1849. It was the beginning of something that would define America for 100 years. Gold had been discovered in California and word spread like wildfire across the United Colonies of America. The treaty that had acquired California into the American Union was signed the previous year and no one yet knew the importance of the gold discovered at Sutter's Mill that January. From Sacramento all the way down to Mariposa and Monterey, the territory of California seemed to be one long Gold field. John Charles Fremont had taken advantage of the fragile land situation in California during the transition from Mexican rule to American management. The Mexican government had wanted desperately to entice nobles from Mexico City to take over large land grants in the California territory and begin to establish the feudal model they hoped would bring stability to the area. When the transition occurred between the Mexican rule and the American, it was the most natural thing in the world to respect these subdivisions, especially in more remote territories. Along the Merced River in Mariposa County in Southern California, it seemed right therefore to put these large land grants up for sale to the first American bidders. One such parcel was bought by John Charles Fremont and his partner Thomas Larkin for a small amount of money. They gained a large land-grant, a tract of land that was seventy miles square, along the Merced River and at the foothills of the Yosemite mountains. Time would prove this to be one of the great real estate acquisitions the new state of California would ever see. Historically, it would make John Fremont a millionaire many times over. Jeremiah Warner was the right man, at the right place, at the right time. When Fremont realized that his friend was there in California, he took advantage of the situation and gave him a full 10% partnership in the land and the mining enterprise. He also gave him a job, making him his field manager, his enforcer, his Boundary Rider. This is volume # Sixteen in the Mountain Man Series, an exciting new role for the hard riding hero!