Martha of California: A Story of the California Trail
1913
Martha of California: A Story of the California Trail
1913
Martha Early is fifteen when her father decides to leave Pike County, Missouri for California, where gold glitters in the rivers and the land flows with milk and honey. Or so the stories claim. In the spring of 1850, Martha climbs into a wagon with her mother, her younger brothers, and everything her family owns, joining a caravan of dreamers headed west into the unknown. What follows is a grueling test of endurance: river crossings that swell with snowmelt, mountain passes that threaten to swallow the wagons whole, disease, death, and the endless, grinding labor of coaxing oxen across a thousand miles of wilderness. But Martha is made of sterner stuff than most. As the journey strips away everything comfortable and familiar, she discovers reserves of courage she never knew she had. This is the American West before it became a legend, seen through the clear eyes of a girl who refused to be left behind. James Otis wrote this book in 1913, but Martha's voice rings fresh and true across the century: defiant, scared, and unmistakably human.
