The trek of James MacDonald

The author retraces the journey of his great grandfather, James MacDonald, who set out from Ohio for the California gold fields in 1850. The St. Joseph, Mo. to Sacramento, Calif. portion of the trip was retraced in 1986-1988, and documented with photographs of present day sites likely seen in 1850, accompanied by narrative and excerpts from original letters written by James MacDonald to his wife, Mary. The second section of the book contains a reprint of the collection of letters published under the same title by Edwin MacDonald Stanton (Iowa State College Press, 1951).