Before The Gold Rush: The Sinclairs of Rancho del Paso 1840-1849

Finalist, historical nonfiction, 2018 Next Generation Indie Book Awards.

They married in 1844 and settled on a great Sacramento Valley rancho in Mexican-owned California, expecting to lead quiet, productive country lives. Two years later, their lives were in turmoil…because their Rancho del Paso was located at a geographic crossroads that put them square in the middle of trans-formative, history-making events: the Bear Flag Revolt, and the American military conquest of California. The next year the Sinclairs were active participants in the rescue of the snow-trapped Donner Party—and the year after that, caught in the chaotic California Gold Rush. New research reveals previously unknown facts about extraordinary settlers John and Mary Sinclair, predecessors of the tide of Americans who emigrated west in covered wagons in search of a brighter future.

This is the true story, told for the first time, of a courageous, resilient couple who lived on the edge of fortune and discovery; and whose lives and experiences are part of the Golden State’s pioneer past.

Cheryl Anne Stapp is the author of Sacramento Chronicles - A Golden Past; The Stagecoach in Northern California: Rough Rides, Gold Camps & Daring Drivers; and award-winning Disaster & Triumph: Sacramento Women, Gold Rush Through the Civil War. She lives in Sacramento, California, in bygone days an important Gold Rush town.