All That Glitters: Assaying S.H. Logan’s “Trip to the Gold Fields”

During the spring of 1849, Captain Randolph B. Marcy and a contingent of soldiers from Fort Smith led a large wagon train of gold-seeking, California-bound emigrants across Indian Territory along a route parallel to the southern bank of the Canadian River. In January, 1941—ninety-two years after Marcy's expedition and only two years after the publication of Foreman's Marcy and the Gold Seekers, the Arkansas Gazette Sunday Magazine began publishing a series of articles entitled "Trip to the Gold Fields." "Trip to the Gold Fields" presents a daily account of the activities of the Clarksville (Arkansas) and California Mining Association from April 1 through December 22, 1849. In the story the narrator claims to develop a close and friendly relationship with Marcy and other soldiers and he provides an array of information about the flora, fauna, geography, and geology of the regions traversed. "Trip to the Gold Fields" is an intriguing story which is a lot of fun to read. But is it real history? Can it be trusted to be a true transcription of an "old journal kept by A.D. King and others during a wagon trip to California in 1849?