I lived in Virginia in 1846.   I was trying to make a homestead, but the soil was not too good.  I got an article in the newspaper that said this man found gold on his land.  So in 1847 I packed my bags and decided to go west.

The Rocky Mountains were very hard to go over.  Eventually, I got over them.  The roads were very dangerous, and I saw buffalo once or twice.

One day I came to an Indian tribe, and luckily they let me pass.  I ate turkey and buffalo on the way.  They are very popular in the west.

In 1848 I got to the new land.  I thought the soil was nice there, so instead of getting gold, I decided to grow crops for travelers.  I got a lot of money from that.

A lot of people decided to go back east after all the gold was gone, but I stayed and lived happily the rest of my life.