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Contributing Institution:
University of California, Davis Library, Dept. of Special Collections
Title: Mason (Jesse) Letter
source:
McBride Rare Books
Identifier/Call Number: MC343
Physical Description:
1 letter, 1 envelope
4 pages on a single folded sheet, with original transmittal envelope.
Date: July 25, 1870
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.
Physical Location: Researchers should contact Archives and Special Collections to request collections, as many are stored offsite.
Language of Material:
English
.
Collection is open for research.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchase from McBride Rare Books, 2022.
[Identification of item], Mason (Jesse) Letter, MC343, Archives and Special Collections, UC Davis Library, University of California,
Davis.
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."
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.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Fruit trees
Correspondence
Agriculture -- California
McBride Rare Books