Gold Rush Miner Details Brutal Difficulties: Deserters Got 100 Lashes Eli King

One-page ALS, 7 3/4 x 9 3/4, gold rush letter with an additional page covering a significant report, San Francisco, Sept. 25th, 1849, Eli King writes to his Father. The second page details difficult issues around the gold rush. It starts aboard the ship. "July 4th in sight of land. Sailing 5 or 6 knots. Wednesday morning July 5th, we arrived in the harbor of Valparaiso, 50 days from Rio and 105 from New York with the latest news from New York by way of Rio, and the latest from Rio. We had hardly cast anchor before we were permitted to go ashore. Here we find groceries and goods high, houses built of sun dried brick and mud, covered with tile. The city looks ancient. Thursday, July 6th. Ship Saint Mary's, an American Man of War, arrived here 51 days from San Francisco. The news brought by her is very encouraging. She came down to get fresh provisions and recruit. She had 92 men, 110 had deserted her for the gold mines. 20 of them were caught. They received 100 lashes each. She brought down one hundred and fifty thousand in gold. I saw one man with 4 bars on his shoulder, carrying it in a store. It weighed 83 pounds. An English man of war saw as ship of the Cape in a gale in a sinking condition, supposed to be the Robert Bond from New York. She had 170 passengers. 2 or 3 sails we saw of the Cape arrived here before we left. One passenger stops here as clerk; salary 35 hundred a year. We left the harbor Wednesday, July 11th with a cargo of bed bugs and fleas. The Robert Bond has arrived here." The letter reads: "We arrived here Sunday, Sept. 9th, in good health, 60 days from Valparaiso with the latest news from Valparaiso and 171 days from New York. I was much disappointed in not finding a letter here from home. The last words you said to me was that you would write one or two letters so that I could receive them when I arrived here. There has been one mail lost, and one expected here every day. It may not be your fault that I have not received any. I am disappointed in finding so peaceable a place as this is here. It is the most peaceable place I ever was in. The Hartford Company Ship Henry Lee arrived here Sept. 13, all in good health. No deaths occurred on board the Samoset. We think we fared hard enough on board the ship. We fared as well as any on a passenger ship and better than many. The stories that we heard about this place before we left now appear to have been true, excepting the soap story. Common labor now from 5 to 6 dollars per day, carpenter 12 to 14. Various reports from the gold mines. Almost everyone who arrives here has the dysentery. Some have died. We have had it. We are some better and intend to go to the mines in 2 or 3 days. Harlow has received a letter from Weller dated June 26. He had received one from Harlow written at Rio. His letter states that you had received one from me written at Rio. As you hear from here by every steamer, I do not think it worth while to write any more. "From your son, "Eli King" Folds, toning, some staining but very readable.