Bound for California at the height of the Gold Rush, Martin Noble Hine celebrates the 4th of July on a ship stranded off the coast of Mexico. This is the beginning of Martin’s 18-month long journey as he seeks his fortune in the Wild West of 1852. Martin’s true-life account paints a vivid picture of his adventures beginning with an unexpected sojourn in Mexico before eventually making his way to old town Sacramento. With a desire for adventure and intending to complete his journey to the Gold Rush region, Martin finds that the West poses more challenges than he could ever imagine. Enduring both devastating fires and disastrous floods, along with health epidemics including smallpox, cholera, and typhoid fever, it seems as though fate had other plans. With humorous and fascinating anecdotes, 23-year old Martin Noble Hine transports readers to a bygone era along his incredible travels to California and back again in this remarkable memoir.

Inspired by the posters of the time, our cover cooks created a typographic design recipe with a modern twist. Using the color scheme of the Califonia flag, towering stamped letters in shades of black and red frame a sepia image of a prospector waving his handkerchief towards a ship in the distance. Taken from an 1850’s ad for a clipper ship selling passages to California, specifically addressed to prospective gold prospectors, the image simultaneously depicts the man waving in a show of gratitude as well be asking for help after being marooned on an island.