Join Frank, Ellen, and the whole Davis family on their adventure west during the Gold Rush of 1849.
Clyde Robert Bulla follows ten-year-old Frank and eight-year-old Ellen as they leave Missouri behind in a covered wagon hitched to two mules. The narrative captures the daily hazards of pioneer travel as the wagon train crosses dusty prairies, meets friendly tribes, and builds rafts to navigate deep rivers.
In California, the chronicle depicts the hard reality of the goldfields in a bustling tent city, where miners stake claims along the stream with picks, shovels, and rocking cradles. The author introduces an elderly neighbour, Father John, who draws the children a pencil map to a quiet green valley hidden among the hills.
This exciting chronicle has the same appeal as Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books.