[1]Cannon originally wrote the month as September but corrected it in pen.

[2]Custom is a chiefly British term for “regular business patronage.”

[3]The Deseret News noted: “This freshet caused a great suspension of gold digging, throughout the country, on the stream, and deranged business generally; as a deluge of rain, at an unusual time, during the dry season, necessarily must. While the waters were up, all business was suspended; and when they abated there was not time to repair the dams, and get much advantage therefrom, before the annual rainy season would commence; consequently, there was little left for the miners and others to do” (“Latest from California,” Deseret News, Nov. 16, 1850).

[4]While the precise nature of a claim along the American River is not known, Peter Decker explained that a claim on the nearby Yuba River was “30 feet fronting on the river, low water mark, & running back for as far as one chooses to work it” (Giffen, Diaries of Peter Decker, 205). Concerning their newfound success, Bigler observed, “We commenced takeing out the gold after labouring so long in building & repareing our dam” (Bigler diary, “Book B,” Oct. 6, 1850). He later reported that twelve individuals had claim to the gold (Bigler autobiography, “Book A,” Oct. 6, 1850).

[5]Regarding their sudden change in fortune, Bigler lamented: “The gold has failed. O what a pity” (Bigler diary, “Book B,” Oct. 15, 1850). Reflecting upon this event nearly a half-century later, he added to this entry, “Yet . . . no doubt it is all right for our eyes might be so filled with gold dust that we might not be able to see” (Bigler autobiography, “Book A,” Oct. 15, 1850).

[6]Bigler recorded additional details about the beginning of the journey: “About noon we left the River when we gained the top of the mountain and Caught the pure are [air] from towards the Seacost and looking west the elements seamed to smile apon us and my heart felt to rejoice with in me although I would of give anything to went home this fall” (Bigler diary, “Book B,” Oct. 18, 1850).

[7]Greenwood Valley, described by Bigler as “a large mining Camp, a town built of Canvass, that is Tents, and log buildings,” had around 1,000 to 1,500 inhabitants (Bigler autobiography, “Book A,” Oct. 18, 1850; Gudde, California Gold Camps, 145).

[8]The missionaries spent their night at Greenwood Valley under a tree (Bigler diary, “Book B,” Oct. 18, 1850).

[9]The reference is most likely to Benjamin Winchester’s Synopsis of the Holy Scriptures. For an overview of Synopsis, see Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography, 1:199–201.

[10]Bigler was able to obtain from “Br. Singly” an order addressed to “Bro. Crowe” at Sutterville “for some books of mormon, Hym books” and other Latter-day Saint works (Bigler diary, “Book B,” Oct. 19, 1850).

[11]The day’s eighteen-mile journey also took a toll on Bigler: “The day was vary warm and not being use to walking for some time I felt vary tired” (Bigler diary, “Book B,” Oct. 19, 1850). Salmon Falls, site of one of the early rich strikes of the 1849 gold rush, was located on the south fork of the American River and is now partially covered by the waters of Folsom Lake (Gudde, California Gold Camps, 302).

[12]The missionaries again spent the night outdoors under a tree, each paying two dollars for supper and breakfast (Bigler diary, “Book B,” Oct. 19–20, 1850).

[13]The missionaries paid two dollars each for the six to eight-mile trip to Lathrop’s, “or ‘Mormon Tavern’ as it is called by the miners” (Bigler autobiography, “Book A,” Oct. 20, 1850). Located on the White Rock road about thirty miles from Sacramento, the Mormon Tavern was established in 1848 or 1849, supposedly by a Latter-day Saint named Morgan. For additional information on Mormon Tavern, see Cross, Early Inns of California, 207–8.

[14]The missionaries spent the night in a hay pen, again each paying two dollars for supper and breakfast (Bigler diary, “Book B,” Oct. 21, 1850).

[15]When the missionaries left Lathrop’s, John Berry was no longer part of the company, having decided to return to Utah to take care of his mother (Bigler autobiography, “Book A,” Oct. 21, 1850). Root’s Six Mile House in Natoma was a popular stopping place on the American River about twenty miles from the Mormon Tavern and six miles from Sutter’s Fort. For further information on the Six Mile House and Natoma, see Davies, Mormon Gold, 356–57; Gudde, California Gold Camps, 234.

[16]After the United States annexed the Republic of Texas, portions of which were still claimed by Mexico, war erupted between the United States and Mexico over the disputed land in 1846. At this time the Latter-day Saints were preparing to move to the Great Basin and had petitioned the United States government for help. In response to this request, in July 1846 the United States enlisted the Mormon Battalion, made up of more than five hundred men, to a year’s military service that eventually took its members to California. Several former members of the Battalion, including Henry Bigler, were present in January 1848 when gold was discovered. For overviews of the Mormon Battalion, see Fleek, History May Be Searched in Vain; Ricketts, Mormon Battalion; Bigler and Bagley, Army of Israel.

[17]Matthew 6:23.

[18]Mormon Island was not an island but a sandbar on the south fork of the American River located near Natoma. It was initially mined by former members of the Mormon Battalion in March 1848; many historians consider it the site of the first California gold camp during the gold rush. Mormon Island is now under the waters of Folsom Lake (Gudde, California Gold Camps, 225–26).

[19]Keeler and Hawkins had left the group at Salmon Falls in an effort to locate Clark. They remained at Mormon Island “untill Tuesday [October 22] 10 oclock am when we received a leter from Br Cannon Stateing that they ware waiting for us” (Keeler journal, Oct. [22,] 1850).

[20]The saloon was the Bella Union, located on J Street. In the evening the missionaries attended a performance of William Shakespeare’s Life and Death of King Richard III (Farrer diary, Oct. 23, 1850; Bigler diary, “Book B,” Oct. 23, 1850).

[21]Keeler’s and Cannon’s journal entries for this day are nearly identical, the differences being the spelling of some words and the ordering of words within some sentences.

[22]The Doctrine and Covenants of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a compilation of latter-day revelations, as well as other inspired writings. For more information on the Doctrine and Covenants, see Woodford, “The Historical Development of the Doctrine and Covenants”; Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography, 1:37–42, 54–57, 277–80, 304–5, 308–9, 340, 2:107–8; Flake and Draper, Mormon Bibliography, 1:348–49; Robert J. Woodford, “Book of Commandments” and “Doctrine and Covenants,” in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 1:138, 404–27. The Times and Seasons was a periodical published in Nauvoo, Illinois, between November 1839 and February 1846. It served as a semiofficial organ of the Latter-day Saints. As was common at the time, individual issues were frequently bound together into volumes. Additional information regarding the Times and Seasons can be found in Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography, 1:91–96; Sorensen, “Nauvoo Times and Seasons.” The box of books belonged to Cannon’s uncle John Taylor and had been sent to California in 1846 on the ship Brooklyn. Bigler took “a Book of Covenants and some pamphlets and let br. Cannon have $5 to pay br. Taylor” (Bigler autobiography, “Book A,” Oct. 25, 1850). Prior to looking at the box, Cannon and the other missionaries went to a silversmith’s and each bought a pocket watch costing thirty-seven dollars (Bigler diary, “Book B,” Oct. 25, 1850).

[23]One of the first paddle-wheelers to travel a regular route between Sacramento and San Francisco, the Senator measured 219’ 30’ 12.’ Having arrived from the East in 1849, the boat was designed for the deeper rivers of the eastern United States (Sonne, Ships, Saints, and Mariners, 179; DeBolt, “Sacramento Paddle-Wheelers,” 32). A regular notice in the Daily Alta indicated that the Senator left Sacramento “every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 2 p. m.” (“People’s Line for Sacramento City,” San Francisco Daily Alta California, Oct. 29, 1850). Considerably smaller than the Senator, the West Point measured 157’ 25’ 7’. It had recently arrived from New York (Sonne, Ships, Saints, and Mariners, 197).

[24]The Rose Inn was a boarding house located “on the corner of Broadway & Powell.” The missionaries obtained “a private room free to stop in as long as we wish to stay and board with him $10 per week [each]” (Bigler diary, “Book B,” Oct. 26, 1850).

[25]The portion of the sentence that reads “the others needing help” was added later in blue ink.

[26]Bigler reported that Sister Evans “said she would do all she could for us, said she would take a lot and get some of the other sisters to help” (Bigler diary, “Book B,” Oct. 28, 1850).

[27]These garments were likely the undergarments that endowed Latter-day Saints wear as an outward expression of their inward commitment to the sacred covenants they have made with God. For more information, see Evelyn T. Marshall, “Garments,” and Alma P. Burton, “Endowment,” Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 2:454–56, 534–35.)

[28]Bigler thought the celebration “went off verry well until dusk when the Steamer Sagamore burst hur boilers and blowed every thing all to atoms.” The following day Bigler and some of the missionaries went to view the damage: “Hur Cabin & wheel house was blown a way, there was no knowing how meny was killed” (Bigler diary, “Book B,” Oct. 29–30, 1850). Later estimates placed the death toll at between thirty and forty (Soulé, Gihon, and Nisbet, Annals of San Francisco, 295). For Nathaniel Bennett’s oration, see “The Celebration,” San Francisco Daily Alta California, Oct. 31, 1850.