The year is 1855 and the gold rush in California has entered another level of intensity, with a population explosion no one could have foreseen. People were coming from as far away as China and Australia to join those Forty-Niners, seeking their fortune in the gold fields. The land grant of Fremont Enterprises along the Merced River in south central California, continues to produce gold in great abundance. Jeremiah Warner, the fictional partner of John Charles Fremont, is becoming a rich man in his own right. Fremont is away now, living as a professional politician in Washington City, thousands of miles from his business. After a short time as Senator for the new state of California, he is now involved in a run for President. He is deeply committed to the cause of freedom for the Negro Slaves of the Southern States. He has turned the management of his gold mines over to one of his partners, Jeremiah Warner. They continue to stay connected through letter writing. This 22nd volume of the Mountain Man Series, entitled, "The Wilderness Ranch," takes up the story of Jeremiah Warner as he decides to start his own cattle ranch in south central California. His skills as a Mountain Man are once again put to the test. This is volume number twenty-two in the Jeremiah Warner Mountain Man Series.