November 2017
Daniel W. 内逊的手稿回忆录记录了他的淘金者岁月,其中包括一首他命名为“淘金者”的诗, "Thanksgiving in California at the Cabin, 1849.这首诗描述了一个不太可能发生的事件,即淘金热时期的感恩节庆祝活动:
Three hardy sons from New England's shore,
With bronzed face and scarred hands,
Sat down to talk old matters o'er,
And feast on smoking chowdered clams.
Nason's memoir covers his experiences in 1849-1851, 而这首诗在书中的位置清楚地表明,他的盛宴“来自梅里马克的双壳贝”发生在1850年11月, a year after the date in the handwritten title.
In 1848, 在加州萨克拉门托河发现黄金的消息, 在结束墨西哥战争的条约中成为美国一部分的领土, galvanized the nation and the world. "Argonauts"—adventurous gold seekers—traveled from South America, Europe, 从亚洲到旧金山,前往加利福尼亚内陆的金矿河流和山脉. Americans made the long trek overland or traveled by sea, 要么从合恩角附近的东部港口,要么直接到加州, 或者去巴拿马,骑马或乘船穿越狭窄的地峡, and then by another sea voyage to San Francisco. More than 100,000 prospectors, 包括“老海湾州”(马萨诸塞州)的数千名公民, 他们于1849年底抵达美国,从那时起就被称为“四九移民”."
For the arduous journey, 男性——绝大多数淘金者都是男性——经常成立“公司”——互助组织,共同分担旅行中的危险, in some instances, lived and worked together in California. 有些公司有正式的名称:例如“波士顿和加利福尼亚联合股份采矿和贸易公司”. 成员们通过了章程,并投票决定他们是否会在安息日旅行或允许在旅途中饮酒. 包括丹尼尔·内森(Daniel Nason)在内的许多淘金者试了试运气,很快就返回了家乡, 他们带着故事(在这种情况下是一首诗)描述他们的伟大冒险. 1851年纳森回到新英格兰时,加州已经成为美国的第31个州.
Daniel W. Nason was born in 1820. 在他的回忆录中,他描述了他在埃姆斯伯里围绕制鞋和教堂的生活, Massachusetts, when, early in 1849, he "caught the California gold fever.他经由纽约前往加利福尼亚,在那里他乘船 Crescent City, a steamer bound for the Isthmus of Panama, with a small group of hardy New Englanders, including his brother George, a physician, and other companions from Amesbury.
Nason made drawings of his company's journey to California, first in Panama, then during the voyage to San Francisco aboard the whale ship Niantic, and finally in California.
到加利福尼亚的旅程花了很长时间,以至于内森的小公司在查尔斯·布朗的牧场附近过冬之前,勘探的时间有限, "Mountain Home," in present-day San Mateo County, south of San Francisco. There, to replenish their funds, 内森和他的朋友们把红木原木砍成木板,用于旧金山蓬勃发展的建筑业务. In the spring of 1850, “公司”的其余成员继续前往内华达山脉的山麓,在那里淘金已经被原始的采矿所取代。
Our Company now disbanded for other localities. Brown, Reed, and myself migrated to Georgetown, on the ridge, or divide between the South and Middle Forks. 在这里,我们在伊利诺斯峡谷的一个废弃的船舱里勘探和定位了我们的领地. Here we had for neighbors, many from Newburyport and Amesbury. The gold obtained here was coarse, large and small nuggets, and the work was better, and more novel than the rivers.
It was in the fall of 1850, in the refurbished cabin on Mameluke Hill near Georgetown, 丹尼尔·纳森和他的同伴们很享受感恩节杂烩大餐.
这首诗和叙事诗都是在其中所描述的事件发生很久之后才写的(“我们必须回顾二十年”)。, 但有当代的证据支持他的描述的准确性. Nason sent and/or carried home his drawings, 其中一些发表在《利记手机官网》上. Founded in Boston in 1851, 格里森的《利记APP官网手机版》经常包含当地兴趣或当地艺术家的插图. These included 这是内逊在《利记APP官网手机版》(Miners Cabin)这首诗中描述的感恩节大餐的景象。 刊登在1851年8月30日的《利记手机官网》上
这里给出的草图代表了加州小屋的内部, 在客人们享用真正的蛤蜊浓汤的时候, 以及去年感恩节在一间小屋里发生的场景的副本, 这场戏的演员是三个来自老海湾州的年轻人. 营地位于乔治城附近的俄勒冈佳能峡谷(Oregon Canon Canyon). D. W. 内森[内森]是其中之一,我们感谢他画了这幅素描.
这首诗和报纸报道的一些细节仍然是个谜:梅里马克河的双壳类动物是如何到达加利福尼亚的? Were they canned clams that had been sent from home?
丹尼尔·纳森被这个黄金之乡的美景迷住了, 他的团队从未设法开采出足够的黄金,以满足他们的开支, and after further adventures, the following year he and some of his companions returned home. Like many other "Forty-Niners," he had remained in California for a short period, 但在他的余生中,他回顾了自己在那里的经历. 他是加州新英格兰拓荒者协会的官员和历史学家,住在埃平, New Hampshire at the time of his death in 1895.
丹尼尔·内森(Daniel Nason)讲述了他作为阿尔戈努特人的冒险经历,作为该协会新展览的一部分,目前正在马萨诸塞州历史学会展出, Yankees in the West. Through letters, diaries, artifacts, photographs, and drawings, 展览记录了新英格兰人从18世纪末到20世纪初在西部的经历. Yankees in the West continues until 22 April 2017, and is open to the public without charge, Monday through Saturday, 10 AM to 4 PM.
Gleason's Pictorial Drawing Room Companion. Boston: F. Gleason, Publisher, Vol. 1, 1851.
Daniel Nason's drawing of Thanksgiving, Miners Cabin, is in the August 30, 1851 issue (Vol. 1, No. 9), p. 133. His drawing of 淘金者的冬季营地,在俄勒冈州和伊利诺斯州之间,加利福尼亚 is reproduced as an engraving in the July 26, 1851 issue (Vol. 1, No. 4), p. 92. Nason added a drawing of the same view to his manuscript narrative; (see below; within the manuscript the image appears opposite p. 60).
Howe, Octavius Thorndike. 《49年的阿尔戈英雄:1849-1850年马萨诸塞州移民公司的历史与冒险. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1923.
Marschner, Janice. California 1850: A Snapshot in Time. Sacramento: Coleman Ranch Press, 2000.
Nason, Daniel W. Manuscript narrative of his trip to California in 1849, gold mining and other activities there, and his return to New England in 1851. Cataloged as the Daniel W. Nason journal, 1849-1851, in the Caleb H. Snow papers, 1775-1945, Massachusetts Historical Society.
内森将他72页的叙述献给了剑桥大学的塞缪尔·斯诺, Massachusetts, 一位“朋友和航海伙伴”,他从巴拿马和加利福尼亚寄来的家书也被保存在美国 Caleb H. Snow papers.
Richards, Leonard L. The California Gold Rush and the Coming of the Civil War. New York: Afred A. Knopf, 2007.
Van Nostrand, Jeanne and Edith M. Coulter. California Pictorial: a History in Contemporary Pictures, 1786 to 1859; with Descriptive Notes on Pictures and Artists. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1948.