David R. Leeper

When a small party of six men set out from South Bend, Indiana for the gold fields of California on February 22, 1849, the glamour of their endeavor generated considerable local interest. Many friends and spectators gathered to see them away as they rolled out of town in two covered wagons. Filled with the spirit of adventure, the men joined in the chorus of the popular gold rush song of the time:

Oh, California!
That's the land for me;
I'm going to Sacramento
With a washbowl on my knee.

The oldest of the young men in the party was twentyfive. Like the others in the group, the youngest, David R. Leeper, would soon discover just how unromantic the journey westward could be. Departing in the middle of the spring thaw, the party was almost immediately bogged down on muddy roads...