[Four-Page 1852 California Gold Rush ALS; Boomtown San Francisco and Gold Mining in Calaveras County].

...all for a sight and grasp at that “shining dust which being cast into the fire comes out a shining thing which fools admire and call a God.”

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An entirely filled —and full— four-page page letter written from California by Philadelphian Samuel N. Patton who is trying his luck at digging and panning for gold. The letter is richly descriptive and, at times, even eloquent.

Patton writes from Rich Gulch in the High Sierra gold country of Calaveras County. Writing to a friend, he first comments on gold fever and his astonishment upon arriving in boomtown San Francisco:

Having partially made up my mind previous to leaving Philad. to be pleased with this part of these United States I was in a manner prepared to put up with a great many little difficulties and to like California notwithstanding the amount of evil as well as good report we are continually receiving from it but in this I have had no occasion to distress myself much as I am well pleased with the place in toto and already class myself as one of the inhabitants .... By saying this I would not wish to be understood as endorsing all the stories you read and hear of the multitudes who make their fortunes in a few weeks and then return home. Fortunes to be made here have to be worked for, and that pretty hard too at times I should judge still to be willing to do and not building his castle too high before coming here it is still the place. Though according to most accounts its glory in that respect has somewhat departed. ... On arriving at San Francisco the first sensation I may say is one of astonishment for here is a place that has received about as many purgings by fire as the much fine gold we read about and yet instead of being a place of desolation and ashes you see it covering a space nearly as large as Philad. whilst the amount of shipping in port would put New York in the rear.(pp[1–2])

Patton writes that he has met up with “...plenty of acquaintances as Philad is largely represented…” He mentions “Messrs. Claghorn[,] Yerkes [and] Baugh” and Bill Allen who is already having success as a miner in Calaveras County. Accompanied by Claghorn, Patton travels by way of Sacramento to visit Allen and to try his “...hand at the mining at which Allen is quite an adept though not with the great success which some other hombres have fallen into.” Patton is fitting right in, even picking up some Spanish lingo.

The California landscape, observed during Patton’s journey from Sacramento to Calaveras County to see his friend, is lyrically described:

...California at this season may truly be called the land of flowers our side of over 60 miles being literally through an immense flower bed of all variety of form color and smell, whilst the undulating nature of the country backed by the snow-clad range of the Sierra Nevada added a beauty to the scene which it will be hard for me to forget and to those who love the beautifull [sic] in the Creator’s works. (p[3])

Patton’s friend William Allen had been a storekeeper near Rich Gulch, but gave it up after losing all he had in a fire. Gold mining is his next recourse and Patton is eager to try it out too. Quoting Scottish poet Robert Pollok (1798–1827), Patton reveals that he too has a touch of gold fever (tempered by reality) and yearns for the reward of independence that comes from hard work:

On arriving at a place called Mokulumne [Mokelumne] Hill I was not long in searching out friend Allen whom I found at a place called Rich Gulch about six miles from the Hill. This is all a mining region being part of what is called the Southern Mines and here I am at the present time writing in a Cabin and living and acting as a miner. This includes of course all that is essential to carrying on the business to-wit working amidst some of the most beautifull scenery ever upreared sometimes up to your middle in water with a scorching sun over-head again tunnelling the hills for yards then sinking pits and making dams and all for a sight and grasp at that “shining dust which being cast into the fire comes out a shining thing which fools admire and call a God.” Yes, my friend the man who comes out here expecting to pick it up in hatfulls will be most woefully mistaken and though there is an independence about it which pleases me yet I must say it is as hard work as I wish to get and much harder in fact than I think I will stay at having merely made the trip here from a desire to see how I would like it and how it was done. (pp[3–4])

He is still torn, however. Should he go with Allen to try the Northern Mines, remain in Rich Gulch, or go back to San Francisco: “I may keep away from San Francisco for awhile longer though I can do better in the latter place as the mines on an average in this section do not make over $2.00 per day which is small pay at $10.00 per week hoard and hard at that.”

Samuel N. Patton’s content-filled letter from the gold fields of California is a delight to read. By 1852, the boom of the gold rush is in full swing and new mining technologies are being developed. Perhaps like other miners, Patton is at a crossroads.

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