"From our coign of vantage we continued to shoot" 21 Chimney Rock 22 "One melody that he sang from the heart" 27 "Hauled the delinquent out" 30 "The wagons were lowered through the crevice" 38 Bone-writing 57 "With hand upraised in supplication, yielded to the impulse to flee" 67 Jerry Bush, 1914 72 Nancy Holloway, 1857 74 The Author, twenty years after 100 A Coyote Serenade 109 "Van Diveer's advantage was slight but sufficient" 136 "A sip from the barrel cost fifty cents" 146 "'Stop,' shouted the Judge" 156 "'Melican man dig gold" 173 Pack-mule route to placer diggings 175 FOREWORD Diligent inquiry has failed to disclose the existence of an authentic and comprehensive narrative of a _pioneer_ journey across the plains. With the exception of some improbable yarns and disconnected incidents relating to the earlier experiences, the subject has been treated mainly from the standpoint of people who traveled westward at a time when the real hardships and perils of the trip were much less than those encountered in the fifties. A very large proportion of the people now residing in the Far West are descendants of emigrants who came by the precarious means afforded by ox-team conveyances. For some three-score years the younger generations have heard from the lips of their ancestors enough of that wonderful pilgrimage to create among them a widespread demand for a complete and typical narrative. This story consists of facts, with the real names of the actors in the drama. The events, gay, grave and tragic, are according to indelible recollections of eye-witnesses, including those of THE AUTHOR. W. A. M., _Ukiah, California, 1915._ CROSSING THE PLAINS DAYS OF '57 CHAPTER I. FORSAKING THE OLD IN QUEST OF THE NEW. FIRST CAMP. FORDING THE PLATTE. We left the west bank of the Missouri River on May 17, 1857. Our objective point was Sonoma County, California.