Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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.

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.

I thought the book was a hard cover for 28 dollars. I didn't read your add close enough. I was disappointed to find the price on the paperback was 18 dollars. That makes your post free offer a bust. There were many offers for this book. Next time I will try a better offer.

Written in a "natural" fashion, this book is part of American history from a most objective point of view. It's amazing how Perlot was able to record his adventures in vivid detail.