THE OLD CALIFORNIA TRAIL

This suggests many parallels with Irene Paden's fascinating Wake of the Prairie Schooner (Macmillan 1943) and of necessity covers some of the same ground, though adding material to the earlier book, for here again is a record of experiences in following old trails of the westward drive to California, of searching out authentic stories and hearsay, legend and folklore from old timers and their descendants...From Independence, Mo, to Sutter's Fort, she covers the halting places -- who stopped there -- who went on; she tells of cities, rivers, massacres, forts, of Mormons, of plains and mountains, of ranches and graves and the stories behind them; of personalities that have become legend. She shows how the pioneer was fashioned by the ordeal of the trail and quotes pungently from early diaries and letters. Pageant of old pictures that makes history vivid and that underlines the force of migratory motives and the people who took these overland routes. Contagious enthusiasm for historical material -- her previous books have been fiction tapping also the rich vein of history.