Excerpt from The History of Contra Costa County California, Vol. 1 In sending forth this volume we trust that, in addition to its value as a depository of accurate information and useful knowledge, it will prove an effective instrument in creating a more lively public sentiment te garding historical subjects, and that it will especially foster an interest in the annals of our own county. If my collaborators and myself have helped to perpetuate the memory of the heroism, the fortitude, the suf feting, and the achievement of the men and women who placed Contra Costa County, California, in the foremost rank of the counties of this State, we shall be content. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.