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Gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill near Coloma, California on Jan. 24, 1848, only one and a half years after California was declared a U.S. Territory. Word of the gold strike spread eastward as rapidly as communications could allow. Newspapers across the nation printed articles and letters that excited the youth of the eastern states. In spite of doubt expressed by friends and relatives, many committed themselves to the long trip to the gold fields in the hope of acquiring great wealth.

Some of the gold seekers made the trip by boat, risking fever during thportage across the isthmus of Panama. Others gathered at Independence, and St. Joseph's Missouri to join the wagon trains to California. This group became known as the "FortyNiners." Although not historically recorded before this time, it would seem, from the evidence presented in that article that a citizen of Beaver Co. Pennsylvania was in the very first party to make the overland passage to California in the notable year of 1849.

This individual was Dr. Joseh Dickson of Bridgewater, Beaver Co. Pa. We are fortunate to have a precise record of his experiences due to two lengthy letters that he wrote to his brother Dr. Thomas Dickson and which were published in the Beaver Arqus newspaper. (26 Sept. 1849 and 31 Oct. 1849) The story which follows is taken from these letters and wherever possible left in his own words.

Dr. Dickson left home on 20 March 1849 when he boarded the steamboat "Hibernia" at Beaver Point. The trip to Independence, Missouri was taken in relative luxury compared to the trek that followed. At Independence Dr. Dickson encountered a great mass of humanity all trying to gather supplies, organize wagon trains and make the dash to California while good weather permitted travel.

"It was our intention to have travelled in company with some Pittsburghers, but finding that they could not agree amongst themselves, we concluded that we had better look for some other company. We waited for the Pittsburghers until the 14th day of April. Upon that evening, Capt. Paul of St. Louis arrived and encamped along side of us. I called upon him late in the evening, and had a conversation with him in regard to an early move, of which he appeared to be much in favor. He told me that he had provision enough for his stock for one month; I told him that we had procured on that clay enough for that length of time, at the expiration of which I thought the grass would be up sufficient!y to support our animals. After consulting with my friends, we concluded to join the Captain's company, which we did. Our company then numbered 42."

"A few days previous to our leaving Independence, my friend T.J. Parker, went out early in the morning to hunt wild geese. On getting over a fence, the lock of his gun caught apon a rail, which sprung it, discharging the contents of the gun between his middle and ring finger; the former I was obliged to amputate, the latter I saved with difficulty; he is now perfectly well."

"We left Independence on the 12th day of April ... Our train was the first on the route, and our wagons, (which were) much lighter than any we left at Independence and in my opinion much better calculated to pass over the plains than any other train that would follow us. Notwithstanding all this, our train was under the necessity of throwing away much of the baggage with which they left Independence."

"The next accident with which we met, was at Blue River, 180 miles from Independence. Whilst arranging our loads to cross the river, a young man by the name of John Fuller, in drawing his gun from the wagon, the lock caught upon some - which it was put off; the contents hitting the left side of the thorax, near the site of the heart, passing down through the stomach and small intestines, and out between the eleventh and twelfth dorsal vertebra, and slightly to the right. He died in about five minutes. We soon prepared for him a resting place in the sand, in which we laid him with ,feelings of sorrow, the offspring of true respect."

"We traveled with them" (Capt. Paul's Co.) "about 840 miles, which brought us upon the waters of the Sweet River. Finding by this time that we could travel faster than the rest of the train, and fearing that some othe rtrain would come up and pass us, Messrs. Moore, Parker and myself concluded to take leave of our train and try it alone, assuring our friends that it was our determination to be the first through."

"After communicating our intention to some of our friends, we succeeded in getting four persons to say that they would accompany us ... Having determined to undertake it, we bid goodbye to our companions in trouble, and pushed out to try our luck among the red men of the forest. Our train then numbering but seven men and eight mules."

"The second day after we left Capt. Paul's Company, we arrived upon the summit of the Rocky Mountains. I told you ... that our company numbered seven men; I might have safely said but five, two of our number proving themselves to be great cowards. They had traded off their guns and ammunition together with most of their provisions, to the Indians. They did not appear to have a proper idea of what they had yet to encounter, nor did they appear to realize their condition until starvation began to stare them in the face. They made all kinds of promises to us, if we would only take them through. Thinking that they might be of some service to us in the way of standing watch, we concluded to have them accompany us, and much we regretted it afterwards. They came very near to being the cause of us losing our animals once or twice, and on one occasion our own lives by falling asleep on guard. Had it not been for that bay mule of mine, the Indians would have taken us, but it could smell a redskin half a mile; and on that account we always tied it near our tents. As the Indians neared our camp, my mule commenced snorting, by which we were awoke in time to save our lives."

"Two days previous to parting with our wagon, I came very nearly losing my life in attempting to swim the mules and wagon across Bear River, not having timber in reach to make a raft. The water being very swift, it carried me below the landing. Moore and Parker, seeing my situation, rushed to the shore which was quite bluff, and caught the reins of the lead mules, and drew them up to the landing. This was the only thing that saved me. I thought that our trip was about to come to an end, I assure you."

"We hauled our little wagon 1120 miles; we then traded it to old Pigley Smith, the mountaineer of whom you have so often heard, for horses and pack-saddles. From Pigley's Post, which is 100 miles east of Fort Hall, we packed."

"We arrived at Fort Hall on the 16th day of June. Mr. Maxwell, the gentleman who has command of the Fort, could not believe that we were from the United States. He said that the 11th July was the earliest that any emigrants had ever passed since he came to the Fort."

"The greatest amount of suffering which we were called to endure (was) crossing the sandy desert, between the sinks of Mary's River and Trout, distance 45 miles, over which we passed without one drop of water. I thought on that day we would certainly perish for water. When within four miles of Trout River, my horse fell down in the sand with me on him. I got up and succeeded in getting him up. I tried to save him, but he was unable to travel. On account of this detention, I got behind my friends, so I concluded to remain until some of my friends would return with water, which one of them did in a short time. He gave me a little water, and he also gave my animal a little. I thought it was the best water ever I had drank in my life. I rode my friend's horse to the River. He drove mine."

"On the 11th and 12th days of July we crossed the Sierra Nevada Mountains, passing over snow from 15 to40feetdeep. On the twelfth we ascended the highest peak. We secured our animals at this place (so) we could climb to the top of the highest peak. Having accomplished this we saw spread out before us the valley of the Sacramento. We united in three groans at the snow covered peaks of the Sierra Nevada but also united in three happy cheers for the beautiful valleys of the Sacramento, the sight of which gave rise to feelings of ... delight, which could only be compared to a glimpse of our native hills."

"Our train, as we were in the habit of calling it, was a small one when we left our company on the Plains, but thank God our number was the same when we first saw the waters of the Sacramento. Not one of us was sick; Heaven knows that we suffered everything but death, for water. Our animals shared in our sufferings, but not one of them died. But the scarcity of water was not the only source of suffering to us. We suffered much for sleep, there being but seven of us in number, it required most of us every night to guard our animals and baggage from the Indians. This together with a great amount of solicitude for our personal safety, wore us down very much. And now since we are here and I look back and think of our dear friends and acquaintances, from whom we parted on the waters of Sweet River, and the thousands whom we left at Independence, who must, should they prosecute their journey, drink deeply of the privations of which we had suffered, my heart sickens within me. Many of them will never get here unless they abandoned their wagons and much of their baggage. They will suffer much for water; and on this account their animals will sicken and die."

"We traveled over thirteen hundred miles of plains and mountains, passing through the following tribes of Indians: - The Crows, the Snakes, the Flatheader, the Pallo-to-Pallor, the letans or Camanches, the Root Diggers and one or two other tribes."

By the 14th of July, 1849, Dr. Dickson and his companions had established themselves in the Gold Fields, "on the middle branch of the Sacramento River, on what is called the 'Big Bar,' 70 miles above Sacramento." His letters then begin a description of their activities in California.

"Sacramento City, July 20, 1849- I left my friends at work, whilst I would come down to the city, to procure provisions, most of which are very dear, but still more dear at the 'Big Bar'... I am writing this letter in what they term a store here, but in the States we would call it a market house, all kinds of business going on at once. I would be glad to steal a little time to give you an idea of the prices in California, but I see that my package of provisions is nearly ready,so I must be brief. I am told that things are very cheap in the City of San Francisco, many animals selling at auction for much less than they cost in the City of New York; but such is by no means the case at the mines. Coffee at this city is ten cents per pound, but at the mines $1 per pound; Sugar at the mines, $1.25; and Cheese, 8 cents per pound; Sweet milk by the pint, two-thirds of which is water, $1; Brandy $1 per drink; whiskey the same. Most of the men here are making from one to three ounces of gold dust per day; many of whom spend it as fast as they make it. My mule is ready, and I must go. I have 70 miles to travel before I reach my friends, but that is nothing to me now; I am a travelling man."

Middle Fork of Sacramento, Aug. 25, 1849 - "I returned to this place from the city of Sacramento on the 28th of July, Whilst in the city I wrote you a letter ... In that letter I stated that I had not heard any word from home since I left, but on the following day I met with my friend, Mr. A. Ankeny, who had left Independence two weeks after my departure from that place. Through his kindness I received your letters, directed to Independence; the reading of which gave me much pleasure not withstanding they had been written very soon after my leaving home. How much more would I be delighted, could I but hear from you now."

"We are still operating on the 'Big Bar', Middle Fork of the Sacramento. A more miserable looking place, perhaps human never saw. The River is very narrow and pretty swift, with hills on either side almost perpendicular, for some distance below. It is indeed with the greatest difficulty that you can get a pack mule over one of these hills. One wrong move or step on part of your animal may cost you its life. It is indeed a hard looking place for white men to live, but I feel now as though I could stand it. My friends, Messrs. Moore, Parker and myself, are working together. We are scraping hard for the yellow dust, and I am giving pills when called on. I have some patients upon whom I am attending at this time. There are about 120 persons on this Bar at present, most of whom are making from one to two ounces per day, which amount is considered good digging. However, we were very fortunate in finding a rich bed, or vein, from which we have been taking about three ounces per day to each man. On last Tuesday evening, Moore and Parker dug, and we hired a man to carry the dirt to me, out of which I washed in three hours, thirty ounces of gold. This was the greatest amount which has been taken out in so shorta time on the Bar, this season. But I can assure you, that those who come here with the view of digging for gold, are obliged to work for it, and that too very hard. It is not picked up from the surface of the earth in lumps, as you have been told in the United States. True, some persons in prospecting come upon a deposit, or, as they term it, a pocket, out of which they will get one thousand dollars in a day, and sometimes more. I think those large stories owe their origin to some of the above circumstances; only one side of the picture being presented. Should curbed or vein continue to be so profitable as it has been since we opened it, you may look for me about the last of January or the first of February. Should it not, we will prospect for another one, which may detain us fo ra longer time. At any rate, it is my present intention to give the mines a careful examination previous to my departure for the United States."

"Many of the silk stocking gentry who rushed out here from the Eastern cities of the United States, with the expectation of realizing fortunes without working for them, are sadly mistaken, and they are now returning by hundreds; and many more would gladly return had they the one thing needful. Many of them never visited the mines."

"I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting with any of my friends from Pittsburgh, but I hope to meet some of them on my way to San Francisco. It is very warm here at the time; the thermometer ranging from 112 to 116 degrees. The heat is so intense that we cannot work from 10 o'clock A.M. to3 P.M. As yet there is little sickness. lam told that the month of September is the most sickly month in the year. We have reports of cholera being at San Francisco, but they are not generally credited."

In spite of his tales of hardship, Dr. Dickson's letter apparently increased the "Yellow Fever" among the youth of Beaver Co. In response to this, the Beaver Argus printed another letter on Nov. 28,1849. This was from J.B. Powers Irwin, son of Wm. Irwin of Moon Twp. Beaver Co. He had gone to California with a Pittsburgh Company. He also names others from the county who went west, including Jack Ecoff, William Minis and "Brown and Hayden."

Some of the comments of J.B.P. Irwin reflect the thoughts of many of the miners whose luck at the diggings had been poor: "You can tell my friends that I have reached California in a little shorter time than it took the Children of Israel to reach the promised land. They would find some pretty hard times in getting here by the overland route. Tell them that they are well enough off to remain in the States for money will never pay them for coming here."

"This country is anything but a farming country. They cannot raise anything without irrigating the land. No person pretends to cultivate anything at present; nor are the gold diggings as was represented. We do not find the gold by digging in the loose land, but amongst the rocks and gravel in the mountains, and washed out with cradles, as near like the cradles you rock babies in as I can describe. It is just about as hard work as digging in your clay bank."

"All the world are represented (here), but we have but few specimens of women."

"Tell all the boys who are talking of coming out here, to lay out their calculations to work for all they get, or they will be fooled. Tell them to come by the Isthmus, through Mexico, round the Horn, or any other way but the route overland: - and particularly tell them that have families to stay with them."

The Beaver Argus reported on 20 Jan. 1850 that Dr. Joseph H. Dickson had returned to Beaver Co. from the Gold Fields. It is almost certain that he returned by ship by way of Panama as the overland trip was seldom attempted a second time. The 1850 census reports Dr. Dickson as living in Rochester, age 33, birthplace as Maryland. Within the year he had married and his wife was named Nancy, age 27, born in Pennsylvania. His whereabouts after this time are not known. J.B.P. Irwin is reported to have returned to his home in April of 1851.