Berford & Co.'s Express/San Francisco Cal. Black double oval handstamp with "Jany 16" manuscript date and "Paid" black straight line handstamp on 1851 stampless folded letter with business content to San Jose, cover with blue "De Boom Vigneaux Grisar & Co." handstamped corner card, Extremely Fine, a very scarce early Express marking. Estimate  $300 - 400. Stephens, Townsend, Murphy Party 1844-45 (the so-called "Forgotten Journey"), were the first to bring wagons over the Sierra Nevada Mountain range. The addressee of this cover, "Moses Schalenberger" was a member of the party, who volunteered to stay with some of the wagons an guard them on the Nevada side of Stevens (Donner) Pass. He built a cabin and stayed there all winter, till rescued in the Spring. His cabin was used by the Breen family of the Donner Party the next year in the winter of 1846. $0 (Image)