GOLD RUBM: Journals, Drawings & Other Papers

by ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 20, 1944

We are fortunate in having a report on this from none other than Joseph Jackson, of the San Francisco Chronicle, who feels it is the ""most significant firsthand record yet discovered for the period -- Spring 1849 to Midsummer 1851 -- a nine of source material -- a triumph for the editors -- limited in sales only because of its price to students and collectors of Californian"". Of the text he writes:- ""Bruff was a draftsman in the U. S. Bureau of Topographical Engineers, and his work directed his mind to gold, his imagination was fired by stories of discovery and adventure. Crossing the Continent was a young man's undertaking, Bruff was crowding forty-five -- he thought of gold but had other ideas too of a ""correct and precise journal, with sketches and observations'. The record of the trip indicated his energy and ability; from St. Joseph to a point 35 miles from the upper Sacramento, where he gave up leadership of the group and settled in to guard the Company property on Barclay Mountain through the grim winter of '49-'50. This part of his record contains some of the best narrative in the book and comprises as fine a contemporary reflection of the 'Great Migration' as has yet been published. His precise notes are important -- unique-but he understood the sweep and scope of the movement and his knowledge informs his journals throughout. For the grim, lively, tragic and amusing human stories, for the full flavor of the man himself, the reader must go to his own vigorous record. Though he did not find his fortune in California gold, he was one of the great Forty-Winers.

Pub Date: April 20, 1944

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Columbia Univ. Press

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1944

Categories: NONFICTION