Customer Reviews

Death Valley to Yosemite: Frontier Mining Camps & Ghost Towns--The Men, The Women, Their Mines and Stories

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is great in presenting many fascinating and sometimes humorous facts about the old mining days of California and Nevada. The lengths both writers went to to confirm their stories is to be admired. However, is quite frustrating to read for the book flows awkwardly. Misplaced commas, typos, and a constant jumping from past to present in the same paragraph can slow down the reader's understanding. Some chapters have titles about certain characters, but do not offer a complete story or even center on that person. I would go on, but the rarity of the content makes the book worthwhile on its own.

This book puts together two of the most comprehensive writings on southern California ghost towns under one cover. Both L. Burr Belden and Mary DeDecker retell the stories that many of which were told to them by first hand citizens of mining towns of the late 19th century and early 20th century. The book is historically informative and holds the interest of this reader. I highly recommend the work, but due to its early publication,(both authors originally released their books in the 60's.) I do not recommend it as a guide to the modern day ghost town visitor. Nonetheless a great and interesting read.

As an officianado of Death Valley and the surrounding area, I found this book a really great read, and in fact I couldn't put it down! Lots of fascinating true history and tales packed into a nice package. Highly recommended!

Please make sure that you are sitting down while reading this one lest you may fall faint from the beauty that is enclosed within the confines of this book... be prepared. Has a brief history of mines and directions on how to get there. Enjoy.

This book is really a kick. The authors are well known among us interested in Death Valley lore. The editing of the book is excellent and the tips on checking out these old camps are very useful. This book was being sold all over Death Valley, so I suspect it's popularity indicates a lot of people agree with me!