Other Publications
The Oregon TrailIn researching the Oregon Trail, I used many books and online resources. I recommend the following books in particular:
Topographical Map of the Road from Missouri to Oregon, by Charles Preuss, John Frémont’s cartographer
The Oregon Trail, by Francis Parkman (1846) (the classic first-hand account of travel along the trail—if anyone doubts whether Mac would have made this journey for adventure, then read Parkman’s book)
The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey, by Rinker Buck (2015) (a first-hand account of traveling the trail by covered wagon in the 21st century)
Oregon Trail, by Ingvard H. Eide (1972) (excerpts from pioneer diaries describing points along the trail, accompanied by beautiful photographs)
Traveling the Oregon Trail, by Julie Fanselow (2nd ed. 2001) (a guide for travelers seeking to follow the trail by road today)
I also used Google Maps extensively to plot the route that the wagon company in Lead Me Home took, and I compared today’s geography with what emigrant and explorer diaries reported.
Gold Miners in California, Currier & Ives, c. 1871
There are also numerous books and online resources available on the California Gold Rush. The 19th-century accounts of the Gold Rush I relied on to research Now I’m Found included:
A Year of American Travel, by Jessie Benton Frémont (1878)
Report of the Debates in the Convention of California, on the Formation of the State Constitution, in September and October, 1849, by John Ross Browne (1850)
Hubert Howe Bancroft’s multi-volume History of California and History of Oregon
Newspapers of the period, which can be found online in the California Digital Newspaper Collection and Historic Oregon Newspapers
Many prospector diaries and letters
I also recommend the following recent books on the Gold Rush era:
The Age of Gold: The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream, by H.W. Brands (2002)
A Year of Mud and Gold: San Francisco in Letters and Diaries, 1849-1850, by William Benemann (Editor) (2003)
The California Gold Rush and the Coming of the Civil War, by Leonard L. Richards (2007)
A good portion of Safe Thus Far was based on the Official Report of the Owyhee Reconnaissance, by Lieut. Colonel C. S. Drew, 1st Oregon Cavalry.
I hope you’ll check out these books and websites, and please contact me if you have questions about what I’ve written or would like more information.