From East Prussia to the Golden Gate

the long version

Frank Lecouvreur (1829-1901) was born Franz Lecouvreur in Ortlesburg, Prussia. Educated as an engineer, he left home for California in 1851. From East Prussia to the Golden Gate (1906) draws on Lecouvreur's letters and journals to describe his journey from Prussia to California and his life in his new home. His letters from the gold mines on the Yuba River offer an unusually professional analysis of mining methods at Hopkinsville and Long Bar and continue with a series of odd jobs in San Francisco and trips to Alameda and San José, 1853-1854. In 1855, Lecouvreur moves to Southern California , and scattered diary entries cover his service as Los Angeles county clerk and deputy county surveyor and businessman, 1855-1868.