Western Letter

One letter that I found written by Mark Twain to his Mom from Carson City in the Nevada Territory. He is answering her request for him to tell her about the country, saying that he is only going to use facts and no "nonsense". He talks about a place called "Gold Hill", that is named for its abundant gold bearing and because it is the best Gold producing place in the area. He lists the various resources and types of people that are abundant there, such as marble, granite, slate, thieves, murderers, and lawyers. He mentions that it never rains and there is no green anywhere. He describes the types of plants that grow there and then describes the landscape. He talks about the town and where it is built. He then mentions a place called King's Canon, making sure to put the proper pronunciation (can-yon) in the letter, where all of the ranches and farms are because things actually grow there. He describes the houses as "framed" and "paper-covered" by flour sacks. Depending on the brand of flour sack it would show your wealth. He says there are also stone houses. After describing the city, he moves on to the other questions his mom asked. He doesn't go to church regularly, and in Carson they only have not-in-business Catholic church and a Protestant service every Sabbath in the school house. He says there are many ladies, and then calls them handsome. He says the people are generally moral and religious. Lastly, he tells her that if people ask, he is enjoying his life in Nevada. He says it's really dusty, but that he likes dust. The days are hot and the nights are cold. It doesn't rain, but he like it because he dislikes mud. There are scorpion and spiders, but he doesn't mind because he doesn't like spiders. Overall, this letter has a really descriptive narrative of Carson City, Nevada and it is really useful for finding out what the West was like back then.

Letter Writing in America

The article "Letter Writing in America" talks about the changes in letter writing throughout history. The article starts out by talking about the letters from people exploring the new world. The explorers were being paid, and sent updates back to their bosses. The article says that because of this, the letters that were being sent from the new world frequently described "Eden-like surroundings", a plethora of available food and resources, and cordial and cooperative natives who came across as though they wanted to convert to Christianity. (Letter Writing in America) From here, postal services were created such as the British Colonial Post. The downside to this was that postage was expensive and many people were illiterate. Most letters being sent were either from wealthy upperclass citizens or were secret letters sent by the government or military. Newspapers then started publishing letters. After this, Westward Expansion made it popular for letters to be send back to family from the West, either as updates or often news of death. The railroads made letters faster to send and receive. During the civil war, letters were often sent between soldiers and their families, and there were often letters from former slaves. Letters of a particular time tend to show the issues that were present during that time period, such as letters from immigrants to their families and letters about feminism. Throughout the World Wars and the Great Depression, more letters are sent between soldiers and their families; letters also show up in newspapers regarding personal inquiries. In the modern times, letter writing has decreased significantly because of technology such as telegraphs, E-mail, and phones. Letters are still written mainly to petition the government, for business transactions, and as an art form. As for the future of letter writing, the article states that it is unknown.

Newspaper Research

I read a weekly paper from Prescott, Arizona called The Weekly Arizona Miner. The political issues that were being discussed were mainly about the rules of the area. Since Arizona was not yet a state, the people were trying to figure out a way to govern and make rules for themselves. There were also lots of stories of crime and scandal. There were mentions of murder, rape, assault and battery, fraud, and others. What particularly grabbed my attention in this paper was how murderers often got less sentence than people who committed other smaller crimes. Another thing that caught my attention was some of the laws that were being passed and removed at a quick pace. There were laws to regulate the herding of sheep, prevent gambling with minors, prevent the destruction of fish, and amend lawful fences and animal trespassing. These laws make me want to know what happened to cause them to be put into place. This newspaper is useful to learn about the area because it provides insight into the political decisions that were being made as to how the area was to be governed. It also provides insight into the legal system and what kinds of crimes were being committed and how they were being handled.