First the letter…Then the connecting history…

Mr. Joseph S. Curtis

Hartford, Conn

                                                                     Bidwell’s Bar April 21, 1850

Mr. Curtis

Sir:  There is much uncertainty and delay in getting letters to and from this place to San Francisco that although I forward by the best means within my reach it is quite uncertain whether this will reach you in the mail leaving San Francisco the 1st of May and may never reach you at all. I have not yet received yours or from my family by the mail, which arrived the last of March and doubt I ever do.

My last was dated I think at Sacramento. The day following its date I arranged for taking up some goods for Marysville with myself & Van Orden who fell sick there and was left by Randall on his way up, for $150, but the man backed out and the following day. I bought a boat for $100 and gave it to two sailors to row us up. Nights with one exception slept on the bank of river. Were 4 ½ days getting to Marysville. On my way up I met Randal returning in our whaleboat for tools and goods he left on an Island. I left Marysville for this place some 45 miles on the Monday following my arrival with my blankets on foot and reached my destination on Wednesday. Found the men had done but little having dug not more than $2- $3 each yard.

The water feed by the melting of the snow in the mountains not work to our advantage and but few are doing more that pay expenses at present. Three or four days after I came I found a spot in the bank about 2 miles below which pays better and we are now getting from $10 - $16 each. This place will soon however be worked out and we shall have to look some other and as none presents itself in this neighborhood which is not covered by claims made before us I have determined to go higher up the river and purchase a horse to pack provisions for this purpose and was intending to leave tomorrow. But I learned yesterday that Randal who I expected here a week since is sick down the river. In addition to this a circumstance occurred last evening, which leads me to suppose all our men will desert us. We have with us a man from N. York we have thought of employing through the summer who told me Billings had been to the dust bag and taken from it not only his own half of his share but ours also and that Kelley & Van Orden were also interesting to quit. When I inquired of Billings why he had done it he told me we were indebted to him and made out a bill for assisting me getting our freight, rowing the boat, expenses of board while I was sick at San Francisco. I told him we would not allow and it abused me much. They all intended to quit. Randal left Potter (Bar)  ( blank space with line in original letter) at Sacramento and this is the last ( blank space with line in sentence). Hebrew promised me to meet Randall at Sacramento when he went down from here but I understand chose not and I have been told has gone taking his wages when he had been employed to the mines.

I am disheartened and discouraged. Should they all quit it will be a bad affair. Randall is so addicted to delay and carelessness that he is worse than nobody and if the men leave I shall close up gather what I can from what we have and form some other connection and let him go. Besides this he is a drunkard. He was so intoxicated when he came up with goods and men that they were obligated to leave him at home.

There is so much competition here in trade that it won’t more than pay expenses.  If some of the men will stay I shall keep them if not I go to digging with others and will forward by the first opportunity what I can gather from the wreck of our business.

I hope you will see to my family. I have done the best I could. If I leave and have my health I will not return until (underlined in original letter) such time as I have acquired the means to pay my proportion of the loss. If I am sick or die, in that event, you lose your own and mine and probably Randal’s too.

I hope hope (sic -word hope in letter twice) you have not sent the goods I ordered and which you speak of since in the last I received of your letters.  But if you have I have arranged for the sale of them with Y. B. Hawley of Sacramento an acquaintance of mine.

Yours Geo. May

The George May letter documents an agreement between him, Croydon C. Randall and Mr. Joseph Curtis to finance and conduct a gold rush mining venture to California. Lacking a copy of the agreement it is necessary to conclude some of the details from the letter. Mr. Curtis remained in the east while May and Randall came by ship to San Francisco. George May and Croydon Randall were to provided the leadership to establish the mining operations.  The number of men in the original mining group is unknown. It is also not specified if the men who came west originally with May & Randall were hired workers or individuals who paid their own way. The reference to our men, with a separate notation of an additional New York man, could indicate the former group traveled west together. It is also possible that our men consisted of original members and others who joined the group in California. It is clear that Mr. Curtis, George May, and Croydon Randall were the major investors in the mining venture and will lose more than the individual members if the mining venture fails. It is evident, by the time of the 1850 letter that Randall, was more of a liability than an asset to the mining partnership.

The venture did not start well when May and Randall both got sick soon after arriving in California, before reaching the mining area. The letter to Mr. Curtiss documents the cost and difficulty of getting the men and  the needed supplies transported to Bidwell’s Bar. Agreements to move supplies were often broken, with no notice to the original individual, when another miner offered a higher price for the transportation of their goods.

The initial gold rush stampede of miners from the east did not arrive at Bidwell’s Bar area until late in 1849.  It is noteworthy that by April 1850, George May indicated the numerous miners in the area had removed all the easy to obtain gold. The amount of gold obtained from mining was not as expected and he and the others of the group  became discouraged.  A previously established agreement was the gold obtained by the group was held in a common cache to be divided at a later time. However, contrary to earlier agreements, individuals were dissatisfied and started taking what they considered their portion.

In addition to the supplies initially brought west, Mr. Curtis arranged for a second shipment after May and Randall arrived in California. It appears the second shipment was for merchandising rather than supporting their mining efforts. Frustrated by the delay in communications, May tried to get the shipment stopped since there was an over supply of materials available.

George May’s continued loyalty and feeling of personal responsibility for the apparent failure of the mining company remains undeterred even as he faces the reality of collapse of the mining partnership. Given the conditions described by George May, there seems little prospect the partnership survived. What started as a dream of increased riches undoubtedly resulted in a loss for the three investors in the mining venture.

Lander Van Orden is the only individual of the six names contained in May’s letter that appear in latter Bidwell’s Bar History. His later return to New York implies he was a member of the original group traveling to San Francisco. The Van Oden family history confirms his connection to the George May letter.  Van Orden became ill at Marysville and remained there for a while, later traveling with May to Bidwell’s Bar. The family records confirm his arrival in 1850 and his mining association with Kelley. Van Orden soon transitioned from a miner to merchant and rancher. He joined with Ben B. Bliven in the ownership of a general merchandise store in Bidwell’s Bar the same year he arrived. In 1852 they sold the store and purchased the large, Charlie’s Ranch, located about halfway between Marysville and Ophir. In 1854 he sold his interest in the ranch and returned to Rockland, New York. After marrying there he returned to San Francisco and became a merchant in that city.

Post Script:

Researching this letter resulted in locating additional material at the Bancroft Library which has been ordered. The Online Archives of California indicated the documents contain the following information:

 Agreement with George May and Croydon C. Randall for assay and gold working firm in San Francisco; papers concerning shipment of equipment on

steamer, Hartford (W. Chapin, master), and efforts to collect on the venture. Letters from May, Abiezer Porter, Earl Bartlett and D.A. Shepard included

This information should be an interesting addition to the George May letter of April 21, 1850, and the Feather River mining venture.