 I am an Australian Gold Miner Traveling from Australia to California. I am traveling to California because I heard about the Gold that was found by James Marshall on a farm that he had been working on. James Wilson Marshall Picture 3

I have to leave Australia as soon as possible if I want to find as much gold as possible. Since I live so far away I will most likely be one of the last people to get there. But if I leave early I will get there before most of the other people coming from my country except for the other people that are sailing with me to America.

When we left our country of Australia we crossed the pacific ocean on our big steam boats that carried all of our supplies that we needed. Since I’ve always been unlucky the worst thing that could happen occurred. When we were at sea a storm came and winds carried most of our food away. When we reached land in California we used Conestoga wagons and Oxen to carry the rest of the food and equipment that we actually had left.

California Trail Picture 2 When I reached California after our long trip across the Pacific ocean I loaded up my oxen and wagons with all of my supplies and started my journey to the California gold fields.

The supplies that I have loaded up on my wagons and oxen that I will need for the jobs in the Gold Fields consist of..  Pick Axes  Rope  Saws  Wheelbarrows  Knives  Guns  Pans  Sieves  Windlasses

The food I have brought..  Bread (salt, water, flour)  Mutton  Kangaroo meat  Vegetables (potatoes, Carrots)  Mutton or Rabbit stew  If I ran out of food I would have to buy food from the camp store which was very expensive because the owner knew miners would have to buy it to survive.

When me and my crew reached Coloma, California at Sutter’s Mill where the gold was first found we set up camp. I had my own tent to protect me from the hot sun. Picture 1

We arrived at Sutter’s Mill about three days after we left from Australia. It was around 3PM and there were quite a bit of people already there. But from looking around it looked like they got there shortly before I did because everyone was cleaned up and still getting there stuff around and setting up their tents.

After I had all of my stuff around and my tent put up I went over to a group of miners that were sitting around a campfire and introduced myself. They had told me that there was a rumor going around that there would be a lot of deaths during the mining and that all of the miners would be greedy and work by their selves. After talking with them for a few hours I decided to go to bed early tonight so that I could get up early and get a head start at mining before anyone else.

The next morning I was woken up by voices outside of my tent. When I got dressed and went outside it was still dark. If I wanted to get started before other people everyday I would have to go to bed a lot earlier and get up a lot earlier as well. I went over to my oxen and pulled my work clothes out of a bag. My work clothes that I had was a full body suit jacket, a helmet, heavy duty gloves, and a flash light on top of my helmet.

I followed the group of miners that I had met the night before. They didn’t look very happy that I was following them but I didn’t really know was I was going yet. But after walking a little ways we came to a river where there were people already panning through the river bed. When we got there the group of miners split up and went to different sections of the river. So I walked up stream a little ways and waded into the river where there wasn’t anyone else panning.

My first morning wasn’t too successful the only thing I had found in my pan were a few fossils that definitely weren't worth keeping. I waited till everyone had left the river to take my “bath” or in other words just rinse dirt off with dirty water. I went back to my camp site to cook up some of the kangaroo meat I had brought along with me. I was exhausted only after my first day. While I laid in my tent I thought about my family that I had left behind to come and mine for them and try to let my kids live a better life than what I have.

I left the only true thing that I have to live for over 1,000 miles away back in Australia. My family that I left at home consists of my wife, my daughters and a son. My two daughters are twins and are both 8 years old. My son is 15 and is almost done with school. He wanted to come along and help me but I told him that school is more important and it is too dangerous here for him.

I promised my wife and kids that I would send them a letter every week to keep them updated with what has happened. So tonight I am going to be writing the first letter about what the journey here was like and what happened my first day here.

Picture 2 ncestry.com/~tqpeiffer/Documents/Ancestral% 20Migration%20Archives/Migration%20Webp age%20Folder/California%20Trail_files/image 011.jpg Picture jpg?size=67&uid=09759C59- 09F F74-152D5CF1BACC rs_Mill.jpg Picture 1