"We are all equipped with our spring bonnets," wrote Mollie Dorsey on March 29, 1857. I wonder where we will go to wear them.... Really, we do not know, only that it is a ‘New Country’ and we are ‘Emigrants.’" Two weeks and a steamboat ride later, Mollie, her parents, and her seven brothers and sisters were living in a "dilapidated log house with one small room and a three-cornered kitchen, which we had supposed was used for a stable.... Father tried to look cheerful but I could see tears in Mother’s eyes and I --- well I have started out to be a heroine, a brave, brave girl, and I said it would be jolly."

So begins this vivid, high-spirited, and intensely feminine account of "city folks" homesteading in the raw, new land west of the Missouri. More particularly, it is the story of Mollie herself -- just turned eighteen when the Dorsey’s left Indianapolis for Nebraska Territory -- of her reaction to the transplanting and her triumphant survival.

After her courtship and marriage by Byron Sanford, a romantic young blacksmith from New York State, Mollie’s life took a new turn. Catching "Pike’s Peak Fever," in the summer of 1860 the young couple made the seven week journey across the plains to Denver. And the gold-diggings. In Mining camps such as Gold Hill, and later after the outbreak of the Civil War, in forts and army posts.

- Mollie -

Mollie Dorsey’s Journal, was written against a background of historical events which shaped her destiny and that of her friends. Nebraska Territory, to which her father, William Dorsey, brought his wife and eight children in the spring of 1857, had been open to white settlers less than three years.

Nebraska Territory was a huge area of approximately 351,588 square miles, but the settled portion, with few exceptions, extended only a few miles back from the Missouri River. Nebraska provided a highway for westward travel as well as an opportunity to obtain land. The frontier described in Mollie’s journal was a fluid and moving area.

Gold rather than land was the goal of the pioneers to the area that would later be the state of Colorado. Gold discoveries in the area had been made as early as 1850, but it wasn’t until 1858 that prospectors made the discoveries which touched off the Pikes Peak Gold Rush of 1859.

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Indianapolis, Indiana March 23, 1857

At Home --- Sabbath ---P.M.

Before starting for the "far West" upon the journey we have been so long preparing for, I have decided to commence a diary, or daily Journal, to note passing events, to have a confidante or bosom friend, now that I am to leave so many near and dear. I go among strangers, into a strange land, and it may be a long time before I find one to whom I can confide my joys and sorrows.

St. Louis, Missouri March 28th

We left Indianapolis last night on the 9 o’clock train, and arrived here at two O’clock today. We were tired and starved, but had to take a cold dinner (I hope we’ll have a good supper).

Sunday, March 30th

We started from St. Louis at sunset yesterday. I believe there are 500 passengers, lots and "slathers" of young men. We are too crowded to make it real pleasant. The cabin is like a parlor, but the state rooms are suffocating.

Sunday, April 6th

Weather cold and oh! so disagreeable. We are making slow progress. There is no promenading the deck today. Quite a number of our passengers have stopped off at different points along the route. We are now in Kansas Territory.

(*) The boat "Silver Heels" was built in Louisville, Kentucky, for Major Barrows, her chief owner and captain. The ship named for a fine thoroughbred horse, cost $32,000 and was described as "one of the best specimens of skill and mechanical art that has ever been turned out." It boasted staterooms, saloons, a nursery, and landscapes sketched on the stateroom doors as well as water wheels 29 feet in diameter. (Nebraska News, Nebraska City, N. T., March 28, 1857)

April 19th We have been treated today to a genuine Nebraska wind storm. We just don’t do anything during these storms, but gouge the dust out of our eyes and ears, and wish ourselves back in civilization again.

April 24th

Father left again on Monday for the "Little Nemaha", a river, and after he had started there came up a wild, raging snow-storm, and now it lies deep on the ground. O! where is dear Father tonight? There are no houses near his camping place.

"Little Nemaha" -- June 5th 1857

By sunrise on Wednesday morning, the wagons were packed, and we had started upon the road. Father, Mother, and the smaller children rode with Mr. Hemphill, a tow-headed delegate from the settlement (and if he is a specimen of the fellows out there, oh! deliver us, sweet fate, deliver us!)

January 1st, - 1858

We are invited to spend the day at Mr. Blake’s, living 3 miles below us. By, (Byron Sanford), was to have been here, and I believe his absence has thrown a little shadow over me. Now my troubles will begin, someone to worry over, someone to watch and wait for, someone to love and weep for.

July 4th - 1859

At home again. By brought me out in a carriage, and we had a lovely ride. We had no particular demonstrations today, only the good dinner we generally get up for the children. By went home the next day...

December 17th - 1859

This is my 21st birthday. I should so have loved to have been at home. I know Mother’s heart is with me today. I was born near her 21st birthday. Away back in a little log cabin in an Indian village on the "Ohio," I first opened my eyes on this world. I have heard my Mother tell of the big, gray, wondering eyes of her baby, to her the sweetest that ever gazed into a fond Mother’s face. O! have I fulfilled the fruition of my parents’ hopes? I shall miss the birthday caresses.

February 19th, 1860

Finds me a happy bride. Our wedding did not pass as quietly as I anticipated. Tuesday morning, February 14th, we were busy with preparations for dinner, receiving and entertaining our guests. We were looking for By every moment, but after 10 o’clock I began to feel nervous. At three o’clock the people were starved. At 8 o’clock people started leaving. At nine o’clock I went out once more to listen. I heard sounds of horse’s hoofs, and rushing to the roadside, I saw in the bright starlight my truant lover. His first exclamation was: "My gracious Mollie, what do they think?" I said, "What do you suppose I think, Lord Byron?" He was nearly frozen, so we hurried into the house. We then snuck into the room where our wedding clothes were, put them on, and suddenly appeared before everyone and had the ceremony over before they could recover from their surprise, for everyone had given him up for the night.

April 8th

The "die is cast," and we go to Denver in company with the Clarks, whether it be for weal or woe, we do not know. The distance from the Missouri River is about 700 miles over the great American desert. The trip probably will take as many weeks, as we are to travel with oxen.