In her diary, Virgina Reed writes: ''My father, with tears in his eyes, tried to smile as one friend after another grasped his hand in a last farewell. Mama was overcome with grief. At last we were all in the wagons. The drivers cracked their whips. The oxen moved slowly forward and the long journey had begun.''

Dearest Friend,
I am well at present and my health has been good. I guess you can call us real gold seekers now since we have risked everything for the opportunity to become rich.  We are traveling in a nine-foot covered wagon that is being pulled by mules. Some other families in our wagon train have wagons drawn by horses and oxen. Our destination is the California gold mines by way of the Oregon-California Overland Trail. Father believed that traveling this way from our home in the east would be cheaper, faster and easier than traveling by ship, but I believe him to be wrong, since the rough roads are slow and dangerous!

We have been traveling through deserts and over mountains for six months so far and the journey has been long and hard.   Our covered wagon is very heavy and is filled with mining and farming tools, guns, ammunition, clothes, blankets, and food, which Mother and Father hope will last the entire journey.  I feel sorry for the poor mules who look so weak and tired. Much of the trail is open prairie with no plants or trees for miles.  There is little grass to feed the animals.  Once all our cattle wandered off during a severe storm.  It was hard getting them back to where they belonged.

We had to learn how to camp, an important thing to know when traveling overland.  Since we came from a big city and had never camped outdoors before, we were lucky to have someone teach us. We also learned how to make a fire and hunt for food. Most of the trail is wilderness so knowing how to camp and hunt is necessary for survival. Those lacking these skills often die of starvation.  It is very sad to see people dying but that is a fact of life on the trail. I have witnessed awful diseases such as cholera, mountain fever, pneumonia, and diphtheria kill many of those traveling with us.

Father thought it advisable to leave when we did, and he was right. When traveling overland, you have to make sure you travel early enough so you don’t get stuck in the Sierra Nevada mountains during the winter where dangerous snowstorms kill both people and animals. We knew the tragic story of the Donner Party, which I will quickly tell you. 

The Donners became trapped in the Sierra Nevada mountains during a severe winter snowstorm when they decided to try to go through what they thought was a shortcut.  Eighty-seven men, women, and children died and the other half survived by eating the dead! The ones who remained alive had to cut their toes off because of frostbite.  When they were rescued, some were charged with murder and cannibalism.

I am hoping that this journey will come to an end and that we will all go onto to being rich and prosperous.

Give my best regards to your family

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