Enos Christman

In July of 1849, twenty-year-old Enos Christman of West Chester, Pennsylvania, had much to be thankful for. He had apprenticed himself as a printer at the town'sVillage Record newspaper. He had a loving fiancee named Ellen Apple, and he had developed good friends, including his most loyal, Peebles Prizer. But like many other wide-eyed young men of his day, he decided to leave his job, his friends, and his love behind for a chance at California gold.

Christman joined the California Gold Mining Company of Philadelphia that summer and outfitted himself for the journey to California. Like many others on the East Coast of the United States, he embarked by ship rather than wagon train. His journey would eventually take him around the Horn of South America and on to San Francisco. Christman made it to the gold fields of...