\nLess than a year ago I thought the on Iy i nteresti ng th i ng I cou I d ever te I I\u00a0you about Dr. Thomas Flint was his participation in the Coolidge murder case\u00a0here in Watervi lie 108 years ago. Then, last summer, came the reve lation of Dr.\u00a0F I i nt’s amaz i ng diary and the book !lAdobe Days it.” wri tten by his co us in L lewe llyn\u00a0Bi~by’s daughter. As a result of the discovery of these writings I have already\u00a0told you this fall how FI int went to Cal ifornia and there with his brother\u00a0and cousin founded Flint, Bixby and Company, which bought up and developed several\u00a0of the old Spanish ranchos. Thus it seems that he never practiced medicine\u00a0in California. Dr. Flint became a wealthy rancher, owner at one time of a\u00a0hundred thousand head of sheep.<\/p>\n
Now want to te II you how Thomas FI int and h is two partners returned to\u00a0Maine in 1853 for a brief visit with relatives, then went on to carry out the\u00a0real purpose of their trip east — to gather a big flock of sheep and a herd of\u00a0cattle to take back with them to California; how they gathered the animals in\u00a0Indiana and I II inois, transported them as far as they could by river steamers,\u00a0then drove them across plains and mountains and desert to California. In that\u00a0f lock were the fi rst Span ish Meri no sheep ever seen on the west coast — sheep\u00a0which made the nucleus of the vast flocks which brought wealth to the three\u00a0partners — Thanas FI int, Benjamin FI int and Llewellyn Bixby.<\/p>\n
It was on Christmas Day, 1852 when the three relatives left the little\u00a0gold town of Volcano for the long journey to Maine. Their purpose was, in the\u00a0words of FI int’s diary: “Brother Benjamin, cousin L. Bixby and myself being\u00a0agreed to”onite our fortunes for the undertaking of bringing to California sheep\u00a0and cattle.”<\/p>\n
It wasn’t easy to arrange transportation in those days. They had a chance\u00a0for cabin passage in a steamer going around Cape Horn, but they wanted the\u00a0shorter trip via the Isthmus of Panama, just as Thomas and Llewellyn had come\u00a0to California,a year and a half earl ier. So after several days’ wait in San\u00a0Francisco, they final IV arranged for steerage passage on the steamship Northerner\u00a0for Panama. That was the vermin-infested craft on which Thomas and Llewellyn\u00a0had first arrived~ but Thomas tel Is <\/em>us they found she had been completely overhauled\u00a0and deloused, and furthermore the fare to Panama had been reduced to $50\u00a0in competition with the regular mai I line.<\/p>\n They planned, as we know, to buy sheep and cattle in the East. Buy them\u00a0with what? With money they personally took with them in the form of gold. Here\u00a0is what Dr. Flint says about it: !’We concluded to carry our gold on our persons,\u00a0stowed in buckskin jackets made for the purpose. It amounted to $3,500\u00a0for each of us to carry, a tota I of more than $10,000. I t must have every\u00a0minute our personal protection. It proved cumbersome to carry. $3,500 in gold\u00a0is a considerable weight. We could not stow it any way in those buckskin jackets\u00a0so it would not drag and rub us day and night. We therefore took possessi\u00a0on of a berth, wh i ch were pi ent i fu I because there were few passengers. We put\u00a0those gold-loaded jackets between two mattresses, one of us sleeping over our\u00a0deposits at night and one being constantly on guard during the day.tT<\/p>\n When they reached Panama, we learn that they packed the gold in a large\u00a0chest of such size that its weight would not arouse suspicion. Says Flint: i’A\u00a0sma II va lise or satche I carried by anyone com ing into Panama from Ca Ii forn i a\u00a0is likely to be snatched at a thief’s first opportunity, bUT a oig en esT aT~\u00a0iracts no attenti on.<\/p>\n In that chest the partners’ $10,000 in gold was carried across the Isthmus\u00a0of Panama. It was just as tough a journey as Thomas had found it when he had\u00a0crossed the Isthmus in the opposite direction 18 months earlier. But at last, with the gold sti I I safe, they arrived at Barbacoa, then the terminus of the\u00a0Panama Rai lroad. There Thomas and his partners witnessed an interesting episode\u00a0wh i ch Thomas recounts in his da i ry. “J ust at the ti me for the tra in to\u00a0start”, wrote Thomas, !twe had a I ittle excitement caused by a Vi rginian who had\u00a0induced a Negro slave to return to that state with him, but when the Negro\u00a0learned from other darkies at the station that he was going back to slavery\u00a0and could escape by stopping right where he was, because he could not legally\u00a0be held in Panama, the fellow fai led to respond when his ONner called, whereat\u00a0the owner asked that the train be held a few minutes. His friends, with much\u00a0bragadocio, swore they would get that nigger anyhow. So they started to get\u00a0him, knowing he was up in a garret nearby. They started to ascend a rickety\u00a0staircase, when they heard a command to stop. Looking up, they saw a lot of\u00a0big-bore Mexican muskets pointed close to their heads. They decided they didn’t\u00a0want the nigger so bad as they did a few minutes before, and crestfallen\u00a0they reboarded the waiting train. We who were not in sympathy with them enjoyed\u00a0their discomforture. Many slave owners had brought Negroes to California\u00a0TO dig gold for them, and J suspect more than one of them has lost a darkie\u00a0somewhe re i n Panama.”<\/p>\n Exactly a month after leaving San Francisco, the Flints and Bixby arrived\u00a0in Phi ladelphia, where they took their gold to the U. S. Mint, had it assayed,\u00a0and got the i r redeemab Ie rece i pt. “‘We were dres$ed a little rough and at the\u00a0hotel we were at first seated at a most inconvenient table. But when we got\u00a0dressed up and the report of our gold got around, we were placed well up in the\u00a0din i ng room.” Then Thomas F lint states that he had boarded at the same hote I\u00a0for a time in 1848. Now the trial of Dr. Valorus Coolidge for the murder of\u00a0Edward Mathews closed at Augusta on March 24, 1848. Thomas Flint, student of\u00a0medicine in Coolidge’s office and chief witness against Coolidge, must have left\u00a0Maine for Phi ladelphia soon after the close of the trial. We know that he finished\u00a0his medical studies there in 1849, and in his own diary he tel Is us he had\u00a0been there in ’48.<\/p>\n On January 31, 1853 Thomas set down in his diary this record, referring\u00a0to Waterville: nAbout six o’clock in the evening we arrived on the cars in WaterviI Ie, the end of the rai Iroad. Got supper at the Elmwood House. At about\u00a07 P.M. we took stage for the 18 mi Ie ride to Anson. Coldest of cold weather.<\/p>\n It was so cold we had the stage curtains drawn and buttoned down tight. Stopped\u00a0at Norridgewock to leave mai I and warm up. Left Llewellyn at his father’s door\u00a0in Norr i dgewock. Got to our own home in Anson at 11 P.M.\u00a0I have frequently said, in the course of these programs, that the number\u00a0of Maine men and boys who went to California with the Forty Niners was almost\u00a0unbelievably large. Between 1849 and 1852 no fewer than 14 went from the little\u00a0hamlet of North Fairfield alone.<\/p>\n Whi Ie the number who went to the gold fields was large, those who returned,\u00a0even for visits, were extremely few. That explains the following notation in\u00a0F I i nt’s d iar:y: PWe were among the few who had gone to Ca Ii forni a and had returned.<\/p>\n We were therefore objects of much interest. Everyone seemed impressed\u00a0with the idea that we must know everybody in California. We had visits by the\u00a0score, almost every day, asking if we had seen their friends in the gold fields~’\u00a0The partners stayed in Ma i ne five weeks, then on March 8 started on the i r\u00a0real mission. They stopped at Portland at the old hotel I have written about\u00a0in “Kennebec Yesterdays” — the U. S. Hotel, now the Edwards and Walker hardware\u00a0store.<\/p>\n In the 1850’s bank notes were of dubious worth. When one traveled, he had\u00a0to take pains to get paper money that would be readi Iy accepted, or go to the\u00a0same risk the boys had when they brought their gold dust and nuggets across the\u00a0Isthmus — carry a burdensome amount of gold and si Iver coin. FI int’s diary\u00a0tells us what they did: Hln Boston we exchanged our money at the Suffolk Bank\u00a0for their bills, as they were good anywhere West and none others were.!!\u00a0They intended to go by rai I road from Boston to Albany, but a freshet having\u00a0washed out the bridge across the Hudson, they had to get over by ferry where.~\u00a0says Thomas, Hwe saw the city by gas light.”<\/p>\n On they went~ by the recently bui It rai I road lines, to Buffalo, Cleveland:,\u00a0Columbus and Cincinnati, where they met a Maine man, J. F. Noyes, who had recently\u00a0settled there. On March 16 they were in Dayton. There Thomas wrote:<\/p>\n “We were called at 2 A.M. and went aboard the cars. No breakfast, nor could we\u00a0get a mouthful unti I we arrived in Indianapolis in the middle of the afternoon.\u00a0The rai I road was new, rough, and had no stations al I the way from Dayton to Indianapolis.\u00a0We went on and arrived at Terre Haute about 5 P.M. This is the end\u00a0of the rai I road to the West. The balance of the trip to the Pacific must be\u00a0made on horseback or on foot.<\/p>\n On March 18 they bought in Terre Haute three horses and saddles and made\u00a0their way over mud-soaked roads to the town of Paris, Illinois, just across the\u00a0I nd i ana line.<\/p>\n Within a few days they were making calls at the farms around Bloomington\u00a0and Peor i a, i nqu i ring about sheep. Thomas’ ent ire di ary record for Ap ri I 5\u00a0reads: Iran the hunt for sheep_ Fran inquiries we began to think we were in\u00a0poor I uck, because sheep are scarce.”<\/p>\n On Apr i I 9 they got the i r first 50 sheep. By even i ng of the next day they\u00a0had 400. Meanwhi Ie FI int tells us how he spent one night: flDrove to Eben Downings\u00a0for the night. Sma I I house, and the bed given us was foot to foot with\u00a0the fami Iy bed where a brat of a youngster kept us awake ti II after midnight,\u00a0ye II i ng to have a cand I eli ghted, wh i ch the mother wou I d not do. Next morn i ng\u00a0we started for Ch iii pretty we II used up for want of s Jeep.!T<\/p>\n By Apri J 20 their flock numbered more than a thousand. They stopped at\u00a0Warsaw three days to get the sheep sheared, and on one of those days they had\u00a0dinner at a Mr. Turner’s, an old man of 80 from Livermore, Maine. Thomas Flint\u00a0tells us that the whole prairie in that section of I I linois had been settled by\u00a0immigrants from Maine. They even <\/em>found a Norridgewock fami Iy by the name of\u00a0Stevens.<\/p>\n On May 7 they really started for California. They now had 1,880 sheep, 11\u00a0yoke of oxen, 2 cows for mi Ik, 4 horses, 2 wagons, and a complete camping out~\u00a0fit. In addition to the three partners, there were four herders and three dogs.\u00a0It cost them $62 to get their stock across the Mississippi by ferry, but at last\u00a0they were in Iowa, on the west side of the great river.<\/p>\n Thomas Flint’s diary record of May 16 is a strange medley: BWe took\u00a0steamer from Quincy to St. Louis. Hot as blazes. In the evening went to Wyman’s\u00a0Hall in st. Louis and heard Prof. Agassing lecture on geology. Not much\u00a0beauty on the female part of the audience.”<\/p>\n They next took a steamer up the Missouri to Counci I Bluffs. Thomas said\u00a0it was a dul I trip because they had on board fourteen Baptist mi.nisters bound\u00a0for a conventi on at G I as cow , Mi ssouri. nPrayer meeti ng at one end of the saloonn,\u00a0writes Thomas, nand cards at the other.”<\/p>\n On May 29th they passed Fort Kearney at the mouth of the Platte and the\u00a0next morni ng arrived at Counci I Bluffs. From here on the on Iy way for men and\u00a0animals was on foot, with an occasional ferry across the streams.<\/p>\n By mid-June the sheep were beginning to show sore feet. The party had seen\u00a0both buffalo and Indians, but none of the latter showed hosti lity. But on June\u00a027 an inc i dent occurred, wh i ch F lint re I ates as fo II ows : PAs the moon was coming\u00a0up about midnight, we were sudden Iy called by the guard, followed by report\u00a0of a gun. Pistol in hand, I hurried to where my saddle mare was staked and\u00a0found James Force dead, two bullet holes in his chest. We hunted the banks,\u00a0but did not dare to get too close to the thick bush, nor could we get the dogs\u00a0to hunt; so we kept guard unti I daylight. We buried Force and, collecting our\u00a0stock, saw some distance from camp an Indian climbing out on the opposite side\u00a0of the creek. We shot several times, but he was too far away and made the\u00a0bluffs in safety. ”<\/p>\n At Fort Laramie they found the old adobe fort crumbling to ruins. Two dilapidated\u00a0wooden bui Idings were occupied by a company of U. S. Cavalry, and on\u00a0scaffolds in trees hung the bodies of dead Indians.\u00a0Toward the end of July they had a visit from an Indian and his fami Iy, who\u00a0in pantomime made them at last understand that there were bad Indians ahead.\u00a0Th is fami I y were apparent Iy good I ndi ans ~ though Flint says, !Twe lost a batch\u00a0of hot biscuits when they left.”<\/p>\n Next Sunday evening we shal I devote this program, as we have for the past\u00a0seven years, to the observance of Christmas Day. Then let us start off the New\u00a0Year on January first by resuming that momentous journey across the continent\u00a0of Thomas F lint and his company with the i r 1,800 sheep. I know you want to\u00a0learn what happened when they met the bad Indians, as indeed they finally did.<\/p>\n And with that item of suspense we must say good night for old times’ sake.<\/p>\n Year: 1955<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Read the script for “Little Talks” program #284, broadcast on December 18, 1955<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":405,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[755,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7575"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/405"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7575\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}