It Is One Grand Rush For Gold: George E. Jewett's 1849 California Gold Rush Journal

In April of 1849 a group of settlers from Marion County Iowa pulled up roots and joined thousands of other Americans in traveling across the western American continent in the hope of staking a claim to newly found California gold. Very few had their dreams fulfilled. For George E. Jewett, who had left behind his wife and two young boys in the pursuit of his El Dorado, it meant never returning home, being divorced by his wife and starting a new life in California. What most distinguishes Jewett from the tens of thousands who made that long trek is that he kept a journal of his odyssey and it survived. With this publication that record is being made easily accessible to all who wish to read a first-hand account of those amazing gold rush emigrants of 1849. This book was revised in 2008.