The following is an interesting account of a wagon train to the California Gold Rush. I do not know the author nor the newspaper which printed the article. I received a typed copy of the story from a document owned by Mrs. Laura Weitz. The beginning of the article is an obituary for my G- Grandfather Andrew Bahl who died in 1906 at age 83. The Bahl family arrived in Dubuque County from the Blue Alsatian Mountains when Andrew was 11 years old. I'm a little confused by the dates of 1851 and 1857 so am not sure if he went in 1851 or 1857. I'm leaving out the funeral description which precedes and ends the account of the trek to California. "......In 1851 deceased when less than 18 years of age joined one of he parties which in that year organized at Dubuque to make the overland tour to California. The train was made up of four horse teams and quite a number of the gold seekers were mounted on horses. They assembled on South Locust Street and halted there a couple hours, that its members might bid their friends farewell which in many cases proved a last farewell. A trip to California nowadays where the traveler may sit comfortably in an coach, look at the time card, and know about to a moment when the train will pull into the depot at San Francisco or elsewhere in that distant state, naturally excites about as much enthusiasm in one about to make the trip as would a call to breakfast. But in those days it was different. The trip to California was beset with peril from the start to the finish. The boundless prairies, the great desert, the trackless mountain wastes, the difficulties of providing man and beast with food and water, the ferocious wild beasts, and worse, the savage red man. All in all placed the wayfarer's life in the balance with the chances in that particular year (57) decidedly against him. Those who made the venture were men of nerve, determination an! d enterprise. The starting of one of those trains was to Dubuquers an event of the season, and would attract at least one-half of the population of the town, to witness its departure. The writer well remembers seeing the train with which Andrew Bahl was connected pull off to the south followed by the best wishes of the many friends and relatives of its members. The year 1857 was a very wet year, which made the trip across the state of Iowa arduous and trying to man and beast, swollen streams, water-soaked prairies, and vast sloughs menaced the traveler and jaded the horse. It was the most disastrous year in the history of the overland route, owing to the vast number of trains that had made the journey that year, feed had become so scarce that enough could not be obtained to keep the animals alive. Horses died, wagons were abandoned. Parties reorganized in effort to reach the land of promise, and have been told by Mr. Bahl and by others who crossed the plains that year, that the route down the Humboldt was strewn with dead animals, all manners of vehicles, furniture musical instruments and wearing apparel. The late Dr. John P. Quigley who went in the same train with Mr. Bahl, told me that he counted as many as seven unfortunates in one day floating down the Humboldt, they had sought relief from their misery in the clear rolling ! torrent. Andrew Bahl was young, endowed with great endurance, he in time reached the Eldorado and the first piece of gold he picked out of the earth was worth fifty dollars. He secured considerable gold in California and finally returned to his old home near Lore, this county, where he has remained through all these intervening years........" Betty ----- Original Message ----- From: Bill Archer Sent: Sunday, November 24, 2002 9:34 AM To: IADUBUQU-L@rootsweb.com Subject: RE: [Dub'que] Dubuquers in the California Gold Rush? My gg-gf, Aaron Archer, and his two twin older brother's, John and William, went to the Gold Rush from Dubuque. They took an ox-cart for a six-month trek to CA. We aren't sure what year they went, somewhere in 1851 - 1852. I'd love to find out what gold-rush trains left the Dubuque area in that time frame. Bill > -----Original Message----- > From: Kortenkamp, Daniel [mailto:dkortenk@uwsp.edu] > Sent: Sunday, November 24, 2002 8:10 AM > To: IADUBUQU-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: [Dub'que] Dubuquers in the California Gold Rush? > > > Does anyone have info about Dubuquers who went to California > during the Gold Rush? The family story is that an immigrant > ancestor -- Leonard BERG (b. 1823, Bensheim, Hesse-Darmstadt) -- > traveled from Dubuque to California in 1850. I have no > documentation for this trip to California. The story continues > that after 18 months he returned to Dubuque and operated both a > bakery and saloon ("Lager Beer Saloon", 731 Clay St.). He was a > baker by trade. > > Daniel J. Kortenkamp > Stevens Point, WI 54481 > http://www.uwsp.edu/psych/dk/danielpg.htm > > > > > > ==== IADUBUQU Mailing List ==== > ROLL CALLS? Not permitted unless instituted by the List Admin. But post > your interests and areas of search often. New members join every day. > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy > records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > ==== IADUBUQU Mailing List ==== Have you visited the *NEW* RootsWeb/Ancestry Message Boards yet? 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