Gold Seeker: Adventures of a Belgian Argonaut during the Gold Rush Years (Yale Western Americana Series) [Paperback]

Jean-Nicolas Perlot (Author), Professor Howard R. Lamar (Editor), Helen Harding Bretnor (Translator)

Book Description

Series: Yale Western Americana Series | Publication Date: November 10, 1998

In 1850, Jean-Nicolas Perlot, a 26-year-old Belgian, joined a French mining company bound for the gold fields of California. This book is Perlot's witty and informative account of his life in California and his subsequent career in the newly rich town of Portland, Oregon. 33 illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, French (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 451 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (November 10, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300076452
• ISBN-13: 978-0300076455
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,365,069 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Great Grandpa did us proud, November 25, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Gold Seeker: Adventures of a Belgian Argonaut during the Gold Rush Years (Yale Western Americana Series) (Hardcover)

Excellent review of my Great Great Grandfather's 20 years in America after leaving first Belgium and then Paris to seek his fortune with a company that upon arrival in Monterey, California was bankrupt. Being a self starter and not one to give up easily; he headed off to the gold fields on his own gathering other people as he went along. He gives an excellent account of the hardships and heartache suffered by not only himself but others who found themselves so far from home. It was either charge forward or give up and go to wherever it was you could afford to travel. It shows his compassion for his fellow man and also his ability to get along with the Indians and adapt to whatever the world threw at him You have to be proud of a guy like that. Eventually he married a cousin and brought her to the U.S. to live in Portland, Oregon but eventually they returned to Belgium where he whiled away his last years enjoying life and most probably thinking about the wonderful and exiting years of taking each day as it came; solving lifes problems and standing up for what he believed in; occasionally backing that up with his pistol and rifle. This is not a shoot em up story or anything of the sort; however, it does reflect what it was like to be on your own in a very difficult environment and time when only the strongest survived. Naturally, I am biased since the old fellow blazed a trail for the rest of us Perlot's----of which there are but a few.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars one of the best among a limited few, August 29, 2003

By 

Bill Krause (Yosemite Natl Pk, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gold Seeker: Adventures of a Belgian Argonaut during the Gold Rush Years (Yale Western Americana Series) (Paperback)

First-hand accounts of this time and place are very scarce...beside being rich in detail and easy to read, I have another reason for recommending this book. This summer I presented to Yosemite visitors (as a naturalist volunteer) a program on the Miwok of the Wawona (Yosemite National Park) and how nature shaped their culture. Perlot's journal on how he cam e to understand the Indians and appreciate their skills was so suited to what I was tring to convey, that for my visitors appreciation, I read a paragraph or two to them. A "thank you" to the Indians of this park who guided me.

5.0 out of 5 stars A must have for the Mariposa historian, November 2, 2011

By 

Lafayette H. Bunnell "Riso" (Yosemite Natl. Park) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gold Seeker: Adventures of a Belgian Argonaut during the Gold Rush Years (Yale Western Americana Series) (Paperback)

Perlot probably spent a night at my property, still known as Spencers Millsite. Owned by Bunnell and Spencer whom he makes reference to in the book.

Some of his references need field research, they are so detailed, perhaps one may locate his old cabin sites and trails from them. A fine piece of very readable writing, filled with fantastic details.