Virginia Serenaders; Minstrels; Gold miners; Gold mines and mining; West (U.S.) History 1848-1860; Pioneers; Correspondence; Nevada County (Calif.); Mining claims; Lowell (Mass.)
Chandler discourages Jane from working in the mills. He compares factory girls to servants and then describes California women, writing that "you would think to see them that they were mostly queens." He writes of the variety of females from...
Gold miners; Gold mines and mining; West (U.S.) History 1848-1860; Pioneers; Correspondence; Nevada County (Calif.); Frontier and pioneer life; Hydraulic mining
Chandler is working for the Ditch Company on "the big Tunnell [sic]." Chandler writes that the conditions for women in California are very good, with women earning from 40 to 60 dollars per month for housekeeping, nursing, etc. He also thinks that...
Gold miners; Gold mines and mining; West (U.S.) History 1860-1890; Pioneers; Correspondence; San Francisco (Calif.)
Chandler visits Oakland from San Francisco, and describes the Oakland area. He has had trouble settling his accounts in Virginia City because of the recent Indian troubles, and writes that the Volunteers and Regulars have had a brush with them...
Gold miners; Gold mines and mining; West (U.S.) History 1860-1890; Pioneers; Correspondence; Hamilton (Nev.)
Chandler addresses concerns that he has been unfaithful to Jane, and asserts his innocence. He has had some “sickness and bruises by a fall from a building which hurt [him] very bad.” He writes of his living circumstances for the past several...
Gold miners; Gold mines and mining; West (U.S.) History 1860-1890; Pioneers; Correspondence; Eureka (Nev.); Spiritualism; Fortune-telling
Chandler has been working as a stonecutter. He corrects Jane’s notion that people in Eureka “are all a rough set of people.” He asserts that “this is a much better place to be poor in than New England.” Chandler discourages consulting...
Gold miners; Gold mines and mining; West (U.S.) History 1860-1890; Pioneers; Correspondence; Nevada County (Calif.)
Chandler mentions that in Jane’s last letter she wrote that she would come out if he thought it best and wished her to, but then writes, “But still I think you hardly feel like coming.” He mentions that “there is a good many women coming to...
Gold miners; Gold mines and mining; West (U.S.) History 1848-1860; Pioneers; Correspondence; Virginia City (Nev.); Utah; Paiute Indians; Dodge, Richard Irving, 1827-1895; Mormons West (U.S.)
Chandler describes his new prospects in Nevada near the Carson and Truckee Rivers. He describes the Mormons in the area as an “awful looking set of people” who “look nearly as bad off as the Piute [sic] Indians which are our neighbors.” He...
Gold miners; Gold mines and mining; West (U.S.) History 1848-1860; Pioneers; Correspondence; Nevada County (Calif.); Mining claims
Chandler writes of his struggles against claim jumpers, who are a "real Murder and Robber party" and a lawsuit that resulted in a hung jury. Chandler finds legal justice difficult, writing that "It is hard to get justice in Cala [California],...