The Diary Of Eber Culver 1824-1911 [Full Diary]

 
If Peter Herdic built Williamsport, then it was Eber Culver who designed it.  Many of the mansions  on millionaires row, the City Hotel Grand, The Old Park Hotel, the Weightman Block, and many other beautiful buildings still standing today in Williamsport were designed by Eber Culver.

So while researching Peter Herdic, when I  came across the diary of  Culver, Herdic's architect, I thought it would be interesting to see what Culver had to say about Herdic.    For that purpose, and that purpose alone, I was to be disappointed.  He gives a few basic facts, but little details, and no opinions.  Although his description of Williamsport when he arrived may allude to his feelings of Herdics later accomplishments.

Labeled as a diary, this is actually a memoir, written in January 1911, as Culver explains on the very first page.  The document is 55 typed pages, making it much more legible than most diaries of the time.   The bulk of it describes his incredible journey west during the gold rush, although he does spend a few pages describing his life and work in Williamsport as well.

My family hears these stories at the dinner table each night, and while they are trying to watch tv, or pretty much do anything, and I know from their reactions, and their actual outright words telling me so, that they will not choose to read a memoir, even if it's only 55 pages long and I pronounce it ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING, in as many ways as I can possibly find.  For them, and all of you who are of a similar mindset, I recap as briefly as I could manage.   It ended up not being all that brief, so I moved it to it's own page, here:

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-diary-of-eber-culver-summarized.html

And for those of you who share my near obsessive love of documents like these, I include scans of all 55 pages of the diary below 

 It truly is absolutely fascinating.

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The Diary In Full

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On the inside page of this diary, someone has scribbled the following note:
"Overland trip from NY to California Gold Fields in 1849 and back by seas over panama.  Crudely written, but good content."  

 

 

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NOTES

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The Eber Culver diary  consists of a diary documenting the life of Eber Culver from his childhood in New York to the months prior to his death in 1911.  It is held by the Wade Hall Collection of American Letters: Eber Culver diary, 1911, University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.

In 1849 he went to California, travelling by ox team, the journey taking four months.  He returned via the Isthmus of Panama, over the pass on foot, and thence down the Chagrees River to the Atlantic sea board.

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• Page 10 - More about the train to Johnstown, and the Canal Boats that were made in three sections, each section taking up one train car to be loaded over the mountain. Train, Steam boat, and on to a covered wagon.
• Page 11 - Ox pulled covered wagons, and the cholera outbreak
• Page 12 - A ferry made of dug out canoes, and Indian Territory
• Page 13 - More about wagon travel
• Page 14 - Mention of For Kearney, a military post, Antelopes, and wolves
• Page 15 - Combining with a company from Missouri, a broken axle, long lines of wagons
• Page 16 - Quick sand & flat land
• Page 17 - Buffalo. Eber Culver, his brother Leander, E. O. West, Andrew Chatterton & one other, concerned that at the current pace they would not reach California before winter, split off from their traveling company, with their portion of the outfit.
• Page 18 - Traded their wagon for mules and a stallion pony. The men walked, the mules carried the supplies. Came upon another party of 5, joined up to travel together. The south pass, and Pacific Springs.
• Page 19 - August. Crossing rivers. Soda Springs.
• Page 20 - Snakes.
• 21 - Goose Brush, thirst
• 22 - thirst