It may sound odd, but as I stood on the passenger deck of the ferry Eureka, docked near Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, I kept thinking about Jack London. What came specifically to mind was the first part of the novel The Sea Wolf (1904), where the narrator vividly describes being aboard the ferry Martinez, which collides with another ship and quickly sinks in the middle of a thick San Francisco Bay fog.

Of course, Jack London wrote plenty of other wonderful books, including The Call of the Wild (1903) and White Fang (1906). And this episode of California’s Gold isn’t really about San Francisco — but Jack London truly was an important literary figure in California during his lifetime, and his estate in Sonoma County was one part of his story I’d never heard before. Beauty Ranch has now been added to my list of places I hope to visit one day!

Explore Beauty Ranch, once the home of one of California’s most famous authors, Jack London. Now the estate is part of the Jack London State Historical Park in the Valley of the Moon in Sonoma. It is at this home that London wrote many of his most famous books, including Call of the Wild, White Fang and The Sea Wolf.

(Click on the linked image below to see the video.)