The Gold Discovery Journal of Azariah Smith

by Smith, Azariah; Bigler, David L.

• ISBN13: 9780874212174
• ISBN10: 0874212170
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1996-10-01
• Publisher: Utah State Univ Pr

Summary

Azariah Smith wrote one of only two contemporary eyewitness accounts of the discovery of gold by John Marshall at Sutter's Mill, California, in January 1848. Smith, at eighteen a member of the Mormon Battalion, recorded the experiences of that far-traveling unit, including its march across Sonora to assist in the conquest of California during the Mexican War and its opening of wagon roads over the Sierra Nevada and Salt Lake Desert, which would be principal routes of the forty-niners. His journey, thoroughly introduced and annotated by David L. Bigler, past president of the Oregon-California Trails Association, is a compelling account of an average citizen experiencing the making of history.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Introduction	1	(10)
Chapter 1. By the Cimarron to Santa Fe, August 1-October 16, 1846	11	(26)
Chapter 2. Cooke's Wagon Road West, October 18, 1846-January 21, 1847	37	(32)
Chapter 3. California Occupied, January 22-Jully 20, 1847	69	(22)
Chapter 4. Gold at Sutter's Mill, July 28, 1847-June 22, 1848	91	(30)
Chapter 5. Trail to El Dorado, June 25-September 29, 1848	121	(26)
Epilogue	147	(6)
Index	153