Journaling Across the Isthmus

 

As I’ve mentioned before, diaries, journals, and other personal experience accounts are my favorite research materials. I’ve found a number of journals documenting the trip across the Isthmus of Panama on the way to the California gold fields in the mid-1800s, but there’s a problem.

All eight accounts were written by men who traveled without their families.

There are enough references to assure me that women took the Isthmus route, too, but if they kept diaries or wrote letters about the experience, I haven’t been able to find them. That’s not really surprising since the vast majority of gold seekers took the overland trails across the prairies and mountains of North America, and the percentage of women and children traveling that route was much higher than it was for the other two main routes, including the one across the Isthmus. But women generally have a different perspective than men, so it would be nice to hear their side of the story.

It isn’t as much of a problem for me when writing the ocean part of the trip. Ships varied, and those that carried passengers usually had separate sleeping accommodations for women and families. So privacy probably wasn’t an issue.

It was for the trip across the Isthmus, however. It’s amazing how similar the experiences of the eight men were, sleeping crowded together in crude one-room buildings—or in even more primitive conditions when the “hotels” were crowded or unbearable. As far as I can tell, the women would have had to sleep right alongside them, to turn away when the men relieved themselves, and to find their own spot in the jungle—complete with snakes and fire ants—where they wouldn’t be disturbed when they took care of their own needs. I’d love to know their thoughts, but I can only infer them.

Unfortunately, my protagonist has to live with those conditions. I can imagine how she would feel, but I’d rather have confirmation from women who were there.

Still, I’ll figure it out.

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The image at the top of this post shows a painting called Crossing the Isthmus. A.D.O. Browere painted it around 1858, and it is in the public domain in the United States because of its age.