cams_jcornock_b2990_f006_001_01

American River April 1st 1851

Dear Sister

I recieved [received] your very welcome letter
last tuesday [Tuesday] you said you had a time of rejoiceing [rejoicing]
on receiving my letter that is but a faint expression
of my feelings upon the occasion of receiving yours.
After being from home eleven months not hearing one
word from those I hold near and dear to me after
much hardship and fatigue in an unsettled country
five or six thousand miles from home Imagine all
this and you will have but a faint imagination of my
joy upon receiving your letter last tuesday [Tuesday]. I am
sorry my letters in June had such gloomy effect on
you. I did not write one quarter of the suffering
I seen for fear you become uneasy as to my safety
as to the Cholera I dont [don't] think I am a very good
subject for that and famine. I wish you could
see me now and see if I looked like Starveing [starving] to
death. you ask me what induced me to leave home
to come to California wether [whether] it was for money or
out of curiosity this I can answer very briefly it
was both. I also had a great curiosity to see the
Great American Desert the Rocky and Sierra Neveda [Nevada]
Mountains the different tribes of Indians their
modes of liveing [living]. I have seen them and am satisfied
I am glad to hear Father has still got steady employment
at Townsends Furnace.

It is with heartfelt regret I hear of my Mothers [Mother's]