Description

Tree Stump Press, 1987. Paper covers, 43 pp. No other printings listed. In very good condition. Tan illustrated paper covers have light bumping to edges and light overall scuffing. Binding tight (staple bound). Pages clean and unmarked. Not Ex-library. No remainder marks. Contents include: Introduction, black and white photo reproduction of Ezra M Hamilton, copy of page 236 of Hamilton's handwritten memoir, map of Hamilton's journey from Shasta City, CA to Roseburg, OR, copy of Hamilton's obituary in the Antelope Valley Gazette, Footnotes, Chronology of the Rogue Indian War 1851-1856, Bibliography, map of 4 geographic areas of Rogue Indian War. [From Introduction] In the year 1853 Ezra Hamilton crossed the plains from Illinois with a wagon train bound for the California gold fields, a young man of twenty who was to spend long hours working in the gold mines of Shasta County, prospecting on his own at every opportunity. While he worked hard and saved his money, he lamented the fact that he had no luck... [W]hile he was with the wagon train, Hamilton met a woman he wanted very much to marry as soon as he earned a stipulated amount of money.In the late summer of 1855 Ezra journeyed to Southern Oregon to visit his lady friend. His trip took him through the heart of the Rogue Indian War and this memoir is about those experiences. . . . Hamilton wrote the reminiscences of his life, completing the effort in 1912. The manuscript was written in crowded handwriting on legal-sized paper, 842 pages in length. It was deposited in the California State Library in 1920 and has never been completely transcribed to typewritten format. It is from pages 234 through 241 of the manuscript that this brief memoir is taken.