GOLD SEEKERS

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Louisa county furnished her full share of gold seekers in 1849 and '850. To those of us who are living now it is hard to realize what these men must have put up with and suffered in making the trip across the country over the alkali desert with ox teams and on foot. People who travel a great deal now on the finest trains that cross the continent, find it a tiresome and disagreeable journey over that desolate country between Denver and Salt Lake, and in those days there were no conveniences of travel, and to be ever on the alert for the hostile Indians,—it certainly required courage to undertake such a trip. Quite a number went from Wapello, Columbus City and Morning Sun and other parts of the county and quite a few of these died on the road. Some of our county officers resigned their positions to go in search of the yellow metal. Among them we note Aaron Hurley, county surveyor, and James McKay, county clerk. Mr. McKay was taken sick with the cholera and died on the way there.

A. J. Kirkpatrick in a letter to one of the newspapers described the dust and drouth that he encountered on the way out there and says: "That not less than 4,000 people died of cholera on the Platte river alone."

Joseph L. Derbin, afterwards County Judge, wrote to Mr. Isett in September, 1850, and the letter was published in the Wapello Times. We make some extracts from his letter:

"The Louisa county boys are so scattered that I cannot give much account of them; those that I have any knowledge of are W. H. R. Thomas and his boys are at Cold Springs; C. M. McDaniel and boys, Cold Springs; Dr. Howey and boys, Cold Springs; Johnson and boys at the Rough and Ready diggins sixty miles north of here. S. Pitt, Webberville, fifty miles from here; Louis Kinsey sits at my right hand. Charles Vandervort and William Crow, with Pelton are at Cold Springs. Black Wess is at Hangtown; Wygant and boys, Kuntz and boys and Hamilton boys are at Cold Springs. Messrs. Drake and Hurley and boys with Trask have gone to Feather river about seventy miles north from here. T. Hayes & Co., T. Thompson, David Gregory, and John Bevins and boys are on American river. Wheelock, is near Webberville, sick with typhoid fever, but at last accounts was in a fair way to recover. James Warnstaff, Lucket and Fitch are here in the city. George Keever died a few days ago at Hangtown. John Studdard and L. Robinson are teaming to the mines. M. B. Robinson, Henry May, Mintun's boys, Shuck's boys and A. Thompson are at Cold Springs. Tite is in the city. Stevens and boys are at Hangtown. John Donahoo, is in my camp sick in charge of A. Paschall and is getting better. G. Jones and brothers have gone to Carson Valley to buy stock. Zebina and Francis Williams past through here a short time ago, they sold out to Kirkpatrick and have gone to Oregon, but think they will be back in the Fall."

The above letter is dated at Sacramento.

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