Research Catalog

Title

The Bidwell-Bartleson party : 1841 California emigrant adventure : the documents and memoirs of the Overland pioneers / edited and with an introduction by Doyce B. Nunis, Jr.

Publication

Santa Cruz, Calif. : Western Tanager Press, 1991.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Nunis, Doyce B. (Doyce Blackman), 1924-2011
• Nunis, Doyce B. (Doyce Blackman), 1924-2011.

Description

x, 294 p. : ill., maps; 26 cm.

Summary

• A determined party of men and women, including a Methodist minister and a group of Jesuit missionaries and their mountaineer guide, set out for the West Coast in 1841. Crossing the Kansas territory and the length of Nebraska and Wyoming, they encountered a tornado and hailstorm, Native Americans, stampeding buffalo and difficult river crossings. Their journey took them through the pristine landscape of the plains and over the Rockies. In southern Idaho, the missionary.
• Party and their guide left the California-bound settlers. Thirty-four undaunted adventurers persisted, often without water, between the bleak salt flats and the trackless mountains, pushing late in the season into the Sierras. They survived on the last of their pack animals and even a coyote for food. The party, including Nancy Kelsey, the first white woman to cross the Sierra Nevada mountains, straggled into the San Joaquin Valley on October 30, after six arduous months.
• On the trail. Gathered here for the first time are all known first-hand accounts of this historically significant expedition. Rich with the enthusiasm and bias of their time, these personal narratives fully document their route and capture the poignant details of their adventure.

Subject

• Bidwell, John, 1819-1900
• Bartleson, John, 1786-1848
• To 1848
• Overland journeys to the Pacific > Sources
• Pioneers > California > Correspondence
• Pioneers > California > Diaries
• California > Description and travel > Sources
• West (U.S.) > Description and travel > Sources
• West (U.S.) > History > To 1848 > Sources

Genre/Form

• History
• Diaries
• Records and correspondence
• Sources

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 281-287) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Ch. 1. A Journey to California, 1841: The Journal Account / John Bidwell -- Ch. 2. California 1841: An Immigrant's Recollections of a Trip Across the Plains / John Bidwell -- Ch. 3. The First Emigrant Train to California / John Bidwell -- Ch. 4. Statement of Historical Facts of California / Josiah Belden -- Ch. 5. Letter of Josiah Belden to His Sister, Mrs. Eliza M. Bowers -- Ch. 6. A Visit to California in Early Times / J.B. Chiles -- Ch. 7. Narrative of Nicholas "Cheyenne" Dawson: Overland to California in 1841 -- Ch. 8. Narrative of Charles Hopper, a California Pioneer of 1841 -- Ch. 9. The Two Diaries of James John -- Ch. 10. The Recollection of Nancy Kelsey -- Ch. 11. An 1856 Letter by James P. Springer -- Ch. 12. The Recollection of Robert H. Thomes -- Ch. 13. Extracts from Three Letters by Pierre Jean De Smet to His Superior -- Ch. 14. Narrative of the Rockies / Gregory Mengarini -- Ch. 15. Historical Notes / Nicholas Point -- Ch. 16. Narrative of a Tour from the State of Indiana to the Oregon Territory in the Years 1841-2 / Joseph Williams -- Appendix A The 1841 Overland Caravan: A Census Summary -- Appendix B Biographical Sketches of the 1841 California Overland Pioneers -- Appendix C Miscellaneous Documents.

ISBN

0934136327 (alk. paper)

LCCN

^^^88051900^

OCLC

• 25700506
• SCSB-11870385

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library