The Diary of a Forty-Niner

On January 24, 1848, gold was found at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California. A year later tens of thousands of 49ers had made the journey across America in the hope of finding their fortune. Alfred T. Jackson, the author of this diary, that was subsequently found and edited by Chauncey L. Canfield, was just one of these men who dreamt of becoming rich. Jackson documents the people he met, the trials and tribulations of gold panning, the emergence of small mining towns, and the dangers that he met through the years he spent in the west. This work provides fascinating insight into the life during the California gold rush. Chauncey L. Canfield’s edited work was first published in 1906 and he passed away in 1909.