California Gold Rush Books from Bored Feet Press

Two Peoples, One Place
Humboldt History, Volume One

Ray Raphael & Freeman House

In this fascinating account by two acclaimed and accomplished authors, the reader views what happened when Euro-Americans and Native Americans competed for a place they both relished. This book details Humboldt's native peoples and their contact with the newcomers.

On the Road with Mark Twain in California and Nevada
New Revised Edition

George J. Williams III

This book details what is known of Twain’s years in the West, providing details of his stay in each of more than two dozen towns he lived in and visited. This book also tells visitors what they will find in these towns today.

The Donner Party
Weathering the Storm

Mark McLaughlin

This unique look at the 1846-47 winter of entrapment the Donner Party suffered in the snowbound Sierra Nevada focuses on the extremely harsh conditions of that long and legendary winter.

Mark Twain and the Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
Revised Edition

George J. Williams III

How Mark Twain's humorous frog story launched his legendary career. On a prospecting trip to Angel's Camp, Twain first heard the tales of the Jumping Frog of Calaveras County. Twain's version of the tale became an international success and launched his legendary career.

Mark Twain: His Life in Virginia City, Nevada
2nd Revised Edition

George J. Williams III

This well researched account of Clemens' twenty-one months as reporter for the Territorial Enterprise in Virginia City, Nevada was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize when it was first published in 1985.

Rosa May
The Search for a Mining Camp Legend

George Williams III

Rosa May worked as a prostitute and madam in the 1870s, 1880s and 1890s in towns of Virginia City, Carson City and Bodie. Rosa May died in Bodie while nursing sick miners. Despite her efforts to save lives, she was banished to Bodie's outcast cemetery.

A Fair Distance
Lois Boblett's Western Memoir, 1851-1922

L. Darlene Spargo

A Fair Distance is the richly detailed memoir of Lois Boblett (1844-1925). L. Darlene Spargo weaves meticulously researched historical details through Boblett's memoir. Boblett's words provide new insight into the roles women played in the Western Migration.

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.

California Gold
The Story of the Gold Rush

Phyllis Zauner

In this new reprint of this rowdy California Gold Rush account, originally published in 1980, Zauner captures the fury and color of the days of ‘49, and even ‘48. Using the letters of gold rush miners, diaries and newspaper accounts, this books reveals the crazy times of Gold Rush California, fueled by one of the largest human migrations the world has known. Zauner describes many California Gold Rush towns in their early days and some of what remains.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.