California Narratives: Fourth Thousand, Life on the Plains

Description (from source site)
Born in Aurora, New York, Alonzo Delano (1806-1874) moved on to the Midwest as a teenager. July 1848 found him a consumptive Ottawa, Illinois, storekeeper, and he joined a local California Company. He remained in the West after the Gold Rush, winning fame as an early California humorist. Life on the plains and among the diggings (1857) is based largely on letters from Delano published in Ottawa and New Orleans newspapers of the day (see Alonao Delano's California correspondence [1952]). Covering the period April 1849-August 1852, he discusses his voyage to St. Joseph and an overland journey to California; sojourns in Sacramento, Marysville, and San Francisco; and experiences as a storekeeper at Mud Hill, Stingtown, Gold Lake, and Grass Valley. Other topics include quartz mining, crime and vigilantism, and real estate investment.

Sources Library of Congress. California As I Saw It, 1849-1900. Vol. 171. [database online] Washington: Library of Congress, 2000. Delano, Alonzo. Life on the plains and among the diggings. New York: Miller, Orton & Co., 1857.

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