Mail Order Gold Rush

by Montana West

  Cora could hardly breathe. Here was a woman who was encouraging her on a quest that she had only thought of as a dream.

  “You make it sound so simple, Mrs. Summers, I wish I could go West but I am only a girl.”

  Rachel smiled. “You have the best opportunity yet, Cora,” Rachel reached forward and touched her arm lightly. “From long ago days men have always sought wives and when the pioneers settled in America, they sent home for women to come and join them in nation founding. It is no different in the West. I know that a number of men seek wives over there hence the mail-order brides who are becoming very popular. Why not try your hand and see what happens? After all you could always refuse to go if you do not like any of the men you correspond with, but how will you ever know if you do not try?”

  Cora almost fell off her chair. “Mrs. Summers, do you know just how livid my parents would be, not to mention my brothers should they hear that I am thinking of becoming a mail-order bride?”

  “You do not have to tell them, okay not initially. But why don’t you write to some of the men who advertise and see what happens. Should any of them become a suitable match, I am sure your parents will not be wholly averse to the idea. Trust yourself and your instincts, Cora, and choose to live.”

  “That is well said, Mrs. Summers, but how do I correspond in secret and yet my pa is the one who always gets the mail for us? He would be definitely suspicious if he saw any mail for me from the West and much as he and Ma respect my privacy and would not open the mail, I know that I would be in for questioning that would wear me out.”

  “In that case then you are free to use my postal address, Cora. Apart from the letters I get from my daughters once in a while, it lies practically unused. In that way you can also save Mable a trip down to the post office. Her feet are giving her a lot of problems and if you took charge of my postal box you could bring me mail whenever it comes and also, you can then get your own mail without anyone being the wiser.”

  ***

  Louis was so excited he could not sleep. He had received a letter from a Miss Cora Richards in Akron, Ohio and he felt deep in his heart that she was the one. The woman that he had been praying for.

  Ever since he had heeded his pastor’s advice and placed an advert in the newspapers back East, he had received a number of responses but none of them appealed to him. Most of the women who wrote back to him sounded as though their desire to come West was to find rich suitors and settle down to a bourgeois kind of life which he was unable to provide. Others were not as well educated as he would have desired because he believed that once he struck gold he and his wife would change the society and what better way to do it than with great knowledge of whatever was happening in the world around them. And yet others did not sound like they shared his faith in Jesus Christ. One thing Louis had promised his mother was that he would only marry a woman whose faith matched his own.

  “How can two walk together unless they be agreed?” His mother had told him over and over again. “Louis, you have to really be careful about being unequally yoked with an unbeliever. She may be beautiful and smart but if her heart is devoid of the love of God then you might as well make a home with a sow.”

  Now finally after two months of waiting and hoping he had received a letter that made his heart beat faster. He tucked it deep into his pockets and went about sifting through the river bank for gold, a big smile on his face. He had his small pick axe in his hand and his pan, the most important tools of trade for placer miners of who he was one. Placer mining was the most common form of mining for small time prospectors such as Louis because it really was the simplest method of getting gold.

  All a miner needed was a pan, a pick axe and a good set of eyes and he was in business. He would dig up the sand and gravel from a stream with his axe, and then use his pan to wash the mixture. Washing would help separate the bits of gold nuggets and gold dust and as Louis knelt beside the stream he felt that his hope had been renewed. When he weighed out the amount of gold that he had collected that day it was almost double what he had ever collected in his two years of mining and he felt that it was a sign that this woman called Cora Richards was his God-sent bride-to-be.

  Louis lived frugally and even the heavy coins jingling in his pockets after selling his gold did not make him splurge like his compatriots were wont to. He had bigger dreams and wasting his money was not one of them. As he walked to his boarding house, he made up his mind to pay his rent for the next four weeks, he could well afford to, and the remainder of the money he would re-invest in his prospecting by purchasing better tools that would enable him seek his fortune in the abandoned mines that lay strewn all over Last Chance. He knew it was very risky but he was tired of panning gold at the streams, women and children in plenty filled the place and he felt that he could hit it big if he went into the caves and mines. A number of people that he knew had done just that and had emerged richer than could be imagined. True, a number had also perished in the mines but he was optimistic that he was one of the blessed and lucky ones who would emerge a winner against nature.

  As he lay on his bed fingering the letter that he had received that morning, his thoughts wandered. He needed to be properly attired for his excursion into the mines as his normal clothes would not do. He would need long warm drawers and undershirts made of wool to keep the cold at bay. Temperatures in the mines tended to drop to the freezing point. He would also need strong shoes and a good source of light that would enable him go deep into the mines where others feared to venture. Louis knew that he was fearless when it came to exploring but he would need good light to enable him work. He needed a shovel, a larger pick axe and a knife, items that could only be bought with good money and he had sufficient to cater for whatever he required.

  He turned over in his bed, glad that he had been able to spare some little money for the delicious meal that his landlady served as dinner for a dollar. Today he had paid her the dollar for his supper, a great luxury indeed.

  There was an old miner who often had used tools that he sold at a good price. Reuben Smith often purchased the tools from miners who had either struck it rich and decided to move away, or those who had given up hope and just needed some money to get them away from Last Chance. Some tools, however, he got free of charge when some of the miners, despairing of their deplorable conditions and having lost all their fortunes committed suicide.

  Reuben Smith was also fondly named the Undertaker as he was not averse to burying the many corpses of the unfortunate men, women and children who died of exhaustion, pneumonia or dysentery and cholera. No one else was willing to do it but Reuben gave them a final decent send off.

  “At least in death let them have the dignity that eluded them in life,” he would say as he buried yet another corpse.

  Reuben would know exactly what he needed and with this thought Louis turned back to the letter in his hands. Naomi Willows thoughtfully provided a small lantern for all her tenants but it was up to each to fuel them. Louis had bought enough fuel to enable him to read and re-read the letter over and over again.

  “Dear Mr. Louis Albert,

  My name is Cora Richards and I am seventeen years old. I saw your advert in the Cleveland Daily and have decided to write to you with hopes that you and I can begin a correspondence to get to know each other.

  I am a Christian, which I know is an important prerequisite for you since that was one of the first things that you mentioned about yourself in your advert. Besides being a Christian from a strong family, I can also cook very well, having been taught by my mother from when I could lift a pan and hold a ladle in my hand. I also sew and embroider so you can be sure that your house would be a comfortable place for you to come home to when you are done with your day’s labors.

  With all of that being said, I also wish you to know that I am educated, my ma and pa made sure of that, and I have dreams and aspirations of becoming a children’s author, writing story books and illustrating them with my own pictures. Just so you
know that I am not just blowing empty air, I have drawn a picture of my parents’ home here in Akron, Ohio.

  Should we carry on our correspondence, I will be quite happy to show you more of what I am working on. Sometimes it is easier to express ones deeper emotions through stories and drawings, do you not think?

  I would be most honored to hear back from you, and I hope that my forwardness has not put you off. My dear friend Mrs. Rachel Summers helped me pen this first letter to you and she advised me to always be truthful to you. She says that if you are indeed the man that she feels you are, then you are a man who treasures honesty and truth and that is what I will give you should we continue our correspondence.

  With Christ’s love and waiting for your reply in anticipation,

  Cora Richards.”

  Much as Louis was tempted to rise up from his bed and pen a response to this delightful sounding woman he knew it would have to wait until the morrow when he obtained better writing materials from the general store. He had some paper but it was rough, not suitable for this lady at all.

  When Louis responded to Cora’s first letter, it opened a channel of communication that brought out the real and deep feelings of each of them. They poured out their hearts and desires to each other, and Cora felt a deep bond of connection with the man that she had not met as yet. Louis was very easy to write to.

  In the sixth month of their correspondence Louis began mentioning that he wanted to send money so that Cora could come West and they could get married. Cora showed the letter to Rachel who smiled at her.

  “This is a good man, dear child, you can feel it in the letters that he writes, and I doubt that any conniving man would share as much as he has. And I like his honesty about not being wealthy in the things of the world but having a wealth in the things of God. A man who was pretending would just let you believe that he was rich and able, not this young man. Are you ready to settle down with a man whose means are limited and yet you are quite used to a few comforts in life, Cora?”

  The young lady nodded. “Just writing to Louis makes me feel like my world is complete. He does not flatter but he praises. I sent him some preliminary drawings from a book I am illustrating, and he gave me some wonderful ideas to include in my work, Mrs. Summers. He does not sound condescending even while pointing out things he thinks would be better. He seems pleased that I have a good education and knowledge, something my brother Henry thinks would put men off.”

  “I am sure your brother was speaking in jest because as this country continues to grow and expand, there is room for educated women who are also mothers and wives. Believe me, Cora, and mark my words, when the time comes for your brother to marry I am sure that he will choose a woman who is quite knowledgeable and not just an airhead full of flighty fancies. Your own mother is one of those women whose ideas belong to the next century which is evident in the high regard that people in Akron hold your father. Behind every successful man lies a strong woman who is his partner.”

  “That sounds like something Louis would say,” Cora said, clutching the letter that she had just received. “He is talking of sending my fare in another three months or so.”

  “Will you go should the fare come?”

  Cora sighed. “I am torn, Mrs. Summers. I love my family so much and being parted from them would cause me a lot of sorrow, but I am also falling in love with Louis and I know he can make me happy.” She put her hands on her head, quite frustrated. “I wish there was a way that I could have both my family and Louis with me.”

  “And why shouldn’t you?”

  “Mrs. Summers, Louis would never leave Last Chance to come to Akron.”

  “Then have your family move to Last Chance, child.” Cora looked at her as if she had suddenly grown a second head. “And do not look at me like I am speaking something that cannot be achieved. You told me that your parents have been discussing the Wild West for a while and your papa seems restless. Why not suggest a move for them?”

  “Really, Mrs. Summers, my parents would probably have a fit if I so much as mentioned something like that to them.”

  “Cora you are beginning to disappoint me,” Rachel wagged a finger at her young friend. “You need to believe in the impossible and suggest the issue to your parents. You may just be surprised that they will warm up to the idea. But you need to use wisdom and tact,” Rachel sat with her hands under her chin, staring outside. Winter was coming to an end and there was the rare sunshine but the two women were in the sitting room where a fire was burning merrily in the fireplace. They were enjoying a cup of tea and fruit pie that Cora had brought from home. “Leave your mother to me,” Rachel said. “I know what will get Mary moving and believe me when Mary Richards decides to move, Walter Richards and the rest will fall in line nicely, just leave her to me.”

  “What can you do, Mrs. Summers? Ma is a tough nut to crack.”

  “Not as tough as this old bird,” Rachel grinned. “Tell your ma that I need to speak with her because I would like her advice on a delicate matter.”

  Rachel’s ploy seemed to work because the next thing that Cora knew, her mother was buying newspapers that were full of news from the Wild West and the dinner discussions centered on the Big Sky Country.

  Walter Richards looked on in amusement as always as his wife and children argued over the best place to live in the West. For a long time he had felt restless and had discussed the issue with his wife. While both of them were in agreement that their life in Akron, Ohio was sound and good, they all needed something more.

  “Think, Ma,” Michael said. “Between the three of us we can get four hundred and eighty acres of land, and when Henry turns twenty one he can also get his own lot of one hundred and sixty acres. How wonderful is that ma?”

  “Having land is one thing, farming it is another,” his mother said. “Are you willing to break your back working so that the farm can produce as much as it can?”

  “What have we been doing all our lives, Ma?” Henry demanded. “We work from sunrise to sunset on the land and you will admit that ours is one of the best farms in Akron.”

  “I do not disagree, but Henry, fifty acres versus four hundred and eighty acres. That is a mighty huge difference.”

  “The better, Ma,” Cora put in. “That means the land will never get exhausted and we can grow anything we put our hands to, as well as keep as many animals as we want to since there is room for them out there.”

  Walter looked at his daughter, a twinkle in his eye. “Cora, even you?” He shook his head. “I would think you are so comfortable around here with all the latest fashions and lifestyle. Are you sure you can make it work on a farm out in the wilderness?’

  “Pa,” Cora protested. “I work just as hard as Henry and Michael and I know that I can survive, as long as we are all together things will be alright. Besides, who knows, we may just get one of those farms which has caves in which a vast amount of gold is to be found, think how rich we could be, Ma,” she turned to her mother. “When we are not farming we can try our hand at gold mining, or else if we feel that we are too weak to mine we can grow enough food to sell to the prospectors. Either way it is a winning situation for us.”

  That night as Mary Richards lay listening to her husband’s deep breathing she smiled in the darkness. She had longed to move West for a long time but had always feared that her children and husband would not accept the idea. She had shared her wishes with Rachel Summers who was a very wise woman.

  “Mary, a woman steers a home and if you really feel that this is God’s calling for you and your family then I suggest you find a way to get them to share your vision and dream.”

  “Rachel, it is my deep desire and I have been praying for a long time. Imagine my joy when my husband began telling me that he is feeling suffocated here in Akron and needs to break out. But going West is another matter altogether.”

  “Why?”

  “My husband and boys would not agree, not to mention Cora who is set to find herself a suitor a
nd settle down here. I feel as though this can break my family apart.”

  Rachel smiled at her friend. “I was married for only sixteen years, Mary, but there is something that I learned from my own husband and my father and brothers.”

  “What is that?”

  “Men always like to believe that they have come up with an idea, and anything short of that will be met with much resistance. Do you understand what I am telling you?” Mary nodded. “The only sure way to get your men to agree to what you want is to seem as opposed to it as much as you possibly can. Let them feel that they have convinced you into going West. Cora is not a problem. Being a young lady she will not want to be separated from her family and so will meekly follow after you.”

  “Do you really think this would work?”

  “Try it and see,” Rachel had advised. “Bring the topic up as though you are just making a comment and let the three men grab it and convince you that it is the best thing to do. Point out subtly all the benefits of going West and get their attention, and then use your wisdom to gently retreat and let them advance your cause for you.”

  Now as Mary lay beside her husband she laughed softly to herself. Rachel Summers had given her precious advice that had worked like gold. Her husband and sons had grabbed onto the idea and were doing their best to convince her of the merits and benefits of moving West, just like Rachel had predicted.

  Mary turned over, careful not to disturb her husband. She had been reading articles from newspapers about the Wild West and one particular article had boasted about the gold country that was ‘heaven on earth.’ All a person needed was courage, wits and the desire to grow rich and once they went out West they could make their dreams come true.

  Much as her family was well off among the families in Akron, Mary still felt like they had been placed in a class from which they could not rise. Rachel had told her that out in the West there was nothing like a class system and all men were equal. No one lifted their noses at others who they felt were beneath their station because everyone worked hard to make a good life for themselves.