294 THE ANNALS OF IOWA

Hunter's journal, skillfully edited by David P. Robrock, adds to our argonaut literature by recoimting travels along a lesser used path to the gold fields. This volume compares favorably with other recent gold rush journals, such as Charles Ross Parke's Dreams to Dust: A Diary of the California Gold Rush (1989). Htmter lucidly records such monotony-breaking events as the group's playful "hunting " of coyotes and gophers and discovering of the remains of a fellow argonaut who had been murdered by Mexican "bandittos. " Regrettably, one can only speculate about what ever became of Hunter in Calüfomia since the journal ends abruptly when its author enters southern California in December 1849. As the editor notes in the introduction. Hunter "fails to appear in California records " (xxi). Although we know little on the personal level about William W. Hunter, either before or after the gold rush, his journal makes a strong contribution to published argonaut writings nevertheless