Sonora documents for the years 1850 thru 1852

Sonora, CA - 24 July 1850

Enos Christman letter to Ellen Apple... A year has passed since I held thy hand and bid thee a sad adieu. What a short time! Yet how many trials, difficulties and dangers have we passed through during that time!

Sonora, CA - 25 August 1850

Enos Christman journal entry... This afternoon papers were brought up by special express from Stockton, announcing the death of General Zachary Taylor, late President of the United States.

Sonora, CA - 6 September 1850

Enos Christman journal entry... On Wednesday a large number of wild Indians, both men and women, passed through our town on their way to the Tuolumne River.

Sonora, CA - 8 September 1850

Enos Christman journal entry... I printed five hundred tickets for candidates for election to the assembly, charging five dollars for my services.

Sonora, CA - 26 September 1850

Enos Christman journal entry... During the past two weeks the weather has been quite cool and threatened rain, and yesterday we had two good showers, the first since the beginning of April, which settled the dust completely.

Sonora, CA - 6 October 1850

Enos Christman letter to Peebles Prizer... I cannot yet say that I regret coming here for I believe I can and will make some money before I leave, yet I have learned a lesson which I can never forget...

Sonora, CA - 6 October 1850

Enos Christman letter to Ellen Apple... The longer I am absent and the further I am from you, the stronger my attachment becomes.

Sonora, CA - 22 October 1850

Enos Christman journal entry... On the 7th of October our election for state and county officers took place. Everything passed off quietly, but the clerks of the election got so drunk they could not count off the votes and new ones had to be sworn in

Sonora, CA - 20 November 1850

Enos Christman letter to Ellen Apple... Often when in a melancholy mood of mind have I sat down and perused your letters over and over again, and they have nerved me up and driven all such feelings away.

Sonora, CA - 20 November 1850

Enos Christman journal entry... I tried my hand at mining for a few weeks, but upon dividing the gold we dug during my last week, we found that we had only about 1 1/4 pounds.

Sonora, CA - 23 December 1850

Enos Christman journal entry... I see by the papers from the Atlantic States that the Disunionists in the South count on California joining them in a Southern confederacy.

Sonora, CA -

Enos Christman journal entry... An extraordinary excitement is now raging in our town. Three persons have been killed and four wounded.

Sonora, CA - 5 March 1851

Enos Christman journal entry... In a few minutes I looked around again and saw this same burly, stern-looking man, who looked as hard as adamant, in tears. He had heard from loved ones at home and memory carried him back to happier scenes.

Sonora, CA - 6 March 1851

Enos Christman letter to Ellen Apple... Your highly prized letter of January 13th reached me last evening in fifty-one days after it was written, having made the quickest passage of any I have received since residing in the mining district.

Sonora, CA - 11 May 1851

Enos Christman letter to Ellen Apple... I could not bear the idea of taking a wife where the chances would be against my supporting her, and where one lives just upon what he earns and that just sufficient

Sonora, CA - 25 May 1851

Enos Christman journal entry... One who has not been in California can hardly credit the changes that take place here in a very short period of time.

Sonora, CA - 28 June 1851

Enos Christman journal entry... A short time ago, Jim Hill, a man with a scar on his neck, went into a store at Camp Seco in the night and held pistols over the heads of the proprietors, while others of his gang stole the iron safe.

Sonora, CA - 29 June 1851

Enos Christman journal entry... In almost every camp and city in the country, the most respectable portion of the community have formed what are called "Vigilance Committees"

Sonora, CA - 5 July 1851

Enos Christman journal entry... About ten days ago it was announced in all the San Francisco papers that Mr. Gunn, editor of the Sonora Herald, and myself and several other persons had been killed in a fracas with gamblers

Sonora, CA - 9 August 1851

Enos Christman letter to Peebles Prizer... I should like to go home now, but I came here for pecuniary benefit. I shall remain here another year or so if all goes well as at present.

Sonora, CA - 9 August 1851

Enos Christman journal entry... On Sunday, July 13, the Sonora Vigilance Committee hung another horse thief. The following Sunday three Mexicans were tied to the whipping post, and each received twenty-five lashes well laid on.

Sonora, CA - 10 August 1851

Enos Christman letter to Ellen Apple... Nearly every steamer that arrives now brings a great many ladies. We are having beautiful moonlight evenings and were we together who could tell the pleasures of one evening walk?

Sonora, CA - 11 September 1851

Enos Christman journal entry... On Sunday last I attended a grand bullfight. The place in which the exhibition took place was a large circular pen, surrounded by a high fence...

Sonora, CA - 26 September 1851

Enos Christman journal entry... A few days since, a deer, chased by a pack of dogs, becoming bewildered, ran through the principal street of the city and entered a drinking saloon kept by a Frenchman.

Sonora, CA - 7 October 1851

Enos Christman journal entry... I see, by late intelligence from home, that the Atlantic papers, with few exceptions, have taken grounds against the Vigilance Committees in California and denounce them...

Sonora, CA - 25 January 1852

Enos Christman letter to Ellen Apple... Parents should be consulted in regard to such matters, and it is always desirable that they should approve the choice of their children, but I must own to you that opposition from such a source would never dete

Sonora, CA - 25 January 1852

Enos Christman journal entry... The weather here is not very cold and we seldom have frost or ice. Most of the trees are covered with green foliage, and the hills and valleys are carpeted with new grass.

Sonora, CA - 28 April 1852

Enos Christman letter to Ellen Apple... The nearer the time approaches for my return, the more impatient and restless I am getting. But time flies on lightning wings and a few weeks will soon roll around.

Sonora, CA - 26 October 1852

Enos Christman letter to Ellen Apple... if a man is quiet and sober he can generally avoid all quarrels in which rowdies and drunken men always see fit to draw the bowie knife and revolver.