Missouri ʼ49er: The Journal of William W. Hunter on the Southern Gold Trail

Gold fever swept across the nation in early 1849, and newspapers were filled with stories of easily acquired riches in distant California. The editor of the Fulton (Mo.) Telegraph urged young men to go out to the gold field and "get a few hundred thousand to help Missouri!" In pursuit of this dream, as many as 50,000 people journeyed overland to California that year, among them a train from the Fulton area known as the "Callaway County Pioneers". William W. Hunter, a member of the train, chronicled their experiences in remarkable detail in this previously unpublished journal. Hunter's train traveled to California over a lesser-used southern route by way of Santa Fe and the Gila River. A well educated man for his time, Hunter recorded vivid descriptions of the land and the people of the Southwest, including invaluable eyewitness accounts of camp life and the customs of the Indian and Mexicans they encountered. Hunter captures the spirit of adventure and vision of wealth that dominated the beginning of the trek, and the sense of despair and demoralization of the latter portion as the inhospitable deserts of the Southwest took their toll. Hunter's wry sense of humor and eye for detail make his journal a valuable addition to the literature of the Forty-Niner migration.