Washoe County Library System

Twenty-three letters written by the author to her sister, Mary Jane, in Massachusetts, under the pseud., Dame Shirley. Twenty-three letters originally published serially in The Pioneer, or, California monthly magazine, Jan. 1854-Dec. 1855.

Describes the nineteenth century American gold rush, and includes information on gold rush "boomtowns," relations between Native Americans and gold rush pioneers, and the importance of the gold rush on American history.

"The first time Natalie Singer learns about California, she's nine, tucked between library stacks, a Canadian blizzard outside. In a book called All About California, she reads of mythological griffins, rupturing earthquakes, furnace deserts, and Hollywood stars, and an imprinting takes place. Could California be an answer to her dull existence in the nowhere of the North and the family secrets seeping out from behind closed doors? The fantasy of...

John Ross Browne (1817-1875) of Kentucky, the official reporter for the California State Constitutional Convention of 1849, came to California in 1849 as an employee of the government revenue service. He traveled widely in the next two decades, including a stay in China as U.S. minister, before settling down in Oakland in 1870. Crusoe's island (1864) contains four short works: (1) Crusoe's island, an account of his visits to Juan Fernandez, the island...