Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Manuscripts
Journal of prospecting experiences in Colorado
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- Description
- Diary kept by Henry Gramesly while he prospected in Colorado from May to July 1880, and resuming with his return trip from July to August 1881. The diary opens with Gramesly traveling by rail through the Kenosha Pass in Colorado and his arrival in Leadville. Shortly after his arrival 6,000 miners went on strike demanding higher wages. Gramesly tracks the strike, which continued throughout the month of June until it was broken by militiamen sent by Governor Frederick Pitkin. Gramesly writes of men being shot, the introduction of martial law, and "great excitement" in the city. He reflects several times that the setting and situation "puts me in mind of the Army." At the same time as the strike, high winds drove a major forest fire through the area. "Damn the country...the forests are on fire in every direction," Gramesly wrote, continuing it was so "smoky [I] can't really see the mountains." At this time a circus also came to town, which Gramesly notes in passing. In the midst of all these happenings, Gramesly went on prospecting, and on July 5 some of his companions discovered gold and staked a claim not far from their camp, called Gramesly's Camp. The diary ends on July 10, 1880, and picks up again in June 1881, when Gramesly returned to Colorado from Illinois. He writes of setting up a tunnel company with his five companions, and that he was given 10,400 shares, with a total value of $104,000. The tunnel was built near Eagle Point, and Gramesly mentions the Cave, Tray, and Waterloo Lodes, among others. He continued prospecting and hiking in the area, and records hunting sheep on La Plata and the view from Eagle Point. He also records his sighting of the Great Comet of 1881 and mentions in passing that "the President [James A. Garfield] is dying." The back of the diary contains a list of letters Gramesly sent, some miscellaneous accounting notes, and additional diary entries from early May 1880. In the diary Gramesly refers to his father as WSG, his brother as CG, and his fiancee Harriet as Hat.
