Journal of a Mountain Man

by Win Blevins

  11 Down the stream some ash and oak occurred this fore noon with some Elk Likewise The day was cool and Pleasant and the vally fine and green the soil in many places rich

  12 A Tremendious heavy dew fell last night and the day proved warm and Sultry heard several familiar noisis such as the whistleing of Quails and the croakings of the Bull frog those sounds are not heard in the far west in the afternoon we left the West Branch of Blue River and crossed the Prarie ridges to the N. E. and encamped on a broad sandy Brook now nearly dry

  13 Continued across the ridges and nooned late at Fosale [Fossil] Brook which detained us 2 days in Passing out [in 1844] now nearly dry some Black walnut and Honey Locust occur here for the first seen S. E. over high rich roling Prarie but without much useful timber and poorly supplied with spring water

  “the human mind can never be satisfied never at rest”

  14 over the same kind of country as yestarday in the fore noon passed rock creek scarcely affording sufficient wate[r] to run from Pool to Pool a rapid shower of rain fell in evening

  15 Continued in the afternoon we crossed greate Blue river and campd. on the East Bank

  This stream affords some fine rich vallies of cultivateable land and the Bluffs are made of a fine lime rock with some good timber and numerous springs of clear cool water here I observed the grave of Mrs Sarak Keys agead 70 yares who had departed this life in may [29th] last at her feet stands the stone that gives us this information This stone shews us that all ages and all sects are found to undertake this long tedious and even dangerous Journy for some unknown object never to be realized even by those the most fortunate and why because the human mind can never be satisfied never at rest allways on the strech for something new some strange novelty

  on our Return from California a Mr [Caleb] Greenwood and his two sons made a part of our company this man the Elder is now from his best recolection 80 years of age and has made the trip 4 times in 2 yares in part

  16 Left Blue River and soon passed the Burr oak creek a narrow Rippling stream at this time with wide Extensive Bottoms which in times of greate freshets are completely overflown the land rich and surface roling sub strata white lime Stone of a fine shining appearance

  17 East of South over a roling gravelly Prarie in many Places uneven nooned at cannon Ball Creek which now has but little running water on the ripples

  The afternoon passed over Beautifull rich Prarie but no valuable Timber

  18 In the fore noon crossed the Black vermillion to day the Trail runs nearly East nooned at a small Brook which has a fine small vally of good Burr oak Timber and fine Prarie in the Neighbourhood the water Poor in the afternoon we passed over roling hilly Prarie Country

  19 Started from the stake and came to Knife creek for Breakfast found the muketoes verry troublesome and a goodly number Horse flies met a small party of men going to Fort Larrimie who gave us a more full account of the stat of afairs Between the U. S. and Mexico and further told us that Two Thousand mounted Troops had lately left Misouri for St Afee and that one Thousand more [the Mormon Battalion and Sterling Price’s troops] are now Leaveing Early in the afternoon arived at Kaw River and got our Baggage taken over in a canoe and Swam our animals across

  20 Took the Trail down Kaw River passing immediately through a small settlement of Saukie Indians Their small farms had a Thrifty appearance and the corn and vegitables looked well and more like civilization than any thing I had seen lately The flies nearly Eat our horses up campd. on the Waukarusha

  “before night reached Independence”

  21 Early on our saddles with the intention to cheat the flies But they ware up and out as soon as us in about six miles however we came to a thick settlement of Shawnees and the flies which had anoyed us so much now became Quite Scarce and had it not been for the heat of the weather and the bad Quality of the water traveling would have been comfortable we encamped in the best cultivated part of the Shawnee country this tribe are far advanced in civilization and make their intire subsistance by agraculture and some are begining to learn the more rougher kinds of Mechanism such as hewing of timber making of Shingles and building of common wooden houses Their farms are mostly on the Prarie lands and their crops of grain look tolerable well the corn in Particular

  22 It Thundred and Lightned all night but did not rain in the forenoon we passed through west Porte a small ordinary village one half mile within the state of Missourie and some time before night reached Indipendence the Seat of Justice for Jackson county

  23 It rained the most part of the night last night but the morning was fair and we found ourselves surrounded by civilization and had to answer numerous [questions] about the country we had visited and many more conserning acquaintances that ware in Oregon and California disposed of my mules and mad my appearance at Mr Nolands Tavern and a Rough appearance it was But such things are not atall strange in Independance as it [is] the first place all the Parties r[e]ach from the Mountains from St A Fee California and Oregon

  the [weather] was verry warm and suffocating and in this particular you find a greate difference in the heat of summer in California you find it cool and pleasant in the shade while here you find [it] hot and suffocating in [the] coolest place you can find

  24 A Remarkable warm day But I must say I injoyed the time well in reading the papers that came by last nights mail and in the varied conversation I had with several gentlemen during the day

  On the first day of May we succeeded in crossing the main summit of the california mountains or the Siera Nevada the snow being from 3 to 8 feet deep on the western slope but on turning down the Eastern side it was perhaps from 8 to 20 or even 30 feet deep owing to the wind being allways from the South West when the snow is falling and carrying larg Quanti[t]ies from the western side which is deposited on the East side near the summit this mountain is generally thickly covered with a large groth of pine firr and other ever green Timber The rock near the summit is a light grey granite lying in large compact masses with a steep irregular rounded surface and none of the usual indication of recent Earth Quakes concrections or volcanic contortions But on desending some 16 or 18 miles thro a rough uneven vally you again arive at the Baysalt region and the stream has broke its way through several hunded feet in depth of Black frowning rock that one would think had onec ben liquidated by intense heat the large timber disappears and the hills are covered with Artimisia or as it is best known by the name of wild sage

  Notes on Chapter Sixteen:

  On June 1, Clyman refers to his circumnavigation of Great Salt Lake in the spring of 1826, though Clyman says he did it in a “bull boate” and Camp says canoes were used.

  Clyman was in Lost Creek Canyon on June 4, where the Donner party later had so much trouble that it made only 40 miles in 30 days.

  Camp has retraced Clyman’s route in detail in his edition of Clyman’s journals. By the time Clyman’s group met the “old companions from California” who joined them June 11, the party was dangerously small. Probably Clyman was accompanied only by three other men, one woman and a boy—small numbers for traveling through the West even at this time. The “old companions” were the remainder of the original 19 men and boys and possibly two women and two children, who had taken a different route part of the way. The identities of some in Clyman’s party are not known.

  In his entry for June 27, Clyman mentions meeting “numerous squads” of emigrants, but reports no conversations with them. Some of the emigrants, in their journals, were discouraged and angry at the stories the people of Clyman’s party told them of California. After all, they’d left their homes to emigrate to the newest “land of promise” in American history; they were hardly anxious to hear depressing—or realistic—stories that didn’t match their glowing expectations.

  Clyman apparently met two important personages at this time, neither of whom rated a very lengthy account in his journals. One was Francis Parkman, who records in his “Journal” various meetings with returning emigrants; but Parkman was more
interested in the Indians, and didn’t realize he was bypassing one of the explorers of the region that so fascinated him.

  As Bernard DeVoto puts it, “Francis Parkman had met a genius of the mountains, perhaps had talked with him, had seen a greatness he was not able to recognize…. That was Jim Clyman’s party.”

  Clyman also mentions camping at this time with the Boggs party, and a conversation that continued until “a late hour.” Boggs’ party included the Donners. Clyman had served in Jacob Early’s company in the Black Hawk war with James Frazier Reed, one of the leaders of the Donner subdivision, and later spoke to Montgomery of having a lengthy conversation with him about the route the party was to take.

  “I told him,” Clyman later said, “to take the regular wagon track [by way of Fort Hall] and never leave it—it is barely possible to get through if you follow it—and it may be impossible if you don’t.” Reed replied, “there is a nigher route [the Hastings Cutoff], and it is of no use to take so much of a roundabout course.”

  “I admitted the fact,” said Clyman, “but told him about the great desert and the roughness of the Sierras, and that a straight route might turn out to be impracticable.”

  The Donner party ignored Clyman’s advice, took the straighter route and failed to get across the Sierras before the October snows blocked them, with tragic results. Caught in the steep and rocky canyons Clyman describes in his journals, the Donner party fragmented as travelers in some wagons became sick from the hardships of travel and insufficient food. When the early snows caught them, some members of the party built shelters in which they hoped to wait out the winter, while others had no choice but to stay with their wagons further east. As food supplies dwindled, several parties left the encampment and tried to struggle through the snow to the California settlements. By the time some made it through and headed back with food, the survivors in the camps had been reduced to devouring the bodies of members of the group who had already died. (Some were later charged with hastening deaths to provide food.) The area where the party camped has become known as Donner Pass.

  Ironically, the Donner party had met with a man eminently suited to give them not only good general advice, but very specific advice about that trail, since he’d just crossed the area they were about to enter.

  DeVoto summarizes this encounter well: “But American history in the person of Jim Clyman had told the Donner party not to take the Hastings cutoff from the California trail.”

  Chapter 17

  Overland to California, 1848

  Any traveler who returned from California to St. Louis at this turbulent period, with the question of Mexico’s claims to California a major issue, was closely questioned. Clyman was no exception. When he returned east in 1846, he encountered a reporter for the Missouri Republican who borrowed his diaries long enough to copy sections of interest to readers. News traveled slowly, and was often at least half rumor, with reporters questioning returning travelers like Clyman and receiving a welter of confusing ideas and opinions. Using Clyman’s journals, the paper reported the confusion surrounding Lt. Fremont’s act in raising the American flag in his own camp. This was interpreted as an act of war, since the Mexicans rightly believed Americans were planning to conquer the territory for themselves, and resulted in Gen. Vallejo’s calling upon Mexican citizens to defend their rights. Fremont left the area with some haste, and the war with Mexico was delayed a bit longer.

  From California

  A gentleman who has passed the two last years in Oregon and California reached this city yesterday. His name is James Clymer, and [he] migrated from Milwaukie, with a view of determining for himself the character of that country. He left California, in company with six other persons, the latter end of April, and has been ninety days on the route. Mr. Clymer has kindly permitted us to glance at his diary—we could do no more—kept for the whole time of his absence, and to select such facts as may interest our readers. We have, of necessity, to take such incidents as occurred during his return home, passing over many descriptions of country, soil, places, mountains, people and government, in Oregon and California.

  On the 16th of March last, Mr. Clymer refers, in his journal, to the extraordinary avidity with which news is manufactured in that country; and says, that Lieut. Fremont had raised the American flag in Monterrey—of course the town of that name on the Pacific—that all good citizens were called upon to appear forthwith, at Sonoma, armed and equipped for service under Gen. Byajo, to defend the rights of Mexican citizens. This report subsequently appeared, was founded on the fact, that Lieut. Fremont had raised the American [flag] at his camp, near the Mission of St. John’s and that he declined to call on some of the legal authorities, when ordered to do so. It was said, that in consequence of this state of things, General Castro had raised four hundred men at Monterrey; that he marched to Lieut Fremont’s camp on the 22nd of March, from which he had retreated; and that he there found numerous pack-saddles, baggage, and a considerable quantity of specie. Lieut. Fremont was last heard of, after Mr. Clymer had left, on the Rio Sacramento; but as he kept his own counsel, no one knew his object in going there, or when he would return to the United States. He had lost one man, who was killed by the Indians, and had discharged others.

  Mr. Clymer met, at different times and under different circumstances, parties of Emigrants to Oregon or California, who were roving about discontented, and going back and forth, as whim dictated. On the 22nd of March, he notices having met, in California, a party of one hundred and fifty persons, thirty or forty of whom were then going to the Columbia river, having become tired of the other paradise. On the 20th of April, Mr. Sumner and his family arrived at camp, prepared for their journey to the States. Mr. Sumner had been in Oregon; from thence he went to California; and, being still dissatisfied, he was now returning, after having spent five years in traveling and likewise a small fortune.

  He met [!], and left Mr. L. P. [L. W.] Hastings, the author of a work on California, at his camp on Bear Creek, a small creek running into Feather River. He was located near the road travelled by the emigrants to California. Mr. Hastings had been looking for some force from the States, with which it was designed to revolutionize California, but in this he had been disappointed. He was then, it seemed, awaiting the action of the American Government, in taking possession of that country—of which he appeared to have some intimation. Mr. Clymer heard, on his return homeward, of the arrival of the several United States vessels of war at Monterrey, but knows nothing more about them….

  Ruxton, in writing about his experiences in 1846 near the Colorado-New Mexico border—then part of the territory disputed by the United States and Mexico—reported that he was obliged to watch his animals day and night to prevent them being stolen. Though Ruxton was an Englishman, he was looked upon with suspicion by Mexican settlers of the region because of the ongoing dispute with America.

  For the next year and a half Clyman visited friends in Wisconsin and spent the winter with John Bowen, his old Rocky Mountain friend who had dressed his leg after the embarrassing shotgun wound. Some of his friends said long afterward that he tried to interest them in buying land in California. There’s no real evidence, but it’s a likely explanation for his quick trip east so soon after arriving in California. Or perhaps he was simply making up his mind about the decision to emigrate, and settling his business in the east.

  In 1848 Clyman was hired as guide to a company of emigrants, one of the few that crossed to California that year. The great rush of the preceding years had been slowed considerably by problems with Mexico, treaty delays, and the fate of the Donner party. Little is recorded of the immigration of 1848.

  Apparently the train Clyman guided belonged primarily to one family, the McCombs of Indiana, well-traveled settlers who had previously pioneered in Ohio and Michigan. The parents were Lambert and Hannah, and the children traveling west, mostly grown and married, included Benjamin Franklin, Jacob Riley, Joseph D., Isaac, Aramintha, Martha, Hannah and Rebecca.
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  Hannah later became James Clyman’s wife. Camp calls her “a forceful and determined woman”; she must have been, to pursuade this steadfast bachelor to marry. Camp says she remained physically spry and mentally alert until her death in 1908; by that time Clyman had been dead for 27 years, almost as long as they’d been married.

  Clyman kept no diary of this trip, and there are various disputes over the route taken and how quickly the group traveled it, all of which Camp covers in detail. A letter written by Clyman after his arrival in Napa Valley gives some information.

  Clyman’s Letter to Ross

  Napa Valley, Alta California,

  Dec. 25th, 1848.

  Friend Ross:–The uncertainty of letters reaching you makes it necessary that I state to you again that we left the west of Missouri on the 1st of May and arrived here on the 5th of September without accident or interruption of any kind worthy of notice. Matters and things here are strangely and curiously altered since I left this country. No business of any kind is carried on except what is in some way connected with the gold mines. You have no doubt seen and heard several descriptions of those mines and supposed them all fabulous, but I am persuaded that nothing has yet reached you that would give you any adequate idea of the extent and immense richness of the mining region. Gold is now found in length from North to South, over a distance of between 400 and 500 miles, and in width from 40 to 60 miles, and nearly every ravine will turn out its thousands. There are at this time not less than 2000 white men and more than double that number of Indians washing gold at the rate of some two ounces per day, making over $300,000 per day, and this great quantity and the ease with which it is produced has caused a tremendous rise in provisions and all kinds of manufactured goods. Flour in the mines sells at $1 per lb—dried beef and bacon $2 per lb., &c. I forbear to mention anything more, for all articles bear the same proportions, as gold is the most plenty and of course the least valuable.