The emigrants' guide to California : containing every point of information for the emigrant -- including routes, distances, water, grass, timber, crossing of rivers, passes, altitudes, with a large map of routes, and profile of country, &c., with full directions for testing and assaying gold and other ores

The California gold rush was one of the biggest news stories of the nineteenth century. The demand for information about California and how to get there was insatiable. Between 1848 and 1853, material on the overland trails flowed from printing presses like the proverbial gold from the hills. The author of this guide, Joseph Ware, never made the overland trip himself, but compiled information from various contemporary published sources, including the reports of John C. Fremon