Sacramento River Valley - John W. Bone

7 Autograph letters signed ("John W. Bone"), 22 pages (all but one 9 7/8 x 7 3/4 in.; 250 x 195 mm), Sacramento River, California, 4 March 1853 - 20 September 1854, to his beau "Minnie" and to an unnamed friend; formerly folded, a few small fold-tears and occasional stains. Blue half-morocco clamshell box, gilt-stamped title on spine.

John W. Bone (1829- ?) grew up in Hopkins County Kentucky. He worked in Madisonville as a salesman in a dry goods store for three years, but decided to go to California in 1852. There he worked a farm on the Sacramento River for three years, after which he returned to Kentucky, marrying his childhood sweetheart Marion J. Bowers ("Minnie"). The present letters, written to Minnie and to an unnamed friend (who was evidently considering emigrating there), offer a vivid picture of the beauty and productivity of the Sacramento River Valley, the difficulties running a farm,a few observations of mining life, and being away from family.

(4 March 1853): "...I still think of starting home the first of next month, though am not prepared yet. Having the greater portion of my immense fortune to collect, I apprehend no difficulty and hope will not be detained ... Several of the principal banking houses of California have within the last five days closed doors, being or declaring their inability to meet their liabilities ..."

(14 August 1853): "The health of the valley is not very good at this time though nothing serious, the prevailing disease being chills with fever, this being their hour. Business of all kinds is dull, prices of course low, the tide of emigration hourly and anxiously looked for ...[gives prices for cows, calves, horses, flour, cornmeal, beef, pork etc. and then goes on to describe the physical state of the land in the Sacramento valley] ... The land is all apparently rich and some very productive ... The land produces wheat oats and barley. Beyond the power of man to believe, corn grew very finely this past season. All other vegetables grow to enormous size. I have seen onions weigh two lbs. which were sown last March, turnips 10 inches across, mellons weighing 30 lbs and beets and pumpkins too large to mention ..."

(22 January 1854): "Cal. is the healthiest richest and loveliest spot in the world perhaps, the rainy season has not properly set in yet, though we have had frequent showers since the first of November.[Continues with another market report, the prices of poor stock and fat, onions, potatoes, barley, wheat] ... This is a great country for the Ladies giving to the small supply, they are permitted to do as they please, and a handsome one is thought to be an angel, and I guess, is. The mines are paying badly as yet in consequence of the scarcity of water, and I think, on an average, always will. There are more poor men in the mines than any other country of the same extent. You hear from every man that fortune favors in the mines with a rich vein, but you never hear of the many thousands of his neighbors who scarcely make board with the same industry and economy." [Goes on to discuss claims to local land based on patents from the Mexican Government made prior to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo].

(12 July 1854): "I am following a threshing machine this fall and will continue, probably about 3 months ... threshing grain is very dirty laborious work, but it pays better at present than anything else ... I lost about three weeks some time since which was caused by awkwardly cutting my foot with an axe ... We are looking for a large emigration from the plains this season ... I think all will get a good portion of the green gold-hunters on the river, or at least hope so. I am tired of this old bachelor mode of living, tis bad enough to do ones own cooking, and washings, to say nothing of the loss of the Dear Society of the ladies, heaven Bless them!! Oh how I wish the young ladies of old rose creek and vicinity were here, they would go off like hot buckwheat cakes at the highest prices. I know of but three young ladies on the river, and, I call them, even in this country, very very common, and where girls are abundant they would not be noticed. They are courted by all and can, I believe, marry the wealthiest, handsomest, young men on the river. You can now guess something of the demand for housekeepers on the river."

(13 August 1854): "Dearest, loveliest, one, thou art still my all, my dearest earthly treasure, my only source of happiness here below ... I acknowledge that I possess a great thirst for gold, and seek it not merely to possess it, but as a means of obtaining happiness, for without the comforts of life 'tis impossible to be happy, and as soon as I obtain the means of starting in life, you may look for me, perhaps sooner. I am unable to set a time for coming home."

(20 August 1854): "There is very little doing, or to do in the valley at present, the farmers have mostly threshed and marketed their grain, and seeding time has not arrived yet ... grain is very cheap for Cal. wheet is worth in market 3 cents per lb or 1,80 cts per bushel ... Minnie I have not bought a ranch yet, neither am I sure that I will. When threshing is over I will do something ... Oh how I would like to go home!!" [More personal matters follow].

(20 September 1854): "Times are very very dull here at present, with but little or no hope for improvement, the Emigrants, poor fellows, I do really feel sorry for them, they look so disconsolate, so low spirited, they look as though they felt themselves in the wrong pew, I know that they feel that this is not the country they used to sigh for, when at home, surrounded with all the comforts yea luxuries of life, in short this is not the country they 'came out to see'..."