Name/Title
Diary Kept by John Miller Anderson, April 19, 1849 to September 15, 1851. during the California Gold Rush from his home in Keytesville, Missouri to his returnEntry/Object ID
2009.3.68Description
Diary Kept by John Miller Anderson, April 19, 1849, to September 15, 1851. during the California Gold Rush from his home in Keytesville, Missouri to California and his return home. This is a typescript of the original.
The diary is written in short phrases and sentences, remarking on the weather, and briefly on the landscape at activities.
The train leaves Keytesville, MO and passes through Carrollton, Richmond and Liberty, arriving in St. Joseph on May 9, 1849, where they elect officers. He crosses over the river by ferry at Savannah and camps at Mosquito Creek on May 15th, where they encounter Indians. They cross the Big Blue River, May 22, and move down Ash Hollow on June 11th, finally crossing the Sierra Nevada mountains on Sept. 21st, arriving in California with $4 in his pocket.
Several members of the party die from cholera along the way, sometimes being left behind sick. Anderson is in Sacramento on October 1 and removes to Hangtown where he builds a cabin in December 1849.
The remaining diary about his time in the gold fields is rather sketchy but there are good descriptions of troubles crossing the streams. He washes or digs pits and at times makes as much as $25/day.
He leaves the gold fields for home in June 1851, passing through Ft. Leavenworth and Weston, arriving back in Keytesville, MO on September 13, 1851.
There is a photocopy of his handwritten diary, and 2 other photocopies of the typescript in with this folder, along with completed forms from the C.O.E.D. project of Gateway Chapter of Oregon-California Trail Association.
50/Report Cover/Carbon copy of typewritten pagesCollection
Don and Maudie Reynolds CollectionLexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Tertiary Object Term
DiaryNomenclature Secondary Object Term
JournalNomenclature Primary Object Term
BookNomenclature Sub-Class
Other DocumentsNomenclature Class
Documentary ObjectsNomenclature Category
Category 08: Communication ObjectsSearch Terms
Keytesville, Missouri, Gold Rush Diaries, 1849, Death by cholera on the California Trail, Diary, Trails, California Trail, Gold Rush, St. Joe RoadPublication Details
Author
Alexander, Charles F., deciphererDate Published
1981Call No.
Diary ALNotes
Copy No.: 1Relationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
John Miller AndersonPerson or Organization
John BeardPerson or Organization
Lewis F. LinnPerson or Organization
J. P. HearnesPerson or Organization
Lea BradfordPerson or Organization
Lea Baker SanfordPerson or Organization
N.G. MatlockPerson or Organization
J.C. LafonPerson or Organization
J. GatesPerson or Organization
Mrs. Harry Talkington