Gold

The California rush of 1849 from the crossing of the Isthmus of Panama to the diggings, told by a man who had prospected and logged himself. White wrote the West as work rather than as legend, and the gold here is mostly mud and disappointment. This edition carries 57 plates of paintings by George Catlin, Thomas Moran, Seth Eastman and others, with three restored and coloured illustrations in the text.