The Rock

In addition to his daily entries in his diaries, Alf Doten also wrote a regular column in the form of letters to his home town newspaper, The Plymouth Rock, summarizing his Western experiences for Massachusetts readers. He began this practice in 1854 when he was mining in Calaveras County, California and ended it in 1867 when he was working long hours as a reporter for local papers in Virginia City and journalism had become his profession. He published a total of 93 letters that began “Dear Rock.” Eighty of the letters originated in California, with 13 from Nevada. After his first 50 letters, Doten began numbering a “new series,” beginning with NS1 and ending with NS43.0. He saved the clippings for 81 of the letters, and for the rest, he saved his handwritten drafts. Two photostat copies of missing clippings were added to the collection later. The letters were transcribed during the process of editing Doten’s journals for publication in the 1960s, and Walter Van Tilburg Clark included 42 of them in their entirety within the three-volume publication. For most of the rest, Clark included summaries or partial transcriptions. We now present a complete and searchable archive of the entire collection of transcripts of Doten’s letters to The Plymouth Rock, alongside the clippings or handwritten originals. Our assistant Challen Wright digitized the clippings and prepared the transcripts for the project. We hope this online collection will be useful to researchers of the West as the region unfolded during a pivotal time.

Rock41 From our California Correspondent.No. XLI.Mountain View, Santa Clara Co.,Cal., Jan. 18th, 1857. DEAR ROCK:-- Again has California been shaken, and the timid portion of the community frightened, by the shock of an earthquake. About 8 o'clock on the morning of the 9th inst. we experienced two distinct shocks. The first one was much the strongest, and lasted about four minutes, I should judge. No noise accompanied it, but it was a slow, steady, rocking motion, giving one a peculiarly dizzy sensation, and the oscillations appeared to be about S. E. and N. W. In San Francisco door bells were rung...
Rock42 From our California Correspondent.No. XLII. Mountain View, Santa Clara Co., Cal., Feb. 3d, 1857. DEAR ROCK: -- Of the numerous, and various reptiles which infest the mountain regions of California, the rattlesnake may be set down as the most dangerous, although few are the instances of anyone being bitten by them, notwithstanding the carelessness of miners and travellers, in making their camps, and sleeping on the ground where these deadly reptiles are known to abound. In the winter season, the "rattler" is rarely seen, but in the hot dry summer months, they crawl from their holes and hiding...
Rock43 No. XLIIIMountain View, Santa Clara Co. Cal.Feb 18th 1857. Dear Rock: *(poetry verse in here.) on last page Throughout the world there is an abundance of musicians of various merit, but in the number - not quality - of musicians, I think California can take the lead. From San Francisco to Nevada you cannot find half a dozen men together but some one or more of their number can play on an instrument of some kind, if nothing but a pair of "bones." Everybody is supposed to be able to whistle except the Chinese; indeed I never saw or heard of a Chinaman that could whistle. All Yankees, of course...
Rock44 From our California Correspondent.No. XLIV.Mountain View, Santa Clara Co.,Cal., March 3d, 1857. DEAR ROCK: -- Among the emigrants from the different parts of the States, which help to make up the population of California, it is quite amusing to note the little peculiarities of habits, looks, and speech, which distinguish the natives of each particular State or portion of the Union from each other. The "Southerner" is not the man who does the hardest work here. He generally prefers some method of getting along in the world which has not much of manual labor attached to it; - an easy...
Rock47 From our California Correspondent.No. XLVII.Mountain View, Santa Clara Co.,Cal., April 18th, 1857. DEAR ROCK: - In my last letter I spoke of the general predisposition of the California public generally, to use spirituous liquors as a common beverage, and showed forth some of the causes which induce many to partake of the intoxicating glass, and too often, to form a habit which may eventually lead them on, in that well-beaten downward path, which endeth in misery and ruin. There are hundreds, yes, I might say thousands, in California, who are slaves to Alcohol, and who spend all their hard-...
Rockns01 California Correspondence. NEW SERIES – No. I. Mountain View, Santa Clara Co.,Cal., Aug. 30th, 1858. “Should auld acquaintance be forgot?” Many months have floated down the river time, since your old correspondent had the pleasure of communication with you, yet there are perhaps among your many readers, those who still remember "Ben Bolt," and give him “a place in their memory." And during those months, California has with the balance of the world, "wagged on," and "rolled on," characteristically distinguished occasionally by some great horseracing, a street fight, a small earthquake, a mob...
Rockns02 No. 2Mountain View, Santa Clara Co, Cal, Sept 1858 Dear friend Rock The dusty, sweating, weary toil of harvest being over, and a good opportunity presenting itself to me for a pleasant cruise about the country for a week or so, I accepted the kind invitation of my valued friend Fred. W. Lucas - who had come to pay me a visit - accompanied by a friend of his - and a fine morning, bright and early saw three of us tightly wedged into a borrowed buggy, propelled by a stout ambitious horse - also borrowed - Having but just returned with the pleasing incidents of my visit still fresh on my mind,...
Rockns03 California Correspondence. NEW SERIES. –No. III.Milpitas, Santa Clara Co.,Cal., Nov. 18th, 1858. “MOVING ON.” DEAR FRIEND ROCK:-- I have missed writing to you the last three mails, owing to change of location and alteration of affairs generally, making it inconvenient to keep up my correspondence; for as you may perceive by the dating of my letter, I have once more received a call to "move on," and in accordance therewith, I cast off from my old moorings near Mountain View, set sail, and have now dropped my “keelick” in a new berth. I am squatted on a little ranche of 160 acres, situated some...
Rockns04 California Correspondence. NEW SERIES. –No. IV.Milpitas, Santa Clara Co.,Cal., Dec. 3d, 1858. DEAR FRIEND ROCK:-- Since my last letter, things have wagged on about as usual, and with the exception of an unusual earthquake, nothing of much note has transpire. This notable convulsion of nature, came off on the night of the 25th ult., and although I have heretofore spoken of California earthquakes, as "no great shakes," yet I can assure you this was not to be sneezed at, by any means. It was just twenty minutes of one o'clock, and being somewhat unwell, I was sitting by my bed-side reading,...
Rockns05 California Correspondence. NEW SERIES – No. V.Milpitas, Santa Clara Co.,Cal., Jan. 2d, 1859. DEAR FRIEND ROCK:-- And once again, in accordance with the well-worn and time-honored custom at the commencement of each annual January, I am wishing you “a happy new year." I have often wondered how, or whence this custom first originated, or if it ever did originate or was always so. It is a custom that all youngsters, especially, fully believe in, and by them "new year's day" is considered an excellent institution as an annual source of revenue. Does Young America have any objections to "new year's...

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