The only known photograph of Sgt. John Dawson, the Mother Lode’s only African-American Civil War soldier, is just one highlight of Something From Nothing, The Early History Of West Calaveras County, Vol. III the latest collection of the popular monthly columns penned by historian Sal Manna for the Valley Springs News. Among the fascinating stories in the 48-page publication besides that on Dawson are the West Calaveras connection to Uncle Tom’s Cabin; the true identity of the man after whom the town of Milton was named; the history of the construction of Pardee Dam; a 1916 trip across America in a Model T Ford; Calaverasites who joined the Klondike Gold Rush; local Native American rock art; the Calaveras Liberty Boys of World War I, and the tale of Troy Dye, one of the most notorious murderers in California history. The full color magazine adds numerous photographs to the original columns. The only authoritative color publication ever produced about the area’s history, most of the magazine’s subjects had never before been written about.