On The Western Trails. The Overland Diaries Of Washington Peck

ERB, SUSAN M. [EDITED AND WITH BIOGRAPHICAL COMMENTARY BY]

Publication: The Arthur H Clark Company, 2009, Norman

First edition. 8vo. Red cloth, titles stamped in gold gilt on the front cover and spine, 296 pp. frontispiece (William Peck, circa 1850's), preface, acknowledgments, introduction, illustrated, portraits, maps, footnotes, bibliography, index. Two diaries of wagon trips to California are recorded. The first trip in 1850-51 to the California gold fields via the Platte River Road - Mormon Trail, the Salt Lake - Los Angeles southern route, and the California coastline; and the second trip in 1858 ... a journey over the Santa Fe Trail, continuing on the Beale Wagon Road along the 35th parallel. In the course of their journeys, Peck and his wife Mercy witnessed many important nineteenth-century events, including the Gold Rush, the Mormon building of Salt Lake City, the Underground Railroad in Illinois, the buildup in New Mexico to the Civil War, etc. He describes his favorable relationship with Indians, the great herds of buffalo, cordial meetings with the great Ute chief Wakara, etc. He also describes how four young men traveling with his party stole some Indian ponies thus endangering them in the heart of the Navajo War, etc. As new, unread copy, without dust jacket, as issued.

Inventory Number: 43847