![OREGON TRAIL – HANCOCK, Samuel (1818-1883). Manuscript [Whidbey Island, Washington Territory, c. late 1850s-1860].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/NYR/2017_NYR_14376_0285_000(oregon_trail_hancock_samuel_manuscript_whidbey_island_washington_terri030924).jpg?w=1)
OREGON TRAIL – HANCOCK, Samuel (1818-1883). Manuscript [Whidbey Island, Washington Territory, c. late 1850s-1860].
Details
OREGON TRAIL – HANCOCK, Samuel (1818-1883). Manuscript [Whidbey Island, Washington Territory, c. late 1850s-1860].
294 pages (approx.), octavo. (Light marginal wear, minor losses and tears to two pages.)
An extensive and rare first-hand manuscript account of an early western settler, describing his overland journey to Oregon in 1845, his life in the Oregon and Washington Territories, relations with the local native population, the Cayuse War, and gold prospecting in California. This lengthy manuscript, which was not published until many years after his death in 1927, is divided into four parts. The first section, consisting of fifty-one pages, is entitled “Travels to Oregon,” in which Hancock chronicles his overland journey from Liberty County, Missouri to the Oregon Territory in the spring of 1845 amongst a train of forty wagons. He describes encounters with Native Americans, both peaceful and bellicose, along the trail (not to mention vast herds of bison and enormous swarms of crickets). The second part of the manuscript, being the most lengthy (168 pages), Hancock describes his experiences in the Oregon country, including vivid descriptions of the physical scenery, hostilities with the local natives, and his experiences as a gold prospector in northern California. He dedicates nearly thirty pages to his time in the gold fields, in which he offers an account of mob justice for an accused thief. He not only prospected, but traded goods to miners as well, before moving north toward Puget Sound, and includes good descriptions of the Olympic Peninsula and his eventual home, Whidbey Island.
The third section of Hancock’s manuscript (forty-one pages) picks up in the winter of 1852. He describes his life in the Oregon Territory where he established himself as a successful trader with the local Pacific Coast tribes, trading in fish and oil, and offering good descriptions of local native villages in the Pacific Northwest. The fourth and final part of Hancock’s narrative (thirty-five pages), headed “In the winter of 1857,” contains several disparate pieces, but perhaps most interestingly, it contains four pages of Chinook vocabulary, together with a page entitled, “Chinook language,” documenting the common trade language that pervaded most of the tribes of the region. An additional five pages offer phrases in the dialect, including “I want to eat,” “hear friend,” “that’s my horse,” and “mighty pretty woman.” Although letters written from the Oregon Trail have appeared at auction on several occasions, according to ABPC only one other lengthy account has been sold at auction (that one copied in 1882 from an earlier manuscript).
294 pages (approx.), octavo. (Light marginal wear, minor losses and tears to two pages.)
An extensive and rare first-hand manuscript account of an early western settler, describing his overland journey to Oregon in 1845, his life in the Oregon and Washington Territories, relations with the local native population, the Cayuse War, and gold prospecting in California. This lengthy manuscript, which was not published until many years after his death in 1927, is divided into four parts. The first section, consisting of fifty-one pages, is entitled “Travels to Oregon,” in which Hancock chronicles his overland journey from Liberty County, Missouri to the Oregon Territory in the spring of 1845 amongst a train of forty wagons. He describes encounters with Native Americans, both peaceful and bellicose, along the trail (not to mention vast herds of bison and enormous swarms of crickets). The second part of the manuscript, being the most lengthy (168 pages), Hancock describes his experiences in the Oregon country, including vivid descriptions of the physical scenery, hostilities with the local natives, and his experiences as a gold prospector in northern California. He dedicates nearly thirty pages to his time in the gold fields, in which he offers an account of mob justice for an accused thief. He not only prospected, but traded goods to miners as well, before moving north toward Puget Sound, and includes good descriptions of the Olympic Peninsula and his eventual home, Whidbey Island.
The third section of Hancock’s manuscript (forty-one pages) picks up in the winter of 1852. He describes his life in the Oregon Territory where he established himself as a successful trader with the local Pacific Coast tribes, trading in fish and oil, and offering good descriptions of local native villages in the Pacific Northwest. The fourth and final part of Hancock’s narrative (thirty-five pages), headed “In the winter of 1857,” contains several disparate pieces, but perhaps most interestingly, it contains four pages of Chinook vocabulary, together with a page entitled, “Chinook language,” documenting the common trade language that pervaded most of the tribes of the region. An additional five pages offer phrases in the dialect, including “I want to eat,” “hear friend,” “that’s my horse,” and “mighty pretty woman.” Although letters written from the Oregon Trail have appeared at auction on several occasions, according to ABPC only one other lengthy account has been sold at auction (that one copied in 1882 from an earlier manuscript).