This is the autobiography of Walter L. Richardson, handed down to his four children in 1954, two years before he died. It emphasizes his early years in California; his family’s 1875 move from Waltham, Massachusetts to Los Angeles; years growing up in sparsely-settled Los Angeles and Pasadena; and his adventures in school and exploring the surrounding countryside and mountains. The autobiography provides in depth accounts of his trek on foot from Pasadena to Yosemite, killing the last grizzly in the San Gabriel Mountains, his work in a gold mine in South Africa and travels around the world, and efforts to develop a ranch in El Centro, before finally settling in Porterville, California, in 1917 to raise a family and produce citrus. While this is clearly a story about one man’s early life, it does provide a historical view of California’s early years; thus the title, “A California Story.”