Life on the Plains and Among the Diggings (eBook, PDF)

Alonzo Delano was born in Aurora, New York, in 1806. He was a successful itinerant merchant until he contracted consumption and went out west on a doctor's suggestion. In California he became a well-regarded correspondent. Operating under the pen name Old Block, he was a pioneer of the so-called California humor, a satirical style of writing that influenced such writers as Mark Twain. He was elected the first treasurer of Grass Valley, California, where he worked and lived until his death in 1874.