Handwritten diary letter in pencil with original envelope. Written over a period of weeks, the letter is an account of a woman's travels to California from the East Coast. The first entry is on April 30th when she leaves the steamer Star of the West at Aspinwall, crosses Panama by land, and boards another ship, The Steaphens [sic], and heads to San Francisco. Along the way they stop at harbors in Acapulco, Mexico and Manzonella [sic] where she describes the native population as "not extravagant in dress ... many that I saw wer [sic] in a perfect state of nudity," and "cactus trees on shore that were twenty feet high & more." She arrives in San Francisco on Saturday, May 15, and describes the scene at the wharf as "a perfect jam" of thousands of people embarking and disembarking the ships. She notes that the trip to San Francisco was remarkable for the lack of sickness and death and that, in fact, the passenger list was increased by one with the birth of a baby boy. She adds that the captain of the steamer named the child "John. L. Steaphens" and had a collection taken up on behalf of the mother. Other remarks include details of meetings with other persons who call on her at the hotel, a visit to one of the Jesuit missions for which she promises details in another letter, and general comments about the city. She ends with a query about whether "Edwin [Curtiss?]" has gone west.
