ANN ARBOR—First dismissed by Michiganders as tall tales when news of gold in California reached the state in 1848, believers began packing for the trek west after Anthony Ten Eyck sent word via the Detroit Free Press that it was all true.

But the Golden State did not give up its riches easily or to all who made the journey from the Midwest. Letters, journals, diaries, field notes, sketches, and contemporary newspaper reports from, by and about Michiganders seeking their fortune describe the hardships those who panned and mined encountered. These accounts of Michiganders in the California Gold Fields are part of “There’s Gold in the Collections,” a display at the University of Michigan’s Bentley Historical Library. The exhibit will be open Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m., through May. Admission is free.

David O. Woodruff wrote to his mother in 1850 that “except to the few engaged in business or speculation nothing is obtained here without great labor and exposure and none but those possessed of strong constitutions and able to work should try it. I would not like to advise any of my friends to come.” Woodruff didn’t strike it rich, but did make enough money to “free [his] farm from the incumbrance upon it?”

Sometimes referred to as a mental disease called “California Fever,” exhibit curator Kathy Marquis admits that the letters and diaries left behind do not record the intentions of those heading to the Rush. But they do, she says, reveal that debts at home, a spirit of adventure, wanting to see what everyone else was doing were often the impetus for the long and dangerous journey overland or by sea to “see the Elephant.” Marquis says to “see the elephant” was a term symbolizing the high cost of the venture and the adventure of a lifetime. Those heading west were anxious to go see the elephant. The adventurers who turned back said they had seen the “elephant’s tracks” or its “tail.” And that was enough for them.

“Though few expressed regret at making the trip or digging for gold,” Marquis says, most advised relatives and friends at home, ‘And, don’t come to California!'”

One of Ann Arbor’s founders, John Allen, wrote his mother in 1850 that the work in the gold fields was difficult and tedious and that “no labor of a farm will at all compare with it.” Six months after leaving Michigan, Allen wrote: “On our arrival we pitched our tent among the numerous tents we found there for it was, and is, quite a village of tents and contains several hundred persons. Here there are miners, tavern-keepers, stores, victualing tents, gambling tents, etc?The next day after our arrival, we set out on a ‘prospecting’ tour. That is, we purchased a pick, a shovel, and tin pan and commenced our search for gold?When we discovered a place that gold may have been deposited by the current in the present or in past centuries, we got to work with pick axe and shovel among the rocks… ‘Green ‘uns,’ as we were [we] generally dig inefficiently, and with ill success.” Allen died in California.

The letters recount the harsh life and frustrations of a miner’s life. There simply was too much dirt, not enough water, and worthless money, and rumors of gold not “panning out,” says Marquis. John Slatford wrote to his mother in 1853 of those miners who never “made their pile,” losing all they arrived with, and more. Slatford told of “throwing up” dirt but not being able to get to the gold until there was enough rain to wash the mineral out of the dirt.

David Woodruff wrote to his sister, “Hundreds are daily leaving this country at present for their homes in the Atlantic States. Some with their ‘piles,’ but I fear the majority with but little more than will carry them there.”

Aaron Abbott wrote home that “I have not seen a Preacher on the Plains nor since I arrived in California. I have seen, too, more Fiddles than Bibles, more Cards than Hymn Books, more Dirks and pistols than Books for the cultivation of morals, heard more swearing than Praying, heard of several murders and nine cases of lynching”

Marquis says the materials in the exhibit reveal the personalities and personal lives of those Michiganders who fell victim to “gold fever.”

Bentley Historical LibraryJohn Allen