Annals of Platte County, Missouri - Paxton
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1849, FEB. 110 TO CALIFORNIA. FEBRUARY. EMIGRATION TO CALIFORNIA GOLD MIXES. Fcb. 3T he discovery of gold in California creates intense excitement. William B. Almond, an old mountaineer, as well as an educated and accomplished jurist, forms a company of forty emi- grants, and draws up a. constitution for their government. The volume in which their proceedings were recorded has lately come to light. It is now a. record of the San Francisco Court of First Instance, and was used as a minute book in the court over which Gen. Almond presided. from October 17, 1849. to May 6, 1850. The book shows the company was organized February 3, 1849. The last entry is July 29, 1849, when the company reached Fort [utter, and dissolved, with a vote of thanks to C.pt. Almond for his discretion, enterprise. and energy. Among the emigrants of 1849 I remember: W. B. Almond. W. R. Bane. G. P. Dorriss. Perry Keith. Ben Holladay. R. Mat. Johnston. Richard Murphy. John S. and William Braseld, R. P. Wood, John G. Hayden. Platte sent 350 emigrants. Holladay & Warner sent a train to Salt Lake with $70,000 in goods. Feb. 3 - John Doniphan enrolled as an attorney. The county court appropriates $1.000. and appoints Dr. H. D. Oden commissioner to build a. bridge over Platte at Skinners Mill. A further amount is raised by subscription. PLATTE RIVER NAVIGATION Feb. 2 - An act of the Legislature incorporated The Platte River Navigation Company, with J. H. Baldwin. Elisha Green, Andrew Johnson, Jas. Kuykendall, Hugh Swaney, and John Wilson. director, with power to make locks and dams, and to create water power. Nothing was done. MARCH. March 3 - Rev. Geo. S. Woodward, a graduate of Bowdoin College, commences preaching to the Presbyterian Church at Parkville, with only three members, and yet a house of worship and a parsonage are built. He laid a foundation for the immense work that followed at Parkville. March 10 - The office of county treasurer is made elective, and an election appointed for August. The Jackson pro-slavery resolutions passed by the Legislature, and the Democratic party is disrupted in Missouri.