Reminiscences of a Pioneer

Produced by David A. Schwan <davidsch@earthlink.net>
Reminiscences of a Pioneer
By Colonel William Thompson
Editor Alturas, Cal., Plaindealer
San Francisco 1912
Contents
Illustrations
Colonel William Thompson Frontispiece (From photo taken at close of Bannock War) Typical Scene in the Lava Beds Runway and Fort in Lava Beds Captain Jack's Cave in the Lava Beds Captain Jack (From photo belonging to Jas. D. Fairchild, Yreka, Cal.) Colonel William Thompson (From photo taken at close of Modoc War)
Foreword
So rapidly is the Far West changing character, our pioneers should feel in duty bound to preserve all they can of its early history. Many of them are giving relics of frontier days to museums and historical societies. And they do well. Yet such collections are unfortunately accessible to only the few. Hence they do better who preserve the living narratives of their times. For however unpretentious from the cold aspect of literary art, these narratives breathe of courage and fortitude amid hardships and perils, and tell as nothing else can of the hopes and dreams of the hardy pathfinders, and of the compensations and pleasures found in their sacrifices.
It is with this end in view, to preserve the life of the old days in its many colors, that these recollections are penned. There was more to this life than has been touched by the parlor romancers or makers of moving-picture films. Perhaps some day these memories may serve to illumine the historian delving in the human records of the past. And perhaps, also, and this is the author's dearest wish, they may inspire young readers to hold to the hardy traditions of the 'Fifties and to keep this spirit alive in a country destined soon to be densely peopled with newcomers from the long-settled parts of the world.
Reminiscences of a Pioneer