Jump to Content

> Home > California State Library > California History Room
Collection Guide
Brief record only
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Gold rush letter, 1853 June 5.
MANUSCRIPT SMCII Box 12 Folder 1
No online items No online items
Collection location Offline. Contact California State Library::California History Room
Collection Overview

Title:

Gold rush letter, 1853 June 5
Simon Stevens gold rush letter

Creator/Contributor:

Stevens, Simon, 1831-1880, creator

Abstract:

Letter with envelope from Stevens in Sonora, Calif., sent to John Adams, Rockland, Maine, and addressed "Dear Cousen". Stevens reports on his current situation, having just concluded an unsuccessful mining venture at Poverty Hill. "I went astern 250 dollars while i worked in them diggins." He is now working for the Hydraulic Water Co., earning $100 a month and board. Stevens mentions mutual friends in California and encourages his cousin to write often: "It givs me new currage to hear from hom."
Of note in this letter is the use of explicit language in regard to sexual matters in the following passage: "you spoke in your letter about all of you being maried your all gitting a damd lot of good f--king. i suppose you think you have got the advantage of mee but i got a crack at a very hansom girl the last sunday. it only cos mee a 20. f--king is from 5 dolars 50 out hear." This type of forthright communication is rare in gold rush material.

Date:

1853 (issued)

Subject:

n-us-ca
Stevens, Simon -- 1831-1880 -- Correspondence
Pioneers -- California -- Correspondence
Gold miners -- California -- Tuolumne County -- Correspondence
Tuolumne County (Calif.) -- History -- Sources

Note:

Simon Stevens was born in Union, Maine, on Jan. 26, 1831. Responding to the lure of gold in California, he worked his way "around the Horn" and worked mining claims in Tuolomne County in the early 1850s. By the time of his marriage to Nancy Jane Chisum in 1859 Stevens had settled in Coulterville and established himself as a lumberman. Later he was a member Yosemite Lodge No. 133 of the Masonic Order. Simon and Nancy raised a family of eight, most of whom remained in California. Simon died in Coulterville on March 25, 1880.
Simon Stevens gold rush letter.
Unrestricted. Please credit California State Library.

Type:

biography

Physical Description:

print
2 items ; 28 cm.

Language:

English

Identifier:

MANUSCRIPT SMCII Box 12 Folder 1

Origin:

California

Copyright Note:

Unrestricted. Please credit California State Library.