Edwin Fitzgerald

Minersville Oct. 24 1869 Dear Sir I hasten to answer your letter I am glad to here from you I am enjoying reasonable health which I ought to be thankfull for. My dear friend it is a sorry full sight to see hundreds of men [just?] to be gout, I who have forsaken our land homes & fond wife & little ones behind us far away when we took the Ca. [?] & such to die of the hand of our affectionated wife to God her parents fr not [?] to the land of gold to try to git [?] so that we could live with mere comfort when we went back again but [?] we have come to the wrong place to seek it, my dear friend I am writing to aid you all that I can this is a hard comm'ty to make [?] I have been mining all summer I have made nothing worth while the changes here is very poor now for winter is coming on here & it is a very cold place here so cold that men cant work much here in the winter season