Death Valley in 1849

Qualified as one of the more important and reliable presentations of Death Valley’s fascinating history. The author is a capable writer and the material he has assembled is carefully researched and its substance is factually reported. Moreover, this source material is vividly and entertainingly presented. By a most conservative appraisal, Death Valley in 1849 ranks as one of this desert’s outstanding books. An intensely interesting and informative unraveling of some of the mysteries of the legendary Death Valley 49ers. Not content with parroting previous theories of Jayhawker, et al, trail retracing’s, Southworth’s finding are the result of years of on the scene searching. Notable is his iconoclastic shattering of the Towne Pass myth as the escape route from the 1849ers ill-named ‘valley of the death’. An excellent addition to the library of historian or armchair reader delving into the fascinating story of the gold rush emigrants who blundered into Death Valley on their fateful ‘short cut’ to California’s Mother Lode.