Esmeralda, Thursday.
My Dear Bro:
Yours of 17th, per express, just received. Part of it pleased me exceedingly, and part of it didn’t. Concerning the latter, for instance: You have promised me that you would leave all mining matters, and everything involving an outlay of money, in my hands. Now it may be a matter of no consequence at all to you, to keep your word with me, but I assure you I look upon it in a very different light. Indeed I fully expect you to deal as conscientiously with me as you would with any other man. Moreover, you know as well as [ I, I do], that the very best course that you and I can pursue will be, to keep on good terms with each other—notwithstanding which fact, we shall certainly split inside of six months if you go on in this way. You see I talk plainly. Because I know what is due me, and I would not put up with such treatment from any body but you. We discussed that Harroun business once before, and it was decided, then, that he was not to receive a cent of money.1 But you have paid him $50. And you agreed to pay a portion of Perry’s expenses, &c., although, as I gather from the tone of your letter, you [ know that y knew, at that] very moment, that you were breaking your word with me, and also, that all the money you might expend in that project would go to the devil without every benefitting you a penny. As soon as Perry left your presence, you cursed yourself for being so easily persuaded, and resolved that he might pay his own prospecting expenses, without hope of assistance from you. Now wouldn’t it have been better to have saved yourself all [ that this] by simply pronouncing the talismanic “No,” which always sticks in your throat? And would it not be [ be as] well, even at this late day, to say to him that by a solemn promise made to me, you are debarred from expending money on [ such prospecting] tours, [ in &c.], in search of Mill Sites, (which is probably the d—dest strangest phantom that ever did flit before the dazed eyes of a prospector since that genus came into existence,) without first [ asking getting] me to agree to it. That you have [tried] me, but it wouldn’t work. That I have already backed down from paying Pfersdorff’s expenses, and will never consent again, while the world stands, to help pay another man’s expenses. I don’t know where the [ m Mountain] House is, but I do know that if there is a mill site near the Mountain House worth having, Mr. Perry will arrive [ that there] a long time after it was taken up. But as for all the ledges he can find between now and next Christmas, I would not supply his trip with lucifer matches for a half interest in them. Sending a man fooling around the country after ledges, for God’s sake!—when there are hundreds of feet of them under my nose here, begging for owners, free of charge. G—d d—n it, I don’t want any more feet, and I won’t touch another foot—so you see, Orion, as far as any ledges of Perry’s are concerned, (or any other, except what I examine first with my own eyes), I freely yield my right to share ownership with you.2
Now, Orion, I have given you a piece of my mind—you have it in full, and you deserved it—for you would be ashamed to acknowledge that you ever broke faith with another man as you have with me. I shall never look upon Ma’s face again, or Pamela’s, or get married, or [revisit] the “Banner State,” until I am a rich man—so you can easily see that when you stand between me and my fortune (the one which I shall make, as surely as Fate itself,) you stand between me and home, friends, and all that I care for—and by the Lord God! you must clear the track, you know!
The balance of your letter, I say, pleases me exceedingly. Especially that about the H. & D. being worth from $30 to $50 in Cal. It pleases me because, if the ledges prove to be worthless, it will be a pleasant reflection to know that others were beaten worse than ourselves. ’Raish sold a man 30 feet, yesterday, at $20 a foot, although I was present at the sale, and told the man the ground wasn’t worth a d—n. He said he had been hankering after a few feet in the H. & D. for a long time, and he had got them at last, and he couldn’t help [thingking] he had secured a good thing. We went and looked at the ledges, and both of them acknowledged that there was nothing in them but good “indications.” Yet the owners in the H. & D. will part with anything else sooner than with feet in those ledges. Well, the work goes slowly—very slowly on, in the tunnel, and we’ll strike it some day.3 But—if we “strike it rich,”—I’ve lost my guess, that’s all. I expect that the way it got so high in Cal. was, that Raish’s brother, over there was offered $75000 for 20 feet of it, and he refused.
Yes, the saddlebags were all right. I had nothing to pay on them. With letters, though, the case is different. Have to pay for them at both ends of the route. Raish says money can’t be sent by mail. It’s a d—d curious mail, isn’t [it.?]
The next excellent news is the $50, although I [ did suppose] I could have worried along with something less for a week or two.
But the best news of all is, your resolution to take Kinkead’s [office.;] and when you come to furnish it, look at what the Country paid in that way for Turner’s office, and see [ it if] you can’t “go” a few dollars “better.” But the carpet—let that eclipse everything in town. I feel very much relieved, to think you will be out of that d—d coop shortly.
Lieut. Noble and his men are here. Three deserted yesterday. One was caught to-day and put in irons.4
Couldn’t go on the hill to-day. It snowed. It always snows here, I expect.
Don’t you suppose they have pretty much quit writing, at home?
(over)
When you receive your next ¼’rs salary, don’t send any of it here until after you have told me you have got it. Remember this. I am afraid of that H. & D.5
They have struck the ledge in the Live Yankee tunnel, and I told the President, Mr. Allen, that it wasn’t as good as the croppings. He said that was true enough, but they would [hang to until it ] did prove rich. He is much of a gentleman, that man Allen.
Remember me to Tom Nye and Lockhart.
And [ tell ask] Gasherie why the devil he don’t send along my commission as Deputy Sheriff. The fact of my being in California, and out of his county, would amount to a d—n with me, in the performance of my official duties.6
I have nothing to report, at present, except that I shall find out all I want to know about this locality before I leave it.
Did you tell Upton what I told you in my last?
How do the Records pay?7
Yr. Bro.
Sam
P.S.—Put off Harroun, now, until his pay comes out of the ledges. Phillips and I will see him this summer.
[in pencil on a small scrap of paper, both sides:]P. S.—Friday Morning.—I am in a better humor this morning, but as you deserved a blowing-up, why, I will not deprive you of it. I am on my way now, with picks, &c., to work on my pet claim. If it proves good, you will know all about it some day—if it don’t, you will never even learn its name. So, wait, and banish hope—for I have Resolved, that it is like most Esmeralda ledges, viz: worthless. [¶]. I went down with Lieut. Noble, awhile ago, to get Wasson’s order conveying the guns of the “Esmeralda Rifles” to his (N.’s) [ charge custody.] The people here regret being deprived of these arms, as the Secessionists have declared that in case Cal. accedes to the new boundaries, Gov. Nye shall not assume jurisdiction here. Noble will perhaps remain here a fortnight, and hopes are entertained that Gen. Wright may be prevailed upon to allow the arms to remain here. All this has been told the Governor in a letter sent from here by mail. If that letter is still in [ t Carson] (or the P.O.,) express it to Frisco. It’s in a white mail envelop thus directed: “His Excellency Gov. Nye, Carson City, Nevada Territory.” (true copy: teste.)8
[in ink, crosswise over the previous paragraph:]Ratio, wishes you to ask Gen. Bunker, if he is still in Carson, to see Cradlebaugh, when he gets to Washington, and get him to use his best endeavors toward securing his brother’s appointment to the [ n Naval] School.9 Ratio will make the Gen. a handsome present of a good mining claim for his trouble.
Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary
Source text(s):Previous publication:
L1, 194–199; MTB, 1:199, brief excerpts; MTL, 1:79–81, with omissions; MTBus, 70–71, with extensive omissions.
Provenance:see McKinney Family Papers, pp. 459–61.
Emendations and textual notes:
I, I do • [‘I d’ over ‘I,’]
know that y knew, at that • [‘knew, at tha’ over ‘know that y’]
that this • th‸is‸ at [‘is’ over ‘at’]
be as • [‘as’ over ‘be’]
such prospecting • [‘pros’ over ‘such’]
in &c. • [‘&c’ over ‘in’]
asking getting • ask ‸gett‸ing [‘gett’ over ‘ask’]
tried • tri‸ed‸ ied [‘ed’ over ‘ied’]
m Mountain • [‘M’ over ‘m’]
that there • th‸ere‸ at [‘er’ over ‘at’]
revisit • re-|visit
thingking • [‘k’ over ‘g’]
it.? • [sic]
did suppose • [‘sup’ over ‘did’]
office.; • [period mended to semicolon]
it if • if t [‘f’ over ‘t’]
hang to until • [sic]
tell ask • [‘ask’ over ‘tell’]
¶ • [paragraph sign mistakenly inscribed as a ‘P’]
charge custody • [‘custody’ over ‘charge’]
t Carson • [‘C’ over partly formed ‘t’]
n Naval • [‘N’ over ‘n’]
