2005-03
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/28/2005
Handsomely penned, lengthy 3 page (9x11) letter from "Downieville, Cala May 31, 1857" by miner Thos B. Parkes to his son. Three pages with fourth page a very rare printed broadside (see illus) with an overall bird's eye view of a quaint village in the mountains; boldly titled "VIEW OF GOODYEARS BAR & GOODYEARS CREEK, SIERRA COUNTY CALA…WITH MONTE CRISTO IN THE DISTANCE." Lithographer "Britton & Ray, San Francisco," and "Pub and drawn by W. B. Monmonier, Goodyears Bar, Sierra County," Parkes has penned along top margin, for his son, where he was at that time "The town of Monte Cristo is about ½ inch below the top of the mountain" and he has written names of the three mountain peaks above them. Light aging. Few tiny tatters only on extreme margins and one small tear bottom margin through the caption, but easily mended and no letters are missing. Parkes writes of mutual friends and various family members and their whereabouts. Inquires if son had been with their mother when she died and if she said anything to him before expiring and: "…did she ever express any wish particularly in regard to how you should do after her death ?...or did she say anything that would be anyway interesting to me ?" He even mentions the broadside printed on the last page: "…On the back of this sheet is a view of Goodyears Bar, a small mining town. It is on the Yuba River four miles below Downieville…Cox's Bar is at the base of Mount Independence on the Yuba River as I marked on the margin of the view. The flag you see flying on the right side is at James Golder's store." …describing some other features and places on that same broadside "…the side of the mountain is as steep as the roof of a house. My ranch is at the end of the road. I had two horse loads of manure carted from Goodyears two weeks ago. They only charge $6…in the distance Monte Cristo, a very lively little mining [town]. There are some very rich claims there. Some sold as high as $12,000 for one share. There are generally five or six shares in one tunnel. These are all tunnel diggings near the tip of the mountain. I have been up to Monte Cristo three or four times. It is very tiresome to climb the mountain it is so steep. …Miners are running tunnels in all the mountains in that section and some have made their piles [of money] too. [He describes his own experience within the tunnel]…The gold is mostly found in the Bed Rock and in the dirt or gravel from one to three feet high. Think what a great change has taken place on the surface of this country [describing how erosion has changed the land over the centuries]. He writes also of a fellow miner who has gone back east: "the fact is that Mr. May is not much of a scholar and it would be a bother for him to keep up correspondence …this is about the hardest season of the year to get money. In about three months it will begin to be quite plentiful. You must make out with as little money as you can for the next two months…" Aging; dust marks around the top and edges. Few short tears only on the extreme right margin, but not affecting or losing any wording. Not only a rare and important broadside, but a wonderful letter, to boot !
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