Rufus King Sewall wrote articles concerned chiefly with historical events in the state of Maine. Augustus Mitchell was a physician and natural scientist who was living in Portland, Me., in 1850. H. A. S. Dearborn, son of Henry Dearborn, was a soldier, state legislator, member of the United States House of Representatives 1831-1833, author, and horticulturalist, who practiced law in Salem, Mass., and Portland, Me. The collection is a letter, 24 April 1850, from Rufus King Sewall in Saint Mary's, Ga., to August Mitchell in Portland, Me., that is enclosed in a letter from Mitchell to H. A. S. Dearborn. In his letter to Mitchell, Sewall wrote about a voyage down the east coast of Florida, passing through Saint Lucie Inlet. Sewall described in detail the sound west of Hutchinsons Island and the region between the sound and Lake Okeechobee to the west and discussed vegetation, aminals, and the area as a terminal for traffic from three directions. The region he described includes the present Port Sewall and Sewall's Point. In his letter to Dearborn, 11 June 1850, Mitchell requested that Dearborn have Sewall's letter published in the or another newspaper. Mitchell also discussed his medical practice in Florida, where he had tried to establish a studied natural history and Indian mounds, and looked for a site for a national botanical garden. He also included some observations on crania and teeth of Indian skeletons. Boston Courier sanitary retreat,
