Letters writings and photographs from the California Gold Rush

Here are links to excerpts of letters by miners involved in the California gold rush and other residents of the Mother Lode region in the 1800s; other writings about the California gold rush; and historical images pertaining to the California gold rush and mining.

Letters & Other Writings	Images
Hiram Dwight Pierce to his wife Sara Jane Pierce dated October 18, 1849	San Francisco, 1850 Photograph
Sara Jane Pierce to her husband Hiram Dwight Pierce dated March 10, 1850	Nevada City, 1852 Photograph
Hiram Dwight Pierce to Jas Harlow dated April 28, 1850	Miners and Equipment, 1850 Photograph
George H. Goddard to Augustus Goddard dated April 4, 1851	Sonora, 1852 Sketch by George H. Goddard
Martin Rodney to T.J. Rodney dated August 9, 1852	Malakoff Diggings Photograph by Carleton Watkins
R.J. Ogleby to Thompson West dated February 26, 1880
Tallman H. Rolfe to Samuel Rolfe dated September 12, 1855
Tallman H. Rolfe to H.C. Rolfe dated April 15, 1857
Dr. Wm. H. G. Henderson to his wife Weltha dated December 10,1859
Horace Root to his wife Eliza dated October 11, 1851
Excerpt from “Roughing It” by Mark Twain first published 1872
Excerpt from “Eldorado, or, Adventure in the Path of Empire” by Bayard Taylor first published 1850
The Discovery of Gold in California by Gen. John A. Sutter - Hutchings’ California Magazine, November 1857 This page is on the website of the Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco. It will open in a new window.