HANDWRITTEN LETTER, written on both sides of a piece of 8.5x11 inch stationery bearing a "BLACK BEAR GOLD MINING CO." letterhead. The letter is dated Feb. 28, 1911, and was sent from SAWYERS BAR, (Siskiyou County, California). It was written by Mrs. M. E. Whiting / Sawyers Bar" and addressed to "Mrs. Clark", her sister. The letter begins: "Dear Sister".

The letter mentions the recent death of a sister, Sophronia (there is a marker on the Yreka Trail in Siskiyou County that reads: ""We are now out of the diggers and and in the Shasta Valley tribe (country) they are not so hostile - Sophronia Helen Stone, Sep 20, 1852".) I have no idea if the marker relates to the Sophornia in this letter, but as both the marker and the Sophronia in the letter are in Siskiyou County it is at least an interesting coincidence. The letter goes on to talk about the cold weather and other everyday matters. WHITING, the writer's surname, is also the surname of a number of miners in Siskiyou County at the time, and there was even a WHITING HILL MINE. I do not know exactly how M. E. Whiting relates, though the fact that the letter bears the letterhead of BLACK BEAR GOLD MINING CO. indicates some sort of relationship.

GOOD Condition: the letter has two horizontal and one vertical fold, likely folded to fit into an envelope (no envelope present); there are a few small holes (likely from the sharp tip of the pen), one fold is just starting to split, and the letter is lightly toned, otherwise bright and clear.

About SAWYERS BAR (from Wikipedia):

******Sawyers Bar is an unincorporated community located on the North Fork Salmon River in unincorporated Siskiyou County, California, not to be confused with a Sawyers or Lawyers Bar in Del Norte County.

Sawyers Bar, now in Siskiyou County, was a California Gold Rush mining camp, first in Trinity County (one of the original counties of California, created in 1850 at the time of statehood). Then following the rush to the Klamath and Salmon Rivers, it became part of the now defunct Klamath County from 1851 to 1874. It was then within that part of Klamath County annexed to Siskiyou County. Sawyers Bar, was one of the largest gold producers in the county that year, along with Negro Flat, Gullion's Bar and Bestville. Currently, Sawyers Bar has a population of about 20 permanent residents and about 34 during the summer.******