Amador County Biographies

R. W. PALMER 

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


Is a native of Massachusetts; came around the Horn, or rather through the Straits of Magellan, in 1849, 
being among the first, and perhaps last of the Argonauts to make that interesting but perilous passage. 
The adventures of the passengers among the savages, as related by him, are among the marvelous 
things of a marvelous age. He was engaged in trade for many years at Sacramento, but in 1856 
moved to Lancha Plana, engaging in merchandising in company with the Hon. J. W. D. Palmer, with whom 
he remained until the partial failure of that camp as a mining region. The amount of goods sold and 
exchanged for dust would astonish a merchant of the present day. At that time the river, bluffs, and 
hills, were all giving up their treasures, and thousands of dollars then were but as tens now; but all 
things must have an end. Lancha Plana followed the ordinary custom, and failed to pay. Upon 
removing to Jackson, about 1865, he engaged in the livery business, and still keeps first-class turn 
outs for those who wish to explore the country on business, or pleasure. He is married, and has an 
interesting family; is pleasantly situated, and if not acquiring riches, is in comfortable circumstances. 
He is a public spirited man, ready to leave his own business to benefit his neighbors; is generous and 
hospitable, ready to entertain his friends with the best in the house, or with the best of stories, of 
which he keeps an inexhaustible supply always on hand. 

History of Amador, California With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches 
of its Prominent Men and PioneersOakland, California, Thompson and West, 
1881.