Nineteen-year-old Alvah Unthank was among a group of young men who left Newport in Wayne County, Indiana, for the California goldfields in 1850. On June 23 the wagon train passed Register Cliff, south of Guernsey, where Alvah inscribed his name, A.H. UNTHANK 1850. In the early evening of June 28 the party camped here by the North Platte River because of Alvah’s sudden illness. On June 29 family friend Pusey Graves wrote, “Lay by today to doctor and nurse Alvah. June 30 Alvah getting worse it’s quite hopeless complaining none. July 1 Alvah rapidly sinking. July 2 in the early morning hours Alvah died.” Cholera had taken its toll. Graves wrote, “Alvah lay clam bore his suffering patiently and uttered not a murmer or groan. Bid his father to be of good cheer. His child has paid the great debt of nature. Procured a large neat headstone. Solomon Woody carved the inscription.” At noon Tuesday, July 2, 1850, Alvah was buried.