| Past Fort Bridger at the
south pass in what is now Wyoming, Bush and the others turned due west to follow the
California Trail through Donner Pass. In what John Bush later remembered as the
"Great American Desert," the men had to abandon their wagons along with all the
provisions. They struggled on by foot. By the time Samuel Gamble and his party arrived
in St. Joe on April 12, 1850, the trail was well marked and many of the trail rumors about
Indians and the like had been disproved. Disease, however, continued to be a problem.
Samuel took sick and died in St. Joe. Undaunted, his sons decided to continue the journey.
By the summer of 1850, the trail
west was scoured into the earth by the thousands of wagons that had preceded the Sidney
men. Gamble and his companions found the Indians friendly, but buffalo and other game
almost nonexistent. The most treacherous part of the journey was the crossing of a desert
Gamble recalled as 40 miles wide. Gamble and the others lost only one cow in that part of
the journey.
Others from Shelby County were not
as fortunate. The inhospitable lands took their toll in men. Henry Devor died at the great
salt lake in July of 1849. Robert Norcross and Michael Glitch succumbed along the way
within four days of each other in June of 1850. Samuel Perry died on the trail in 1850.
Survival for all those from Shelby
County meant sticking together on the trail and sharing the work. Years later, at a
reunion for those who had headed west, a Sidney Journal reporter present reported
the sentiment of the group: "Those who manfully did their duty at watching and
guarding without a murmur became endeared to each other, while those who shirked will
always be remembered as such."
For the families back home, one of
the most disturbing events was the word that a loved one was missing. That sad news was
received by the relatives of Jarrett Miller, Christian Mann, Edward Meeker and John
Leckey. Many others, too numerous to name here, never returned home. Despite this
fact, sometimes large groups of relatives would attempt the trip. In 1853, nine members of
the Van Fossen family left for California. Four were women. By 1884, three had died out
west, and none of the others had returned to Shelby County.
Reaching their destination in most
cases meant more challenges. There is no record of any of these men striking it rich.
William and Samuel Gamble, Jr. came close. After working their placer mining claims for
about a year, they sold them and moved on. According to Samuel, the claims "subsequently
proved to be very rich." Nathan Wyman labored in the gold fields for one year
before starting for home in 1851.
Robert Houston and his family found
their riches in the land. Settling where the town of Albany is now located, Houston bought
640 acres of land. His family prospered. Newton Houston, twenty years old at the time he
left Shelby County, returned fifty years later to visit the place of his birth.
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