Collection of Seven Gold Rush Letters to C. & W.

Collection of Seven Gold Rush Letters to C. & W. Crooker, Merchants in Bath Maine, 1849 to 1851, comprising 1.) Letter from Levi Frye dated April 21st, 1849 and written from Weston, Missouri. Frye relates why his party is delayed. The Crookers underwrote this Maine immigrant company and the members were fighting over what was left of the money and there were rumblings of a mutiny against Frye; 2.) Letter from Peleg Rush dated June 10, 1849. Rush writes that he hears heavy snow has caused flooding the Sacramento making it difficult to prospect for gold. Discusses “speculating Yankees” who were driving up land prices and he laments the high cost of living; 3.) Letter from By Levi Frye, October 15, 1849. Describes the Sacramento valley and conditions in the area; 4.) Letter from Levi Frye, January 20, 1850. Written from Bidwell Bar, Feather River. Mentions that he reached the mines in October 1849. The men of the company were fighting, and the group had fragmented. Some miners were not living up to the company’s constitution; 5.) Letter by from Cobb, July 17, 1850. San Francisco. Records a financial settlement with a Captain McLoon; 6.) Letter from H.D. Cobb, October 2, 1850. San Francisco. Sending a check for $2000.00; and 7.) Letter from Joseph Brown. February 14, 1851. San Francisco. Sends a check for $4000.00. Has discharged men. It is “surprising to see what devils California makes of men.” The sales of lumber and shingles sent by the Crookers have been dull. Mixed condition with one letter in pieces and with tape repairs.