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Gold rush letters, 1853
MANUSCRIPT SMCII Box 16 Folder 10
Collection Overview

Title:

Gold rush letters, 1853
Charles C. Newton gold rush letters, 1853

Creator/Contributor:

Newton, Charles C., creator

Abstract:

Two letters: Feb. 20, 1853, "In my Log Cabin", to "My Dear Sister" (Mrs. Amelia Bailey, New York City) from Charles C. Newton; Dec. 1, 1853, "Steep Hollow Creek, Up Cal", to "My dearest Sister" (Mrs. H.R. Worthington, Brooklyn, Long Island) from Chas C. Newton. Typed transcriptions accompany. The February letter includes a small sketch of the cabin.
In February of 1853 Charles is writing from a mining town in Nevada County which went from boom to bust between 1852 and 1860. "I came over here about 12 miles from Nevada near a small town called Waloopa." He had arrived there the previous fall and found enough gold to encourage him to build a cabin with five partners. Lack of water and then too much snow hampered their efforts and no more gold was forthcoming.
The snow also kept supplies from reaching the camp and Charles provides a graphic description of their sad situation: "Casting my eyes around I gaze with affrighted look in the corner of the cabin. There stands the once filled 50 lb Flour Sack like a Corporal two days gone with the Cholera. Beside it the Sugar Sack already doomed to the Camp Kettle to try out the remnants caked to its inner side. Above these on a shelf are gloriously arrayed several empty bottles but they emit no fragrance of having once been filled with Molasses, vinegar, etc."
The following December Charles has returned from a prospecting trip in the mountains and is disappointed to find no mail. He suspects that a Charles H. Newton is claiming his mail and asks "... please advise all my dear friends make my middle initial a little more conspicuous."
He talks of being discouraged as he describes his recent travels: "I cannot think of any incidents occuring during my recent tour that would afford you interest. Prospecting, searching for new diggings is decidedly the hardest part of miners life. Imagine me with a roll of blankets, a sack of provisions slung to my back, pan pick & shovel, climbing a steep mountain four or five miles to the top. You may think this ancient but I tell you there is as much of it done now as in 49 or 50. As fast as the country is over run with new comers the old miners up camp and travel. I trust the day is not far distant when I shall have done with it, as I am too weary of it."

Date:

1853 (issued)

Subject:

n-us-ca
Newton, Charles C -- Correspondence
Gold miners -- California -- Nevada County -- Correspondence
Gold mines and mining -- California -- Nevada County
Walloupa (Calif.) -- History

Note:

Charles C. Newton gold rush letters, 1853
Unrestricted. Please credit California State Library.

Type:

biography

Physical Description:

print
4 items : ill.

Language:

English

Identifier:

MANUSCRIPT SMCII Box 16 Folder 10

Origin:

California

Copyright Note:

Unrestricted. Please credit California State Library.