26

Friday, November 30, 1984 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

BOOKS

Settling the West

Continued from Page 24

back. It took us several days
and nights to get there. How
often I was frightened think-
ing I saw Indians. I did not
expect to get here alive with
our children.
Now we had to start the
housekeeping, but we had no
furniture, no cooking stove,
and nothing else that belongs
to the comfort of the human
race. [So] we cooked outside on
the ground. We had a stove
and other very necessary
things coming from Las
Cruces, being sent by an ox
team with two loads of goods
for the store that we were
going to put up. But the
wagons broke down on the
road, and we had to send some-
one to repair them. Until they
got here after three months,
we had no bed to sleep in, no
stove to cook in, no table to eat
off, no flour to bake bread. For
three months I baked bread
out of corn meal in a Dutch
oven."

On To California

As early as 1796, Yankee
sea captains had reached the
northern Pacific coast; how-
ever, it was not until gold was
discovered near Sacramento
in 1848 that a wild rush to
California began unlike any-
thing the world had ever
known before.
Jews were no exception.
Mostly immigrants from Ger-

many, Poland, and France
who came by ship from New
York or New Orleans, some
started out as prospectors,,
though the majority went
directly into peddling. With
mining camps springing up
literally overnight, many
Jews prospered by exchanging
much needed merchandise for
gold dust, and gold dust for
more merchandise.
So it was for Jews like Levi
Strauss. Born in the little town
of Buttenheim, Bavaria, in
1829, Strauss was seventeen
when he arrived penniless in
New York with no knowledge
of English and no trade. Will-
ing to try his luck at anything,
Strauss traveled to Lexington,
Kentucky, to peddle goods pro-
vided by his older brothers in
New York. In six years he had
saved enough money to go to
California.
The journey by boat took
three months and cost nearly
$400, but it was worth every
penny to Strauss the moment
he laid eyes on the enclosed
bay filled with ships, and
beyond it a wood and canvas
boom town of shanties and
tents. All kinds of excitement
filled the air; everywhere peo-
ple were running about. Wast-
ing no time, Strauss started
out in a little dry goods shop
perched on a makeshift appen-
dage to the Sacramento Street
Wharf.

ANNUAL MEETING

AIPAC

AMERICAN ISRAEL PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

THE ONLY ORGINIZATION REGISTERED TO LOBBY ON BEHALF OF ISRAEL IN WASHINGTON D.C.

TOM DINE , EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Will report on the exciting legislative year just ending, on implications of the recent
election, and the prospects for U.S.-Israel relationship in the year ahead.

TUESDAY DECEMBER 11, 1984-8:00P.M.
ADAT SHALOM SYNAGOGUE

13 MILE AND MIDDLEBELT,FARMINGTON HILLS, MICHIGAN

ADMISSION BY TICKET

TICKETS MAY BE OBTAINED

S50 MINIMUM CONTRIBUTION

BY WRITING-
AIPAC
P.O. BOX 9190
DETROIT, MI. 48209
BY PHONE-
MRS. ALBERTHA TRYBUS
843-7200 X-226

WHICH INCLUDES ONE YEAR
MEMBERSHIP IN AIPAC AND
SUBSCRIPTION TO WEEKLY
NEAR EAST REPORT