THIS STORY IS retold from the diary of Jacob P. Prickett. When he was editor of the newspaper back in the late 1800s he wrote the story in a series of serials and then compiled them together and pasted them into a book. The book was handed down in the family from generation to generation and tells a wonderful story about his trip, as a young boy of 17, when he joined on with a wagon train going west to the Gold Rush. More than gold he was seeking excitement and adventure and he certainly found plenty of both. His other goal was to find his older brother who was already in California.