OVERLAND IMMIGRATION TO CALIFORNIA. NEWS FROM THE PLAINS. [From the "Daily Herald." of September 24th.]

New Zealander, Volume 6, Issue 480, 20 November 1850, Page 2

OVERLAND IMMIGRATION TO CALIFORNIA. NEWS FROM THE PLAINS. [ From the "Daily Herald." of September 24th. ]

We are indebted to Hawley and Co.'s express for Ilie Traxtcript of yesterday. It contains a letter from Captain Waldo, nho went nut with the relief train, on to the lruckee route. Capt. Waldo writes from "Great Meadow, Humboldt River, 100 miles from Sacramento City, Sep. 12, 1850." He s,iys - " From the Boiling Sprin? to thii place, I hate met ■with but few who have any provi ions at all, except the poor exhcuited animnlt which have wotkediVoni (he Status. Footmen, who comprise nearly one fourth the entire number ou the road ore not blessed even with such food as this : but are reduced to the «c««ity of existing on the putrified fleth of inch dead animals as to abundantly line the road. Tiiii has produced the Dion fatal consequences. Disease and death arc mowing thf m down by hundreds. The cholera on the Bth instant made its appearance in one small train and carried off 8 in the space of three houri, and seven other* were attacked in the same train who, it was thought, would die ere three hours more had elapsed. From the Sink to this place, it |is cutting them down daily ; in Caraon Valley, mar the Desert, I understand they are dying rapidly," "No one now thinks of gold, but of bread. Thii it the cry of nil. They appear to have loit their reckoning. When I tell them that they are yet 400 milei from Sacramento, they are astonished and horrified • many disbelieved me, a* they were induced to believe, when at Salt Lake, that they were within 450 milei of Sacramento city." i Many w 'men are on the road, with families of cliil- ( drcn, who have loit their husbands by cholera, and who will never cross the mountains without aid. I have met intelligent packers, who left the Missouri River on the Ist July ; they concur in the statement, that there are yet twenty thousand back of the Desert. Fifteen thousand of this number are now destitute of all kinds of provisions; yet the period of the greatest suffering baa not arrived, if tile supposition be correct, that twenty-five thousand are yet back of the Sink. It will be morally impossible for ten thousand of this number to reach the mountains before the commencment of winter, and the probability is, that they will then rind these mountains covered with know from five to twenty feet deep. AH remember the fate of the Do.iner party. Truckee River, Sept. 15, 1350. Sir, I have just returned to tbis station. My object in returning here so soon, was tor the purpose of despatching an express to advise you of the wretched situation of the emigrants ; unless they can be supplied with brrad, thousands must die ere they reach California. The cholera is killing them off, from this point to the head of Humbolt. Tbis (station is now surrounded by the sick, unable to proceed on their jonrney ; they must have bread, as fresh meat without bread is consic'«red exceedingly dangerous. We are now issuing at this station from five to eight hundred pounds of beef per d«y, and flour to such as are sick. I have lent back to Bear valley for the flour deposited there by the Marysville train, which will be here in a few days, and will perhaps afford relief to the sick until futtber aid can be afforded by your committee. fFrom the " Daily Herald," September 27 ] We are informed by Mr. James Sutter of New Orleans, formerly from New York, that the party to which he was attached in crossing the South Fork of the Humboldt river, at the head water* of it, were attacked by a band of Indians numbering about thirty, and the whote number slain. Names of those killed— Lyman Stewart, Hendrick Anderson, William Barnes, Mr, Soule, all of Me Henry county, Illinois, and Charles Ralla, of Canada. The party lost all their animals but one. This was rode by Mr. Satter, and alter a chase of from 12 to 14 mita, Mr. S. escaped. Upon reaching the main road, Mr. S met a party of emigrants, who returned with him the succeeding day for the purpose of burying the dead bodies. After having decently buried his companions and on their return, they fell in with a body of the same tribe of Indians, (the Snake,) 14 of whom wero slain in the encounter with them. But one of Mr. Sutler's party was a married man, M. Barnes of Pleasant Grove, town of Coral, McHenry county, who has left a wife and family. This took place on the 15th day of August. (From the " Courier," Sept. 27.) The»e people it seems, deserve our sincere commi'saeration. A writer in the Transcript states the number thus far who have been taken account'of as immigrants over the plains, to be as follows. He gets bis information from the report of Lieut. Donaldson, of the United States Army. June 13. Jane 18. Meo, 17,331 30.900--Women, 364 439 Children, 375-18,070 503—31,848 Wagons, 6,34fl 7,013 Oxen, 14,072 18 238 Horses, 18,456 10,386 Mules, 5,955 7,471 Cows, 1,636 — ° A much larger proportion of mule and horse teams," he says " have passed than of oxen. The sum total, I think, may be set down as follows, iv round numbers, as an approximate estimation of the emigration of 1850* Men, 50,000 Women, 1,000 Children, 1,200 Wagons, 14,000 Oxen, 40,300 Covfs 5,0!)0 Hones, 5,000 Mules, 8,000 " Of these I think that not more than half the oxen, not more then three-fourths of the mules, and not so many as one-fourth of the hones, now survive, or will pats the Sierra Nevada mountains. And the late owners—where are they ? Most of them are beyond the mountains ; thousands of them in a destitute condition —a itarving condition. Humboldt river, from its sources to the Sink, will be the great scene of suffering; and the aid that falls short of the Desert will I fear fall short of a majority of cases." He states that relief, to be effective, must go beyond the Desert. He also says that the c timate of Capt. Waldo, that there are yet beyond the Desert 20,000, i» correct. We close with the following affecting statements : — *' What a vast destruction of property and loss of life have befallen the inundation by the Plains this year! And how tragic will be the last act in the drama, when winter draws its curtains of snow over the sceac I Deluded, suffering humanity ! Of the

out-fit of these 50,003, the avernge coit could notaq l< ss than -8*250. A much higher turn would be more correct perhaps, but that avernge would withdraw in property from the States, <8>12,000,000,8 > 12,O00,0OO, betides the capital brought hither. But of this 12,000,000, not more than 2,000,000 wiH be added to the wealth of California ; all the rest it onsumed or abmdoned along the road— like the tquipmen's of tome grand army in a disastrous retreat* And life — the cry for life and bread ! Hear ye not the wail ?"