Elisha Holbrook letter, 1854, Island County, WA

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1854 letter of Elisha Holbrook, submitted by Dan Holbrook September 8, 
1999. Both above notices must remain when copied or downloaded. 

dholbrook@mail.colusanet.com


This letter below was written by Elisha Holbrook, brother of Captain 
Richard Blackmer Holbrook. Captain Holbrook was 33 years old at the 
time and Elisha was 32 years old. The letter is addressed to his 
mother, Nancy (Ellis) Holbrook, in Manomet Ponds, Plymouth Mass. She 
was married first to Richard Blackmer of Plymouth and then second to 
Captain Gideon Holbrook in 1818. The original letter is in the 
Holbrook family. 



Penn's Cove, Washington  Territory, Jan. 26, 1854 

Dear Mother: 
 I now sit down to write you again, to let you know that I am stopping 
yet with Richard on this cove.  That we are all well and have a plenty 
to eat and drink and have a good comfortable log house to live in.  We 
have had no news since I have been up here  and we have some trouble 
to get letters to and from the post office, which is near one hundred 
miles from here, and letters are brought down by private conveyance.  
This spring or summer there will be one in this place. 

 Letters and papers are now brought up the Columbia River and over the 
Cascade Mountains, which makes them so long on their way home or out 
here.  It is thought too that the mail will be brought by steamer from 
San Francisco this summer.  If it is, we still get letters only a day 
or two later than if we were in the mines of California. 

 Governor Stevens visited this place last week in company with Judge 
Lancaster, the democratic candidate for delegate to Congress.  The 
Judge, of course, made a political speech; but the Governor barely 
touched on politics-just enough to let us know which side of the fence 
he is on.  A greater part of his speech was respecting his survey of 
the route for the Pacific Railroad, his view of the road, etc.  Also 
his opinion of this territory, its manifest destiny, necessary 
appropriations by Congress for roads, etc.  He said it was only 700 
miles from Puget Sound to the falls of the Missouri; and that the 
country from the Mississippi to the Sound, for the greater part, had 
a fertile soil and a healthy climate, and was capable of supporting a 
large population.... Governor Stevens is a small man in stature, but 
in mind appears to be above the common run. 

    .......When there will be a railroad to Puget Sound is rather  
rough guessing; however, there will be a road terminating here in 
course of time; for a more magnificent sheet of water, a more noble 
roadstead, is nowhere to be found.  From Olympia at the head of the 
Sound to Cape Flattery at the mouth of  the Straits of Juan de Fuca, 
through which the waters of the Sound pass to the Pacific, it is about 
200 miles.  Through the whole length, the Indians can pass in canoes 
any month in the year.  There are a number of harbors as good as 
anyone could ask for. 

 The land along the Sound is heavily timbered with fir, cedar, and 
occasionally yew, oak and white pine.  The soil is rather poor, not 
much if any better than in New England.  The best soil I have seen 
is on this (Whidby) Island; it is considered the best 
in the territory.  Richard has a good farm, all good soil, nearly 
all cleared land, and one side of it is on the cove, which is a large 
and beautiful harbor.  The climate here is much milder than in 
Massachusetts, nearly all December the weather was very like that of 
May at home, and I could pick as many blackberries as I wanted from 
the bushes.  Grass too was green, and cattle get their living.  Since 
this month came in it has been colder-some frost and snow and one 
night the temperature fell to two degrees below zero-which was a great 
deal colder than last winter.  Many people think this will be the last 
cold spell of the winter.  If it proves so, it will be a remarkably 
mild winter compared to winters at home.  The last of February is the 
time for planting. There are 31 sawmills in the territory, and a 
number building.  There are about 30 vessels running between here and 
San Francisco.  Most of them are barks and ships. 

 Give my best respects to Luther, Aunt Lucy and all  hands. 
     Most affectionately, your son, 
      E. Holbrook