Manuscripts
My own experience with the Vasques Bandits
Image not available
You might also be interested in
Image not available
John Groom letter to "My dier Wife and Children,"
Manuscripts
This letter was written by John Groom to "My dier Wife and Children," on September 22, 1850 from Georgetown, California. In this letter to his family, Groom describes his difficult journey from the Missouri River to California. He opens the letter about the hardships of his journey, which includes contracting the flu and mountain fever. He passes numerous graves while crossing the plains, which disheartens him. In California, he states that the prospects of mining for gold "looks very Gloomy." According to Groom, the chances are very slim. "I am speaking now of the late emegrtion per haps 1 in 20 makes theire half ounce a day and 1 in 50 is doing what we all expect to do that is to do well by hard work and aconemy while 1 in a 1000 is makeing there fortunes..." He reveals the harsh reality of the California Gold Rush, "...I tell you now that the dark side of callafornia has been kept hid while the good side has been mutch Exagerated there is not 1 man in 100 but wishes himself at home of this years emegration and every man almost without exepttion that can Raise the money is a going and has gone already for my part I am here without the means to get home..." He also includes details about the costly supplies in California. He concludes the letter, "...be content to stay where you are doing well or not for God forbid that I ever should be the cause of any man coming to Calafornia to get Gold..."
mssHM 68184
Image not available
John Ringo letter and subpoena
Manuscripts
Photocopies of a subpoena for John Ringo and a letter by him stating that he cannot travel to Pima County for the trial as he had been shot in the foot. He was being charged with assault with intent to commit murder in March 1880.
mssRingo
Image not available
William H.N. Smith letter to Thomas A. Marsh
Manuscripts
Smith informs Marsh that he has finally reached San Francisco, California, after eight and a half months at sea, during which he had to change ships after the first one "was condemned." He also tells the sad tale of the drowning of a young man named "Frankey" during the voyage, and the devastating effect on Frankey's mother.
mssHM 19800
Image not available
James Trott to C.S. Trott
Manuscripts
Autograph letter by James Trott from Galena, Illinois to his sister C.S. Trott, on January 11, 1843. Trott starts the letter with a joke concerning a sketch of a wagon in the letter. He begins, "This is a wagon used by the western people & is called a prairie schooner...sometimes horses are used. I saw one at Chicago...which had a stove on it & must therefore I think have been a prairie steamer" (p. 1). Next, Trott briefly touches upon family matters concerning letters received and sent. The bulk of the letter is in regards to religion. He discusses a very fine preacher named Mr. Holbrook from Dubuque, Iowa, but had one critical observation. "The only improvemn't w'd have been for him to have clearly understood the consequences flowing from this doctrine - the phrase 'Christian duties' seems to be an unfortunate one for it implies that some duties, as being a s.s. teacher, are Christian, while others are not Christian duties..." (p. 1). In another event, while attending a Methodist church one evening, Trott mentions a preacher that once "...knock a man down - a Methodist preacher had to do so once it was the only way in which he c'd maul the grace of God into the man." (p. 2). He also writes about a threatening blacksmith turned preacher and his thoughts on Sunday school. In the second half of the letter, Trott introduces his friend William Tell Wynkoop and the abundance of mining in the region. He writes about descending approximately 55 feet into a lead with only a rope on his left foot. Once at the bottom he writes, "The ore appeared to be quite plenty although the mine had been worked a year we ascended again & got some fine specimens from one of the windlass hands. We then went to another digging found one man who said he had worked a year and had not raised mineral enough to pay for his tobacco" (p. 2-3). Trott also briefly discusses the life of a miner and provides a description of the country. "The country about here is more beautiful than that around Bos. [Boston] such beautiful succession of hills. You w'd be delighted with the views..." (p. 3). He concludes the letter with a story about an American or Canadian smuggling goods that were seized by a customs officer.
mssHM 80952
Image not available
White Fang
Rare Books
"Northern Canada a hundred years ago was a savage, demanding land, where the will to survive dominated all the other instincts of both men and beasts. White Fang, one quarter dog, three quarters wolf, was a child of this wilderness; free to wander, to conquer and to kill. Until the day that he met the one species that could rule even him--that strange god called Man!"--Back cover.
493754 v.28
Image not available
Charles Frederick Holder letter to John Vance Chaney
Manuscripts
Letter written from Charles F. Holder in Pasadena to John Vance Chaney, the head of the San Francisco Public Library. Holder writes that he has been delayed in getting back to San Francisco because of the "Tournament of Roses" given by his Hunt Club. He also asks Chaney if he has heard anything about "the Overland" (probably The Overland Monthly magazine), which he had been trying to acquire, and praises a newspaper man named Field of the San Francisco Chronicle.
mssHM 75639