3 pp., on 4-page lettersheet of blue paper. 25.5x20.5 cm (8x10").

Enos Smith writes to his parents in New Haven, "I left San Francisco on the 24th of January  for this Territory & shall probably remain for two weeks... We have nearly closed our business in Sacramento City and have rented the store for the year at $500 per month which to you doubtless seems like a round price... However it is cheaper for a party to pay this and have a place secure against fire than to pay two thirds the amount for a wood store and take the chance of being burnt every six months..." 

About the city he is visiting he notes, "This place (Portland") contains some 1500 inhabitants a good proportion of which are from east of the Hudson. It's situated on the Willamette River about 15 miles from where it enters into the Columbia and some 140 miles I think from the mouth of the Columbia and 700 miles from San Francisco. Its now the unfavorable season of the year to visit this territory as it rains most of the time and the weather is cold and raw but my health is good and I like cold weather..."