[Gutenberg 24006] • Shadows of Shasta

Joaquin Miller was the pen name of the colourful American poet, essayist and fabulist Cincinnatus Heine (or Hiner) Miller (1837-1913). Miller's exploits included a variety of occupations, including mining-camp cook, lawyer and a judge, newspaper writer, Pony Express rider, and horse thief. As a young man, he moved to northern California during the California Gold Rush years, and had a variety of adventures, including spending a year living in a Native American village, and being wounded in a battle with Native Americans. A number of his popular works, Life Amongst the Modocs (1873), An Elk Hunt, and The Battle of Castle Crags, draw on these experiences. After losing his bid for a seat on the Oregon Supreme Court, and a failed marriage, he left the Pacific Northwest and spent some years travelling, living in and visiting England, New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Brazil. He eventually returned to settle in California, where he grew fruit and published his poems and other works. His works include: Songs of Italy (1879), Shadows of Shasta (1881) and Songs of the