Harvey Rice

This book begins with a few short chapters on the early history of the Ohio Valley, then tells the story of the creation of the Western Reserve, followed by the early history of Cleveland. From that point the book becomes less of a history and more a collection of incidents and stories. The author wrote in the Preface that his principal aim was “… to portray such remarkable incidents in the experiences of the original pioneers of the Western Reserve as he has been able to gather from sources which seemed worthy of credence.”

Harvey Rice (1800-1891), a Cleveland lawyer and newspaper publisher, and his wife traveled by rail to California in 1869. Letters from the Pacific slope (1870) contains Rice's account of that journey, broken by side trips to Salt Lake City, Carson City, and Lake Tahoe. Spending nearly a month in and near San Francisco, the Rices sail south to San Pedro and Los Angeles with a stop at Santa Barbara. They visit ranches, vineyards, and orchards in the neighborhood.