6 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



pulled out, passed and left the Kentuckians, and the two parties 

 never met again. After numerous vicissitudes and the loss by- 

 various casualties of many men and animals, the former suc- 

 ceeded in passing the Sierra, and descended into California 

 before the snow fell with but one surviving wagon, about half 

 the original stock of mules and a serious and lamentable loss of 

 men. Terrible suffering and loss of life ensued among the rear 

 of that year' s immigration, especially among those who reached 

 the Sierra after the snows, and lost or were obliged to abandon 

 their teams. Nothing was heard of Boone's train till the fol- 

 lowing spring, when the writer of these lines met two of them 

 at Nye's ranch, now Marys ville, who made the following state- 

 ment, which, as far as known to this writer, was the last ever 

 heard of Gambel. 



" Boone's train, after losing many teams and wagons in the 

 great graveyard of the Humboldt River desert, arrived late in 

 the season at the Sierra and were overtaken in its mazes by the 

 snow. Delaying for it to disappear, more snow fell, all pastur- 

 age disappeared, and after feeding their cattle for a few days on 

 flour, all signs of the trail itself were buried and lost. They 

 then, too late, abandoned their cattle and wagons, made snow- 

 shoes, and endeavored with the aid of friendly Indians to cross 

 the mountains with such provisions as each man could carry. 

 Most of them perished and were no more heard of, but Boone, 

 Gambel and three or four others succeeded in making their way 

 to Rose's Bar on Feather River, where Gambel almost imme- 

 diately died of typhoid fever, resulting no doubt from hardship 

 and privation. 



' ' The present writer soon after entered the free service (coureur 

 des bois) of the Hudson Bay Company, and was for some years 

 absent in the mountains of the far Northwest, chiefly on waters 

 of the Peace and Liard, and has never since met or heard from 

 any of the other survivors of Boone's company, who at this late 

 day, after the lapse of more than haK a century, have all doubt- 

 less gone to join the majority on the other side of the river. ' ' 



The only mention of Gambel' s last expedition that I can find 

 in Cassin's letters to Baird is under date of March 12, 1851, 

 when he says: " Beesley, who accompanied poor Gambel, has 



