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Two terrific letters from the early days of the California Gold Rush...



Item # 648547

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September 28, 1848

THE NATIONAL ERA, Washington, D.C., Sept. 28, 1848 

* California gold rush 
* Early - pre-49ers


Page 3 has a lengthy article: "The Gold Region of California" which is from the very early period of the Gold Rush. It is mostly taken up with two letters from the gold fields, introduced with: "It would seem from late accounts that California is afflicted with some rich gold mines. The people there have been seized with madness on the subject & are abandoning the ordinary pursuits of life for the sake of hunting gold..." with more. And the two letters have some terrific content on the early days of the Gold Rush, the 2nd of which ends with: "...This placer was discovered some time since by a Mormon but kept a secret till May last, when the golden chicken burst its shell, and is now a full-grown cock, whose crowing has woke up all California, and will yet disturb the slumbers of other lands. The El Dorado of fiction never prompted dreams that reveled in gold like the streams which shout their way from the mountain of California. They roll with an exulting bound, as if conscious that their pathway was paved with gold.". What follows is more on California, including a newspaper printed there (The Star) and the issue of slavery.
Four pages, irregular at the spine margin, scattered foxing.

Category: Pre-Civil War