Early California during the '49 Gold Rush Days. More than 150 years have passed since young Thomas Edwin Farish stepped off a ship's plank onto the rich California soil to join the pioneers who had been drawn to California by discovery of gold. But within this book we can go back in time and experience those pioneer days of the '49 Gold Rush alongside him. Thomas Farish was a pioneer, gold miner, a politician, an author, and much more, and in the last years of his life, just prior to his death in 1919, he was the State of Arizona Historian. He witnessed and was a participant in a time when vigorous men and women arrived in California with hopes of fulfilling their dreams of achieving wealth in the days of the '49 Gold Rush. Ownership of the precious gold meant power and prosperity. But with it came the outlaw and the vigilante, and a struggle for law and order within pristine territory that was giving way to the influx of population from around the world. It was the beginning of commerce as businesses were established, and trade grew as towns and cities sprung up to meet the needs of the immigrants. And many found wealth in real estate, commercial endeavors, as well as in prospecting. It was a time of new endeavors, new risks, and endless opportunity. Farish paints exquisitely with words, the challenges, the tragedies, the sufferings endured, along with the hard work, the legends, the triumphs and successes of building communities such as San Francisco, Sacramento, and the many towns in the gold rush area of Northern California. His reminisces of the events and people who laid the foundation for the State of California are rich in history-names like Sutter, Stanford, Huntington, Hearst, Twain, Bradbury, Baldwin, Crocker, and other prominent figures. Linda Pendleton, a native Californian, has written an Introduction to Farish's work.