Dusty Books, Frontier LibrarianR.T. Carr, Editor Chapter 20Editor's evaluation... Concluding remarks... Research noted... A possibility, a few notes on Judge Buchman and his son's life story and a cryptic pair of gravestones... Editor's Concluding remarks. There are many parts of this memoir that are no doubt genuine, and while hoaxes are often perpetrated that are full of accurate detail, I find this so engaging that I frankly wouldn't mind if this were a total fabrication. But it seems genuine, at least in age of the documents themselves, and historical perspective. Many of the little details are verifiable for the serious scholar. I hope others will find them as stimulating as I. The art of the tall tale, the whopper if you will, was practiced mightily by this old fellow. I do like his sense of fair play, justice, and his art of the story. I wish I had known him, even before he was a rich man! I have under grant auspices searched exhaustively the various California archives at Stanford University, the Bancroft Library at Berkeley, The Huntington Hartford Archives, and countless history rooms all over the Gold Rush country, as well as the Sacramento History Society Archives, and a few private archives of anonymous collectors of Gold Rush history. I found Dusty's little bit of history is neglected, unsung, and mostly unknown. I can only conclude the obvious fact that Dusty was a minor player. Verifiable in the spring of 1875 is the Virginia City Fire, which almost burned the city completely to the ground, the source or cause undetermined. No exact death records exist, but there were 15 fatalities in the tragedy, and the library, which one source insists had books brought from around the horn, supplemented by books brought in by Conestoga wagon by the librarian, was destroyed completely. The source did not indicate a name for this individual. Just before this volume was scheduled to go to print, I happened to be watching Public Access Cable, while on a visit to Santa Cruz. There was an interesting program prepared by students of the University (UC Santa Cruz) featuring a town museum exhibit concerning local Santa Cruz characters. As I viewed the tape, while a pleasant student was speaking about a few of the exhibits, I noticed over her shoulder an exhibit case, upon which she did not comment. There was what appeared to be a Deerskin hat! Dusty had had one made by the Squaw Teama on the trail in part 2 of the memoir. The next day I went to see the exhibit to get a closer look. In the case was a single 3X5 card:
I have found even less of Judge Buchman than I have of Dusty Books. It would be a marvelous coincidence if they were one and the same. Dusty did state he admired the scenery on the North end of the Monterey Bay in Part 1, near the conclusion of his sea voyage, so it might be this place he referred to in the last section of his writings. There was one piece of information in the Stanford Special Collections/Archives concerning Judge Buchman in a file in their archives: He was well to do, owning a great deal of the mountains above Scotts Valley. When he passed away in 1910 a large undisclosed sum was willed to the general fund of Stanford University. Another record in the same archive file followed that he had a son, who was considered to be a simple fellow. The son was well liked, but considered a bit odd in that he rode around town on his bicycle until his death in 1930. The only name he ever used was 'Freddy', which was assumed to be his given name. He was a frequent visitor to his father's friends, notably the Sheriff, with no outward indication of poverty or prosperity. Upon his death his entire collection of memorabilia and eccentric found items such as sea shells and coins (including I would assume the Deerskin hat) was given to the Santa Cruz History room of the city library, where he was a volunteer who assisted in shelving books. The collection, which I was allowed to view while closely supervised, had no Gold Rush items in it, but was an intriguing view into 'Freddy' and his character. He took great joy in collecting simple items lost or cast away. He, ironically or not, was not shown to possess any books. In his little house on Center Street was found about 3 tons of daily newspapers he had collected from trash bins for more than several years. The rest of his estate, an administered trust was given to the University upon the son's death, again amount unspecified, in a document set up by his father before 1915. These documents are in the form of clippings related to donors, alumni and students. The latter document being a sort of obituary in the Santa Cruz Sentinel. It is of general interest that the pair are buried in the old timer's section of a little cemetery adjacent to Harvey West Park. If they are who I think they are, they deserve to be there. The Gravestone Inscription reads:
(and just below in a different script) This seems a typical grave for the early era, which often included syrupy sayings. No other details are available on either individual. This has been fun as well as scholarly. R.T.Carr, ed.
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