Iowa
Old Press
Maquoketa Excelsior
Maquoketa, Jackson co. Iowa
November 27, 1860
J. K. HERSHBERGER RETURNS FROM GOLD FIELDS
Returned - We were highly gratified last Thursday to see the
familiar face of our old friend J. K. Hershberger in our office.
He arrived from the Kansas Gold Region last Tuesday, in good
health, and with “a pocketful of rocks.” He brought
with him several specimens of the best nuggets found by him, the
largest we have yet seen, either of Kansas or California
productions. He showed us eleven nuggets, which he said were
worth something more than $100, the largest being valued at
$14.50. He and Mr. D. L. Royer, of Monmouth, were in company and
returned together. The products of their summer’s work,
except the best nuggets, were sent to the Philadelphia mint from
Omaha, and Mr. Hershberger would not say how much they realized.
Both gentlemen intend to return in the spring, if spared, and
work out their claim if it holds good.
Mr. Hershberger says he would advise all who can make a living at
home to stay where they are, and hoped we would be careful not to
speak too flatteringly of his success; he says he is but one of
probably 20,000 men who visited the mines and was able to come
back as well off as when he started; and that thousands are now
in the gold region destitute of everything and unable to get back
to the States. Mr. Hershberger left at our office a bottle full
of water obtained from a spring on the Colorado, and which he
says answers every purpose of saleratus for making bread.
[Transcribed by K.W., July 2010]