Christopher Evans holds a place in California's history because he was a famous (in his day) train robber. He robbed trains because his friends had their land taken (his opinion) from the Southern Pacific (the big four: Crocker, Hopkins, Huntington, and Stanford), and wanted to get back at them. Eventually he was tracked down by a sheriff's posse, he shot and killed the sheriff, and was captured. A jury convicted him of murder, but refused to give him the death sentence (he was a folk hero in California, such was the hatred of the rail barons, "Citizen King" William Randolf Hearst even took up his cause in a series of newspaper articles). He was sentenced to life in prison (Fulson prison). He was pardoned in 1910 by progressive governer Hiram Johnson in 1910. He wrote this utopian novel which was published in 1914 (I'm not sure of the publication date, this copy was found at the California State Library, Sacramento, with a 1914 date entered into the libraries collection). He died in 1916.

In the preface it is stated that Mr. Evans has first hand knowledge of what he writes about; this statement is certainly true. This book is included in this web site devoted California and the Western U.S., because of two reasons. First the author was an important persona in California in his time(if time permits, someday I'll track down the newspaper articles about him). Second, his publisher(the James H. Barry press, of San Francisco), published many interesting books related to California History and the progressive movement in California.

The copy of the book this e-text came from was found at the California State Library.