California As It Is And Was - Lyrics by John A. Stone ("Old Put") Musical Setting and Performance by Robert T. Gibney This song relates many of the experience of the placer miners during the last years of California's Gold Rush. The narrator reminisces about the simpler days of 1849-50. He laments the coming of the railroad, competition from Chinese laborers, the high price of food, the imposition of taxes, and the political corruption of the time. The song was published in "Put's Original California Songster" - D.E. Appleton & Co. 1855