[Autograph Letter, Signed, from George Chamberlain to His Father in Massachusetts, Regarding His Mining Activities in California]

Mokilomni Hill, Ca: April 3, 1852. Very good.. [2]pp. plus integral address leaf. Quarto on a folded folio sheet. Old fold lines, minor wear. In a highly legible script. An interesting letter from a disillusioned fortune-seeker in Calaveras County advising his father not to come west, as all the easy pickings are gone. He writes, "Times are pretty dull here now and as I have been doing nothing for the last two weeks I am getting rather sick of the place. I should leave today but there are some holes going down by some acquaintance of mine & I want to see if they get anything. If they do I shall sink one myself, they go from 50 to 60 feet & as they are in a good looking place I have some curiosity to know whether they strike anything or not. If I leave this place I think I shall go south as I hear they have struck some deep diggings in the vicinity of Sonora & think I shall go down that way.... I see by the papers that a great many are coming to the country from Boston. I do not know what they all will do here, it is not the place here it was two years ago & those who start with the anticipation of finding money easily got here will be badly mistaken....