Dressed for the West: Then & Now

Fashion has never been my thing.  But, my fashion-forward friend, Julie Burns, urged me to write about the clothing worn on the trail.  So, here goes....

My pile of clothes...

Everything has to be super comfortable, stretch pants, cotton knit tops, a cozy sweatshirt for warmth, a gauzy floral top with camisole from Target for fancy evening dinners... ha, ha, ha.  LOTS of underwear -- I hate doing laundry.  Comfy PJs from Costco.  My favorite Keen sandals plus a pair of walking shoes.  A wide brimmed hat & sunglasses.  This kit ought to do me....

Oh!  And my fake pearl earrings and my real gold necklace featuring my great grandfather Walter Sharkey's saloon token, good for one drink.  His grandfather was Pleasant Gray, the one who died of cholera on the overland trail in 1849 at the western edge of Nebraska.  

The fanciest saloon in town, The Senate, was located in Oroville, California
 -- which means Gold Town in Spanish....

In 1849....

"You will scarcely know us if you should see us in our camp...with our California rig on: our woolen and striped shirts and broad-brimmed hats....In several camps mustachios are becoming quite fashionable and everyone who can turn out the hair on his face makes a parade of it."  Wm Searles, May 10, 1849

"Imagine to yourself of biped 5'4" high, with big whiskers, red mustachios, a steeple-crowned hat, buckskin coat done up with hedgehog quills, belt, hatchet, bullet pouch, Bowie knife 20 inches long, shirt and 5 inch spurs. It seems to me that the boys take pains to make themselves ridiculous."  Dr. Israel Shipman Pelton Lord  

Women frequently started on the trail in their Sunday finest clothes....

"These were soon discarded.  Fortunately I had with me some short wash dresses which I immediately donned...and put on a big Shaker sun-bonnet and my heavy buckskin gloves." Lavania Porter

"Embarrassed at the start by the follies of fashion, they soon rose to the occasion and cast false modesty aside.  Long dresses were quickly discarded and the bloomer donned.  Elderly matrons dressed almost like little girls...The younger women were rather shy in accepting the inevitable but finally fell into the procession, and soon we had a community of women wearing bloomers.  Some of them went barefoot, partly from choice and in some cases from necessity. 

The same could be said of the men, as shoe leather began to grind out from the sand and dry heat. Of all the fantastic costumes, it is safe to say the like was never seen before.  The scene beggars description.  Patches became visible upon the clothing of preachers as well as laymen.  The situation brooked no respect of persons.  The grandmother's hat was soon displaced by a handkerchief or perhaps a bit of cloth.  Grandfather's high crowned hat disappeared as if by magic.  Hapless and bootless men became a common sight.   Bonnet-less women were to be seen on all sides.  They wore what they had left or could get, without question as to the fitness of things.  Rich dresses were worn by some ladies because they had no others; the gentleman drew upon their wardrobes until scarcely a fine unsoiled suit was left."  Ezra Meeker

Drawings by J. Goldsborough Bruff, 1849

Head Colds Upon Take-off: Then & Now

May 12-13, 1849: 

"Rose this morning from our bed upon the ground with sensations similar to those I imagine must pervade the frame of the inebriated after a week's spree." 

"Rose this morning under the influence of a severe cold contracted from exposure in camp and in sleeping on the ground" Diary of Niles Searls, May 12, 1849

April 26-27, 2017:

I begin my road trip in a week.  What do I get?  A head cold.  Just like the one Niles Searls described. I can't postpone, any more than the pioneers could, but the reasons are different.  I've made arrangements to see friends and family in Utah, Colorado and Illinois.  Between their schedules and mine, I've got to leave on May 4.

The pioneers also had to leave, but for reasons of sheer survival.  They wanted to leave in early May in order to reach California before it started snowing in the Sierras.  Everyone had heard about the the Donner Party.  And, of course, all the pioneers amassing at the frontier border in Independence, St. Joseph, Council Bluffs, Weston & Westport wanted to be first to reach the gold and scoop it up before the next guy arrived....

So, anxious wagon parties would send scouts into the plains to see how tall the grass was -- essential fodder for the mules, horses and oxen that powered the voyage.  The scouts also checked the ground -- after the spring rains, was it hard enough for the heavy wagons loaded with provisions?  Getting mired was not desirable, especially with half broken mule and oxen teams. 

Back to head colds.  What to do?  Nowadays they say "stay hydrated," "rest in bed," "sooth a sore throat," and "take a cold remedy."    I bought Nyquil and throat lozenges.  Fat lot of good they did.  The rum, however, was helpful....

My medicine chest 

The pioneers also bought medicine to ease afflictions.  For perspective, on May 7 William Swain paid $115 for his wagon while the wagon party's medicine chest cost $200.  One of these portable apothecaries included "a box of physicing pills, a box of castor oil, a quart of best rum, and a vial of peppermint." Others included quinine for malaria, hartshorn for snakebite, citric acid for scurvy and blueness, opium, whiskey, laudanum, morphine, calomel, tincture of camphor and such brand remedies as Ayer's Pain Killer, Dover's Powders and Jayne's Caminative Balsam.  

Despite his nasty cold, Niles Searls made it all the way to California.  And, it turns out I had a sinus infection, not a true cold.  Early symptoms matched those described by Searls, but I escaped the usual prolonged sore throat and chest coughing.  As of May 4, I'm good to go.  Hurrah! 

19th Century Portable Apothecary

Provisioning 1849:

Being  thus equipped and supplied, the immigrant may set out upon this wild yet interesting excursion with high prospects of enjoying many extraordinary and pleasing scenes; and of safely arriving at his desired destination without suffering any extraordinary toil, hardship, or eminent danger….

Any person designing to travel by this route should invariably equip himself with a good gun, at least 5 lbs of powder, and 20 lbs of lead…he should provide himself with at least 200 lbs of flour, 150 lbs of bacon, 10 lbs of coffee, 20 lbs of sugar, and 10 lbs of salt, and with such other provisions as he may prefer and can conveniently take….

Very few cooking utensils should be taken as they very much increase the load. A baking kettle, frying pan, tea kettle, tea pot, and coffee pot are all the furniture of this kind that is essential together with tin plates , tin cups, ordinary knives, forks and spoons and a coffee mill should constitute the entire kitchen apparatus….

Bedding should consist of nothing more than blankets, sheets, coverlets and pillows which being spread upon a buffalo robe, oil cloth or some other impervious substance should constitute the beds…

Emigrants should supply themselves with a small assortment of the medicine and a few surgical instruments.  In addition it is advisable for emigrants to provide such goods as are adapted to Indian trade,  for instance beans tobacco, handkerchiefs, blankets, summer coats, pantaloons, vests, shirts, butcher knives, fish hooks, and powder and lead….

Emigrants' Guide to Oregon & California, 1845

Provisioning 2017:

Tech Kit:

iPhone (loaded with audiobooks, new podcasts, apps, etc)

iPhone car cord & DC adapter

iPhone cord & spare AC adapter

MacBook, power cord, back up drive

2 USB sticks

DC—>AC power inverter

Kindle & AC power cord

Jambox

Car & Safety Kit:

In glove compartment:

- Proof, car insurance

- CA vehicle registration

- Small flashlight on lanier

- Black grease pen

- Extra scissors

Photocopies of IDs 

Jump start battery with AC power cord

Loaded checkbook

Sunglasses

Binos, bird book

Maps  -  USFS & BLM for CA, Nevada

Kleenex

Walking/hiking sticks

Overland Trail Travel Kit:

AAA State maps

AAA Guide books

Nat'l Park Service Historic Trails Auto Tour books

Trails West guides (Applegate, Lassen, California Trail/Nevada)

Reference works:

- Bruff

- Padden (2)

- Willoughby: Great Western Migration

- Mattes: Great Platte River Road

- Holliday: World Rushed in

- Johnston: Legendary Truths

Binder of Overland Trail diaries, memoirs & info about Pleasant & Mike Gray

Gifts:

California olive oil, wines

Almanor stones for gravesites

Office Kit:

Office supply kit

Black grease pen & paper for rubbings

Blank note journal 

Clear packing tape 

Stamps

Cooking/Laundry Kit:

Paper towels

Utensil set

Cutting knife & sheaf

Microwave dishes

Dish towel

Dish soap

Ziplocks

Laundry soap

Basic Camp Kit:

Cooler chest & freeze pak

Lantern

Head lamp

Sleeping bag

Buckwheat pillow

Blow up bed & pump

Tarp/rug

Rope or twine

Spare batteries 

Don’t Forget:

Spare reading glasses

Aspirin

Pantry Kit:

Instant oatmeal

2 Prosecco

Microwave popcorn

Breakfast bars

Smokehouse almonds

Driving West: May 1849 & May 2017  - Why Bother?

Genes will out.  Maybe that's it.  In any case, I've  decided to re-trace my great, great, great grandfather Pleasant Gray's journey West, from Huntsville Texas via the California and Lassen Trails to the edge of the Feather River in Vina California.  We share itchy feet and an ever-westering impulse.

In late March 1849 Texas frontiersman Pleasant Gray signed his last will & testament. Fifteen years earlier, he'd established an indian trading post just beyond "civilization" in Tejas and named it for his boyhood home in Huntsville Alabama.  By the time his new town was a thriving community, he was restless again. Then, the siren call: gold in California!

Shortly after signing his will, Pleasant, his eldest son Mike Gray, and nine other men gathered at the Huntsville town square.  Gray was named captain of the group, and they high-tailed it north on the old Texas Road (Shawnee Trail) for Westport Kansas.   There they made a sharp left, heading west to California.

Travel was travail in those days.  Pleasant Gray died of cholera at the western edge of Nebraska.  But his son, Mike Gray, and the Texas cadre soldiered on, eventually joining as scouts for a large wagon train from Missouri.  There Mike met his future wife, the daughter of one of the wagon families.

Why blog?  Record the trip.  Compare the two journeys...

For starters, what would Pleasant and Mike Gray think of GPS satellites, Google Maps and our network of paved roads and interstates? In '49, all they had were the wagon ruts of those immediately before them and the sun heading west.  They were mostly untethered in a vast land.  Excitement.  Fear.  Forging into the Unknown.  No doubt, they'd say, as I do, the journey is how you know you're alive.  The Odyssey is all.    

Mike Gray in 1870, age 43, Sheriff of Gilroy, CA.  

He joined the Texas Rangers at 15 and slashed his way through some of the fiercest battles in Mexican American War.
Look at that steady gaze.  He knew fear and walked through it.   

Trip Preparation -- Mode of Transport -- Then & Now:

1849:

"Good and substantial wagons should always be selected, and however firm and staunch they may appear they should be...examined and repaired before leaving...it is preferable always to have the tires re-set"  The Emigrant's Guide to Oregon & California, 1845

"Today we have been breaking the oxen.  It is a mean job....of all the shapes and tangles cattle were ever known to be guilty of getting themselves into, they certainly performed them....But it was the mule companies which had the real trouble....A wild, unbroken mule is the most desperate animal ever seen.  They kick, bite and strike with their forefeet, making it very dangerous to go about them.  One company had a high old time breaking the mules to harness.  They were lassoed, thrown, harnessed and dragged into place by sheer and simple force.  Each animal had a rope with a choking noose around his neck, at the other end of which was a mad and excited individual who walked, ran, jumped, fell, swore and was dragged..." William Swain Diary & Letters published in "The World Rushed In" by J.S. Holliday

Bruff Gold Rush Diary 1849

"Yoking a wild ox" by William Henry Jackson

2017:  

My 2007 Toyota Highlander Hybrid SUV has 169,400 miles.  Thoroughly checked at Yarnell's located, fittingly, on Pioneer Way in Mountain View, CA on April 5, 2017.  Of course the tires were rotated!  My car is checked out and well broken in, so life's good.