With Golden Visions Bright before Them: Trails to the Mining West, 1849–1852 by Will Bagley (review)

With Golden Visions Bright before Them deserves to be savored, preferably someplace comfortable where the reader can reflect on the rigors of overland travel in the nineteenth century while nestled in the lap of modern conveniences. Will Bagley’s easy, elegant prose and deep research make this an important contribution. Bagley calls this a character-driven history; he lets the voices of people who trekked overland to California at the height of the Gold Rush carry the narrative.

Ostensibly, Bagley tells the story of the trails to the California gold fields and how they proliferated in the peak years of gold fever. To Bagley’s great credit, his use of overlanders’ voices makes this a gripping human-interest story from page one. More than half the book (six of ten chapters and 248 of its 415 pages) covers 1849. Bagley devotes a chapter each to the evolution of the trails and emigrant experiences in each of the remaining years. In the final chapter, he discusses the significance of the wagon roads for the Gold Rush and the history of the American West.

Most of the book’s action happens off the Great Plains, which constituted drive-over country (precursor to today’s flyover country)—someplace to be endured en route to a more interesting destination. Still, some travelers commented on the beauty of the Platte River valley and, of course, celebrated the un-Plainness of landforms such as Chimney Rock. In 1851, a year notable for its dramatic decline in overland travel, Nebraska’s Elkhorn River appears as an example of why emigration declined. Exceptionally high rainfall took the Elkhorn to flood stage, which for three weeks made it an impassable barrier. One emigrant company, waiting for the flood to subside, lost two members to lightning strikes, another to drowning, and yet another to a gunshot accident. Whether traversing the Plains, South Pass, or the Sierra Nevada, Bagley’s easy, elegant prose and deep research make this an important contribution, and one worth savoring.

Bagley arrives at clear-eyed and conventional conclusions. The Gold Rush transformed the nation with a massive infusion of capital and spurred the development of the West. The overlanders, including Latter-day Saints, sinners, and all manner of folk in between, made great contributions and paid dearly, many with their lives. For the environment and American Indians, the Gold Rush and US westward expansion brought unmitigated disaster.

Bagley’s superb knowledge of archival material and expert eye for a good story make this book a compelling read. I came away with greater appreciation for the physical challenges of the trip and a heightened sense of gratitude that I did not have to make it.