This memoir chronicles the experiences of Silas Weston, a prospector who spent four months in the California gold fields during the early days of the gold rush in the late 1840s. It provides a vivid and detailed portrait of life in the mining camps, including the hardships and dangers faced by miners and the economic and social dynamics of the mining communities. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.