CONTENTS

PAGE
A Change of Homes[9]
"Joe Bowers"[10]
The Reasons for Moving[12]
Mother's Anxiety[14]
How We Were to Travel[15]
Our Movable Home[18]
Leaving Ashley[19]
Eben Jordan[22]
On the Road[25]
Eben's Predictions[26]
What We Heard about California[27]
The First Encampment[28]
Night in Camp[31]
The Town of Independence[32]
Kansas Indians[34]
Looking into the Future for Trouble[35]
A Stormy Day[36]
A Lack of Fuel[38]
Making Camp in a Storm[40]
A Thunderstorm[42]
Another Company of Pikers[43]
The Stock Stray Away[45]
An Indian Village[47]
I Weary with so much Traveling[48]
Eben's Boasts[50]
Suffering with Thirst[51]
In Search of Water[53]
Quenching our Thirst[55]
Making Butter[57]
A Kansas Ferry[58]
The Surprise at Soldier Creek[60]
Bread Making[62]
Prairie Peas[63]
Eben as a Hunter[65]
A Herd of Buffaloes[66]
Excitement in the Camp[67]
A Feast of Buffalo Meat[68]
Curing the Meat[69]
A Wash Day[71]
Uncomfortable Traveling[72]
Ellen's Advice regarding the Story[74]
Indians and Mosquitoes[75]
Prairie Dogs[77]
Colonel Russell's Mishap[79]
Chimney Rock[81]
At Fort Laramie[82]
Cooking in Front of a Fireplace[84]
Trappers, Hunters, and Indians[85]
On the Trail Once More[87]
Independence Rock[88]
Arrival at Fort Bridger[90]
With our Faces toward California[92]
At Bear River[93]
The Coming of Winter[94]
Utah Indians[97]
A Dangerous Trail[98]
Sunflower Seeds and Antelope Stew[100]
A Forest Fire[102]
The Great Salt Lake[104]
Eben as a Fisherman[105]
Grasshopper Jam[107]
A Deserted Village[109]
The Great Salt Desert[111]
Preparing for a Dangerous Journey[112]
Bread and Coffee Making[114]
Breaking Camp at Midnight[115]
The Approach to the Salt Desert[117]
A Plain of Salt[117]
Like a Sea of Frozen Milk[119]
Salt Dust[120]
A Bitter Disappointment[122]
Coffee instead of Water[122]
A Spring of Sweet Water[123]
The Oasis[125]
Searching for Water[126]
The Beautiful Valley[128]
Snake Indians[130]
A Scarcity of Food[132]
Springs of Hot Water[133]
In the Land of Plenty[135]
The Truckee River[136]
A Home in the Sacramento Valley[138]
The Mission of San José[139]
Our Home in California[141]

MARTHA OF CALIFORNIA

A CHANGE OF HOMES

In case one should ask in the years to come how it happened that I, Martha Early, who was born in Ashley, Pike County, in the state of Missouri, and lived there until I was twelve years old, journeyed across the prairies and deserts to California, the question can be answered if I write down what I saw when so many people from our county went to make new homes in that state where gold had been found in such abundance.

For my part, I used to wonder why people should be willing to leave Missouri, enduring the many hardships they knew awaited them on the journey of two thousand miles, in order to buy land in a country where nearly all the inhabitants were Spaniards and Mexicans.