author
Wm. Audley (William Audley) Maxwell
d. 1921
A Kentucky-born pioneer who crossed the plains to California in 1857, he later turned that journey into a vivid firsthand memoir. His writing preserves the practical hardships, small dramas, and everyday resilience of overland travel in the American West.
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
Born in 1835 and dying in 1921, William Audley Maxwell is remembered for Crossing the Plains, Days of '57, a firsthand account of emigrant travel to California by ox team. In the book, he looks back on a wagon journey that began in May 1857 with Sonoma County as its goal.
Maxwell wrote from long memory, turning personal experience into a clear, readable record of pioneer travel. The memoir follows a company of emigrants across rivers, plains, and difficult country, giving modern listeners a close view of what the trip demanded from ordinary families as well as seasoned travelers.
He later lived in Northern California, and the surviving record connects him with Ukiah and, at the end of his life, burial in Upper Lake, California. For audiobook listeners, his appeal lies in that direct eyewitness voice: practical, observant, and rooted in lived experience rather than legend.