Bancroftiana, Number 124 Spring 2004: Journal of a Trip to California, Bear in Mind

Journal of a Trip to California

“In the year of Our Lord 1852 the Gold excitement in California still continues to exist and thousands of people have here to fore and are still emigrating to that Country.”

So begins Aaron D. Riker’s journal on his adventures west overland from Ohio and his return journey through Nicaragua with brother John F. Riker and friend D. E. Lichliter.

An undated photographic portrait of Aaron D. Riker, from Banc Mss 2003/160 cz, the Aaron D. Riker Journal to California, Mss., 1852-1853.

Donated by Nancy Henderson Peterson to Bancroft in 2002 along with a copy of John F. Riker’s journal, Aaron D. Riker’s original journal adds to our expansive collection of California Gold Rush diaries. Riker’s descriptions of his surroundings give insights into how the foreign Anglo-Americans viewed the land, the animals, and, most of all, the people.

2nd [July 1852] soon after leaving Camp this morning a lone Indian came out of the cedar thicket I shook hands with him. He appeared verry [sic] friendly. I asked him what tribe he belonged to he answered Snake Indian. Then begged for Tobacco. . . After leaving this point we found the road hilly and stony to Oregon or Stony Creek the first waters that flow into the Columbia River. Here we seen the first Digger Indian and an awful looking being he was to be had no article of clothing on except a shirt that some emigrant had thrown away. We had some sport with this fellow. . .

While Aaron D. Riker’s journal echoes the thoughts and feelings of many other gold rush diaries, it is useful for its descriptions and as a comparison. The journal is distinctive for Aaron’s accounts through Nicaragua, which was a rare undertaking for travel between the east and west coasts.

Aaron D. Riker returned to Ohio on December 3, 1853, with no regrets and happy to be home again. “And I find it much pleasenter living in the society of those we love than to be separated thousands of miles . . .”

—Alison Bridger, Bancroft Technical Services

Bear in Mind: The California Grizzly

Bear in Mind: The California Grizzly, edited by Susan Snyder and published by Heyday Press of Berkeley, California, is now available.
http://www.heydaybooks.com/public/books/bim.html

Bear in Mind is the story of the California grizzly bear. Once arguably the most powerful and terrifying animal in the California landscape, he now lives in the imagination, a disembodied symbol of the romantic West. Bear in Mind is also a portal to one of California’s great resources, The Bancroft Library. More than 150 images from the library’s archives and collections—newspaper illustrations from the gold rush, paintings from early scientific expeditions, photo albums, sheet music, settlers’ diaries, fruit-crate labels, and more—accompany the bear stories of Indians, explorers, vaqueros, fortyniners, and naturalists, among others. The result is a uniquely compelling natural history, a grand book worthy of its subject.

Bear in Mind will appear in the prestigious Rounce & Coffin Club 2004 Western Books Exhibition. Rounce & Coffin considers “original and innovative techniques of book design and production, as well as traditional examples of fine book manufacture.”