author
Wm. Audley (William Audley) Maxwell
d. 1921
A pioneer memoirist with an eye for vivid detail, he turned an 1857 overland journey to California into a firsthand account of wagon travel, danger, and frontier life. His writing has lasting appeal for readers who enjoy personal history told by someone who lived it.
1 Audiobook
Crossing the Plains, Days of '57 A Narrative of Early Emigrant Travel to California by the Ox-team Method
by Wm. Audley (William Audley) Maxwell
About the author
Best known for Crossing the Plains, Days of '57, he wrote from lived experience rather than legend. The book was published in 1915 and presents an eyewitness narrative of early emigrant travel to California by ox-team, drawing on memories of the journey he made in 1857.
Available records identify him as William Audley Maxwell, often printed as Wm. Audley Maxwell, and indicate that he lived from 1835 to 1921. A memorial record places his death on December 23, 1921, and his burial in Upper Lake, California.
His work stands out for its plainspoken storytelling and its sense of immediacy. Instead of a distant historical survey, readers get a personal account of the hardships, landscapes, and human drama of westward travel in the American West.