An edition of California coast trails (1913)

California Coast Trails

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Last edited by VacuumBot
August 4, 2012 | History
An edition of California coast trails (1913)

California Coast Trails

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Check out this wonderful book about a solitary, rambling 2000-mile horseback ride from the border of Mexico to Oregon. Well-educated and inclined towards the poetic, Joseph Smeaton Chase loved nature and he loved California. His narrative is both affectionate and scientific, and the reader of California Coast Trails is rewarded with a rich and detailed portrait of early 20th-century California. He gives succinct pictures of the towns he passes through, and we can see what these now-thriving metropolises were like when they were still young and relatively sleepy. California Coast Trails is full of warm portraits of locals, who gave him food, conversation, and a place to unroll his blankets. Chase was interested in the racial composition of the state, and often soliloquizes on the hospitality of one ethnicity or another. He also appreciates California folklore and relishes the stories he hears:"...there was a full-flavored story of some old Spanish Petruchio of the region who had tied his scolding wife to a tree, cut off her hair, and braided it into a pair of bridle-reins. This doughty don seems to have had a passion for the bizarre. He is said to have possessed a string of dried ears collected from enemies he had slain; which quaint souvenir his daughter was wont to wear as a necklace at balls and fandangos. With such legends, or histories, are many of these lonely holes and corners of California illuminated."While Chase's journey is for the most part leisurely and relaxed, it is also fraught with uncertainty and sometimes danger: "The inwash of the tide, meeting the water of the creek, had formed an area, a sort of pit, of quicksand. This we had to cross in order to reach the beach, and in a moment, without warning, I was up to my middle, and Chino, following close behind, plunged in beside and almost upon me. On the instant I threw myself backward, and tried to work myself out, but the sand clogged me as if it were liquid lead, and I could not reach back with my hands to where the solid ground would give me support. Chino, meanwhile, was struggling desperately but helplessly, the heavy saddle-bags and other articles of his load weighing him down so that he was already half covered...I remember that, as I struggled, a horror of the commonplace sunlit evening flashed over me, and, with it, the thought that no one would ever know what had happened to me, for there would be no trace, no clue..."The author was a learned man, and draws upon other books, particularly Two Years Before the Mast (also available from The Narrative Press), in which Richard Henry Dana explores the same area by ship. Chase is awed by the landscape, and along with very precise geographical details, the book is full of beautiful descriptive scenes. Reading California Coast Trails may just inspire you to set off a-wandering!

Publish Date
Language
English

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: California Coast Trails
California Coast Trails
2001, The Narrative Press
Electronic resource in English
Cover of: California Coast Trails
California Coast Trails: A Horseback Ride from Mexico to Oregon in 1911
August 2001, Stackpole Books
Paperback in English
Cover of: California Coast Trails
California Coast Trails: Riding Along the Pacific Coast in 1910
August 2001, Long Riders' Guild Press
Paperback in English
Cover of: California coast trails
California coast trails: a horseback ride from Mexico to Oregon
1987, Tioga Pub. Co., distributed by W. Kaufmann, Inc.
in English
Cover of: California coast trails
Cover of: California coast trails

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Book Details


Edition Notes

Published in
Crabtree

The Physical Object

Format
Electronic resource

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL24269792M
ISBN 10
1589761375
OCLC/WorldCat
53177411
OverDrive
0CAB32F6-7988-48F4-9135-D033EE6F2565

Source records

marc_overdrive MARC record

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History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON / OPDS | Wikipedia citation
August 4, 2012 Edited by VacuumBot Updated format 'electronic resource' to 'Electronic resource'
April 27, 2011 Edited by OCLC Bot Added OCLC numbers.
June 19, 2010 Edited by ImportBot Added new cover
June 18, 2010 Created by ImportBot Imported from marc_overdrive MARC record