F 
 
BANCROFT 
 LIBRARY 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE 
 
 OF 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 CALIFORNIA 
 
 ,;£«^>w%e^ l^i^if 
 
Biography and Early Life Sketch 
 of the late 
 
 ABRAM SORTORE 
 
 Including 
 
 His Trip to California 
 
 and Back 
 
 Alexandria, Missouri 
 
 March 25 
 
 1909 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2007 with funding from 
 
 IVIicrosoft Corporation 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/biographyearlyliOOsortrich 
 
Biography and Early Life Sketch 
 
 of the late 
 
 ABRAM SORTORE 
 
 Including 
 
 His Trip to California 
 
 and Back 
 
 Alexandria, Missouri 
 
 March 25 
 
 J 909 
 

EARLY LIFE SKETCH OF ABRAM SORTORE 
 
 WRITTEN TO HIS NIECE 
 JENNIE THOMAS 
 
 Alexandria, Mo. 
 March 25, 1909 
 
 Jennie, my dear niece, you ask- 
 ed me to give you a sketdh of my 
 earlier life, including my trip to 
 California and back. 
 
 With my fathers family on a 
 raft of pine lumber, we started 
 west from "Scio" Alleghanny Co. 
 N. Y. on the 1st day of March, 
 1845. 
 
 We ran our "raft" down the 
 Alleghanny River far as the In- 
 dian Reserve. Here the water got 
 so low we could not run over the 
 mill-dam so we laid here some 
 six weeks or more when there 
 came a rise in the river and we 
 moved on to the mouth of the 
 Clarion River when again "be- 
 cause of low water" were com- 
 pelled to lay by. This time for 5 
 or 6 months. 
 
 As I did not have to foot the 
 "bills" it was all very pleasant 
 for me, for while on the Indian 
 Reserve I made friends with the 
 Indians. Went hunting and fish- 
 ing with them; then we would 
 divide the game, they always be- 
 ing more than willing to give me 
 my full share in the divide. 
 
 During our stop on the Clar- 
 ion River by brother Wm. and I 
 unloaded from the raft a span of 
 horses and threshing machine 
 which we had along and while 
 here did considerable threshing it 
 being mostly a "Dutch Settle- 
 ment" where "every hour" the 
 machine must stop and everybo- 
 dy treated to both water and 
 whisky. 
 
 This, you will note, was in 
 your Prohibition State, Pennsyl- 
 vania and it was the most "fiery" 
 whiskey I ever drank. 
 
 But soon the water came up 
 booming, spread all over every- 
 where and we soon glided down 
 to Cincinnatti where we sold our 
 raft, loaded our goods (including 
 the threshing machine) on a 
 steam boat and came to Keokuk, 
 Iowa, arriving here on the 5th 
 day of November. 
 
 My father then bought a farm 
 in the Mormon Settlement, eight 
 miles north of Keokuk where I 
 worked with him until the spring 
 of 1850. 
 
 I was then 21 years old and 
 with no sweetheart to letave be- 
 hind I joined with three of my 
 neighbors in the great rush to 
 California for "Gold." 
 
 But before starting to Califor- 
 nia must tell you that we reach- 
 ed the Mormon Settlement in 
 time to see the smoke and hear 
 the roar of "Cannon" when the 
 Citizens fired on the Mormons to 
 drive them from Nauvoo (111.) 
 just across the (Miss.) river from 
 our home. 
 
 After they succeeded in driving 
 them across the river they would 
 steal anything they could appro- 
 priate to their own use in get- 
 ting away. 
 
 They stole a yoke of oxen from 
 each of two of my brother-in- 
 laws and I joined them in search 
 of their oxen. 
 
 By a few scattering leaves of 
 com fodder we trailed them into 
 a thicket of underbrush where 
 we found the oxen corralled in a 
 small pen. We opened the pen 
 and drove the oxen home. This 
 is the only time they ever moles- 
 ted us in any way. 
 
 We are now back to March 28, 
 1850, when the wagon was 
 brought into my father's yard 
 and each man brought his diare 
 of provisions with which to load 
 
EARLY LIFE SKETCH OF ABRAM SORTORE 
 
 it. Flour, meat, coffee, butter, su- 
 gar, beans, rice, dried apples, salt, 
 tea and some "collery medicine'* 
 I think completes the list. 
 
 The next day each brought a 
 yoke of nice oxen, making 4 yoke 
 in all and one new milk cow, 
 with the understanding that 
 should any one get homesick or 
 for any reason turn back he 
 should forfeit all of his belong- 
 ings except his clothing. 
 
 We are now ready for off but 
 while some were shedding tears 
 at parting with their wives and 
 loved one I picked up the whip 
 and waved at the oxen to move 
 up and while passing out the 
 gate and up the lane I was sing- 
 ing "I am going to Sacramento 
 with my wash-pan on my knee". 
 
 In 2 days we had traveled a- 
 bout 60 miles and camped near 
 Bentonsport and that night it 
 turned cold and snowed 6 inches. 
 
 We laid there two weeks and it 
 turned warm and all except one 
 of our party started on our jour- 
 ney. 
 
 He being homesick started for 
 home. Neither did we go very 
 much farther until another of our 
 party turned back. Thus leaving 
 "Scott" (my brother-in-law) and 
 myself to make the trip to Calif. 
 
 The weather, roads and grass 
 were fine, plenty of game, most- 
 ly deer. My mother had filled a 
 3 gal. bucket with butter. My! I 
 can now taste venison fried in 
 butter. 
 
 Everyhing went fine to the Mo. 
 river. Struck this at a little Mor- 
 mon town called Canesville, 
 where Council Bluffs now stands. 
 Just on the other side of the river 
 where about 50 Mormons had 
 wintered the year before was 
 called Winter Quarters. No Mor- 
 mons there but could see relics 
 
 of their old fire-places and "such 
 like". Here we saw our first In- 
 dians. They were friendly but our 
 Oxen were afraid of them. This 
 is where Omaha now stands. 
 
 We then went on to Piatt Riv- 
 er, where we joined a company 
 of 75 teams. Could get our wag- 
 ons ferried across but to get the 
 cattle across, myself and anoth- 
 er man swam across behind 
 them. After crossing the river we 
 left the large and joined one of 3 
 teams. Then went on about 75 
 miles to "Wood River" where we 
 had to lay by until about 3 or 4 
 hundred teams which were ahead 
 of us could cross, but soon as ac- 
 ross the river here we had occa- 
 sion to get "in readiness" our col- 
 lery medicine for from here to 
 Ft. Laramie (a Govt. Ft. about 
 400 miles) we were scarcely out 
 of sight of someone digging a 
 "grave." 
 
 The only prevention we used 
 was to boil all our drinking wat- 
 er and not one of our company 
 was sick and a man from anotih- 
 er company who took our medi- 
 cine got well. 
 
 Ft. Laramie is situated in the 
 forks of Platte River. 
 
 The old Morman trail crossed 
 the river and passed the Ft. on 
 the south side 75 miles thenc3 
 crossing back to the north side, 
 but some of us being afraid of 
 collery in the Ft. about 25 wag- 
 ons with ours kept up on the 
 north side and thru the "Black 
 Hills." 
 
 But after leaving Ft. Laramie 
 we never saw nor heard of an- 
 other case of collery. After about 
 3 days travel in the Black Hills, 
 very suddenly after dinner, we 
 could hear the roaring of an ap- 
 proaching hail storm. Both men 
 an 1 cattle seemed frightened. 
 
EARLY LIFE SKETCH OF ABRAM SORTORE 
 
 My partner fastened down the 
 wagon cover more securely while 
 I turned the wagon "side to the 
 wind", loosened the oxen there 
 from and put them on the side 
 from the wind then jumped into 
 the wagon. Our cover turned the 
 storm, the oxen crowded against 
 the wagon almost upsetting it, 
 but we came thru all right and 
 dry, while others who did not 
 loosen their oxen from the wa- 
 gons had the wagons upset, some 
 had tongues broken out but no 
 one except two men (from my 
 old home neighborhood) were 
 seriously hurt. 
 
 These men were out hunting at 
 the time and were so badly dren- 
 ched and beaten with the bail 
 that it was with difficulty that 
 they were able to make it back 
 to the wagons. 
 
 The storm was soon passed and 
 the sun shining. We then all went 
 to work setting wagons right side 
 up, making wagon tongues and 
 such like, when again we were 
 ready for travel and very soon 
 we reached where the Mormon 
 trail crossed back to North Platte 
 At the ferry we met some of our 
 old Summitville friends who had 
 followed the Mormon trail up the 
 south side of Platte river. 
 
 Everything went fine for sev- 
 eral days, plenty of wood, water 
 and grass. 
 
 We had all the time had a 
 "Mormon Guide Book" to go by, 
 but here we made a mistake in 
 counting from it, for thinking we 
 were not yet to the Desert we 
 started after dinner onto a 25 
 mile desert. There was neither 
 grass, wood nor water. We reach- 
 ed Willow Springs at 11 p. m. 
 that night, gave our cattle water, 
 ■tied them to the wagons and 
 went to bsd, but the bailing of 
 
 cattle, nickering of horses and 
 braying of mules sounded the 
 most doleful I ever heard. 
 
 The next morning we learned 
 that out a few miles from the 
 mxain road was plenty of grass, 
 and all except Scott (my part- 
 ner) wanted to take their cattle 
 out for breakfast but he being 
 discouraged insisted that the cat- 
 tle would all die and that he 
 would rather hunt "grass" 
 straight ahead so after giving our 
 oxen 2 or 3 crackers each for 
 breakfast we yoked and hitched 
 them to the wagon (leaving the 
 remainder of our company be- 
 hind) we started on our journey. 
 Had only gone 5 or 6 miles when 
 we came to where 2 wagons were 
 camped and plenty of grass, but 
 the water was alkale and result- 
 ed in the death of one of our cat- 
 tle but we kept the others from 
 drinking it. (Then with these 2 
 wagons we traveled clear thru to 
 Hangtown, now Placerville, Calif. 
 From this camp on the desert we 
 went to the Rocky Mts. where 
 the range of rocks was perhaps % 
 mile wide with just a cut thru 
 the rocks some 2 or 3 hundred ft. 
 deep and wide enough for two 
 wagons to pass. This is called 
 "South Pass" about 80 rods north 
 of this pass is a cut from the top 
 of the rocks to the level of the 
 ground and passing thru this is a 
 branch of Platte river called 
 "Sweetwater". No doubt there 
 has been a large lake west of this 
 range of rocks which time has 
 drained by the constant pouring 
 of its waters over them thus 
 making the cut thru the rocks. 
 
 At the summit of these Mts. 
 was Pacific Springs the source of 
 "fountain head" of which is to- 
 dav as much of a mystery to me 
 as it was at that time. The gra- 
 
EARLY LIFE SKETCH OF ABRAM SORTORE 
 
 dual decent down the Mts. and 
 on to Green River being attend- 
 ed with plenty of grass, wood 
 and water all went well. 
 
 But at Green river the boat 
 was out of repair and by the time 
 they got it back there was near 
 300 teams waiting to cross. It 
 was a small flat boat, only large 
 enough to take one wagon at a 
 time and only ferried wagons. 
 Had to swim our oxen. The river 
 was high and exceedingly rapid. 
 We got there about noon, found 
 the men trying to swim their 
 cattle across. They would swim 
 about half way across then get 
 frightened, the front ones turn- 
 ing back would try to climb onto 
 each other and in that way sev- 
 eral head were drowned before 
 returning to shore. The Captain 
 wanted us to start our cattle in 
 ahead and if ours would cross, 
 theirs would follow. Some of my 
 company said: "All right take off 
 the yoke". I swelled up and said: 
 "No, sir! I have one yoke of ox- 
 en that I can drive across and 
 they will not turn back if only 
 they can hear me speak to them. 
 There is too much noise and coa- 
 fusion here now but in the mor- 
 ning if you can line up both your 
 men and cattle with instruction 
 there is to be no hollowing noise 
 so but my oxen can hear me 
 speak I will start them in and 
 you can let yours string in on^? 
 and two at a time after them." 
 They did so and when ours was 
 near the center of the river I saw 
 my main oxen was frightened 
 and would turn his head first up 
 and then down the river. I com- 
 menced talking to him and told 
 him what to do. He straightened 
 his head for shore and went as 
 also did all the others came thiu 
 safely. I then told them they 
 
 could make all the noise th'fey 
 pleased. They did so and many 
 were the cheers and greetings of 
 "good will" I received from the 
 whole company. 
 
 From here, plenty of grass, 
 wood and water to Ft. Bridges, 
 an individual Ft. where an Indian 
 trader bought furs (buffalo and 
 deer skins) and shipped to 
 St. Louis. 
 
 Leaving Ft. Bridges the next 
 point is "Salt Lake". We travel- 
 ed down Bear river a number of 
 miles fording it several times. It 
 was running rapid and was up to 
 th'^ wagon bed. Then we came to 
 "Webber river", followed it some 
 distance then left it ani struck 
 into a canyon. The Mormons had 
 50 soldiers stationed here to se** 
 that none of their people should 
 get away and leave, also that Un- 
 c> Sam did not send soldiers 
 thru it for at that time they be- 
 lieved the U. S. could not force 
 its way thru to the valley. 
 
 We struck the valley*^ 6 miles 
 south of the city, went up past 
 the city 3 miles and here we 
 camped 7 days to rest our teams. 
 The next day (July 24 being the 
 day they arrived in the vallej'- in 
 1846) was ce'ebra^i^n day with 
 the Mormons. I went and heard 
 Brigam Young lecture in their 
 temple. 
 
 Ttien, met with several famil- 
 ies that I knew in Iowa 5 years 
 before. The first was Nathan 
 Taner. He did not know me until 
 I spoke to him, then seemed 
 greatly pleased to meet me. I 
 shook hands with his wife that 
 lived with him in Iowa. There 
 were other women standing by, 
 three of whom he intro^^uced as 
 his wives, making 4 in all. 
 
 Then Barney Adams stepped 
 up and after giving me a warm 
 
EARLY LIFE SKETCH OF ABRAM SORTORE 
 
 hand-shake he too introduced me 
 to 3 wives and so on. 
 
 Soon after, Brigam Young with 
 16 wives (all dressed in white 
 and wearing a uniform blue rib- 
 bon on her arm) marched across 
 the square to where a largo 
 crowd of Emigrants were gather- 
 ed and introduced himself as 
 "Profit of the Later Day Saints". 
 
 His wives treated us nicely, 
 giving us all the vegetables we 
 could use and invited us to their 
 homes. 
 
 Their "temple" quite different 
 from the one of today was very 
 rough, built by setting posts in 
 the ground and sided up with 
 willow poles from one to two 
 inches thru, reaching to the eav- 
 es, then tying them at top and 
 bottom with bark. Then small wil 
 lows over the top covered with 
 "dust" constitued the roof. 
 
 .Ju;y ?.0 we broke camp and 
 went north of Salt Lake 20 miles 
 to Webber river, ferried our wa- 
 gons, sv/am our teams, then 20 
 miles to Bear river. Ferried both 
 wagons and cattle here. After 
 leaving Bear river came to a 
 small desert (25 miles-). No wood, 
 water or grass, after which we 
 passed several "boiling wells" 
 near boiling hot but plenty of 
 pure cold water within 80 rods 
 of these wells, thence plenty of 
 wood, water and grass to the 
 head of Humbolt river. Followed 
 down it 400 miles when it sank 
 into the ground and wholly dis- 
 appeared. Here we came to a des- 
 ert (40 mies), neither grass 
 v/ood nor water. We started onto 
 this about noon. Had 10 gals, of 
 water and several bundles of 
 hav. We wet the hay before put- 
 ting it in the v/agon. We traveled 
 until night, camped and f^ave onr 
 oxen pome "hay and water" then 
 
 yoked and traveled until mid- 
 night, camped again and gave 
 our cattle more hay and water 
 and let them rest about one hour 
 then traveled until daylight 
 when we camped and gave the 
 cattle the remainder of the hay 
 and water except V2 gal. water. 
 The road thus far was a dead 
 level, the ground looked like an 
 old ash-bed. We now hitched and 
 the last 10 miles was thru a deep 
 fine sand. This brought us to 
 Carson Lake, the sink of Carson 
 river, where both men and cattle 
 enjoyed the nice cool water after 
 their night of travel. We traveled 
 thru the night in order to cross 
 the last 10 miles in the cool of 
 the morning rather than in the 
 p. m. when the sand would be 
 burning hot to the cattle's feet. 
 
 From here we traveled up the 
 Carson river until we struck the 
 Siera Nevada Mts. near Carson 
 City. From there to the summit 
 of the Mts. it took us 3 days. 
 Could travel only from 3 to 6 mil- 
 es per day. The last night before 
 reaching the summit it froze ice 
 V2 inch thick. This was the rough- 
 est, rockiest and steepest road on 
 the whole trip. On the summit 
 it was snowing and blowing so 
 that we could hardly see our ox- 
 en. This was at 11 a. m. but down 
 the steep slope we had a nice 
 smooth road?, and before sunset 
 were out of the snow where we 
 had nice roads and good weather 
 on the "Hang town" where we 
 did our first mining and here I 
 found my first little nugget of 
 gold (about $4.00) which I have 
 yet as a keep-sake. Soon we had 
 to prepare for "Winter" that is 
 Ih^ rainv season. 
 
 We wont to Louisville a little 
 mining town on the south fork 
 of th? American river 20 miles 
 
6 
 
 EARLY LIFE SKETCH OF ABRAM SORTORE 
 
 north of Tangtown. 
 
 When we reached here Scott 
 (my partner) tho't we could do 
 better somewhere else. I did not 
 so we separated and each went 
 his own. I went in with 3 men, 
 we built a log cabin. Got it done 
 just before the rains came. It 
 rained all winter. We made very 
 little more than our board dur- 
 ing this time. In the spring I 
 went to Oregon Bar on north 
 fork of American river, worked 
 here near 2 months, from here 
 went north to the mouth of south 
 fork of Uba river near Bridge- 
 port. 
 
 During this time my partner 
 was Chas. Brown (old acquaint- 
 ance) from Iowa. We worked on 
 this river until the first of Octo- 
 ber, 1857 at which time we start- 
 ed for home. Went to Sacramen- 
 to, thence to San Francisco, then 
 took ship on the "Northwestern" 
 for Del-Sud Central America. As 
 soon as out of the harbor were 
 the sea was rough Brown and I 
 both got sea-sick. All else went 
 well to Acapulco, Mexico, when 
 a storm came up, we were about 
 3 or 4 miles from shore but the 
 wind blowing toward shore drift- 
 ed us until by sea measure we 
 were only 1 mile from shore and 
 right by a square high bluff. The 
 Captain headed our vessel 
 straight from shore and with a 
 full head of steam could only hold 
 our own, not gaining any from 
 10 p. m. to 2 a. m. when the wind 
 fell some and we ran out to sea 
 where we had plenty of room. 
 Never saw land again until we 
 reached Sanjuan Del-Sud in 
 Central America where at day- 
 break we landed in the harbor 
 then had 20 miles to foot it to 
 Virginia Bay little town on the 
 banks of Lake Nicaragua. From 
 
 here we thou^t to take shipping 
 on steam boat for Grey town but 
 learning that the boat had gotten 
 too close to the falls in Nicara- 
 gua river and went over and 
 would have to remain there 
 weeks, or until its owner could 
 get cables from N. Y. with which 
 to pull it back. But instead of 
 waiting sixteen of us bought a 
 large canoe (for $100.00) called 
 "Bungo" from the natives. It was 
 30 ft. long, 3 ft. wide and had 4 
 oars. We could get no provisions 
 except beans. Had no way to 
 cook them so at 11 a. m. started 
 without anything to eat. Rowed 
 to the first Island (20 miles) ex- 
 pected we could get bread b\it 
 could not so spread our beds and 
 slept very well except when the 
 monkeys would run over us. In 
 the morning we started for the 
 next Island (40 miles) About 9 
 a. m. the wind raised, dashing 
 the waves into our "Bungo" so 
 that it kept one man busy bailing 
 water. 
 
 We could make no headway 
 and did not get to the Island un- 
 til after dark. 
 
 Our clothing all dripping wet, 
 no supper, and with but one dry 
 match in the crowd we kindl'^d 
 a fire and hung our blankets to 
 "drip." 
 
 We stood by the fire until our 
 clothing had drained off some — 
 listening to the growling and 
 roaring of the California Lions 
 which were kept at "bey" only 
 by the lights and crackling noise 
 of our fire, but notwithstanding 
 all this, wrapped in our wet 
 blankets (with only occasional 
 replenishing of the fire as some 
 one would waken) we slept 
 soundly, and ne'er did morning* 
 U?ht 'ere dawn upon a happier 
 crew as "without breakfast" we 
 
EARLY LIFE SKETCH OF ABRAM SORTORE 
 
 set sail for Island No. 3 (10 mil- 
 es distant.) 
 
 Here a pot of fish and garlic, 
 thickened a little with flour was 
 eaten with relish which "none 
 but sixteen men who had not 
 tasted food for 48 hours" could 
 have eaten. 
 
 From here our next stop (10 
 miles) at St. Charles on Nicara- 
 gua river just at the outlet of 
 the lake. 
 
 Here we got something which 
 I think the Spaniards called 
 "bread." It was in chunks and 
 tasted something like fried cak- 
 es, without sugar, but it was 
 good ,so good that we took a sup- 
 p-y as we journeyed down the 
 river. The river was exceeding- 
 ly high at this time and the coun- 
 try being so level it spread seem- 
 ingly everywhere. 
 
 It was 80 miles from St. Charl- 
 es to the mouth of the river and 
 about 40 miles down from St. 
 Charles were heavy falls in the 
 river. We reached these falls just 
 as night was coming on, and not 
 caring to go "splashing" over 
 them in the night we andhored or 
 tied, as it were, our boat to the 
 limb of a large tree which seem- 
 ingly stood about midway of the 
 river and here crouched upon 
 our oars we camped for the 
 night. 
 
 But the huge alligators, pro- 
 truding their heads from the wa- 
 ter kept us in constant dread of 
 having our "Bungo" upset that 
 our restful sleep was not to be 
 compared with out slumbers on 
 tho Island with the "California 
 lions". 
 
 When daylight came we rowed 
 to land and our crew <^excep*inf* 
 3 men including myself) lan-^ed, 
 carrying with them our blankets, 
 Spanish bread, heaps of gold and 
 
 such like. 
 
 They proceeded to journey on 
 land until below the falls, while 
 we three (stripped for swimming 
 manned the boat safely o'er the 
 falls and to where our "crew" 
 was again taken on, from thence 
 we glided down to the mouth of 
 the Nicaragua river. We reached 
 here at dark, but the "wharf 
 master" not allowing us to land 
 until the next morning, we a- 
 gain camped on our oars for the 
 night. 
 
 The next morning we landed 
 at Greytown but found there 
 were more men than could well 
 find shelter in the town, but our 
 little band of "16 men" had the 
 good fortune to rent a room 12 x 
 16 ft. square, without anything 
 in it for $8.00 per month in ad- 
 vance. This furnished accommo- 
 dations for all 16 of us. 
 
 This was found to be a "sick- 
 ly" place, for different mornings 
 men were found "dead" lying be- 
 side the fences or street w'A no 
 one to look after them. 
 
 We remained here a whole 
 week before we could take ship- 
 ping for N. Y. While here one of 
 our men seeking revenge on the 
 Wharf-Master for not allowing 
 us to land that night slipped out 
 and "spiked the cannon" (which 
 went off at 9 o'clock every nig'ht 
 as signal for everybody to be off 
 the streets.) When me cannon 
 failed to go off the master (as he 
 tho't he would) came out to in- 
 vestigate the cause thereof, then 
 our man knocked him down with 
 his fist, gave him a black eye, 
 then dodged around the back 
 way. came to the room, turned 
 the key in the door and witSi the 
 rest of us was soon snugly tuck- 
 ed in his blanket for the night. 
 
 Presently a call came from the 
 
8 
 
 EARLY LIFE SKETCH OF ABRAM SORTORE 
 
 soldiers *'to know whether or not 
 our men were all in." 
 
 We opened the door and invit- 
 ed them to come in and see for 
 themselves. They did so and coun- 
 ting the whole number "16" they 
 went away satisfied of our inno- 
 cence. 
 
 We had exi)ected to go en the 
 main line steamer "Permitheus". 
 Brown and I wanted to go to 
 New New Orleans, but as we 
 would not miss a chance of get- 
 ting away from here we took 
 passage on "Brother Johnithan' 
 which came into the harbor 
 bound for N. Y. 
 
 Had good weather, no storms 
 between here and Kingston on 
 the Island of Jamaica. It took 4 
 days to land here. I was sea-sick 
 about all the while. We laid here 
 2 days and one night taking on 
 coal. When we landed our vessel 
 drew 8 ft. of water and when 
 they had finished coaling it 
 drew 16 ft. My sea-sickness left 
 me soon as I left the vessel. 
 
 While here, I boarded at the 
 "Hotel". Kingston is a pretty 
 town about one mile square. The 
 buildings mostly three story 
 bricks with tile roofing. The peo- 
 ple were very friendly. 
 
 On Friday we started for N. Y. 
 and made good time, nice weath- 
 er until Sunday p. m. about 4 
 o'clock. 
 
 My partner (Chas. Brown) and 
 I were sitting on the deck in 
 front of the Captains door coun- 
 ting that it would take us 2 days 
 to N. Y., 4 days to Pittsburg, 4 
 days to Cincinatti, Ohio, 6 days 
 to St. Louis, 2 days to Keokuk, 
 then 2 hours home. 
 
 While thus counting, the mate 
 came to the Captains door and 
 said, "We are going to have a 
 squall." 
 
 The Captain walked out and 
 looked around but went back to 
 his cabin. The mate towards the 
 center of the ship called "Sailors 
 on Deck!" In less than a half 
 minute the sailors (16 in num- 
 ber) were standing by the mate 
 apj>arently breathless. Again the 
 mate spoke to the Captain. This 
 time the Captain said, "Go a- 
 way! There is no sign of a squall" 
 The mate then said, "Every sail 
 on the vessel is stretched and if 
 not taken in they will go over- 
 board." To this the Captain again 
 came out, then said, "Take in the 
 sai's." 
 
 The mate then ordered the 
 sailors aloft and the passengers 
 below. 
 
 The "squall" struck us just as I 
 was about ^/^ way down the stairs 
 It broke all three masts off a- 
 bout 20 ft. above deck. The main 
 mast breaking a hole in the bot- 
 tom of the ship letting the water 
 in at a rapid rate. The ship had 
 on board a separate engine for 
 pumping water from the ship, but 
 this engine was out of repair. 
 
 The head engineer proceeded 
 to take the cylinder head off and 
 fix it. He was a christian man 
 and went to work perfectly ca^m 
 and composed, while others were 
 frantic and some swearing, but 
 he, working av/ay, said: "Wo 
 must do our duty and if its Grod's 
 will for us to sink, His will be 
 done." 
 
 Another officer passing through 
 the vessel said: "There is 6 ft. of 
 water in the vessel now and we. 
 can carry but 8 ft." Oh! How fast 
 thoughts flew thru my head. 
 
 The prayers that I had heard 
 my father and mother offer for 
 their children. I then prayed God 
 to forgive my sins, but it seemed 
 all the answer I could get was 
 
EARLY LIFE SKETCH OP ABRAM SORTORE 
 
 9 
 
 "You have left it too long, it is 
 too late. Your time has come." 
 While I could not remember 
 when I did not believe "Christ 
 died for me." Still I could not 
 feel reconciled that I could meet 
 God in peace. But oh! if only I 
 could have a little time on earth 
 again I would not say "I will 
 wait until older or until I get 
 sick, then will seek the Lord but 
 if I ever have opportunity I will 
 seek Him first and be ready for 
 His coming. 
 
 About this time the engineer 
 put on the last "tap" and turned 
 on the steam. It went all right, 
 kept the water at 6 ft. but could 
 not settle it any. The next mor- 
 ning was bright and clear. The 
 storm had blown us back 60 mil- 
 es. Travel was slow that day be- 
 cause of so much water in the 
 vessel. All went well that day 
 and night. Next morning, Tues- 
 day, when the bell in the first 
 cabin rang for breakfast there 
 stood the Captain at the head of 
 the table with a few of his aristo- 
 cratic friends at his right. Just 
 then the Head Engineer (with 20 
 firemen just as they came from 
 their work down in the vessel 
 shoveling coal) stepped in. He, 
 too, was covered with coal smoke 
 and grease and with no sleep 
 since the storm commenced, but 
 he went straight to the table. 
 "Here", the Captain shouted, 
 "Take those dirty men out of 
 here", but instead the Engineer 
 standing, returned thanks. He 
 did not eat himself but waited on 
 all the firemen who ate with a 
 relish. 
 
 The Captain then said "There 
 is a law to punish a man for dis- 
 obeying his Captain when out at 
 sea, and I shall see to enforcing 
 it when I reach N. Y." 
 
 "Yes," said the Engineer, 
 "There is a law this side of N. Y. 
 that may be enforced. Did we not 
 raise our hands toward heaven 
 and before God, promising that 
 in time of ship-wreck or storms 
 that we would do all in our 
 power to protect the ship, the 
 passengers, and the crew, and 
 with them to share a like fate. 
 Now our vessel is wrecked, has a 
 hole in the bottom which can 
 get no smaller, and sooner or lat- 
 er it must sink, now it is our du- 
 ty to push the vessel as fast as 
 we can and 5 of our firemen are 
 sick now from over-work the 
 night of the storm and are not 
 being cared for. The others are 
 having additional work in get- 
 ting the coal to the furnace. They 
 work 4 hours and then are off 4 
 hours and have had nothing to 
 eat since 4 p. m. yesterday. I be^ 
 lieve there is not a passenger a- 
 mong the 650 who, if they will go 
 and see how these men work, and 
 knowing that our speed depends 
 wholly upon them, but what 
 would say Give these men their 
 meals first." Both the passengers 
 and crew that heard this conver- 
 sation looked with indignation 
 upon the Captain and shouted — 
 "Give the firement their meals! 
 I can wait or do without." Some 
 said "Put the Captain below and 
 make him shovel coal!" 
 
 But the Lord smiled in com- 
 passion and landed us safely on 
 lard at N. Y. Friday morning at 
 8 a. m. But our vessel sank that 
 day at 4 p. m. As I was going 
 from the landing to a Hotel I re- 
 membered by promise to God. t 
 prayed now to Him again and 
 thanked Him for my deliverance 
 from a "watery grave" and right 
 here I realized that God had for- 
 given my sins and I promised 
 
10 
 
 EARLY LIFE SKETCH OF ABRAM SORTORE 
 
 Him that I would live a christian 
 man the remainder of my life. 
 This promise I made to my God 
 not to the preacher, and har 
 been a blessing and comfort to 
 me until this day, and shall live 
 in hoi>e of a continuation of Gods 
 comforting spirit until He shall 
 call me from earth to His Tribu- 
 nal above. Then can I feel that ] 
 am leady to meet him in Peace 
 and can say: "It is well with my 
 soul." 
 
 At 7 p. m. of the same day of 
 our 'aiiding at N. Y. we took the 
 boat for Philadelphia. Reached 
 there at 10 p. m, Nov. 27, 1851 
 Went to a Hotel where we had a 
 nice clean bed the first feather- 
 bed I had slept on since leaving 
 my mothers bed in Iowa. 
 
 The next morning we went to 
 the "U. S. Mint" where we had 
 our gold coined into "money." 
 Wnile there, we were shown lihru 
 the mint. Saw where the first 
 coin took 3 minutes to stamp a 
 10 ct. piece, while a newer pro- 
 cess for stamping they could 
 stamp 50 pieces in 3 minutes 
 The difference being in the pow- 
 er used. The old method by man 
 power, the newer method by 
 steam power. 
 
 After spending a few days hi 
 the city my partner (Brown) and 
 I seperated. He starting for hi'? 
 home at Montrose, Iowa (where 
 he is still living) and I for Scio 
 Alleghany Co., N. Y. where I 
 was raised and from where I left 
 on the raft of pine lumber hi 
 March of 1845. 
 
 But Scott (my partner thru to 
 Calif.) never returned. The last 
 
 account that could be learned of 
 him was that at San Francisco 
 he had bought a ticket and took 
 shipping for New York. 
 
 I visited with relatives and 
 friends in S. W. New York un- 
 til the ice went out of the lakes 
 and rivers. Then took Lake steam 
 er at "Erie" for Detroit, Mich., 
 from which place I took train for 
 Chicago. The railroad at that 
 time being on the "old strap ir- 
 on" plan was built by laying 2 
 pieces of timber 8 in. square the 
 right distance apart, then with a 
 bar of iron spiked on each of 
 them for the car wheel to run on. 
 These bars were 5-8 in. thick 
 and 2 in. wide from Chicago to 
 Ft. Byron. At Ft. Byron on Mis- 
 sissippi River I took boat to 
 Montrose, Iowa where after a 
 walk of 4 miles I received a glad 
 welcome home, and there re- 
 mained until in July 1853 I was 
 married. 
 
 Then from my pile of Califor- 
 nia "gold dust" I purchased the 
 little farm here in Clark Co., Mo., 
 which (with the sweat of my 
 brow thrown in) has ever since 
 procured for myself and family 
 
 a comfortable home. 
 • * * 
 
 The foregoing was dedicated 
 by Mr. Sortore to his niece. Miss 
 Almena Osborn and written by 
 her, for him. 
 
 Mr. Sortore's home was south 
 and east of Wayland, now own- 
 ed by Chas. Neumann. He was 
 the father of the late Mrs. Ora 
 Nelson and grandfather of Rus- 
 sell Nelson.