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edge of the great Desert. People were glad to get Flour by paying at the rate of 400$ per Barrel for it or 2$ per lb & every thing else in proportion. But now that many of them have arrived they can get any thing they want in the way of good living. I would adise no man to come to California by land for the fatigue that they undergo & the anxiety about their animals is enough to break down the stoutest constitution. As regards my own case I feel better than when I started by a great deal, although I have slept out in the open air without a tent ever since I left Ft. Laramie a distance of 1500 miles. I have never had the first symptom of cold or any thing of the kind. For 12 or 1400 miles of the rout we were in sight of snow (& often passed over it) every day. I have many a time when I would sit down to a few hard crackers & a peice of salt meat broiled on the coals, thought of the many good dishes we have so often enjoyed together in that better land. I sometimes wonder that I did not give out on the trip, for although a mule is generally considered hard to kill, I broke down 4 diferent ones on the road for when I arrived in the City my 4th mule could not have gone 2 miles further. Many others have fared much worse. I consider myself very fortunate upon the whole any how. I should have sold myself to the museum when I arrived if there had been one in the place, for of all the horrible looking objects you ever saw I surpassed them all. Tell Uncle Harvey that I am very anxious to learn how his Town Lot speculation turned out. I am in hopes he has realised a handsome fortune out of it. Tell him that he must write to me whenever he can & direct to Sacramento City as I will then be sure to receive it. I wrote to him from Ft. Laramie but dont know whether he ever received it or not. My respects to all the Ladies of my acquaintance both young & old & my acquaintances generally Give my love to Uncle Harvey and for yourself receive an ample share of my highest esteem. Thomas J. Oxley P. S. Please ask Uncle Harvey to send me a Cincinnati paper occasionally. I dont care much what kind, just so that I get some newspaper to day if I can