The California Trail: An Epic with Many Heroes

The old West is a subject that has been poorly served by Hollywood and the current crop of academic writers eager to show that the US is a rogue nation fit only for extinction. Reading Stewart's book will change all that. In 1957 I talked with a 96 year-old gentleman in Golden, CO, who was then living in a rooming house next to one of my college buddies. He claimed to have been the sheriff of Central City (CO) in the 1880s, which I later found to have been true. He talked about how the "fanners" (gunmen who fanned the hammers of their pistols with their non-gun hand) held no danger for him. He simply took careful aim with his pistol and shot them dead. He also favored using a shotgun in close quarters, and always shot first if his opponent started to draw his pistol. Myths like those he debunked and others like Indians circling wagon trains and shooting from horseback at men under cover need to be refuted. This book is a reprint of the 1962 edition, and author Stewart, who also wrote the fine novels "Fire" and "Storm", writes in a style that seems somewhat enthusiastic to contemporary readers. Nor does he compare the subject period of 1840 to 1858 to current times and moralize against Bush, imperialism or the emmigrants' treatment of Indians. If you want to find fault with America, this book is not for you, but conversely, if you want to know what made America great, this is required reading. There are many heroes here in Stewart's presentation, all with flaws, but most with outstanding physical and moral courage. American democracy was at its best in the emmigrant parties, who expected no help of any kind from their government and whose loyalties descending from family to friend to party to others in the same endeavor were evident to all. Indeed, these parties had no backing from government, corporations, or any other organizations, and the free enterprise ethic presented in such stark definition will be almost unrecognizable by those raised on improving the governmental nanny-state, or requiring free education, tenure, social security, unemployment, disability and health insurance (and cell phones) to make it through another day. When decisions were made in the emmigrant parties the most risky option was usually chosen, and it needs to be emphasized that the lives of the decision-makers were what was at risk. This led to amazing feats and great suffering, experiences almost universally remembered by the participants as much less difficult than was actually the case, and even exciting and pleasant. Where was post-traumatic stress syndrome? Relief parties were organized by men sometimes at great expense and their own peril, yet expecting no reward or payment of any kind. It is sometimes said that adversity brings out the best in people -- if so, it was here in abundance. Although the Donner party figures prominently in this book, it is only one of many parties whose experiences are presented in detail,

If you have time to read only one book on Immigration in the Trans-Mississippi West this classic by Stewart is the one. Filled with characters and anecdotes it started me on a long and large collection of books on the Old West. Many published in small numbers have been excellent investments.

Because my family also migrated to California (albiet in 1993) I have been interested in the history of the settling of the American west. This book was wonderfully informative but also very compelling reading. It chronicles the annual human migrations from the Missouri to California, including the ill-fated Donner party (in 1845)and the famous "49ers". The author did a very good job comparing the immigrants mode of travel, unique difficulties faced during each of these migration years, route finding and heroes and villans, and the sweat and tears progress which lead to the wider opening and settlement of the west.I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the history of the settlement of the west or anyone who just wants to read a good old-fashioned adventure story based in historical fact.