Death Valley in 1849: The Luck of the Gold Rush Emigrants, by John Southworth

“An intensely interesting and informative and unraveling of some of the mysteries of the legendary Death Valley ’49ers. Not content with parroting previous theories of Jayhawker, et al, trial retracings, Southworth’s findings are the result of years of on the scene searching. Notable is his iconoclastic shattering of the Towne Pass myth as the escape route from the 1849ers ill-named ‘valley of death’. An excellent addition to the library of historian or armchair reader delving into the fascinating story of the gold rush emigrants who blundered into Death Valley on their fateful ‘short cut’ to California’s Mother Lode.”