We're on our way to California! I'm riding up high with Papa, and the wind is rocking the wagon. When I look back I can see a long line of wagons curling behind us like a snake in the dust.

Because of the harsh climate in Illinois, Cassie's family is heading west, where land is cheap and farming is easier. Here, Cassie describes the ups and downs of their journey, from crossing the swollen Platte River, to carving her initials in Independence Rock, to narrowly escaping a stampeding buffalo herd, to struggling over the rocky Sierra Nevadas.

Cassie's journey is a dramatic portrayal of a remarkable period in American history, when a quarter of a million people migrated westward across the continent in hopes of finding a better life.

From the dust jacket