author
Washington Bailey
1831–1922
A Midwestern pioneer who turned a Gold Rush journey into a vivid firsthand memoir, he wrote about crossing the plains by ox train in 1853 and looking back on a changing America many decades later.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in October 1831 in Adams County, Ohio, Washington Bailey later moved with his family to Fountain County, Indiana. In 1853, he set out for California during the Gold Rush, and after returning in 1856 he settled in Cheney's Grove, later known as Saybrook, Illinois.
Bailey is remembered for A Trip to California in 1853, published in 1915. The book is a short memoir of his overland journey by ox train across the plains and mountains, written from the perspective of someone who had lived through the experience and then reflected on it as an older Illinois pioneer.
Available sources suggest he spent much of his later life in Illinois and died in Le Roy, Illinois, in January 1922. His writing stands out for its direct, personal window into westward travel, everyday hardship, and the memory of the Gold Rush era.