In 1851, when Martha Gay was thirteen years old, her father came down with a bad case of what she called "the Western fever."

The Gays had a comfortable home in Springfield, Missouri; Martha's father was making a good living as a cabinetmaker. But, as Gay recorded in her memoirs, he was not content. "He had talked about Oregon and the Columbia River for many years and wanted to go there. He wanted to take his nine sons where they could get land." Then one day

he received a letter from an old neighbor who had been in Oregon two years. He insisted on father coming West, telling him what a lovely land it was and about the many resources, the genial climate and the rich mines in California.

It was all Martin Gay needed to make up his mind. Ignoring the objections...