Up and Down California in 1860-1864: The Journal of William H. Brewer, Fourth Edition, with Maps (Paperback)

by William H. Brewer (Author), William Bright (Foreword) "I SHALL sail at noon tomorrow, and drop a line before starting..." (more)
Key Phrases: botanical box, bright camp fire, streaked with snow, San Francisco, Professor Whitney, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Like a trip in a time machine--intimate, vivid, and full of adventure and discoveries."--Tom Stienstra, San Francisco Chronicle -- Review

Product Description
In 1860 William Brewer, a young Yale-educated teacher of the natural sciences and a recent widower, eagerly accepted an offer from Josiah Whitney to assist in the first geological survey of the state of California. Brewer was not a geologist, but his training in agriculture and botany made him an invaluable member of the team. He traveled more than fourteen thousand miles in the four years he spent in California and spent much of his leisure time writing lively, detailed letters to his brother back East.

These warmly affectionate letters, presented here in their entirety, describe the new state in all its spectacular beauty and paint a vivid picture of California in the mid-nineteenth century. This fourth edition includes a new foreword by William Bright (1500 California Place Names) and a set of maps tracing Brewer's route.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 628 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 4 edition (February 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520238656
• ISBN-13: 978-0520238657
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #65,627 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful and moving book., January 19, 2000

By	William A. Schaffer (Santa Cruz, California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Up and Down California in 1860-1864: The Journal of William H. Brewer (Library Reprint) (Paperback)

This book is a lot of things. First, it's a marvelous description of what unmapped California was like--when Los Angeles had 4,000 inhabitants, and shootings every Saturday night. The physical descriptions of the state are very interesting. But it's also a sort of social record; Brewer stayed with families on his travels, and the description of life on these isolated homesteads is absorbing. Up and Down California is also, of course, an adventure story. Brewer and his companions traveled for four years, on foot, by horse, mule and steamer, throughout a vast and wild territory, sleeping outdoors in fine weather and foul. As I recall, the only time during this period when he was ill was when he spent a couple of nights in a hotel room! Last, the book is very moving; Brewer joined the California survey because of the death of his young wife and child in New England. The book is a compilation of his letters home to his family. After the survey was over he returned to Connecticut and had a very useful career in the new field of public health, as teacher and administrator. He was an honest man, a good writer, and dedicated public servant. The book is highly enjoyable, and it's not necessary to be a California to appreciate it!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All Californians should read this book., December 9, 1998

By	Robbie Lamons [e-mail] (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Up and Down California in 1860-1864: The Journal of William H. Brewer (Library Reprint) (Paperback)

Brewer was working for the Whitney survey of California's resources. The gold rush had slowed down, but excitment about finding new resources in California was at a fever pitch. I read the parts about New Almaden and New Idria first, because I am working at the New Almaden Quicksilver Mining Museum. Brewer's journals give very clear and interesting pictures of the mining towns at that time. Mary Halleck Foote's (Susan Ward's) letters of ten years later in "Angle of Repose" by Wallace Stegner, show a very similar picture . Brewer was a curious, brave and nice guy, so he had no trouble going wherever he wanted to go. All Californians should read this book.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Riveting Glimpse of the California That Was, November 30, 2006

By	Kurt Harding "bon vivant" (Boerne TX) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I bought this book last summer in Lee Vining CA while on a trip through the Eastern Sierra and after reading it found myself looking at California with new eyes.
One reviewer said that even those who are not Californians will enjoy this book. True enough, but I think that the reader who has a detailed knowledge of the geography of the state will come away from Up And Down California In 1860-1864 with a much greater appreciation for Brewer's accomplishments. I know California very well, and as I read along, I could picture nearly every place Brewer described in my mind's eye because I had been at those places myself.
This book is a riveting and thoroughly absorbing glimpse of the California that was. Brewer's style is informative, entertaining, and not bogged down by political correctness. He calls things as he sees them and gives the reader not only a physical description of his journeys with all their pleasures and hardships, but also a good look at the way people lived and rubbed along with one another in what was then a brave new world. His journeys covered most of the state save the Mojave/Colorado deserts, the San Diego area, the extreme Northeast, and the area between what is now Healdsburg and Eureka. Some of the places he does go are remote still today, such as the area of the New Idria mines in present San Benito County and the still wild Southern Sierra along the upper reaches of the Kern River.
I recommend Brewer's journal to all who have an abiding love for the diverse state that is California. After reading it, you will see the state with new eyes every time you take a road trip along its byways.