This volume collects the best-known works of Bret Harte, one of the most celebrated writers of the American West. With a focus on Harte's stories of life in California during the gold rush era, this book features classic tales like The Outcasts of Poker Flat and The Luck of Roaring Camp. With their memorable characters and vivid descriptions of frontier life, these stories capture the spirit of a bygone era and remain popular with readers today. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

He lived beside a river that emptied into a great ocean. The narrow strip of land that lay between him and the estuary was covered at high tide by a shining film of water at low tide with the cast-up offerings of sea and shore. (Excerpt)

Bret Harte wades into a controversy surrounding California mining in the late 1800s with a tale that invokes many aspects of the New Idria Mercury Mine case. In the process of untangling a knotted web of competing ownership claims, a band of rough-around-the-edges mountain folk find themselves embroiled in the political process.

Bret Harte was an American author and poet, best remembered for his accounts of pioneering life in California. Harte moved to California in 1853, later working there in a number of capacities, including miner, teacher, messenger, and journalist. His story, "The Luck of Roaring Camp," appearing in The Overland Monthly magazine, propelled Harte to nationwide fame. The Argonauts of North Liberty is a longer tale by Harte. Taking place in a staunchly reserved Presbyterian society, it illustrates in its heroine the revolt of an unruly and unregenerate nature against a Puritan society. North Liberty is a Connecticut town, and the "Argonauts" are a man and woman who migrate to California to begin life again, escaping the strictures of their earlier life, like the "Blue Law" setting of the opening. Once in California, Harte's feel for the time and setting can take full flower.