...on the 28th of April, 1852 my mother loaded all her worldly possessions, consisting of a stock of provisions and a camp outfit, into a canvas covered wagon drawn by four yoke of oxen; and with her little family of five boys, aged respectively three, five, nine, twins of eleven, one of whom was myself, and a girl of thirteen years, she bade goodbye to Michigan, and took up her march of two thousand eight hundred miles... Following her husband in his quest to quench his "gold fever," Elisha Brooks took her brood across the enormous expanse of the Western United States. Along the way they met hardship, saw great beauty, met with Indians, and finally made a home in California. During his lifetime, Brooks was a popular speaker on the topic of the westward expansion and he finally set the stories down in this book in 1922 for his grandchildren.