Grit and Gold : The Death Valley Jayhawkers of 1849

"The Death Valley Jayhawkers were a group of young gold seekers who blundered into Death Valley at Christmas 1849. They were an uncongealed group when they left western Illinois, although many had been friends at school in Galesburg, but while traveling along the Platte River Road toward the gold fields of California they held initiation rights that melded them into a jolly, but mutually supportive group of young men who saw their western trip as a spirited adventure. After leaving Salt Lake City to break a road south to the Pacific Coast that would eliminate crossing the snowy Sierra Nevada, they veered off the Old Spanish Trail in southern Utah to follow a old mountaineer's map portraying a bogus trail that claimed to cut months and hundreds of miles off their route to the gold country. Instead, as winter descended, they became totally lost in the mountains and dry valleys of southern Nevada and California and had to abandon everything but the shirts on their backs and the few oxen that became their pitiful meals on the hoof. This book weaves together the strands of their heroic, yet tragic story with the aid of William Lorton's superior 1894 diary of the trek from Illinois to southern Utah, the reminiscences of the Jayhawkers themselves, the keen memory of famed pioneer William Lewis Manly, and the almost daily diary of Sheldon Young (who became a Death Valley Jayhawker). It reveals the valor, determination, and guts characteristic of these early westerners; traits that have made America great. With adherence to accuracy and careful research, the author provides a lively but accurate true story of western grit, far more powerful than any fiction"--Provided by publisher.

No other Western settlement story is more famous than the Donner Party's ill-fated journey through the Sierra Nevada Mountains. But a few years later and several hundred miles south, another group faced a similar situation just as perilous. Scrupulously researched and documented, Grit and Gold tells the story of the Death Valley Jayhawkers of 1849 and the young men who traveled by wagon and foot from Iowa to the California gold rush. The Jayhawkers' journey took them through the then uncharted and unnamed hottest, driest, lowest spot in the continent—now aptly known as Death Valley.After leaving Salt Lake City to break a road south to the Pacific Coast that would eliminate crossing the snowy Sierra Nevada, the party veered off the Old Spanish Trail in southern Utah to follow a mountaineer's map portraying a bogus trail that claimed to cut months and hundreds of miles off their route to the gold country. With winter coming, however, they found themselves hopelessly lost in the mountains and dry valleys of southern Nevada and California. Abandoning everything but the shirts on their backs and the few oxen that became their pitiful meals, they turned their dreams of gold to hopes of survival.Utilizing William Lorton's 1849 diary of the trek from Illinois to southern Utah, the reminiscences of the Jayhawkers themselves, the keen memory of famed pioneer William Lewis Manly, and the almost daily diary of Sheldon Young, Johnson paints a lively but accurate portrait of guts, grit, and determination.

No other Western settlement story is more famous than the Donner Party's ill-fated journey through the Sierra Nevada Mountains. But a few years later and several hundred miles south, another group faced a similar situation just as perilous. Scrupulously researched and documented, Grit and Gold tells the story of the Death Valley Jayhawkers of 1849 and the young men who traveled by wagon and foot from Iowa to the California gold rush. The Jayhawkers' journey took them through the then uncharted and unnamed hottest, driest, lowest spot in the continent—now aptly known as Death Valley. After leaving Salt Lake City to break a road south to the Pacific Coast that would eliminate crossing the snowy Sierra Nevada, the party veered off the Old Spanish Trail in southern Utah to follow a mountaineer's map portraying a bogus trail that claimed to cut months and hundreds of miles off their route to the gold country. With winter coming, however, they found themselves hopelessly lost in the mountains and dry valleys of southern Nevada and California. Abandoning everything but the shirts on their backs and the few oxen that became their pitiful meals, they turned their dreams of gold to hopes of survival. Utilizing William Lorton's 1849 diary of the trek from Illinois to southern Utah, the reminiscences of the Jayhawkers themselves, the keen memory of famed pioneer William Lewis Manly, and the almost daily diary of Sheldon Young, Johnson paints a lively but accurate portrait of guts, grit, and determination. Cover Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Portraits -- Introduction -- 1. Jayhawker Beginning: Illinois to Council Bluffs -- 2. Missouri River to Salt Lake City -- 3. Great Salt Lake City to Mount Misery -- 4. Mount Misery -- 5. Mount Misery to Death Valley -- 6. Death Valley -- 7. Death Valley to Searles Valley -- 8. Searles Valley to Soledad Pass -- 9. Rancho San Francisco: Valley of Deliverance -- 10. An Incomplete Afterword -- Appendixes -- A. "Constitution and By-Laws of the Knox County Company, Illinois," Plus Roster of Company Names -- B. List of Death Valley '49er Names -- C. List of Reunions and Their Importance -- D. More Death Valley Myth Versus Fact -- E. Mount Misery to Coal Valley Playa Data -- F. Sources: Background -- Notes -- Works Cited -- About the Author -- Index