Letters from California, 1846-1847

Book excerpt: Just before the gold Rush, two newspapers on the Atlantic coast received a series of letters from "W.G." in Monterey, California. The letters reported on political events, detailed the natural resources and possibilities for agriculture, commerce, lumbering and mining, and customs of the Californios. Methods of capturing wild horses (and the Indians' techniques of stealing tame ones), bull and bear baiting, a horseback wedding, Christmas customs, furniture, fandangos, and cultural changes resulting from the advent of Americans, all were recounted in a refreshingly straightforward style. Extensive research into contemporary documents by the late Donald Munro Craig established the identity of "W.G." as an expatriate Englishman named William Robert Garner. And Garner's experience as whaler, lumberman, rancher, miner, long-time Monterey resident, participant in revolutions, sheriff of Monterery, and secretary to the American alcalade, Walter Colton, made him a uniquely understanding reporter. George P. Hammond, Director Emeritus of the Bancroft Library, has remarked that this work is "one of the best such contributions to come to light in many years. The biographical sketch of William Robert Garner is comprehensive and informative--well researched and well written. The Letters themselves are extremely interesting, and as a source material are of first-rate relevance and importance."