Dear Lee Schmidt, Thank you sooooooo much for the History of Butte County you snail mailed me re: Charles Allen Rice. Now, what I figgure is that Floyd Bloomer Rice is the son on one of the other three brothers that settled in Butte County as none of the family names were familiar to me. Is there anyway you or anyone else can locate that information for me? Thank you again, Robin Rice

Hi Elaine, If you do get any information I should be most interested, I'm trying to track the movements of someone who supposedly did the NY to SF trip in 1856, so want to learn as much as I can about the route. Thanks, bye for now, Dorothy, Victoria, Canada On Mon, 17 Aug 1998, Elaine Waiters wrote: > The wonderful postings about "sea stuff" prompted me to dig out information > about the arrival of my gg-grandparents in San Francisco. > > According to family records, David HOWELL went back east to IL from Napa, > CA, in 1855. He was supposed to buy farm equipment for his father, Isaac > HOWELL, and bring his brother & his brother's wife & baby back out to CA. > > David met Martha Ellen WADE in IL, and they eloped. They and his brother's > family traveled to NY where they boarded the "George Law" steamship to the > Isthmus of Panama. At the Isthmus, Panamanian natives carried them and > their luggage through the surf to the railroad dock. The railroad was not > quite finished, and they had to walk the last 1 1/2 miles into Panama. > (Descendants talk about a mule train across part of the Isthmus; was it a > train with an engine or a mule train??) > > The five Howell's boarded the ship "Golden Age" to San Francisco. Family > records say they reached San Francisco on 1 June 1855. The wedding and > trip had taken all David's money, so he had no farm equipment for his > father. > > Does anyone have more information on the "Golden Age?" > > Elaine Waiters > [email protected] > > > ==== CA-GOLDRUSH Mailing List ==== > Automatic Administrative Reminder: > To forestall future flames, please remember to include > data sources; tell us where you found it! > > > > > > >

The wonderful postings about "sea stuff" prompted me to dig out information about the arrival of my gg-grandparents in San Francisco. According to family records, David HOWELL went back east to IL from Napa, CA, in 1855. He was supposed to buy farm equipment for his father, Isaac HOWELL, and bring his brother & his brother's wife & baby back out to CA. David met Martha Ellen WADE in IL, and they eloped. They and his brother's family traveled to NY where they boarded the "George Law" steamship to the Isthmus of Panama. At the Isthmus, Panamanian natives carried them and their luggage through the surf to the railroad dock. The railroad was not quite finished, and they had to walk the last 1 1/2 miles into Panama. (Descendants talk about a mule train across part of the Isthmus; was it a train with an engine or a mule train??) The five Howell's boarded the ship "Golden Age" to San Francisco. Family records say they reached San Francisco on 1 June 1855. The wedding and trip had taken all David's money, so he had no farm equipment for his father. Does anyone have more information on the "Golden Age?" Elaine Waiters [email protected]

In a message Elaine Walters wrote: >The five Howell's boarded the ship "Golden Age" to San Francisco. Family >records say they reached San Francisco on 1 June 1855. The wedding and >trip had taken all David's money, so he had no farm equipment for his >father. > >Does anyone have more information on the "Golden Age?" Hi Elaine - Apparently, I have a little on two "Golden Age". Arthur L CLARK in Appendix II of "The Clipper Ship Era", which he calls "Record Passages of the California Clipper Ships made in 110 days or less from 1850 to 1860, inclusive.states that the GOLDEN AGE (barque), departing from Boston, arrived at San Francisco on May 31, 1853 - a passage of 103 days. James DELGADO in this "To California by Sea" mentions a steamer - the 2,181 ton GOLDEN AGE, one of the large steamers that helped secure Pacific Mail's domination of the Panama route and Pacific coastal navigation. Nothing further. Don't know whether this helps or confuses:-))) Take care, Bob Norris

Does anyone have any information about the Grass Valley Club which was in existence from 1860-1870? Diantha

Does anyone have access to the census for people in Grass Valley in 1860, 1870, 1880 and 1890? If so, I'd be grateful for a few look-ups. Diantha

Hi Bob, your posts give so many fun details to explore. I thought it might be interesting to note what cargo the ANTELOPE brought to SF April 14, 1860: The arrival of the first pony-express rider and his horse in San Francisco was aboard the steamer ANTELOPE! The trip started at St Joseph, Missouri, 6:30pm April 3, covered nineteeen hundred and sixty four miles, and was made in nine days , twenty-three hours! It ended in San Franciso when the steamer arrived an hour past midnight, April 14. The rider (this source does not give his name)was greeted in Placerville with gun salutes and speeches, the legislature in Sacramento adjouned in his honor, and he was put aboard the ANTELOPE amid "the booming cannons, ringing of bells and cheering of the multitude". He was greeted in San Francisco "by a crowd such as had not assembled since the February morning eleven years earlier when the CALIFORNIA arrived". ( The CALIFORNIA arrived in San Francisco Feb 28, 1849-carrying 400 fortune hunters-however it was built to carry 150! There were 1500 hundred folks at the Isthums hoping get on board ~~!) The pony express was thereafter greeted with crowds at 3:45 every Wednesday and Saturday in front of Wells, Fargo and Co to see the express rider depart with his pouches. The above info gathered from _San Francisco, Port of Gold_ by William Camp. You can also read more about The Pony Express at this site. http://www.ccnet.com/~xptom/ Have fun, Carolyn Bob wrote: "I put plenty of ballast and scuttled her...She cost me $500. I slipped her in very quietly one bright moonlight morning about 3 o'clock. Before I could drop her to the bottom, the Pacific Wharf Company had the [steamer] ANTELOPE astern, and before I could prevent it, she had fastened a line to my boat and began to steam away. She didn't take me too many feet, though, for with a cutlass, I cut the line and with pistol in hand ordered them to keep off. They did so."

Suzanne, Thanks for updating us. It is fun to see that you are gathering these bits of historical records to link with your family stories. I would like to add this reference for you : _Ho! For The Gold Fields_ edited by Helen McCann White, published by the Minnesota Historical Society, 1966. Hopefully you can get this through ILL. It includes diaries and letters of members of 8 wagon train trips of the Northern Routes to Montana Gold FIelds 1862-1867. These trains were led by Fisk, Davy and Holmes. Over 850 members of these 8 trains are identified and some biographical information is also included on these travellers. Also there are some wonderful maps of the trails, the communities along the route and the mining areas found in Montana. Members of these trains were from Minnesota, and nearly all the northeastern and mid-Atlantic states, Significant numbers also came from Wisconsin, Michigan, Ilinois, Indiana, the District of Columbia and from Canada and England. While I did not find your RUSK mentioned, there is quite a bit of info regarding Last Chance and its beginings. It does mention that "Stanley and three companions discovered gold at a gulch they named Last Chance in early 1864". Stanley returned to England with a fortune three years later. Best of luck, and have fun, Carolyn [email protected] wrote: > > Greetings, > > By way of a thank you to all the people who've become interested in my > search for Last Chance Gulch and the trail of my g-grandfather, WILLIAM > HENRY RUSK, thought I'd send along this update. > > Yesterday my sole living aunt dug through a box and found an article from > 1975 which > appeared in the Acworth, GA newspaper. Acworth was John Cowan's GA home > before and after his prospecting days in the west. I've received is that they were JOHN COWAN, D.J. MILLER, REGINALD "BOB" > STANLEY, and JOHN CRABB. > > Well, Stanley was from England, and Crabb was from Iowa, both lovely > places, but they're definitely not Georgia! Don't know who Miller was or > from where he came. > I figured John Cowan, Frank Cowan, Bill Palmer, and Henry Rusk were the > famous "Four Georgians." > > Can someone help me with this? > > snnip==============================

Bob, Thank you so much for all of the stories of "other" routes to CA and the Goldrush. Since several of my lines came west to the "gold country" from 1846 on and by various "trails" I have had a great time using my imagination for each method of "trailing." As you said several individuals made the trip more than once--without and then with families. Thank you again for all of your wonderful research. Arlene

Hi, Bob: This was a great series of articles. Since my father's ancestors came from Nantucket MA by ship, around the Horn of S.A., maybe one of their ships is still in the S.F. harbor (VBG). Don't I wish... Some returned to Nantucket via the Isthmus and sailing to New Orleans, sailing to MA where they dragged the rest of the family to CA by Panama, too. Now to get back to my mother's ancestors who came to CA north and south overland route(s). Thank you! PatriciaJ <[email protected]>

Howdy, Here's number three - I really liked this one - hope you do too:-) " Howdy, Our story begins in 1847, when SF Alcalde, Edwin BRYANT, asked Military Governor Stephen Watts KEARNY for permission to sell some of the submerged land in Yerbva Buena Cove to private investors. These submerged lands were the property of the U.S. government, which held their title in trust for the future state. San Francisco lay inshore of Yerba Buena Cove - a mile wide, 336 acre shallow body of water and tidelands bordered at the north by Loma Alta and to the south Rincon Hill. The stagnant, shallow waters of Yerba Buena Cove prevented the entrance of deep-draft vessels. Initially, this problem was solved by building wharves and use of lighters(shallow draft vessels?) at high tide, but ultimately the city extended itself out to deeper waters - the "stream" - where the vessels anchored. After reserving certain areas for the United States, Gen/Mil.Gov. KEARNY agreed to the private sale with a stipulation that the remaining(?) submerged cove property be subdivided and sold at public auction to the highest bidder, with the proceeds being used "for the benefit of the town of San Francisco." The "beach and water lots" were surveyed in July, 1847 and divided into 444 lots, each measuring 137 feet, 6 inches by 45 feet, 10 inches. The sale was advertised, "The town of San Francisco is known... to be the most COMMANDING COMMERCIAL POSITION[emphasis theirs] on the entire western coast of the Pacific Ocean, and the Town itself no doubt destined to become the COMMERCIAL EMPORIUM[emphasis theirs] on the western side of the North American continent." When the auction was held on July 20, 1847, only about 200 lots were sold at prices averaging $75 each. Ironically, by 1849 these somewhat undesirable lots in 1847 were the most desirable property in town. With San Francisco expanding in 1848 and 1849, another water-lot auction was held on January 3, 1850, with 343 lots sold at "exorbitant" prices - Sorry, I don't have the figures(thousands though) - do any of you? All these water lots gave rise to an interesting maritime gold rush phenomenon. With all the title conflicts and doubtful interests in these underwater lots between wharf companies and waterfront developers, there developed the interesting occupation of HULK UNDERTAKERS who scuttled ships on the water lots to help establish title i.e. the sinking of a vessel on a lot placed an "improvement" on the property. Probably the most famous "hulk undertaker" was Captain Fred LAWSON(my mother's maiden name, I wonder) who purchased in 1851, three blocks of water lots from Dr. Peter SMITH for $3,500 each. The blocks bordered by Vallejo, Broadway, Front, and Davis Streets; Pacific, Jackson, Davis and Drumm streets; and Washington, Clay, East, and Drumm streets. At that time these blocks were submerged in 35 feet of water and used as slips for vessels, particularly for the Pacific Street wharf. After LAWSON had sunk sufficient vessels to establish his own title, he went into the busines of doing it for others. He recalls one operation: "I put plenty of ballast and scuttled her...She cost me $500. I slipped her in very quietly one bright moonlight morning about 3 o'clock. Before I could drop her to the bottom, the Pacific Wharf Company had the [steamer] ANTELOPE astern, and before I could prevent it, she had fastened a line to my boat and began to steam away. She didn't take me too many feet, though, for with a cutlass, I cut the line and with pistol in hand ordered them to keep off. They did so."(Mostly from Delgado's To California by Sea) Thanks for your patience - that concludes, for now, my SF historee kick - back to Northern/Southern Trails, Southern Mines/Merry Posey or whatevever. :o) Bob Norris in Dallas <[email protected]>

Howdy, Another SFslice from a prior posting: "Howdy, Early in 1849 it became evident that San Francisco was on its way to becoming a major commercial center with the tremendous influx of shipping. The "Daily Alta California" asked that shipmasters provide "any information of a public character which they may be enabled to give us on arrival.... LISTS of PASSENGERS we will always be happy to insert." Probably the most important step for documenting harbor shipping was the appointment of a HARBORMASTER who recorded arriving and departing vessels; and passed on to the newspapers such information as the name of the vessel, the port it was from or clearing to, and, for arrivals, time of passage, number of passengers, and a general view of the cargo. Initially, vessel arrivals had been heralded either by a chance observer on the hills above town, or only after a ship had rounded CLARK's Point and dropped anchor off the waterfront. With the influx of ship traffic, the harbormaster perched a lookout at the summit of Loma Alta, a sandy rock projections marking the northern end of Yerba Buena Cove. In February, 1849, a San Francisco naval officer drew up some suggested code signals for ships to notify their arrivals to shore. For a better view in September, 1849, a marine lookout station - a small two-story, rectangular, frame building - was erected atop the 284 foot high Loma Alta hill. From the station's roof, a large flagstaff with wooden semaphore arms "telegraphed" - using an appropriate flag - a ship's arrival, nationality, and ship type to the town below. It didn't take people long to dub the station, Telegraph Hill. Telegraph Hill was slightly prempted in April, 1850, when Messrs. George E. SWEENEY and Timothy E. BAUGH opened a second lookout station outside the "harbor at Point Lobos, the south head of the bight leading to the Golden Gate," which on a clear day, with a telescope, had several miles' visability and could spot vessels far out at sea. The Point Lobos lookout would signal by semaphore the Telegraph Hiil lookout, who signaled the Merchants Exchanged downtown, who in turn, from its flagstaff, notified the downtown merchants. The merchants would then often print and pass out broadsheets(handbills?) throughout the town. This system continued until 1852/53 when a magnetic telegraph line was installed between Point Lobos and downtown. It wasn't until 1961, that modern radio-telegraph communications and radar finally closed down "The Outer Signal Station" at Point Lobos.(Mainly from Delgado's "To California by Sea.") Hang on. One more SF coming in a bit :-) Bob Norris in Dallas <BNorris166aol.com>

Howdy, As a followup to my sea stuff, I am TODAY sending three SF maritime postings that I made on another list. They give us a little SF history. Here's the first one: "Howdy, To digress, while resting my mules/oxen out on the overland trail :-), I would like to quote from James P. Delgado's "To California by Sea -A Maritime History of the California Gold Rush." He succinctly and, I believe authoritatively, describes San Francisco's maritime condition in 1849 and 1850, as follows: "The sheer number of vessels lying at anchor off San Francisco made a lasting impression on many Gold Rush visitors and firmly established San Francisco as a maritime city. It also conferred a negative image of the port to wary shipowners reluctant to send a ship for a prolonged layover. In the summer of 1849, as the first onslaught of Gold Rush arrivals began, the harbormaster counted 72 vessels at the port. By October 30, l849, the San Francisco DAILY ALTA CALIFORNIA counted 308 vessels at anchor 'in the Port of San Francisco,' although some were not laid up but merely between voyages... "In the June 6, 1850 edition, the ALTA counted 509 vessels in port, a few dozen between voyages. By November 1851, the ALTA published the deputy harbormaster's enumeration of 452 vessels in the harbor, which included 242 American-registered, 36...from Great Britain, and 11 French, 10 German, 3 Swedish, 3 Austrian, 5 Chilean, 2 Dutch, 1 Italian.... "Despite the large number of laid-up vessels on the San Francisco waterfront, the statistics of arrivals and departures indicate an active port. Initially marine news focused largely on arrivals - very few vessels departed San Francisco in 1849. The formal recording of arrivals commenced on March 26, l849..." NOTE: To conserve space, I am combining Delgado's Tables 1 and 2, which show the 1849 and 1850 San Francisco ship arrivals: Month 1849 Ship Arrivals 1850 Ship Arrivals January N/A 55 February N/A 46 March N/A 54 April 64 50 May 43 75 June 74 85 July 93 62 August 112 54 September 128 39 October 90 49 November 82 55 December 89 32 ---------- ---------- Probably accurate, but I wouldn't bet the farm on those numbers. As with all statistics, there is disagreement. In 1854, the San Francisco DAILY HERALD recorded 650 arrivals in 1849, 1,521 arrivals in 1850, 977 in 1851, 743 in 1852, and 862 in 1853. Interestingly, the majority of vessels arriving after 1850 were from foreign ports. Maybe a little overlap with Clark's Clipper book - read Delgado first:-), Bob Norris in Dallas BNorris166aol.com>

At least you know I've been busy. Sorry for the intrusion with the Grass Valley CA obits! Just give them the big-old "delete..." PatriciaJ <[email protected]>

REID, Wallace John; 76; Alberta CAN>Grass Valley CA; Grass Valley U; 1998-8-1; pjr NELSON, Eleanor Alice (McEWEN); 80; Alberta CAN>Grass Valley CA; Grass Valleu U; 1998-8-4; pjr SEAY, Jack D; 31; ; Grass Valley U (CA); 1998-8-4; pjr HANSEN, Ora Viola (GRIGGS) [ROLLINS] [NELSON]; 91; Grass Valley CA; Grass Valley U; 1998-8-5; pjr MEYER, Timothy J; 59; Grass Valley CA; Grass Valley U; 1998-8-5; pjr RUTHERFORD, Dennis; 52; St. David AZ; Grass Valley U (CA); 1998-8-5; pjr BEEGEL, Robert; 86; Grass Valley CA; Grass Valley U; 1998-8-6; pjr FRIEDRICH, Ralph; 76; ; Grass Valley U (CA); 1998-8-6; pjr SILVA, Freeman August "Jim"; 82; Grass Valley CA; Grass Valley U; 1998-8-6; pjr JACKSON, James "JJ"; 58; Grass Valley CA; Grass Valley U; 1998-8-7; pjr MOTT, Lillian Sarah (LEMON); 82; Grass Valley CA; Grass Valley U; 1998-8-7; pjr NORMAN, Arthur P; 55; Grass Valley CA; Grass Valley U; 1998-8-7; pjr SMITH, Vincentia Marie (ARCELEO); 86; Woodland CA; Grass Valley U; 1998-8-7; pjr

Hi Lorraine, The Getty Museum has several different types of data collections on line. The Thesaurus of Geographical Names is really nifty for finding obscure places: <http://www.ahip.getty.edu/tgn_browser > Glad to be of help, Nancy Howard _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com

I should have included under Item No. 2 of the Standard Mining Claim books, that in some counties they are broken up into two separate volumes, one for Placer Claims and the other Quartz claims. Tim Purdy Susanville, CA [email protected]

The following is from [email protected],com The Four Georgians were John Cowan, D.J. Miller, Reginald Stanley and John Crab. (Digest V98 #113) Also from #113 - "the following which mentions a Rusk with Cowan, but not William." ---"During the first winter dissatisfaction prevailed even in the discovery party. Gold finds were reported in the Nelson Gulch, and Crabb, an Iowan, whose strong northern sympathies did not harmonize with his Alabama and Georgian partners, sold out his interests to Miller and two nephews of Cowan, named Frank Cowan, and Robert Rusk.-----" Stanley was born in England. May I suggest you contact the Montana State Historical Society, 225 N. Roberts, Helena, Montana 59620. There is also a genealogical society in Helena, and the [email protected] is a great place to post a query, as well as the Montana GenWeb page.

Howdy, As as tie-in with my recent sea-stuff postings, I am repeating an earlier posting on another list. I wish I had known when orginally composing that one of you folks had a relative who was a 1852 passenger on the steamer TENNESSEE. If I had, I would have put in something about it being the first Pacific Mail Steamer to be lost. Northward bound from Panama, the TENNESSEE got lost in the fog off SF, mistaked the Golden Gate for an inlet few miles north, and piled upon on the beach on March 6, 1853 -fortunately, with no loss life: Now to my prior posting: GOLD RUSH MARITIME DISASTERS "Howdy, The overland goldrusher had Indian attacks, being trapped in a snowbound pass, or of dying in the desert on his mind. The sea argonaut had none of these, but he had his own litany of fear. In addition to the terror of being stranded, the sea traveler contemplated the tragedy of shipwreck, fire, and other ocean perils. His concern was compounded early in 1849, when the California bound bark EXPRESS with 25 passengers on board floundered four days out of New York with the loss of all hands, except the second mate who clung to a spar until rescued. This event shocked the seafaring goldseekers, as exemplified by C. H. ELLIS on the brig NORTH BEND, lying to in the Straits of Magellan, who, when told of the loss, said, "This is melancholy news and causes us to reflect seriously on the dangers of our present situation. Had we been at sea last night, I know not but what we should have shared the same fate." The Cape Horn, with its close calls, stormy weather, and the terrifying experience of rounding, inspired the most fear. Earlier in 1833, when Charles DARWIN first sighted the Cape, he wrote in his diary that "the sight...is enough to make a landsman dream for a week about death, peril, and shipwreck." In 1849, many a goldseeker echoed Darwin when the Cape's "graybeards" - monster waves 80 to 90 feet tall, traveling at 30 knots - battered their ship. As they sailed by Cape Horn, goldrush ships were swept by seas, weighed down by ice coating their decks and rigging, and having spars snapped from the gale force wind. Bulworks were stoved and men lost. Fueling images of disasters, debris littered the high waves off Cape Horn, which caused one goldseeker aboard the bark JAMES W. PAIGE. after seeing a broken spar trailing some rigging, to lament: "What a history of suffering and disaster may there be connected with that spar! Perhaps it belonged to our acquaintances at Rio.... In their efforts to save themselves, may not some of them been lashed to this very yard! Oh! What an hour of horror must that have been to them....And may we not, even now... be reserved for the same or worse fate?" Aboard the bark ANNA REYNOLDS, one searusher surmised, "I have heard many stories about the terrors of Cape Horn, but it is more interesting to hear stories about it, than enjoy the realities." Reportedly, more than a hundred sailing masters agreed in 1849, and, seeking to avoid the Cape's weather, storms, and difficult passage, opted for the Straits of Magellan. Even in the straits, storms and shipwrecks plagued the passengers. One mariner noted that the "most difficult and dangerous feature of navigation in the straits is the encountering of sudden and violent squalls, which strike the vessel with the least warning." One telling evidence was the wreck of the California bound schooner JOHN A. SUTTER, which lay at Tamer Harbor in the straits where it had drifted after going aground in a thick fog(early 1849?). Several other goldrusher vessels met with serious accident off the Cape or Straits, causing them to turn back to Rio, Stanley, Talcahuano or Callao.. Apparently only a very few were lost in these rough waters during the Gold Rush Era, which most attribute to skilled seamansip and sturdy ships. It appears that most of the Gold Rush shipwrecks and other maritime disasters occurred in the Pacific. But a few notable disasters, such as the Pacific Mail steamer SAN FRANCISCO and United States Mail steamer CENTRAL AMERICA sinking in the Atlantic - both beaten and broken by hurricanes. Several vessels, including the steamer LAFAYETTE were lost in the Caribbean off Panama. Many of vessels engaged in Gold Rush trade and commerce were lost between Timm's Point in southern California and Trinidad in northern California. Writing in 1854, Hinton HELPER figured approximately $5,000,000 had been lost in 24 shipwrecks, along with "sundry sailers and steamers, the names of which have been misplaced." Curiously, another historian reports that most Pacific Gold Rush era shipwrecks were on REPEAT voyages, with the loss of approximately 50 vessels, including 11 oceangoing steamships, seven steamers, and various sailing craft generally in San Francisco bay or the Sacramento, San Joaquin, or Feather rivers. In addition to numerous close calls or escapes, 12 vessels were lost at the busy entrance of San Francisco Bay. An early one, November 23, 1849, was the ship TONQUIN out of Boston, which ran aground on a sandbar off Black Point opposite Alacatraz Island. With the Golden Gate wrecks involving little loss of life, San Francisco apparently worried mainly about destroyed cargoes, fortunes lost, and mercantile opportunity gone astray. While sailing ships sustained losses, relatively few were wrecked - the steamers were at the greatest peril. Why not the sailers? One author rationalized that, except for leaving or entering port, they laid a course far offshore. This meant that fixing an error in their positions was of little consequence - the danger of running around was practically nil. On the other hand, the steamers, especially those in the Pacific, were seldom out of land's sight from Panama Bay or San Juan del Sur until they anchored at San Francisco. Hugging the shoreline shortened their run and saved fuel. But it often forced the ship's officers to make faulty judgments and inaccurate navigation. Compounding this, were incomplete and often misleading charts, few lighthouses, buoys, and navigtional aids. Closing on the bright side: It is estimated from 1849 to 1860, that the Pacific Mail steamers conservatively carried 250,000 passengers - without the loss of a single life by shipwreck. EPILOGUE:: I should be shoeing my mules:-), but a listmember caught me in the backwash of her search for the ship that sunk under a relative while leaving San Francisco Bay in 1854. Not to be ghoulish, but checking into Gold Rush maritime disasters turned out to be pretty interesting, and somewhat suprising.. No warranty on the above statistics - I pass them on for what they are worth. AND the length of the CA Gold Rush continues to confuse, especially as that phrase is used for the time measure of many figures and accompanying events. I suppose if you emphasize the word "Rush", the Gold "Rush" lasted only from 1849 to 1852, or maybe 1854. But, for some up to 1860. On this, I will bow to more learned heads." Any of you folks get sea-sick :-) Bob Norris in Dallas <[email protected]>

Dear Listers: More and more messages are being bounced back to the originator(s) (along with a copy to me) with the following message from Rootsweb ... QUOTE: Hi -- The message you submitted to this list wasn't sent to the list subscribers. RootsWeb accepts only plain text mail. That means that HTML mail, attachments, ``enriched text'', and a few other formats can't be sent to RootsWeb mailing lists. You can post your message if you send it in plain text; turn off the ``Post in HTML'' or ``Enriched Text'' features of your mail reader, or don't use any attachments. See http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/listowners/html-off.htm for instructions on turning off HTML in most of the popular mail programs, or ask your ISP's technical support line for help. We've had to institute this policy because of the problems that accompany these fancy mail formats. Some people don't have mail programs that are capable of processing the special file formats. Even among those who do, different mail programs handle these special formats in very different and confusing ways. HTML messages pose special problems to our digested mailing lists. Most of all, HTML-ified mail and attachments place a considerable burden on RootsWeb's overworked machines. All in all, mail in this format produces a lot of problems for RootsWeb's servers and subscribers, so we find it's best just to use plain text. -- The RootsWeb staff UNQUOTE... This does not mean to drop off your URLs or email addresses. Please don't be dismayed, but instead, change the text in your message and resend to the list. This was discussed several months ago, in anticipation of Rootsweb installing new equipment, and now it is in place and causing some problems. This action was to help save the Rootsweb equipment, the same equipment that we depend on to service our many genealogy mail lists. We want your messages, queries, etc., but on all Rootsweb lists, they must be done in plain text now. Thank you, ListMom <[email protected]>