author
Sarah Raymond Herndon
1840–1914
Best known for a vivid firsthand account of the overland journey to Montana in 1865, this pioneer diarist writes with the immediacy of someone who truly lived the adventure. Her work offers a clear, personal window into frontier travel, early Virginia City, and life in the American West.
1 Audiobook
Days on the Road: Crossing the Plains in 1865
by Sarah Raymond Herndon
About the author
Born in 1840 and dying in 1914, Sarah Raymond Herndon is remembered for Days on the Road: Crossing the Plains in 1865, a memoir drawn from the journal she kept while traveling west by wagon train with her mother and brothers. That journey ended in Virginia City, Montana Territory, during the gold-rush era, and her writing has endured as a valuable firsthand account of the trip.
Archival records also describe her as an early teacher in Virginia City. After the overland journey, she married James M. Herndon in 1867 and remained an active figure in her community for many years.
Her appeal today comes from the plainspoken, observant quality of her writing. Rather than offering a grand legend of the frontier, she leaves readers with the human details of travel, hardship, faith, family life, and settlement in the West.