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A closely-written 4-page letter on one sheet of paper (15-1/2" x 9-7/8") folded in half and written on all 4 pages of neat script in black ink with another 2 pages of content overwritten vertically in red ink. Written by the wife of the Rev. Francis S. Hoyt, a Methodist minister, previously of the New Jersey Conference, and first president of Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, to her parents in Cincinnati, Ohio. Writing from Salem on 10 December 1850, Mrs. Hoyt describes their steamer trip from the Isthmus of Panama, north along the Pacific Coast (with stops at Acapulco, Mexico, and San Diego, Monterey, and San Francisco, California) and on to their new home. She notes that the steamer she was on was the first to "bear the news of the admission of California as a State" to the people of San Francisco. A sign was draped from the side of the ship announcing the news as it sailed along the bay front, firing a 100-gun salute from its cannon, the noise upsetting Mrs. Hoyt. She vividly describes the city, with its summer dust and winter mud, its rich gambling houses and houses of ill repute, and the many miners down from the hills to "lose all they have earned, and are obliged to go back to the mines again." She describes the gambling houses: "the rooms are fitted up beautifully with large mirrors and paintings, and every thing to look pretty and then an orchestra of fine music that plays all the time. Frank looked into one for a little time, and said he never saw such piles of money as was there." She did not note if the good reverend checked out the brothels. On one page of the letter, she has drawn a small map showing their route from the Pacific to Portland and on to Salem. Her husband's life as an educator in Salem is reported in the book that comes with the letter, beginning on page 431, which mentions that the steamer reached Oregon in late October, 1850, "landing at Portland, then a rustic hamlet of some twenty or thirty habitations, and a few places of business." The book is INSCRIBED by the author on the front endpaper "To Rowland Abram Waltz/Very Truly Yours/H. K. Hines/Portland OR/June 21st 1901." In addition it is inscribed "Dr. F. S. Hoyt/with compliments of/Mr. & Mrs. Sam Gill/Portland Oregon/June 26-/1911." A fascinating letter with first-hand glimpses of life in early San Francisco and Oregon. The letter in Near Fine condition with normal folds from mailing; the writing in red ink a little difficult to read but legible. The book is Very Good with some edgewear.
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