California's frontier naturalists

Description

This book chronicles the fascinating story of the enthusiastic, stalwart, and talented naturalists who were drawn to California's spectacular natural bounty over the decades from 1786, when the La Prouse Expedition arrived at Monterey, to the Death Valley expedition in 1890-91, the proclaimed "end" of the American frontier. Richard G. Beidleman's engaging and marvelously detailed narrative describes these botanists, zoologists, geologists, paleontologists, astronomers, and ethnologists as they camped under stars and faced blizzards, made discoveries and amassed collections, kept journals and.;Cover -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Preface -- Prelude -- Part One 183; The Oceanic Expeditions -- Part Two 183; The Early Peripatetic Naturalists -- Part Three 183; The Overland Expeditions and Their Naturalists -- Part Four 183; Iron Horses and River Steamers: The 1850s Surveys -- Part Five 183; The California Geological Survey -- Part Six 183; Institutions and Naturalists -- Part Seven 183; The Postwar Naturalists -- Postlude: The End of Californias Frontier -- Selected References -- Index. Cover -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Preface -- Prelude -- Part One 183 The Oceanic Expeditions -- Part Two 183 The Early Peripatetic Naturalists -- Part Three 183 The Overland Expeditions and Their Naturalists -- Part Four 183 Iron Horses and River Steamers: The 1850s Surveys -- Part Five 183 The California Geological Survey -- Part Six 183 Institutions and Naturalists -- Part Seven 183 The Postwar Naturalists -- Postlude: The End of Californias Frontier -- Selected References -- Index.