World War I Collection

[Imprint] illustration of Native American Chief: TECUMSEH CHIEF OF THE SHAWNEES

PACIFIC COAST DEPARTMENT H.L.A BATES, GENERAL AGENT 240 SANSOME STREET SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. The Shawnee Fire Insurance Co. Of Topeka, Kansas

Walnut Grove, Cal. June. 13, 1909.

Dear Edward:

I received your very nice letter yesterday and thought I would answer it right away. I am glad you are having such a dandy time down there and hope you will save some for me.

It is pretty hot up here & the ground is full of ants so if you find a shady place you can't sit down, because they chew you up. I worked for two days, in water up to my neck & kept pretty cool then but I would begin to freeze about 4 P.M. so it wasn't so good after all. We go around in a steam launch for about 12 miles to where we work, which is fun, because we can go on the dredger called "V" and have shade during lunch. You see, there are no trees out there.

I was away for about two weeks at camp "5" where there is another dredger working. They have a lot of yellow flowers with white petals, out there, called Dog-fennel & that stuff made me sneeze all the time I was there. One day I sneezed so much I couldn't do more than whisper; it was fierce.

The dredges are used to make the grade for the train to run on, & they