315

Gold Rush Archive

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:1,000.00 USD
Gold Rush Archive
"WINNERS WILL BE NOTIFIED AFTER THE AUCTION ENDS BY THE AUCTIONEER ONCE ALL BIDS HAVE BEEN PROCESSED TO DETERMINE THE WINNER FOR EACH LOT."
Extensive Gold Rush archive of Samuel Curtis Upham (1819-1885), prospector, co-founder of the ''Sacramento Transcript'' and well-known Gold Rush author. In 1849, Upham sailed from Philadelphia to California via Cape Horn, arriving in August 1849. He began digging for gold in the Caleveras River and, after an attack of rheumatism, went to San Francisco where he was employed as a bookkeeper in the office of the “Pacific News.” In 1850, Upham and five partners started the “Sacramento Transcript,” the first daily newspaper outside of San Francisco. In August 1850, he sailed back to Philadelphia, this time via the Isthmus of Panama, and, in 1851, published Philadelphia’s “Sunday Mercury.” In 1878 he published “Notes of a Voyage to California via Cape Horn” and “Scenes in El Dorado in the Years 1849-50” (both of which are out-of-print though currently available and highly desirable among Gold Rush collectors). Most of the documents in this archive are business agreements concerning the ''Sacramento Transcript'' and include twelve documents signed by the business partners, including money owed to Upham after he left California. Also includes a 12 December 1850 newspaper clipping from now defunct Transcript, reporting that “Mr. U. intends to reside in Philadelphia and promises to become our regular correspondent…We apprehend it will be a long time before he can forget California, and become contented in the dull Quaker city.” Lot also includes two pieces of California Fractional Gold: one 1873 and one 1874 Indian Head Octagonal Quarter Dollars. An interesting archive of early California history.