This account is from July 4Th 1849, and is
written by William Swain to his wife Sabrina, as he travels to California. When he writes he is eight miles from Fort Laramie, there is a celebration dinner in his camp,
which he has just left. The trip was successful and he writes of the “luck”
they had and the “uncommon good health” of the people he is travelling with, as
there has been little sickness and few accidents. He states that the water
is clearer and so is the air and that he is in better health than he was when
he left home but; in spite of this, he would “advise no man to come this way to
California”.
The letter is written in July and he tells his wife he will
probably not see her again until October he ends the letter with “Your
affectionate husband until death, William Swain”, he has already gone for many
months without seeing his family and it seems to be taking its toll, he also writes
of his homesickness but; unlike accounts by others, Swain seems to be enjoying
the trip overall. The letter seems uneventful compared to some other accounts but, is still interesting as it gives a more personal look into the effects of travel on the writer William Swain.
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