Lot
460 
(Trail Letters) (Missouri Country, now Kansas) Fort Leavenworth, Mo., June 14. Cds and "X" handstamped rate marking on stampless cover to East Lyman, New Hampshire, with original letter from a man on his way to California to a woman relation headed "Sunday Eve May 27 1849", letter reads in part "I have been trying a long time to get time to write but have not been able, for being cook I am busy every minute when we are not traveling and now I am writing this after eleven o'clock [at night]…. We left St. Joseph's on the morning of the 11th + have traveled 13 days and are now 250 miles on our journey… 27 miles from Platt River which we strike at Grand Island…. The country so far is the most beautiful I have seen + the only thing lacking is wood + water which are very necessary articles, what water we find is rather poor + we don't pretend to drink it without first boiling to purify it…. Our company consists of 22 wagons in all + 88 yoke of oxen accompanied by 80 men…. There are but few companies who have escaped the cholera + we among the rest have lost one man…. We have a good physician in our company…. When we stop at night we drive our wagons in a ring + chain the tongue of each to the hind wheel of the one forward of it which makes a yard or corral [for our cattle]… by being cook I am not obliged to [stand] watch…. It is past 12 + I have to get up at 4 to get breakfast so I must close…." with postscript "new Fort Kearney May 29 arrived here this morning + the mail starts early in the morning….", light stain at top, minor edge wear, Very Fine, lot includes another stampless cover mailed at Saint Joseph from the same correspondence but with no letter. Estimate $500 - 750.
Realized: $1,300