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A DOCTOR'S GOLD RUSH JOURNEY TO CALIFORNIA
Necia Dixon Liles, editor.
Paperback.......432 pp.......#1566...... $17.95. [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
Dr. Israel Shipman Pelton Lord walked across the plains and deserts and mountains to reach the tantalizing promise of California gold. This is a beautiful, graphically detailed journal written by a keenly observant man who recorded every step, every day, every riotous and poignant incident of his adventure in the explosive opening of the American West.

CALIFORNIA: Land of New Beginnings David Lavender More Info in

CALIFORNIA TRAIL: An Epic with Many Heroes
George R. Stewart
Paperback........339 pp........#1179
$15.95  [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
Stewart's history of the California Trail describes its year-by-year changes as weather conditions, new exploration and the changing character of emigrants affected it. More than a history, this book tells how to travel this trail, what it felt like, what was feared and what was hoped for. Illustrations, maps. 

CALIFORNIA TRAIL: Voyage of Discovery
Charles H. Dodd (OCTA Member)
PB.....64 pp.....61 color plates...27  maps..#1360...$8.95 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
Follow the gold seekers as they rush to California, the land of new opportunities. Share their trials as they cross such inhospitable barriers as the 40 Mile Desert; experience their joy as they get closer to their dream. Excerpts from the emigrants' diaries baring their struggle to life for adventurers a century and a half later. 9 x 12 inches. 

CALIFORNIA TRAIL YESTERDAY AND TODAY: A Pictorial Journey
William E. Hill (OCTA member)
Paperback.........239 pp...........#1180..........$14.95 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
This edition combines a history of the trail and diary accounts of the journey, together with contemporary photos of the route as it exists today. Modern readers can capture some of that emigrant experience. Contains a listing of museums and displays along the trail. 8 1/4 x 11 inches. 

CALIFORNIA WAGON TRAIN LIST: V. I, April 5, 1849 to Oct. 20, 1852
Louis J. Rasmussen
Hardback..........327 pp..........#1353..........$29. 95 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
Louis J. Rasmussen devoted more than thirty years completing this unique contribution to western history. He began this huge task in the 1960s, namely searching out the names of early settlers of the West who journeyed to San Francisco from 1850 to 1890. His sources included newspapers, rare books, and special collections at California's major libraries and the records of the San Francisco Maritime Museum. 

COVERED WAGON WOMEN
Kenneth L. Holmes, editor. Paperback. (11 Volume series). Women who traveled west, ncluding Tamsen Donner & Virginia Reed, speak through these letters and diaries.
PB.....covers  years.1849 - 1860.......$13 - $15 -More Info in

DONNER PARTY CHRONICLES:
A DAY-BY-DAY ACCOUNT OF A DOOMED WAGON TRAIN, 1846-1847
Frank Mullen, Jr. (OCTA member)
Paperback..........#1453..........$45.00 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
"This work is a daily chronicle of the trek...supplementing the daily entries are side-bars with quotations from letters, diaries, newspapers and other relevant sources. Adding to the appeal of the volume are photographs, both color and black-and-white. It is an important addition to the literature of a story that will always fascinate." Overland Journal review by Michael J. Broadhead, Archivist, Nevada State Library and Archives.

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THE EMIGRANTS GUIDE TO OREGON AND CALIFORNIA:
The 1845 Pioneers' Guide for the Westward Traveler
Lansford W. Hastings
Paperback..........152 pp..........#1191..........$9.95 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
Prepare yourself for a trip west through time -- back to 1845 and the days of the pioneers. One of the most collectible books about California and the Westward movement, This book is rich with practical information about how to go and what to bring, but even richer in describing what you'll see along the way and when you get there. This book was an important reason why many pioneers chose California as a destination.

EXPEDITION OF THE DONNER PARTY AND ITS TRAGIC FATE
Eliza P. Donner Houghton with Introduction by Kristin Johnson (OCTA member)
Paperback........374 pp............#1240..........$17.95 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
This volume, written by the Donner's youngest daughter, details the excitement of crossing the prairie and the horror of that winter. Eliza relates what happened to her and a sister after being rescued and what it was like to grow up in a world that turned the Donners into a grisly legend. 

FEARFUL CROSSING
Harold Curran
Paperback..........212 pp..........#1216..........$14.95 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
The author describes the development of the trail and the lives and fortunes of those crossing Nevada. Extensive quotes from emigrant journals and other authorities give intimate insights into daily emigrant living; trouble with Indians, feeding livestock, fighting, deaths, food preparation. The author, himself, has explored the trail, giving personal insight into problems of travel over difficult terrain. More than the main Humboldt trail, this book describes the Applegate cutoff.

GHOST TRAILS TO CALIFORNIA:
A Pictorial Journey From the Rockies to the Gold Country
Thomas H. Hunt (OCTA member)
Paperback......262 pp......#1190.....$12.95 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
Hardback...........#1189...........$14.95 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
This is a book about people and the land through which they passed in seeking a new life. Not only does it provide diary and journal quotations, pictures and maps of the placement of emigrant trails but also provides the day hiker with an opportunity to retrace step-by-step the original routes, using detailed maps developed by the author.

GOLD RUSH TRAIL
Frank Tortorich, Jr. (OCTA member)
Paperback..........71 pp...............#1505..........$10.00   [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
"Frank Tortorich here combines the knowledge he has acquired over years of study on the Carson River route with an exceptional ability to make the story of the first Gold Rush Trail over the Sierra Nevada come to life for modern readers."  David Bigler (Past President, OCTA)

GRAVES AND SITES ON THE OREGON AND CALIFORNIA TRAILS
Second Edition. Randy Brown and Reg Duffin (OCTA members).
Paperback 8 x 11..........157 pp..........99photos..........#1231
$17.95  [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
This popular OCTA publication describes the markers at graves and sites on the Oregon and California Trails that have been installed by OCTA's Graves and Sites Committee and OCTA chapters. The second edition is greatly expanded, representing the numerous markers installed by OCTA since the publication of the first edition in 1991. Arranged by state in the sequence of markers from east to west. Exact texts of the signs, as well as ninety-nine photographs of individuals, locations, and installed markers. General background , access, ownership, and directions are provided for each marker. An invaluable guidebook for anyone interested in visiting the graves and sites along the trails that have been marked by OCTA. Moreover, it offers a comprehensive compilation and description of these important signs that mark the fading remnants of the Oregon and California Trails.  

HASTINGS CUTOFF, GRANTSVILLE TO DONNER SPRINGS
Roy D. Tea (OCTA member)
Spiral bound..........8½ x 11..........#1378..........$5.00 Plus $2.00 P&H  [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
Crossroads Chapter spring field trip; quotes from diaries; maps.

HASTINGS LONGTRIPP, A HASTINGS CUTOFF TRAIL GUIDE
Roy D. Tea (OCTA member)
40 pp..........#1379..........$5.00 Plus $2.00 P&H  [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
From Donner Spring to the Humboldt; maps, including detail of a map by T. H. Jefferson.

HO FOR CALIFORNIA! Women's Overland Diaries from the Huntington Library
Sandra L. Myres (edited and annotated)
Paperback..........314 pp..........#1267..........$14.95 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
Ho for California! contains diaries reflecting the experiences of five different women on three major westward routes in the middle of the 19th century. 605

THE MORMON BATTALION, United States Army of the West, 1846-1848
Norma B. Ricketts (OCTA member)
Paperback..........320 pp, photos, maps..........#1385..........$24.95 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
There are few major events in the history of the Far West from 1846 to 1849 that did not involve the Mormon Battalion. Recruited for the Mexican War from migrating Mormons in Iowa, the Battalion helped make that migration to Utah possible, opened four major western trails to wagons (including principal overland routes of the forty-niners), and participated in the United States conquest of California.

MOSES SCHALLENBERGER At Truckey's Lake, 1844-45
Charles H. Dodd (OCTA member)
Paperback..........23 pages..........#1373..........$5.00 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
The Stephens-Townsend- Murphy Party, with their eleven wagons, reached Truckey's Lake (now Donner Lake) in the Sierra Nevada on November 14th. Faced with the difficulties of taking wagons over what now know as Donner Pass, they decided to leave six of the wagons at the lake. Moses Schallenberger, just a week past his eighteenth birthday, decided to stay behind to guard the wagons and possessions being left. This is his story of that winter. 629

NOT HALF THE TRUBLES: A Letter from Virginia Reed
Charles H. Dodd, editor (OCTA member)
Paperback..........55 pp..........#1374..........$6.95  [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
Virginia Reed was one of the surviving members of the Donner Party. "Virginia's spirit shows powerfully through her writing-it dominates her letter and it leaves us with a dramatic picture of youth determined to embrace life." From the Introduction. 

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THE OREGON, CALIFORNIA, AND MORMON TRAILS BY AIR:
A Pilot's Guide to the Emigrant Trails
William White (OCTA Member)
PB.....photos, maps......215 pp......#1420......$16.95 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
Provides interesting and educational routing options to Portland, Oregon, Reno, Nevada and Salt Lake City, Utah. Whether you are a commercial pilot, a private pilot, or a non-pilot interested in Trail history, this guide will be a valuable tool and make fascinating reading. Enjoy a perspective of the still remaining ruts. Coordinates for the major attractions allow detailed plotting and locating of landmarks. 

OVERLAND MIGRATIONS
David Lavender
Paperback......#1220.... $7.00 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
Topics in this history of the migrations to Oregon, California and Utah
include the "fever," preparation for the trek, the start, the overland
experience, the Oregon, California and Mormon Trails and the final years of these old wagon roads. 

OVERLAND STAGE: A History and Guidebook
John M. Townley
Hardback......8" x 11"......279 pp......#1195......$29.95 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
Divided into 2 parts (I. A History and Evaluation; II. Maps of the Overland Road), this book describes the 1900 miles passengers could travel from Atchison, KS to Sacramento, CA at a cost of $200 for one way passage. Despite the dangers - losing a wheel, Indian war parties, road agents who stopped and pillaged coaches at random - in its 8 year lifetime, the Overland Stage hauled thousands of passengers on its daily stages east and west, millions of pieces of mail plus millions of pounds of express were taken into remote western places. Includes a map of the route and a table of distances from Atchison to Placerville. 

THE PLAINS ACROSS: The Overland Emigrants and the Trans-Mississippi West, 1840-1869
John D. Unruh, Jr
Paperback..........592 pp..........#1223..........$22.95  [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
This book, the doctoral research of this young historian, was published in 1976, won seven book awards and was finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in history. This history is not only for scholars; it will repay with interest the general reader with an affinity for the West. 

PRAIRIE SCHOONER DETOURS
Irene D. Paden
PB.......311 pp....9 sketches, 3 maps..#1227...$12.95  [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
Paden describes her family's adventures in tracking down two awful emigrant "cut-offs" - the Hastings, across the bitter salt deserts of Utah, and the Applegate-Lassen which took gold-seekers hundreds of miles out of their road to California. 

READING, WRITING, AND RIDING ALONG THE
OREGON-CALIFORNIA TRAIL: An Educational Activity Book
William E. Hill (OCTA member)
Paperback..........8 x 11..........#1286..........$7.95 + $2 P&H  [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
This 64 page activity book is focused around the experiences of early emigrants and is written for middle school students and their teachers. Activities include maps and map work, word searches, identification, making charts and graphs, crossword puzzles, classifications and reading comprehension. Answer section at back of book.

ROAD FROM EL DORADO: The 1848 Trail Journal of Ephraim Green
Will Bagley, ed. (OCTA member)
Paperback..........58 pp..........#1307..........$10.00 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]  
This journal deals with members of the Mormon Battalion who traveled from California to Salt Lake City. A review in Overland Journal indicates the book is made outstanding by the work of its editor who starts with events leading up to the Battalion discharge and their subsequent eastbound journey.

RUSH FOR RICHES: Gold Fever and the Making of California
J. S. Holiday
hardback.. ...........#1546.......... $55.00 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]  
 Vivid in its details and powerful in its interpretation, this remarkable book carries the story of the world's first gold rush from 1849 through the free-for-all decades of the 1860s and 70s and on to the climactic year 1884

SEVEN TRAILS WEST
Arthur King Peters (OCTA member)
Hardback..........252 pp..........#1237..........$45.00 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
Explores in text and many unusual illustrations the major routes that linked East and Far West, especially the trail blazed by Lewis and Clark, the Santa Fe Trail, the Oregon-California Trail, the Mormon Trail, the Pony Express, and the Transcontinental Telegraph and Transcontinental Railroad. Archival photographs, paintings, maps, and documents constitute the 208 illustrations, 56 of which are in full color.

SIERRA CROSSING: First Roads to California
Thomas Frederick Howard
Paperback..........218 pp..........#1491..........$16.95 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
"This lively and scholarly study, based on meticulous research in primary sources, is the definitive analysis of the overland mountain routes to California. This book is indispensable for anyone interested in the historical geography of the westward movement and California history." Martin Ridge, The Huntington Library.

TAIL OF THE ELEPHANT: The Emigrant Experience on the Truckee Routes of the California Trail 1844-1852
Olive Newell (OCTA member)
Paperback...........386 pp..........#1536..........$16.50 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
Quotations from more than 125 diaries, letters and journal describe the harrowing trip in the actual words of emigrants and gold seekers and include comments on botany, forestry, geology, geography and the pristine ecology of 150 years ago. 

THEY SAW THE ELEPHANT: Women in the California Gold Rush
JoAnn Levy (OCTA member)
Paperback............265 pp..........#1294...........$19.95 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
From Charles Martin's Overland Journal review: "This interesting and informative book sheds light on an overlooked facet of gold rush history....[it] is filled with quotes from women's reminiscences, letters and diaries...[covering the] journey, arrival, living conditions in San Francisco, women in the entertainment business and women's roles in civilizing California." Excellent information is presented in a lively fashion to give a well-rounded view of those early pioneers.

TO THE LAND OF GOLD AND WICKEDNESS:
The 1848-1859 Diary of Lorena L. Hays
Jeanne H. Watson, ed. (OCTA member)
PB.......97 photos, 6 maps..........#1234..........$14.95 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
A book of commanding importance, not just for the trail lore it imparts but because this is the one 19th century emigrant diary that covers the trip across the plains as well as the years in California afterward.

TRAILING THE PIONEERS: A Guide to Utah's Emigrant Trails, 1829-1869
Peter DeLafosse, ed. (OCTA member); selected bibliography by Harold Schindler.
PB........126 pp..index, maps, photos........#1185..........$12.95   [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
A guidebook to Utah's five emigrant trails: Spanish Trail, Bidwell-Bartleson Trail, Pioneer (Mormon-Donner) Trail, Hastings Cutoff, and Hensley's Salt Lake City Cutoff. Authors are Steven K. Madsen, Roy D. Tea, Jack B. Tykil, Rush Spedden, Will Bagley.

UNFORTUNATE EMIGRANTS: Narratives on the Donner Party
Edited by Kristin Johnson (OCTA member)
Paperback..........317 pp..........#1369..........$24.95 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
A selection of rare and hard-to-find early accounts of the 1846 emigrant party that was trapped in the winter snows of the Sierra Nevada, recounting their strenuous and conflict-ridden trail west; their experiences of starvation, death, and cannibalism, and the Herculean but disorganized efforts of the Californians to rescue the survivors.

WEST FROM FORT BRIDGER: The Pioneering of Immigrant Trails Across Utah, 1846-1850
J. Roderic Korns & Dale L. Morgan, eds; Rev. and Upd. by Will Bagley & Harold Schindler 
Paperback..........328 pp..........#1287..........$15.00 _ [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
This new edition is revised and updated by historians Harold Schindler and Will Bagley to incorporate much exciting new material, including the Salt Desert Journal of Edward Kern and two "waybills" by Lansford W. Hastings. Although he credited this book to his deceased friend, Roderic Korns, Dale Morgan did much of the work that makes this book a classic. Includes the Journals of James Clyman, Edward Bryant, Heinrich Lienhard, and chapters covering the Jefferson Map, Hastings Map and Waybills, Golden Pass Road, and Salt Lake Cutoff.

WHAT I SAW IN CALIFORNIA
Edwin Bryant
Paperback..........455 pp..........#1173
$18.00 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
This book, first published in 1848, has long been recognized as the foremost trail guide for the forty- niners. Bryant's book became their guide to surviving the grueling passage from Independence, Missouri, to the gold country. This is a valuable primary source on the westering experience.

WHO WERE THE MURPHYS? California's Irish First Family
Earl F. Schmidt (OCTA member)
Paperback.............41 pp..........#1280.............$5.50 [Add to Cart] [View Cart]
The Martin Murphy family played a major role in the settlement and development of California - the first to succeed in bringing wagons over the Sierra Nevada (1844); service in the American Conquest (1846-1847); the first to strike it rich in the gold fields (1848-1849); and they pioneered and prospered in agricultural development.

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