Overland In Forty-Nine. The Recollections Of A Wolverine Ranger After A Lapse Of Forty-Seven Years. Exclusively For My Family And Friends

OLIVER GOLDSMITH

Publication: Published by the author, 1896, Detroit

First edition. 12mo. Inked inscription by the author. Original quarter cloth and pictorial, printed boards, decorated front and rear endpapers, 148 pp., plus 9 full-page plates, frontispiece (author's portrait), illustrated chapter heads. Presentation copy. This is a rare account of an overland journey to California in 1849, printed in a small edition for private distribution by the author "exclusively for my family and friends." Goldsmith was a member of Michigan's "Wolverine Rangers" Gold Rush Company, made famous by the publication of the journal and letters of William Swain, who traveled with the Wolverine Rangers, as part of J. S. Holliday's popular book about the California Gold Rush and titled "The World Rushed In." Goldsmith was in his early twenties when he and the Rangers departed from Independence in the Spring of 1849 and followed the Platte River Road westward, encountering flooded rivers, cholera, Sioux Indians, alkali land, bad water, and Mormons trying to lure the argonauts to settle in Salt Lake City instead of continuing to California. He describes the apprehension of the deserters from Fort Kearny, and soldiers at Fort Laramie who had retaken the fort from fur traders just a few days earlier. Kurutz 279 says "Twenty-two year-old Oliver Goldsmith of Detroit joined the Wolverine Rangers, worked as a cook, and made it across the continent by way of the California Trail. He entered California via Lassen's Cutoff, rested at Lassen's Ranch, and began looking for gold on the north fork of the Feather River. He describes how he filled his tin drinking cup with rock and dirt, washed it out, and found gold at the bottom. Along with several Rangers, he worked the diggings at Morrissey's Gulch, suffered from scurvy, and found just enough gold to survive." After some time in the diggings, Goldsmith traveled to Sacramento and San Francisco, where he worked as a cook for $100.00 a month before returning to mining after the rainy season had passed. He eventually returned to Michigan. Mintz 181 says "This book is quite rare as it was printed exclusively for family and friends." Covers lightly soiled, two tiny old water stains and a small scrape to front cover, light wear to corners, else a very good copy of a rare item.

Inventory Number: 50405