Interweaving history with the fiction.

This book was planned by the author to write before his Civil War novels. He writes in author omniscient voice but one is led to sympathy for the protagonist. Jakes seems to like the fighting man who has a self-centered ambitious attitude, but also a humanistic streak. I liked his inclusion of Yosemite and the whole state. He focuses on the Southern Pacific Railroad. His relationship with his son and Nellie were old-fashioned, but maybe typical for the time. I have read it twice and consider it a favorite for late 19th-early 20th century California setting, a time my ancestors lived in California.