Alonzo Delano

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. 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 49er. Delano's sketches of gold rush camp life rivaled Bret Harte and Mark Twain in popularity. When Delano reached Marysville, California, he earned $400 in three weeks drawing portraits of whiskered gold miners at an ounce of gold dust per head. After reaching San Francisco, Delano became a correspondent for the San Francisco Daily Courier and the Pacific News. Along with Prentice Mulford, 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" of whimsical sketches of miners and gamblers.