Signed Letter From A Father To His Son Relating Shared Experiences In The Mining Camps Of Atlantic City, Sweetwater County, Wyoming Territory. July 24, 1872.

GEORGE E. LEWIS

Other works by GEORGE E. LEWIS

Publication: Atlantic City, Wyoming Territory,

Written by George E. Lewis, from the gold camps of Wyoming in 1872, the letter reviews their shared experiences during the 3 year period that his son was with him in the gold camps. It recalls the gold that they personally mined, "the Indian massacres, the white men you saw brought into town killed and scalped as they were mining, not one half a mile out of Town. The long cold winter of 1872 with cabin buried in snow, the mercury 40 degrees below zero." At the southern end of the Wind River Range, not far from South Pass, Atlantic City, Wyoming Territory was founded in 1868 as a mining camp after the 1867 gold rush in the region looking to exploit the mineral-rich quartz vein called the Atlantic Ledge. It grew to nearly 2000 people. The "Indian massacres" that Lewis reports occurred during a 23-month span between August 1868 and June 1870. At least 20 miners and homesteaders were killed by the Arapahoe, Sioux, and Cheyenne in the region, with almost all of the dead suffering horrible mutilations. Gold Rush letters from California, Alaska, Colorado, and others are relatively common. Gold Rush letters from Wyoming Territory are very scarce, especially with such interesting content as this letter. The letter is very legible, written in ink on a single page, 8" long & 5" wide. The letter has been perfectly mounted on stiff book-board, in apparent preparation for framing. A nice letter in near fine condition.

Inventory Number: 54276