When John Carr published this book in 1891, he had already been a Californian for over forty years. His true tales of gold prospecting, gun fights, encounters with Indians, rough characters of the West, and politicos are amusing and highly entertaining. He knew many of the early big players in the state and provides an interesting view of the west during the American Civil War. Among his other employments, he sat as a police judge in Eureka, California and spent time in Tombstone, Arizona, during its wild west period. At the end of the book he provides short biographies of notables he knew.