Thousands of indigenous people lived unmolested in northwestern California for 8,000 years. In 1849, miners found gold in the Trinity River causing thousands of Americans to flock to Humboldt Bay. They spread inland and exterminated every Indian they came across. The war lasted 15 years. Very few Indians were left. A surviving Indian determined to spread the word of this genocide to America entered UC Berkeley to hone his skills of persuasion. Authorities attempted to cover up his work. He was born in Los Angeles of Jewish parents, growing up with a love of the outdoors--swimming in the Pacific Ocean, hopping a freight train that followed the Colorado River from its headwaters and climbing Wyoming's Grand Tetons. He was encouraged to enter medical school, practicing emergency medicine until a serious illness caused him to return to writing historical novels of America's West. A Native woman of Wailaki and Yuki heritage revealed to the author the suppressed history of this massive rubout of Northern California's indigenous people during the time period, 1849-1870. RR