So now, if that's the case, and they were in on the ground floor, the very start of the California Gold Rush, why were they leaving California to go to Salt Lake City by mid-1848?
Well, that's the question that I asked at the end of Mormons At Sutter's Mill & Tragedy Spring -- Part One. And frankly, while it made very little sense to me at first, I've learnd that it has everything to do with priorities and supporting others.Let's remember, half of those discharged Mormon Battalion soldiers decided to go to their Salt Lake City settlement. It's said that they reached Salt Lake City in October of 1847 to find their people in such a critical need for food, that it looked like starvation was going to wipe them out. Seeing what was happening, church leaders proposed sending expeditions back to California where they knew ample supplies of grain and cattle could be found.
In early 1848, to answer the need for food, three separate groups made up of hundreds of Mormons in California all planned to head for their Salt Lake City settlement as soon as the weather permitted.Two of the groups were from Southern California. It is believed that they probably didn't about the gold strike up North. The third group was from Northern California. It's said they left after they deciding they had panned enough, and were satisfied with what they had.
The Northern California group gathered together and planned on leaving on April 15. Deep snows in the Sierra Nevada Mountains prevented them from going that early. By June, the group was stopped again because of a heavy Sierra snowpack.
The Mormons working for Captain Sutter agreed to let him know when they intended to leave so that he would be able to hire replacements. That was very polite and extremely nice of them because by then it was becoming very difficult to find anyone who were willing to work for wages. Gold fever was making people crazy.
John Sutter is noted as saying, "The big rush did not set in until the middle of May. By then the whole country seemed to have gone mad. Merchants, physicians, lawyers, sea captains left their wives and families in San Francisco in order to become gold diggers. . . . Everything was in confusion and most people did not know what to do."
As for how Sutter saw the Mormons who worked for him, he said, "So long as these people have been employed by me they have behaved very well, and were industrious and faithful laborers and when settling their accounts there was not one of them who was not contented and satisfied."
In early June, the group gathering their supplies for their journey and met just southeast of Placerville, that place that was known as Hangtown back then. It was in a large green meadow they called Pleasant Valley, while waiting for the snow to melt, that they discovered gold there as well and thus spent their idle time prospecting. It was then decided that a more southerly route using Carson Pass, the same route that John Fremont used to enter California in 1844, would be better.
The group consisted of 45 men and one woman under the leadership of Jonathan H. Holmes. Some accounts say their Wagon Train consisted of 18 wagons, other accounts say it was 22 wagons, all pulled by oxen. Along with the supplies, were 300 cattle. All in all, when thinking about those numbers and them having to build their own road as the went, this was no small challenge to get supplies to Salt Lake City.
Only men were allowed on that journey because it was deemed too dangerous for women and children. That didn't stop William Coray's wife, Melissa. Supposedly, she had traveled the entire Battalion route from Iowa to San Diego in 1847. So no, there was no telling her that she couldn't go.
As they went, smaller groups later joined them, bringing the total party to sixty-five men and two women. The second woman was Rachel Reed, who had recently married Battalion veteran Franklin Weaver. Also in the group was a San Francisco convert, Francis Hammond, who later settled in Huntsville, Utah. To blaze a trail, the group send out three men to scout their way.
In his diary, Henry W. Bigler, one of the members of the wagon train, noted the following: "We cut the following inscription in the Balsam Fir that stood near the grave. To the memory of Daniel Browett, Ezrah H. Allen, and Henderson Cox, who were supposed to have been murdered and buried by Indians on the night of June 27, A.D., 1848. We call the place Tragedy Spring."
Accordding to legend, a pouch filled with gold dust belonging to Ezra Allen was found in the brush. Wilford Hudson, a close friend of Allen, volunteered to take the pouch to Allen's wife, Sarah. She had not yet traveled to Salt Lake City and remained in the temporary Mormon settlement of Kanesville. Ezra's pouch was later given to his widow. Legend sayd she made a wedding ring from part of the gold, and used the remainder to finance her journey from Iowa to Utah to join the Mormon settlement in Salt Lake City.
The Tragedy Spring site was memorialized by the Native Sons of the Golden West in 1921. Later, after the tree fell, the part bearing the inscription was cut away and preserved. It was later placed in the visitors center at the Marshall Gold Discovery State Park in Coloma, California.
They left the gold fields of California to make sure their people in Salt Lake City didn't starve. In doing so, that group cut a new 170-mile wagon road from near Sacramento through the Sierra Mountains to join the main California Trail. They did so by following ridges, crossing the West Pass, and going over Carson Pass. With their wagons averaging 10-20 miles per day, they took around 4 months to get to Salt Lake City. That was fairly incredible for the times.
The legacy of the Mormon Emigrant Trail is that it became incredibly popular in its day. In fact, imagine this, during good weather of the peak seasons, traffic was so intense that stopping to cross the trail could take hours. As a result, several trading posts were established along the way. The trail created the first wagon road into Northern California over the Sierra Nevada, connecting to the California Trail at Carson Pass. It served as a crucial route used for commerce and by tens of thousands of gold-seekers flooding into California during the Gold Rush.
Its legacy is that of a group of Mormon pioneers who met the challenge, sacrified personal riches to serve the greater good, and in doing so built the first wagon road over Carson Pass. Today remembered as the Mormon Emigrant Trail. For many, it's just a road sign along Highway 88 pointing out a spot of historical interest.
But for you, you now know that the Mormon Emigrant Trail opened by Mormon Battalion veterans, became a crucial, heavily used route for Gold Rush pioneers seeking California's gold fields starting in late 1848 and especially 1849 by offering a shorter, more direct passage through the Sierra Nevada over Carson Pass. While the primary California Trail from Missouri saw the most overall traffic, the Mormon Emigrant Trail route over Carson Pass was vital for those coming from Salt Lake City, becoming packed with wagons heading to the gold that was once California.
The Northern California group gathered together and planned on leaving on April 15. Deep snows in the Sierra Nevada Mountains prevented them from going that early. By June, the group was stopped again because of a heavy Sierra snowpack.
The Mormons working for Captain Sutter agreed to let him know when they intended to leave so that he would be able to hire replacements. That was very polite and extremely nice of them because by then it was becoming very difficult to find anyone who were willing to work for wages. Gold fever was making people crazy.
John Sutter is noted as saying, "The big rush did not set in until the middle of May. By then the whole country seemed to have gone mad. Merchants, physicians, lawyers, sea captains left their wives and families in San Francisco in order to become gold diggers. . . . Everything was in confusion and most people did not know what to do."
As for how Sutter saw the Mormons who worked for him, he said, "So long as these people have been employed by me they have behaved very well, and were industrious and faithful laborers and when settling their accounts there was not one of them who was not contented and satisfied."
In early June, the group gathering their supplies for their journey and met just southeast of Placerville, that place that was known as Hangtown back then. It was in a large green meadow they called Pleasant Valley, while waiting for the snow to melt, that they discovered gold there as well and thus spent their idle time prospecting. It was then decided that a more southerly route using Carson Pass, the same route that John Fremont used to enter California in 1844, would be better.
The group consisted of 45 men and one woman under the leadership of Jonathan H. Holmes. Some accounts say their Wagon Train consisted of 18 wagons, other accounts say it was 22 wagons, all pulled by oxen. Along with the supplies, were 300 cattle. All in all, when thinking about those numbers and them having to build their own road as the went, this was no small challenge to get supplies to Salt Lake City.
Only men were allowed on that journey because it was deemed too dangerous for women and children. That didn't stop William Coray's wife, Melissa. Supposedly, she had traveled the entire Battalion route from Iowa to San Diego in 1847. So no, there was no telling her that she couldn't go.
As they went, smaller groups later joined them, bringing the total party to sixty-five men and two women. The second woman was Rachel Reed, who had recently married Battalion veteran Franklin Weaver. Also in the group was a San Francisco convert, Francis Hammond, who later settled in Huntsville, Utah. To blaze a trail, the group send out three men to scout their way.
Now let's talk about Tragedy Spring
On June 25, 1848, Daniel Browett, Ezra H. Allen, and Henderson Cox set out as scouts to find a trail. Each of the scouts were riding horses and each trailed a pack mule. All of them had their U.S. Army-issued muskets. All three men were former members of the Mormon Battalion who served in the Mexican-American War. So yes, it's believed they were all carrying their U.S. Army muskets, the Springfield Model 1842, which was the first percussion-lock musket ever issued to American soldiers.
Along with their muskets, powder horns, lead balls, and percussion caps, each man had a bedroll for sleeping and warmth, food and water, hard tack, and some basic provisions. Scouts were known to supplement their food by hunting if needed. Of course, each scout had a knife, an axe, a shovel, and carried a few repair items for wagons and gear which were also used as first aid supplies for stitching wounds and such. And yes, in case you're wondering, it's said they had with them the gold they had discovered.
On July 3, the main group moved out of Pleasant Valley and started their journey Northeast. By then, it had been over a week since the scouts had left and was last seen. Because it was feared that they may have gotten lost or were in some sort of danger, a group of ten men were sent out to search for them.
The wagon train moved northeast about ten miles to another valley to await news from the search party. The following day, they camped in a meadow that they called Sly Park -- naming it after member Jason Calvin Sly. Another ten days passed on July 14th, they group moved on from Sly Park. That was the day the search party returned reporting no sign of the missing scouts.
The search party had, however, found passage over the mountains. The Mormons broke camp and began the slow, laborious, ascent over the Sierras. And since I'm used to repeating myself, yes, it's vital to this story that we keep in mind that they had to build a road as they went.
The following day, as they climbed the Sierras, they shot echoing salutes with two cannons they had purchased from Sutter. The salute was their contribution to Governor Mason’s Fourth of July celebration below.
On July 18, the road crew that was working slightly ahead of the main party to build a road for the Wagon Train came across a spring and an extinguished campfire. Supposedly, they also found a mound of dirt covering a grave but didn't bother checking it. Instead, the road crew left everything as it was and returned to the main group to tell them what they had found. It is also claimed that as the road crew made their way back to the main group, that the road crew came across a group of Indians. And supposedly, one of the Indians was wearing a vest that belonged to one of their missing scouts.
The next day, July 19, 1848, the rest of the party caught up. Arriving at the site, they discovered the bodies of the three scouts. Inside a shallow grave was the naked bodies of the three missing scouts. Daniel Browett was stuck in the face with an ax. Ezra Allen was found laying next to Browett with Henderson Cox underneath both men.
For me, none of this sounds like an Indian attack. Granted that accounts agree that, "Around the site were bloody arrows and blood-stained rocks, some with locks of hair stuck to them, possibly from being used to crush skulls." But, according to accounts, the site looked like the men were killed in other spots around that campfire and then "dragged" to that grave and buried.
Why would the local Washoe Indians bother digging a grave, nevertheless deciding to drag their victims and burying their bodies in a shallow grave? That doesn't make sense. Why not simply leave them where they fell? That would have been the normal practice in an attack.
On June 25, 1848, Daniel Browett, Ezra H. Allen, and Henderson Cox set out as scouts to find a trail. Each of the scouts were riding horses and each trailed a pack mule. All of them had their U.S. Army-issued muskets. All three men were former members of the Mormon Battalion who served in the Mexican-American War. So yes, it's believed they were all carrying their U.S. Army muskets, the Springfield Model 1842, which was the first percussion-lock musket ever issued to American soldiers.
Along with their muskets, powder horns, lead balls, and percussion caps, each man had a bedroll for sleeping and warmth, food and water, hard tack, and some basic provisions. Scouts were known to supplement their food by hunting if needed. Of course, each scout had a knife, an axe, a shovel, and carried a few repair items for wagons and gear which were also used as first aid supplies for stitching wounds and such. And yes, in case you're wondering, it's said they had with them the gold they had discovered.
On July 3, the main group moved out of Pleasant Valley and started their journey Northeast. By then, it had been over a week since the scouts had left and was last seen. Because it was feared that they may have gotten lost or were in some sort of danger, a group of ten men were sent out to search for them.
The wagon train moved northeast about ten miles to another valley to await news from the search party. The following day, they camped in a meadow that they called Sly Park -- naming it after member Jason Calvin Sly. Another ten days passed on July 14th, they group moved on from Sly Park. That was the day the search party returned reporting no sign of the missing scouts.
The search party had, however, found passage over the mountains. The Mormons broke camp and began the slow, laborious, ascent over the Sierras. And since I'm used to repeating myself, yes, it's vital to this story that we keep in mind that they had to build a road as they went.
The following day, as they climbed the Sierras, they shot echoing salutes with two cannons they had purchased from Sutter. The salute was their contribution to Governor Mason’s Fourth of July celebration below.
On July 18, the road crew that was working slightly ahead of the main party to build a road for the Wagon Train came across a spring and an extinguished campfire. Supposedly, they also found a mound of dirt covering a grave but didn't bother checking it. Instead, the road crew left everything as it was and returned to the main group to tell them what they had found. It is also claimed that as the road crew made their way back to the main group, that the road crew came across a group of Indians. And supposedly, one of the Indians was wearing a vest that belonged to one of their missing scouts.
The next day, July 19, 1848, the rest of the party caught up. Arriving at the site, they discovered the bodies of the three scouts. Inside a shallow grave was the naked bodies of the three missing scouts. Daniel Browett was stuck in the face with an ax. Ezra Allen was found laying next to Browett with Henderson Cox underneath both men.
For me, none of this sounds like an Indian attack. Granted that accounts agree that, "Around the site were bloody arrows and blood-stained rocks, some with locks of hair stuck to them, possibly from being used to crush skulls." But, according to accounts, the site looked like the men were killed in other spots around that campfire and then "dragged" to that grave and buried.
Why would the local Washoe Indians bother digging a grave, nevertheless deciding to drag their victims and burying their bodies in a shallow grave? That doesn't make sense. Why not simply leave them where they fell? That would have been the normal practice in an attack.
Besides, to my knowledge, in those days, at the time of the massacre of the three men, the Washoe Indians of California did not bury their dead. So why would they have done that since it wasn't something they practiced for themselves? To me, none of what was found sound like something that the California tribes did back then.
There is one other part to that mystery. It has to do with the belief of the Washoe people. I've been told that unlike some Great Plains tribes that would strip the dead and steal everything back in the day, the Washoe people believed taking a dead person's property was offensive. It was considered very bad medicine as in bad karma.
So to me, it sounds more like something murderous criminals would do to hide their crime. Would outlaws try to give people the impression that Indians committed their crimes? I think it's very possible that such a thing can happen. In fact, from stage coach robberies to murders being committed, we know of reports of such crimes taken place by criminals who have tried to disguise themselves as Indians just not to be recognized and shift the blame to a local tribe.
What we do know for certain is that the three men were ambushed and murdered. Everything belonging to the men had been taken. Each was striped naked and their possessions, including their boots, trousers, shirts, and heavy woolen blanket coats, everything they had with them were taken before being thrown into a shallow grave near a smalll spring.
The group saw this and named that place appropreately, calling it Tragedy Spring. The group reburied them in a new grave under a tree. They piled rocks and stones on top of it, and placed a large round stone upright at the top of the grave to act as a headstone. They held a service for them and Wilford Hudson used his axe to chop the bark away from one side of a nearby fir tree, which he carved an inscription:
There is one other part to that mystery. It has to do with the belief of the Washoe people. I've been told that unlike some Great Plains tribes that would strip the dead and steal everything back in the day, the Washoe people believed taking a dead person's property was offensive. It was considered very bad medicine as in bad karma.
So to me, it sounds more like something murderous criminals would do to hide their crime. Would outlaws try to give people the impression that Indians committed their crimes? I think it's very possible that such a thing can happen. In fact, from stage coach robberies to murders being committed, we know of reports of such crimes taken place by criminals who have tried to disguise themselves as Indians just not to be recognized and shift the blame to a local tribe.
What we do know for certain is that the three men were ambushed and murdered. Everything belonging to the men had been taken. Each was striped naked and their possessions, including their boots, trousers, shirts, and heavy woolen blanket coats, everything they had with them were taken before being thrown into a shallow grave near a smalll spring.
The group saw this and named that place appropreately, calling it Tragedy Spring. The group reburied them in a new grave under a tree. They piled rocks and stones on top of it, and placed a large round stone upright at the top of the grave to act as a headstone. They held a service for them and Wilford Hudson used his axe to chop the bark away from one side of a nearby fir tree, which he carved an inscription:
"To the Memory
of
Daniel Browett,
Ezra Allen
and
Henderson Cox
Who were supposed
to have been murdered
and buried by Indians
on the night of the 27th of
June, 1848."
Accordding to legend, a pouch filled with gold dust belonging to Ezra Allen was found in the brush. Wilford Hudson, a close friend of Allen, volunteered to take the pouch to Allen's wife, Sarah. She had not yet traveled to Salt Lake City and remained in the temporary Mormon settlement of Kanesville. Ezra's pouch was later given to his widow. Legend sayd she made a wedding ring from part of the gold, and used the remainder to finance her journey from Iowa to Utah to join the Mormon settlement in Salt Lake City.
The Tragedy Spring site was memorialized by the Native Sons of the Golden West in 1921. Later, after the tree fell, the part bearing the inscription was cut away and preserved. It was later placed in the visitors center at the Marshall Gold Discovery State Park in Coloma, California.
As for the route that was created in 1848 by Mormon laborers who built Sutter's Mill?
The legacy of the Mormon Emigrant Trail is that it became incredibly popular in its day. In fact, imagine this, during good weather of the peak seasons, traffic was so intense that stopping to cross the trail could take hours. As a result, several trading posts were established along the way. The trail created the first wagon road into Northern California over the Sierra Nevada, connecting to the California Trail at Carson Pass. It served as a crucial route used for commerce and by tens of thousands of gold-seekers flooding into California during the Gold Rush.
Its legacy is that of a group of Mormon pioneers who met the challenge, sacrified personal riches to serve the greater good, and in doing so built the first wagon road over Carson Pass. Today remembered as the Mormon Emigrant Trail. For many, it's just a road sign along Highway 88 pointing out a spot of historical interest.
But for you, you now know that the Mormon Emigrant Trail opened by Mormon Battalion veterans, became a crucial, heavily used route for Gold Rush pioneers seeking California's gold fields starting in late 1848 and especially 1849 by offering a shorter, more direct passage through the Sierra Nevada over Carson Pass. While the primary California Trail from Missouri saw the most overall traffic, the Mormon Emigrant Trail route over Carson Pass was vital for those coming from Salt Lake City, becoming packed with wagons heading to the gold that was once California.
Tom Correa
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