Show MRS KELSEY under t the above caption the mining age of the contains the fot folo lowing story of an aged pioneer living la in a nook in the calama mountains in san ban diego county gal cal at the age of seventy la Is mrs benjamin kelsey she was the first white woman to cross the sierra nevadas that was in 1841 long before the gold excitement when she was waa elgh eighteen teas years of age A native of barren county ky mrs kelsey moved to missouri where she married with her husband and thirty one others all men she started overland tor for the pacific coast boast in the party was a boy named john job a bid well who was the prohibition bAlon bandl date for president in the last campaign some of the other members of toe the party were captain webber who founded stockton and became rich colonel Barle soo colonel richmond captain joe childes josiah belden and charley hoffer wagons were abandoned near where salt lake city now stands aud aua the rest of the journey made on horseback mrs kelsey carried her baby in front of her saddle the sierra nevadas were crowed crossed at the headwaters of san joaquin river and camp made on the summit three months after setti setting ng out on august 1 1841 which was mrs Kelsey lo 8 birthday she and her husa hug band went up to butters fort ina in a leaky rowboat propelled by indians indiana they reached the historic spot on christmas d day of that year joel walker had adust just arrived at theford the fort where gold was discovered only a few days prior to the kelsey kelleye Kel seye accompanied by his wife and five chi children chilgren laren to oregon in 1848 the kelsey family returned to napa valley the next year they were there when the revolution broke out and went to live at the fort at sonoma after captain merritt captured it kelsey and general vallel built a sawmill on sonoma creek to a correspondent of the san ban fraucisco francisco examiner who visited mrs kelsey in her mountain home Bot long ago she gave these reminiscence Ln in the spring of 1848 my husband went to the mines to see if there was any truth in the reported gold discovery he was gone ten days and brought back 1000 the next time he went he be took a flock of sheep for mutton and brought brough t back he bought salvador vallejos stock and abd applied for ft a grant of alike leagues bordering clear lake I 1 but the graat was not completed when the thi mexican war broke out and he eventually lost it in 1860 1850 we went to humboldt overland and shipped our things thing by water we sold our took mook on oa our lake ranch from which the towo town of kola Kel Byville took its ita name and received only down and never neve r got the rest consequently our trip to humboldt did not turnout as profitably as we expected we as stated in starting the towns of eureka and arcata in 1851 I 1 returned to our place in sonoma aa I 1 came through by water and my husband went through to shasta and down the sacramento with colonel mckee an indian agent I 1 came down on a little boat called the sea gull starting tor for mexico to buy cattle the co manoh iri al attacked tacked kundys ise eya camp campin in texas and mrs kelsey sayf they athey succeeded in catching my girl because her drew got entangled in ID the brush bruch she was twelve years old the other girl ed ad that ribs abe could hear bear the blown blow and her bar screams as a they truck struck her bar we all ah io returned turned to camp and heard hearie he garfa story but did not find my girl as she had bad recovered sufficiently to wander around in search of help we found her next day and my anguish was horrible when aheu I 1 Is covered that the he had been scalped scalded aad was partially deranged my husband and seventeen men followed the Indi indian anif miles but never caught up with them my husband died in los alos angeles in February 1888 my daughter died in fresno when she was eighteen from the injuries she received six years beaure befi re ii these comments are made by the borr mra kelsey though burdened with years and pour has all her pioneer pride unimpaired and asks for nothing but as one who knows her bar said when she set fiat tut out for her mountain refuge the generous men who have made their fortunes in the far west and were enabled to do it by the risk ol of lives such as hers might well extend their generosity sufficiently to enable that modest old heroine to live in a comfortable cottage and free from want and care during the few days that are left to her |