Crossing the Plains, Days of 1857

Table of Contents

Diligent inquiry has failed to disclose the existence of an authentic and comprehensive narrative of a "pioneer" journey across the plains. With the exception of some improbable yarns and disconnected incidents relating to the earlier experiences, the subject has been treated mainly from the standpoint of people who traveled westward at a time when the real hardships and perils of the trip were much less than those encountered in the fifties.

A very large proportion of the people now residing in the Far West are descendants of emigrants who came by the precarious means afforded by ox-team conveyances. For some three-score years the younger generations have heard from the lips of their ancestors enough of that wonderful pilgrimage to create among them a widespread demand for a complete and typical narrative.

This story consists of facts, with the real names of the actors in the drama. The events, gay, grave and tragic, are according to indelible recollections of eye-witnesses, including those of  THE AUTHOR.

W. A. M.,
"Ukiah, California, 1915."

Table of Contents

Notes About Book:

Source: Crossing the Plains, Days of '57 A Narrative of Early Emigrant Travel to California by the Ox-team Method. Written by Wm Audley Maxwell. Published 1915, Sunset Publishing House, San Francisco, CA.

Online Publication: The manuscript was scanned and then ocr'd. Minimal editing has been done, and readers can and should expect some errors in the textual output.