for Friendly Fire

This contains perhaps the most sensitive description of Sierra Miwok life recorded by an eye witness. Perlot was remarkably free of the prejudices that blinded most white authors of the day and he actually bothered to learn Miwok and discuss philosophical issues with the Indians he befriended.

In 1850, Jean-Nicolas Perlot, a 26-year-old Belgian, joined a French mining company bound for the gold fields of California. This book is Perlot's witty and informative account of his life in California and his subsequent career in the newly rich town of Portland, Oregon. 33 illustrations.  

Great Great Grandpa Did Us Proud

Excellent review of my Great Great Grandfather's 20 years in America after leaving first Belgium and then Paris to seek his fortune with a company that upon arrival in Monterey, California was bankrupt. Being a self starter and not one to give up easily; he headed off to the gold fields on his own gathering other people as he went along. He gives an excellent account of the hardships and heartache suffered by not only himself but others who found themselves so far from home. It was either charge forward or give up and go to wherever it was you could afford to travel. It shows his compassion for his fellow man and also his ability to get along with the Indians and adapt to whatever the world threw at him You have to be proud of a guy like that. Eventually he married a cousin and brought her to the U.S. to live in Portland, Oregon but eventually they returned to Belgium where he whiled away his last years enjoying life and most probably thinking about the wonderful and exiting years of taking each day as it came; solving life's problems and standing up for what he believed in; occasionally backing that up with his pistol and rifle. This is not a shoot em up story or anything of the sort; however, it does reflect what it was like to be on your own in a very difficult environment and time when only the strongest survived. Naturally, I am biased since the old fellow blazed a trail for the rest of us Perlot's----of which there are but a few.

rlperlot@bechtel.com from Manila, Philippines, November 25, 1998