They Saw the Elephant: Women in the California Gold Rush - Paperback

by Joann Levy (Author)

"The phrase 'seeing the elephant' symbolized for '49 gold rushers the exotic, the mythical, the once-in-a-lifetime adventure, unequaled anywhere else but in the journey to the promised land of fortune: California. Most western myths . . . generally depict an exclusively male gold rush. Levy's book debunks that myth. Here a variety of women travel, work, and write their way across the pages of western migrant history."-Choice

"One of the best and most comprehensive accounts of gold rush life to date" -San Francisco Chronicle

Back Jacket

Countless letters, diaries, and reminiscences survive to testify to their feelings and their achievements, to their experiences coping with adversity--and the freedom--they found at the frontier. In their own words they tell us how they laid another child to rest along the way encountered Indians, thirsted under the merciless desert sun, and stepped out of their burdensome layers of petticoats to do whatever needed to be done.