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Ed. LeBras. Autograph Letter Signed (French text), Mokelumne Hill [Calaveras County], August 22, 1853. 3pp.+ stampless address leaf. To his uncle, A.Aumaitre, Naval agent at Brest. France. 

Another scarce letter from a French miner, a follow-up from the discouraged prospector who had so hopefully written his family a year before (see 1852 listing above)

Loosely translated: The young French prospector apologized for having so rarely written to his family during this three years in America. He was not ungrateful for the sacrifices they had made for him and was thankful for their constant affection. But his hands were tired from the years of prospecting – and bad luck had pursued him. California was still a “country of the world” where one could make a great deal of money in a short time, but the mines were no longer what they had been when he arrived. Only a few hundred miners could be considered “rich and happy”. More successful were “small capitalists”, restaurant owners and merchants who had set up shop near large mining camps, where (“baptized”?) Americans had appointed “alcaldes” and “Scheriffs” and passed complex laws governing claims in the gold fields. Even for miners who had made some money, there was no regular income.  He himself had made just enough to pay some debts, to buy enough food to sustain himself and a remedy for constant “indisposition” from contact with a poisonous plant. Still LeBras seemed committed to display “resolution” and “firmness of character” and made no promises about returning home.

LeBras’ uncle was probably the Brest maritime merchant named in US Civil War documents who gave support to Confederate shipping in French ports. It’s unknown whether the writer was related to Francois LeBras who was arrested in 1851 by the San Francisco Vigilance Committee but, given a formal trial, was found not guilty of murder.