Today, I virtually interview Edwin Bryant, the author of the 1848 best seller, “What I Saw in California, Journal of a Tour, 1846- 1847”. Through the magic of AI generated voices, I simulate a virtual conversation with Edwin Bryant; a journalist, turned overland traveler, turned the second American Alcalde of Yerba Buena, and then finally, a bestselling author.
About 95% of the words our guest speaks, are taken directly from his book. I only made minimal changes to past tense descriptions and similar small changes.
monkeyblocksf@gmail.com (email me directly)
monkeyblocksf.buzzsprout.com (for transcripts and cited sources)
buymeacoffee.com/monkeyblocksf (support the podcast)
twitter.com/monkeyblocksf (follow me)
facebook.com/MonkeyBlockSF (follow me)
Today, I virtually interview Edwin Bryant, the author of the 1848 best seller, “What I Saw in California, Journal of a Tour, 1846- 1847”. Through the magic of AI generated voices, I simulate a virtual conversation with Edwin Bryant; a journalist, turned overland traveler, turned the second American Alcalde of Yerba Buena, and then finally, a bestselling author.
About 95% of the words our guest speaks, are taken directly from his book. I only made minimal changes to past tense descriptions and similar small changes.
monkeyblocksf@gmail.com (email me directly)
monkeyblocksf.buzzsprout.com (for transcripts and cited sources)
buymeacoffee.com/monkeyblocksf (support the podcast)
twitter.com/monkeyblocksf (follow me)
facebook.com/MonkeyBlockSF (follow me)
Today, I virtually interview the author of the 1848 best seller, “What I Saw in California, Journal of a Tour, 1846- 1847”. Through the magic of AI generated voices, I simulate a virtual conversation with Edwin Bryant; a journalist, turned overland traveler, turned the second American Alcalde of Yerba Buena, and then finally, a bestselling author.
About 95% of the words our guest speaks, are taken directly from his book. I only made minimal changes to past tense descriptions and similar small changes.
G: Are you ready for this experiment, Dear Listeners? Here we go!
1-1 Deeeeeear Listeners. Please welcome today’s guest at the Monkey Block Show. Mr. Edwin Bryant. (applause)
G: Thank you so much for (almost) joining us today, Mr. Bryant.
1-2 E: Please. Call me Edwin. Thank you for inviting me to this peculiar historical interview of yours. I’m happy to (somewhat) speak with you, or anyone for that matter. Shall I call you Miss Block?
G: You can call me Girlina. I’ll give my listeners a quick background on who you were, and why you are here with us today. I read your 455-page book based on your journal entries from 1846 – 1847 capturing your travel west to California.
That was a pivotal time in Yerba Buena and California history. Some of which you were involved with directly or indirectly, but all of which you captured in your journal. You didn’t realize it at the time you wrote it, but 1846 was the year of the Bear Flag Revolt, the US takes possession of California, and just before the world rushed in for gold.
1-3 E: Indeed. I was a firsthand participant, or directly involved, with those who were in the middle of the action. I just didn’t know I was capturing history as it invisibly happened to me.
G: The book’s Preface spoke to me. You write you have carefully avoided embellishment which would impress a reader with false or incorrect ideas of what you saw to make the truth more dramatic and amusing than what the truth really was. Also, you use authentic sources to support what you write. I feel all of that.
1-4 E: Miss Girlina, I am delighted you appreciate my attention to factual historic storytelling in an uninflated manner. That’s why I (virtually), agreed to this interview, today.
G: Virtually, yes. Because technically, you didn’t. But, I get what you are saying.
I have a confession to make. The only reason I came across your book is because I was searching for information on Frank Ward. You literally bring him up one time in one sentence. So, I can’t say I meant to read your entire book. But, I did. And then, I thought maybe I could use your final chapters once you arrived in Yerba Buena as the basis of the interview. But, even that wasn’t ‘the story’ to tell.
While I didn’t mean for your documented travel west, as a pioneer, to become the topic of today’s interview, I became invested in the details of what the day to day life was like for a pioneer, moving west, and traveling by foot, mule, wagon…
Is it okay if we dive into that part of your book and life story?
1-5 E: Of course. I’m happy to relay my story, so a new generation can learn the life behind the person for whom San Francisco’s Bryant Street is named after.
G: Tell us about how your trip started.
1-6 E: I started my initial travel on April 18th,1846, via a steamer from Louisville Kentucky, to officially start my voyage on May 1st over the Rocky Mountains to California. Our official jumping off point, was Independence Missouri.
For your listeners, ‘jumping off point’ was a technical term for a gathering spot for wagons to gather, and make final preparations before leaving on their journey.
G: So, this was a coordinated road trip with an unknown total number of people still to join.
1-7 E: I think I understand your use of ‘road trip’ but moving on. I can give you context to my life prior to this point.
My childhood wasn’t happy. Among other things, my parents were first cousins, and my father was often in prison for debt. That left me to be raised by different family members, one of which was my uncle who was a doctor. I studied medicine under him. But, I only studied. I never practiced. This comes up later in my life.
As a young man, I found myself working as a newspaper editor. But, underlying health issues, combined with the stress of journalism, it all caught up with me, and I decided rather than let my career continue to destroy my health, I would go to California, where I was told the weather could help me. I was naively expecting this travel to be a vacation, which I would capture in a journal for later publishing. However, it was anything but a vacation.
G: You thought a four to six month overland travel across the country, on mule pulled wagon trains would be a vacation?
1-8 E: And, I believed that the weather in California could cure illnesses of all sorts. But. We live and learn. Upon arrival in Missouri, we met up with fourteen other wagon trains, that led by Colonel Henry William Russell and Mr. West. They were also on their way to California.
Oh! And also peculiar there was a rumor that 1,000 Mormons were also enroute to California and had crossed the Missouri River. That was May 7, 1846.
G: Was running into Mormons a bad thing?
1-9 E: It was rumored that there would be inevitable physical conflict if we came into them.
G: I don’t understand why Mormons would be angry to run into you. But, looking back historically, the ship Brooklyn, with Mormons, had left New York in February 1846, set out for California. So you did start your travel after they did.
Moving ahead of this strange conspiracy theme, in May, now having started your travel, you ran into several other wagon trains of people also traveling to California from the United Stated. You write about passing several groups of camps consisting of other families traveling to California. Your description reminded me of RV Parks. You wouldn’t know what RVs are in 1846. Never mind.
1-10 E: Very well. I won’t mind your last comment. Manifest destiny was well underway and the westest end of the coast was the last frontier for the United States. That’s why the emigration to Oregon and California. We eventually merged with so many other travelers that we created a company with a government for the party.
G: This was actually very interesting to me and I researched it for this interview. Please tell our listeners why wagon trains formed companies.
2-1 E: The short answer was ‘survival’. But, a more in depth response was for mutual support and protection, with established rules and regulations regarding travel procedures. Campsite selection. Safety measures, and conflict resolution. We formed our own government.
G: While traveling the Santa Fe Trail, you ran into someone doing a reverse trip and he had an interesting story about the road to California.
2-2 E: Yes, he said the journey to Santa Fe’ and Chihuahua Mexico was one of GREAT fatigue and hardship. But, the journey to California was infinitely more so. That our lives would be shortened by 10 years by making the trip.
G: Was it about this time you realized this wasn’t going to be a vacation?
2-3 E: Around this time I started to question it, yes.
G: I noticed on May 19, 1846 your wagon company was joined by the families of the very wealthy businessman Mr. Reed and the successful farmer Mr. Donner, both famously of the Donner party.
2-4 E: At this point, our wagon company was 98 fighting-men. Fifty women. Forty six wagons. And 350 cattle. That was before the 9 Reed and Donner wagons joined us, by a unanimous vote. The men were highly respectable and intelligent and their families very interesting.
G: So, 55 wagons, total at this point. I didn’t realize you had to get voted in to join a wagon party. But, it makes sense if you have a governing rules. And, now I see why you voted in positions. Every group needs a designated leader.
2-5 E: On May 22nd, we were in Kansas. 13 wagons split off from the group. The party was too big and it slowed down the progress. This was the second split off since I started this journey and splitting off was not unusual.
G: On May 24th, you make a foretelling statement. Can you read part of that entry for us?
2-6 E: I am beginning to feel alarmed at the tardiness of our movements, and fearful that winter will find us in the snowy mountains of California, or that we shall suffer from the exhaustion of our supply of provisions. There are many of our present party who have no just conceptions of the extent and labor of the journey before them. They appear to be desirous of shortening each day’s march as much as possible. And when once encamped are reluctant to move, except for the benefit of fresh grass for their cattle, and more convenient and plentiful supply of wood for the purposes of cooking.
G: By this point, you were aware this was not a vacation, but it seemed the other members of the wagon party weren’t aware of what was ahead of them. And, they lacked the sense of urgency to get to California before winter.
2-7 E: It occurred to everyone, by June 1st. The weight of the travel started to present itself. We had the death of a 70 year old woman whom we buried near a tree. One fist fight, and another fight that included knives. The cold and wet weather took a toll on a few of the company members as well.
Then, to add more chaos, a fight between a wagon owner and an oxen owner got into such a verbal, then physical, fight, that in the morning, we decided those going to Oregon should split off from those headed to California. Another split.
On June 5th, we camped and found the graves of two children who had died four days before. The information on the plank of wood for a headstone told us that. The reminder of death was found all along the trail to California.
G: From Independence Missouri to San Francisco, CA is 1,900 miles and I believe you were only 700 miles into this. What kept you going?
2-8 E: Relieving ourselves of the large group of wagons, with people of differing urgency and ultimate destination. We separated from those going to Oregon and started traveling 15 – 25 miles a day after that. An improvement over the 10 – 15 miles we were managing, prior to that.
The travel was hard. Every day was hard. Evidence of death was all along the trail.
G: Another interesting and sophisticated form of communication was the ‘post office’ as you described it. I was fascinated by this method of communication.
2-9 E: The emigrant companies traveling west created an informal post office communication. Parties would leave notes along the trails, inside of buffalo skulls, written on a plank of wood, or the plank was driven into the ground. It was a way of leaving evidence that this party was here at this time and is headed to the named next city. Having this kind of evidence made it easier to locate someone if you had an idea of where they were headed, or if you needed to reach them to convey a message.
G: I’m sorry if this is a sore topic, but Mr. Reed and Mr. Donner were still a part of your party at this point, correct?
2-10 E: Correct. It’s not a sore topic. But, they became the central part of my journal, which was never intended.
G: On June 12th, you are approached by people on a wagon train ahead of you. Someone traveled back to see if an oncoming company might have a doctor.
2-11 E: Three men who were 25 to 30 miles in advance of our company retraced their path searching for a doctor. A boy of eight or nine years of age had his leg crushed by falling from the tongue of the wagon, being run over by its wheels. And a number of the rest of the company had ill persons with fevers and other complaints.
Having informally studied under my uncle during my teenaged years, I was NOT a doctor but I had knowledge of pharmacopeia, some pathological and some anatomical knowledge. And, I knew enough to know that many patients were killed, rather than cured, by the incorrect use of medicine.
2-12 I had consented on many occasions to helping people within my own company. But, I always informed my ‘patients’ that I was not a doctor, but acted in the character of a ‘good Samaritan’. I relayed this phrase before I helped anyone.
I would under prescribe, instead of over prescribe, medicine. This is how I undeservingly acquired the reputation of being a doctor. Companies ahead of us, and behind us, were aware and would come for me. I always had to inform those seeking my help that I had no surgical instruments and I doubted if I could be of any service to those suffering. Despite this disclaimer, in almost all instances, they insisted I help them anyway. In this event, I would consent to helping them.
G: What happened with the boy?
2-13 E: Out of respect for the family, I don’t find it proper to retell the details of the story of the boy and his family members whom I did end up seeing and tending to. I will say it was a reminder of how hard this travel was. It was anything but romantic or a vacation.
G: By this point in California history, June 19th, the Bear Flag Revolt had occurred while you were weeks away from arriving. And, just two weeks away from the United States taking possession of California.
2-14 E: Yes. June 19th was a pivotal day for me and my company and those we split off from. Yet, another split. On this day, we decided to change our mode of travel to be lighter and therefore faster. We decided to leave oxen and wagons behind and only travel with mules who would carry our critical baggage only if it was absolutely necessary for the remaining journey. The Reeds and Donners traveled with wagons, oxen, and families.
With this decision, now without the Reed and Donner wagons, we now traveled lighter, traveling up to 30 miles a day. (Page 100)
G: It was in this decision where your original party split off from the Reed and Donner party, if I’m reading the timelines correctly. This decision saved your life. And, that’s not an overstatement.
The Reed/Donner party, despite your advice not to follow you, traveled along the south end of Salt Lake, which had them traveling through 75 miles of a desert. That was 75 miles without water, and they were slower moving than your nimble party. And, they had oxen and cattle and wagons. And, families.
2-15 E: While following me, despite telling them not, was not a great decision, that wasn’t the worst of their decisions. But taking the riskier, less traveled Hasting Cutoff instead of following the safer, better traveled California trail, which I highly suggested they do, was the poor decision. All in the name of saving 300 miles. Additionally, they traveled too slowly for where we were in the season, to have made it to California safely. I advised them against taking the Hastings Cutoff, despite deciding to initially take it myself. My party was lighter and more agile, without wagons and without families.
G: Why did the Donner/Reed party take the Hastings Cutoff, despite your warnings not to do so?
2-16 E: On July 10th, a solitary horseman named Booney approached us with an open letter from L W Hastings to all California emigrants on the road. It hinted, incorrectly, and with a biased purpose, that Californians might oppose new emigrants if they used the California trail. So, Hasting suggested using his new route, which he said he had explored. (In reality, he had never traveled it.) After traveling around the south of the Salt Lake, you would head to Fort Bridger.
The Reed and Donner party read this letter and were a few days behind us at this point. And, every day was precious considering you needed to reach Sutter’s Fort before winter. That letter influenced their decision which would ultimately cost several lives.
G: The letter sounds like propaganda. I could get sucked into the Reed/Donner party story, but I need to ask why L.W. Hasting was invested in people using his cutoff?
2-17 E: Money, fame and recognition. He had money to make by selling his guide called "The Emigrants' Guide to Oregon and California”. The man with the open letter would travel ahead of Hastings. Then, Hastings would show up with his travel guides to sell his guides.
G: In retrospect, by July 10th, the United States had taken possession of California. One of his hinted reasons for using his cutoff was now moot.
I’m sorry I can’t move away from this topic, but on July 17th, you camped near Hasting and Hudspeth, who trailed just behind his Paul Revere with the open letter. It was as if they were intentionally waiting there waiting for upcoming wagon trains to encourage them to take his new path.
2-18 E: That is correct. They were establishing a new ‘jumping off point’ for the Hastings Cutoff. We camped with them for two nights, and yes, that was his plan. To talk new groups into taking his new path with him, or his people, as their guide. My impression of his route was unfavorable, especially for wagons and families. But a number of the emigrant parties still decided to adopt it, with Hastings and Hudspeth as their guides. They were just waiting for a few more parties who were behind us, to hopefully join. And, the Reed Donner party, who were two days behind us, did just that.
G: Also on July 17th you encountered Captain Walker who was returning from California from traveling with Captain Fremont. Walker was now headed back to the United States and spoke unfavorably of Hastings new route along the south end of Salt Lake. Despite his description, you still decided to take it, yet you wrote and left letters for the upcoming emigrant companies not to take this same route. You have your own unfavorable opinion of this new route, and then you have the unfavorable opinion of someone who just traveled it. Two data points telling you this new route was a bad idea. Yet, you still took it.
2-19 E: That’s correct. I wrote several letters to emigrant parties in the rear, including letters to Reed and Donner, advising them not to take this route and advised others to keep on the old, established California trail via Fort Hall. Our situation was different from theirs. We were on mules, not wagons, without families and we could afford hazardous experiments and explorations. They could not. Page 148
G: On July 17th, you head out taking a variation of the new route, via the south end of the great Salt Lake. You even had Mr. Hudspeth, Mr. Hasting’s second in command, as your guide. And, you wrote letters to Mr. Reed and Mr. Donner warning them about this new route?
2-20 E: The letters I wrote to them, telling them not to take the new route, were never delivered. Mr. Hudspeth traveled with us as our guide until August 3rd. The last thing he said to us, as we bid him farewell was, “Now, boys, put spurs to your mules and ride like hell!”
From that point forward, we had no guide, or reliable index to our final destination. And, that likely saved our lives. We found our way back to the California Trail by finding Mary’s River.
G: Oh my god, your letters could have saved lives had they received the letters.
2-21 E: I don’t know if that would have changed their mind. I handed Louis Vasquez and Jim Bridger the letters to deliver to Reed and Donner, but they were not delivered to them. They had already passed the point when the letters finally arrived.
Mr. Reed was a headstrong man who pushed his ideas on people. His leadership style was assertive and authoritative. So, it might have been his will to have used Hastings Cutoff even if they received my letters. Mr. Reed’s decisions could be forceful and divisive and he was firmly committed to the Hasting Cutoff. His personality and a murder eventually led to Reed being banished from his party.
Mr. Donner was a man of good judgement, and I respected his decision-making skills. He was deeply committed to the success of the expedition and the safety of its members.
G: I hate to continue on this track, but after being banished from the group, it was Mr. Reed and Mr. Herron who traveled to Sutter’s Fort and found help for the stranded Donner party. That saved their lives in the end. You have to give credit where credit is due even if it was Mr. Reed.
But, it is interesting to now realize why it became just the Donner Party and why Reed’s name was removed from the party name. Hardly a party, but a wagon party. Sorry. I’m making light of an unpleasant story.
<Ding>
Side note: "What I Saw in California" became an important resource for understanding the overland journey to California. His story happened in parallel with the Reed/Donner Party travels. He captures a snapshot of the regions, as he traveled them, during a time of significant change and upheaval. Granted, some of that change was happening without his knowledge. But, he captures history in the making.
It’s easy to write this off as a personal travel journal, but his observations cover various aspects of the overland journey, including its geography, climate, flora and fauna, and the lifestyles of its inhabitants, including indigenous people, Americans as they traveled West, and the Mexican settlers. This was before the gold rush. It’s an inside look at what this travel was like.
G: Completely switching topics, you describe an amusing trading story, but I’m not sure it was meant to be a funny story. The ‘fruit cake’ experience.
2-22 E: That was July 24th. A number of Utah Indians accompanied us several miles that morning. Among them was a pleasant and comical old fellow who amused us so much that day. They seemed very gratified by our visit and encouraged us to stop and trade with them.
I see the humor one hundred and seventy years later. The story starts like this. In Utah, we smoked a pipe filled with tobacco with three Indians, which we smoked until the tobacco was consumed. We discussed our desire to trade for meat as were completely without it. They informed us they had no meat either, but three females produced what was called ‘fruit cake’ and offered to trade for that. But, it’s not what you are thinking. It was a jam made with ‘service berries’ also known as ‘June berries’… and pulverized … grasshoppers.
2-23 This mixture was dried in the sun until it became hard, and this is the ‘fruit cake’. As this was considered the best items they had to trade with us. And not wanting to offend, we traded small items for every ‘fruit cake’ they had.
Initially, when I brought back the ‘fruit cake’ and described it to the team, the prejudice against it was strong. But, as hunger set in, and we ate it, none of this delicacy was thrown away or lost.
Putting prejudice aside, regarding the fruit cake, I have tasted what are called “delicacies” that are less agreeable to the palate.
G: So, despite your initial self-stated prejudice, you would eat fruit cake, again?
2-24 E: Color me guilty.
G: August 20th, now without Mr. Hudspeth as your ‘dependable’ guide, you make it to the top of the Truckee River, which is a sign you are close, so close, to Sutters Fort.
2-25 E: Getting to the Truckee River meant water, grass, and hunting. All the things we hadn’t seen, all together, in some time. The water and grass were our comfort and our security for the realization of our hopes, regarding our destination. And, by August 26th, we finally made it to the top of the Sierra Mountains and then to the Yuba River. Truly, we knew we were almost done.
On August 28th, we were now at Bear Valley and sure of our journey’s completion. And, thankfully we reached this point, considering our depleted provisions. For breakfast, we cooked the last of our flour. A pint of rice. A slice of rancid bacon, and coffee without sugar.
That night, we made soup from one more slice of rancid bacon. That’s the last of what we had to eat but we knew we were almost there.
G: Eating the very last of your food and knowing you still had a few days left must have been scary. I can’t imagine, especially given the physical excursion accompanied by hunger.
2-26 E: It would end in a few days. For as long as I live, I remember the moment, on August 30th, looking down on Sacramento Valley. I could see it fifteen miles away. I contemplated this scene with the emotion and pleasure you would imagine of a person who had crossed 1,900 miles of desert plains and mountains, sometimes over impassible trails that had to be cut to create.
I shouted to my partner behind me, that we were “Out of the Woods”, and to pull his hat off and give three cheers, so loud, that those behind us could hear it. He did. And very soon, we could hear the ringing and echoing of his cheers through the hills, valleys, and forest. The rest of the party quickly joined us with an exuberance of joy. It was a moment of cordial and heartfelt congratulations.
G: I honestly can’t imagine the resolve you felt in that moment. September 1st was the day you officially made it to Sutter’s Fort. But life in California had changed and the arrival at your final destination wasn’t what you were expecting.
2-27 E: Not at all. After crossing the American River, we reached Sutter’s Fort at about 1:30 in the afternoon. Two Indians were watching the front gate of the fort, and a group of Americans were sitting in the gateway. They were dressed in buckskin pantaloons and blue sailors’ shirts with white stars on their collars.
G: That was the first indication something had changed. American soldiers were protecting what was once a Mexican territory.
2-28 E: I asked if Captain Sutter was in the fort. A man who was probably a corporal said, that perhaps I was unaware of the great changes that had recently taken place in California. That the fort now belonged to the United States. And, while Captain Sutter was physically there, he legally had no control over it. This was not the welcome we had anticipated when we started our journey.
I asked if I could speak with Captain Sutter anyway, they did relay my message, and Sutter did come to the gate with gentlemanly courtesy, and friendly cordiality. Sutter said with the events that had transpired in California, had, with deep regret, deprived him of the control of his own property, that he did not feel authorized to invite us inside of the walls to remain. The fort was now occupied by US soldiers under the command of Mr. Kern.
I understood what he was saying and only asked if he could supply us with meat, salt and vegetables which he could spare. We understood we were being turned away to sleep under a roof for the first time since the journey began, which would have been a novelty, but it was a small inconvenience.
G: While I can see how this was not the welcome you anticipated when you started your journey, you couldn’t have predicted the United States taking command of California and then changing the place you thought you would rest and receive the help you would need in settling into your new home.
Sutter’s legal and social standing were clearly now in flux. More than he could have predicted in less than two years, when gold was discovered at his mill. I would love to feel bad for him…but, I digress.
Please continue. I’m sorry.
2-29 E: We camped about two miles away from the fort, that night. As I lay on my hard bed, once more within the boundaries of civilization, I realized our party who had started together, remained all together. None of our party met with any serious accidents or disasters. Nine men traveled from Fort Laramie to Sutters fort. 1,900 miles over trackless and barren deserts, sometimes impassable mountains, through tribes of Indians, encountering many difficulties and enduring great hardships, and here we all were, in good health, with the loss of nothing of material value except for the loss of one single animal.
G: And you never had one incident with the native people, which I’m graciously skipping over the less than kind descriptions you had of native people including those you encountered who treated you well.
2-30 E: That is correct, Miss Girlina. We uniformly respected their feelings and their rights, and they respected us. Results so favorable as these, to expeditions constituted as was ours, and acting under such circumstances, were not often recorded.
Page 251, 303
Page 322 in San Francisco
G: It is a shame that the human brain is conditioned to want to hear salacious and provocative stories. But, again, I digress. Let me get off my proverbial soapbox.
I’m ending this interview with exactly what I thought the interview would be about.
On September 21st, you and your party make to Yerba Buena. Life for an American in Yerba Buena has dramatically changed in this time. The Mormons you feared had arrived in Yerba Buena. The United States flag flew in La Plaza. The USS Portsmouth was still sitting in Yerba Buena Cove.
You stayed with William Alexander Leidesdorff, indoors, who was now the EX Vice Consul for the United States. I’ve read he was mostly a great figure, except when he wasn’t. I’ve read one or two sentences regarding one of Leidesdorff’s shortcomings was he had servants, as you call them, slaves as it’s been recorded in history. While I have read he had slaves/servants, this is the first time I’ve read about how he interacted with them. I can’t say I’m impressed.
2-31 E: I can’t say was either. Our host, Mr. Leidesdorff, had two Indian servants of 12 or 13 years of age. It was clear they had not been long from their wild rancherias and knew little about civilized life. Leidesdorff spoke many languages and scolded them with great vivacity, sometimes in their own tongue, sometimes in French, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, German and English in accordance with the language in which he was thinking in the moment. It seemed the servants were more confused than enlightened by his emphatic instructions. Washington A Bartlett, the newly assigned Alcalde, was also with us at the table. It was uncomfortable.
Page 427
G: I’m going to wrap up our interview here, as I haven’t touched on the very reason I wanted to interview you. I wanted to discuss your time as the second American born Alcalde of Yerba Buena and your part in selling water lots that literally shaped San Francisco’s shoreline.
2-32 E: An interview, Part 2, I’m assuming.
Sidenote: This is where the interview ends because I ran out of characters for my AI Voice free account.
G: Yes, if you are willing.
Technically, you’re a ChatGPT bot I created using your now in the public domain book, with an AI generated voice to make you speak. So, you’re available any time.
You’re my favorite kind of guest, Mr. Bryant. Thank you so much for ‘joining’ me today, dear Listeners. I’m still undecided, but I’ll hope to put out the second part of this interview very soon.
Epilogue
Edwin Bryant’s book was published in 1848, just in time for the gold rush and his best seller became the bible, a must read guide, for people traveling across land to California. His book, “What I Saw in California 1846 – 1847” became a best seller, while Hasting’s guide would fail based on the outcome of the Donner Party.
What I found fascinating about Bryant’s story was the realistic portrayal, the day-by-day capture of his journey, without the use of “It was the worst you ever saw. It was the biggest you ever saw” language common for the time. He traveled to California while history was changing. For a while, he traveled with people who would make history … for the wrong reasons.
Bryant’s warning letters could have saved the Reed/Donner party and changed history. But, Bryant could have also died with the Donner Party had they stayed together.
Bryant came to California to improve his health, yet he doesn’t mention his own alignments in his journal. He focused on his travel and the medical help he provided others. Interesting and respectable.
His story continues once he arrives in Yerba Buena and he makes his mark in a way that history has forgotten. I hope to continue his story, using another email address to create another free account, assuming you are interested in this format.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on today’s experiment. You can reach me via email at monkeyblocksf@gmail.com, or you can leave a comment on the Monkey Block Facebook page where I interact with listeners and post random thoughts. www.facebook.com/MonkeyBlockSF.
If you enjoyed this episode and would like to directly help keep my project alive, you can make a one time contribution, or make ongoing monthly contributions at www.buymeacoffee.com/monkeyblocksf.
I enjoy researching and giving new life to San Francisco history that has faded in time.
Thank you for listening. This is Monkey Block. Retelling forgotten stories from San Francisco’s golden past.