The California Trail, Yesterday and Today

Description

The book was selected by the California State Library as one of its Book of the Week Award recipients. It tells the story of the California Trail. Whether for land, a new life, or for gold, California was the magnet that attracted people from all over the world. For those that came by sea their experiences are compared to those that came by land. Read the history of the trail’s development and then about some of the guidebooks available, the problems faced by the emigrants and gold-seekers, known as Argonauts, as they rushed to the West. Read the daily entries of three emigrants as they describe the desert and mountain crossings. Follow the route from the jumping-off towns, across the Great Plains, the Rockies, the deserts, and the Sierras as depicited in over 350 illustrations primarily by four trail artists, Bruff, Wilkins, Jackson, and Quesenbury, as well as others. Included are recent photos of the same sites. Many of these old depictions have not been previously published.