MONDAY, APRIL 19. This morning is clear, bright and frosty. Bidding farewell to friends and Illinois, crossing at Quincy en route to California. Pitched our tents 5 miles from Quincy, Lewis Co. Friends & acquaintances camp with us, enlivening the scene & procrastinating the Long! Farewell! to the last moment.
    TUESDAY, APRIL 20. After passing [an] almost sleepless night, we are again on our winding way through mud and water one foot deep. Passing La Grange, we take the bluff. Here comes a lady on horseback. What! She is in pursuit of her husband. The rascal S---- Bram does not kiss wife & child after an absence of 17 hours, 30 min., 15 sec.
    WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21. A white frost, but clear. Everything is in a perfect rush. Children crying, horses fretting, men hurrying in all directions. Here the country is poor and broken, nothing but swamp water to drink. Very little attention is paid to agriculture or anything else of importance.
    THURSDAY, APRIL 22. Rough roads; our teams are tiring down. We propose stopping this afternoon at three o'clock, unyoke every animal and let them run at large. Supper is over now for the cattle & horses. 17 cattle & three horses are gone. The hunters have killed a venison; plenty of fresh meat and other luxuries of the woods.
    FRIDAY, APRIL 23. Knox Co. We have found all our cattle, but one cow & three horses are missing. We are now ready to start and are now bidding a long farewell to two of our friends that have accompanied us, Mr. Colvin & Bowles. Sand hill. It is raining hard. The men have just come up with horses and cow. Corn can be had at 40 cts. per bushel.
    SATURDAY, APRIL 24. Dark and lowering are the clouds, and Oh, what miserable road, stumps, mud holes, swamps, hills &c. Occasionally someone gets swamped, mired or stuck, as it is called. Then comes the tug of war. Now it begins to rain. O how it pours. We stop right in the muddy road, and here remain all night, getting wet.
    SUNDAY, APRIL 25. Schuyler Co. Sunday morning. Dark, foggy and dismal. We continue our journey notwithstanding it is the holy Sabbath. 11 o'clock the sun is coming forth in all his majestic splendor, making everything bright and beautiful. It seems to unite and harmonize our every thought [and] feelings and make us the admiring worshipers of the great giver of all good.
    TUESDAY, APRIL 27. We leave Lancaster this morning in the [omission]. Our company have separated in three divisions today, owing to some mistake in the roads. Bowles, Powell & co. go to the upper mill on Sheridan River. In crossing have got one of their wagons in the river, have wet and damaged many articles.
    WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28. Putnam Co. We are ready to start, but word from our Capt. ordering us to halt and wait for the rest of the company. He has sent a man to conduct them through to us, where we shall remain until they come. Herding our cattle in the swamps today. Corn 75 cts.
    THURSDAY, APRIL 29. Farewell to Missouri, spirit land of my mother, home of my childhood. I greet thee for the last time. Fare thee well. We are on our winding way once more. What a lovely country, hill after hill presented to view clothed in all the verdure of spring & her delicate little flowers of every hue, blue, white, yellow & pink greet us at every step.
    SATURDAY, MAY 1. May, bright, happy May. We greet you once more with heartfelt joy. We have again decamped, all are well. Very bad roads. As we advance today two of our wagons are broken. They are again repaired and we pursue our journey.
    SATURDAY, MAY 2. We leave 6 o'clock. It has rained incessantly this morning. All ready to start. I am sick. Mrs. Tait [Angelina Tate?] has again caused trouble in camp. They are now confronting her with some of her falsehoods. Or we will have to separate.
    MONDAY, MAY 3. All of our wagons, fourteen in number, are in one compound of mud and filth; on the bluff of the Fulton River after realizing one of the hardest thunder storms that I ever knew. I am just creeping forth for the first time today & oh, how wet and dismal it looks.
    TUESDAY, MAY 4. We are waterbound waiting for the river to fall. Nothing of importance occurring today excepting very bad weather. The same dull monotony reigns as usual.
    WEDNESDAY, MAY 5. We pass though Princeton today, a town of considerable importance in this part of the world. It contains two or three hundred inhabitants and is the largest town we have seen. Here we succeeded in getting 5 cts. worth of candy & 25 cts. of maple sugar, quite a treat in this company of 40 persons.
    THURSDAY, MAY 6. This morning is dark, cloudy and raining. They are all starting, but Mr. Butler he has not found his cattle yet. Two hours after the others have left Mr. [Martin A.] Britton has found the cattle and we proceed on our way, arriving at the ferry. Some trouble in crossing [in] consequence of our not arriving as soon as our company.
    FRIDAY, MAY 7. It is raining this morning and is very muddy. We met two of the bloomers at the river. We camp this evening in a swampy hollow. Nothing of importance occurring. Mrs. Tait, with a mind as changing as the wind, has adopted the bloomer dress.
    SATURDAY, MAY 8. Start early and pass the train. Our wagon takes the lead, of course, much to chagrin of some of the rest. Two more bloomers this morning, Mrs. Ballen & Miss Balbot. They are so tall they look very antic. We are crossing one of the most beautiful and majestic prairies that I ever have seen. After traveling a few hours we cannot see the timber.
    SUNDAY, MAY 9. Leaving this beautiful prairie, today we take the road through the timber and cross a very ugly creek. Bright day and all buoyed up with success & speedy arrival & unbounded wealth in California.
    SATURDAY, MAY 15. Sunday morning. Very cold and frosty, some freezing. Everything right, cattle and horses all found. Women all in a good humor. We start with freezing toes and fingers. Though cold dark & stormy we hope for better times but dare not anticipate.
    SUNDAY, MAY 16. It is all clear and bright, yet cold with frost; traveled six or eight miles. Called to a halt, quite an accident. Mrs. George's child has fallen out of the wagon and both wheels have passed over his body. Called a physician; some hopes are entertained of its recovery.
    WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15. The suffering poor are supplied by charity, or the starving cries of childhood and age would end in death. How trifling does man appear in supplying his daily wants.
    THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16. We have just bought 5 lbs. corn 1.00, rutabagas 15 cts., 1 squash 20 cts. lb. as the last eatables we expect to get in Yreka. Shall we starve then?
    FRIDAY, DECEMBER 17. Snow in flakes like tablespoons, 1 foot fell today, requiring all cautious ones to remove the same from the roofs. The 10 building [sic] has fallen or been crushed by the pressure of the snow.
    SATURDAY, DECEMBER 18. Hunting stock in snow 3 feet deep. Brush is their only subsistence; two have almost perished. Drive them out to Smith's ranch, buy some hay to feed them until the storm is over. Hay $100 per ton.
    SUNDAY, DECEMBER 19. Return home [from] Smith's ranch, wading the snow water till late at night. The sun shining the first since the storm. Loved wife is not quite alone in husband's absence. Wife would like to know who is the co., as she has forgotten.
    MONDAY, DECEMBER 20. Piles of snow! Yea, verily a week cannot supply the demand. Scores are leaving this breadless valley for Shasta City, and many get frosted in crossing the mountain, but none perish that we have heard of.
    TUESDAY, DECEMBER 21. Cousin Rollins returns from Rogue River Valley after an absence of 3 weeks. A garden home in prospect may it prove such to us pilgrims. But it does not.
    WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 22. Still falling flakes and frosty breath from zero. Why should silly mortals anticipate on the future when we are so little deserving the benefits at our Creator's hand.
    THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24. Hunting grass & game on Shasta River, finding neither, but feeling frosted feet. Thermometer zero. What a climate and country for the visionary.
    SATURDAY, DECEMBER 25. Breakfast on squash, as usual. Killed the ox for Wilson so that [on] Christmas [we] might eat meat. $200 cake severed. Wife enjoys Christmas with jolly friend & feast the appetite & spirits.
    SUNDAY, DECEMBER 26. Return to social supper with friends Mrs. Hathaway, [Yreka Postmaster John] Lintell, Rollins, an epicureal feast to all, not anticipating coffee, bread, pies &c. at wife's house from contribution.
    MONDAY, DECEMBER 27. The luminary of day has condescended occasionally to show his face, it having been hid in a mantle of clouds most of the time for two weeks.
    TUESDAY, DECEMBER 28. Thaw approaching. How anxiously are thousands of people with no bread, but few potatoes, meat or wood, also vast herds of beasts, longing for the snow & chilling frost to disappear.
    WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 29. Growing warm & rainy. What a contrast do the wheels of time unroll to our view, compared with our home in Illinois one year since.
    THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30. An appearance of a pleasant day for hunting. After climbing Deadwood trail with Cousin, we throw our weary limbs on the ground for a snooze.
    FRIDAY, DECEMBER 31. Changeable wind, rain, sleet. Return to our home. A deer hunt indeed. All safe but the broken window. An invitation to a party at Mr. Kendall's, but do not go as Deary is too tired to leave home.

    THURSDAY, JANUARY 1. I could wish all my friends a happy New Year's and a larger share of success, joy and happiness than they have realized any previous year. But when I hear the incessant patterings of the rain and see the dark and lowering clouds I cannot but anticipate the forebodings of evil. Families moving from the flood.
    THURSDAY, JANUARY 8. Starvation is staring us in the face. We still live on meat and a few vegetables, fearing soon to be without these. Mr. Butler has gone today to get some turnips out of the river; poor bitter things they are too.
    SUNDAY, JANUARY 18. Today for the first time for two months a train came in bringing flour. This will alleviate but not quite prevent starvation, as there are only twenty-five hundred [pounds] of flour.
    MONDAY, JANUARY 19. Three other trains also arrived today, bringing a very little flour and very little excepting dry goods and miners' tools. Times very hard and very little business doing.
    TUESDAY, JANUARY 20. Glorious news--here comes another train bringing 8,500 lbs. of flour. Business revives; men look happy & cheerful. Look out, here comes the express; what a general rush to the office to get the news that has been withheld 9 weeks. This day will long be remembered by the people of Yreka, for it is a memorable day.
    WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21. People are once more anticipating good times. Quite a train of our citizens have started to Shasta City today, most of them on a speculative trip. Fine and pleasant weather &c. Heard from our friend in the States yesterday; all well.
    THURSDAY, JANUARY 22. Fine weather still continuing. Business is more active. A small train today, flour and dry goods. Miss Hathaway and myself went out this afternoon to call on our friends, found all well.
    FRIDAY, JANUARY 23. O! what a splendid morning. The sun seems arrayed in all his splendor and has such a happy effect upon nature. Mr. Butler is writing a letter to his relations. Messrs. Dunn & Rollins dine with us today.
    SATURDAY, JANUARY 24. Cold and cloudy, a prospect of a change of weather. Another express, but no letter from my people. Bad news from Sacramento Valley, three freshets, much destruction of property and stock.
    SUNDAY, JANUARY25. Pleasant weather still continues; a pack train of butter & flour yesterday. Our neighbor Lintell is moving today. Mr. Butler mined this forenoon. Him and Cousin John are butchering down at the Blue Gulch this afternoon.
    MONDAY, JANUARY 26. Prospect of a storm. Nothing occurring of importance today. Mr. Butler and Rollins butchering at the Blue Gulch. Some old acquaintance from Oregon reports much improvement of the roads and many trains of flour butter &c. for this place.
    TUESDAY, JANUARY 27. Some storm of wind and rain today. Price of flour one dollar per pound, sugar 1.75, butter 1.50 to 2 dollars, milk $2, beef 25 to 35 cts., pork 1 dollar, lard one dollar, salt six dollars, coffee 2 & tea three dollars.
    WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28. Bright and clear this morning. A train of thirty mules just arrived, many more expected this week. Mr. Butler is mining this morning before daylight. I am sewing, but not either accomplishing a great deal.
    THURSDAY, JANUARY 29. Fine weather today but my health does not correspond with the weather, for I am quite sick and unable to sit up. Mr. Butler is chief cook and bottle washer.
    FRIDAY, JANUARY 30. Yet sick. The express has just arrived, bringing a Thanksgiving letter from home. All well and all at home but two. Splendid weather.
    SATURDAY, JANUARY 31. I am yet quite sick with some[thing] like the lung fever. As the door was opened I see one man with pistol in his right hand and a cowhide in the other whipping another over the head and face, swearing he would shoot his heart out if he did not give [i.e., pay] bill.
    SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 1. Yreka is getting quite lively again; better prospects ahead. Another train today. A change in my health for the better.
    MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2. Ten o'clock. Arose this morning and breakfasted by fire on biscuit, butter, coffee & broiled venison steak.
    TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3. Pleasant weather. Quite a large train arrived today from Oregon.
    WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4. The express today rather unexpected.
    THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5. Splendid weather for business or anything else. The election of an Esq. comes off today the fifth. Murring is elected. Another triumph of the gamblers and great rejoicing on the occasion. [This apparently refers to the election of Pembroke Murray as justice of the peace.]
    FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6. One of the most bright and beautiful days of spring. Business appears to be quite lively in town. Cousin started for Oregon this morning, where we expect to follow in one week from tomorrow.
    SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 8. Alone all the day, Mr. Butler being absent. An invitation to a singing party at Mr. Stone's. Did not attend; would like to but it was not convenient.
    TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10. The most beautiful winter weather that I ever knew. But I believe one extreme follows another. We have had our storm of rain and snow and so must have our pleasant weather. Attended a party at Mr. Hathaway's this evening.
    WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11. Arose this morning with a very severe headache, the result of attending a party last night. Breakfast on tea; hope not to attend any more parties; think it rather injurious to health. More bitter than sweet, but when we violate nature's laws we must suffer the consequences.
    THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12. Fine weather as usual. Two trains and the express today. Mr. Butler has gone out to the ranch for his horse. Mr. Bolser comes with the cattle. Mrs. Keldrak [?] Hathaway and myself go to Thomas to see their new goods.
    FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13. Honey Butler takes me a-buggy riding today, the first one I have had for almost a year. I called on Mrs. Hathaway. Make the acquaintance of Mr. and Mrs. Sampson [probably Jonathan and Susan Sampson], have Mr. Bolser and Lintell to supper, then we go to the singing.
    SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14. Today I am packing, baking and preparing to leave Yreka. Mrs. Sampson & Hathaway call on me, ketch the house in [sic]. Mr. Butler goes for his cattle.
    SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15. Tuesday. We start for Rogue River Valley today, go to the Willow Springs, next day to the Mountain House, and the next day we remain here. The 18th we cross Siskiyou Mountain and the 19th we arrive at our future home on Bear Creek.
    FRIDAY, MAY 20. Rogue River Valley. Pleasant weather, alternate sunshine, clouds and showers. Mr. Butler breaking prairie. Cousin John and John Chatfield are hoeing potatoes. As to myself, I am maid of all trades, sweeping, dusting, churning, ironing, baking bread and pies, dish washing &c.
    SUNDAY, MAY 22. Today is bright, warm and beautiful. Honey and I are alone, spending a happy day in reading, writing and interchanging of thoughts and ideas.
    MONDAY, MAY 23. The men are weeding their garden. Fine growing weather; hope to raise a great many vegetables, as we anticipate a large emigration this year and thereby have a plenty for them to eat. I am attending to my domestic duties as usual.
    TUESDAY, MAY 24. Exceptionally warm this forenoon, quite a pretty little shower this afternoon accompanied with hard thunder and a change of the atmosphere. Quite a number of pack trains this week for Yreka; three today. Provisions cheap.
    WEDNESDAY, MAY 25. This is one of May's bright and beautiful days; all hands are busily employed and our crop looks very flourishing. The prospect is good; what the final results will be we cannot tell.
    THURSDAY, MAY 26. Today the soldiers from Oregon pass to Scotts Valley. Also many trains to and from Oregon. Two of Mr. Taylor's friends arrived from Scottsburg. Very warm. Plant rutabaga and melon seed today.
    FRIDAY, MAY 27. This is the dreaded washing day. And as Mr. Taylor is not well he brings me water. I finish by noon then scrub in the afternoon, feeling quite tired. I must go and get supper, for Honey & John have worked hard today and must be hungry.
    SATURDAY, MAY 28. Today is bright and warm, but we have quite a breeze which prevents it from being too warm and makes it very pleasant, but my feelings do not correspond with the weather. Mrs. Miller comes in about 10 o'clock, finds my breakfast dishes on the table and me reading a novel. Poor business I think.
    SUNDAY, MAY 29. Sunday morning I arose very early this morning before anyone else. Go out with my book to take the fresh morning breezes. John and Taylor go to town. Honey and myself spend the day in reading. Our two visitors or boarders pass it in exploring the country.
    MONDAY, MAY 30. It is raining this morning, quite unexpected at this time of the year, but a more welcome visitor could hardly have stepped in. It rains until noon. Then two of the men go to town, two to the field to work and one to Dr. Overbeck's to buy some pigs.
    THURSDAY, JUNE 2. Cool and pleasant this morning. After arranging my house and attending to domestic affairs I go down to the garden for lettuce and radishes, then visit Honey where he is ditching to irrigate his ground. At noon I prepare to spend the afternoon at Mr. Constant's in co. with Mrs. & Miss Rice.
    FRIDAY, JUNE 3. Today--Oh! horrors how shall I express it--is the dreaded washing day. Mr. Butler is hoeing corn, John is ditching, Detrow* is hoeing. A portion of the company that went out to rescue a white woman has come back; the Indians deny having any with them.
    SATURDAY, JUNE 4. Oh! This is one of the warm days. The heat is almost intolerable in the shade. The men are at work in the field. I bake, iron, darn, and various other little chores are accomplished today. Nothing of any particular note today.
    SUNDAY, JUNE 5. This is the holy Sabbath, bright, warm and beautiful. Mr. Butler and myself remain at home all day, cousin John goes to Butte Creek, Detrow to town. Mr. Taylor returned from the Indian hunt.
    MONDAY, JUNE 6. This being the first Monday in June, consequently is the day of election, the first one ever held in this county. Much excitement is the result. I am alone all day or a good portion of it. Suffer intolerable with the heat. Cool and pleasant nights.
    TUESDAY, JUNE 7. Another very large pack train yesterday, loaded mostly with flour. The weather is extremely warm. Mr. Butler has hunted his horses all the forenoon. Miners at Jacksonville doing well, business pretty lively. A company starts to the new hay today.
    WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8. This is Wednesday the 8th, the day [of] the grand dedication ball in Jacksonville. Mr. Butler and I have at last yielded our consent to go. Mr. C. has been waiting for last three hours for us. The Misses Constant and Overbeck go with us.
    THURSDAY, JUNE 9. The ball is at last over; I am at home once more. O! what an assemblage of beauty and soft nothings. The ball was well attended; all the youth and beauty of Jacksonville and the surrounding country were present. Our supper was splendid; it reflected honor on the house and its proprietor, Dr. Robinson.
    FRIDAY, JUNE 10. Second day after the party. I have hardly recovered from the effects of it, yet have been abed most of the day with headache and toothache. Think if I had the company of some lively female acquaintance I would feel better. The weather has been very cold for the last two days.
    SATURDAY, JUNE 11. Washing day. A dreaded day always with me, particularly so at this time, for I do not feel as well as usual. Messrs. Silcott [probably John M. Silcott] and Taylor return [from] claim hunting this evening. I have just been down to their garden; everything is flooded with water and looks well.
    SUNDAY, JUNE 12. This is Sunday morning. I attend to my domestic duties, which are a thousand and one, arrange my hair and sit down with my Bible to read. But am interrupted by Mr. [Alexander J.?] McIntyre and Lupton; they take dinner with us and go to Constants'.
    MONDAY, JUNE 13. Warmer today than usual. Cousin John is preparing to go to Yreka. Mr. Butler and Taylor are irrigating their garden. I as usual am attending to the household duties. A pair of chickens are presented to me by Miss Mary Rice. My tooth gives me great trouble.
    TUESDAY, JUNE 14. This morning a large pack train passes of fifty mules, leaving one with us that was crippled. In the afternoon another one passed of ten or fifteen mules. Cousin John and Taylor have gone to town to make arrangements for starting.
    WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15. Cousin John leaves for Yreka to collect money for cattle specil [sic] or on the plains. Taylor goes to town, buys a mule. Does not like it, thinks not of keeping it. Honey, poor fellow, is almost sinking with heat; at his work in the garden.
    THURSDAY, JUNE 16. O! dear this is wash day and how suffocatingly warm it is, but washing must be done and procrastination won't do it for me.
    FRIDAY, JUNE 17. This is one of the warm days. Honey is plowing & irrigating his garden. Taylor has gone to town to buy a mule and make other arrangements for starting on the plains. I am very busy making a flag for them.
    SATURDAY, JUNE 18. This is a cool, bright and lovely morning for traveling. Taylor has started to Yreka, where he will meet John Rollins. After completing the arrangement of my house for the morning I commence ironing, when the dentist calls to fill a couple of aching teeth. Attempted to extract one but failed. After gouging, breaking and digging it below the jawbone he gave it up as a bad job.
    SUNDAY, JUNE 19. This is Sabbath morning. Deary and I breakfasted alone. My teeth are so painful that I can scarcely eat enough to satisfy the cravings of appetite. We are alone all day; pass it in reading & sleeping.
    MONDAY, JUNE 20. Monday morning. I am quite unwell this morning, hardly able to rise from my bed. Have passed a very uncomfortable night. My teeth remain very sore. Mr. Butler, Sampson [and] Silcott go to Judge Skinner's to settle a claim dispute; have just returned.
    TUESDAY, JUNE 21. About eleven o'clock cousin John Taylor and Babcock return from Yreka. Mr. Butler has gone to town to get some pigs. Mr. Keith and Silcott are here tonight, which makes six men here tonight. Honey has just returned, bringing a grand letter from his people.
    WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22. Again we receive tidings of conflagration of Shasta City. The city is entirely destroyed with the exception of two houses. Also the tidings of Mrs. Fillmore's death. It seems the arrows of death are fatally aimed at the occupants of the Presidential chair.
    THURSDAY, JUNE 23. Today we receive news of our Vice President's death. His death is not unexpected, but it has a mournful effect as we realize how many of our great men have been swept off in the few last months. Vice Pres. King died on the 19th of April, 1853, aged 63 years.
    FRIDAY, JUNE 24. Taylor & Babcock started yesterday for the Dalles but may return. Today is wash day. Deary and John are working in their garden. The weather is more moderate in temperature than it was a few days ago.
    SATURDAY, JUNE 25. Saturday. Cool and pleasant Mr. Butler is building a milk house. Cousin John is in the garden. No news of importance. Business appears dull. A Methodist minister from Umpqua called to notify us of preaching.
    SUNDAY, JUNE 26. Sunday morning. Very cool and a prospect for rain. Cousin and Mr. Butler will go to church. I cannot go on account of not having any conveyance, and it is too far for me to walk. Mr. & Mrs. Sampson called in the afternoon and stayed for tea.
    MONDAY, JUNE 27. Still very cool, but clear. Mr. Detrow was here last night. I spend the afternoon at Mr. Miller's in company with Miss Griffin; assist some in cutting out a fine silk dress. Some talk of a grand Fourth of July in Jacksonville.
    TUESDAY, JUNE 28. Time hangs heavy. Business dull and very little a-doing at present. Jacksonville almost vacated on account of the report of gold mines at Port Orford. Mr. McIntyre has just returned and reports all a humbug.
    WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29. Have visitors all day. Mr. Butler has gone to town with vegetables, finds a poor market for anything. Mr. Silcott is preparing to go to the new mines, will return in two weeks. Dear Honey just come home and treats me to a fresh drink from the creek. How good and kind he is.
    THURSDAY, JUNE 30. Alone all day, finish a new dress. Wish I had some new book to read to pass off time to some profit or advantage. Mr. Butler is honing a scythe and making other preparations for mowing grass. O! dear I am tired of the same dull monotony of time.
    FRIDAY, JULY 1. Wash day will come, so put it off. I cannot finish by 12 o'clock. Visitors in the afternoon. Mr. Robinson & McIntyre came with a ball ticket for the Fourth, very anxious that I shall go. But I think it not probable that I shall. Deary & John are cutting grass, find it very warm.
    SATURDAY, JULY 2. A pack train today. It is quite warm. I am ironing, mending and baking. Sampson brings the wagon and harness, blows and puffs as usual. I go down to the creek and take a cool bath. I have got a pretty little pet, a young hare, but am fearful it will not eat.
    SUNDAY, JULY 3. Sabbath morning; had anticipated going to church. But I feel too unwell and we shall all stay at home. The heat is so oppressive that we all leave the house and retire to the shade of a tree, there to improve the mind by reading and social conversation.
    MONDAY, JULY 4. This day 77 years ago our independence was declared by our forefathers; I hear the minute guns at Jacksonville which shows that they have not forgotten the past and I trust will not the future.
    TUESDAY, JULY 5. Today I am alone. Deary has gone over the creek to cure some hay. Cousin has gone to Table Rock to make hay and take a claim. This day seems a long and dreary one to me; most anxiously do I wait for Honey to return.
    WEDNESDAY, JULY 6. Mr. Butler has been called away today to assist in surveying Judge Rice's claim. I am quite sick and keep my bed all day. Symptoms of the ague. Mr. Davis will be here for supper. I must make an effort, but how can I get it. Received a present from Mary Rice of candy, nuts, kisses and raisins.
    TUESDAY, JULY 12. Mr. Butler and myself are both sick with the chills, one not able to wait on the other. All alone. Mr. Miller's folks are very kind and assist us much. John is at Table Rock; we will send for him.
    WEDNESDAY, JULY 13. Today Mr. Miller went for cousin John. He is very sick and is unable to come home a-horseback. We will probably send the carriage for him tomorrow morning.
    THURSDAY, JULY 14. Mr. Stanton has started for Cousin. Goes as far as Rogue River ferry; he is taken with a severe chill and returns home, unable to go any farther. Mr. Silcott, who is here to assist us, will start this afternoon for him.
    WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3. Our neighbors are shaking just about the right way on this creek, which we call Bear Creek, but I think ought to be called Ague Creek. There comes Cousin John at last, also Taylor from the Willamette.
    THURSDAY, AUGUST 4. The Indians are becoming very hostile in this valley. They have killed one man and two oxen without cause or provocation. At the present time they are hostile, yet pretending friendship. Mr. Butler is absent, John is in the field and I am all alone.
    FRIDAY, AUGUST 5. Mr. Butler starts to town this morning and is detained until dark, something very unusual for him, and it causes me great uneasiness, as the news has just come of two more men being shot by the Indians. It makes me look with trembling anticipation for his arrival.
    SATURDAY, AUGUST 6. Another man killed, one missing and one very badly wounded. Families are leaving their homes for safety. We have not left yet and perhaps will not. Taylor has gone to collect our cattle & drive them to safety.
    SUNDAY, AUGUST 7. We, that is Mr. Butler and I, spent the night at Judge Rice's, but we returned home this morning. So our Indian trouble has come to open warfare. They have had a regular battle, two men wounded & 7 Indians killed. Great excitement prevails. Our people are acting very rash, which will cause much trouble.
    MONDAY, AUGUST 8. Monday morning. Mr. Butler and Cousin are both chilling. Mr. Butler is very sick. A pack train passed this morning; reports much loss of hay and other property below by the Indians, also one man killed in the Canyon.
    TUESDAY, AUGUST 9. Tuesday. Our Indian troubles still continue, one house burnt and other property destroyed. Arms, soldiers and ammunition are expected from Yreka today. Strong threats are made of exterminating all the red man's tribe.
    WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10. Mr. Butler is better today. Dr. Overbeck is here to see him. Have not heard any news from war today. Forty men have arrived from Yreka, more are expected. Arms have also come. Great excitement prevails.
    THURSDAY, AUGUST 11. Another house burnt last night, which makes three. Dr. Rose killed and L.L.D. [John R.] Hardin mortally wounded. A battle reported at Applegate. Taylor went to town with an ox wagon, no difficulty. Mr. Butler is better.
    FRIDAY, AUGUST 12. A written notice for us to report to headquarters. Of course we will not obey. Here also comes a verbal notice for us to go to Judge Skinner's. Many men are passing today, talk largely of their anticipated battle.
    SATURDAY, AUGUST 13. We are at home as usual. The weather is very warm. No news from the war department. All but three families have left their homes and congregated at town or some other point. Considerable sickness of chills and fever.
    SUNDAY, AUGUST 14. Sunday morning. Prospect for a very warm day. Poor Hardin is dead and will be buried today. Leaves her who has been a wife two little months to mourn his loss and his untimely end. May he be the last one in this valley to die by hand of red man.
    MONDAY, AUGUST 15. Monday. The co. of men have just returned from Applegate. They lost one man and several others wounded. The troops numbering 300 start for Table Rock after dark, expect an engagement to tomorrow.
    TUESDAY, AUGUST 16. The Indians have flown and no fighting done. The troops separate in small companies and start out in scouting parties. We anticipate much trouble with them yet. Mr. Silcott is very sick, the rest are better.
    WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17. Wills that was wounded on the 6th died today; also Houston who was shot by an accidental discharge from his own rifle caused by the falling of his mule yesterday also died today. A scouting party 20th V-men [sic] were surprised, five men killed & five wounded.
    THURSDAY, AUGUST 18. Fifteen men have been killed and six wounded. Isham Keith was one that was killed. He was an old acquaintance and also a schoolmate. He is an only child aged 19. O! what sad news to his mother, the only hope of of declining age.
    FRIDAY, AUGUST 19. No news from the war department today. Mr. Butler was to town. Times look rather discouraging. Rollins, Taylor, Silcott, [Albert] Bethel and Detrow are here threshing peas and lounging about. I am at home until evening, then I call on Mrs. Rice, who is sick with the fever.
    SATURDAY, AUGUST 20. Our men act with a great deal of indecision in reference to the Indian affairs. They are now waiting for the Klickitats to come instead of accomplishing something themselves. Deary is hauling logs. Bethel & Taylor are out all day hunting cattle that have strayed off.
    SUNDAY, AUGUST 21. Home all day; had a fine treat of melons from Dr. Coffins. General Lane arrived from lower Oregon this afternoon. The Indians have again attacked Dunn's house, killing one man and wounding three others, burning his barley and oats.
    MONDAY, AUGUST 22. Monday morning. Mr. Butler and Detrow have gone to town. John and Bethel are cutting corn. Taylor is gathering cucumbers. Silcott is gritting meal, and I am sewing. This evening the remains of Isham Keith pass to their resting place. The shock has almost killed his mother. Her all; her only hope, her darling child.
    TUESDAY, AUGUST 23. Some excitement prevails in reference to seeing a squaw near Judge Rice's, but blows over without any serious consequence. So from the war. General Lane took command on Monday and started in pursuit of the Indians.
    WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24. Still no news from the mountains. All remains quiet in the valley. We remain at home as usual, though many are prophesying bad luck to us in lives and property. Cousin John had a slight chill today; the rest are pretty well.
    THURSDAY, AUGUST 25. Mr. Taylor went to town this morning, has just returned. A pack train arrived while there from Crescent City; three men wounded at Applegate by the Indians. Two more of the men that was wounded at Dunn's have died, and two are in a very critical situation. Six in all were wounded instead of three, one killed.
    FRIDAY, AUGUST 26. News from the mountains. Our men have met with another defeat by the Indians, repulsed three times, three men killed and five wounded. General Lane and Gen. Alden are among the wounded. A treaty is spoken of. The Indians made the proposals and said they never wished to fight.
    SATURDAY, AUGUST 27. Saturday. Nothing talked of but the present war; have not heard anything of importance. Today we are doing but little for our souls or bodies. Part of us are sick and the rest are not much better.
    SUNDAY, AUGUST 28. Sunday. Today they bring in the wounded from the battle field of the 26th. The white men have treacherously decoyed six Grave Creek Indians in [at the Bates House] with pretense of peace unarmed and shoot them then. Two of the white men were afterwards shot by the Indians.
    MONDAY, AUGUST 29. Some prospect for rain. The soldiers have arrived from the mountains, rendezvous at Angel's, go to town, get drunk, swear, fight and disgrace themselves as rational beings. We are all at home today.
    TUESDAY, AUGUST 30. Mr. Butler goes to town this morning with vegetables, brings letters from the Smiths--does not return in time to escape a very severe hail storm accompanied with considerable rain. Our house leaks, and we get wet and everything else besides.
    WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31. Wednesday morning. Rained quite hard the later part of the night and still raining this morning. It has the appearance of the rainy season, but I hope it has not set in yet. The treaty with the Indians has been put off three days longer.
    THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1. Clear and pleasant this morning. Between 12 & 1 o'clock a train of emigrants pass, 18 wagons in all, the first we had seen in this part of the valley. Business seems to be reviving, for here comes five pack trains from Oregon, a greater number than passed all last month.
    FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2. Still raining. Two or three are shaking with the ague. The prospect looks gloomy and dull. Poor A---y died this evening. He was wounded in the head by the enemy on the 26 of Aug., the late engagement on Evans Creek. [Probably a false rumor of the death of Captain Alden.]
    SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 3. It has rained all night and is yet raining. We have new moon at six o'clock and 33 minutes this morning, and I think we may hope for a change of weather. The Indians have again put off the treaty and want the white men to come to them.
    SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 4. Sunday morning. Capt. Stintz [sic] left here this morning. It is clear and cool but no frost. I feel quite like a chill. Messrs. Miller and Stanton dined with us. The white men went out to meet the Indians in consultation of peace, taking with them the dragoons. They most all fled on seeing the white men. The whites have acted so treacherously with them, they are afraid to trust them. Court sits today in Jacksonville. Mr. Butler is on the grand jury. The weather is very warm today. Tomorrow the treaty with the Indians, if we have one, will be made; if not hostilities will commence again.
    TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6. Bright, warm and clear. Mr. Butler has gone to town. Two pack trains pass, besides three emigrant families. No news of importance; our Indian troubles still continue. Cousin John has been absent all day hunting cattle. He and Honey return about the same time.
    WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7. The Applegate Indians burnt a house, set another one on fire, but did not succeed. Also burnt some oats and hay today. Court is still in session in Jacksonville. The weather is very warm. They commence plowing today for wheat.
    THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8. No treaty yet. Gen. Lane has disbanded all the volunteers. Great dissatisfaction prevails in reference to the course he has pursued. People seem to think our lives and property will not be safe at any time after this.
    FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9. Mr. Butler went to town this morning. Court closes today and Deary is discharged from the grand jury. He returns home the middle of the afternoon with a high fever on him. He is quite sick all the afternoon. Weather is warm. Letter to Smith.
    SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10. Very warm. Mr. Butler is quite poorly but able to be up most of the time. Cousin is gone all day hunting the oxen. Taylor and Detrow are plowing; I am scrubbing and attending to my other domestic affairs.
    SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11. Sunday morning. All leave but Deary and I. The two Johns for headquarters of Indian affairs. A treaty is about to be closed, paying $60,000 for their land in this valley. Two pack trains and many persons pass today.
    MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12. This morning Cousin John and Detrow commence hauling oats. Silcott gathering beans. Taylor hunting that same old ox, but does not find him. Honey is some better today; he is cleaning up seed. Millers return home today after an absence of one month.
    TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13. Tuesday morning. Cloudy and a prospect for rain. The Applegate Indians, who have never come in to a treaty or any other terms, have once more been the successful party in arms; attacked a picked company of 30 men who was supposed to be invincible, fought two hours until dark, but did not give ground, killing one white man without losing any that the whites know of.
    WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14. Today they finish their oats in the rain. This is also wash day with me. Rains most of the day. The men have congregated in the house, all but Taylor; he is gone down to headquarters.
    THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15. The Oregonian's rainy season has fairly set in to all appearances. Most singular weather. No rain for most four months. Vegetation is dry and sere; the flowers have all died for the want of water. Grass is yellow and brittle. The vegetable kingdom is fast assuming her garb of autumn.
    FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16. But now a rain, and as if by magic everything is changed. Mother Earth is clothed with her beautiful carpet of green; the birds pour forth their notes of melody, the garden produce has commenced a second growth and everything assumes the aspect of spring.
    SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17. Saturday morning. Cloudy but not raining. Mr. Constant has his house raised today. Four of our men help him; two of them come home sick. I get a little tiny yellow kitten. It cries all night for its mama, poor little thing.
    SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18. Sunday morning. Deary has gone to town to church. I am reading. Cousin John is writing. Taylor is shaking. So thus passes most of the day. Deary returns about three o'clock. Dinner is almost ready, then Honey and I take a walk.
    MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19. Monday nothing of importance occurring. The Coos Bay fever is carrying off a number of families from this valley. [Coos Bay was recently discovered. An economic boom was predicted for this new harbor adjacent to coal and gold deposits.] Mr. Butler and Cousin John Rollins both have the symptoms of the ague. My health is very good at this time.
    TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20. Mr. Butler and I go to town. Business very dull. Have some difficulty in selling our produce. Finally succeed at a very reduced price. We return in the dark, all abed. I am very weary and retire immediately. Dear one does not remain long behind.
    WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21. Wednesday morning. It is excessively warm. Everything looks dull, business in particular. Oh! could this affair be arranged soon and satisfactorily. Mr. and Mrs. Miller called on us today. We all agree that times looks discouraging.
    THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22. Thursday. This is wash day and very warm it is too. Pack trains are passing very lively. Quite a little rain last night; grass looks very green and cattle are doing well.
    FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23. Friday. Cousin John Rollins has gone to town. Mr. Butler has got the ague, and I fear will have it all winter. O! could I see through the future if but one step.
    SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24. Everything passes off as usual. Jefferson Smith from Yreka was here today and spent the night with us, also Mary Rice. Mr. Butler is quite sick with the ague and also Silcott. Mr. Miller takes his chickens today.
    SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25. Sunday morning. Mr. Butler is shaking very early this morning. Bright and warm. Everything looks dull to me. I cannot look on the bright side, for there appears to be no bright [side] because I am naughty and everything else appears so too.
    MONDAY. SEPTEMBER 26. Monday morning. No news worth recording or at least I have not heard of any. The weather as usual.
    TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27. Tuesday. A sale in town today. Messrs. Miller, Stanton, Rollins and Taylor all go. The other three stay at home and shake. Messrs. Rhoads, Colton and one other from Yreka and Clugage from Jacksonville are here today. A letter from sister [Zerilda Rollins] Britton.
    WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28. This morning four out of the five are shaking. Oh! what a country this is for the ague. Eight men at the two houses & only one able to do a day's work and the two women not behind.
    THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29. Sold a yoke of cattle this morning for $250, received $100 down. Many pack trains passing. Cousin John is riding all day after the cattle, finds them late in the afternoon, comes home sick.
    FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30. Very warm. Mr. Butler has gone to Jacksonville this morning. Captain Miller has just arrived from the Lakes; he reports a number of emigrants there without provision. A relief train will start tomorrow or next day.
    SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1. Quite a number of emigrants have arrived this week, and a great many of our citizens are leaving for Coos Bay. Our Indian difficulties will be quite a drawback to this valley. Provisions are so cheap that it won't pay expenses.
    SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2. Sunday morning. Mr. Butler is chilling again. Cousin John is very unwell; the rest are as well as usual. Pack trains are passing quite lively.
    MONDAY, OCTOBER 3. Monday. John K. Rollins, Silcott and Detrow have all gone to town with vegetables, report business very dull, could not sell. All tired of farming and tired of the country and have got Coos Bay fever.
    TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4. This morning our troubles seem likely to come to a crisis. A general division of property and the firm breaks up. Mr. Butler takes the land at $1450 and six hundred and twelve dollars of stock. Taylor leaves for Applegate. Cousin J.K.R. is going to the Willamette.
    WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5. Today is cool and pleasant. I washed yesterday and scrub today. Cousin is cutting corn. Deary still shakes a little. Silcott has gone to Mr. Sampson's, so our family seems very small. Cousin has a chill this evening.
    THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6. I am alone most all day, as Mr. Butler has gone down to Clark's for a pig, and I fear much he will shake before he returns. The other two have gone to Miller's. I am ironing and baking. Then prepare supper and wait for Honey, who comes late and loses his pig when he gets him here.
    FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7. The weather fine, cool and pleasant. Mr. Miller wishes the crop fence fixed, so Deary must go and haul rails sick or well and will probably shake for it tomorrow. Cousin is very unwell. Many pack trains pass; one stops and camps close to our door yard.
    SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8. Sure enough, Mr. Butler is shaking before he is out of bed as I predicted yesterday. Although I am not a prophetess, for once I prophesied right. The Indians have shot Kyle, breaking his arm and leg. Our trouble with them is not done yet.
    SUNDAY, OCTOBER 9. Sunday. Mr. Butler has gone to town to attend church and to get some medicine for him and Cousin, who are both shaking with the ague. We get Bossy home with her young calf. Two pack trains camp close to us this evening.
    MONDAY, OCTOBER 10. Monday morning. It has rained some last night and is quite cloudy. Four emigrant wagons and about one hundred cows pass today. The farmers are all anxious to put in, largely of wheat; some are putting in a hundred acres this fall.
    TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11. Our family has been on the decrease this week, as it only numbers three instead of six. Cousin is shaking very hard. It has commenced raining this evening and has the appearance of a stormy night.
    WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12. It stormed very hard last night, but today the sun has made his appearance, which adds very much to the scenery. Today I commence an answer to sister B.'s letter, but have company and shall not finish it. They all miss their chills today.
    THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13. Thursday. This is wash day with me. Deary is hauling rails. Cousin John is quite unwell, so much so as to be unable to attend to business. Mr. Miller wants us all to come up and help raise a house.
    FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14. We receive news of poor Kyle's death, the man that was shot by the Indians on the seventh. The men are all absent, so I am all alone; probably shall go to Mrs. M. Johnny K. is shaking again, that is, by working in the sun.
    SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15. Saturday. I am ironing and patching. John is poorly so he is loafing today. Mr. Butler is hauling rails and stakes. He is quite feeble but is necessitated to work. Poor man, I fear he will shake all winter. If so his constitution will be ruined.
    SUNDAY, OCTOBER 16. Sunday morning. We are all at home. Mr. Butler and I are writing to our people, he to his brother, mother & sisters, I to sister Britton in Colusa, Cal. John is reading and not very well. Two of the Yreka ladies and gents are in our valley today on a visit.
    MONDAY, OCTOBER 17. Monday. Mr. Butler is building fence today and cutting broom, and I am writing to his people. John is shaking at Mr. Miller's. Taylor has gone there to board, so we have only three in family. Feel quite free.
    TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18. Deary goes to town, gets some papers and verbal news, no letters. Does not succeed in selling his horses or engaging wheat. Emigrants are daily arriving; one hundred wagons are reported as yet to arrive. Business dull, no sale for produce or very little.
    WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19. Pack trains passing quite briskly. Taylor leaves and goes to Mr. Miller's to board. Cousin John is shaking as usual. Jefferson Smith returns from the Umpqua with his hogs, 75 in number. Mr. Butler is husking corn today; I am baking pies and attending to other duties.
    THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20. Commenced threshing oats today. [Jesse D.] Mount and a packer are here today for dinner. Mrs. Eddys, Misses Constant & Fowler, Messrs. Edson & one other gentleman was here today. Mr. Butler is husking corn & I go and assist him some little.
    FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21. Friday. Taylor and Mount are threshing oats today. John is quite poorly. Mr. Butler will make a finish of his corn. Mr. Kelly & Mc. of Yreka are here this evening; will remain all night. They bring much Yreka news.
    SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22. Saturday. Oats on hand yet; Mr. Butler has got a wind mill to clean them up. Taylor has a shake. Mr. B. & Mount sack the oats and then gather the pumpkins & squashes, then Mr. B. goes down to Mr. Smith's.
    SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23. All alone. Spend the day as usual, excepting Honey and I go over the creek to gather some grapes. Cousin shakes very hard & I am quite unwell from the effects of fatigue.
    MONDAY, OCTOBER 24. How deeply have all hearts been smote today by the sad new of death of Mr. Daniel Webster. I look upon it as a national catastrophe and a loss which if it does not shake our Union to the center will throw a general gloom over all its inhabitants.
    TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25. Tuesday morning. A prospect of rain, and our oats unthreshed & exposed to the weather. I commence making sacks today to put them in. Whether they will be needed or not I cannot tell. Deary is burning brush.
    WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26. Wednesday morning. Honey goes to the upper sawmill to get lumber for a potato house. It rains most all day and he does not get back this evening. John is having a very hard chill.
    THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27. Thursday forenoon. Cool and cloudy; afternoon cleared off. A prospect of clear weather. Deary returns from the sawmill this evening. Bad luck has attended him most every step; his wagon returns with three wheels and without lumber.
    FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28. Friday. Clear and pleasant. Honey and Mount commence threshing oats once more. John & Taylor are making sacks. I am scrubbing and attending to my other domestic duties.
    SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29. They will finish threshing oats today and perhaps clean some up. John is shaking up at Mr. Miller's. Deary and I pass the evening alone in reading, conversing & covering books. Finally wind up by bathing and retiring.
    SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30. Sunday morning. Honey & I breakfast alone on baked squash, biscuit, butter, coffee and pie. Deary goes for the cows while I put my house to rights and arrange my dress for the day, then we pass the remainder of the day in reading.
    MONDAY, OCTOBER 31. Monday morning. Mr. Miller is going to repair his house today with a new roof and addition of a few rounds of logs, wants all hands to help for fear of a storm. Mr. Butler is very busy mending his wagon but goes in the afternoon.
    TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1. Tuesday. Make a finish of the oats today for sack weight and divide the pile. John shakes pretty hard, and I help sew up the sacks, getting so cold that it almost makes me sick. Have strong symptoms of the pleurisy.
    WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2. Wednesday. John & Stanton calculated on starting to the Willamette Valley today but are disappointed. There is a division of the household goods of the firm today & a final settlement of all business but some future payments.
    THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3. Thursday. Mr. Butler is making an axletree for his wagon. Gets it ironed and almost finished and then it is too large and will not answer. John starts for the Willamette Valley. Taylor is hauling oats to town.
    FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4. Mr. Butler goes to town this morning to engage a wagon and hands to secure his crop. Does not succeed in any of his undertaking. Comes home and commences repairing his own wagon.
    SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5. Saturday. Taylor goes to town with vegetables. Mr. Butler is at work at his wagon and succeeds in making it stand alone. Mr. Mount has a house raising & all hands go to help him.
    SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 6. Sunday morning. Dark and cloudy, but clears off in the afternoon. Mr. B. has a chill today, the first for four weeks. Business is dull work, pressing and times hard, so it looks discouraging, but let us hope for the best.
    MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7. Monday morning. Mr. B. is quite poorly but goes to the saw mill for lumber to build his potato house. Does not return until nine the evening which gives him a severe cold.
    TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8. Tuesday morning. Honey B. has hired a hand & goes to the timber to get logs for his house, then returns with one load & gathers his squashes. Taylor hauls a load of squash to town, gets two cts. per pound.
    WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9. Wednesday morning. Dark and storming rain, but Deary goes to the woods to get timber for his house. Hauls two loads today. We have a large family to cook around one fire. Taylor has eight men besides us three.
    THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10. Thursday morning. Raining pretty hard. We fear much that the rainy season has set in and all our potatoes are in the ground yet. Mr. Butler gets his house ready to raise. I am washing & am quite tired with approach of a hard day.
    FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11. O! dear, today I have so much to do. Mr. B. is a-going to have his house raised, and I have got to get dinner for about twenty persons besides being bothered with two lady visitors. Dinner is over and I am heartily glad of it, for I never did like to cook.
    SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12. Saturday morning. All hands to work; everything as busy as bees, but now the rain begins to pour & by noon all work has to be suspended so we are all huddled together around one fire & not much wood to burn.
    SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13. Sunday morning. A perfect deluge of rain last night so it is very muddy and wet. Part of the hands go to town, part go home & part stays here. This afternoon the sun comes out as if in mockery, then hides his face & disappears.
    MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14. Monday morning. Dark and cloudy and a thin light rain falling. Mr. Butler goes to engage some seed wheat, also sells his mare Bet & colt for $350. The ground is so wet that the potatoes cannot be dug. It looks gloomy and wet.
    TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15. Tuesday morning. A fine prospect of clear weather. The hands commence digging potatoes. They find it cold, as we had a heavy frost and freeze last night. Mr. Butler is quite disappointed, as his hands did not come according to promise.
    WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16. Wednesday. Mr. Butler goes to town this morning to engage help and transact other business. The other partners are digging potatoes. I pass a very long day of it, anxiously looking for Deary to come home.
    THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17. It rains so hard that all the men are driven from their work. Mr. Butler is at work on his house. I am not doing anything of importance but watching Honey at work. The rest of the men are hauling.
    SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19. Saturday. Today Deary parts with his mare and colt. I feel as if we had lost an old friend, as we brought her from the States with us. He gets 16 bushels of wheat at 9 dollars per bushel & 206 dollars in money for her. Necessity compels us to part with her.
    SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20. Sabbath morn. As it had rained all week I have lost one day and called this Saturday. But by counting up the days proves my mistake. Deary has a chill today, the first for two weeks. The roads are almost impassable on account of mud.
    MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21. Monday morning. It has ceased to rain last night and some prospect for fair weather. Maj. Lupton has just brought some thirteen chickens here and offered them for twenty dollars, and so we have concluded to take them.
    TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22. Tuesday. Bright, clear and warm. The blue sky looks so beautiful after so much rain and clouds. Mr. Butler shakes. Mr. Silcott goes to town and Mr. Miller with a party goes a-hunting. With me it is wash day.
    WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23. Wednesday. Deary is digging potatoes today for the first [time.] He is quite poorly and I go down in the afternoon and pick up potatoes for him, hoping to assist some as he has no help. Silcott & Chamberlain are digging theirs.
    THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24. Thursday. One of the most remarkable Oregon fogs I have ever witnessed. The men are in their potatoes again today. This afternoon Mrs. Griffin, Mrs. Miller & sister are here to spend the afternoon. Messrs. Ish and Rice called.
    FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25. Friday morning. Dark and stormy. Mr. Butler is hauling potatoes, cabbage and wood today. The rest are not doing anything of importance. I feel very restless and wish to be out of the house, but the rain keeps me in.
    SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 26. Saturday morning. Still wet and muddy. Mr. B. is daubing his house the forenoon; the afternoon he goes to Petrie's for the harrow, then attends to his cabbage. In the garden Silcott & Chamberlain are picking potatoes.
    SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27. Sunday morning. Stormed all night and everything is dripping wet. The roof of our house leaked and the floor is half wet over. One chicken drowned last night. I am quite unwell this morning.
    MONDAY, NOVEMBER 28. Monday morning. Oh! dear, still rain, rain all the time. This is such a long day and so gloomy withal. I commenced making pumpkin butter this morning. Do not know whether I shall do much at it or not.
    TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29. Tuesday morning. Mr. Butler is repairing his house some and putting muslin windows in so this gloomy weather we will not be in perpetual darkness. Silcott & Chamberlain are hunting, then Sil goes to town.
    WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30. Wednesday. Mr. B. is harrowing ground for wheat. I am still making pumpkin butter.
    THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2. George & Ch. go to town this morning. Sil goes back to the house raising, for they did not get it done yesterday. Mr. B. is putting in his wheat. I am attending to my domestic duties as usual.
    SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3. Saturday morning. Deary is harrowing. Silcott is sick. Chamberlain digging potatoes with one hand, as he has one of Job's plagues under his right arm. He gives it up in the afternoon. I am at the same dull monotonous routine of business as usual.
    SUNDAY, DECEMBER 4. Sunday morning. Rise and breakfast late. A clear and beautiful day or forenoon, the fourth day the sun has shown out this week. Honey and I are alone at this time and hope to be so the rest of the day.
    MONDAY, DECEMBER 5. Monday morning. Mr. B. hired a hand last evening, so all are digging potatoes this morning. Fine weather, but the ground is very wet which makes hard digging. I am writing a letter to brother Milford in Knoxville, Tenn.
    TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6. A very heavy dew last night. No rain. Although everything is dripping wet with fog and dew, still the men persevere in their crop, for it is late in the season and much remains to be done. I am washing today. Hard work.
    WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7. Wednesday morning. A very hard frost last night; it is the coldest night we have had this fall. Business very dull; money can be had for nothing but stock and hardly that. I am sewing on a little dress, one of the first I ever made.
    THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8. Thursday. Silcott goes to town for meat. Chamberlain is at work at Miller's. Deary & Robert are at work in the field. Many pack trains pass this week, are camped close to our house. Sell five & a half dollars worth of vegetables.
    FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9. One week hard rain without the light of the sun to brighten the scene, 3 days fine weather. Covering Lintell's house.
    SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10. Saturday. Raining hard. Mr. B. pays off his man and lets him go. Honey is gone to the Fort to sell some oats or other vegetables. He returns late in the evening after traveling all day in the wet & mud, has had some success in business.
    SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11. Sunday morning. All well, but very damp and unpleasant. Clears up in the afternoon. The men go a-hunting ducks. Mr. B. and I are at home. Several pack trains pass today, for here in this county all kinds of business is transacted on the sabbath.
    MONDAY, DECEMBER 12. Coldness approaches, a slight snow. The Indian song to the Great Spirit to stay the frosty month. Oh! white man learn from the savage thy dependence ere it be too late and thou art swept in eternity.
    TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13. Very blustering, and every object clothed in white. Mr. Morphet comes today for Taylor's potatoes. Deary has a-gone to town, returning late, has a hard time for the roads are very bad.
    WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14. 1½ feet of snow. Potato excitement, everyone ready to fight for his 50 lbs at .25. What is this, the price of gold? Wait and see! Deary has the ague on his way to the Fort; very late when he and Judge Rice return.

    SATURDAY, JANUARY 1. Clear, bright & beautiful. Second New Year's. We welcome you with hearts overflowing with joy. You seem such a welcome guest after four weeks of stormy weather. Husband is not very well & my head aches very much.
Oscar Osburn Winther, Rose Dodge Galey, eds., "Mrs. Butler's 1853 Diary of Rogue River Valley," Oregon Historical Quarterly, December 1940, page 337  *This name is transcribed as Detrial, Detriall, Detrail, Detroe and Detrow. The first four seem not to be actual names; I've decided on "Detrow."

 
    Indians were the discoverers of gold in Southern Oregon.
    It would appear from the evidence supplied in a letter written by a young lady named Virginia Josephine Rollins that the Indians knew of the presence of gold in the western part of what is now Josephine County, Oregon. Gold was first mined in that area in May 1851, by a small party of emigrants who had recently arrived from the East. Among members of this party was the aforementioned young lady, the first white woman to ever set foot on that wild area.
    Virginia Josephine Rollins was the daughter of Lloyd Rollins. The two were members of an emigrant party that started from the state of Missouri in the spring of 1850. Most of the emigrants were originally from Illinois, which accounts for their naming the large stream that drains the western part of Josephine County the Illinois River. Lloyd Rollins and his seventeen-year-old daughter were among the first to mine gold in the new gold field. In a letter written by Virginia Josephine Rollins, it would appear that the Indians knew of the presence of gold in a stream which later was named Josephine Creek, in honor of the young lady. Josephine Creek, Illinois River and Josephine County were all named by members of this first party of miners. . . .
    The story of the journey into that unknown land, and the first attempt made to mine gold in Oregon, together with the perilous situation in which those people were caught a few months later, is in part described in a letter written by Virginia Josephine Rollins, daughter of one of the party of gold diggers.
    There were three children in the family of Lloyd and Katherine Rollins, a boy and two girls. Franklin, the eldest of the three, joined the gold rush across the plains to California in 1849. He mined gold on the American River east of Sacramento. America Elizabeth Rollins, who was either a year older or a year younger than Virginia, or Josephine as she was usually called, was married to a Mr. Butler in the spring of 1850. They remained in Missouri until the spring of 1852, when they emigrated first to Yreka, where they visited a short time with the other members of the family, then moved to Jacksonville, where they made their home. A son, Gwin S. Butler, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Butler on January 19th, 1854. A few years later Mr. Butler died, and in 1863 Mrs. Butler was married to Jacob Thompson.
    Mr. Thompson crossed the plains to Oregon in 1847. He went to California to mine gold in 1849 and, returning to Oregon in 1854, he engaged in farming near Ashland. When the Indian war broke out in 1855, he was one of the first to offer his services. Jacob Thompson was in several fights but emerged unharmed. In 1880, Mr. and Mrs. Thompson moved to Ashland and made their home. They owned valuable property in and around Ashland. They were highly respected citizens of the health resort city. Prominently displayed in the front room of their home was an enlarged photograph of Mrs. Thompson's sister Josephine, for whom Josephine County was named.
    Now a copy of the letter, followed by the necessary explanations.
    Josephine writes, "I was born in Morgan County, Illinois, in 1833. My parents, Lloyd and Katherine Rollins, were natives of Kentucky. They moved to Illinois, then to Clark County, Missouri, in the spring of 1834, and lived there continuously until 1850, in which year, on the 8th of May, my father and I, together with some neighbors, started for California overland with ox teams, our objective point being Sacramento. But upon reaching the great Humboldt Desert the weakened condition of our teams induced my father to change to the Fort Hall route to Oregon. Reaching there the latter part of October, we wintered within a few miles of Oregon City. On the following spring my father outfitted another team and we started south for the mines in California.
    "On reaching the Rogue River the Indians told us of very rich mines a few days' travel down the river. At this time the United States had just formed a treaty [two months later--Moxley note] with Chief Joe of the Rogue River Indians, and it was considered perfectly safe to travel among them. Here our company divided, one part going to the mines in California, and the rest going down to the new mines, Father and myself among them, guided by the Indians.
    "We were about a week, as well as I can remember, making our own roads as we traveled. Within three miles of the mines we had to leave our teams and pack into the mines. Some of the company remained with the teams to guard them. We found good surface mining there on what was supposed to be Illinois Creek. We remained there until about the middle of August, when the Indians plotted to capture us all. The plot was betrayed to us by a tame Indian boy, who while playing with other Indian boys, was told by them of the intended raid and the time. Late one afternoon a messenger was sent down to the camp at the mines for all to assemble at the wagons to resist an attack that night, everything being left in camp but the firearms.
    "The attack occurred next morning just before daybreak, when our company killed three of the Indians and they withdrew without any of our company being killed or injured. Knowing that the Indians were again on the warpath, a mounted company of volunteers coming from where Yreka now is came to our assistance, and we returned with them, not daring to trust the Indians any longer. I was the only woman in the entire company. It must be remembered there were no roads, towns or counties there in these early times, and I was the first white woman in that section of Oregon.
    "I was honored by having the county named for me, but by whom I know not. I was married to Julius Ort in Colusa County, California, in 1854. In 1863 we moved to Sonoma County, where we have lived and made our home ever since. In conclusion [I] will say I have dictated this to my son, with whom I am visiting in Humboldt County, Cal."
W. A. Moxley, Oregon Historical Society Research Library MS 855.  Click here for complete document.


    SUICIDE.--Mr. A. J. Butler, of this county, committed suicide, at his residence on Bear Creek, about the 17th inst., by shooting himself with a revolver in the forehead, the ball passing into his brain. It appears that the deceased had been somewhat unwell for some time previous, but no cause is known for committing the fatal deed. He had probably been dead for some five days before his body was discovered. A coroner's inquest was held upon the body, and the jury returned a verdict that the deceased came to his death by a shot fired from the revolver supposed to have been fired by his own hand.
Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, January 29, 1859, page 2


    ASHLAND, Or., Nov. 27.--(Special.)--Mrs. Jacob Thompson, Oregon pioneer, died here yesterday, aged 8 years. Her husband, who survives her, is a few months her senior.
    Mrs. Thompson, whose maiden name was America E. Rollins, was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, in June, 1826. When 7 years old, with her parents she moved to Morgan County, Illinois, and later to Clark County, Missouri, near the mouth of the Des Moines River. Her mother died in 1847 and soon after her father removed to Adams County, Illinois. She attended the high school at Farmington, Iowa and later taught school.
    Miss Rollins was married to A. J. Butler at Locust Grove, Ill., on January 1, 1850. On May 19, 1852, they started for the Pacific Coast, crossing the plains to Yreka, Cal., where they arrived September 19, 1852.
    At Bloody Point, near Tule Lake, Klamath County, Oregon, they saw eight emigrant wagons that had been run off the grade into the lake by the Indians after the occupants had been massacred.
    They remained at Yreka until January 8, 1853, when they started for the Rogue River Valley, riding horseback through the deep snows on the Siskiyous and locating on the land known as the Butler donation land claim, near the present location of Medford. Mr. Butler died in January, 1859.
    In October, 1863, Mrs. Butler was married to Jacob Thompson. They moved to Klamath County in 1876 and four years later came to Ashland, where they have continued to reside. An only child, Gwin S. Butler, one of the first white children born in Jackson County, also survives Mrs. Thompson and lives in this city. One sister, Mrs. Josephine Ort, of Santa Rosa, Cal. also survives. Josephine County, in this state, was named for her.
    The funeral, held Sunday afternoon at 3 o'clock, was largely attended.
Oregonian, Portland, November 28, 1910, page 5


    ASHLAND, Or., Feb. 8.--(Special.)--Another Oregon pioneer died here when Jacob Thompson passed away, February 5, at his home on East Main Street, in this city, at the age of 84 years.
    Mr. Thompson was born in Vigo County, Indiana, January 20, 1827. His mother died when he was a small boy and he lived for some time with an uncle in Illinois and Iowa, working on a farm. He came west in 1847. In 1855-56 Mr. Thompson served in the Rogue River Indian war under Captain John S. Miller. In 1862 he was engaged in mining in Baker County. He was married to Mrs. A. E. Rollins Butler in 1863 and lived on a farm near the present site of Medford for a number of years. For many years Mr. Thompson owned a large tract of land adjoining Keno, Klamath County, and carried on extensive farming operations, including large stock interests.
    In 1882 they returned to Ashland, where they resided until the time of their death. Mrs. Thompson died only a few months ago.
    Mr. Thompson was a first cousin of the distinguished editor and ambassador, Whitelaw Reid. He was a member of Ashland Lodge, No. 23, A.F. and A.M., under whose auspices the funeral services were conducted today.
Oregonian, Portland, February 26, 1911, page 7


    Nobody who ever watched Gwin S. Butler of Ashland rounding corners on two wheels of a pre-war Studebaker, or picnicking out of a tin pail anywhere in the woods about Ashland, would figure offhand that he would be making a gift to the Boys and Girls Aid Society of $3000, or that gifts to the Masonic lodge and the Elks lodge of Ashland in recent years had run around $25,000 from this same liberal gentleman. Butler came over with the covered wagon pioneers and has retained the pioneer simplicity through all his 86 years. As president of the State Bank of Ashland, he has had an important finger in almost all developmental pies in Southern Oregon, from the beginning, from ranching to city building. In the early days he came through Portland, and, as he remarked in later years, "could have bought the whole thing for a few thousand dollars." Instead, he returned to Southern Oregon, and lived his life there.
    One wonders how the course of empire would have moved in Oregon if he had had the few thousand dollars and had bought Portland, lock, stock and barrel, and applied to its development his vigorous and individual talents.
    His parents were Ashmun J. Butler and America E. Rollins. His father died when he was very young, and his mother married Jacob Thompson in 1863. Butler and his stepfather hit it off splendidly, as father and son and as collaborators in many business ventures.
    Butler isn't driving his old Studebaker at frantic speeds now, being busy with convalescing from a broken hip and a case of flu, but he's on the mend, by latest reports, and looking forward to a lot more fun having picnics, with coffee in a tin pail, and figuring out interesting things to do for the community.
"Among Our Neighbors," Oregon Journal, Portland, April 22, 1940, page 6
Last revised May 2, 2023