The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 29, July 1925 - April, 1926 Page: 221
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From Texas to California in 1849
buy bacon and sugar of those whose teams were getting low. At
Santa Cruz and Penson [Tucson] we were able to get wheat and
flour at a very low rate.
At the Pimos Villages we got wheat and corn enough to feed
our animals on occasionally when grass was scarce- and now we
are (and have been nearly half the way) eating watermelons,
creshaws, and beans that we got from the Jumas (Yuma) Indians
for almost nothing. We have gotten over the worst part of the
desert, and are at a half way place where there is plenty of water
and first rate grass; . . . which we are making into hay, to do
us through 60 miles- there are three watering places in the dis-
tance 6-9-27, and then 18 miles to Valicitas (Vallecita) creek.
We have left the company we have been with (Col. Thorn from
San Antonio) and are going to push on through. Our Boat has
been of great advantage on the road, we crossed ourselves and two
companies with us across the Pecos and Rio Grande, and crossed
the Colorado of the West with it in a very short time. Lieut.
Coats (Coutts) offered me $75 for my boat, and if he could have
furnished me with a suitable wagon body to replace it I should
have let him have it for less.63 Cornelius Cox saved the life of
one man, and a number of mules while we were there (crossing the
Colorado), and I have no doubt if we had remained there another
day we would have been able to save the life of poor Capt. Thorn
who was drowned a few hours after we left.
My wife's health has been excellent all the way, and she has
made most of the trip so far on horseback, although the wagon
is fixed up very comfortable and pleasant, still she prefers the
saddle, unless when the sun is too hot. The weather has been
quite pleasant all the way, and we have had but few of those very
hot days we expected; the dust has been the most unpleasant thing
we have met with on the road.
I do not suppose there are half a dozen parties but have lost
more or less of their animals, many of them from poverty, In-
dians and carelessness- ours are all alive, and all in fine condition.
We have come through most of the way with a small company of
eight or ten persons in advance a day or two of the main train,
0"Bancroft's Arizona and New Mexico, 487, says that Coutts bought a
boat similar to this one, from a Mr. Howard, and plied it as a ferry.
Coutt's Diary, November 1, 1849, records that the Howards "came into
camp on the 30th having come down the Gila some 200 miles in a boat."221
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 29, July 1925 - April, 1926, periodical, 1926; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117141/m1/241/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.