260 EAST PRUSSIA TO THE GOLDEN GATE 



But what is gone let it be buried with the past. A new 

 year has come upon the river of time; may it bring me 

 better luck,— may it bring me nearer the goal than the 

 past year has done. Yet, there is much I have to be 

 thankful for; if during the last year I had to suffer a 

 great deal, I have also learned a great deal. "Habeat 

 sibi? "—Retired, quiet and contented as you live,— I do 

 not know if I could wish you anything better, than that 

 the new year may not bring you any changes, my beloved 

 ones! The storms which constantly spring up around 

 me, will not touch you. To Marie only will I wish that 

 she may soon regain her wonted health. 



Just as you received my letter of April 5th last year, 

 on my birthday, so did I receive your letter No. 16— of 

 August 6th on December 16th, my beloved mother's 

 birthday. That was a satisfaction! 



I am glad to see that the specimens of leaf gold, whieh 

 I sent you in my letter No. 15 of May 6th-15th have 

 reached you in safety. I hardly had expected it. To be 

 sure, the gold found here differs very much in color; but 

 you never find gold differing in color in the same locality; 

 and especially does this hold good about the gold washed 

 out of rivers. The gold found at Long Bar, for instance, 

 as it is washed out of the river, looks beautifully bright 

 and reddish. After a while it turns to a pale yellow and 

 then it takes a greenish hue; but since the miners are in 

 the habit of carrying it on their persons, the perspiration 

 may have something to do with that. 



I did not see anything at which to laugh, my dear 

 father, about the suggestions you make in regard to 

 mining operations here; the improvements you suggest 

 have in part already been made,— as for instance, the 

 repeated utilizing of the same water by running the tail- 

 ings into a hole. The system however, which you sug- 

 gest, would not only be impracticable in most cases, but 

 —considering the small quantity of water used in wash- 

 ing with a rocker, — too expensive. Lumber is worth 25 

 cents per foot (in some localities 50 cents and more) ; so 

 that a hundred feet of a flume such as you suggest, would 



