Here's a contemporary sketch of Sutter's Fort, the kind of detail you come across in the old diaries and journals of the period, invaluable when you're trying to convey the flavor of a time and place. The artist here, Joseph Revere, happened to be the grandson of Paul Revere. He'd come to California with the U.S. Navy in 1845. I made several trips to Sutter's Fort while researching for the book, now in the center of Sacramento, near the State Capitol. The restoration would be fairly close to how it looked to James Reed when he came upon it in October 1846--the first outpost and stopping point for transcontinental travelers.