I now went to a drug store and weighed Mr. Evans’ specimens, wrapping each in a separate piece of paper, with the value marked on each, and took them to his wife, to whom I told the news about her husband.  In two week’s time he came home sound and well.

I was quite disappointed in regard to the looks and business appearance of the country.  It looked thinly settled, people scarce, and business dull.  I could not get a day’s work to do, and I could not go much farther on foot, for the snow was eight or ten inches deep, and I was still several hundred miles from my parents in Michigan.  So my journey farther east was delayed until spring.  The hunting season was over, and when I came into Mineral Point without a gun, and wore good clothes, making a better appearance than I used to, they seemed to think I must be rich and showed me marked attention, and made many inquiries about their neighbors who started for California about the same time I did.  The young ladies smiled pleasantly when near me, and put on their best white aprons, looking very tidy and bright, far superior to any of the ladies I had seen in my crooked route from San Francisco through Acapulco, Panama, the West Indies and along the Mississippi.

After a few days in town I went out into the neighborhood where I used to live and stopped with Mr. E.A.  Hall, who used to be a neighbor of Mr. Bennett, as he had invited me to stay with himself and wife, who were the only occupants of a good house, and all was pleasant.  But notwithstanding all the comfort in which I was placed, I grew lonesome, for the enforced idleness, on account of the stormy weather, was a new feature in my life, and grew terribly monotonous.

After some delay I concluded to write to my parents in Michigan and give them a long letter with something of a history of my travels, and to refresh my memory I got out my memorandum I had kept through all my journey.

As my letter was liable to be quite lengthy I bought a quantity of foolscap paper and begun.  I took my diary as my guide, and filled out the ideas suggested in it so they would understand them.  I soon ran through with my paper and bought more, and kept on writing.  The weather was cold and stormy, and I found it the best occupation I could have to prevent my being lonesome; so I worked away, day after day, for about a month, and I was really quite tired of this sort of work before I had all the facts recorded which I found noted down in my diary.  My notes began in March, 1849, in Wisconsin, and ended in February, 1852, on my return to Mineral Point.  I found, as the result of my elaboration, over three hundred pages of closely written foolscap paper, and I felt very much relieved when it was done.  By the aid of my notes I could very easily remember everything that had taken place during my absence, and it was recorded in regular form, with day and date, not an incident of any importance left out, and every word as true as gospel.  I had neither exaggerated nor detracted from any event so far as I could recollect.