The Luck of Roaring Camp And Other Sketches

The Luck of Roaring Camp was first published in 1868 and tells the story of a baby boy born in a mining camp. The child's mother, Cherokee Sal, dies in childbirth, leaving the men of the village to raise the baby named Thomas Luck. Harte, originally from New York, moved to California in 1853 and worked as a miner, teacher and messenger. He eventually rose to prominence as a writer known for his true-to-life accounts of life during the California Gold Rush.