Tailholt Tales

Santa Cruz, California: Bear State Books, 1976. Book. Fine. Hardcover. First Thus. 4to - over 9¾ - 12" tall. Kern County Museum price sticker on front free endpaper. xx, 323 pages. Illustrations and black and white photos. Preface by Frank Kern County Museum price sticker on front free endpaper. xx, 323 pages. Illustrations and black and white photos. Preface by Frank Latta followed by an additional title page, "Tailholt Tales, as related to Frank F. Latta by Thomas Jefferson Mayfield." This enlarged edition of Latta's "San Joaquin Primeval: Uncle Jeff's Story" (1928) includes an Index and recounts Mayfield's experiences living among the Choinumne Tribe of the Yokuts Indians of the central valley of California from 1850-1862 (about ages 8 to 20). The book also includes Mayfield's experiences in the town of Tailholt, a mining town established in 1856 during the Kern River gold rush. The town's name was changed to White River about 1870. From the dust jacket: "The story of Thomas Jefferson Mayfield, better known as "Uncle Jeff," as told to Frank F. Latta. The book is made up of the recorded recollections of Uncle Jeff with corroborating letters and stories from others. All in all, it provides a rich and detailed account of everyday life in the early settlements of the San Joaquin Valley and of the indigenous people. It is particularly noteworthy for its descriptions of his early years living with the Choinumne Tribe of the Kern County Museum price sticker on front free endpaper. xx, 323 pages. Illustrated with numerous historic black and white photos. Preface by Frank Latta followed by an additional title page, "Tailholt Tales, as related to Frank F. Latta by Thomas Jefferson Mayfield." This enlarged edition of Latta's "San Joaquin Primeval: Uncle Jeff's Story" (1928) includes an Index and recounts Mayfield's experiences living among the Choinumne Tribe of the Yokuts Indians of the central valley of California from 1850-1862 (about ages 8 to 20). The book also includes Mayfield's experiences in the town of Tailholt, a mining town established in 1856 during the Kern River gold rush. The town's name was changed to White River about 1870. From the dust jacket: "The story of Thomas Jefferson Mayfield, better known as "Uncle Jeff," as told to Frank F. Latta. The book is made up of the recorded recollections of Uncle Jeff with corroborating letters and stories from others. All in all, it provides a rich and detailed account of everyday life in the early settlements of the San Joaquin Valley and of the indigenous people. It is particularly noteworthy for its descriptions of his early years living with the Choinumne Tribe of the Yokuts people along the King's River in Tulare County. His later stories about life in the town of Tailholt and its environs are very engaging, as are the letters from others verifying or elaborating on his recollections. The people and events recounted in the book represent a great cross section of pioneer life." Cover art by Joe Rodriguez. Dust jacket art, Yokuts Harvest Mural, is from a painting by the late Ben Barker of Susanville, California and portrays the agrarian lifestyle of the Yokuts Indians in a huge oak forest that once covered hundreds of square miles of the San Joaquin Valley..