The year was 1848 and "Gold!" was the cry that echoed out of the California Sierras to spread like wildfire across the nation and around the world.

Many an eager, would-be prospector faced a long and dangerous trip around the Horn or across the Central American swamps to California. But luckily for fourteen-year-old Carlos Rivera, the gold fields lay almost at the boundaries of his mother's ranch. That was why he, his twin sister, Carlotta, and Mamacita were among the earliest to head for John Sutter's mill up on the American River, where the gold had first been discovered.

For Carlos and his greenhorn partner, John Steyer, the months that followed were filled with discouragement and danger, as they staked their claims and panned for gold all the way from Bidwell's sandbar on Feather River to Stoddard's Lake of Gold without a strike. Indeed, Carlos' tame crow Screamer seemed right when he cawed, "Gold, gold! It's murder!"

Then came the day when a shaft of light reflected a blinding streak of gold—and another forty-niner had hit pay-dirt! Yet it was Carlotta back on American River who held the reins to the biggest surprise of all.

From the dust jacket