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Alonzo Delano (July 2, 1806 - September 8, 1874), who went by the pen name "Old Block", was an American humorist, pioneer town city father, and a California Gold Rush Forty-niner. Delano's sketches of gold rush camp life rivaled Bret Harte and Mark Twain in popularity.
He became ill that year with Tuberculosis, and following his physician's orders for a change of residence and more exertion, Delano decided to head west to California. Before departing, he made arrangements to send correspondence to the publishers of two newspapers, the Ottawa Free Trader and True Delta in New Orleans. At the age of 42, and being sick, he shipped his belongings, including cattle, to join the Dayton Company of travelers in St. Joseph, Missouri, the rendezvous point. His first week traveling was spent delirious with fever. He did not see his family again for six years.
When Delano reached Marysville, California, he earned $400 in three weeks drawing portraits of whiskered Gold mining at an ounce of gold per head. After reaching San Francisco, Delano became a correspondent for the San Francisco Daily Courier and the Pacific News. Along with Prentice Mulford,Starr, p. 83 Delano was one of the first to use “California Humor”, a style of writing that uses satirical social commentary that exaggerates situations. Some of his articles were written by his long-nosed proto-Will Rogers figure "Old Block", taken from his whimsical sketches of miners and gamblers. These articles were later collected and published in book form in Pen-Knife Sketches and Old Block's Sketch Book. Charles Nahl was his illustrator. Delano's book, On the Trail to the California Gold Rush, was a chronicle of his 1849 travels to California, and included an Introduction by American historian J. S. Holliday. His letters, a journal, and some writings were published in Life on the Plains and among the Diggings. His comical play, A Live Woman in the Mines, features the hero Pike County Jess and heroine High Betty Martin.
In 1850, Timothy Ellsworth and Delano purchased a claim on Massachusetts Hill located near Gold Hill in Nevada County, California, and organized the Sierra Quartz Mining Company. At one point, Delano owned one-sixth of the Massachusetts Hill Quartz Mine; Delano & Co. was very involved in its development. In 1851, Delano sold out his interest to Dr. J. C. Delavan, an agent of Rocky Bar, a New York company. Delano was a storekeeper in several communities, including Grass Valley. He was elected the first treasurer of the city of Grass Valley, California. He started working for Wells, Fargo & Company in Sacramento in 1854 and was Grass Valley's first Wells Fargo agent.
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