LETTER OF A GOLD RUSHER OF 1850 EDITED BY A.
M
R.
MORTENSEN
journals and letters of overland travel have been published in the century since the Gold Rush. In many cases they represent the ideas and experiences of the professional journalist, traveler or observer. At the very least, they represent the observations and thoughts of the better educated, the more articulate members of society, the people who, at home or abroad, write letters, keep diaries and in one way or another record their thoughts and describe their experiences for the benefit of others. Occasionally a member of that great mass of unnamed and unknown leaves a fragment which in its simplicity and artlessness gives insight into the thoughts and experiences of those who rarely express themselves. Such a person was Andrew McFarlane, who was swept west in the flood tide of 1850. Named, but still unknown, McFarlane hardly left a ripple on the stream of history. The physical existence of this one letter offers the best proof of the flesh and blood reality of the man. His letter reveals very little about himself and really offers nothing new or unique in the way of information about the country through which he traveled. Only from the address do we gather that he was probably from Sabula, Jackson County, Iowa, a little town on the Mississippi River. ANY BOOKS,
The lure of gold was enough to take him west, but whether he reached his destination we do not know. After two trips from Independence to Fort Laramie earlier in the summer he finally continued on to the valley of the Great Salt Lake where, because of the lateness of the season, he decided to remain for the winter along with hundreds of other gold rushers. Caught in the backwash of westward moving humanity, McFarlane paused a season to recruit his meager resources in the only significant oasis between the Missouri and the Pacific. It was from here in the Mormon capital that he penned his letter to "Deare Sister." His brief statements of crossing the plains tell hardly more than I left, I arrived, and I had a "midling
