Recollections of a '49er (New Intro, Annotated)

Broken-hearted 20-year-old Edward Washington McIlhany (Mac) decided a way to heal his disappointment in love was to strike out west to the fabled 1849 gold strike in California. Leaving family and friends behind, with no assurance he'd ever see them again, he paid $300.00 to join a company formed for prospecting.

In his autobiography, written sixty years later, he tells of losing friends on the perilous trip across the plains, meeting Indians, gun fights, getting scurvy, and the wild frontie...