California's Frontier NaturalistsUniversity of California Press, 2006 M03 2 - 499 pages 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 Pérouse 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 lost valuables, sketched flowers and landscapes, recorded comets and native languages. He weaves together the stories of their lives, their demanding fieldwork, their contributions to science, and their exciting adventures against the backdrop of California and world history. California's Frontier Naturalists covers all the major expeditions to California as well as individual and institutional explorations, introducing naturalists who accompanied boundary surveys, joined federal railroad parties, traveled with river topographical expeditions, accompanied troops involved with the Mexican War, and made up California’s own geological survey. Among these early naturalists are famous names—David Douglas, Thomas Nuttall, John Charles Fremont, William Brewer—as well as those who are less well-known, including Paolo Botta, Richard Hinds, and Sara Lemmon. |
Contents
1 | |
7 | |
Part Two The Early Peripatetic Naturalists | 111 |
Part Three The Overland Expeditions and Their Naturalists | 161 |
The 1850s Surveys | 235 |
Part Five The California Geological Survey | 307 |
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Common terms and phrases
Alta California American arrived Asa Gray Baird Bartlett beautiful became Bigelow birds botanical botanist Boundary Survey Brewer Cali California Academy California Geological Survey camp Captain Coast Colorado River Cooper Coulter Creek desert Douglas east Edward Lee Greene Emory encountered Engelmann excursion expedition exploration feet finally flowers foothills fornia Fort Yuma Frémont Gambel garden geologist Hartweg Heermann herbarium Indians Islands John Charles Frémont John Torrey Lake later LeConte Lemmon Lick Lieutenant Menzies Mexico miles Mission San Mohave Monterey mountains mules named natural history naturalist northwest Nuttall October Pacific Railroad Surveys Parry Pass Pine plant collections Professor ranch returned rocky route Sacramento San Diego San Francisco Bay Santa Barbara Sciences scientific ship Sierra Nevada southern species specimens survey party Tejon Tejon Pass Thomas Nuttall Thurber topographical traveled trees trip Valley Vancouver wagon West western Whipple Whitney William William Gambel wrote Yosemite Yuma