Kelsey Rudinski

My name is Diamond Jackie. Jack for short. You are reading this because I am now famous. I traveled west in 1849 and robbed people of their gold money. This is my story.

I am going West to rob the gold miners of all their gold. Now, you might wonder why I don’t just get my own gold instead of robbing people, and the answer is simple. I am a young girl and not very strong. There is no way I could go out and mine gold. It is just much easier to steal other peoples.

This is a dangerous journey for a girl like me to take. I am taking it anyway. When we first heard about the gold rush I told my parents I wanted to go. They immediately said it was a terrible idea and that I should just forget about it. There was no way I could forget about an adventure like this though. That is why I am going to California. My parents will just have to get over it.

I live in Nauvoo and will take the Mormon trail until I get to the Platte River. Than I will switch over and take the Oregon Trail for a while. Once I get to Fort Hall I will take the California Trail. The California Trail will get me all the way to California where I can start to steal peoples gold.

I am a little nervous about this trip. Not even the stealing part because that will be easy. I am more worried about the actual journey. Like I said before, I am young and not strong at all. So if any other people are looking to do the same thing as I, am we might run into some trouble.

Tomorrow I will be leaving for my journey. Tonight I have to make sure I have everything for my trip. My horses need to be rested because we have a very long journey ahead of us. I already bought all of my supplies from town. Now I just need to make sure my Conestoga wagon is ready.

I have been planning this trip for a very long time. It has taken me a year of hiding the money my parents give me for clothes to be able to buy all the supplies. The biggest thing I bought was my wagon. I already own the horses I will be taking. Their names are sugar and honey.

The supplies I will be taking are a gun, ammunition, things to trade, lead, tent, bedding, cooking utensils, matches, candles, and soap. The food I will be taking is salted meat, bread, water, flour, bacon, coffee, lard, tea, sugar, rice, dried fruit, and salt and pepper. I am hoping this will be enough to get me to California.

My parents went away for the weekend on business so this is the perfect time to runaway. They just left today, which is Friday, and will not be back until Sunday. By the time they get home I will be long gone. I still have not decided if I want to leave them a letter or not. There are more important things to worry about. I’ll have to decide tomorrow.

I have heard great stories about people that lived in Nauvoo and left to mine gold. They are all wealthier than they were when they left. That is what I want to accomplish. I am not exactly poor, actually my family is one of the wealthiest around. That is why my parents thought this was such a silly idea; me going west to “mine gold”. I just really want to make a name for myself. Not use my parents name for anything.

Everything is packed so now I will be going to sleep. I need to be rested because who knows when I will get a good rest again. I will be leaving very early tomorrow. I don’t want any of my neighbors to see me leave. This will be the last night I will ever see my house again.

(morning) It is very early. The sun isn’t even beginning to come out yet. This is very exciting. I like being the only one up. I just double checked to make sure everything was packed and it was all there. It’s time to leave Nauvoo forever. (night) I did not make it as far as I would have liked today. My horses were not ready to travel for this long. I am staying outside of a very small town, too small to mention. I have been here before so this is not very exciting.

(morning) I left at 6 this morning. It is around noon and I have made it about 75 miles already. I am going to take a break for about an hour and hopefully we can make it another 75 miles. (night) I did very good today. I made it all the way to the beginning of the Platte River. Today on my way to the river I robbed some people. They were cooking food but I didn’t see them anywhere so I just stole their food. It was very good and I am very proud of myself. Now I know I can do this.