Gold Rush Era Letters

San Francisco July 22nd 1852.

My Dear Mother, Sister, & Brother,

I now sit down to inform you of my doings &c since my arrival at this place & although it is but a short time since I wrote you I hope that a few lines now will be acceptable.

I have thus far enjoyed very good health & am as happy as I could expect to be under existing circumstances. I believe I wrote you in my last that I was going to try my luck at the mines where I hoped to meet S. P. Tucker [Samuel P. Tucker]. Acting accordingly I took the Steamer for Stockton Saturday afternoon the 10th inst & arrived at S. the next morning after a ride of 120 miles. We spent the Sabbath there & the next morning took the stage for Angels Creek a distance of 70 miles when we arrived at 5. Oclock. We then took our valises blankets & I started off on foot for Murphys Camp a part of the diggings situated 7 miles from Angels Creek. We proceeded about 20 miles when one of our party was taken sick & we we were obliged to camp in the woods for the night. I rested very well although we heard wolves barking around us several times during the night. At 3 Oclock in the morning we resumed our journey and arrived at Murphys at sunrise pretty well tired out. The first building we saw was a sawmill driven by steam when they charge 12 cts per foot for sawing lumber. It is owned by a company from Maine & they will get rich in a short time

At 4 Oclock P.M. we took the boat to San Francisco where we arrived Sunday morning after having been gone a week having made about $40. out of pocket We went directly to our old boarding place Mrs Millers & it again received us a little like home. I will now inform you with regard to my money affairs &c. When I arrived here I had $189. I received for my cards $66. & I shall have after paying this weeks board $100. I have lent Friend Fisk 57 dolls so that my expenses have been $98. & I am now living as economical as possible. I have as yet found nothing to do but shall in the course of the week. One thing is certain. If I was now in the States making a good living & knew what I now do about this country I should by all means stay there & I would not advise anyone to think of coming out here, but as long as I am out here I shall stop a while & try and do something.

I have not as yet Seen Saml Tucker [Samuel P. Tucker] although I learned from Mr Walton that he came down here from the mines while I went up there, stopped here a day or two & then went to some other place but where I cannot learn. Give my love to all my friends & I hope & trust that one of you will write me a good long letter by every mail as a letter from a New England home & friends is acknowledged by all to be the greatest luxury and goes farther to make one happy than any thing to be found in California.

I remain as ever Your Affct Son & Your affct & loving brother H. A. Parker [Henry A. Parker]

P.S. Bro Charles Please write me and give me an account of your school of your focols, garden &c. What do you think of common hens bringing $40 per doz & Eggs $2.50 per Doz. (The mail for Cal. leaves the states on the 5th & 20th of each month.

San Francisco Sunday Morn Aug. 8th/52

My Dear Mother, Sister, & Brother

It is a beautiful morning & as I sat meditating my thoughts as they often do wandered to my distant home — that home where I hope you are all still living in the enjoyment — of good health & happiness.

I still enjoy good health & am getting along very well considering how I am situated but should feel much happier if I could hear from you often as I hope to do as soon as you once hear from me. The mail Steamer is due here now from New York & I expect to hear from you when she arrives.

I have already written you twice — once by the mail of the 15th July & once by the mail of the 31st July & the next mail Steamer leaves here next Saturday the 14th inst when I shall send these few lines which I hope will be acceptable & be answered as soon as convenient — as I long to hear from you very much & to know what is going on in Pepperell & vicinity

We are now having beautiful weather here most of the time with the exception of the disagreeable wind which blows in from the ocean every afternoon. The mornings are beautifully warm & pleasant — until about noon when the wind springs up & blows the sand from the hills back of the city making it very uncomfortable & disagreeable on the streets. There are neither trees nor grass in the city but the streets are all planked so that it is very good travelling about. The city is built on a side hill that slopes gently from the waters edge to the highest summit fronting on

the beautiful harbor of San Francisco into which the city is being fast extended by filling in with the dirt obtained from the hills back & there are now may handsome brick stones where but a year ago large ships floated. A month here is about the same as a year in the states. There is about as much done & one seems to see as much in a month as he would in a year in New York or Boston Five stores are commenced here one week & the next week are occupied by merchants having in the mean time been built & finished. Rents here too amount to as much in a month here as they do in the States in a year. For instance Fisk & I pay for our store which is a room 20 x 50 ft one story 200$ per month or 3000$ a year which would buy a good farm in the town of Pepperell.

The water underneath our Store is about 20 ft deep & we are on the outside street so that there two streets above us that the water flows back under. The building is built on piles driven into the mud until they touch the solid bottom & the lot which it sets on which is the same size as the building is valued at 4000$ although 20 ft under water. We have not as yet got our business fairly started but I think we shall do well soon after the streets are built alongside of our store & if I had a little more money I think I could do a good business here in the Ship Stores & Liquor Trade. So I am going to send to Esq. Jewett for money enough with what I have already had from time to time to make the amount 1500$ for I shall have it any way in about 11 months & I think I may as well have it now & be making 40 or 50 per client on it as to have it lying in his hands & be recieving but 5 percent for it so I should like if you will to have you see him & talk with

San Francisco Aug 21st 1852.

My Dear Mother, Sister & Brother,

I once more have the pleasure of seating myself to write you a few lines & to inform you that I still continue to enjoy good health & I hope you are all well & happy. This is the fourth letter I have written you since I arrived here, as I have written you by every mail Steamer one of which leaves the 1st & 1 the 15th of each month. The first letter I wrote you I sent by the mail of the 15th July which I hope in this you have recieved [received] & that I shall now hear from you by every mail from the States. I begin to think you have entirely forgotten me as I have not heard a word from any of you since I received the letters you wrote me last May & sent by Samuel P Tucker which to me were the greatest treat I have had since I left my distant home -- the home of my childhood -- which you all remember was the 25th of Feby. last. When I read your kind letters I felt as though I was still near my friends & I then flattered myself with the hope that I should hear from you by every mail that is once a fortnight. Since that time however four mails have arrived from the States. but not a single letter have I recieved [received] from any one of you & I think I have good reasons to believe that you have all forgotten me or that you don't care enough about me to write & if that is the case (which I do not believe) I am going to try & get one more letter from you in this way.

I will write you by every mail until you get tired of