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ALMON W. HOWES : 1896 ORIGINAL ARCHIVE OF BUSINESS AND PERSONAL CORRESPONDENCE AND THE HANDWRITTEN DIARY OF A NUGGET COLORADO GOLD MINER

Folio - over 12" - 15" tall. On offer is a super archive of manuscript letters and a diary handwritten by Almon W. Howes who lived in Nugget Colorado as a gold miner. Mr. Howes does a great job describing his life and works in short entries over 63 pages that starts on April 6, 1896 and ends on January 31, 1898. Along with the journal there are also about 20 persoonal and business letters and documents that were received by him from various relatives and business associates [some of the envelopes have a Nugget postmark] that further flesh out and add depth to history of this miner's life. He begins on April 6, 1896: "Began work for the Ohio K M & M Co. Made a relocation of The Little Lizzie and called it the Oakland. Lost my watch on the way over to the Louisa. Shoveled about 3 ft of snow off the top of the Louisa and cleaned snow out of shaft. Sunk 8 ft in snow to find dump of Oakland. Did not find it. Fine day." He worked on the Louisa shaft until 5/7/96, then started working on the Oakland which he says is 2'6" x 6' on the bottom. He is sending samples and snaking logs for the cabin. Here some more snippets and observations from the entries: took quartz out of the Oakland and white iron; Several other outfits coming in; They had to leave their cabin. Miner's meeting in Nugget; Living in a camp. Big storm w/houses blown down. Maud Estelle prospected for lead, found honeycomb quartz, sent a sample; E have not got a ten foot face yet; Finished the M & made another one called the Loyd Lee; Had the Loyd Lee surveyed, working on cabin again; No food for a week other than bread and beans; Talking about the Topsy Mabel & Piedmont & Ingram claims, taking measurements; Went to the Hoober Knocker Boomerange & Plateau mine; Cut timber to build a water closet; Located the Blue Betty (?) lode. It is a relocation of the Scotch Lassie; Located the Trout (?) Lode; Started working on the road; measured the Mabel (measurements are listed) (Mabel is his claim); Elections, working on his blacksmith shop; temperature is 15 below zero; working on tunnel again, excavating; put off a shot (explosion); went to Denver & had piece of steel removed from his eye, paid $1.85 to record deed; back working in the tunnel; cleaned out my location hole on Loyd Lee; Trout Lode was surveyed & recorded $9.25 (always working on tunnel); broke rock in tunnel; Got knocked out w/powder smoke; went to Loveless tunnel; Has been making timbers almost every day for some time; Went to see Placer; went fishing at Jim Peak Lakes; Went up Montana Hill & went to see the Victor; Fishing at Tellers Lake; Helping friend build a cabin; Begins work on the Mabel; Paid for Republican postage; Someone threatened to have him arrested if he did any more work on the Mabel; worked on the Mabel; Got a receipt from the Republican, someone left on the stage; was sick for over a week; The Republication started today; started working on the Topsy; began a new hole in the Topsy; managed post office & store for someone who left town for a while; having trouble finding the lead in the third hole; Bad storm, cabin shaking down to the foundation; his father died on Christmas Day; there was a forest fire; received a letter telling him to be ready to pull out for Alaska as soon as he gets word; Will start for Denver on Thursday to head for Klondyke. The book is 11 3/4" long and 5 1/4" wide and each of the 63 pages are full and there are a few more pages in the back of expenses. Overall VG.. Manuscript. Book Condition: Very Good

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