Up and Down California in 1860-1864: The Journal of William H. Brewer, Third Edition

I loved this book, and have started giving copies as gifts. The synopsis explains well what it is, so I won't go into that. But the style is both easy and intelligent, an easy yet rewarding read. Brewer's writing sounds like you're sitting down to a cup of coffee with this guy as he tells you these great stories (not 'tall tales' though.) I also loved the format, since it is a collection of letters. It allowed me to pick up the book and read 1 page or 20 pages depending on how much time I had, where I was etc. It's Ok to put it down for a week or more, but then you can jump right back in. It is a 'long' book, but there's no compulsion to read it straight through, you can meander through this book over days, weeks or months, or 'real-time' in years even, that's how his family and friends experienced it. If you live anywhere in California where Brewer went, or if you've visited there, it is fascinating to hear his descriptions of the places from 150 years before. I can't rave enough about this book!

I bought this book last summer in Lee Vining CA while on a trip through the Eastern Sierra and after reading it found myself looking at California with new eyes. One reviewer said that even those who are not Californians will enjoy this book. True enough, but I think that the reader who has a detailed knowledge of the geography of the state will come away from Up And Down California In 1860-1864 with a much greater appreciation for Brewer's accomplishments. I know California very well, and as I read along, I could picture nearly every place Brewer described in my mind's eye because I had been at those places myself. This book is a riveting and thoroughly absorbing glimpse of the California that was. Brewer's style is informative, entertaining, and not bogged down by political correctness. He calls things as he sees them and gives the reader not only a physical description of his journeys with all their pleasures and hardships, but also a good look at the way people lived and rubbed along with one another in what was then a brave new world. His journeys covered most of the state save the Mojave/Colorado deserts, the San Diego area, the extreme Northeast, and the area between what is now Healdsburg and Eureka. Some of the places he does go are remote still today, such as the area of the New Idria mines in present San Benito County and the still wild Southern Sierra along the upper reaches of the Kern River. I recommend Brewer's journal to all who have an abiding love for the diverse state that is California. After reading it, you will see the state with new eyes every time you take a road trip along its byways.

Through the letters sent to his brother on the east coast, William Brewer leaves behind a first person account of an emerging state. From traveling through Los Angeles in 1860 describing it as a town of 3500 people in adobe homes, to the high Sierra scrambles through a vast wilderness he gives the reader a glimpse into a California long forgotten. A wonderful book to read and ponder over.

This book is a lot of things. First, it's a marvelous description of what unmapped California was like--when Los Angeles had 4,000 inhabitants, and shootings every Saturday night. The physical descriptions of the state are very interesting. But it's also a sort of social record; Brewer stayed with families on his travels, and the description of life on these isolated homesteads is absorbing. Up and Down California is also, of course, an adventure story. Brewer and his companions traveled for four years, on foot, by horse, mule and steamer, throughout a vast and wild territory, sleeping outdoors in fine weather and foul. As I recall, the only time during this period when he was ill was when he spent a couple of nights in a hotel room! Last, the book is very moving; Brewer joined the California survey because of the death of his young wife and child in New England. The book is a compilation of his letters home to his family. After the survey was over he returned to Connecticut and had a very useful career in the new field of public health, as teacher and administrator. He was an honest man, a good writer, and dedicated public servant. The book is highly enjoyable, and it's not necessary to be a California to appreciate it!

Brewer was working for the Whitney survey of California's resources. The gold rush had slowed down, but excitment about finding new resources in California was at a fever pitch. I read the parts about New Almaden and New Idria first, because I am working at the New Almaden Quicksilver Mining Museum. Brewer's journals give very clear and interesting pictures of the mining towns at that time. Mary Halleck Foote's (Susan Ward's) letters of ten years later in "Angle of Repose" by Wallace Stegner, show a very similar picture . Brewer was a curious, brave and nice guy, so he had no trouble going wherever he wanted to go. All Californians should read this book.