FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131  
132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   >>  
d required three or four months. This could not be taken until spring, and some who were unwilling to wait started at once by the water-routes. Men were so eager to go that often several joined together to buy an outfit of oxen, mules, wagons, and provisions. They made the journey in covered wagons called "prairie-schooners," while their goods followed in peddlers' carts. It often happened that out on the plains they missed their way, for there was no travelled road, and a compass was as necessary as if they had been on the ocean. [Illustration: Placer-Mining in the days of the California Gold Rush.] Journeying thus by day, and camping by night, they suffered many hardships while on the way. Disease laid hold of them. Four thousand died from cholera during the first year, and many more for lack of suitable food. In some cases they had to kill and eat their mules, and at times they lived on rattlesnakes. The scattered bones of men and beasts marked the trail; for in the frantic desire to reach the diggings the wayfarers would not always stop to bury their dead. When the gold region was reached, tents, wigwams, bark huts, and brush arbors served as shelter. The men did their own cooking, washing, and mending, and food soared to famine prices. A woman or a child was a rare sight in all that eager throng, for men in their haste had left their families behind. It was a time of great excitement. Perhaps you have a grandparent who can tell you something of those stirring days. The gold craze of '49 is a never-to-be-forgotten event in our history. As the search for nuggets and gold-dust became less fruitful, many of the men turned homeward, some enriched and some--alas!--having lost all they possessed. SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT 1. What kind of boy was Houston? What kind of man? What did he do for Texas? 2. Tell about David Crockett's heroism at the Alamo. 3. When reading about Fremont's explorations look up on the map every one of them. What do you think of him? 4. Who was Kit Carson, and how did he help Fremont? 5. Locate on your map every acquisition of territory from the end of the Revolution to 1848. 6. Imagine yourself going to California across the plains and mountains in 1849, and give an account of your experiences. CHAPTER XV THREE GREAT STATESMEN JOHN C. CALHOUN The territory which we obtained from Mexico added much to the vastness of our country. But it led to a bitter
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131  
132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   >>  



Top keywords:

plains

 

territory

 

California

 

Fremont

 

wagons

 

vastness

 

turned

 

homeward

 
enriched
 
fruitful

search

 

nuggets

 
bitter
 

throng

 

possessed

 

THINGS

 

history

 
grandparent
 

excitement

 
Perhaps

stirring

 
forgotten
 

families

 

country

 

experiences

 

CHAPTER

 

account

 

Carson

 

Revolution

 

Imagine


Locate
 

mountains

 
acquisition
 

Crockett

 

Houston

 

Mexico

 

obtained

 

CALHOUN

 

heroism

 

explorations


STATESMEN

 

reading

 

region

 

happened

 

missed

 

peddlers

 
called
 

covered

 

prairie

 

schooners