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Mann, W[illiam]. H.

[Autograph letter, signed, to Samuel Mann, Athol, Mass., regarding the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush scene.]

“Near Denver City K. T.,” 28 July 1859. 3 1/6 pp. in ink on lined blue bifolium, 9.75” x 7.875”. CONDITION: Good, three vertical and three horizontal fold marks with some small perforations at edges, some light stains and discoloration to paper.

A letter by one William H. Mann to his brother Samuel back home in Massachusetts, describing his unsuccessful prospecting efforts during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush and cautioning others from joining.

The Colorado Gold Rush (initially called the Pikes Peak Gold Rush) began in 1858 and peaked one year later, when over 100,000 “fifty-niners” arrived to seek gold in what is now Colorado, then part of the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. After many of the original riverbed surface mines were quickly depleted, thousands abandoned the effort, but more durable deposits were eventually discovered in the mountains. The massive influx of people into the region led to the creation of Colorado Territory in 1861.

As one of the many miners who failed to strike it rich, Mann begins his letter by bluntly detailing his disappointment with prospecting efforts thus far, and expressing uncertainty whether he will stay, seek work elsewhere, or return home: “I can hardly tell you what my prospects are at present but do not consider them very flattering as far as making money out hear is concerned. I have not fully decided yet what course to pursue.”

Mann notes his current location near two adjacent digging sites—Cherry Creek and Platte—both early riverbed mines on what is now the site of downtown Denver. He calls both “formidable humbugs” that bore no gold. Such an experience was commonplace for miners, among whom Mann estimates “fifty are growing poorer where there is one growing richer.” He describes many people returning east and compares the mining outlook unfavorably to California, speculating that those who promoted the rush, including Horace Greeley, had been deceived as to the region’s productivity:

You have perhaps seen Horace Greelys report of the mines which was very flattering; it is here known and generaly admitted that they pulled the wool over his eyes making him think the mines were much richer than they realy were, they washed some of their richest dirt, some they saved for that special purposes and when they cleaned up their sluces made him think it was the result of one days work when in reality it was the effects of three or more days work.

Mann sums up these sentiments with the friendly advice “not to come as you value your money and your comfort,” while at the same time stating that he is “not in the least sorry that [he] came as yet” and predicts that he will eventually make more money through alternative means than he otherwise would have. The letter concludes with well-wishes to family and others, a brief description of his mining comrades, and the following advice: “Remember a contented mind is the greatest step towards happiness and when a person is well off they had as good be contented and let well enough alone.”

In a postscript, Mann describes the possibility of following the Platte River eastward if he chooses to return home. 

A firsthand account of a failed attempt to strike it rich in Colorado, laden with both optimism and uncertainty. 

REFERENCES: “The Colorado Gold Rush” at Western Mining History online. 

Item #10521

Price: $850.00

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