Daniel Knower sailed to California in 1849 with a letter of introduction from his cousin's husband, William L. Marcy, and twelve prefabricated frame houses he intended to sell in San Francisco. Knower talks about his real estate business, the gambling in the city, and mountebanks and blackguards, There is also a section on pre Civil War politics in California. Knower shipped house frames inland. He also traveled to mining camps and witnessed a bullfight.