(CALIFORNIA.) Abel E. Babcock. Engaging diary of a Gold Rush mining hand and day laborer. 152 manuscript pages. 8vo, 6½ x 4 inches, disbound; first leaf missing a corner and a few words, apparently lacking the final leaves, otherwise minimal wear and written in a clear hand (though the spelling is creative). Various places, 31 December 1851 to 12 September 1852
"Judge Linch rules here supreme. The Indian had no sort of a tryal at all."
Abel E. Babcock (1817-1902) was a married farmer with two small children in Litchfield, Michigan when he decided to try his fortunes in the California gold fields, probably with little understanding of the privations which awaited him. The first half of the diary describes his arduous journey eastward to New York City to catch a ship bound for Panama, traversing the isthmus, and taking another ship north. He offers long descriptions of Panama, Puentarenas in Costa Rica, and Acapulco en route before arriving in San Francisco on 29 April, about halfway through the diary.
Arriving in California in poor health and with very little money, Babcock very quickly learns the desperate side of the Californian dream. Taking a boat upriver, he settles at Mud Springs (now El Dorado) past Sacramento, where he notes the day after his arrival: "Nothing to do and money nearly all gone" (4 May). He attempts gold mining intermittently before realizing that it would not reliably cover his living expenses. He then begins working a bewildering variety of odds jobs and day labor, first in Mud Springs and then in the boomtown metropolis of Sacramento: chopping wood, driving a delivery team, making picks for a blacksmith, bricklaying, carpentry, roofing, nursing a sick man for the night ($3.00), and of course a couple of stints as a mining hand. He was not alone in his desperation. During a 23 July heat wave, "3 more of our race has bin laid away in the silent grave today. They came here to seeke their fortunes and found a resting place far away from home and friends." On 23 August he writes: "Last week there were three suicides. Cause, mental derangement caused by disappointed hopes." A cholera epidemic in early September added to the troubles.
Babcock was a devout Christian who avoided the temptations of the mining camps--but he was curious enough to observe the temptations and record them for posterity. On his first visit to Sacramento, he notes: "Many places of gambling and to a verry extensive rate. I here for the first time saw low women engaged in dealing montee and other games. Nothing seemes to bad for men and women to engage in either to obtain money or to gratify their helish dispositions. There is also a circus performance here tonight" (13 June). On the 4th of July he complained: "A perfect row all night last night at a house of ill fame but a few feete from the one at which I board. Women hawled from bed & stripped & dores & windowes broken in &c &c."
Amid all the chaos, Babcock was fond of strolling about town and offers interesting descriptions of everything from political processions to the Mud Springs graveyard. On 10 September, "A young lady just arrived by way of the plaines, engaged to play on the violin. A crowd was gathered arround to applaud her." On 16 June, "Saw today for the first time a Mexican use the lasso in catching a horse, which was done with the desired effect."
Chinese immigrants drew his curiosity, noting on 10 July: "Hoards of Chinamen are constantly comeing and going from this place." On 30 June, "I saw for the first time a couple of Chinese ladyes which were very eligantly dressed after the custom of their own country, having on their wooden shoes neatly flowered. They were short and well proportioned, of rather dark complexion, yet fetures fine. All eyes were upon them. They are said to be prostitutes."
The constant violence strikes the modern reader. On his first day in San Francisco, Babcock wrote "The city is all bustle like an ant's nest when they are disturbed. . . . I saw one man that was killed last night by stabbing with a knife. He was horibly mangled. Another man hawled out of the watter. He was murdered too last night and thrown in the watter." On 17 June, "learned of a fight that took place here yesterday betweene a lawyer and the judg of the court. Knives were used and 3 were badly wounded." On 2 and 4 August he discusses the noted duel between state senator James Denver and newspaper editor Edward Gilbert, although they are not named here. The most dramatic incident was recorded on 4 and 6 June: "The town is all excitement as the Indians have killed one Chinaman and wounded 4 others badly. A posse of men well armed soon started in pursuit of the murderers and succeeded in capturing one of them, who is now a prisner. Several shots was fired at others, but to no purpos. The Indians returned the fire. . . . The murdered man was brought in late last night. He was horribly mangled, his scull all broken to pieces and braines all bare. The Indian that was taken yesterday is now hanging to the limb of a tree by the neck but a few rods back from the town. Judge Linch rules here supreme. The Indian had no sort of a tryal at all. . . . The chief kill another as being an accomplice or the real murderer, that being according to their custom."
The diary concludes with the first 8 pages of Babcock's essay "A Description of California As It Is In 1852, in Two Pictures." Additional notes on this harrowing diary are available by request.
Exhibition Hours
Exhibition Hours
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