Browne takes a journey through the new territory during the late part of the civil war when settlers were having some of the worst troubles with the Apache nation and troops were busy in the east. Taken from the original serialization in 1864 and 65, Browne introduces the old west through the eyes of a contemporary traveler, complete with the prevailing thought of day. This is a journey worth taking to understand the life and times and thought of mid nineteenth century Arizona and America.

IN THE SUMMER OF 1849 there was in California one J. Ross Browne representing the United States Postal Service. In the course of his official duties he made a trip by “mulepower and footpower” from San Francisco to San Luis Obispo. The tale of this trip is authentic, unusual Californiana: the narrative combines the outlandish happenings of the journey—including a brush with outlaws, and a death battle between a bull and a huge bear—with a reporter’s penetrative observation on the rugged life in California a century ago. A Dangerous Journey was first published as two articles in Harper’s Monthly for May and June, 1862. It was reissued in 1864 as a compilation, Crusoe’s Island: A Ramble in the Footsteps of Alexander Selkirk with Sketches of Adventure in California and Washoe. This edition was first published in 1950.