Manuscripts
Legal opinion of Sir William Blackstone on the rights of free-holders to commons after enclosure
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William S. McBride diary
Manuscripts
Diary kept by William S. McBride as he traveled overland from Indiana to Utah in 1850. He departed from Goshen, Indiana, on March 31 in company with Eli W. Summey, Fred Summey, Enoch Willett, and Louis Mitchel, who were already calling themselves "Californians." On April 7 they took the steamer Falcon to St. Louis (which McBride called a "second Babel"), and immediately departed on the steamer Globe. Their steamer was delayed several times and it took ten days to reach Jefferson City, and another five to arrive in St. Joseph. While they camped nearby for several days, McBride took the opportunity to observe his fellow emigrants, and although he was impressed by their appearance ("All seemed jovial and full of life...the horses too...pranced along like gay studs on a celebration day," he noted), he was not entirely caught up in the moment. "This is the going out upon the plains," he wrote. "We will see by & bye how it contrasts with the 'coming in from the plains.'"His group departed in a company of 14 wagons on May 2. He writes often of hunting buffalo and antelope (which "made excellent soups"), and that while he himself had cut out a buffalo tongue (which "would be considered a delicate morsel...at St. Louis"), he "felt a deep sympathy" for buffalo approaching the pioneer guns, as they seemed to be "running the gauntlet." He writes extensively of his surroundings, including a mirage, a "very singular but...common occurrence" which made "men...[look] like giants 14 or 15 feet high...horses double their natural size, and...rivers of water when there was no water." McBride also records the initial high morale in camp, as "we often had music and singing." But about a week after their arrival at Fort Kearney on May 16, McBride began to worry about his party's progress, noting that they had fallen behind and were being passed by emigrants who left St. Joseph several days after they did. Blaming the large size of the wagon train for delays, McBride and his companions went on ahead of the rest of the company. They quickly traversed a Sioux village (McBride formed a favorable opinion of the Sioux people), climbed a rock in the area of Chimney Rock (at "no little danger to life & limb"), passed Scott's Bluffs, caught their first glimpse of the Rocky Mountains, crossed the Laramie River, and arrived at Fort Laramie on May 31. He noted the diminished morale of emigrants at Fort Laramie, and noted that many of them were forced to leave their wagons and horses behind, "in some instances sold for little or nothing, or abandoned." By June 1 he reached the Black Hills, and soon crossed the Platte River, observed Independence Rock (which he recognized from a picture he had seen in his "school boy days"), passed Devil's Gate, and reached the Big Sandy on June 16 ("I believe we are in Mexican Territory," McBride guessed on June 17). On June 18 he crossed the Green River with the aid of a "half breed" mountaineer who was "gifted with no ordinary degree of intelligence & energy." He subsequently passed Fort Hall and the Oregon Trail and crossed the Red Fork (on a "very inferior ferry, constructed out of logs pinned together" and attached to "a heavy cable"). On the other side of the river he observed a "very white human skull set up on a stick" which had been "very much used of late as a kind of tablet on which memoranda were written." On June 25 he had his first view of the Utah Valley, and arrived in Salt Lake City on June 26. McBride gives an extensive description of the Salt Lake Valley, and praises the Mormons for having done "a great deal in a short time." But his overall opinion of the Mormons was "very poor," and he described them as "poor silly fanatics, reckless renegades, and blood seekers [with]...no moral honesty." Guided by "artful...dishonest leaders," McBride thought they were prone to excess drinking, "concubinage," lying, cheating, and extortion. The diary ends in Salt Lake City on June 26. The entire diary appears to have been copied over by McBride from his original notes. Also includes a photograph of McBride.
mssHM 16956
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William S. Elder letterbooks
Manuscripts
Two letterpress copy books of outgoing letters sent by William S. Elder between 1890 and 1904 from Deadwood, South Dakota. The first volume, which covers March 1890-December 1899, primarily focuses on Elder's law practice, including his activities as a land agent, debt collector, mediator of mining claims, and probate attorney. The cases described in his letters involve clients from Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Illinois, Kansas, and New York. Occasional references are made to the American Express Mine, the Brookline Mining Company, and the Imperial Gold Mining and Milling Company. Some notable items include a letter outlining Elder's own potential mining plans in the Black Hills (February 7, 1899), his opinion on the prohibition of liquor sales (June 11, 1890), and a letter on property issues surrounding the Burlington and Missouri Railroad (August 12, 1890). The second volume, dated February 1903-April 1904, also includes references to Elder's legal cases, some involving clients from Pennsylvania and Germany and including references to divorces and mining issues. References are made to the Gold Hills Mining Company, Reliance Gold Mining Company, Homestake Belt Gold Mining Company, the American Express Mine, The Black Hills and Kansas Oil and Gas Company, and the Columbus Consolidated Company. The majority of the volume revolves around Elder's own mining interests with the Imperial Gold Mining and Milling Company and the Black Hills Copper Company, as well as his investments in developing the Black Hills Trust and Savings Bank. Many of the letters - including those to clients, investors, and associates - describe Elder's various money-making schemes to finance his mining operations, the outlook for which was initially dire. Elder wrote to an associate in Arizona in August 1903 that "...things are in pretty bad shape here, as you know; our mill is closed down, our mines are closed down, we have no developments going on and we are in debt." But conditions seem to have improved by April 1904, when Elder wrote to a New York colleague that "...after a long, hard battle I believe we are going to make money out of our mining company." Included throughout both volumes are approximately 15 letters, dated 1898-1903, dealing with Chinese-American business owners and Chinese immigration issues. The majority of these letters were written by Elder to agents in Port Townsend, Washington; to the Director of Immigration in Portal, North Dakota; to the Collector of Customs in San Francisco; and to the Secretary of the Treasury in Washington, D.C. Legal matters discussed include the detention of American-born or legal resident Chinese unable to prove their citizenship claims (see April 21, 1898, May 7, 1898, November 4, 1899, and September 29, 1903), the procurement of travel documents allowing Chinese-Americans, most of them business owners, to visit China and return to the United States (see November 7, 1895, May 22, 1903, July 20, 1903, August 11, 1903, and August 21, 1903), debt claims among Chinese-American merchants (see August 31, 1899, September 29, 1899, and November 14, 1899), and questions on Chinese immigration and residency issues (see August 20, 1903, and December 2, 1903).
mssHM 78058-78059