Arcadia Publishing East Contra Costa County History Book

Ho for California! The terminus of the first overland immigrant pack train destined for California was John Marsh's adobe, Brentwood. Since 1841, East Contra Costa County has been a grain and fruit basket to the world, a recreational playground for resort living and a home for health and family life. Its wheat was exported for brewing Guinness beer and fresh apricots, peaches and cherries still bring produce fanciers for summer harvest. Weekenders houseboat, wakeboard and fish through the region's thousands of miles of delta waterways. This sentimental history of the communities of Brentwood, Bethel Island, Byron, Discovery Bay, Knightsen and Oakley reveals the importance of these California Delta communities in settling and developing the Golden State.