Bygone days in early Northern California

"This enjoyable, evocative memoir of the early ranching days in and around California's Solano and Napa counties paints vivid images of its times and places. James Noble Hatch recounts his childhood in the early days in and around Vacaville, California. Hatch, born 1868 near St. Helena, California, lived on farms near Napa and in the Berryessa Valley before his family settled near Vacaville. Jim movingly describes late nineteenth-century rural life, from attending local schoolhouses to plowing fields, planting fruit trees, going on a cattle round-up, and hunting in the nearby hills. His colorful descriptions, poetry, and timeless bits of wisdom help bring the story to life. Jim traces the circumstances and decisions that would result in his later success in engineering, from his humble, challenging beginnings working on the family farm to his hard-won battle with his father to attend university. Along the way, Jim brushes shoulders with several locals now notable in the history of Vacaville and its surroundings"--Back cover.