The Gold Rush Letters Collection features correspondence from two Missourians, Jonathan Huff Biswell and Elisha Cotton Winchell, who migrated to California during the Gold Rush of the mid-1800s. Biswell, a farmer, sought his fortune in the gold fields with modest success and eventually returned to Missouri. Winchell, a lawyer, settled in Sacramento, established a law practice, and went on to become a well-respected judge and businessman. The letters provide a vivid description of their journeys across the country and life in the new state of California. The originals can be found in Pickler Memorial Library Special Collections & Museums at Truman State University, Kirksville, MO.

For more information about the Biswell family in the Pickler Memorial Library Special Collections & Museums, see Biswell Family Papers.

For more information about Elisha Winchell's manuscript collection in the Pickler Memorial Library Special Collections & Museums, see the Elisha Cotton Winchell Letters.

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