In the summer of 1891, Orrin Leslie Elliott brings his wife and young son to Senator Stanford's Palo Alto Farm in Northern California to work for David Starr Jordan, president of the new university being established there.

The Elliotts find their new surroundings to be bleak and isolated: college buildings that look like a factory, little or no housing, and a murky water supply. Nearby Mayfield is peopled with cowboys serviced by numerous saloons and prostitutes. With faculty still to be hired, textbooks to be ordered, and dormitories only half finished, plans to open the university in four months seem ludicrous.

This is the story of the founding of Stanford University, as seen through the eyes of the Elliotts, Dr. Jordan, and a sundry group of students. Rubin (Sosh) Weinberg is the only Jewish student in the class of 1895. Fletcher Martin, ex- U.S. Army officer, puts his life on the line for others. Sally Forrest, whose father was slain by gunmen hired by the railroads, attempts to avenge her father's death. Sam Cutter, a devious product of the streets of Chicago, performs acts of chicanery-thievery, intrigue, and murder, including the tormenting of Sosh Weinberg.

The first volume in a trilogy, 1891 entertains and informs as it captures the dayto- day reality of life during Stanford University's early months.