The Brooks Wagon

        The Brooks wagon is the most historic vehicle at the Kings County Museum. We know that the Brooks family was living near Sacramento when they decided to move to the Lower Kings River and they came by wagon in 1866. We also think that the wagon originally belonged to Mr. Brook's father-in-law, John Foster, who was a farmer in Arkansas.
       Most population was east of the Mississippi River. People wanting to make a new start could find cheap land or even free land. The west was seen as the Land of Opportunity. When John Foster, that Arkansas farmer, heard of the discovery of gold [in California], he left his wife and eight children behind and set out to seek his fortune.
      In 1849 he joined a group of 30 men with gold fever. They traveled to Santa Fe, New Mexico with ox teams, where they sold the animals and bought pack animals which could cross the mountains more easily. With a guide, they walked 800 miles to Fort Bridger, which was a remote wilderness Army post. (Fort Bridger is now in the state of Wyoming). There was no road
and only a faint and dangerous trail. At Fort Bridger they turned west, crossing the Rocky Mountains, the desert and then the Sierra Nevada Mountains and finally arrived at the gold fields.
      After 3 years of mining for gold, Mr. Foster decided to bring his family to California. Mr. Foster took a steamship from San Francisco down the coast to Nicaragua, crossed Nicaragua and then caught another steamship up the east coast. He eventually reached home in the spring
of 1853, packed up his wife and eight children perhaps in this very wagon, and came west. It was important that they start their journey in the spring.
      The journey might take four to six months and they had to cross the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada mountains before fall when the snows began. The Foster family settled near Placerville. One of Mr. Foster's daughters was a pretty young girl named Frances Anna Foster. You will hear more about her later.
      The second person associated with the wagon is J.T. Brooks. The "J" stands for Judge, but he was not a judge, that was his name. J.T. was born and raised on a farm in Georgia and he, too, decided to head west for the Gold Rush. He was just 28 years old in 1850 when he went from Georgia to New Orleans where he boarded a steamship. From there, Brooks sailed to Panama and walked across to the Pacific side. People with enough money could ride horseback or travel in wagons. He walked.
       He landed in San Francisco and headed for the mines at Sonora in the foothills of the Sierra. There he worked for five years. He was fairly successful and made enough money to invest part of it in a interest in a sawmill near Placerville. He would go from Sonora to Placerville from time to time to work at the mill and make sure it was being run well. During these visits he became acquainted with the John Foster family from Arkansas ‹ and he especially noticed their pretty young daughter, Frances Anna.  
        In 1855 he and Frances were married. With a family to support now he gave up gold prospecting for farming along the Sacramento River. He rented land along the river, but the rent went up every yeear so it was unprofitable. He tried farming away from the river, but this was before irrigation, and it was too dry. He ran a dairy;  he did carpentry;  life was hard.  By now, there were several children, too.
        In 1866, both the Brooks and the Foster families decided to make a new start in the area of the Lower Kings River. Government land was available to new settlers and perhaps this would be where they could finally put down roots. The Fosters moved first to the Mussel Slough District and then bought a section of land on the Kings River. J.T. Brooks and his family then used the
old wagon to move to government land on the north side of the Kings River.
      The following year when the river flooded they used the wagon again to take the family to higher ground and in it Mary Brooks was born. Eventually there were eight children in the Brooks family.
       J.T. worked very hard to build a home and to improve the land for his farm. He raised stock which had to be herded, because fences were uncommon and expensive. At one point over 100 of his horses disappeared: lost, strayed or stolen.
       Five years later he learned that a Spanish land grant had been floated over his property and he had no rights to it. So he moved across the river and started over again, built another home and again undertook the work of developing a farm from the wilderness. The second house is still standing by the river.
       Mr. and Mrs. John Foster were both dead by 1880 and Mr. and Mrs. Brooks were gone by 1913. But the Brooks' sons and daughters lived in the valley and "for old times sake" brought out the old wagon for parades. It was an important feature of Pioneer Day Parades during Homecoming in the late 1920s. The wagon made its last appearance in a parade in the 1940s, being considered too old and frail for such active use. It may have been almost 100 years old at that time. Then it came to rest at the Kings County Museum where it may still be seen.
       A replica of the Brooks wagon has been built and may also be seen at the museum. It serves as a reminder of the hardships endured by the many families which came to California in such conveyances.
                                                                                            -- contributed by Martha Bentley

From sources at the Kings County Museum at Burris Park