[Rarebooks] FS: First Hand 1850 Account of California Statehood Announcement in San Francisco

[Charles Agvent]

[CALIFORNIA & PACIFIC NORTHWEST] HOYT, Mrs. Francis and HINES, H. K. 
MANUSCRIPT LETTER with a copy of MISSIONARY HISTORY OF THE PACIFIC 
NORTHWEST, CONTAINING THE WONDERFUL STORY OF JASON LEE, WITH SKETCHES OF 
MANY OF HIS CO-LABORERS ALL ILLUSTRATING LIFE ON THE PLAINS AND IN THE 
MOUNTAINS IN PIONEER DAYS. Portland, OR and San Francisco: H. K. Hines 
and J. D. Hammond, 1850 and (1899). First Edition. A closely-written 
4-page letter on one sheet of paper (15-1/2" x 9-7/8") folded in half 
and written on all 4 pages of neat script in black ink with another 2 
pages of content overwritten vertically in red ink. Written by the wife 
of the Rev. Francis S. Hoyt, a Methodist minister, previously of the New 
Jersey Conference, and first president of Willamette University in 
Salem, Oregon, to her parents in Cincinnati, Ohio. Writing from Salem on 
10 December 1850, Mrs. Hoyt describes their steamer trip from the 
Isthmus of Panama, north along the Pacific Coast (with stops at 
Acapulco, Mexico, and San Diego, Monterey, and San Francisco, 
California) and on to their new home. She notes that the steamer she was 
on was the first to "bear the news of the admission of California as a 
State" to the people of San Francisco. A sign was draped from the side 
of the ship announcing the news as it sailed along the bay front, firing 
a 100-gun salute from its cannon, the noise upsetting Mrs. Hoyt. She 
vividly describes the city, with its summer dust and winter mud, its 
rich gambling houses and houses of ill repute, and the many miners down 
from the hills to "lose all they have earned, and are obliged to go back 
to the mines again." She describes the gambling houses: "the rooms are 
fitted up beautifully with large mirrors and paintings, and every thing 
to look pretty and then an orchestra of fine music that plays all the 
time.... Frank looked into one for a little time, and said he never saw 
such piles of money as was there." She did not note if the good reverend 
checked out the brothels. On one page of the letter, she has drawn a 
small map showing their route from the Pacific to Portland and on to 
Salem. Her husband's life as an educator in Salem is reported in the 
book that comes with the letter, beginning on page 431, which mentions 
that the steamer reached Oregon in late October, 1850, "landing at 
Portland, then a rustic hamlet of some twenty or thirty habitations, and 
a few places of business." The book is INSCRIBED by the author on the 
front endpaper "To Rowland Abram Waltz/Very Truly Yours/H. K. 
Hines/Portland OR/June 21st 1901." In addition it is inscribed "Dr. F. 
S. Hoyt/with compliments of/Mr. & Mrs. Sam Gill/Portland Oregon/June 
26-/1911." A fascinating letter with first-hand glimpses of life in 
early San Francisco and Oregon. The letter in Near Fine condition with 
normal folds from mailing; the writing in red ink a little difficult to 
read but legible. The book is Very Good with some edgewear. (#020857)    
     $3,500

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