Mason (Jesse) Letter, July 25, 1870

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Summary

Creators:
McBride Rare Books
Abstract:
A letter with a firsthand account of the challenges to growing fruit in California in 1870, written by a settler in Amador County named Jesse Mason and sent home to his mother in Vermont.
Extent:
1 letter, 1 envelope
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Mason (Jesse) Letter, MC343, Archives and Special Collections, UC Davis Library, University of California, Davis.

Background

Scope and content:

A firsthand account of the challenges to growing fruit in California in 1870, written by a settler in Amador County named Jesse Mason and sent home to his mother in Vermont.

In his letter, Mason details business troubles caused by water quality, droughts, game depletion, heat, and fires while expressing satisfaction that mining operations are drawing to a close in the area. Mason writes: "I have about fifty trees now ripening; plums are also getting ripe as well as peaches. We have quite a quantity of plums, but few peaches: the latter do not do well here unless irrigated. The roots go down into the ground after water and are sour and dry. I have a few moist places that I am settin out to do peaches and will have a better supply in a year or two. We are having very hot weather the thermos standing at 98 to 104 in the shade. It is injuring the fruit somewhat...."

He also mentions a recent conflagration, the kind now well associated with California: "A fire raged all day yesterday in the hills east of us, burning a good deal of fence and a house and barn. In the summer season everything gets dry and burs like tinder. The wind blows the fire away from us, but we are always fearful of fire here in the summer...."

Mason also details tactics for finding fish in the area, as well as the positive effect the decrease in mining has had on fish populations in the area: "I write to you about our fishing excursion on the fourth. We went, or rather I went with another party who professed to be able to catch them if they were in the river but we had no better luck than before. A sunsett as before they/the fish commenced jumping out of the water but as an Arkansas man would say 'nary bite.' Every one was satisfied that the fish were there but how to get them! It was determined at last to construct a seine and it is now nearly finished. Will be about 70 ft. by 9 1/2. Elizabeth knit 3/10 of it or three shares out of ten. We expect to put it in the water this week. We are a little excited about fishing as we have heretofore had no fish of consequence, the rivers having been so muddy from mining as to drive the fish all out. As the streams get clear the fish are coming back. Game is also becoming plentier as the mines leave the mountains above."

Acquisition information:
Purchase from McBride Rare Books, 2022.
Physical location:
Researchers should contact Archives and Special Collections to request collections, as many are stored offsite.
Physical facet:
4 pages on a single folded sheet, with original transmittal envelope.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

All applicable copyrights for the collection are protected under chapter 17 of the U.S. Copyright Code. Requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Regents of the University of California as the owner of the physical items. It is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Mason (Jesse) Letter, MC343, Archives and Special Collections, UC Davis Library, University of California, Davis.

Location of this collection:
University of California, Davis, Special Collections, UC Davis Library
100 NW Quad
Davis, CA 95616-5292, US
Contact:
(530) 752-1621
speccoll@ucdavis.edu
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