California letters of Lucius Fairchild

Lucius Fairchild (1831-1896) left Madison, Wisconsin, for California in 1849 and remained in the West until 1858. On his return to Wisconsin, Fairchild carved out a remarkable career as a soldier-politician: serving in a Wisconsin regiment in the Civil War, winning election as governor in 1866, and then representing the United States abroad in a variety of diplomatic posts. California letters of Lucius Fairchild (1931) records his overland journey to California, gold prospecting from Calaveras County to Scott Valley, business partnership with Elijah Steele in farming, mining, and butchering in Scott Valley.