Lot 457
[Gold Rush Letter - 1850]. Three-page letter, 10 x 8 in., written by G.W. Gale, Georgetown, 60 miles from Sacramento, Dec. 12, 1850. To his father, Ephraim Gale, in Guilford, Vt. With excellent content about gold mining and miners. Some excerpts: "…Once in a while one makes a pile in a short time & if he is smart soon parts for home….I can hear it almost every day--If I had money enough I would take the next boat for the Isthmus….There is a plenty of Gold here no mistake--but few get a very larg pile in one seasons opperation. all the big piles got back to the States & are trumpeted from pole to pole while the little piles are suffered to lay unmolested…luck is not in their favor in Gold hunting. There is thousands of people in the mines and the amount of money in circulation is enormous…. any man that will work, and be prudent - if he is clear of bad habits - can generally get enough to live on…."
He writes that he has been very ill and says many people have died. There is cholera in Francisco but Sacramento is healthy. "Francisco is the largest place in Callifornia and is said to be as well built as any of our Eastern cities --Some parts of the city has been burned out three times since last spring & now is built of Bricks…fire proof." He describes how the miners live in tents and often sleep on the ground, with no shelter "…we are now making preparations to go to mining again and now make calculations to follow it for a year….The mining is done mostly on the Rivers & small streams & Kanyons or Ravenes….many of which are very rich. The gold thus far has mostly been got by diging in the head of the stream and in the bank and in some places veins have been followed into the hillside and pay well. What a miner means by paying well is getting an ounce or more a day. Our company averaged six to seven oz. per week …Some days we would not get an oz. The best days work was ninety dollars apiece…." A few toned spots, else fine.
Estimated Value $1,500 - 2,000.
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