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Sacramento City
May 6th 1851 
My Dearest Mother

The most interesting event of the month has just occurred; to wit, the landing of the mail steamer from Panama, and among the recipients of its favor I am most happy to count myself. At an early hour this morning the P.O. was thrown open and the crowd rushed at once to the windows. I did not delay very long but when I arrived there was a long string of anxious brothers, husbands and fathers before me and there was a fine prospect of waiting a considerable time before my turn came. But the clerks were very industrious and in the course of half an hour I was at the window and rcd. a rich reward in the shape of a closely written triple letter from yourself, father and Rens beside a couple from Paris friends. Though the latter were interesting and very acceptable, yet they bore no comparison in point of interest with that from home. Portions of it I read and reread; and then, being surrounded by a throng of noisy, besetting men, I postponed a repetition of the perusal till a more quiet time and place should present. I am sincerely grateful for the kind sympathies which are expressed therein for me under the privations that are supposed to be my portion. There have been it is true hours, yes, days of privation and inconvenience when I became so much depressed in spirits that I would have valued the sympathy of a human being above all price; but those hours are past, never I hope to return again, and I look back upon them now, not with 



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mournful thoughts or a complaining spirit, but rather as a source of amusement. The recollection of the ludicrous figures which under certain circumstances I lamented will always be a source of pleasantry rather than sadness. The Past is past; and if it brought with it when it came, a little hardship now and then, it did not fail to accompany it with a useful lesson. With these sentiments you will not think it strange that Rensselaer's fear, so kindly expressed, lest I were on the point of starvation, should be the source of considerable amusement. I do now recollect that at a time last fall when Ed. Murphy was with me in the city, we found ourselves rather short of available means, towit, dinero, and were consequently, somewhat straitened in our circumstances. The City was full of paupers, if I may so call those who were temporarily without habitations, friends, clothing, food or money, and it was hard for us to borrow money in a community where so many were in want of it. Business was dull and wages very scanty; so we were obliged to economize as much as possible in order to keep from being hungry now and then. We boarded ourselves, but having no stove or fireplace could not cook, and must therefore buy that which did not need cooking. A baker's loaf for 25 cents, a pint of molasses for 25 cts, a pound of cheese
for 75 cts or 1.00, with a bucket of pine[?] filtered river water for 12 1/2 cts, furnished us with sumptuous fare for 24 hours. If when that was gone we had another dollar, we were in fine spirits as usual; if not, we forebore the ceremony of eating



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until we were lucky enough to get one. But we did not look upon this as very much of a hardship; --at least | did not, and I don't think Murphy did. On the contrary, we were quite as merry and jovial over our simple meals as we ever were at the groaning tables of mine host in Missouri. I have found this, that the words "hardships", "privation", "suffering"", are relative, and not positive terms. What is privation in one situation is not in another; this I think I shall always recollect, - and I do not believe that so long as I have a wholesome loaf of bread and a bucket of good water, I shall ever again complain that I am suffering any great hardship for want of food. I thank the Humblest Servant for that lesson. I hope therefore Rens will give himself no farther [hole in paper] of mind, about my means of subsistence. Even [wax seal / hole] of the U.S. and south America, become [seal] so as to furnish no longer a loaf. I can then take a hook and line and have up from the limpid waters of the Sacramento, a fat, fifty-pound salmon - the finest the world can produce - which will sustain life a little while longer. But I am writing only of myself and that is rather an uninteresting strain. Will you pardon my forgetfulness?

You mention that the latest letters from me were by Culbertson; I do not recollect their exact date but it seems to me you ought to have received many others beside. I know I wrote a great number of letters last fall, and dispatched them by every mail, and by every returning acquaintance knowing that because of the disastrous accounts from this country you would feel anxious to hear often from me. 



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I suppose some of them will be lost, but I hope you will get the most of them. I do not receive quite as many as I think I ought to have and I fear some of yours are lost on the way. I have received many packages of newspapers, -- principally from your self and Rens. Joe sends me the "Whig" regularly and Mr Abernathy of Paris, the Mercury & I generally get the Mo. Rep. from carrier boys in town, so that upon the whole I am very much more favored than I expected to be in the way of newspapers. The Springfield Republican, the N.Y. Evangelist, and the Journal of Missions I do not get except from your hands. I think when I get a little more able I shall send for the N.Y. Observer. I believe it is the best sheet in the world. With the Decr. newspapers which you mention, or closely following them, I sent to you a pamphlet copy of the Thanksgiving sermon preached in this city by the Cong. Pastor Mr. Benton; also one to Rens. Did either of them ever reach you? Please let me know.

The news that there will be no emigration from the States this year will be very gratifying to a large portion of our people. They fear a repetition of the awful scenes of last summer and fall, and would be sorry to know that any of their friends are coming. For my part if I were in the States, wishing to come to California, I would seize this as the most favorable season. The great difficulty last year, was the immense crowd who strewed the plains for a thousand miles. There was not enough grass, wood or water to supply their wants, - their teams fell exhausted in the road and left them, hundreds of miles from the El Dorado, to make the rest of their way in. 



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I think 20,000 persons can cross in one season without much difficulty, and were I then wishing to cross I would seize this as the best opportunity likely to occur for some time. By the way you allude to the fact that nearly a year had elapsed since I bade farewell to W. S. to seek California. Today, Wednesday, one year ago, with my lamented friend Bryant, I was in camp on the south bank of the beautiful creek, "one hundred & two", six miles east of St Joseph waiting for the grass to spring up before entering upon the Plains. As I look back, it seems but a moment, - so vivid and bright are the pictures of memory; but now I find myself on the Shore of the Pacific, with a huge ice bound barrier rising on the Eastern horizon, and appearing to cut off all communion with the friends of other days. How rapid are the changes of Time! A twelvemonth hence, to day, what other change may have come over me? No mortal can foresee. My only dependence is on the power and goodness of that Being whom I cannot but acknowledge as my protector in a thousand dangers, the Insurer of my life. Beneath his sheltering care I ought not to fear for a moment, the uncertainties of the future.

Through whom did you learn that Dr Taylor had become a preacher? Did I write so? If so I was mistaken. Though my impression is that he told me that was his intention. I knew he told me he had joined the Meth. Church in this city. I fear however it had but little effect upon him. He left here suddenly, and as I am informed with heavy charges of dishonesty against him. But for the sake of his wife, whom I highly respect, I would not have this go any farther.

I will try to finish this in a letter to Father.

For the present an aff. farewell. Elisha



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Official Business,

Col. E. Winchell Post Master 

Dear Sir,

In reply to your inquiries respecting the neglect of the Post Master in this place to Frank letters directed to you, I have the honor to submit the following. In compliance with your request, I called upon the P.M. and informed him of the cause of complaint. His reply was that he had not been furnished by the Department with the Rules and Regulations, and could not therefore take notice that your office is on the list of offices that enjoy the franking privilege. He furthermore directed me to instruct you to mark letters charged to you as "overcharged", and it would be right. All of which is respectfully submitted, &c

Yours etc ECW

[postmarked:]Sacramento 30 May

[addressed:] Col. E Winchell P.M.
West Springfield
Shelby County
Missouri