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San Francisco June 30/49 [1849]

My Dear Uncle

Thinking perhaps you would like to
hear from a dutiful (or undutiful I Know not which) Nephew
of yours & from California. I will this evening endeavor
to give you a little history of this, the so much talked
of country. To tell you all would be impossible, but
I will give you the latest news. And first I will tell
you of the Mines. That the reports which you have heard
are true, you may rest assured, and I will add that
the half has not been told. For the last month the
rivers have been so high "that it was difficult to work
though the general average coin then was an ounce a day.
Now the water is falling and they will reap a rich harvest.
Yet, no one can Know, save by personal experience the
hard labor and exposure which all have to undergo in
working in the Mines. The rivers are formed by the
melting of snow from the tops of the Mountains and
you will readily imagine the water to be very cold.
The Miners collect the sand in their pans and have
to go into the water up to their Knees to wash it out.
While a hot sun is pouring down and not a
breath of air hardly stirring, for on either side there
are high mountains." So they have to stand in water
like ice while at their head the thermometer would range

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