Frederick Billings letters to Solomon Foot | Collections | The Huntington

Frederick Billings letters to Solomon Foot | Collections | The Huntington

You might also be interested in

Image not available
Frederick Billings letter to John Townsend
Manuscripts
In this brief letter, Billings notifies Townsend that Townsend has been elected to the town council of San Francisco. Also signed by Samuel Fletcher.
mssHM 35191
Image not available
Solomon Gorgas letters to his family
Manuscripts
This is a series of letters written by Solomon Gorgas to his family during his overland travels from Missouri to California during 1850-1851. Nine of the letters are addressed to his wife, Mary Frances Gorgas. HM 2183 is dated 1850, May 1, and was written outside of St. Joseph, Missouri; it is the birthday of Elen, one of the Gorgas children. He is doing well, and assures Frances there is nothing to be worried about. By his next letter (HM 2184; 1850, May 12), Gorgas has reached Fort Keaney in Wyoming after a laborious journey through lonely and beautiful country. He is in good health, and all in his party are getting along. Their next stop is Fort Laramie, 400 miles away. HM 2185 (1850, May 27) sees Gorgas at Fort Laramie in Wyoming, about one third of the way to California. He and his party have seen Indians and their wigwams on several occasions, but have had no trouble with them. Gorgas' next letter (HM 2186, dated 1850, July 31) comes from Sacramento, California, where he has arrived safely and in good health. He describes the city with all its splendor and poverty; provisions are abundant but expensive. The longest letter of this series is HM 2187, written 1850, September 9 from Placerville. In it, Gorgas describes his ventures into the wild country seeking gold. He reports that three-fourths of the miners he has met "hardly made their boarding" while the other fourth make between five and twenty dollars per day, with just a few finding their fortune. In HM 2188, dated 1850, September 11, Gorgas addresses his four children, Elen, Albert, Emma, and Laura, urging them to attend school and listen to their mamma. He sends each a small piece of California gold, and hopes they will write to him. In the final letter (HM 2194, dated 1851, January 27), Gorgas writes that he has had enough of mining, and will be leaving aboard a ship traveling to New York via the Panama Canal.
mssHM 2183-2194
Image not available
Alpheus B. Thompson letters to Timothy Wolcott
Manuscripts
These three letters were written by Alpheus Thompson to Timothy Wolcott during 1856 and 1857. In HM 18997, written 1856, September 6, from Santa Barbara, Thompson thanks Wolcott for looking after his son, Francis. In HM 18998 (dated 1857, June 2), Thompson writes of the advantageous opportunities in San Francisco in the real estate market, and asks Wolcott to look after Francis "for a few months longer." He also includes business details regarding property and other assets. The final letter in this series was written in San José, California, on June 17, 1857 (HM 18999), and Thompson asks if Wolcott would take Francis under his charge, and to "provide him with suitable Clothing and Board."
mssHM 18997-18999
Image not available
Philip Deidesheimer letter to Adolph Heinrich Joseph Sutro
Manuscripts
Letter from Philip Deidesheimer in Virginia City, Nevada, to Adolph Sutro. Deidesheimer writes of his desire to see Sutro and asks him to come back to Virginia City as soon as he can. He also writes of the mines in Nevada, including that "there is mutiny near" at the Ophir Mine. He also writes that he hopes to be made one of the Sutro Tunnel Commissioners, of his invention of the timbering system, that he "never dreamed" of patenting the system "until of late," and asks Sutro to inquire into patenting the design for him, noting that "if I could yet get a patent it would bring me an income of at least one million...dollars a year."
mssHM 29230
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
Image not available
Benjamin J. Edson letter to Josiah [Edson]
Manuscripts
Letter from Benjamin J. Edson in Genoa, Nevada, to Josiah (probably his brother Josiah Edson) regarding mining claims in Nevada. Edson writes of a letter he sent to Robert Moir, and of Josiah asks that "I would like to hear from you...as to prospects, even although a longer delay might be necessary to perfect any project that might be thought of."
mssHM 16527