Edward W. McIlhany, portrait by Thomas Moore, painted in Onion Valley 1850. Now in the Oakland Museum.
In the spring of 1849 a company of young men, eager to reach the goldfields, set out from Virginia. Almost 80 years later, one of those men, Edward Washington McIlhany, set down his Recollections of a ’49er. His book was first published in 1908, and republished in 2006 in a beautiful new edition edited by Scott Lawson. director of the Plumas County Museum.
In the fall of 1849, as Ed McIlhany and friends made their way up the valley en route to the Shasta mines, they stopped for several days at Rancho Chico. Here is his account of that stay:
We started on up the river and finally reached Major Bidwell’s Ranch, one of the finest ranches in California. We found him a very intelligent, hospitable, and a fine looking man. We remained at his ranch several days also, gaining a great deal of information. Bidwell gave us an account of his mining first in ’48 at a mining camp called Bidwell’s Bar, named after him, as he discovered the camp. It was on the Feather River that emptied into the Sacramento River.
He told us that he thought we would be disappointed in the mines, but as we had started we would not be satisfied until we got there, not being very far from his place. He advised us that if we were not satisfied there to go to Bidwell’s Bar, as it was very rich and was not worked out. Mr. Bidwell owned thousands of acres of land gotten from a Mexican grant. He had an Indian village not far from his residence built of adobe houses, trees set out in the village and ditches through the village to carry pure water from the mountains. Forty Indian men in this village worked for him in his mine by which he made a great deal of money.
John Bidwell had achieved the rank of major in the California Battalion during the Mexican War. In 1847 he settled on Little Butte Creek on a portion the Farwell Grant, and in July 1849 he bought a half-interest in Rancho Chico from his business partner George McKinstrey.
Bidwell promptly built a cabin on the north side of Chico Creek right where the Oregon Road forded the creek. This became a landmark for travelers to the Shasta mines and beyond, where they could camp out, get a meal, feed and water their stock, and learn something of California from an “old-timer” like John Bidwell.
More about McIlhany and Bidwell next time.
a cravat, and his costume will be complete.
I have a friend named Nick Anderson who portrays John Bidwell at events put on by the Bidwell Mansion Association. He and I are going to take our show on the road next week and visit a couple of 4th grade classes at Fairview School in Orland during the school’s Community Read-In. I’ve gone and talked about John Bidwell before, but I never actually brought him with me. I think it will be great fun!
At Mansion events Nick wears a fabulous 19th Century frock coat. But I didn’t want to ask to borrow that from State Parks. So I decided to make a vest, using 
![DSCN3296[1]](https://goldfieldsbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/dscn32961.jpg?w=372&h=279)
Back in November 2014 
Once upon a time, when the rules of courtship were strict, and a woman could only wait for a man to get a clue and propose marriage, tradition had it that during a leap year a woman could propose to her tardy and reluctant male. According to legend the custom grew up in Ireland, where St. Patrick allowed women this opportunity every four years, after St. Brigid complained to him that the girls were having to wait too long for marriage. Another legend attributes the custom to Scotland, where Queen Margaret decreed that during leap year a maiden could make the first move and snare the man she admired.
was a popular legend. It became a humorous trope employed by storytellers, cartoonists (think Al Capp and Sadie Hawkins), and versemakers like Pres Longley. The idea may have faded away in today’s society, but in the 19th and early 20th century it had great currency.
goldfields 