The Prairie Traveler: The 1859 Handbook for Westbound Pioneers, by Randolph B. Marcy

[rachelmanija]

Exactly what it says on the tin: a breakdown of how to get to California if you’re a pioneer in 1859, written by a US Army captain who draws heavily on his own experience. Lively, readable, a fascinating insight into the attitudes and the often-wrong science of the time, and an excellent resource if you’re thinking of writing something set in the Old West or in a world with similar geography and technology. He covers everything: what kind of food won’t spoil, what to wear, how to get mules across a river, how to prevent your horses from stampeding, how to ride a cow, and what sort of gun will stop a grizzly bear.

Note that this is written by a white man in 1859 America, and he has typical white man in 1859 America attitudes. He calls Indians bloodthirsty, stupid, possibly not even human… and then swings right into an anecdote about an Indian he knows, one of the bravest men he’s ever met and generally awesome all-round. People have a remarkable ability to compartmentalize.

I was especially interested by the chapter on medicine, and the bits where he goes into great detail on theories of how disease is caused and spreads, and how to avoid it, often getting the right idea for the wrong reasons. Yes, it’s a bad idea to have a lot of people camping for ages in the same area, but not because of “exhalations” or the noxious effects of moisture in the air.

A little blue mass, quinine, opium, and some cathartic medicine, put up in doses for adults, will suffice for the medicine chest. Blue mass is mostly mercury. YIKES.

The Prairie Traveler: The 1859 Handbook for Westbound Pioneers (Dover Value Editions) (The free Kindle edition lacks maps and illustrations.)

Comments

[movingfinger]

This sounds WONDERFUL.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Fascinating--what a great resource!

I wonder what elements of our current medical treatment will have people going "yikes" in 150 years...

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Do you suppose "cathartic medicine" = "laxative"? (My guess is yes, because apparently opium can induce a need for it.)

[kateelliott.livejournal.com]

So so true about compartmentalization.

[coyotegoth.livejournal.com]

I seem to recall Gore Vidal's writing in lincoln that Lincoln used blue mass.

[jennifergale.livejournal.com]

The blue mass...wow.

[veejane.livejournal.com]

Ah ha ha this is awesome because I was totally convinced I'm the only person who's ever heard of the book. (I have a copy unread; actually, last I checked it was in my car.)

The funny part is how many people followed these books -- including several way less reputable, or by people with absolutely no stated qualifications -- religiously. The Army at least had wont to know; after the Donner Party, they set out patrols in the eastern Sierras to rescue the travelers who had just barely survived the desert crossing, and would die in the mountains. (Whether or not the mountains were impassable from snow; I've got a diary at home that details a woman whose party crossed the desert well before winter, but just ran out of luck, energy, and food.)

Quite a lot of people who went west seemed to have no idea how hard it would be to get there. Even educated, thoughtful people: the 1850s books are rife with stories of beloved pieces of furniture and gewgaws left behind halfway along the road, and farm girls hoping to marry a millionaire in California arriving gaunt and gray and wearing burlap.

[larryhammer]

This is indeed a wonderful first-hand resource. It inspired several plotbunnies, none of which I've had the time to trap and put to good use.

---L.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...did you get your Kindle version directly from Amazon? Project Gutenberg has free ebook versions in Kindle and ePub formats, both with or without images: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23066

Folks who just want to skim without downloading or buying hardcopy can also see the whole text and illustrations online here: http://www.kancoll.org/books/marcy/marcyilu.htm

[coraa.livejournal.com]

I knew mercury was used a lot in ancient and medieval medicine (the alchemist Paracelsus, aka Theophrastus von Hohenheim, used to smear it on people to attempt to cure various illnesses, and he was not alone), but I didn't know it was still being used so late. Interesting!

I am intrigued by the "how to ride a cow" reference.

[neery.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I'll have to read that immediately. One of my favorite books ever is about people trying to travel to California during that time, it'll be great to get some extra background.