OHIO STATE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL
SOCIETY
REVIEWS, NOTES AND COMMENTS
BY THE EDITOR
OVERLAND TO CALIFORNIA
LETTER FROM AN OHIO "ARGONAUT"
We are indebted to Professor E. F.
Warner of Belle-
vue, long the superintendent of schools
of that city and
later with the State Department of
Public Instruction,
for an interesting letter, written by
his uncle, in 1853,
when the exodus to California was still
at its height. It
is here published for the first time.
Professor Warner writes us that
"this Ohio Argo-
naut, William Warner, was born near
Navarre. As a
temporary resident of Huntington,
Indiana, his journey
begins there. The mother to whom the
letter was writ-
ten is buried at Massillon. General
Orlando M. Poe of
Civil War fame is a nephew."
Following is the letter from William
Warner:
Nevada City, Sept. 23, 1853.
DEAR MOTHER AND FRIENDS:
I presume you all have felt deeply
interested in my fate since
my departure for this far off land.
Well, after traveling six
months (lacking 8 days) I and my family
arrived in California,
safe and in good health, but we saw
many ups and downs before
we got here. I will give you a few
items of our journey.
My company consisted of six persons
besides my babe, four
men and two women, I. Ream, Jas. Eaton,
J. Whitestine and wife,
myself and family. Our team consisted
of four yoke of oxen,
three horses and one mule and two
wagons. We crossed the
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568 Ohio Arch and Hist. Society Publications
Missouri on the 17th day of May and
commenced our almost
endless journey. On that day Jerry
Whitestine complained of
being unwell and grew worse from day to
day. We got in com-
pany with a physician and traveled with
him for several days.
He administered to him but could not
help him. At last we were
obliged to stop traveling. Several
doctors stopped to see him,
but his disease was inflammation of the
stomach and bowels and
the poor fellow--his dying hour had
come. He bid us all good-
bye forever, and his spirit fled. He was
married on the 18th of
March; he took sick on the 17th of May
and died on the 17th
of June about five o'clock P. M. We made
him a coffin out of
one of our wagon beds that night and the
next day we buried him
on the banks of Castle River where it
empties into the Platte
River. After paying our humble respects
to the dead, we pro-
ceeded with one wagon on our journey.
Everything went very well for a while;
finally our oxen's feet
began to wear out. Two yoke became so
lame that they could
not travel, so I traded them off for two
mules. The man that I
traded with had other lame cattle and
intended stopping for two
or three weeks and letting them recruit.
I traveled on for sev-
eral days with two yoke of oxen, three
horses and three mules.
Finally one ox died and I then had just
an even number of each,
and in this way I traveled till I
arrived at the great Mormon city
at Salt Lake, which was about the 27th
of July. We remained
here about one week. We attended church
and heard a sermon
from Brigham Young and several of the
apostles. We also at-
tended theatre in Salt Lake City. They
open their theatres with
prayers and close them with a
benediction. The city is a beauti-
ful one. It is about three miles long
and two and one-half wide
and contains about 12,000 inhabitants.
Brigham Young has, as
near as I could ascertain, thirty-seven
wives and each of the
twelve apostles has from five to twelve
wives, just in proportion
to their pecuniary circumstances. A man
is allowed one wife for
every $1000 that he is worth. I was in
one of the apostles'
houses; after chatting awhile our
conversation turned upon their
having a plurality of wives. He wanted
to know if I had any
objections to it. He had seven wives and
twenty-three children
and appearances indicated an addition of
four or five more
shortly.
While at this city I sold one of my
horses for $70 and traded
my three oxen for a mule, swapped my
heavy wagon for a light
one. We hitched four mules to the wagon;
we sold off every un-
necessary article we had and took just
what provisions we thought
would do us through. We packed our tent
and some of our bag-
gage on my remaining two horses; thus equipped we
started for
History of Archaeological
Society 569
this land of gold. My wife and Mrs.
Whitestine drove the team,
while the two young men and myself took
it afoot the balance of
the way which is about 900 miles. Who
would have thought that
I could have endured such a journey
besides standing guard
every third night and sometimes I had stood guard four
succes-
sive nights?--but of all animals that
cross the plains man is
the toughest and can endure the most.
The latter end of our journey proved to
be the most inter-
esting. When within six days journey of
California we ran out
of provisions. We had nothing to eat but
a little dried fruit and
tea. We concluded to stop until we could
obtain something from
some of the emigrants as they passed along.
I tried all day in
vain; they all let on to be nearly in my
own condition (that is,
as they would say, short of provisions).
Night came and I for
the first time in my life, had want to
stare me in the face. How-
ever, after a little further inquiry, I found
a man who had a few
onions and potatoes. He was a trader
from California who had
gone east of the Nevada Mountains for
the purpose of buying
lame cattle from emigrants. He was out
of all kinds of pro-
visions but onions and potatoes. I
obtained a hat full of them
for $2.12
which sufficed for supper and breakfast.
The next day
one of the men shouldered his rifle and
went up the mountains
in pursuit of game and I placed myself
on the roadside and re-
newed my energies to buy something to
eat. Finally I succeeded
in obtaining 25 lbs. of flour for which
I paid $12.50. My man
returned from his hunting expedition
without success.
The next day we resumed our journey.
After traveling three
days our meal bag again had the
consumption and we were once
more out of provisions. We concluded
that we could drive all
night and crowd our team, so we
overhauled our load and threw
away everything only what we had on our
backs, in order to
lighten our load, after which we started
expecting to eat our
next meal in California. When night came
we overtook an emi-
grant who spared us from his scanty
supply a few pounds of hard
bread at 50c per pound--in addition to
this I killed two sage hens.
As the night was cold and stormy, we
concluded to camp for the
night, and let each day provide for
itself--we made out enough
for supper and breakfast--two days hard
driving over the worst
road ever traveled by man would bring us
to this place-the only
place we were certain of obtaining food.
The next morning we
were again on our winding way through
and over mountains.
When night came we were minus the
wherewithal to satisfy hun-
ger--when lo! and behold!! we discovered
at a short distance
from us an old She Bear with three
cubs--drinking at a brook.
We snatched our rifles and commenced an
attack. After a short
570 Ohio Arch. and' Hist.
Society Publications
battle of ten or fifteen minutes we had
the old bear stretched
out before us--she was ours, but the
cubs made good their escape.
By and by a man came along and I
exchanged some bear meat
for flour. You better believe we were at
home. That night we
had a supper--such a one as people in
this country seldom sit
down to. We had bear meat roasted; we
had some fried and had
some boiled--besides fried liver and
sundry pieces of meat that
we stuck on sharp sticks and roasted
before the fire. We also
had biscuits, slap jacks and stewed
fruit--together with tea and
many other articles which we had not.
Two days from this
we landed in Nevada City where we are
all well and have plenty
to eat, wear and drink.
A trip across the plains is a hard one,
but nothing short of a
trip would have satisfied me. I am now
across and am perfectly
satisfied. I found a man here with whom
I was acquainted in
Indiana, who has just completed a new
frame house. He invited
me to move into it until he could bring
his family from the States.
I accepted his offer and am comfortably
situated. Perhaps I may
open a boarding house this winter; if
not, I will try my hand at
mining. My wife says if she continues to
like California as well
as she does at this time, she will never
want to return to the
States to live. My babe is growing fine.
It is, I think, the largest
child I ever saw of its age. It is now
sixteen months old and is
as large as children that are three
years old; it is beginning to talk.
Many times when we were traveling, it
would run along after
the wagon for a mile at a time without
the assistance of anyone.
It has nearly all of its teeth and is a
perfect specimen of health.
When I started from home it was quite
sick. A Methodist
preacher advised me to get a coffin made
and take it along, for
said he, that child will never live to
see California. A few days
after I left Huntington, our babe got
well and has been well ever
since.
There was very little sickness and but
few deaths on the plains
this summer. I did not see more than
twelve fresh graves on
the whole trip.
Miners are making great preparations for
mining this winter.
They cannot do much at this time in
consequence of the scarcity
of water. Those that have water are
making from $4 to $12 per
day. Provisions are cheap and plenty,
and there is not an article
you ever saw that is fit for men to eat,
but what can be had here.
I have been to the burying ground and
visited the resting place of
Heyman Allman. Peace be to him. A rude
clapboard is the
only monument erected to mark the spot
where he was laid; a
few tall pines wave over him, and the
wind as it whistles through
their tall boughs sounds a requiem to
his departed spirit. Ere
History of Archaeological
Society 571
long I shall honor his grave with a
better tombstone and write
an inscription upon it that will inform
the passerby who occupies
that lonely spot.
Give my respects to old Uncle Dan
Allman; tell him I should
be glad to hear from him. Accept of
these lines and remember a
Son, a Brother and his little family.
Goodbye Mother and Friends,
WILLIAM WARNER,
SARAH WARNER,
*ALICE WARNER (the babe).
PROSPECTIVE ENDOWMENT OF THE HAYES
HISTORICAL SOCIETY IN THE SPIEGEL
GROVE STATE PARK
EXCERPT FROM TRUST AGREEMENT
THIS AGREEMENT, made and entered into
this 14th day of
April, 1925, by and between MARY MILLER
HAYES, of
Spiegel Grove, Fremont, Ohio, Party of
the First Part, and THE
UNION TRUST COMPANY of Cleveland, Ohio,
Party of
the Second Part
WITNESSETH
WHEREAS, Rutherford B. Hayes, after the
termination of
his administration as President of the
United States, spent the
last twelve years of his life in active
association with many
charitable and philanthropic agencies of a military,
historical and
educational nature throughout the United
States and particularly
in association with such agencies and
interests in his native state
of Ohio, and especially with Ohio State
University at Columbus,
Western Reserve University at Cleveland,
Ohio Wesleyan Uni-
versity at Delaware, and his alma mater,
Kenyon College at
Gambier, and with the Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical
Society at Columbus, the Western Reserve
Historical Society at
Cleveland, The Firelands Pioneer and
Historical Society of Nor-
walk and the Maumee Valley Historical
Society of Toledo, serv-
ing as president or member of the Board
of Trustees of these
Ohio institutions, to commemorate which
facts it is deemed ap-
propriate to bring about the
organization of a historical society
to be known as the Hayes Historical
Society in Spiegel Grove,
Fremont, Ohio; and
WHEREAS, a tentative plan for the
organization of the
* Now Mrs Geo. W. Hunt of 1028 59th St.
Oakland, Calif.