California Gold Rush Books from Bored Feet Press

Trails and Tales of Yosemite and the Central Sierra
A Guide for Hikers and History Buffs

Sharon Giacomazzi

Sharon Giacomazzi loves to tell history tales and she loves to hike. She combines these passions in an enthralling guide to the glorious Central Sierra, presenting more than 60 fun excursions.

My Checkered Life
Luzena Stanley Wilson in Early California

Fern Henry

This historic memoir is Luzena Stanley Wilson's classic account of her family's 1849 overland journey to California and their experiences there during and after the Gold Rush.

1500 California Place Names
Their Origin and Meaning

William Bright

This is the new “pocket” version of the classic California Place Names, first published in 1949. Erwin G. Gudde's monumental work has now been released in an expanded and updated edition by William Bright.

Sallie Fox
The Story of a Pioneer Girl

Dorothy Kupcha Leland, Illustrations by Diane Wilde

In 1858, twelve-year-old Sallie Fox and her family leave Iowa in a wagon train, dreaming of California. This true story offers a child’s-eye view of life on the Santa Fe Trail and Arizona’s Beale Wagon Road.

The Balloon Boy of San Francisco

Dorothy Kupcha Leland

Based on a true story and extensive research by the author, this book paints a colorful, evocative and accurate picture of daily life in San Francisco five years after the discovery of gold.

Searching for Joaquin
Myth, Murieta and History in California

Bruce Thornton

This fascinating, thought-provoking and ground-breaking book has so very much to offer—enough history and myth to enthrall any Californian —the great human influx and clash of cultures of the Gold Rush.

Bury My Bones in America
The Saga of a Chinese Family

Lani Ah Tye Farkas

One of the few published histories of a Chinese family in America, this book provides a rare glimpse of a chinese-american family, through the Gold Rush, Tong Wars, early San Francisco, the 1906 Earthquake, opium dens, and international diplomacy.

California
Its Gold and Its Inhabitants

Sir Henry Huntley

British nobelman Huntley spent most of his life in the New World. This is a reprint of his memoirs of travels and adventures in northern California during the Gold Rush, first published in the 19th century.

Patty Reed’s Doll:
The Story of the Donner Party

Rachel Laurgaard, Illustrations by Elizabeth Sykes Michaels

Skillfully pieced together from letters, journals, and memoirs of Donner Party survivors, the story of Patty Reed and her little wooden doll gives a good picture of the true life experiences of real pioneer children.

Little White Father
Redick McKee on the California Frontier

Ray Raphael

If U.S. Indian Agent Redick McKee had succeeded in his 1850s efforts, the bloodshed against Native Americans would have stopped and natives and immigrants might have lived in peace, leading to a more equitable multicultural society.

The Remarkable Carlo Gentile
Pioneer Italian Photographer

Cesare Marino

This book tells the intriguing story of Buffalo Bill's first Wild West Show photographer. The Italian photographer Carlo Gentile left his native land at age 21 and traveled around the world, landing in San Francisco in the 1850s.

Thirty Years Ago 1849-1879
Gold Rush Memories of a Daguerrotype Artist

George Dornin

A forty-niner and photographer spins his true life Gold Rush story. Edited by renowned photo historian Peter Palmquist.

Woodleaf Legacy
Story of a California Gold Rush Town

Rosemary Mossinger

This lively history, describes life in a small northern Sierra town. It begins with the native Maidu village, then documents the fur traders, the early mines, through years of resorts, stagecoaches and stage robbers, and lumbering.