3d day of April, 1848, for
Woodstock in Fulton county, a distance of about 20 miles, where I staid
one day with my eldest daughter. I then started for the Mississippi
river, to Nauvoo, a Mormon town, by the way of La Harp, a distance of
fifty miles, over which route most of the way to La Harp is as handsome
prairie as I have seen in the State. I visited the Temple at Nauvoo,
with the expectation of seeing a beautiful edifice, as the Mormons would
have it to appear, that the glory of the latter Temple is to exceed that
of the former.
It is true that on approaching the Temple[1] the visitor beholds
something exquisite in its outward appearance, though not more so than
many other buildings in America, but on visiting its inner scenery, the
visitor is not arousd by any thing sublime, curious or tasteful. The
inner arrangements may be in accordance with their plans of order and
church government, yet the design and workmanship are of an ordinary
appearance. But the building is fast going to decay, and the town is
vacated of three fourths of its inhabitants.
[1]It has since been burnt.
From this place I passd down the river to Quincy, where I stopd with a
design to visit my youngest daughter of sixteen years of age, who is
attending school at the Mission Institute, about two miles east of
Quincy. The school at this place was establishd for the purpose of
promoting the cause of Christ by preparing youth for the missionary
field, though other scholars who do not wish to enter upon missionary
labors are sometimes admitted.
From Quincy I went to St. Louis for the purpose of obtaining a boat to
go to St. Josephs on the Missouri river, where most of the emigrants
meet before leaving the United States for Oregon. On ascending the
Missouri river from its confluence with the Mississippi to Weston, a
town twenty-five miles by land below St. Josephs, no pleasant villages
are seen except Jefferson City, the capital of the State of Missouri.
This town shows something of the beauties of art, with a good levee for
the lading and unlading of goods. The state house is worthy of the most
notice of the traveler. It is large and elegant, and made of hewn stone.
To the geologist the Missouri river presents a scene of speculation. Its
waters are always muddy, and still more so at high stages of the river.
To the indifferent observer it may appear that the raw edges of its
banks, by their crumbling off at times of high water, furnish material
for its turbid appearance at all times. It is true that in times of high
water its muddy look is greatly increased, but this is not all that is
to be considered. The river has but small depth of water most of the
time, and this passes over an argilaceous bottom, with sufficient force
to keep it constantly agitated. There is also a mixture of exceedingly
fine sand spread over its bottom, and the whole together is constantly
agitated by the motion of its waters. The bed of the stream from its
union with the Mississippi to St. Josephs, is at least one hundred feet
below the high prairie of the country around it. The question naturally
arises as to the length of time required to excavate such a channel
through a country so vast in extent as the Missouri traverses with all
its tributaries, considering the amount of alluvium carried outward into
the ocean from age to age, whilst the bed of the river is supplied in
part from the high countries of its tributaries, and thus rendering the
work of degradation exceedingly slow. Yet notwithstanding the amount of
soil received from year to year from above, that river carries outward
into the ocean more than it receives, and thereby causes a lowering of
its bed, though not visible for ages, yet gradually and slowly has it
worn away the earth to its present condition. The geologist has no
certain means of ascertaining with certainty the amount of degradation
from year to year, and must leave the subject, sublime as it is, to the
wild fancies of imagination.
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