The California Trail

The California Trail PDF Author: George R. Stewart
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 9780803291430
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
In 1841 and 1842 small groups of emigrants tried to discover a route to California passable by wagons. Without reliable maps or guides, they pushed ahead, retreated, detoured, split up, and regrouped, reaching their destination only at great cost of property and life. But they had found a trail, or cleared one, and by their mistakes had shown others how to take wagon trains across half a continent. By 1844 a great migration was in progress. Each successive party learned from those who went before where to cross rivers and mountains, when to rest, when to forge ahead, and how to find food and water. Increased experience was translated into better wagon designs, improved understanding of climate and terrain, and better-supplied and -organized caravans. George R. Stewart's California Trail describes the trail's year-by-year changes as weather conditions, new exploration, and the changing character of emigrants affected it. Successes and disasters (like the Donner party's fate) are presented in nearly personal detail. More than a history of the trail, this book tells how to travel it, what it felt like, what was feared and hoped for.

The California Trail

The California Trail PDF Author: George R. Stewart
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 9780803291430
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
In 1841 and 1842 small groups of emigrants tried to discover a route to California passable by wagons. Without reliable maps or guides, they pushed ahead, retreated, detoured, split up, and regrouped, reaching their destination only at great cost of property and life. But they had found a trail, or cleared one, and by their mistakes had shown others how to take wagon trains across half a continent. By 1844 a great migration was in progress. Each successive party learned from those who went before where to cross rivers and mountains, when to rest, when to forge ahead, and how to find food and water. Increased experience was translated into better wagon designs, improved understanding of climate and terrain, and better-supplied and -organized caravans. George R. Stewart's California Trail describes the trail's year-by-year changes as weather conditions, new exploration, and the changing character of emigrants affected it. Successes and disasters (like the Donner party's fate) are presented in nearly personal detail. More than a history of the trail, this book tells how to travel it, what it felt like, what was feared and hoped for.

The Gold Seekers of '49

The Gold Seekers of '49 PDF Author: Kimball Webster
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : California
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
Kimball Webster (1828-1916), a New Hampshire farmer, began his overland journey to California in April 1849, and remained in California and Oregon until 1854. The gold seekers of '49 (1917) uses Webster's diary as the basis for the account of his trip to California via a wagon train from Independence, Missouri, and his first weeks in the Sacramento Valley. A much later narrative picks up the story of his later career in California as a goldseeker on the Feather River and Nelson's Creek mines, 1849-1850; descriptions of Sacramento, Yuba City, and Marysville; and surveying in Oregon, 1851-1854.

The Oregon Trail

The Oregon Trail PDF Author: Francis Parkman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Frontier and pioneer life
Languages : en
Pages : 410

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Book Description


Surviving the Oregon Trail, 1852

Surviving the Oregon Trail, 1852 PDF Author: Weldon Willis Rau
Publisher: Washington State University Press
ISBN: 1636820646
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 345

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Book Description
With numbers swelled by Oregon-bound settlers as well as hordes of gold-seekers destined for California, the 1852 overland migration was the largest on record in a year taking a terrible toll in lives mainly due to deadly cholera. Included here are firsthand accounts of this fateful year, including the words and thoughts of a young married couple, Mary Ann and Willis Boatman, released for the first time in book-length form. In its immediacy, Surviving the Oregon Trail, 1852 opens a window to the travails of the overland journeyers--their stark camps, treacherous river fordings, and dishonest countrymen; the shimmering plains and mountain vastnesses; trepidation at crossing ancient Indian lands; and the dark angel of death hovering over the wagon columns. But also found here are acts of valor, compassion, and kindness, and the hope for a new life in a new land at the end of the trail.

The World Rushed In

The World Rushed In PDF Author: J. S. Holliday
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 0806183527
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 580

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Book Description
When The World Rushed In was first published in 1981, the Washington Post predicted, “It seems unlikely that anyone will write a more comprehensive book about the Gold Rush.” Twenty years later, no one has emerged to contradict that judgment, and the book has gained recognition as a classic. As the San Francisco Examiner noted, “It is not often that a work of history can be said to supplant every book on the same subject that has gone before it.” Through the diary and letters of William Swain--augmented by interpolations from more than five hundred other gold seekers and by letters sent to Swain from his wife and brother back home--the complete cycle of the gold rush is recreated: the overland migration of over thirty thousand men, the struggle to “strike it rich” in the mining camps of the Sierra Nevadas, and the return home through the jungles of the Isthmus of Panama. In a new preface, the author reappraises our continuing fascination with the “gold rush experience” as a defining epoch in western--indeed, American--history.

The Santa Fe Trail to California, 1849-1852

The Santa Fe Trail to California, 1849-1852 PDF Author: H M T Powell
Publisher: Hassell Street Press
ISBN: 9781014237491
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 350

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Book Description
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Catalogue of the Library of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin: First [to fifth] supplements. [Additions from 1873-1887

Catalogue of the Library of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin: First [to fifth] supplements. [Additions from 1873-1887 PDF Author: State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Library
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : American literature
Languages : en
Pages : 836

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Book Description
Includes titles on all subjects, some in foreign languages, later incorporated into Memorial Library.

Siskiyou Trail

Siskiyou Trail PDF Author: Richard H. Dillon
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 424

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Book Description


The Plains Across

The Plains Across PDF Author: John D. Unruh
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 9780252063602
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 590

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Book Description
The most honored book ever released by the University of Illinois Press, The Plains Across was the result of more than a decade's work by its author. Here, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the opening of the Oregon Trail, is a paperback reissue that includes the notes, bibliography, and illustrations contained in the 1979 cloth edition.

Bruff's Wake

Bruff's Wake PDF Author: Harold L. James
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781893061088
Category : California
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"Bruff's Wake tells the story of forty-niners who survived hardship with resolve and endurance. The accompanying illustrations, which include a number of Bruff's sketches paired with modern photographs taken at the same sites, give vivid depictions of life and death on the California Trail in 1849. In addition, Bruff's route is correlated to the geography of the modern era, so that the trail can be traced on modern maps. Taken together, the narrative, sketches, photographs, and geological descriptions of the terrain, coupled with generous quotes from Bruff's long-out-of-print journal, allow the reader to follow in Bruff's wake" -- Publisher's description, p. [4] of cover.