Beschreibung:

CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH]. Manuscript diary of Davod Urtley, a gold-miner from New York, [various places,] 21 January 1852 - 14 November 1853 (additional notes on page 1 dated 6 February and 3 April 1866). 30 pages, plus jottings on endpapers, in ink and pencil, 117 x 76 mm. (4 5/8 x 2 15/16 in.), sewn into original grained goatskin wallet wrap, slightly rubbed, a few wormholes, tear along inside of flap, modern brown morocco gilt folding box, a few passages in pencil badly faded, the last two pages overwritten in pencil, marginal browning, minor soiling and staining . A MINER'S LIFE A rare diary of one of the participants in the great first wave of the California Gold Rush. The diarist records, in highly abbreviated but vivid one- or two-line entries, his trip from his home near Martinsburg, New York (about 35 miles west of Watertown and Lake Ontario), by foot, stage and rail, to New York City, where he sets sail for California on the 24th. After one or two mishaps -- the ship run aground the first day out, and a few days later a crew member dies, the first of several deaths en route -- the vessel makes good speed down the coast, past Cuba and Santo Domingo, arriving in Chagres on February 3rd. Travelling day and night, Urtley makes the overland journey to the west coast of Panama in three days. At this point our diarist seems to have run out of funds, for he puts in a few days' work on the steamer New Orleans , at anchor off Tobago, before buying a ticket for the same ship's run northward. The telegraphically brief entries provide a glimpse of a life of extreme rigor: "17 [Feb.] Saw a whale in the morning. Capt. Lake overboard in evening. Smooth sea fair wind ahead... 21 22 [Feb.] smooth sea, fair. 23 [Feb.] A passenger died at one A.M., buried at 10 1/2 A.M. in the sea. Anchored at Acapulco about 4, went ashore at 5. Wrote home... 24 [Feb.] A man from Georgia died at 5 o'clock, buried on shore. Left at 4 P. M. 25 [Feb.] Left at 4 on our way. 26 [Feb.] Formed a committee to keep order. 27 [Feb.] Out of sight of land at the mouth of the Gulph of California, wind ahead, rough sea... 5 [March] Sea rough. Wind aft. Run into San Francisco Bay Wind blew a gale. Anchored. 6 [March]. Weighed anchor & went to shore, run about town & started for Sacramento on the Confidence. We arrived at 3 o'clock in the morning of the 7th..." A week later, having rounded up wood and blankets, and paid a visit to "Sutter's Fort" (presumably John Sutter's mill on the south fork of the American River, the site of the first discovery of gold by James W. Marshall in January, 1848) on his way up the river to Rattle Snake Bar, Urtley "commenced washing... 15 16 17 18 19 20 dug gold & washed with a rocker at rattle snake bar". The following week he joins "Lewis Campbell...at Rich bar", and spends the next few days "sinking a hole, found water". Urtley continues to move from one mining camp to another, spending several days at each one. Camps mentioned are Auburn, Lacy's Bar, Union, Newcastle, and Kentucky Bar, and Urtley records working with the tom, the flume and the rocker, the three principal tools of the miner. Men die and fights break out. "18 [April]. Went to where John Todd was killed & to Lacy's Bar then with Waite to Kentuckey Bar & back. Saw the fight &c. 19 [April]. Bought into the wheel co. [perhaps a reference to the new hydraulic stream method?]. Made 960. 20 [April]. Worked at tom...31 [May] Worked at tom and found a dead man. June 1st. Worked at tom. 2 [June]. Did the same...".