James White was a 21 year old farmer from Quincy, MA. In 1849 he sailed from Boston around Cape Horn to San Francisco and the gold diggings of California. In all he spent 6 months at sea and a year in California. I've transcribed his journal and am publishing it here as well as on Amazon/Kindle and Apple/iBooks.
I have decided to speed things up a bit with longer posts and two posts a week.
Thursday, Nov. 1st, 1849
Under full operation, waiting upon customers, and washing dishes. Thought it very fine, but would not last long.
The 2nd.
A waiter.
The 3d
A waiter.
Sunday the 4th.
At work doing a regular days work for the first time in my life on Sabbath. Thought it would be the last one.
The 5th.
Cook left & I had to do the cooking. B's wanted us to stay but we was determined not to short of 200$ a month. Want to be made days off for nothing. In this country concluded we would lay still & live on the interest of our money.
Tuesday Nov. 6th, 1849
Left B's eating house in the forenoon having stayed with him or worked for him since the morn of Oct. 15th. 3 weeks and one day. Rained all day. Very hard. Thought the rainy season had commenced. The Senator arrived, the 2nd steam ship up the river. Grand sight on the river. Heard from home up to Sept 1st. All well by J. Torrey Jr. Received no letters.
The 8th.
Doing not anything. Very rainy. Fearful the rainy season had sat.
The 9th.
Gloomy day. Almost made up our minds to go down the river and find a place & settle down.
The 10th.
Wrote to George. Sent it by E.P Abble. Rainy & gloomy day.
Sunday the 11th.
Went round visiting old ship companions. Rather a pleasant day.
The 12th.
Borrowed mules of Fyire & Harrinigton and started on journey down the river. Took gun & blankets to stop overnight. Arrived at Blanchard's Camp or Neponsets Company farm and stopped over night.
Tuesday Nov; 13th, 1849
Went out in the morning to a pond nearby. Saw a great number of fowls, geese, ducks etc. Great place for gunning. Started to come back being rather disappointed in the aspect of the land & looking very much like rain. Commenced raining soon after we started. Rainy all the way up and all day & night. Would have got p’d for the journey if not got wet.
The 14th.
Cold and disagreeable day. Stayed in tent all day. Rather stiff & out of sorts.
The 15th.
Sick with fever. Took pennyroyal sweet.
The 16th.
Took powders from Edwards that sweet me.
The 17th.
Sick, Very disagreeable weather. Felt rather uneasy.
The 18th.,19th 20th.. & 22d.
Sick in tent all time up to the last date. Got quite smart again. Began to think about doing something for a living.
The 23rd & 4th.
Rather weak, but getting strong fast.
Saturday Nov. 25th.
Wrote letter to Nathan.
The 26th.
Contents of the letter mostly about boots, the market here. Boots fetch from 24$ to 40$ a pr cowhide boots . Sent the letter by Senator in care of T. Parsons.
The 27th.
Concluded to go into some kind of business to make a living. Felt rather unpleasant about funds. Not enough to do much of a business
The 28th.
Looking round for a situation to put up a house for the winter.
The 29th.
Beautiful day doing nothing. Excellent weather compared with the week previous. Good for the teamers.
The 30th.
Heavy frost. Some ice in streets. Pleasant day.
Dec. 1st.
Hunting for a lot of land. Found one on 4th. near J belonging to W. Murry. Took a lease of the land 16 feet front 20 deep till the 1st of June 1850 for 100$. Very reasonable for this place.
Friday Dec. 11th, 1849
Bought window to put in house for 12$. One dollar a light.