Volume 042-2 - April 1988 (8 pages)

BOOK REVIEW Merrill J. Mattes, Platte River Road Narratives. Urbana and Chicago; University of Illinois Press; 1988. From the early days of settlement on the Atlantic coast of America, settlers moved west in search of an independent existence on their own land. Around 1840, this migration reached the Missouri River and might have stopped there, for the land across the river did not look too promising for several reasons. However, some sturdy souls decided to risk the long journey, across the country to Oregon and, a little later, to California, following trails which had been used before by trappers and mountainmen. Since they were going to a foreign country (Mexico or territory, claimed by England), the path they followed became known as the Emigrant Trail, even after California and Oregon became American soil. The raw material for the history of the Emigrant Trail, over which thousands of people traveled, consists primarily of diaries and other writings of the emigrants themselves. Some of these have been published, others are available in public libraries in manuscript, still others are in private hands. For those who study the history of the Trail, it is important to know which material is available, where it is located and roughly what the contents are. The latter is important, since most students of the Trail are interested in specific aspects. For example, here in Nevada County we are mainly interested in the Truckee River Route. Although many general histories of the Trail have excellent bibliographies, these are only of limited value, since they do not specify the contents of the entries and, especially for manuscript material, do not give the location. Clearly, what is needed is a good, comprehensive bibliography of the Trail. Such bibliographies have been provided. G.R. Stewart in his The California Trail (1962) mentions a manuscript bibliography by Irene D. Paden, which he was allowed to use. Mrs. Paden, author of several important books on the Trail, certainly was in a position to provide a good one. And, since Stewart was a thorough researcher and does not mention an earlier bibliography, we may deduce that Mrs. Paden’s was the first one. It seems however that this bibliography was never printed; I have never seen a copy. The first bibliography I know of, was published by the Arthur H. Clark Company in 1984: Overland on the California Trail by Marlin L. Heckman. This book has 403 entries, arranged alphabetically by author and presents, besides the title, a brief summary of the journey; in the case of manuscript material a description and the location and, in the case of printed material, date, publisher and, if applicable references to reprints. A list of 20 bibliographical references belies what I have said above; these are however very limited, not general bibliographies. A second effort in The Trail, by Lannon W. Mintz, published in 1987 by the University of New Mexico Press. This book has 513 entries, besides 114 Red Herrings, that is, books of which the title suggests that they deal with the Trail, but actually do not. This book appears to list only printed material. It does not give details on the itinerary of the journey, but does give some comments on each entry. And it gives information on publishers and publishing dates. An interesting feature is that each entry has a code, indicating the approximate (catalog?) value of the book. These valuations seem to me to be somewhat on the high side. This feature, and the absence of manuscript material suggests that this book is aimed at book collectors, rather than researchers and scholars. This was the situation at the time the book of Mr. Mattes appeared. The above mentioned bibliographies have their merits, but yet leave much to be desired, especially from the researchers point of view. Mattes’ book is the answer to a maiden’s prayer. It contains no less than 2082 entries, arranged by the year the trip was taken and within the year, alphabetically by author. Mr. Mattes is one of the foremost students of the Emigrant Trail, becoming interested when he arrived in Nebraska in 1935 to become superintendent of the Scott’s Bluff National Monument in western Nebraska. He has (besides the present work) three books to his credit and numerous journal articles. One of his books is: The Great Platte River Road (1969) which discusses the first leg of the Emigrant Trail, which ran from various jumpoff places on the Missouri River to Fort Laramie in eastern Wyoming. In the preface to this work, Mr. Mattes states that he consulted some 700 diaries and related works for this book. He therefore had a good start for the work on the present volume, the title of which without doubt, was inspired by his work on the Platte River leg of the Trail. However, the bibliography treats the remainder of the Trail, with all its cut-offs and routes, with equal thoroughness. The material in this book is organized by the year in which the journey was undertaken and, within the year, alphabetically by author. Each entry has a code to show where the author found the item. Typically, a specific entry gives the title of the item under consideration, a brief summary of the route taken, some notes on interesting features of the entry and, in italics, some personal remarks by the author. Each entry is rated, according to interest, by one to five stars. The index to the volume is actually more than an index. There are six columns for each entry of which the last gives the location in the book. The first one gives the name of the traveler. The second one the year of the trip and the sex of the traveler, M or F. The next column gives the nature of the entry, diary, journal, letter or recollections and also the rating. The fourth column gives the place of departure and arrival. These data are given by state only. Finally, the , fifth column specifies at which place on theMissouri River the journey started. In this index we have, at a glance, some important information on the specific entry. The jump from a little more than 500 entries to more than 2000 is significant. This poses the question: “Do we now know all of them?” Of course not. I suspect that a systematic search in the eastern newspapers would yield a rich harvest. And who knows how many manuscript diaries and letters are still in private hands, the owners possibly not even realizing what they have! Therefore it would be desirable if, after some years, a supplement would be published. This bibliography is a monumental work. It is obvious that the author performed a gigantic amount of work to perform this task, and we congratulate him with his success. This book will for a long time be the Bible for all Trail Buffs, whether they are of the outdoor or the indoor kind. vdP. NEVADA COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY The Board of the Society for 1988 will be composed as follows: Presidents: + «e422 sages ve Gene Jones First Vice-President . . Priscilla van der Pas Second Vice-President . .Roman Rozynski Executive Secretary ...... Ed Tyson Recording Secretary ... Gayle Mayfield Membership Secretary . . Marilyn Dittmann Treasurer.. . cece eee eee Ben Becker Past President....... Pete Browne Directors, Grass Valley . .John Christensen, eee eT eeeee Art Karnesky, Ernie Jackson Directors, Nevada City.... Bob Austin, ai the tei i Dave Beesley, Madelyn Helling Directors, County at Large .Al Dittmann, ue Bae Leonard Berardi, Susan Wolbarst THE NCHS BULLETIN Administrative Office: Nevada County Historical Society P.O. Box 1300 Nevada City, California 95959 Subscription Fee: $10.00 per year Editorial Office: Peter W. van der Pas Pacific Library 212 Hill Street Grass Valley, California 95945

BOOK REVIEW Merrill J. Mattes, Platte River Road Narratives. Urbana and Chicago; University of Illinois Press; 1988. From the early days of settlement on the Atlantic coast of America, settlers moved west in search of an independent existence on their own land. Around 1840, this migration reached the Missouri River and might have stopped there, for the land across the river did not look too promising for several reasons. However, some sturdy souls decided to risk the long journey, across the country to Oregon and, a little later, to California, following trails which had been used before by trappers and mountainmen. Since they were going to a foreign country (Mexico or territory, claimed by England), the path they followed became known as the Emigrant Trail, even after California and Oregon became American soil. The raw material for the history of the Emigrant Trail, over which thousands of people traveled, consists primarily of diaries and other writings of the emigrants themselves. Some of these have been published, others are available in public libraries in manuscript, still others are in private hands. For those who study the history of the Trail, it is important to know which material is available, where it is located and roughly what the contents are. The latter is important, since most students of the Trail are interested in specific aspects. For example, here in Nevada County we are mainly interested in the Truckee River Route. Although many general histories of the Trail have excellent bibliographies, these are only of limited value, since they do not specify the contents of the entries and, especially for manuscript material, do not give the location. Clearly, what is needed is a good, comprehensive bibliography of the Trail. Such bibliographies have been provided. G.R. Stewart in his The California Trail (1962) mentions a manuscript bibliography by Irene D. Paden, which he was allowed to use. Mrs. Paden, author of several important books on the Trail, certainly was in a position to provide a good one. And, since Stewart was a thorough researcher and does not mention an earlier bibliography, we may deduce that Mrs. Paden’s was the first one. It seems however that this bibliography was never printed; I have never seen a copy. The first bibliography I know of, was published by the Arthur H. Clark Company in 1984: Overland on the California Trail by Marlin L. Heckman. This book has 403 entries, arranged alphabetically by author and presents, besides the title, a brief summary of the journey; in the case of manuscript material a description and the location and, in the case of printed material, date, publisher and, if applicable references to reprints. A list of 20 bibliographical references belies what I have said above; these are however very limited, not general bibliographies. A second effort in The Trail, by Lannon W. Mintz, published in 1987 by the University of New Mexico Press. This book has 513 entries, besides 114 Red Herrings, that is, books of which the title suggests that they deal with the Trail, but actually do not. This book appears to list only printed material. It does not give details on the itinerary of the journey, but does give some comments on each entry. And it gives information on publishers and publishing dates. An interesting feature is that each entry has a code, indicating the approximate (catalog?) value of the book. These valuations seem to me to be somewhat on the high side. This feature, and the absence of manuscript material suggests that this book is aimed at book collectors, rather than researchers and scholars. This was the situation at the time the book of Mr. Mattes appeared. The above mentioned bibliographies have their merits, but yet leave much to be desired, especially from the researchers point of view. Mattes’ book is the answer to a maiden’s prayer. It contains no less than 2082 entries, arranged by the year the trip was taken and within the year, alphabetically by author. Mr. Mattes is one of the foremost students of the Emigrant Trail, becoming interested when he arrived in Nebraska in 1935

to become superintendent of the Scott’s Bluff National Monument in western Nebraska. He has (besides the present work) three books to his credit and numerous journal articles. One of his books is: The Great Platte River Road (1969) which discusses the first leg of the Emigrant Trail, which ran from various jumpoff places on the Missouri River to Fort Laramie in eastern Wyoming. In the preface to this work, Mr. Mattes states that he consulted some 700 diaries and related works for this book. He therefore had a good start for the work on the present volume, the title of which without doubt, was inspired by his work on the Platte River leg of the Trail. However, the bibliography treats the remainder of the Trail, with all its cut-offs and routes, with equal thoroughness. The material in this book is organized by the year in which the journey was undertaken and, within the year, alphabetically by author. Each entry has a code to show where the author found the item. Typically, a specific entry gives the title of the item under consideration, a brief summary of the route taken, some notes on interesting features of the entry and, in italics, some personal remarks by the author. Each entry is rated, according to interest, by one to five stars. The index to the volume is actually more than an index. There are six columns for each entry of which the last gives the location in the book. The first one gives the name of the traveler. The second one the year of the trip and the sex of the traveler, M or F. The next column gives the nature of the entry, diary, journal, letter or recollections and also the rating. The fourth column gives the place of departure and arrival. These data are given by state only. Finally, the , fifth column specifies at which place on theMissouri River the journey started. In this index we have, at a glance, some important information on the specific entry. The jump from a little more than 500 entries to more than 2000 is significant. This poses the question: “Do we now know all of them?” Of course not. I suspect that a systematic search in the eastern newspapers would yield a rich harvest. And who knows how many manuscript diaries and letters are still in private hands, the owners possibly not even realizing what they have! Therefore it would be desirable if, after some years, a supplement would be published. This bibliography is a monumental work. It is obvious that the author performed a gigantic amount of work to perform this task, and we congratulate him with his success. This book will for a long time be the Bible for all Trail Buffs, whether they are of the outdoor or the indoor kind. vdP. NEVADA COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY The Board of the Society for 1988 will be composed as follows: Presidents: + «e422 sages ve Gene Jones First Vice-President . . Priscilla van der Pas Second Vice-President . ..Roman Rozynski Executive Secretary ........... Ed Tyson Recording Secretary ...... Gayle Mayfield Membership Secretary . . Marilyn Dittmann Treasurer... .. cece eee eee Ben Becker Past President.............. Pete Browne Directors, Grass Valley . .John Christensen, eee eT eeeee Art Karnesky, Ernie Jackson Directors, Nevada City....... Bob Austin, ai the tei i Dave Beesley, Madelyn Helling Directors, County at Large ..Al Dittmann, ue Bae Leonard Berardi, Susan Wolbarst THE NCHS BULLETIN Administrative Office: Nevada County Historical Society P.O. Box 1300 Nevada City, California 95959 Subscription Fee: $10.00 per year Editorial Office: Peter W. van der Pas Pacific Library 212 Hill Street Grass Valley, California 95945