An edition of What I Saw In California (1848)

What I saw in California

being the journal of a tour by the emigrant route and South Pass of the Rocky Mountains, across the continent of North America, the great desert basin, and through California, in the years 1846, 1847

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What I saw in California
Edwin Bryant
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Last edited by ImportBot
December 8, 2009 | History
An edition of What I Saw In California (1848)

What I saw in California

being the journal of a tour by the emigrant route and South Pass of the Rocky Mountains, across the continent of North America, the great desert basin, and through California, in the years 1846, 1847

  • 1.00 ·
  • 1 Rating
  • 8 Want to read
  • 0 Currently reading
  • 1 Have read

Edwin Bryant made the journey from Independence, Missouri to California in the years 1846-47, through the southern pass of the Rocky Mountains and across the desert.

As a medical student, he became an unofficial doctor along the way, and witnessed some gruesome scenes, like the amputation of a little boy’s gangrenous leg, which he describes in painful scientific detail. He is equally explicit when portraying the daily life of the wagon trip, and his prose illuminates the trials of the traveler: "During the process of cooking supper, it commenced raining and blowing with great violence. Our fire was nearly extinguished by the deluge of water from the clouds, and our dough was almost turned to batter..."

Bryant intended his work to function as both entertainment to the general reader and instruction for those planning to follow his path, and the book is a repository of useful information, like distances, weather, water source locations, and descriptions of plant life. As such, it is invaluable to enthusiasts of Western history.

It is also a really good story, with entertaining sketches of camp life, Indians, and animals. Bryant’s descriptions of the landscapes are particularly compelling: "The vast prairie itself soon opened before us in all its grandeur and beauty...The view of the illimitable succession of green undulations and flowery slopes, of every gentle and graceful configuration, stretching away and away, until they fade from the sight in the dim distance, creates a wild and scarcely controllable ecstasy of admiration."

The variety of Bryant’s adventures is striking – in one day he is present at a death, a wedding, a funeral, and a birth. He is often nearly overwhelmed by the functions of nature going on around him, and is particularly moved by the continuous presence of death: "One of our party who left the train to hunt through the valley, brought into camp this evening a human skull. He stated that the place where he found it was whitened with human bones. Doubtless this spot was the scene of some Indian massacre, or a battle-field where hostile tribes had met and destroyed each other. I could learn no explanatory tradition; but the tragedy, whatever its occasion, occurred many years ago."

What I Saw in California is the classic yet remarkable adventure of a young man heading west, well-written and full of historically useful information.

Publish Date
Publisher
Fine Arts Press
Language
English
Pages
481

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Previews available in: English

Book Details


Published in

Santa Ana, Calif

Edition Notes

Includes index.

Bibliography: p. [441]-444.

John & Laree Caughey Collection.

The Physical Object

Pagination
xxiv, 481 p. :
Number of pages
481

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL14475693M
OCLC/WorldCat
11283258

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History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON / OPDS | Wikipedia citation
December 8, 2009 Edited by ImportBot link works
April 20, 2009 Edited by ImportBot add OCLC number
September 12, 2008 Edited by RenameBot fix author name
September 12, 2008 Created by ImportBot Imported from Oregon Libraries MARC record.