Monthly Archives: June 2018

Just a tiny bit more on the first work of fiction published in California.  Entewa, the Mountain Bird is mentioned briefly in Print in a Wild Land, by John Myers Myers (and no, that is not a typo — that … Continue reading →

I have been reading an old book about the Sacramento River and California history — The Sacramento, by Julian Dana. It was part of the Rivers of America series and published in 1939.  The book has some entertaining stories, but … Continue reading →

If you find accounts of life in early California fascinating, as I do, then the Library of Congress has a treasure trove for you. California as I Saw It contains first-person narratives of life in early California, from 1849 to … Continue reading →

It’s been a while since I wrote about Luzena Stanley Wilson and her memoir about life in Gold Rush California, but I have been meaning to get back to it. Her recollections are full of striking detail about everyday life, … Continue reading →

Another tidbit from the Pioneer Collection at the California State Library — a letter from Butte County Sheriff J.Q. Wilbur to John Bidwell: Hamilton, Butte Co. Cal.  July 4, 1851 Dear Major— I should like to come up this morning … Continue reading →