Letters written in 1878 by a young woman new to the West, and found in an old trunk in the twenty-first century, reveal the daily life of a bygone era in the towns along the Eastern Sierra of California. Revealed are the early pioneers who settled this part of the state, the early ranchers, women both good and "bad", and miners who brought forth gold and silver from the mines of Cerro Gordo, Mammoth, Lundy, Aurora and Bodie. The letters describe the people, places and natural beauty of the area before it became today's recreational paradise, before its water was sent down the California aqueduct to Los Angeles, and before the long asphalt ribbon of Highway 395 cut through it.