By Ox Team to California: A Narrative of Crossing the Plains in 1860 E-Book

Lavinia Honeyman Porter

• Herausgeber: Lavinia Honeyman Porter
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

Porter’s By Ox Team to California is a moving piece of social history which documents the struggles and hopes of ordinary Americans in the mid-nineteenth century.

Leseprobe

TABLE OF CONTENTS

COVER

TITLE

COPYRIGHT

BY OX TEAM TO CALIFORNIA

DEDICATION

INTRODUCTORY

CHAPTER I.

CHAPTER II.

CHAPTER III.

CHAPTER IV.

CHAPTER V.

CHAPTER VI

CHAPTER VII.

CHAPTER VIII.

CHAPTER IX.

CHAPTER X.

CHAPTER XI.

CHAPTER XII.

CHAPTER XIII.

CHAPTER XIV.

CHAPTER XV.

Lavinia Honeyman Porter

BY OX TEAM TO CALIFORNIA

A NARRATIVE OF CROSSING THE PLAINS IN 1860

Arcadia Ebooks 2016

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www.arcadiaebooks.altervista.org

Lavinia Honeyman Porter

By Ox Team to CaliforniaA Narrative of Crossing the Plains in 1860

(1910)

BY OX TEAM TO CALIFORNIA

To my sister,Charlotte Dunning Baker,whose constant nagging induced me to undertake the writing of my memories of my life across the plains.

INTRODUCTORY.

When my two great, stalwart grandsons were little shavers, it was their favorite habit in the early hours of the morning to come creeping into bed with grandmother. Their soft little arms would twine lovingly about my neck and kisses from their dewy lips were pressed upon my cheek and brow. And were I ever so far away in slumber land their sweet voices clamoring for a story would banish all sleep from my drowsy eyelids. Usually they selected their own stories from the numbers I had so often repeated, but invariably wound up, when I had exhausted my fund, by saying, “Now, grandmother, tell us about crossing the plains.”

The true stories appealed more strongly to them than all the illusory conceptions of fancy, from the fact, perhaps, that I could relate what really had occurred better than I could draw from my imagination. Be that as it may, they never wearied of hearing how I crossed the plains, climbed the Rocky mountains and traveled many months on my way to California. To gratify them and their dear mother I have consented to write up for them the history of my overland journey.

Those who may favor the succeeding pages with their perusal must not expect any attempt at fine writing, or glowing descriptions. The author’s intention is to furnish a plain, unvarnished tale of actual occurrences and facts relating to her long journey. Nothing not strictly true will be admitted into its pages, and if some of the incidents related be found of a thrilling character the reader will experience satisfaction in knowing that they are not the results of imaginary picturing. Whenever a personal adventure is narrated, it will be found to illustrate some particular phase of character, and none are recounted which do not convey information.

As I recall those years after the lapse of time, they are as vivid as the memory of yesterday’s events. It has been a positive delight in the midst of this modern life, to live over some of those scenes. Those peculiar conditions no longer exist, for the advent of the overland railway and the customs and usages of more civilized life have done away with much of the fascinations of romance and adventure.

If I have not laid sufficient emphasis on the difficulties and discouragement which we encountered, it is not because there were not numerous obstacles to overcome, but in turning the mind upon the past, the more pleasant memories stand out in bolder relief; even when the cares and responsibilities weighed most heavily upon us, we had that saving grace of humor which enabled us to meet situations otherwise insuperable, and to gather courage whereby we might endure them all.

Necessarily in recounting these events so closely identified with our life on the plains this narrative has assumed an autobiographical character to a larger extent than the author could wish, and I humbly beg pardon of the reader if I have exceeded the canons of good taste.

All through that tedious and extended time I kept a journal of every day’s happenings as they occurred, but after our arrival in California we settled on a remote ranch, and in those early and primitive days, books, magazines or literature of any kind were rare among the farming community where we were located. My journal proving interesting to our neighbors, was loaned and re-loaned from one family to another until at last it fell into the hands of some careless persons who allowed it to be partially destroyed, particularly that part relating to the first months of our journey. Many names of rivers, streams and different points and places have slipped from my memory, but the principal places and events of our journey were so strongly impressed upon my then young mind, that they have become indelible and time can not efface them. Perhaps the repetition of them over and over to my little grandsons and their young playmates served to strengthen them in my memory, and, while I may be lacking in ability to embellish this humble history I can still give the plain facts and incidents of that never to be forgotten journey.