"Walt and his team would have never known there was another trail if the bandits hadn't used it so much."
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The Los Cruces Trail by Frank Mann Trafford Publishing
book review by RJM Terrado
Few novels of historical fiction have California gold rush as a setting. For some reason, only a handful have had the courage to own and make the adventure-pack California gold rush a reservoir of creativity. Of the said few, The Los Cruces Trail is one of them.
Mann begins by introducing Walt, who works for Hartsville Gold and Quartz Company of California, and his difficult task of ending robberies of gold and quartz while on transient to Europe. Readers then are acquainted with the many adventures brought by Walt's dangerous and challenging duty, which ends as he quits his job. Mann explores the difficulties linked to California gold rush, including the need for gold-seekers to plan routes carefully and the method of transportation (wagons or pack mules). Additionally, he establishes that aside from careful planning, gold-seekers needed an enormous act of faith to set out into literally criminal-infested trails.
The strength of the book rests on the associated historical value of the California gold rush. However, the complexity of this period becomes apparent, as the novel struggles in transition from one event to another. It embodies the mixed feelings brought by the chaos and change that gripped much of the diverse American West. Nonetheless, it provides an appreciation, not only of the difficulties faced by gold-seekers, but also of the challenges of reconstructing their experiences. The author provides a document that opens a new field for investigation and analysis in the history of both the American West and California gold rush.