Monthly Archives: March 2023

Luzena and the “Languishing Spark of Womanly Vanity”

Luzena and her husband and their two little boys were on the western, downward, side of the Sierras and close to the end of the trail— The first man we met was about fifty miles above Sacramento. He had ridden … Continue reading

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A Hard March

All the emigrants on the trail to California faced that desert. Forty miles of sand and alkali with no water. To get across it they had to drive their oxen relentlessly on in spite of heat and thirst. To hesitate, … Continue reading

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The 40-Mile Desert

Remember the Independence Company? That was the company of young men who set out, with flags flying and a brass band playing, at the same time as Luzena and Mason Wilson’s wagon train left Missouri. Luzena, afraid of the Indians, … Continue reading

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Lightening the Load

Wagon train pioneers inevitably had to lighten their loads. First to go were heavy items like the rocking chair and the cast iron stove. Some emigrants took equipment that they thought would pay off in their new home, like pickaxes … Continue reading

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The Monotony of the Trail

Nothing but actual experience will give one an idea of the plodding, unvarying monotony, the vexations, the exhaustive energy, the throbs of hope, the depths of despair, through which we lived. Day after day, week after week, we went through … Continue reading

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On the Trail with Luzena

Luzena Stanley Wilson and her husband Mason, with their two small boys — three-year-old Thomas and almost one-year-old Jay — set out for California one bright May morning in 1849. More than 25,000 people, lit by the lure of gold, … Continue reading

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Luzena’s Big Adventure

In honor of Women’s History Month, I am going to recycle a series of posts I did five years ago, with a bit of expansion and augmentation. These are the adventures of Luzena Stanley Wilson, overland pioneer. Her account is … Continue reading

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Paraph

I just learned a new word. I had never heard the word “paraph” before, and I can pretty much guarantee that you have never heard it either. So what is a paraph? It is “a flourish at the end of … Continue reading

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