The Diary of a Forty-Niner

What a fun book! Some commentary knocks it for very likely being a work of fiction, and a romanticized one at that. To me that's part of the book's strength, it's a very tidy little narrative with interesting character development and circumstances. The whole thing feels truthy and some of the specific events (like the Thanksgiving caper) feel very real, as if they were a remembered story written down just as grandpa told it. All that makes this a very good read.

Oscar Lewis' introduction from 1947 gives a lot more detail on how the book was written and published. It says the stories are mostly the memories of Lewis Hanchett, an actual forty-niner, transcribed to novel form by Canfield. Canfield also apparently did a lot of local research at the office of the Nevada City Transcript newspaper, which may be why the book feels so authoritative in describing local events and places.

In no way would I call this a gay book (although there is one minor genderbending character). But as a gay man I did appreciate its depiction of a loving relationship between two adult men. "As if brothers". Just a sweet moment of intimacy and camaraderie. One of the themes in the book is the oddly temporary nature of the gold camps, men living practically feral without obligation to polite American society. But intense obligation to each other, even as everyone is transient. A sort of temporary autonomous zone.

I live in Grass Valley, CA just a few miles from where this story takes place. It was fun looking up all the little locations, areas that mostly now bear no visible trace of the Forty-Niner area. I was particularly pleased to find that Selby Flat was a real place and really had a hotel; now it's just a bunch of semi-rural houses a few miles out of town.