Twenty Years in the Backwoods of California...
first edition
1923 · Boston
by Shay, John C.
Boston: The Roxburgh Publishing Co., Inc., 1923 First edition. Somewhat scarce. Small 8vo. 142pp. Original navy blue cloth stamped in gilt on spine and front cover. A very fine copy. "Being the actual experiences and observations of a native son of California, covering a period of twenty years in one locality, while engaging in propecting, gold mining, homesteading, stock raising and the roadside smithy." After an unsuccessful stint as a placer miner, the author practiced blacksmithing near the Madera County town of Ahwahnee and prospered by servicing the wagons carrying tourists to and from Yosemite. His narrative is plain and unvarnished but includes plenty of stage robberies, pyromaniacs, shootings, and random violence. One chapter describes the first auto-stage holdup. "Rare" (Six-Guns). [Adams, Herd: 2045; Adams, Six-Guns: 1987; Cowan: p.581; Rocq: 4933].. (Inventory #: 7859)