Seeing the Eliphant

James White (1824-1863) of Gardiner, Maine, caught the California gold fever in 1850. Author Ken Martin, working from the colorful correspondence of both White and his wife, Rebecca (1831-1903), develops a tale of adventure that brings to life White's steamship travel via Panama and Nicaragua-including an early stint as first mate on the Pacific Mail Steamship Company's Gold Hunter, working in the lumber business with William Neely Thompson and "Honest Harry" Meiggs, operating with fabled financier William Ralston, and becoming president of the Comstock's hugely profitable Ophir Silver Mine. We are also witness to Rebecca's San Francisco travails, as she deals with childbirth, the raising of children, and the early loss of a husband. It is a fascinating narrative of Gold Rush times.