Books by Richard Dillon

Sutter, the father of California, is one of the most enigmatic figures in the history of the West. With Fool's Gold, famed California historian Richard Dillon (Wells, Fargo Detective, Embarcadero) brings to life the story of Swiss immigrant John A. Sutter.Via a circuitous route, John Sutter arrived in Yerba Buena-today's San Francisco- on July 1, 1839. At the time, the territory had a population of only 1,000 Europeans, in contrast with 30,000 Native Americans. It was at that point a part of Mexico and the governor, Juan Bautista Alvarado, granted him permission to settle; in order to qualify for a land grant, Sutter became a Mexican citizen on August 29, 1840 after a year in the provincial settlement. He identified himself as "Captain Sutter of the Swiss Guard." The following year, on 18 June, he received title to 48,827 acres. Sutter named his settlement New Helvetia, or "New Switzerland," after his homeland, "Helvetia" being the Latin name for Switzerland.Sutter employed Native Americans of the Miwok and Maidu tribes, Kanakas, and Europeans at his compound, which he called Sutter's Fort; he envisioned creating an agricultural utopia, and for a time the settlement was in fact quite large and prosperous. It was for a period the destination for most California-bound immigrants, including the ill-fated Donner Party, for whose rescue Sutter contributed supplies.In 1848, gold was discovered when James W. Marshall and Sutter began the construction of Sutter's sawmill in Coloma, along the American River. Sutter's attempt at keeping this quiet failed when merchant and newspaper publisher Samuel Brannan returned from Sutter's Mill to San Francisco with gold he had acquired there and began publicizing the find. Masses of people overran the land and destroyed nearly everything Sutter had worked for. In order to keep from losing everything, however, Sutter deeded his remaining land to his son, John Augustus Sutter, Jr. The younger Sutter, who had come from Switzerland and joined his father in September 1848, saw the commercial possibilities of the land and promptly started plans for building a new town he named Sacramento, after the Sacramento River. The elder Sutter deeply resented this because he had wanted the location to be named Sutterville after them and be built near his New Helvetia domain. Eventually Sutter gave up New Helvetia to pay the last of his debts. He got a letter of introduction to the Congress of the United States from the governor of California. He moved to Washington D.C. at the end of 1865. Soon after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, John Sutter and his wife moved to Lititz, Pennsylvania (1871). But John made trips back to Washington every so often. John Sutter died in a Washington D.C. hotel room on June 18, 1880.

There are no tales like high-sea tales and here's a baker's dozen of true sea adventures-tales filled with salt spray, blood-and-thunder, and man-overboard action all guaranteed to satisfy the hardiest armchair adventurer. Researched from ships' logs, manuscripts, newspaper accounts and historical records and penned by Richard Dillon a gifted storyteller and one of California's finest historians. Here's a sampling:"San Francisco's Own Pirate"The story of Captain Bully Hayes, who had a habit of running off with other men's ships-and sometimes their women."The Odyssey of Bernard Gilboy."How a courageous, publicity dodging navigator, alone in an eighteen-foot open craft, sailed from San Francisco to Australia without touching land en route."Shanghai Days in Frisco"How crimps like Shanghai Kelly perfected the fine art of kidnaping sailors for the dreaded China run and made East Street (as San Francisco's Embarcadero was called for a time) a thoroughfare to be given a wide berth after dusk.

Burnt-Out Fires deals with a very dark period of American history, a period that, until recently, had been purposefully forgotten ... a period that hopefully will cause a re-evaluation of the American ideals and dreams. Everyone pointed to the Modocs as "model Indians." Living on the Oregon-California border, they had assimilated the American culture more than any other Indian tribe. They had accepted the white man's way, dressing in cowboy clothes and working as farm hands. The frontier was quiet...until the white culture that the Modocs had adopted asked them to sign an unjust treaty taking away their tribal lands. Not wanting to fight, the Modocs were forced into a corner by trying, in vain, to work out a peaceful settlement. Out of desperation, they fought. Burnt-Out Fires, by Richard Dillon, chronicles the causes and the results of the Modoc War, one of the most tragic and unnecessary campaigns ever fought against American Indians. Dillon, through expert commentary and extensive research, brings to life the hopeless struggle of the Modoc chief, Captain Jack, to retain his high standing within the tribe while countering with peaceful means the force gradually mounting against him in the white world. The author, without moralizing, goes on to enumerate the bruising inefficiencies of the Indian Agencies and the classical unyielding stance adopted by the United States Army concerning Indian affairs. The result of these is understandings, spiced with ambition and the need to make this conflict an "example" to all Indians, led to the tragic Modoc War; the final act was genocide of the Modocs. After reading Burnt-Out Fires, one realizes that, viewing the forces at work at that time, the war was inevitable...anything different was an impossibility.