Wilmette Public Library Local History Digital Collection

Curry Tells of Long Trip to California

Publication: Lake Shore News (Wilmette, Illinois), 12 Feb 1914, p. 1, 4

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Creator

Seymour Currey

Media Type

Newspaper

Item Type

Articles

Notes

A large number of Evanstonians journeyed to California in 1850 to look for gold. This followed a gold mining trip in 1849 by area resident Ozro Crain. He came back with glowing reports of his experiences. The following winter he organized a local group to mine gold in Califoria. The members were the leader's brothers, Charles Crain, Erwin Crain, Leander Crain; leader's cousin Orson Crain; and Alonzo Burroughs, William Foster and son John Foster, Oliver Jellison, Alexander McDaniel, Eli Gaffield, Sylvester Beckwith, Andrew Robinson, Benjamin Emerson, James Hartray, Azel Patterson, Joel Stebbins, James Dennis, George Reed, Henry Pratt, Smith Hill, James Bowman and others whose last names only can be given: Hazzard, Fox, Webley, Fluent, Miller, Rice and Ackley. Others traveled separately: B. F. Hill [Benjamin Franklin Hill], Samuel Reed, Abraham Hathaway and John O'Leary. The group started their journey April 8, 1850. The adventurers' wives, "California Widows" continued their husbands farm and woodland work with devotion. The women remained faithful to their husbands during their absences. Group member, Alexander McDaniel has a street named after him in Evanston. McDaniel recorded the miners' experiences in a diary and wrote many letters to his wife. He used Wells Fargo to ship gold to her. The mining group split up and most returned home within a couple of years. Benjamn Emerson was robbed of $4,000 worth of gold on his way home. Oliver Jellison disappeared. Joel Stebbens, Mr. Webley, and Azel Petterson never returned home. Many estates of the miners' descendents consist at least in part of gains from the mines.

Date of Publication

12 Feb 1914

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