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California Gold Rush Letter-By 49er Meeker [California Gold Rush] S.H. Meeker, an Original Forty-Nin

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:1.00 USD Estimated At:600.00 - 900.00 USD
California Gold Rush Letter-By 49er Meeker [California Gold Rush] S.H. Meeker, an Original Forty-Nin
<B>[California Gold Rush] S.H. Meeker, an Original Forty-Niner, Writes About "El Dorado."</B></I> Major S. H. Meeker. Autograph Letter Signed ("Harry"), 6 pages, recto and verso, 8" by 10.5", Sacramento City, California, March 24, 1851. To "My Dear Captain." In Fine condition. With typed transcription. Major Meeker came to California in '49, when the first reports of major gold strikes were just starting to sweep the country, and stayed until his death in '63, becoming along the way a much respected merchant. Here, just a couple years into his stay, he writes an old comrade about the wonders to behold - and reports on the booming business. In part: "<I>...We now have eight large class steamers plying between this place and San Francisco and the way the price of fare is knocked down occasionally is a Caution to California profits, and the rapidity with which the comforts not only but the luxuries of traveling have increased is equally surprising. Eighteen months since I paid $30 for the privilege of a deck passage from San Francisco on the old propeller McKinn - Now the fare in the saloon on first class steamers...can be had for one Dollar... The progress of civilization and refinement is equally visible in other quarters. A few months since we considered ourselves fortunate to get enough hard bread and bacon... Now an abundant supply of game and excellent vegetables are served up to us daily with all the proper appointments... We are a fast people and it is not too much to predict that some parts of this country will in less than two years equal in Splendor and luxurious living any part of the World. Both the desire for it and the gold to pay for it exist here in a great degree. The Ladies are coming too!</B></I>" Meeker continues to rhapsodize about the hunting, the climate, even the lettuce. He sends news, too, of other young men from the East who've gone West.... From the Henry E. Luhrs Collection. Accompanied by LOA from PSA/DNA