Mining historian Kerby Jackson introduces us to a classic mining work in this important re-issue of "The Autobiography of Charles Peters: The Good Luck Days of Placer Mining in the 1850's". It was first published in 1915, and later reprinted under the title of "California Golden Treasures", but few copies remain available today. In 1915, Charles Peters was "the oldest pioneer living in California, who mined in ... the days of '49". He was born in Portugal in 1825, first visited California in 1846 as a merchant seaman and returned three years later to seek gold at Columbia, Jackson Creek, and Mokelumne Hill. "California Golden Treasures" is the memoir of his life through the 1850s, followed by a series of "Good Luck" stories, miscellaneous tales of the mining camps, a few of which seem to be credited to Peters, although most were actually the work of another author, drawn from many sources. Also included are many historical happenings, interesting incidents and illustrations of the old mining towns in the good luck era, the placer mining days of the '50s. Note: This edition is a perfect facsimile of the original edition and is not set in a modern typeface. As such, some type characters and images might suffer from slight imperfections or minor shadows in the page background.