194112-DesertMagazin.. - Desert Magazine of the Southwest

Hetween If on and Me
TROM an old issue of the San Francisco Call comes this
story of the first Christmas on the Death Valley desert.
It is the story told by Julia Wells Brier, member of the
ill-fated Jayhawker party which crossed the Valley in 1849-50.
Relating the experience 50 years later, she said:
"I don't know how to tell you about our struggle through
Death Valley in 1849-50 and the Christmas we spent amid its
horrors. I never expected to say anything about it for a newspaper.
I was the only woman in the party—Mr. Brier, and outthree
boys, Columbus, John and Kirke, the oldest being nine
years, and the two young men, St. John and Patrick, made up
our 'mess' as we called it.
"We reached the top of the divide between Death and Ash
valleys, and oh, what a desolate country we looked down into.
The next morning we started down. The men said they could
see what looked like springs in the valley. Mr. Brier was always
ahead to explore and find water, so I was left with our three
boys to help bring up.the cattle. They expected to reach the
springs in a few hours and the men pushed ahead. I was sick
and weary and the hope of finding a good camping place was
all that kept me up.
"Poor little Kirke gave out and I carried him on my back,
barely seeing where I was going, until he would say, "Mother I
can walk now.' Poor little fellow! He would stumble on a little
way over the salty marsh and sink down crying, 'I can't go on
any farther.' Then I would carry him again and sooth him as
best I could.
"Many times I felt I should faint, and as my strength departed
I would sink on my knees. The boys would ask for water
but there was not a drop. Thus we staggered on over the salty
wastes, trying to keep the company in view and hoping at every
step to come to the springs. Oh, such a day! If we had stopped
I knew the men would come back at night for us. But I didn't
want to be thought a drag or a hindrance.
"Night came on and we lost all track of those ahead. I would
get down on my knees and look in the star-light for the ox tracks
and then we would stumble on. There was not a sound and I did
not know whether we would ever reach camp or not.
"About midnight we came around a big rock and there was
my husband at a small fire.
" 'Is this the camp?' I asked.
" 'No, it's six miles farther,' he said.
"I was ready to drop and Kirke was almost unconscious,
moaning for a drink. Mr. Brier took him on his back and hast-,
ened to camp to save his life. It was three o'clock Christmas
morning when we reached the springs. I only wanted to sleep
but my husband said I must eat and drink or I would never wake
up. Oh! such a horrible day and night.
"We found hot and cold springs there and washed and
scrubbed and rested. That was a Christmas none could ever forget.
By RANDALL HENDERSON
"Music or singing? My, no! We were too far gone for that.
Nobody spoke very much, but I knew we were all thinking of
home back east and all the cheer and good things there. The
men would sit looking into the fire or stand gazing away silently
over the mountains, and it was easy to read their thoughts. Poor
fellows! Having no other woman there, I felt lonesome at times,
but I was glad too that no other was there to suffer.
"The men killed an ox and we had a Christmas dinner of
fresh meat, black coffee, and a little bread. I had one small biscuit.
You see we were on short rations, and didn't know how
long we would have to make our provisions last. We didn't
know we were in California. Nobody knew what untold misery
the morrow might bring. So there was no occasion for cheer.
"So ended, I believe, the first Christmas ever celebrated in
Death Valley."
* * *
It is pleasant to record that despite the fearful hardship of
that mid-winter trek across Death Valley more than 90 years
ago, Mrs. Brier was described by the San Francisco reporter who
interviewed her as a "bright, modest, wee old lady" living with
her son and grandchildren on the edge of Lodi, California. She
died in her 99th year.
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I am sure that all students of Death Valley history will appreciate
the fine tribute paid Mrs. Brier by Dr. Margaret Long in
her recent book "The Shadow of the Arrow."
The heroic parts played by William Lewis Manly and John
Rogers in that tragic march of the '49ers across Death Valley is
well known, but Mrs. Brier remained in comparative obscurity
until the end of her days.
Dr. Long said of her: "Not alone husband and helpless children
did 'the little woman of the Brier mess' hearten across
those endless, desolate leagues: to the whole Jayhawker party
she was a living inspiration. When one fell beside the weary
trail, who but she with gently urgent word encouraged him to
further effort? When one lay sick or dying, who but she proffered
a cup of coffee or other means of comfort such as her own
desperate plight afforded? She was their ever-present help in
time of trouble. With strength and courage for them all, resourcefulness
for every emergency, hardiness in every trial, her
invincible spirit preserved them all, as it did her little family.
Fragile and delicate seeming, modest, very small, by no rigor of
Death Valley could the iron of her vital essence be bent, nor Her
will of tempered, true-steel be shattered."
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Among those pioneers of the old West who blazed the way
for later generations, none left a finer legacy of courage and
nobility of character than Julia Wells Brier.
46 THE DESERT MAGAZINE