Seeds of Hope: The Gold Rush Diary of Susanna Fairchild, California Territory 1849 (Dear America Series)

Susanna Fairchild and her family are on board a ship sailing from New York to the West, where they plan to start a new life in Oregon. But tragedy strikes when Susanna?s mother is lost to the sea. Hearing stories of great wealth, Susanna?s physician father decides he wants to join the hordes of men rushing to California to mine for gold. It is 1849 and Susanna Fairchild is on board the California, a ship sailing from New York to California. She and her family are bound for Oregon City where they are to join old friends and start a new life. Only tragedy strikes while on board and Susanna's mother is lost to the ocean. Things change rapidly then. They learn that there is a gold rush on in California, and when their nearly-empty boat docks in Panama, hoards of Americans board the ship for passage to the California territory. Struck by "gold fever" himself, Susanna's physician father decides to forego their trip to Oregon and become a gold miner instead. A diary account of fourteen-year-old Susanna Fairchild's life in 1849, when her father succumbs to gold fever on the way to establish his medical practice in Oregon after losing his wife and money on their steamship journey from New York. Includes a historical note.A diary account of fourteen-year-old Susanna Fairchild's life in 1849, when her father succumbs to gold fever on the way to establish his medical practice in Oregon after losing his wife and money on their steamship journey from New York. We've been at sea now for eighty-seven days.