George Q. Cannon was one of the original Mormon pioneers who came west after the assassination of Mormon founder Joseph Smith. After arriving in the valley of the Great Salt Lake in October 1847, he pursued the normal pioneer activities of farming, brickmaking, and building construction. In October 1849, in the middle of the California Gold Rush, Cannon was one of a small group of men picked by Brigham Young to go to California and mine for gold. While preparing for the journey, Cannon began keeping a daily journal which, with small breaks, he continued until 1901, the year he died. This volume contains the record of Cannon's sojourn in California. The entire multi-volume set of George Q. Cannon's journals was diligently transcribed (with some significant omissions for editorial reasons) by his grandson Adrian W. Cannon, as part of the latter's preparation of a biography of his revered ancestor. The LDS Church Historical Department has begun publication of the entire set, of which this was Volume 1.