Brands of Calaveras County, California 1854-1880 explores the earliest brands recorded in one of California's original counties, beginning just after the Gold Rush. Yet what emerges from these pages is not just a story of brands, largely for livestock, but also a story of families--of heritage and emigration, births and deaths, marriages and children, success and failure. Taken together, the 245 brand filings included also tell another story, that of the early years of a rural California county. For those fascinated by early California, brands of the Old West, and/or ranching in America, Brands of Calaveras County, California 1854-1880 is a rare volume that depicts history through the brands associated with one county's ranchers.