When Location Becomes Their Story

December 10, 2022 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Books, Following Old Trails, Genealogy, Palmetto Pioneers

One of the most important parts of writing the book “Palmetto Pioneers” was research. Studying the location of my chosen ancestor became an important next step.

But let’s take a step back. I didn’t begin looking at the locations. I began reviewing what I already knew about my main character, Mary. I went back to my original research, first to my paper files, then my online files, such as her family’s Ancestry tree.

This review identified all the places she had lived or traveled. This was easy because Mary lived in Colleton District, South Carolina and traveled by wagon with her parents and extended family to Jefferson County, Florida. It appears she lived there for the rest of her life, so I only had three locations to research, but one of which was fluid.

I asked questions. Where was she married (Jefferson County, Florida marriage record)? When and where were her children born (census records which showed when and where she lived)? Where and when did she die? I also looked for land, court, and probate records.

An important part of this process was making a timeline for the family. It had three columns—one for the event, one for the date, and another for the place. It helped tremendously when trying to find events or write about them in the correct order they happened.

It also showed flaws in the research. Not everyone’s memory is the same for any event, and people make mistakes when recording important dates. Timelines helped me find the discrepancies and then helped me either fix the discrepancies or explain them in the book.

These earlier steps, used to analyze Mary and those around her, brought me to the next part of my research.

Where did these events take place? And what did I know about them?

Using census records for her father and the other Walker heads of household in the family, we know she came from South Carolina, most likely Colleton District, southwest of Charleston. But what did I really know about that area? This became an important question for the next step.

I began with the courthouse in Colleton County, but before making a trip up there, I researched the courthouse itself and where I could expect to find records. Right away, I discovered that though the courthouse itself did not burn during the Civil War, its records did. Because they were on the path of Sherman, they sent their records for safekeeping to their capital, Columbia. After marching through Colleton County and leaving its courthouse untouched, Sherman made a beeline to Columbia and burned the capitol and Colleton’s records there.

However, I learned that there are land records in neighboring counties that show lands near the county lines. They reflect who owned the land across the line. Barnwell County’s records for Lightsey lands showed the Walkers were their neighbors in Colleton County. I also learned that people have donated records from their families to a local Genealogy Room, which was in the same building as Colleton’s extension service. There is also a genealogy room at the county library.

Roadtrip!

This led to my favorite pastime—travel. Add a trip to a genealogical site, and for me it is a match made in heaven. I chose one of the old routes, certainly not an interstate highway, and I drove from Monticello to Walterboro, wondering if these families may have used a trail or road nearby.

Family Search Wiki, Colonial Roads in America

Using all this information, I made several trips to Walterboro, the county seat, and to the location of the Walker lands near Carter’s Ford on the Little Salkehatchie River. This location research was invaluable to the story, especially when the family still lived in South Carolina. It was wonderful to walk where they had walked almost two hundred years before, but why did they leave? Studying their first location could help provide answers.

The Florida State Genealogical Society featured a speaker last month during their Poolside Chat series. Diana Elder suggested in her presentation entitled, “Locality, Locality, Locality: Putting Your Ancestors in Their Place,” that one should create a “locality guide.” I wish I had listened to this about six years ago. It would have saved me later headaches.

I should have created a “Colleton County Locality Guide,” with a section for “Background Information,” showing “Quick Facts” such as laws that changed the economic environment for the family and their dates, purchases of property, natural disasters in their area, when South Carolina became a colony, and so forth. One event I found was the building of a nearby railroad, which might have changed the family’s mind about moving since the railroad provided better opportunities to reach new markets.

In the Locality Guide, “General Collections” shows where to find information as well as “Online Research Guides” and “Maps and their Dates”. Here, one records maps that show the changes in state and county lines. Within Colleton County, they divided the county into parishes. The family lived in the St. Bartholomew Parish, but did they always? The guide is used to collect all the information found about a location.

The Walker Migration Route

Another important research project was trying to find how they got to Jefferson County, Florida, from Colleton District, South Carolina. I knew the names of several trails between the two areas, and I began my research quest by studying those trails.

Later, though, I discovered that the best place to begin this research was Family Search Wiki. Simply enter the words “migration” and the location to find the different trails and roads in an area. It gives you a list of trails and roads plus maps and other resources.

Usually, I began by googling the name of a town, river, road, trail, or anything else on which I needed more information. It usually sent me to other sources, such as maps, gazetteers, trails, and so forth.

Several gazetteers became important. You can find them using Family Search Wiki. Search for “gazetteer”(singular) and then enter the location you wish to find. We can find the digitized ones this way, but I found some that were not digitized in the bibliographies of other historical works. Always check their sources. It will surprise you what you uncover.

Maps became very important to the story. They showed me how they got to Florida.

I began with trails, because they built most of the older roads on old Indian or military trails. I found some on old maps, especially the earliest maps. William Dollarhide has done much work in identifying old trails throughout the nation. His books were very important to my work. I also used diaries and journals to learn what they saw on the trails and roads when they migrated south. In the book, what the Walkers saw on their journey south was in those diaries and journals.

Something I did not use is the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) on the United States Geographical Survey (USGS) website. I discovered it well after I had finished my research. Here you can search for the names of trails, and also towns, post offices, lakes, and rivers nearby.

Once I had sufficient information about the trails and roads available, I analyzed them for the families’ most likely route. Because they drove a foundation herd of cattle with them, I cut two of the more popular routes from the list—not enough water.

Why Florida?

The next step was to study her final home. Why did the family choose Florida? What else was out there? Newspapers seemed to be a good place to start, and there were Charleston papers that they may have read. Mary’s father and uncles were educated men. I discovered a wealth of information about moving to Florida, some of it from the South Carolina papers in their era.

I also had records already in my files. Federal censuses showed us when they made the move. Some children were born in South Carolina, and others in Florida. Land records showed us when the land was available for the family to buy. The Walkers came here before the land was available in the area they settled. They probably squatted on that land and made improvements that gave them the first dibs.

An early probate record for her grandfather told a story about how hard it was to live with local diseases such as malaria. Court records showed when they made their trips eight miles away to the county seat. All of this was important because vital records mostly did not exist. There were no death records or birth records in territorial Florida. There were only church records and Bible records, but few.

I mentioned a boundary issue earlier while they were in South Carolina. Though the boundary did not change, some in Colleton County were lucky to live near the boundary of another county, whose records did not burn. Atlas of Historical County Boundaries is a website by The Newberry Library which shows how a county’s boundary changed. It also shows state boundaries, too.

When the Walker family moved to Florida, it appears another group of Walkers moved just north of the state line in Georgia—an area less than ten miles away. We know from DNA they are kin to each other and from census records; they lived in Colleton District, too. We could never determine if they made the trip down together, though.

https://historygeo.com/

Later, Historygeo.com showed me who first bought the lands next to them once they bought land and settled in Jefferson County. History Geo even showed me how far away two massacred families lived during the Second Seminole Indian War. Using the sound of a gunshot, I determined which of them the family could hear from their home. I decided all of this using locality research.

Finally, I spent a lot of time studying the history of Jefferson County. It provided clues why they came when they did. For example, our state government only recently formed Jefferson County. It was less than two years old. Its land was just becoming available for sale from the state.

Historical books for a county can be important. Being from the county, I am a local and I knew which books to use. However, the National Genealogical Society has a series of books entitled “NGS Research in the States.” There is one for Florida, and it tells you where to go to find information on any county in the state. I also visited Family Search Wiki to look at their state timelines. It provided me a beginning for my in-house state events timeline.

In Jefferson County, the WPA did a research project in the 1930s, and they generated a book. We call it the Green Book. It includes first-hand stories from the children of these early settlers. A University of Florida professor wrote another county history book in 1976. Contracted by the Jefferson County Historical Association, it is an excellent source. Add to these the various diaries and journals kept, and they provided plentiful information about what Monticello and Jefferson County looked like when the Walkers arrived.

Jefferson County Courthouse, replaced in early 1900s

Locality research was vital to the book and an understanding of who these people were and what happened to them. It helped me determine who they were in South Carolina, how they got to Florida, and what impact they had on their new community once they arrived. Location research provided a wealth of information. I could not have written “Palmetto Pioneers” without it.

Lewis and Clark Return in the Spring

October 1, 2017 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Following Old Trails

Spring came and Lewis and Clark headed home. Follow along as we travel a different road on the other side of the Columbia River, where many of their north shore camps were located.

The drive today began in Washougal, Washington and followed along the North Shore of the Columbia River. This drive is mostly a mountainous drive with turnouts every so often to overlook the Columbia River. The river below is where Lewis and Clark returned using their canoes, paddling up the river in the spring of 1806. Like they did in 1806 we are returning back east using the north shore on US 14.

South of Washougal are wonderful views of Mount Hood across the Columbia in the distance. We took a long walk last night on a trail beside the north shore after dinner in Washougal. It is a quaint little old town area full of interesting shops and restaurants.

Mount Hood

Our day began as a foggy but by noon the fog cleared out and the skies were blue with some clouds but not many. The views were awesome, especially the ones from up high looking down on the river.

Columbia River

The Lewis and Clark expedition passed through here on their way east in early April of 1806. It was still blustery and cold. They mostly camped on the north side of the river, where we are driving today.

The drive is like driving through mountains, sometimes with the fir and spruce and then it opens up to sweeping views of the river. We are driving through the Cascade Mountains.

We stopped at the Bonneville Dam and took some pictures.

Bonneville Dam

There were several small towns along the way. Stevenson looked like a very good place for a lunch stop but it was only 11 AM. Rats.

There was not much traffic, but I bet there’s a lot of traffic on weekends. The railroad tracks followed alongside.

The sun sparkles on the water like diamonds. Every time we go high the temperature drops and the wind chills.

Something about the silver-blue water with white caps and the green mountains on the other side. Awesome scenic beauty.

At Spring Creek State Park the sailboarders congregated and took advantage of the high winds through the gorge.

At noon we stopped to eat in the town of Blank where the terrain changed and became more desert-like. The lushness of the trees was now behind us.

When Louis and Clark came through here in 1805 headed to the Pacific ocean they also camped on the North Shore. There are several historical markers that mark the places where they camped as well in 1805.

East of Maryhill we are truly in the high desert. There are also lots of windmills. There is a winery, though near Maryhill.

There are other ways to see this area. There are cruise ships that run between Lewiston, Idaho and Astoria, Washington. Some of them are called Louis and Clark Cruises. We saw the paddle wheel cruise several times on the Columbia. The cruises begin at Clarkston, Idaho on the Snake River, travel the Snake River to the Columbia River, and then travel down the Columbia River to Astoria. Chuck and I thought about taking a cruise on the Columbia but could not work it into our schedule.

Across the river from Boardman on US 14 is the Château San Michele Vineyards. We stopped here before on another vacation, and they had a very nice tour of the vineyards and their operations as well as a good tasting room. The Château San Michele winery is west of Patterson, Washington.

The terrain east of Patterson, Washington becomes flatter and even more desert-like. The Columbia here seems more like a ribbon of the river instead of the broad Columbia that it has been further downstream. The road pulls away though, and at times you cannot see the river.

Then the terrain changes again, and there’s farming with corn, wheat, and sorghum. We finally passed back to the south shore to Oregon and stayed the night in Pendleton, Oregon. After dinner at a place called Roosters, which has good old fashion home food, such as a Yankee pot roast, we took a long walk through their downtown section.

This is an old Western town with a lot of statues celebrating their people and their history and information along the way about their round up which they have held for over 100 years. A roundup is when they go out and round up the cattle for sale, but the roundup here means a big rodeo now.

This is a great city area to take a walk at night. We felt perfectly safe. We stayed at the Oxford Suites. We’ve never stayed in this chain before, and it was quite nice.

The next morning we got up and made a stop at the Pendleton Woolen Mills Outlet and took their mill tour.

Now Chuck knew why I chose Pendleton to stay the night. He said, “well there goes our retirement.” I’ve loved these clothes since I was a young woman and couldn’t afford them. Here are a few examples of the type of clothes they make. Below is an example of their style.

They do men’s wear, too. These clothes are great for going out west or up north for snow skiing and other travel. They also make great Christmas gifts.

Here’s an example of what Chuck bought.

They have been in business since 1863 when they first produced woolen blankets with Native American designs, a product that they still make. The tour of their factory was very educational.

I bought a nice cardigan that has FSU and Georgia Tech colors on it. My cardigan is below.

But I didn’t realize how good the prices were especially on the blankets until I got back home and began looking for a new design that I saw on the floor of the mill. It was still in the raw fabric stage. Here’s one of their blankets, but I still haven’t seen the new design yet online.

The drive between Walla Walla and Clarkston, Washington was just as pretty the opposite direction passing through miles and miles and hill after hill of wheat fields with awesome views. Almost all the wheat has been cut and the wheat straw bailed and picked up by the semis. There are very few stacks left to be picked up.

State Road 12 passed around and through these hills. We passed back through the little towns.

As Floridians, we cannot imagine what winter is like living here.

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The Ultimate American Adventure: Lewis and Clark at Cape Disappointment

August 28, 2017 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Following Old Trails, Travel

Lewis and Clark on November 7th in 1805 finally make it all the way to the Pacific Ocean, but winter strikes right away even before they have a chance to build a winter fort.

Today we plan to visit Cape Disappointment where Lewis and Clark saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time and Fort Clatsop where they spent the winter. Chuck and I spent the night in Seaside, Oregon and the next morning got up and drove north on US 101 to Cape Disappointment, Washington which is just across the bridge from Astoria, Oregon. Crossing the four-mile-long Astoria bridge was very interesting. It is near the mouth of the Columbia River where it meets the sea.

There were hundreds of boats down below in the river, and they were obviously fishing for something. Of course, that piqued my fishing crazed husband’s interest.

Driving north to Cape Disappointment

We stopped in the village of Chinook on the Washington side to ask, and the ladies at the bait shop said that they were fishing for all kinds of salmon. This is the period of time when the salmon run. We asked what kind and they said all kinds–Chinook, sockeye, steelhead, silver, all kinds.

The ride on the north side of the river today is dotted with fishing villages, forests, and hills running down to the water’s edge. Today is clear and cool in the shade, a beautiful day to be outdoors.

Just east of the bridge is a place called Dismal Nitch. This is where Lewis and Clark spent some scary days toward the end of their journey to the sea. They were so close, yet not quite there. A rare winter storm hit in early November of 1805 and pinned them down in this little cove that Clark called “that dismal little nitch”. They spent days there cold, wet, and hungry. It is on SR 401.

This was also the home of the Chinook Indians. Their village was unoccupied at the time because they had relocated to the south shoreline of the river to their winter village. This was a bad omen for Lewis and Clark. They were planning to stay on the north shore in a place now called Cape Disappointment.

Driving the north shoreline of the Columbia River near Cape Disappointment

We visited Cape Disappointment State Park. At first, it was like entering canopied road with massive firs and spruces.

Then the views opened up to the river and the Pacific. They were beautiful, and the museum well worth our time.

Imagine Lewis and Clark’s delight upon finding this place and then their disappointment when they realized that it wasn’t a good place to spend the winter.

Located just within the mouth of the river on the north side is the port of Ilwaco, where we stopped to eat lunch. If there is one drawback for traveling in Washington and Oregon’s rural areas, it is the lack of vegetables for lunch. My body is too old to live on hamburgers, sandwiches, fish and chips. We seemed to find little else in rural Oregon.

Lewis and Clark spent ten days at Station Camp between Cape Disappointment and Dismal Nitch before moving on to the south shore of the Columbia where they built a small winter fort which they named Fort Clatsop after the Indians who lived there.

Inside Fort Clatsop

So like Lewis and Clark, we crossed the Columbia to the south side–they in their dugout canoes and us on our four-mile bridge.

A full-scale replica can be explored at Fort Clatsop National Park on the south shore. Here Lewis and Clark spent the winter of 1905-06. There are actors in period clothing to guide you through the experience.

Fort Clatsop Reenactor

They wrote in their journals, fished, explored the area, and got ready for the spring return. The woods are beautiful, and there are great trails for walking.

The forests at Fort Clatsop

Chuck and I got to try our hand at writing with a quill as this was how they wrote in their journals. This would be a great place to bring the grandchildren.

The Ultimate American Adventure: Lewis and Clark in the Columbia River Gorge

August 28, 2017 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Following Old Trails, Travel

Can you imagine what Lewis and Clark thought about the awesome majesty of the Columbia River Gorge?

You actually can by read what they thought through their journals. Both wrote about it, as did several of their men.

As for us, we thought it was awesome too. We really did enjoy the Columbia Gorge Inn last night. Both had a good rest, and the smoke cleared out this morning. Though a little pricey, the beds and pillows were good, and the views were awesome. Before we left, we took more photos from high up on the south side of the gorge. Can you imagine how Lewis, Clark, and their men felt as they floated through this beautiful gorge?

The gorge was created by the Columbia River as it cuts through the Cascade Mountains.

We had breakfast in the formal dining room downstairs with the old-fashioned 20s style windows overlooking the gorge. This is not a bed and breakfast so we had to pay for our breakfast. We’ve learned that the more you pay for a hotel, the fewer amenities you receive; but we also understand that it takes a lot of money to maintain these old gems.

Chuck ordered oatmeal, and I ordered an omelet. The omelet was enough for both of us so we shared it. Everything was delicious, the service was great, and again the views were amazing.

One thing we learned is that this is one area where you want to stay on the interstate. Interstate 84 follows right next to the shoreline of the Columbia River’s southern shore. The drives are sweeping beautiful views. There is no blue highway that has such river scenery on this side of the river. Historic US 30, though, does move east to west through this area, but it is a more forested drive.

We took this photo from the north shore of the river. That is I-84 in the distance.

By the way, US 30 also known as the Historic Columbia River Highway was the first highway in America built specifically for scenic touring, thus the reason that our hotel was built at the same time as the road.

All up and down I-84 there are historical signs about the expedition and viewpoints. Of course, I didn’t want to miss a thing, so Chuck got a little tired of stopping, I believe.

After we left the gorge we entered an area where we ran into smoke, smog, or fog. We’re just unsure exactly what this was. We ran into this close to Multnomah Falls not too far from Portland. You access the falls from the interstate by a parking lot in the median of I-84.

Multnomah Falls is a really beautiful cascade falling from high over the rocks above. It is the second tallest continuous waterfall in the United States at over 600′ high. It is also Oregon’s biggest tourist stop probably because it is right next to the interstate.

Lewis and Clark camped nearby and wrote about it in their journals going to the Pacific and again on their return.

We hiked up to the upper bridge. Chuck fell and hurt his knee while fishing in Idaho earlier, so we felt it probably wasn’t a good idea to go the mile and a half farther to the top of the falls.

The falls according to local Indian lore were provided for a beautiful Indian princess who needed a place to bathe. What a great bath tub!

After Multnomah Falls we left the interstate and started following Historic Old US 30, the highway originally built through here. We immediately climbed higher up over the Columbia River Valley into the forest, and the forest drive was beautiful, a green-shaded tunnel of vegetation. An entirely different scenery. We took this road so we didn’t have to drive near Portland. I-84 goes through Portland.

We stopped at a restaurant called the Tippy Canoe and ate outdoors on their patio, a wonderful lunch of a Reuben, soup, and salad. A salad seems to be the only vegetables I can find here in Oregon. The mountain air was cool and refreshing.

We found that this area is very expensive to travel through. The hotels are expensive as well as the food in the restaurants. And to add insult to injury the bed and gas taxes are expensive as well, though there are no sales taxes.

Like Lewis and Clark we are on our way to a little town called Seaside, Oregon which is just south of Astoria. Between Seaside and Astoria is where the Lewis and Clark expedition spent the winter after spending some time at Cape Disappointment. More on that tomorrow. We traveled west on US 30 until we got to US 101 going south.

Seaside is just as its name implies and is ocated on US 101. There are numerous hotels and motels, great streets for walking, shops for shopping, and a vast beach. On the beach was a big beach volleyball tournament. There were lots of nets available for private practices and games, too. It was a festive atmosphere.

We stayed in a downtown hotel within walking distance of the beach. We know that Capt. William Clark came through here sometime in the winter of 1805-1806, because he mentioned in his journal that the Indians alerted him to a giant whale that has washed up on the beach near current day Cannon Beach. He used the beach to explore this area on his way to see the whale. There is a statue of him and Lewis in Seaside at the water’s edge.

The Ultimate American Adventure: Lewis and Clark Reaches the Columbia River

August 28, 2017 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Following Old Trails, Travel

You know, it was the first truly great American adventure–the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The entire nation watched them leave and waited for their return, a nation that was less than 30 years old.

Yesterday, we left the Lewis and Clark eastbound trail in Waitsburg, Washington, on US 12 and followed US 12 to Walla Walla. Walla Walla County has a great Lewis and Clark Trail brochure that shows both trails and their campsites. The eastbound trail at Waitsburg continues on SR 124 following the Touchet River.

Though we were following their eastbound route, Chuck and I were actually traveling backward moving west. Lewis and Clark canoed westbound on the Snake River through this area on October 12th and 13th of 1805. Clark noted in his journal that the 13th was a dark, windy, and rainy day.

Chuck and I left Walla Walla, Washington about 10 o’clock in the morning and made our first stop at the L’Ecole estate winery tasting room. We are still following US 12, though we are far from the Snake River at present. I’m sure Lewis and Clark didn’t run across any wine tastings, but what the heck. I’m sure they liked wine, too.

L’Ecole Estate owns several wineries including the Seven Hills Winery, where we planned to do a tasting last night. Today, though, tasted six different wines (yes, it was morning) and bought a bottle for our trip. The rest we shipped home, a very good Cabernet Sauvignon.

We continued west on Highway 12 until we got to where 12 turns and continues north into Washington state while Highway 730 picks up and begins driving on the south bank of the Columbia River. We took SR 730. The expedition reached the confluence of the Columbia River on October 16th.

The expedition reached the confluence of the Columbia River on October 16th and continued their westerly route.

SR 730 is a beautiful drive, though it is still smoky. The entire west seems to be burning, and we have had smoky days now for three full days. It did get a little better around Walla Walla.

The terrain changed again to a parched, almost treeless landscape. We are now driving on the Columbia Plateau.

Today, the Columbia River is the border between Washington and Oregon.

We drove westward on the south shore of the river, and here it is very very wide and looks as if there is obviously a dam somewhere. It is a vast deep flowing waterway used for commerce. In their day, though, Lewis and Clark found it to be full of rapids and cascades.

While driving westward on SR 730 we came to a turn off for Hat Rock State Park. Following the turnoff, we drove past the entrance of the state park and kept straight to dead end at a small a wayside park with good restroom facilities. This little park provided access to where the commemorative Lewis and Clark Trail runs through the park. This Trail followed the Indian path they used on their eastbound route.

We took some time to walk up the trail to a place high on a hill overlooking the Columbia River. It was a beautiful site but we realized two things. One, the trail is very wide and in their day it was probably nothing more than an Indian path. And two, the Columbia River is very wide here because of the dam and reservoir. Still, though it was worth the trip to walk in their footsteps.

Hat Rock, too, is a very interesting geological figure. It looked like a shorter and smaller Devil’s Tower sans the woods. Maybe an older Devil’s Tower, one that the elements of nature already chiseled down.

We continued on SR 730 until we got to Interstate 84. Here Interstate 84 drops down off the plains to skirt the south shoreline of the Columbia River. Within a short while, though, the views change again and become wooded and rugged, and I-84 becomes another type of scenic drive. The interstate continues to run alongside the river with awesome views. There are rest areas along the way with heritage signs telling the story of the expedition.

Our plans were to stay near Hood River, Oregon at the Columbia Gorge Inn. Built high on a bluff overlooking the Gorge, an investor built the mission style hotel in the 1920s when the first road was built through this area for tourists to see the Gorge. Inside were great photos of the hotel’s past glory days. Shirley Temple stayed here as a child, among many other celebrities of that era.

We drove down into the towno f Hood River for dinner, and it is an artsy type place with plenty of variety and a great place to walk around. I actually found a place that provided green vegetables, something I’m having trouble finding unless it is a salad made of plain lettuce.

We walked after dinner all over the manicured grounds of the hotel, which was built over a waterfall.

A trip to this hotel is special even if you do not plan to stay.

The Ultimate Guide to Following Lewis and Clark on the Clearwater River

August 28, 2017 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Following Old Trails, Travel

In one of the longest portages ever Lewis and Clark stumbled out of the mountains in search of another water route and found the Clearwater River.

Last year I wrote about another section of the Lewis and Clark Trail in the “Following Old Trails” series. I blogged about this segment of the trail from Great Falls, Montana to the Weippe Prairie in Idaho.

As you probably remember, the Lewis and Clark Trail is a historical water trail which followed the path that Meriweather Lewis and William Clark took at the request of President Thomas Jefferson in 1805-1807. I ended that segment in the fields of Wieppe where they literally stumbled out of the mountains starving, cold, and wet. You can read about that here to refresh your memory. Only stop reading when I begin to talk about the road back through the Clearwater National Forest. I had car trouble and it gets too long.

Today, Chuck and I began this “Following Old Trails” journey in Orofino, Idaho at the Best Western River View on the Clearwater River near Wieppe Prairie, a great place to stay, by the way. Weippe Prairie is where Lewis and Clark began, again trying to find a water route to the Pacific, a northwest passage. Chuck and I are 130 miles from Lolo Pass, and yesterday we followed the lower route which was not the route that Lewis and Clark took. If you remember from last year’s blog post they took an upper route following a ridge line through the Bitterroot mountains. It is a rough forest road that travels approximately one hundred miles up there.

We are driving on a 202-mile scenic byway (US 12) called the Northwest Passage Scenic Byway, and it follows a trail that the Nez Perce Indians used and that later Lewis and Clark used. Unfortunately, today there is lots of smoke, and the views are not as good or are restricted. However, I traveled through this area last year and the views were beautiful. Today, though, there are numerous wildfires throughout the west.

The scenic byway commemorates the Lewis and Clark expedition’s quest for a watercourse through the Rocky Mountains connecting the Missouri and Columbia Rivers. Of course, there was no watercourse all the way through, which is why they took a long portage over the mountains going west and coming back east.

Today, we left Orofino, traveling west on US 12 with our destination being Walla Walla, Washington. In Wieppe Prairie, Lewis and Clark cold, wet, and starving stumbled out of mountains having made it to the western side of the Bitterroots. An early winter storm made it treacherous. On the other side at Wieppe Prairie, they found the Nez Perce Indians, a friendly tribe who were very helpful. They were fed food made from the camas root, which was a staple in the diet of the Indians but which made the expedition very sick. It was sustenance, though, and they were starving.

The Lewis and Clark expedition was the ultimate American adventure. Back home every newspaper wrote about them. They were famous overnight, but now they were in truly uncharted territory. The risk was greater, and no one back east knew their fate. Not even President Jefferson who sent them. The men who took their ship back from the Mandan village earlier that spring were long home, so the east knew that as of early spring 1805 the rest of the men of the Lewis and Clark expedition were safe, but now it was fall of 1805 and no word could be expected for quite some time.

Lewis and Clark were racing against time and the elements. It was September again and they wanted to reach the Pacific before the winter set in.

Just west of Orofino on Highway 12 is a little park that’s called Canoe Camp. In this park is the beginning of an interpretive trail where you can see the Dworshak Dam across the Clearwater River. There is also a beautiful view of the river here, and there is a replica of the dugouts made by Lewis and Clark for the remainder of their trip.

About halfway down the trail at this park, I ran across another one of the brass monuments that were placed to commemorate where Lewis and Clark stopped to camp. A surveying society used Clark’s coordinates to mark the spot. This one commemorates what he called the Canoe Camp, thus the name for this little wayside park.

This site was selected by Clark because of the many large ponderosa pines that grew here. This is where they came to make their canoes for the trip west. The canoe makers chopped out small portions of the pine logs then used fire or hot coals to carve out the wood. This made it easier to then chip out the inside of the canoes.

They were taught how to do this by several of the Nez Perce Indians who also joined them at this campsite to help them. The expedition stayed here 10 days and made five of these canoes. This camp was where they made the transition from the overland travel to travel by water again. The expedition also needed this camp as well as time to recuperate from the dried salmon and camas that they ate when they came out of the Bitterroot Mountains.

This took place here in late September 1805. Lewis and Clark built of the five canoes, four large and one small one so that the 34 members of the expedition could continue. The large canoes were about 50 to 55 feet long and could carry a minimum of seven men and 800 to 1000 pounds of their gear.

Today in this place the river has been extensively modified. There is the hydroelectric Dworshak dam that we can see in the distance.

About 10 days after they left Lewis and Clark entered what is present-day Washington State. Guided by Nez Perce men as they were still in Nez Perce country, they beached the dugout canoes and camped on the Snake River on the north side each evening. They stayed here several days, and they traded with and recorded observations about these people who were very friendly and helpful to their journey.

This camp is just west of present-day Clarkston, Washington. Clarkston and Lewiston are twin cities that set across the river from each other–Lewiston in Idaho and Clarkston in Washington state. The terrain changes from tree-lined rivers to plains.

From here the expedition continued west on the Snake River. From this point, we traveled west right beside the Snake. The river here is very wide and seems to be a bit of a reservoir. We are still on Highway 12 headed to Walla Walla, Washington.

Several times yesterday on the Clearwater River we noticed people tubing down the river. The river is cold like our spring water and very clear. I can see why they wanted to tube down it. It is very beautiful plus temperatures here are in the 90s, and I’m hearing it going to be over 100 for the next couple of days. The kids appear to be still out of school out here. Not too far down US 12, our road pulls away from the south bank of the Snake. There are no roads that follow the river closely here. We lose sight of the river in the distance.

About 30 minutes west of Clarkston we came to a rest area where you can read more about the Lewis and Clark expedition. We discovered that we are following the path of their return trip which was in 1806. The Snake is about ten miles north, and there are no roads that follow it closely on either side of the river.

At the rest area, they quoted a journal entry that said that this is where they broke camp on May 4, 1806, a cold and disagreeable morning. We are high on a summit and the wind is blowing furiously through here. No wonder they got so cold. Not a tree in sight, but I have no idea if there were trees then or not. noticed that this had rich soil here, that is was fertile with a dark rich loam.

The expedition noticed that this area had rich soil, that is was fertile with a dark rich loam. Today, this is one of the worlds most productive agricultural regions where farmers grow wheat, dried peas and lentils, barley, and other crops. In every direction, we can see the planted ground to the horizon. It is really quite beautiful.

By the way, the expedition also found great quantities of Quamash a root which the natives used. The expedition used it themselves to make their own food.

Between Clarkston and Walla Walla, we took a side trip up to Palouse Falls State Park. It is a beautiful 20-minute 20 miles drive north from Highway 12. It was especially scenic crossing the Snake River again.

The falls are beautiful. They flow quite nicely even though it is August. We hiked for a while. We also took a picnic snack with a small bottle of wine and just sat at some picnic tables and watched the falls for a while. It seems dry and very hot in the sun, but as soon as you get into the shade, it becomes very comfortable. You know you’re no longer stressed when you just sit there and count the number of cows on the hills in the distance around the falls. The count was always changing because the cattle walked behind bushes appearing and reappearing. They were few but hard to count.

The drive on into Walla Walla was quite scenic. It included mile after mile and hill after hill of wheat fields. The hills were rather high though not mountains, and they had crops of wheat all the way up on top of those hills. It was truly like the song “with amber waves of grain.”

It was like this all the way into Walla Walla, even though Walla Walla is well known for its wineries and tasting rooms.The wineries are sporadically placed throughout these hills.

A town that we especially liked on US 12 was called Dayton, Washington, a quaint little town with all kinds of small shops and a good Best Western Plus. I think if we had known about this we might have stopped here and spent the night, but we have reservations in Walla Walla.

We got some bad advice I believe about Walla Walla, Washington. We did like it. It was a beautiful small city with a wonderful downtown area that was great for taking a walk at night. It reminded me of Thomasville, Georgia.

Also our hotel The Marcus Whitman was very special. It is in an old building and is one of the oldest hotels in the area. They have done a major renovation, and it’s very elegant and very nice. The rate for the night was a very low $129, a bargain for what we got.

The wrong information though was about the drive in and the tasting rooms and the restaurant where we ate. I feel certain we got the wrong restaurant because the Seven Hills tasting room was supposed to be across the street, and it was definitely not there. Also, the restaurant was very expensive. There was a story online about it being very very reasonable. Chuck just wondered if maybe it was reasonable to the people out here. We found this part of the west, especially later in Oregon to be more expensive all around.

Having said that though the food was very good. It was called the Olive Café. We both liked Walla Walla,, and we wished we had gone to one of the tasting rooms before dinner, but it was late and we were starving.

Great Florida Cattle Drive Redux

February 13, 2017 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Following Old Trails, Great Florida Cattle Drive 2016

Beginning tomorrow I will repost each day’s journey on the 2016 Great Florida Cattle Drive. Chuck and I participated in it one year ago, and now they made a documentary film about the event.

On Thursday evening February 23rd, WFSU in Tallahassee along with other public television stations will air this one-hour documentary entitled “The Great Florida Cattle Drive 2016”, a film by Elam and Nic Stoltzfus and their production company Live Oak Production Group.
The film is about the reenactment of an 1850 Florida Cattle Drive, which was held last year in central Florida. Five hundred men and women spent a week-long journey herding cattle across central Florida, a 50-mile drive. Many were in period costumes, including myself.

Chuck and I were part of that group, and I blogged daily about our experiences–the good, the bad, and the down right ugly. It was the trip of a lifetime.
The blog posts begin tomorrow with the first post about training for the drive, when Chuck and I initially decided to participate. The entire series runs daily leading up to the film on February 23rd. Each post appears daily on my Facebook page.
If you have not signed up to receive notices from my Facebook page, entitled Old Age Is Not For Sissies Blog, please make sure you do so today. I cannot rerun the series directly from the blog, so there will be no emailed notices. So please “Like” my Facebook page. You can use this link to go directly to my Facebook page.
Come join me daily and enjoy the ride. It was a wild one to say the least, and I enjoyed sharing it.

Following Old Trails: The Trail to Tallahassee

October 17, 2016 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Following Old Trails, Genealogy, Palmetto Pioneers, Travel

In an earlier post Chuck and I followed some old trails and roads which we felt the Walker families may have used when they migrated to Florida from South Carolina in the late 1820s. If you remember, our daylight ran out around Milledgeville, Georgia; and I said that I would continue the trip in a later post.

Well, this is it–a later post and a continuation of their and our journeys from Milledgeville on down into Florida. We recently made this trip; but they traveled it about 1828, almost 200 years ago. I need to stress, though, that I’m less certain of the route they took, as you’ll see later.

After the family left Fort Hawkins, which was the old fort south of Milledgeville that set on the eastern edge of the wilderness, they followed the Lower Creek Trading Path.

As mentioned earlier Milledgeville was the Capitol of Georgia in the 1820s and it also set on the Fall Line Rd. Well, the Lower Creek Trading Path was essentially an extension of the fall line road that led on through Georgia to Alabama and Mississippi. The Path was also known as the Old Horse Path and was used by the Carolina traders before the foundation of Georgia.

The wilderness west of Fort Wilkinson belonged to the Creek Nation until the Fort Wilkinson Treaty of 1826. This treaty opened the wilderness to migrating settlers; and by the time the Walkers traveled this route in 1828, it had only been opened two years. Most of the roads in the wilderness were widened Indian paths, except for the Lower Creek Trading Path.

This route was not as primitive as one might imagine, because it had been opened earlier as a postal route leading to New Orleans. The Creek Nation allowed our postal carriers to use this path, and our government widened it and made it easier for travel.

This road on its way to New Orleans crossed the Chattahoochee River nine miles south of Columbus, Georgia. State historical markers in Chattahoochee, Marion, and Taylor Counties today show the route through those counties.

The road was previously very well traveled by the Indians of that area, who initially used it as a trading path. As mentioned earlier our government negotiated for our postal service to use the path; and years later during the War of 1812, it became, under another treaty, a military road. General Andrew Jackson and his army needed a faster route to get to New Orleans so they could ‘fire their guns cause the British kept a comin’.

This Lower Creek Indian Path is also called the Federal Road and follows SR 112 south out of Milledgeville, and we can safely say it follows this path to Ft. Wilkinson. While I’m fairly certain how to follow the lower path of the Lower Indian Path/Old Federal Road out of Milledgeville as far as Ft. Wilkinson, I’m a little uncertain about where the Old Federal Road went from there. But I believe it followed the fall line.

There are different theories though as to where the road went from this fort. One theory is that it wandered south and west through Toomsboro towards Hawkinsville. This is also called the Vinson Highway, but Hawkinsville seems too far south of the Chattahoochee crossing mentioned earlier. Also, this road does not followed the fall line.

The other theory is that it followed the fall line on into Alabama and Mississippi. This one seems more correct. The next rivers over are the Ocmulgee in Macon and the Flint River on the western side of Crawford County. If you draw a line between these points and the fall line on the Chattahoochee below Columbus, the Old Federal Highway mostly follows US 80. I feel more certain that this is the Old Federal Road/Postal Horse Path.

More About Ft. Wilkinson

South of Milledgeville on SR 112 is a marker that says that 300 yards east of the here is where Ft, Wilkinson stood. This fort, built in 1797 on Georgia’s Indian boundary, was an early trading house, where the Creek’s were supplied under the Treaty of New York of 1790. It is also where the 1802 treaty was signed when the Creek’s ceded the land westward to Commissioner’s Creek.

There are also documents showing that this is the fort where the soldiers stayed when they widened and built the Lower Indian Path into the Federal Road.

In 1897 the Ft. Wilkinson garrison moved to Ft. Hawkins near the Ocmulgee River fall line, near present day Macon. Macon grew up around this fort. I believe this move is why it is so hard to follow the Federal Road, as the beginning of the Federal Road comes from two locations–the earlier one was Ft. Wilkinson south of Milledgeville and the later one was Ft. Hawkins near Macon.

So we first followed SR 112 past the site of Ft. Wilkinson until we came to a problem. We found that there is one section of the road where it does not follow SR 112. When SR 112 gets to US 23 northeast of Hawkinsville, the road here follows Coley Station Rd, which later becomes the Old Milledgeville Rd. After which it intersects with Alternate US 129 which goes southwest into Hawkinsville. This is a pretty drive, not as developed as the SR 112 route which bypasses this.

Another reason I believe SR 112 may have been built on an old road, not necessarily the Old Federal Rd., is because of a document that named several cities that were built on on it. This document actually calls this road the Old Federal Road, too. Actually, there are at least three Old Federal Roads in Georgia, one north of Atlanta, also, which was once an old Cherokee trading Path.

But documents said that this Federal Road went through cities such as Ashburne, Rochelle and Toombsboro, etc. If you look at the road that runs directly between these cities, it is State Road 112. But my question is where did this Federal Road stop and a possible new route opened for the new settlers moving into this area immediately after the 1826 treaty. If it was SR 112, when did this road open. I have no idea.

My problem now is how far did this old road follow SR 112. SR 112 pretty much will take you all the way to Cairo, GA which is where I can definitively say one can follow the Lower Hawthorne Trail, which will be explained later. Since I have no idea when this road opened, I decide that the other theory has more believability.

The Second Theory

It is said in several documents that the Lower Indian Path/Old Federal Road crossed the Flint River near the Old Indian Agency Headquarters in Crawford County. The Indian Agent Benjamin Hawkins lived here, and his burial site is by the river on the west side of Crawford County. His home and the community that grew up around it was called Traveler’s Rest. So we have a good idea where this was.

If you look at a map, SR 112 goes in the wrong direction to intersect with this point. On face value SR 112 is not the path I’m looking for, unless it was blazed directly down from the old path south of Ft. Wilkinson. It does look like a good option, but again I believe it is wrong.

A better road was probably the one that came directly down from Traveler’s Rest and which Old US 19 was built upon. Old US 19 was changed over the years, and you can find its roadbed as SR 3 in most places now. I believe SR 3 beginning in Baconton, GA was where Hawthorne blazed his new trail.

What was the Old Federal Road Like?

By the time the Walker families traveled the Old Federal Road in 1828, the road was no more than 16 feet wide. It was widened in 1811 by the military to make it sufficient for moving supply wagons, cannons, and men on horse and foot. in other words it was a military road. The Walkers spent weeks traveling this road and they camped on land beside it.

Its swamps and streams were causewayed and bridged. Stumps were ordered not to exceed 6 inches above the ground and to be pared around the edges. The settlers through their journals and diaries said that often the road climbed sandy ridges and rambled.

The vegetation removed from the surface of the sandy loam soils caused the road to erode rapidly, especially on the sloped up and down grades. The pressure of the horses’ hooves and the iron bands of the wagons wheels disturbed the soil even more. They said that gullies formed everywhere. It was rough going.

The Old Hawthorne Trail

Some documents say that the Old Hawthorne Trail ran from Columbus all the way down to St. Marks, Florida, which is a riverport near the Gulf below Tallahassee. Some say that the road crossed the Flint River at Traveler’s Rest in Crawford County, Georgia. Almost all agree that it had been a Stagecoach Road.

And I found where a Stagecoach road existed that ran south down from Albany. I began thinking this was the road that may have been a part of the Hawthorne Trail since this is the location where I lost the trail when traveling north on the lower part of the Hawthorn Trail.

It is said that William Hawthorne blazed the road in 1818. The Walkers didn’t use it until 1828, a decade later. Many great and distinguished men traveled this old road, and it probably was used by Gen. Jackson while he was governor of Territorial Florida when going to and from The Hermitage, his home near Nashville, Tennessee. And this may be why they thought it went all the way to Columbus. He came down from Nashville which was north and west and then turned east using the Old Federal Road until he got to Traveler’s Rest.

My problem finding the Old Hawthorne Trail begins with a document that says that the old trail went south from Baconton. For a while I thought this was old US 19 which is now SR 3.

There is a problem here in Baconton, Georgia, though, because Baconton did not exist when the Walkers came through in 1827-28. It wasn’t established until 1866.

Instead, there was a little community east of Baconton on SR 93 which was called Gum Pond. It was a town then, and it sits on the Florida Stagecoach Road that ran from Albany to Thomasville through Camilla. I wonder if this is where the Hawthorne Trail runs south, not in the current downtown of Baconton. This area has the address of Baconton today, and this may be why folks thought that it pulled off from Baconton. This old Stagecoach Road runs parallel to SR 3 about three miles to the east.

Also, State Road 112 coming down from Milledgeville through Sylvester intersects with The Old Stage Coach Rd. at Greenough just a little south of where Gum Pond was located. One can then take SR 112 all the way down to Cairo from here.

In Cairo is where there are signs that mark the Old Hawthorne Trail. These Hawthorne Trail signs run west of the city. These street signs call it the Upper Hawthorne Trail which run southeast into Cairo.

Here the Upper Hawthorne roadbed is clay, reminiscent of the country music which romanticize red clay roads.

This road runs through pine forests and cornfields before crossing US 84 which runs from Bainbridge to Thomasville through Cairo.

On the north side of US 84, though, we spotted an old cemetery, the oldest one we’ve seen here. We walked through it, and I found a grave with a date of death of 1841. In graveyards this old, there are always unmarked earlier graves. Many graves in this area are unmarked because the Indians would dig bodies up. It was part of warfare to give one’s enemy a bad death.

This cemetery could be old enough to have been here in 1828, when the Walkers came to Florida. This road forks left off of SR 112 which runs up through Camilla and intersects the Old Stage Coach Rd. just a few miles south of Gum Pond. So this is where we know the Old Hawthorne Trail existed.

For the first time today while on this old clay road I can really imagine what it might of been like as the family moved along through this area. Mostly these are just farms and forests through here now. It’s a good road but I wouldn’t want to be here when it rains.

But north of this point between SR 112 in Greenough and here, I really have no idea if this is the trail. Poor Chuck. He’s driving and I’m directing first up this road and then down that road. He finally points out that he’s beginning to feel like Hoke in ” Driving Miss Daisy.”

As you get farther south, though, toward the Florida line, the Old Hawthorne Trail is marked both on maps and by signage on the highways. We followed it through Lower South Georgia south of Cairo. It is a pretty little two-laned grey asphalt road, canopied by trees in some areas.

You can find it on the maps south out of Cairo on State Road 111, which is also marked as the Lower Hawthorne Trail.
You’ll find where the Lower Hawthorne Trail pulls off of SR 111 way south of Cairo on your left. It becomes County Road 157A here.

This road is surrounded by farmland and is wooded in the lower areas. When you get to the end of 157A there is a street sign that says Concord Rd. If you follow this road, it dead ends in Florida.

We turned right on Concord Rd. and over our shoulder noticed a sign that said Lower Hawthorne Trail with an arrow pointing back down towards the Concord Road. This is very helpful as it tells us that the historians believe that 157A or the Concord Road is also a part of the Old Lower Hawthorne Trail. Georgia has marked it side of the trail, but not Florida.

The Concord Rd. (Old Lower Hawthorne Trail) came down to about a mile east of Concord, Florida on State Road 12. To find current day Concord, we turned west on SR 12 and drove to the little intersection with its little service station. This is modern day Concord, and I believe the Old Bainbridge Road leading down to Tallahassee may also be part of the Old Lower Hawthorne Trail, but again I’m not sure, though some documents say it went all the way to St. Marks, Florida on the Gulf coast.

So it is my best guess that the family followed the Old Federal Road, which follows the fall line, out of Milledgeville. At Traveler’s Rest they turned south on a trail that later became Old US 19 until they traveled through Gum Pond and met up with the Hawthorne Trail which I believe began in or around Greenough, Georgia. At least that is how I plan to write it in my book, adding all the research used to come to this conclusion.

But I’m not quite ready to begin writing. I think I want to make one more road trip on this route to stop in at some key libraries just to test my theory one last time. Besides I get the chance to follow this old trail again. And I love that as much as I love a good road trip.

Day 7 on the California Trail: Arriving at Sutter’s Fort

September 2, 2016 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Following Old Trails, Travel

Sutter’s Fort where Sacrememto now sits was the destination that all of the earlier California Trail settlers sought until about 1849. Notice the significance of that date? 1849 in California meant only one thing–GOLD! Besides. What else would they have named their football team?

Sutter’s Fort today sits in the heart of midtown Sacramento. You can see a full scale replica of it which takes up an entire city block. The replica is built around Sutter’s main building which still stands. This main building was his office and living quarters. It was two stories. Outside the fort were corrals, other outbuildings, and dwellings.

Back in the 1840s this was all in the wilderness, and the fort became a place of respite for the journeying settlers who had just crossed the mountains. Mr. Sutter had quite an operation here.
The fort was built before the US purchased California. He employed both the area’s Indians and Hawaiians to build it. He had traveled extensively before coming here and brought the Hawaiians with him. The fort set very near the American River.
There were several rooms where the settlers’ and their families were allowed to stay until they were able to get their own properties settled. There was a blacksmith shop, a trading store, a gunsmith shop, a blanket factory, a jail, a carpenter’s shop, a cooperage (where barrels were made), a weavers’ room, and a grist mill. It was a very self-sufficient fort.

Sutter was a generous man. He sent out one of the rescue parties along with supplies to find and help the Donner party, who had been snowed in in the mountains by one of the worst snow falls on record. A doll that belonged to one of the surviving Donner children is on display at the fort.
Sutter grew beans, wheat, barley, and peas. He fur traded, and he had a distillery too. He also raised livestock, and later he partnered with a man by the name of Marshall to build a sawmill about 40 miles up the American River.

Sutter’s Mill

The sawmill, though, changed Sutter’s life forever; because while Marshall was having the tail race for the sawmill dug, he noticed something flashing in the sun. It was gold, and Mr. Sutter’s operation at the fort came to a screeching halt. Overnight, all his employees quit and became gold seekers.

Sutter & Marshall’s Sawmill (Replica)

And they all lived and worked in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, miles away from the fort. Too far away. His businesses ceased to exist.
We drove east out to the site where his sawmill was located at the edge of the Sierra Nevadas. It is a state park now. We enjoyed seeing where all of this took place.

There’s Gold in Them hills!
When Sutter’s partner James Marshall found the gold, he brought it back to Sutter’s Fort. They did a simple test and found it was indeed gold. They tried to keep it a secret, but one of the sawmill employees tried to sell a piece of it, and the word spread like wildfire. This caused the 1849 Gold Rush.
But there is an inside story to this that I read in a book called “Green Russell and Gold” by E. Spencer and B. Mead. It said, “It was a former Georgia woman, Mrs. Peter Wimmer, who in the year 1848 spread reports back home (to Georgia) of gold in California. Her husband was working for Captain Sutter and she was cooking for his crew at the time James Marshall turned up the first particles of gold in Sutter’s mill race. Marshall and Captain Sutter tried to keep the find a secret, but news of that sort soon leaks out. Nor was Mrs. Wimmer one to withhold such information, especially when she saw the men pour vinegar on a shining substance, and test it by boiling in her soap kettle….”
She sent word back to north Georgia, where the Russell Brothers and Solomon Roe lived. Solomon Roe is my 4th great grandfather, and one of the Russell brothers was his brother in law.
So we drove out from Sacremento about forty miles to the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park. This is where Sutter’s partner James W. Marshall saw something glittering in the water.

The Site of the Gold Discovery

Here in 1848 he found gold in the stream bed, and it set off one of history’s largest human migrations. You cannot talk about the California Trail without talking about the California Gold Rush, which started right here.
I believe that my GGGG Grandfather Solomon Roe traveled here for this gold rush. I’ve written about him before. The Roe family is entwined with the Russell family. Solomon Roe’s sister Mary was married to Levi Russell, one of three Russell brothers who would become famous during the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush later.
The Russell family was involved in the North Carolina Gold Rush in the early 1800s. I have not researched whether the Roe’s were too. Both the Russell and Roe families moved to the Georgia Gold Rush by 1832 and were involved in the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush in the late 1850s. I have direct evidence that Solomon Roe was a part of both the Georgia and Pike’s Peak gold rushes.
I know the Russell brothers went to the California Gold Rush, too. There is evidence that the Russell brothers took a party of men from Georgia to these gold fields. I believe Solomon was one of them, as his sister was already married to Levi Russell by that time. So I have a reason why I’m so interested in the California Trail and in this site.
Since the Russell party did not get here until at least August of 1849 or later, I believe this is where they came first–to where the first gold was discovered. I don’t believe they went to the fort first, but they may have gone there later.
They did well in the gold rush, and I know that Green Russell went back to Georgia via the American River, San Francisco, Panama, and New Orleans–mostly a water route. He did this by ship and then came back with another party of Georgia men to California, again by trail.
When gold was discovered, California was nothing more than backwater and wilderness. Nine days after the discovery of gold and after the Mexican-American War, the US was granted California as part of a treaty. Neither Mexico’s or the American government knew anything about the gold.
Only a few hundred American settlers had found their way to California by this time, but the Gold Rush changed everything. By 1852 California’s population ballooned to over 200,000 people.
The gold made California what it is today, only much quicker. California is the only state in the west that was never a territory. It went straight to being a state. The transcontinental railroad was built because it was important that California be tied to the east as quickly as possible.
Today the Gold Discovery park has tree-lined paths so visitors can visit a full-size replica of Sutter’s sawmill and several buildings that once were part of historic Coloma, the town that grew up around the mill. One can pan for gold with hands but only in designated areas. One can step to the edge of the river to the exact place where he found the gold. There is also a gold discovery museum on site.
Chuck and I walked down to the South Fork of the American River to the exact site where the tail race was dug and gold was found. I know that the Russell Party came right here, because that is what they did when they were trying to figure out where the gold washed down from. They were seasoned veterans at this. It was good to stand again where Solomon Roe ‘may’ have once stood.

Day 4 on the California Trail – A Deadly Desert to Cross

September 1, 2016 by oldageisnotforsissies54 Filed Under: Following Old Trails, Travel

We started our day continuing to travel west toward Reno. I look forward to seeing what the Humboldt Sinks look like, but we’re not sure we can find a road nearby. I do know that the settlers followed the Humboldt River until it ran out. Then they stopped to camp to get ready to cross the 40-Mile Desert.

The countryside began to change. The vegetation became even more sporadic.

We passed where the Humboldt sinks show up on the map just south of the interstate, but we cannot see a thing. What we do see, though, looks like desert–like white sand Sahara-like desert without the dunes though.

Before we got to the desert as shown on the map, though, we left the interstate and traveled south where US 95 leaves the going southwest toward Fallon, Nevada. We plan to follow the Carson Cutoff. Within a mile of the interstate there was a sign showing where the Truckee Cutoff crossed. This is the cutoff which took emigrants into central California.

Just a few more miles farther down the road we passed where the Carson Route crossed, too. Other settlers used this cutoff to go farther south into California. Both cutoffs crossed the 40 Mile Desert, an alkali desert. We’ll cross it using US 95, though, which most closely follows the Carson Route.

We stopped, and I walked out on the Truckee Route to take a picture of some tracks through the sand. I have no idea if they are part of the original tracks and frankly I doubt they are.

The Truckee Route (or cutoff) was later the route that the Central Pacific Railroad used when they laid tracks east toward Promontory Point. We crossed the railroad tracks several hundred feet before we got to the Truckee sign. We will return from California in a few days using the Truckee Route, but today we are following the Carson Route.

The 40-Mile Desert was the most dreaded portion of the entire California Trail. The emigrants would try to time it so that they began to cross the desert starting late in the afternoon. Then they would cross all night long–resting in the day and crossing at night, because of the extreme heat, until they got to the foot of the Sierra Nevadas.

There was also a great loss of animals during this section of the trail. There was no water for the entire 40 miles. In 1850 a survey was done that found 1,061 mules dead, almost 5000 horses succumbed, and 3,750 head of cattle, too. Also, 954 graves were found. It was a tremendous loss of both lives and property in this 40-mile section of the California Trail.

I stepped out on the surface of the desert here, and it was crunchy under my feet. It seemed a little uncertain as if my shoe was falling through a crust but it only went for a half an inch or so.

As we crossed the 40 Mile Desert, we realized we were hungry. It is after 1 PM, and there is no place to stop to eat. It only took a little while to cross but the monotony is starting to wear on us. It took us about 35 minutes to cross, but it took the settlers several days.

Just north of Fallon the vegetation began to change noticeably. It was beginning to look like it did just before Humboldt Sink.

We finally arrived in Fallon, Nevada and found a great little restaurant called The Courtyard Café. We had what I think was the best tomato quiche ever. It was yummy. I have to admit, though, that my mind wandered to what the settlers experienced in relation to our own crossing. Of course, there is no comparison.

After lunch, we took US 50 west out of Fallon all the way into California. This road continued on the Carson cutoff, following the Carson River, which means the emigrants continued to follow water. This is still desert country, but hillier.
We took this route because we wanted to follow it a little south of Lake Tahoe just like the settlers and then go on down to Yosemite National Park. I’ve never seen the Lake Tahoe or Yosemite, though Chuck has. He and a college buddy spent a month the summer they graduated touring the country, so he hasn’t seen it in a long time.

But on our way to California we passed within ten miles of Virginia City, Nevada, an old Western town made famous by its silver strike and the television series “Bonanza”. Remember the burning map at the beginning of the tv show? You can see the Ponderosa, their ranch, which goes to the shores of Lake Tahoe; and there is Virginia City and Carson City in the distance on the same map. I remembered all of this from watching “Bonanza” as a girl. I had a huge crush on Little Joe, so you never know from where a kid gets their history lessons.

So we drove on into Virginia City, which is just off of US 50 about ten miles down Six Mile Canyon Rd. This drive itself is absolutely beautiful.

Virginia City is where the richest silver deposit discovery in American was made. It is where they mined over $400 million in silver. It became the richest city in America for a short time, and over 25,000 people lived there. It is where the comstock load was.

Today, it is a Victorian-era town with wooden boardwalks for sidewalks, old west saloons, shops, museums and restaurants. We stopped to have a drink in one of the saloons, and they made a perfect mojito. After seeing Deadwood a few years ago, I was impressed. They let the town remain a little western town, instead of making it a gambling resort.

We could have even taken the railroad steam engine to see the surrounding high desert, but we needed to get back on the road. We passed, but it would have been a great little ride.

We drove through Carson City, and we were still on the California Trail. The trail went south of Lake Tahoe. It was easier to cross the Sierra Nevada’s area here for the settlers, so we did the same.

We are quickly in the mountains and the arid conditions continue at first with the pale green sagebrush growing up on the side of the mountains. But we did notice that it was a little greener than before. And then all of a sudden we started seeing trees. Real trees.

These are probably lodgepole pines, and don’t you know the immigrants were so happy to see these trees. They saw no shade for probably over several hundred miles. We were happy to see the trees, too.

As we climbed from the valley floor and farther into the Sierra Nevadas, we entered alpine forests including cedar and aspens. The vistas are breathtaking especially as we climbed along the rim of beautiful Lake Tahoe.

I am reminded of something that happened to me when I worked at Game and Fish in Florida. We were taking a legislator to see several lakes that needed to be cleaned up of muck. This legislator who grew up in the northeast quickly approved of what we were doing and said, “This is great. I want to see everyone of them as pristine as Lake Tahoe.”

The fisheries biologist and I both got tickled, because comparing any Florida lake to Lake Tahoe is like comparing apples and oranges. Our lakes are shallow, warm and nutrient rich, while Tahoe is deep, cold, and nutrient deficient.

But today, I know what that legislator was trying to say. Lake Tahoe is a truly a gem. It is beautiful.

Spring came and Lewis and Clark headed home. Follow along as we travel a different road on the other side of the Columbia River, where many of their north shore camps were located.

Lewis and Clark on November 7th in 1805 finally make it all the way to the Pacific Ocean, but winter strikes right away even before they have a chance to build a winter fort.

Can you imagine what Lewis and Clark thought about the awesome majesty of the Columbia River Gorge?

You know, it was the first truly great American adventure–the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The entire nation watched them leave and waited for their return, a nation that was less than 30 years old.

In one of the longest portages ever Lewis and Clark stumbled out of the mountains in search of another water route and found the Clearwater River.

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