"Classic account, by a survivor, of dire sufferings endured by an emigrant party on a short-cut from Salt Lake City to California through the valley called ever after by this fearful name" - Howes. Zamorano notes that "Manly and a companion... were the heroes of the party. They escaped from the valley, reached San Fernando, and returned with food and relief for the suffering emigrants," and Edwards proclaims that "not only is Manly historically sound, but the tenor of his narrative guarantees a quickening of the reader's interest with each successive page." Kurutz adds that in addition to the overland narrative, Manly also "penned important observations on prospecting and mining in the Mother Lode." Cowan p.412; Edwards, Enduring Desert, p.162; Graff 2670; Howes M255; Kurutz 427a; Zamorano Eighty 51.