Live! from the Library: Gregory Crouch, Author of “The Bonanza King”

Lured by dreams of striking it rich in gold-rush era California, John Mackay left behind his impoverished life in New York City and headed west. But a valuable tip about treasure in neighboring Nevada proved more fortunate. Gregory Crouch   masterfully recounts a confluence of events involving Mackay’s toil and tenacity mixed with a bit of luck and how it led to the discovery of one of the most valuable caches of gold and silver in the American west. REGISTER>

 

Crouch is also the author of the true-life World War II flying adventure China’s Wings and the alpine memoir Enduring Patagonia. Among many articles, Crouch has written about a U.S.-Iranian climbing exchange in Iran, cave exploration in Oman, winter mountaineering in Patagonia, and Mount Everest. For five years, he was a Senior Contributing Editor at Climbing, focused on writing personality profiles of famous climbers. Crouch graduated from West Point but left the Army to pursue other interests, mostly in adventure travel, rock and ice climbing, and high-stakes international mountaineering. Along the way, he became a writer. With his son, and wife, artist Tina Rath, Crouch lives in Walnut Creek.

 

Live! from the Library, produced by the Walnut Creek Library Foundation, features free public lectures, literary events, and cultural programs at the Walnut Creek and Ygnacio Valley libraries. Program sponsors are the East Bay Times, Friends of the Walnut Creek Library, and Minuteman Press, Lafayette. Programming is also made possible by donations to the Foundation’s Annual Fund.