An account written by Colburn of his life experiences including accounts of six years spent in the mines of Columbia, California and in Sonora, Tuolumne County, California from 1859-1865. The account was written episodically at different times between 1916 and 1926 and then bundled together in its present form.

Colburn was born July 23, 1841 at Oriskeny Falls, New York. His father died in September of that year just prior to departing for Michigan as missionary to the Oneida Indians. He was sent to live with an uncle and at a young age put to hard labor on the uncle's farms. "He belonged to the old Puritan stock. His nature was cold towards childhood. Having no children he knew no love. No semblance of tenderness was ever shown to us."

At length his uncle died, his mother remarried and he moved in 1855 to Wolcott, New York. Here he worked in company with another young man named Elisha King, on an uncle's farm. In 1859 the two young men resolve to go to California, and in April of that year depart for San Francisco, traveling first to New York City, to Aspinwall then across the Isthmus of Panama. The two quickly found employment as laborers on a ranch in San Jose, they remained one season and in the fall of 1859 decide to try their luck in the "southern mines." They worked mines in Columbia, California and in Sonora, Tuolumne County, remaining some six years. He devotes several pages to the Digger Indians, their mode of life and the rough "justice" that this tribe often faced in the mining camps. Colburn relates other incidents, the dangers of the miner's life, etc.

"The six years in the mines were of a uniform experience with us. I would say, however, the years of 59-60 and 61 were more lawless than those that followed. Murders and robberies were more frequent. The years of 60 and 61 were notable for its great rains. The spring of 61 eclipsed the noted season of '51..."

Colburn returned home in 1865 traveling by steamer to New York, via Panama, where he heard of Lincoln's assassination.

The account also includes poetry written in California during the 1860's on various western and mining themes. Later experiences in New York State, and several shorter accounts of California mining life.

There is no record of these recollections having been printed or published.