Page 37 - Swann Galleries - Printed & Manuscript Americana - Sale 2310 - April 16, 2013

74 ● (CALIFORNIA—LETTERS.) Dudley, John Crosby. Gold Rush letter describ-
ing a river diverted to mine its bed. Autograph Letter Signed, “J.C. Dudley,” to sister
Mary G. Dudley Childs. 3 pages, 10 x 73/4 inches, on one sheet, with address panel on verso
bearing San Francisco postmark; separations at folds, seal hole with slight loss of text.
“Brooklyn City,” CA, 20 October 1849 [500/750]
John Crosby Dudley (1825-1856) left Hampden, ME for the gold fields in 1849. In his
letter home, he gives more than the usual detail on his mining efforts: “We were engaged in
turning the river. We completed our canal the distance of about three hundred yards in about
three weeks. Had to move a large number of rocks, blast a good many ledges, and all for nothing,
or but a very little which we got from the banks. I still think there is gold in the bottom of the
channel, but there was so much sand washed into it, that it was impossible to get at it, so we
cut away the dam and gave it up.”
Dudley’s mining camp was more co-operative than most: “It is my cook day today, and you
don’t know Mary what a cook I am. I make bread, gingerbread (without any ginger), doughnuts,
&c &c in fine style. The other day we baked seventeen first-rate mince pies. Don’t laugh, now,
Mary, for they were first-rate, and no mistake.” Dudley enjoyed mining and camp life well
enough, but thought if all of California was as barren as his mining claim, “I should be willing
to acknowledge its independence of the U. States at any time.”
Two other early gold-mining settlements bore the name Brooklyn, but this one was apparently
smaller and more ephemeral. According to Dudley, it was located on a bar in the Mokelumne
River south of Sacramento, about 225 miles from San Francisco by trail. He describes it as “a
small place built of cotton cloth (the buildings are all tents).”
75 ● (CALIFORNIA—LETTERS.) Frothingham, Joseph. Gold Rush letter describ-
ing the Sacramento flood of 1850. Autograph Letter Signed to niece Elizabeth Ann
Frothingham in Brooklyn, NY. 6 pages, 93/4 x 71/2 inches, on 2 sheets, plus integral address
leaf; faint dampstaining explained by the author’s postscript: “This paper was soaked during
the flood and dryed on board the ship.” Sacramento, CA, 1 April 1850 [500/750]
The newly chartered Gold Rush city of Sacramento was devastated by a flood in January of
1850, which kept most of downtown underwater for three weeks. Frothingham was living in a
tent when the waters began to rise. Trudging through waist-high water in the dead of night, he
sought refuge in a house under construction, but that too soon flooded, rendering even the sec-
ond floor unsafe. Eventually he paid a dollar a night to sleep aboard a boat while the water
subsided: “As soon as we could . . . we got our tent out of the mud on to a little higher ground,
washed it some & repaired it . . . all my clothes were soaking in water for about three weeks
when I got them out . . . they were not much injured except by being a little stained, which we
don’t mind much in California.” He also describes a local cemetery: “This new burying
ground, not over six months old, had nearly 500 graves in it representing all parts of the
United States . . . principally young men from 18 to 25 years of age, some few women that
had come across the plains from the west. This will give you an idea of the health of
California.”
76 ● (CALIFORNIA—LETTERS.) Potts, ___. Gold Rush letter from a freshly
arrived miner about to seek his fortune. Autograph Letter Signed, “Potts” to his wife
Sally. 8 pages, 101/2 x 81/2 inches, on 2 sheets; moderate wear, slight separations at inter-
sections of folds with loss of a few letters. San Francisco, 11 April 1850 [400/600]
A wildly optimistic letter from a prospective miner who has just landed at San Francisco.
“California is a golden land. I have no doubt that the whole peninsula from Oregon to Cape
St. Lucas is one imense gold mine. . . . I have not the least doubt that within 3 months I shall
be able to send you at least $500.” He also offers a long account of San Francisco’s gambling
halls: “Each room (& they are very large ones) containing from 15 to 20 tables, crowded day &
night, groaning under their loads of gold & silver coin and large lumps of pure gold, all staked
on the turning over of one single card.” The author has not been identified beyond his
surname, but we hope he made his fortune.