CHAPTER XIII. Story of the Jayhawkers.--Ceremonies of Initiation--Rev. J.W. Brier.--His Wife the best Man of the Two.--Story of the Road across Death Valley.--Burning the Wagons.--Narrow Escape of Tom Shannon.--Capt. Ed Doty was Brave and True.--They reach the Sea by way of Santa Clara River.--Capt. Haynes before the Alcalde.--List of Jayhawkers. CHAPTER XIV. Alexander Erkson's Statement.--Works for Brigham Young at Salt Lake.--Mormon Gold Coin.--Mt. Misery.--The Virgin River and Yucca Trees.--A Child Born to Mr, and Mrs. Rynierson.--Arrive at Cucamonga.--Find some good Wine which is good for Scurvy.--San Francisco and the Mines.--Settles in San Jose.--Experience of Edward Coker.--Death of Culverwell, Fish and Isham.--Goes through Walker's Pass and down Kern River.--Living in Fresno in 1892. CHAPTER XV. The Author again takes up the History.--Working in a Boarding House, but makes Arrangements to go North.--Mission San Bueno Ventura.--First Sight of the Pacific Ocean.--Santa Barbara in 1850.--Paradise and Desolation.--San Miguel, Santa Ynez and San Luis Obispo.--California Carriages and how they were used.--Arrives in San Jose and Camps in the edge of Town.--Description of the place.--Meets John Rogers, Bennett, Moody and Skinner.--On the road to the Mines.--They find some of the Yellow Stuff and go Prospecting for more--Experience with _Piojos_--Life and Times in the Mines--Sights and Scenes along the Road, at Sea, on the Isthmus, Cuba, New Orleans, and up the Mississippi--A few Months Amid Old Scenes, then away to the Golden State again. CHAPTER XVI St. Louis to New Orleans, New Orleans to San Francisco--Off to the Mines Again--Life in the Mines and Incidents of Mining Times and Men--Vigilance Committee--Death of Mrs. Bennett. CHAPTER XVII Mines and Mining--Adventures and Incidents of the Early Days--The Pioneers, their Character and Influence--- Conclusion. * * * * * DEATH VALLEY IN '49 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A PIONEER CHAPTER I. St. Albans, Vermont is near the eastern shore of Lake Champlain, and only a short distance south of "Five-and-forty north degrees" which separates the United States from Canada, and some sixty or seventy miles from the great St. Lawrence River and the city of Montreal. Near here it was, on April 6th, 1820, I was born, so the record says, and from this point with wondering eyes of childhood I looked across the waters of the narrow lake to the slopes of the Adirondack mountains in New York, green as the hills of my own Green Mountain State.