William H. Winter (1819-1879) was an American explorer. He was born in Vigo County, Indiana. He settled in

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

in 1841. In 1843 he emigrated with

Overton Johnson Overton may refer to: Places Canada * Overton, Nova Scotia United Kingdom * Overton, Aberdeen, a location * Overton, Frodsham, a location in Cheshire * Overton, Malpas, Cheshire * Overton, Gloucestershire, a hamlet in the parish of Arlingham ...

to the

Oregon Country Oregon Country was a large region of the Pacific Northwest of North America that was subject to a long dispute between the United Kingdom and the United States in the early 19th century. The area, which had been created by the Treaty of 1818, co ...

, and then (without Johnson) to

Alta California Alta California ('Upper California'), also known as ('New California') among other names, was a province of New Spain, formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of , but ...

. Winter and Johnson published an , account of their journey in 1846 entitled '' Route across the Rocky Mountains with a Description of Oregon and California''. The first six chapters were published in the ''Oregon Historical Quarterly'', volume 7 (1906); the full manuscript was republished by the ''

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'' (1932), which noted significance of a chapter which had not been published in the ''OHQ'' reprint to the historical understanding of the Whitman massacre. After returning to Indiana in 1845, he remained there until 1849, when he returned to California in the

gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Z ...

. He farmed near Mokolumne. He returned to Indiana, and then again to California by way of

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. He died in 1879. He had five sons.

References

People from Vigo County, Indiana 1819 births 1879 deaths Explorers of Oregon 19th-century explorers People of the California Gold Rush {{Oregon-bio-stub