1859 PIKES PEAK, COLORADO GOLD RUSH LETTER BY WILLIAM WADSWORTH

1859 PIKES PEAK, COLORADO GOLD RUSH LETTER BY WILLIAM WADSWORTH

"…I expect to start for Pikes Peak about the first of April…. They say that the prospect is full as good as that of California…" Wm. Wadsworth, Feb. 19, 1859"

Here is another William Wadsworth letter written to his sister, Emma Wadsworth. It is written from Greenbush, (presumably Illinois) on February 19, 1859.

William Wadsworth, an apparent mover and shaker, would also live in South Carolina in 1860, immediately preceding the Civil War. See his 1860 letter up for auction, too! Later, in 1862, he would serve in the Civil War (Company "I" of the 83rd Illinois Infantry).

In this letter, Wadsworth tell his sister of his intentions to travel to Colorado—during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush of 1858-59. Like others, he heard rumors of gold, of large nuggets and gold-bearing quartz. Trappers had seen the flash of color in Rocky Mountain streams. Cherokee Indians had found golden flakes in the sands of Ralston's Creek. In the early spring of 1858 four parties of gold seekers started out for the Front Range of the Rockies to verify the truth of these rumors.

WADSWORTH LETTER

"Greenbush—Feb. 19, 1859

Dear Sister

It is with pleasure that I take this opportunity of writing to you. We received a letter from you for Martha. She has not been here since Christmas. She is at Mother’s. Mailed your letter to her this morning. Ed’s folks are all well. Ella is as fat and sAucy as she can be. She is beginning to talk a little. My health is improving. I think that I will get well as soon as warm weather comes.

I expect to start for Pikes Peak about the first of April. I do not know whether I will have time to come to see you before I go or not. I have seen letters from several young men of my acquaintances from there. They say that from 3 to 8 dollars per day is a low estimate of what a man can make. Besides there is two or three men in this neighborhood that has been all through that country. They say that the prospect is full as good as that of California.

I have been shut up in the shop so much for the last five years that I think that the trip will do me good. I intend to go there and if I can do well there, I will stay for a year or two. If not, I will go south and work at my trade. [This is exactly what Wadsworth did in 1860]. I can make from 15 to 18 dollars per week there, which I can only get from 11 to 12 here. I have been getting thirty dollars per month board and wasting since I have been here. I expect to go and see mother before I go away…

.Yours truly, Wm Wadsworth"