Kratkoe geografichesko-statisticheskoe opisanie Kalifornii

This description of California was published to meet Russian curiosity about the gold fields and the region at the height of the gold rush. It draws heavily from Carl Hartmann's Geographisch-statistische Beschreibung von Californien, as well as newspaper accounts and German brochures about the gold fields. It describes the land and natural resources, political administration and social customs of both upper and lower California, with a special chapter on the gold rush.