Category: California History

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Lively Conversation between Two Authors

Slide of book covers

Another author and I had a fabulous book event on August 1st. Marciana Ciresi and I are in the same writing group so we knew each other’s book well. We took turns asking questions about our stories’ settings, characters, political unrest, as well as our research sources. I showed a slideshow to introduce the Alta California wilderness and the adventurous life of Captain William A. Richardson. Marciana showed books she used for her historical research sources for post-World War II Italy and Argentina.

Author showing drawing of San Francisco Bay shores in early 1800s
Sailing ship on San Francisco Bay – 1800s
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What Is Gold Rush 2.0?

gold flakes in bottle or fool's gold?

With gold trading at more than $4,000 an ounce, a new gold rush is on. It’s caused a renewed interest in gold mining in the California hills. This recent gold rush has been dubbed Gold Rush 2.0 to differentiate it from the first gold rush in 1849 that attracted thousands of prospectors — Argonauts — from all over the world to San Francisco and the California gold diggings.

When I lived in California, the Gold Country was a major vacation spot for long weekends in summer and ski trips in winter. It still is. My family visited many gold rush towns over the years — Nevada City, Placerville, Sutter Creek, Angels Camp, Mokelumne Hill, Coulterville, and others. The town of Columbia, part of the Columbia National Historic Park, was a favorite. This preserved, nineteenth-century mining town had a wooden rocker or cradle set up so kids could search for gold flakes as sand, dirt, and water was sluiced down the rocker’s long chute.

gold flakes in pendant

In 1849, gold mining was a rough, dirty business, hard on the body. Early in the gold rush days, miners squatted at the edge of cold mountain streams or stood almost knee deep in them, in the scorching sun. Most used round pans with sloping sides that Chilean miners brought to shovel dirt in, swirl in the running water, and hope to see the glint of gold as the lighter particles of dirt washed out. You can still buy versions of these pans in Gold Country hardware or dry goods stores.

In 1849, when the onslaught of gold-crazed prospectors, those now known as Forty-Niners, arrived, merchants raked in more money than the miners by charging eye-watering prices for food, drink, tools, clothes, and transportation. Ghirardelli was there, selling the miners chocolate. In 1854, Levi Strauss landed in San Francisco and sold work pants and tents. Captain William A. Richardson and his son Esteban made their money by transporting miners to and from the goldfields, as well as by supplying prime beef, produce, and fresh water to the hotels and tent kitchens in San Francisco. I am writing about these wild days in my next book.

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Book Club Discussion Questions

Photo of book Dancing on the Brink of the World

Several book clubs have bought my novel and are scheduled to talk about it. These reading guide questions might help stimulate your group’s discussion.

  1. If Captain Barney hadn’t forced William off the Orion, would he have chosen to stay?

2. William had to adjust to a new society, a mix of cultures, customs, and entertainment. Why did he reject some of the Californio way of life?

3. Mark Twain said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” How does this sentiment apply to William? Is this idea really true?

4. The novel’s title is a line from an Ohlone song. What significance did it have to the story?

5. General Mariano Vallejo said, “Richardson was the right man in the right place at the right time.” What were William’s qualities that suited him to the time and place? What were María’s? In what way did their personalities help keep them together?

6. María and her mother, Doña Martina, have a great deal of influence and knowledge. How did they influence their husbands? What actions of theirs pleased or bothered you? What roles do women perform today that influence others?

7. How do race, class, age, and religion affect the relationships between William and the Martínez family? Between him and Diego? Between the Indigenous people and the Franciscan priests?

8. William said he wanted to leave his family with more than footprints in sand. What did he mean by that? What footprints might people leave for their families?

9. What might happen next in William and María’s lives?

10. “Visions are worth fighting for,” according to Orson Welles. What was William’s vision, and did he achieve it?

11. Were you surprised by any of William’s or María’s decisions throughout the story? Why or why not?

12. Many historical figures interact with the Richardsons in this novel. How did the scenes with them affect your understanding of this early California period?

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When did European sailing ships venture onto the oceans?

Model of square-rigged sailing ship

A visit to the Marine Institute in Lisbon, Portugal, reminded me of the Portuguese navigator Prince Henry, who encouraged brave sailors to sail the oceans, far from the safe shores of their home country. My photo shows a model of a Portuguese square-rigged sailing ship. Before the 1400s, most European sailing ships had a single lateen sail for navigating around the Mediterranean Sea. They were swift, and the sail was easy to move to take advantage of the wind’s changing directions. To navigate, mariners used portolan charts, maps that showed coastlines and ports.

Once Spanish and Portuguese sailors dared to travel further from shore into the ocean, they developed nautical maps which showed ocean currents and sea routes, not just outlines of the coasts. They preferred the large square sails for their larger ships. 

Sea captains were tempted to take chances on the open seas in pursuit of gold, silver, silk, and spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, pepper, and ginger. Portuguese ships followed the currents west and arrived in South America, claiming the land that is now Brazil as a colony for their country. Spain sent Columbus and other explorers west, but they landed further north, establishing colonies in what is now Mexico, Florida, and the Southwestern states to California, along what they named the Gulf of Mexico. The Spanish conquistadors invaded Mexico in search of gold and silver, but also discovered another treasure for Europe, chocolate.

The larger ships were also needed for whaling. Whale hunting for food dates back to prehistoric times, but later, commercial whaling ships sailed all the oceans and chased whales for their oil. Whale oil was valued for lighting and lubricating machinery. Whaling was not only dangerous but also nauseating when sailors boiled the blubber to extract the oil. In the 1800s, Captain William A. Richardson arrived in Alta California on a whaling ship. After surviving severe weather, a churlish captain, and treacherous whale hunts, he had less trouble deciding on his future.

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When will Dancing on the Brink of the World be published?

The official publication date is January 13, 2026. Three cheers! My novel is now available for pre-order online. You can find it listed on Simon & Schuster,  Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Bookshop, and Indigo. Be sure to look for my pen name – Marianne T. Rafter.

In author Tamim Ansary’s review of my novel, he wrote, “Rafter’s novel feels as solidly real as my world, because she takes me into it with such a wealth of historical details, I feel up close to the everyday life of these people, in this time and this place.” I hope you will order my book, and as you read it, be absorbed into Captain Richardson’s time, too.

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Where can you attend a bullfight?

Bullfighting is still popular and legal in many countries—France, Spain (outlawed in some cities), Portugal, Venezuela, Peru, Colombia, and some cities in Mexico. This fact was a surprise to me. Another troubling surprise is how many are killed –tormented–for this “sport.” Worldwide, about 250,000 bulls are killed a year according to the Humane Society International. Many people attend bullfights, but outside the bullring, animal rights activists object to the bloody sport.

The largest bullfighting ring in the world is near the Plaza de México in Mexico City. Demonstrators frequently protested the events by waving banners with slogans such as “No more deaths!” They shouted “Torture is not art, it is not culture.” Recently, activists filed a lawsuit, and a judge issued a court order to suspend the events in Mexico City.

In the 1800s bullfights were common entertainments in the Republic of Mexico, which included the territory of Alta California. Pitting bulls against captured bears was also accepted as entertainment near the California missions after Sunday Mass and during week-long wedding celebrations.

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Who Hasn’t Left Their Heart in San Francisco?

Three-masted sailing ship on San Francisco Bay with the city in the background

Tony Bennett, who died last month, made that song famous. It was my mother’s favorite song, especially after she visited the city and I moved there. Its history continues to fascinate me through my research about its early founder, Captain William A. Richardson. After the dinosaurs disappeared, the Miwoks and Ohlone people, the Spanish, the Mexicans, the Russians, the British, and finally the Americans wanted a piece of the place. With the 1849 Gold Rush, the world surged through the bay’s gateway to get to the “diggings” in the mountains. The city by the bay, in fact, all of California, still attracts people from around the world to visit or live there. But many are also leaving. They cherish the city and the state or at least their memory of them, but can no longer afford to live there.

José Vadi wrote in his essay collection Inter State: Essays from California, that he fears former Californians are becoming modern-day Okies, displaced by a new demographic, Californians with deep pockets. I joined the ranks of those modern-day Okies when I moved to the state of Washington a few years ago. But I have great affection for the years I lived in California and love to visit.

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Open-air Kitchens in Early California

Adobe brick oven for baking and five brick open fire pits for boiling

An adobe brick oven was used for baking bread and brick open-fire pits for stewing and boiling. This oven and the fire pits are at Mission San Gabriel Archangel in California.

in the 1800s, kitchens were busy all day. Stirring up a fire from smoldering ashes in the early morning was a priority. In Alta California, a cook or wife made hot chocolate drinks for the family. A ranchero drank his chocolate and then mounted a favorite horse which was already saddled and waiting. While the husband was checking on a herd of cattle or horses or on field workers, a wife, daughters, and servants prepared tortillas, collected eggs, roasted beef for a huge breakfast to be ready for her husband, sons, and workers. The prep work was done in the kitchen on large wood tables, and tortillas and breads were baked in the adobe brick ovens, while beef roasted on a spit.

Preparations for a midday meal and supper started immediately after breakfast. Grinding grain, killing and plucking chickens, picking vegetables and fruit if available filled the hours, keeping everyone busy all day. Other household chores were packed into the day also. Washing clothes, milking cows or goats, making cheese and butter, and sewing. All this daily work was necessary to maintain a family and its servants.

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Did mariners and explorers in the early 1800s need passports to enter Alta California, a Mexican territory?

Three-story brick building on Ellis Island in New York City Harbor

Passports for individual people did not exist in 1822 when Captain William A. Richardson jumped ship on San Francisco Bay. Trading ships or warships visiting for trade or provisions handed Mexican authorities documents listing all crew members. Although Richardson himself had no passport at the time he landed, the California governor gave him permission to stay if he proved his worth, was baptized into the Catholic Church, and pledged loyalty to the Mexican government. In 1841, when John Bidwell, who later became a California state governor, staggered over the Sierra Nevada Mountains into Alta California in the first wagon train, he and his fellow Americans had to purchase passes in order to remain and settle there. Having lost most of their belongings on the arduous journey, they struggled to find enough money or items to trade for Mexican passports. They would have been imprisoned if they could not.

On an Ellis Island tour, I learned how immigrants were processed before being allowed to enter the United States in the 1890s. They faced the threat of being shipped back to their native country if they were ill, lame, or a criminal. Entering the country was a lengthy process. After a long ocean voyage, passengers were transferred from their ships to ferries that lacked food or fresh water and had to stay aboard them until Ellis Island authorities were ready to process new immigrants. These tired, hopeful, hungry people were questioned, poked and prodded by doctors, had their eyelids pulled back with buttonhooks to check for trachoma, and had to prove they could support themselves, not be a burden to their new country.

During the last two years, Americans returning from overseas were asked to get PCR tests for Covid-19 or be vaccinated to prevent the spread of a disease. There were grumblings and objections, but the process was so much simpler than the one immigrants had on Ellis Island.

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What might be California’s worst natural disaster in the future?

Earthquake, drought, or wildfire come to mind first. Every year, fire threatens to burn up acres of California. Right now, a scorching drought is drying up rivers and lakes across the West. The possibility of an earthquake remains in Californians’ thoughts especially since a “major” one hasn’t happened in some time. Not many people know that in the past, California suffered severe floods from prolonged rains during wet seasons. When I lived in California, the Sacramento Delta, formed by the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, and the Russian River north of San Francisco frequently flooded during winter storms. I distinctly recall one January when it rained every day. And California rains pour like a full-force bathroom shower almost all day.

The worst natural disaster for California that climate researchers are predicting is a megaflood, sometime this century, caused by a month-long series of rainstorms. One happened in 1862 and before that, in 1841. San Joaquin Valley became an inland sea and the upper Sacramento River flooded the land for miles, forcing Native Americans to abandon their villages and cutting off Captain John Sutter at Sutter’s Fort for months. Cattle, horses, elk, and deer were stranded on islands surrounded by the rushing water. So many sought refuge on tiny mounds of dry land that some animals were washed away and drowned. In 1815 a flood changed the Los Angeles River’s course. Again in 1825, the seasonal rains flooded the river through marshland and forests and cut a new channel, draining the land all the way to the ocean. A month of storms today might bring feet of rain, enough to flood hundreds of miles of California. A megaflood would displace millions of people, destroy cities and towns, and cost billions to repair. Experts say such a dramatic event is becoming more likely because of global warming.