Rare Books
Rails above the plains
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The race of the rails
Rare Books
"Paul Barrow had a comfortable fortune, but he had earned it. When he found that money prevented him from being liked on his own merits he did what any normal American boy would like to do. The results were not quite what he expected. The story of Paul's adventures as a railroad builder in the wilderness does not neglect the fortunes of his brother Bob or of Captain Sam Martin"--Page [1].
644150
Crossing the Plains to California
Rare Books
Image contains thirteen vignettes depicting various locations emigrants passed as they crossed the plains (such as Chimney Rock, Castle Rock, Laramie Peak, etc.), Indians that emigrants encountered, and activities that emigrants engaged in as they crossed the plains. The image is torn on the right side and appears to have been cut along the top and bottom. "[Published by Hutchings & Rosenfield 146 Montgomery St. San Francisco. Printed by S. H. Wade. 151 Clay St.]"--text, below image (from Baird). Paper color: blue.
48052:163a
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Charles Hayward Brooks memoir
Manuscripts
This typescript of a memoir by Charles Brooks only contains six pages (presumably from a longer, more complete manuscript) that covers Brooks' time living in Placer County, including his father and uncle's experience with mining, the mercantile business, his remembrances of San Francisco, his journey back to Vermont, and later trips back to California.
mssHM 84068
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Jack London's dog
Rare Books
This is a fictional tale of Jack, the dog who was a real-life friend to Jack London during the 1897 Yukon Gold Rush and the model for Buck in his 1903 book, Call of the wild. This story imagines what might have happened when Jack was left behind by Jack London, and what adventures he might have had.
645621
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Meigs, Montgomery, 1847-1931. Letter to Montgomery Cunningham Meigs and Louisa Rodgers Meigs. Camp above Detroit Lake, Minn
Manuscripts
The majority of the collection consists of letters sent by Montgomery Meigs to his parents, Montgomery Cunningham Meigs and Louisa Rodgers Meigs, and his sister, Louisa Rodgers Meigs Forbes (known as Loulie), while he was working as a surveyor and engineer on the Northern Pacific Railroad in Minnesota and the Dakota and Montana Territories from 1870-1873. The correspondence begins in May 1870, when Meigs was traveling by rail to Minnesota by way of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and continues with his impressions of St. Paul and his visit to Saint Anthony Falls, including a description of an 1869 bridge collapse there. In June 1870 he accompanied a surveying party to the Old Crow Wing area, where he wrote of Ojibwa Indians, the particulars of running a railroad line, his hunting of prairie chickens, and conflicts between homesteaders and the railroad. In September Meigs went on an expedition through the Detroit Woods, running a line from the Oak Lake area toward Georgetown, Minnesota. During this time Meigs wrote of camp life and the progress of the railroad line, before he was sent back to St. Paul and later the new railroad headquarters in Brainerd. In April 1871 Meigs accompanied new chief engineer Thomas Lafayette Rosser to the Dakota Territory. Although they made some progress past Fort Rice, Meigs wrote that by June the threat of Sioux attacks had forced them to turn back. In the fall of 1871 Meigs went on the Whistler Expedition to the Yellowstone River, and in April 1872 he was made a resident engineer for the railroad line heading east. His letters frequently mention his difficulties with his new position, including his continual conflicts with the contractors and the slowness of his party's work (Meigs blamed a shortage of men and supplies for their lack of progress). By the end of May he was considering leaving the railroad, and in September 1872 wrote extensively of the Northern Pacific's ongoing economic and management issues. In a December 1872 letter sent from Fargo, Meigs wrote to his parents that "the N.P.R.R. appears to be hard up...[and] they have so disbanded the fine engineer corps we had and were so proud of that I scarcely care whether I stay or go." But in June 1873 Meigs still held his position, and was preparing to serve as chief of party for another Yellowstone Expedition, this one accompanied by the 7th Cavalry ("Custer's Cavalry...present a fine appearance on the march," Meigs wrote admiringly). In September they had established themselves at Camp Thorne in the Montana Territory, and Meigs' final letter of the trip, dated September 9, 1873, was written shortly after he had explored the Musselshell Valley. Meigs' next letter was written in August 1874, when he was in Rock Island, Illinois, waiting to go on an expedition up the Mississippi River. He had apparently left the railroad and was employed in making leisurely surveys to estimate the cost of deepening the channel. His final letter was written on May 17, 1875, and in it he wrote to his father that "I think I may someday work into the place of U.S. Civ. Engr." Individuals Meigs met, worked with, or wrote of throughout his correspondence include Walter Atwood Burleigh, George Washington Cass, Ignatius Donnelly, Thomas Lafayette Rosser, and General Ira Spaulding. Also included in the collection are original sketches made by Meigs during his expeditions; typescripts of his letters, some with extended accounts, made by Meigs in 1929; and miscellaneous Meigs family ephemera.
HM 78129.
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Cooking, on the plains
Manuscripts
The collection contains J. Goldsborough Bruff's oversize revised version of his journal (c. 1853) which documents his journey across the American plains in 1849 by way of Lassen's Trail. Also included in the collection are 264 drawings of scenes from his overland journey, of various places he visited in California, and of his sea voyage to the Eastern United States via Mexico and Panama. Many of Bruff's drawings are in pencil, but thirty-eight of them were drawn with pastels and are in color.
HM 8044 (17)