Recollections of a '49er: A Quaint and Thrilling Narrative of a Trip Across the Plains, and Life in the California Gold Fields During the Stirring Days ... Discovery of Gold (1908) (English Edition) [Kindle-editie] beoordelingen het boek quotes

Edward Washington McIlhany (1828-1912) was a Virginia born hunter, trapper, gold prospector, who traveled West as a young man to seek his fortune. McIlhany writes: "At the age of 20, the great discovery of gold in California fired my heart with ambition to see the wild, wild west, and as Horace Greely advised, "Go west young man, go west and grow up with the country." "Hearing of a company being formed in Charleston, Jefferson County, Virginia, I realized that here was the opportunity. "The company that was formed to start to California March 3rd, '49. There were three men from my neighborhood that had joined this company, and one of these men, Ed Hooper, was going to Charleston to pay his dues, so I went with him to try to join the same party. "Forty of these applicants were made to stand in a row to be examined physically, and I fortunately was the fifth and last one, to be taken on, which naturally gave me great joy. I then went to the secretary and gave him the $300.00 required to become a member of the company, which was called the Charleston, Jefferson County, Virginia, Mining Company. Each member was given a rubber sack with the company's mark on it, to use in carrying his clothing. The 3rd of March, 1849, a day never to be forgotten, was the date set for our departure. I returned to my home, reached there as the family were eating supper and threw my sack on the floor remarking that I was a member of the company destined to cross the plains to California." This book covers the great adventures which followed in the author's epic quest for wealth and prosperity! He describes his overland journey west, gold prospecting on Feather River and Grass Valley, hunting and trapping, proprietorship of a general store and hotel in Onion Valley, the Colorado gold rush, and Missouri railroading after the Civil War. This book originally published in 1908 has been reformatted for the Kindle and contains the author's original spelling and word usages.