To Orion Clemens
9 June 1862 • Aurora, Calif./Nev. Terr.
(MS: NPV, UCCL 02778)

Esmeralda, June 9.

My Dear Bro.

I have received all the money you mentioned. $25 per week will be sufficient, but where is it to come from? Don’t take any from the Gov’t. funds, at all. I mean, don’t draw ‸on‸ your salary until you receive it, if possible. But sell all your town lots when a good cash [prrice] is offered.

“Das “Flyaway” is down 16 [feet],—$45 due from me on it. We shall have to sink 25 feet and then drift, before we find pay rock, I think—we could not have struck a more barren place on the whole ledge, I reckon.

The “Annipolitan” (which we hope will be the “Wide West’s” rich ledge,) has cost us $36 so far.1 We gave two men 100 feet to sink the 30-foot shaft which we contracted to sink. But we had to pay them $36 worth of powder & tools to do it with. However, we owed them that, for work done on other ledges for us.

But for God’s sake get out of that d—d office. I am ashamed to send anybody to it. Consequently, I have told [ Decay ] DeKay to inquire for Gov. Johnson’s—that he’ll find you there. ‸{Private‸ DeK is Deputy County Clerk, and “Secesh” they say.

Clayton’s last improvement is a big thing. He can work as fast as a mill can crush. I know all the chemicals, and the manner of using them, shall begin practice in a week or so.

When do you move?

You must do all the writing home. I haven’t written a wort word home since I left Carson.2 I am afraid the folks will not hear from me again while I remain in this part of [Calfornia].

Send me some 3ct stamps.

Did Bob Howland give you Crooker’s receipts? If so, [seend] me the money for Crooker—just whatever you get for his scrip.

Yr. Bro.

[in ink:] O. Clemens, Esq. |Carson City |N. T. [upper left:] Introducing Mr. DeKay, | [rule] [no postage stamp]

Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary

Editorial Signs

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1 The Annapolitan ledge lay parallel to the Wide West lode on Last Chance Hill. Clemens hoped that it was an extension of the ledge from which the rich “decom” he had “pinched” was mistakenly thought to come. His faith in the Annapolitan is indicated by his two known purchases: on 22 July 1862 he bought 33 feet in its discovery lode from Horatio Phillips as part of a package of stocks costing $300; and on 1 August he bought 50 feet in its first north extension from Calvin Higbie for $200. Within a few months the Annapolitan was reported to be one of several claims that, because of proximity to the Wide West, were “increasing rapidly in value,” allowing their owners to feel “well satisfied that they have large fortunes close at hand” (“Letter from Esmeralda,” San Francisco Alta California, 27 Oct 62, 1). When the Annapolitan Consolidated Gold and Silver Mining Company filed its certificate of incorporation on 2 March 1863, it announced a capital stock of 800 shares valued at $800,000. Exactly a year later Clemens was the owner of 50 shares that the company offered at auction because he owed $25 in unpaid assessments. It is hardly credible, however, that these shares had the same value as those announced upon the company’s incorporation (deeds in CU-MARK; San Francisco Alta California: “More Mining Incorporations,” 3 Mar 63, 1; “Annapolitan Consolidated Gold and Silver Mining Company,” 2 Mar 64, 3).

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2 Clemens had left Carson City for Esmeralda in the second week of April 1862.

Description of Texts and Provenance

Source text(s):

MS, Jean Webster McKinney Family Papers, Vassar College Library (NPV).

Previous publication: L1, 218–219.

Provenance:see McKinney Family Papers, pp. 459–61.

Emendations and textual notes:

prrice • [sic]

feet, • [comma doubtful]

wort word • wortd [‘d’ over ‘t’]

Calfornia • [sic]

seend • [sic]