Oak Hill Public Library

Sierra

by Richard Wheeler

Book list Ulysses McQueen's life in 1846 Iowa seems fine: a productive farm, a lovely wife, kids, and comfort. But Ulysses wants gold not comfort. So he's off to California, leaving behind a pregnant wife. Stephen Jarvis, on the other hand, has the gold rush dumped in his lap. A native New Yorker, he musters out of the army in California with a few dollars in his pocket. What follows is a rich tale of two men, their lives, their dreams, and the settling of California. Wheeler, as he did in Goldfield , re-creates the American frontier in fascinating detail, populates it with engaging characters, and, in the process, manages to personalize the great period of western expansion. We experience the adventure of the gold rush, but we also feel its undertow: families left behind and never seen again, love lost, fortunes not made. A wonderfully multifaceted portrayal of pioneer life. (Reviewed Sept. 1, 1996)0312861850Wes Lukowsky

From Booklist, Copyright � American Library Association. Used with permission.

Kirkus With varying results, two young men seek their fortunes in California after America's successful war against Mexico--in another solid historical from the prolific Wheeler (Cashbox, l994, etc.). When, in the spring of 1849, Ulysses McQueen (not yet 21) leaves his Iowa farm and pregnant wife Susannah to hunt for gold in faraway California, he endures a series of soul-testing hardships on the unsparing overland route to El Dorado. Robbed of his mules and gear by marauding Indians, menaced by brigands and disease, he still presses on. Meantime, Stephen Jarvis, an ex-Army officer, decides to try his luck on the West Coast. Hired as casual labor by Johann August Sutter, he's on site when gold is discovered near a sawmill being built by the Swiss �migr�. Stephen soon strikes it rich and uses his new wealth to start retailing scarce tools and other goods to eager prospectors, yearning all the while for Rita Concepcion Estrada, a like-minded but well-born Mexican girl whose proud Catholic family wants no part of a Protestant Yanqui. As Stephen is making a name for himself among the merchant princes of Sacramento and San Francisco, Ulysses finally reaches California. Failing to hit pay dirt, he makes a deal for land in the San Joaquin Valley with Stephen, who's interested in developing local sources of fresh vegetables. Unbeknownst to Ulysses, Susannah has arrived in California by way of Panama (a journey that cost their infant daughter her life). The two finally find each other in 1851 and resolve to make a fresh start by returning to their agricultural roots. And at the 11th hour, Stephen's Latin ladylove kicks over the traces and that new pair sail off to make a new life for themselves in South America. Absorbing and eventful, replete with authoritative details on the mortal risks, primitive conditions, and sometimes rich rewards awaiting those who joined the gold rush to California.

Library Journal Ulysses McQueen leaves his wife on the family farm in Iowa to seek his fortune in the California gold rush just as Steven Jarvis is mustered out of the army in booming Monterey. After a grueling cross-country trek, McQueen sets about grubbing in the dust near Sutter's Mill, while Jarvis turns to the mercantile trade. McQueen pines for his wife but postpones writing her until his fortune is assured, while Jarvis becomes a workaholic after he is denied the love of his life. Their paths cross in the frenzy of gold fever as the destitute McQueen proposes farming on Jarvis's land to provide fresh produce for the starving miners. Love finds both men as well. Wheeler has a long list of novels of the West to his credit (e.g., Goldfield, Forge, 1995) and is a real master at capturing the history, atmosphere, and romance of 1850s California. This will appeal to readers of Westerns and general fiction alike. Recommended.?Susan Gene Clifford, Palos Verdes Library District, Cal. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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