Harbeson Hickman, along with thousands of others, wanted to go to California immediately. But in 1849 there was no quick way to reach the Golden State from Delaware.
Determined to join the Gold Rush as soon as possible, Hickman boarded the Sailing Bark Algoma with an unusually large amount of luggage.
The Algoma sailed from Philadelphia, sailed south through Delaware Bay, past Cape Henlopen, and out into the Atlantic Ocean. Ahead of her was a long voyage around the tip of South America and up the Pacific coast to California. While most people in the 1940s aspired to reach the gold mines and get rich by collecting bags of gold bullion, Hickman had other plans for getting rich.
Harveson-Hickman’s father, George Hickman, was a Philadelphia merchant from Sussex County. George and his wife Mary had his 11 children, three daughters and his eight sons, including Harveson, who was born in Lewes in 1818.
Harbeson and his brother Nathaniel ran a successful wholesale hardware business in Philadelphia. But when gold was discovered in California, Harbeson, an adventurous young man of 30, sold his stake in the Philadelphia hardware business and joined the gold rush.
No detailed reports of life in Algoma have been found. Six weeks before Hickman’s ship passed Cape Henlopen, however, a similar ship, the Osceola, left Philadelphia for California. Before she sailed into the Atlantic Ocean, Osceola anchored her for a day behind the Lewes breakwater.
According to the captain of the Osceola, “Passengers were busy writing letters to their wives, lovers and friends with the intention of being sent ashore by the pilots who were to leave us tonight. As a result, I succeeded in writing a note to my wife using the hat box as a writing desk.”
As the ship sailed south along the Delmarva Peninsula, passengers first learned that the quest for gold was not without danger.
According to Upham, “Of the 65 passengers, all but three are seasick. Those who cannot pay homage to the God of Great Depths in the depths are casting their bills on buckets, basins, and spittoons.”
Algoma finally arrived in San Francisco after about seven months at sea. Most of Hickman’s passengers quickly disembarked and hurried to the gold mines.
However, Hickman methodically unloaded a load consisting of pickaxes, shovels, and other tools. As Hickman surmised, miners were willing to pay very inflated prices for what they needed to mine for gold. After several years in California selling tools to miners, Hickman collected the proceeds and returned to Lewis.
After returning to Delaware, Hickman dabbled in politics and other community affairs. At the time of his death in 1889, Hickman was the wealthiest person in Sussex County and one of the wealthiest in Delaware.
According to the Wilmington Evening Journal, Hickman “enjoyed the fame of a millionaire for years. [He owned] Sussex County has at least 20 valuable farms. He also owned about 20 ships, most of which were destined for ports in South America and the West Indies. ”
Harveson-Hickman believed that “there is gold in the hills” and his plans to make it rich paid off handsomely.
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Main sources of information
Samuel C. Upham, Record of Voyage to California via Cape Horn, 1878, pp. 25-26, 106.
Judith Atkins Roberts, “Harbeson Hickman,” Journal of the Lewes Historical Society, Vol. 6, November 2003, pp. 18-21.
Evening Journal, January 2, 1890.