Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 192, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 August 1913 — JAYHAWKER’S TRIALS [ARTICLE]

JAYHAWKER’S TRIALS

Survivors Live Again 52 Death Valley Days. jOf the Fleet White to Cross the Desert In 1849 Only Four Are Now Living—Boiled Ox Hide for Soup. San Francisco. —Of the hardships endured by the “jayhawkers of *90," as the survivors of the first band of white people ever to cross Death valley are now galled, little has been told. The memories of 52 days spent in the sands of the Mojave desert, with boiled ox hide for food, and water as an occasional luxury, however, are kept alive by the Jayhawkers’ society, whose four members, one of them a woman nearly 100 years old, hold yearly meetings. These meetings, preceded by a din 1 ner, take place on the anniversary of the day in 1850 when the remnants of the party left the desert behind them and wandered, mere dead than alive, into a Mexican rancho in the valley of the Santa Clara river, near the present site of Newhall, a southern Pacific station on the route to Mojave. At the home of Mrs. Juliet W. Brier, the only woman of the party, who brought three children under the age of ten years with her on the journey, the remnant was' held this year. She now lives at 94 Myrtle street, Santa Cruz. Col. John B. Colton of Galesburg, Ill.; L. Dow Stephens of San Jose and John Grosscup of Laytonville now compose the rest of the Jayhawkers. Only three were present, as Mr. Grosscup has been unable to make the journey for a number of years on account of ill health. Absent in body, he has been present in spirit, sending a letter each time, which is read at the dinner. In 1849, when the party started for California, Illinois was a frontier state, and west of there Indianas were practically the only inhabitants. By the time they reached Salt Lake and the Mormon settlements practically all their cattle had been stampeded. The desire of the Mormons to have some one break a wagon trail to southern California led them to advise the jayhawkers to head for Los, Angeles, says Colonel Colton, and the start across the desert was made against the advice of Kit Carson and other noted plainsmen. Hearing of the hardships of the Denver party, however, they hesitated at taking the route, over the Sierras, and so, after waiting for six weeks in Salt Lake for the desert to cool off, they started southward. Captain Hunt of the Mormon battalion of the Mexican war was engaged to lead them at a price of 91,000 for 100 wagons. Nearly 290 persona were in the party at the beginning. They soon found that they could eat the flesh of their cattle,' and so a diet of oxen was begun, to continue until they reached California. These poor animals, scarcely more than skin and bones, were killed regularly, and the skin boiled until it was eatable. Possibly a pailful of blood was secured from each, and this made a blood pudding. By boiling the entrails, a dish on trfe order of tripe was made. There was no other food. Three out of five water holes they reached contained alkali and so had to be passed by. Men and oxen alike dropped in their tracks, never to rise again. According to the account of Rev. Mr. Brier, husband of the "little woman/’ one man was left behind, unable to walk, and the party too

weak to assist him. When “Providence Spring” was reached they went back to look for him —he had crawled four miles on his hands and knees before he died. A second wandered away insane, a third fell dead without a groan, another staggered into one of the springs on the route, and died with the first taste of water on his lips. When his veins were cut open, a watery fluid bearing a faint resemblance to blood flowed out