9780803279902

Foreword

(4)

J.S. Holliday

Preface

(10)

Necia Dixon Liles

PART I: OVERLAND

(72)

Chapter One May 6-June 24, 1849: Kansas, Nebraska Wherein Dr. Lord sets out to California; fords rivers; encounters cholera, gunfights, torrential rains, graves, Fox Indians, Fort Kearney, more rivers, buffalo, more Indians, many creeks, Chimney Rock and Courthouse Rock.

(25)

Chapter Two June 25-August 1, 1849: Wyoming Wherein Dr. Lord describes the plains, valleys and mesas, and speculates about their construction; stops at Fort Laramie; encounters more cholera, creeks, dramatic topography, roadside jetsam, graves, a glut of dead cattle, and Independence Rock; gives orders and strong advice to all who come near; climbs perpendicular rocks merely for the view; enters Sublette's cutoff; deplores the usury of traders; admires the grace squaw.

(26)

Chapter Three August 2-August 18, 1849: Idaho Wherein Dr. Lord catches a few trout; sketches PegLeg Smith; soothes angry Indians; describes Indian village; passes Beer and Steamboat Springs and Sheep Mountain; follows Hudspeth's cutoff; gets lost on hike but climbs Cache Peak the next day to view Salt Lake; fantasizes in the City of Rocks.

(21)

PART II: DESERT AND THE SIERRA

(104)

Chapter Four August 19-September 8, 1849: Nevada Wherein Dr. Lord crosses the desert; deplores conduct of his men; curses wantonness; encounters Alexander Hamilton's son, more Indian trouble, boiling springs, cattle stampede, fiery heat, stifling dust, blinding sun, lizards and ants; labels notable geography; searches for grass; hears an organ played at midnight.

(21)

Chapter Five September 9-October 2, 1849: Farther into the Desert Wherein Dr. Lord chooses his route to California; encounters a dentist, wolves, deep sand and steep bluffs; dispenses more geographical names; seeks water and feed; writes by starlight; pens a melancholy ode to a dying ox; kills a rattlesnake; enters Sierra Nevada; sets fire to a huge cedar; finds pitted, dried fruit; observes a dramatic death.

108

(31)

Chapter Six October 3-October 26, 1849: California Wherein Dr. Lord enters California at Goose Lake; visits with J.G. Bruff party; encounters snow and Indian fears; wearies of trees and mountains; fords river after river; deflects huge Indian war party; deplores lack of education in peers; enjoys cotillion; passes raided grave of physician; reaches branch of Feather River.

139

(23)

Chapter Seven October 27-November 8, 1849: Sacramento River Wherein Dr. Lord first views Sacramento Valley from 25 miles above; grieves for widow who loses her child; reaches Sacramento River and Lassen's ranch; describes lack of comfort, filth; documents Digger Indian dress, salmon preparation, hard work, honesty; experiences beginning of rain; discourses on Spanish land grants.

162

(11)

Chapter Eight November 9-December 21, 1849: Rain! Rain! Rain! Wherein Dr. Lord moves camp away from rising river; finds no dry wood for raft; discusses election; hears discouraging news from mines; contemplates beef ethics; endures wet night lost and alone in forest; suffers gale winds, more rain, and break-up of company; loads canoes; searches for food; stops at Larkin's ranch; depicts Indian village; mourns Whipple and Richardson deaths; describes casino in Vernon; survives worst storm ever.

173

(18)

PART III: SACRAMENTO CITY AND THE MINES

191

(156)

Chapter Nine December 22-December 30, 1849: Sacramento Flood Wherein Dr. Lord recounts Sacramento City inundation, confusion, water level, mud, rotting garbage, taverns, gambling, streets, buildings, and Sunday services; is vexed by postal system; takes passage on the Lawrence; contemptuously judges character of population; describes vast flood of Feather River, handling of gold, Marysville Buttes.

191

(14)

Chapter Ten December 31, 1849-January 29, 1850: Exploring the River Wherein Dr. Lord hears countless wolves and pigeons; visits Nichol's ranch, Vernon, Yuba City, Sutter's Farm, Bennett's ranch and Long's Bar; records prevalence of scurvy, and continuing rain; sets up permanent camp; hires good cook; hunts; finds Sunday services in the diggings.

205

(7)

Chapter Eleven January 30-April 13, 1850: The Diggings Wherein Dr. Lord finds first gold; analyzes diggings and rivers; critiques noisy wedding; buys a mule; basks in spring weather; moves to S. Fork claim; sits on jury; meets addlebrained man; hears Indian rumors; describes gold rocker and variety of gold collectors; writes mining song; mistakes a Baptist for a Methodist; deplores slavery and drunks; basks in spring flowers; hears of more injustices to Indians; and finds claim disappointing.

212

(21)

Chapter Twelve April 14-May 10, 1850: High Water Contemplations Wherein the river is too high to work and Dr. Lord muses about vegetation, whiskers, food, prices, quarrels, violence and stupidity; receives letters from home; mourns lost year; decries gold-over-God mentality; resents lack of promised fish in rivers; climbs a mountain for the view; reads political books and launches into an abolitionist tangent; indignantly expounds on California statehood, congressmen, wages and prices; sees mule fall off mountain.

233

(10)

Chapter Thirteen May 11-June 9, 1850: Mining and Meetings Wherein Dr. Lord becomes secretary of anti-democratic meeting; finds more gold; launches into another religious tangent; kills deer; finds human skeleton and waxes melancholy; doubts value of [Chapter Thirteen cont.] California land; treats patient; is disdainful over amount and price of liquor; becomes saddened by lack of mail; scornfully listens to political candidates; writes another poem.

243

(15)

Chapter Fourteen June 10-August 1, 1850: Elections and Humbugs Wherein Dr. Lord assesses candidates and voters; heals with animal magnetism; enjoys mail from home; recognizes Gold Lake as pure humbug; battles ants and flies; deplores racial fights; considers giving temperance speech in tavern; sweats out intense heat; deplores Fourth of July waste of powder; dams river; doctors a physician; gives up mining.

258

(12)

Chapter Fifteen August 2-September 3, 1850: More Money in Medicine Wherein Dr. Lord, disgusted at man's injustices and the lack of gold, leaves the river; records another racial death; receives more mail from home; walks to Rube's Ranch, thence to the Yuba and south; meets Dr. Torrey; wears out new shoes; observes Indian incident; takes clumsy steamer to Sacramento; hears of squatter's riots and death of President Taylor; finds a congregation and old friends; forms new Baptist church; opens medical office with Dr. Torrey.

270

(16)

Chapter Sixteen September 4-September 5, 1850: President Zachary Taylor Funeral Wherein Dr. Lord describes the mock funeral of General Taylor; with bullfight, guns, cannons, craped procession, brass band, costumes, boots backwards in stirrups, and Col. Zabrisky eulogy.

286

(5)

Chapter Seventeen September 6-October 1, 1850: Life in Sacramento Wherein Dr. Lord happily attends a full church and temperance meetings; is appalled at conditions in Sacramento hospital; treats man with D.T.; notes exodus from California; describes conditions in Sacramento; rails at filth of hospital; warns of approaching cholera.

291

(9)

Chapter Eighteen October 2-November 13, 1850: Campaigns and Cholera Wherein Dr. Lord speaks harshly of candidates; eulogizes Hamilton; witnesses first cholera death; hears California enter [Chapter Eighteen cont.] Union; notes rise in cholera; sees filth burned in streets, murky air; declares homeopathic treatment most successful; is anguished by Dr. Torrey's death; sees cholera increase and Sacramento nearly deserted; develops cholera symptoms; watches huge hotel fires; becomes optimistic as cholera begins to abate.

300

(13)

Chapter Nineteen November 14-December 24, 1850: Politics and Opinions Wherein Dr. Lord receives newspapers from home which inspire yet another harangue; describes shipping techniques; notes return of winter; bides time hunting and writing; boards steamer to Benicia; suffers accident; stops in Martinez, Benicia, thence back to Sacramento with ladies of doubtful reputation aboard ship; describes graveyards of cholera dead and trials of Mayor Hardin Bigelow.

313

(18)

Chapter Twenty December 25, 1850-February 14, 1851: Last Visit to Mines Wherein Dr. Lord leaves for Marysville; walks 18 miles to Park's Bar; criticizes usual chaos of mining, drinking, gambling, fighting; watches squaw doctor dying infant; walks 31 miles to Rube's ranch and on to the mines; kills a deer; describes Indian burning ground and attire; bids goodbye to friends; tramps to Marysville; steams to Sacramento and Benicia; hikes up Mt. Diavolo and describes "beauties often dreamed of"; makes unexplained trip back to mining area before returning to Benicia and San Francisco.

331

(16)

PART IV: PANAMA AND HOME

347

(70)

Chapter Twenty-one February 15-March 4, 1851: Aboard the Oregon Wherein Dr. Lord boards the Oregon and is repulsed by the lack of accommodation; briefly stops at "trifling" town of San Diego; is aroused at Acapulco by fire on deck; describes Acapulco and inhabitants; meets Kit Carson's brother; denounces smokers; indites a poem on the knavery of the ship's command.

347

(16)

Chapter Twenty-two March 5-March 9, 1851: On the Isthmus of Panama Wherein Dr. Lord enters Panama harbor; is inundated by naked philistines; vividly sketches old and new parts of city, cathedral and cannons; reproaches immodesty and Catholicism; leaves city to cross isthmus; eloquently depicts route; disapproves of native's dress and [Chapter Twenty-two cont.] habits; advises travellers on how to deal with baggage handlers; bathes in alligator-infested water in delights in flocks of parrots and three-foot lizards; documents chaos of Chagres.

363

(19)

Chapter Twenty-three March 10-March 20, 1851: Through the Gulf of Mexico Wherein Dr. Lord decries the entire isthmus; boards the Philadelphia; caustically characterizes fellow passengers; is inundated by the tumultuous natives of Jamaica; tightly clutches his coins and decorum; recognizes the underlying happiness of Jamaicans; discourses on slavery.

382

(17)

Chapter Twenty-four March 21-April 3, 1851: The Mississippi River and Home Wherein Dr. Lord reaches the Mississippi Delta; laments the heavy burden of Southern slavery; disembarks in New Orleans; pompously rebuffs customs inspector; derides Catholic rituals; boards the Pawnee; philosophizes on politics, economics and human nature; impatiently stops at every town; boards the Ocean Wave for last leg home; is delayed on stage ride from river; finally steps on to his "own premises."

399

(18)

Appendix A Contemporary Biography of Israel Shipman Pelton Lord

417

(3)

Appendix B Letters from a Member of Lord's Party

420

(5)

Appendix C Letter from Israel Lord to Monroe Nathan Lord

425

(8)

Index