The discovery of gold at Sutter's Mills in California in 1848 caused thousands to give up their homes in the eastern states and head West. To avoid the Sierra Mountains, which in winter could be deadly, a party led by William Lewis Manly (1820-1903) attempted to follow a trail that took them through Death Valley. Manly's efforts to save the group are just part of his remarkable story, starting as a boy in New England and then Michigan and Wisconsin, having encounters with the Mormons, and being part of the expansion of America and the saga of California pioneer life with the demands of the mills and mines and the risks of illness and death.