With Golden Visions Bright Before Them. Trails To The Mining West 1849-1852.

WILL BAGLEY

Publication: University of Oklahoma Press, 2012, Norman

First edition. 8vo. Cloth, burnt orange colored endpapers, xxi [blank], 464 pp., frontis., preface, editorial procedures, prologue, illustrated, maps, acknowledgments, bibliography, index. This is Volume II in the series that began with Bagley's SO RUGGED AND MOUNTAINOUS: BLAZING THE TRAILS TO OREGON AND CALIFORNIA, 1812-1848. More than a quarter million travelers followed the road across the plains to gold rush California, and this book captures the danger, excitement, and heartbreak of the rush for riches. While often painted as a heroic effort to open new lands and advance civilization, the reality of the trek was something different. There was untold suffering and sacrifice and the trails and there trials forced many to turn back. The author does his usual detailed and thorough job to present the facts before us. As new, unread copy in dust jacket.

Inventory Number: 32837