We visited the Petrified Forest near Calistoga CA last week. In the walk through the forest was a plaque explaining the link between “Petrified Charley,” the founder and owner of the site in 1880, and Robert Lewis Stevenson who visited. At the gift shop was a slim volume “The Silverado Squatters” by RLS which my wife purchased. I was between books and this was perfect, a slim, well written historical piece completely out of the blue. I don’t recall if I ever read Dr. Jeckel or Treasure Island in my youth, but now I really enjoyed Stevenson’s writing. For 1880, it was not too verbose and was frank and open about what he saw as he and his party “squatted” at an old silver mine in Silverado. The jacket explains that he was recommended to the area as a cure for consumption and apparently the time spent roughing it cured him.
“This classic, beautifully written account of a sojourn in the late-nineteenth century wine country by one of Northern California’s literary forefathers provides a vivid, delightful complement to an actual visit to the region today.”