A Miner's Story
The Love Letters of Enos Christman and Ellen Apple
As the news that gold had been discovered in California spread rapidly in late 1848 and 1849, thousands of dreamers, pioneers, and opportunists the world over decided to flock to the territory and seek their fortune. 80,000 of them to be precise, and that was just in 1849 alone. However, such staggering numbers can come to mask the individual stories of these people that became known as the ‘49ers.
Showcased below are edited extracts of the love letters of Enos Christman and his fiancé, Ellen Apple, that the couple exchanged whilst Enos had ventured to California in search of gold. A young man at just twenty years old, Enos had left his home in West Chester, Pennsylvania, in June 1849 to journey west. In doing so, he left behind his apprenticeship at a local printers and his fiancé, Ellen, who he hoped to return to within three years and wed, providing for her and their future family with the help of any wealth he could amass in the goldfields.
The couple’s letters paint a deeply personal picture of life as a ‘49er, and serve as a poignant reminder that it was not just the miners that faced struggles; the families and friends these men left behind had to adjust to life without them, waiting patiently for years at a time for them to return — hopefully with pockets full of gold.
Ellen Apple to Enos Christman, West Chester, Pennsylvania, July 22, 1849.
My Dear Enos,
I know that you have been wanting to go to that tempting place, California, and that you would never be satisfied if you did not go. So I hope it is all for the best. Well I know you left all that was near and dear to you to go to the gold mines. And well I know that all that is near and dear to me is you. It is so very lonesome here that it seems as though I were in a strange land with no friends. You have no idea how I miss you. It seems the longest while since you took your departure. And just think! It is only three weeks, and it will be two years before I see you, and maybe not then.
I remain, as ever yours,
Ellen Apple
Ellen Apple, 1864.
Note the considerable amount of time between Ellen's letter and Enos' reply below. Those headed to California could elect to travel either overland or by sea. Enos chose to sail around Cape Horn, the longest route at 22,000 miles, and thus it was 222 days before he finally arrived in San Francisco in February 1850 and received Ellen’s letter from the previous July. In an age when instant messaging and video calls were not yet even pipe dreams, communicating with loved ones back home was a tedious and lengthy process meaning miners were likely weighed down with heavy hearts rather than gold nuggets.
Enos Christman to Ellen Apple, Happy Valley, near San Francisco, February 14, 1850.
Betrothed Ellen,
Should I return home without a dollar, I flatter myself that in you I would still possess a jewel more precious than all the glittering ore in this dazzling country, but I expect to return with a better hand than when I left or perish in the pursuit.
Your devoted,
Enos Christman
Ellen Apple to Enos Christman, West Chester, Pennsylvania, March 5th, 1850.
My Dear Enos,
Many are still going to California in every vessel. But many persons have told me that only one out of every ten that goes to dig gold makes anything. So if you should not be among the fortunate, be not discouraged but return to those who devoutly love you in good old West Chester and let well enough alone. Last night I had a delightful dream. I dreamt that you had returned home. You had better believe there was a sad heart made happy. I hope my dream will soon be realized.
Yours truly and sincerely,
Ellen Apple
Indeed, the Gold Rush would continue with thousands journeying to California every year for the next decade. By 1854, 300,000 people had made the trip. Furthermore, these migrations were massively male dominated; in 1852, 92 percent of individuals prospecting for gold were men. However, Ellen was quite right to be concerned that Enos would not have much luck. The typically optimistic prospectors soon found that mining was not as easy or as fruitful as they had imagined, as they washed gravel and earned meagre returns for their efforts. This only got worse as time passed. As the easy gold in the rivers and streams quickly dried up, it became almost impossible for the individual miner to make a fortune. Instead, companies with the necessary industrial equipment came to dominate the industry. As such, many prospectors were left with shattered dreams and feelings of failure as they returned home empty handed.
Ellen Apple to Enos Christman, West Chester, Pennsylvania, September 8, 1850.
My Dear Enos,
I am delighted that you have quit digging the earth for what you could not find, and have taken surer means of making a living. If you can make enough to bring you back, it is all I ask, I assure you. Although I would have no objections to your returning with your pockets full of gold.
I remain as ever yours,
E. Apple
Unsatisfied after several months of panning for gold, Enos looked for alternate means of making his fortune. Finding work at the Stockton Times newspaper, he was able to use his skills as an apprentice printer and was soon earning a very respectable fifty dollars per week. Enos was not alone in thinking that there was more money to be made by catering to the miners rather than being one. In fact, it was merchants, not miners, that made the most money during the Gold Rush. For instance, before they became a billion dollar company, Levi Strauss & Co. got their start selling sturdy work pants to miners.
Enos Christman to Ellen Apple Herald Office, Sonora, California, May 11, 1851.
My Much Loved Ellen,
I am anxious to return, and have a home of my own or rather our own, a domestic fireside. But to return with as poor a hand as I left with would almost necessarily render this next to impossible. I could not bear the idea of taking a wife where the chances would be against my supporting her, and where one lives just upon what he earns and that just sufficient. To see a sweet and confiding woman suffering on my account, would render me the most miserable of wretches.
Believe me as ever your,
E. Christman
For many opportunists like Enos, the California Gold Rush was an unprecedented chance to improve their financial standing and realise the American dream of instant success in return for hard work. In a world where many had to toil tirelessly to make ends meet and earn just a few hundred dollars a year, the prospect of journeying west in search of gold was the ultimate expression of the economic democracy that these young United States promised.
Enos Christman to Ellen Apple Herald Office, Sonora, California, October 26, 1851.
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My Own Dear Ellen,
This morning I concluded to have my likeness taken, and I forward it with this to you. I am only sorry that it is not the original that is to go and the likeness to remain. However, unless all my calculations are defeated, I will return home next fall or summer, before the cold sets in, and perhaps early in the spring.
I remain as ever your devoted and affectionate,
E. Christman
Daguerreotype of Enos Christman, 1851.
The likeness that Enos sent is an example of a daguerreotype, the product of the first publicly available photographic process. They were widely used throughout the 1840s and 1850s. By the time the daguerreotype reached Ellen in Pennsylvania it had been two and a half years since she had last laid eyes on her fiancé and the many hardships Enos had endured in that time had altered his appearance, as Ellen highlights in her reply below.
Ellen Apple to Enos Christman, West Chester, Pennsylvania, December 8, 1851.
My Own Dear Enos,
How shall I express the unexpected joy I felt when I received your kind letter accompanied with your daguerreotype. Although it was such a great pleasure to receive it, it made me feel rather sad to see how much thinner you are. I am glad you sent it, for I love to look at it, changed as you are. I do hope the next surprise I meet with, will be the original himself.
Sincerely and devotedly,
Ellen Apple
Enos Christman to Ellen Apple Herald Office, Sonora, California, April 28, 1852.
My Adored Ellen,
This will be the last letter I expect to write you from this place and, indeed, my next I hope to carry to you myself. I am making every preparation to leave San Francisco for Panama on the 1st of July in some one of the various steamships plying between those two places. I think I shall cross the Isthmus and go direct to New York. I confidently hope to be with you in the beginning of August.
Your adoring,
Enos Christman
Enos Christman in later life.
True to his word, Enos set sail for home on June 26th, 1852, landing in Panama on July 12th. After crossing the Isthmus on horseback, he sailed into the Atlantic two days later, heading north to New York. The journey was not without its dangers as sickness and disease was rife with the poor conditions onboard; Enos recorded in his journal that sixteen or seventeen of his fellow passengers died during the voyage, probably from cholera. On July 22nd, Enos finally arrived in New York Harbour and was soon reunited with his beloved Ellen; they had been apart for just over three years. Despite Enos not returning with pockets full of gold, this love story still has a happy ending as the pair married less than three months later on October 20th.
