Overland in 1846 Volume 2
Diaries and Letters f the California Oregon Trail
Edited by Dale Morgan, 1963    367 pages

Volume 2 of Overland in 1846 follows Volume 1, the reviee of which was in the March, ’22 Heirloom.  Volume 1 was mostly a collection of diaries.  Volume 2 is a collection of letters from emigrants to the folks back home or to newspapers.

The first observations from reading is that there is a lot more detail in these letters and newspaper articles than in the diaries.  The letters talk about hard ground, food, Indians, clothing, people met on the way, amounts of supplies to carry, various hints, hunting, etc.  The diary entries generally don’t get into that detail.  That’s probably because the letters to the newspapers back home are giving advice to prospective emigrants and reporting to family life on the trail.  The diaries were mostly aimed at the writer with scarcely a thought to readers beyond that.  The second observation is the amazing amount of mail that was coming from the emigrants to the folks back home.  That means the emigrants met a lot of people going in the other direction willing to carry letters. Third, even though this was a few years before the Gold Rush there were still lots of emigrants in 1846.  Wm. Russell who initially captained the larger wagon train that included the Donners, said that although it was impossible to be absolutely accurate, he thought the number of emigrants was large, “far more than I had dared to hope,” with over one hundred wagons and 500 people in his immediate area, and the total to “not fall short of 1,000.”

There are all kinds of interesting things to learn in this collection. Letters are about rules of the road, the organization of the wagon trains, and Indians. The letters to the editors have advice.  For example you might have to trade a good deal with the Indians. In that case  “take Blue Calico and Beeds [sic] in little narrow Red Blue & Green Ribbons.”  Wagons should be able to carry 2,000 to 2,500 lbs.  There follows advice for wagon construction and supplies.

The letters back home sometimes include advice because other family members or friends were going to come along in following years. Others just bring news to families and reassure them that everything is fine, “don’t give yourself any uneasiness about us, we are provided with every thing that heart could wish for…”  Another writer offered advice, “It is better not to be burdened with any heavy and unnecessary articles of house furniture” and then went on to list what should be taken: farming instruments, seeds, tools, etc.

Most of the letters and articles are fairly prosaic, giving advice and mundane details like numbers of wagons, with none of the enthusiasm the adventure might expect. The Arkansas Gazette (October 27, 1845) was an exception as it exhorted its readers saying energetic men willing and anxious to carve new homes out of the wilderness should not be put off by details. The emigration is just what their fathers had done coming to Arkansas.  Why should the current generation “faulter” [sic].  Distance is just speculation. Danger is “pure fancy, arising from a diseased and morbid temperament. Were men to be deterred from great actions through the fond anxieties of others, or the possible fear of failure, then would the world remain stationary ‘aye, would retrograde.’”

Sometimes there are bits of politics in the letters.  There is no power “that can cope with the spring emigration… Texas is ours - is it impossible that California can?  The very echo of the ‘can?’ is most decisive. There shall be another star added to our constellation…. ’it’s jest as sure as shootin’.

The letters also provide insights into the emigrants’ states of mind.  An apparently common joke among emigrants reasons to go west was a about a fellow who died in California. Upon arriving at Heaven Gabriel came out and asked him where he was from. On learning the man was from California Gabriel told the man to go back because it was “a heap better country than this.” Most people thought it was a jest reported the letter writer but it gives insight into the mind of the emigrants.

This is reminiscent of a joke that Edwin Bryant, who wrote What I Saw in California (1846) repeated and who has some letters in Overland....   A man had lived in California for 250 years.  He became tired of life and traveled, soon becoming sick and dying.  His will said he should be returned to California. On being brought back to California soil and interred, the “health-breathing California zephyrs” returned him to life “with all the vigor and beauty of early manhood.”

One letter described male/female relations.  A wagon train had broken up with most of the girls going to Oregon and most of the boys going to California.  After the separation, with the trains still not too far apart the boys would pretend to go out hunting “but instead of pursuing the bounding deer or fleet antelope, they are generally found among the fair Oregon girls! Thus they go, every day, making love by the road-side, in the midst of the wildest and most beautiful scenery…” A Missouri newspaper described the girls, “There are numerous young girls, just blooming into womanhood, and many of them beautiful, neatly dressed, and bound for Oregon and California. Young men going to those distant countries need have no fear of not being able to get a wife.” That notion ranks with the story about the emigrant meeting Gabriel.

Another writer provided some insight to his feelings, “Life on the plains far surpasses my expectation ; there is a freedom and a nobleness about it that tend to bring forth the full manhood…”  Charles Stanton, member of the Donner Party who died on Donner Summit, said in one of a number of letters to his brother, “I have seen the Rocky mountains [sic] – have crossed the Rubicon, and am now on the waters that flow to the Pacific! It seems as if I had left the old world behind, and that a new one is dawning upon me… In every step thus far there has been something new, something to attract… I shall be abundantly repaid for the toils and hardship of this arduous trip.”

The Gazette in St. Joseph Missouri described emigrants’ state of mind, the emigrants “have been pouring in upon us by quantities… We look out upon them, and are astonished to see such careless ease and joyousness manifested in the countenances of almost all – the old, the young, the strong and feeble – the sprightly boy and the romping girl, all plod along, as if the jaunt was only for a few miles instead of a thousand – as if a week’s troubles were to terminate their vexations and annoyances forever. What an idea it gives us, and what an insight into human  nature – HOPE, the bright, beaming star, high ascendant… alluring them on to peace and enjoyment… Anticipating an interminable season of pleasure and delight, they go forward with easy tread, willing to brave all danger and run every risk, if they may be attain that a favored spot….”

The Missouri Republican said, “What most surprise us was the satisfaction and confidence expressed by the women. They appeared to be not only indifferent to the hardships and angers of the way, but to be gratified and pleased with their prospect.”

Not all the writers reflect on the wonders of the scenery or the females. One writer said, “I am tired of the snail-like travel of the wagons, and the dissension and disunion which exists throughout the entire emigration…”  Another writer reported on the state of things in California, “numbers of emigrants have arrived there who would be glad to get back to the States if they could…”

There are interesting little nuggets of information. For example the Donner Party plcxed an ad for help to accompany them,
Westward, Ho!
For Oregon and California!
Who want to go to California without costing them any thing? As many as eight young men, of good character, who can drive a team, will be accommodated by gentlemen who will leave this vicinity about the First of April. Come, boys! You can have as much land as you want without costing you any thing. The government of California gives large tracts of land to person who have to move there.  The first suitable persons who apply, will be engaged.

Another interesting tidbit mentioned people in Oregon  sending representatives back along the trail to meet the emigrants and counter the lies that Lansford Hastings was telling.

Oregon people also passed on negatives about California in order to lure more emigrants their way.  For example, in the Central Valley the “whole country [was] burnt up by the sun, and no food for either man or beast.”  There was drought and no vegetables.  Food was expensive.  There was no timber. Swamps were full of water. There was no rain.  There was no good society.  Title to land was poor. Clothing was impossible to get. The principal article of food was jerked beef.  Iron was scarce. Horses and cows were expensive.

There were wonders in Oregon.  “I think no place where a living is to be made out of the earth can be preferable to Oregon for that purpose – and let people say what they may – all agree that it is healthy. It is certainly the healthiest country in the world, disease is scarcely known here, except among the late emigrants ninety-nine out of a hundred of them get well the first season.  Just replacing the “Oregon” with California, there were writers saying the same about California.

The second to last section of the book are newspaper articles about Oregon and California including almost forty pages about the problems of the Donner Party and the rescue parties.  Many of the articles include misinformation or gossip.  An example (California Star April 10, 1847) of that reports the rescue parties arriving at Donner Lake with food but could not entice the members of the Donner Party to partake. They preferred  “the putrid human flesh” and the day the rescuers arrived one of the emigrant “took a child of about four years of age in bed with him and devoured the whole before morning; and the next day  ate another about the same age before noon.”  One thinks that today there are some story tellers with equivalent skills.

The last section is for those who like to re-enact history with a reprint of the Shively Guide for emigrants traveling across the continent.  There’s a lot of good advice: go well armed, take no tents, don’t delay to kill game, keep watch every night, wear wide brimmed hats, oxen should be three to five years old, bring lots of horseshoes, if your animal gives out, leave it “your time is of more value than all your horses.”  It lists things to take and how much, amounts of foodstuff, how to construct wagons (unseasoned wood will cause wagons to fall apart),