Check nearby libraries
Buy this book
Edwin Bryant made the journey from Independence, Missouri to California in the years 1846-47, through the southern pass of the Rocky Mountains and across the desert.
As a medical student, he became an unofficial doctor along the way, and witnessed some gruesome scenes, like the amputation of a little boy’s gangrenous leg, which he describes in painful scientific detail. He is equally explicit when portraying the daily life of the wagon trip, and his prose illuminates the trials of the traveler: "During the process of cooking supper, it commenced raining and blowing with great violence. Our fire was nearly extinguished by the deluge of water from the clouds, and our dough was almost turned to batter..."
Bryant intended his work to function as both entertainment to the general reader and instruction for those planning to follow his path, and the book is a repository of useful information, like distances, weather, water source locations, and descriptions of plant life. As such, it is invaluable to enthusiasts of Western history.
It is also a really good story, with entertaining sketches of camp life, Indians, and animals. Bryant’s descriptions of the landscapes are particularly compelling: "The vast prairie itself soon opened before us in all its grandeur and beauty...The view of the illimitable succession of green undulations and flowery slopes, of every gentle and graceful configuration, stretching away and away, until they fade from the sight in the dim distance, creates a wild and scarcely controllable ecstasy of admiration."
The variety of Bryant’s adventures is striking – in one day he is present at a death, a wedding, a funeral, and a birth. He is often nearly overwhelmed by the functions of nature going on around him, and is particularly moved by the continuous presence of death: "One of our party who left the train to hunt through the valley, brought into camp this evening a human skull. He stated that the place where he found it was whitened with human bones. Doubtless this spot was the scene of some Indian massacre, or a battle-field where hostile tribes had met and destroyed each other. I could learn no explanatory tradition; but the tragedy, whatever its occasion, occurred many years ago."
What I Saw in California is the classic yet remarkable adventure of a young man heading west, well-written and full of historically useful information.
Check nearby libraries
Buy this book
Previews available in: English
Edition | Availability |
---|---|
01
What I Saw in California
January 30, 2007, BiblioBazaar
Paperback
in English
1426465580 9781426465581
|
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
02 |
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
03 |
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
04
What I Saw in California (Large Print Edition)
January 30, 2007, BiblioBazaar
Paperback
in English
142646617X 9781426466175
|
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
05
What I Saw in California
May 30, 2006, IndyPublish.com
Hardcover
in English
1421978628 9781421978628
|
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
06
What I Saw in California
May 30, 2006, IndyPublish.com
Paperback
in English
1421978644 9781421978642
|
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
07 |
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
08
What I Saw In California
February 28, 2005, IndyPublish.com
Paperback
in English
141424052X 9781414240527
|
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
09
What I Saw In California
February 28, 2005, IndyPublish.com
Hardcover
in English
1414240511 9781414240510
|
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
10
What I Saw in California: By Wagon from Missouri to California in 1847-48
July 1, 2001, The Narrative Press
Paperback
in English
1589761189 9781589761186
|
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
11
What I Saw in California
2001, The Narrative Press
Electronic resource
in English
158976188X 9781589761889
|
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
12 |
cccc
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
13
What I saw in California: being the journal of a tour, by the emigrant route and South Pass of the Rocky Mountains, across the continent of North America, the great desert basin, and through California, in the years, 1846-1847.
1970, D. Appleton
Microform
in English
- 7th ed. With an appendix, containing accounts of the gold mines, various routes, outfit, etc., etc.
|
zzzz
|
14
What I saw in California: being the journal of a tour, by the emigrant route and South Pass of the Rocky Mountains, across the continent of North America, the great desert basin, and through California, in the years, 1846-1847.
1970, D. Appleton
Microform
in English
- 7th ed. With an appendix, containing accounts of the gold mines, various routes, outfit, etc., etc.
|
zzzz
|
15 |
zzzz
|
16 |
zzzz
|
17 |
zzzz
|
18 |
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
19
What I Saw in California: being the journal of a tour by the emigrant route and south pass of the Rocky Mountains, across the continent of North America, the great desert basin, and through California in the years 1846-1847
1849, D. Appleton & Co.
in English
- 4th. ed. with an appendix containing accounts of the gold mines, various routes, outfit, etc., etc.
|
aaaa
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
20
What I saw in California: its soil, climate, productions, and gold mines, with routes, and advice to intending emigrants
1849, G. Routledge and Co.
in English
- 2nd ed., with a map.
|
zzzz
|
21
What I saw in California: being the journal of a tour, by the emigrant route and South Pass of the Rocky Mountains, across the continent of North America, the great desert basin, and through California, in the years, 1846-1847.
1849, D. Appleton
Microform
in English
- 7th ed. With an appendix, containing accounts of the gold mines, various routes, outfit, etc., etc.
|
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
22
What I saw in California: being the journal of a tour, by the emigrant route and South pass of the Rocky mountains, across the continent of North America, the great desert basin, and through California, in the years, 1846-1847.
1849, D. Appleton
in English
- 6th ed. With an appendix, containing accounts of the gold mines, various routes, outfit, etc., etc.
|
zzzz
|
23 |
zzzz
|
24 |
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
25
What I saw in California: being the journal of a tour
1848, D. Appleton & Company, G.S. Appleton
in English
|
zzzz
|
26 |
zzzz
|
27 |
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
28 |
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
Book Details
Table of Contents
Edition Notes
Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress Web site.
Wagner-Camp (4th ed.) 146:5
Classifications
The Physical Object
ID Numbers
Community Reviews (0)
Feedback?History
- Created April 1, 2008
- 12 revisions
Wikipedia citation
×CloseCopy and paste this code into your Wikipedia page. Need help?
September 27, 2020 | Edited by MARC Bot | import existing book |
September 30, 2011 | Edited by ImportBot | import new book |
September 13, 2011 | Edited by mikemccabe | tocbot fixup |
September 9, 2011 | Edited by ToCb0t | Adding Table of Contents |
April 1, 2008 | Created by an anonymous user | Imported from Scriblio MARC record |