Esmeralda, May 11, 1862.
My Dear Bro:
To use a French expression, I have “got my d—d satisfy” at last. Two years’ time will make us capitalists, in spite of anything. Therefore, we need fret and fume, and worry and doubt no more, but just lie still and put up with [priviations] for six months. Perhaps 3 months will “let us out.” Then, if Government refuses to pay the rent on your new office, we can do it ourselves. We have got to wait six weeks, anyhow, for a dividend, maybe longer—but that it will come, there is no shadow of a doubt. I have got the thing sifted down to a dead moral certainty. I own one-eighth of the new “Monitor Ledge, Clemens Company,” and money can’t buy a foot of it; because I know it to contain our fortune.1 The ledge is [ 8 6] feet wide, and one needs no glass to see gold & silver in it. Phillips and I own one‐half of a segregated claim in the “Flyaway” discovery, and good interests in two extensions on it. We put men to work on our part of the discovery yesterday, and last night they brought us some fine specimens. Rock taken from 10 feet below the surface on the other part of the discovery, has yielded $15000 to the ton, ‸in the mill‸ and we are at work 300 feet from their shaft. Now for the reason why we can’t get a return for about 2 months. Clayton’s is the only mill in camp which can save more than 25 per cent. of any rock. Any other mill here would be sure to run us in debt. Now Clayton is bound by contract to crush no rock for six months except “Esmeralda” and “Antelope,” unless occasionally to work ab a batch of not less than 100 tons of outside rock. It would cost us $1000 to get out that much, maybe. But to-morrow, Raish commences, at Clayton’s Mill, to learn his process. He will learn it inside of six weeks. By that time Dow’s mill will be fitted up with Clayton machinery, and R. will take charge of the amalgamating department of it.2 Then, when we get rock worked, it will be done properly. And shortly after that, if we can money holds out, I shall have [ the work] on the [ led leads] so far advanced that somebody with mining experience will have to relieve me—so, if Mr. Clayton will consent, R. will teach me the process, and when learned, leave me in the mill, and he will take charge of the mines. Looks like a d—d romance, don’t it?
Say nothing about this mill arrangement. It is a big thing. Other mills here charge [ $16 $18] per ton for working rock, but Clayton charges $50. Save your money. If I had all the money we have spent foolishly [ lately ] since we have been in the Territory, I could use it now in sinking shafts. I am paying but little attention to our other claims. I have decided upon holding onto 3 claims, and letting the balance go for what they will bring. Having secured a sure thing now, we have will spend nothing on the other claims. Have you ever been paid by Gillespie?3 How [doe ] the Records pay? ‸How’s the “M. H?”‸ 4
Yr. Bro.
I called for [$150?] Can you “see it?”
[remainder in ink:]May 12—Yours by the mail received last night. “Eighteen hundred feet in the C. T. Rice’s Company!”5 Well. I am glad you did not accept of the 200 feet. Tell Rice to give it to some poor man. I have fully determined that the “Monitor,” which is probably worth twenty-five Allen claims,6 shall be divided in twain some day, because 800 feet is too much to have in one company. ‸800 feet can be divided—but who wants to take risks on an untried portion [of] 1800, when in nine cases out of ten the ledge can’t be traced half the distance?‸ In all the claims I have here which I consider of any value, I own one-fourth, except this, ‸and‸ the 1st [ N S.] ex. Flyaway (one-ninth.) The latter I will sell when I can. I own one-fifth of the Dash-away, and about the same, I believe, in the Antelope Spur. We want no more ground. If I could have seen the “M. H.,” and satisfied myself that that specimen came from it, it would have been a dead-sure fortune. But as it is, it [ wall was] well enough to deed it back to Perry. I am sorry I could not go and see the “M. H.” But hereafter, when anybody holds up a glittering prospect before you, just argue in this wise, viz: That, if all spare change be devoted to working the “Monitor” and “Flyaway,” 12 months, or 24 at furthest, will find all our earthly wishes satisfied, so far as money is concerned—and the more “feet” we have, the more anxiety we must bear—therefore, why not say “No—d—n your ‘prospects,’ I wait on a sure thing—and a man is less than a man, if he can’t wait 2 years for a [fortune?”] When you and I came out here, we did not expect ’63 or ’64 to find us rich men—and if that proposition had been made, we would have accepted it gladly. Now, it is made.
Well, I am willing, now, that “Neary’s tunnel,” or [ e anybody] else’s tunnel shall succeed.7 Some of them may beat us a few months, but we shall be on hand in the fulness of time, as sure as fate. I would hate to swap chances with any member of the “tribe”—in fact, I am so lost to all sense and reason as to be capable of refusing to trade “Flyaway,” (with but 200 feet in the Company of four,) ‸foot for foot‸ for that splendid “Lady Washington,” with its list of capitalist proprietors, and its 35,000 feet of Priceless ground.
If Henry Hardy8 will take you up a claim and pay all assessments on it himself, forevermore, it would be well enough. But I don’t want it, even on those excellent terms.
Montgomery never gave me any deed at all. He sent me a blank deed, to be filled out in case I sold any ground for him. But I didn’t.
I wouldn’t mind being in some of those [ c Clear] Creek claims, if I lived in Carson & we could spare the money.9 But I have struck my tent in Esmeralda, and I care for no mines but those which I can superintend myself. I am at citizen here now, and I am satisfied—although [ a R.] and I are “strapped” and we haven’t three days’ rations in the house.
Raish is looking anxiously for money, and so am I. Send me whatever you can spare conveniently—and if you owe nothing on the Dayton lots, sell one of them for $100, or both for $150, if you can do no better, and [ co can’t] otherwise raise that amount conveniently.10 I want it to work the Flyaway with. My fourth of that claim only cost me $50, ‸(which isn’t paid yet, though,)‸ and I suppose I could sell it here in town for ten times that amount, to-day, but I shall probably hold on to it till the cows come home. I shall work the “Monitor” and the other claims with my own hands. I prospected ¾ of a pound of “M.” yesterday, and ‸Raish‸ reduced it with the blow-pipe, and got about 10 or 12 cents in gold & silver, besides the other half of it which we spilt on the floor and didn’t get. There was about 4 or 5 times as much in the button as there was in that one which I sent [you ‸but from und10 or [ 11 12] times as much rock‸ ]. Lieut. Noble has got it. We put him in for 100 ft. The specimen came from the croppings, but was a choice one, and showed much free gold to the naked eye. The [rock is] exactly like the Antelope, and the ledge is the same width. I hope it may prove as rich.
Raish wrote the “Carsonite” letter to the “Age,” I only assisted him.11
It will not be necessary to apprise me before sending down that portion of your salary. My only reason for [ s it] was, that I was afraid that if these Derbys got the money, they would not do their work in the tunnel, and that would be another “dead dog” you know. I am confident they did not intend to do the work. But they kept inquiring about the money until I told them that the matter was in my hands now, entirely, and I hardly ‸thought‸ that last payment would ever be made until the work was done on the feet they still hold. They said your promise was out. I told them it would probably stay out for awhile—that if it were still in your hands, you would keep your promise; but it wasn’t, and I didn’t mind such things much when I found they were likely to render worthless a good claim. They said they had no means to work it with. So they told Raish. And I sent them word that if it suited them, I would have it worked myself, and take my pay out of the $75. They said “all right”—(what else could they say, you know?)—and I have had the work done.
Well, I like the corner up-stairs office amazingly—provided, it has one fine, large front room superbly carpeted, for the safe and a $150-desk, or such a matter—one handsome room amidships, less handsomely gotten up, perhaps, for Records and consultations, and one goodsized [bedroom] and adjoining it a kitchen, neither of which latter can be entered by anybody but yourself12—and finally, when one of these ledges begins to pay, the whole to be kept in parlor order by two likely [ cl contrabands] at big wages, the same to be free of expense to the Government.13 You want the entire second story—no less room than you would have had in Harris & Co.’s.14 Make them fix for you before the 1st July—for maybe you might want to “come out strong” on the 4th, you know.
No, the Post Office is all right, and kept by a gentleman15—but W. F. Express isn’t. They charge 25c to Express a letter from here, but I believe they have quit charging twice for letters that arrive prepaid.
Well, if Harroun calls for assessments, I would pay them when the call does not exceed $20 at a time and don’t come too often. You see 50 feet in those Humboldt ledges of infernal proportions don’t amount to much, and when they levy on you for $20, you may feel pretty sure that you are paying more than your share, because, in that case anybody who owned a full claim would be assessed $12000—and who ever heard of such an assessment as that in an unincorporated company—more money than there is in Santa Clara. I think you can safely pay assessments, because $5 at a time would be a big one, to my thinking.
No, 50 feet in Boyd’s ledge16 would not be desirable, unless there were only 200 feet in the company, and you could see gold in the rock—and [ in when] one owns a fourth, it necessarily costs like the devil to work a claim. For instance, you and I will have to pay about $90 towards sinking a shaft 22 feet on the Flyaway, [ alth as we] own a fourth, and Raish and I are to foot all bills on the first 22 feet for working it. The “Flyaway” specimen I send you, (taken by myself from DeKay’s shaft, 300 feet from where we are going to sink) cannot be called “choice,” exactly—say something above medium, to be on the safe side. But I have seen exceedingly choice chunks from that shaft. My intention at first in sending the Antelope specimen was, that you might see that it resembles the Monitor—but, come to think, a man can tell absolutely nothing about that without seeing both ledges themselves. I tried to break a handsome chunk [ for from] a huge piece of my darling Monitor [ a wh which] we brought from the croppings yesterday, but it all splintered up, and I send you the scraps. I call that “choice”—any d—d fool would. Don’t ask if it has been assayed, for it hasn’t. It don’t need it. It is amply able to speak for itself. It is 6 feet wide on top, and traversed through and through with veins whose color proclaims their worth. What the devil does a man want with any more feet when he owns in the Flyaway and the [invincible] bomb-proof Monitor?17
Have just heard some bully news. Raish has returned from the mill, where he went to take his first lesson, and says Clayton will crush 20 tons for us from either the F. or M. at $20 a ton. I think we can get rock from the top of either ledge that will [ more than pay at least pay] expenses. You bet we will try.
Snow is the matter now, though. ‸day before‸ Yesterday we worked comfortably on the [M.—]now there’s a foot of snow there, perhaps, and 3 or 4 inches down here—and still at it.
No, it is not best to segregate claims until they are paying in the mills. It costs too much to work a segregated claim. I wouldn’t have one now. Can’t work it by yourself, either if you wanted to—you must have assistance in a shaft—and I like to pick my company when at work. When every tub is able to stand on its own bottom, then it [is] early enough to begin.
{graphic group: 3 horizontal x inline overlay}
But then again, suppose you don’t [ pay. it.] No, on second [thoughts;] don’t pay him. Tell him I have spent $150 since I have been here, and you’ll be d—d if you’ll put up with it. (I owe him one, you know.) Tell him I spoke of the debt to you, and said [ to I] would like to [ take have] an extension on it. (Entre nous, I have already taken up the 1st N. Exten. on it.) And say you will pay no debts ‸at present‸ except those of your own contracting—but that if I never pay it, he shall not lose it. You see it is not your [debt], Orion, and I [ pr peremptorily ] forbid its payment at present. I must have money to open those ledges with.
How about the Governor’s 40-stamp mill which he [ w is] to bring here? It wouldn’t set the camp back any.19
If I had anything more to say, I have forgotten what it was, unless, perhaps, that I want a sum of money—anywhere from $20 to $150, as soon as possible.
Raish sends regards. He or I one will drop a line to the “Age” occasionally. I suppose you saw my letters in the “Enterprize.[”] 20
Yr. Bro,
Sam
P.S. I suppose Pamela never will regain her health, but she could improve it by coming to California,—provided the trip didn’t kill her.
You see Bixby is on the flag-ship. He always was the best pilot [ th on] the Mississippi, and deserves his “posish.”21 They have done a reckless thing, though, in putting Sam. Bowen on the “[Swon.”—]for if a [bombshell] happens to come his way, he will infallibly jump overboard. It would be refreshing if they would catch Will Bowen and hang him.22
If the snow will permit us, we shall probably commence taking out rock to-morrow—Clayton would prefer 30 tons—and if it even pays expenses, why, I shall put on some of the most disgusting airs you know—but if it don’t pay,—why—I shan’t care a d—n anyhow. There’s plenty more rock in those ledges.
Send me another package of those envelops, per Bagley’s coat pocket.
Orion Clemens Esq. | Carson City | N. T. [upper left:] With specimens. | [rule canceled] [partly boxed, lower left:] Politeness of Mr La Rue. [postmaster’s hand:] Esmeralda Cal |May 13th 1862 [brace] [postage stamp cut away]
Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary
arrested by Federals and confined in the stockade at Hannibal, where he learned the trade of
wood-sawing. . . . After he graduated as a wood-sawyer he went back to St. Louis, took
the oath of allegiance to the United States, and went back to piloting again. After I became the Confederate mail-carrier,
Sam Bowen and his sister, Miss Amanda Bowen, were untiring in their efforts to aid the Southern cause. He was pilot on the
steamer G. W. Graham, a regular packet in the St. Louis and Memphis trade. His brother, Bart Bowen,
was captain of the Graham. He was of untold assistance to the South in carrying the mail for the
Rebel army between St. Louis and Memphis. (Grimes, 18) It is unclear whether Clemens’s present low opinion of Sam Bowen stemmed from political or
personal differences. His animosity toward Will Bowen was in part political. Jane Clemens remembered that “when
Sam and W B were on the Alonzo Chi they quarreled and Sam let go the wheel to whip Will for talking secesh and made Will
hush” (JLC to “all in the Teritory,” 12 and 14 Oct 62, NPV, in MTBus, 73). The antagonism also resulted from a financial “misunderstanding” (see 25 Aug 66 to Bowen).
Source text(s):Previous publication:
L1, 205–213; MTB, 1:197–98, excerpts; MTL, 1:73–76, with omissions.
Provenance:see McKinney Family Papers, pp. 459–61. The envelope is probably part of the Moffett Collection; see p. 462.
Emendations and textual notes:
priviations • [‘a’ over ‘i’]
8 6 • [‘6’ over ‘8’]
the work • [‘wor’ over ‘the’]
led leads • le‸ads‸ d [‘a’ over ‘d’]
$16 $18 • $18 6 [‘8’ over ‘6’]
lately • [doubtful]
doe • [‘e’ doubtful]
Sam. [¶] I • Sam.—[¶] I
$150? • [sic]
N S. • [‘S’ over ‘N’]
wall was • was ll [‘s’ over ‘ll’]
fortune?” • [sic]
e anybody • [‘a’ over ‘e’]
c Clear • [‘C’ over ‘c’]
a R. • [‘R’ over ‘a’]
co can’t • coan’t [‘a’ over ‘o’]
you ‸but . . . rock‸. • you. ‸but . . . rock‸ [possibly ‘you., ‸but . . . rock‸’; ‘but . . . rock’ inserted with a caret misplaced following the period; possibly a comma over the period]
11 12 • 12 1 [‘2’ over doubtful ‘1’]
rock is • rockis is [‘is’ over ‘is’; false start]
s it • [‘i’ over ‘s’]
bed-|room • bedroom
cl contrabands • [‘co’ over ‘cl’]
in when • [‘w’ over ‘in’]
alth as we • [‘as w’ over ‘alth’]
for from • f‸rom‸ or [‘ro’ over ‘or’]
a wh which • [‘whi’ over ‘a wh’]
invincible • [a stroke above the first ‘i’ appears to be a crossbar mistakenly added to create a ‘t’]
more than pay at least pay • [‘at least pay’ over ‘more than pay’]
M.— • [dash over period]
but . . . stand it. •
[canceled lightly; intended to be
read.]
this that • th‸at‸ is [‘at’ over ‘is’]
properly • proprerly [‘e’ over ‘r’]
pay. it. • pay. it. [deletion implied]
thoughts; • [semicolon possibly a comma]
to I • [‘I’ over ‘to’]
take have • [‘ha’ over ‘take’]
debt • d debt [‘d’ over doubtful ‘d’]
pr peremptorily • preremptorily [‘e’ over ‘r’]
w is • [‘i’ over ‘w’]
th on • [‘on’ over ‘th’]
Swon.”— • [dash over period]
bomb-|shell • bomb-shell
