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Letter from Augustin Hibbard to [William Hibbard] 1862 Apr. 24

Creator

Augustin Hibbard

Recipient

[William Hibbard]

Transcription

Victoria April 24^th 1862

Dear Brother

According to your request, I will write all business matters upon a separate sheet hereafter. I have not much to write at the present, and the little that I have to write I fear you will find very unsatisfactory, for it most assuredly is so to me. I have so woefully slipped up in all my calculations and come so far short of realizing what I expected, that I fear that you will have lost all confidence in my ability and judgment, and have come to the, perhaps, very reasonable conclusion, that I am not capable of managing my affairs in a proper manner, but I assure you my dear brother, that although I have made mistakes, I have had serious difficulties to contend with, which I did not, and could not, foresee when I was with you. In the first place it was unfortunate for me that I brought out those India Rubber goods, for I was detained so long in San Francisco by then, that I found on my arrival here that I was too late to purchase furs and return home as I had intended, (this was the more unfortunate, as I then could have sold my property in Washington Territory for more than I have been able to get offered since) I then thought it best to purchase a small stock of goods which I could turn over while selling the rubber goods this I did, and made something over expenses, but the Rubber goods could not be sold for first cost, and the expenses on them was over $300.--, they proved to be of very inferior quality, and I had great difficulty in disposing of them. I then turned my attention to the disposal of my property in

W Territory, and to the collection of some amounts due in my old business, with the intention of returning home that fall which I should have done had it not been for the second shipment of Rubber goods. I regretted very much their shipment without any advice from me to do so for I foresaw that from the bad reputation of the first lot, that I should have difficulty in disposing of of them. Business at that time, was perfectly dead here and the prospects of the country were exceedingly gloomy. So I went to San Francisco, and tried to sell there, to arrive, that I soon found could not be done, so I had to wait there until the goods arrived, which was about two months, I then tried to sell them there, but found that I could not get first cost for them, often paying 24 per cent duties, so I brought them up here to do the best I could with them, and brought up a small stock of other goods, to dispose of at the same time and I was out on the transaction about $500.--, I had the Rubber goods on my hands several months, and in fact, after making sales, had them returned on account of their bad quality. It was at this time, that I purchased into the Lime Quarry I paid $1000.—500, cash, and secured a debt of $500.— I expected at the time, to be able to sell out at an advance in a short time, but everything continued so dull and gloomy that I concluded that as I was obliged to wait, I could not do better than to open the Quarry, and establish the lime business the first kiln we built was a failure, and the only vessel which was running from here to Oregon, which is our principle market was lost on the Columbia river Bar, so that with the exception of one shipment to Portland, we have confined this market which

which is a small one as yet. There will soon by another vessel on between this and Portland, and parties with whom I had contracted to deliver lime last year, think that the demand will be large this year. We have had the severest winter ever known here, and did not manufacture and lime for over four months, we are making at present 500 Bbls per month. We have been making improvements, while not making lime, so as to be ready to supply any demand that my arrise [arise] and there is a prospect that the government will require a large quantity before long. I have worked very hard this winter, and we have made many improvements at a slight cost, one piece of work however which we had nearly completed, we lost altogether. A wharf, which was carried away by a severe gale had it been completed it would have withstood it, it had cost us about $300.—I have been so sanguine my dear brother, of doing this, and of succeeding in that, in my reports to you, that I will say nothing more about the present than that the prospect ahead looks very encouraging, and I hope by close attention, and hard work, to do well with the lime business this year, and to be able soon, to give you a better account of myself. The fear that I have put you to a great deal of inconvenience, and trouble give me a great deal of uneasiness, and anxiety, and I often regret that I [of] induced you to lend my any money for although you many not feel as Ashley writes that he does, that I have been a curse to you , yet you may feel that I have not done right in keeping the money received from you so long, and I cannot say that I feel that I have done right, but that I had no intention of doing you, or him, a wrong. Could I have foreseen, or thought, that there any probability of things turning out as they have I should have done differently, but at the same time I thought and

belived [believed] that it was the intention of both yourself [and] and Ashley, that I should use the funds here if I thought that I could do to advantage. I think that I had more conversation with Ashley than with you, upon the subject, and I certainly understood him to say that if I saw anything here which I thought would prove a good thing, and wanted more money to go into it, that he would furnish it. These thoughts my dear brother are not called up by anything that you have written me, quite the contrary, but by some severe letters written me by Ashley, which have caused me much pain and sorrow, as well as surprise. I think that I can make all allowance for his peculiar temperament, but so severe were his letters, that were I able to find a person who would to day give me enough to pay my indebtedness to Ashley, and yourself, for all that I have here, I would immediately sell, although I consider it worth more than double that amount, and would have to renounce forever the idea of going home. But there is no sale or any kind of property now except town lots in Victoria, but as soon as I can, realize, I can assure I will get out of debt. Your uniform kindness, and brotherly love, I deeply feel, and appreciate, and there no desire nearer my heart than that I may live and be prospered, so as to be able to prove this to you by something more, than mere words, may God in his infinite goodness grant it

You will find enclosed, one of your blank notes. In looking over your letters I found it in the envelop, when you write again you had better enclose more of them. Write soon and I will do the same

Your affectionate brother

Augustin Hibbard

Location

Victoria

Date Original

4-24-1862

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MSS2.H621 HIBBARD, AUGUSTIN GOLD RUSH LETTERS

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University of the Pacific Library Holt-Atherton Special Collections.

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Recommended Citation

Hibbard, Augustin, "Letter from Augustin Hibbard to [William Hibbard] 1862 Apr. 24" (1862). Gold Rush Life. 23.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/grcc/23