California

1855 CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH ERA LETTER. 1855 one page ALS; 10” x 8” ruled blue paper. Texas Springs, Shasta County, California. No cover, light originla fold lines, overall VG-F cond. ((W.460); $200.
Dear Brother,
Long have I look for a letter from you but have not got won. So I Haven given up all hopes of ever geting any more. I have friends at Council Hills and at Placerville who promiset to remail my letters for me when I left thier and send them up here. Times is very dull here at present more so than I expected Flour is $9.50 Potatoes goe a dollar a hundred and other things in proportion(.) labor is from fifty to seventy five dollars a month and board I have won partner and won hired man to work with us and am making $600 six dollars to the man a day This is a very cold dry winter so dry that a great many miners cant make much(.) My health is good at present and hope that these lines will find you all enjoying a similar blessing .
So Farewell Solomon W Bush

STEPEHEN MASSETT. CDV. 4 1/4" x 2 1/2" Seated portrait. 1861 copyright, C.D. Fredricks, NY photographer's imprint. Small area of discoloration in background, o/w VG-F . Scarce California personality. (W.15); $200.
Stephen C. Massett (1820-1898), better known as “Jeemes Pipes of Pipesville” was one of the original personalities that came in the argonaut band of 1849. He worked as an actor, composer, author and monologistan Francisco’s very first entertainment was given by Massett, who on June 22nd 1849, at the Police Office, rendered a program consisting of vocal music and recitations. The program read “ Front seats reserved for ladies!" History records that there were but four ladies present - probably the only four in the town at the time.

WALKER LAKE AND BODIE TOLL ROAD CO. Receipts for tolls . 7" x 8 1/2". Recorded are date, name of teamster, kind of vehicle, number of animals, and tolls. Sign by Walter White toll-keeper. On back is imprinted "W.L. & B. Toll Road Co. Toll Receipts for week ending July 31, 1897". Original fold lines, overall VG. (W.517); $195.
During Bodie’s early years, most of the camp's mail traveled by rail to Carson City, then by stagecoach or express wagon by way of Aurora. (The road that serves as Bodie’s Main Street was completed in 1864 as a summertime mail route from Sonora to Aurora and just happened to pass through the fledgling mining camp of Bodie.) Aurora remained the region's transportation hub even after Bodie’s 1878-79 boom. Not until 1881 was Aurora bypassed by a new wagon road called the Walker Lake & Bodie Toll Road, which passed through Del Monte Canyon to reach the town of Hawthorne, a locomotive refueling and repair stop on the new Carson & Colorado railroad.

QUICKSILVER MINING COMPANY, NEW ALMADEN CALIFORNIA. 1882 Letterhead of The Quicksilver Mining Company, Mine and Works, New Almaden, California. 8 1/4" x 11", along with a 8 ½“ x 5 ½“ advertising broadside for Quicksilver. Written by James B. Randol to D. H. Jackson, At Sierra City, regarding shipment of Quicksilver. Exhibits small amount of discoloration along bottom, damage to b/r corner with accompanying small loss of paper. Broadside, which also acted as a dated quote, has a very small amount of discoloration to bottom not affecting overall appearance. VG cond. (W.527); $800.
New Almaden was the most prominent quicksilver mine under the operation of Quicksilver Mining Company in the Western Hemisphere.The mine and its villages flourished under the 20-year directorship of James Randol, who took over as general manager in 1870 when S. F. Butterworth retired. Under Randol's orderly discipline the community became a mining town unlike any other in the state, somewhat resembling a beneficent feudal society. The residents' health, wealth, cultural and social lives were taken care of by company-sponsored organizations that the progressive but authoritarian Randol set up. D.H. Jackson was the general manager of the Sierra Grande Mining Company. Though the town was originally called Daly, and changed to Lake Valley, there must have been a short period of time in the interim it was called Sierra City.
In August, 1878, George W. Lufkin and Chris Watson discovered silver ore around the area of Lake Valley. Their discovery started a silver mining rush as prospectors settled in the area to continue the mining. Lufkin sold his claim to George Daly, and with Whitaker Wright (who came to Lake Valley in April 1881) bought or made 8 more claims away from the outcrop. They then went to New York and with George D. Roberts formed four mining companies each with four claims. The Sierra Grande Silver Mining Company of Lake Valley ran the mines for all four companies. In 1882, John Leavitt, a blacksmith, leased a claim that George Lufkin had been working. Just 40 feet away from the surface, Leavitt discovered a huge cavern lined with solid silver. This incredibly rich cavern was later named "The Bridal Chamber" because of the sparkle from its crystal encrusted walls. A settlement, first called Daly but later renamed Lake Valley, moved to its present location after this discovery. Two and a half million ounces of silver were eventually removed from the Bridal Chamber, some of it so pure it required no smelting. In fact, the silver was so easy to remove that a railroad spur was built into the chamber and silver was loaded directly onto the cars. In 1893, silver was devalued, and the prosperity Lake Valley had known took a down turn. In 1895, most of Main Street burned to the ground.

SKAGGS HOT SPRINGS, SONOMA COUNTY LETTER.1885 Four page manuscript letter, on two sheets,10" x 8", Skaggs Hot Springs, Sonoma County, California. Both sheet have a beautiful inset engraving of the Springs and surrounding countryside, along with the text "Stages connect with cars to and from San Francisco at Clairville, and Skaggs station, eight miles from the Springs. This popular resort is unsurpassed for health and pleasure. Hot and warm baths flow from the mineral Springs. Telephone and Telegraph with all important points". Also has the original illustrated envelope picturing the Hot Springs stagecoach. Letter reads in part:
Skaggs Springs, Oct 19th, 1885. My Dear Sister, ...I am feeling quite well now of my indigestion, it is wonderful the effect the waters of the Springs have upon me, (lots of Dysfitics(?) here) I am going to remain as long as I can, the family seem to like me muchly and are anxious for me to remain until after the holidays with them. ..We had a lovely ride today went to Geyserville 8 miles distant, the roads are perfectly lovely now since the rain, no dust, it gave us all a splendid appetite for our dinners. The road is down the cannon most of the way, if I was an artist lovely sketching I could do. (goes on to talk of friends, family , etc)
My initial research show that the old hot springs are now bubbling away at the bottom of Lake Sonoma, behind Warm Springs Dam. Letters in fine condition, envelope though exhibits wear and soiling, strong tonality and contrast on graphic. I recently had the opportunity to acquire a small archive of family papers and letters. Though not stated in the letter, it is from Elizabeth Irish to her sister Ruth Irish (Preston). (W.479); $265.

YOSEMITE- GEO FISKE . Boudoir Card. 4 1/4" x 7 1/2" albumen image on 7" x 10" grey mount .Period pen id on verso "Cathedral Spires 2200ft" . Geo Fiske Photo, Yosemite Valley, Cal stamped backmark. Fine cond. (W.58); $165.
George Fiske (October 22, 1835 – October 21, 1918) was a well-known landscape photographer in the United States. Fiske was born in New Hampshire and moved west with his brother to San Francisco. He apprenticed with Charles L. Weed and worked with Carleton E. Watkins, both early Yosemite photographers. Fiske and his wife moved to Yosemite in 1879 and lived there until he committed suicide in 1918. Most of his negatives were destroyed when his house burned in 1904.

YOSEMITE- GEO FISKE . Boudoir Card. 4 1/4" x 7 1/2" albumen image on 7" x 10" grey mount .Period pen id on verso "Yosemite Valley after a snow storm from Artist Pt" . Geo Fiske Photo, Yosemite Valley, Cal stamped backmark. Fine cond. (W.59); $165.
George Fiske (October 22, 1835 – October 21, 1918) was a well-known landscape photographer in the United States. Fiske was born in New Hampshire and moved west with his brother to San Francisco. He apprenticed with Charles L. Weed and worked with Carleton E. Watkins, both early Yosemite photographers. Fiske and his wife moved to Yosemite in 1879 and lived there until he committed suicide in 1918. Most of his negatives were destroyed when his house burned in 1904.