Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #618271 in Books
• Published on: 1992-09
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 265 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In the literature of the Gold Rush, women have been generally neglected. Freelance writer Levy here corrects that oversight with a colorful account of intrepid female argonauts--with and without men. She draws on letters, journals and reminiscences for a fresh view of western history. The women traveled overland, by ship round the Horn (one family survived three burning ships); they crossed the Isthmus of Panama by mule, and Nicaragua by steamship and mule. In California they ran boardinghouses, provided meals and laundry service for miners, and organized schools and churches. The cast of characters includes actresses and prostitutes, a stagecoach driver and ordinary women seeking to make a new home. Levy does for the Gold Rush what Lillian Schlissel did for the Plains emigrants in Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey . The book is a welcome addition to regional history as well as to women's studies. Illustrated.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
YA-- In this exciting and inspiring account of the women who helped settle California, Levy explores the leadership roles of those who contributed to the founding of businesses, towns, and mining camps. Photographs, letters, and diary accounts contribute to the realism of these adventures.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Not just another book about the California Gold Rush, this account of the over-looked "gold rushing women" makes a significant contribution to the scholarship of women's studies. Quoting from letters, diaries, and reminiscences, California native Levy skillfully weaves together the stories of two dozen women, re-creating the experience of thousands. Liberated from social restraints, the women Argonauts worked as "boarding house keepers and miners, missionaries and actresses, church builders and gamblers, school teachers and temperance speakers, even a Wells Fargo & Company stage driver." Devotees of Californiana will enjoy this adventure story. Scholars will value the extensive bibliography and the biographical postscripts.
- Virginia C. Parker, M.L.S., Logan, Ut.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

worth reading
I thought this book was extremely enjoyable. Women are often neglected in the historical narrative. So, it was nice to read a book that told the story of these women of the gold rush through their own words and through a colorful narrative by Jo Ann Levy. My only criticism is that minority women are rarely mentioned in this book, which gives an incomplete picture of the history of California women during the gold rush.

A little known history
In her book, They Saw the Elephant: Women in the California Gold Rush, Jo Ann Levy weaves letters and journal entries into a picture of the lives of women during the California gold rush.
Coming by covered wagons or ships these women wrote about their journeys' across mountains, deserts, oceans, and jungles. The excitement of an adventure and the beauty of the land was not the whole story however; misery and death joined them on their journey. Inadequate provisions, brutal storms and sickness were common themes. And once these women reached the promise land of San Francisco, the streets were not paved in gold as they dreamed, but littered with trash.
The belief that there were only prostitutes or actresses was also not true; many women ran boarding houses or mined for gold. Some left after the gold ran out, but many women stayed in the cities that they helped create.
Though this book it is not organized in to one story, it is an insight into the women who came to California during the gold rush. You will be amazed by their bravery as they left their comfortable lives and uprooted their families for adventures unknown.

Very much worth your time to read!
This book is great!
A person wouldn't even need to be interested in history of the gold rush days to thoroughly enjoy reading this book. I don't have alot of free time to read, so when I pick a book it has to be worth my while. This certainly was. And it's an easy book for reading a few pages at a time, like I do just before going to bed. I love how it organizes the accounts and groups the stories into chapters of a particular theme. Fascinating!