Beschreibung:

CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH]. ROWLAND, G. R. Three autograph letters signed to his brother James Rowland, Bloomfield, IA., Fort Loring and California, 23 April, 16 June and 16 September 1849. Together 7¾ pages, folio and 4to, some minor staining and browning . "I AM...SOME 70 MILES FROM SUTTERS...THERE IS LOTS OF GOLD HERE IT IS SCATTERED ALL OVER T[HE] COUNTRY": A 49ER IN THE CALIFORNIA GOLD FIELDS A fine group of letters which recount a young man's overland journey to California during the Gold Rush, including a description of Mormon settlements at Great Salt Lake and the frenzied search for gold placers near Sacramento. 16 June, from Ft. Loring: "we have passed some 500 wagons in the last five days...there has passed about 1300 waggons up to yesterday...the rush is to get through the black hills first...it is reported that the cholera is strung all along from St. Joes & Independence..." On September 16th, Rowland writes from California: "On reaching Bear river we found diggers strung along up and down and on all its tributaries by hundreds some with tin pans & others with their cradles all in search of gold. The average gatherings as far as I have noticed is some 8 or 10 dollars per day. Some will hit on a rich spot and for a few days will make double that others will fall far short. The gold is found in bars & beds of the creeks. It is generally found in small flat particles & a chance time a piece worth 4 or 5 dollars." Rowland summarizes the journey to California: "if ever I travel the same road the same way again I hope I may freeze on the way...I would rather have 80 acres of land there [Illinois] than to have the whole Salt Lake Valley in fact the whole country this side of the Missouri River." (3)