2005-03
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/28/2005
Autograph Letter Signed "Wm M Murphy", 8 pages, quarto, July 28, 1856, Jacksonville, California to a Father Locke, location unknown. The writer mourns the passage of the early Gold Rush days when fortunes were more likely to be made. The letter reads in small part: "...Times in California are not such as they were when I was here in 49 & 50. Then a man was sure to be well rewarded for his labors but now the chances are against him. he may work hard for years prospecting and be prudent and not make a dollar...California has undegone a radical and very perceptible change since 50, her golden hills have been washed down, her mountains bored full of tunnels, her rivers turned from their natural channels...every place within the golden range has been turned bottom side up...The miner now has to look for different diggins and to find gold he must go wither to the mountains or the bottom of the rivers...". Fine condition.
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