Jon Garate
This book is about liberty as it existed in one homestead community on the American frontier in an isolated high desert region of northeast California and how the Genuine Frontier Liberty was made possible by customary common law and a complete absence of government intrusion, restraint, and enforcement (IRE). It is the personal account of the author, Jon Garate, along with various oral histories from the pioneer era through the homestead era. This describes the purest form of liberty and self-governing that can exist.Here we see the Triangle of Liberty depicted on the cover-the triangle being one of the strongest geometric forms known. Liberty is supported by a triangle mounted on the great foundation stones of customary common law on one side and freedom from government on the other. The minuteman at the right of the Triangle of Liberty is taken from a picture of the author in 1964.The upper background picture is the author’s family homestead in 1980, taken from a point on the north base of Spanish Springs Peak, an extinct volcano in northeast California. The view is looking across the Madeline Plains to the northwest. The white building to the left of the triangle is the original homestead house built in 1910.The lower background picture is of the homestead workshop around 1950. This picture is looking east from the ranch house toward the shop, which is the larger central structure with the A-frame structure in front. The shop was the first structure built on the homestead in 1909. The A-frame is the smokehouse for curing meat. The structure to the right of the shop is the chicken house. To the center right is the old horse-drawn light-freight wagon, which was the first vehicle driven by the author as a young boy. The person on the right is the author’s father, Thomas Jefferson Garate (1906-1988). On his left is the author’s mother, Faye 'Haley' Garate (1920-2016). The chickens are unnamed. 3
