Sierra

by Richard S. Wheeler

Two unlikely adventurers are snared by the promise of wealth in the streams and foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Ulysses McQueen leaves his pregnant wife, Susannah, on their Iowa farm to follow the arduous trails to the gold country. He escapes his domineering father and the responsibilities of marriage, but becomes entrapped by other the perils of the journey, the hopelessness of his quest, and the guilt and loneliness he feels for the girl he left behind.
Meantime, the New York cooper's apprentice Stephen Jarvis is discharged from the army in Monterey. On his way north to find work at John A. Sutter's fort on the Sacramento River, he falls in love with Rita Concepcion Estrada. Her prominent family's hatred for the conquering Yanquis stands unyieldingly between her and her beloved Americano.
Wheeler weaves a harrowing account of the horrors and untrammeled beauty of the overland trails to California. He re-creates meticulously life - and death - in the wildly isolated gold camps, in the raucous new city of San Francisco, and in the fever jungles of Panama, where those Forty-Niners taking the sea route to the goldfields must slash their way to the Pacific and to the ships that will take them to California.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Westerns

Hardcover

First published September 1, 1996

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

There are other authors with this name. One writes Marine Corps history. Another, Civil War history. Another writes in the political sciences.

Richard S. (Shaw) Wheeler was born in Milwaukee in 1935 and grew up in nearby Wauwatosa.

Reviews

[Benjamin Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richard S. Wheeler was one of the great writers of historical western novels. He authored more than 80 titles — westerns, novels of historical fiction, even some detective novels. The Western Writers of America honored him with six Spur Awards, the 2001 Owen Wister Award for lifetime achievement and a 2015 induction into its Hall of Fame. He has been my go-to author for reading about the real West, as opposed to the mythic West. His stories, especially his later stories, are about people making a living and living a real life in the West.

This novel is a perfect example of that approach. The California Gold Rush began in 1848 with the real deluge beginning in ’49. Gold fever affected many people in a variety of ways, but it always affected them with deep passion. Here, we follow two different men who approached the gold fields differently. In 1847, Stephen Jarvis, lately discharged from the US Army after the Mexican war, stumbles upon the very beginnings of the gold find but intuitively realizes the best way to make his fortune is by supplying tools and equipment and other items to the miners themselves. His entrepreneurial spirit triumphs. Meanwhile, Ulysses McQueen, a farmer in Ohio doesn’t make his move until 1849, choosing to leave his farm and young pregnant wife and set out across the country to seek his fortune. He’s a hard-working man, but the world seems arrayed against him as he struggles to survive.

It’s a tale of two disparate men and how they approach their lives. But this is also a tale of two love stories for each of these men are driven by what awaits them. Their stories are emotional and moving and the book definitely kept me turning the pages.

Highly recommended for fans of the Gold Rush or of American historical fiction in general.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A much better book than I was expecting considering how hard it was to find. I was hooked right from the very beginning, but I was sometimes bored by the sections that take place on the overland trail. I feel those could have been cut way down and nothing important would have been lost. However, the scenes in early California are simply to die for. So many books about this time period take place almost exclusively in San Francisco or in the gold camps, but this book went all over the place: SF, Monterey, Sacramento, Stockton, Sonoma, Carmel, Salinas, Chico, and all up and down the west side of the Sierras. It was so refreshing and I can't wait to read every single other book this author has ever written. I'm a fan for life!

[Jan Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Good the Bad and the GOLD.

A California Treasure! Living in California gold country has made this story even more interesting - and more so on my second reading. Richard Wheeler does an excellent job of showing the different sides of the human spirit. While I was so frustrated with one character and impressed by another they all work together to spin a wonderful picture of this time and place in our history.

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[Chrisl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have read many of Mr Wheeler books. This is my favorite. Glad he has a Spur to his credit.

copied and pasted from "KIRKUS REVIEW

� With varying results, two young men seek their fortunes in California after America's successful war against Mexico--in another solid historical from the prolific Wheeler (Cashbox, l994, etc.). When, in the spring of 1849, Ulysses McQueen (not yet 21) leaves his Iowa farm and pregnant wife Susannah to hunt for gold in faraway California, he endures a series of soul-testing hardships on the unsparing overland route to El Dorado. Robbed of his mules and gear by marauding Indians, menaced by brigands and disease, he still presses on. Meantime, Stephen Jarvis, an ex-Army officer, decides to try his luck on the West Coast. Hired as casual labor by Johann August Sutter, he's on site when gold is discovered near a sawmill being built by the Swiss ÇmigrÇ. Stephen soon strikes it rich and uses his new wealth to start retailing scarce tools and other goods to eager prospectors, yearning all the while for Rita Concepcion Estrada, a like-minded but well-born Mexican girl whose proud Catholic family wants no part of a Protestant Yanqui. As Stephen is making a name for himself among the merchant princes of Sacramento and San Francisco, Ulysses finally reaches California. Failing to hit pay dirt, he makes a deal for land in the San Joaquin Valley with Stephen, who's interested in developing local sources of fresh vegetables. Unbeknownst to Ulysses, Susannah has arrived in California by way of Panama (a journey that cost their infant daughter her life). The two finally find each other in 1851 and resolve to make a fresh start by returning to their agricultural roots. And at the 11th hour, Stephen's Latin ladylove kicks over the traces and that new pair sail off to make a new life for themselves in South America. Absorbing and eventful, replete with authoritative details on the mortal risks, primitive conditions, and sometimes rich rewards awaiting those who joined the gold rush to California.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love historical fiction, and this novel satisfies and strengthens that love. Love is also a big part of this novel. Two men, under different circumstances and fate, work to make something of themselves in the gold rush of California, with love being a motivating factor. Through their toils and trials they come learn what love really means to them, and what matters most in life.

[Jeff Dickison · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent tale of how the California gold rush affects two couples. One is an Iowa farm couple, the other is a man from New York who is in love with a Mexican girl from Monterrey. Well done. Recommended to lovers of historical fiction.

[Rachel Horn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great novel about the California gold rush. All kinds of people were going west, some kind and honorable and some vicious. In this book, nice guys don't always finish last.

[Jeff Tankersley · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Sierra" (1996) is a Spur-winning epic adventure set during the 1849 California Gold Rush told from the perspectives of two central love connections, that of the young Ulysses McQueen who leaves his wife Susannah behind while he seeks his fortune, and that of the young star-crossed love interests American Stephen Jarvis and Mexican Rita Concepcion. Broad individual tales of adventure, solitude, and perseverance intersect with more familial tales of duty, prejudice, and responsibility, with personal morality touching them all.

Verdict: A lengthy but rewarding historical fiction for readers who enjoy romantic soap operas with heavy helpings of personal growth and discovery in an authentic historical setting. I usually hate these but "Sierra" isn't bad and I'm glad I read it.

Jeff's Rating: 3 / 5 (Good)
movie rating if made into a movie: PG-13

[Bob Hernandez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book Richard Wheeler is a great story teller. He characters are brought to life thru the book and the details he writes into the story are great. This book is like reading a John Steinbeck book the details are amazing in the storyline.

[Andy2302 · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first Richard Wheeler story. Thoroughly enjoyable. Vividly depicted scenes, believable story lines & likeable characters.

[Milo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another Wheeler great. Best account of the Gold Rush I've encountered.
A must read for historical fiction fans.

[Jeannine · Rating 4 out of 5]

His usual solid historical writing, with engaging characters, involving action, and the Gold Rush era brought to life.

[Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

The writing style is more old fashioned but I loved this book. All the characters were intriguing and their stories really draw you into this book. We have Ulysses, the Iowa farmer who wanted to leave the family farm (and his heavy-handed father) to try the gold fields, and Susanna, his newly pregnant bride that he left behind, who had to suffer under the unforgiving patriarch. Then we have Stephen Jarvis, the private who was mustered out of the military, who wanted to try his fortune in the territory of California. He left behind his hated apprenticeship as a 'cooper', but found the love of his life by accident. The focus of his armour is a Californio, Rita Concepcion, the daughter of a proud Mexican family of farmers who had been in the territory for a generation. The hardships people suffered on the trail and in the gold camps are terrible; the greed and murderous intent of some of the "forty-niners" is heartbreaking, yet there were really good men and women on the trail as well. I didn't know much about the "Californios" so that was a very interesting part of the book for me. I have always been fascinated by the frontier era and I think if you love history and the true stories of our American past, you will love this book.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

In some respects this book was very interesting. I learned a lot about the gold rush and how it effected people in the 1800's. It seems so crazy that people would leave their parents and sometimes spouses and know that they may never see them again in their lifetime. The book is kind of slow going and it seemed like once I had finally gotten interested in one character the author would switch to another character.

I did want to drop kick one of the main characters though. He leaves his wife to pan for gold and doesn't bother to contact her for over a year. She finally takes it upon herself to go and find him. Then, after she even loses her baby daughter to an illness on the trip to find him, she is able to forgive him once they are reunited. I don't think I would have been as forgiving. I also know I am not near tough enough to do what pioneer women did on a daily basis.

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Above all, this is a love story. You may not think so, considering how much of the novel is devoted to the gaining of wealth. But in the end, the effort to get rich turns out to be a dubious enterprise. The four young characters at the heart of the story learn that the love of another is more precious than gold.

Set in the years 1847-1851, during the time of the California gold rush, the novel has the scale and ambition of Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove. It uses a sliver of American history, portrayed vividly and in depth, to deal with down-to-earth human themes. And it’s easily an equal of McMurtry’s novel—often superior to it...

Read my review at my blog.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story follows 2 young men who go to the gold fields in California. One leaving his pregnant wife in Iowa and the other just getting leaving the military. Both wanting to get rich quick.

[Alan Bates · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book from start to finish. Totally engrossing.