Azariah Smith wrote one of only two contemporary eyewitness accounts of the discovery of gold by John Marshall at Sutter's Mill, California, in January 1848. Smith, at eighteen a member of the Mormon Battalion, recorded the experiences of that far-traveling unit, including its march across Sonora to assist in the conquest of California during the Mexican War and its opening of wagon roads over the Sierra Nevada and Salt Lake Desert, which would be principal routes of the forty-niners. His journey, thoroughly introduced and ...
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Azariah Smith wrote one of only two contemporary eyewitness accounts of the discovery of gold by John Marshall at Sutter's Mill, California, in January 1848. Smith, at eighteen a member of the Mormon Battalion, recorded the experiences of that far-traveling unit, including its march across Sonora to assist in the conquest of California during the Mexican War and its opening of wagon roads over the Sierra Nevada and Salt Lake Desert, which would be principal routes of the forty-niners. His journey, thoroughly introduced and annotated by David L. Bigler, past president of the Oregon-California Trails Association, is a compelling account of an average citizen experiencing the making of history.
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