Of the journals written by participants in the great western migration to California during the Gold Rush, few there are that have not seen publication. Occasionally out of some dim attic or some forgotten trunk emerges another thrilling account by those prairie travelers who penned their daily experiences through this great adventure by the flickering light of the campfire. Again a voice speaks to us from out of the past, and one more classic is added to our knowledge of those days. 

PRAIRIE SCHOONER LADY is another such "find"—the amazing first-hand account of the Ward family's journey across the plains in 1853, from Wisconsin to Indian Valley, California, written by the brave and intelligent mother and wife of the family, Harriet Sherrill Ward.

For 100 years this journal has been in possession of the Ward family. And, because it was penned on the actual scene, by an educated and lucid writer, who both observed and evaluated, it will stand among the best of the literature that has come down from those stirring times.

Harriet Sherrill Ward was sensitive to the things she observed daily about her. The notations she made in her large ledger-type notebook were not the usual trite observations of most travelers as to weather, dust, and monotony of the trail. Everything her keen eyes saw had meaning—the people she met, the Indians the train constantly flirted with, the oddity and industry of the Mormons, the shattering beauty of the nights and days on the prairies, the savagery of the storms, and the breathtaking wonder and beauty of the landscape past which they toiled. 

The exceptional quality and power of her journal proves her a writer who was gifted far above the average narrator of the plains. She was a gallant lady. And recognition will most certainly follow publication of this forgotten treasure.

From the dust jacket